Ironmouse's Big Transformation! Chaos, Chaos, and a Little Heart-Pounding
The popular VShojo VTuber Ironmouse wakes up one morning to find her body has transformed into a boy's. The pink and purple fluffy hair and demon horns are there, but everything else is different. Panic! But she's not the only one. Zentreya becomes a boy too, and a certain pathetic slug-like manager becomes a girl. The entire VShojo office is in chaos, and the fans absolutely cannot find out.
As if that weren't enough, everyone's feelings of love get scrambled. Rivals suddenly seem attractive,
Ironmouse's Big Transformation! Chaos, Chaos, and a Little Heart-Pounding - The Devil's Voice Exposed
The darkness of night quietly wrapped the city of Glendale.
Ironmouse sat in her streaming room chair, relying only on the light of her monitor. Outside the window, a convenience store sign glowed pale blue.
*(Today is Wednesday. My usual streaming day.)*
And yet, something stirred restlessly deep in her chest.
It had been like this since last night. Ever since the meeting ended, she hadn't been able to reply to Zentreya's message—she'd left it on read.
*"I want you to tell me why you kept staring at Name-san during the meeting."*
That one line wouldn't leave her head.
*(Why would she ask something like that? It's not like I was staring...)*
Every time she tried to come up with an excuse, Name-san's smile surfaced in her mind, and the center of her chest grew warm and soft.
"...Stop it. Focus on the stream right now."
Mouse lightly slapped her own cheeks.
She began preparing for the stream. She checked the settings on her voice changer software, "VoxShift," and booted up the motion capture. The demon avatar on screen swayed its fluffy pink and purple hair as usual.
"Alright—let's do this today too!"
She raised her voice. But that voice was just a little lower than usual.
Even through the voice changer, something she couldn't fully hide was mixed in.
*(It's fine. It's fine. No one will notice.)*
Mouse told herself that.
—Around that time.
A room in a multi-tenant building in Los Angeles.
Mirror Man sat surrounded by three monitors. His light brown hair was disheveled, and his narrow, sharp eyes gleamed from beneath a deeply pulled-up hood.
"Well now, who should I cook today?"
In front of him were the archives of Ironmouse's streams from the past year.
Each one had tens of thousands of views. He was analyzing the audio data from them one after another with specialized software.
Waveforms appeared on the monitor.
"...Oh?"
Mirror Man's fingers stopped.
The graph of the high-frequency range had clearly dropped. The fundamental frequency had also changed drastically over the past few weeks.
"Now this is getting interesting."
He grinned.
"Her vocal cords are changing. She thinks she can hide it with a voice changer? Too naive."
Mirror Man immediately opened his video editing software.
*"VShojo's Flagship Has a Weird Voice"*
He typed the title and pasted in the graph images.
"The mirror of truth never clouds. The viewers have a right to know the correct information."
He distorted his own voice with audio conversion software as he recorded narration for the video.
"This change in voice can't be explained by mere poor health. Has the person behind the avatar changed, or—is something else abnormal going on? It's only a matter of time before she's exposed."
The video was uploaded.
Thirty minutes had passed since the stream began.
"Isn't this insane!? This boss is way too strong!"
Mouse gripped her game controller and shouted with her usual high energy.
The chat was scrolling rapidly.
*'Mouse-sama is so cool!'*
*'Your voice is lovely today too'*
*'Huh, isn't her voice a bit lower?'*
The moment that comment entered her eyes, her fingers trembled slightly.
"Ahaha, my throat's just a little off today! I think I caught a cold!"
She forced a smile. But her heart was pounding loudly.
More chat scrolled by.
*'Did the person behind her change?'*
*'I liked her old voice better'*
*'Doesn't she sound kind of masculine now?'*
*(Stop. Don't look. Don't notice.)*
Mouse wanted to look away from the screen. But a streamer has to keep watching the screen.
"Eh—!? You're saying my voice got cooler!? Isn't that crazy!? Mouse-sama was always cool!"
She forced herself to act bright.
Her hands were shaking. She messed up the controller input, and her character fell off a cliff.
*'Oh no'*
*'She's making a lot of mistakes today, huh?'*
*'Maybe she's not feeling well'*
"Ahaha, sorry sorry! That was on purpose! I thought there might be a hidden item at the bottom of the cliff!"
The excuse felt painful.
Heartless comments kept flowing.
*'Rather than saying her voice got cooler, it's gross'*
*'Go back to your old voice'*
*'Ironmouse is finished after all'*
*(Stop. Please. Don't hurt me any more than this.)*
Mouse kept her smile and bit her lip.
The stream ended.
Mouse slumped heavily into her streaming room chair.
"...It's over."
Her voice was trembling.
The moment she turned off the voice changer, her own low voice echoed through the room.
*(Gross, huh.)*
That comment repeated in her head.
Her phone had been vibrating over and over.
She looked at the screen. It was from Name-san.
*'I need to talk urgently. Call me right now.'*
*'Mouse, are you okay? Did you see Mirror Man's video?'*
She marked it as read. But she didn't reply.
*(If I talk now, I'll cry. I can't say pathetic things with this voice.)*
Mouse placed her phone face-down.
A few minutes later.
A message came from Zentreya too.
*'Mirror Man is even pointing out the text reactions in my streams.'*
*'He's also mentioning the change in Name-san's voice.'*
*'Mouse, contact me right now.'*
*'Don't carry this alone.'*
Mouse stared at the screen.
*(Zen is always like that. Always worrying about me.)*
*(But right now, I can't look at Zen's face.)*
*(Because of me, I'm putting even Zen in danger.)*
Her fingers trembled as she typed.
*'I'm fine. I'll handle this on my own.'*
She sent only that, then turned off her phone.
The night deepened.
Mouse lay on her bed, staring at the ceiling.
*(I need to watch Mirror Man's video.)*
She thought that, but her fingers wouldn't move.
After a while, she steeled herself and turned her phone back on.
Mirror Man's video was gaining views.
The comment section was hell.
*'Ironmouse really is finished'*
*'The person behind her definitely changed'*
*'All of VShojo is suspicious'*
*'Zentreya and Name-san are weird too'*
Tears spilled over.
"...No. That's not it. I'm—I just... I just want to make everyone laugh."
Mouse buried her face in her pillow.
She stifled her voice and cried.
Around that time, Zentreya had arrived near Vox Tower.
She gripped her phone and hurried along the road to Mouse's home.
*'Mouse isn't replying.'*
*'Calls won't go through either.'*
Zentreya typed on her tablet and activated the text-to-speech software.
"Mouse. I'm heading to your place now."
The mechanical synthesized voice echoed through the night streets.
In front of Mouse's apartment.
She pressed the intercom.
*Ding-dong.*
No response.
She pressed it again.
*Ding-dong.*
Silence.
Zentreya sent a message to Mouse from her phone.
*'I'm in front of your house. Please open the door.'*
It didn't show as read.
*(Mouse is crying alone right now.)*
Zentreya was certain of it.
But she couldn't force her way in.
Zentreya stood under the streetlight in front of the apartment for a while.
Her long crimson hair swayed in the night breeze.
"...Mouse."
The synthesized voice murmured quietly.
Late at night.
Mirror Man uploaded a new video.
*"VShojo Members' Gender-Swap Suspicion. Decisive Evidence to Be Revealed Tomorrow."*
The teaser video spread in an instant.
A notification reached Mouse's phone.
But Mouse was no longer looking at the screen.
She cleared all notifications from her phone and curled up under her blanket.
"...I can't take this anymore."
Her voice was barely audible.
Meanwhile, Name-san and Zentreya were in contact by phone.
"Zentreya, did you get in touch with Mouse!?"
*'No. I went to her front door, but she didn't come out.'*
"Damn it... that girl's carrying it all alone again... no wait, I'm her manager!"
Name-san's voice was shaking.
*'Name-san, calm down. Let's do what we can right now.'*
"...You're right. I'll consult a lawyer about whether Mirror Man's video can be taken down legally. Tomorrow morning, we'll hold an emergency strategy meeting at Vox Tower."
*'Understood. I'll be there too.'*
"Contact Mouse too... no, I won't force it. But I want her to come to the meeting no matter what."
*'Yeah. Mouse will be okay.'*
At Zentreya's words, Name-san let out a deep breath.
"...We just have to believe. In that girl."
Morning was approaching.
Mouse's room remained pitch dark.
She was curled up under her blanket.
Her phone still lay on the floor.
The screen lit up again and again.
A call from Name-san.
Messages from Zentreya.
Notifications about Mirror Man's video.
All of it was ignored.
Mouse just waited for morning to come.
Even with her eyes closed, she couldn't sleep.
*(Tomorrow, Mirror Man will release decisive evidence.)*
*(Then it's all over.)*
*(Ironmouse will be finished.)*
Tears overflowed again.
"...God. Did I do something wrong?"
That voice reached no one.
Outside the window, the sky was growing faintly bright.
Morning had come to the city of Glendale.
But Mouse's heart was still in the night.
Her phone vibrated again.
On the screen was a message from Name-san.
*'Mouse, good morning. We're having a meeting today at 9 AM in Room V at Vox Tower. Can you come?'*
*'I won't force you. But we're on your side.'*
Mouse stared at the screen from inside her blanket.
Her fingers trembled.
*(On my side, huh.)*
*(Am I going to run away again?)*
*(Even though Zen and Name-san are trying to fight.)*
Mouse slowly sat up.
Tear stains remained on her cheeks.
The mirror was still covered with cloth.
*(I don't need to look. Not yet.)*
She picked up her phone.
She typed a reply.
But she couldn't press send.
"...What am I supposed to do?"
That voice dissolved into the quiet room.
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