Chapter 52: Compliment ‘give me’

Suddenly, a thought crossed my mind.

Haven’t I been working really hard lately?

I stream almost every day, never skip school, and I talk to Koga Yang or Akabane Yang daily. Doesn’t that make me

incredibly diligent?

So, I kind of feel like someone should give me an intense compliment for being like this.

When I think about my relationships, it’s mostly my mom, sister, Koga Yang, Akabane Yang, and the Izutomo crew…

Mom is out of the question. She’s busy with work, traveling abroad on business trips, and I don’t really want

compliments from family anyway.

My sister is also excluded. We message each other on LINE almost daily, and she already showers me with excessive

affection.

Koga Yang is excluded too. While it would be amazing to get compliments from her, Koga Yang isn’t that kind to me.

…It’s not like I asked and got rejected or anything. I’m sure Koga Yang has her shy moments too.

Akabane Yang… she’s tricky. She’s kind to me, and we have similar personalities, but we differ where it really counts,

so she’s more like a frenemy.

Akabane Yang randomly giving me intense praise for no reason would hurt my pride.

If I want her to compliment me, I’d have to beat her fair and square first, and then she could praise me.

So, that leaves the Izutomo crew.

Those guys tease me like they’re serious, but deep down, they like me the most.

How do I get compliments from them?

Lately, the Izutomo crew has been a bit gentler, but if I openly ask for it, there’s no way they’ll compliment me.

They’re full of bullies at heart.

So, I’ll have to subtly nudge them into it…

“Hmm.”

Let’s think.

When have the Izutomo crew praised or boosted me during a stream?

It was when I played BN with Kurokami Senpai or when I cleared Arcana Shooter on hard mode in just three tries…

The answer is clearly gaming.

Otaku always love girls who are good at games.

But gaming is already the main content of my stream, so doing it normally won’t cut it.

・Then, it has to be something else.

“Is it time to do that?”

[[Membership Exclusive】 Let’s play together #Kainoisumi #StarsFlow #MiniGameSurvival]

Mini-Game Survival.

A game where up to 80 people participate, competing in random mini-games to separate winners from losers.

The losers can’t join the next game, and only the winners remain until the final victor is determined.

I heard games like this are called the Last Man Standing genre.

Anyway, the reason I chose this game was simple.

Right now, I just want intense praise from my viewers for no reason!

I want someone to lift me up! Anyone!

When I thought about it, this game seemed perfect for that.

I can subtly hint at them to let me win, and if I do, everyone will shower me with praise.

Plus, if I make it a members-only stream, even the bullies who usually mess with me will be a little nicer.

I’ve never done a group game like this before, and except for TLQ, I haven’t allowed viewer participation either.

This is a plan that cannot fail.

• I thought you’d hate this kind of game, Mei-chan.

“I’m fine with anything as long as it’s not a horror game.”

For me, games aren’t murder… they’re just a hobby, so as long as they’re fun, I don’t really care.

To begin with, I actually like these kinds of mini-game genres.

After all, at the end of a fierce competition, there can only be one winner standing.

Don’t you think it’s thrilling just to stay standing until the very end?

At least, that’s what I think.

• Next time, give us a heads-up before doing something like this…

“…Uh, s-sorry.”

Honestly, I just started this stream on a whim because I wanted to get compliments, so I didn’t think that far ahead.

I’m sorry to those who had other plans because they didn’t see any scheduled stream, or to those who couldn’t join

the mini-game survival.

But Izutomo, you’ve been watching me for over three months now, right?

You know by now that I can be spontaneous with my streams.

So, in reality, I’m not that bad, right?

I’m genuinely sorry, though.

“…I-I’ve already created the room. The room number is 532, the name is ‘Anyone Who Wants to Play with Me,’ and

the password is between 500 and 600.”

As soon as I finished speaking, other characters started entering the room I had set up.

There were the basic characters, like the cute cat, and even slime characters that you had to spend quite a bit of

money to unlock.

The 80 slots filled up in no time.

…Why isn’t the slime the default character?

I have no idea either.

“Alright, l-let’s get started!”

[Loading…]

With the message signaling the game’s start, a buzzing sound filled the air, and the screen in the waiting room

flipped over.

The first stage was ‘Sticky Jump.’

In this stage, players had one minute to avoid obstacles while climbing upward and reach the goal. It was a simple map.

But, as the name suggests, sticky obstacles, commonly referred to as ‘stickies,’ would fall from the sky. If hit, your

movement speed would slow down significantly.

Slower movement meant slower progress upward, but the real problem was that you couldn’t block interference from

other players.

There’s a famous OnTube video showing the first-place player, right in front of the finish line, getting hit by a sticky,

only to be shoved off by the second-place player and dropped to last.

[Game Start!]

The sound of a bell echoed, signaling the start of the game.

Since it was the first stage, the maximum number of people who could finish was generously set at 60.

Sure, I could probably ask them to let me finish first here, but my pride wouldn’t allow it.

I should save that request for a real emergency.

That way, when the Izutomo crew gives up for me, I can boost my self-esteem by watching them.

[Chirp!]

With a cute chirp, my blue slime character leaped towards the sky.

It was still early in the stage, so there weren’t many obstacles falling yet.

I was in 31st place.

It looked like I’d comfortably make it within the top 60.

Just as I thought that, a sticky started falling from above.

But it wasn’t coming down too fast, so I could easily avoid it…

“Ugh?”

As I jumped to the left, someone pushed me to the right.

Of course, I ended up getting hit by the sticky.

[…]

My slime made a pitiful cry as its movements slowed down.

“W-what are you doing?!”

Naturally, there was no response.

You can’t chat during this game, and it doesn’t have voice chat either.

All I could see was the rapidly growing grass of the chatroom on the stream.

As my slowed-down slime struggled, countless characters zipped past me.

38th, 45th… 62nd place.

By the time the sticky effect wore off, I was in 71st place.

“W-wait!”

No matter how much I shouted, the characters far above me showed no signs of stopping.

Slowly, the game approached its conclusion.

11/60, 27/60, 45/60…

“W-wait, stop…”

Hey, this game only matters because we’re playing it together, right?

If you all pass without me, there’s no point to this at all!

This has to be a joke, right?

You’re purposely waiting at the finish line to let me squeeze in at 60th place, right?

For my amusement?

Filled with these happy delusions, I kept leaping upward with all my might.

Thankfully, as I expected, the number of finishers stopped at 59/60.

“Phew…”

I could see the goal now.

As expected, even if the Izutomo crew enjoys teasing me, they always come through in the end.

I almost lost hope for a second.

“T-thank you, guys…”

[Squeak….]

Huh?

Why is my slime pushed to the left?

And why is it covered in stickies?

Why does it feel like my slime is falling towards the ground…?

It didn’t take long for my rank on the right side of the screen to drop to 80th place.

And at the same time:

[Game Over!]

That message appeared on my screen.

“Why? Why?! Why…?! Why are you doing this to me, w-why are you bullying me?!”

I could understand if it happened the first time.

After all, I started the stream without warning and said I’d be playing a mini-game survival without ever mentioning

it before, so if this was Izutomo’s way of getting back at me, I could accept it.

But now, I’ve been eliminated on the first stage three times in a row.

“Isn’t the point of the game to play it together with me? If you knock me out, there’s no point in playing at all….”

• One round with Mei-chan is enough
• Since you were with us in the first stage, isn’t that fine?

“T-that’s not what I m-meant…!”

Something’s wrong.

I had a perfect plan, so why did it turn out like this?

[Loading…]

As I pondered, I pressed the start button again.

Is this just unavoidable?

Do I really have to use that secret plan, even though it’s only the first stage?

My pride would take a hit, but what choice do I have?

The first 60 players are running ahead so they won’t get overtaken, and the remaining 19 are desperate to sabotage

me in any way they can.

In this situation, even with my amazing gaming skills, there’s no way I can win.

After all, this game requires an incredible amount of luck in addition to pure skill.

[Game Start!]

This time, the stage was ‘Spinning Plates.’

It’s a simple map where you just have to stay on a spinning plate that turns in random directions without falling off.

The most common situations are when the plate suddenly spins the other way, or you get pushed off by other players.

In other words, for Izutomo, who are trying to make me finish last, this is the perfect stage.

[Nyaaah…!]

As expected, the moment the stage started, all of Izutomo’s characters charged at me.

[…]

Naturally, I ended up in last place.

You guys… there are just too many of you trying to torment me!