CFVT – Vol 1 Prologue

One day in October, in the middle of a weekday. 

Just yesterday, I, Rui Astica, who had debuted as a new VTuber under the popular VTuber agency [Sky Sunriver], was conducting an apology stream.

“Testing… testing. Can everyone hear me? Hello, this is Rui Astica. First of all, I sincerely apologize for showing you all something very unpleasant because I forgot to turn off the stream yesterday… I am really sorry!!!!!!” (Rui)

As I apologized, I bowed my head toward the monitor. In sync with my movement, the character Rui on the screen shrank as if in shame.

After that, I slowly raised my head to check the comment section, where a flood of comments with ‘lol’ was pouring in. The comments were coming in so fast that it was impossible to make out any names.

“To ensure this doesn’t happen again in the future, I will… um, do my best to uh… like pointing and calling¹!” (Rui)

The words “pointing and calling”, which were very out of place coming from a character exuding the strong aura of a sorcerer, seemed to amuse the viewers.

Comments such as “Are you Genba Neko²?” and “Alright!” flowed in response.

Of course, I didn’t have the time to pick up on such comments. Instead, I conveyed to the viewers what I had been instructed to do by the manager: report back to them.

“So, the archive of the debut stream, which was previously set to private, is now public! You should be able to access it now!” (Rui)

Viewers responded with gratitude, posting comments like “Thank you” and “Much appreciated”.

There were also numerous comments asking about specific scenes from the stream, such as “What about the ramen scene?” and “Please don’t cut the slurping scene!!”

The word “ramen” triggered unpleasant memories, and I couldn’t help but raise my voice.

“Forget about the ramen already, you guys!!” (Rui)

In response to my outburst, viewers once again flooded the chat with ‘lol’ like children given a new toy to play with (which might not be a mere figure of speech).

Ah… When I decided to become a VTuber, I had planned to properly portray the character I was given. I was supposed to show off my cool side…

How… How did it come to this?

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Thanks for reading!

From the reviews I read, this is a drama-free slice-of-life novel, which is exactly my type of novel.

I also need to mention that the MC is called Rui, his VTuber character is also called Rui (different Japanese spelling), and his childhood friend’s VTuber character is called Rei. Pretty sure it was intentionally made to sound similar so I’ll just keep it as it is. Just remember that the one with the ‘e’ is the childhood friend’s VTuber name.

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1.  Pointing and calling is a method in occupational safety for avoiding mistakes by pointing at important indicators and verbally calling out their status. It’s first seen in Japanese railways and a recommended practice in the industry. 
2. Genba Neko (Safety Cat) is a meme that was popular in 2017. It involved a cat with a construction helmet pointing and saying “Alright! (Yoshi!)”. Much of the meme was related to industrial accidents with the implication of the cat being moments away from serious injury.