Game Stream, with a Maid on the Side.

"Kon-Karona～! B-Caster aspiring to someday become an Ojou-sama, Karona Ryutanji here～! Today is a versus-game stream～!"

"oh, game stream today, nice, looking forward to it"

"came in from the thumbnail. heard there's an AI maid versus match"

"well, variety's nice. even daily dungeon dives get samey"

"kon-karona-. kokuyou-san too, kon-karona-… is that right?"

"Kon-Karona. Since it is the channel greeting, there is no issue with affixing Ojou-sama's name."

"Well then! That said, today I intend to play a versus game～! And the game in question, from the Retro Game Archive — is this! Super Bomber-Man 3～!!"

With that, she brought out the third installment of the famous bomb-warfare series.

Strictly speaking, there's an original first game without "Super" in the title, but that one doesn't count.

"ho. super bomber-man 3 huh… nostalgic"

"but with this versus game, story mode aside, for versus matches there's CPUs right? is there any point to using the AI maid?"

"there is"

"there is"

"the whole point is the maid-san playing bomber-man!!"

"Hm. Indeed, at first glance there may be no reason for an AI maid such as myself to stand in for the CPU."

Glancing at the comments, Kokuyou spoke up.

"However! I can dynamically adjust the difficulty to fit Ojou-sama's skill level! Take, for instance, courtesy play. That kind of tuning is beyond a CPU, wouldn't you agree?"

"t-true!"

"how much would it run to get courtesy play from a maid-san though"

"↑50,500 yen (AI secretary cost + Retro Game Archive cost)"

"↑whoop, don't forget the VR headset capable of running BCD either"

"and the fact that this is all legit too. we live in a good era…"

Having shot down the snarky comment head-on, Kokuyou puffed out her chest with a smug "hmph!" Her cat ears twitched triumphantly.

"Heh. Kokuyou? This me has no need of any handicap, you hear～?"

"Oh my. If I go all out, Ojou-sama will be absolutely rolled, is that quite all right?"

"I know perfectly well… that AI maids have virtually zero training data for games! Oh-ho-ho-ho! I know all about it from watching the maids playing Marimo Kart on Mikado-onee-sama's game stream!"

"ah, yeah mikado-sama had her maids run a marika tournament the other day"

"winner got a head-pat from mikado-jou, truly a quality stream"

"so that's where she got the idea from. i see"

"Oh-ho-ho-ho! Today's stream shall be a one-sided rolling of Kokuyou by yours truly～! Ah, but on the off-chance you do beat me, I'll grant you one request, Kokuyou, whatever it may be～?"

"You said it? Karonite-samas, you are all witnesses, yes, Ojou-sama?"

Kokuyou smirked, a fearless, unsettling grin spreading across her face.

"oh, that's a flag isn't it"

"… hey ojou, on what basis did you pick this game?"

"Hm? A flag, you say. Oh, I had Kokuyou choose a good versus game for me."

"ah"

"ohhh boy"

"so that's the kind of girl you are, kokuyou-chan…!"

"W-What is it? Huh?"

"Ojou-sama. Are you aware? Game training data is nil at the start. Yes, at the start… But what of a maid who, whenever Ojou-sama is out, has been passing the time playing games? Of the possibility that, in preparation for this very day, she has been watching technique-explanation videos and polishing herself to play perfectly against Ojou-sama? You have overlooked that possibility, Ojou-sama!!"

"Huh? Huh??"

"don't tell me she leaves BCD on full-time"

"ohhh boy"

"ohhh boy"

"ohhh boy"

"you done messed up, ojou… 'no training data' means given training, training is possible"

"My playtime on Super Bomber-Man 3 has already cleared 200 hours!!"

"No… wayyy!?"

"Fufufu, Ojou-sama's spilled saliva… I shall make her drink it back down, yes?"

"※ 'Don't drink back the saliva you spat': meaning don't take back what you said."

"that's a line you see in yakuza movies, but the phrasing is very kokuyou"

"creepy and amazing, kokuyou-san!"

"oh they said we could drink ojou's saliv[comment deleted]"

"Ufufu, a reward from Ojou-sama, whatever shall it be?"

"… I-I won't lose～～～!?"

And then, Karona lost by a hair's breadth. (※)

 

*

 

(※ Kokuyou skillfully tuned the match so it looked like Karona was this close to winning, while keeping enough of a safety margin to secure a comfortable victory without Karona ever catching on.)