"For the past few years, the internet has been quickly taking over the lives of the people on earth. It is a place where you'll be able to find like-minded people, no matter how unpopular your interests are. Popularity is a fickle thing, ebbing and flowing in seemingly random currents; what is the norm one day can be forgotten in just a matter of weeks.

A common way of expression on the internet is streaming and uploading videos, and within those two broad areas are two types of people. The first group shows their face and their surroundings with the use of a camera, giving the audience a window to peer into their lives. The second are those that chose to remain somewhat anonymous by providing content as a disembodied voice, acting as commentators, and allowing the content to be the sole focus of the viewers' attention.

For a long time, content creators have had to be in either one of these two camps, with each video or stream they do, giving them a chance to cross over to the other side. However, in the past few years, a new niche has started forming. Using virtual avatars, face, and body tracking, and multiple faces to show different emotions, these individuals are in a strange gray area. The tracking allows the audience a glimpse of their physical mannerisms, the avatar acting as something to associate their voice to, yet by avoiding the use of their actual body and face they remain anonymous. These individuals can be called by fans are Vtubers or Vstreamers, and their recent rise in popula-"

"What are you watching?" A woman opened the door of a tidy apartment building, tying her hair up into a ponytail and adjusting the jacket she wore over her clothes. "Is that some new anime?" She walked over to a nearby couch, reaching over and grabbing a small bag as she directed her gaze to the person sitting on it, and the phone he held in his hand.

"Not quite, sis..." He replied, pausing the video and showing the screen to the woman. "This is an actual person controlling this avatar. They're called Vtubers, and well, I don't really know. I've really started to like them recently." He said, shifting his body and wrapping himself up in a thick blanket. "You going out now?" He smiled before letting out a nasty cough.

"Yeah. Take care of yourself, Zeke. I'll get you something for that on my way home." The woman said, slinging the bag over her shoulder and heading for the door out of the apartment.

"Thanks, Les! Did you hear from mom or dad yet?" Zeke asked, to which the woman shook her head. He let out a sigh, lying down on the couch and stretching his body. The woman frowned, heading out and heading for the elevator. She entered, pressing the button for the ground floor as the door shut in front of her. She leaned against the back wall as the elevator stopped on the third floor.

"Morning, Betty." She said with a smile and a wave to the person entering.

"Good morning, Leslie!" The other person replied cheerily, opening her bag and handing the woman a small container of strawberries. "Want some? My relatives sent a bunch over." She offered.

"Sure..." Leslie replied, taking one for herself as she examined Betty's attire for the day. "Where'd you get that shirt? It looks cool. That's the shounen this season, right?" She asked, looking over at the design plastered over her friend's chest. Betty nodded, eating a strawberry and spilling some juice on the shirt. The shirt in question was formerly pure white, except for the large silhouette of an anime character's sword surrounded by an arid desert.

"Hey, looks like I'm free tomorrow night after I pay my rent. Wanna go somewhere?" Betty asked, putting the berries back into her bag as they reached the ground floor and started walking in the same direction. Leslie nodded, putting her hands in the pockets of her jacket as she started to see her breath in front of her face.

"What've you been doing recently, by the way? Did you get a new job?" Leslie asked as they turned a corner and continued walking down the road for the next five minutes.

"Uhh, I've just been busy. I'll tell you about it soon though. Promise. Actually, I want to ask you about something, but that can wait." Betty replied, looking off at the window of a nearby shop that sold computer parts. "Hmm, maybe I should get an upgrade..." She muttered to herself.

"Did you say something?"

"Huh, oh it's nothing. Anyway, do you want to pick where we go, or should I?" She asked as the two started making plans on their way to university. They got inside, shaking off the last of the cold as they made their way to their first lecture of the day; the two of them had most of their classes together that day. "So, we're going clubbing tomorrow?" Betty sat down at a table as the bell sounded for noon. Leslie quickly followed, taking sips from a bottle of water as she watched her friend take out a burger for lunch.

"Yeah, just be careful, I don't want to do what I did last time..." She teased, eyes widening in shock as her friend pulled out another burger, then another, then another. "Seriously? Didn't you say that you were going to pay for your rent tomorrow? You definitely got a new job, that's the only way you'll be able to splurge like this! Hey, are there any open spots left?" She leaned in, whispering the last sentence into her friend's ear.

Betty giggled to herself. "I'll explain tomorrow when we go out. I wanted to tell you sooner, see if you'd want to join me, but things happened." She said, offering Leslie one of the burgers.

"It isn't anything illegal right?" Leslie replied jokingly, accepting the food and unwrapping the burger. Bettys giggling turned into full-blown laughter. With that, the two returned to their classes and let the day pass without much else to talk about. As they were walking home, Leslie spotted a small convenience store and tugged at Betty's arm. "Hey, mind if we make a quick stop, I need to get something for Zeke."

The two of them walked in, with Leslie going over to get some cough drops and Betty wandering over to the packaged instant noodles aisle. "Which one should I get?" She asked herself, bending down to take a closer look at the spicy noodles before her. Leslie walked over and noticed her friend, looking over her shoulder at what she was looking at.

"I thought you hated spicy food?" She asked as Betty grabbed one of the spicier ones and headed for the cashier. The two of them paid for their purchases and made their way back to their homes. "Zeke, I got you some cough drops!" Leslie yelled as she opened the door, finding her brother asleep on the couch where she left him, his phone on the floor, and still playing a video. "What did he say these guys were called?"

"Guys! No! No! Come on! I want to win at least once tonight! Can't you guys... Argh!" A high-pitched voice came out from the phone. The video was showing a game of a fighting game, with one character out of hp and the defeat message plastered over the screen. Alongside that, off to the corner, underneath a live chat feed, was a virtual avatar with long blue hair and what looked like a feathered poncho. "Oh, looks like I'm out of time for tonight. Thanks, everyone for watching! I'll be thanking everyone that gave me their support now, this is Mizuna Fi, signing off... Time to float over to my bed! Yosh..." The avatar's head bobbed around for a bit as the entire composition of the screen changed, now putting more emphasis on the chat and an image of her avatar.

Leslie stood there for a few seconds, watching her thank the various viewers that decided to donate their money to this person. "Why does she sound familiar?" She asked herself, leaving the phone, her bag and the cough drops on a nearby table as she headed to another room in the place. She gravitated toward her bed, taking a quick nap to rest her body, if only for a short while. Her rest was interrupted by a knock on her door.

"Hey sis, what's for dinner?" Zeke asked, as his sister stumbled out of bed and left the comfort of her room to head for the kitchen. Zeke followed her, taking a seat at the table as he watched another video on his phone. "Still nothing from mom and dad?"

"No, but we'll be fine. You wanted to stay here with me, right? I have to know how to take care of you. More importantly..." Leslie asked as she chopped up some vegetables to start making a simple vegetable soup. "How's your fever, are you taking your medicine?" She asked, looking over her shoulder and overhearing the video playing on the phone.

"Mizuna Fi here, is everyone drinking properly?" The same voice from earlier said. "I might be drinking a lot tonight because... TADA! I got some super spicy noodles today!" She added as Leslie put the last of the vegetables into the pot, allowing herself to walk away from the stove.

"Is that brand spicy?"

"Why do you ask?" Zeke asked, typing a comment and sending it, watching it zoom up the screen; Leslie realized that this was a live stream.

"Betty got some on our way back. She normally hates spicy food, so I'm just a bit worried." She said, taking a seat beside her brother as the two of them watched the girl on the screen start bobbing around as eating sounds came out. It wasn't long before she started coughing, followed by some wheezing and panting, then some screams of pain and agony. In the time that passed, the soup had finished cooking, so Leslie got a serving for both of them, leaving enough for her to take it for lunch the next day.

"Ahhh! I can't! it burns! Water! Water! Ahhh!" The Vtuber yelled before her avatar became unresponsive and the sound of rushed footsteps could be heard walking away from the microphone. After some time, she returned, slightly calmer than before but still in pain. "I-I'm back everyone... I... did it! I ate it all! Wait, let me take a picture..." She said, pausing for a moment before continuing the conversation. "Anyway, I'll be taking a break tomorrow, but I'll be back the day after. I'm sorry, I can't thank everyone that donated tonight... I don't feel so well... This has been... Mizuna Fi... signing off... ahhh... this is bad!" With that, the stream transitioned to some music as well as a looping animation.

"That looked painful..." Zeke mumbled as he brought his dishes to the sink.

"Yeah, it did. Hold still, I'll get your temperature." Leslie said as she pressed the back of her hand gently against his forehead. "Still hot... you should rest early tonight. Maybe that'll help." She said, watching him enter his room and leaving her to do the dishes.

After that chore, she entered her room and switched on her computer, checking her email first. Her inbox had a handful of new messages, to which she groaned. She then closed her email and opened up an application that showed her a 3D model of what looked like a very simple gun. She checked the date on the calendar on her screen, smiling.

"I should be able to open commissions up again soon." She smiled, zooming in and adding details and color to the model for the next two hours. She stretched, rubbing her eyes as she saved her progress and trudged over to her bed with her phone in her hand. "I guess I'll send a tweet about it..." She said, doing just that before browsing her feed with a bored face. Nothing got her attention, nothing except... "Mizuna Fi, does she have an account?" She asked herself as she typed out the username.

An account showed up almost instantly, and it looked to be the real one. Leslie browsed through her tweets, nothing out of the ordinary for a content creator. The pinned tweet was just linking to her other social media and her channel, as well as crediting the artist that drew her model and the person that rigged it up for her. What caught her attention were the recent tweets. "I got this on the way home today! Let's go!" Along with a picture of the same brand of noodles that Betty bought, the tweet that came after it chronologically was a simple message. "Regret." Scrolling down some more, things started to get more curious. The next photo was that of a white shirt with a juice stain and a silhouette of a sword in a dessert. The tweet before that was complaining about how slow her current CPU is.

"It couldn't be, could it?" Leslie thought to herself before laughing at the thought dismissively. "Nah, no way. It's just a coincidence..." She said, switching her phone off for the night and falling asleep shortly after. Leslie woke up the next day with her phone lit up with a text from her mother. "... I can do this. For Zeke..." She groaned, reading it and checking the weather as she walked out of her room to get herself ready for her classes.

Unlike before, Zeke was still in his room, but he was still watching Vtubers on his phone. She smiled, gently shutting the door to his room and leaving the apartment to meet up with Betty. "Good... morning..." She groaned, clutching at her stomach with one hand and supporting her body against the walls of the elevator with the other.

"You look like shit... are you okay?" Leslie patted her back, looking at her friend as she tried her best to compose herself. "Noodles?"

"Noodles..." Betty replied, finally righting her posture. "My mouth hurts just thinking about it." She added, fanning her face with her hand as they started their walk to their first class. "So, what club?"

"Actually, I kind of wanted to talk to you about something. How about we go to a karaoke bar instead; get some privacy." Leslie smiled as she put her hands in her pockets. They passed by the same electronics shop on their way to university. "You were looking at something there yesterday, right? I didn't know you were into tech stuff. I might actually need to upgrade soon too..."

"Just, you know... It helps with our assignments, so I thought of making my PC faster." Betty replied, looking at the store again and eyeing up a new release that was put on the nearest shelf. "And I need it for work."

"Work? You know, you never told me about your new job."

"I'll save it for later. Karaoke's good, we can have a booth to ourselves. And it's been a while since I heard you sing." She smiled, skipping slightly ahead. "How's your brother?"

"Not doing so well, actually. I mean, he's fine for now, but he's had this fever for days and it hasn't gone down. I'm getting worried." Leslie sighed, frowning as her gaze fell to the pavement. "I need to get some money and fast. Luckily, my commissions will be open soon so that's something."

"Right, you take commissions for 3d stuff..." Betty said, looking contemplative for a moment. "I'm sure that someone will get something from you. Don't worry about it." She cheered as the conversation dragged on for the rest of their casual walk.

Their lectures and assessments passed by in a blur, and the two of them met up again before heading back to the apartment building. It was oddly silent on the way back, with Betty bobbing her head along to some music she had playing on her earphones, and Leslie murmuring to herself about finances. "Hey, go pay your rent. I'll just get changed. I'll meet you on the ground floor." Leslie said, waving goodbye to her friend as Betty left the elevator. Leslie immediately went into her room the moment she got inside, getting changed while muttering to herself. "It can't be her, right? Impossible. But... ahh, maybe I'll just ask her about it later." She said, looking at herself in the mirror before feeling pleased with her attire.

True to her word, she waited by the exit of the building until Betty tapped her shoulder. "Let's go." She said, walking with Leslie as the two of them hailed a cab to take them to their destination. The city was alive that night, with lights blasting off into the night sky and music from clubs and parties all over the area getting everyone into a funky mood. "Karaoke place. Let's go." Betty said, walking through the front door of a quiet building.

"I expected this place to be louder." Leslie said, looking around. "I guess they really know how to conceal the noise." Her eyes glossed over a TV in the corner, and it seemed to be playing the popular songs on repeat. There were a few classics, but the list was dominated by foreign symbols; half were Korean and the other half were Japanese. While she examined the top ten, Betty booked them a room and brought her there as she ordered drinks for the two of them. "So, you first or me?"

"Hmm? Oh sure. I'll sing first." She said, taking a look at the available songs and finding one that suited her; some Japanese pop song that had an overly cutesy feel to it. The moment the first note came out, Leslie's eyes became trained on her friend.

"This song is definitely going to have high notes." She thought to herself, leaning back in her seat as the first chorus confirmed her suspicions. Her jaw nearly hit the floor when she heard Betty hit it with relative ease. "She really does sound like her." She mumbled to herself as she selected her own song and their drinks arrived.

Sipping her beverage as she let her friend wrap up the song, she felt a little tingle at the back of her skull. "Hey, not bad! Over 90! Beat that!" Betty exclaimed as she started gulping down her drink as well. Leslie puffed up her cheeks, snatching the microphone away as her song started playing. Swept up by the atmosphere, she completely forgot about her curiosity, getting caught up in the impromptu contest that Betty had instigated.

An hour, maybe two had passed, with drinks consumed between every song. "Hey, it's your turn... Betty?" Leslie turned around, seeing her friend sway back and forth while clutching her head. Checking the time on her phone, she sighed and walked over to sling her over her shoulder. "Fucking idiot..." She chuckled to herself, taking her outside and covering the bill for now.

"Mmmhh... thank you... for the... zzz..." The drunk girl mumbled as her arms wrapped around Leslie's shoulders. The sober one sighed, hailing another cab and sticking herself and her friend in the back. "Hey, Leslie... you said that you're almost out of money, right?" She leaned her head against Leslie's shoulder. "What if I told you... that you can make some money and have fun while doing it? What do you say?" She added, giggling to herself as she shut her eyes.

"What am I going to do with you?" Leslie sighed to herself as she enjoyed the silence of the ride home. She took her friend back to her place, taking her keys from her pocket to unlock the door. It was only a short walk to Betty's room, but there were a few things that caught her eye. "Those noodles are in the trash. But she did manage to finish them." She said as she dragged her friend's limp body along the ground. She had stumbled over a few boxes, most of which were empty, full of audio equipment like a microphone and headphones. She raised an eyebrow at those but decided to ask about it later.

She opened up Betty's room, taking a look at her impressive computer that was still powered on and logged in. As she walked in front of it and laid her friend on her bed, some movement drew her eyes toward the screen as she took steps closer.

"Mizuna Fi. Wait..." She noticed that the avatar's mouth moved when she talked. "So I was right... now what?" She asked herself, walking out of the room and cleaning up as much of her friend's mess as she could. "I guess I'll have to talk to her about it tomorrow. But how do I bring it up?" She wondered aloud as she left for her own home. It was silent, but Zeke was still awake. He was lying down on the couch again, listening to something as he snacked on some chips.

"Are mom and dad coming to visit?"

"They wanted to, but I told them not to come." Leslie said, heading over to the kitchen to get herself some water. "I'm an adult, I should be able to take care of my little bro."

"You're a dumbas-" He coughed, cleared his throat, and went over to get a drink.

"Relax. I've got it covered, just focus on getting better." Leslie scruffed up his hair, heading into her room to call it a day after checking her mail and socials. She touched up the last of the model and contacted the client, waiting for his reply as she lied down in her bed while staring at her phone. "So, she's a vtuber... I wonder what it's like?" She asked herself while laughing at the thought of her having a public persona like Mizuna.

"Sis... sis?" Zeke knocked on the door gently a few hours later. "Oh, she's asleep." He said as he turned the knob and found her not moving. He shrugged and headed back into his room, turning on his phone and watching the latest VOD from some other Vtubers. He yawned, browsing twitter as he slowly started getting drowsier. It was then that a notification arrived, waking him up almost instantly. "I thought she wasn't going to stream today?"

"Hi guys... my head hurts today, so this is going to be a shorter stream than usual. Let's just talk." Fi said with her usual voice. "Let's see, where did I go tonight? Ah, it's a funny story, actually. So you see, I was with my friend and we went to a karaoke place... I was supposed to tell them something, but I forgot what it was. Hahaha..." She giggled, her avatar teetering slightly side to side. "But like, I think they were supposed to ask me something too, but they forgot too. We had a singing contest; which I won, by the way!" She stopped moving for a bit, her voice cutting off abruptly. "Wait, what was I talking about? Oh yeah, so we drank a lot, and I feel a bit tipsy. Excuse me if I say anything weird..." An audible thud was heard from her mic, followed by some soft snoring and breathing as she fell asleep at her desk.