Enter the Four Seasons

“Hello everyone, and welcome to our weekly show for the Four Seasons. I’m your host, Summer!”

A 3D avatar, a girl with a mixture of blonde and red hair, greeted her viewers through the screen. The avatar on screen was an anime-styled character that moved expressively on her online streams. She was the popular Vtuber referred to as Summer. A lot of clapping sounds were heard in the background, both in her studio location, and from viewers sending their own through donations on the stream.

“Thank you, thank you, as always. I am very grateful,” she said as she bowed. “Unfortunately-” She paused, and her mood went from cheerful to solemn. “Today we have a sad announcement to make.” The girl went quiet and her virtual character's face tracking reflected her saddened expression as well. A lot of surprised reactions went through her fan’s online chat. 

“If you haven’t heard the news, next week Spring will retire, and will no longer be with us.” She paused to give the topic the respect it deserved, and to allow her audience some time to think about it. There were nothing but sad reactions on her channel, and she seemed to be sad herself. “Also, don’t believe all the rumors you read,” she said, shaking her head.

“To be honest she was a bothersome apprentice, but I’ve grown quite fond of her and-” She found herself unable to finish her sentence, and her virtual audience seemed to join in on the sadness. “Autumn, would you like to take over?” Summer asked.

It was hard to tell if she was passing along the conversation because it was too unpleasant, or because she simply wanted to let someone else talk. As she requested, another character took the main focus of the screen, this one with brown and orange hair in a large ponytail.

“Spring has been one of the sweetest I’ve ever known, and I wish her the best. I still remember my first stream with her, and many of her songs will stay with us for a long time. Don’t miss her final concert! I prepared special art for it and designed an outfit for her, so make sure to watch it.” Autumn made sure to offer kind and calm words, like she always did. “Winter, can you manage to say something nice?” Autumn passed the focus on to another character, this one with short, light blue and white hair.

“She sucked at games. It was unpleasant to be forced to play with her,” she said with little emotion in her voice. “Also, what’s the point of saying goodbye? She’s leaving anyway.” Winter displayed her usual cold demeanor.

“Hey! Be nice! Try again!” said Summer.

“Fine. She sucked at games, but it was fun for all the normies to see how she could make a fool of herself. I mean improve, yeah that.” Winter quickly went back to the corner of the room, having fulfilled her role. A lot of the viewers found her funny, being used to her dry humor.

“You really can’t say nice things can you,” said Summer, shaking her head disapprovingly. “Well, let’s hear from the star herself, Spring. Get over here… stop being sad and shy, I thought you got over that.”

A last character walked in the room, almost as if she didn’t belong there. She had nicely layered, wavy pink hair with cyan highlights.

“Hello, everyone,” she said shyly.

All the viewers reacted to her, finding her as cute as ever.

“I…” everyone became saddened when she started talking in a soft, humble voice. “It’s been more than a year already hasn’t it?” She paused for almost half a minute, as the mood in the room grew darker, and her fans also fell into sadness. “When I came here more than a year ago, I could’ve never imagined that any of this was going to happen. I’ve gone through so much... Summer, Autumn, and Winter all helped me, and nurtured my dreams.” Spring’s voice started to crack as she thought back on her memories of the past year.

“To Summer,” she turned around to look at her while she talked, “You taught me what a star really was, what I needed to do, and what I needed to sacrifice to achieve my dreams. Thanks to you, I learned about resilience. I’ll be eternally grateful to you,” said Spring, full of kindness. Summer’s reaction made it seem like she wasn’t proud of her actions, even though Spring was grateful for everything she had learned from her.

“Autumn, I’ll never forget your calming, accepting presence. Your art, your voice, and your personality can soothe even the most troubled of hearts. I would know…”Everyone understood what Spring was talking about, and smiled and agreed.

“Winter, for how cold you look and act, you taught me a lot about resilience and hard work, and how to enjoy myself while doing it.” Spring paused to smile and laugh a little before continuing. “You’re also hilarious and I know you hide your true feelings, so be more honest!” Spring took the chance to scold Winter, and expose her true, kind nature.

“And to all the fans that have been here, everyone that has heard my songs, read the lyrics, spread them, and even made art about them... I hope that I’ve given you back at least a fraction of the happiness that you’ve given me.”

At this point, the channel was filled with reactions of saddened, supportive fans. Summer quickly sensed the gloominess in the room, and as usual, expertly brought the conversation back on track. “Spring, is there anything you want to share, something really deep in your heart, to everyone here who’s watched you and supported you?” 

“Right, I’m sorry, I didn't plan on getting this gloomy.” Spring apologized, as the other three girls smiled. “I guess I could say… keep being yourself. Do what you love and work on it and share it with the world and then someday, that love will surely be returned to you.”

“Awww she’s so cute,” said the other three seasons in unison.

“I’ll give you my all in my concert this weekend, one last time! Thank you!” Spring took a bow, and abruptly left the room full of emotion, disappearing off-screen.

“So there you have it, everyone. Make sure to be here alright? Isn’t it nice that she’s graduating in the spring? I hope she can accompany you in your future journeys too. I’ll be watching her concert very closely, so make sure to join us. It’s a short stream today, because we just wanted to give Spring some room to say her goodbyes. Cya next time!”