Chapter 59: Chapter 58

A burned-down abandoned school.

Sora was cautiously making her way through it.

“Huff... huff…”

Even though it was the in-game character moving, Sora was panting as if she had experienced the fatigue herself.

A girl's voice echoed repeatedly in her headset.

“Let’s play together.”

“We’ll stay here and play forever. It’s dangerous outside, right?”

“Where are you going? Why are you running away? Don’t you want to play with me?”

“No one else can come here. This place is just for us.”

“Is there something you want to eat? A movie you want to watch? A game you want to play? How about playing with dead bodies? Jump rope? Horse riding? House?”

“Let’s play house. I’ll be the wife, and you’ll be the husband. We’ll have a son. If it’s a daughter, she might fall in love with you.”

“Why are you running away?”

“Why?”

“Where are you?”

“Don’t abandon me.”

In the first stage, you had to face three cannibalistic monkeys. In the second stage, you had to run away from the ghost of a little girl.

You couldn’t hear her footsteps, but her constant talking made it easy to figure out her location.

“This is driving me crazy…”

Knowing her position didn’t make the tension any less. The eerie voice of the ghost made Sora’s heart race faster.

“Like me.”

“Like me, like me, like me, like me, like me, like me, like me, like me, like me, like me, like me, like me.”

“Why don’t you like me? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?”

“I like you. I just want to play with you. Why don’t you understand? Why? Why??”

“Ah.”

“Found you.”

“Damn it…!”

Sora immediately started running forward.

Behind her, the girl's laughter echoed loudly.

“Ahahaha! You like hide-and-seek, don’t you?”

“You can’t run away from me. You can’t escape!!”

“Kyaahahahahahahaha!!!!!”

Sora quickly ran into a classroom and shut the door.

She was about to leave through the opposite door when everything flashed before her eyes.

With the flash, the girl appeared.

Her mouth was torn. Her hair was a messy tangle. Between the strands, bloodshot eyes peeked through.

With monstrous hands, she grabbed Sora.

“I can’t forgive you for leaving me.”

“I can’t forgive you, I can’t forgive you, I can’t forgive you, I can’t forgive you, I can’t forgive you, I can’t forgive you, I can’t forgive you.”

“I can’t forgive youuuu!!!”

“Kyaaaaaaaa!!!”

Sora screamed for what felt like the millionth time that day as a jump scare filled the screen.

Depending on who you ask, Darkness Deception’s second stage is actually easier than the first.

In the first stage, you’re chased by three cannibalistic monkeys. Their AI is designed to surround and corner the player, which can be pretty tough.

In the second stage, you only deal with one ghost.

Of course, the ghost can teleport, but by the second stage, the player has leveled up.

In Darkness Deception, you unlock new skills with each stage. In the first stage, you had no skills, but by the second stage, you unlock the skill, which lets you sprint at full speed for a short time.

This ability makes the second stage easier for a lot of players compared to the first.

'Although the boss fight can still be tough.'

The boss fight required Sora to avoid the ghost’s relentless pursuit in a confined space, which proved tricky for her.

So, I stepped in to help her clear the stage after watching her struggle for a while.

The nature of horror games is that, through repeated deaths, players accumulate experience, but the fear factor wears off over time.

Viewers can also get bored of watching the same scenes over and over, and Sora herself wasn’t making much progress.

Plus, the audience secretly wanted to see me take control.

So, as a last resort, I’d step in when necessary to keep the stream balanced.

And with that, we reached stage three.

Sora hit a wall.

“...Isn’t this stage way too hard?”

She sighed as the “You are Dead” message popped up.

“Yeah, some people do consider the third stage the hardest.”

“...Seriously?”

I nodded.

I had watched a few VTubers play Darkness Deception, and most of them struggled with the third stage.

On the other hand, the second and fourth stages tended to be cleared quickly. I also thought the second and fourth stages were easier.

‘The third stage just requires a different kind of strategy.’

The first and second stages were all about running.

But the third stage introduced “Golden Statues,” which operated on a Red Light, Green Light mechanic.

In other words, as long as you were watching them, they wouldn’t move. But the moment you looked away, they would rush toward you at incredible speed.

To make matters worse, the third stage was filled with traps. You had to juggle “sight management” and “trap avoidance” simultaneously, which made it much harder.

“I need a break…”

Sora slumped into her gaming chair.

Watching her, I quietly reached for my phone.

“What? Did you get a message?”

“Just need to check something. But feel free to talk. I can multitask like the noble lady I am.”

“...What does multitasking have to do with being a noble lady?”

Sora tilted her head, confused, then sighed deeply.

“I’m so drained I can’t even think… Laura, can you throw me a topic?”

“A topic, huh.”

Maybe it was time for a lighthearted talk show moment.

“By the way, we should probably come up with a name for our 6th gen group, don’t you think?”

“Oh, the group name… Now that you mention it, we haven’t decided yet.”

“Exactly.”

I continued.

“Rion mentioned that since the MV is coming out, we need to have a name in place.”

We had discussed the MV production during our offline meeting. After several online conversations, we had settled on the Stellar Observation MV, as Sora had suggested.

Before the end of August, our 6th gen group had finished recording, and the MV was currently in production with an illustrator.

“Wait… Shouldn’t we hold off on announcing the MV?”

“Oh, should we?”

'Oh, should we?' LOL

Embargo (x) Immediate release (o)

We didn’t hear anything! ????

The transparent villainess strikes again~

Rion’s going to scold you again ????

“Well, we’ve already said it, so there’s no going back now. The 6th gen MV is in production, and it will be released when it’s ready.”

Sora reluctantly explained.

The MV would be uploaded to Sora’s channel.

Since she was our group leader and also a VTuber known for her singing, it made sense for the MV to be posted on her channel. Plus, she had suggested the Stellar Observation theme in the first place.

No one objected. Sure, it seemed like Sora was benefiting, but that’s how collaborations usually worked.

After all, this Darkness Deception stream was benefiting my channel. When I appeared on Sora’s channel, she got the boost. Inagika was preparing something ambitious, so she’d get her turn soon. And Chel… well, at some point, we’d collaborate on Chel’s channel too.

So, there was no issue with Sora’s channel hosting the MV, but—

“Isn’t it kind of tacky to put ‘feat. 6th gen’ in the title?”

Stellar Observation feat. EYEAI 6th gen

Yeah, it didn’t have the right feel.

Plus, VTubers sometimes released original songs. Some even put out albums, but calling it an EYEAI 6th gen album didn’t sit right.

There were also group VTuber events, and a name would be needed for those occasions. That’s why Rion insisted we come up with a name.

“So, does anyone in the audience have suggestions?”

【The Villainess is Too Good at Games has donated 1,000 won.】

【What about ‘6 Toilets’?】

“Wanna get sued?”@@novelbin@@

Sora shot the commenter a cold glare.

Then she sighed and turned toward me.

“...Laura, do you have a good idea?”

“A viewer suggested ‘Laura and the Maids,’ which I quite like.”

“That’s never going to happen… Oh, how about this?”

Sora pointed to a chat message.

“AoiS?”

Ayanokoji Sora.

Orora (Laura).

Inagika.

Sumeragi Chel.

AoiS.

“Not bad.”

Aoi (青い) in Japanese means blue, symbolizing youth and vitality. It often represented the idea of “youthful spirit.”

“Sounds good, right?”

“Yeah, but we should ask Inagika and Chel to confirm.”

“You can ask them yourself. They’re here.”

“Huh? They’re here?”

I nodded and lightly clapped my hands.

Then—

“Um... I think it’s a good name…”

Inagika walked in through the door, Chel following behind.

Sora’s eyes widened.

“...Why are you two here?”