Chapter 244. [Birth Of A VTuber]

“‘My words to you! I’m the translator girl, Iroha!”
“Doburohoranko! Ilyena, desu!”
≫Iroharo~!
≫Doburohoranko!
≫Yay! It’s the second collaboration off the record! (Ukrainian)
And so, the ‘Foreigners Familiar with Japan’ stream with Ilyena began. Just like last time’s ASMR, it’s being broadcast from her place.
“I really wanted to intrude into Iroha-sama’s room.”
“Well… Most of my equipment is taken to America.”
Technically, I can still stream since I left backup equipment at my parents’ house.
But compared to Ilyena’s place, it’s definitely lacking.
And above all, Mai isn’t here.
I recalled her words from back then.
[You absolutely can’t enter Iroha-chan’s sanctuary, okay!?]
Yeah, I was vehemently opposed.
But if it’s at Ilyena’s place.
[Alone together again!? What if something happens to Iroha-chan this time!?]
It was noisy, as usual.
Either way, someone’s going to complain!
“Hehehe… Iroha-sama, you don’t have to worry about interruptions today!”
“O-Okay, be gentle, alright?”
Today, Mai couldn’t come with us.
Or rather, the last off-the-record collaboration and alumni reunion were special.
Because she’s currently facing the consequences of her ‘selfish trip to America’.
She’s banned from going out and forced to do summer homework under her parents’ supervision.
“Ahem, so then, I’ll be the host for today’s proceedings.”
≫Hm? That’s odd, Iroha-chan’s initiative seems too ambitious for a guest idea (Ukrainian)
≫But it’s not from the viewers either
≫Come to think of it. Where’s Anego, who was supposed to return to Japan with us?
“Scary, isn’t it!? Hey, are you all detectives!? Isn’t that too sharp!?”
Indeed, today’s plan is brought to you by Ah-nee.
It’s something she entrusted to me. As she’s got swamped with work from her trip to America.
“Yes. You’d understand this much if you had a level 2 ‘Iroha Certification’. By the way, I have a level 1, so I’m confident.”
“Wait, what’s that? I don’t know about that.”
“Question: What was Iroha-sama’s ‘first cry’ on the stream? 1. He. Auu!? 2. Uh, um!? 3. Gyaaaaaah!?”
≫4. Ogyaaaaah!
≫4. Ogyaaaaah!
≫Why are there overlapping comments there, haha
“Yeah. That’s a mistake. It should be ‘the first words uttered on the stream’, right!?”
Generally, a VTuber’s ‘first cry’ refers to their first tweet on Twitter.
But in my case, my debut was quite unique.
“Anyway… That’s not important!? I don’t remember that either! Today is about Ilyena-chan, right!?”
“Mmm… I wanted to talk more about Iroha-sama, but I guess it would be false advertising if we didn’t. Sorry.”
“Today’s stream will also include stories from other overseas VTubers living in Japan.”
With that preamble, we get to the main point.
Ilyena opens her mouth, saying, “Come to think of it…”
“I recently had an experience that made me realize I’ve become accustomed to Japan.”
“Oh, really? When was that?”
“It was when I went back to Ukraine.”
Come to think of it, she mentioned something like that at the alumni reunion.
But why talk about her hometown instead of Japan?
“It turns out that Japanese habits stuck with me, even there.”
“Oh, really?”
“For example, when I arrived at the airport, it was really crowded…”
Ilyena stands up and makes gestures as if she’s weaving through a crowd of people.
I see, I get it now.
“I tried to navigate through the crowd with a ‘karate chop’ style. Got some weird looks.”
≫Yeah, only Japanese people do that, haha
≫I did the exact same thing when I returned home from Ukraine (Ukrainian)
≫Japanese people always carry the spirit of karate, huh (U.S.)
“After that, I took a taxi, and when getting in and out, I forgot to close the door and got scolded. I had been studying for Iroha-sama’s ‘3D debut & birthday celebration’ stream, and I ended up doing it perfectly.”
“It’s not just ‘different’. It’s ‘the exact opposite’, which makes it even more confusing.”
“After that, I reunited with some old friends.”
≫I know there were friends who passed away, but I’m really glad so many are okay
≫It was thanks to Ilysha speaking up at that time (Ukrainian)
By the way, do your friends know that Ilyena-chan is a VTuber?
“No, I haven’t told them directly. But I feel like they already know somehow.”
“Well, Ilyena-chan was quite active back then.”
“I’m saying that, Iroha-sama!?”
Whoa!? That was a boomerang.
I also became too famous, so I try to be careful when I go out.
By wearing a hat. By lowering my voice.
But still, I feel like they know but just don’t approach me, or maybe Secret Service people are dealing with it behind the scenes. It seems likely.