Basement-Dwelling Loser VTuber

“Hehe… I also want to go to school with Yuyika~.”

“…Yeah.”

Me and HatsuYuki Yoru are identical twins, born just 5 minutes apart.

But the differences between me and Yoru are enormous.

Congenital albinism and the frequent ailments that come with it.

The doctor said that for identical twins to have such differences is an incredibly rare case.

Why did such an incredibly rare case happen to us?

“Yay~! Yuyika, are we doing it together again today?”

Why does Yoru have to go through such pain…

At school, the teacher said we are the light that will shine upon the world.

But… is Yoru not included in that light?

“Yeah! Then starting today, my dream is to be an athlete!”

…But one thing is for sure, Yoru is the light of our family.

It must be the hardest for her, living in the hospital, yet she never loses her smile in front of us.

As if there’s no hardship at all, she smiles brightly, as if just being with us makes her happy.

That smile has saved Mom, Dad, me… I can’t even count how many times.

However, as Yoru’s hospital life continued, everyone began to tire.

“Sei-chan is quite mature.”

Am I mature…?

I didn’t want to be mature.

I just wanted to play and laugh with Yoru and my friends like a normal person.

“Waaaaah…! Mom, Dad, Yuyika…!”

Yoru is bright and energetic, but she also cries a lot.

After her treatments, if she thinks we aren’t there, she cries an ocean’s worth of tears.

Seeing Yoru suffer like that…

Even though Mom and Dad are trying their best, I can’t act like a child.

It didn’t take long for me to learn that this feeling was called guilt.

And then one day.

“I want to be an idol.”

In a gathering with my family, I suddenly said that.

An idol?

Could it be the idol I know?

The one who dances and sings on stage… that idol?

No way.

It’s impossible.

Yoru, who is already frail and sickly, can’t do something so demanding.

“I’m sorry, Yoru. Mom… Mom is really sorry…!”

“Why… what did our Yoru do wrong…?”

Mom and Dad seemed to be thinking the same thing as me.

“U-Um, Yuyika? Mom and Dad are…”

“Yoru…”

So what should I say to Yoru?

Should I tell her it’s impossible for her frail body and that she should look for something else?

But… is that really okay?

Yoru always lives in the hospital.

She could be said to be trapped.

And now Yoru, for the first time, has a dream… is it okay for me to tell her to give up?

I don’t know.

I really… don’t know.

In the end, that day.

I couldn’t say anything to Yoru.

★

“Yoru-chan! You mustn’t overdo it!”

“I’m f-fine… I can handle this much…”

Since declaring she wants to become an idol, Yoru increased her exercise time.

She said she needs a lot of stamina to dance and sing.

She also started watching videos of other idols on OnTube.

She wanted to be like them someday.

“Yoru…”

…I see.

“Sis, no matter what happens… yes! I will become an idol that can make everyone smile!”

Yoru is absolutely not going to give up.

Even if I, Mom, Dad say anything, she won’t quit.

Yoru is a person like light.

No matter how dark the night, she illuminates the way, much more like starlight than me.

Then I will… continue to support Yoru, who won’t give up.

When everyone else tells Yoru, “You can’t,” I will be the older sister who says, “You can.”

Just as Yoru is happy when I smile.

I too am happy when Yoru smiles.

★

“It’s really not easy….”

After 13 years of living in the hospital, Yoru finally returned home.

The doctor said that outpatient treatment was now sufficient for her daily life.

And I told Yoru.

I believe she can become an idol.

I’ll help her make it happen.

But of course, it wasn’t an easy task.

No vigorous exercise. No prolonged exposure to sunlight. Consistent outpatient treatment. Sunscreen is a must…

Yoru’s daily life was quite different from a normal one, and it considerably hindered her idol activities.

“Waaaaah!!! I failed again!!!”

Yoru is beautiful.

Not just because I’m her sister; she’s genuinely stunning.

There are times I get distracted by her looks.

Her pure white hair shines without any roughness, and her red eyes are beautiful like rubies, attracting everyone’s gaze.

Yoru, on the other hand, hated this because it symbolizes her illness… but I think it’s precisely because of that appearance that Yoru could challenge being an idol.

Without the albinism, she would have looked just like me, and let’s be honest, my looks are ridiculously plain compared to hers.

Well, Yoru regretted that if she looked like me, she could’ve debuted as a twin idol, but…

“I’m super healthy, so why do I keep failing?!”

Anyway, it seems Yoru’s current idol challenge has failed once more.

So far, Yoru has sent continuous applications to several agencies, and she has received many scout proposals.

But the answers they give after hearing Yoru’s situation are always the same.

“It would be difficult to work as an idol with those restrictions…”

I understand their position.

To sing and dance at the same time, but no vigorous exercise is allowed, and you can’t be exposed to sunlight for long periods… an idol like that?

I can’t argue against being called a ticking time bomb.

“Someday, I will definitely… No, I will become the world’s number one idol and tell those companies that rejected me, ‘You guys are fools!’ Hmpf!”

“Calm down, Yoru…”

After I patted Yoru’s head and calmed her down, I started browsing the internet for idol agencies.

It’s for Yoru to join, so it should be the best place possible…

While scrolling online, I came across a video titled [Let’s Meet Everyone at ConXX~!]

★

“I hate you, Yuyika!!! Stupid!!!”

“Yoru!!! Wait! What kind of words are those to your sister?!”

“We’re only 5 minutes apart!!!”

“Yoru?!”

I fought with my sister this morning.

It’s been so long since we fought like this…

Huh.

I can’t even remember when it last happened.

“Hmph!”

“What’s going on today, Yoru?”

At Shirazaki Shiro’s question, I rested my chin on my desk, pouting.

“Well, you see, Shiro? I failed the interview again….”

“And…?”

“…That’s all.”

“That’s a lie. You’ve never gotten angry just because you failed an interview before?”

…Shiro knows me too well.

Maybe it’s because she’s my very first friend?

We both had no friends in middle school.

“…I fought with my sister this morning.”

“With Sei-chan?”

“Yeah… I unilaterally got mad and ran away.”

“Well, you’ll just see her again at school anyway…”

…Is this the consequence of applying to high school because I want to go with my sister?!

“Ugh…”

“So why did you and Yoru fight?”

“Well… I want to be an idol, you know?”

“I know. That’s why I’m cheering you on, and Sei-chan is helping too.”

“But since I keep failing the interviews… my sister showed me this.”

Saying that, I turned on my phone and showed it to Shiro.

On the screen was a 3D model standing on stage, singing and dancing.

“What is this?”

“I don’t know?”

“No. I don’t know at all.”

…Ah.

Shiro might have started watching anime or manga because of me, but this level must be beyond her.

“This is a virtual YouTuber, shortened to VTuber…. To make it easier for you to understand, Shiro, it’s a broadcast where they play an animated character.”

“Is it like a voice actor or Vocaloid…?”

“Yeah. You could say that it’s similar~. It’s a bit different, though.”

After briefly introducing VTubers to Shiro, I sighed and stretched my arms forward, leaning on the desk.

“A long time ago, there was a company that made virtual idols active in a virtual space. My sister used that as an example this morning and asked me if I wanted to try being a VTuber.”

“Oh, isn’t that fine? A virtual idol, that’s what you want, right?”

“No! Absolutely not! I want people to smile when they see me for real! I really want to dance and sing on stage, not be some fake!”

“…Is that so?”

“More than that, all the companies that used to run virtual idols have gone bankrupt! Well, there are still some individuals who are active, but very few of them succeed. Most are just doing it as a hobby with no income.”

My sister must know that too, and yet she suggested it.

Is she secretly hoping that I would give up while saying she wants to support me?!

“Hmph. Even if it’s called a virtual idol, it’s not the real thing, right? In the end, it’s about doing a broadcast. I think a real idol should devote less time to broadcasting and spend that time dancing and singing to make people laugh.”

“That’s how you feel, huh?”

“Yeah. Why do you think people say there’s no hope in the VTuber market? Everyone knows the reality—it’s all fake.”

You see.

That’s why I want to be a real idol, not someone in the hopeless VTuber market.

As I expressed my opinion with full conviction, Shiro tilted her head for a moment and then asked me.

“…Is it fake?”

“Huh?”

“To you, does this person dancing as a VTuber seem fake?”

“What do you mean?”

“The VTuber dancing here… is smiling. The audience watching this stage is cheering with all their might. I just searched it and found out that many fans are smiling while watching this broadcast. But do you think all of this is fake?”

“…It’s fake. The audience isn’t truly cheering for the real me.”

And with that stubborn remark of mine…

“I don’t think so.”

Shiro declared without hesitation that I was wrong.

“Okay, Yoru. I’ll take Sei-chan’s side. So let’s try being a VTuber.”

“Huh?”

Bang!

“Yoru! What do you mean by that to your sister? Do you have any idea how much she’s working for you?!”

“A, Sei-chan. Welcome back.”

“What the?!”

I… I should really run away now!

“At best, we’re only 5 minutes apart!”

“Five minutes is definitely not a short time! If you’re an idol, that’s enough time to show the audience a performance!”

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