Before I knew it, I was on the floor with my forehead pressed to it.
"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry..."
My voice was shaking.
"It was my weakness... me doing whatever I wanted... and now it's something nobody can take back..."
Tears dropped onto the floor one after another.
"I did the worst thing a sister can do. I betrayed you, I took the thing that mattered most to you..."
"I am so, so sorry!"
I couldn't lift my head. I was too scared to see her face.
"..."
Yui's silence went on.
She was seriously angry.
Of course she was.
I had wrecked two years of her effort in a matter of days.
That number—three hundred and twenty thousand—said everything about the size of what I'd done.
"...Big sis."
Yui opened her mouth slowly.
"Hey. Lift your head."
I raised it, carefully, and found her looking straight at me.
I still couldn't read her face.
"Big sis... did you have fun?"
"Huh?"
The question was so far from what I expected that I had nothing.
"Streaming. Was it fun? Answer me honestly."
Her eyes were serious.
I hesitated.
Was I even allowed to answer honestly?
But looking into her eyes, I couldn't lie.
"...It was fun."
My voice shook.
"For the first time in my life... I felt like I was actually alive."
"People thanked me, I felt like I was useful to somebody... but!"
I started to lower my head again.
"But I took your dream away. I threw two years of your work in the bin..."
That was when it happened.
Yui burst into tears.
"What? Yui?"
She threw her arms around me and held on tight.
"Thank god... I'm so glad you were having fun. So glad."
"Yui? What do you mean?"
Her tears landed on my shoulder.
"I've been worried about you. This whole time."
"What?"
"After Mom and Dad died you pushed yourself way too hard, and then you quit your job—"
"—and you stopped seeing people, and you got so negative about everything..."
She was right. I used to work at a major company.
But after our parents died I was frantic about having to protect the family myself, and by the time I noticed, my body had given out. I quit.
Now I scrape by on a part-time job at a publisher.
Yui pulled back a little and kept talking while she wiped her eyes.
"How negative you are now, how little you think of yourself—I've been worried about that the whole time."
"I had no idea..."
"The truth is, the reason I started VTubing..."
Yui looked me dead in the eye.
"...is that I wanted to support you for the rest of your life!"
"What?"
I had no words.
"You protected me all that time. I figured it was my turn to protect you."
"So I'd get famous, make money, and make life easy for you."
Her voice was trembling.
The tears wouldn't stop.
"But I didn't have the talent. Two years and I got nowhere..."
"Yui..."
"I decided from the start. If it didn't work in my twenties, I'd retire."
Yui smiled.
There was something lonely in it.
"I turn thirty next month. So I'm not going back to being YUICA♡."
"Don't say that..."
I stood up and pulled her into a hug.
"I'm sorry. I took your dream, and I've turned everything into this weird mess..."
"It's fine. My last stream... five people watched it."
"Watching your videos made me realize there was never any way I could have done that."
The tears came up again.
"I see... then let's close the YUICA♡ account. Together."
That, I thought, was how the two of us settled this properly, as sisters.
"What are you talking about?"
Yui looked up at me.
"Huh?"
"You're the one who's carrying this on!"
"Whaaat?!"
"I already gave up. You're only getting started!"
Her eyes were shining.
"Seeing you shine like that made me so happy."
"But..."
"You had fun, right?! You want to do it, right?! Just be honest with me."
"...Yeah."
"You've got something I could never fake—thirty-six years of eldest-daughter weight, piled up and up."
Yui took my hands.
"That sense of justice, the way you genuinely try to protect whoever is asking. The way you hit the core of it and make them believe you. All of that happened because it was you."
"But, but I'm nobody—"
"No 'buts'! Three hundred and twenty thousand people picked you. Me, they didn't want!"
Yui got to her feet and put a hand on my shoulder.
"I've already decided on my new dream!"
"...You have?"
"Making you the number one VTuber in the world."
"Yui... wait. What?"
"The pure-idol lane is saturated. But your sharp-tongued advice thing? There's nothing else like it anywhere."
"Hold... hold on."
"My read is that you can take the whole world!"
Her expression turned serious.
(Your read? You spent two years and got two thousand...)
"Target: five million subscribers, ten million yen a month. We are absolutely getting there!"
"Number one in the world? Come on, there's no way. Not me!"
"VTubing is a culture Japan invented! Get to the top in Japan and number one in the world comes into view on its own!"
Yui gripped my hands harder.
"You focus on streaming. I'll handle all the support."
"Brand deals, planning the members-only streams, collab strategy with other VTubers, media rollout—all of it, me."
"But, Yui, you couldn't do it before..."
"Wrong!"
"Performing it yourself and producing it take completely different talents!"
Yui shook her head hard.
"You and me together—we can absolutely do this!"
Tears rolled down my face.
"Okay. I'm in." (I do not understand a word of this.)
"...Your big sister will give it everything."
"Let's do this, big sis!"
Yui broke into a grin.
For the first time in my life, I had a big goal.
"Yeah... with you, I'm starting to think I can actually do it."
"Right then. Let's get started."
Yui pulled out her phone.
"First, we answer the brand inquiry emails. You've left them way too long, big sis."
"Ah, sorry... I had no idea what to write."
"It's fine, I'll make templates. And we need a plan for the members-only streams."
Yui had flipped straight into work mode.
"Let's prep today's stream too. Looks like the waiting room is already past sixty thousand."
"S-sixty thousand?!"
"Yep. More than Tokyo Dome holds. Which means the responsibility is enormous."
Yui clapped me on the shoulder.
"But relax. You've got me."
It hit me all over again how dependable my little sister was.
"Yui... thank you. Really."
"Save the thanks for when you're the number one VTuber in the world."
Yui winked.
"So then, YUICA♡. Looking forward to working with you. Officially."
"Likewise, Producer Yui."
We shook hands, both grinning.
That was our new beginning.
Ping♪
A notification chimed on the phone.
"Ah, another company email..."
Yui checked the screen.
"A formal offer from one of the major VTuber agencies. They want you to sign, with a guaranteed annual income."
"Wait, even that...?"
"Stay independent, or sign with an agency..."
Yui's face went thoughtful.
"This is going to be an important call."
Our challenge had only just begun.
(To be continued)
An invitation from a major agency! What will the sisters choose?!
Next: "The Clueless Big Sister Roasts Japan's Number One VTuber"
--------Afterword--------
Thank you for reading this far!
Misaki and Yui, the leads of this story.
The tale of these two complete opposites of sisters starts in earnest from here.
From the next chapter on, big sister Misaki's cluelessness detonates and blows up into an uproar that shakes the whole VTuber industry.
I'm also planning to slot in interlude chapters that dig deeper into the characters' pasts and inner lives.
The challenge taken on by a gloomy thirty-six-year-old never-been-loved big sister and her relentlessly sunny little sister has only just begun.
Please stick with us.