Chapter 36 : Ayase is a god and invincible!

A sudden prayer to the countless stars of Bitshine barely eased the tension…

Yeah, right.

My heart was still pounding.

And why wouldn’t it be?

After all, the person I was about to speak with was—

My love.

My light.

My joy.

My sorrow, my solace, my soul…

My Oshi VTuber, Ayase.

If this situation had been just a simple fan having a casual conversation with Ayase, I wouldn’t be this nervous.

In fact, Ayase often held viewer participation content like “Ayase’s Counseling Session.”

And every time she did, I applied without a second thought.

But this was different.

The conversation I was about to have with Ayase wasn’t just between a fan and a VTuber.

It was a meeting between an MC and a guest.

From my perspective, there was no way this wouldn’t be overwhelming.

“Hoo, haah… hoo, haah…”

I couldn’t keep Ayase waiting any longer.

Taking a deep breath, I entered Voice Chat Room #1.

Ding.

As soon as the notification sound rang out, a voice, one I knew all too well, greeted me.

A high, soprano tone—

“Hello, Jia-nim!”

Bright.

Kind.

Adorable.

It was Ayase, just as she always was.

I needed to respond.

“Jia-nim? Can you hear my voice?”

I needed to respond.

“Jia-nim? Hellooo~?”

Say something, you idiot! Say something, Lee Jia, you crazy fool!

“Uh, uhh…”

Forcing my lips apart, which refused to move, I finally let out a sound—

A stupid, pathetic sound.

“Oh! Jia-nim! I can hear you now. Hello, this is Ayase!”

“A-a-ah, h-hello…!”

I did it.

I greeted her.

I really greeted her.

“You sound really nervous. Or… is something urgent going on? If you’re busy, we can reschedule—”

“N-no! How could someone like me possibly inconvenience the great Ayase—”

Thud!

Thud!

Thud!

“Kuueeek!”

What… What did I just say wrong?

Oh.

I called her ‘the great Ayase.’

[Pfft.]

A soft giggle came through the speaker.

I knew that laugh.

That was—

That was the laugh Ayase only let out when she was truly cracking up.

[Ahahaha! Was that supposed to be ‘The Price of Blasphemy’ or something?]

“Y-yes…”

[Jia-nim, you’re really funny!]

“Ghh… I’m not a ‘person’ though…”

[Oh, right! My mistake. You’re not a person, you’re a devout follower of the countless stars of Bitshine, correct?]

“…Yes.”

God.

I just made an absolute fool of myself in front of Ayase.

This was humiliating.

I wanted to throw myself out the window and bungee jump with my bare body.

Not that it would matter.

My house was only on the second floor, so even if I did jump out, I wouldn’t die.

And with this stupidly sturdy body of mine, I’d probably survive even if I fell from the tenth floor.

At least, thanks to my ‘blasphemy,’ the tension had eased a little.

Before we got into the actual content of the conversation, Ayase and I exchanged some light banter.

It seemed she had a lot of questions for me.

“Jia-nim, I heard you’re a fan of mine. Can I ask when you started watching my streams?”

“D-d-debut stream! I’ve been watching since your debut!”

“Oh my, really?”

“I swear on the name of the countless stars of Bitshine, I’m not lying! I even remember how the day after your debut, you did that catastrophic karaoke stream that destroyed everyone’s eardrums—oh, sorry! And then the next day, you did a spiritual guidance stream, but someone sent an assassination donation, and you got suspended for three days—ah, sorry again! And then…”

“W-wait… you remember all that?”

“Of course! I haven’t missed a single one of your streams!”

“I honestly thought you were just saying that as lip service… but you’re serious, huh? You really do watch all my streams. Thank you so much.”

“Ehehehehehehe.”

Hearing the words thank you from my favorite VTuber…

There were no words to describe how happy that made me. I let out a dumb, delighted giggle in real life.

I felt proud.

All those days spent religiously watching Ayase’s streams had paid off.

I even got her to thank me.

This… This is what it means to be a successful otaku.

“Hmmm, but Jia-nim, I have another question.”

“Yes! Ask me anything!”

“Did you subscribe to my channel too?”

“Of course! I subscribed during your debut stream, and I’ve kept it up ever since!”

I could already predict what Ayase would say next.

Oh my, you’ve kept your subscription since my debut?

Thank you so much!

Heh.

Hehehehehe.

Just imagining it made my cheeks stretch with a goofy grin.

But—

What came next was far from what I had expected.

“Hmmm… You see, I actually have a pretty good memory of all the usernames of people who subscribed to me since my debut.”

“…Uh.”

“Could it be this person? Or maybe… that person? I think I might know who you are.”

Shit.

I was seconds away from Ayase discovering my alt account’s username.

No, this can’t happen…

If she finds out I got banned for a week because of that TAS joke… I might actually have to make a huge decision in my life.

Of course, to be accurate, it wasn’t TAS bashing, it was self-deprecating humor, but whatever.

I was sweating.

Normally, in situations like this, your back is supposed to start sweating first, right?

Then why the hell was my chest sweating before my back?

This… This was an actual physiological mystery.

I was completely frozen.

“Pfft… I’m just messing with you! I have no idea.”

Huh?

“Jia-nim, you know how many people watched my debut stream, right? There were so many subscriptions that day, there’s no way I could remember each and every one.”

“Y-yeah, of course!”

“But I might have a clue.”

“Just kidding. Pfft… Jia-nim, you have such great reactions. I need to write this down.”

That was when it hit me.

Ayase didn’t become famous just because she was a lovable idiot.

Her banter was sharp.

Her streams were fun.

And her sheer presence was just overwhelmingly powerful.

I had been so charmed by our conversation that I completely forgot—

Ayase was playful as hell.

I mean, of course she was.

If she weren’t, how else could she run a legendary chaos-fueled content like The Abyss Show?

After that little prank, my speech naturally became stiff and formal.

And Ayase must have noticed because she sounded a little put off.

“I told you it was just a joke, Jia-nim! Your tone’s so stiff now, it hurts.”

“Yes, understood!”

“Tsk, from now on, stiff speech is banned!”

“…Yes.”

There it was.

One of Ayase’s greatest skills—

Training her conversation partner.

Maybe it was because of her naturally friendly personality, but before I knew it, I had already adapted to talking with her.

Just moments ago, my heart had been pounding like it was about to burst.

But thanks to Ayase’s efforts to lighten the mood, it had finally calmed down.

Ayase was—

The one VTuber I could never associate with the word awkward.

Did this person even understand what awkwardness felt like?

She smoothly transitioned to the main topic.

“Shall we move on to talking about the content? Jia-nim, since you watch my streams so diligently, you must be familiar with The Abyss Show, right?”

“I’ve watched every single episode.”

“Perfect! That makes things easier. First of all, let me thank you again for agreeing to appear. Finding guests for The Abyss Show is never easy.”

“Uh, well… Actually, I have something to say about that…”

“Oh? Please, feel free!”

“…Are you sure it’s really okay for me to be a guest?”

“Huh? What do you mean by that?”

“I just… I don’t want to cause you any trouble.”

Ayase was—

The definition of a clean corporate VTuber.

No controversies.

No scandals.

Not a single moment of profanity on stream.

Even people who didn’t know much about VTubers had probably heard her name at least once.

She was a household name, even among the general public.

And yet—

She was about to collab with me.

A VTuber who was the literal embodiment of underground.

A fanatic cultist VTuber from the shadows.

Of course, I was going to be worried.

Sensing my hesitation, Ayase smiled reassuringly, as if to say I had nothing to worry about.

“That’s exactly why this is going to be fun.”

“…Huh?”

“Ah—! But don’t misunderstand! I didn’t mean that your content is underground and mine is mainstream or anything. I just think our dynamic is really fresh and interesting!”

“Well… I guess that’s true…”

“Honestly, I have a feeling you’re going to be one of The Abyss Show’s most legendary guests. So you really don’t have to worry!”

…There were many ways I could become legendary.

And not all of them were good.

I swallowed back my words.

The die had already been cast.

It wasn’t like I could back out now.

All I could do was pray that, on the day of the show, the countless stars of Bitshine would grant me mercy.

“Alright, moving on. Are there any topics you’d prefer not to discuss on stream? Like religious topics, or maybe anything related to the company you’re affiliated with…?”

“Uh, hold on, let me think for a second.”

Topics I didn’t want to discuss on stream?

Of course, there were.

I really, really didn’t want to talk about the countless stars of Bitshine or Omnia Archive.

I had no desire to humiliate myself by groveling in front of Ayase.

However—

The words that came out of my mouth were completely different from what I had in mind.

“…I don’t think there are any.”

“Huh? Really? None at all?”

“Yeah.”

“So, for example… No, never mind, I can’t give away the questions in advance… But seriously, you’re sure?”

“Yes, absolutely sure.”

“Alright, I’ll take your word for it!”

Since I was going to be on Ayase’s stream, I had to go all in.

If I preemptively set boundaries and said, ‘Please avoid these topics’, it would kill the fun.

It would water down the excitement.

And I couldn’t allow that.

For the sake of Ayase’s stream—

I was willing to sacrifice my skull.

So—

“By the way, about the questions…”

“They’re top secret, of course!”

“…Yeah, it makes sense. The Abyss Show lives and dies by raw reactions, after all.”

Thank god.

If there had been a script, I would’ve been genuinely disappointed.

As expected—

The Abyss Show was a chaotic, unscripted carnival of insanity.

Sometimes, on community boards, people would speculate, ‘Isn’t The Abyss Show completely scripted?’ and try to discredit it.

Well—

Here’s your proof, you baseless, shit-stirring trolls.

Ayase is a god.

Ayase is invincible—

Oh.

“Shi—”

“Hm? What was that?”

Thud!

Thud!

Thud!

“Kuueeek!”