Chapter 4 : My brother has become strange

I don’t know when it started.

At some point, my older brother stopped coming out of his room, spending most of his time absorbed in something called “VTubers.”

…

What?

How do I know the word “VTuber”?

Hey! Don’t get me wrong!

It’s definitely not because I wanted to talk about the same things as my brother.

I was just curious why that study-obsessed bookworm suddenly shut himself in his room and only used the computer!

Anyway… to be honest, I still don’t really understand what VTubers are.

I don’t particularly want to understand either…

More than anything, it’s honestly creepy.

The people who watch that stuff are all creeps, right?

If you look at the chat logs, they’re all filled with creepy people.

Shortly after my brother got into this, when I was still in elementary school, I tried to watch what he was watching, and I saw someone write something so disgusting in the chat that I still remember it.

At first, I couldn’t believe my brother was obsessed with something like that.

Of course, there are some streamers who are genuinely funny and cute, and even I find them cute, and their chats are clean and pleasant to look at, but there are hardly any streams like that, right?

It was shocking, to say the least, that someone I knew, my own brother, was into something like that.

It was… embarrassing?

It’s not that I have a problem with it, but the thought of my brother watching that and writing those kinds of chats… it just felt wrong, like a visceral reaction.

Still… he’s my family, so I thought it wouldn’t be right to have absolutely no interest in what he does, so I did some research.

Again, I hope you don’t misunderstand. It doesn’t mean I think everyone who streams or watches these videos are weird.

Of course, I don’t understand why people watch them, or why my brother edits them, but as I said, he’s my brother. I thought I had to take care of him, since he’s not good at anything other than studying and is always clumsy. That’s why I looked into it.

Besides, it was him who distanced himself first.

I tried to understand, but my brother wasn’t interested in me… so maybe I looked into it even more.

‘It’s hard to even make eye contact with him now…’

After all, this situation continued for years, and we became completely awkward.

Still…

‘He’s gotten much better compared to before…’

His skills aside, it’s fascinating that VTubers became a trend online because he started uploading… Kirinuki? videos.

I subscribed to his channel since he’s my brother, and… y-yes, I watch his videos sometimes.

Only sometimes, so please don’t misunderstand and think I’m a VTuber fan!

… Oh, right!

Come to think of it, I always found it funny when people on my brother’s YouTube channel called him “sister” or something.

My brother… well, he’s not ugly or anything. He’s pretty normal-looking, though he doesn’t exercise. But he’s a guy.

That’s what I used to think when I saw those comments.

I used to…

Then one day, my brother turned into a girl.

My brother got TS Syndrome.

A mysterious illness that suddenly changes a person’s gender, so rare it’s considered extremely unusual worldwide.

Since there are only a few cases even in Japan, people only know about TS Syndrome; it’s practically impossible to see someone who actually has it.

Against those astronomical odds, my brother got the disease.

Someone who always shut himself in his room, not caring about his family, now caused worry by suddenly changing gender due to an illness.

Considering how worried Mom and Dad were, I couldn’t bring myself to like him even if I wanted to.

I glanced at my brother, who was fidgeting with his phone and glancing at me.

He probably doesn’t know, but I saw the picture of the hospital room and his post on the YouTube community explaining that he couldn’t upload videos because he was in the hospital.

I wanted to ask him if VTubers were more important than his own body changing, but I held back.

He seemed quite withdrawn, as if he felt he had done something wrong, but the more I saw that, the more frustrated I became.

But I didn’t want to get angry at him.

Even if my brother didn’t seem to care, Mom and Dad were right there… If I got angry at him when he was already distressed about turning into a girl, it would only make him feel worse.

But I couldn’t hold it in and talk to him either.

Too much had built up between us.

I felt like everything I’d been suppressing would explode if I started talking to him.

So, I didn’t say anything to him, just sat quietly beside him and ignored him.

My brother probably thought I wouldn’t talk to him, like usual.

But…

“…”

Something was strange.

I heard a voice I shouldn’t have heard.

“M-Mei…”

It was a small, almost inaudible voice, but I definitely heard it.

A voice calling my name.

Not “brother” anymore, but “sister,” even though she looked more like a younger sister than an older one.

I flinched, unable to hide my surprise.

I never thought my brother would call me.

Why now, after all this silence?

I suppressed my questions, kept a neutral expression, and looked at my brother.

“Um… well… uh…”

It was too quiet to hear properly.

Barely managing my frustration, I said,

“…If you’re going to talk, can you speak loudly enough for me to hear?”

My brother flinched at my words and lowered his head.

…

Is he acting like this because he knows he did something wrong?

But it’s too much of a reaction.

It wasn’t the behavior of someone who felt guilty, but rather someone who had difficulty interacting with people at all. Of course, considering how my brother had been living lately, or rather, how he had been since he became obsessed with VTubers, it wouldn’t be strange if he hadn’t talked to anyone.

He was always a friendless, study-obsessed person, and that didn’t change just because he got into VTubers.

Even so, that’s…

‘His social anxiety… is severe…’

I had a lot to say, things I was planning to tell him later, but seeing him like this made me lose all motivation.

It felt like he would crumble and die if I said anything.

“I… I… um…”

We were in the car…

Even though he was right next to me, his voice was so quiet that my parents in the front didn’t seem to hear him at all.

“Sigh…”

I sighed in frustration, and he flinched, perhaps misunderstanding it as anger.

This… is no good.

I was worried that everything I’d been holding back would burst out if I talked to him, but seeing him like this made that feeling disappear completely.

How could I possibly get angry at someone like this?

While I was sighing, he seemed to hesitate, then brightened up as if a good idea had come to him and took out his phone.

I briefly worried he might use TTS to speak for him, and was about to look at his phone when…

Buzz

My phone vibrated.

‘What… a message?’

That’s not bad.

Normally, we should talk face-to-face to resolve things, but considering my brother’s current state… it would be easier to communicate through messages.

Thinking so, I took out my phone, expecting a message.

But,

‘Huh?’

No message?

Did he send it through Line? (TL Note: Line is a popular messaging app in Japan.)

I didn’t exchange Line IDs with him…?

As I was wondering, I noticed something strange in the notification bar.

‘Eh, what’s this?’

10,000 yen… deposited?

Confused, I checked, and sure enough, 10,000 yen had been deposited.

From my brother.

I looked at him questioningly, but he was beaming, looking proud of himself as if he had done something amazing.

‘No way…’

It was absurd enough to suddenly receive 10,000 yen, but he was actually smiling as if giving me money was something to be proud of.

…

My brother has become strange.