Sister Collab (2)
“Hmm-hmm~”
A high school girl hummed under her breath as she strolled down the street. It was a quiet weekend, and the sunlight was warm enough to lift her mood for no particular reason at all.
The neighborhood had become thoroughly familiar after all her recent visits. She was on her way to see her family, and her steps were so light that she reached her older brother's place in the blink of an eye.
She rode the elevator up. Watching herself in the mirrored wall, Se-ah drifted into thought.
She's streaming right now, isn't she. I wonder what that's like.
The last time she'd looked around her brother's room, there hadn't been any obvious broadcasting gear — no soundproof booth, no studio lights, no green screen. Please don't tell me it's that kind of stream. Stripping. Heavy exposure. Anything too explicit…
If it really was that, Se-ah was fully prepared to talk him out of it by any means necessary. She would never let him do something like that. If it came down to it, she was even willing to drag their parents into it.
Of course, she firmly believed he wouldn't. But just in case — checking couldn't hurt, right?
That was the truth of it. Ever since that phone call, a seed of unease had taken root in Se-ah's heart. The only way to put it to rest was to go see for herself.
The elevator reached the floor and the doors slid open. Se-ah hurried out — and because she was rushing, she never noticed the person standing right in front of the elevator until she walked straight into them.
“Ow!”
“Ah — are you all right?”
The person she'd collided with was a young man. Blaming herself for having her head in the clouds, Se-ah quickly bowed her head and apologized.
“I'm so sorry!”
“No, no. It's fine.”
Fortunately, the man didn't get angry at all. He even smiled as he accepted her apology. Relieved, Se-ah stepped out of the elevator, and he stepped in, the two of them trading places.
It was only as the doors were closing that it hit her. For some reason, she had the distinct feeling she had seen his face somewhere before. But she was certain this was the first time she had ever met him, and she couldn't understand why the feeling lingered — never dreaming that the little girl next door she'd met a few days ago was his daughter.
“…What was that. Just my imagination?”
In the end, Se-ah pushed the uneasy feeling aside and pressed the doorbell.
A bright, high-pitched woman's voice rang through the intercom.
Hi!
Footsteps approached, the door swung open, and the owner of the apartment appeared. The face was different now, but this was still her precious family. She wasn't quite sure anymore whether she was supposed to say oppa or unnie — but the fact that this person was still someone she loved hadn't changed at all.
Se-ah started to raise a hand in greeting, and was promptly snatched up by Hana.
“…Huh?”
“Se-ah-chan, hayaku! Everyone's waiting!!”
The completely unexpected turn of events left Se-ah momentarily stunned.
“Waiting…? Who is?”
“The viewers! They want to see Se-ah-chan!”
Well. She had been curious about the stream, but this was a little sudden. Her whole purpose in coming had been to keep an eye on what kind of broadcast her sibling was running.
That intention, apparently, did not matter. She wasn't even given a chance to argue. Hana had already grabbed her by the hand and was dragging her toward the room.
Before we went into the room, I pulled Se-ah aside in the living room and ran through a few ground rules.
“You can't say your name or any personal information! Calling me oppa is banned too! And nothing about nationality — that's dame!”
If it came out that Se-ah was Korean, things would get extremely awkward. On stream, Hana-chan had already been established as a full-blooded Japanese girl, not even mixed — so a Korean little sister simply wouldn't add up. The irony, of course, was that this completely impossible setup was also reality. Then again, the Status Window and the whole TS thing weren't exactly realistic either.
Se-ah nodded along to my warnings, but the bewildered look never left her face.
“…You're not joking. You actually want me to stream with you.”
“…Gomen. A viewer threatened me with money. I didn't have a choice…”
“How much did you even get?”
“A million won.”
Se-ah frowned, then stuck her pinky in her ear and gave it a twist. I understood the reaction completely. I would have done the same thing.
“Ah, sorry. How much?”
“A million won.”
“…”
Having confirmed that she had not, in fact, hallucinated the number, Se-ah nodded.
“Let's get in there. The viewers are waiting.”
“Wakatta!”
“We're splitting it, right?”
“…Seven-three.”
“Six-four.”
“…Okay.”
My precious four hundred thousand won… Not that I begrudged giving my little sister some allowance, but that was operating capital for the YouTube channel… There was nothing I could do about it.
Having struck our dramatic bargain, we went into the room. I sat Se-ah in the guest seat I had prepared in advance — a chair hastily dragged in from the kitchen — and jumped straight back into the stream.
“Minna! The Imouto-chan you've all been waiting for is finally here! Wow!”
I shot Se-ah a look that said hurry up and say hi into the mic. She hesitated, clearly unused to this sort of thing, then greeted them.
“Ah, hello. I'm Imouto-chan-”
“Our Imouto-chan is still a minor, so no nasty chats allowed!”
Se-ah's eyes flicked rapidly over the chat flooding in, and she leaned in to whisper.
“Camera's not on, huh?”
“Yeah. That's a little too scary…”
“Good call.”
Pat, pat.
For some reason, I got my head patted. I felt like I'd been turned into a puppy. I had no idea how to respond to this indescribable, vaguely mysterious feeling, so I just sat there and took it.
A viewer donation that cut straight to the heart of the matter. I turned the question right back around.
“Good question. What should we do now?”
“Demo, minna-san told me to bring Imouto-chan. This wasn't even on the schedule, and I did it because you asked — so you should pick the content too!”
I could feel Se-ah staring at me in surprise from the seat beside me. Heh. Feeling a little respect for this older sibling of yours? As well you should.
“De? Even so, that's a little…”
“…That's just mean.”
As I sat there sinking into despair, Se-ah offered a word of comfort.
“Unnie, you just looked really dumb.”
“…sniff.”
In the end, crushed between the power of capitalism and the pressure of public opinion, I had no choice but to play a horror game. Still — I wouldn't be doing it alone this time. I'd have Se-ah with me. That had to be better than before, right?
“…Imouto-chan, are you okay with scary stuff?”
“Me? Not really? I don't think I scare that easily.”
“Ooooh…!”
As expected of Se-ah! In that case, I might as well look on the bright side. I was going to have to play a horror game eventually anyway — now I could clear it with Lee Se-ah, a girl who didn't even know what fear was!
And so, full of reckless courage, we launched into the horror game.
“KYAAAAAAAAAH!!!”
“AAAAAAAHHH!!!”
Se-ah. Why would you tell a lie that wouldn't even hold up for ten seconds. Why.
Lee Se-ah, alleged stranger to fear, lasted about ten seconds before cold sweat started pouring down her back. She shoved the controls at me, declared she couldn't do it, and fled. And as if that weren't enough, curiosity apparently got the better of her again, because she hid behind my back and peeked over my shoulder to watch. Thanks to that, even when a jump scare hit and I tried to turn my head away, I couldn't run — Se-ah was using me as a human shield.
A few viewers raised questions during the game, but luckily the tension of the horror stream was so high that their comments got swept away in the flood of fast-moving chat.
“Watashi is so tired…”
“You said we were going for the all-clear. You're just going to quit and let the viewers down?”
“You little—! You're just watching from back there!! You're not even helping…!”
“Ah-ah. You've got such a cute little sister cheering you on from the sidelines~”
In the end, after a four-hour campaign, I finally saw the ending. I had screamed so much I was starting to worry my throat wasn't just sore — it might actually be gone.
I'd thought doing it together would make it easier. Doing it alone might actually have been better.
Still, if there was one solitary achievement to take away from all this, it was that I had discovered a flaw in my supposedly perfect little sister.
I had imagined we'd chat for a bit and then I'd wrap the stream… My life gauge was already at zero. I couldn't keep going, so I headed straight into the outro.
That said, the stream was once again being called legendary, and the viewer count hit a new record. A full four hundred and twenty-one people. Considering I'd only seen around two hundred and ninety during the LoL stream, the jump was staggering.
“Minna, sayonara~ Mata ashita ne…”