The Villainess VTuber Tears People Apart

“Ah, fine! I give up, so stop it…!”

The fake Sora, who had been getting hit relentlessly, cried out in a tearful voice.

Of course, that wouldn’t work.

Earning sympathy from the enemy and aiming for an opening is such a traditional cliché, isn’t it?

So even though it was making a pitiful voice now, the contents were nothing short of a monster, not a human. It was impossible to predict what schemes it might have and dangerous to let my guard down.

I didn’t stop hitting it.

“I’ll give you the key! I said I’ll give you the key! I’m really sorry!!!”

-Clink

A key fell to the floor, and the fake Sora, who had been acting like a punching bag just moments ago, disappeared.

To be precise, it escaped from under me and was now fleeing far away.

“How can you just beat someone up the moment you see them…? I just wanted to become real friends… Next time, I won’t forgive you…!”

Sob sob.

The monster wiped its tears with Sora’s face.

Looking somehow wounded, the monster immediately jumped out of the window.

When I peeked out the window to chase after it, there was nothing to be seen.

Did it escape?

I couldn’t finish off the monster, huh.

“Nothing I can do about it.”

With no other choice, I picked up the key that the monster had dropped.

By the way, where does this key go?

If I had someone like Sora, Shina, Son Narin, or Anna around to help search the school building thoroughly, they could’ve figured out the purpose of the key.

Unfortunately, I was alone right now. Even as a noblewoman, I had to run around myself to find out where to use the key. Such a tragic story.

‘I should’ve tried to sweet-talk the monster.’

I should’ve treated it more kindly. This school was so vast at first glance that it seemed like it would take a lot of time just to walk around.

Reluctantly, I began walking quickly around the school.

Thankfully, it didn’t take as long as I thought.

As soon as I went down to the first floor, I encountered a door with a keyhole.

I inserted the key I was holding.

【Congratulations.】

【You have successfully escaped.】

***

“Oh, Miss Aurora.”

Clap clap clap.

The scenery changed, and applause echoed from somewhere.

Before I knew it, I was in the auditorium.

It was the same auditorium where the collaboration had first started.

And on the platform stood Kaiser, the host of this collaboration, clapping at me.

“Congratulations on escaping. You did an amazing job.”

“Thanks for the compliment.”

I smiled faintly.

Looking around, there was no one else except Kaiser and me.

Judging by the absence of others, it seemed that I was the first to escape.

“Figuring out the monster’s true identity right away was impressive. Did you expect from the start that the monster would show up disguised like that?”

Kaiser asked.

When the collaboration first started, he had used a very formal tone, but now he was speaking casually.

This was probably Kaiser’s real self.

The formal tone earlier must have been for the sake of hosting the collaboration.

But now that no one else was around, he seemed to deliberately relax.

“Once I was separated from the others, I had a feeling. It’s a cliché in horror movies, isn’t it? The moment you’re isolated, something appears.”

“That’s true. By the way, why not drop the formal tone? I find it more comfortable if we speak casually.”

“No, how could I? It’s not appropriate to speak casually to a ‘senior’ in the VTuber industry like you. I’m still a rookie.”

“…I wish you’d stop calling me ‘senior.’ Hearing that feels weird.”

Kaiser made a slightly confused expression.

“Since we can’t proceed with the broadcast until everyone gathers, you might as well sit and rest. I’ll share the screen so you can watch the others play, and you can turn on the viewer chat now.”

At Kaiser’s suggestion, I immediately started spectating.

On the screen was a ‘fake Aurora’ imitating me, deceiving Sora and Son Narin.

Son Narin couldn’t figure out the fake Aurora’s identity until the end, but Sora managed to uncover the truth.

“This game is more like a Mafia game than an escape room, isn’t it?”

Watching Sora’s stream, I commented.

Kaiser, who was providing the commentary, responded,

“Mafia?”

“Oh, in Japan, they call it ‘Werewolf,’ don’t they?”

“You mean ‘Jinroh’? Yeah, this game is closer to Jinroh… or Mafia. It’s not about solving the puzzles in front of you; the key is figuring out who the monster is.”

“As I thought.”

I nodded.

The constant transitions to different spaces whenever passing through a door were probably for that reason.

The game didn’t even have a concept of ‘progress.’

It was all about identifying the monster hidden among those cooperating in the escape room. The moment you did, you could escape immediately.

“…You already escaped?”

Before long, Sora successfully escaped after uncovering the fake Aurora’s identity.

Approaching me cautiously, Sora flinched.

Having just dealt with the fake Aurora, she seemed wary of the ‘real Aurora,’ which was me.

“If you’re that suspicious, why not sit far away from me and calm down?”

“…You really are Laura.”

Sora sighed in relief.

……?

Why was she so reassured after just two sentences?

I didn’t even bother proving I was real. It was too much trouble.

“Since you got here first, you must know what happened to me, right?”

“Yeah. I was watching your stream.”

“Who was that impersonating you? …Was it really a monster?”

“It seemed to be AI.”

“…What?”

Sora looked at me as if to ask if I was serious.

“I was pretty impressed myself. It mimicked my mannerisms quite well.”

However, it became evident quickly that it hadn’t fully read my memories. It was merely imitating convincingly.

I guessed the AI must have learned my speech patterns.

Considering how advanced chat AIs were, capable of near-human linguistic abilities, it wasn’t surprising.

Just like that, it had likely learned my mannerisms and behavior during the escape room, then appeared before Sora based on that.

And that was all there was to it.

When I called out “Sora-ya,” the “fake Sora” didn’t have any particular reaction.

This was proof that it hadn’t read my memories or Sora’s.

“…Technology these days is terrifying.”

Indeed, it is.

Anyway, even after Sora and I successfully escaped, the game continued.

Thanks to her determination and persistent effort, Son Narin managed to escape the party room.

She, along with the other survivors, somehow crossed over to the school. However, awaiting them was yet another gimmick.

The survivors who solved the school’s gimmick simply moved on to the next map.

They couldn’t escape like us.

From the start, the game wasn’t about escaping rooms; that was merely a surface-level objective. The real essence was figuring out “who the monster was.”

Until you identified the monster, you couldn’t stop playing the escape room.

[…Mashina, isn’t she the wolf?]

And it was Rui who first figured out the identity of the “monster.”

Rui’s “Mashina, isn’t she the wolf?” translated into our language would mean, “Mashina, isn’t she the mafia?”

As mentioned briefly earlier during my conversation with Kaiser, the name of the “mafia game” differs slightly depending on the country.

In our country, it’s called the “mafia game,” but in Japan and some other countries, it’s referred to as the “werewolf game.”

Anyway,

From what I observed, Rui was both intelligent and perceptive.

Thanks to this, Rui was the third to escape.

“Alright, now that everyone has escaped, we’ll proceed to announce the results.”

Though some time passed after that, eventually everyone returned, and Kaiser reverted to his formal tone.

“As I mentioned before the game began, in this game, the person who escapes last and the person who collects the fewest betting chips will be penalized. First, here are the escape results.”

【Escape Order】

1. Aurora

2. Ayanokouji Sora

3. Hanabane Rui

4. Asahina Hikari

5. Son Narin

6. Mashina

7. Kazama Izumi

8. Shiroki Anna

“Shiroki Anna is the last place.”

“I have no regrets.”

Anna looked relieved.

“Even though I came in last and will have to face a penalty game, I have no regrets in my life. I have nothing left to hold onto.”

She looked as if she might ascend to the afterlife at any moment.

Maybe it was because she’d been tangled up with Rui and felt satisfied. Though, of course, it wasn’t her own choice to get involved; it was due to the power of AI.

‘Can that even be called an interaction?’

She seemed satisfied, so I didn’t say much, but surely no one would call that a proper interaction. All Anna did was sniff at the back of someone’s neck, wasn’t it?

Anyway, she still managed to feel unsettling.

“The last person to escape, Anna, will now face the penalty game. Anna, are you prepared?”

“Whatever the penalty, it doesn’t matter. I’m truly happy right now.”

“Even if it’s a horror game?”

“…I’m sorry. I didn’t think this through. I’ll reflect! Please don’t shatter this happiness! Please don’t make me unhappy…!”

-Lol, she’s desperate 😂

-You’re living the dream these days, huh?

-Let’s go horror game! Let’s go horror game!

-Serves you right for acting cocky lol

-Time to set things straight with a proper horror game

Viewers laughed at the desperate Anna, and so did the other collaboration participants.

“And now, let’s announce the betting results.

Players who bet on Laura, who took first place, will get 6x their chips. Those who bet on Sora, the second place finisher, will get 4x, and those who bet on Rui, the third-place finisher, will get 2x.”

【Betting Chip Totals】

1. Shiroki Anna: 18+4+2 = 24

2. Hanabane Rui: 18+4+0 = 22

3. Ayanokouji Sora: 18+0+2 = 20

3. Son Narin: 18+0+2 = 20

5. Mashina: 18+0+0 = 18

6. Asahina Hikari: 12+0+4 = 16

7. Kazama Izumi: 6+0+6 = 12

8. Aurora: 0+4+6 = 10

……?

What the….