My Childhood Friend, Who I Made a Promise To Spend the Future With, Dumped Me... But Ever Since I Started Dating a Beautiful Girl From School, My Childhood Friend Has Been Acting Strange - Episode 27

Nighttime.

Tōma Suzuki was at home.

There was something he needed to do today.

“Tōma, I’ll wash the dishes,” said Suzuha Kamiya as she reached for the plates on the dining table in the living room.

The three of them—Tōma, Suzuha, and his younger sister Emi—had just finished their meal together.

“But…”

Tōma, sitting on the living room sofa, hesitated for a moment.

“It’s fine. You can just check your SNS account, right? That live stream is starting in about an hour, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, I guess so. Alright, I’ll leave it to you.”

“By the way, should I dry the dishes after washing them?”

“Oh, there’s a dishwasher in the kitchen, so just load them in there. My sister should be in the kitchen too, so you can ask her how to use it if you need help.”

“Got it.”

Suzuha placed the dishes onto a relatively large tray and left the living room.

Now, Tōma was alone.

Sitting on the sofa, he fiddled with his smartphone.

On the screen was an SNS account.

A blacked-out silhouette eerily resembled the avatar Suzuha had once used in her past online activities.

Someone impersonating her was planning to hold a live stream on a video site at 8:30 PM tonight.

Who was this person?

Tōma wanted to see for himself.

If the stream went live, there was a chance the video would remain archived.

However, the host might also delete it as soon as the stream ended.

Because the outcome was uncertain, he was determined to watch the stream in real time from start to finish.

Holding his phone tightly with both hands, he monitored both the SNS timeline and the impersonator’s account.

Tōma alternated between checking the timeline and the account.

Since yesterday’s post, the account had gone silent.

Meanwhile, the timeline was bustling with numerous posts.

In just the past three hours, nearly 200 posts had been made.

Ever since the stream was announced, the impersonator’s video site account had rapidly gained followers.

About a year ago.

Suzuha had abruptly announced her retirement as a virtual streamer.

Recently, she had confided in Tōma that she had been blackmailed into quitting.

Even though she had stepped away to meet the demands of her harasser, someone had now resurrected her abandoned avatar without permission.

Tōma didn’t want that.

“…It’s past eight already.”

The stream was less than 30 minutes away.

His heart pounded with an uneasy rhythm.

Tōma was sweating.

“Big brother!”

“Whoa—Emi!”

Startled, he turned to face his sister.

“That’s the account you were talking about, right?”

“Yeah. I’m investigating it right now.”

“Sounds like a big deal, huh?”

Emi sat down beside him.

“To think someone would impersonate her… The internet is scary.”

“Yeah. You never really know who’s behind a post, and a lot of the time, things turn out to be fake. There was this guy who used to stream online, and he said something like, ‘If you can’t tell lies from the truth, using the internet is tough.'”

“That makes sense. It’s hard to tell what’s real. I’ve almost been fooled by online videos before too. It’s easy to believe the opinions of popular influencers or people with lots of followers.”

Emi let out an embarrassed smile, as if recalling her own experiences.

To see through deception, you needed knowledge.

But more than that, you needed experience—a foundation built from real-life encounters—to make sound judgments.

The internet was helpful in daily life, but without the right knowledge, it could easily become a dangerous trap.

“Tōma, I’m done with the dishes.”

Suzuha returned to the living room.

“Thanks. That really helped.”

“No problem. You two treated me to a meal, so it’s the least I can do.”

Suzuha stepped closer to the sofa where the siblings were sitting.

“So, what’s the situation now?”

“I’m keeping an eye on the SNS timeline. Here, take a look.”

Tōma turned his smartphone screen toward her.

“Wow, there’s a ton of posts.”

“I counted earlier—about 200.”

“That many? That’s a lot of attention.”

“Yeah.”

Tōma resumed scrolling through the timeline.

“Hey, do you want to watch in my room? I’ve got a computer, so it might be easier to see.”

“A bigger screen would be better. Alright, let’s go to your room.”

Suzuha nodded in agreement.

“What about you, Emi?”

“I think I’ll take a bath first. I’m not really into streamers, so I’ll join you guys after.”

“You’re fine with missing the start?”

“Yeah. I’ll jump in partway. Plus, I worked up a sweat today, so I really want to take a bath. You and Suzuha will take one later too, right? If I don’t go first, it’ll be too late, and we have school tomorrow. Oh, right—Big brother, I’ll prepare some pajamas for Suzuha.”

“Alright. Thanks. And the pajamas too.”

“Yep! I’m heading to the bath now.”

With that, Emi stood up, passed by Suzuha, and left the living room.

“Shall we head to my room?”

“Yeah.”

Tōma turned off the living room lights, and the two of them left, climbing the stairs to the second floor.

As soon as they entered Tōma’s room and closed the door—

“Big brother, I left Suzuha’s pajamas in the dressing room!”

Emi’s voice called out through the door before the sound of her descending footsteps faded.

Fifteen minutes later.

Tōma had already booted up his laptop.

On the screen was the video streaming site.

They had the impersonator’s account page open, waiting for the stream to start.

The thumbnail for the upcoming live stream featured a blacked-out silhouette.

Then, a few seconds later—

The thumbnail changed.

The stream had begun.

The comment section exploded instantly.

Tens of thousands of viewers were already tuned in.

Comments flooded the screen, scrolling at an incredible speed.

And then—

The live stream started.