Mother And Daughter

I had fallen asleep almost immediately after my streaming debut, probably because my consciousness had deliberately shut itself down so that my memories could merge with those of Us.

Now that I had fully merged with We, the strange state where my sense of self as “me” and my sense of self as “We” had been separated seemed to have completely disappeared.

It would obviously be a problem if I kept speaking and acting like We did in everyday life, so for now, I was relieved that things had settled down.

That said, it was more accurate to say that I was still consciously “trying to be me,” and I wanted to gradually shift toward being able to switch between the two naturally.

While streaming, I could remain Verchera Merisis—the same name, appearance, and existence as my previous life—and simply be the We I had been back then. But in everyday life, I needed to properly switch back to being myself, Rinne, or else I’d probably end up looking like some painfully committed chuunibyou…

Precisely because I was still standing on that boundary, it almost felt as though I were observing my own existence objectively.

I had been unable to endure the strange looks directed at me, so I’d become introverted, hidden my silver hair and golden eyes, and even started keeping my head lowered so people wouldn’t look at my face much.

But now that I remembered the time when I had been We, I had no intention of continuing to hide.

Because I had remembered that it simply did not matter what anyone else thought.

Looking back, I supposed my heart had still been childish, and I’d been viewing everything through an extremely narrow perspective.

“Rinne-chan, I watched your stream! You did amaaaaazing!”

“Fughh!”

I had been heading into the living room while rubbing my hungry stomach and reflecting on my life so far with my newly merged mind when Mom suddenly threw her arms around me with tremendous force.

I’d streamed for an hour starting at four in the afternoon, and it was now seven at night. Dinner was already prepared, so she’d probably been just about to come call me.

Still, I couldn’t breathe.

I couldn’t breathe because Mom’s two enormous spheres had trapped my face and refused to let me go.

“You were incredible! You really felt exactly like a Demon Lord! I nearly found myself bowing down before you too!”

“～～! Enough already, release me! I cannot breathe!”

“Kyah!?”

Seriously, was she planning to keep my face buried there until I suffocated!?

And why did her chest have to be so unnecessarily huge…!?

“Ah, sorry about that~. More importantly, Rinne-chan, you took off your wig and colored contacts…? And that way of speaking…”

“Ah—mm, indeed… I mean, yeah. I guess after acting so confidently as a Vtuber, I started thinking maybe I didn’t need to hide this stuff anymore. And the way I talk is still a little like Verchera—ah, when I imitate her, I can actually talk properly. So it just slipped out.”

Even I thought that excuse sounded a little strained… but Mom’s face immediately lit up, and tears welled in her eyes.

“…I’m so glad. You always wanted to hide yourself, Rinne-chan… I kept thinking that because your father wasn’t here, you were lonely, and that it had been hurting you all this time…”

“No, that’s not it.”

“…Huh?”

“I don’t hate the way I look. I just hate the people around me who stare because of it. I’ve never once hated this appearance, or hated the fact that I was born as your daughter.”

That was right. Back when I had possessed only my current-life memories, it wasn’t as though I’d never thought, “If only I didn’t look like this.” But I had never actually hated my appearance itself.

I had merely hated how my conspicuous appearance made me stand out for being different, drawing strange attention and all sorts of bothersome reactions. Now that I had regained my memories as the Demon Lord and sorted out my feelings, I could finally state that with certainty.

“Mom, I’m sorry. I’m not going to hide anymore.”

—What was there to fear?

There was no need to concern myself with the gazes of others.

If they wished to stare, then let them stare. If they thought me unusual, then they could burn the sight of me into their memories.

No matter what anyone else thought, the path I(We) walked and the person I(We) was would not change in the slightest.

The fact that I had failed to realize something so simple only proved how immature I had still been.

“…Rinne-chan…!”

“Fwah—stop thaaaat! How many times do you intend to suffocate meeeee!?”

“Bweeeeeegh, R-Rinne-chaaaaaan!”

“C-Calm down! Come on, dinner! We’re eating, so go wash your face!”

Apparently, I had hurt Mom far more deeply than I’d realized.

I thought I could at least accept being hugged as compensation for that, but I really wanted her to stop nearly suffocating me every single time.

Perhaps because my memories were still somewhat muddled, my old natural manner of speaking kept threatening to slip out, but the more I talked with Mom, the easier it gradually became to switch properly.

I’d originally been so quiet and soft-spoken that I didn’t really know what counted as a particularly feminine way of speaking, but if I kept my tone a little brisk and straightforward, it should at least sound normal. Or so I wanted to believe.

“Still, this is incredible, Rinne-chan… I can’t believe you’ve already got three thousand subscribers when your very first stream only just ended.”

“…Huh?”

“And you’ve already got ten thousand views. Your mother nearly fell over when she saw it.”

“…………Huh?”

Even if she said that, my phone hadn’t made any noise at all… I thought as I pulled the smartphone I’d shoved into my pocket back out.

…Hm?

Wait, the battery was dead.

No wonder I hadn’t heard a single notification.

“…………….Hnnnnnn?”

……..W-Wait, three thousand subscribers!?