Chapter 118: It’s common knowledge that heroes with famous names are often actually girls.

1st Anniversary.

If you say it stylishly, it’s “1st Anniversary.”

Of course, for a VTuber and their fans, it’s an event of immense significance.
It means they’ve spent a considerable amount of time—one whole year—together.

That’s why VTubers express their gratitude to the fans who have supported them all this time, while also asking for their continued support in the future.

At the same time, fans celebrate the VTuber they’ve been cheering on with all their hearts.

And now, only three weeks remain until the first anniversary broadcast of VTuber “Kaino Izumi.”

“Good work. Here, have a cola.”

“Thank you….”

Akabane, who finished her work first, handed me a cold cola.

“Izumi really can’t even buy cola on her own~.”

“I-I do… buy it alone from convenience stores sometimes…? And we agreed to keep that off-limits during broadcasts….”

“Hmm? I never made that promise, though?”

“Th-that’s true, but….”

The clip titled [Yukari Talking About Izumi’s Cola Order] has already surpassed 300,000 views.

What exactly is so entertaining about that story that so many people watched it?

It’s natural that people have things they can and can’t do.

I just struggle with talking to strangers, that’s all.

There are too many people in this world with no manners.
This world is truly messed up….

“Well, someone had to spill that story sooner or later, right? It just happened to be me. Isn’t it easier to think of it that way?”

“Wouldn’t it have been best if no one ever said anything in the first place…?”

“…Hmph.”

Faced with my flawless logic, Akabane had no choice but to fall silent.
But that doesn’t change the fact that the video has already spread.

What a tragic reality….

“Anyway, I just hope everyone enjoys it. Right?”

“Hehe. Yeah….”

Everyone will probably be really surprised when they hear this news.
I was completely shocked when I first heard about it myself.

[【Drawing Stream】Tonight’s Stream is a Drawing Session]

— Wow, Mei-chan’s doing a drawing stream after so long.

“Y-Yeah, really.”

The last time I did a drawing stream was about… three months ago?

Well, I was busy with my 3D debut stream, my birthday celebration stream, and preparations for the upcoming first anniversary stream.
And most importantly, I wasn’t in a situation where I could draw on stream in the first place.

“Hmm… For today’s drawing… I, I was thinking of drawing a character from Fateful Duel…. What should I go with…?”

— The blue one, please!
— How about Swimsuit Senpai?

As various suggestions flooded the chat, one particular name caught my eye.

“Hmm. Should I go with Okita-chan…?”

Okita Souji (沖田 総司).

A historical figure from the late Edo period of Japan, who served as the captain of the first unit in the Shinsengumi, a law enforcement organization.

Okita Souji is best known for two traits—being a sickly genius swordsman.

Naturally, Fateful Duel’s personal storyline for her heavily focuses on those aspects.

And of course, she’s a woman.

I mean, her nickname is literally Okita-chan (沖田ちゃん)—

That should be enough to make it obvious, right?

Well, as I’ve mentioned before, it’s common knowledge that many famous historical heroes were actually girls.

So, there’s no need to explain that part again.

A frail yet genius swordswoman…
Who could have come up with such a terrifying combination?
Every time I see her, I feel like giving a standing ovation out of sheer admiration….

As I settled on Okita-chan as today’s drawing subject and started moving my pen, a sudden thought crossed my mind.

“Hey… You know…? I, I just got curious about something….”

— When Mei-chan says something like this, it’s usually not a good sign…

“I’m coming up on my 1st anniversary soon, right…? So I’ve been preparing for it, b-but…
Do I really have to do a first-anniversary live concert…?”

— Yep~ Yep~ This is definitely going to start a fire!

“No! O-Of course, I’m going to do it! But j-just hear me out first….”

Think about it.

In just the past two months, I already had two major live events—one for my 3D debut and another for my birthday celebration.
And now, another one for my first anniversary?

That’s three live concerts in three consecutive months.
Isn’t that too much?

Shouldn’t a live concert from a super cute girl like me be a bit more rare and special?

As I organized my thoughts and explained them—

— Yep~ Yep~ Definitely going to be a firestorm!!!

Not a single Izutomo in chat sided with me.

“Wh-why won’t you understand me?!”

I even made a logical argument, so even if it wasn’t convincing, couldn’t you just go along with it?

-But this time, it’s clearly Mei-chan’s fault…

…Well, I don’t really have a counterargument to that.

Actually, the 1st-anniversary broadcast for our 2nd-gen members was in a bit of an awkward situation.

The reason was simple—Utsumi, Aki, and Koga debuted on the same day, while Akabane and I debuted on another shared date.

Just looking at our 1st-gen seniors, Kurokami debuted on October 21, Namikawa on October 22, Amatsuka on October 23, Yuzuki on October 24, and Minazuki on October 25.
This way, no one’s anniversary broadcast overlapped, ensuring that each person could have their own special day.

However, in our 2nd-gen’s case, the company’s scheduling got a bit tangled, leading to this overlap.

Of course, some companies leave anniversary celebrations entirely up to the VTuber and their fans.
Even during the peak of VTuber popularity, there were plenty of agencies like that, where overlapping anniversary broadcasts weren’t an issue.
Some even held collabs for anniversary celebrations.

But in the case of StarzFlow, the company actively supports anniversary broadcasts, making them grand events.
So, the overlapping debut dates turned out to be quite a headache, as M-chan sighed while explaining.

That didn’t mean we could cancel the anniversary live broadcast, though.

After nearly a week of discussions between the company and the 2nd-gen members, the final decision was…

[Virtual Ontuber Minor Gallery]

[Title: StarzFlow << These f**ers suck, upvote if you agree*]
[Author: Anonymous]

July 10: 7 PM Ayaka live, 8:30 PM Nekoto live, 10 PM Suzuha live
July 11: 8 PM Yukari live, 9:30 PM Izumi live
Bruh, there’s no break for two whole days. Do these f***ers not care about people who have jobs?

[Upvotes: 21 / Downvotes: 65]

Oyabun🔸: If you’re living the VTuber life, having back-to-back lives means we can keep watching our girls.
└ Oyabun🔸: Instead of being happy, you’re asking for break time…?
└ Oyabun🔸: You deserve to get flamed.
└ uwu: Is this the dignity of the mod…?
└ Anonymous: I mean, still, this is way too much for working people, f*ck.
└ Oyabun🔸: Watching lives is rest time, not work.
└ Oyabun🔸: This dude’s just trying to start drama.
└ IGotMyGiraffeDrawing: Let the worship of the mod begin.

…

Anonymous: So you’re saying you’re not unemployed?
└ Anonymous: Why you? Why you? Why you? Why you? Why you? Why you?

DudukliOnline🔹: Whining about how hard it is to watch lives…
└ DudukliOnline🔹: You don’t deserve the VTuber life.

[【1st Anniversary Countdown】Let’s celebrate the anniversary together!]

-Are you going to fall asleep again this time?

“…Th-that’s not going to happen.”

Honestly, saying I wasn’t sleepy would be a lie.

After all, even during the school term, I always go to sleep by 1 AM at the latest.
On average, I usually fall asleep around 11 PM.

If I fell asleep during the 150k endurance stream, and then again now… that would 100% cause a massive backlash.

So I definitely couldn’t fall asleep.
I’m a growing, evolving VTuber—Kaino Izumi.

-By the way, did you get scolded for that 1st-anniversary live broadcast comment?

“You mean… that? Actually… M-chan got super mad at me…”

I had never seen M-chan that genuinely angry before—she was seriously pissed about what I said to the viewers.

Trying to explain that I was just thinking out loud didn’t work at all.
Instead, I got hit with the undeniable truth—that if I had those thoughts, I should have discussed them with the company first, not blurted them out on stream.

Reporting, contacting, and consulting really are important.

Of course, since I got scolded so much back then, this time, I had already gotten permission from M-chan.

When I asked if I could tell my viewers that I got scolded, M-chan let out the most exhausted sigh over the phone… I still can’t forget that sound.

But hey, since I properly reported, contacted, and consulted, I did nothing wrong!

As I chatted with the Izutomo about anniversary emotes and other topics, the clock on the screen quietly ticked forward.

Before I knew it, the time was 11:59:51 PM.

“I-it’s coming…! …5!”

-5!

“4!”

-4!

“3!”

-3!

“2!”

-2!

“1!”

-1!

“Hehe…! K-Kaino Izumi… has s-successfully reached the 1st anniversary…! C-Congratulations! Waaah!”

-🎉
-🎉

=Anima JP¥ 50,000: Let’s keep going strong until the 2nd and 3rd anniversary!
=Bro JP¥ 50,000: The universe’s greatest super extrovert mood-maker, Mei-chan, fighting!

[Maker Membership Duration – 11 months: Congratulations on your 1st anniversary!]
[IzumiLove Membership Duration – 11 months: Finally, the 1st anniversary is here!]

“Everyone, th-thank you…!”

The chat was flooded with firework emojis, hyper chats, and membership notifications.
Everything was signaling my 1st anniversary celebration, yet somehow, it still didn’t feel real.

“One year… huh….”

As I repeated those words, memories of my streaming journey flashed through my mind.

Breaking character the moment I started.
Losing my temper while doing TLQ the next day and going on a two-week suspension after just two days.
Passing monetization and doing a group collab with my fellow 2nd-gen members.

It still didn’t feel real, but at least I knew that I had spent a whole year with them.

“Everyone, seriously… thank you so much…!”

-We’re always thankful too!
-🎉

“Heheh….”

After expressing my gratitude one last time and chatting for a bit, I finally gave in to the overwhelming number of requests.

“Ugh, I really don’t want to do this….”

-You’re the one who said you’d do it, Mei-chan.

“Sigh….”

And then, it began playing.

[Hello, everyone. My name is Kaino Izumi.]

It was my… debut stream.

-LOL, your voice is still so small even now.

“I-I was just nervous because it was my first time….”

[Anyways, well, I, uh, was just watching OnTube alone as usual, and then suddenly, I thought—hasn’t it been a while since I last spoke?]

-This is just so sad…
-As long as this video exists, Mei-chan will always be the (self-proclaimed) super extrovert mood-maker…

“Agh… s-shut up!”

[Well, I can’t make eye contact when talking, I st-stutter, and I have no sense of social cues, so obviously….]

-Are you any different now?

“I-I can make eye contact… with one person at a time….”

[-Promise to do a debut stream rewatch next year.]
[Ah, no, no way. I’d die of embarrassment watching that….]

-Oh? So you’d cry?

“….”

Something about this…

[Right, right. Especially in that last episode, the quality of the fight scene was insane, right? You could feel how desperate Satoru was, and it was so moving.]

“….”

Something about this is making me cringe.
I feel like my face is getting hotter.

-Why did she suddenly go quiet?

[Not to mention, the way they portrayed the emotional exchange between the heroine and the protagonist—it completely surpassed the original manga. It was so touching. I rewatch it every week. If you haven’t seen it yet—]

“Hngh….”

-?
-Are you crying?

“I-I’m n-not crying…?! Hhic…“

-She must be shedding tears of joy for her 1st anniversary.
-Nah, she’s obviously crying from embarrassment, just like past Mei-chan said, lol.

“I-I’m not crying…! Grrr!”

This isn’t tears—it’s sweat from working hard today!
There’s no way I’d cry from embarrassment. No way.

[…]

And just like that, my debut stream from a year ago came to an end.

“….”

…And in silence, I ended my stream, too.

-Did she… not grow at all in a year…?

“Uwaaaaaah?! Am I stupid or what?!”

And so, I ended up kicking my blanket around in embarrassment until I fell asleep.