RE.Femboy:Reborn as a VTuber

Chapter 108: At Angel’s House [2 ]All Along

Cecilia.

From the very start, this little girl had been the biggest problem I faced in this house.

She knew I was Orochimaru. She’d seen my face. And I doubted her family had anything nice to say about the mysterious Guardian they believed had stolen their potions worth millions.

Her blue eyes were fixed on me, her mouth slightly open.

’She recognized me.’

Of course she had.

I clenched my hands on my knees and closed my eyes. I waited for a little girl’s excited shout to ruin my life.

"Mom, can I have some ice cream?"

"No."

I cracked my eyes open. Cecilia had already looked away from me and gone over to her mother. She gripped the edge of the woman’s apron and tilted her head back.

"But I’m hungry."

"We already talked about this. You don’t get dessert today because you didn’t eat your vegetables."

"But ice cream isn’t a meal."

"It’s dessert."

Cecilia thought for a few seconds.

"Then just a little—"

"How about introducing yourself to our guest first?"

The woman tilted her chin slightly toward me.

The little girl looked at me again. There was no trace of her earlier surprise. A small smile appeared on her lips as she walked over.

Then she stopped in front of me and looked up.

"Hello, Mr. Stranger I Definitely Don’t Know."

"..."

Oi.

Couldn’t you have made that sound a little more suspicious?

"Uh... Yes. Hello, little one."

My voice came out more strained than I’d expected.

Her mother chuckled.

"Ceci, our guest is a girl. You shouldn’t call her ’mister.’"

A drop of cold sweat trickled down my back.

Cecilia frowned. First, she looked at me. Then she turned toward her mother, Yukie, and Cedric, who was standing near the door. As she studied our faces one by one, I tried not to breathe.

Finally, her eyes widened slightly. She turned back to me.

"I’m sorry."

Her voice was sweet.

Then she winked where only I could see.

I slowly let out the breath I’d been holding.

This little troublemaker is on my side.

At least for now...

Even though I felt relieved, I couldn’t stop watching her. Trying to guess what a child would say a few seconds later was no easier than choosing a path inside an Overlap. Cecilia smiled as though she knew that too.

Just as I was about to say something to her, warm fingers wrapped around my hand. Yukie had come to my side.

"You’ve all had enough time with my friend. That’ll do."

Without waiting for my answer, she pulled me away from the piano.

"Huh?"

"We’re going to my room."

Her mother raised a hand as if to object.

"But we’ve only just met. Just a little longer—"

"You can talk as much as you want at dinner."

"Yukie..."

My angel didn’t stop.

While I turned toward the woman and tried to give her an apologetic smile, Cecilia followed us.

"I’m coming too!"

"No."

"Why?"

"Because we’re going to talk."

"I can talk too."

"I know. That’s why you’re not coming."

Cecilia stopped where she was.

Then she turned toward her mother and raised her voice.

"Mom! Big Sis Yukie doesn’t love me!"

I heard the complaint behind us, but Yukie didn’t even slow down. She tightened her grip on my hand and continued along the hallway.

Getting away from Cecilia should have been a relief.

But I couldn’t see my angel’s face.

And it felt as though I had no say in where I was being taken.

I just hoped the next problem would be smaller.

---

When I entered Yukie’s room, I forgot why I was here for a few seconds. The room looked much more familiar than I’d expected.

Anime figures lined the shelves. Small notes and stickers sat beside several posters on the walls. The pale computer case on the desk matched the keyboard and headset. A small decoration attached to the edge of the monitor, a soft cushion in front of the desk, and the cute pillows on the bed completed the picture.

As my eyes wandered over the figures, the corners of my lips lifted slightly. My room had looked like this too.

At least before Ron’s visit.

I stepped closer to one of the figures on the desk. When I noticed the box behind it, I raised my eyebrows.

I’d wanted to buy this one too...

Click.

I froze at the sound of the door locking and turned my head.

Yukie stood in front of the door. The expression she’d worn while talking to her mother was gone. Her blue eyes were fixed on me as she watched in silence.

I swallowed without meaning to.

"Well..."

She started walking toward me.

One step.

Then another.

I wanted to back away, but I thought that would make me look guilty. So I stayed where I was. It didn’t help much, since I already felt guilty.

When Yukie stopped in front of me, there was almost no space between us. Her head was tilted slightly upward, and I could feel her eyes on me even when I looked away.

"Is there something you want to tell me?"

My heart sped up.

"L-like what?"

She didn’t answer for a few seconds.

Then she placed her index finger against my chest and slowly slid it across my shirt.

"You know what I mean..."

Her lips curved slightly.

"Great Noctis."

I closed my eyes.

Okay. Here it was.

On the way, at the patisserie, in front of this house... No matter how long I delayed it, we were going to have this conversation eventually.

"I’m sorry."

Yukie stayed silent, so I continued.

"I should’ve told you I was a VTuber. I could’ve explained when I saw you at the competition too, but... I didn’t know how to say it."

The words came faster as I spoke.

"I didn’t want people I knew to find out I was a VTuber. The cosplay competition was Eris’s idea too. She forced me to enter. I didn’t want to at first, but then..."

Then I’d enjoyed myself.

I’d gotten caught up in the preparations, taken the stage, and forgotten everything.

"I thought I could keep all of it separate. My streams, the competition... I could keep going without anyone finding out who I was."

I felt her finger leave my chest.

I opened my eyes.

"But I got a little carried away onstage. All those people were applauding, so I started talking, and things..."

I helplessly waved a hand.

"Well, you saw how that turned out."

Yukie’s lips were pressed together. I couldn’t read her expression.

I took a deep breath.

"There’s something else I haven’t told you. I’m actually—"

"Pfft..."

I stopped.

Yukie covered her mouth. Her shoulders were shaking.

After trying to hold it in for a few seconds, she lowered her head and burst out laughing. I stared blankly at her.

"Hahaha... I’m sorry..."

"What?"

"Your face..."

She wiped the corner of her eye with a finger. When she looked at me and started laughing again, I frowned.

"Okay, okay..."

She caught her breath and straightened up.

She wore that beautiful smile I’d seen when we met in the park.

"I was joking."

"..."

"Actually, I’m the one who should apologize."

I stared at her for several seconds.

Then I tilted my head slightly.

Yukie clasped her hands behind her back.

"I’ve known you were the Great Noctis all along."

For a moment, it felt as though every sound in the room had stopped.

"What?"

"Why are you so surprised?"

"What do you mean, all along...?"

"Since the day we met in the park."

My lips parted, but nothing came out.

Yukie studied my face and tilted her head a little.

"You look almost exactly like your streaming avatar. Of course, I wasn’t sure when I first saw you. But why do you think I came over?"

I remembered that morning. The way she’d approached me after my run, her voice, her smile...

I’d thought it was one of the luckiest encounters of my life.

"I thought it might be you," she continued. "The way you talk, your reactions... The more I got to know you, the more certain I became."

I ran a hand through my hair.

"So when you asked for a photo at the competition..."

"Yes."

"And when you told me you were Caramel..."

The corners of her lips lifted. Then she looked at my face, and her smile grew a little smaller.

"Are you mad at me?"

She tilted her head and looked at me with innocent eyes. A few minutes ago, I would’ve been certain I couldn’t resist that look.

Now, all I could think about were the days I’d spent worrying about what to say to her.

Waiting by my phone... Writing messages and deleting them... Thinking I’d lost her...

"Have you been toying with me this whole time?"

Yukie’s expression changed.

"Hey! You’re making me sound like a bad person!"

"It’s not looking great for you right now."

"At first, I was just curious," she said, her voice more serious this time. "Then I started enjoying our time together. Meeting in the mornings, going on runs..."

She hesitated.

"Our friendship is real. Do you understand?"

I looked away from her face and sat on the edge of the bed, folding my arms across my chest. Yukie remained standing in front of me.

"You could’ve told me."

"So could you."

I raised my head and looked at her.

She immediately pressed her lips together.

"Okay. I won’t use that as an excuse."

Normally, I would’ve laughed.

I didn’t.

At least not right away.

The worry I’d been carrying in my chest for days was slowly fading, but I didn’t know what to replace it with. All the explanations I’d prepared for her had been pointless.

I’d thought she hated me. Meanwhile, she was standing in front of me, joking around.

Part of me wanted to relax. Another part wanted to watch that guilty smile on her face a little longer.

Wait.

I looked away from her.

A moment ago, I’d been the one apologizing. Now she was the one trying to earn my forgiveness.

She knew what she’d done. And she’d said herself that she valued our friendship.

I could probably use this to my advantage.

I might not get a better chance to tell her I was a man.

If I explained now, at least we’d both have been hiding something. I wouldn’t be the only one at fault.

This was it. My one chance.

I unfolded my arms and took a breath.

"Yukie, I—"

Just then, my eyes caught on the small frame beside the bed. The words stayed on the tip of my tongue.

It was a family photo.

There was nothing strange about that. Eris had family photos in her room too. Even I’d kept a few in my old life.

But I couldn’t look away from it.

I saw Yukie. Cedric, her mother, and Cecilia stood beside her.

And there was another man.

The hair caught my attention first.

Yukie’s hair was white. So was Cedric’s.

I blinked and leaned a little closer to the frame. I thought it might be the lighting in the photo, but their mother’s brown hair looked perfectly normal.

I looked at Yukie. Her blond hair fell over her shoulders.

Then I looked back at the photo.

My eyes moved from the siblings’ white hair to the man’s face and stopped there.

I knew him.

I knew that face very well.

I’d seen it on the news. It was in Noctis’s memories too. It would probably be hard to find anyone in this world who hadn’t seen that face at least once.

My mouth fell slightly open.

No.

I leaned closer to the frame. I wasn’t seeing things.

The man standing in the same photo as Yukie’s family...

This man...

The Ice King!