I managed to stop the stream an hour later.
I sat in the chair for a while after that, completely blank.
Yui's avatar was still up on the screen.
The character that had been speaking my anger for me a minute ago felt very far away now.
"What... what did I just do..."
Putting it mildly, I had screwed up on the largest scale of my life.
I hauled my heavy body upright and nervously opened a social media app.
"AAAAAAAAAH?!"
What came up on the screen was unbelievable.
#VillainessOfTheVWorld, trending at number five.
#UnapologeticVTuber, trending at number three.
#JustDieYouPig, trending at number one.
The things I said are hashtags now?!
I tapped one nervously, and posts about my stream came pouring down like a waterfall.
a VTuber lost it and completely destroyed her own listeners lmao
so this is a real sadist VTuber... I got chills
YUICA♡ has awakened way too hard www
watched the clips and laughed my abs into ruin
Clips?
Someone's already cut it into videos?!
Too fast, internet!
I searched the video site and there were already piles of clips posted.
[GOD TIER] Rage-Act VTuber Utterly Pulverizes Her Own Viewers [Roast Compilation]
"Just die, you pig" on repeat! The most vicious sadist VTuber in history is born
Now THIS is a true queen! Merciless villainess hour
The top video already had two hundred thousand views.
Two hundred thousand?! The most-watched video of my entire life is this?!
I clicked it nervously, and it opened on me yelling "Excuse me? You disgust me!"
A cute pink-haired anime-girl avatar on the screen, and coming out of it, the furious abuse of a thirty-six-year-old spinster.
Even I had to admit the gap was too much.
The comment section was a vision of hell in its own right.
way too new-era www
I have spent my whole life wanting a Lady to insult me
this is the VTuber I've been waiting for
yeah, I've fully awakened too
Awakened to WHAT?!
I shut the app in a hurry.
My stomach hurts. I want stomach medicine.
[The next morning. Work.]
I took the usual train to the publisher where I work part-time.
But I couldn't settle.
What if somebody had worked out it was me?
No. There's no way anyone finds out.
Nobody is going to dream that a thirty-six-year-old single woman is doing VTuber stuff with an avatar like that.
At lunch I bought a bento at the usual convenience store, and Mirei, another of the part-timers (twenty, at a guess), came over to talk.
"Misaki! I saw the most amazing VTuber yesterday!"
My heart stopped.
"O-oh... what kind?"
Feigning calm, cold sweat pouring on the inside.
"She was the absolute best! Just cutting her listeners down one after another! I have never seen a stream that satisfying! When she said 'Just die, you pig,' I actually applauded at my screen!"
Applauding my abuse... is this girl okay?
"H-huh... that's something."
Smiling politely while running oh no, this is so bad, this is so bad on a loop inside my head.
It had spread this close to me.
I had assumed I kept more distance from the world than that. Naive of me.
"You have to watch her, Misaki! The VTuber's called YUICA♡ — she's probably the biggest thing in Japan right now!"
Biggest in Japan... don't exaggerate.
Back at my desk, there I was at the top of a news site.
Bottom-tier VTuber roasts her own viewers and goes up in flames — then gets showered in praise. The "villainess of the V world" is born
Flamed... praised... which is it!
The article said my stream had "started a revolution in the VTuber world" and "completely rejected the old fawning style."
Revolution... I just lost my temper.
[Evening. Home again.]
I finished work, came home, and went straight to Yui's room. The streaming gear was still exactly where it had been.
Proof that yesterday had actually happened.
While I was tidying up, I found a notebook on the desk.
The cover read: Rules for Fan Service.
I opened it, and there it was, packed wall to wall in Yui's neat handwriting.
"Thank you for ___" is a must-say phrase
Treat every listener as though they were a god
No matter how unreasonable the request, answer it with a smile
Never, ever fight. Never forget to be grateful
Deflect nasty comments with "That's funny♪"
Words that hurt people are absolutely forbidden
...
Tears started rolling out of my eyes.
Yui had been trying this hard. Being this careful, swallowing this much, answering unreasonable demands with a smile.
And it still never took off.
And then I come along and break out huge just by saying "Just die, you pig."
Destroying the image YUICA♡ — my sister — spent two years building, in a single night. The worst big sister alive.
"Yui... I'm sorry..."
But.
But if I'm honest... it was kind of fun.
There was a feeling deep down that I did not want to admit to.
Last night, while I was streaming, I was enjoying myself. No question about it.
The rush of cutting unreasonable demands clean off.
The thrill of the viewer count climbing and climbing.
For the first time in my life, that many people were paying attention to me.
Thirty-six years of a plain, unremarkable life, and overnight I'm what the whole country is talking about.
So this is... what they call a need for validation.
"But what am I supposed to do now..."
Could I live with this secret until Yui came home? Or maybe, just one more time...
I looked at the channel's comment section and messages had piled up.
YUICA♡, please stream again today!
let us hear more of my lady's insults!
yesterday's stream changed my life!
one more god-tier stream!
Wow... the expectations are enormous.
I was badly torn.
Between guilt and... a small, smug sense of superiority.
And then I clicked the address for the live stream.
[Waiting: 20,000 people]
"Wh-what? T-t-twenty thousand? What the hell is that?!"
Serious as I am, I don't have the nerve to leave twenty thousand people waiting.
There's nothing for it. I have to do this.
I pressed the stream button again.
(To be continued)
Next: "Yui learns the shocking truth on the road?!"