Mari Tomari is a VTuber who uses a voice changer to play a cute girl, but inside, she's a nearly thirty-year-old man named Mario. Tonight, she's streaming, throwing poison at her audience while raking in superchats. But the moment the stream ends, his smile vanishes.
"Ah... I'm exhausted."
In the corner, fiddling with her phone, is Yuki—his childhood friend and manager. She's the only one who knows Mario's true face. She's watched over his "real self" since they were kids.
"Good work. Your cl
Behind the Bunny - A Night When a Voice Escapes
Inside the monitor, Tomari Mari was smiling. Fluffy white hair, long ears, big pink eyes. Today, too, she was perfect. Mario slid his fingers across the keyboard, weaving a voice that didn't sound like his own through the headset-style voice changer.
"Thanks for coming to Usa-chan's room again today, everyone! Ah, but anyone who thought something weird—I'll break you, okay?"
The chat column filled up with laughing comments. Usa-chan's sharp tongue, the best. So cute again today. Each and every one of those words tickled Mario's heart.
(That's right. This is the path I chose.)
Twenty-nine years old, male. Short black hair with bedhead, exhausted brown eyes—a man you could find anywhere. And yet, in this moment alone, he could become Tomari Mari: a beautiful girl VTuber who captivated hundreds of thousands of hearts.
The voice changer repainted reality. Just by changing his voice, the world changed. That was the magic Mario had been practicing for three years now.
The stream was reaching its final stretch. Today was a chat-only session. Answering questions from viewers, he spat poison lightly as Usa-chan.
"Next collab? Fufu, it's still a secret. But look forward to it, okay? I won't betray you."
That was the moment.
Deep in his ear, something snapped.
"—Ah,"
His voice muddied.
From beneath the cute girl's voice, another sound came crawling out. Low, raspy—the voice of a twenty-nine-year-old man.
"W-what is this..."
His own voice echoed in his ears as if it belonged to someone else. The voice changer's settings were being rewritten on their own. The parameters for generating the cute voice, the numerical values indicating pitch—all of them had changed to values he'd never seen before.
(Oh no. Oh no oh no oh no.)
His mind went blank. His fingers moved on their own, searching for the mute button. With trembling hands, he cut the audio output.
"S-sorry... seems like there's some equipment trouble..."
His voice wouldn't come out properly. His throat seized up. In the chat column, comments streamed by: "Was that voice just now kinda weird?" "Noise?" "For a second, I heard a guy's voice..."
That was when Yuki stood up from the corner of the room. She looked at Mario's face. Her shoulder-length black hair swayed with her movement. Her gentle brown eyes stared straight at Mario.
"Mario, I'm cutting the connection."
Yuki's voice was quiet. But her eyes were serious. With practiced ease, she manipulated the streaming software's window and ended the broadcast.
"Due to equipment trouble, we're ending the stream. Sorry, everyone. See you tomorrow."
At the end, Yuki mimicked Tomari Mari's voice and posted it in the chat. Then she closed the streaming software completely.
The room fell silent.
The heat from moments ago had vanished as if it had never been there. In the twenty-five-square-meter room lined with soundproof panels, only the faint sound of the air conditioner's wind could be heard.
Mario sat in his chair, unable to move. His hands were shaking. On his lap, his fingers twitched in small spasms.
(I'm being watched.)
Someone was watching him. That's how it felt. No—it wasn't just a feeling. He really was being watched. From outside this room, or from somewhere in this sea of the internet, someone was monitoring his every move.
"...Mario."
Yuki came beside him and crouched down. Her hand touched Mario's back.
"It's okay. I'm here with you."
That hand was warm. She gently stroked his trembling back, over and over and over.
"...Yeah."
Mario finally managed to squeeze out his voice.
"...Someone... messed with my voice changer..."
The words wouldn't connect properly. His throat was parched dry.
"Yeah. Let's investigate. Everything that happened."
Yuki's voice was calm as ever. But her eyes were shining sharper than Mario had ever seen them.
(Ah, Yuki's angry.)
Mario thought this vaguely. When Yuki got angry, her voice always went quiet. And her eyes became really scary.
Yuki stood up and headed to Mario's desk. She quickly scrolled through the logs displayed on the PC monitor. The movement of her fingers spoke to her experience as a professional manager who had handled countless flame wars and troubles.
"...There are traces of remote access. Several source IP addresses too. The voice changer's config files have been rewritten. This is definitely an external intrusion."
Yuki reported her findings matter-of-factly. Her voice was calm. But Mario could tell—her fingers were trembling faintly.
"...And then, this."
Yuki opened another window. On it was displayed an anonymous message board.
"Your personal information has been posted."
On the screen, Mario's age, gender, and approximate address were carelessly written out. The poster was an anonymous account. The thread title read: "I identified the person behind Tomari Mari lolol."
"...What the hell is this."
Mario couldn't believe his eyes.
"It's a board for an anti group called Echo Chamber Justice. They're a bunch who go around deciding certain individuals online are 'fraudsters' or 'traitors' and try to get them flamed. They're not a formal organization, but they're loosely connected through a shared hashtag."
Yuki explained matter-of-factly. In her voice, anger—and beyond that, sorrow—bled through.
"...My real name... it's not written there, is it?"
Mario asked with a trembling voice.
"No. Not yet. But it might just be a matter of time."
Yuki looked straight into Mario's eyes.
"...It's over now."
Mario clutched his head. He covered his face with both hands. Through the gaps between his fingers, his own pathetic face peered back at him.
"Everything's going to come out. That I'm a man. That I'm an ossan pushing thirty. The fans will all leave. I'll lose everything."
His voice trembled. His vision blurred.
(It was the same three years ago.)
The members of Noctalia disappeared from the internet, one after another. Even then, he couldn't do anything. He could only watch, fingers in his mouth.
"...Am I going to be powerless again?"
His murmur dissolved into the air of the room.
That was when Yuki threw her arms around Mario and held him tight.
"It's okay. I'll protect you."
Yuki's arms wrapped around Mario's back. Her body heat seeped slowly into his trembling body.
"Yuki...?"
"I will absolutely protect you. I won't let anyone take away your place."
Yuki's voice was quiet. But her words carried a strong will. The sound of her heartbeat reached Mario's chest directly.
Thump, thump—a steady, warm sound.
"Why... why would you go that far..."
Mario murmured, trembling like a child in Yuki's arms.
"...Why, for someone like me..."
Yuki didn't answer. She just gently stroked Mario's head, over and over and over. Her fingers slowly combed through his bedhead-tousled black hair.
That was when a past memory suddenly flashed through Mario's mind.
—A middle school culture festival.
In the corner of the classroom, a single boy was timidly producing a girl's voice. The classmates around him were whispering to each other.
"Gross."
"What is that, a tranny?"
"LOL so funny."
The boy hung his head, biting his lip. That was when a single girl stood in front of him.
"That's amazing."
The girl was smiling. Gentle brown eyes narrowed into crescent moons.
"That voice, it's really beautiful. I like it."
It was Yuki, when she was little.
——
"...Yuki."
Mario buried his face in Yuki's shoulder. From her hair came a nostalgic scent of sunlight.
"...Back then, it was because you smiled for me."
"Yeah."
"Because you told me it was amazing."
"Yeah."
"That's why I could believe in this voice."
Mario's voice was wet with tears.
"...Thank you."
Yuki said nothing, and hugged Mario's back tighter in return.
For a while, the two of them stayed like that, holding each other.
Outside the room, the city of Tokyo continued to blink, never sleeping. In the distance, an ambulance siren could be heard. The night was still deep.
——
Late at night.
Mario's smartphone buzzed briefly.
Looking at the screen, a direct message had arrived from an unknown account.
"Today's stream was a shame. I'll do better next time. In tomorrow's stream, I'll let everyone hear your real voice."
The sender was Bunny Hunter.
"...Yuki."
Mario held out the smartphone to Yuki with trembling hands.
Yuki glanced at the screen and pressed her lips together.
"...We're not canceling the stream."
Yuki declared it clearly.
"But that's exactly what they want. If we run, that's playing right into their hands. So we prepare. Preparations so that no matter what they try tomorrow, your voice absolutely won't leak."
"...Preparations?"
"Preparing dummy audio, duplicating the connection lines, and then..."
Yuki paused for a moment. Then, with resolve in her eyes, she looked at Mario.
"...I'm staying here tonight."
"Huh?"
Mario let out a dumbfounded voice.
"So I can respond immediately if anything happens. Besides, if you're alone, you'll start thinking weird things again, won't you?"
"No, but, you need a change of clothes and stuff..."
"I'll buy them at the convenience store. More importantly, strategy meeting. There's no time."
Yuki said this in a tone that brooked no argument.
"...Okay."
Mario had no choice but to nod obediently.
After that, the two of them strategized for the next stream until late into the night.
Yuki searched for software on her brought-along laptop to duplicate the voice changer's settings, while Mario recorded dummy audio material.
"What are you even going to use dummy audio for? Make my voice even creepier?"
"No. It's so that if the settings get rewritten again, it'll switch automatically. And if we duplicate the connection lines, even if one gets cut, we can keep streaming on the other."
"...You're really suited to being a manager, huh."
"Of course. How many years do you think I've been your manager?"
Yuki smiled, looking a little proud.
Seeing that smile, Mario's chest warmed just a little.
(After all, I'm glad Yuki's here.)
He thought so from the bottom of his heart.
——
After the strategy meeting ended, while Yuki was taking a shower, Mario sat alone in the corner of the room, staring at his smartphone.
That was when the smartphone buzzed.
It was an incoming call from an unknown number.
(...Who is it?)
Mario, on guard, didn't press the answer button and switched to voicemail.
A few seconds later, the recorded message played back.
"...Mario..."
It was a hoarse woman's voice.
"...Help me..."
His heart jumped.
"...Noctalia isn't over yet..."
That voice sounded far too much like the voice of Noctalia's leader, who had vanished without a trace three years ago.
"...What?"
Mario froze.
Still gripping the smartphone, he couldn't move.
His breathing grew shallow. His vision narrowed.
(Why... how...)
That person shouldn't be here anymore.
She should have disappeared on that night three years ago.
"Mario?"
Yuki, having finished her shower, came back into the room while drying her hair with a bath towel.
"...What's wrong? You're pale as a ghost."
Yuki immediately noticed something was wrong with Mario.
Mario held out the smartphone to Yuki with trembling hands.
Yuki played back the voicemail message.
The hoarse woman's voice echoed quietly through the room.
"...Noctalia isn't over yet..."
He could see the color drain from Yuki's face.
"...That voice."
"...Yeah. It sounds like her. Like that person's voice."
"...Like the leader's voice."
The two of them stared at the smartphone screen in silence for a while.
The night quietly deepened.
Outside the window, the city of Tokyo continued to blink, never sleeping, again today.
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