We Chained
The stream title read Lene collaborating with Tyuni. The game counter showed We Chained with 2,168 viewers at the 00:02:12 mark.
“Have you told them what game you’re playing today?”
…Ah. I completely forgot.
“Um, everyone…. The game we’re playing today is that ‘We Chained’ game….”
The chat window was flooded with the same kind of unhinged energy I’d seen from Tyuni. My devoted viewers were reacting exactly like she had.
“D-did I make some kind of mistake…?”
“Um, why is everyone…”
“Lene. You do know the name of the game we’re playing today, right?”
“…Yes. I do.”
“Then what is the name of the game?”
“We Chained!”
lmao lmao lmao lmao
The way she said it so confidently is actually lethal
Everyone please take good care of our precious airhead Lene, Tyuni…
“I know it!” (She doesn’t) lmao
Tyuni’s laugh is so goddamn refreshing lmao
Tyuni’s booming laughter slammed into the audio like a hammer. While I was busy trying to read the room in this incomprehensible situation, she finally caught her breath and explained.
“Lene. Heh heh…. It’s not pronounced ‘We Chay-ned.’ It’s ‘We Chained.’”
“…………………………………………………………………………Oh.”
The moment I heard the correction, my face burst into flames. Why was it pronounced that way? Was this some elaborate prank? Chain has an e in it, doesn’t it? Where did the e sound go?
All those questions flashed through my mind, but there was no way Tyuni and every single one of my viewers would coordinate just to mess with me. Which meant…
I was wrong.
The me from one minute ago—who had boldly claimed to know the name when I clearly didn’t—felt mortifying.
…But I didn’t want to admit that.
“A-actually I knew that already.”
“Huh?”
“I said it on purpose… just in case anyone didn’t know…?”
“Then, Lene. Do you know what the title We Chained actually means?”
“Of course I do. I told you I said it on purpose.”
“What does it mean then?”
“…Actually I don’t. I’m sorry for lying….”
Just let it go already.
“Hic. Pffft….”
Even after I admitted I didn’t know, Tyuni was laughing so hard she could barely breathe. Didn’t she know that the polite thing to do in these situations was to quietly move on so the other person wouldn’t feel embarrassed? I thought it was a bit mean.
“…So what does it mean?”
But no matter what excuse I gave now, the mood was already on fire. Changing the subject naturally seemed like the best move.
“Oh, the meaning? You saw the game trailer, right?”
“Yes….”
“In the trailer the characters are literally connected to each other with chains, right? So it means exactly what it says—‘We are chained together.’”
“Anyway, shall we get started for real now!”
“Yes….”
⊳ Tyuni — “Lene and I are escaping from here together!”
Lene is terrible at games. I had no idea how someone with her reaction speed could be completely hopeless at every game except New Dimension, but it was an undeniable fact. Tyuni knew this well.
And We Chained was a 3D platformer. A genre where you jump from platform to platform. It was the exact type of game that made anyone who knew the truth—that the streamer Lene and the VTuber Lene were the same person—tremble in fear. After all, there was an even more infamous game in the same genre called Jumping Up… a title so cursed that Lene was banned from even mentioning it on stream.
Tyuni knew all of this.
Even so, she had chosen We Chained for a reason. Unlike most platformers that became nearly impossible if you were bad at them, this one was primarily co-op. A skilled player could help a bad one. And Tyuni was actually quite good at platformers. If Lene fell, Tyuni could keep her from falling too far and provide support. If she could do that, the catastrophic scenes everyone was worried about wouldn’t happen.
Tyuni thought that by steadily helping her, she could grow a little closer to Lene.
But there was one thing Tyuni had misunderstood.
Lene wasn’t simply bad at games.
“Um, Lene? Could you please come over here instead?!”
“…There’s a treasure chest over there.”
She was a gamer consumed by curiosity.
“Tyuni, aren’t you curious what’s inside…?”
The chat was mercilessly roasting Tyuni. And Lene was tormenting her in multiple ways at once. The chat messages themselves were nothing new to Tyuni. She knew that the same people who typed these things in stream were the ones leaving only kind words in the fan cafe. So even when they annoyed her, she didn’t truly hate it.
“I am curious! I’m curious, but shouldn’t we focus on progressing right now?!”
But when Lene was added into the mix, Tyuni couldn’t help but raise her voice. This wasn’t like her usual playful fake anger. Right now, Tyuni was about fifty percent genuinely raising her voice.
“I guess you’re right….”
But the bigger problem was Lene’s reaction. If she had stubbornly insisted, Tyuni could have pushed back and moved the game forward. Instead, Lene answered in a pitiful, heartbreaking voice, obediently following Tyuni’s instructions—yet she still couldn’t tear her eyes away from whatever had caught her interest. That side of Lene…
It made Tyuni weak.
She’s not doing this on purpose, is she?
“…Then this is the absolute last time. This is seriously the last time. Let’s just check that one thing and go, okay?”
Even while thinking that, Tyuni couldn’t bring herself to stop her.
Whether she knew how Tyuni felt or not…
“…Okay!”
Lene simply smiled brightly.
“…It’s shoes!”
“Then let’s head back that way now.”
“Pffft…. Yes. …Ah.”
“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah?!!!!”