Holofictionary: I Don't Know Anything about VTubers, but I'm Stuck in Holoearth

Chapter One: Comets over an Immaterial World

The idea of being stranded in a world with the person you adore seems wonderful, doesn't it? But let's tweak the scenario a little. Actually, a lot. The person you supposedly adore is apparently not a real person. Rather, you don't even know who this person is. To add onto that, you don't even know where you are, and everything around you is unfamiliar, including the huge bipedal pig that is currently trying its damndest to hunt you down. Now, would that still be an enviable situation? I would disagree, as that is my current situation, running for dear life.

Just hours ago, I was hanging out at my friend Taro's place in Kodaira, Tokyo. We were preparing for Taro's international student dorm's New Year's party. Taro invited me over as my family was back in New York and I didn't have any plans. I offered to bring the mochi and drinks, as I could easily pick them up at the convenience store. Today was supposed to be a day packed with fun, at least for Taro. I was only going to do the bare minimum. It wasn't like I wanted to be here, but I felt too bad to reject his invitation.

"Yo!" Taro quickly opens the door before I even knock, evidently in a jolly mood.

"Hey." I responded. I then take off my boots and let myself into a room that could only be described as a piece of abstract, contemporary art. Musical instruments in one corner, a clay station in the other, and a menagerie of figures from all sorts of game and anime franchises accompanied with the most unnecessarily over-the-top computer desk occupying the other half of Taro's large dorm room.

At the time, I didn't think that Taro's otaku-ness coupled with my carelessness would lead to me being in this situation...

While Taro was preparing the decorations, I took note of his gaming setup, which seemed to gain a new item every time I visited. This time, a light blue box with a triangular logo on it sat preciously at the center of his desk. I'm sure I recognized the logo somewhere. Knowing Taro, it was probably...

"Hey what's this box? Some VTuber goodie?"

Taro looked up and his eyes immediately lit up.

"You've got a good eye! This is the one and only Holoearth Link Box, Hololink for short! I won it in a lottery, it was totally worth lining up for and buying all the premium goods at HoloFes! You won't believe how amazing this is, it lets you connect to Holoearth without needing a VR set! Just link it to your brainlink and you're already there!"

It seems like these days, everybody knows about Holoearth. Doesn't mean everybody cares, though. I've never been a VTuber fan, much less a social network user. I personally didn't care about social media in the first place. It's all smoke and mirrors. People post only what they want people to see and it's no different for these VTubers. There's some random person behind that animated character that nobody knows about. They're not real. I couldn't comprehend how Taro could get attached to such fictitious beings. But to be frank, I couldn't care. I don't butt into other people's hobbies, so in exchange, I would hope they leave me to mine.

What matters to me are my own passions. Perhaps it's because of this nature of mine that I don't have too many friends, I never participated in the class LIME group, never bothered to create an Ninstagram, couldn't care less about chirping about the latest frappuccino from PlanetDoe, much less spend my time watching a fake character stream some game. It's not like I deny other people liking that stuff, I just don't care enough to try and understand. Just looking at Taro, going to every convention and lining up to buy all his favorite VTuber goodies, was incomprehensible enough. It's a wonder how we're even friends.

The brainlink that Taro mentioned was a quantum neuron chip that everybody gets stamped onto their brain shortly after birth. It's responsible for several of our electronic day-to-day functions like acting as our electronic wallet and... well that's only what I think I really use it for.