Welcome to Streama festivalen

September 5th, 2024

"YO! It's your girl Leona!"

"Hej! Astrid here!"

"And today, we're live at Streama festivalen here in Tokyo!"

Streama festivalen was a brand new event founded by Astrid and her husband which was seeking to become the largest streaming convention in both Japan and the world. Today was the inaugural opening of it's week-long planned schedule. So far, it was looking to be a success. Streamers and fans both from Japan and the world over were in attendance, with everyone looking to have a good time.

"Damn, this shit's delish. The hell don't they sell it in the stores!?" Iori asked as she munched on some prickly pear candy.

"It says they're sold at Kagemart," Mimoko grumbled.

"Kagemart!? We don't have one of those near us!"

"Then we petition to get one!" Carol cheered.

"YEAH!"

Iori and Carol, better known as Iori-chan and Cece, respectively, were two fairly well-known Ewetubers. Both were known for their edgy and extreme content, and fell on the anti-family-friendly end of the streamer spectrum. Their friend Mimoko on the other hand was not a streamer, but a grandmaster and rising star in the chess world. She had shown no interest in attending the event, but at the insistence of her mother, had begrudgingly decided to attend with them.

"Ugh, this just isn't my place. I feel uncomfortable at every turn," Mimoko grumbled.

"Nah, those suspenders of yours actually help ya stand out," Iori grinned.

"That's the problem, everyone keeps looking at me. I've even been approached by people asking for selfies, autographs, and even to go out on a date with them. I want to go home."

"Nah, we partying it up here! Now lets get our seats before someone takes em!"

As the three made their way to the stage, Mimoko bumped into a girl with long crimson hair.

"Ugh, sorry."

"N- No worries."

"Oi, if someone tried to rough ya up I'll pummel em," a girl with forest green hair with magenta highlights growled.

"Onee-san, it was clearly an accident. Neither of them were looking where they were going," a girl with magenta twintails argued.

"Tch, well whatever. Let's get our front-row seats dammit."

Iori stared oddly at the green-haired girl and her sister as they walked by. "Never seen those two before, but that red-head. Pretty sure she was-"

"Hey Iori! Mimo! I got the seats!" Carol hollered.

"Coming! Come on Mimo-chan, we can rek em onstage when the games begin."

"I'm not participating in anything, nor am I holding a grudge against that girl and her friends," Mimoko growled.

Once everyone was seated, the event began. A woman with long silver tresses that reached the floor then stepped onto the stage accompanied by a young woman with the same color hair as her, a girl with green and yellow hair, a girl with yellow and pink hair, and a bald girl.

All were some of Ewetube's biggest stars. The long-haired woman was none other than Harumi Ginkawa, aka Milfmilk69, the most subscribed to Ewetuber as well as the CEO and founder of Ewetube itself. The girl with the same colored hair as her was her daughter and heir, Madoka Ginkawa, who was also a Ewetuber and went by the stage name of Gindini-chan.

The girl with green and yellow hair was another big Ewetuber known as Kumi. Her real name was Miku Futagawa, though everyone knew her as Kumi. In fact, only her close family even referred to her by her given name.

As for the other two women, they were two of Ewetube's biggest rising stars, Leona and Astrid. Astrid was the larger of the two and was only getting bigger thanks to marrying the heir to grocery chain, Kagemart. She was completely bald, having completely destroyed all her hair follicles a little over a year ago during an infamous stream.

Leona on the other hand had started off as an incredibly niche small-time streamer before slowly rising up and getting the chance to collab with Astrid. That collab ended up being her big break, and also sparked a life-long friendship between her and Astrid.

"It's an honor to be here and sit down with all of you," Harumi stated. "Now who's ready for a hell of an opening act!? Maria and Squeegee's Jamboree, but this time it's Tower isle. And naturally, last place gets the biggest punishment, a complete hair removal makeover and the winner's channel logo inked on their head!"

"Though I guess if I win, Leona will just be getting shaved since she's already got my logo inked on the back of her head for losing our second subscriber milestone race," Astrid snicked.

"And naturally, if I win, you clearly don't have any hair left so I'll make sure to dye that skin wasabi green," Leona bantered.

"Seems you two never heard of me. I'm the greatest gamer this side of the world!" Kumi declared.

"And naturally, the audience can choose to get in on the bet as well, should their streamer win, they win too, but if their candidate loses, they get punished with them, though not as severely. For example, if your chosen streamer wins first place, you get 10,000 US dollars each! But if your chosen streamer gets last, you get your head and eyebrows shaved and waxed live! Second place will have to down a small bowl of wasabi on rice, but get 1,000 US dollars if they can do it without hurling or giving up. And third place has to eat some ghost pepper ice cream."

"YO! That's the shit you did!" Iori grinned.

"Because YOU TWO forced me to!" Mimoko glared.

"Now, let's see which streamers will be competing. And just so you know, streamers in the audience are eligible to get chosen too, so without further ado..."

Images of streamers quickly began flashing on a giant overhead screen as the audience held their breath with anticipation.

"And the first contestant is... Me!" Harumi smiled as she flicked her long hair. "As for the 1st challenger... Iori-chan!"

"YO! I got picked!" Iori cheered as she ran up to the stage.

"That girl was a streamer?" the green-haired girl grumbled.

"Pretty obvious with a hairdo like that," the magenta-haired girl grumbled.

"C- Could have just been a fan."

"Guess that means you've never seen her content. Trust me, she's one of the site's raunchier streamers," the red-haired girl sighed.

"And the next challenger is... Rolly Polly!"

The red-haired girl let out a massive sigh as she headed up onto the stage.

"Not gonna wear your stage outfit?" Madoka asked.

"No. Ugh, I only count as a streamer because of you."

"And our final challenger is... Sakura!"

A girl with long pink hair clad in an "I heart NY hoodie and pink running shoes charged up to the stage from the back row and leapt on top of it.

"Vinny! Make sure to record and bet on me!"

The young man that had accompanied Sakura shook his head and just decided to film Sakura.

"Y'all got lucky. Well guess I'm on commentary duty," Kumi sighed.

Once everyone that wanted to get in on the bet had registered, the four commentators, Leona, Astrid, Madoka, and Kumi, analyzed the players as the game got set up.

While Harumi was easily the biggest name on stage, her gaming prowess wasn't the greatest, though she was an intelligent woman and had the potential to take advantage of Jamboree's luck mechanics to win the game.

However, Rolly Polly, who was actually Harumi's niece, Emeri Ginkawa, was an avid gamer and skilled hacker. While hacking was against the rules, her gaming skills were good enough to make her an early favorite, but luck was a major factor in the game, not to mention her notoriety could lead to the others ganging up on her.

Iori had the second highest odds of winning and had even done a few Jamboree stream sessions prior to Streama festivalen. As such, the game was fresh on her mind and she knew it's ins and outs.

And finally, there was Sakura who barely anyone had heard of. As such, she was naturally the underdog as only a handful of people in the audience had bet on her.

"And you're not gonna bet?" the green-haired girl asked.

"No, I'm not risking my hair," the magenta-haired girl trembled.

The magenta-haired girl, Yuni Futagawa was close with both Emeri and Madoka and she along with her sister were also Kumi's cousin. While she didn't mind getting in on some of the fun to support her friends and family, any hair-related dares/wagers were off the table. This was due to a traumatic even that befell her a little over a year ago on the Ides of March 2023.

Her older sister, Serika Midoriya, on the other hand was all in on Emeri. Much of it was rooted in the fact that Serika and Emeri were a couple and shared an extremely close bond with one another.

"You're gonna end up bald, Onee-chan," Yuni sighed.

"Huh!? The hell makes you think Emeri's gonna lose!?"

"Right now she's the favorite, but that will just paint a target on her back for the others. Besides, we don't know how good this Sakura is yet."

"Well I think she'll win. Even with the luck mechanics, she's the most skilled gamer I know."

"Better hope Miku didn't hear that."

Kumi's ear twitched as she did in fact catch that. "You sayin' I'm worse than your girlfriend? Please, I'll make sure to arrange a 1v1 to prove I'm the best," she thought. "And without further ado, let the game begin!"