Girl, Become a VTuber.

A short, embarrassing period later.

Wakamo checked the information on Floor 11.

──It was somehow different from the information about Incheon Tower she had received.

Forced matching like this wasn't unheard of, but not from a floor this low!

[You are climbing in the Incheon Tower Floor 11 World]

-You don't necessarily have to climb the Tower alone.

-You will be matched with a suitable Climber based on the climber's conditions.

-If you lack strength, join forces!

[Platinum Achievement Conditions]

-Become friendly with [Non-Combat Class] companions (0/2)

-Become friends with each other as [Non-Combat Class] companions (0/2)

-Join forces as [Non-Combat Class] companions to defeat the [Vernya Monster Tree] (0/1)

Had she ever encountered a condition this difficult?

A difficulty absurdly harsher than anything she had seen so far had come crashing down.

Making friends wasn't difficult. She could insist that the believers were her friends now!!

But they had to become close to a stranger and become friends with each other.

On top of that, she could feel that the other girl was wary of her. Her eyes held concern, but she had a hand at her waist, as if wondering whether Wakamo was a monster from this floor.

From my perspective, it felt as though the Tower had suddenly decided to try to kill a Climber.

How was this any different from suddenly being told to form a party of two with a friend?!

And look at how it had tied together two [Non-Combat Class] users and told them to get along from now on. I couldn't tell what was going on, but I could practically feel the malice.

But what worried her even more than that was... what if she really had to spend time with the girl in front of her—and not only her, but every time the Tower forced a collaboration like this from now on?

What if the Tower kept matching her with people without a thought, saying, "We'll match you with someone suited to Wakamo so Climbers can worship her as an idol~"?

I didn't even want to imagine such a development...

Her plan to keep delighting the believers with 『Complete-Clear Floors』 from now on already felt as though it had been thrown into a mud puddle from the very beginning.

Some pink-haired lewd VTuber lady somewhere cosplays as herself and shows people the real thing. I could push in that direction and change course too─but I didn't want to.

I want to be the kind of VTuber who hides the red pill(?)...!! This time, the Climber Association helped me take down the red-pill video, but it's still circulating overseas.

No, I suppose that part couldn't be helped!

I don't want the Tower to force collaborations on me. In that case, I just need a companion to collaborate with.

Then there was no choice but to turn this young lady into a VTuber.

In that case, there was only one answer.

I decided to kidnap a beautiful girl.

It couldn't be helped. The Tower had threatened my VTuber career.

The moment I activated the Skill [My Worlds] and created a portal, I grabbed her, dragged her into my room, and shut the door. The fact that this kind of movement still counted as being inside the Tower could be called the strength of a [Space-type] Skill!!

She had been forcibly dragged away and kidnapped by a gigantic fox monster(?), but contrary to Wakamo's fear that she would wildly resist and thrash about, the girl was calm.

Wakamo was the only one who panicked at the fact that the girl was only seventeen years old this year!!

"Waaah"

Regardless of whether Wakamo was agonizing over things, the girl blinked and looked around the house curiously.

As befitted a full-option setup, it now had a refrigerator and microwave, as well as a proper toilet and bathroom. She was worried about ventilation since there were no windows... but although the Tower had said it would replace electricity with Wakamo's mana, it seemed the water supply was powered by Wakamo's mana too; it simply hadn't explained that part.

Since she would only be using electricity anyway, perhaps that was why the Tower had put it that way to Wakamo.

She pulled out a chair for the girl loitering around the kitchen and politely asked her to sit at the dining table.

"I did lose my reason and get excited for a moment.... But I will now conduct your VTuber interview. If you pass, I'll give you the best treatment in the industry(?)"

She still seemed excited, as if her mind had gone elsewhere. Yet instead of being startled by Wakamo, the girl acted as calmly as if she had come to visit her own home. Was it because the Tower had selected her? After thinking for a moment, she opened her mouth.

"I go get my bag for a bit, okay?"

Adorable. Her voice was bright and bouncy enough to make up for her tongue-tied speech.

This girl had talent as a VTuber...!!

Could it be that the Tower had introduced her to me so I could save the miserable life of a Climber by making her a VTuber?! (It hasn't.)

While agonizing over it, Wakamo even considered the possibility that the girl might run away through the portal.

She deliberately did not follow her. But perhaps that consideration—listening to her words and letting her go—became trust? Before long, the girl dragged over a filthy bag as big as her body, set it down, and perched on it. Then, smiling as if she had nothing left to worry about, she looked at Wakamo.

"Yu Ying (劉 英)."

The girl gave her name. Wakamo had assumed she was Korean, but she was Chinese—something she had never expected.

Climbers had no language barrier, after all. It was difficult to tell East Asians(?) apart just by looking at them.

Only then did Wakamo begin to wonder about the girl's identity. It was only a vague guess, but if she was right, the girl might be a rather pitiful person.

The goggles perched on her head, the absurd number of bags, and the police handgun hanging from her waist even though she could not use it in the Tower. Climbers did use gas masks, but they did not usually carry them around; and on closer inspection, her clothes and shoes gave the strong impression that she had picked up and worn discarded items.

Finally, what drove the last nail into Wakamo's guess was the girl's red eyes.

"If you're from the place closest to Korea──Beijing?"

"Yesh."

The girl nodded as if she had nothing in particular to hide.

Like Korea, China was a country that had suffered from a Tower collapse. It had attacked and brought down a Tower that suddenly appeared in the capital, but that had soon led to a Tower collapse.

To make matters worse, the monsters that burst out when it collapsed were plant-type monsters. They spewed spores and various powders that caused all kinds of abnormal phenomena, reducing the country to a wasteland in an instant.

As befitted a country that monitored its people through surveillance cameras, its restrictions on Climbers were severe, and forcibly taking them away was common. Climbers dissatisfied with that banded together into guerrillas and ran wild.

The [Collector], the culprit behind the recent terrorist attack in Korea, had also been a Chinese Climber.

There was no need to explain how many people had died in Beijing, which had collapsed ten years ago when the Tower appeared.

Yu Ying was a Climber who had somehow survived that disaster at the tender age of seven. Why was a child like that listening so obediently to her?

Even if she could not use it in the Tower, she also had a gun that appeared to be for self-defense against Climbers or anyone else who might target her outside.

Thinking of the days she must have endured alone in a city overrun by monsters, barely surviving one day at a time, Wakamo felt tears welling up—but there were still things she had to ask.

"This is awkward coming from the person who dragged you here and kidnapped you, but... why are you being so obedient...?"

"Did da Tower recommend you? I can work vewy well."

Her heart sank as if the cute, coquettish plea not to abandon her had struck a vital spot. She had talent... monstrous talent!!

Still, she couldn't accept her right away, so she decided to hear a little of her story. Before that, she told her she would employ her as a VTuber. Yu Ying did not know what that meant—but she had been far more exhausted than Wakamo had expected. That must have been why she accepted the Tower's incomprehensible offer.

──People like her were called 【Victims of Tower Collapses】.

Those who had lost their parents, those who had lost their children, and those who had lost far too much to the Tower to ever get it back.

It was a global problem that had created countless refugees. And even now, they were left neglected because no one could resolve it.

Yu Ying, who had barely survived at the age of seven.

She said she had struggled to survive the Tower collapse. Her eyes had turned red because of contamination by monsters, and she said her eyesight was poor.

Yet the only reason she had survived was that she had awakened as a Climber at the age of seven.

There was no time to be surprised that she was a first-generation Climber. Having grown up without parents, she had instead adapted quickly to the situation, obtaining clean water in the Tower, gathering supplies from ruins, and resetting her abilities by abandoning Tower climbing before entering another distant Tower to travel. That was how she had eventually made her way down to North Korea, she said.

North Korea had already collapsed long ago. Suffice it to say that they had fired a full volley at the Tower that appeared.

She had been afraid that if she stayed in China, she might be dragged away because she was a Climber.

Clever even at such a young age, Yu Ying had spent ten years making her way down to the vicinity of Seoul. She entered [Incheon Tower] and lived in the ruined city, climbing only as high as Floor 10 for survival and because of the limitations of her Class, when the Tower suddenly sent her an invitation.

[Would you like to meet an idol who can change your life?]

She couldn't go on living like this forever.

That was why she accepted the Tower's invitation and met Wakamo.

Wakamo's conclusion after hearing the whole story was—

It was a relief to realize that the Tower had not tossed her in as a joke, telling her to get screwed, but had genuinely and thoughtfully taken her circumstances into account.

The Tower's benevolent head-patting.... It was a complicated feeling that was hard to put into words.

"...If you'll work with me and become a VTuber... I'll provide three meals a day, give you all the profits from the broadcasts, and even support you in making your idol debut. In other words, I'll take responsibility for your life in general!! I'll talk to the Climber Association and get you an ID card too!!"

"Really? Then can Yu Ying call you Boss?"

"Will you become a VTuber?"

"Yesh."

Not knowing what it was but willing to do anything, the girl was tricked into signing a VTuber contract. It was already practically fraud to hire a minor and an undocumented immigrant, but Wakamo had seen talent in this child—the raw material of a star.

If anything went wrong, it was the Tower's fault for being a bastard.

"I hope the manager won't get angry..."

Taking advantage of Seoul's lawless nature, more undocumented residents illegally climbed [Incheon Tower] than one might expect. Since Yu Ying was not a citizen and her name would be recorded in Incheon Tower as a Climber, it was possible that the Association had put out a wanted notice for her, making her a wanted criminal.

"Would the manager get angry if I asked them to make a 2D Live model quickly...?"

But our Wakamo didn't care about that kind of thing!! Her child was saying she wanted to become a VTuber—did any of that matter?!

The VTuber mom(?) who had picked up a lost girl off the street had no brakes.

"Now, from this moment on, Yu Ying will use the pseudonym 『Hajime Ichigo』 while broadcasting publicly."

"Yes, Yu Ying will listen good to Boss."

"Now sit in front of the computer. This is called clicking."

The abandoned Floor 11 was feeling bitter.

She hammered the concept of 『VTubers』 into her, then hastily drew and made a 2D cutout as a temporary model. A moving model would take a little time, but that was fine.

Returning to Floor 11, she set up the camera and lifted Ichigo into her arms.

The difference in their heights was too great. Wakamo was 243 cm tall, while Yu Ying was only 156 cm!!

"Now, look at the camera and tell me your name and age."

"I'm Hajime Ichigo, debuting today. I'm a VTubew who listens good to Boss. Hewwo."

Yu Ying bowed her head and waved her hand gently at the camera.

From her appearance alone, she was a boyish girl who looked not only aloof but somewhat androgynous and subtly sensual. But her manner of speaking, due to her naturally short tongue, made her sound like a chirping chick, while her voice had a unique, subtly appealing quality that was not unpleasant to listen to.

""PIPIPIPIPI. Wakamo Inarizushi's believers. Today, I'm going to do a Tower-climbing collab with a cute new VTuber making her debut!!"

Since an accident could happen, today's broadcast was unavoidably a recorded video!!

"Please be understanding that this is a recorded video. I wanted to do a live broadcast, but I had something a little urgent to take care of!!"

"Sowwy."

When Wakamo bowed her head and apologized, Ichigo followed suit and bent at the waist. Her eyes were full of motivation to work hard, and she seemed overflowing with promise.

Right, hadn't she even trained Uma Musume diligently and gotten Haru Urara, who had known nothing but defeat, to win?

Now that I had resolved to become the ideal VTuber, this time I would personally cultivate a VTuber, reflect on myself, and train myself in the process!!

Yes, in a way, this was like a master-and-disciple relationship!!

Hadn't there been people who founded martial arts schools while watching falling petals? Wakamo could do the same.

She had studied VTubers diligently, so she possessed enough martial arts knowledge to raise at least one disciple!

"Ichigo's got an [Alchemist] job. She hunts real good with this."

"Ah...."

So that's why it was a [Non-Combat Class]. Imagining how difficult Yu Ying's life had been, Wakamo's eyes welled up with tears again for no reason.

Things might have been a little easier if she had at least had a combat-oriented Class... But perhaps it was precisely because she had a non-combat Class that seven-year-old Yu Ying had struggled so hard to escape China?

On top of that, she was smart. She had taught herself to speak to a certain extent. She did not know Hangul, but she learned anything she was taught quickly and remembered it all.

Wakamo had wondered whether she had taken some kind of medicine incorrectly or been poisoned by a monster, making her speak that way. She was surprised to learn that she had simply always been like that.

To begin with... [Alchemist] had such a bad reputation that people called them [Pissers].

One might ask what the problem was with being able to make drugs and potions.

To learn [Skills], one had to climb the Tower. And one also had to fulfill certain [Conditions].

They might receive support in the form of weapons, but once they climbed, learning [Attack Skills] was an unavoidable choice.

As mentioned before.

The Tower was not something people necessarily climbed alone.

A Climber who had gone ahead could bring other Climbers to the floors they had conquered to gather resources. Of course, in such cases, the Climbers brought in could only use [Tower Exit].

Climbers on the same floor could also form a party and cooperate as they climbed. In that case, the contents of the Tower's trials sometimes changed according to their number.

And the most fatal problem was that the reward amount dropped multiplicatively as more people were added.

Unless there was 『some kind of trick』, that was.

The Tower counted the number of people from the moment they arrived on a floor.

If Climbers were brought in and joined the climb using the [Space-type] Skill, rare enough to be counted among the most unique Skills, the rewards did not decrease.

Should one call the Tower generous enough to overlook a certain amount of clever thinking?

The problem was that this would inevitably hit a limit sooner or later.

Climbers who climbed alongside them were treated as nonexistent, so they could not receive rewards, after all.

One might think that they could simply bring a strong Climber from the beginning─but in that case, the Tower imposed restrictions.

If they cleared the floor and climbed higher, it raised the difficulty by an amount corresponding to the strong Climber they had brought.

It did not change even if they never brought that Climber again.

There was even a miserable story of a Climber who lost the [Space-type] Skill they had barely obtained after resetting the Tower.

That was understandable, since if a penalty were imposed as well, they might be unable to use [Tower Exit] and die.

In one case, the Climber had originally been a [Wizard Class], but was forcibly changed to another Class, demonstrating the Tower's spiteful after-the-fact penalty.

That was why people said that a vast will dwelled within the Tower.

"As you'd expect, there isn't a single recovery-type one...."

[Alchemist] was a demanding Class in many respects.

Yu Ying had five Skills: [Scrap Assembly], [Extreme Poison Crafting], [Deadly Toxicity], [Sturdy Body], and [Robust Stamina]. This also meant that she had chosen to receive [Materials] for her remaining five floors. Since she had reset the Tower several times, this was probably the best combination she could make.

[Sweet Firebomb]

Grade: Consumable.

It contains gum and smells like strawberries.

A firebomb that ignites immediately and explodes when thrown.

Its contents are sticky and adhere easily.

[Sweet Fire Potion]

Grade: Consumable.

It contains honey and smells pleasant.

It sets the stomach and esophagus ablaze when swallowed.

[Chocolate Extreme Poison Potion]

Grade: Consumable

Its sweet chocolate flavor is exquisite.

It melts the muscles when swallowed.

Do not mistake it for chocolate milk.

"I hunt real good with this, Boss."

They were truly items meant for hunting monsters with no intelligence whatsoever.

Perhaps one could say she had maximized the [Alchemist]'s advantage of being able to turn anything and everything into materials.

Wakamo did not particularly want to imagine how monsters lured by the smell had eaten these things and died.

"Shall we get going?"

"Yesh."

Ichigo left her heavy bag at home and headed into the forest after me. The difference in their strides was so great that she had to take three steps for every one of mine. But watching her trot along diligently so she wouldn't fall behind convinced Wakamo that the believers would love it.

An apocalypse-survival-type beautiful girl.... This concept would definitely catch on!

Wakamo was worried that the believers might be horrified and ask whether they were exploiting an underage, undocumented foreign worker, but that was a problem for later!!

The monster they would hunt this time was called the [Vernya Monster Tree].

It was known as an annoying creature with a sort of gimmick.

Its roots had to be cut before its trunk opened, and then the core-like part inside had to be attacked to bring it down—a troublesome monster to hunt. A [Combat Class] user could simply fire off one big spell or smash through the trunk protecting the core with a powerful attack and hunt it, but...

For the two pitiful [Non-Combat Class] users who had no particular strength in battle, it was difficult.

"Boss, it's here!!"

"Hm? What is?"

Ichigo suddenly leaped and shouted as the ground gave a faint tremor, but my reaction was a beat too slow.

Roots bursting from the earth coiled around my ankle in an instant and yanked hard.

The moment she saw that, Ichigo shrieked and hurled the firebomb with all her strength toward the far side.

She had said her eyesight was poor, but wasn't she throwing better than expected? Was this the skill of a survival expert who had desperately stayed alive?

It flew straight and shattered, flames spreading with the sound of breaking glass, and the [Vernya Monster Tree], which had been disguised as a tree, sprang out with a shriek.

I could simply beat it down like this─but wasn't cooperation one of the conditions?

Join forces... how? Did that mean physically fusing together?

It didn't seem impossible. But wouldn't Ichigo die?

....Die?

At that moment, the god of VTubers granted Wakamo a flash of inspiration. Right, a sudden knockout blow on stream!!

"Boss?!"

She snatched the [Sweet Fire Potion] from her waist and gulped it down in one go. A hot sensation began to surge from inside her stomach. Was it burning fiercely by using mana as fuel?

She pulled Ichigo behind her so she would not be injured by the [Vernya Monster Tree], which was closing the distance while silently swinging its roots, then took a deep breath.

"Wakamo Fire─!!"

Along with the breath she exhaled with all her strength came a fwoooooosh!! A stream of flame shot out.

The [Vernya Monster Tree] stopped in confusion as the flames flew toward it, but—

With a KABOOM!, the mana-saturated flames began collapsing the surrounding trees and swallowing everything in fire.

What I had imagined was fire-breathing from some ninja manga....

"Was that a little too fiery...?"

Looking at what she had done, it looked as though a kaiju had risen above the sea and breathed fire—a horrifying spectacle.

The forest burned fiercely as the fire spread. Within it, the Monster Tree writhed and flailed in agony.

Before long, its movements stopped, and as the Monster Tree collapsed, a congratulatory voice rang out.

[Incheon Tower's Floor 11 has achieved its Platinum conditions and is now open to all humanity!!]

"Boss, you okay? You shouldn't eat stwange things."

"When a beautiful-girl VTuber gives it to you, even poison is fine."

"VTubews awe amazing...!"

She seemed to have misunderstood something, but Ichigo's eyes were sparkling and she looked happy, so perhaps it did not matter.

Wakamo's first collaboration and debut broadcast as a VTuber had gone better than expected.

......She did wonder whether debuting a new VTuber before even creating the channel rules was all right, though.

It was fine.

Because all of it!! Tomorrow's Wakamo would handle it!!