From VTuber♂ to VTuber♀ - Chapter 24

First Step

A glance to the right. A glance to the left.
I couldn’t keep my head still, looking all around nervously.

“Why? Does something feel off?”
“It’s my first time at an airport.”
“Hm, same for me when I came to see you, remember? But now, I’m a seasoned traveler!”

I let out a laugh at the sight of Toya puffing out her chest proudly.
Seriously, isn’t there barely any difference between never flying and flying once?

I smiled with that meaning in mind, and Toya immediately insisted that there’s a huge difference between having done something once and not at all.

True enough. Experience and inexperience make a big difference.

Maybe it was the crowd, but I couldn’t help feeling nervous.

“…By the way, do we really need to hold hands even here?”
“You trip even when we’re holding hands. So obviously, yes!”
“Didn’t we agree to stop bringing that up…?”
“Besides, in a crowded place like this, you might get lost if we let go.”

As she spoke, Toya held my hand even tighter.
I shook my head in exasperation.

Before we met in person, she didn’t seem like this.
It’s like she’s grown warmer, softer…
Kind of like a mother duck protecting her duckling?

“Yeo-reum, are you really okay with this?”
“I’m fine, because I’m going with you, Toya.”

Toya repeated the question she’d already asked several times on our way to the airport, and I answered again with complete certainty.

I’m going.

When I looked up at Toya with unwavering eyes, she looked deeply moved.
I wasn’t sure what was so moving about me following her, but…

“Then, allow me to safely escort you to Japan, my princess.”
“…Ugh.”

Toya lowered her voice, imitating some princely character from a romance game, and I instantly recoiled.

Eugh, that was cringe.

I rubbed my arm with my free hand and shivered.
Toya just giggled smugly, clearly pleased with my reaction.

[Flight to Osaka, Japan departs at 9:10 AM.]

“So it’s finally time…”

Or, to put it another way—finally.

I was just now, at last, taking my very first step.

—

[Notice from the channel moderator…]
[(Han Yeoreum’s long retirement announcement.jpg)
Is this for real? She’s really quitting? No more Vtuber streams? Seriously??]

ㄴ[Han Yeoreum down! DOWN! DOWN!]
ㄴ[We already held a funeral last time, but getting confirmation like this still stings.]
ㄴ[Who could’ve predicted that Korea’s only Vtuber with 500K subs would retire like this…]
ㄴ[But Han Yeoreum’s not even a girl.]
ㄴ[If he were, he’d be at a million subs by now.]
ㄴ[Wait—he’s not a girl??]
ㄴ[(Han Yeoreum’s back again… meme)]
ㄴ[Looks like he’s really retiring due to health reasons.]
ㄴ[So now who’s gonna keep me company during meals…]

[But didn’t he say he might return someday in a different form?]

[(Screenshot: “If we ever meet again in another form someday, I hope you’ll welcome me…”)]

Isn’t that basically hinting she might come back under a new identity?

ㄴ[“Different form”… don’t tell me…]
ㄴ[Wait, she’s going to Taiwan for gender confirmation surgery so she can come back as someone new??]
ㄴ[So Han Yeoreum is really becoming Han Yeon-reum, huh? LOL]
ㄴ[Watching that dude slowly turn into a girl was like a nightmare.]
ㄴ[More like an overnight transformation, not “slowly” lol]
ㄴ[Honestly, that’d be kind of hot though lol]
ㄴ[Why is everyone so obsessed with making Han Yeoreum a girl? LOL]
ㄴ[he never should’ve done that TS-themed stream before retiring…]
ㄴ[ㄴThis comment never dies.]

—

[Toya returns to Japan.]
[(Photo of Osaka Airport.jpg)
Well, if you were happy, then it’s all good, Toya…]

ㄴ[Toya abandoned her fans and went to Korea, but we love her for it~]
ㄴ[Her time in Korea made me realize how precious she is lol]
ㄴ[Feels like my life’s clock is finally ticking again…]
ㄴ[So she’s doing 24-hour streams every day for a week to make up for it, right?]
ㄴ[ㄴThat would literally kill her…]
ㄴ[Where did this “24-hour stream for a week” meme even come from?]
ㄴ[ㄴKick out the new viewers.]
ㄴ[ㄴNewbie alert.]
ㄴ[ㄴToya once said if she was ever late, she’d do 24-hour streams for a week straight lol]
ㄴ[She’s almost 2 weeks late, so that’s 4 weeks of 24-hour streams then.]
ㄴ[ㄴHumans die if they don’t sleep for a month, you know.]
ㄴ[ㄴEven if they’re not human, they’d still die lol]

—

“…So this is your place, Toya?”
“Yup! What do you think? Cozy, right?”

It was way better than the tiny one-room place I used to live in.
Sure, it didn’t have a ton of rooms,
but it definitely felt more homey.

Still… was it really okay for me to just walk into a woman’s home like this?

Even though my body had changed, I still had memories of living as a healthy Korean guy.
It made me feel a bit awkward—not with Toya’s house, but just the situation itself.

“Yeo-reum?”
“E-excuse me for intruding…”
“Pfft! Are you nervous just stepping inside? You’re too cute~”

I’m not nervous!

I quickly took off my shoes and entered, ignoring her teasing.

Still… the place was spotless, despite her being gone in Korea for nearly three weeks.

Did someone manage it for her? Maybe the agency?

Or… was she living with family?

…If she lived with family, me coming here would’ve been totally inappropriate.

“Toya, do you… live with anyone?”
“Yup!”
“Th-then I probably shouldn’t have come—”
“Oh, I answered like that because you’re here. I live alone.”

Come on—say that earlier!!

I was already feeling super awkward just entering her place,
and if I’d met a stranger on top of that, I might’ve frozen on the spot.

I let out a sigh of relief and walked in.

Two rooms. One for sleeping, one for streaming.

A peek into the bedroom revealed it was even cleaner than the living room.

I never would’ve guessed Toya was this tidy.

“My, peeking into a lady’s room like that? Naughty~”
“I-I wasn’t peeking…”
“Then what? Just blatantly staring?”
“I-I… ugh…”

…Was this always what talking to Toya felt like?

It’s completely different from when we gamed or streamed together.

As I hesitated and avoided her gaze, she suddenly let out a cheer—then lifted me into the air.

Wha—!? That scared me!

Not long ago, this was my normal line of sight,
but now, just being raised slightly caught me completely off guard.

“You can look as much as you want.
After all, this is the room we’re going to share, Yeo-reum.”

“…Share?”
“Yup!”

Toya beamed, completely at ease.

Like it was the most natural thing in the world for me to stay with her.

But to me, it was anything but.

Toya didn’t feel uncomfortable because the person in front of her looked like a young girl.
But I had lived more than twenty years as a man.

So sharing a room with someone of the same sex (technically)…
just made me feel endlessly awkward.

“Toya… you know I used to be a guy, right?”

I didn’t want to say it out loud,
but I had to make sure she understood.

What if I thought something inappropriate?
Why was she being so completely unguarded with someone she barely knew?

Seriously, isn’t she way too trusting for someone who met me in Korea like two weeks ago?

“Of course I know. You told me yourself, remember?”

“But… you’re really okay with that? You’re not creeped out, or uncomfortable, or anything…?”

I mean, yeah.

I’d seen plenty of news stories recently, like
“Man turned woman gets sued by her girlfriend after coming out.”

If a guy becomes a girl, women treat her like a pervert.
If a girl becomes a guy, men treat him like a lunatic.

That’s what it meant to be a “twin” (TS person) in Korea.

A being that doesn’t belong anywhere.

The deep self-loathing I’d felt after my body changed—
it had a lot to do with Korea’s cultural stigma against people like me.

“Why would I care? You’re Yeo-reum.
You used to be a guy, but now you’re a girl.
And you’re a twin—so it doesn’t matter, does it?”

Toya looked at me like she genuinely didn’t understand what the problem was.

I see… maybe this is a cultural difference, too.

I vaguely remembered reading that Japan had some of the lowest rates of TS discrimination in the world.

We were born in different countries.
The cultures were different—so the perspectives naturally differed too.

Toya kept tilting her head in confusion.
So I began to explain slowly.

“Well, the thing is—”

—