The Saintess Next Door is a Super Popular VTuber Whose Character was Designed by Me
Tonari ni Sunderu Seijo-sama wa Ore ga Chara-Design o Tantoushita Daininki VTuber deshita
Chapter 37 - The Saintess and The Secret Stream
"My computer broke."
One evening, as soon as Asumi arrived in Iori’s room, she told him that.
They were scheduled to do a collaboration stream together today, and there wasn’t much time left before the planned start.
It seemed even the proprietary streaming app used by PROGRESS wasn’t functioning properly either.
For someone like Asumi who loved streaming, this must have been the worst possible situation.
She looked genuinely distressed, her expression full of despair and frustration, which told Iori just how serious things were.
"Hard disk, huh…"
"Yes, it looks like the HDD or something related to the storage is broken."
"Well, if you checked and it’s no good, then there’s nothing I can do either. Sorry I can’t help."
Iori also used a PC, so he could lend compatible cables if needed.
He could even swap out monitors or peripherals, but things like the CPU or HDD weren’t so easily replaced.
When it came to computers and streaming gear, Asumi was far more knowledgeable, since she was a streamer.
So if she’d looked into it and deemed it broken, there really wasn’t anything Iori could do.
"Well, I can just lend you one of mine. I’ve got two—one for streaming, one for work."
"No, that might lead to an accident…"
"The streaming one only has the bare minimum software installed. I doubt anything bad would happen."
"Really?"
"Yeah. You can check it out if you want. No weird pop-ups or messages. And if we change the background and username, even if the desktop shows up by accident, no one’ll know."
"In that case, I think it’ll work."
Iori never streamed from his own channel and didn’t share screens during collabs.
So even if Asumi used his streaming PC and he used the work one, there’d be no chance of any mishaps. That’s how they decided to do it for today.
With time tight and the risk of errors high, they decided against moving the PC to Asumi’s room.
Instead, Asumi would stream from Iori’s workroom, and Iori would use his bedroom.
"Kon-uka~! Tonight, it’s time for some Ukankitsu collabs!"
Two hours later, they managed to start the stream just in time.
Both rooms were soundproofed, so they couldn’t hear each other through the walls. Still, knowing that Asumi was just one wall away made Iori nervous.
They’d taken all precautions to avoid any incident, but during the opening, Iori lowered his voice a bit and stumbled on a few lines.
[What’s wrong with you today, Mama?] [Mama?] [Your voice is kinda quiet.] [You're tripping over your lines like a newbie, LOL.] [Mama’s adorable.]
The viewers were already starting to notice something was off.
Still, they managed to keep up appearances and continued the stream.
"Aren't your chats getting way too many Shit-Mallow messages?"
"I once deliberately asked for them, and ever since, they’ve just kept coming. But I’d say mine’s still better than what Yoyo-san gets."
Today’s stream used the Marshmallow service, which allows people to send anonymous messages.
The really dumb or absurd ones were called “Shit-Mallows”, and today’s stream was all about reading and reacting to those together.
"She even gets Harsh-Mallows over there."
"Yeah, Yoyo-san’s Marshmallow messages are actual hell. Anyway, let’s read the next one."
{Mammaaaa~, mammaaa~ Baa-boo~, Au au, Gugu gaga~ Mamaaa~!}
Asumi read out the unhinged message in full.
She was speaking at her usual volume, but Iori couldn’t hear her at all. The soundproofing was doing its job perfectly.
(VTubers are amazing. Also… Asumi’s baby voice is insane.)
Rather than worrying about the stream, Iori found himself captivated by Asumi’s performance, specifically her ASMR-like baby voice.
[Please, babies shouldn’t be using Marshmallow.] [Are there babies watching this stream?] [Is this audience’s age range like 0 to 90?] [IQ just dropped to zero, LOL.] [Wait, is this a god-tier Marshmallow meant to bait Ukamaru into role-playing as a baby?]
"Mama, what even is this?"
"There are some things we can't even save. Okay, next!"
{Kankitsu-mama, please marry me. And for Ukamaru, let's live together and stream from the same room! I’m begging you!}
(!?... Well, we are streaming from the same house. Though we're neither married nor dating.)
(Yep, we're doing this from the same house. But no, we're not in a relationship or married.)
Though they had separate rooms, they were clearly streaming from the same house right now.
For a moment, that message gave Iori a little jolt.
"Hmm~. How selfish."
"Super selfish indeed."
"Next one."
Since Asumi was the one who picked it, it had to be a joke. Only Iori would understand the real meaning, but still, she went there.
He wanted to protest in his head, but it was hard to bring up directly, so he just gave a short comment in response.
{It's over. Like the leaves of a maple. All falls apart — Taneda Santouka.}
"No seasonal reference, no philosophical either. And just because you slap 'Taneda Santouka' on it doesn’t mean you can get away with anything."
"This is just disrespectful to Taneda Santouka-san. Actually, there are more like this, too."
{No matter how much I flatter. All blown like the dandelion. I'd never come to spring — While, my peer is already a manager.} (TLN: It's "Tame ga kachou ka"; rhyming with "Taneda Santouka".)
[So sad] [LMAO] [KUSA] [Give this guy five zabuton] [Is this me?] [KUSA] [Taneda Santouka is now a meme] [Well done!] [This is pretty common nowadays] [KUSA] [This should win the salaryman senryu contest]
"It's kind of annoying how good that one is. And these are getting sent even though you're not even asking for them?"
"Happens all the time, really."
"That's rough. Let’s take a break. Just reading these is exhausting."
"Agreed. I’ll mute myself for now."
Dealing with an endless stream of Shit-Mallow messages really did wear them out. And they have handled nearly thirty already.
And with Asumi reading out some of the crazier ones, it made it even more draining.
"Phew. I'm beat."
"Good work. Let’s hang in there for another thirty minutes or so."
"This all feels kinda... illicit."
"Yeah, it does."
During the break, they both stepped out of their rooms for the bathroom or to grab a drink.
Normally, during streams, they’d never see each other face-to-face.
Even with all the precautions they’d taken, the fact that they were streaming from the same place gave both Iori and Asumi a strong sense of forbidden excitement.
The viewers would never suspect that they were doing a stream like this together.
What would happen if people found out? Would it spark a scandal, or just become a joke?
Given the connection between Kankitsu and Hyouka, there were definitely fans who would be thrilled, but no matter what, it’d definitely cause a stir.
This little "playing with fire" kind of stream… might just become addictive.
"Think it’s game over if we get exposed?"
"Well, our viewers would probably love it, honestly. I mean, look at that marshmallow message from earlier."
"Geez. That one made me really panic, you know."
"Hehe. Sorry about that."
"But even I get DMs like that sometimes, too."
"There are tons of Kankitsu x Ukamaru doujinshi full of fantasies like that—both R18 and all-ages."
"Hey, we're still underage."
"Reina just sends them without asking!"
Thanks to the chemistry built up between Kankitsu and Hyouka, it seemed their shipping had become pretty mainstream among fans.
There were even tons of doujinshi featuring them.
"To think we’d become such a mainstream ship. Wild."
"At this point, maybe we should just admit we live next door to each other?"
"Huh?"
Just as Iori was feeling impressed, Asumi put a finger to her lips and casually dropped a bombshell.
It was so sudden and risky that Iori nearly knocked him off balance.
"Just kidding."
"Then say it like a joke, please. You almost gave me a heart attack."
(That scared the hell out of me…)
Seeing how surprised Iori got, Asumi quickly clarified that she was joking.
But for a moment there, it hadn’t sounded like a joke at all, so relief washed over him.
"Hehe. Secrets are more fun, after all. I think I like it better this way—for now, both online and in real life. Anyway, shall we get back to the stream?"
"Y-Yeah."
With a light smile, Asumi headed back into her room, but Iori couldn’t shake that one expression she made—the one that had looked a little too serious.
(What would she have done if I’d said I was okay with it…?)
That thought now lingered in Iori’s mind, thinking that if she had been serious.
But he had no idea what Asumi had truly been thinking.
Would there really come a day when they’d reveal everything?
If so, the only real trigger he could imagine… would be if they actually started dating. But he quickly pushed that thought out of his head.
(Yeah… no way that’s happening.)
With those thoughts swirling in his mind, Iori returned to the stream.
[To be Continued]
Support me on Ko-Fi
Post a Comment