: Yeah. These are not real human beings
: butterfly in the sky, vtubers go twice as high
: "commentator"
: I didn't know Awa-chan could sound so lewd
: yeah and it's pissing me off for some reason
But as I continued to whisper away and the impulsiveness of the moment faded away to rational thinking, a realization dawned on me:
Jesus Christ, isn’t this incredibly freaking embarrassing?
Feeling the heat of shame creeping up, I glanced at Mashiron for help. She caught my eye for just a second before a wicked grin spread across her face. “Hm? What’s wrong, Awa-chan? Want to quit already? But if you stop now, Chami-chan’s going to lose.”
Son of a... She set me up! This is payback for earlier, isn’t it?!
Grr. Part of me wanted to quit just to spite her, but my prouder side wouldn’t let my efforts go to waste. Damn you, sunk cost fallacy! But fine, Chami-chan’s going to win at this rate anyway—time to step on the gas and finish this!
“Go. ♡ Go! ♡”
“HFF. HFF.” Chami-chan’s breathing intensified.
“Urk! She’s...too...strong!” Hikari-chan let out through gritted teeth.
Just a few more centimeters!
“Go. ♡ Go! ♡”
“HFF. HFF. HFFF!”
“G-Gah! Hikari’s going to...lose?!”
That’s it! We’re there! Victory is almost ours!
“Keep going. ♡ Keep going! ♡”
“I’m gonna... I’m gonna— Aaaaaaaaah! ♡”
“Huh?”
Like a snapped rubber band, Chami-chan’s hand—once mere millimeters from victory—rebounded back to her own cushion, leaving everyone in the room slack-jawed. Besides Chami-chan. She lay there on the table, body gently twitching, eyes rolled back.
“I, uh. Huh?” Mashiro said. “H-Hikari-chan wins? I guess?”
“Huh? Hikari won?”
I was the first to catch on to what had happened. And when I did, I dropped my hands onto Chami-chan’s slumped shoulders...
And I shook her violently.
“Hey! What the hell was that?! You were this close to winning—why did you give up?!”
“I... I couldn’t... It wasn’t my fault, okay? You were sabotaging me, whispering such lewd things into my ear!”
“I was trying to help you, you dolt! Give me back my dignity! Give it baaaack!”
: LUH MUH FAOOOO ￥10,000
: And I ask again: What am I even watching?
: Chami-chan went all right
: What happened was undoubtedly lewd and yet here I am, absolutely not turned on
: every time it happens they play the lewd off for laughs...
: Waiting on that Awayuki "support" voice pack if you know what I mean
: Still waiting on the continuation to the panties thing...
: yall are precious getting this excited over arm wrestling
The first challenge...was over. The final standings were Hikari-chan in first, Chami-chan in second, me in third, and Mashiron in fourth.
“The second challenge is a competition of flexibility—limbo!”
Mashiron’s announcement of the second challenge, as had her first announcement, sent a ripple through us contestants. But this time, rather than surprise, it was more of a confused ripple.
I mean, limbo? Wasn’t that what they did on variety shows, what with the bar, and the bending backward, and the “how low can you go”?
“Staff left us a note here too. They said, ‘Please be careful not to injure yourself. And I mean really be careful.’”
“Oh, well, that’s ominous... I wonder if something happened during their rehearsals. Hope everyone’s back is still intact...” I said.
“But that’s two normal challenges in a row,” Chami-chan said. “I don’t know, something feels off...”
“Oh, oh, oh! Hikari knows what this means! It’s the bar. They must be running a million volts through the limbo bar, and if we touch it, we die!”
“Ah, I see, I see,” I murmured in agreement.
“I suppose death is a form of injury,” Chami-chan muttered. “Better heed their warning and be careful, then.”
“You guys think so?” Mashiron asked. “Oh, wait. The staff are fervently shaking their heads right now. I think that means no.”
: why did they immediately suspect limbo but let death game slide?
: it's not time to heed their warning, it's time to run. Run and don't look back
: This is a bit. This is a bit, right?
: Faced with a million volts and they're still prepared to go through with it. now that's dedication.
: the brainrot, it's worse than I thought...
: I had a dream that the Japanese era name changed to Live-On last night and a nationwide state of emergency was declared.
Honestly, even if we were restricted in terms of space, I’d half expected management to hit us with a few wild cards. But two normal events in a row? I had a bad feeling about this.
This time around, Hikari-chan tagged in for me to talk with Mashiron and fill time as Chami-chan and I went to help the staff set up.
“Ugh, a flexibility challenge?” Hikari-chan whimpered.
“Oh, what’s this?” Mashiron asked. “Are you not flexible, Hikari-chan?”
“Not as much as Hikari would like...”
“I see, I see... Then I reckon the rest of us have a chance here, don’t we?”
And setup complete! As the staff members moved offstage, I dipped my head to them in thanks and returned to my position.
“Some ground rules,” Mashiron said. “As you all know, to successfully limbo, you must go under the limbo bar with your backs facing the floor. That means you must bend backward, and no part of you other than your feet can touch the floor. We’ll start with the bar at a hundred centimeters and lower it in five-centimeter increments.”
“A hundred centimeters,” I muttered. “Dang, that’s low right off the bat.”
“And none of us have ever limboed before...” Chami-chan added.