NOVEL NEXT Chapter 31
[Kurokami Hikari: Well, that’s how it is.]
That’s not “how it is”! …But I didn’t have the courage to shout something like that.
[Kainoh Izumi: I-I, Kurokami-senpai. Do we really have to do a collaboration?]
It’s obvious, but the opponent I’m DMing right now is Kurokami-senpai.
Kurokami-senpai’s declaration of a challenge is, simply put, the same as announcing a collaboration.
And during yesterday’s broadcast, Kurokami-senpai challenged me, resulting in me DMing someone I’ve never even talked to before.
[Kurokami Hikari: Of course we should! Since the day after yesterday, there’s been a huge surge in communities buzzing about our collaboration.]
I had nothing to say when put that way.
[Looking forward to the collaboration with the young lady and Mei #KurokamiHikari#KainohIzumi#Hikazumi]
[How will the collaboration between two prideful RP amateurs turn out? #Hikazumi]
[Set a date quickly and announce it, Starfl #KurokamiHikari#KainohIzumi#Hikazumi]
If you turn on Nater and search for Kainoh Izumi or Kurokami Hikari, you would already find the hashtag ‘#Hikazumi’ created and trending.
Even senpai’s statements have already been clipped and are spreading across communities.
But this isn’t something where I’ve agreed to a collaboration.
[Kainoh Izumi: Isn’t this a bit harsh for me right now…?]
Isn’t it okay to protest like this?
[Kurokami Hikari: In the first place! It’s because you mentioned my RP, Kainoh!]
[Kainoh Izumi: …I’m sorry.]
I didn’t expect my feeble protest would lead to this.
Is this the dignity of a senpai?
[Kurokami Hikari: After your comment, Kainoh, mentions of our collaboration started popping up in the community. So it was a collaboration we were bound to do sooner or later.]
Indeed, after that broadcast ended, I think I saw a few Nater posts that mentioned such topics.
However, that broadcast turned into a huge topic because of my unintended yuri declaration, so I thought it was buried under that.
[Kurokami Hikari: Anyway, I’ve already informed the company, so a schedule will be set soon. In the meantime, let’s think about some content together.]
[Kainoh Izumi: Understood….]
If the company has already been informed, I have no choices left.
I hate this world….
★
“Ho, could this be what we call the butterfly effect?”
[Serves you right.]
“Hmm.”
I received the same response from Koga, just like my manager.
Of course, I knew it was somewhat a case of my own making, but I thought Koga would take my side, so I asked the question.
After the offline collaboration, Koga seemed much kinder, after all.
Instead, we ended up having a phone call like this once a day.
Thanks to that, my ability to communicate improved to the point where I hardly stutter during broadcasts, but I was still nervous during these direct calls.
Will I be able to change…?
Isn’t it better to just live as the king of the introverts?
Seeking solitude seems so cool somehow.
[Stop with the weird thoughts. So what do you want me to help you with?]
It was scary how easily Koga could read my thoughts, but for now, I guess I should answer the question.
But isn’t she reading this thought too?
“So, when collaborating with senpai, shouldn’t I know what to be cautious about, first?”
[What to be cautious of when collaborating with senpai, huh.]
My collaboration experience so far consists of one group collaboration with other second-gen members, two collaborations with Koga, and one offline collaboration with Koga, totaling four.
But I should remember that all of my opponents are fellow classmates.
Any mistakes up until now occurred among peers, so I could laugh it off to some extent, but mistakes in a collaboration with a senpai?
That’s definitely a 100% super-sized disaster waiting to happen.
[Hmm. But wait a minute, all the collaborations Izumi has done so far, I’ve been a part of, right?]
“T-That’s right?”
I did think about collaborating with other classmates, but I haven’t even been able to make a proposal yet.
But a collaboration proposal with a classmate I haven’t even talked to properly.
That’s bound to be seen in a bad light…
Is my only hope really Koga-ma?
Help me, oh, Mama Koga!
[Alright. How about this? When you collaborate with Hikari-senpai, I’ll join too. Since I have experience collaborating with Kurokami-senpai, it should make things easier to coordinate, right? I can help during the broadcast as well.]
“Uh…”
It doesn’t sound like a bad idea.
Koga has experience collaborating with senpai and knows me better than anyone else among my classmates.
But.
“Still, I think it’s best if it’s just me and senpai first.”
I felt I couldn’t include Koga in this collaboration.
“A collaboration formed from Kurokami-senpai’s challenge has never been a group collaboration, and bringing Koga into it might actually increase the chances of it turning into a greater disaster.”
You don’t even have to try to know that.
The moment Koga joins this collaboration…
[It’s obvious that Kainoh is struggling alone and asking Suzuha-chan for help.]
[When will she stop relying on others?]
[I hope with her experience stacking up, she stops acting like a newbie.]
[She brought this upon herself; is it okay for her to pull in senpai for a collaboration like this?]
[Suzuha accepting everything is also a mistake. Even if she is the oldest among the second-gen, if she keeps accommodating her, she won’t be able to do anything alone.]
[What a burden on the disaster-prone VTuber who can’t do anything but leech off others, lol!]
A wave of opinions like that would undoubtedly pour out.
I could tell without even trying! I’d bet on that.
My brain simulation, honed from spending nearly half my life in internet communities, is perfect.
“And above all, I can’t always collaborate with Koga. I shouldn’t bother her every time there’s a chance.”
Even if a pure rookie starts playing games, they can’t rely on oil forever; I can’t keep depending on Koga either.
After all, my purpose in broadcasting is to improve this pathetically low communication ability.
And if I can boost my self-esteem while doing that, all the better!
But if I keep getting help from Koga, achieving that will be really difficult.
[…Tch. You don’t have to see it as a burden.]
“…Huh?”
[You don’t have to think of it as a burden! We’re friends!]
“N-No, I heard that…”
I’m not some dense protagonist from a rom-com; I can hear a whisper loud and clear.
The question I asked wasn’t if it was necessary to be coy while speaking such nice words…
[Aah~. It’s nothing. Anyway, it would be ridiculous to bring a classmate into a proposal made by senpai.]
Why do I feel like Koga seems a bit angry?
Her voice seemed cheerful, but the atmosphere was icy enough to give me chills.
What’s going on? Let me think. If I were to summarize it, it would be something like, ‘What could be the reason Koga feels upset right now?’
Based on my combined 40 years of life experience….
…Yeah, there’s no way I could know!
If I knew that, I would have had many friends….
Well, that aside, it’s not that a 24-year-old like Koga would think something like, ‘I’m mad because my friend is playing with someone else.’
That must be my misunderstanding, right?
After all, I’ve only had two friends in my entire life, so there’s no way I’d have the insight to read someone else’s feelings.
[Then I’ll send you a separate DM later about things to be cautious about while collaborating with senpai. Is there anything else I can help with?]
“Hmm. Let’s see. M-Maybe daily calls?”
[We’re already having 20-minute calls every day, you know.]
…That’s right.
“Oh… then, perhaps during these calls, you could point out my issues?”
Of course, just knowing the problems doesn’t mean I can fix them immediately, but understanding whether I’m aware of them or not is significant enough.
At least I can be careful about it.
[Pointing out issues, huh? That’s a pretty good idea. Do you want to start right now?]
“…Huh? Ah, no. I-I mean, wouldn’t it be okay to start from tomorrow…?”
Since we don’t have a schedule set for collaborating with Kurokami-senpai yet, I thought we had at least a week to spare, so why rush into it?
[Most noticeable would be how you stutter while speaking, right?]
But Koga ignored my comment and continued.
“W-Well, that’s a bit unavoidable…”
[It’s not about whether it’s unavoidable or not! The most important thing is to recognize the issues. So, thinking about it, you do tend to stutter a lot. At one point, I felt like Izumi was forcing herself to tolerate the dislike towards me. Did you actually feel that way?]
I’ve definitely thought things like, “Is it really necessary to talk this much with my classmates?” at least once.
“B-But the stuttering is due to…”
[That’s the second issue. You’re fixating on unimportant details. What I wanted to say right now is, ‘I felt that about your stuttering.’ It doesn’t matter whether you like or dislike anything. It doesn’t matter whether that’s the reason for the stutter. But you always seem to cling to such details in situations like these.]
“I-I’m sorry…”
[You don’t really need to apologize. I don’t think you need to fix it, but since you asked me to talk, I’m just saying it because you asked.]
“N-No, I didn’t… I wasn’t asking for immediate feedback…”
[Oh, and maybe you should fix your overly negative personality a bit? Other flaws can be overlooked since they’re subjective, but a negative personality doesn’t look good from the outside. No need to think extravagantly positive. Even if bad thoughts come up, just don’t voice them.]
Afterwards, I found myself grumbling about the same problems for over two hours instead of just the usual 20-minute call.
“Yes… I’ll try to improve…”
It seems she was indeed angry, right…?