My Childhood Friend, a Vtuber, Treated Me Like Trash—I’m Never Producing For Her Again
During lunch break, I headed to the Visual Arts Club room with Mizuta-san.
“This is awful… I’ve become a laughingstock…”
She sniffled as she took out her lunch bag.
Well, even I hadn’t expected it to go that far.
Since we’d been streaming for over a year, I thought we could have done a little better.
Scratching my head, I tentatively opened my mouth.
“Um, I’m sorry about everything.”
“You don’t have to apologize… I know it myself—it was my fault.”
Mizuta-san held out one of her bento boxes toward me.
Had she gone out of her way to make one for me again today?
Sure enough, I felt a warm surge deep in my chest.
At the same time, I was curious to see if she was wearing that decorative band-aid again, so I sneakily peeked at her hands.
Fortunately, I didn’t see it today.
“But this has made it crystal clear. My social skills are hopeless, aren’t they…”
“Uh, well…”
Honestly, I had no idea how to respond to that.
“Let’s try looking at it positively instead.”
“Huh? H-how am I supposed to think positively…?”
“If new listeners had suddenly flooded in without me having any experience like today’s, what do you think would’ve happened?”
Mizuta must have imagined that scenario, because she shuddered slightly as she looked up at me.
“I th-think it would’ve been the worst… I think everyone who came would’ve just left…”
“Yes, exactly. Attracting new listeners actually depends a lot on luck.”
Of course, it’s a different story for major corporations.
“That’s why a streamer’s true skill is determined by how well they can retain those new listeners.”
“Waaah…”
“In that sense, what happened this morning was like a vaccination.”
Of course, real-life conversation and streaming chat are two different things.
That said, you can’t get anywhere without basic conversational skills.
In Mizuta’s case, she’s good at talking to herself, but she freezes up when someone else joins in.
I have a vague idea why, but listeners aren’t going to go out of their way to figure it out.
“I get what you’re saying… but isn’t a vaccination supposed to hurt a lot…?”
“Well, injections are supposed to sting a little, after all.”
The question is how to resolve this from here on out.
Yui wasn’t this extremely socially awkward, so this was completely uncharted territory for me, too.
While mulling it over, I opened the lid of the bento Mizuta-san had made for me.
“Oh, come to think of it, Mizuta-san.”
“Yes?”
“Did you record a video of yourself making the bento?”
“Oh, y-yes…! I’ll send it right now…!”
Mizuta-san took out her smartphone and started fiddling with it.
It looked like it would take a little while to send.
In the meantime, I took a bite of the bento.
I couldn’t help but widen my eyes.
“W-wow, this is delicious…”
“R-really…? I’m so glad…”
“It was delicious last time too, but, how should I put it… the flavor seems to have gone up a notch. Mizuta, you really are a great cook.”
“Hehe… If you praise me that much, I might just go crazy…”
Mizuta’s cheeks softened into a soft smile.
Seeing her look so incredibly happy from just that little compliment made me smile too.
But at the same time, a sudden wave of anxiety washed over me.
…If this keeps up, won’t her cooking skills just keep getting better and better?
“O-oh, I sent it…!”
“Ah, okay. I’ll check it right away.”
I took out my phone and opened LINE.
The moment I looked at the screen, my eyes widened.
“Huh? There’s a lot here, isn’t there?”
“W-well, that’s because I filmed the entire cooking process.”
“From start to finish?”
“Yes…!”
Come to think of it, I hadn’t asked her to edit it.
Next time I give her a similar assignment, I’ll specify a time limit.
I’m starting to wonder if Mizuta-san has ever even watched a vlog before.
(Still, how many minutes is all this, anyway?)
The files were split into dozens of small segments, making it hard to tell the total runtime.
I quickly scanned the playback times on the thumbnails and added them up in my head.
The total time I came up with was simply unbelievable.
“…Five hours?”
“Ah, y-yes…! That’s how long it took to make the bento.”
“Huh?”
Did this bento really take five hours?
No wonder there are so many side dishes.
She’s still a beginner in the kitchen, so she’s probably not very efficient yet.
Even so, this bento took an extraordinary amount of effort.
“So, what time did you actually start making it…?”
“I started right after the livestream ended…!”
“You stayed up all night until morning?”
“Yes…!!”
I was getting genuinely worried, so I chose my words carefully.
“Well… I’m happy you made it for me, but you don’t have to push yourself.”
“Huh? I’m not pushing myself at all. If I hadn’t been making this bento, I’d just have been playing video games by myself the whole time.”
As far as Mizuta-san was concerned, she’d simply used her free time to make the bento.
True, she did seem to have strangely mastered the art of dozing off in class without the teacher noticing…
Still, sleep should be taken properly at night, lying down in bed.
It can’t possibly be good for her health.
“Mizuta, what do you think is one of the most important things for a streamer?”
“Huh? W-well…?”
“Self-management. It’s the same for any job—you can’t be late, and you have to keep yourself in top physical condition.”
“R-Right…! But I’ve hardly ever been late…”
“I can’t accept an explanation like, ‘I maintain my condition by napping during class.’ It’s only when you’re in good physical shape that your energy levels naturally rise and you make fewer slip-ups.”
“I-Is that so…!?”
Mizuta-san started taking notes on her smartphone.
Her determination to become a VTuber is definitely the real deal.
It seems she’ll listen without question if I tell her it’s necessary for her VTuber activities.
“So, once your stream is over, make sure to sleep in your own room. Sleep comes before your lunchbox.”
“Y-yes… Then, I’ll try to prepare my lunchbox as much as possible the night before and just pack it in the morning…”
“And don’t fall asleep during class. If your parents find out you’re not paying attention in class, it’ll seriously hinder your VTuber activities, you know?”
“Eek… Please, anything but that…!”
Come to think of it, I wonder if Mizuta-san’s grades are okay.
…I hope she hasn’t been failing any classes.
I’ll have to check on that later.
I shifted my gaze back to my phone.
“Alright, I’ll take a look at the videos you sent me. But I can’t possibly watch them all, so I’ll fast-forward through most of them and just check the parts that look important.”
“Y-yes…!”
Mizuta-san’s eyes were sparkling with anticipation.
I wonder if she’s really that confident.
I immediately played the first video.
“…Um, Mizuta-san.”
“Yes?”
“Why are you wearing a bikini?”
And sitting on a bed, no less.
“It’s the only outfit I have that really shows off my figure…”
“But you just bought some new casual clothes, didn’t you?”
“W-well, I thought it would be a waste if they got splattered while I was cooking…”
Wait, does that mean you’re actually going to cook in a bikini?
I think that’s just plain dangerous.
“A-and Komachi-san, you said you wanted to see it, didn’t you?”
“Huh? See what?”
“M-me in a bikini…”
When did I ever say that?
Well, we did talk about bikinis at the mall over the weekend, but I meant that I wouldn’t just leave it entirely up to you…
While I was flustered, Mizuta-san on the screen started talking, still in her bikini.
“U-um… M-my name is Mei Mizuta from Class 2-3… I-I’m going to follow Komachi-san’s instructions and do this while recording a video…!”
“……”
Doesn’t this kind of feel like it’s turning into a sketchy video?