Chapter 1: The Wind Fairy
My younger sister, Kanbara Ayane—just one year my junior—burst into my room with some genuinely threatening remarks and plopped down on my bed.
“……This place still gives me the creeps.”
As she glanced around the room, she said this with an exasperated expression.
That’s not fair criticism. Sure, I have figures and merchandise, but they’re confined to one corner of the room. I don’t have any aggressively loud items.
But this girl is asking me for help?
It’s been a while since Ayane came to my room. We used to get along pretty well when we were younger, but after she entered middle school, we barely talked. Once I shut myself away in my own world, every time we ran into each other at home, she’d give me an annoyed look.
“Anyway, what brought you here on the first day of the new semester? You were spouting some pretty threatening stuff earlier.”
I tried to hurry the conversation along, but Ayane responded as if she’d just remembered something.
“Before we talk, I need to confirm something.”
“Confirm?”
“About how cute I am. Come on, I’m seriously cute, right?”
It’s weird for her to say it herself, but I have to admit she’s cute.
It’s not like I’m being biased because she’s family. Her personality isn’t exactly praiseworthy, but her appearance really is cute, so I can’t help it.
Ayane, who just became a high school student this year, is so small she doesn’t look like a high schooler at all. Her face looks childish, and if you put a randoseru (school bag) on her, she could probably pass for an elementary school student. Even her voice is slightly slurred, emphasizing her childlike quality.
“Well, generally speaking, you’d be considered cute.”
I answered vaguely to avoid causing any trouble.
“See? You get it. That’s right—I’m cute. So there’s no way I wouldn’t be a ‘Princess,’ right?”
“……”
I had a bad feeling about this.
My sister and I both attend Himegasaki Academy, a high school, and this school has a famous event.
Himegasaki Academy General Election.
Those with good intuition probably caught on from the name alone. This event is a popularity vote targeting female students at the academy, and it’s heavily influenced by a certain nationally popular idol group.
It’s not an officially sanctioned school event—it’s an unofficial one run by the newspaper club.
The main attraction of the event is the titles given to those who rank highly.
In the certain idol group’s general election, the members who topped the rankings were praised as the “Divine Seven.” This title became widespread in society and caused quite a stir.
[If theirs is “Divine Seven,” then ours is “Princess Six.”]
That’s what the organizer proposed when launching this election.
For some reason, this caught on with the students, and it’s now become a famous school event.
The reason the numbers differ is because theirs are divine. Since this is Himegasaki Academy, the title became “Hime” aka “Princess,” and they reduced the number because they deferred to the divine ranking. A mysterious consideration, if you ask me.
The general election is held at the end of each semester, and the results are published in the school newspaper.
Apparently, they used to publish all the rankings, but when some students strongly objected, they now only publish the top ten.
Since I wasn’t interested, I didn’t know about this event until I entered the school, but when I saw the rankings, I thought to myself:
Wouldn’t it be enough to just publish the rankings of those who get the Princess title?
I’m still wondering about this even now, but apparently there’s a reason. The top ten are published as evidence that no fraud occurred. The school newspaper also publishes the vote counts, proudly demonstrating their integrity.
It’s fine to tout that they’re not doing anything illegal, but this created a certain problem.
Specifically, the problem of female students who narrowly missed achieving Princess status crying into their pillows.
In the general election held before summer break, Ayane ranked seventh.
With her small stature and childish face, Ayane had gathered explosive popularity from a specific demographic, but she just barely missed the cutoff for the Princess title.
Ayane, who desperately wanted to become a Princess, went crazy. It seems she’d been convinced her chances were high, and during the early part of summer vacation, she was absolutely turbulent. Screams came from her room, and whenever we made eye contact, I’d get irrational verbal abuse.
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“I’m so mad I want to become a Princess.”
“……So what’s the favor you want from me?”
“Make me a Princess.”
I let out a sigh at the predictable development.
“Don’t be ridiculous. Besides, you’re cute, so just wait.”
“Huh?”
“It might be impossible this year, but there’s a chance next year.”
I’d meant to console her, but Ayane’s eyes sharpened.
“You really think I have a shot next year?”
“—! Right, my bad.”
I realized my carelessness right after I spoke.
There are no third-year students among the current Princesses. In other words, even if we wait until next year, the situation won’t improve. If anything, with new first-year students entering, her ranking will likely drop.
“Whatever. Anyway, make me a Princess. Specifically, by the next general election.”
“Don’t ask the impossible. Besides, there’s no benefit in it for me.”
“Oh, is that so? Then I’m going to tell everyone your secret.”
Ayane flashed an evil grin.
“O-Oi, there’s no secret about me that would be embarrassing if told!”
“I’ll tell them that big brother is a gross otaku.”
I thought she’d have some serious dirt on me, but that’s all she had?
Nowadays, otaku have gained human rights. Kids and adults alike watch anime, and there are tons of middle and high school students hooked on mobile games. TV shows feature cosplayers, and virtual YouTubers are a hugely popular category on video sites.
This level of thing isn’t really a secret anymore.
Besides, I’m a quiet and well-behaved student. People around me probably see me as a gloomy otaku type anyway. This wouldn’t be much of a threat.
“Yeah, but that’s just a regular otaku. You’re actually a really weird guy, aren’t you?”
“How so?”
“Huh. You’d say the same thing even after seeing this?”
Ayane grinned and showed me her smartphone screen.
What was displayed was a summary site.
I’d seen it a few times before. It’s a subculture site featuring anime and games, and recently it’s had a lot of VTuber-related articles.
The title of the page Ayane showed me was—
“If you can’t read it, I’ll read it for you. The title says: [Found a long-winded commenter in an indie streamer’s stream lol]. See?”
“Wait, give it here!”
I grabbed the phone from Ayane and scanned through the article.
The article was a long post mocking someone who’d sent a superchat to a VTuber. At the beginning was a screenshot of the superchat comment.
[Thanks so much for streaming as always. Lately, thanking Feni-chan has become part of my daily routine. Anyway, getting to the point—I hope you’ll cheer up. Getting a confession from your best friend is definitely a shocking experience. Especially when it’s from the same sex. But I hope you’ll think it through and give them your answer. I think it’s important to think things through and give your answer properly, no matter what that answer is. Well, I’ve never confessed to anyone or been confessed to, so I don’t have much credibility and I’m probably just being a burden, but I’m always here to listen if you need someone to talk to. I’m always on your side, Feni-chan]
The account name of the person who sent the long-winded superchat was [Valhalla].
That person was me.
My body trembled.
At that time, I was in a kind of trance, so I didn’t particularly think about my own comment, but looking at it now, it’s seriously embarrassing. Plus, despite being a long message, it has no real substance.
There were other images too, showing similar long-winded superchats.
“This is unbelievable. It’s not just gross—it’s disgusting.”
“Those mean the same thing!”
After becoming a high school student, I got into VTubers and discovered the pleasure of sending superchats. I became addicted to the thrill of having my comment read out loud.
These days, more than half my part-time job salary goes to superchats. I could honestly say I work part-time just for superchats and online games.
“If this gets out, your life is over, you know?”
I imagined the scenario.
My peaceful life would definitely be destroyed. I’d get the nickname “Long-winded Bro,” and I’d be mocked from all directions.
“Back to the main topic. If you make me a Princess, I’ll keep quiet about this.”
“……Should I advertise for you or something?”
“That won’t help if you advertise. I’m already doing my own promotion anyway.”
“Then what am I supposed to do?”
Ayane kept that evil grin on her face.
“I want you to seduce one of the Princesses. Using your gamer terminology, I want you to ‘capture’ them.”
capture?
“If you date one of the Princesses, her popularity will tank. Then I’ll move up in the rankings. Big brother gets a girlfriend, and I get to be a Princess. Both of us win. It’s a fair deal, right?”
You’re blackmailing me and calling it fair.
She makes it sound like a great idea, but unfortunately, this deal won’t work out.
“It’s impossible.”
TLNOTE : I’m sorry for being MIA for a while, I was sick and still haven’t fully recovered. Because of that, the novel translation will still be posted irregularly
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