Chapter 7: The Clueless Big Sister Roasts Japan's Number One VTuber

"Stay independent, or sign with an agency..."

Yui was frowning over the offer from the major VTuber agency.

A prestigious outfit—the one with the ace who tops the subscriber charts in Japan.

Signing would definitely speed up our growth through collabs, and would just as definitely cost us freedom.

How much roasting they'd tolerate was anyone's guess.

"What do you want to do, big sis?"

"Mmm..."

I couldn't decide either. Until yesterday I was an ordinary part-timer. Was I really equipped to make a call this big?

"It might be... too early to decide."

Yui set the phone down.

"Agreed. Let's read the situation a bit longer before we commit. We're at three hundred and twenty thousand now, but there's no telling how far it climbs."

"Yeah. Better careful than rushing on momentum and regretting it."

That was when something caught my attention.

"Hey, Yui. Is there a sweat smell in here?"

"Huh?"

Yui hurriedly sniffed her own armpit.

"Ugh! You're right! I rushed straight home from the trip, I haven't had a bath yet!"

True enough—she'd dragged that big suitcase in and gone straight into a long conversation.

"I'm going to go wash. You start the stream like normal, big sis!"

"Got it."

On her way to the bathroom, Yui turned back.

"Oh—with this much attention on you, antis are going to crawl out for sure. Be careful."

"Antis? What do I do if one shows up?"

"Your whole thing is roasting, so just punch back hard. Chat will love it."

And with that she disappeared into the bathroom.

I went to Yui's room by myself and started setting up the stream.

[Stream start]

"Good evening, everyone. Thanks for coming again today."

The viewer count was past sixty thousand within minutes of going live. I was getting used to numbers like that.

"All right, life advice again today. Anyone with a problem, go ahead."

[Super Chat: ¥2,000]

"A junior at work, is it... What are they doing, specifically?"

As I got the details, it turned out to be a fairly tangled bit of office politics. A recent hire was apparently treating the person asking—their senior—like a joke.

"I see... But aren't juniors all a bit like that at first?"

"Ah. Okay, yes, that is infuriating."

I sighed at the screen.

"Here's the thing, though. Juniors like that are almost always putting on a front because they have no confidence."

"And because you're scared and holding back, they get even cockier."

"Easy. Get properly angry at them. Once."

My voice was dropping lower.

"Say it plainly: 'Don't screw with me.' A junior is a junior. That's all they are."

"Are you listening? Keep holding back and they'll keep walking over you forever."

"Quit dithering! Tell them: don't take the real world for a joke!"

I made an exasperated face at the camera.

"In the end you have to hit ignorant people straight on. You'll feel better for it too."

That was when it happened.

An unfamiliar name appeared in the chat.

[Super Chat: ¥10,000]

Wait. Who is this? Roast-style... she doesn't mean me, does she?

A ten-thousand-yen Super Chat, and the chat went loud all at once.

The pigs started making noise all at once.

The Captain? Who's that? If they all know her, she must be a VTuber?

The icon did look like a VTuber's, sure. But I know nothing about this industry, so I had no idea who she was.

Then a voice chat request came in from this Captain.

I decided to accept it.

"Um... Miss Hououin? This question of yours—are you trying to provoke me?"

Seira Hououin: "Greetings, tiny people of Earth. Shall I look down upon you from the summit of the galaxy again today?"

What is with this person. A cute anime-character voice, and the insufferable attitude of somebody's boss.

"What even is that name? It sounds like some theater revue company."

Seira Hououin: "You do not know the Galactic Opera Fleet? ...Do not tell me you have been cut off from Earth's communication networks, wretch."

What? Her vocabulary and delivery are... distinctive.

But she did drop ten thousand yen on a Super Chat, so let's see where this goes.

"No, I really don't know you, so could you introduce yourself first?"

And the comments went wild.

Seira Hououin: "Y-you insolent creature. Very well... Across the galaxy runs the course of love and glory! I am the Galactic Opera Fleet—Captain, Seira Hououin!"

What was that. Did she get it off an anime or something?

"...Oh my. Did a poet wander in? 'Galactic,' 'opera,' what? Are you on a spaceship? ...Hence the 'Captain'? Huh. That's kind of a problem, isn't it."

Seira Hououin: "What did you say? You—some knockoff sharp-tongue who crawled out of nowhere—don't get cocky with me!"

Ah. So this is what Yui meant by an "anti."

Right. Let's hit back hard enough that she never tries it again.

"Knockoff sharp-tongue, is it? ...And yet even a knockoff like me has never heard of you. Who exactly do you think you are?"

For some reason the comments were going berserk.

Seira Hououin: "Fine. I do not dislike a little insolence!" "How about it? Become my subordinate and I might let you aboard this vessel."

"Excuse me? Why would I board a ship that cringey? And could you drop the talking-down thing just because you've been around a bit longer?"

Seira Hououin: "...Hold on. Do you genuinely not know who I am? Do you know what 'pro wrestling' means? It is basic entertainment literacy. Even idiots have it."

The Captain was baiting me with more words that made no sense.

And the pigs, as always, hyped and loud.

"No, I don't know you. And who exactly are you calling 'you' like that? Also, 'pro wrestling'? That's so middle-school it's painful."

Seira Hououin: "Heh... You have nerve. That a half-baked beginner like you would speak to me that way."

"Hold on, seriously, what is this person? All that talk about space and she's this small-minded. Let's see... less the captain of a 'starship,' more the captain of one of those cars plastered with anime girls?"

Seira Hououin: "You! What is your problem?! If that's how you want it, I'll give it to you!"

"God, you're loud. Doesn't it occur to you that losing it like that looks pathetic? This isn't how adults behave."

Seira Hououin: "Pff, then let me ask you something~. Those streams of yours, what are they? Sermons dressed up as 'straight talk'? What are you, the end result of a kid whose mommy never paid her any attention?"

"Oh dear, now it's insults about me? Get mocked and immediately flip out—you really are small."

Seira Hououin: "And anyway, what's with calling your listeners 'pigs'? Okay, I felt that one a little. I'm fond of livestock myself. Speaking of which—shut up already, you pigs!"

...Excuse me?

Something in me snapped.

"Hold it right there, you piece of trash!"

"I'm the only one who gets to call these people pigs!"

"Keep your hands off my pigs!"

The chat detonated.

Seira Hououin: "Ahahaha! She's mad, she's mad♪ Hey, hey, are you actually seriously angry? Oh damn... you're a genius."

"That's right! The only one above me is me! You're worth less than a pig!"

Seira Hououin: "Less than a pig?! Now I'm pissed! Bring it on! Then prove it—prove you're above me!!"

Seira Hououin: "All you do is bark on your own home turf! Fine—come to my ring next!!

Out there you're just a shut-in who can't sing or dance, right?!"

"Excuse me? Bring it on! Talking down at me in that Showa-era delivery."

"Oh—and that 'Captain.' Are we sure it isn't the other kanchou? The finger-up-the-backside one?"

Seira Hououin: "...Hmph. I like this one. Keep charging ahead in your ignorance, Landmine Princess." "I'll send you a date and time later! Don't you dare run! I'm going to beat you into the ground."

And with that, the Captain left the stream.

By this point the subscriber count had broken four hundred thousand.

The pigs were still whooping it up in the comments, but this made three days straight, so I decided to end early today.

[After the stream]

"Whew... I'm wiped."

I ended the stream and slumped back in the chair. Today felt especially draining.

"Good work, big sis!"

Yui came out of the bath and into the living room wrapped in a towel.

"Oh, Yui. Thanks."

"How was today's stream?"

"Yeah, not bad. Some weirdo picked a fight with me, so I took her up on it."

"Wait, you fought an anti?"

"Mm, a VTuber, apparently. Some incomprehensible woman called Seira Hououin came at me."

The color drained out of Yui's face.

"What? What? Did you just... say Seira Hououin?"

Nearly dropping the towel, Yui bolted for the PC.

"AAAAH! That's the actual Captain!! And you... you roasted her into the ground!"

"Huh? Is she famous?"

"I mean... are you being serious right now?"

I genuinely had not known. Four million two hundred thousand subscribers.

Enthroned at the top of the VTuber world, the number one VTuber in Japan—

Seira Hououin of the Galactic Opera Fleet (GKSA), known to everyone as the Captain.

(To be continued)

She roasted Japan's number one VTuber—and on top of that,

declared war on her. What fate awaits big sister now?