Prologue V : Cutest Farewell

The sudden change in tone and having stopped the dungeon raid had alarmed many viewers, some old viewers have never seen him this serious before, already speculating what the announcement was about. He informed everyone to inform every fan they knew, whether it was through social media or real life, though this only made them more worried, they faithfully did as he said.

His Vtuber model had reverted to his oldest model, the one he first used when he debuted. Though he used it occasionally for nostalgia, this time he's using it for the last time, looking back at the friends and memories he's made as a Vtuber.

As someone who never revealed personal information about himself to his viewers or even the Vtuber friends he's made, he's always been really distant compared to other Vtubers, having never revealed his face or voice to anyone, no one had any information about his real identity due to his thin online presence before becoming a Vtuber.

The only thing that revealed his true self were the times in the past when he acted his age and gender habitually, having turned that from a mistake to a quirk of his that everyone enjoyed. Though it caused a bit of a controversy about his real identity being male and losing him a lot of fans at the time.

Those who stuck around loyally without caring about his true gender built the foundation of his career and now he was literally the oldest Vtuber still currently active and not having the person behind him replaced or changed, it had been 23 years since he had started Vtubbing and today was his final day.

Shaking himself out of his reverie, he looked down at the viewer count, and while having expected it slightly, he was still shocked to see over 900,000 viewers currently watching. It had only been 15 minutes since he'd asked everyone to spread the message, the viewer count still increasing until it finally hit a million viewers.

He was relieved he'd turned off the donation function on his stream, no longer having a use for money in this world. He wouldn't have accepted donations even if he was graduating normally, not wanting to exploit his fans.

"Hey everyone, thank you all for coming, I rather not leave you all in suspense about my announcement and so I'll just say it out outright. I'm graduating today." His voice trembled while saying that line, in slight disbelief that something he's done for nearly half his life would end so suddenly.

He felt guilty at having forgotten his fans and his Vtuber friends, being so eager to another world without even thinking about them. His once unrealistic dream had come true, and it was enough to overwhelm him and make him forget about his old world and the connections he's made.

His fans were shocked as expected, this announcement coming from out of nowhere. Ironically, despite being the oldest Vtuber ever active, information about him was very scarce, as he still kept up an act in front of other Vtubers regardless of fan presence. He had never revealed his voice or met any other Vtubers in person, only having given them his information on an online chatting app.

Messages zoomed across one of his monitors a mixture of confusion, grief, denial and a whole slew of other negative emotions could be felt from every message.

"I know this came out of left field, I didn't even get time to prepare for it." It is uncommon for Vtubers to officially graduate without prior notice, most of them having their graduation notice announced way before their actual graduation with the time in-between being a sort of acceptance and farewell period for fans and viewers.

"I was suddenly whisked away in the middle of the recent gaming stream and was offered a chance by some otherworldly being to go to another world and be granted powers...I'm sorry everyone but I couldn't say no..." The guilt was visible on his face and on his Vtuber model as well, he was genuinely guilty about his decision and the fact that he didn't change it despite knowing he was a massive pillar of support for a lot of his viewers and fans.

The otherworldly being stated that he could do anything for these 24hrs and would still be sent to the otherworld, confirming now that sharing what he experienced allowed as well. He knew they wouldn't forget to tell players such an important rule.

He didn't hesitate to share the actual reason behind his graduation despite the absurdity of it as he was well known to always be in character and never talked about his actual life, his fans would either play along or make relations to reality if possible, some of them probably thinking he had gotten a once in a lifetime job opportunity he couldn't reject.

It was ironic that such an unbelievable statement was the only thing that was true and was actually directly related to his actual life, he wanted to share his life to his fans for the first and last time, regardless of if they believed him or not.

While the tone of his chat had not totally shifted, still being quite negative about his graduation, there were some who had suddenly flipped their tones, being supportive and happy for him, even playing along with his 'act'.

He changed the chatbox in his view to only show a certain group of fans, his most loyal fans who's been consistently watching him for at least 5 years and was part of his paid channel membership, they all had colourful borders that differentiated them from normal viewers and normal channel members.

There were over a thousand loyal fans who were dedicated enough to have been part of his membership for over 5 years. They were so loyal that only a hundred or so were currently unavailable and not watching his stream.

Unlike the normal chat that was a mix of emotions and messages, all of his loyal members were sending out messages of support and approval, though the messages were mixed with some sadness at him graduating, all of them were able to tell that his next stage in life was something very positive.

"Thankfully, the otherworldly being allowed me to stay for another 24hrs and say my goodbyes, so I'll be doing a non-stop stream for the next 23hrs! We'll be playing nostalgic games, reminiscing on big events from my Vtuber career and a load of other fun stuff! I won't ask you to stay around the whole time but I hope you'll stay as long as possible! I won't delay, so let's start my final stream!"

With that, for the next 23hrs, he had gone through as much of his Vtuber life as possible, from playing multiple nostalgic games in his career to multiple separate Karaokes singing many of his original songs and well-known song covers, he had several different Vtuber models that covered different personas and they each had several costumes, having to constantly change his personality every so often was tiring but would also be the last time he'd be doing it.

The stream had not dropped in views over the hours but instead had steadily increased as the news of his sudden graduation was shared all over the internet, having jumped from one million to over three million concurrent viewers. He had also gotten multiple calls from several of his Vtuber acquaintances and friends on his chatting app, they all showed a variety of reactions to his graduation.

There were those who cried from immense sadness, those who were angry at his poorly planned graduation and those who wished him the best of luck in the future, a lot of them were extremely hesitant at ending the call, knowing that would be the final time they would be able to say their goodbyes, none of them having met him in person, but they all eventually did if only to allow others to call him and say their goodbyes.

There was only less than five minutes left until he would be whisked away to another world, he was currently finishing his impromptu concert in his room using his virtual reality equipment, as there was no way he had time to book his usual venue for a proper concert with proper equipment.

His room was quite empty in the middle as he frequently played VR games and did 3D streams. After finishing up his last song, he addressed the three million viewers in his chat, from his fans to those wanting to be part of this historical moment for Vtubers.

"Hello everyone, I'll be going to the other world very soon and wanted to speak to you all one last time, from my fans to my friends in the Vtuber community, to everyone else currently watching, I hope I'll be able to meet you again someday and hope you continue having fun and joyful experiences even without me. Farewell everyone, the cutest Vtuber in the world signing out!"

With that, he ended the stream, looking around his room one last time, he closed his eyes waiting for his transference to his new world.

Not long after, a family's home had its final member leave this world.

---

12:32 PM

A young man in his early twenties stared at the time displayed on his holo-watch, he was visibly nervous and fidgety, his eyebrows scrunched up in worry and his fists were clenched tightly.

"Staring at the time wouldn't do you any good kid, you'll just get yourself all worked up." An artificial voice sounding like a middle-aged man sounded out throughout the hover-taxi, making the young man jump in his seat.

"Y-you're the taxi's AI, aren't you? Judging by your advice and you knowing my destination, I'm guessing you know what I'm nervous about huh?" The young man had been a bit surprised as he'd never seen the taxi's AI speak to you without you first addressing them unless it was something important. He'd spoken to a few taxi AI's before just to pass time and curiosity about their social proficiency, but it was the first time one had started a conversation by itself.

"It's as clear as crystal, we AI are programmed to recognize signs of stress or discomfort in our customers and would speak to them to attempt some form of comfort or give advice. It's shown to be very effective."

"You have children, sir?" He asked jokingly, thinking the AI sounded just like an experienced father, though he would take any advice he could get.

"Just the one, but the amount of trouble he gave me is comparable to a dozen children, that's for sure." The AI replied nostalgically, giving a short chuckle.

"I remember when I was around your age, I rushed to the hospital without giving myself any time to cool down, making the nurse in charge of my wife forcefully lead me out of her room, saying that my panicked and excitable mood would only negatively affect my wife and the birth." The AI said bitterly like it had actually gone through that situation.

The young man should have expected to receive such an answer, knowing these taxi AI had different personas mimicking archetypes of real people, along with memories and life experiences they would share when conversing with customers.

He was unsure if these were personas and memories of real people or just faked, but they were enough to be believable. He was already much calmer than just a few moments ago, thankful for the person who had implemented such a feature into the taxi AIs.

"Take my small bit of advice and cool down with some tunes, you'll be there much earlier than I was, any requests?"

"That's alright, I like what's playing anyways." He smiled thankfully, knowing that the AI could see it. He decided to take their advice, leaning back into the seat, crossing his arms and closing his eyes to enjoy the soothing music playing.

The taxi arrived at a hospital half an hour later, stopping at the entrance. The young man woke up from his short nap re-energized, quickly exiting the taxi after thanking the taxi AI for the advice, and briskly walked into the hospital.

Though he was still rushing, he was much calmer and relaxed after getting his thoughts sorted with the nap he had taken, after checking in at the counter he made haste to his wife's room and calmed his nerves on the way, not wanting to take the risk of kicked out of the room from being too frantic.

Approaching the room, he saw his wife's manager sitting outside with her usual blank expression, only nodding to him in acknowledgement. Knowing that no words needed to be spoken as he nodded back before facing the door.

With three heavy knocks on the door, it was shortly answered by a female nurse and the agonizing screams that only sounded a bit like the love of his life. He flinched upon hearing the harrowing wails mostly due to them suddenly streaming out of the soundproof room.

"Mr Lanixer I presume? Please come in, and make sure to keep calm and collected as the birth takes place, she's only two hours into labour so expect the next few hours to be the most tiring ones in your life" The nurse quickly said before she turned back to continue her duties.

He quickly entered the room and closed the door behind him, going to his wife's side, softly calling out her name as she continued to scream from the pain, placing a hand on her cheek and the other holding her hand.

"Paela? I'm here, I'm here now honey..." He called out to her gently, whispering into her ear so he wouldn't have to shout through her screams.

"Ae-Aereon? Y-you're here...thank the heav-Hnggg AAHHHH!!!" Paela weakly responded when she heard the voice of her loved one, giving a small strained smile as she attempted to hold back her screams.

"I'm here now so there's nothing to worry about, don't force yourself to talk to me and just let it all out, I'm not going anywhere." He reassured her with a warm tone, making Paela relax a little before she returned to screaming at full volume.

The next few hours, as the nurse had said, truly were the most exhausting hours he had experienced in his life.