Chapter 42: The start of a showdown between two proud genius

[Huh? So you ended up collaborating with Izumi?]

“Yeah. Well, I always wanted to do it, but I never thought it would happen like this.”

Yukari chuckled as she recalled that time.

It was a coincidence that Izumi and her mother came to the clothing store where she worked.

And somehow, they ended up having dinner together.

When Izumi’s mother asked Yukari to continue being close to Izumi, Yukari suggested after dinner, “Since this is the case, let’s collaborate next time.”

Izumi glanced at her mother and, after hesitating, nodded.

“I can see now why you mention Izumi every time we talk on the phone.”

[Huh? I don’t do that?!]

“… Let’s go with that.”

When Suzuh shouted, Yukari forced a smile to calm her down.

Of course, it was true that Suzuh brought up Izumi during their phone calls.

Usually, it was just a simple “We talked about this,” but sometimes she would vent her frustrations.

For example, she would say things like, “The DM replies are way too slow!”

Or, “She gets all sensitive over nothing.”

But within Suzuh’s words always lay a deep affection for Izumi.

“Well, it seems like she doesn’t want to admit it…”

Swallowing that thought, Yukari continued, “Anyway, I’m thinking about doing a content collaboration for the Fate’s Showdown broadcast. What do you think?”

[Fate’s Showdown?]

“Yeah. From what I saw in the last broadcast, it seems like Izumi has been a long-time player too.”

Fate’s Showdown was a quite popular mobile RPG in Japan.

The premise involved the protagonist fighting alongside past heroes to save the world, a simple yet engaging theme, complemented by stories crafted by well-known writers.

It was often joked that “I’m not playing a game; I’m reading a novel,” given how story-focused the game was.

This became a marketing strategy, and even seven years after its launch, it maintained a solid user base.

“I think it would be fun to discuss it together.”

Yukari was one of those users.

[But there isn’t really much content to do together in Fate’s Showdown. Would people even like it?]

“Of course, there’s content! Even those who don’t know the game would find it enjoyable.”

[No way…]

“Yep. Gacha broadcasting.”

One of the game’s notorious features, aside from the story, was its horrendous gacha rates.

“Sure, Izumi already did this content once, but gacha broadcasts are fun to watch multiple times, especially for Fate’s Showdown.”

The highest tier, 5-star, had only a 1% chance, and the ceiling price was 70,000 yen.

If the targeted hero appeared before reaching the ceiling, the ceiling would vanish entirely, and there would be no rollover.

In other words, if you drew the targeted hero before the ceiling, the chances of drawing it afterward remained at 1%, no matter how much you spent.

It was a system where you needed to pull the same hero multiple times to enhance it.

With the “limit breakthrough” feature in Fate’s Showdown, this gacha structure was truly vicious.

[…Are you planning to put Izumi through that brutal experience again?]

During the last gacha broadcast, Izumi had spent all her free gems and an additional 60,000 yen just to achieve a single limit breakthrough.

That amounted to a total of 160,000 yen when converted to cash.

Considering only the price, she could have reached her goal by spending the price of two ceilings but ended up spending an extra 20,000 yen.

Of course, there were opinions like “Well, at least she reached her goal, right?” or “Many others spent much more and didn’t get it.”

But no matter how much money Izumi earned from her VTuber activities, 60,000 yen was certainly not an amount a high school student could easily spend.

[Everyone in the community felt sorry for Izumi back then…]

“Come on, there’s no way that would happen again.”

Yukari scoffed at the thought.

The ceiling in Fate’s Showdown required a total of 350 pulls.

Last time, Izumi had done a total of 750 pulls.

So that meant that for the first 740 pulls, the targeted hero hadn’t appeared.

When some community calculated those odds, they found that it was only 3.44%.

Yukari thought it was nonsense for that to happen twice.

[The odds can be unpredictable, you know.]

“…Then there’s nothing we can do about it.”

It was a reckless statement, but it couldn’t be helped.

That was just how gacha worked.

[Well, I guess you two will handle it…]

At Yukari’s response, Suzuh decided to stop thinking about it.

[Oh, right. What was Izumi’s mother like?]

“Izumi’s mother?”

At Suzuh’s question, Yukari recalled Izumi’s mother from earlier.

She had a sharp impression with her upturned eyes and a stoic expression, quite the opposite of Izumi.

Her hair was also pitch black, different from Izumi’s, but it had a soft sheen that indicated good care, despite being difficult to manage with its long length.

The contrast of the black wrap skirt with her white shirt accentuated her mature atmosphere.

To put it simply, she was best described as a beautiful office lady with a cold aura.

But that was only when judging based on appearance alone.

Izumi’s mother treated Yukari kindly, even though they had just met, and her brown eyes were filled with warmth and affection when she looked at Izumi.

Watching that gap between her appearance and personality brought a smile to Yukari’s face.

She was a wonderful person.

Swallowing that thought, Yukari opened her mouth.

“It’s a secret.”

[Ahh!]

[Kaino Izumi★Star’s Flow @Kainolzumi. 6 minutes]

I’ll be collaborating with Akabane Yukari on October 7th at 6 PM!

https://ontu.be/XXXXXXX

#Star’s Flow Season 2 #KainoIzumi #AkabaneYukari #Fate’sShowdown

[Akabane Yukari @AkabaneYukari · 11 minutes]

Gather, my minions! October 7th at 6 PM! The time of fate approaches!

The red witch and the water deity will come together to overcome adversity!

https://ontu.be/XXXXXXX

#Star’s Flow Season 2 #AkabaneYukari #KainoIzumi #Fate’sShowdown

[[Fate’s Showdown] It’s time for the showdown! #KainoIzumi #AkabaneYukari #Star’sFlow]

-(≦)> Izumizumi!

-(≥▽≦)> Izumizumi!

-Akabakat!

-(2≦)> Izumizumi!

It was decided that the broadcast would be on my channel.

[I feel like Izumi’s bad luck will transfer to my channel if we do it on mine.]

“Eh?”

…What does that even mean?

“Um, if I collaborate with you, wouldn’t that be the same?”

[No, no. It feels a little different.]

The sound of Akabane Yukari’s laughter echoed in my ears.

Before I knew it, it was 7:55 PM.

Just five minutes before the collaboration started.

[That aside, I always notice whenever I watch Izumi’s broadcasts, she always starts right on time, doesn’t she?]

“Ah, yeah. W-well, that’s true…”

Usually, VTuber broadcasts tend to start about three to five minutes late.

For instance, if a VTuber announces a broadcast time of 10 PM, it usually starts at around 10:03 PM.

Of course, that doesn’t mean it’s wrong.

Those three to five minutes typically serve as a loading screen before the broadcast starts.

In other words, it’s also considerate for viewers who can’t arrive right at the hour.

But I always started my broadcasts exactly on time when I set a schedule.

The reason is…

[Is it because you follow Nanase-senpai and Hikari-senpai?]

“….”

It was indeed because I was following those two seniors.

Nanase had displayed the loading screen five minutes before the broadcast began from her very first broadcast, and Hikari had said that starting on time is the most important rule in streaming.

In a way, that was the basis of my motto.

But…

[Izumi is always right on time. That might be a little unfair, don’t you think?]

“That’s true…”

[It can’t be helped! You two have different personalities! The way you do things will definitely differ!]

But, since when did I become so overbearing?

…

“Ugh… I can’t help it. I just want to be like them.”

It’s kind of frustrating that I’m the one with the fault in it.

The expectations surrounding me were too great…

[Hey, but I’ve been watching for a while, and it seems like Izumi’s starting late for the first time! I can’t help but feel nervous!]

“Well, that’s great.”

As soon as I said that, the door to the waiting room opened.

“Good evening, everyone!”

The cheerful voice that rang through the speaker was definitely Izumi’s.

I hurriedly glanced at my own face on the screen and noticed it was a bit red.

I should have checked beforehand…

“Hello, Kaino Izumi here!”

“I’m Akabane Yukari.”

The moment I greeted her, Izumi’s sparkling eyes glimmered.

I felt that sheer joy from her in return.

In summary, I had lost my voice and could hardly speak throughout the collaboration.

It was extremely strange.

I didn’t get nervous when I was with my seniors, yet here I was, losing my voice when I was with someone of the same age as me.

In fact, I wanted to yell “Let’s go!” at the start, but all that came out was a pitiful, “H-hello!”

Izumi and Yukari exchanged glances, their eyes shimmering with anticipation.

Finally, Izumi took the lead.

“Today, we’ll be discussing Fate’s Showdown!”

I thought I was going to lose my mind from all the cheers.

The audience’s reactions were through the roof.

The virtual chat was lighting up with comments and emojis.

I think I managed to keep up with the stream, even though my voice was barely there.

I ended up messing up my lines multiple times, forgetting what I had practiced, and couldn’t help but feel my stomach churn as I stumbled over my words.

…At least I managed to read the comments.

Thank goodness for that.

I wanted to get through the collaboration with a smile, but by the end, I was just wishing it would be over.

But thankfully, it didn’t take long before the chat and comments subsided.

As I watched the screen fade to black, I let out a sigh of relief.

“That was a great collaboration! Thank you so much for having me, Yukari!”

As I heard Izumi’s cheerful voice, I couldn’t help but smile at her enthusiasm.

“Thank you for coming, Izumi!”

The collaboration ended smoothly.

Before I knew it, the chat had begun to reflect my own thoughts.

[It was a bit dull, but they were cute together!]

[They compliment each other really well.]

[Can we get more content like this in the future?]

I didn’t want to leave that moment behind.

All I could do was smile.

As I read the comments, my heart felt lighter.

“Well, I guess it was pretty fun in the end.”

Though I felt like I could collapse from exhaustion, I was grateful for the experience.

Back in the waiting room, I took a deep breath to calm my racing heart.

“Did you see those comments?”

Izumi was beaming with joy.

I could feel her enthusiasm radiating from her.

“Yeah! They really seemed to enjoy it.”

“And you were amazing! I was so nervous!”

“It was kind of you to say that.”

I could hardly meet her gaze.

Izumi took a step closer, her eyes sparkling with admiration.

“I think you did a wonderful job too! You shouldn’t be so hard on yourself!”

That compliment made my cheeks flush red.

Izumi smiled at me, and for a moment, I felt like I was floating.

“Thank you, Izumi.”

“No, thank you! I hope we can do this again sometime!”

That simple statement brought a smile to my face.

“Definitely! I’d love that!”

I had finally found the strength to reply, my heart warming from her words.

Even though I stumbled through the collaboration, I realized it was all worth it in the end.

[Akabane Yukari @AkabaneYukari · 10 minutes]

What an amazing collaboration! I had a great time with Kaino Izumi! Thanks for watching, everyone!

#Fate’sShowdown #AkabaneYukari #KainoIzumi #Collaboration