Cutting the pack

For the first time in years, my desk felt cluttered - not that it had anything to do with homework or classwork. Patrick’s weird words aside, everything everywhere was colliding all at once. My frends, Astella, Charlotte… No human could just accept that all. No way.

Yet there was something about my encounter with Patrick that just didn’t sit right with me. What was going through that man's head?

His piercing glare burned into my back like a blazing sun, searing my skin and raising my temperature to boiling levels.

A simple list of names presented itself on my computer's screen, a class roster labeled with this year. My class's roster. According to Charlotte, the leaker had to be one of them, no one else had even had access to the lab while she was logged in, much less actually entered.

I leaned back in my chair, staring at the screen. There were twenty two possible candidates within my class, and not a single one of them had anything specific pointing toward them. "Crap!"

The leaker had a very specific way of writing, one that oozed personality. Every word within their message was a potential clue, a lifeline towards protecting Charlotte for years to come.

The more I stared at the list, the less information it held. Each student listed on the page was like a blank canvas, with vast potential beyond every name. Sure, I was close to most of the girls in my class, but who knew if they'd tell me the truth?

Honestly, I couldn't blame them either. In fact, anyone in the group at lunch could have been the leaker. I would be the type of guy to order the leaker to find themself; it was just another objective measure of my unlimited talent. Surely thoughts and prayers would get me through!

First of all, time to knock people out.

Really, there was only one easy knockout, a girl named Samantha. That girl traveled way too much to even have the time to leak Astella's identity, much less care in the slightest. Anyone who could filter out her rich girl personality deserved a Nogel Prize. Besides, I'd worked on a group project with her while the supposed leak happened.

By that logic, I could probably knock out the Nocturn twins. Our school wasn't exactly a huge fan of it, but those two worked at a nearby library during the evening—another two off the chopping board.

I tossed myself onto the soft oasis within my comforter. Five minutes in, and my brain power was at an all time low. Not that my all time highs were anything extraordinary to begin with.

Three down in quick succession, and apparently, that's all she wrote. Yeah sure, half the class clashed with Astellas personality harder than a brick wall, but the other half were actively running away from any semblance of possibility. There was simply no real motive.

What was I missing?

Thirty minutes passed in a flash, an hour not far behind. Even as names fell one by one, the leaker’s identity only became hazier. Eight names remained unmarked. Potential be damned. The leaker's words hung straight ahead - a false flag ready to be waived. Much as I hated to say it, personality wouldn't tell me anything. Who knew how much reflected reality compared to a false persona typed out?

Yet, there was a simple set of criteria needed to knock name after name off the list. Her agency only accepted those with prior Vtubing experience, with a completely different model and character. And sadly, in our society, the pesky obstacle of money stood in the way.

And not just a bit of money. The PC needed to stream and support and model alone cost more than every Astella I owned combined - all neatly dusted and displayed in my airtight military grade shelf, featuring seventeen different locks and bulletproof glass. You never knew what could happen.

That didn't take into account the cost of the model itself, paying someone else to rig the thing so it actually moved, a camera featuring accurate facial tracking, an emote deck, custom art, marketing, and a boatload of other expenses no sane person would ever think of paying!

Maybe that's why I liked Vtubers so much.

And congratulations, after all that, she'd completed the bare minimum for becoming a corporate Vtuber. Standing out from the crowd was another matter, and you needed the ability to attract an audience and be smart about your content as well.

Sadly, most people don't want to hear Vtubers' edgy uncensored thoughts. I'm so shocked.

Whoever the leaker was would need to know all that plus more

So with the little I had, eight names remained: Dakota, Ella, Lilly, Camden, Avery, Sam, Patrick, and Val.

Eight of my friends, and by all odds, one was lying to me.

Well, not much I could do here. This wouldn't be a small task, and who knew what they would do. By the end of the year, I'd have their identity, and that was a promise!

Still, Patrick's last words refused to leave my mind. "And if you don't realize what's fucked up about this, you'll ruin any chance you ever had." The Patrick I knew only cared about whatever woman happened to be in his line of sight. Yeah sure, I wasn't really making the most moral of decisions, but it was for her own good! Patrick had done much worse in the last week alone; who was he to judge?

Yeah, I was in the right here!

But I still couldn't shake those words away, like an annoying gnat flying around just out of reach. Some part of them had been entrenched deep within my thoughts. I was too far down this path already, lingering thoughts be damned!

I grabbed my phone from the bedside table, taking a peek at Vhub - specifically, the thread about Astella’s leaked high school. Sure, the top comments were normal, people worried about her safety, but those comments were buried deep underground…

Another barrier to Vtubing, the community. They put an anime girl online and gave her the ability to communicate with people; everyone online could predict what would happen next. Apparently, empty basements were in short supply these days.

Our high school was nearing a very interesting phase. And as a host, wasn't it my job to give the unexpected guests a fun time?