Prologue: Virtual Talent, Aurora
Virtual Talent, Aurora. A VTuber affiliated with the agency EYEAI, active under the setting of a villainess noble lady exiled from a ducal house.
2. During a tea time stream, runs out of black tea and substitutes with instant coffee mix
3. Goes to the bakery for scones and macarons to go with tea, but they're sold out, so substitutes with leftover potato chips
4. Search history contains adult novels
5. Likes and scrolls through lewd images posted on SNS
6. Even likes lewd images of her fellow VTubers
7. Occasionally calls male VTubers "hyung"
8. Knows an suspiciously large number of military stories
9. Lifts up Hanabane during a 3D stream
ㄴ Even after the agency scolded her once because of 5 and 6, she kept liking stuff anyway
ㄴ Military service lady.. This one might be edible..
ㄴ Fake Lady is pretty crazy too
ㄴㄴ Crazy? She's openly a madwoman
ㄴㄴ The kind of girl where even if she commits arson tomorrow it wouldn't be surprising
ㄴ Why do people call her Fake Lady anyway?
ㄴㄴ (OP) Fake Lady → Jjaga Lady → Jjagassi
ㄴㄴ Ah I see
Everyone has their own definition of what makes a VTuber. The profession hasn't been around long, and it's still ambiguous whether VTubing counts as mainstream content. Naturally, opinions differ. Even so, there is a general consensus. At minimum, two conditions must be met to be called a VTuber: "utilizing modeling in broadcasts" and "possessing a unique character setting."
In the end, a VTuber is someone who "shares an agreed-upon lie with their viewers." In this world, there are VTubers set as 8,000-year-old demons, VTubers set as dragon descendants, and VTubers set as beings who have always lived within humanity's dreams. Of course, no viewer actually believes these settings are real. They're merely concepts meant to make the broadcast entertaining—tools to help viewers immerse themselves in the stream.
Most VTubers don't even engage in intense roleplaying to begin with. Or rather, the structure makes sustained roleplaying impossible. How could VTubers who aren't even actors perform and spout lies every single broadcast? If they had that level of acting skill, they'd quit VTubing and become actors instead. Maintaining concept-driven roleplay is exhausting. If you're going to pour effort into that kind of acting, it would be far more economical to prepare content for the next stream instead.
Above all, as VTubers continue broadcasting, they often find themselves wanting to share their genuine stories with viewers. And viewers, in turn, want to see the VTubers' true selves. Thus, within the agreed-upon lie called "setting," both VTubers and viewers end up craving truth—a bizarre structure of streaming indeed.
That's why no one believed Aurora was actually a villainess exiled from a ducal house. They assumed it was just a concept setting for the broadcast. After all, how could someone who wakes up and goes "Bweeeehhh" while chugging pork backbone stew possibly be a noble lady? There are moments when she gives off the vibe of a rich young lady, but when you see her mixing canned tuna into plain rice and scarfing it down, it feels like you were just imagining things.
"I really am a ducal lady, though."
Aurora shrugged. Jet-black hair reminiscent of the night sky. Doll-like, sharply defined features and slightly eerie crimson eyes. Dressed in a gown inside the house, she truly embodied the image of a noble lady, bearing an uncanny resemblance to the VTuber model she used.
"Well, it doesn't matter if you don't believe me."
Aurora muttered to herself. There was probably no one in this world who had never told a lie. Aurora, too, lived while carrying her own share of lies. Yet perhaps Virtual Talent Aurora was the most truthful VTuber in the world—the one with the fewest lies. Because she really had been a ducal lady.
"Ah, I suppose I wasn't actually exiled, though."
Thinking it over, she didn't recall ever being exiled. But that was just a minor discrepancy. Aurora. It had been three years since she—the one who had possessed the villainess of another world—returned to Earth.