Basement-Dwelling Loser VTuber

It’s a totally obvious thing, but doing a live performance means I have to sing and dance in front of people.

And right now, I’m going to dance lessons three times a week—on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

But that’s not enough.

If I had talent that could peak without any training, then it would be a different story, but I’m not some once-in-a-century genius.

For my goals, I need to put in effort—I’m just a common person.

…Why am I saying all this?

[Manager: When do you plan to start vocal training?]

Today, I finally got this text from my manager…

This means it’s a final warning that there’s no escaping now.

If someone saw me, they might ask if I’m overreacting since I’m not a real idol.

But I could confidently say that’s definitely not the case.

Although I’ve crumbled a lot since then, I was once at the peak of the subculture market as a VTuber.

It wasn’t just about broadcasting; it was pretty common to sing, dance, and even release albums just like real idols, and that culture continues to this day.

Just look at Natsune Nanase—she released her first album and is officially recognized as a music artist on YouTube!

So how can I, who boldly declares “I want to stand on stage and do a live broadcast” in front of Izutomo, say I won’t take vocal training?

…It’s said that if you’re confident in your skills, you don’t need to take vocal training, but the level of that “confidence” is the real problem.

I definitely can’t do it with my current skills.

Of course, I’m a TS cute girl with memories from my previous life, so my voice tone is unbelievably good.

If I go to karaoke with my classmates, I might hear compliments like, “What’s with that voice…?”

But the problem is, I need more than that level right now.

In other words, it means I definitely need vocal training…

“W-What should I do…?”

[You surely need to fix the habit of stammering if you want to do a live broadcast. …That doesn’t seem easy.]

“Haa…”

At Suzuha Koga’s firm words, a sigh slipped out of my mouth.

Doing a live broadcast.

And receiving vocal training means I have to sing in front of others.

Can I, who can’t even speak properly in front of people because of nerves, handle that?

I had doubts.

“I do think I’ve improved from before…”

[Yeah. You’ve definitely improved since before. But stammering itself is the problem, right?]

“That’s… true…”

That was the reason I had been postponing vocal training.

If I can’t sing because I stammer, then there’s no point in vocal training.

I thought to myself, “I should fix the stammering first before taking vocal training…”

[How about image training then? Imagine singing in front of others…]

“I’ve already done that.”

But it failed.

Just thinking about someone listening to my singing made me so nervous that my mouth froze.

[…Okay. Then let’s think in reverse. Izumi stammers a lot, but it’s not always like that, right? There are times when you speak normally on broadcast. When don’t you stammer?]

“Umm…”

When do I not stammer?

“W-Well, I don’t seem to do it when I’m talking to myself or when I’m talking to family… or my mom.”

I still stammer a bit when talking to my older sister.

[And when talking about something you like, you get excited and don’t stammer.]

“…That’s true.”

[Then how about singing while recalling those feelings? It might be hard to do that during a conversation, but when singing, it might be easier.]

“…Whoa.”

That seemed like a pretty reasonable solution.

Surely, it would be easier to correct gradually rather than trying to fix everything at once.

[Alright, then shall we practice now?]

“Eh?”

[It’s better to have someone watching when doing this kind of thing, right? Give it a go.]

…It’s true, but why do I feel like I’m being deceived?

But it wouldn’t be good to send suspicious vibes toward Suzuha Koga, who is trying to help.

Doubting pure goodwill is a bad thing.

“Then I’ll try…”

The song I chose was “In the Black World,” the opening of ‘Old Man.’

First, I played the instrumental version on YouTube, and then I used Miscord’s screen-sharing function so Koga could hear it too.

“Hu…”

And then the interlude started.

I was already so tense that I felt chills crawling up my back, but I couldn’t run away now.

At least the full version of the interlude was long, making it a good time to sort out my complicated thoughts.

I was supposed to recall the feelings when I don’t stammer, right?

Thinking of how I feel when I talk to myself is impossible since I know Koga is listening.

So, I have to recall the feelings from talking to my mom or when I’m excited about something I like.

But the latter is also impossible.

When I speak freely, I don’t have any thoughts; I just blurt things out without control.

That means I need to remember the feelings from talking to my mom while I sing…

Doesn’t that sound weird?

Koga is already in the position of my mom, and now you want me to think about talking to her.

Isn’t that essentially the same thing?

It’s funny, right?

“Buh….”

[Izumi, the song has already started.]

“Ah, so-sorry….”

★

[…As expected, fixing everything perfectly from the beginning is tough.]

“Yeah…”

The solution that Koga suggested did seem reasonable, but it clearly can’t solve everything from the start.

No matter how much I think about talking to my mom, the moment I remember I’m actually talking to Koga, I stammer.

The timing is super short too, so I’m sure I didn’t even manage to sing half of the song properly.

[But it’s okay. If you keep going like this, you’ll gradually improve. You didn’t completely fail just now.]

“…S-So how was the part I managed to sing?”

[Huh? …Um, honestly, it was a bit off.]

“Eh?”

The song sung by this TS cute girl was merely off? That’s nonsense.

Koga must have been jealous of my perfect tone.

I should be broad-minded and understand that…

[Just in case, I recorded it. Want to listen?]

And today, I learned that I was surprisingly off-key.

★

[【SkyTravel】Don’t use too harsh words #KainohIzumi#StarsFlow#SkyTravel#ST]

“Finally, it’s the last one…”

We started in early January, and now it’s mid-February, so it’s been over a month.

After investing that amount of time, I’ve finally earned the right to challenge the final boss of ST.

-I never thought you’d get here just by using Tachi.

-Mei has the qualification of a man.

“I-I told you, Tachi is the strongest weapon…”

If the strongest was not the sword that embodies a man’s dreams, then what could be?

In the beginning, even Izutomo slandered the Tachi, but more than a month was enough time for them to realize its truth.

The last time I accidentally equipped the dual swords dropped from the boss, the chat room was buzzing with responses like, “Did you abandon the Tachi, traitor!”

“So, shall we begin?”

As I said that, I input the command, and the door to the final dungeon creaked open.

Inside sat a middle-aged man with a heavy atmosphere, white hair, and a white beard on a throne.

[Did you finally come this far, human?]

“I’m a deity too, you know?”

-That’s not what he means lol.

[Why did you come here? For honor? For wealth? Or is there another reason?]

At the man’s words, a choice appeared on my screen.

[Because I was abandoned by you. / To kill the gods.]

…It seems like both choices lead to a fight without a doubt.

Still, based on the story so far, the first one seems more correct.

In ST, picking the wrong option makes the boss incredibly difficult, so I have to be careful.

Challenging something hard can be fun, but since it’s my first playthrough, I wanted to take it step by step.

[The gods did not abandon humans. Humans abandoned the gods. Are you standing here, not knowing this…? How can you betray your beliefs and stand before me?!]

After picking the first choice, the middle-aged man’s enraged voice boomed.

He got so mad just at being told he was abandoned; I wonder how furious he would get if I outright said I wanted to kill him.

…But.

“Y-You’re telling me that this deity is sulking just because a human didn’t play with him? Pfft….”

-LOL.

-This guy sure has no problem saying stuff to a god.

“Let me reiterate, I am a proud Water Avatar…”

But there’s one difference: unlike these guys, who were kicked out after losing to humans, Water Avatar Kainoh Izumi has many followers called ‘Izutomo.’

In other words, my deity status is higher.

[I’ll change my mind. It’s not that a god’s will is so light that I could endlessly endure a human’s humiliation! I’ll tear you apart and return this world to its beginning!]

“And isn’t it odd? If we follow the story, the gods actually started the fight and lost to humans and got kicked out, right? So why do you speak as if you’re the one who let us go?”

-True lol.

-These weak gods are being wrapped up by the ‘cherry blossom drunk’ vibes of Mei-chan.

[My name is Zeus! I will rain down the heavenly wrath upon you!]

[Supreme God Zeus]

[HP: ?]

[Oooooh!]

At Zeus’s battle cry, lightning started striking down from the sky.

It wasn’t targeting just me, but was randomly falling.

Does that mean I have to dodge all those while catching him?

What a difficult and annoying pattern.

But well, for this TS cute girl, it’s incredibly easy.

“And just look. Although Zeus is called the chief god of Greek mythology, he’s actually not the strongest, right? There are gods above him, like Protogenos…”

-Mei-chan is smart.

“Ehehe…”

[Die!]

“…Hoo.”

Daring to challenge me, the wielder of the strongest weapon, when he’s not even the strongest god?

That irreverence deserves to die a million times.

Repent, Zeus!

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