Chapter 76: [150,000 Commemorative Broadcast] Thankyou all!

[Thread 287: Discussing VTuber Kaino Izumi]

11. What kind of comment is that to make to your viewers?
12. But if someone has watched every single one of Mei-chan’s streams from the very beginning, they must be a bit strange, right?
13. 12 << True.
14. 12 << That means most of the people here are a bit strange.
15. 14 << Exactly.
16. I’m touched.
17. I’m looking forward to Mei-chan’s live stream.
18. There’s a lot of hyper chats today.
19. I’m happy I get to watch Mei-chan’s stream.
20. Isn’t it strange that the touching atmosphere never lasts more than 10 minutes on this stream?
21. The fact that Mei-chan’s stream even has a touching atmosphere is strange in itself.
22. 30 << Harsh, but true.
23. A sudden evening time slot.
24. The stream timing was really odd, though.
25. She’ll start within the hour, right?
26. Why isn’t she here yet?
27. At this rate, she’ll hit 150,000 subscribers before even showing up.
28. I hope nothing’s wrong.
29. Thankfully, the subscriber growth has slowed a bit.
30. Based on my calculations, if she starts before midnight, she’ll just barely be okay.
31. It’s past midnight now, lolol.
32. She’s hit 150,000, lol.
33. Who would’ve thought she’d hit 150,000 without even a long-term endurance stream?
34. I didn’t want to witness this kind of endurance failure…
35. Mei-chan finally posted on Nate! Lol.
36. She says she fell asleep after eating because she was tired. What a perfect JK*.
37. Well, as long as nothing bad happened, that’s fine…

[*JK = Japanese slang for “high school girl.”]

[Virtual OnTuber Minor Gallery]

[Title: Sure~ Keep Complaining~]

[Posted by: **]

I ate and fell asleep, so I skipped the endurance stream~

[Upvotes: 91 / Downvotes: 3]

**: Sorry, please come back. We were wrong. We’ll reflect on our behavior. We won’t do it again. We love you. Please,

just give us one more chance.

NoyaBoom: It’s broken…

Maker: This is the first second-gen Starflow VTuber to reach 150,000 subscribers…?

Hwasin’s Opposite = Susin: Falling asleep after eating…

Hwasin’s Opposite = Susin: She’s totally a JK.

Gurineo: Seeing this, I kind of think she’s ridiculously talented.

Loo: Is this kind of talent even necessary?

**: It’s all your fault.

Loo: The abusive fans exhausted Mei-chan, you jerks!

Loo: Our introverted, socially awkward, low self-esteem Mei-chan wanted to do a live stream, but you bullied her!!

NToRabbitPrincess: You’re the worst, you b***ard, lol.

[[150,000 Milestone Apology Stream] Sorry, everyone・・・ #KainoIzumi #StarzFlow]

“I, I’m so sorry….”

• This kind of endurance failure is unique and funny.
• I mean, it was a bit much to not even post an announcement, though.
• As long as she’s genuinely reflecting on it, it’s fine.
• What’s with the contradictory title, ‘150,000 Milestone Apology Stream’? Lol.

“I’m, I’m deeply sorry….”

When I woke up, my phone screen was covered with countless messages.

Not only from my fellow Starflow members Koga-san, Akabane-san, Aki-san, and Utsumi-san, but also from my

manager, Kurokami-senpai, Namikawa-senpai, and even my aunt and sister.

They were all worried if something had happened to me. Naturally, posts asking about my whereabouts flooded Nate

and various other communities.

My name even trended on Nate’s real-time search rankings.

So, as soon as I woke up, I posted an apology notice on Nate. Even though I was still a bit sleepy, I decided to start a

stream at 9 a.m.

• So, is this a milestone celebration stream?

“Well, n-not really…. If I stream at this hour, a lot of people might miss it, so I’m planning to end it as just an apology

stream for now.”

Above all, it was an unplanned guerrilla stream, so the viewer count was lower than usual.

Holding a celebratory stream during an impromptu broadcast like this would probably make many people sad if they

missed it.

“Anyway, I’m really, really sorry… for worrying everyone. I’m truly, so, so sorry…”

Then, the proper 150,000 subscriber celebration stream will be at 7 PM, as announced during yesterday’s endurance

stream?

“Yeah. If nothing unexpected happens, I think that should work.”

Honestly, I wanted to do it right now, but when I mentioned it to the manager, I got scolded.

I think the manager needs to learn the concept of “killing two birds with one stone.”

Of course, I already knew it wasn’t possible anyway.

I just hope the celebratory stream turns out to be fun.

• As long as nothing like yesterday happens again…

“I’m, I’m really sorry…”

In the end, during the one-hour broadcast, I spent nearly 40 minutes apologizing before wrapping up.

[Manager: So, are you planning to do a totsumachi during the celebration stream?]

[Kaino Izumi: What do you think would be best…?]

[Manager: I think it’d be better to do it.]

“Sigh…”

A totsumachi is a double-edged sword of a concept.

Think about it.

What if I log into the Misscode server for the calls, and no one shows up until the stream ends?

Wouldn’t that be incredibly awkward?

Of course, Koga promised that she’d definitely join if I did a totsumachi, so it shouldn’t happen. But if no one else

shows up besides Koga, that would be awkward in its own way.

Still, it’s true that there’s no content better suited for a celebratory stream than a totsumachi.

In the VTuber world, collaboration between members is important, and a totsumachi is one way to show how close

everyone is.

“…I guess I have to do it, huh?”

In the end, I made up my mind and started drafting the totsumachi invitations.

[[150,000 Subscriber Celebration Stream] Thank you, everyone! -(≥▽≦)> #KainoIzumi #StarsFlowy

-(≦)> Zoomizoomi!

-(≥▽≦)> Zoomizoomi!

Finally, the 150,000 subscriber celebration stream was upon me.

For some reason, I wasn’t feeling nervous like I couldn’t do anything.

No, that wasn’t it.

I had become someone with a new goal: to go live with confidence.

The “owner VTuber with 150,000 subscribers who cleared Arcana Shooter on Infernal difficulty” Kaino Izumi no

longer knew what it meant to feel nervous.

“Fufufu…”

I couldn’t help but feel like an inner, burly, white-haired man in his 40s might burst out of me at any moment.

But for the sake of the Izutomos, who believe I’m a delicate high school girl, I must keep that side of me sealed.

Now, with 20 seconds left until 7 PM, the clock ticked closer to the start.

Like a general stepping onto the battlefield, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath to steady myself.

And the moment the clock struck 7.

“Ko-Konzoomi…! Bringing smiles to everyone’s faces, I’m the cheerful mood-maker, Kaino Izumi!”

Since there might be Izutomos who missed this morning’s apology stream, I bowed my head in apology right away.

Honestly, I considered using a thumbnail with white text on a black background saying “I’m sorry,” but the manager gave me a firm scolding.

[Manager: Don’t do things that would unnecessarily worry your viewers.]

It made sense. In the VTuber world, that kind of thumbnail triggers viewers’ trauma.

If tomorrow, Nacchan’s stream thumbnail were to say something like “Important Announcement” on a plain white

background…

Just imagining it is horrifying. Let’s never do anything like that again.

It might actually make people cry.

“Anyway, thanks to all of you, I reached 150,000 subscribers… Thank you, everyone!”

– Mei-chan’s hard work has paid off.

– Thinking about how nervous and awkward Mei-chan was when she debuted, this is really impressive.

“Hehe…? What?”

The viewers are so kind.

I thought they’d still be furious after yesterday’s incident.

“R-Really? Well, yeah, I did work really hard… I’m amazing, right?”

When you think about it, 150,000 subscribers for an internet streamer isn’t a small number, is it?

I’m the one who worked hard to get here, so shouldn’t I be the one getting all the praise?

Of course, I’m a TS* girl after all. Amazing, right?

“Today, I’ll let you praise me as much as you want!”

– Isn’t this confidence something Mei-chan should work on?

– For someone who caused trouble yesterday, you seem way too bold.

– Are you saying you wouldn’t allow it if we praised you any other time?

“Isn’t it okay to be a little kinder on a day like this?”

– We were trying to be kind, but you’re the one acting all smug.

– Look how overly confident Mei-chan is after a little praise.

– You’re like someone who’d follow a shady guy on the street just because he complimented you.

“I’m not that bad!”

And so, the sudden debate titled ‘Would Kaino Izumi follow a shady old man just because he complimented her?’

finally came to an end.

Spending nearly ten minutes on such a ridiculous topic…

You don’t know, but mentally, I’m a 40-year-old middle-aged man.

There’s no way someone like me would follow a shady guy just because he complimented me.

“Whew. Anyway, for today’s 150,000-subscriber celebration, I’m planning to do a dostumachi…”

– Mei-chan doing a dostumachi? This sounds worrisome…

– Did you properly let everyone know?

“Ex-excuse me? Of course, I made sure to properly inform everyone…”

I reached out to Nacchan, my peers, and all the members.

It’s the end of the year, so it’s tough to get in touch with everyone from StarFlow, but thankfully, quite a few people,

including Koga-san, said they’d join.

If nobody except Koga-san had responded, I might’ve cried…

“Well then, shall we get started?”

I just hope nothing goes wrong during the calls.

With that hope in mind, I switched to the screen that displayed the participating members of the dostumachi.

Ding!

[Hey there!]

And the first person to join was…