Chapter

chapter01 · 008-ep8

Episode 8: The Chatting Stream, Part 2

"S-so that concludes my various updates on the trouble I've caused, desu wa. ...Now, though you've all come here through a rather unfortunate turn of events, I'm glad to have so many of you. From here, I thought I would answer some questions so you might get to know me better, desu no."

After staring blankly for a while at the thirty thousand concurrent viewers, Karin had finished talking about Kagerou and moved on to the next item on her agenda.

Somehow the unreal number had come full circle and short-circuited her brain, leaving her slightly less nervous than before.

"There seem to be a number of mistaken impressions about me going around... I intend to answer as many questions as I can, so you may know the true, Elegant and refined Karin Yamada, desu wa."

【Don't you feel bad for the mother who hurt her lady parts bringin' you into this world, desu no!?】

【Tch, how stingy for an adult explorer, desu wa】

【I've done it now, desu wa!】

【Whatcha think you're DOIN', ORAAAAAAAAA!?】

"W-wait!? P-please forget all that already! Besides, anyone would react that way if they saw someone trying to blow up a blast stone in the lower layers, desu wa!?"

【Fair】

【Your true nature comes out in an emergency, desu wa!】

【Even in an emergency, "a child born through hurting lady parts" doesn't exactly roll off the tongue...】

【Was he breech?】

【Lmao】

【Lmao, desu wa】

"I-I shall answer your questions now!"

Trying to cut off the strangely united tide of comments, Karin scanned chat.

【Ojou-sama, do you really conquer dungeons in a dress?】

"Ah, this is a good one, desu wa."

Karin picked out the question that had caught her eye.

It concerned the very heart of Karin Yamada's identity as an ojou-sama streamer.

【That's the biggest question, all right...】

【Oh yeah, that's what I came here to find out】

【Right, I was more curious about that than whether she really flattened Lord Vomit】

【This is no time to tease Karin ojou-sama about her dark past!】

【Wait, was that really a dress, desu no?】

【It's the same one she's wearing now, right?】

Chat too seemed most interested in that; the joking stopped in an instant. Karin answered the much-anticipated question with confidence.

"Of course it is a real dress, desu wa! In particular, I always wear this outfit when I stream my runs all the way into the lower layers!"

【Are you actually serious!?】

【Really truly, desu no!?】

【S-surely you're exaggerating...?】

【That might be harder to believe than you beating Lord Vomit!?】

【I mean, volunteers checked the videos over and over and they were real...】

【It hits different hearing her say it herself!】

【It's magic equipment, right??? Right???】

【Who'd approve equipment that hard to move in for sale, desu no...】

【Even if she could get her hands on one, making it dress-shaped on purpose is crazy!】

【Why would you even decide to dive into a dungeon in a dress, desu no!?】

Chat accelerated at Karin's answer.

Delighted that her carefully chosen dress was finally receiving attention, Karin picked up another comment.

"Ah, I'll answer this one next. 'Why did I decide to explore dungeons in a dress?'"

【This】

【Seriously, why wear that...?】

【I'm guessing she has a rare skill with an outfit restriction】

【Ohhh, right. That must be it】

【Some explorers have unique skills with weird conditions】

【People guessed as much in theory threads and on Twiitter; that sounds most likely】

【Even if you could oneshot Lord Vomit, otherwise it'd be far too dangerous...】

【Skills are as mysterious as dungeons, desu wa】

【"It's a unique skill" explains most of the inexplicable stuff】

"The reason I explore in a dress is a bit of a long story... I'm sure many of you have had the same experience, but when I was little, I fell in love with an anime called 'Dungeon Alive.'"

【? What's this about, desu no?】

【Where'd that come from】

【Calm yourselves, everyone. I'm sure it will connect if we listen to the end】

【Dungeon Alive! How nostalgic】

【Getting into dungeon anime is a childhood rite of passage】

【Even without the government's support, there were loads of great series】

【We all went through it as kids】

【Then we learned real dungeons can get you killed, and gaining levels bars you from official sports, and we gave up】

【I watched lots of anime back in the day too, desu wa】

【I own every volume of the original Alive manga!】

"My, so many kindred spirits! Then you'll understand: of all the characters in 'Dungeon Alive,' it was Setsuna Kiryuuin-sama whom I admired most. I was utterly captivated by her, drinking tea in a dress as she swept monsters aside with graceful movements and Elegant bearing. And naturally, I came to think: I want to become an ojou-sama explorer like Setsuna-sama."

【Hm?】

【Eh?】

【Huh?】

【Well, THAT took a turn】

【Hey, don't tell me...】

"And so I began exploring dungeons in a dress modeled on Setsuna-sama's gear, desu no! As I kept training myself, I learned dungeon streamers existed, too. People who share their dungeon runs through a screen and cheer up so many viewers—why, they were just like Setsuna-sama! I was so struck by it that I leaped into the streaming world. That's how this channel began. So the dress is the one outfit I can never do without: my formal attire and my finest battle gear, desu wa!"

Karin poured all her heart into sharing the origin she'd kept inside for over a year.

In that instant—the comment section broke.

【Wait wait wait WAIT!】

【You can't be serious, desu no!?】

【Ojou-sama plot twist!】

【That's just a cover so you don't have to reveal your unique skill, right!?】

【I loved Setsuna-sama and used to imitate her, but I never dreamed some idiot would STILL be doing it at sixteen, in an actual dungeon!?】

【Even a former chuunibyou's calling her an idiot. Lmao】

【Is your brain made of muscle, perchance?】

【The upper layers would be one thing, but you were in the LOWER layers!?】

【Level 100 inability to tell anime from reality】

【So this is what they mean by the harmful influence of anime】

【Anime ojou-sama: "Will you kindly stop blaming me for making this monster!?"】

【Poor anime gets blamed for sex crimes AND for producing monsters...】

【【Root of All Evil】Setsuna Kiryuuin【I Loved Her Too, Desu Wa】】

"H-huh? How odd, desu wa..."

Karin was baffled by the furious torrent of retorts racing by faster than any comments she'd seen before.

Starting soccer after reading a soccer manga, recreating a favorite character's outfit—those were common enough, and plenty of people here liked Alive. She'd thought they'd relate... but chat was getting awfully worked up.

And somehow the impression she was giving was nothing like 'Elegant'...

It wasn't going to cause any sort of backlash, but delving any deeper didn't seem good for an Elegant channel.

"O-on to the next question, desu wa!"

As though overwhelmed by the torrent of comments from her tens of thousands of viewers, Karin forcibly changed the subject again.

After that, Karin answered question after question.

"Let's see, I don't belong to an agency, desu wa. I'm entirely independent."

【As if any agency would take a girl this wild...】

【No decent company would let her dungeon dive in a dress...】

【Even an indecent company wouldn't, obviously】

【The big-agency staging theory dying like THIS is hilarious, desu wa】

"As for my age... I suppose I can prove it with my explorer's license?"

【Whoa, she really is sixteen...】

【This is too wild in multiple ways...】

【Way too strong for sixteen & way too... intellectually unusual for sixteen】

【Whatever else, she's something else, desu wa...】

While some reactions were a bit put off, the response was generally good; every time Karin spoke, a flood of comments followed. And apparently she'd become a topic of conversation on social media again, because viewers kept arriving with messages like "Here from trending" and "Is this the stream with the crazy ojou-sama?"

Before an hour had passed, concurrent viewers topped fifty thousand.

At this rate, the number might climb to even more ridiculous heights.

But—

"Streaming in front of this many people all at once is bound to exhaust you. Don't get greedy—wrap it up early."

(Mafuyu did tell me that. And she's right; my dress is already soaked in sweat.)

"Well then, it's a little early, but I'll make the next question my last, desu wa."

Karin glanced at the clock before announcing this.

She'd written "one hour at most" in the stream description to begin with, so there was no uproar; the questions poured in.

【By the way, do you not use weapons?】

【Who else do you like in Dungeon Alive, and what's your favorite scene?】

【Would you please insult us ojou-samas on the other side of the screen!?】

【Planning to join an explorer clan?】

【Are you planning any dungeon explorations?】

Karin picked a fitting question to finish on.

"I plan to resume dungeon exploration tomorrow, as a matter of fact, desu wa. From what I see in chat, quite a few of you still have doubts about my dungeon runs, so I shall show you an Elegant conquest as soon as possible, desu no!"

As she'd talked and watched the comments, she'd had the sense that people still couldn't quite believe the dress-in-the-lower-layers part. It called up bitter memories of being branded a fake again and again in her zero-concurrent days. She wanted to dispel those doubts, along with the thug image, as quickly as she could.

Besides, the internet heated up fast and cooled off just as fast.

Streaming a dungeon run—Karin's true specialty—while people were still talking about her was a must.

She and Mafuyu had agreed on that point at once.

【LET'S GOOOOOOOO!】

【Streaming again so soon? Thank you, desu wa!】

【Guess I'm ditching overtime tomorrow to be here, desu wa!】

【Yesterday the screen went black halfway through, so I can't wait to really see Karin-sama's dungeon run!】

【I'm still not sure about the dress thing, but I can't wait to see how strong you have to be to flatten Lord Vomit!】

【You're really going to conquer a dungeon in a dress...!】

【Gotta subscribe for this!】

【Notifications on, social media followed. I won't miss it, desu wa!】

Chat erupted again at the end.

Her plan to stream a run right away was apparently the right one.

"Well then, that shall be all for today. I shall see you tomorrow for my dungeon-conquest stream, desu wa. If you'd rather not miss it, please consider subscribing and turning on notifications, desu no. Thank you, truly, for coming to watch today. Otsukarin desu wa~"

【Otsukarin~】

【See you tomorrow, desu wa~】

"............Phewww, desu waaa."

This time, Karin made absolutely sure the stream was off before letting out a long breath.

The tension she'd been holding unconsciously snapped, and all the strength drained from her body at once.

"I-I got through it somehow, desu wa... Mafuyu was right—it was exhausting. More than she said, even. But..."

She roused her body, which was ready to drop into sleep right there, and gathered her resolve again.

"As I said on stream, quite a few people still aren't sure what to make of me, desu no. Tomorrow I must show them a truly special dungeon run!"

With Karin Yamada's elegance, she'd captivate them and turn even one in ten of today's viewers into regular fans. The world of streaming was harsh. Today had been exceptionally lively, but that was only a passing fad, hardly proof of Karin's own ability.

Today's stream had primarily been about addressing everything connected to beating up a fellow streamer.

She didn't sell herself on her banter to begin with, so much of the stream just now had been damage control and an announcement.

Tomorrow's stream—the dungeon runs at the heart of her channel—was what would decide how many people became regular fans.

"Mafuyu is cheering me on too. I shall do my best, desu wa!"

Karin called out to bolster her resolve, then made preparations for tomorrow, including tea.

After washing away that unpleasant sweat, she got into bed right away so the fatigue wouldn't linger.

"Even so... however fleeting it may be for now, I never knew having people return my greeting could make me so happy, desu wa."

Just before switching off the light, she gazed at all the different spellings of "Otsukarin" in chat, a smile naturally spreading across her face.