Who the Hell Is She? (1)

What the hell kind of person is she?

For an all-black hero from head to toe, the essential ingredient is style. The black long coat and pants, paired with a mask flickering with purple glow in the eyes—it might come off a bit chuunibyou. But romance and chuunibyou are just a hair's breadth apart. If your actions are cool enough, those cringy bits somehow turn into cool points before you know it.

Thus, we all-black ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠heroes have a duty to infuse this color and outfit with dreams and hope.

"This is fucked."

The truth had leaked: Rebion Arc's IaidōSticker and the mystery awakener who suddenly appeared in reality were the same person.

Who was IaidōSticker? Some SweetYoung-whatever who picks up and eats poisonous mushrooms off the street. Having that nickname floating around independently? Fine, no big deal. But the moment it invades my masked girl concept? That's crossing the line.

Feeling a bit shortchanged and mixing in some injustice, she started typing up a post.

The comments came flooding in the moment the post went up. All of them graciously defending IaidōSticker. And at the same time, ruffians tearing down the Masked Girl's image.

With a "let's see who wins" attitude, she started spamming posts like crazy.

About a minute later, she'd pumped out around 100 posts.

Huh.

Oh. Got preserved.

Checking the now-concept post, comments were piling up in real-time, hurling stones. Not a single one on her side.

She closed the gallery, leaned back in her chair, and let out a sigh.

"Shouldn't have eaten that mushroom."

They'd always told her not to pick up food off the ground. And she knew that, but why'd she eat it anyway? Curiosity about the taste, duh. It was just a game—dying wouldn't matter.

She played a fan-uploaded comparison file of IaidōSticker's voice and the Masked Girl's. Faintly over the speakers came the word "head." Somehow, in that chaos, this tiny sound had made it into the video.

Just how good were these awakeners' body cams? A quick search revealed they were the pinnacle of tech designed to withstand gates while capturing maximum info. No idea who developed them, but thanks to that, her concept was thoroughly ruined.

While venting resentment at the body cam developers, a post with that title caught her eye. As it said, her Rebion account had been idle since catching that "GottaEat." She only logged in once a day to check for messages from Chaerin, worried she might've messaged.

They'd promised to go slime-hunting together—progressing solo would feel bad. But with no contact anymore, it was probably a bust.

One last check for Chaerin's messages. She fired up Rebion.

Opening her eyes, she was back on the grassy field where she'd snagged GottaEat. Too peaceful and quiet for a place of brutal combat—like a Windows wallpaper. Pulling up the friends list against that backdrop, there was Chaerin-ji's name, all alone.

Still level 10. That was why she'd waited a week for Chaerin's message. No contact since that day—not even logins.

Would've been cleaner if she'd just progressed solo. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠But time to move on. Smacking her lips bitterly, she hovered over the delete friend icon.

Right as she went to click delete—

Chaerin's whispers came pouring in like crazy. So frantic it was chaos. Startled, she fumbled and accidentally hit the button.

Click.

"Ah."

******

A little while later, the slime spawn area.

Pop-

Fluffy sky-blue blobs bounced around the meadow.

"…"

"…"

A glum gaze drilled down on the crown of a woman's head kneeling on the ground.

"I'm so sorryyyy!!!!"

Chaerin prostrated flat on the ground, begging forgiveness.

"…Explain yourself."

"Well… I didn't mean to ghost you, something huge came up…"

"What happened?"

"During the gate break, my dad got caught up in it…"

Ah.

……

She uncrossed her arms, sat down facing Chaerin, and knelt as well.

"…At ease."

"B-but."

"Please."

Otherwise, she'd be the trash.

"O-okay…"

Whether she got the point or not, Chaerin relaxed her posture.

"…Sorry for being late."

"N-no! It's not your fault, IaidōSticker-nim…!"

"Still…"

"He's getting treated at the hospital right now and should be discharged soon! So don't worry!"

"Oh, really?"

She stretched out her legs and plopped down on the grass. She'd thought he was a goner. Sighing in relief, she met Chaerin's oddly shifted gaze.

A quiet exchange of looks lingered for a moment.

"Um… IaidōSticker-nim."

Chaerin broke the brief silence.

"Wanna try streaming?"

"Outta nowhere?"

"I know it's sudden! But this timing is just perfect!"

Ah, fair point.

Getting exposure as an individual streamer is tough even before talking success. Streams vanishing with 1-2 viewers are a dime a dozen—that's the reality.

But that wouldn't happen to her. She'd pull every bit of aggro out there.

"No better chance than now! Perfect time to row while the iron's hot!"

True enough. But if she started streaming and said, "I'm the Masked Girl you've all been looking for," wouldn't her concept shatter?

…Actually, this could be an opportunity.

What she really worried about was IaidōSticker's antics overlapping onto the Masked Girl. But with everyone already treating IaidōSticker = Masked Girl as fact…

Why not flip it? Turn her from Sweet-whatever into Samurai Master IaidōSticker.

She'd never liked the name IaidōSticker anyway—could change it later with a nick-change ticket. Something like "SwordGod" or "AbsoluteBlade."

As she mulled over plans, words burst from Chaerin.

"If you start streaming now, I'll help you out big time!"

"Me? Why?"

"You saved my dad."

"Ah."

One hazy question in her mind ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠cleared up.

From Chaerin's perspective, her streaming wasn't a straight win. Could even steal her viewers—a loss, really. Even if she wanted collabs, doing it streamer-to-streamer was less profitable than streamer-and-fixed-member dynamic. That way, she could hog all the aggro drawn to her.

So why suggest it first? Chaerin wanted to repay the favor, in her own way.

"If you start now, I'll pull out all the stops to boost you!"

"…Do I even need boosting?"

"Some content's hard to join without connections. I'll handle all that! And leave the setup and little details to me!"

"Oh. Then can you help with this?"

"Sure! What is it?"

"…IaidōSticker-nim, what's this link?"

"My stream link."

"Stream link…? Wait, stream link? You started streaming?"

"Yeah. You said you'd help if I started now."

"'Now' meant right this second…"

Chaerin clicked the link in a panic.

And beyond the link…

A swarm of locusts was hopping around. Or rather, the chat.

"…How did this happen?"

"Posted on the community that I started streaming."

"Why…? And when…?"

"From when you were going on ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠about this golden opportunity?"

"Ah…"

IaidōSticker stared back with eyes saying she had no clue what the issue was.

As viewer count skyrocketed endlessly, Chaerin's mind went blank.

"Gasp…!"

One chat snapped Chaerin back.

"S-sorry, I've never seen an explosion like this…"

"No, it's fine."

"They want chat locked, right? One sec…!"

"Nah, that's fine too."

"? Then what do I help with…?"

"Viewers say the quality's bad—how do I fix that?"

"Oh, that comes with streaming longer… But really, you good?"

"With what?"

"Th-the chat…"

"?"

"…?"

IaidōSticker gazed at Chaerin with the world's purest eyes.

Meeting those eyes, Chaerin.

"What the hell kind of person is she…?"

blurted it out without thinking.