Chapter 3: The Debut of Stepan Chizaki

Chahuayuan and her agency had crafted a virtual persona for Chajingyuan named “Stepan Chizaki.”

It was a petite, maid-costumed loli with heterochromatic eyes, silver hair tied in twin pigtails, and donning a polar bear hood, strikingly similar in appearance to Chajingyuan herself.

This image provoked an immediate, exasperated retort from Chajingyuan.

“Must they insist on a polar bear motif simply because she’s of Russian descent? Isn’t that a touch too stereotypical?

And the combination of white hair and a white hood is an absolute disaster! The streak of vibrant color added to the bangs, evidently to avoid a bland palette, clashes terribly…”

“Stop your incessant grumbling! We’re merely a moderately sized, rather small club; where would we possibly conjure such sophisticated design prowess?

At least the artistry is quite commendable, isn’t it? Look, look! These modest breasts, though merely a B-cup, are rendered with such lifelike vivacity. How adorable!”

“Uh.”

Chajingyuan was poised to launch into further critique, but as her gaze drifted downwards, settling on herself, she noted that the contours beneath her loose-fitting pajamas were surprisingly comparable to the virtual rendition, perhaps even a touch more defined than her own.

After a brief contemplation, she conceded, ‘Yes, the drawing is quite good,’ and decided it best to steer the conversation away from that particular subject.

Upon connecting the video call, the person on the other end of the line was a girl with short, pink hair, who introduced herself as Xiaomai. Her full online handle was “Maiye Chaji.”

Her face was a soft, round canvas, framed by crescent-moon eyes, and she exuded an almost saccharine sweetness.

Yet, the moment she spoke, what reached their ears was a voice that was… well, incredibly resonant and full-bodied, as though she had two glutinous rice balls pressed beneath her tongue.

It was utterly disarming.

When Chahuayuan adjusted the camera, transmitting Chajingyuan’s delicate features, Xiaomai’s subsequent reaction proved even more difficult to process without a complete breakdown of composure.

“Wow… so cute!”

“Ahaha, not really…”

“Absolutely adorable! So soft, so endearing! Her eyes are so large, her skin so fair, and her shoulders… so fragrant! She’s utterly charming!

No, ‘charming’ doesn’t even begin to cover it! She just makes you want to gently caress and embrace her, stirs up all sorts of… improper thoughts, a desire to do all manner of things!

A-Yuan, where on earth did you unearth such an incredibly adorable girl?”

“…”

“My primal desires are stirring, my phantom limb is throbbing with… desire! I’m going to shebao!—I’ve already shebao!!”

“Guh…”

This outburst of aggressive delirium instantly brought to Chajingyuan’s mind a notorious, ‘real-life’ heavy-set streamer, often likened to a fire hydrant.

Indeed, if one were to disregard Xiaomai’s undeniably sweet face and focus solely on that rich, deep voice, the resemblance was uncanny, almost identical.

Could it be the original? It must be the original.

If her memory served correctly, that portly streamer was known as Brother Tian. In this very moment, Chajingyuan found herself internally dubbing Maiye Chaji ‘Mother Tian.’

Chahuayuan, standing nearby, cleared her throat with a distinct ‘ahem, ahem,’ finally managing to halt Xiaomai’s fervent outburst and bringing her back to a semblance of sobriety.

“Mhm, let’s cut the pleasantries then and get straight to business. We’ve already discussed the previous materials and character settings with you, Xiaosaki, so I presume there are no objections?

Do you have any fresh inspirations or creative ideas to share?”

“Uh, uh-uh, not at the moment.”

“Mhm, in that case, based on the data we’ve gathered from the teaser trailer over the past few days, I’ll share our analysis with both you and A-Yuan.”

“Mhm, Xiaomai, please begin.” “Alright… alright, go ahead.”

“…………”

“…………”

However… while their initial impression had been nothing short of perfect, as the conversation delved deeper, the atmosphere began to subtly deflate.

After all, Chajingyuan had entirely severed her social ties for a solid nine months.

Regarding her condition, she had received a formal diagnosis a year prior; yet, even before that official confirmation, Chajingyuan had been in a state of semi-isolation, having almost entirely ceased face-to-face communication with anyone for a full two years.

While she could still, albeit barely, manage to speak, when it came to the specifics of ‘how to engage in conversation’—the subtle art of communication, the techniques, analyses, and intricacies of interacting with a broader audience—Chajingyuan found herself utterly out of her depth.

Concerning the content Xiaomai meticulously outlined, Chajingyuan could mostly only manage a series of ‘mhm’s and ‘uh-huh’s, finding herself utterly unable to interject any meaningful commentary.

From Xiaomai and Chahuayuan’s comprehensive introduction, she could broadly deduce the following points:

The agency behind Chahuayuan and Xiaomai was named “Cyber-Official,” and prior to the official launch of tomorrow’s project, there were only two streamers in total, including Xiaomai herself.

The virtual persona, “Stepan Chizaki,” was conceptualized as a Japanese-Russian hybrid; however, Cyber’s operational philosophy was rather flexible, not overly rigid about adhering to character lore.

In essence, there was no need for meticulous role-playing; merely keeping the core concept in mind and occasionally weaving in relevant memes to inject humor into the stream would suffice.

As per the previously agreed-upon character profile, Chajingyuan’s portrayal would encompass traits such as social awkwardness, exceptional mathematical ability, a pedantic nature, poor grammar, and a slightly naive, endearing charm.

“Mhm, judging by the feedback in the teaser’s comment section, it appears that audiences are most captivated by the ‘poor grammar’ and ‘endearingly naive’ aspects of the character.

Therefore, Xiaosaki, when responding to comments, you might consider subtly slowing your mental processing speed a touch and opportunistically improvising with some clever homophonic puns.

Ah, of course, there are also a handful of viewers keenly interested in the ‘excellent at math’ aspect, with comments like ‘Streamer, please help me with advanced calculus,’ ‘Streamer, help me ace complex analysis,’ or ‘Streamer, solve the Riemann Hypothesis for me.’

However, we won’t be pursuing that particular project anytime soon…”

“Uh, uh-uh, my mental processing speed??”

“It’s merely a figure of speech. For instance, when viewers pose a question, you might first respond with a soft ‘Mmm-hm?’ to convey a touch of charm.

When they use slang or jargon, even if you understand it, don’t immediately interpret its actual meaning. Instead, take it literally and play along with the misunderstanding.

For example… if a bullet comment says, ‘My ‘niu niu’ is about to explode!’ you could innocently ask the viewer if they live in Inner Mongolia and why they’re raising cattle.”

“Uh, so, playing along with a misunderstanding and then asking about cattle… this convoluted, intentionally mismatched conversational tactic…”

“Mhm…”

A hint of perplexity clouded Xiaomai’s features.

“I can’t help but feel that Xiaosaki’s Chinese is a tad… less than fluent. Could she genuinely be a Russian girl?”

“A-heh, I’ve told you countless times already, but you simply refuse to believe it! I g—*cough cough cough*! Xiaosaki truly does possess Slavic heritage!”

Chahuayuan quickly intervened, deftly smoothing over the awkwardness.

Xiaomai’s eyes instantly widened in astonishment.

“Wow, I never would have imagined… so it’s truly, genuinely real! Doesn’t this make it the legendary ‘skin and soul in one’? How incredibly professional, how utterly cool!”

“However, I personally might not be quite so professional; I’m not particularly adept at complex conversations. My apologies…”

Acutely aware that her conversational pace was lagging, Chajingyuan grimaced, tugging at her bangs, and let out a helpless sigh.

Simultaneously, she mused, ‘For now, I’ll just embrace the identity of a Russian girl; at least it provides a convenient excuse for my social disconnect. Otherwise, this whole situation would be truly mortifying.’

Xiaomai, however, simply waved a dismissive hand. It seemed that upon discovering Chajingyuan’s ‘truth,’ her initial excitement quickly morphed into a remarkable surge of tolerance.

“No worries, no worries at all! If you’re not one for quick retorts, simply listen.

I’ll send you a copy of my analysis and planning document shortly, but do remember: absolute secrecy is paramount! …Hoo hee hee hee hee, a genuine, socially anxious silver-haired girl! She’s utterly adorable, hoo hoo hoo hoo…!”

“…”

“Ahem, ahem! In any case, let’s get back to serious matters. As long as we stick to the plan, there shouldn’t be any major issues.

Besides, we’re a small agency, so we won’t have hundreds of concurrent viewers in the initial stages. You can afford to relax a little about the pressure.”

“Mhm, mhm… mhm-mhm…”

“Now then, allow me to outline our debut streaming schedule for tomorrow—”