Chapter 11. [Cooperative Message Game]

The VTuber Scholastic Achievement Test stream has received a tremendous number of views.

In no time, it exceeded 500,000 views, and at this pace, it will reach 1,000,000 views.

Clippings of the test had been getting a lot of buzz in the past. But this was the first time the stream had received this many views.

My channel has now had more than 4,000 hours of total views, fulfilling the requirements for monetization.

With the help of Ah-nee, I completed the procedure.

“The approval process takes a few days depending on the time of year,” she said. But you’ll probably get the results back in a week.”

“I see. But wait. I’ve been thinking about it. How can I return the profit from this collaboration project to everyone? I have no earnings yet.”

“Don’t worry about it. This time it’s the channel owner’s – in other words, Iroha-chan’s – total share. Everyone else just got in on the project because it sounded interesting.”

“Is that how it’s supposed to be?”

“That’s the way it is. Well, it’s not like they don’t have an agenda. They were trying to make connections with me, get Iroha-chan on their channel, advertise themselves, and so on.

“Really?”

“But all of this is just a bonus. The most important thing is whether you want to do it or not. Because MyTube is–”

–“a place where you can live by what you love.”.

“Right?”

Ah-nee winked at me as she said this.

Come to think of it, she was the first one to announce her participation this time.

“……Are you saying you’re going to participate because you thought so too?”

“No, I just wanted to feel good about fighting against elementary school students.”

“Oi.”

“That’s funny, isn’t it? Why did I come in last? It’s cheating! It’s rigged!

“Why don’t you fix your character rather than your score?”

And well, after all that talk, it turned out to be just as Ah-nee had said.

This time another channel called me.

I couldn’t repay her kindness.

I smiled and sent my approval.

Immediately after I sent it, I collapsed in self-loathing.

Before I knew it, interacting with VTubers had become my second nature. The boundary between myself as a fan and a VTuber is becoming blurred.

Familiarity is a terrible thing.

＊　　＊　　＊

“–So this time, it’s an international collabs! Yay! Peace Peace.”

One of the livers shouted.

She is the channel’s owner who invited me today and the organizer of this collaboration project.

“As viewers of our channel know, we often play games together with Korean livers. So we thought it would be fun to make it more multinational!”

The host of the event speaks in a unique dialect.

Five VTubers, a mix of men and women, were on the screen. One of them was me, of course. On the other hand, A-nee was not there this time.

Ah-nee lamented, “I want to participate, but my schedule is tight!”

This is the first time she was not present during my collabs stream.

“Well, let’s introduce ourselves in order! We are…”

Self-introductions proceeded. I introduced myself by adding “I can speak Japanese and English reasonably well” to my usual phrase.

The audience gradually understands the project’s purpose.

“Thank you all for your self-introductions! I’m sure you all understand by now, don’t you? Yes, we have gathered monolingual and bilingual livers from different countries!”

Once again, I confirm the members of this collaboration.

A liver speaks only Korean.

A liver speaks Korean and Japanese and is the organizer of this project.

A liver speaks only Japanese.

A liver speaks Japanese and English, me.

A liver can only speak English.

A total of five people.

It has an amazing lineup if I say so myself.

We have a lot of variety, or rather, we’re all scattered around.

“This time we’ll play “Can We Clear the Cooperative Message Game?!” Let’s do it right away!”

And so the stream began.

It was as messy as I had imagined. Lots of languages were being spoken, and the audience and the players were in turmoil. It was a festival in the best sense of the word.

I thought it would be easier if Ah-nee wasn’t there, and I wouldn’t have to be pushed around like I usually do.

Damn, I guess I wasn’t looking ahead fast enough.

“No, this is not easy, is it? Who came up with this plan? Was it me? Is everyone OK? <Is everything OK? >”

<<There are a lot of problems!>>

“No!”

<“Is everyone okay? I’m asking.” I’m at my limit too!”>

<I’m tired!>>

That is the state of affairs just by asking one question.

But what is it? I’ve been feeling a little uncomfortable since a while ago. Or rather, I don’t feel any discomfort.

“Ahahaha. Well, now that the game has settled down and we’ve got such a good group of people here, why don’t we have a question corner? Do you commenters have any questions you want to ask me?

>How did you learn foreign languages?

>What do you think about each other’s countries? (US Eng)

>*▲□★↑*↑↑

<<Oh, yes! I’m curious about that too! Do you have any recommendations for food or unusual food culture in your country? >> (Korean)

<<I often eat bulgogi and tteokbokki in Korea. Also, I used to use ramen noodle convenience stores a lot.>>

<<Ramen konbini?>>

<<It’s an unmanned convenience store that sells a variety of instant noodles and has a self-serve bar with free toppings. Hmmm, hard to explain>>

<<Thank you. I understand now.>>

“Wa. Wa. Wait a minute!”

>!!!

>★↑※※

>Who was speaking Korean just now?

“Oh! I haven’t translated it yet! There is a third person here who can speak Korean.

>Really?

>★↑↑←※▲▲

>What’s going on? (US Eng)

“Wait, Iroha-chan can speak Korean too?”

>This little girl, does it every time she collabs!

>Can she speak Korean too? (US Eng)

>She’s not bilingual. She’s trilingual!

The livers and the commenters were in turmoil.

“Oh, no, I mean…”

But the most confused person is none other than myself.

No, no, no, I couldn’t understand a word of Korean until just now!

I wasn’t even aware that I was speaking Korean.

How did this happen all of a sudden?