My Childhood Friend, a Vtuber, Treated Me Like Trash—I’m Never Producing For Her Again
I let Mizuta san into my house.
That said, I didn’t take her to my bedroom—I showed her into the living room.
Even so, it felt kind of strange to have a girl other than Yue in my house.
“Would you like something to drink?”
“W-well, then, I’ll have coffee… With extra milk, and made really sweet… Oh, and iced, if possible.”
“Oh, sure.”
She’s asking for a lot.
Well, whatever.
I took some cold-brewed coffee out of the fridge and poured it into a glass.
I added ice and milk just as she asked, poured in plenty of sugar syrup, and set it down in front of her.
“O-oh, this is delicious…! Did you make this yourself?”
“Yeah, well, something like that.”
It just takes a while; it’s not that hard to make.
Once it’s brewed, it lasts for a few days.
Though, to be honest, my dad drinks it more often than I do.
(Mizuta-san really is cute, isn’t she?)
Although her messy bangs hid it, if you looked closely, she had all the traits of a beauty.
Smooth, fair skin. Large eyes framed by long lashes. A straight, delicate nose, and soft-looking, pale pink lips—.
No, now isn’t the time to be thinking about things like that.
“So, Mizuta-san, what’s this about?”
I already asked you that at the front door a little while ago.
“Ah, y-yes… Well… I’m really s-sorry about yesterday…”
Mizuta-san bowed her head deeply.
Well, it’s not like I wanted her to apologize this dramatically.
Actually, it wasn’t that loud after I told her to keep it down.
“Um, this is bread from the shop my mom runs…”
Saying that, Mizuta-san held out a paper bag.
I looked down and saw it was a bag from a famous bakery in the next town over.
Which means—
“Does Mizuta-san’s mom run a bakery?”
“Yes… It’s my mom’s only talent, so I can guarantee the taste…”
“Her only talent”—isn’t that a bit harsh?
Anyway, the shop seems to have quite a reputation for its taste, and there’s always a line out the door.
“I’ll dig in. I’m sorry I barged in on you out of the blue yesterday, too.”
“N-no… but I was really startled. I never imagined there’d be a stalker targeting someone as lowly as me…!!”
Mizuta shuddered.
It must have been really scary for her.
…Admittedly, I was in the wrong there.
Keeping her head bowed slightly, she continued.
“But it turns out it wasn’t a stalker after all. Come to think of it, that makes sense. No one would go after a nobody like me, and anyway, a stalker would probably go after the famous big names.”
“That’s not necessarily true. It’s better to be safe than sorry, and you should avoid talking about personal stuff during your streams.”
“R-really…?”
“Yeah. If you’re not careful, people could figure out who you are.”
To begin with, if you’re not trying to deliberately come across as a high school girl, you don’t even need to reveal that you’re a student.
“W-well, then what should I talk about…? I have to make small talk before the game, right? Like, ‘the flowers I saw today,’ or something…?”
“It doesn’t have to be flowers specifically, but you should avoid talking about flowers altogether. Even just mentioning the type or when they bloom can narrow down your location.”
“Eek…”
Mizuta’s face turned pale.
She’s definitely talked about flowers before.
It feels like I’m watching a textbook example of a beginner streamer.
I remembered when I first taught Yue all this stuff.
“Then what on earth am I supposed to talk about…?”
“It’s best to stick to topics that aren’t too region-specific.”
“Region-specific…? Like convenience stores?”
“That’s not a great idea either. The chains that operate vary by region, and people can sometimes guess where a store is located based on its product lineup.”
“Eek… Then the only thing left is the weather, right?”
“There’s no topic that reveals regional differences more clearly than the weather…”
Mizuta, you really don’t know much, do you?
It’s amazing you’ve managed to keep this up for over a year in this state.
Maybe it’s precisely because you’ve been at the bottom all this time that you’ve actually avoided any problems so far.
“Just use whatever’s trending nationwide as casual conversation topics.”
“Trending nationwide? N-news?”
“Just to be clear, politics and current events are completely off-limits.”
“I-I know that much even I do…!”
Good to hear.
“Things like topics you’ve seen recently on social media or YouTube, or news about your favorite anime, games, or movies. Those kinds of things aren’t tied to any specific region.”
“Oh, I-I see…! I thought that since it’s small talk, I naturally had to talk about myself…”
“This isn’t a diary. Of course, the goal isn’t just to report facts like the news, right? We want to show how you, Mizuta-san, react to these topics—like how you’re looking forward to them.”
“I-I see…”
Mizuta-san suddenly pulled out her smartphone and began tapping away frantically.
She must be taking notes.
Even so, she types incredibly fast.
“Oh, and just one more thing—you’re using a condenser mic right now, aren’t you?”
“A, a condenser…? What’s that?”
“…Well, didn’t you buy the mic yourself?”
“I did buy it, but I just randomly picked up a ‘VTuber equipment set’ I saw on a secondhand site, so to be honest, I don’t really understand it. The setup was completely baffling to me, so in the end, I had to call a technician to come out. It was super expensive…”
“So, if you run into equipment trouble, you can’t handle it on your own at all?”
“Yeah…”
At the very least, you should know what your equipment is made of and how it’s all connected.
Your viewers might give you advice in the comments.
“Anyway, I think you’re probably using a condenser mic right now. But your room isn’t soundproofed at all, is it?”
“Yeah, soundproofing costs a fortune…”
“Right. So first, you should switch to a dynamic mic, reevaluate your setup, and make it less likely to pick up unwanted ambient noise.”
That way, you can significantly reduce the number of incidents where the sound of campaign cars or emergency broadcasts gets picked up in your stream and gives away your identity.
Of course, that means you’ll have to be more careful about the angle and distance from the mic to ensure your voice is picked up clearly.
“Um… well… what’s your name…?”
“…I’m Komachi Tasuku.”
“S-sorry. I’m not very good at remembering people’s names… A-anyway, Komachi san, you seem to know a lot about this kind of thing. A-are you maybe in this industry or something…?”
Information like this is easy to find with a quick online search.
Well, it’s true that after what happened with Yue, I ended up knowing more about this than most people.
It’s a bitter memory now, but if it helps someone, it’s not all bad.
“No, that’s not it. A while back, I helped out an acquaintance who wanted to become a VTuber. I just picked it up back then.”
“I-I see…! So in a way, you’re an expert…!”
Did you even listen to what I was saying?
“W-well then, Komachi-san, if something goes wrong during my stream, is it okay if I come talk to you like this…?”
“Hmm…”
“O-of course, I’ll bring plenty of my mom’s bread!”
“Oh, well then, I’ll count on you.”
“So my mom’s bread is more appealing than the VTuber herself!? I know that’s how it is! Even though I’m the VTuber myself! No matter how low-tier I am!!”
Mizuta-san slumped her shoulders in disappointment.