My Best Friend is a Vtuber 2

"Hey, wake up. Your friend is at the door." The sound of banging against the door reached Leslie's ears as a frustrated Zeke sighed and walked away. Leslie was wide awake, standing in front of her mirror while in deep thought.

"How do I bring this up? Can I just ask her about it?" She wondered aloud, pulling out her phone and checking on the channel. "What, she did a stream last night?" She asked as the door opened up.

"Betty's waiting for you..." Zeke said while tossing the keys onto a nearby table, sneezing and wiping his nose with his sleeve. "And we're out of chips..." He added, shuffling across the hallway and locking himself in his room. His face looked sickly, and he walked with long and slow strides.

"And there's... that too..." Leslie frowned, looking at her phone as she switched to her online wallet. There was something there, but it was nowhere near enough to get Zeke's next batch of medicine. She put her things aside, getting her stuff for school while meeting Betty at the door. "Good morning." She said, taking a good look at her friend.

Betty was a mess, with bags under her eyes and chapped lips. "Hey..." Unenthusiastically waving before she slung an arm over Leslie's shoulder, she leaned her body against her and left her weight over Leslie's body. "Sorry, I don't feel so..." She managed to mumble out before retching and covering her mouth with her hand.

"Jeez, I warned you." Leslie moved over to the elevator while helping her friend get back on her feet. She paused, eyes lighting up with an idea. "I'm not dealing with you. I'm just going to watch something." She smiled, pulling out her phone and watching the VOD of the stream that Mizuna Fi did last night. Betty looked at the screen as the audio played from the speakers. Leslie looked at her face, watching as it slowly turned to a pale shade of pink, accompanied by her somewhat frantic eye movement and a slight smile. "Oh, do you know what this is?" She asked, moving the screen closer to let her friend watch along.

"Yeah. They're a Vtuber, right? They use avatars instead of an actual face cam." Betty replied, suddenly perking up. "Actually there was something I wanted to talk to you about last night, but we sort of got carried away."

"You don't say?" Leslie teased, flicking her friend's forehead. "So, what were you gonna say, Mizuna Fi?" She chuckled, but her friend's eyes widened.

"How did you know?"

"I brought you home, you dolt. Of course, I'd know with all the new stuff all over your place." Leslie slung her arm around Betty, pulling her closer as she put her phone back into her pocket. "So, is that all you wanted to tell me?"

"No, there's more. But first, how's Zeke?" Betty pushed herself free from Leslie's grasp. "He didn't seem well when he met me at your door." Leslie frowned, lowering her gaze as they left the building and were on their way to their university.

"He's... his fever and cough have been getting worse recently. I might need to take him to the doctor soon. But I'll need to open up my comms again first. Anyway, enough about that, what else did you want to tell me?" Slightly slouched over and with her face morose, she nearly got lost in thought before Betty's voice grabbed her attention.

"Well, I was wondering if you'd like to be on my stream soon? Just play some games with me for an hour or two." Leslie stopped walking for a bit, turning her head curiously toward her friend.

"And that's supposed to help me... how, exactly?"

"I'll give you some of the money I'll earn for that stream. And I'll help promote you so you can get more commissions for your 3d stuff!" Betty argued, taking both of Leslie's hands and shaking them up and down violently. "Please!"

"Ow, ow, ow! Okay, I guess I'll give it a shot..." Leslie said, getting her friend to yelp in joy before a wave of pain hit her as penance for her actions the previous night. The rest of the walk was silent, with Leslie going into deep thought until lunch while Betty happily did her duties for the first half of the day.

"Hey, you do have food right?" Betty asked, leaning over the lunch table they were at with a concerned look in her eyes. "I made some extra sandwiches if you want one." She said, offering a neatly wrapped sandwich with strawberry jam.

"Hey, why did you decide to do this?" Leslie asked, accepting the offer and taking a whiff of the jam. "I know that you tend to jump into new things, but even I didn't expect this to happen."

"Well, it's kind of a long story. I'll tell you soon, though." She replied, anxiously watching as Leslie took a bite and stared down at her food. "What do you think? Made it myself!" She said, puffing out her chest with pride.

"Could go with being a little less sweet. It's kind of making me sick." She said, reaching for her water. "But it's good." She added under her breath, smiling as she saw her friend pout and start throwing a fit akin to an anime character. For a moment, and only for a moment, she saw Fi's avatar where Betty was, emoting with the faces she used on the stream. "I guess you really do have it in you..."

"Eh? What?"

"Nothing. Let's just eat. Thanks for the food, I'll pay you back when I can." She said as her phone buzzed with a message. It was from her customer, and Leslie excused herself as she started talking with the person. She smiled as the conversation ended, returning to find Betty piling more sandwiches onto her side of the table. "Alright, how much did you make?" She asked with a cocked grin.

"I have enough jam to last me a lifetime. What about you, how much did you make?"

"I uhh..." Leslie sat down, quickly grabbing the sandwich she was eating and stuffing her face. "The usual."

"So you undercharged again?" Betty leaned in, sighing and resting her head on the table. "You could go higher, your quality is better than what you're asking for! How much was it this time?"

"Around... 20 bucks..."

"20 bucks!"

"Hey, it was just a quick gun for a game, it's not even that good or big!" Leslie retorted, pointing at her with her phone only to have it snatched out of her hands. Betty quickly moved to her messages, looking at the file she sent to her client to see the model for herself.

She sighed, seeing how tiny the gun was, but her emotions started flaring up when she zoomed in. "Nobody's even going to see those details! Why'd you bother with them!?" She raised her voice, garnering the attention of a few passing students.

"What if they zoom in; like you did? I want to make it look good!"

"Then charge more! This could have easily been 40, maybe even 80 at the low end!" Betty huffed, taking a deep breath and snacking on her own pile of sandwiches. "Honestly, you're going to go broke if you don't raise your prices."

"Yeah, but commissions are open now. I'll send a message out later. Hopefully, I get some big ones this batch." Leslie resigned herself to her friend's judgment. The two of them finished what they could of the food, snacking on the rest on their way back to the apartment complex at the end of the day. "So, are you streaming tonight?"

"Wait, you want to do it tonight? I don't have a game planned, tonight is usually just a talking stream." Betty turned with eyes wide in shock.

"People watch that?"

"Yeah. It's fun. Sometimes I get questions that lead off into tangents that last for half an hour. Other times, people share their stories. It's quite calming." Betty said, entering the elevator. "There were times that I talked about you, they were funny. I wonder how the chat would react if I told them you were going to join me."

"How about having me on tonight? I don't play as many games as you do, so I might need to pay for it... and, well..." Leslie scratched the back of her head. "If I join tonight, then all I have to do is talk right?"

"Yeah. So, how do you want to do this? Want to come over and use my mic or do you just want to stay in your room?"

"I'll come over, why not?" Leslie said as Betty left the elevator. They waved at each other before Leslie checked her phone; two hours until the stream started based on the schedule Betty posted on her socials. "Zeke, I'm home!" She yelled, putting down her bag and putting out the sandwiches they couldn't finish. "Betty made sandwiches; feel free to take one!"

"Thanks!" Zeke yelled, his voice coming from the bathroom. He walked out with his face and hands wet, one of which was clutching his stomach. The two crossed paths and the rancid smell of his breath told her that she should probably clean the bathroom of his vomit.

"Dude, brush your teeth before you go to bed. Please." She added as she entered the bathroom and found it mostly clean except for the water all over the floor. She breathed a sigh of relief, entering her room and opening up every social media account she had to announce that her commissions were open. She waited on her computer for an hour while studying a bit; not a single client approached her.

"Hey, mind coming over so we can test the audio set up?" Betty sent a message over. Leslie looked at the time, got into more comfortable clothes, and headed down a floor to enter her friend's abode. Betty greeted her in her sleepwear: a pair of comfy pajama pants and an oversized T-shirt. "Hey, come on. Man, I'm so excited." She said, nearly hopping up and down as she dashed into her room. Leslie followed suit, noticing a small mountain of jars filled with strawberry jam on the kitchen counter.

"Just how many strawberries did she get?" She thought to herself as she walked in and found her friend sitting in a chair while patting another with her hand. She sat down, watching as Betty hit the record button on one of the programs open on her computer and started talking.

"Just talk, we'll see how we sound in the recording." She said, inviting her friend to say some words.

"Uhh, okay. But what do we talk about?" Leslie asked, scratching the back of her head as she leaned into her seat, looking around the room at all of the boxes scattered everywhere. "When was the last time you cleaned this place?"

"About five days ago. A bunch of stuff arrived recently, so I still haven't gotten around to cleaning up again." Betty answered, dismissively waving her hand in the air as she stopped the recording and played it back through her headphones. "Hmm... yeah, I couldn't hear your last question. Maybe don't sit like that." She said, handing over the headphones to let Leslie listen.

Exactly as she said, her voice was easily heard when she was sitting up properly, but it was barely audible when she slouched into the chair. "I see. So, let me move a bit closer."

"Try not to come too close, okay. My phone might detect you, so you might end up controlling Mizuna." Betty smiled, looking at the little sprite on the screen as she bobbed her head. The two of them fiddled with more settings as the countdown to the stream reached 0. "Are you ready?"

"Ready as I'll ever be..." Leslie replied. She watched as the stream started up, pulling out her phone to watch it from there with the volume turned down. Instantly, the chat started flooding with comments as nearly a hundred people were already waiting for the first bit of action. She let them have a few minutes of downtime to chat amongst themselves.

"Mind helping me watch chat? I have a few people helping, but more could never hurt." Betty smiled.

"Oh sure..."

"You know, once I introduce you, it's probably going to turn into a QnA." She said, getting both of them to chuckle. "You don't have to answer them if you don't want to. Like with personal stuff." She reached over, placing her hand on Leslie's shoulder. They both took a deep breath as Betty changed the scene to have her avatar visible. "Hello everyone! How are you all tonight! Tonight, we're just doing a talking stream, but I have a surprise guest that agreed to join me last minute. Guys, I want you all to meet my best friend." She turned, giving a thumbs up over to her friend as Leslie found herself at a loss for words.

"Uhh, hi everyone. I'm Leslie, but you can just call me Les. It's nice to meet you..." She mumbled, shying away from the mic before Betty held her and pulled her slightly closer.

"Alright, so if you have any questions for the two of us, feel free to ask! Usual rules apply, nothing too personal, nothing too vulgar, you guys should know by now."