A/N: At this point, you might be wondering about the subtle sense of 'other world' I've been setting some of these chapters in. Well, now I've finished writing holoverse: Anything But Orderly, a story which I hope explains some of the universe I imagined in these stories. I recommend brushing up on that at some point, at least before you ask, 'why are you calling them that?'

Partners in Crime (Favorite Teetee)

It's been three years already, huh? I've come so far, and yet it feels like I'm just getting started, thought Hoshimachi Suisei, who was in the middle of starting her 3rd anniversary stream. She had a lot planned out already, but there was still a lot more left up to chance. For example, there was always the matter of guest callers, especially the first one that would set the mood for the rest to follow.

She guessed it would be Coco, or maybe Kanata. Either one would totally do it just to be cheeky to their next-door neighbor, but they would also be polite enough to keep their call short to make time for the other hololive members. She considered, Yeah, it'd be nice if they were the ones to break the ice.

With that in mind, imagine the utterly joyful look of shock on her face to hear that Sakura Miko, a fellow 0th gen member, was the one who rushed to be the first caller! They talked about the time they spent together practicing and performing as Micomet. Then, Suisei mentioned how much she wanted to spend time with Miko outside of rehearsals, but couldn't due to her dislike of sweets. She also suggested they get lunch together to make up for it, and Miko agreed. They ended their call with a little teetee for the fans, and Suisei moved onto the next guest.

After her birthday stream was finished, Suisei found a message Miko sent on Discord, timed shortly after they finished their call.

ELITO35

nyahello miko here

what you want to do togehter

D14m0nd1nth3R0ugh

We could do yakiniku
You're free three days from now right?

AYT?

ELITO35

yeah sure wahtefver you say suichan

The two met up at a nearby yakiniku restaurant and enjoyed their lunch, making small talk and generally enjoying each other's company, all until the air grew silent, and Miko decided on a new topic to discuss.

Miko leaned a bit closer to ask, "So, you said you wanted to get closer to me. Why's that, Sui-chan? Could it be?" She gasped, and then threw in a playful tone. "Don't tell me you're tryna fatten me up so you could eat my heart IRL, huh?"

Suisei chuckled and jokingly responded, "Baka! I'd invite you straight to my apartment if that were the case. Besides, I don't even know if a virtual being like you has a heart."

The shrine maiden gasped indignantly, placing her hands over… where her heart should be, at least. "How dare you?! I do have a heart, and it's still beating by the way, unlike the last one you got your hands on, you psychopath!" The two had a light-hearted laugh as they indulged in teasing one another.

The stellar idol then decided to drop the act, becoming as meek as she was when Miko called in on her birthday stream. "W-well, to tell you the truth, it's `cuz I wanted to know how you felt about all that's happened to you since you've started on Youtube."

The pink-haired girl nodded. "Since I started? Well, the first year was really slow for me in terms of getting subscribers. Didn't you start a few months before me?"

The bluenette recalled, "Yeah. We've both started after the initial 'Vtubing' craze settled down, though. Definitely wasn't easy to get subscribers at that point."

"I know, right? I wanted to be the next Kizuna AI, and then later overtake her to become the world's top 'Virtual' Youtuber! At least, that was the plan..."

What she said next made Suisei pause. "I ended up failing miserably and got moved over to the main branch, where Sora was. Even then, I wasn't as popular as the rest, not until a clip of me playing GTA blew up. How about you? What was your start like?"

The comet sighed. "To tell you the truth, this wasn't what I first wanted to do. I always dreamed of becoming an idol, but every talent agency I auditioned for rejected me for one reason or another. Mostly because I didn't 'specialize' in any one thing. Because I wasn't unique."

Miko felt offended on her friend's behalf, exclaiming, "Well that's stupid! Who in their right mind would pass up someone that could do everything as well as you?! No wonder you decided to go into Vtubing!"

The ex-indie posed proudly and proclaimed, "Yeah, and what better way to show them how much they messed up than by showing them how famous I can get without them?

She sighed again and propped her head on her hand as she reminisced. "That said, since I was all by myself, I didn't have the resources to get my name out there. I worked overtime just so I could afford to hire help, and I still had to edit Comet myself, all to barely get recognition a year later. That's when I knew I needed to join a company," Suisei continued honestly.

"But that only led to more rejections, yeah? Even hololive first rejected you, right?"

Suisei nodded affirmatively, impressed by this more thoughtful side of Miko. "They did, and part of that was because I didn't want to have to start another channel. I didn't want to abandon what I already had, nor the fans that have been with me since the start. You get me?"

The virtual being confessed sadly, "I do, and speaking of abandoning things, I... almost quit hololive. I didn't think I had what it took to keep going, so I wanted to completely end my career as a Vtuber." She stared off into the distance as she dwelled on the past.

The so-called 'psychopath' was taken aback. "Eh?! No way! What happened that made you wanna keep going?"

"Well, whenever we got into this sort of talk, Subaru and Mio would always be the ones that encouraged me to keep streaming." She gave a humorless laugh. "Heh. You probably think I'm lame, needing other people to get me to keep going when you've gone through setback after setback and still kept moving forward." Miko gazed back to her colleague, who now bore the most serious face she ever saw from her. And yet, Suisei still flashed her a comforting smile.

The shooting star reassured her, "No, no, no, I could never look down on you for something like that. Not after I myself nearly quit INoNaKa."

The miko gawked in disbelief. "After you what?! Now you're just pulling my leg!"

She defended, "It's true! Tenkyuu was supposed to be my last song before I was accepted into INNK. Even then, I kinda felt cheated when the company's policies changed all of a sudden. I also got sick that summer and had to take some time off, so I really got drained of my motivation to go on." Miko stared at her with such interest, it almost scared her, of all people.

"What happened next, Sui-chan?"

"When I told A-chan, she seemed to pull a few strings for me, and I got convinced to stay and even transfer over to hololive, where I kinda found what made me 'me'. You decided to continue thanks to a bit of encouragement. I needed all that to get me here. Wouldn't it be more appropriate to say that I'm the pathetic one here?" They silently peered at each other for a few seconds, only to simultaneously burst into laughter and lift the heavy tension between them.

The virtuan chuckled, asking, "Man, who would've thought that we've been through so much by ourselves, only to find out we're not alone?"

"Right!? What are the odds we'd even come together like this? And the same generation, too!"

The pinkette then said thoughtfully, "Y'know, we really are opposite sides of the same coin, aren't we? Even if we couldn't be more different, we're still made of the exact same stuff."

The diamond in the rough rebutted, "After what we've both been through? Nah, there's a lot more we have in common than meets the eye. But…"

"But what, Sui-chan?"

"I hear in other parts of the world, if you pick up a coin and it's heads-side up, you'll have good luck, but it's bad luck if it's tails. You'd definitely be tails, Miko." The elite one pounded the table to object.

"Quit it! We were in the middle of having a touching moment here!" Sakura Miko scolded her, though she couldn't help but giggle.

The ravenfolk waiter soon came back to them, putting the bill down and retrieving the glasses. The duo checked the total cost; the meal came up to 2500 yen, which was a fair price for two people.

"Well then," Suisei stated, pushing the bill towards her companion. "I'll leave this one to you, Mikochi!"

"E-eh? Why do I have to pay for it, Sui-chan?! That's so unfair!"

"It's your birthday gift to me, isn't it? A free lunch!" The virtuan gave her a free glare instead.

"No way! Pay for your own food! This was your idea in the first place!"

"Don't you remember agreeing to AYT? It means 'Anta no kane de Yakiniku Tabe ni iku!' (T/N: 'I'm gonna eat yakiniku using your money!') It was even on some of my merch. Jeez, are you sure you're anyone's senpai here?"

"You're trying to play the 'senpai' card on me like you did with Aqua! Well, it won't work on me. You may have debuted a few months before me, but I've been working in hololive for over a year longer! You can't beat those numbers!" Even someone as prone to deceit as Hoshimachi Suisei couldn't refute such sound evidence, so she chose another route.

"Fine, fine," the cometzen replied, loosening her right shoulder by spinning it around. "We'll settle this using an old classic. Best two out of three?" Miko caught onto the challenge she implied, and she beamed.

"Sure, and don't come crying to me for a rematch if you lose to my Elite tactics!" With a set strategy in mind, the virtual `Tuber had no doubt that this would be an easy sweep! In both of their minds, a simple jingle resonated as they prepared to duel.

Tsunomaki, Tsunomaki, Tsunomaki~… Janken!

…

*Thud*

"B-best four of seven?" The unlucky girl cried out, her face buried in the table from the faceplant she just did.

"Nice try as always, Mikochi~. For a shrine maiden, you always seem to have the most rotten luck."

"Says the one who sucks at gambling and gacha! You probably won't even get that SSR you're looking for!" Now that seemed to touch a nerve.

"Eh? Eh? Is that right? Am I hearing that right? Last I checked, you always lost at Tsunomaki Janken, so why should I trust your predictions?"

"Why you-" All of a sudden, they heard a stifled snicker.

They turned their heads to the waiter, who looked away flushed in the face while mumbling apologies and trying not to laugh. Meanwhile, two kids pointed at them and chuckled while their mother shushed them.

The pink-haired girl turned back to Suisei and whispered, "Y'know, we seem to have an interesting dynamic going on between us. Think our viewers should see more of it too?"

"Yeah, I think so. Plus, 'Micomet' has such a nice ring to it, we can't let it go to waste."

The shrine maiden extended her hand out to the Suicopath. "Well then, why not join me? Be the Demon Lord's enforcer, and slay my enemies and everyone else to your heart's content."

The latter leaned back. "Whoa, whoa, hey now. I never agreed to being your servant."

"Hmm, if not my enforcer… then what about being the Demon Lord's business associate, like a hitwoman I can call on at any time?"

"Associate? No, no. I think this should be a partnership on equal footing."

"Partnership? So we'll be 'business partners'? I like the sound of that! How about you, Sui-chan?"

"... Deal." She took Miko's hand and shook it firmly. "Here's to Micomet, the strongest business partners hololive has ever seen!"