The sound of a vacuum cleaner echoed through the house.
Recently, Leon had been working overtime so frequently that running the vacuum cleaner had become difficult. Using it late at night would surely annoy the neighbors.
Thus, Sora was vacuuming during the day.
"...What exactly is your reason for being here?"
I asked, resting my chin on my hand.
"What did you say? I couldnât hear over the vacuum cleaner."
"I asked why you came to my house."
"You said you were falling behind on house chores, and it was bothering you."
Sora responded as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
I couldnât help but sigh.
Even though I enjoy being pampered, this situation felt unnatural.
After all, who actively volunteers to clean someone elseâs house?
"...You said I should show some sincerity."
It seemed like my gaze made her blurt out the words.
"I didnât exactly say it like that, though."
"You hinted at it with your tone, didnât you?"
"Letâs leave it at that. So?"
"I... felt a bit guilty."
Sora turned off the vacuum cleaner.
"You didnât charge Anna when you taught her, did you?"
"Did Anna say that?"
"Not directly. But when I watch her casual streams, I can kind of sense it."
I later found out that Anna had said something like, âLaura is an expensive lady!â on her stream.
On top of that, I had appeared on Anna's stream back when I wasnât a VTuber. Some viewers speculated that I must have received payment for those appearances.
"But Iâm learning from you for free."
"Thatâs true."
"So, I figured this was the least I could do."
"Honestly, this is a bit much. Youâve gone too far."
"...I know. And also, I just wanted to visit my friendâs house, so donât worry about it."
With that, Sora turned the vacuum cleaner back on.
Then, as if remembering something, she turned it off just one second later.
"Have you had breakfast? If thereâs anything you want to eat, let me know."
===
[General Chat] The 'Pure Maiden' Waiting Room has appeared.
[Guerilla Collab] Since Sora came over to my place, weâre deciding on a game to play together [Aurora/EYEAI]
A sudden collab stream in the middle of a weekday... WTF...
[Comments]
OK, calling in for half-day leave.
Good thing I quit my job for moments like this, lol.
Why even work? You could be like me, living off your momâs money and watching the stream leisurely, haha.
Why did Sora even go to Lauraâs place, lol? ã´ Obviously, to have a little fun. ã´ Weekday couple life. ã´ What the hell is a 'weekday couple,' lol?
[General Chat] Why do people even watch this idiot, Aurora?
Sheâs good at games, sure, but she canât run a stream by herself and always dumps the responsibility on someone else. She doesnât care about the viewers, and every time I watch her stream, I feel like Iâm getting dumber, like my brain cells are rotting away... Woo... blah blah blah...
[Comments]
Self-awareness, as expected from OP, haha.
The smartest among the dumb fanbase.
Why are you so smart? Harvard student?
"Letâs see... is this setup alright?"
Sora muttered to herself as she adjusted her phoneâs position.
Each of us VTubers at EYEAI has two phones. One is our personal phone, and the other is company-issued equipment.
Surprisingly, the tracking is done using the phone camera.
"Whatâs so surprising? The history of VTubers began with an application development company."
Sora said this as she lightly moved her body, and the character on the monitor moved accordingly.
"There were these 3D VTubers called the 'Four Heavenly Kings.' After their success, an app was developed that allowed anyone to become a VTuber."
And that app was the one that tracked Live2D models.
Back then, the app's performance was terrible. It would create weird, unsettling eye movements, triggering the uncanny valley effect. But over time, the technology improved. Now, it can even track subtle facial expressions.
With that level of precision, using a phone app had more advantages than a webcam.
Obviously, using a webcam meant storing model data on a PC.
While that might be fine for home streaming, VTubers often have to stream from various locations. They attend events, do advertising work, or sometimes have to stream from the company's studio. Instead of sending the model data via email every time, it was more convenient to store the data on a phone.
Plus, in terms of ease of use, the phone app was more user-friendly.
So, itâs pretty standard for corporate VTubers like us to use phones for tracking.
"Thatâs an interesting story. So, are you ready?"@@novelbin@@
"Yeah, I think everythingâs set."
"Then go ahead and start the stream."
"...I had a feeling youâd say that."
Sora rolled her eyes but obediently pressed the start button for the stream.
-How are you today? -A daytime stream, how lovely. -Good afternoon. -Did you finally get married? -I knew it, lol. -How about naming your child 'Lara,' taking a letter from each of your names? -Is Lauraâs place going to be where she does postpartum care?
"..."
Sora glanced at me.
I tilted my head in response.
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
"...Arenât you going to do the opening greeting?"
"Opening greeting? You mean something like Leonâs 'Nyan Nyan Nyan!'?"
"Yeah, like that. You need to greet them so I can say something too."
It seemed like Sora wanted me to give the viewers a proper greeting.
But I had never prepared anything like an opening line.
"You donât have one? Then what about 'How are you?' or 'Good afternoon'?"
"Thatâs just what the viewers came up with."
"So you donât do introductions either...?"
I nodded.
I later learned that thereâs an unwritten format for VTuber streams.
For example, Nekozuka Leonâs "Nyan Nyan Nyan! Iâm the cat-eared princess from the cat planet, VTuber Nekozuka Leon, nya!" is a typical opening line.
After saying a unique greeting like "Nyan Nyan Nyan," the VTuber would introduce themselves with something like, "Iâm the cat-eared princess from the cat planet, VTuber Nekozuka Leon, nya!" This seemed to be a common practice among VTubers.
Apparently, Sora also had an opening line: "Ah, mic test. Can you hear me? Iâm EYEAIâs 6th-generation bard VTuber, Ayano Sora~."
Even Chell had a set greeting: "Hello. Iâm EYEAIâs 6th-generation Chell Sumeragi. Nice to meet you."
But I didnât have one.
And thatâs because...
"Isnât it a bit embarrassing?"
What was Leon thinking when she came up with such an opening? Even as a noble lady, I couldnât muster the courage to do something like that.
"Are we seriously going to start the stream like this? No opening line, no introduction, no guest intro...?"
"We already started, so what can we do now? The stream title says that Sora came to my place. Weâre supposed to pick a game to play together, but actually, Iâve already decided on the game."
-? -???? -Host already made the decision? -So well-prepared, haha. -Wait, why name the stream like that if youâd already decided? -Haha, aristocrats donât care about commonersâ opinions, lol. -For real, lol. -"You shall simply follow my will." -Is it Labyrinth again?
"Itâs not Labyrinth. I know Sora would want to play that, though. Right?"
"...Yeah."
Sora nodded slightly.
"There are only two weeks left until the tournament, so I thought we should practice more."
"I saw a VTuber recently playing a Mahjong stream. A professional Mahjong player appeared on the stream and said this: 'Playing 100 rounds mindlessly is less effective than playing one round thoughtfully.'"
Just playing endlessly isnât always productive.
Especially in Soraâs case.
A lack of physical skill is only a secondary issue. Since everyone in the upcoming tournament is gold rank or below, itâs not a big deal if your mechanics are a bit off.
The bigger problem is that her playstyle is more emotional than rational.
She easily gets swept up in the situation, and when her mind races ahead, her teammates canât keep up.
This isnât something that can be fixed by simply playing more.
"So, what should I do?"
"I think you should first learn how to stay calm. Thatâs why I prepared these games."
I displayed the game options on the screen.
ãParty Play Time 1, 2 & 3ã
ãIn Last 1, 2 & 3ã
ãTeddyâs Pizzeria Seriesã
ãAlien: Isolationã
ãBiotic Hazard RE: Seriesã
ãBiotic Hazard 7 & 8ã
ãDarkness Deception Seriesã
"Pick one."