The Villainess VTuber Tears People Apart

By the time I realized it, I was inside the auditorium.

A space packed tightly with rows of chairs. In the distance, a podium was visible.

I paused for a moment to recall my memories. Today, we had been invited to collaborate with other teams from the Fantasy League.

There seemed to be no errors or gaps in my memory.

Which meant that as soon as I clicked on the invitation link, I must have been transported here. Virtual reality games had a knack for startling people with these kinds of features. The spatial transition was far too quick.

“This doesn’t seem like it’s My Room.”

One thing I had learned as I grew accustomed to VR equipment was that each VR game had a slightly different texture to its environment.

Aseosal used particularly realistic textures, while Labyrinthos felt comparatively rough.

In comparison, this place felt somewhat detached from reality.

If I had to describe it, it wasn’t quite dreamy but more… off-kilter, with a strange and unfamiliar texture.

No one would decorate their My Room like this unless they had some extremely unique tastes.

The most definitive evidence, however, was the large text displayed on the podium:

Monster Game

This was most likely the waiting room for Monster Game.

As I slowly looked around, I began to recognize familiar faces.

Participants in the collaboration were scattered about, chatting amongst themselves. In one corner, the event’s host, Kaiser, seemed to be busy setting up the broadcast.

“Ah, Laura’s here.”

Someone had noticed me quietly seated in one of the chairs. It was Sora.

“Over here, come on over!”

“Oh my, are you calling out to the noble daughter of a duke?”

“…Seriously, you could at least walk over for this much.”

Sora looked exasperated but eventually came over to me. As it should be.

What kind of world would demand a noblewoman go back and forth?

“I don’t see Rui around. Hasn’t Rui arrived yet?”

“No, she’s over there chatting with Hikari-san.”

“Hikari?”

“Yeah. First-tier from Behemoth.”

Sora gestured to a corner of the room. Sure enough, Rui was cheerfully talking to a VTuber I had never seen before.

“Rui seems unusually bright today.”

“Well… yeah, that’s to be expected. I heard they’re super close.”

“She really does get around.”

If I remembered correctly, teammates Barubara, Kirin, and Mero had all known Rui before they joined.

I’d also heard that Rui had already added our team owner, Choi Gaho, on CocoaTalk. Though they didn’t seem particularly close yet.

On top of that, most other Fantasy League players had collaborated with Rui at some point. Even the league’s organizer, Kaiser, reportedly treated Rui with a surprising level of respect.

It seemed that Rui had significant influence in the VTuber industry as a specialist in “large-scale project planning.”

“Hm, she does have a wide network, but still… hmm…”

“What is it?”

“Well, there’s something I’d like to say, but I’m not sure it’s my place… Maybe you should ask Rui directly or look into it yourself.”

Sora subtly gestured toward Rui’s direction.

No, to be precise, she seemed to be pointing at Rui’s conversation partner.

“If Sora is hinting this strongly, there must be something to it.”

If she was advising me to investigate, it probably meant it was the kind of matter that could cause trouble later if left unresolved.

Judging by Sora’s cautious demeanor, it might even be a sensitive issue that others couldn’t openly discuss.

Could Rui and the Behemoth first-tier VTuber be in a romantic relationship? Or perhaps they had broken up? A love triangle, maybe?

No, that didn’t seem likely.

It didn’t feel like a romantic issue at all.

“Ah, my rival, Ayanokouji Sora!”

I made a mental note to investigate Rui later.

That’s when a voice interrupted my thoughts.

The speaker was Anna, one of the participants in this collaboration and a senior among us.

“They say enemies meet on a narrow bridge!”

“Why are you treating me like an enemy again….”

“Don’t play dumb! You promised to arrange a collaboration!”

Anna lashed out at Sora.

“I waited for ages based on that promise that you’d set up a collab with Rui!”

“It’s only been about two weeks.”

“And yet here you are! Flirting with Rui! Flirting with Laura! Do you want me to die of jealousy!?”

“Anna-senior, could you hold your breath for just 25 minutes?”

Come to think of it, wasn’t the world record for breath-holding 24 minutes and 33 seconds?

If Anna could reach 25 minutes, she’d be an undisputed world champion.

Encouraging a senior to achieve greatness—what a respectful junior I was.

Or perhaps the most irreverent.

“We’re still getting closer to Rui, okay? Just wait a bit longer. Once we’re close enough, I’ll arrange the collab.”

“I can’t wait any longer! That’s why I suggested this collaboration myself!”

“Wait, Senior, you suggested this collab?”

Sora tilted her head, and Anna nodded enthusiastically.

“Yeah! Since I was always getting jealous of Sora, I asked our team owner to reach out to Kaiser. Isn’t our team owner the best?”

“…I see you’ve brought significant inconvenience to your team, Senior.”

Sora sighed heavily.

Her expression seemed to ask, Is this person really my senior?

***

As time passed, all the collaboration participants finally gathered.

Kaiser, now done with the setup, took the stage.

[Ah, we’ll be starting the broadcast soon, so please turn off viewer chat.]

This time, we would be playing Monster Game, a room-escape genre game.

Since the game required brainpower, it wouldn’t be fair if participants received help from their viewers. After all, those with larger audiences would naturally have an advantage through collective intelligence.

For this reason, games like Mafia or TRPGs, where viewers could potentially spoil the answers, typically required turning off chat.

[Please also mute your streams for now. When I call your name later, unmute yourself for introductions. Until then, feel free to chat amongst yourselves.]

Despite his rough appearance, Kaiser explained everything kindly.

When the broadcast started, Kaiser’s energy shot up.

[With just two weeks left until the Fantasy League begins, we’ve gathered all of you here today!]

Clap, clap, clap.

Everyone gave a light round of applause before starting their introductions.

There were eight participants in today’s collaboration.

【Leviathan: Aurora, Hanabane Rui, Ayanokouji Sora】

【Gryphon: Son Narin】

【Behemoth: Asahina Hikari, Mashina】

【Cerberus: Shiroki Anna, Kazama Izumi】

“Now that I think about it, Gryphon only sent one participant.”

As we went through introductions, the question popped into my mind, and I said it aloud.

Every other team had two members, while our team had three. Yet, Gryphon stood out for having only one representative.

“Yeah, I wonder if the other Gryphon members were busy?”

“Maybe it’s because Kaiser is the host?” Anna offered in a hushed voice.

For some reason, despite her Cerberus teammate sitting far away, Anna had decided to sit next to me.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Gryphon has a lot of Horizon Air people, right? And some of them aren’t allowed to collaborate with men at all.”

Ah, the unicorn issue.

Come to think of it, I’ve received some rather peculiar DMs from viewers recently. When I interacted with Choi Changyoung in Aseosal, people messaged me things like, “Please don’t get involved with Choi Changyoung.”

And that wasn’t all.

After a few collaborations with Leviathan members, some viewers sent messages like, “Don’t get close to Barubara,” or “Did you do something with Barubara?” I even got comments calling Mero a “slut who only hangs around guys,” warning me against associating with her.

Horizon Air was said to have even stricter unicorn-related issues.

If Anna’s guess was right, Son Narin was in a tough spot.

[And today’s game is Monster Game! Are you familiar with ‘containment fiction’ or ‘creature genres’?]

Kaiser’s voice cut through the room.

As soon as I heard those two terms, something clicked, and I found myself responding instinctively.

“Are you referring to something like the XXP Foundation?”

[Exactly, Aurora. In this game, all of you are test subjects.]

“Test subjects?”

[Yes.] Kaiser nodded.

[A research facility has captured a monster with unique abilities. To test the monster’s powers, they brought in death row inmates as test subjects. However, if you succeed in escaping the monster, your sentence will be pardoned.]

It was the kind of plot you’d find in containment fiction.

[Your goal is to escape from the facility. The tricky part is the monster’s abilities, but it’s easier to show than to explain. Hmm… Mashina and Aurora, could you step forward for a moment?]

Upon hearing Kaiser call our names, Mashina and I moved to the front.

Kaiser adjusted the game settings, causing a door to materialize out of thin air.

A digital lock was installed on the doorknob.

[The password is the anniversary of my first broadcast.]

“Your first broadcast?”

[Take a guess, Mashina.]

“How am I supposed to know that…?”

Mashina, typically assertive, barely held back her frustration. After all, Kaiser was a senior VTuber who’d been active since 2018.

Resigned, Mashina randomly entered a code.

[Mashina, that’s incorrect.]

As expected, it was wrong.

The moment the wrong code was entered, Mashina’s body seemed to shrink slightly.

Already small, she now looked even younger—like she had regressed from a high school upperclassman to a middle school underclassman.

“L-Laura, unnie….”

“Hm?”

“No! Never mind! I must be losing it! Why would I call Aurora…?”

-Hiss!

Kaiser sprayed something at Mashina.

The canister had “Mental Contamination Cleanser” written in bold letters.

[This is the nature of the game. It’s an escape game, but every mistake or trap you encounter will gradually transform you into a ‘little sister.’]

“…What the heck? Why would I call Aurora ‘unnie’? I must be out of my mind….”

[If you’ve played Aseosal, you’ll recognize the mechanic. It’s like an AI interfering with your avatar’s behavior.]

Kaiser explained further.

[Aurora, why don’t you give it a try? This is just the tutorial, so it’s fine if you get it wrong.]

“Hmph.”

I crossed my arms.

“Unfortunately, I don’t know Kaiser’s debut date.”

Every VTuber had two major “cash-grab anniversaries”: their birthday and their debut date.

Kaiser probably held annual debut anniversary streams, but I hadn’t bothered to check.

“It’s a question designed to be impossible.”

Most fans might remember a VTuber’s birthday, but only hardcore fans would recall their exact debut date.

Even Rui, who debuted around the same time, likely wouldn’t know the precise date. If I asked her, she’d probably respond with, “February? Or maybe January? I don’t really remember the exact day.”

No matter how good my memory was, I couldn’t answer something I didn’t know.

“Well, let’s give it a try.”

I deliberately input an incorrect answer.

As a VTuber, everyone experiences a moment where their dignity takes a hit. Apparently, today was mine.

【Mental Contamination: Stage 1】

【When addressing high-ranking survivors, you will occasionally use terms like “oppa” or “unnie.”】

“Hm.”

The message appeared in the corner of my vision.

I considered calling Mashina’s name as a test but decided against it. I didn’t feel like using an honorific for my porter.

Still, I understood the mechanic. It was like an involuntary tic—like sneezing or coughing—where you’d accidentally call someone “oppa” or “unnie.”

[How does it feel, Aurora?]

Kaiser’s question was likely a prompt to try calling someone’s name.

But calling someone “oppa”? Ugh, I hated the thought.

“Wait… doesn’t Shina already call Vincent and Choi Changyoung ‘oppa’?”

If Shina entered a contaminated state, would her usual “oppa” turn into “orabeoni”? Or would it stay the same?

Or perhaps she’d say, “Vincent oppa oppa,” doubling up on the term? If that was the extent of the AI’s creativity, it’d be pathetic.

An idea crossed my mind, and I decided to test it.

“Well, Kaiser hyung-nim, this game’s tougher than I expected.”

[…Hyung-nim?]

“Yes, hyung-nim.”

I smiled brightly.

It worked.