NOVEL NEXT WORLD Chapter 58 - Group Name
The abandoned school building was marked with traces of fire here and there.
Sora was cautiously moving forward.
“Hah… Hah…”
Sora was panting heavily. Even though it was just the game character that was moving, somehow, she felt as if she herself was exhausted from the experience.
A girl’s voice continued to echo through her headset.
『Let’s play together.』
『We’ll play here together forever. It’s dangerous outside, isn’t it?』
『Where are you going? Why are you running away? Don’t you want to play with me?』
『No one can come here. It’s a playground just for the two of us.』
『Is there something you want to eat? A movie you want to watch? A game you want to play? Corpse play? Jump rope? Horse riding? House play?』
『Do you want to play house? I’ll be the wife, and you’ll be the husband. We’ll have a son, because if it’s a daughter, she’ll definitely fall for you.』
『Why are you running away?』
『Why?』
『Where are you?』
『Don’t abandon me.』
In the first stage, you had to deal with three man-eating monkeys, but in this second stage, you had to run away from the vengeful spirit of a young girl.
You couldn’t hear her footsteps. However, since she was constantly talking, it wasn’t too difficult to figure out her location.
“This is driving me crazy…”
But just because you knew where she was didn’t mean it was any less nerve-wracking.
On the contrary, the creepy voice of the vengeful spirit made her heart race even more.
『Love me.』
『Love me, love me, love me, love me, love me, love me, love me, love me, love me, love me, love me, love me.』
『Why do you hate me? Why?』
『Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?』
『I like you, I just want to play with you. Why don’t you understand? Why? Why??』
『Ah.』
『Found you.』
“Ah, damn…!”
Sora immediately started sprinting forward.
Then, from behind, the crazed laughter of the young girl echoed.
『Ahahaha! You like playing hide and seek, don’t you?』
『You can’t escape from me. You’ll never escapeee!!』
『Kyaahahahahahaha!!!』
Sora quickly dashed into a classroom and shut the door behind her.
She tried to run out through the door on the opposite side, but her vision flashed.
In that flash, the girl appeared.
A torn mouth. Hair disheveled in a messy tangle.
Bloodshot eyes peeking through strands of hair.
With monstrous, oversized hands, she reached out and grabbed Sora.
『I won’t forgive you for abandoning me.』
『I won’t forgive you, won’t forgive you, won’t forgive you, won’t forgive you, won’t forgive you, won’t forgive you, won’t forgive you.』
『I’ll never, ever forgive yooooou!!!』
“Kyaaaaaaa!!!!”
With the jump scare covering the screen, Sora screamed again, for what felt like the hundredth time today.
***
While there may be differences depending on the person, Darkness Deception’s second stage is generally easier than the first.
In the first stage, you had to deal with no less than three man-eating monkeys. The AI of these monkeys is designed to surround the player, making it quite tricky.
In the second stage, there’s only one vengeful spirit of a young girl.
Of course, the young girl’s spirit can teleport, but the player also becomes stronger compared to the first stage.
Darkness Deception has a concept where a new skill is unlocked with each stage.
In the first stage, you’re basically powerless, but in the second stage, you unlock the
This skill makes a huge difference, so many people find the second stage easier than the first.
‘Though the boss fight can be tough.’
The boss fight requires constantly dodging the girl’s relentless pursuit in a confined space. Sora was struggling with it.
So after watching her struggle for a while, I took over and cleared it for her.
The thing with horror games is that repeating the same death over and over allows you to gain experience, but it also lessens the fear.
Viewers also tend to get bored watching the same scene repeatedly, and Sora herself was getting frustrated by running into the same obstacle over and over.
On top of that, there were viewers who secretly wanted to see me play, too.
So when it seemed like she really couldn’t do it, I would step in as a last resort. It kept the broadcast balance just right.
And so we reached the third stage.
Sora hit a wall.
“…Isn’t this way too hard?”
Sora sighed as she stared at the ‘You are Dead’ screen.
“That’s right. Some people consider the third stage to be the hardest.”
“…Really?”
I nodded.
I had watched a few VTubers play Darkness Deception, and it generally took them the longest to clear the third stage.
On the other hand, stages two and four were cleared quickly. Even I thought stages two and four were relatively easy.
‘The third stage requires a different approach.’
Stages one and two were all about running away.
But in the third stage, golden statues appear, and they operate under the logic of ‘Red Light, Green Light.’
In other words, the golden statues don’t move when you’re looking at them.
But as soon as they’re out of your sight, they charge at an incredible speed.
On top of that, traps are scattered all over the map in the third stage, so you have to manage both ‘line of sight’ and ‘trap avoidance’ at the same time, making the difficulty skyrocket.
“I need a break…”
Sora slumped into her gaming chair.
As I watched her, I casually reached for my phone.
“What? Did you get a message?”
“I’ve got a few things to take care of. But if you have something to say, go ahead. I’m a multi-tasking noblewoman.”
“…What does multitasking have to do with being a noblewoman?”
She tilted her head in confusion, then let out a long sigh.
“I’m so tired I can’t even think… How about you come up with a topic, Laura?”
“A topic, huh.”
I figured we could take a little break and do a light talk show.
“We should probably decide on our group name soon, don’t you think?”
“Oh, the group name… Now that you mention it, we still haven’t decided.”
“That’s right.”
I spoke up.
“Rion said we should come up with a group name since our music video will be released soon.”
The offline meeting had brought up the topic of making a music video.
After a lot of discussions online, it was decided that we would go with the song Aristogenesis, as Sora had suggested.
By the end of August, we, the 6th generation members, had already finished recording. Now, we were in the process of hiring an illustrator and making the music video.
“Wait a second… Aren’t we supposed to keep the MV announcement a secret for now?”
“Oh, were we?”
– Oh, were we? LOL
– Embargo (X) Reveal immediately (O)
– I’ll pretend I didn’t hear anything LOL
– Transparent villainous noblewoman strikes again~
– Rion’s going to scold you again LOL
“…Well, since I’ve already said it, there’s no helping it. The 6th generation MV is in production, and once it’s done, it’ll be released.”
Sora said this as if there was nothing she could do.
The MV was set to be uploaded on Sora’s channel.
Sora was the leader of our 6th generation and also worked as a singer VTuber, so it made sense for her to upload the MV. Plus, it was Sora who suggested singing Aristogenesis in the first place.
There were no objections. It might seem like Sora was benefiting the most, but that’s just how collaborations work—the channel owner always benefits.
After all, this Darkness Deception stream was benefiting my channel.
When I appeared on Sora’s channel, she benefited.
Inagika was preparing something ambitious, so she’d probably benefit soon.
As for Chel… I wasn’t sure, but we’d probably end up collaborating on her channel at some point, too.
So, there was no issue with uploading the MV to Sora’s channel, but—
“Doesn’t it sound a bit tacky to put ‘feat. 6th generation’ in the title?”
Aristogenesis feat. EYEAI 6th Generation
It didn’t have much of a ring to it.
And I heard that VTubers often get original songs written for them as well.
Apparently, they even release albums, but calling it the ‘EYEAI 6th Generation Album’ didn’t sound right either.
Plus, there are VTuber events that involve group participation.
That’s why Rion said we should decide on a group name soon.
“So, does anyone in the audience have any suggestions~?”
【The Villainous Noblewoman Enjoys Gaming Too Much Marine has donated 1,000 won.】
【How about ‘6th Toilets’!】
“Do you want to get sued?”
Sora shot a cold glare.
Then she sighed and looked at me.
“…Do you have a good suggestion, Laura?”
“A viewer suggested ‘Laura and the Maids,’ and I must say, I like it.”
“That’s never going to happen… How about this?”
Sora pointed to a comment.
“AoiS?”
‘A’ for Ayanokoji Sora.
‘O’ for Aurora.
‘I’ for Inagika.
‘S’ for Chel Sumeragi.
Together, AoiS.
“Not bad.”
‘Aoi’ in Japanese is written as 青い, which means ‘blue.’
And 青 is often used to symbolize ‘youth.’
“Wouldn’t that be fine as our name?”
“Right? But we should probably check with Inagika and Chel first.”
“You can ask them directly. They’re here right now.”
“Huh? They’re here?”
I nodded and lightly clapped my hands together.
And then,
“Uh… I, I think it’s a good idea too…”
The door opened, and Inagika walked in. Chel was with her.
Sora’s eyes widened.
“…Why are you two here?”