Chapter 36:

Epilogue - The Life We Chose

The VTuber Next Door is Pregnant

We disappeared.

There was no comeback stream, no effort to explain ourselves better.

We did the one thing the internet never expects in situations like this… we got quiet. I can't remember a single JodyTube apology video that has actually worked anyway.

Yui called it “ghosting the entire planet.”

But Yuna…

… she called it peace.

The case took some time... longer than people online can focus on anything. So as time passed… people started to forget again.

For a while, life became diapers, restless nights, and toddler chaos. And somewhere in all of that, Yuna started wanting things again.

Sometimes, when Koharu fell asleep on the couch with my fox plush pressed to her cheek, Yuna would sit at the kitchen table with a notebook and write for hours, while I watched Koharu so she wouldn’t fall off the couch.

At first she hid it. But one night she pushed the notebook toward me, cheeks pink, and muttered. “Don’t laugh.”

I didn’t.

What she was writing wasn’t plans for a new VTuber debut… She was writing lyrics.

Her thoughts poured into words that didn’t need to impress or entertain anyone. Not shaped to be catchy, just… honest. It was her past, laid bare in ink.

“If it’s really bad, you have to tell me, Ren.” she said quietly.

I shook my head. “No, it’s good. It’s really well written.” I hesitated, then asked: “So… you really want to pursue music?”

She nodded, fingers fidgeting in her lap. “Yeah… I thought... maybe I could start small, playing in little bars or cafés…”

It’d been a year since the livestream made us a headline everywhere. The noise died down fast, replaced by other stories. I doubt most people would recognize her now, especially in places like that.

“Whatever you want to do, Yuna, I’ll support you.”

Suddenly, she rested her forehead against mine. “There’s something else I wrote. Another song.” she said quietly.

“Yeah? Then show me.”

She didn’t pull away to show me her notes. Instead, she closed her eyes…and started to sing… softly, her voice barely rising above a whisper, looking straight into my eyes as her forehead was still pressed against mine.

It only took me a few seconds to understand what she was singing about.

Not fame or pain… or the past she was trying to outrun.

…It was gratitude.

A quiet thank you wrapped in melody… For staying when it would’ve been easier to leave, for listening without judgement… and for never asking her to be anything other than herself.

Her voice was… unreal.

Heat gathered behind my eyes. I blinked, once, then again, but it didn’t matter. A tear slipped free anyway.

She was thanking me… through a song… for things I’d never thought twice about doing.

I laughed softly under my breath, overwhelmed. That’s not fair, I thought. You can’t sing like that and expect me to keep it together.

Her voice didn’t waver. If anything, it grew steadier, like she knew exactly what she was doing to me.

And then, all of a sudden, Koharu laughed, sudden and loud enough to surprise both of us.

It startled me enough that I pulled my forehead back from Yuna’s.

Koharu was wide awake now, eyes fixed on her mother’s face. She laughed again, louder this time, her arms twitching. Her entire attention locked onto Yuna as if nothing else in the world existed.

Yuna didn’t stop singing.

She smiled down at Koharu, and kept singing just for her. And somewhere in that moment, her arms slipped around my shoulders, hands coming together behind my neck, holding me there without pulling me back in.

Like she wanted me close, but wanted Koharu to see her too.

Koharu laughed again, making all kinds of weird noises, like she was trying to sing along.

I stood there, caught between them, watching my daughter laugh herself breathless at the sound of Yuna singing… And I realized I’d never heard anything more perfect in my life.

—-----------------------------

Another 2 years had passed, and Koharu was now 3 years old. Yuna and I had spent almost every single moment of those years with her, aside from the occasional outing, when Yui and mom watched over her for us.

After countless delays and every legal maneuver money could buy, 3 years of court drama finally came to an end.

The court ruled in our favor.

Her boss lost everything he had built. There had been a small number of people within the agency who were aware of the contract terms imposed on Yuna… They were paid to stay silent. But silence bought with money is fragile, and once the case became public, it was impossible to determine how deep the corruption truly ran.

In the end, the agency was shut down entirely.

He was sentenced to 1 year in prison. In addition, he was ordered to pay a substantial amount in damages and compensation to Yuna, along with multiple financial penalties related to labor violations, coercion, and abuse of power.

But…

Yuna didn’t care.

She did shed a tear when she heard the verdict, but that was all. After that, she refused to let this case occupy any more space in her life.

By then, she was already living on her own terms. Her music was enough to support her… not in excess, but comfortably. And if it ever stopped doing even that, it wouldn’t have changed a thing.

Every week, she performed at small venues like bars and cafés.

And the song she had written about those years, about the fear and the pressure, was probably what allowed her to mostly leave it behind. But… it was the one song she could never bring herself to play, no matter the venue.

But still…happiness wasn’t something she chased anymore.

—--------------------

After the verdict, the internet did what it always does when it realizes it backed the wrong horse: … It pretended it knew all along.

The same people who mocked us now called it brave, heartbreaking and tragic.

This time, the story didn’t just stay online. It was everywhere, all over the news.

New videos popped up, confidently explaining how it had never been fake. How the signs had always been there. How his guilt had been obvious in hindsight…

I watched exactly one… and never opened another.

—-----------------------

As her name spread through the media again, the offers came in.

But from talkshows to interviews… she turned them all down.

She didn’t want to use the attention to force momentum into her music career.

Instead, she kept doing what she loved… playing in small venues.

That was enough for her.

Until one invitation arrived, that made her overthink it again.

The Tokyo Dome.

She stared at the message for a long time before showing it to me.

Once… just once, she wanted to stand there without a mask and sing her songs to a crowd this big. Not for attention... but because there was something she wanted to do...

So she accepted.

—-------------

Tokyo Dome Concert:

…

When the lights dimmed for her last song, Yuna already knew what was coming…

It was the one she had avoided for years. The song she had only ever sung to me… because it still carried too much weight.

But she wanted to do this. She wanted to close this chapter of her life, once and for all.

And she did.

The applause that followed was the loudest of the day... It didn’t feel like praise...

It felt like she was finally being understood.

—-----------------

Yuna & Koharu lived in my apartment now. For a long time, we had lived in Yuna’s place, but that was something she wanted to leave behind with the concert.

It had been a few months since we moved next door into my apartment.

We crawled into bed late that day.

“Someone moved in today.” Yuna murmured, yawning into my chest. “I hope they treat the place better than I did…”

I chuckled. “As long as it’s not someone who screams at 3am or knocks on the wall we’re good.”

“Yeah… I can do without that.” she laughed.

And with that we went to sleep…

until…

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

What the…?

Seriously, the new neighbors??

Yuna jerked awake too.

I looked at the clock… 1am