What's Wrong With Interfering With My Childhood Friend's Love?

Chapter 6 : Shocking Revelation

After school, I met up with Akito for a private conversation.

The place we chose was a clean, private karaoke room, a spot we could use cheaply thanks to the student discount.

“…Riku, don’t tell me you wanted to sing?”

“No, no. I said I’m fine with any place, didn’t I?”

And yet, Akito rejected my other suggestions.

Initially, I thought we’d go to our usual café, but he dismissed that, saying the conversation would be too delicate for such a place.

During this time, Chiya kept messaging me, asking where I was going.

I decided that it was better to ignore all her texts.

She probably would’ve followed me if she could, so I deliberately chose a spot where we wouldn’t be interrupted.

“Anyway, what’s this about?”

“Ah, I’ve got some good news and some bad news. Which one do you want first?”

“Uh, what? Don’t tell me this is about some girl again.”

Akito’s expression was more serious than usual. I wasn’t expecting another bombshell like yesterday’s events, but the way he phrased it made even minor things seem significant.

Well, it might have something to do with what Chiya was investigating, so I couldn’t just ignore it.

“What do you mean ‘again’? You really don’t trust me, huh?”

“Of course not. I still remember that time you got involved with someone’s older brother.”

That was a few months ago. Akito had rejected a girl, and her older brother ended up calling him out. Akito begged me to meet the guy on his behalf, so I ended up doing it.

The guy was flashy and a bit intimidating, which scared me a little when we met.

In the end, though, he’d only shown up because his sister had asked him to, and there wasn’t much to it.

Still, I ended up lecturing him, telling him not to agree to such things so lightly. I never wanted to go through that again.

Apparently, the girl apologized to Akito later, but I never got an apology.

She’d always looked down on me, so maybe her pride wouldn’t let her.

“Ah… that really helped me out back then. But anyway, let’s not dwell on the past. So, which one do you want first?”

“The good news doesn’t matter, but bad news coming from you is what worries me.”

I hesitated over his suggestive tone. It’s rare for Akito to have bad news that affects him directly.

“Well, it’s more like… it’s all about how I see things, you know?”

“Fine, start with the bad news.”

“Quick decision, huh? At least think about it a little. Honestly, you might already know, but yesterday, Linlin got caught up in a controversy.”

“…What?”

I was speechless. Unfortunately, coming right after yesterday, that news really was a bombshell.

Linlin… She was the first VTuber I introduced to Akito, and she became our mutual favorite.

Specifically, she’s a virtual streamer, part of a category of content creators.

I have other streamers I’m attached to, but I still didn’t know what had happened yesterday.

As far as I knew, she didn’t even have a stream scheduled.

“That’s right. Linlin is under fire right now. Actually, no — she’s actively being roasted.”

“No way… wait, hold on. This is bad news for me, too!”

“Yeah, fair enough. I figured you didn’t know. You wouldn’t have come to school so calmly otherwise.”

Akito’s deduction was spot-on.

I really hadn’t heard anything about this incident.

“I was busy yesterday.”

“Thought so. If you knew, you’d probably have spent the whole day in bed sulking.”

“I wouldn’t go that far… Anyway, what happened? She wasn’t supposed to stream yesterday, right?”

I make it a habit to watch all her streams live, almost without exception.

Yesterday, though, I’d been preoccupied with Miumi’s situation, so I had no clue what had gone down.

“She had an unplanned stream. And during it, something happened.”

“Something happened? What exactly?”

“Linlin was streaming a game from Antendo. But her player ID wasn’t the usual one.”

“What do you mean? Just using the wrong account shouldn’t cause this kind of backlash.”

“If it were just a private account, yeah. But it was KOKO’s account.”

I froze at the mention of a familiar name. KOKO is a well-known gamer in the FPS world, famous among non-pro players.

“KOKO? You mean that mysterious gamer who occasionally teams up with pro players?”

“Yeah, that KOKO.”

“So, Linlin… was KOKO all along?”

It was a shocking revelation.

KOKO never revealed their face or voice, and many speculated they were just an alternate account of a professional player.

Linlin did have impressive gaming skills. But since she focused more on chatting and didn’t play aggressively, no one ever thought she could be the same person.

“Wait a second… Even if that’s true, why would that cause an uproar?”

Sure, the revelation was surprising, but it didn’t seem like something that should lead to backlash.

Even if people thought she’d been holding back during her streams, her gameplay was always solid and dependable. That’s hardly something to criticize.

“Of course, it’d cause an uproar. Linlin openly claimed she was bad with men, but behind the scenes, she was gaming with male pro players.”

“…Ah.”

With the reason for the controversy laid bare, everything clicked.

Linlin belonged to an agency that exclusively promoted female streamers. She’d never collaborated with male streamers, and her agency actively marketed the bonds between their female talents.

She was essentially part of a “closed-off” group of streamers, so any interaction with male players could easily be seen as a betrayal by her fans.

“Now that I think about it, yeah, that’s pretty shocking. But wasn’t the ‘bad with men’ thing just part of her character?”

“Whether it was a character or not doesn’t matter. What matters is that she rejected every collaboration with male streamers but was secretly playing games with them. That’s a betrayal of her fans.”

“Well… I can see that, I guess.”

I understood the logic, but I still couldn’t shake the unease.

More than anything, I was worried about Linlin being attacked over this controversy.

“So, what are you going to do, Riku?”

“Do what?”

Was Akito suggesting we do something to help Linlin through the backlash? Even though he didn’t know much about the virtual streaming world, he seemed to grasp how serious the situation was.

Personally, I was shaken but felt like staying silent on social media for now.

If I were to act, I could gather fellow Linlin fans and brainstorm ways to diffuse the situation.

Maybe we’d find a way to help.

But the words Akito spoke next were completely unexpected.

“To be honest, I’m disappointed in Linlin and can’t support her anymore. No matter how good her gaming skills are, this is unforgivable. You feel the same, right, Riku?”

“…What? What are you saying, Akito?”

“Eh? Oh, I’m just saying I’ve woken up from the dream.”

I couldn’t process what he meant. I thought Akito was upset about Linlin’s backlash, but he’d already made up his mind to move on.

“Wait, does that mean…”

“Yeah. Talking about streamers was a secret little joy of mine, so if I’m switching favorites, I’ll need to find someone new to follow.”

“…!!”

I couldn’t believe what Akito was saying.

☆☆☆☆☆☆

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