My Best Friend is a Vtuber 4

She entered the store and the first thing that got her attention was the music they were playing in the store to fill the air. It was a new song, one that she hadn't heard of before, but she recognized one of the singers' voices. Sure enough, the moment she saw a monitor that was powered on, she saw Mizuna bobbing her head from side to side along with five other vtubers.

One was a pink-haired woman that was made to look in her early twenties, a bun to one side of her head as the rest of her hair flowed down past her shoulders slightly. Her clothes seemed like they would fit in nicely with some kind of magical girl show, aside from the fact that she looked like an adult instead of the children that were commonly the protagonists of said shows.

The next had a primarily emerald aesthetic, with short pixie-cut hair and tiny flowers adorning her entire avatar The main theme of her character seemed to be flowers, so much so that her eyes had red roses instead of the usual stars that would appear whenever something was going amazingly. She wore a flowy dress with dark brown accents that made her seem plant-like.

The fourth one was... odd. It was as if a nebula had been condensed and given a humanoid body. Long flowing hair with no accessories that appeared to float over to the side, its dark shade bespeckled with glowing spots that made it look like the night sky. There were no whites in her eyes, instead, they were a solid purple color with a light blue spot that acted as irises. The galactic feel continued downward until it reached her clothes. She wore a single turquoise and black shirt that always seemed to have its colors moving. Overtop of that was a pure white blazer that covered up her arms.

Right below the space-themed one was a polar bear-themed dude. White hair that was slicked back, accompanied by ears that popped out of his head. His eyes we currently closed on the screen, but he had one of his hands up to cover his mouth. He wore gloves that kept his palms normal but made the back of his hand look like a claw covered in white fur. His clothes looked to be a simple tank top, but it was practically shredded in places.

The last one, in contrast, had a refined-looking avatar. He wore a buttoned-up coat with a musical staff design, and his hair was brushed off to the side. Under the coat was a simple black polo with a red tie. He had glasses on, resting in front of his eyes as their piercing red irises looked directly at the camera, and by extension, Leslie.

She watched them as it cut away to a montage of 3d dancing scenes, with both Mizuna and the Nebula-looking one being absent. "I guess she doesn't have a 3d model either." She mumbled to herself as she started making her way into the store, nearly bumping into someone as she crossed paths with them.

"Oh... sorry..." It was a young girl, maybe 16 or 17 if she were to guess, and she was busy holding onto something while watching the screen that Leslie just pried her eyes away from. It was still showing the dancing scenes, and the girl seemed to frown. "So cool, I wish I could be like that..." She mumbled as she continued to walk distractedly toward the cashiers. "Ahh sorry!"

"Kids..." Leslie sighed, remembering Zeke back at their apartment. "That should be the first thing I get." She said to herself, walking over to get something to help with his fever. After that, she went over to the fruits and vegetable section of the store and started looking over everything. Then she went to the meats, then everything else, then finally to the checkout. She paid for it with the money she got from Betty, grabbing the bag, and walking toward the door as an older woman, nearing her 30's based on appearances, in a business suit walked in and walked toward a little rest area with plastic chairs.

Glossing over it with her eyes, she found that the woman was walking toward the girl from earlier, who happily got up and walked up to her. "You better not have used all the money on chocolates again, Phoebe." She said as the two of them walked past Leslie who was just silently watching them.

"I didn't sis..." The younger one replied, looking at the screen as another song came on, this time featuring the plant-based avatar from before in what looked like a solo song. A slight look of envy crawled onto her face before she started to frown. The two sisters left the store, followed by Leslie. She walked out just in time to see them walking in the opposite direction of her apartment.

"That was strange... that kid seemed to like vtubers though. Maybe I should tell Betty that I met a fan..." She thought silently as she made her way back home. She already started thinking of the art that her friend sent her, and of how to make all of the feathers included in the design. "Each one looks unique too, which sucks..." She groaned as she opened the door, finding an unexpected guest at their home.

"Hi, want some cake?" Betty asked, offering Leslie a slice of cheesecake with her strawberry jam on top.

"I'm good. So, why are you here?" Leslie asked as she moved into the kitchen and noticed a few more jars of the jam than she had previously. "I told you to just sell them to our neighbors or friends or something." She groaned, opening the fridge to put her groceries away.

"I will; don't worry. I already have some of our classmates asking for a jar or two." Betty said, eating her slice of cake. "Anyway, I wanted to talk to you, but you weren't here, so I was just talking to Zeke.

Zeke, who had been silent this entire time, had his earphones in and was watching the tail-end of one of Mizuna's streams when he pulled and earphone out and looked over. "Ye-" He sneezed into his hand the moment he opened his mouth, managing to muffle the noise using the cushion. "Did you get any chips? We ran out."

"You shouldn't be eating chips while you're like this. Here, I got you something for your body." Leslie said, handing over a bottle of medicine that would help with his fever. "Have either of you eaten yet?"

"No, just this cake and..."

"Jam sandwiches?" Leslie asked, to which they both nodded as she let out a long sigh. "Want to stay for dinner; you can talk about whatever it was as I cook. Zeke probably won't hear us anyway." She said, looking over at her brother as he returned the earphone and started paying close attention to the video. The two ladies made their way into the kitchen and Leslie got out some sausages she bought earlier.

"So, a few of my vtuber friends and I just released a new song..." Betty said excitedly. "It's a six-part swing, with a dance break at the-"

"I saw it at the grocery store..." Leslie said, cutting open the packaging as she got a pan ready. "Is that why you want a 3d model?" She turned, finding Betty with a completely different expression. One of... longing, and resignation.

"One of the reasons, yeah..." She said, somberly. "Please, make me look pretty. It'd mean so much to me if I could be able to dance like the others." She grabbed Leslie's shoulder, a small smile on her face as her eyes glistened with longing.

"This isn't like you... is something wrong?" Leslie called out, turning the stove on and letting the sausages sizzle. "Do you want to talk about it?" She asked as she slowly moved over to get some pasta boiling in a pot on another burner.

"I'll tell you soon, once my model is done. I feel like it would be a good story to tell at that time." Betty said before she tried to return to her normal, energetic self. "Anyway, pasta and sausages?"

"Look, I'm lazy. Pasta is easy and I don't want to think." Leslie retorted, before pointing over to the fridge. "Your model is already weighing on my mind..." The two of them had meals prepared in under 20 minutes, absentmindedly chatting about anything that came to mind. After eating, Betty excused herself for the night. "Goodnight..." Leslie said, waving goodbye for the night as Betty mirrored the gesture before shutting the door on her way out.

With her friend gone for the night and her brother about to fall asleep in his room after eating dinner, Leslie went to work on her commissions, spending the next 4 hours looking at her screen in frustration as she zoomed in to add the fine details of the work. It was then that she decided to call it a day and head off to bed with her phone in hand.

She checked her socials again, seeing a new tweet get shared around by her brother. "Ah, more of Betty's vtuber stuff." She sighed, looking at the replies. She recognized some of the avatars from one of the vtubers from the video. Yozora Nebby was the name of the other vtuber that didn't have a 3d model, and she was currently tweeting about the song that had just come out. The last tweet was only a few minutes ago, and she was talking about finding it nearly everywhere she went that day. "Good for her." Leslie smiled, heading over to listen to the song again before clocking out completely. Now that she was listening to it again, she could easily pick out Betty's voice from the others.

It rained fairly hard that night, the occasional thunder accompanying the flashes of lightning that lit up their apartment building. Betty was streaming, as usual, this time playing a game while accompanied by one of the people from the music video. "Nee, Kuma-san!" She yelled as she leaned back in her chair, frustrated.

"Mizuna-chan! Come back! You have one more life!" The person she was collaborating with called out to her. Afterward, a short, mischievous chuckle escaped his lips as Betty continued to groan in frustration. "Aha! I win again!" He said before Betty let out a sigh and set down her controller.

"You're so mean!" Betty moved over and pressed something, changing the expression on Mizuna's face to one that looked like she was about to kill someone. "I'm going to practice a lot next time." She said in her lower voice, which made it more ominous-sounding. "I'm going to win, no matter what." With that, they started another round of the game they were playing.

Much to her dismay, she only got one win in their next five games. "So, Mizuna-chan, what did you think of the video?" Kuma, the polar bear vtuber, asked as they moved over to a more relaxing scene since the two of them were just talking amongst themselves and the chatrooms. "It was really cool, dancing with everyone, but I do want to ask about how you feel."

"Hmm? Why?" Betty paused, her avatar now looking over at Kuma's, at least on her stream. She changed the expression to a more neutral one and just waited for his answer.

"Well, you and Nebby-chan still don't have 3d stuff yet, right? I just wanted to know if you guys are alright."

"Well, actually, I just commissioned a friend to make one for me! She's really good with 3d stuff, I've seen her work!" Betty smiled, but then she looked down. "I'm going to be 3d soon..." She said, her smile growing more somber with each passing second.

"Are you okay, Mizuna-chan?" He didn't get a reply, save for the small yet joyful sobs that reached Betty's mic. "Are you... crying?"

"Yeah... I'm just so happy... Sorry everyone, I just can't stop myself..." Betty said as she looked at the time. "Ah, were overtime. We should probably end soon. Should you tell them or should I?" She asked, taking a deep breath in an attempt to compose herself. "Ah, I'll just tell them. You see, Kuma-san, Nebby-san, and I will be collabing in this Monday! Be sure not to miss it, everyone!" She said before transitioning to her end of stream scene and muting her microphone. "Ahh... Soon, I'll be a little more like her." She said, leaning back in her chair as she stared up at the ceiling, looking at the glow in the dark planets that she put up there.