Chapter 22: I’m quite happy.

“Look at all these ‘account boosting’ accusations flooding the screen.”

Sitting in front of the microphone, Orange Quiet Forest didn’t get angry.

“Oh my, aaah, getting accused of account boosting, huh?”

She raised an eyebrow and immediately paused the MV’s ending that was playing, cutting off the background music completely.

The live stream fell silent, leaving only the faint hum of the microphone’s static.

Orange Quiet Forest lazily sat up straight, discarding her usual slouchy posture.

She closed her deep, beautiful black eyes slightly, took a deep breath, and brought her lips close to the condenser microphone.

No accompaniment.

No post-production reverb.

Orange Quiet Forest simply sang the most difficult part of the chorus a cappella.

The girl’s clear, transparent voice, stripped of any cover, was transmitted raw through the network to everyone’s eardrums.

Although without the studio polish, you could clearly hear her tiny breaths between phrases, and the tail notes weren’t as flawless as the tuned version…

But!

That unique timbre, that effortless transition between chest and head voice, and that emotion that seemed to carry its own story—

All of it proved without reservation that it was really her.

The raw, unpolished a cappella struck the heart even harder than the refined MV.

The song ended.

Orange Quiet凛 slowly opened her eyes, the corner of her mouth curling into a smile that was three parts smug, seven parts lazy.

The white-haired girl in a wheelchair at the bottom right of the screen followed with a wink, one eye closed.

“Hehe, don’t underestimate me, meow meow~”

“Now do you believe it’s Lily herself singing? I’m pretty amazing, you know.”

The entire live stream erupted.

All the doubts were crushed by that flawless a cappella performance.

Just as the atmosphere reached its peak, with everyone going crazy over the stunning contrast…

A bold-font SC slowly scrolled across the center of the screen.

—So… the streamer isn’t a catgirl, doesn’t have cat ears, yet keeps meowing all the time?

Orange Quiet Forest’s smug grin instantly froze on her face.

The white-haired little fox on screen, which had been proudly winking, had its antenna hair tremble in the quiet air.

Orange Quiet Forest forcefully cleared her throat, tapping her pale fingers on the desk.

The on-screen Fujiriria followed with an angry pose, hands on hips, trying to blunder cutely through.

“That’s not important. Don’t nitpick at a pretty girl.”

—”Pretty girl”?

Hah, put a skin on and nine out of ten are ugly.

Why else wouldn’t you show your face?

—Exactly.

Orange Quiet Forest is definitely ugly.

—Voice actors and looks are usually inversely proportional.

With a voice that good, Orange Quiet Forest must be a total tank in real life.

—Case solved.

The wheelchair is actually to hide her 200-pound body weight.

Right, a few days ago, when the NAMO LIPAR official website released the project teaser, they already openly announced that Fujiriria’s CV was named “Orange Quiet Forest.”

So, everyone in the live stream actually knew the real name behind the skin.

But in a virtual streamer’s live, everyone was willing to maintain the character’s persona and play along.

Orange Berry watched the barrage of “ugly girl,” “200 pounds,” her heart clenched with worry.

‘Please don’t have another meltdown.’

Orange Quiet Forest was like a ticking time bomb in her eyes.

‘Aiya, she can’t handle it.’

She always understood her sister’s good intentions.

‘It was best to let Orange Quiet Forest stay home and play computer. Going to school was just a necessary condition for survival.’

‘Should have just let her be a shut-in at home. Never should have begged her to be an idol.’

‘Now she wants to be one herself.’

‘And because the family is well-off, she has a safety net. She’s being an idol without any worries.’

‘Going crazy.’

‘Aiya, yikes.’

However—

Sitting in front of the microphone, Orange Quiet Forest showed no sign of anger.

In fact, her deep, beautiful black eyes held a glint of excitement.

She rested her cheek on one hand, watching the barrage of insults about her looks, the corner of her mouth twitching upward.

Maybe it was because she’d been stared at too much since childhood, always being called pretty.

Orange Peach even worried daily that she’d get kidnapped by a talent scout or some creepy uncle while walking down the street.

So the word “ugly girl” didn’t seem to exist in Orange Quiet Forest’s dictionary.

Being called ugly by thousands of people for the first time…

To her, it was like a billionaire walking down the street being mocked: “You poor thing, can’t even afford a bag of spicy snacks.”

It felt novel, and she didn’t care.

Was this really the first time someone had called her ugly in her life?

Objectively speaking, she was very beautiful.

And back in the day, even though Orange Quiet Forest was from a branch family, she was very influential.

Even envious people didn’t dare call her names.

So really, no one had ever called her ugly.

She knew she was genuinely pretty.

Getting called ugly a few times wouldn’t change the fact.

When these viewers finally saw her debut in person, when she showed her face, they’d immediately change their tune.

Hehe.

Orange Quiet Forest blinked innocently at the microphone, pitched her voice higher, and started playing dumb.

“Huh? What are you guys talking about? What 200 pounds? What tank?”

The white-haired girl on screen tilted her head, her pupils filled with pure stupidity.

“I’m 15-year-old chorus club beauty Fujiriria! Who’s Orange Quiet Forest? Never heard of that kid, meow meow~ Is she a classmate next door?”

Then half the comments exposed her, and half played along with her nonsense.

—Keep pretending!

The official site wrote it!

The other half, deeply familiar with VTuber routines, cooperated and played along.

—That’s right, that’s right!

Our Lily is only 15!

That 200-pound ugly Orange Quiet Forest? We don’t know her!

—Swear to defend Fujiriria’s pretty girl status, meow meow!

Watching the barrage tear itself apart between two styles, Orange Quiet Forest stretched contentedly.

“As the second member of our ‘=π’ group, the next one about to meet everyone—Sheyue Jingzhi—will debut this Friday at 8 PM.”

The comments were instantly stunned by this sudden news.

“And that’s not all~”

Orange Quiet Forest clicked her mouse with precise rhythm, and a short ten-second silent trailer popped up on screen.

In the footage, moonlight rippled on water, interwoven with a girl’s fluttering skirt.

“Jingzhi’s first solo character song MV will also be unlocked during Friday’s live stream! Please be sure to come support Jingzhi, meow meow!”

Having perfectly recited the company’s KPI, Orange Quiet Forest mentally gave herself a big V sign.

She glanced at the bottom right of her computer screen.

“Ah~ Time flies, it’s already this late.”

Orange Quiet Forest made her skin do a ladylike curtsey, though it looked silly since the character had a broken leg.

“That’s all for today’s debut stream! As a growing high school girl, if I don’t sleep now, I’ll be late for morning class tomorrow!”

She waved at the camera.

“Everyone, get some rest too. Good night, meow meow~ See you next time in the abandoned music room!”

Amidst the sudden farewells, Orange Quiet Forest pressed the “End Stream” button.

In the last second before the screen went black, one final wave of comments scrolled through.

—??? Just dipping like that?!

—Wait, isn’t she a funny girl who broke her leg from messing around, stuck in a wheelchair?

And she actually remembers her high school girl setting about going to class tomorrow?