Exposing Senior Leon's Secret
"Open the door! Open it right now!!"
"…What is this?"
Leon stared at the stream title and briefly doubted her own eyes. An exposé? What on earth was she talking about?
…Is she talking about me quitting VTubing?
That was the only thing that came to mind. As far as she knew, the only person who knew she was switching from VTuber to manager was Anna. But… would Anna really just expose that on her own? It felt off.
From the start, Leon had already discussed it with management and planned to post a retirement notice soon. The exact end date and how the channel would be managed afterward had all been decided. She had intended to announce it herself during her own stream, but… Anna was jumping the gun?
That didn’t make sense.
Well, it probably isn’t anything too serious.
If management had given the okay, it couldn’t be anything dangerous. Maybe it was just clickbait? Still, she had no idea what the so-called “exposé” was actually about.
After thinking it over from every angle, she reached one conclusion: she would have to hear it directly from Anna.
《You have been invited to a server: ‘Today’s Stream Exclusive Server’》
Leon entered the Discord server Anna had sent her. There was nothing but one text channel and one voice channel. Only two people were in the server—Anna and herself.
"She really isn’t telling me anything."
It was ridiculous, but this was just how Anna was. If she had to put it nicely, she would say Anna lacked planning. At her core, she was impulsive. Anna would suddenly drop huge amounts of money on gacha games during streams. On top of that, she rarely regretted the things she did. That was why she could never quite fix that impulsive streak.
…Yeah. It can’t be anything too bad, right?
Anna’s personality wasn’t exactly normal, but she was fundamentally a good kid. There probably wouldn’t be any problems.
That’s what Leon told herself.
[Today, just like the title says, I’m going to expose one of Leon-senpai’s important secrets.]
[So I’ve brought on a special guest.]
Anna said that on stream. A guest? Who was she talking about? Was it her? Was that what the server invite had been for?? But Anna hadn’t specifically asked her to be a guest. All she’d said was that she could join if she wanted.
[Guest, please come in.]
-Ding
The distinctive Discord sound effect rang out from Anna’s stream, and suddenly one more person appeared in the server.
[Hello.]
[I’m Leon’s cousin.]
"……Huh?"
Leon’s eyes widened.
The chat was on fire. But it couldn’t possibly be hotter than the black tea sitting in front of me. I smiled softly and took a sip.
[Yes, today Leon-senpai’s cousin has come to visit us.]
[Shall we start by explaining how we met, Teacher?]
Anna’s voice came through my headphones. I was sitting in front of my PC for the first time in a while. According to Anna, I absolutely couldn’t stream in VR.
“In virtual reality, you can freely create any avatar you want. You can even change your voice.”
“Of course you can use a voice changer on PC too, but that only modifies the sound coming through the microphone.”
“So if you speak through PC Discord first, people will be less suspicious about Teacher’s gender.”
Apparently the VTuber industry had been plagued by gender controversies since its inception. There was that one case—Nora-something, was it? A cute female model who turned out to be some middle-aged man. Honestly, I wouldn’t have minded if people suspected I was a man. But poor Anna kept getting dragged into boyfriend rumors, so I agreed to appear on stream through PC Discord like this.
“How we met, huh… Where should I start?”
[Um… I think I should speak first. I really wanted to get better at Labyrinthos. The viewers kept scolding me.]
[What the…]
[So I told Leon-senpai I wanted to get better at Labyrinthos, and she introduced me to her cousin who’s really good at it.]
[I’ve been doing pretty well as a Magic Engineer lately, right? That’s all thanks to Teacher’s excellent guidance.]
“Just as Anna said, it’s all thanks to me. So feel free to praise me, dear viewers. I’ll specially permit it.”
The chat reactions were positive. I never expected them to welcome me so warmly when I wasn’t even showing my face. Well, as a duke’s daughter, my voice is just as beautiful as my appearance. It would be difficult to find any part of me that wasn’t beautiful. My flaw? As if such a thing existed. Being perfect is my only flaw. Therefore, simply hearing my voice was an immense honor for them. After all, a duke’s daughter is not someone one can approach lightly.
Of course, there was one person who wasn’t welcoming me.
Leon was causing a scene not just in chat but in Discord too. Naturally, Anna and I ignored her.
[Now that I’ve explained my relationship with Teacher, let’s get to the main topic.]
[Teacher, please begin the exposé.]
“Shall I?”
“It happened not too long ago. That was the first time I watched one of Leon’s streams. To be honest, I didn’t even know she was a VTuber.”
[When Leon-senpai introduced me to Teacher, she specifically said, ‘Let’s keep the fact that I’m a VTuber a secret.’]
[But Teacher already knew before we even met?]
“That’s right. Leon once used my computer for a bit and forgot to log out, so the algorithm started recommending her channel.”
“When I watched her stream, she kept adding ‘nya’ to the end of every sentence. She had never done that with me before.”
I said that much. I didn’t mention how Leon had edited my replay footage or anything about the email inbox. Anna had told me those were related to Leon’s personal circumstances and shouldn’t be revealed on stream.
[So Leon-senpai doesn’t usually say ‘nya’?]
“At least, I’ve never seen her act that way when she’s with family.”
[I see. Then what is Leon-senpai usually like?]
“She was a diligent and kind child. Does everyone know that Leon lives with me?”
[Ah, Leon-senpai has mentioned that on stream before. So I think most viewers already know.]
“Then this will go quickly. For the past three years, Leon has been living in my house in exchange for cooking and cleaning.”
[One moment. I’ll put up a photo.]
A picture of pasta appeared on the stream screen.
[This was made by Leon-senpai.]
[So does Leon-senpai prepare meals like this every day? And does she do all the cleaning too?]
“That’s correct.”
I nodded. Strictly speaking, there were many days when they ordered delivery, so Leon didn’t cook every single day. But in this situation, it was best to talk her up as much as possible.
[I’ve learned a lot about this new side of Leon-senpai. Teacher, how much of Leon-senpai’s streams have you watched?]
“I haven’t watched that many. I only saw a little of her playing Labyrinthos.”
[Then you probably haven’t seen her very first stream, right?]
“Her first stream?”
[If you watch this, you’ll understand Leon-senpai’s true nature.]
The pasta photo that had been on screen disappeared. In its place appeared a video file.
【First Stream】 This is Nekozuka Leon’s first stream, nya!
【EYEAI 4th Generation】
-Thud!
“Turn off the stream! What the hell are you doing right now!!!”
Thud thud thud thud!! The sound of someone pounding on the door echoed. Leon’s shouts could be heard from the other side.
“Why did you lock the door… Open the door! Open it right now!! Sis, stop her from streaming! Hurry!!”
Her scream was desperate. I later learned that the number one video VTubers hated watching the most was their own debut stream. Because it was their first time, they had either gone overboard with enthusiasm or had been extremely nervous. Their concept wasn’t properly established yet, or they had gone way too hard on it. For most VTubers, their first stream was nothing short of a dark history.
[Nya, nyanya nya…. U-um, what was it again…. Oh, right. I-I’m Nekozuka Leon, nya…….]
[I came from a cat planet… I mean, I came, nya…. I’m Princess Nekomimi, ugh, Princess Nekomimi, nya.]
[I’m debuting today as EYEAI’s 4th generation, ahem, I have debuted… nya! Please take care of me, nya!!]
“Aaaaaaaaagh!!!!”
Leon let out a bloodcurdling scream. When I opened the door, I found her convulsing on the floor.