Ethan woke with a stiff neck and the faint smell of incense clinging to his clothes. He blinked, realizing he wasn't in his tiny rented room but in Seraphine's dimly lit studio.
The ritual stream from the night before had ended too late to travel back. Seraphine had simply thrown him a blanket and pointed at the corner couch. No romance, no explanations. Just efficiency.
Across the room, Seraphine was already awake, brewing bitter tea. Her expression was as unreadable as ever, eyes fixed on her monitor.
"You snore when you're exhausted," she said flatly, without turning.
Ethan rubbed his face. "…Thanks for the note."
Before he could reach for his camera bag, Seraphine's tone shifted slightly.
"Tonight, you won't just be filming me. There's another."
Ethan frowned. "Another streamer?"
Seraphine gave the smallest of nods. "A VTuber. New face to you, but already known in the scene. Calls herself Mika Hoshino. Cute on the surface… but she hides sharp teeth."
---
By evening, Ethan finally met Mika at the arranged location. In person, she looked disarmingly ordinary: petite frame, oversized hoodie, nervous habit of chewing the drawstrings. But when her phone lit up, her VTuber avatar appeared in glowing AR—bright twin-tails, star-shaped pupils, and a smile that carried both sweetness and mischief.
She bowed slightly toward Ethan.
"You're the cameraman? Nice to meet you! I've seen your work—super raw, super viral. Let's make tonight unforgettable, okay?"
Ethan just nodded, still adjusting to the fact that people now treated him as part of the stream.
---
The location was an abandoned countryside inn, infamous for local ghost stories. Windows broken, walls sagging, furniture covered in mold. Perfect set for fear.
As soon as the collab stream went live, Mika switched fully into entertainer mode—her voice brighter, energy radiating.
---
[Chat]
hoshistar : MIKA FIRST IRL COLLAB?? OMG 🌟
crypt0kid : seraphine x mika crossover i'm shaking
camfans : cameraman better survive tonight lol
emojicat : 🍵🪦 haunted vibes let's gooo
---
The dynamic was sharper than Ethan expected. Seraphine spoke in her calm, unsettling cadence; Mika exaggerated every creak of wood and gust of wind with squeals and jokes. Between them, Ethan felt like the straight man in some cosmic comedy act.
But the house wasn't comedy.
At one point, as Ethan backed through a hallway, his camera caught a shadow stretching across the floor—like a hand clawing its way toward him. His breath caught.
Then—CRACK.
The floorboard beneath him snapped, sending his leg through up to the thigh. Pain shot through him. The shadow lashed, missing his chest by inches.
He dragged himself out, clutching the camera like it was life itself. "I'm fine, I'm fine," he muttered into the mic.
Mika gasped loudly for stream effect. "CHAT, HE JUST ALMOST DIED—BUT HE'S STILL FILMING! THIS MAN IS INSANE!"
---
[Chat]
ghostfan88 : did he just tank a DEMON ATTACK??
hoshistar : cameraman plot armor is real 💀
emote_rain : 🎥❤️ the camera must be blessed lol
clipgod : CLIP IT CLIP IT CLIP IT
---
The deeper they went, the more the inn seemed alive. Windows rattled without wind, doors slammed behind them, whispers curled through the broken rafters. Mika's avatar glitched more than once on-stream, her cheerful model flickering into something hollow-eyed before snapping back.
When the collab ended, their viewer numbers had doubled. Mika was already joking about merch drops, while Seraphine simply extinguished her lantern with a whisper.
Ethan leaned against the van outside, chest heaving. "One of these days," he muttered, "luck's gonna run out."
Seraphine stood beside him, unreadable as always. "Or maybe," she murmured, "luck is your curse. And curses… don't fade easily."
---
[Chat]
hoshistar : BEST COLLAB STREAM EVER 🌟
afterdark : that shadow was real, not edited…
fanboy : bless the cameraman 🙏
brandseeker : okay but collab sponsorship WHEN??