Chapter 4: VTuber easy?

I quietly muted the microphone.

“Now there’s no sound at all?”

“Can’t even hear breathing.”

“Breaking news: StarFlow 2nd gen member Kaino Izumi goes missing just 1 minute into debut broadcast.”

“Let’s just graduate like this.”

“Impact is off the charts ᄏᄏ”

“What should I do?”

I checked a few communities, including the Naiter, and as expected, it was burning up.

-[StarFlow 2nd gen Kaino Izumi, atmosphere maker (mute)]

-[At least do some RP ᄏᄏ]

-[This is a bit refreshing]

-[Refreshing or not, is it okay to be like this on the first day?]

-[StarFlow, a trash company level ᄏᄏᄏ]

-[Debut starts with disaster ᄃ]

W-well, it doesn’t seem to be burning up too badly, so that’s a relief.

[Manager: Izumi-san? Is there a problem with the equipment?]

It seems like I caused a mess right from the start, but thankfully, the manager didn’t make a big deal of it. Real

professionals are so kind.

Over five minutes had passed since I muted the microphone.
And for some reason,

“So what’s this broadcast about?”

“No idea.”

“But the avatar really looks pretty well made, doesn’t it?”

“I’m actually watching just because of that.”

The number of real-time viewers kept increasing. I would have preferred if the number of viewers had decreased a little.

Anyway, I wanted to end the broadcast like this, but that wouldn’t do.

[Manager: Izumi-san, please start again quickly.]

The manager was urging me.

“Ha.”

Yeah. I didn’t really do anything wrong, so there’s no need to be scared.

After all, the people watching my broadcast are all nerds like me.

I should do this confidently.

“Ha.”

Taking a final deep breath, I unmuted the microphone again.

“Sorry! There was a problem with the equipment!”

“Total nonsense ᄂ”

“Clearly muted the mic because you were scared.”

“But the voice is normal this time ᄏᄏ”

“Already made a clip of the debut broadcast failing at RP.”

“Uh, really?”

Are you guys reacting too quickly?

I don’t want to be stuck with a bad image…

“So, are we not doing the broadcast?”

“Ah, s-sorry! I started the broadcast and immediately muted the mic.”

I hadn’t progressed at all.

“Uh, okay! Then let’s start with the self-introduction.”

“First time seeing an introduction being this shaky.”

“How is this atmosphere maker?”

“Just erase that setting from your mind.”

“What’s left if you erase the setting from a VTuber?”

“ᄅᄋᄏᄏ”
Ignoring the chat, I displayed the organized profile on the screen and slowly began the self-introduction.

“Ah, nice to meet you all, going forward.”

“Still, the self-introduction was quite neat.”

“Starting off with a bang and then a neat introduction, impressive broadcast talent.”

“But that part in the middle was a bit much.”

“ᄅᄋ ᄏᄏ Don’t underestimate VTubers.”

“How can you cause so many problems right from the start?”

“There was nothing in the middle, though?!”

Stop trying to create more issues.

“So now, I’m planning to decide on a fan name and various things.”

I had several fan name ideas, but since I didn’t want to choose something that might seem tacky, I was thinking of

getting recommendations from the viewers.

As someone who can’t mix well with people but is overly conscious of their gaze.

I hope the fan name turns out as cool as Natt’s eighth star.

-“Just pick something simple.”

-“Just go with Izutomo (友) and be done with it.”

-“That sounds good.”

-“Simple names are better than complicated ones.”

For some reason, the chat’s reaction was favorable towards the simple name suggestions.
Why is that?

I was thinking of a grand name like ‘Followers of the Water Deity’.

“Uh, um.”

“So we’re the first friends of Izumi, right?”

“It seems fitting since a self-proclaimed atmosphere maker would need friends.”

“I’m going to be Izumi’s friend…”

…I can’t turn this flow around.

With the sense honed over 40 years of being an introvert, I could tell for sure.

“Then, I’ll go with the fan name Izutomo. I mean, I’ll use it.”

“Good.”

“At first, I thought it was a boring broadcast, but it’s actually interesting.”

“The sense of hitting a sandbag is incredible.”

“I’d like to beat it every day ᄏᄏ”

Somehow, my viewers seem a bit harsh right from the first day.

It would be nice if they were a little kinder…

It had been 30 minutes since the debut broadcast started.

[Manager: Izumi-san, please start preparing to wrap up.]

Since the manager was saying that, I should start preparing to end it.

• “Well, I’m thinking of wrapping up soon, so if you have any questions, I’ll answer a few from the chat.”
• “Reasons for applying?”
• “Why did you apply if you can’t even speak properly?”
• “What made you apply?”
• “Reasons for applying…?
• My mom suggested I try it, and after some hesitation, I applied on a whim.

But saying that would definitely cause a flame war.

Let me think of a more plausible and nod-worthy reason.

Being clueless is a basic skill for introverts, but with about 40 years of life experience, I should be able to come up

with something somewhat plausible…
…I hope.

“Uh. Can I be honest?”

Was I planning to lie?

“Be sincere with the viewers.”

“That’s not it! Anyway, you all must have realized from the start how terrible the RP was. Well, I, uh, I’ve never had a

single friend to call in my entire life, so I’m a super high-level introvert, you know? It’s natural that I can’t make eye

contact while talking, stutter, and have no sense of social cues…”

“That’s a bit sad.”

“We’re sorry.”

“This isn’t what we wanted to hear.”

“We were hoping for some passion for VTubing.”

“I’m not lacking in passion for VTubing, no, really. Anyway, I just thought that if I did VTubing, I might find some

people to communicate with, since I hadn’t spoken much lately.”

“Sorry.”

“I’m not even like this ᄏᄏ”

What’s this, the viewers who seemed harsh until now have started being kind.

Sure, it’s a sad story, but it feels kind of nice.

“Hehe… So I thought if I did VTubing, I might make some connections, so I decided to apply.”

“But isn’t the RP completely collapsed now?”

“Now you realize?”

“That was given up long ago ᄏᄏ”

“What’s left if you erase the setting from a VTuber ᄏᄏ”

“And I thought you had an interview, so why would they give you such a concept?”

“Amazing, StarFlow!”
“ᄅᄋᄏᄏ”

“Ah, I completely agree. Honestly, I don’t think I answered anything correctly in the interview, so I’m surprised I

passed. I even thought they were trying to kill me with the setting.”

“Now you’re even using honorifics and not changing your tone.”

“Atmosphere maker (super introvert).”

“The RP being terrible is its charm.”

“Somehow, the stuttering in between is kind of cute.”

“A bit ᄋᄌ…”

“Anyway, I am Kaino Izumi, right? I’ll be active and work hard on the broadcast from now on!”

From today, my goal is to become a growing VTuber.

I still believe a little in the saying that the environment changes a person!

“Be sure to watch the debut broadcast a year later.”

“Ah, I really don’t want to. I think I’ll cry from embarrassment while watching it…”

“Then cry.”

“We want to see you cry.”

Why are you turning back into harsh viewers?

I was expecting a much kinder world…

-“Well, then I’ll take the last question and wrap up.”

-“Any recent anime you enjoyed?”

-“Ah, yes. ‘The Dark Uncle’s Survival Diary!'”

-“Oh, that’s fun.”

-“It was the most interesting among recent releases.”

‘The Dark Uncle’s Survival Diary’ is about an ordinary office worker, Sato Satoru, who is transported to another

world and struggles to survive. I followed the manga from episode 1, and I was so happy when it was confirmed for

animation that I jumped up and down on my bed.

“Yeah, yeah. Especially the quality of the battle scene in the last episode, right? You could really feel Satoru’s

desperate sincerity, it was so touching, you know? And also, there was a conversation with the heroine in the middle,

and honestly, the emotional depth shown in the animation surpassed the manga, so it was incredibly moving. I

watch it again at least once a week. If anyone hasn’t seen it yet…”

I was so happy that everyone was agreeing with my story that I ended up talking non-stop, and then I saw those chat messages.

“Wow, this isn’t a concept, it’s ‘real’.”

“Even the fact that he’s trying to stick to the RP while explaining in casual speech is more annoying ᄏᄏ”

“He’s not stuttering at all, so it’s really real…”

Seeing those messages, I quietly shut my mouth and then quietly turned off the broadcast.

Without any closing remarks.

“Even the end of the broadcast is legendary.”

“Expecting more from the flame artist, Kaino Izumi.”

And in the subsequent phone call with the manager, I could hear her sighs more than ten times.

But no matter how I think about it, I believe the biggest problem is StarFlow.
Don’t you all think so?

“…I definitely drew aggro.”

It’s obvious that StarFlow is currently the most notable company in the VTuber industry.

It’s only natural since none other than Nacchan is affiliated with the company.

To put it into perspective, before the debut broadcast, the subscribers of the 2nd generation OnTube channels, including me, had already exceeded 50,000.

So, a new talent from such a prominent company makes a huge mistake on the first day?

It was only natural to attract aggro and cause a blaze.

Over 80% of the current VTuber community topics were related to me.

It was a mess with people going crazy trying to figure out my ‘past life’.

• A mix of baseless criticism and somewhat positive praise.
• And on top of that, trolls from other places.
• It’s really a mess.
• But it seems like the company is viewing the situation quite positively.

[Manager: This is actually the best time to grow.]

If you can firmly capture the audience when you draw aggro like this, it can lead to channel growth.

I thought so too, and in fact, I had the most subscribers among the 2nd-generation newcomers.

Well, it wasn’t a significantly large number, just a few thousand more.

“Maybe I should do a game broadcast tomorrow…”

If there’s a broadcast that suits me best right now, it would definitely be a game broadcast.

No need to talk much, and just being a pretty girl who is good at games will get praise from male introvert otakus!

I’m confident in my skills too!

Alright, so which game should I play?

“…This one seems good.”

I found it while scanning the list of games I had downloaded in advance.