[Waiting: 20,000 people]
I pressed the stream button.
"Ah... um, good evening."
The screen exploded on the spot.
MY LADY IS HERE
Lady YUICA♡, thank you for your work today!
we've been waiting!
insult us again today please!
Wow, what a torrent.
The chat was scrolling too fast to read at all. Had my sister ever experienced anything like this?
"Um... thank you all for yesterday, everyone. Honestly, I'm still completely rattled."
honest my lady is the best too
the gap is unbearable
what are you doing for us today?
Doing what?
You ask what I'll do, but I have no idea.
I just snapped in the moment yesterday. I don't have anything planned.
"Um... honestly, I don't know what to do here."
just chat with us!
we want to hear my lady talk
how about life advice?
Life advice?
"Life advice? I'm a spinster who's never had a boyfriend, not once in my life. I'm really not in a position to be asked for advice."
that's exactly why!
we want a real opinion
we want the raw truth, not platitudes
Ah. So that's what they want.
"Well... fine, okay. But don't expect much. I'll probably be pretty harsh."
and that's the good part!
yes please, bring it!
[Super Chat: 1,000 yen]
Message: I think my boyfriend is cheating on me. What should I do?
Whoa, straight in with a heavy one.
"Cheating, huh... So, do you have proof?"
The details came through in the comments. Leaves her on read, suddenly turned sweet, his cologne smells different, and so on.
"Ah, that's guilty as hell."
so he really is...
what should I do
"What do you mean, what should you do? Dump him."
The chat froze for a second.
"A man who cheats. Could you ever trust him again? Even if you married him he would absolutely cheat again. It's a waste of time."
but I love him
we've been together five years
"Love? Five years?"
My voice was dropping lower and lower.
"Five years with you and he still cheats. What's so good about him? Are you planning to waste any more of your precious time on a piece of trash like that?"
b-but...
"No 'buts'! Wake up!"
The switch had flipped all the way over.
"There are billions of men in this world. Why go out of your way to pick the cheating trash?"
"If you want to be happy, give your precious time to someone who'll actually treasure you."
yes! you're right, my lady!
"A cheater? Turn him into a 'memory' and burn it."
my eyes are open now
thank you so much!
Huh. Is this actually working?
The next one came in.
[Super Chat: 500 yen]
Message: My boss is abusing me at work. I want to quit but I'm scared I won't find another job.
"Workplace abuse. What kind, specifically?"
The details, when they came, were pretty appalling.
"That is completely over the line. Record it and take it straight to the labor standards office."
but if the job hunt goes badly...
and the industry's in a slump right now...
"A slump. And?"
I sighed at the screen.
"Listen. Clinging to a company like that is far riskier."
"You can change jobs as many times as you need to. Better to get out now and find somewhere new than wreck your mind reading an abusive boss's face every day!"
u-uuugh
"First, stand up! Nothing changes while you're sitting there!"
yes! my lady...
"An abusive boss is just fertilizer for your résumé."
that gave me some courage
handing in my notice tomorrow
The questions kept coming after that.
I lent a friend money and they won't pay it back.
→ "They're a friend in name only. Someone who borrows money and doesn't return it is a thief. Cut them off, now."
I'm worn out from caring for my parent.
→ "This one is... genuinely hard. But don't carry it on your own. Use the public services, and make a little time for yourself now and then. If you go down, none of it works."
Before I knew it, three hours had gone by.
The viewer count was over fifty thousand.
The subscriber count, somewhere along the way, had reached a hundred thousand.
my lady's advice room was the best
coming back tomorrow
feels like my life is about to change
"Ah, um... thank you all. That's it for tod—"
That was when the ugly comments started coming through.
these people asking for advice are way too stupid www
worrying about that? way too weak-minded
I'd handle it way better
everyone asking for advice is a scrub
getting cheated on means you're not attractive. own it
Excuse me?
My face hardened in an instant.
YUICA♡ is being way too nice, roast them harder
waste of time on losers this weak
honestly if you have to ask, don't date the guy in the first place
"Hold it right there."
My voice dropped an octave.
ohh, mad because someone told the truth?
it's just facts though
"I will not have you mocking the people who came to me."
huh?
is she actually angry?
"Look. Someone works up the courage to ask for help, and you call them stupid, a scrub. I do not understand what kind of nerve that takes."
The chat went quiet for a moment.
"You do nothing at all, and you laugh at other people's problems. People like that have no right to mock anyone."
but they really are weak though
effort's wasted on the bottom of the barrel
"Effort is wasted?"
My anger detonated.
"Then tell me. Why did you turn into the kind of 'pathetic human being' who mocks people's real problems?"
huh? that's going too far
isn't that harsh?
"Harsh? Says the ones making a joke out of people who are struggling!"
"These people are actually doing something to change their situation. And you? You're a useless nobody complaining anonymously from the other side of a screen, aren't you?"
I'm sorry...
yeah, we took the joke too far
honestly glad we got yelled at
"Fine, as long as you get it."
And then came a reaction I did not see coming.
I want my lady to insult me too!
we are useless pigs!
no fair! me too, please!
The masochists in the audience all started up at once.
"You disgust me, you pigs!"
yes! yesss!
thank you so much!
more please!
"Then line up over there and cry for me. Oink, oink!"
OINK OINK OINK OINK OINK OINK OINKKK!
this pig wants my lady to keep him for life!
OIIIIINK! (sobbing)
An abnormal situation in which the chat was buried under OINK.
"...What is this."
I could not comprehend the situation at all.
oink this is our love
the happiness of being insulted by my lady oink
my lady defending the people who asked is the best oink
"You people... should see a doctor. Seriously."
yes! we'll go!
thanks to my lady we'll be healthy
"I don't understand any of this anymore. That's it for today. Good night."
Stream ended.
I slumped back into the chair.
"I'm exhausted... but that was kind of fun."
Listening to people's problems is not an experience my ordinary life has ever offered. And they all listened seriously, and thanked me for it.
So this is... being useful to someone.
Though something about it feels a bit off.
I looked at my phone and social media was in an uproar.
#YUICAsAdviceRoom was trending.
#SharpTonguedBigSister was climbing fast too.
YUICA♡'s life advice is too god-tier
the fact she doesn't do platitudes is exactly what saves you
this woman's advice is too on point
I checked the subscriber count...
Two hundred and fifty thousand?!
"Wh-whaaaat?! Two hundred and fifty thousand? What is that supposed to be?!"
Incredible... but I feel terrible about my sister.
At this rate Yui is going to find out while she's traveling, isn't she.
Please, I'm begging you, don't look at the internet.
"Yui, I'm sorry... I did it again."
But honestly, I don't think I can stop now.
I want to stream tomorrow too. I want to hear more people's problems.
For the first time in my life, I might be feeling like what I do matters.
[Meanwhile, morning, somewhere in Kyushu]
In a room at an inn, Yui was messing with her phone.
"Where should I go today..."
She opened a news app without thinking, and there was a big headline at the top.
"YUICA♡," the revolutionary of the V world, goes viral again with a sharp-tongued advice stream! Past 200,000 subscribers
"Huh...?"
She tapped the article: a picture of that familiar pink-haired avatar, and a detailed write-up of yesterday's and today's streams.
A total reversal from her old pure-idol line — she breaks out big as a sharp-tongued character
The miracle turnaround that started with "Just die, you pig"
Her listeners have taken to calling her "my lady" and "the villainess"...
Yui's hands started to shake.
"I... I haven't been streaming..."
Then she tapped the clip attached to the article.
What came up on the screen was unmistakably her own avatar, and yet...
She searched YUICA♡ and short clips flooded the screen.
I quit my job because of this roast!
first time my lady's voice has ever made me cry
(Huh? This is... my channel...?)
"Excuse me? You disgust me!"
"Just die, you pig!"
The voice coming out of it was one she knew very well.
"B-big sis?"
Yui dropped the phone and got to her feet.
"No way. Big sis... on my account...?"
She checked the streaming site in a panic. A subscriber count that had been a mere two thousand was now three hundred thousand.
Yui started throwing her things into her bag.
There was no ordinary resolve in her face.
(To be continued)
Next: "Yui races home! And the sisters' fated confrontation?!"