The Face That Steals the Soul
It was quite touching. That had all begun the night before.
A message had arrived from Inagika. [Won’t you meet me in front of the company tomorrow…?]
“We are all supposed to meet at the company together anyway. Are you suggesting the two of us meet separately?”
[Y-yes… that’s right…]
“I cannot comprehend this. Why would you trouble yourself with such a bothersome request?”
[It’s because meeting the other members makes me nervous…] Inagika murmured hesitantly. [I haven’t properly spoken with Chell yet… and while I did talk with Sora, Sora is… a little uncomfortable for me.]
“Uncomfortable?”
[Sora is such an extrovert… Unlike someone like me, she—she must have been incredibly popular back in school…]
She certainly gave off that impression. Even at our first meeting she had seemed the most approachable. Yet she also felt distinctly artificial. It was clear she was concealing her true self and presenting only a polished image.
‘Come to think of it, among everyone I have met since returning, she resembles a noble lady the most.’
Though, to be fair, the number of people I had encountered since my return was rather small. Rion, Anna, Inagika, Chell, Sora. Even including President Jung Ho-young and Manager Lee Jung-woo, the total came to only seven.
Noble ladies are, by nature, skilled at wearing masks. They consider it a virtue to conceal their weaknesses completely. Interacting with them is therefore quite exhausting. It feels less like conversation and more like performing in a theatrical play.
In that sense, I could understand why Inagika found Sora uncomfortable. In the world where I once lived, commoners always felt uneasy around nobles. Nobles treated their masks as a form of social navigation, but commoners despised such things. The dynamic between Inagika and Sora carried a similar air.
[S-so meeting Sora or Chell is a bit scary…]
“And what of me?”
[Lora feels the most comfortable among the members… If you came with me, I think I would feel a little more at ease…]
So she claimed. It seemed I had been loved once again. I let out a small sigh.
‘It is beginning to feel rather frightening.’
She had not even seen my face yet, yet my voice alone had already enchanted her. Still, this too was the destiny of a duchess. To be loved by all people was simply my daily life and the mission I was meant to bear.
Had my vessel been small, this heavy responsibility might have crushed me. Fortunately, I am a human who could be compared to Atlas and still have strength to spare.
“Very well. I shall specially grant your request.”
And so, the day after that night, I arrived at the company in the car Rion was driving.
“Drop me off in front of the company. I promised to meet Inagika.”
“Really? Then I’ll head inside first. I have some work to do.”
After sending Rion ahead, I opened my parasol beneath the blazing sun.
For the record, I am strong against both heat and cold. The scorching heat of a summer day cannot leave even a scratch on me. During my time in the Iris Duchy I visited volcanoes on several occasions, after all.
Compared to that, this level of heat was nothing at all, so I quickly grew bored. Simply waiting in silence felt tedious, so I picked up my phone.
‘I may as well watch some of my colleagues’ broadcasts while I have the time.’
I watched them occasionally, but because I prioritized gaming (= streaming), I could not claim to have viewed them properly. This free time had appeared on its own. Since I would soon be meeting the other members in person, there was no harm in deepening my understanding of them even a little.
I clicked on their archives in order.
Inagika had done ordinary game streams—Kwonshin, Destruction: Moon Rail, Illumination: Lighting Wave. There were especially many gacha games. During her casual chat streams she also talked about TRPGs and seemed interested in playing mahjong or poker. Perhaps she liked board games.
Chell’s streams were also game-focused, but they carried a completely different atmosphere. Her current main content was Blue Record. Beyond that she played what were called free horror games—Eyebra, The Witch’s Mansion, and the like.
When I clicked on one, I saw that Chell dubbed every character herself. She seemed to be making full use of her ability to produce multiple voices. Come to think of it, Blue Record was also a gacha game, yet its main story had no voice acting whatsoever. In addition, Chell hosted simultaneous anime-watching streams and other varied content, making her channel surprisingly diverse.
Sora’s content, as expected, centered on singing streams.
‘Her gaming ability is nothing special.’
Of course she could not sing every single day. Her casual talk (low-chat) streams made up a fairly large portion, and recently she appeared to be playing a game called Rave the Diver. Her controls, however, were nonexistent.
‘She’s the type who just mashes buttons in fighting games.’
Watching a little more revealed the truth. When she played, it felt as though she had switched her brain off. Her mind raced far ahead of her hands, so she kept dying to fish. Everything she had gathered simply evaporated.
“Hmm.”
She had chosen a game that did not suit her at all. Of course, watching someone be hilariously bad can be entertaining in its own way, but only for a short while. The longer it went on, the more frustrating it became. She sang beautifully, though.
“……Aurora?”
The voice calling my name pulled me from my thoughts.
“That voice belongs to Sora.”
I recognized it instantly. After all, I had just been watching her broadcast. Besides, once I hear a voice, I rarely forget it.
When I lifted my head, a woman was staring at me in a daze.
My first impression was college student. She appeared around the same age as Rion, yet carried a slightly more mature aura while also seeming somehow cuter. She wore a black mask that covered half her face, and it suited her remarkably well.
“Is it really you, Aurora…?”
Sora asked in a stunned voice.
I tilted my head slightly. “If I am not Aurora, then who do you suppose I am?”
“That way of speaking… It really is Aurora.”
Click. Click.
Sora closed the distance in an instant. The shade of my parasol settled gently over the crown of her head. She stared at my face with open fascination.
“It’s exactly like your plate…”
“Naturally. The plate was created based on my face, after all.”
“But why?”
“There could not possibly exist a character design more beautiful than my own face, could there?”
“…Are you serious right now?”
Sora crossed her arms, looking utterly dumbfounded. She continued to stare fixedly at my face, scanning me with a searching gaze. No emotion could be read in her eyes. It felt as though she were lost in deep thought.
“But why are you standing out here instead of going inside?”
Her mouth moved, yet even as she spoke I could not sense any sincerity. It was as if the words were reflexive, spilling out while her mind remained elsewhere. Her eyes never left my face, and the impression that her thoughts had drifted far away only grew stronger.
“I was waiting for Inagika.”
“Inagika?”
“She contacted me to meet in front of the company. Yet this child shows no sign of arriving.”
Quite a lot of time had passed. Inagika had not appeared. To make a duchess like myself wait—Inagika was quite bold. As expected of my colleague, she was no pushover. Indeed, she had to be at least this capable to qualify as my peer.
A smile rose unbidden to my lips. As I casually glanced around, I realized my assumption had been mistaken.
It was not that Inagika was late. Far in the distance, behind a streetlight, a woman was fidgeting restlessly while stealing glances in our direction.
“Eek…”
The moment our eyes met, she whipped her head away. It was my first time seeing Inagika’s real appearance, but there was no doubt it was her.
She was losing her mind. Sora was fully aware that her current state was abnormal.
‘…Thank goodness we’re sitting side by side.’
That was what she kept thinking.
In EYEAI’s conference room, the sixth-generation members sat in a row. From the outer seat inward: Sora, Aurora, Inagika, Chell.
When she turned her head just slightly, Aurora’s profile came into view, and Sora found herself unconsciously stealing glances at it.
‘…I can’t stop looking.’
Sora told herself this was perfectly natural human psychology. Were there not people who rewatched flashy cinematic scenes over and over? Or kept returning to specific panels in manga? It was the same thing, she reasoned.
Rephrased, it meant she had become utterly captivated by Aurora’s face.
‘I don’t want to admit it, but…’
There were times one had no choice but to admit the truth. Had she been sitting across from Aurora, she would have stared the entire time. There was a magnetism in that beauty that seized people’s gazes beyond mere attractiveness.
Honestly, it felt less like looking at a human and more like gazing upon a yuki-onna. Ghost stories about people being bewitched and dying suddenly came to mind. Until now she had never understood what “bewitched” truly meant, but the spirits in those tales must have stolen souls in exactly this manner.
Thanks to that, even though the meeting was underway, she could barely concentrate.
“It would be wonderful if the sixth generation could do a collaboration soon.”
“Do any of you have ideas for things you’d like to do together in the future? Please share any thoughts freely.”
“We also need to decide on a group name for the sixth generation. Do any ideas come to mind? If not, we can decide together with the viewers during a collab stream.”
Rion kept speaking from the seat across the table. Sora answered each question, yet she could no longer remember what she had actually said.
Her mind was elsewhere.
“The sixth generation is planning to produce an MV. Sora, is there any song you’d like to perform?”
“Um… Bump of Chicken’s Adult Observation, perhaps…?”
“Adult Observation is a great choice. I like that song too. Does anyone have other suggestions?”
She had simply spoken the first thing that came to mind, yet the decision was made. It made sense—among them, Sora was the most experienced with singing.
Yet she felt neither particularly happy nor upset that her opinion had been accepted. It simply did not matter.
When she came back to herself, she realized she was once again staring at Aurora’s profile.
“Sigh… Get a hold of yourself…”
Sora gave her head a small shake. She felt as if she were on the verge of losing herself entirely. She had no idea what would happen if that occurred, nor did she wish to find out. A person naturally wants to remain in control; who in the world enjoys being swept away?
Moreover, judging by the meeting’s atmosphere, it seemed she was expected to act as the leader of the sixth generation. Chell remained completely silent, just as she had in Discord.
“U-um, I think Adult Observation is good too…”
Inagika behaved like a yes-man, always following the flow and rarely offering her own opinion.
And Aurora said,
“What sort of song is Adult Observation? I would like to listen to it first.”
…She truly knew nothing about VTubers, let alone subculture. Strictly speaking Adult Observation might not even count as subculture, but regardless.
Therefore it fell to Sora to guide them.
‘Yes. What does it matter if her face is beautiful?’
VTubers succeed through their inner qualities, their voices, their wit—not their faces. So why on earth was someone with a face that beautiful working as a VTuber? She would have been far better suited as a regular streamer or a model.
In any case, they would not have many opportunities to see one another’s faces. Most VTuber meetings were conducted online; gathering together like this was the exception.
She must not waver. For a long career, the most important thing was mentality. All she needed to do was keep a firm grip on herself.
“Ah, after the meeting, how about the sixth generation having lunch together? I’d like to treat everyone,” Rion suggested.
What?
“That sounds lovely. It has been a while since I enjoyed an outside meal.”
“I’m fine with it too…”
“Doesn’t matter.”
Only at moments like this did her colleagues answer promptly. It would be awkward to refuse alone.
“I-it sounds good… I was thinking it would be nice to eat together with my fellow members at least once~…”
Sora answered while trembling, her gaze unconsciously fixed on Aurora’s face.