Chapter 56: Why did you come to see Izumi, who isn’t even your daughter.

“Yeah. It’s been almost 10 years since we last met… So, it’s okay to call me ‘Aunt’ comfortably. You used to call me

that back in the day.”

“Ah, um, yes… S-sorry.”

The unfamiliar woman who suddenly opened my door was… my mom’s close younger sister.

‘Oh, I found her….’

That’s why she used Korean when entering my room.

“Sis, seriously. You told me you were coming today last month, but how could you not tell Mina?”

[Sorry. I meant to tell you last week, but I forgot.]

I could hear my mom’s voice through the phone.

My aunt’s reprimanding words seemed to make my mom slightly sulky.

The tone of her voice had sunk about 0.1% lower than usual, which was proof of that.

Well, it was just something I said.

[Anyway, I think sis will only be able to come back around 6 PM, so just wait here together. Since it’s been a while, you should catch up.]

“Okay, I understand. I’ll hang up.”

With a beep, the call ended.

Then came the awkward silence.

Aunt and I exchanged glances, both lost on where to go from here.

“Um, since I’m the older one, I guess it’s right for me to take the lead in this situation?”

“Ah, um….”

“My name is Han Si-a. I’m thirty years old. There’s a 15-year age gap with Sun-a. After getting help from Sun-a when

I was in middle school, we’ve been close ever since.”

Aunt Si-a honestly looked young enough to be in her early twenties.

With a shoulder-length black bob and a soft, gentle impression.

There didn’t seem to be any wrinkles or blemishes on her skin, which suggested she took good care of herself.

“The last time I saw you, Mina, was right after you graduated from high school, so if I do the math, yeah, it’s been

about 10 years. It really has been a long time.”

“Y-yeah….”

Aunt Si-a kept trying to lighten the mood with conversation, but the awkward atmosphere didn’t fade easily. Of

course, the cause was 100% me.

But what could I do? She’s not family, and I barely remember anything from when I was five.

She knows me, but I don’t know her.

That’s an extremely difficult quest for an outsider like me.

“Um, I guess it’s still awkward, huh? Haha….”

“Um, well….”

“I should have visited a bit more often when I was younger. I know it might sound like an excuse, but I’ve really been

busy…. Ever since I graduated, I’ve been swamped with work. Plus, Sun-a is also extremely busy, so even though we

kept in touch, we didn’t have time to meet.”

“It’s, it’s okay. You were busy with work…”

I’m not the type to scold someone for being busy with work.

Since I don’t even have any memories, I don’t even know what to say.

“Still, Ji-a and I are close in age, so we kept in touch more often. Haha…”

S-someone help me……

[[Arcana Shooter] I’m definitely going to clear it today #KainoIzumi #StarsFlow #ArcanaShooter]

“I woke up!”

[Is this finally when I die…. But I have no regrets. I’ve lived a sufficiently glamorous life…!]

The hidden boss, ‘Invisible Dragon,’ which only appears in the ‘Purgatory’ difficulty of Arcana Shooter, let out a

thunderous laugh as it collapsed.

Starting from October 10 until today.

Finally achieving the goal of clearing Arcana Shooter’s final difficulty, ‘Purgatory,’ after more than a month.

• Clearing this in a month?
• Mei-chan was amazing!
• Actual playtime: 49 hours
• I actually kept my promise to clear it within 50 hours
• A true gaming prodigy and atmosphere maker, Mei-chan!

The chat was praising me as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

Yeah. This is what I wanted.

“Ha, hehe…. I’m so, so amazing, right?”

• Awesome
• I admit it, just for today

Even the Izutomos, who usually teased or mocked me, praised me today.

Just that alone filled my heart with joy, making it hard to breathe.

“Ahh. I-I’m really exhausted….”

The patterns were tough, and the HP was ridiculously high, with hitboxes so wide that just playing was incredibly

stressful. But now that I’ve cleared it all, it felt like a pleasant release.

• So, is it ending here today?
  “Um, well, it seems like I’ve accumulated some hyper chat, so I should read it and then end it.”

The ‘Purgatory’ difficulty in Arcana Shooter was not something you could easily divert your attention from.

So, I had the hyper chat open, but I made sure no notifications would pop up, intending to take this separate time to

read from the beginning.

“Um, th-thank you, Gachang. Thank you, Ssururami.”

While reading through the hyper chat, one question stood out.

=Return JP¥ 40,000: Toka Mama was sad, saying Mei-chan is rebellious. Don’t make Mama cry!

How should I respond to this?

A suitably vague answer would probably be best.

“D-don’t interfere with other people’s family matters..! Am I really rebellious?”

Hmm. This should be a decent enough answer, right?

Avoiding unnecessary complications and digesting a bit of the RP Toka Mama gave me made it a perfect response….

• Toka Mama weeping (‘A`。
• That’s too much, Mei-chan (TOT)o
• Recognize Mama’s preciousness
  ・Let’s pretend that didn’t happen.

By the time I ended the stream, it was already past 6 PM.

Mom had definitely said she’d arrive at 6, so it was the perfect time to wrap up the stream.

“Um, Aunt. Mom isn’t here yet….”

“Yeah. I think she’ll arrive in about 10 minutes.”

But when I opened the door to go out, I found Aunt Si-a sitting alone on the sofa.

I deliberately took my time reading the hyper chat to end the stream as late as possible.

This is absurd….

“Ha ha…. Um.”

Aunt Si-a seemed to share my thoughts, awkwardly scratching her head with a smile.

…Right. Since she’s my mom’s close sister, I shouldn’t keep avoiding her.

Especially since she came to visit despite being busy with work, I shouldn’t ruin the atmosphere any further.

I can do this.

Right now, I’m the owner of the Arcana Shooter Purgatory clear record……!

“Um, A-aunt.”

“Yeah?”

“Actually, I’m a V-virtual YouTuber…”

“Yeah, I know.”

“…Huh?”

“Sun-a told me about it. …I’m not sure if I should say this, but I was actually watching Mina’s stream until just now?”

Oh?

“She played really well. I didn’t expect someone to clear Arcana Shooter from Easy to Purgatory within 50 hours. Did

you practice on another account or something?”

“Ah, no. I only played during the streams….”

In terms of games, I’m the ultimate cheat code: a TS? Pretty girl.

“Wow, so that means it practically only took two days? That’s really impressive, Mina.”

“Ha, hehe….”

I felt good.

Receiving compliments naturally made me smile.

Aunt Si-a is such a kind person………

“Um, so, if you look here, you can see a gap. If you move at this part and wait for about three seconds, then move

forward, you can attack for almost five seconds without any interruption.”

“You read all this while playing without practicing separately? Really?”

“Yeah. Hehe…”

Aunt Si-a accepted everything I said with a smile, praising me for being amazing.

Feeling a sense of emotional cleansing, I couldn’t help but keep smiling.

“She’s here.”

“Ah, sis is here?”

While continuing the conversation, I heard my mom’s voice and went out to the living room with Aunt Si-a.

Mom was taking off her shoes, having set down the bags she was holding in her left hand.

“Hmm? Seeing you two come out of Mina’s room together, I guess you were chatting?”

“Yeah. We were watching a bit of the game Mina played on her stream earlier.”

“I knew you’d hit it off quickly! To be honest, I was a little worried about Mina’s personality.”

“Come on. It’s not like we’d be awkward forever. We’ve met before when we were younger.”

“That’s true. And what was it called again? Mama, right? That’s part of it too.”

“Ah, sis, if you say that?!”

…01?

I thought I heard something strange just now.

★

“Uh, what’s going on….”

“Literally, I’m Yukino Toka, the mama of Kaino Izumi.”

With this shocking revelation, my brain halted, unable to process the current situation.

“R-really…?”

“Yeah.”

Aunt Si-a took out her phone and showed me the screen.

On it was the main page of the account ‘Yukino Toka,’ along with records only the owner could see.

“Th-this is real.”

“Ah, but don’t get me wrong. I wasn’t assigned to you, Mina, because of anything special. It was all a complete

coincidence, and I only found out you were Kaino Izumi right before your debut when Sun-a told me.”

“So, that DM you sent….”

“Since I knew Mina had become your mama, I wanted to get closer to you. After that, I thought that debuting as an

individual VTuber would help us get closer, too.”

Only then did everything make sense.

It explained why Toka Mama had been so obsessed since shortly after my debut.

She must have wanted to tease me since she already knew who I was.

It was such a simple issue that could be summed up in a single sentence.

Of course, while the answer itself was simple, the content was hard to imagine.

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

So that DM I sent before had this meaning.

“Ah, I originally planned to surprise you while having dinner a bit later.”

“Y-you’ve already surprised me enough now…”

…Hearing this, it did sound like her voice was similar.

“…Alright. Since we’re at this point, can I ask for one thing?”

“A what? What is it…?”

“Of course!”

[[Guerrilla Stream] A Sudden Off-Collab! #YukinoToka #KainoIzumi]