Chapter 17: The Last Showdown ~ A Bare-Knuckle Brawl ~

# Overtime Showdown: VTuber Free-Talk Battle

FWOOOOOO♪

[Overtime Battle, start!]

"Honestly, I didn't think you'd get this far, Landmine Princess."

Seira's voice had her usual ease back in it.

"Same to you. I never thought Japan's number one, four and a quarter million strong, would come slumming down here in the lower world, Miss Number One in Japan."

YUICA fired straight back. Quiet sparks crossed the space between them.

"Heh. Why not. The air down here isn't so bad after all these years."

"Can you even breathe, though? Your nose is stuck so high in the air, isn't the oxygen a little thin?"

The comment section boiled over.

"Ha! Good one. The height of the nose is the height of the pride. But you..." Seira took a breath before she went on. "You're a woman who crawls along the ground, making her living stepping on pigs."

"That's right. A bottom-feeder Lady sitting on a pile of squealing, sobbing pigs. And it feels so good♡"

Her listeners lost their minds at that.

"But hey, YUICA. Be honest. You're scared right now, aren't you?"

The Captain asked it quietly. Even through a screen you could feel how sharp her eyes were.

"I've got a mob army four million deeper than yours behind me. Somewhere in there you've already decided you can't win. Haven't you?"

"Sure, the gap is real. But the one getting run down mentally is you, isn't it?"

A storm of cheering from both fanbases filled the comment section. The Captain narrowed her eyes a little.

"Let me ask you something instead. Why did you come picking a fight with a bottom-tier VTuber in the first place?"

"When I look at you, it's like looking at myself back then. And it doesn't leave me calm."

"Oh? That's unusually soft of you."

"You clawed your way up from the bottom and never let anyone pull your fangs out. I respect that. A little."

"A little? Don't be stingy."

"But don't get the wrong idea. I do not lose. I've fought at the front for five straight years."

"...I know. I also know you've been alone the whole time."

"...The hell are you talking about. Unlike you, I have four and a quarter million comrades."

"Surrounded by numbers, and still alone in there. Right?"

"Ha. Playing therapist now? Fine analysis for a thirty-six-year-old, but your rank is too low to diagnose me."

"...You are lonely, though. Watching you, it comes through so hard it hurts. It gets under my skin."

"What is that supposed to be. Are you telling me the beautiful rose has thorns? You're a funny one."

"Who knows. But today, I'm going to pull those thorns out for you."

"Take the thorns off me and there's nothing left, you know."

Meanwhile, the members of the Galactic Opera Fleet were thrown by the way their Captain was behaving.

"Captain..." Luna Hoshino murmured, glued to the screen. "Something's different about her."

"It is," Amane agreed. "The Captain usually fights with something held in reserve. But right now..."

"Yeah⭐︎ she's stripped bare," Kohaku said, half excited. "So the Captain can make a face like that too..."

[550,000 concurrent viewers]

And on the other side of the screen, Yui was watching her sister fight, unable to look away.

I've never seen my big sister this alive. Thirty-six years of crushing herself down, and now she's shining.

"You're amazing, big sis..."

It almost makes me cry. Even up against someone that huge, she's trying to live as herself.

[600,000 concurrent viewers]

"Still. A woman with a stark-naked mind like yours. I don't hate that."

"Oh? Has the Captain finally gone soft on me? Don't tell me you're treating this as your retirement stream."

"Shut it. 'Retirement' is a word losers keep in their mouths. Remember that, you washed-out rookie idol."

"Coming from a 'perfect' person like you, that just sounds lame. 'The woman who never fails.' You sound like the lead in a two-hour murder-mystery special."

"Then let me tell you why. I never fail because nobody has ever made me serious."

"See, that. That's the thing. Too cool, and it pisses me off. Like they installed a manual in you where the human part should go."

The comment section flared up again.

"Hey, Captain. Surrounded by four and a quarter million people, what scares you the most?"

"What kind of question is that. The only thing I fear is losing sight of myself."

"Oh, unexpectedly sentimental. Me, I don't even trust myself."

"You don't trust yourself? Then what are you leaning on to get through life, thirty-six?"

"Instinct. Whatever my gut says in the moment. Life doesn't go to plan anyway."

"That's no plan at all. You came at the top of Japan with that?"

"And you planned so hard you can't move anymore. Right?"

"Can't move? When I'm out on the front line every single day?"

"You're not fighting. You're defending. That perfect mask called Seira Hououin that took you five years to build."

"...A perfect mask, is it. Well. It's been a comfortable one to wear."

"But a mask hides who you are, and it hides how much the person inside is hurting."

"Playing philosopher? You're off the mark. I fly across the galaxy as I please."

[650,000 concurrent viewers]

"I bet you stand in front of a mirror counting your fine lines and going, 'who even am I?'"

"I'll hand that straight back to you. Look in the mirror yourself. There's a crack in that perfect mask."

"That's not a crack, it's a fine line! They've been multiplying lately... hey! Who are you calling a thirty-something hag!"

"And don't you start with 'every wrinkle is another layer of life' or 'your thirties are when it really begins.' I'm already thirty-six."

"And you came anyway, warrior of almost-forty. Into my ring. Why, YUICA?"

"Because I thought that if I beat you... I might get to become 'myself.'"

"...That's playing hero. Thirty-six years old and talking like a child."

"That's what I'm telling you. My head is bare-faced, no makeup. Age is just decoration. The important people don't understand that."

[700,000 concurrent viewers]

"Can I be honest? I feel like I could keep this conversation going forever."

"What a coincidence. I've never had a conversation this fun and this infuriating. I'm about to forget myself here, and that isn't like me."

"So forget. 'Seira Hououin' is only a code name, isn't it?"

"A code name... Right. That was all it was meant to be, at the start."

"And now it isn't?"

"Now... I don't know. I've spent so much longer being Seira Hououin that I can't tell which one is the real me."

"When was the last time you laughed for real? Not acting."

"When did I last laugh. What the hell kind of question is... you off-brand Socrates."

Then Seira dropped her voice and put a question to her listeners.

"...Hey. You mobs. Am I doing okay out here?"

"Honestly, I don't know anymore. I threw off this perfect mask of mine, and now I'm standing here unarmed."

Seira laughed, bitterly.

"You lot are ice cold... your fave is actually falling apart for once."

"Getting worked up over the enemy too. You people really are peak masochists."

YUICA said it with open exasperation.

"I told you I'm a thirty-six-year-old spinster and you're still snorting and cheering. Are you sane?"

"Well... that part of you lot. Today it's a little reassuring."

"I know you're always down there holding me up so I can stand higher. So keep bracing yourselves on the ground today too, pigs."

[750,000 concurrent viewers]

"Is your head all right? You've got five hundred sixty thousand and that's it. Where does the nerve come from?"

"I was alone for far too long. I know every trick there is for making friends with loneliness."

"...It was long for me too. Surrounded by numbers, and I think I really was alone the whole time."

"Yeah, I know. The kind of loneliness nobody can see eats the heart."

"You. What are you planning to do if you beat me? Do you even have a goal?"

"No idea. But right now, I want to make you laugh."

By then Yui's eyes had brimmed over.

Big sis...

Her kindness comes through the screen. She isn't fighting to knock the other woman down. She's fighting to understand every part of her, and to give her a good time.

For my sister, this fight is a real release.

[780,000 concurrent viewers]

"Is it nearly over? I could keep talking to you all night."

"What's got into you, YUICA. That's the best smile you've had today."

"So is yours. More human than usual. It got to me."

"What's that, a compliment?"

"Of course. The most sarcastic one I have."

"You really are a funny one."

[800,000 concurrent viewers]

FWOOOOOO♪

The time-limit siren rang out.

The MC's voice cut over it.

"The talk battle is over!"

"...Well. That ended on a damp note. Not like me at all."

"Congratulations. Thirty-one years old, and that's your first step from Captain to actual girl."

"I don't need that from someone pushing forty. You really are a troublesome woman."

"Thanks. That was fun. Enough that I don't want it to end."

"...Same here. A little."

The members of the Galactic Opera Fleet felt exactly the same.

"Captain..." All three of them were staring at the screen.

"I've stopped caring who wins," Luna said quietly. "The Captain is laughing for real. That alone makes me happy."

The audience and the chat were both without words for a while. As if all that frenzy had been a dream.

Someone murmured.

Nobody jumped on it. Nobody argued. But every single person there was thinking the same thing.

"...Thank you both. Well fought."

Even the MC's voice was shaking a little. Even those words felt out of place, the ending was that quiet.

Seira sat with her eyes closed, saying nothing. YUICA kept looking into the camera, breathing in slowly.

Neither face held any hunger to win, or any panic about losing. Only a full, settled quiet.

—But even so.

The MC's voice came again.

"...And now."

"We will make the final count of subscribers gained."

In that instant everyone was yanked back into reality.

Numbers. However beautiful the words traded, there is an "answer" you cannot argue with.

That is the fate of a VTuber, of anyone who performs.

The figures came up slowly beside the two names, with an update chime so hushed it seemed to be reading the room.

The moment the result appeared on screen, the air froze.

Which of them had won.

For a while, nobody said the answer out loud.

—To be continued