Vol 1 Chapter 60 – Ego Search 4

After the stream ended, I dove into some ego-searching. This time, I was checking Ameblo—the site Rina＠Gal had told me about.

clockchild model Akiba Rin…!!! kun!!!

That was the blog’s title. It sounded like it was shouting that I’m male. Since I’d heard it wasn’t trending, I read on without worry.

It seems the recently trending kids’ model Akiba Rin has started VTubing on Utube.

His channel description didn’t list a gender, but the blogger spotted a part where he describes himself as male.

But before that, please hold your excitement and check this out.

https://www.utube.com/watch?v=MalumDiva

Did you watch it?

No matter how you listen, this singing voice is a girl’s—no, an angel’s!

It’s a cute voice, yet the singing skill is top-notch. When the blogger listens to it, he forgets everything except the song. (He does remember to breathe, though!)

Now, you must be thinking, “There’s no way such a cute kid is a boy!” Right?

Well then, check this out.

https://www.utube.com/watch?v=kiriNuKioTokoNokoHatugen

See? Despite being so cute, he insists he’s a boy!

It’s just too—too much for the blogger!

He’s overcome by the urge to pounce on him right now.

Here’s the channel for the one-and-only Akiba Rin-chan kun!

https://www.youtube.com/channel/RinAkiha-ch-0303

Be sure to subscribe to his channel!

Somehow, it felt like the blog was totally pitching me.

There were also a few comments on the blog.

“It’s that otokonoko marketing scheme, right… Otaku, sheesh…”

— Miporin

“>>1 What if he really is a boy?”

— Saaya

“But, you know, there’s always the chance it’s otaku otokonoko marketing, right?”

— rin

“If he is really a boy… wouldn’t that be gross? Isn’t that just cross-dressing?”

— Mia

“>>4 Quit it already, okay? There might be kids who just don’t suit boys’ clothes! Does that mean boys have to wear boys’ clothes forever? Isn’t that an old-fashioned mindset? If it were otokonoko marketing, he’d at least fake a deeper voice. He sounds like a genuine girl. Then again, maybe it’s just his physique, right? I’m sticking with the true-boy theory.”

— Anna

“>>5 I love this kid too. His singing is amazing. His gender… I don’t care!”

— Ria

“>>5 Sorry, I didn’t think of that. I’m an idiot…”

— Mia

“>>7 I’m so happy you get it!”

— Anna

“But more than that, it’s about the singing. Isn’t it insane? Even pros would be jealous.”

— Reri

“That’s right. The singing is incredible. In the afternoon, he apparently does an unplugged broadcast!”

— Ria

The comments were heated at first, then overturned later. The initial burst didn’t even reach trending.

Somehow, I’d braced for a bit of a flame war, and that resolve went to waste.

“What are you looking at?”

Michiru-san slipped into the soundproof booth and wrapped her arms around me from behind.

This isn’t sexual. I’ve gotten a bit used to it, but it’s still a little embarrassing.

“It’s a blog. It looks like it’s talking about me.”

“It’s Ameblo. And wow, there are a lot of gal girls in the comments.”

Yes—so-called gal-speak is used everywhere. Parts that don’t need to be lowercase are in lowercase.

But I totally get it. Tiny letters are cute.

“Huh? These comments were posted during Rin-kun’s broadcast.”

That’s when I realized why Rina＠Gal said it wasn’t trending—there hadn’t been any comments at the time.

“Ah—Rina＠Gal must be panicking right now.”

She had no way of knowing that by the time I looked, the comments had flared up once and then died down.

“By the way, these people assume anyone who’s just a VTuber fan is an otaku, but the Akihaba family’s fanbase is under fifty percent otaku. Well, the Mama slot has a high otaku rate, though.”

“Really? Is that so?”

I thought VTTubers were content just for otaku, so that surprised me.

“I mean, are Ryu-kun’s fans otaku?”

“Ah, now that you mention it…”

Rather than otaku, it’s a group of professionals. Thinking about it, I can expect the same for Sadakuni-san’s fans. After all, Sadakuni-san’s fans are all really good at instruments.

“There are some we can’t figure out the fanbase for either. Like Nora-chan…”

“What kind of VTuber is she?”

All I knew about Akiba Nora was that she’s female.

“She’s a wild-type VTuber. She hunts in the mountains, farms, does blacksmithing, and so on. By the way, she became a VTuber three years ago!”

I was stunned—who would have thought a woman would do that…? Her body would get dirty, smell like it, and you’d need real strength.

More than that…

“Blacksmithing!?”

“Yeah, she smelts iron and does blacksmithing!”

It seemed the fearsome wild-type VTuber had entered the Iron Age…