Chapter 55: I wish I had more mother than one mother.

In the VTuber industry, there’s a term called “mama.”

It refers to the illustrator responsible for designing the VTuber, and of course, I had a mama too.

A very famous mama, at that.

[Are you worried about Mei-chan’s recent broadcasts? Honestly, I’m quite concerned. I get DMs from haters every

time Mei-chan causes trouble…]

Yukino Toka (雪野 冬花).

The illustrator who designed and drew my VTuber avatar, Kaino Izumi.

In other words, my mama.

Wait a minute. How many mamas do I have?

My mama from my past life and my current mama.

Although I deny it, Koga and Kurokami-senpai are also technically in the mama position.

And then there’s Toka mama too…

Five mamas in total……!

Waaah. Baby Izumi, please take care of me.

[I think it’s a relief that she hasn’t caused any trouble lately. When she was on hiatus for two weeks right after her

debut, I was flooded with DMs, you know?]

That was really ᄏᄏᄏ.

• Debut of the Empress of Hell

Anyway, Toka mama was an incredibly famous illustrator in the art industry.

It was to the extent that one of the reasons I became a hot topic after my debut was because I was Toka mama’s first child.

The VTuber design assigned to the top illustrator in the industry was of tremendous quality.

This was a clear sign that the stagnant VTuber market was beginning to revive, so it couldn’t help but attract attention.

• Do you two keep in touch often?

[…I guess she’s a high school student going through puberty. I try to initiate conversations, but it’s hard to say we’re

actually chatting.]

That comment flooded the chat with laughter.

It’s true that I’m friends with Toka mama and receive DMs from her often.

To be honest, I think it’s okay as long as we’re at a level where we can have normal conversations.

After all, I’ll continue using Toka mama’s art.

[Do you want to get a bit closer? Of course. She’s my first daughter.]

• This needs a clarification from Mei-chan.
• The unfilial daughter avoiding her mama…
• This is definitely the Empress of Hell.
• But I’d probably avoid Toka mama’s messages too…

[What are you saying! I’m not planning to become your mama!]

ᄏᄏᄏ

But I do have a reason to avoid Toka mama’s messages.

No matter how much I’ve grown, it’s an unavoidable reason.

[Yukino Toka Izumi. How about we actually meet for a meal sometime?]

[Yukino Toka: I really want to meet Izumi!]

[Yukino Toka Izumi? I’m sure we’d get along well.]

[Yukino Toka: I always enjoy watching your streams!]

[Yukino Toka: Am I really avoiding you, though? That’s so unfair, mama (0)]

[Yukino Toka: Well, I think we’ll see each other soon anyway!]

See, this is really scary.

This isn’t just a simple conversation starter.

Sending messages like this almost every day makes it impossible to talk normally.

No matter how much I like cute girls, yandere is a bit…

I’ve been getting these kinds of messages since almost right after my debut, so isn’t it amazing that I haven’t reported it yet?

• If it were Mei-chan, maybe she’d be too shy to respond?
• How about being a bit more proactive?

[Hmm. Is that so? I might have been a bit cautious.]

“…Huh?”

So that was being cautious?

[Then from today on, I’ll try to be more proactive!]

・ Should I really block her?

“Wh-what should I really do…?”

[Um, to be honest, I’m not sure. In my case, I get along quite well with my mama, but it’s not to the point of being obsessed.

That’s inherently abnormal.]

“Y-you’re right? My situation is weird, isn’t it?”

Is reporting the only option left?

Is reporting mama the only option…?

[Well, strictly speaking from what I’ve heard from Izumi, it does seem odd, but you can’t just take Izumi’s words at face value.]

“…Huh?”

I was taken aback by Akabane’s words.

I have no reason to lie about this; it hurts that she doesn’t believe me, even as a friend.

“It, it means that Akabane-san is disqualified from being my mama position…”

[That kind of position, I wouldn’t take even if you offered it to me. What I mean is not that I don’t trust Izumi’s

words, but that I don’t trust Izumi’s communication skills.]

“I-I’ve grown a lot, you know…?”

Of course, I still struggle to talk to multiple people at once, and when I make eye contact in reality, my stomach

churns and my head spins, but at least I don’t completely avoid conversations anymore.

And the part where I stutter when saying the most important things… let’s leave that as one of my symbols.

[But the other person might have just wanted to get to know you better. It’s not impossible that Izumi is saying “Eek!

This person is scary…” over messages that aren’t a big deal.]

My communication skills. Isn’t that a bit too low in credibility?

It seems like Akabane thinks I’m the kind of social outcast who doesn’t have any friends at school and gets scared

just by someone reaching out to me…

…But that might not be entirely wrong.

“W-well, I’m confident about this situation!”

Even if I’m that level of outcast, Toka mama’s DMs are definitely strange.

If this is the level of normal conversation among social butterflies, then I don’t want to be a part of it.

[What level is it that she keeps doing this?]

“Th-that’s…”

Even so, I’m hesitant to show someone else the DMs I received.

So when I explained to Akabane, I put it like this:

“My mama seems to be obsessively clingy to the point of being scary. What should I do?”

That was about the extent of it.

[Well, I’m not saying you should show me the DMs. But think carefully. Did Toka-sensei really obsess over you from

the start? Right after your debut, there was almost no conversation with me or Suzuhana. It could be that Izumi

made a mistake back then.]

“Hmm….”

…Indeed, back then, I might have been so scared to talk to a stranger that I avoided it unilaterally.

Maybe I should check it once.

[Yukino Toka Izumi. I enjoyed your stream!]

[Yukino Toka: I was anxious, but it was definitely an engaging broadcast.]

[Yukino Toka Izumi. How about we meet up sometime if you have the time?]

[Yukino Toka: I really have a lot I want to talk about.]

[Yukino Toka: You don’t have to feel pressured to call me mama.]

[Yukino Toka: You can treat me like a friend or an older sister if you want.]

“……It feels like she’s been really clingy from the start.”

It dawned on me.

The reason I felt something was off with Toka mama’s DMs and turned off notifications was definitely coming back to me.

Look at that. Even in the first DM, she casually addresses me without any honorifics.

Isn’t that scary, no matter how much of a mama she is?

[…Really?]

“Yeah. It’s… really…”

I guess I wasn’t the strange one after all.

[Got it. …But I’m curious about one thing: what kind of response does Izumi want right now?]

“…Huh?”

[That’s true. If the situation is really uncomfortable right now, you could just block her. There might be some fallout

later, but that can be resolved by showing the DM content. Honestly, even if you call her mama, fundamentally, it’s

still a business relationship, so it shouldn’t be a big issue.]

Akabane’s words were definitely right.

In reality, there were quite a few VTubers who had bad relationships with their mamas.

It was a situation that could simply end with me blocking her.

[But right now, it seems like Izumi still wants to maintain a relationship with Toka-sensei. It looks like she’s trying to

find a way to reduce the obsession without blocking her.]

I had no choice but to keep quiet in response to Akabane’s precise observation.

In fact, I really wanted to avoid the act of blocking Toka mama’s DMs.

Part of the reason is that I need to consistently use her avatar, but the fundamental reason was different.

“W-well, as you know, Akabane-san, I have a hobby of drawing.”

[…Ah.]

“So, I don’t want to sever ties by blocking her… that’s kind of where I’m coming from.”

I love drawing.

I loved it in my previous life, and I love it now.

Even before I recalled my previous life, it felt like destiny that I loved drawing in this life.

Of course, in my previous life, I was so busy trying to make a living that I rarely got to touch the tablet I had barely

managed to acquire, and in this life, before I recalled my previous memories, I was only doodling in a notebook.

But now, I can draw on the tablet whenever I want, and I’ve learned it quite seriously; I genuinely love drawing.

Well, I don’t plan to pursue it as a profession.

In any case, I want to maintain a good relationship with the industry’s top illustrator, ‘Yukino Toka.’

And above all,

“I-I’ve always loved Toka-sensei’s drawings.”

Toka-sensei’s illustrations, which feel both familiar and enticing, are one of the goals I aspire to achieve in my own art.

[Wow, this is complicated. But isn’t it an opportunity instead? Since Toka-sensei is making the first move. If you

become friends, it’ll be more comfortable.]

“Y-yeah, that’s true, but it’s still scary…”

[Right.]

Please don’t sigh, Akabane.

This is a super important issue for me…

It seems that people like Akabane, who are social butterflies, can’t understand me.

I feel lonely…

In the end, I didn’t manage to come up with a solution and ended the call with Akabane.

Is blocking her the only answer?

As I lay there thinking, staring at the ceiling, I heard the sound of the front door unlocking from outside.

“…Huh?”

Today is Saturday. And the time is 2 PM.

I’m sure today is the day my mom’s business trip ends, but I just received a text a while ago.

[Mom: I’ll probably arrive around 6 PM today.]

There are still 4 hours left.

That being said, my sister wouldn’t have come either.

She mentioned that she’s been too busy lately and might not come home for the New Year.

So then, who could it be…?

“Eek….”

As bad thoughts crossed my mind, I felt a chill creeping up my spine.

Then, footsteps echoed softly.

“Hmm, is there no one…?”

With the unfamiliar woman’s voice, my door opened.

“Ah, found you….”

“Ahhh!!!”

“Whaaaa?!?!”