ALKALOID VS Switch – Prologue
November, two years after the establishment of ES, inside a pyramid in Egypt.
Mega Stream | Unveiling the Pyramid’s Mysteries!
“Hello, hello! Welcome to the stream, everyone!”
“Hello! Can you see us properly?”
“Oh, a lot of comments are saying it’s a bit dark.”
“TheN, should we adjust the camera’s brightness correctioN?”
“Ehehe. In my case, the darkness is helping me stay at ease ♪”
“Quite unlike the endless desert horizon, which had made me a little uneasy when we were traveling down into the pyramid.”
“Ohh, really? In my case, I was really moved by how pretty the scenery was!”
“An infinitely vast golden ocean sparkling under the sunlight! I couldn’t believe how beautiful it looked in person!”
“Heh heh. Thank you for joining us on this livestreaM.”
“I’ve adjusted the brightnesS. Is this any betteR?”
“Oh, the issue seems to be fixed.”
“We are receiving a lot of comments wondering where we are currently.”
“Hehe. Well, people tuning in might be surprised by the extravagant scenery.”
“Let’s see. Do any of our viewers know where we are~?”
“HaHa~! A lot of commenters are answering right~!”
“Makes sense. The answer was mentioned in Aira and Mayoi-senpai’s earlier conversation.”
“As they’ve said, we are on an excursion inside a pyramid in Egypt.”
“The absolute staples of Egypt have got to be sphynxes and pyramids… ♪”
“I really wanted to see them in person if I got to travel here, but I never thought I’d get to go inside a pyramid~”
“I couldn’t be more grateful to my seniors in Switch for this opportunity…!”
“Oh, there’s no need to thank us. Excursions like these are more fun the bigger the group is.”
“Senpai’s right~ When you go into a dungeon, you can never have too many friends in your party!”
“Oh, a dungeon? That is quite the apt comparison.”
“Indeed, I can feel a strange aura of malice emanating from this pyramid, brushing lightly against my skin.”
“What? What do you mean, ‘malice’? Don’t say scary things, Tattsun-senpai!”
“If we were allowed to come down here, that means there’s no way anything creepy is going on! Right?”
“… I wonder about thaT.”
“In truth, this pyramid hosts a large number of yet unexplored corners.”
“… What? You’re kidding, right?”
“Oh, no, it’s exactly as Natsume-kun says.”
“Apparently, a series of unfortunate accidents took place in this pyramid, so the exploration could not be safely continued~”
“Unfortunate accidents… were they truly only accidents?”
“C-couldn’t it be the consequence of a curse…?”
“No, no, no, there’s no way…”
“I see. I was a little perplexed originally, but this conversation has led me to a conclusion.”
“H-huh!? What in the world did you conclude from this!?”
“Do you remember the long line of street vendors before the pyramid?”
“Oh, right… They were selling a wide array of handicrafts, if I recall. A lot of them seemed to have very peculiar designs…”
“Exactly. This lamp is one of such handicrafts. It appears to be a magical artifact that protects one from evil.”
“My assumption is that these are being sold to protect explorers from the curse of this pyramid.”
“…Okay, stop! Let’s stop our excursion right here!”
“Y-Yes…! Like Aira-san said! We can’t let him stay in such a dangerous plaace…!”
“Faint-hearteD, aren’t you twO. A rumor is nothing more than a rumoR.”
“You were the one that scared us with it, Sakasaki-senpai! After that convo, I don’t want to take another step forwarddd…!”
“Ahaha, sorrY. I’ll tell both of you your fortune as an apologY, though it’ll be somewhat simplifieD.”
“Knowing the future should ease your feaR, righT?”
“Couldn’t we opt to stop exploring insteaad…!?”
“Oh? I seE…”
“W-what happened? Are we… still alive in the future you’re seeing?”
“…’Phantom’-kun, it might be for the best if you, in particular, went bacK.”
“… Eh? O, only me!?”
“The future doesn’t hold great things for yoU. It looks like you are about to be curseD.”
“W-what…!? Is there nothing I can do to dispel the cuurse!?”
“…? Hey, can anyone else hear that strange sound?”
“A-a strange sound? I don’t know what you’re talking about…”
“Oh, I hear it. It sounds like… footsteps?”
“It’s getting closer, fast. Now it’s—right behind Mayoi-san!”
“Eek…!? A mummy!?”
“Gyaaaaaaaah!?”
“Wh…!? Aira-san, what happened…!?”
“Begone, evil! Begone, evil! Amen! Amen!”
“Aughh… A-Aira-san… please don’t brandish the lamp like thaat!”
“Get away, get awayyy! Someone, anyone, please save meeeeee…!”
“… Oh, deaR. That reaction certainly justifies the set-uP.”
“Haha, absolutely. Alright, Sora-kun, could you take care of this?”
“HiHi~! Of course! Sora’s got us covered~!”
“Astera Swi Amenophis… ☆”
—Okay, stream’s over.
Hey, you guys are so mean…!
I thought this was gonna be a normal excursion. I can’t believe you were just playing a prank on us!
Haha, sorry, sorry. We didn’t mean to startle you to that extent.
No, you clearly wanted to get a rise out of us!
Letting a bunch of mummies loose on us…!
Ughhh… I’m getting goosebumps just thinking about it…
Haaah, same for me… My heart can’t take this…
Huhu~! We’re sorry, friends!
Your reactions were so funny that we got caught up in the moment~
Well, one thing is certain. Thanks to you three, our stream attracted plenty of attention.
Aira-san and Mayoi-san running from the mummies has even become a topic of online discussion.
I don’t want people to talk about something that embarrassing!!
Oh, well. There’s a lot more people talking than the usual, so we have Switch to thank for that ♪
Like when we streamed our tour to that Egyptian street market! Everyone was saying it was like a family trip!
Haha, a family trip? That’s a perfect way of putting it.
I imagine that Mayoi-san and I are the mother and father, while Tsumugi-san would be the eldest son.
Oh, I see~ then, that makes me everyone’s big brother!
I suddenly got so many little siblings, I don’t know what to do with them~
No, no, no! It would be unthinkable for a wretched creature like myself to play the role of a motheer…!
I don’t deserve to be anything more than a mouse that hides in the attic…
You’re saying you’re nothing more than our family pet!? Aren’t you being too hard on yourself?
In any case, I’m glad to see that our joint streams with Switch have been well-received so far.
If the fans enjoy it, let’s have more collaborative tourism streams soon.
Family trips are always fun, no matter how many… ♪
RighT. If these streams are received positivelY, we could start thinking of what interesting streams we can host together even after the end of the first rounD.
Switch has certainly gained fans from our streams together with ALKALOID.
Right… It feels a little strange, somehow.
The first round is taking place the day after tomorrow, yet there is no tension in the air at all.
And after this, we’re having a Switch and ALKALOID collab handshake event ♪
… From watching other unit’s streams, everyone seems to be at each other’s throats. But we don’t need to do the same, right?
It’s lame for idols to have to concern themselves with stuff like who’s better than who.
To a fan, their oshi takes first place no matter what…!
… That’s right. Well, that’s the reasoning behind our plan to collaborate without concerning ourselves with the competition.
No one has to get hurt, so all of us and our fans can all be happy—