My Best Friend is a Vtuber 11

A few minutes after Leslie's door shut, the door opposite it opened up. Shambling over to his bed with one hand on his phone, Zeke rubbed his eye with the other as he got a short message. "Here's what you missed today. How are you feeling?" It read out, accompanied by a few pictures of very neat notes from all of the classes that day.

"Doing better, just a bit. I still haven't gotten my medicine yet, so I don't think I'll be coming back soon." He mumbled as he typed out his reply, resting on his springy bed as he felt a new wave of energy come over him.

"I see... Do you want me to come over again? Help you study over the weekend?" A reply was sent quickly, and soon after that, ellipses appeared to show that she was typing out another one. "I don't have anything planned."

"Really? That'd be fun! Thank you." Zeke sent a message back just as quickly before his face contorted into a sour frown. He waited for a few seconds to see if she'd send one back, tossing his phone beside his pillow after half a minute passed.

"Actually, I want to talk to you about those Vtubers that you watch. They seem interesting." Phoebe sent one. "Goodnight." And with that, their conversation came to a close. However, that was not the end of Zeke's night. Lying down and holding his phone above his head, he stayed there motionless until he got a notification that said that Mizuna's collab had started. He watched as the title quickly changed after a few seconds, informing him that it was a three-person collab instead of the previous double vtuber one.

"Good evening everyone. I hope you all had a great day. As you may be able to see, there's been a slight change of plans. Actually, I know we promised to just chat and catch up with you all today, but the three of us need to practice." Mizuna said, appearing on screen while she dragged Nebby and Verdan's models in and resized them to fit her overlay. "Because Pent-san invited us to a collab... and none of us know how to play." And with that, the game in question appeared on the screen.

It was a classic game, with music reminiscent of an old Russian song. The mechanics were simple, yet the three girls seemed to struggle, misplacing their pieces and fumbling over themselves. As the stream continued, Zeke found himself more glued to Nebby's gameplay and model. "Huh... I swear I heard her voice before." He thought to himself as it came to a close, ending with each of the three's farewells.

Sleeping not so soundly through the night, he awoke Thursday morning to the image of his sister putting on her shoes. "I'll get your medicine on the way home." Leslie said, pointing to the fridge as she made her way out the front door. It was a simple meal that was sealed in a container; eggs, a few rashers of bacon, and a bit of rice that was still warm.

Heating it up and situating himself and his study materials in the living room, he ate the food while browsing one of his school books, taking notes with one hand while shoveling his meal into his mouth with the other. Once he was done with it, he set the dishes in the sink and returned to his books, this time having a video playing on his phone to fill the air with something other than silence.

"Hello everyone." Nebby said as she smiled. "I hope you all had a nice day." She added. The vod was 3 hours long, and it consisted of just her talking with her fans; a nice bit of background noise to zone out to while learning a few equations. He'd been entranced by that and his books to the point that he didn't even notice that the app's autoplay started a new vod which was twice as long, then a third.

"I swear that I've heard her voice before..." He mumbled before he heard a knock at the door. "Oh, welcome home Les-"

"The teachers wanted to give you this." Phoebe said, taking something from her bag and offering it to Zeke. It was a small board, each corner filled with messages from people from their class. "Oh, and uhh... I saw this on my way over. I thought you might like it since you're into those Vtuber people." She added, rummaging in her bag for a small, metal pin that was shaped to look like a planet orbiting the sun. Zeke's eyes went wide, his hands shaking as he took it into his possession.

"How? They stopped making these when she disappeared..." He mumbled, looking at it as if it were made of gold.

"I don't know. Is it rare or something?" Phoebe asked, looking at it curiously. "Well, anyway... I'll be heading home. I'm still coming over this weekend. Have a good day, Zeke." Turning around and heading to the elevator with a distant stare. She was only brought back to her senses by her jumpiness as the elevator doors opened before she could push the button to call it,

"Why did Phoebe come over?" Leslie asked, setting down Zeke's medicine on the kitchen counter with a bit of a distant stare herself. "Ah, I'll make some dinner..." She added, setting out pots and pans as Zeke walked into his room to think about the things that he got.

"How did she get this?" He mumbled to himself, inspecting it after taking a seat at his table. It was an intricate pin, with the sun being a piece of crystal that was tinted orange. Gold bands acted as a visualizer for the orbit of a small red and blue orb that was left loose to slide along it. There was one odd defect, however, The top of the crystal had a chip in it, clearly visible since it refracted the light in a different way to the rest of the orange sphere. "Huh..." He said before looking for a safe place to put it away.

Elsewhere, walking through the street while talking on her phone, Phoebe pulled her hood up to ease the chill from the weather. "I'll be a bit late, I had some things to do. Can you guys stall for 10 minutes?" She asked, eyes wandering around her as she arrived at a bus stop with nary a soul in sight. "Huh? Yeah, it's fine. I'm okay." Her voice was aloof as she leaned against a pole to rest her body slightly. "I'm on my way home now. You don't have to worry." She added as the bus arrived and a smattering of people spewed forth from its doors. "I'll see you later, Pent-san." She hung up, giving a wave to a familiar face that came out of the bus carrying a paper bag with computer parts in it. As she sat near the front of the bus, watching the glass frost over from her breath, she ruminated on Zeke for a moment, a strange but familiar sensation pulsing in her chest: concern. Shutting her eyes for a moment, she rested her head against the back of the seat ahead of her. "I hope he gets better soon." The bus departed, moving through the city as the sun neared the horizon and the sky turned an amber hue. She got off and took a few more minutes walking toward a condominium, going up the elevator until she stopped on the fifth floor. "I'm home." She called out, unlocking the door and stepping inside.

"Welcome back, dinner will be ready soon. Get changed and do your homework." A familiar woman met her, hair tied up into a ponytail and an apron over her clothes. She stood in a little alcove of the apartment that was designated as their kitchen.

"Alright, but I have a stream in a bit. Just put it in the fridge..." Phoebe replied, walking off to a corridor with multiple doors. She made her way to her room, the first door on the left, as she looked at the room at the end of the hall. Opening the door and tossing her things onto her bed, she made her way to the room at the end of the hall, entering what appeared to be a makeshift recording area.

Walls lined with sound-dampening foam, a mic that was currently mounted to an arm that was fastened to a sturdy table, and an illuminated PC tower with multiple accessories, accents, and peripherals nearby. Underneath the table were a variety of consoles, and hidden inside of a drawer were multiple cases of games, though most haven't been played in years judging by the dust that collected on them.

"Ah, Nebby-chan is here!" Mizuna cheered the moment Phoebe entered their voice call. The stream had already started, but she wasn't too late. "Are you ready?"

"Give me a moment." Nebby replied; her voice her usual meek and aloof tone. She quickly clicked around, starting her own stream and sending out a tweet that apologized for the delay. "Alright. I should be ready. Send me the link." She added once she was done, waiting patiently as Pent sent her an invite to their lobby.

"Oh, Nebby-chan is live now..." Zeke mumbled to himself as he heard his sister walking around in the kitchen, setting two bowls of soup out for them with an exasperated sigh. She took a seat beside him, looking at his phone as he switched over to Nebby's stream. "Hey, sis, you work on 3d models, right?" He asked, sliding the food over to him as he lowered the volume of his phone. "Do you think you can make one for me?" He added, blowing on his spoon as Leslie sat there, silently pondering.

"Well, I'm full, but maybe when I have some more free time." She replied before directing her whole attention toward her soup, finishing her portion as fast as she could. "I... I have a lot of work to do. Do your homework and rest early, okay?" She said before shutting her door. Zeke took a deep breath and frowned, finishing his food while listening to the collab in the background.

It took him a few minutes to wrap his head around all the things he'd missed since he got sick. But, nonetheless, he was making significant progress; he finished most of his missing math assignments before the collab stream ended. Calling it off for the rest of the night, he went to his room to charge his phone, going into Nebby's channel in the meantime to watch some stream VODs. Setting a long playlist in the background, he sat at the edge of his bed just thinking of where he could have heard Nebby's voice aside from her streams. "Hey, Zeke, you awake?" A small banner showed up at the top of his screen; it was a message from Phoebe.

"Yeah." He replied, pausing the stream and moving over to the messaging app. "What's up?"

"Just wondering. Did you like the gift we got you? The teachers made us write like 5 messages each for you." She sent one back, followed by an emoji of a tired face. That got a chuckle out of him, the smile persisting on his face as he typed out what he wanted to say.

"It's Friday tomorrow, want to come over then instead of the weekend?" He asked, looking at it for a couple of seconds after sending it.

"? Okay. Sure. I can't stay long though, my sister'll get worried." She said, sending more emojis to show her excitement. "Actually, can I ask you something right now?"

"What is it?" He asked.

"Who's your favorite Vtuber? If you were going to recommend one to me, who do you think I'll like?"

"For you? Yozora Nebula, or Nebby-chan. She's pretty relaxing, I think you'll like her." His reply flashed on Phoebe's monitor, getting her to smile before she said her farewell for the night and retired to her bed.

Zeke got up, walking out of his room to take a peek into Leslie's. He saw her sleeping at her desk, her mouse in one hand and her hair covering her face. On her screen was a very familiar figure: Mizuna Fi. "Mmmhh... feathers..." She groaned, turning her head around as Zeke tried to drag her a few inches and onto her bed. After practically throwing her onto her mattress, he took her covers and tucked her in, leaving the room without uttering a word. Sleep was more easily come by that night, and Friday arrived with the soft winter sunlight filtering through the frosted windows. "Finish up all your homework, okay?" Leslie yelled from outside before the sound of the door slamming shut reached Zeke's freshly awoken ears.