“Whew.”

With a satisfied sigh, she swirled around 180 degrees in her gaming chair.

“Another one in the can.”

Same exact voice as the anime girl with the martini glass, but this girl was flesh and blood. Just as pretty, yes, but definitely in the real people dimension. She reached over at the phone pointing at her face. On the phone screen was the martini-holding, silver-haired, star-tiara’d anime girl. The anime girl that was so full of life was now standing still, eyes closed with only slight swaying movements in her hair and chest.

The girl removed the phone from its tripod and shut off her gaming PC.

“'Did I cry when I break up with my ex?' What a stupid question,” she muttered to herself.

She closed the app with the anime character on it. VTuber character, to be exact.

The girl, Byul Lee, was an online streamer. A VTuber under the persona of “Hoshizora Martini”. Hoshizora Martini was drawn in in an anime style with stars as a visual theme and dommy mommy as the character trope. Her default stream environment was an exclusive speakeasy bar, and her character was permanently holding a star-filled martini glass in one hand. The persona was well fitting of Byul herself, which meant “star” in Korean.

“Why would that be something to cry over? He’s just a guy. Hit him with your car!”

Grumbling aloud the trending TikTok sound that was oddly relevant to her current situation, she melted onto her bed. She switched off the “do not disturb” mode on her phone and scrolled through the dozens of notifications from her in-real-life friends she missed while she was streaming. She clicked one of them randomly, her phone pulling up Hinge. 23 “roses”, or super likes, and more than 100 likes. It wasn’t twelve hours yet since she last opened the dating app. She tapped lightning fast through the profiles, keeping her finger on the black "X".

“Bleh.” She rolled her eyes at the latest profile named J. No doubt an acronym hiding his full name. Ugh. If you don’t even have the balls to put your real name on a dating app, why bother signing up for one? The first photo of him sported him and some bros on a yacht. All douchey, but one of the boys was pretty cute. Which one was he? She scrolled down to the next photo, giving him another chance. Thankfully this one was a solo shot, but he wasn’t the cute one. Bummer.

Today’s people shopping spree was proving unsuccessful per usual. She clicked on her own profile as a palette cleanser, checking out her latest selfie of her in a black off-the-shoulder top and dainty silver necklaces, head turned to the left at 45 degrees and down another 23 degrees. Her best angle. Truly, looking at her own face was more entertaining than any of these boys.

If people knew that Byul was the inner person behind the VTuber persona of Hoshino Martini, no doubt they would found it strange. Byul was beautiful. Of course, it was nothing but a common misconception that VTubers were ugly or had some sort of a physical deformity behind their anime avatars. Anyone could be a VTuber theoretically, ugly, hot, and everything in between. Even still, she had the kind of face that would make her perfectly suited for an in-real-life streamer. Her cute little elf nose, dark eyes, aegyosal that filled up when she smiled - throw on a pair of cat ears and garter belts and she would easily be one of Twitch’s most coveted e-girl.

But that wouldn’t do, no.

* * *

Byul Lee, too, was naïve once. A middle school girl with pep in her step. A doe-eyed, button-nosed cutie. What set her apart from the other 7th graders, though, was that she was always seen with a notebook in hand. For her thoughts, poems, stories, and of course - anime fan fiction.

She kept them to herself for the most part. Not because she was hiding it, but because her notebook seamlessly blended in with the pre-algebra and English 101 Composition notebooks and nobody really bothered to ask. That is, until Suzy slid up next to her seat one day in pre-algebra.

“Hey! Can I copy your homework? I totally forgot to do mine last night.” Suzy said, popping her fourth Jolly Rancher of the day in her mouth.

“Sure, just remember to change some of the answers. And do it quick before Mr. Cunningham gets here, okay?” Byul said. Always the booksmart one in her class, she was often target for homework vultures.

“Thanksies~” Suzy took the stack of notebooks from Byul. Byul was engrossed in the latest Harry Potter book and didn’t bother looking up. Suzy opened the notebook on top. Except that one wasn’t pre-algebra; it was Byul’s writing notebook, filled with the Naruto x Sasuke fan fiction she was close to finishing up. Suzy flipped through the pages, first with confusion but soon enough, in derision.

“LOL. Anne! Come here, look at this.” Suzy called over her BFF.

“What? What?” Anne came running in excitement from the other end of the classroom, clocking the derisive joy in Suzy’s face.

“Look at this,” Suzy pointed to a random page, and Suzy and Anne were both silent for a moment, reading. Then they giggled. Their giggles grew louder and louder. By the time Byul noticed something was off, Suzy cleared her throat and stood up tall with Byul’s fan fiction in hand.

“’It was a dark and stormy night…Naruto’s fingertip brushed Sasuke’s lips.’” Suzy opened her eyes halfway all sultry, reading at the top of her lungs.

“Wait, what? Suzy!” Byul stood up in shock.

“’Naruto, you can’t do this. You’re the hokage’s son and I’m just a rogue ninja.’” The whole classroom’s attention had shifted to her at this point.

“Give that back!” Byul tried to snatch the notebook from Suzy’s hand, but Suzy had crawled up the desk and held the notebook out of Byul’s reach.

“’I don’t care about that, I just want your lips on mine!’” Suzy yelled out, practically in tears laughing.

“Suzy!” Byul climbed onto the desk too, but Suzy threw the notebook to Anne.

“Ew!” Anne dodged, letting the notebook fall to the ground. “That’s disgusting! I don’t want this touching me!” She laughed.

“Hey, I’m the one who had to read it out loud! Now my mouth’s all dirty!” Suzy laughed too.

“You’re so weird. Are you one of those, what’s it called, weebs?” Anne said, kicking the notebook across the floor.

“Seriously, this is gross!” Suzy gagged, then giggled. The other classmates started laughing along. Still standing on top of the desk, she looked around the class, all laughing at her. She felt her knees giving out. She slumped down onto the desk with face glowing bright red, helplessly feeling everyone’s derisive eyes on her. The whole classroom was eventually roaring in mean-hearted laughter until Mr. Cunningham came in and quieted down the class.

* * *

Byul would never make that mistake again. She pulled up Instagram. Her account, @im_byuristar, boasted 83k followers. Sure, she was no huge influencer in Los Angeles standards; she was just popular enough to be recognized once every so often in K-Town or Chinatown within the East Asian community she was influential in, and that’s the way she wanted to be in real life. No one can know she’s a VTuber, is a weeb, or even likes to watch anime. She has to be the perfect, beautiful, smart, bookish LA influencer who was the go-to for dark academia fashion, newest einspänner coffee destination, and award-winning book recommendation. It may be a double life, but who didn’t wear a mask or two these days?

She thought about switching to TikTok but locked the phone instead. These apps were getting boring.

Besides, it was time for her date. She stood up and opened her bedroom door.

There he was. The love of her life.

He was impatiently waiting outside her bedroom, sitting on the floor no less. His eyes lit up at the sound of her door creaking open, signaling an end to his seemingly endless waiting. He hurriedly stood up. The sight of him drew out a natural smile from her. With gentle eyes and an even gentler voice, she lulled out.

“Come here, pet.”

To be continued…