Chapter 47
Chapter 47
Anna was watching Sora’s stream.
‘These days, the teacher... No, wait. I promised not to call her that anymore.’
Anna shook her head to clear her thoughts.
“I haven’t talked to Laura in a while....”
Saying her name out loud felt strange, as it wasn’t a name she used often.
Since Laura's debut, Anna hadn’t missed a single one of her streams. After each stream, she would send Laura a detailed review on Discord: ‘Today’s stream was great! Especially when you decapitated the paladin, that was awesome!’ But Laura responded with, ‘Please stop sending long reviews every time. It’s making me uncomfortable,’ so Anna had toned it down.
In any case, Anna was fangirling over Laura.
She had recognized Laura’s potential long before she became a VTuber.
Even before Rion recommended VTubing to Laura, Anna had already brought her onto a stream. I staked my claim first!
Of course, Rui was still Anna’s ultimate favorite, but Rui didn’t stream 24/7.
So, in her free time, Anna had started watching Laura’s streams.
...During Laura’s early days, when she streamed for 20 hours straight, it was exhausting to keep up, but thankfully, her stream times had shortened recently.
Thank goodness.
Rion-senpai must have pushed her to cut down. Rion-senpai saved my life.
‘But somehow, it feels like we’re growing distant.’
Anna had worried about Laura’s prickly personality and whether she could get along with the 6th gen members, but surprisingly, Laura was fitting in well. Couldn’t they just be a little less friendly?
Word had it that Laura and Sora had even exchanged gifts. Sunglasses? A horror game? Anna had never received such things before...!
While it was natural for VTubers to be close with their peers, Anna, bound by the collaboration restriction, felt a little left out.
‘When are they going to lift this collaboration restriction...?’
With a sigh, Anna logged into Minecraft.
She hadn’t expected Laura to make a surprise appearance on Sora’s stream.
While she watched all of Laura’s streams religiously, it was hard to immediately catch surprise appearances on other channels. Was she going to have to monitor all the 6th gen streams from now on?
She had missed the beginning of this one, but apparently, Laura was about to fight the Wither.
‘This is... my chance to witness it live.’
Anna pondered for a moment.
If Laura was going to fight the Wither, she would have to move away from the 6th gen base, since the Wither would destroy everything around it.
Should I get ahead of her?
Maybe I could “coincidentally” run into her?
‘But Laura isn’t streaming!’
Anna had no way of knowing where Laura would be heading.
There was nothing to do but quietly drink an invisibility potion, as usual.
Gulp, gulp.
Anna drank the potion and vanished, adding a few functional potions for good measure.
“All prepared. Now, all that’s left is for Laura to defeat the Wither.”
“Can I come with you? Is there anything I can help with?”
“If you come, the aggro might shift to you. And without the right gear, one hit from the Wither will kill you.”@@@@
“I see. Then I won’t go. I just remembered I have some building to do.”
Right in front of her, Laura and Sora were chatting.
As Laura began to walk away, Anna quietly followed.
Lately, this had become Anna’s routine.
‘It’s not really a problem, is it...?’
Every time Laura logged into Minecraft, Anna would watch her while invisible.
It couldn’t be called stalking. It was just in-game, not real life. And, come to think of it, Anna had experienced the same thing from her upperclassmen a few times during her early days as a VTuber.
Watching her juniors play the game secretly was fun.
More than that, though, Anna wanted to learn more about Laura.
Laura was like a flower perched on a cliff—no matter how much Anna reached out, she always felt out of reach.
That was what made Laura so alluring, with a mysterious charm that made Anna feel like she’d risk everything just to be near her.
It was like the urge to leave a handprint on a perfectly clean windowpane.
Anna wanted to see Laura in different lights, beyond her usual composed and unshakeable self.
-“A Void Rod would be perfect for the chandelier, but you can only get it later in the game.”
‘Hmm... She said she wanted a Void Rod, didn’t she?’
Laura had never said she wanted one outright, but for Sora, that detail didn’t really matter.
Sora pulled out her phone.
When she searched for Void Rod, it did seem like it would pair well with a chandelier.
“How do you get this?”
She asked the air.
Then,
-Go to the Void
-Defeat the Dragon, and the Void opens up
-You can’t get it now
“I see.”
From what she gathered, defeating the final boss, the Dragon, would open up a new map, where the Void Rod could be found.
Of course, for a Minecraft beginner like Sora, that item was beyond her wildest dreams.
“Is the Void Rod as valuable as a diamond?”
-No, not really
-It’s just a junk item
-Once the Void opens, you can farm it easily
-It goes straight to storage
“So, have the seniors been to this Void place?”
-Yup, Rinko went yesterday lol
-You’re still in the Stone Age
-The seniors have already cleared all the Minecraft content
That meant the seniors had probably been to the Void, and there might even be a Void Rod sitting in one of their storage chests.
If it was a junk item, they wouldn’t mind if she took a little, right?
It didn’t seem like it would be a problem.
‘But going alone feels a bit risky.’
Up until now, Sora had focused mainly on building.
She had gone on one adventure to gather materials, but after falling into lava and losing all her diamonds, she had learned a painful lesson.
...Why are Minecraft monsters like zombies and skeletons so scary?
Couldn’t sandbox games have cuter monsters?
That’s why Sora didn’t really like leaving the base.
‘Is Inagika... still asleep?’
She checked the Discord room, but Inagika was still offline.
Inagika’s sleep schedule was completely destroyed. It was a common issue among VTubers.
No choice, then.
Sighing, Sora headed to the fishing spot.
“Chell.”
She called out.
Chell had been logged into Minecraft since early morning.
But she was always so quiet. ...Why does she stay so silent?
“Yes.”
Chell replied.
At least she answered when spoken to.
Why does she use formal language with her peers? ...It feels so distant.
“I’m going to the seniors’ city. Can you come with me?”
“Understood.”
Chell put down her fishing rod.
One thing Sora had learned about Chell was that she was surprisingly obedient.
Whenever Sora gave her an order or asked for help, Chell quietly complied.
‘...I still can’t figure her out.’
Though she was still an awkward colleague, it was better than going alone.
“Let’s head out right away, then.”
“Yes.”
Sora, taking Chell with her, resolved to sneak into the seniors’ city.
This happened just 20 minutes before she encountered the Wither.
LRAB