This Era's Greatest Love Confession

I drove my blade straight into the solar plexus of that wretched dual-wielder. "Guh… ugh…" He thrashed weakly for a moment before all the strength drained from his body and he crumpled to the ground.

I glanced around. A horse’s head lay severed nearby. Beside it sprawled a cavalryman who had died with both arms hacked off. A giant wolf sat drenched in blood like a soaked rag. The beast tamer who had lost both legs had his skull crushed. And after I stepped over the dual-wielder’s corpse, my eyes landed on the thoroughly shattered mannequin doll.

“Thanks to you, I was able to win. Thank you.”

I turned around. There stood the saintess, wearing an awkward little smile.

“N-no, not at all… It was all thanks to you, Dark Knight…”

“Hehe.”

I answered with a soft laugh instead of words. Just as I had promised Anna, I had taken down three of them. It hadn’t been purely through my own strength; a perfect storm of conditions had made it possible.

I had come straight from hunting neutral mobs, so my defense was noticeably higher than usual. That let me shrug off most attacks, and the saintess’s support had been enormous. The dark knight’s ultimate skill, Devouring Darkness, didn’t just blanket the entire area in black fog that blinded enemies—it also dramatically amplified the dark knight’s health recovery, which in turn supercharged the saintess’s healing spells.

On top of that, the saintess’s skill effects had shone especially brightly in the darkness, so the enemy team had gone berserk trying to take her down. Their obsession created the openings I needed, letting me pick them off one by one far more easily than expected. Anna’s covering fire must have weighed on them too; their movements were overly cautious about their rear the entire time.

Seems like Anna did well on her end too.

When I looked over, the enchanter was already dead. The puppeteer had collapsed with blood trickling from his forehead. Anna stood over the last survivor—the bard—wearing a savage little smile as she prepared to end him.

Watching her, I thought, But wasn’t that line a bit much?

This whole thing was being broadcast, after all.

“Nooooooo!!”

Anna slammed her face into the bed. If she stayed like this, she might actually suffocate. The thought crossed her mind as she lay there.

“Aaaaaaaaagh!!!!”

She pounded the innocent mattress with her fists. Why on earth had she done that? Anna kept her nose and mouth buried in the sheets and muttered to herself. Of course, no clear answer came. Humans were tragic creatures who seemed to understand themselves better than anyone yet ultimately failed to understand themselves at all.

She had done it without thinking. That was the only explanation.

“Haa…”

Anna rolled over. It was common for VTubers to rack up black history, and if her viewers turned that black history into content, maybe it would be comforting… or would it? No matter how she thought about it, she couldn’t just laugh it off. Humans were frail creatures, after all.

On the day she had done that exposé stream, Senior Leon must have felt like this. Back then she had simply found it funny, but experiencing something similar made her reflect. She had already apologized once, but she should go apologize again. She even knew where the house was—maybe she should bring a gift.

“…Mood change. Let’s change the mood.”

Anna got up and climbed into the VR capsule. She launched Labyrinthos and bought a nickname change ticket, switching from V_ShirokiAnna to something else. Her current mental state was a mess; if anyone recognized her right now, she felt like she would die.

She jumped into ranked. The character she chose was a mage swordsman. The moment a team fight broke out, Anna cut down the dual-wielder in front of her with a single slash.

“Hup!”

The sensation of the blade slicing through flesh ran up the sword, and a spray of blood splattered across her face. Ever since the day she had participated in Rui’s execution stream, ranked games had felt strangely easy. And they really were going well. Her rank score kept climbing; at this rate she would probably reach Gold soon.

It was amazing. Until recently she could only play support characters. Now she was slicing through enemies with close-range fighters like the mage swordsman.

…Of course, the price she had paid to reach this point had been enormous. On the first day she had died over and over again. Despite her gentle appearance, Teacher’s training methods had been incredibly brutal. Limb severance? That was child’s play. She had been beheaded, disemboweled, crushed, torn apart… She had suffered every humiliation imaginable. And on top of that, in the end she had been forced to kill her own idol with her own hands.

It’s all Teacher’s fault…

Her defense mechanism insisted that the black history update was entirely because of Lora. But the moment she stood in front of Lora, all of those complaints would probably vanish. Because that face was just unfairly beautiful. It wasn’t just the looks—it was the whole aura. No matter what you said, the person didn’t seem like she would budge an inch, so you ended up thinking there was no point in complaining.

Still, there was no denying that her skills were real.

……Did Teacher already know?

That she was this kind of twisted person. Come to think of it, it had been contradictory from the start. Someone who claimed she was satisfied just watching from afar—why would she enter a competition to meet her oshi? When you thought about it, the reason she had become a VTuber was the same. She ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had hoped it might give her even the slightest chance to get closer to Rui. In other words, she had never been the type of person who could be satisfied with simply watching.

In the beginning, she really had cheered for Rui with pure feelings. But just as the saying went, human greed knew no bounds. Only now did she realize that beneath it all had lurked ugly desire.

…Streaming was always like that from the start, I guess.

Take the people who sent donations, for example. Did they really send money purely out of support? They probably wanted their names called at least once. They wanted to have even the slightest influence on the life of an oshi who was, in reality, in a completely one-sided relationship with them.

That was why Anna no longer feared stepping onto the battlefield. …No, that was a lie. She was still scared. But she had learned that if she could endure a little fear, she could obtain something far greater. That at the moment of death, someone would remember her. That she could make that final moment hers.

—Slash!

Anna cut the paladin’s throat.

“…What am I even thinking right now?”

She shook her head and took a deep breath. Maybe it was because she had been cooped up at home too much lately. To think she was having such perverted thoughts… Well, maybe “perverted” was too strong. Surely everyone thought about it at least once. Sniping your favorite streamer and farming kills on them was pretty common. Then ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠people would post on the gallery: “I fucked that bitch!”

“Uwaa…”

Seeing the depths of human psychology made self-loathing wash over Anna. The more she played, the less she shook off her black history; instead it felt like she kept confronting it more and more.

Streaming. Yes, she should stream. The viewers would definitely tease her mercilessly, but that was still better than continuing to realize how twisted she was. Besides, she had prepared a safety measure in case the viewers started making fun of her.

【Shiroki Anna / EYEAI】

The moment the game ended, Anna closed Labyrinthos. She finished setting up all the stream options. There was still about an hour left, but if she stayed alone any longer she would start thinking weird things again, so she decided to call her early.

“Teacher, want to chat a bit before the stream starts?”

As expected, Lora was already connected to Labyrinthos. Since she spent most of her day gaming, she was always online whenever Anna logged in. The moment Anna sent a voice chat request, Lora replied almost immediately.

[Chat? What kind of chat?]

“Um… It’s nothing special… I just feel like talking about random stuff…”

[Hmm? Sure, why not. I actually had something I wanted to ask you anyway.]

Soon Lora, who had finished her own game, entered Anna’s virtual space. The avatar looked exactly like the real Lora, though perhaps because of VR’s deformation style, it didn’t have quite the same intensity as seeing her in reality. Still, it was just as captivating.

This person will probably become famous someday.

Anna thought so. She didn’t seem to realize it herself, but she was already a celebrity in Labyrinthos. Anna had no idea what kind of person Lora would become in the future. She might become a pro gamer, or a streamer. When that happened, the otaku mentality was to proudly declare, “I was simping for her back when she was still underground.”

Inviting Lora on a collab stream might have been for that very reason. It was the perfect way to leave proof.

“Now that I think about it, Teacher, have you ever thought about becoming a streamer?”

Anna asked lightly. There was a saying in the VTuber industry: if you think someone will become popular later, do them a favor in advance. That person won’t easily forget the kindness, so you’ll be able to maintain the relationship. She had heard that once.