Chapter 51

[Whisper from Inagika: Sorry, Laura…]

[Whisper from Inagika: The seniors suddenly came to our base…]

[Whisper from Inagika: Could you take care of them for me…?]

Inagika sent me a whisper.

By the way, Inagika’s avatar was standing still in the distance.

She probably lied about going to the bathroom and was now in an AFK (Away From Keyboard) state.

She must have been struggling to handle the seniors by herself.

“Hello, Senior Rinco.”

I greeted her with a smile.

“You’re so formal. You can call me something softer.”

“I’m not very familiar with VTubing, so I’m not sure what the proper title would be in situations like this. Could you teach me, please?”

“Your way of speaking is really unique. You can just call me however you like—Rinco is fine, or if you don’t like that, Rinco-unnie or Rinco-senior would work too.”

“There are so many options to choose from. But is it okay to talk to me like this?”

I asked.

“We, the 6th generation, haven’t fully lifted the collaboration restrictions yet. I thought we were only allowed to interact with seniors through chat.”

“That’s true. But we’re not streaming right now, are we? The viewers can’t hear us, so it’s fine.”

“Oh, I see.”

I nodded.

Even though we hadn’t exchanged many words, I understood. Kisaki Rinco held considerable influence within EYEAI.

She thought that bending the rules a little wasn’t a big deal.

“Rinco-senior has a lot of subscribers.”

Anna explained in a whisper.

“Basically, the company is in charge. They have a tight grip on the copyright of our avatars, so it’s typical to follow orders… But someone like Rinco-senior, who represents the company, you could say she’s in a ‘superior’ position.”

What if Rinco announced her retirement tomorrow?

Rinco has 300,000 subscribers. That would almost be like they disappeared overnight.

Of course, not all 300,000 would leave EYEAI, but the impact would still be significant.

More importantly, the company’s image would suffer greatly.

A company that failed to protect its ‘signboard.’

Who would want to join EYEAI after that? If they couldn’t even protect their top star, it’s hard to believe they could manage the rest properly.

EYEAI is synonymous with Kisaki Rinco.

Kisaki Rinco is synonymous with EYEAI.

At this point, Kisaki Rinco was EYEAI itself, and EYEAI was Kisaki Rinco itself.

Anna explained that the company treated Kisaki Rinco with the utmost care.

‘I did notice her voice was stronger on Discord too.’

“So, what brings the seniors here? There’s not much to see in this humble place.”

“I heard rumors that cute juniors were carving up the mountain. It sounded too harsh, so I came to check it out.”

Kisaki Rinco casually glanced at the mountain. There, I saw the avatars of several senior VTubers.

They were all wielding shiny pickaxes and shovels, carving away at high speed. Some were even detonating bombs.

“So, we came to help with the mountain. After all, the reason for the whole ‘Three-Headed Ghost’ incident was because Sora wanted a beacon, right?”

“I suppose if you trace the cause, that’s how it would be.”

“And Sora wanted the beacon because it had the ‘increased work speed’ option, so she could carve up the mountain faster. It’s our fault for not taking care of that, leading to this mess.”

“Oh, how kind of you.”

If this were the military, Kisaki Rinco would feel like a squad leader.

That thought crossed my mind for a moment.

“But that’s just the surface reason. Honestly, I just wanted to talk to the famous Aurora.”

Rinco walked off somewhere with quick steps.

She glanced at me repeatedly, as if signaling me to follow.

When I followed her, we arrived at a secluded forest.

“Do you know about the Labyrinthos VR Streamer League, Laura?”

She tossed the question casually.

“Yes, I know. Anna wanted to participate in it.”

“I see. Do you have any plans to participate?”

“I’m not sure. I haven’t really thought about it.”

Honestly, I had never participated in a gaming tournament before.

It wasn’t for any particular reason.

Most tournaments were team-based, and choosing a team was honestly a hassle.

There are far more male players than female, and even if I joined a tournament, the atmosphere might get awkward with me being the only woman.

Beyond that, sorting through the team conditions one by one was exhausting.

So I had never applied for any tournament, regardless of the game. I was afraid it would ruin the pure enjoyment of the game.

“Well, I want you to think about it seriously from now on.”

Rinco spoke with a very serious tone.

“As positively as possible.”

“It sounds like you want me to participate in the tournament.”

“Yes. I’m sure your viewers would want to see you compete as well, so it’s something worth considering seriously at least once.”

With that, Rinco walked ahead again.

“That’s all I wanted to say. You can pretend you didn’t hear it, if you want.”

***

“Please choose Party Playtime! But only if Laura plays with me…!”

Rion had just returned home from work.

And she saw Anna bowing in front of Laura.

“…What are you doing at our house?”

“I’m begging for my life.”

“Your life…?”

“I’ll literally die if I play a horror game! What if I get a heart attack while playing? Will you give me worker’s compensation for that?!”

“A person’s heart doesn’t stop that easily, you know…?”

Rion was dumbfounded. Anna must have really hated horror games to come all the way here.

After assessing the situation, Rion sighed.

“Unnie, what are you going to do about her?”

“From her eyes, I could see her resolve. The determination that she would cling to this house for the rest of her life if we didn’t reduce the horror games for her.

It was frustrating that she displayed her willpower in such unnecessary matters. …Was Anna always like this?”

“If I remember correctly, she used to be a lazybones, but a bit cooler.”

Ever since meeting Laura, it felt like her personality had strangely shifted.

Although Rion was also managing Anna, honestly, she just wanted her to go home.

So she gave Laura a look, signaling her to just agree and send Anna away quickly.

“Under that condition, you’ll have to play through the entire series.”

Thankfully, Laura, who was quick to catch on, understood Rion’s thoughts.

Though, of course, because of her noblewoman shtick or whatever, she didn’t simply nod easily.

“…Excuse me?”

“I believe there are three titles in the series. If you agree to play through Party Playtime 3, I’ll consider it.”

Laura said.

That was a big concession coming from Laura. Rion thought so.

After all, her unnie never usually made concessions no matter what.

‘She must find Anna somewhat cute, perhaps?’

Rion sensed something like that.

Though Anna could be annoying at times, she had a strange quality that made it hard to truly dislike her. And thinking about it, Anna was probably Laura’s first connection in the VTuber world.

Laura might cherish Anna in her own way.

“So, I get to do three collaborations with Laura, right…?”

“That’s correct.”

“I’ll get to meet Laura three times… If that’s the case, yes…”

In the end, Anna nodded too.

Rion thought it wasn’t a bad deal.

From Laura’s perspective, she would eventually have to face horror games at some point.

Horror games attract views. Whether it’s a major streamer or a small one, subscriber count doesn’t matter.

People enjoy watching reactions, so horror content tends to do well.

But in Laura’s case, that wasn’t quite the case.

‘…She never seems to get scared.’

If there’s one emotion Laura seems to lack, it’s fear.

She says otherwise, but seeing her beat down monsters and enemies in games, it just seems like a lie.

With someone like her, there’s no way she would have a great reaction to ghosts or zombies in horror games.

So, teaming up with the scaredy-cat Anna to handle the horror content wasn’t a bad idea, Rion judged.

With that, the dramatic compromise was settled.

However, Anna… didn’t go home.

“It’s already late, so I’ll just sleep over tonight.”

Did she coat her face with steel or something…?

Laura seemed to have a bit of a soft spot for Anna, and Anna had an oddly fond attitude toward Laura, so in the end, they decided Anna would sleep over.

At least Anna would treat us to dinner.

She ordered a ton of delivery food.

Anna’s few redeeming qualities… or maybe her only redeeming quality—the ‘privileged trait’ of being born into wealth—came into play here.

Well, there were no complaints. Considering we were letting her stay for the night, it felt fair to receive at least this much as payment for lodging.

Anyway, as the three of us sat together for dinner.

“Did Rinco-senior really say that?”

I heard an unexpected story from Anna.

“Yes. She spoke to Laura in such a serious tone.”

“So that happened…”

I glanced at Laura’s face, but she looked the same as usual. A flawless smile, as always.

She always seemed calm, confident, and elegant. It was impossible to tell what she was feeling or thinking.

…Well, this was the kind of person who wouldn’t even flinch if a meteor struck.

There was no need to worry about Laura.

‘I’m more worried about Rinco-senior, though…’

It had been about three months since Rinco last played Labyrinthos. And even then, she had only played a few games.

After the end of the last season, she had almost completely quit Labyrinthos.

Despite being a Master rank.

‘But Rinco-senior has her reasons…’

When I exchanged a secret glance with Anna, she just blinked back at me.

We silently agreed not to mention last year’s ‘incident’ to Laura.

It wasn’t something for us to bring up, and digging it up wouldn’t do any good.

More than anything, we wanted Laura to treat Rinco with pure intentions.

‘But what if Rinco-senior is still burnt out…’

Rion clicked her tongue absentmindedly.

***

EYEAI Official @EYEAI_official

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Decision for the EYEAI Labyrinthos VR Tournament!!!

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To commemorate the release of the Labyrinthos Arcade Mode! A tournament featuring EYEAI talents!

Main Tournament Teams:

* Spring Team (Coach: Kisaki Rinco)

* Summer Team (Coach: Taneba Ainatsu)

* Autumn Team (Coach: Miyamoto Veronica)

* Winter Team (Coach: Aurora)

(The members of each team will be revealed one by one daily.)

Tournament Commentary and MC:

* Kisaki Rinco, Taneba Ainatsu, Miyamoto Veronica, and Aurora

Special One-on-One Match:

* Kisaki Rinco VS Aurora