The alarm rang and Nina woke up, it was 7:30 pm. It was time for her to stream, then a message came,
"The nikujaga I made is in the fridge so heat it up and eat it!", it was from her best friend — Asuka, "Okay!" Nina replied and went straight to the fridge. She picked up the Nikujaga and then heated it in the microwave.
"I guess it's just another boring day streaming..."
She sighed and said to herself, she checked her phone for any new messages, she saw 4 contacts — Asuka, Ren, Mom and Urban's Café. She opened the mom's messages first,
"Mom, I just reached 5000 subscribers!"
"Nina, you have to leave this stupid VTubing, get a real job and get real money!"
"Yeah."
Her relationship with her mom wasn't that good. Her mom wanted to see her in something stable—something expected, something she could explain to relatives without feeling embarrassed. A real job, fixed hours, a decent salary. Not a virtual avatar playing games and talking to strangers on the internet.
Nina stared at the message for a moment, those messages were 5 days ago, she waited for her mom to talk to her, but she didn't. There wasn't much left to say. Every conversation with her mother ended the same way, short, cold, and unfinished.
She locked her phone and shoved it in her pocket.
The microwave beeped.
Nina pulled the nikujaga out carefully, the warmth seeping through the bowl into her fingers. The soft aroma filled the small apartment, comforting in a way she didn't expect. Asuka always cooked just a little too much, always left something behind "just in case," even on days she was too busy to stay.
"Thanks…" Nina muttered quietly, though no one was there to hear it. She placed the food on the table and started eating it. She looked out the window, Tokyo looked the same, the buildings, the lights. She was bored from this but she won't give up either.
After eating, she threw the plastic plate into the garbage and went to her gaming setup. It was pinkish, clean, no dust — simple. Everything was wireless. She sat on her chair and turned on her pc. As soon the desktop screen popped up, she saw a note written by herself,
"Note:
1. Start virtual me
2. Ready to play any game
3. Hit streaming"
She opened virtual me and transformed to her VTuber avatar,
"No matter how many times I look at it, my avatar is too cute" she said with a loving voice, she always self glazed herself, then she opened a game and hit stream, 200 views already.
"She needs to deliver 2 peices of paper"
"Be aware of the ghost!"
"Oh!"
Chats started to came fast, then she started to go to the destination in the game, a red text on her screen came, written "Run" in Japanese, she was scared because of the game, when she reached the place where she has to deliver the papers, the ghost caught her and she lost.
"Ah! No saves is too cruel, this game has no saves, I guess this game is not made for me! I need something better suggestion
She said, grinning. Her viewers started to go wild in the chat, 700 views already
"Oh no you lost!
"Oh!"
"It's okay Senra Nina"
"Aw! It was scary..."
Then a user named "I love Nina" sent her a link, "If you're interested, try this — newgames.site", Nina smiled because it was the link she used to download her games from, it was a trusted site.
"Ah! New games. Site, this is the link where I download all my games...let's see! Thank you so much, viewer!"
She opened that link and saw a text written "new games only for Senra Nina" with a download button, 10 arrows on that download button, but she didn't hesitated and downloaded the game. When she entered the game, it was a room, 3 monitor setup gaming pc, but a lots of garbage, she needed to find the numbers according to the colour to complete this level of the game.
"It looks too easy!"
"Did you check on the table?"
"Check behind the fridge!"
"Come on, you can do it, Nina!"
Then she started to find the numbers, the room felt realistic and a life of a streamer, she was feeling a little bit scared because of the game, the atmosphere and she felt something was wrong, when she found all the numbers, she put the code on the number pad and the level completed.
"Yay! I guess this game also has a continuation."
Then suddenly, the chat begin to scream and send messages fast, very fast. She looked at the chat and was shocked,
"Kawaii, Kawaii"
"So white!"
"You look so beautiful and cute!"
"Ah, you look so white and beautiful..."
"Kawaiiiii!!!!"
"I always wondered how your face looked like"
"What do you mean guys?" Then she looked at the camera and got shocked...it showed her face, the link had some virus. Her heart started beating fast, "I think we'll end the stream for today." She said before closing the stream, the game and then shutting down her pc, she stood up and immediately messaged Asuka,
"Asuka, I'm scared my face got shown on the live, can you come here? I'm freaked out."
"Nina, don't overthink it, I wish I could come there but I'm busy with my work right now...Sorry I'm busy tomorrow too, maybe we can meet after a few days. Don't worry."
"Yeah, thanks"
She shoved her phone in her pocket, suddenly, the doorbell rang, her knees started to tremble and her breath shaky. She checked the peephole on the door and saw someone standing beside the door, then they ran away. She saw something was in the mailbox, so she picked it up and saw the message — "I'm always watching over you"
Her face started to go pale, her hands shaky and then she ripped the paper and threw it in the garbage. She went to her gaming setup and kept her headdown on the table, she eventually fell asleep...This day wasn't that good for her, a stalker, face revealed when she didn't wanted to. And now she is home alone. She didn't overthink it though.
But she didn't knew it was going to be her lifetime fear.
But...
The room was quiet.
Too quiet.
The soft hum of her PC was gone, the usual background noise that filled her apartment had disappeared. Only the faint ticking of the wall clock remained.
Nina didn't move.
Her head was still resting on the table, her hair slightly covering her face. Her breathing was slow, uneven, but deep enough to show she was asleep.
Or at least
It looked like she was.
Outside the window, the city lights flickered slightly, as if struggling to stay steady. A car passed by, its headlights briefly illuminating the room before fading away again.
Next day was going to be the same boring but something with a twist...
End of chapter 1