Chapter 133: I was just congratulating the idol in charge of my victory… This is an abuse of power!

It was a career counseling session with both my parents, not just with the teacher alone.

Fortunately, my mom was able to match the timing, so there was no need to reschedule.

If all the other classmates had brought their parents today, and I was the only one whose mom came on a different day, I would have had to do the counseling alone… Yeah, I’d probably have to drop out that day because it’d be so embarrassing!

“Minako.” “Ah, Mom.”

While waiting for the career counseling session of Ono-dera-san, who had gone in before me, I sat on a chair in front of the teacher’s office. My mom, dressed in a dark suit, walked down the hallway toward me.

“I’m glad you made it on time.” “Yeah…”

Ono-dera-san had gone in about 10 minutes ago, so Mom really arrived at the perfect timing. If she had been even a little late, I would have been pushed to the next turn and had to wait another 10 minutes in this chair.

Sitting there with my mom, Ono-dera-san finished her counseling and stretched as she walked out of the teacher’s office.

“Ugh, finally done!” “Are you going home now, Sachi?” “I’m gonna hang out with Hara and Mya-chan after the counseling! So I’m waiting in the classroom.”

While chatting with her mother, Ono-dera-san and I made eye contact.

“Ah, Kaya-no-san. The teacher said it’s your turn to go in next…”

For some reason, Ono-dera-san suddenly froze and couldn’t continue her sentence.

“Ah, nice to meet you. I’m Sachi’s mother, Ono-dera Maki.” “Nice to meet you. I’m Mina’s mother, Kaya-no Yui.”

In the meantime, Mom and Ono-dera-san’s mother exchanged light greetings, and following the teacher’s call, we entered the teacher’s office.

…Is there something wrong, Ono-dera-san?

★

“First of all, Kaya-no-san’s grades are excellent, so there won’t be any problems with entering the next stage. What do you think, Mrs. Kaya-no?” “I do know that her grades are favorable for her future studies, but I hope that Mina will choose the path she truly wants, without being overly constrained by grades.”

Listening to Mr. Kaname’s conversation with my mom, I quietly thought.

What is my dream, exactly?

It’s already been more than half of my high school years. That means it’s time to seriously think about my future path.

Of course, technically, I’m already working as a part-time VTuber, “Kaino Izumi,” under Starsflow, earning money.

In fact, my life as a VTuber is incredibly fun. Just talking to kind members and seeing the viewers who enjoy watching us naturally warms my heart.

Honestly, have I ever been this happy in my past lives?

But if you ask me whether this life is my true career or dream… I’d probably say no.

So what is my true career path? What do I really want for my future?

“What do you think, Kaya-no-san?” “Um… I’m not sure yet… Sorry…” “No, no! It’s not something you should apologize for at all. It’s perfectly normal not to have your career path figured out yet.” “Take your time, Mina. I just hope you do what you love.”

Something I love. I enjoy drawing, and I enjoy streaming too.

But I’d prefer to keep drawing as a hobby, so I’ve turned down all freelance offers that came after the Fate’s Final Battle collaboration. As for streaming… there’s a lot of hesitation in calling it my career.

What should I do, I wonder?

“If you’re really unsure, I think it might be better to focus on further studies for now. With your grades, Kaya-no-san, entering a good university should be no problem, and you could aim for a national university.” “Going to college and figuring things out slowly isn’t a bad idea either.”

In the end, my career counseling session concluded without any clear conclusion.

“Let’s head back, Mina.” “Yeah…”

As I left the teacher’s office with a complicated heart.

“Uh, um, Kaya-no-san!”

For some reason, Ono-dera-san was waiting for me.

…Didn’t Ono-dera-san say earlier that she had plans with Tateyama-san and would be waiting in the classroom?
Why is she standing here alone now?

“Well… um….”

As I thought that, Ono-dera-san’s face turned bright red, looking like she was incredibly embarrassed.

…Wait a minute.
Ono-dera-san is such an otaku that she even dragged Tateyama-san to Comiket.

That means… there’s a high chance she’d watch VTubers too, right?

C-Could it be that she found out I’m Kaino Izumi?!
I never got any hints of that before, so why now? Why would she suddenly figure it out?
I don’t think I’ve done anything suspicious!

T-This is bad.

“Kaya-no-san, I think…!”

Seeing Ono-dera-san blush and shout energetically, the only thing I could think was one thing:
I need to deny it immediately.

“Isn’t your mother’s name, Yeon Seon-ah?!”

“O-Oh, no! It’s a misunderstanding! It’s totally a misunderstanding, Ono-dera-san! I swear, that’s not it…?!”

…Huh?

★

To cut to the chase, Ono-dera-san turned out to be a fan of my mom.
In fact, she had liked her even before my mom appeared on TV.

…Well, Mom had been featured in magazine interviews even before appearing on TV.

“Please make sure to get along with Mina.” “Y-Yes! O-Of course!”

Mom said that, and then excused herself, telling us to have a chat while she stepped aside.

D-There was no need for that, though…
After all, I was planning to go home with Mom, and I’ve hardly ever had any real conversations with Ono-dera-san.

Will I die from the nervousness?

“Heh… sorry. I guess that was really sudden.” “It’s, it’s fine. I thought you might, um, do something like that…” “I never imagined I’d meet A-chan in real life. So, I got a little too excited.” “…A-A-chan?” “Yeah. Um… it’s a nickname fans gave her…”

I never even thought my mom might have a cute fan nickname online.

As her daughter, how should I respond?
This is really complicated.

“…By the way, Kaya-no-san, what did you mean by saying ‘it’s definitely not it’ earlier?”

As I kept quiet, still feeling a bit conflicted, Ono-dera-san cautiously asked me.

…This is really bad.
How on earth am I supposed to explain this?

“Well, uh… it’s just… I was surprised, that’s all!”

In the end, I chose to face it head-on.
I made up a ridiculous excuse that it was just a surprise, and there was no deeper meaning.

But fortunately, Ono-dera-san seemed satisfied with that, clapping her hands and nodding.

“Ah… well, we haven’t really talked much in class, so I guess you might have been surprised. I’m really sorry.”

…Turns out, the popular kids are actually just nice people.
Tateyama-san wasn’t the weird one after all.

“But if A-chan is Kaya-no-san’s mom, does that mean you’re mixed race?” “Ah, yeah. My dad is Japanese, and my mom is, uh, Korean.” “So, do you have a Korean name?!”

At my answer, Ono-dera-san suddenly grabbed both of my hands tightly, her eyes sparkling as she looked down at me.
Her intensity made my stomach churn, but somehow, I managed to hold back my nausea and spoke.

“Ah… well… yeah… my Korean name is Yeon Mina….” “Yeon Mina? Is it the same name?” “It’s Mina, not Mi. It’s Min. A.” “Min-Ah. Min-Ah. Yeon Min-Ah. That’s a pretty name.” “Hehe…”

Ono-dera-san’s compliment made me feel happy, and I couldn’t help but smile.
After that, we chatted until Mom returned.

“I’ll definitely keep what happened today a secret.”
“Th-thank you…”
“It’s nothing. I just don’t want anything unnecessary happening to A-chan and Kaya-no-san because of me.”

With those final words, we parted ways.

★

“Are you still thinking it over?”
“Yes…”
“As I said earlier, if it’s hard to decide right away, I think it’s fine to aim for higher education first. You haven’t even finished high school yet.”

Mom said that kindly, but my complicated thoughts weren’t so easily sorted.

‘I’m thinking of going for external university entrance. There’s a good chance with the national medical school…’
‘Me? I’m probably going to choose internal entrance. I’m a bit interested in economics.’
‘I think I’ll take over the family business right after graduation… I love cooking.’

Miyauchi-san, Tateyama-san, Ono-dera-san.
They all seemed to have a pretty clear idea of their futures.

Even if they aren’t 100% sure, they’re sure about the path they want to walk.
Meanwhile, here I am, still wandering around unsure.

I have hobbies I enjoy, things I find fun already, so why can’t I make up my mind?

I found myself letting out a sigh without realizing it.

★

[【Produce Master】It’s a competition! I won’t lose, senpai! #StarsFlow2ndGeneration #KainoIzumi #NamikawaTsubaki]

-─(≧▽≦)>Zumi Zumi!

• Isn’t this the first time Tsuba-chan and Mei-chan are collaborating?

Today is the day for my sudden collaboration with Namikawa-senpai.
The way this collaboration came about is a bit absurd, and honestly, from my perspective, there’s a lot I find unfair about it.

Produce Master is a rhythm game with 39 idols.
The goal is to become the ‘producer’ in the game, boosting the popularity of the idols. Out of these 39 idols, you can choose one as your ‘assigned idol.’

Of course, in the story, the producer is responsible for all idols in the agency, but in the game system, players can choose their favorite idol to focus on.
When you level up your chosen idol’s card, you get additional growth effects and such…

The idol I chose to be my ‘assigned idol’ is Suzuki Chino (鈴木 智乃).
She’s a charming idol with light blue straight hair and red eyes.

Namikawa-senpai’s assigned idol is Murasaki Nodoka (紫 和佳).
She’s a charming idol with a side-up ponytail and green eyes.

These two… ended up competing for the same role in the ‘role selection’ event in Produce Master, and Chino won by a 3% margin.
This means that Chino will participate as the main character in the next event, while Nodoka will be left out.

I was just happy that Chino won the role event and expressed my joy on Twitter…

[Namikawa Tsubaki: I cannot forgive you as Nodoka’s producer.]
[Namikawa Tsubaki: It’s a competition!]

[Namikawa Tsubaki☑ @NamikawaTsubaki · 13 minutes]
@KainoIzumi☆Star’s Flow Replying to
It’s a battle between producers!

…And that’s how this collaboration came to be.

Of course, I knew that Namikawa-senpai played Produce Master and that she was Nodoka’s producer, but…
I’m Chino’s producer, so isn’t it only natural that I’m happy for her?

[Kaino Izumi☆Star’s Flow @KainoIzumi · 21 minutes]
Congrats, Chino-chan!
It’s a shame for Nodoka-chan. I hope she’ll get the role next time!

I even left a supportive message for Nodoka, since I liked her too.

Honestly, this is so unfair.