Chapter 3: A Request from a Popular VTuber 2
Bottom-tier streamer Haikawa Mobius woke up after noon as usual, climbing out of the bed in his cluttered room.
After fiddling with his phone for a while, he poured hot water into a cup of instant noodles.
“Sigh… I seriously want to make a living from streaming…”
Streamers generally fell into three categories.
Professionals who lived entirely off streaming and video uploads.
Those aiming to become professionals.
And hobbyists.
Haikawa belonged to the second group.
At least technically.
But he wasn’t putting in nearly enough effort to become a professional, nor did he have any clear goals.
In other words, he was the type of streamer who merely thought, ‘It’d be nice if I could go pro.’
At this point, streaming was little more than a way to kill time during unemployment.
He only had twelve subscribers, after all.
Gyudon-chan had subscribed yesterday.
“Guess I should get going.”
“It takes a while to get to Shibuya.”
He lived in Tokyo, but in a rundown apartment on the outskirts of the city.
Only he and one other tenant occupied the building.
That made it the perfect environment for loud late-night streaming sessions.
Leaving the shabby apartment behind, Haikawa boarded a train and headed for Shibuya.
“I got here way too early…”
The streets of Shibuya were overflowing with noise and energy.
Tourists were taking pictures all around the station.
Middle schoolers, high schoolers, and young people crowded the area.
To Haikawa, Shibuya felt like a city where a festival was being held every single day.
‘I hate this place.’
‘There are too many people.’
‘Just walking around is exhausting…’
‘Guess I’ll kill some time before the meeting.’
There was still about an hour until the appointed time.
He wandered around the city until it was time to head to the café.
Entering the designated coffee shop near the station, he ordered the cheapest coffee available and looked around for someone matching Eris’s description.
Actually, he didn’t have any description at all.
He had no choice but to inspect everyone carefully.
That was assuming she had even shown up.
As he walked around, he noticed the café was packed with students returning from school.
Middle schoolers.
High schoolers.
University students.
The seats were almost completely full.
‘She’s probably waiting alone.’
‘Though maybe her friend is here too.’
The first floor didn’t seem promising.
He headed upstairs and searched the second floor.
Even then, he couldn’t identify anyone just by looking.
As he wandered around, his phone suddenly rang.
The caller ID showed the familiar number.
“Hello?”
“Haikawa-san, where are you?”
“I’m sitting by the window.”
He turned toward the window seats.
A girl holding a smartphone to her ear was looking in his direction.
She appeared to be a high school student wearing a school uniform.
‘Wait.’
‘She’s actually a high school girl?’
The moment their eyes met, the girl stood up and approached him.
“Haikawa-san?”
“Uh…”
“What should I call you?”
“Hmm.”
“Then call me Gyudon-chan!”
“You’re really going with that?”
He couldn’t exactly call her Mitsuhashi Eris.
Nor were they close enough to exchange real names.
They settled on using their online nicknames.
Haikawa was stunned.
The more he learned about Gyudon-chan, the more she seemed to genuinely be Mitsuhashi Eris.
Even now, the voice of the girl standing before him was nearly identical to the voice he’d heard on the phone and on stream.
After sitting down, he spent a second observing her appearance.
‘She’s ridiculously cute…’
She gave off an impression very similar to Mitsuhashi Eris’s avatar.
She had chestnut-colored short hair.
Her height was around 150 centimeters.
Neither overweight nor skinny.
Just average.
His eyes inevitably drifted toward her chest.
Well, maybe slightly larger than average.
The blazer-style school uniform suited her perfectly.
She looked healthy, energetic, and cheerful.
“For now, nice to meet you.”
“Are you really a high school student, Gyudon-chan?”
“Nice to meet you too, Haikawa-san.”
“I’m a first-year high school student.”
The revelation shocked him all over again.
The famous VTuber Mitsuhashi Eris was an actual high school girl.
And a pretty one at that.
The unfairness of the world hit him hard.
“Haikawa-san, please keep it a secret that I’m Eris.”
“I know.”
“There are probably people in this café who recognize you.”
“If things turn into a commotion, it’ll leave a bad taste in everyone’s mouth.”
“So what now?”
“You dragged me all the way here, Gyudon-chan.”
“You didn’t really have a plan, did you?”
“Ahaha…”
“So you figured that out…”
She had been genuinely worried about her friend and forced the issue without thinking.
Haikawa had gotten swept up in it.
Still, he couldn’t complain much.
A small part of him hoped this connection might help him become famous.
“Whatever.”
“How’s your friend doing?”
“Hmm.”
“I finally managed to reach her yesterday.”
“She sounded worse than she did three days ago.”
“Honestly, I’m really worried.”
Apparently her condition hadn’t improved.
The poltergeist-like phenomena were still occurring as well.
“According to what you told me, these kinds of things are easy to deal with, right?”
“So please help!”
“Even if you ask me that…”
“I can’t say anything until I see the place.”
“Huh?”
“But you helped me over the phone yesterday.”
“I told you it would probably be okay.”
“There was a probably attached to that.”
“Even your room isn’t one hundred percent guaranteed to be solved.”
“Just in case, I told you to buy a protective charm from a shrine.”
“Wait.”
“So you’re saying it might not be over?”
“Let me explain a little.”
“Famous people and powerful people have always paid attention to occult stuff.”
Many entertainers and politicians visited temples and shrines before important events.
Praying for successful projects.
Praying to win elections.
Things like that.
He’d also heard stories of movie stars and politicians overseas frequently attending church.
From the perspective of someone like Haikawa, who dealt with spiritual matters, that wasn’t a bad thing.
The entertainment industry and politics looked glamorous on the surface.
But they were overflowing with competition, jealousy, resentment, and negativity.
If you won, life was wonderful.
If you lost…
He’d heard that entertainment staff often worked tirelessly, sacrificing sleep in pursuit of creating amazing works and performances.
Only a handful survived.
Every day, people quit, retire, or leave behind regrets and bitterness.
At the same time, new dreamers constantly entered the industry.
“In those kinds of industries, popular people attract jealousy.”
“You could call it negative energy.”
“Oh.”
“So that’s how it works.”
“What happened yesterday was basically a buildup of negative energy around you, Gyudon-chan.”
“That’s why I told you to get a charm.”
Removing that negative energy made it harder for bad luck and strange things to gather.
Of course, a lot of it depended on the person’s mindset as well.
“But science hasn’t proven any of this, right?”
“Couldn’t it just be imagination or coincidence?”
Despite experiencing paranormal events herself yesterday, Eris was already starting to doubt them.
After all, she’d sensed something strange but never actually seen a ghost.
“That’s right.”
“Huh?”
“But you have psychic powers, don’t you?”
“Don’t you believe in them?”
“Just because I have them doesn’t mean I understand everything.”
“Even what I just explained is only something that makes sense to me.”
“I don’t know whether it’s actually true.”
“There are plenty of successful entertainers and politicians who never visit shrines at all.”
If someone demanded scientific proof, psychics couldn’t provide it.
Because proving things scientifically was the job of scientists.
“Honestly, most ghost stories are either misunderstandings or lies.”
“And most problems solve themselves if you leave them alone.”
“Usually the best solution is simply not getting involved.”
“I guess…”
There were countless things in the world that science couldn’t fully explain.
And the moment someone declared them fake, hoaxes, or edited footage, the discussion ended.
Most of those mysteries simply weren’t important enough to prioritize.
“Take sleep paralysis, for example.”
“You’ve heard of it, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Isn’t it when your brain wakes up while your body is still asleep?”
“That’s just the leading theory.”
“It’s not proven fact.”
“If it were, ghost explanations would’ve disappeared long ago.”
Psychiatrists, therapists, and pharmacists would generally tell you the same thing.
The exact cause remained unknown.
Or they’d give the same answer Eris had.
Problems that weren’t urgent often remained unsolved.
That wasn’t limited to the occult.
Researching cancer treatments was obviously more important than proving whether ghosts existed.
Even Haikawa agreed with that.
“Just because I have psychic powers doesn’t mean I believe every supernatural story.”
“Honestly, I think your friend’s poltergeist is probably her imagination too.”
“Really…?”
“Hmm…”
“Which is why you shouldn’t be hanging around someone like me.”
“If rumors spread about a high school girl being seen with an adult man, that’s bad news.”
An adult man spending time with a high school girl already looked suspicious.
Getting caught in some scandal afterward would be even worse.
At first, Haikawa hadn’t believed Mitsuhashi Eris was genuinely a high school student.
VTubers could fake their age as much as they wanted.
“Hmm…”
“I still want you to come with me, Haikawa-san.”
“Huh?”
“Come with you where?”
“To your friend’s place?”
“Yep!”
“Come on, hurry up and finish your coffee!”
“Chug it!”
“Chug it!”
“Hey!”
“Alright, alright!”
“Stop making a scene!”
“You’re attracting attention!”
Once again, Haikawa found himself dragged along by force.
He downed his coffee in one go and hurried out of the café.
The whole time, he worried someone might recognize Mitsuhashi Eris.
Fortunately, the café was noisy enough that nobody paid them any attention.
“Your friend’s place is within walking distance of Shibuya?”
“Yep.”
“It’s more convenient to live near the company.”
“A lot of Happy Relay streamers live around Shibuya.”
“You shouldn’t just tell people that.”
“Wait.”
“Your friend is part of Happy Relay too?”
Happy Relay was a major agency managing a large number of streamers.
In recent years, they had invested heavily in VTubers.
More than a hundred streamers belonged to the company.
Every one of them had a fanbase that dwarfed Haikawa’s.
Their advertising and promotion were exceptional.
Being accepted there practically guaranteed the ideal streaming environment.
It was the dream company for countless streamers.
Though recently, some people felt the agency wasn’t as dominant as it once was.
“Oh right, Haikawa-san.”
“Can we stop by the office first?”
“Minami asked me to deliver a proposal document.”
“Minami…”
“Kitagawa Minami-chan?”
“That’s a big name…”
Kitagawa Minami was another famous VTuber from Happy Relay.
She was about as popular as Mitsuhashi Eris, so even Haikawa knew her.
“I have more subscribers than she does!”
“But the forums always say Kitagawa Minami-chan usually has higher concurrent viewers.”
“Don’t say that!”
“I’m sensitive about it!”
Their streams made them look like close friends.
In reality, they were both rivals and companions.
Right now, Kitagawa Minami was suffering from poor health and strange occurrences.
Eris genuinely wanted to help her.
“Alright.”
“I’m just going to stop by the company for a minute.”
While Eris entered the building, Haikawa waited at a distance where company staff wouldn’t see him.
The Happy Relay office building was massive and impressive.
Security guards monitored the surrounding area to prevent outsiders from identifying or endangering the streamers.
Haikawa could see the lobby from outside.
Watching Gyudon-chan casually walk through the entrance only reinforced the reality.
She really was Mitsuhashi Eris.
According to Eris, she usually entered through the underground parking garage by taxi.
She rarely used the front entrance.
That was probably safer.
“Sorry to keep you waiting!”
“Shall we go?”
“Y-Yeah.”
The difference between their worlds hit him once again.
With enough talent and luck, even a first-year high school student could become a celebrity.
‘This is making me feel pathetic…’
A world completely unrelated to his own.
But contrary to what one might expect, Haikawa didn’t decide to abandon his ambitions.
‘I’ll get her to put in a good word for me at Happy Relay!’
‘Then I’ll finally have my dream streaming career!’
His ulterior motives only burned brighter.
As they walked, Eris spoke up.
“Minami’s a little shy.”
“So please be gentle with her.”
“And she hates scary things, so don’t try to frighten her.”
“Got it.”
“I’ll do my best.”
“Though honestly, most modern poltergeist cases are caused by poorly constructed buildings.”
“If I explain that, she’ll probably be fine.”
“That’s scary too!”
As they exchanged remarks that were half joke and half truth, they arrived at their destination.
The apartment building looked stylish and highly secure.
Eris used the intercom to contact the resident.
After being granted entry, they took the elevator up to Kitagawa Minami’s apartment.
Standing before the door, Eris rang the bell and waited.
The door opened almost immediately.
A girl around the same age as Eris stepped out.
And the moment she did—
“Eris-chan, welcome…”
“A-And…”
“H-Hello…”
A quiet-looking girl appeared in the doorway.
She had long black hair and delicate features.
She gave off a timid impression.
And at a glance, it was obvious.
She looked utterly terrified of something.