My Childhood Friend Who Was Doing Personal V-Tubing Got Ntr’d by a Singer (LOL), but I’ve Decided to Just Sit Back and Watch the Two of Them Roll Down the Hill of Life and Fall Into Ruin - Chapter 17: The Male Singer's Family Business Burns While the Childhood Friend Does Something Weird

Chapter 17: The Male Singer’s Family Business Burns While the Childhood Friend Does Something Weird

“Hey, Tak-kun, did you see the net news?
Masao’s family company, Masao’s father is stepping down! It says that because of Masao, the fire spread to the main company that Masao’s father was running, and on top of that, his mother got divorced and ran away, and the women’s weekly magazine has scooped the story of Masao’s mother leaving the house, and Masao’s father has been exposed by employees for fraudulent sales tactics and power harassment, and now on TV, it’s more of a topic than Masao’s incident—it’s Masao’s father’s Iwax Carnet that’s getting all the attention.”

Heh, so the Masao family is falling apart. I knew he was getting toyed with endlessly as a net meme, but when did it turn into something like this? Tough luck, Masao. But I think it’s all his own doing, so I don’t feel sorry for him.

“That guy was the son of the Iwax president, huh. ‘I’m cumming! Right now, I’m cumming! Iwax~♪’ or something like that. We saw that CM a ton, right? Come to think of it, we haven’t seen it lately.”

“I hate that CM. It has this vaguely vulgar feel to it.”

When I sang the Iwax CM song, Kusaka said it with a look of genuine disgust on her face. Yeah, it’s the kind of phrase that elementary and middle school boys would turn into a joke, but it’d probably go over badly with girls. It fits Masao, though. Do father and son have similar senses of taste, I wonder?
While I was thinking stuff like that and eating lunch with Kusaka and Asakura, Tate and Yoko showed up with serious looks on their faces.

“Young men, this might have turned into a real hassle.”

That was unusual for Tate, who was always so fearless. As Kusaka and Asakura and I exchanged glances wondering what was up, he explained that it was from midway through the stream.

“Hi there☆ It’s Hime Neko-chan~☆ Thanks for coming~”

—I knew that voice, no, we all knew that voice! We knew the person broadcasting that voice!!

“Whoa, it’s Himeko!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Tate nodded with an extremely displeased expression. He was hiding his face with a sketchbook, but there was no mistaking that voice—it was Himeko.
So that’s what she was doing instead of coming to school, starting live streams in person!!!???? And whoa, her channel subscriber count has gone up quite a bit!!!!

“She’s doing so-called genuine romance sales and steadily increasing her fans… or rather, her believers. This is beyond comprehension.”

I just had a bad feeling about this. If she lost her avatar and couldn’t edit anymore, going live in person—does she have zero crisis management awareness? Is she an idiot or a moron?!?!

No, she’s hiding her face with a face drawn on a sketchbook, but that’s bad in all sorts of ways, I thought.

“You noticed that face too, right, Tak-kun?
…For some reason, most otaku have this thing called defective absolute pitch. You could call it a class skill that almost every otaku mysteriously possesses.
It’s that thing where voices from voice actors in anime or games can be distinguished for some reason. We can’t stop this stream ourselves, but if the audience that was listening to Asher hears this, they’ll definitely recognize it. This is going to lead to something bad for sure—I’m staking the soul of an Indian fortune teller on it.”
“Where did the Indian fortune teller come from?”

I couldn’t help but retort to Tate’s words, but I was 1000% in agreement. Nice one, Himeko, but is this girl an idiot?!

A quick search showed that summary sites were already calling her something like “the promising new sketchbook streamer girl.” Yeah, if a girl in the flesh (actually a high school girl) hides her real face with a face drawn on a sketchbook, it’d become a topic. I don’t know how much of this is calculated, but the effect is tremendous!

That said, going out in person carries the risk of her own massive backlash, and right now, the Asher topic is still smoldering.

…No, that’s exactly why. Before she disappears, she went all-in like a cornered person. Or maybe she’s an invincible type. Or possibly she didn’t think about anything at all and just self-destructed to satisfy her need for approval… Yeah, that could be it.
Himeko won’t perish, she’ll revive endlessly! That’s not it at all. Can’t she just stay quietly in my memories already!

“For now, she’s getting super chats while building up her enclosure, but I think we need to do something about this.”

“Hime Neko has that anime voice, and from her appearance and all, it’s obvious she’s a minor, so she’s attracting quite a few male listeners, and it looks like she’s earning solid super chats. At least she has the sense not to wear her uniform or anything.”

As Tate spoke, Yoko continued while watching the stream recording. Yeah, Himeko has that natural anime voice, so even without an avatar, she’s suited for this kind of stream, I thought.

“But what the heck do we even do about this? If she mentions me or Asher, I’ll tell the ultimate dad or mom, but how do I interfere right now?”

The stream content itself is just free talk and playing games, yeah. Our school doesn’t ban streaming in general, and there are plenty of other kids doing streams besides Himeko. As long as grades are good, the school doesn’t make a fuss—it’s that kind of style. Hmm…

“…That said, this might literally be Urakiri-san’s last move. It doesn’t seem like she has much else she can do. But my hunch is that this stream is absolutely being done to cause a commotion, so I don’t recommend leaving it alone.”

Asakura continued while drinking the soy milk she’d set on top of her ample chest, but Asakura’s hunches somehow always hit the mark. I had a bad feeling about it too.
Yeah, for Himeko, who’s lost her V activities, can’t come to school, and is on the brink with her future, this is probably about all she can do right now. If we handle this somehow, she’ll have no choice but to settle down—that’s the feeling I got.

“Why don’t we flip the idea of interfering on its head? I have a good idea! …And so, Asakura, you’re coming with me all the way to hell too.”

“…Huh?”

—Kusaka said that with an indescribable look on her face, like she’d just come up with a brilliant idea. And Asakura, caught off guard by the sudden shift in conversation, spilled soy milk on her chest, making her damp cleavage visible through the wet fabric.

“I’m gonna cry, I’ll cry right away, I’ll definitely cry, see, I’m crying, sob, sob.”

Kusaka said that while her eyes welled up with tears, but the one crying was the one saying it. Kusaka really is a riot.