Debut Preparations
The day after I received an activity name I was fairly happy with, Jia and I dove straight into serious debut preparations.
Things like…
"What do you do if a viewer suddenly mentions another streamer in chat or a donation?"
"…Ban them?"
"…The manager will handle that, so just don't engage with it."
Learning the essential rules you had to follow while streaming.
"How would you feel if someone was trash-talking soldiers?"
"? Why would anyone badmouth the people protecting our country?"
"Yeah… it'd be nice if everyone was like you."
And while we were at it, a little ridiculous ideology check.
"Sihyun… ah."
"How many times do I have to tell you it's Reina, Miss Shirasaki Noah?"
"Auuugh… I'm sorry… don't pinch my cheek…"
Jia and I worked hard at prying off the names that had stuck to our tongues…
And finally.
"Found her! The boss's comfort doll!"
"Ah, hello…?"
Meeting the colleagues we would be working with from now on.
…
Wait a second.
…Comfort doll?
That better not be me.
The long-awaited first meeting with my colleagues finally came together.
After brief greetings, a simple round of introductions followed.
"Uh… so, nice to meet you…?"
The slightly shy, long-haired tall one… Kazehana Rio.
"Hi, nice to meet you!"
And the tiny one around 150cm, Hanami Yuu.
…Ah, I don't know their real names.
It wasn't that I was deliberately ignoring them; company policy was that way. Something about preventing streaming accidents, I think. That sort of thing.
Well… as long as we had names to call each other, we could get close enough without knowing the real ones.
To be honest… I had been a bit worried before meeting them.
Sure, I had some social experience… but that alone felt a little lacking. Especially since I had always tended to drift around the edges at school and at work. Group living was even more unfamiliar, so of course I was anxious.
…But.
"You're Reina, right? You saved us!"
It might have been unnecessary worry after all.
"…Huh? Me?"
"Without you, we almost failed before we even debuted!"
"We nearly had to practice another whole year just because we were short on members…"
Because of the unfilled headcount, their debut had been left undecided… and to them, I was something close to a benefactor.
Plus, maybe because the boss had carefully screened them right up to the very end, both of them seemed to have pretty gentle personalities. Rio looked a bit timid for her frame, but she didn't cut conversations short and kept talking steadily.
…
Is "frame" a weird way to put it? I'm taller anyway, so that was a poor choice of words. Anyway, both of them are nice. Yeah.
"…"
However, Jia… no. Noah was subtly wary of the two of them—a minor hiccup.
"Yah?!"
"…You should get along. We're colleagues now."
"Y-you didn't have to hit me…"
"Then you shouldn't have started it."
One knuckle rap to the head, and she was back to normal.
She's already acquainted with them, so why is she acting like this all of a sudden? Weren't they getting along fine before I arrived?
"I scolded her for you, so will you forgive her?"
"Ahaha, fiery!"
After giving Noah a talking-to, I forced her head down into a show of apology… and Yuu found the whole thing pretty funny, laughing out loud.
"It's fine, it's fine. It's not like it's the first or second time."
"?"
"I'm used to Noah being like that."
"??"
"She's super quiet."
…However.
Wiping the tears that had spilled out, the words Yuu offered me were…
"Actually, with two shy people, it was getting a bit stifling, you know?"
"…???"
"I can say this now, but I'm really glad you came. Seriously."
I couldn't understand it at all.
Jia… is shy? This girl who had a bit of an influencer streak back in school?
Well, it's possible.
I still had questions, but I roughly accepted it and moved on. Sudden environmental changes are more than enough to change a person. Besides… she hasn't even been at the company that long, right? She's just in the gradual adaptation stage, whatever.
Held by Sihyun's hand, bowing her head toward Yuu, Baek Jia—Shirasaki Noah—fell into thought for a moment.
…Why am I like this.
She kept feeling like she was going off the rails. Being at the same company as Sihyun was definitely a good thing. But for some reason, just like back in school, wariness kept surging up out of nowhere.
Have I become too sensitive…
Well, it was understandable. Last time a senior had suddenly shown up. And not long before that, the boss had hugged her… Of course the purposes had been different. But because more women had started gathering around Sihyun, her anxiety had amplified without her even noticing.
Yeah. Admit it. There had been no need, but she had gotten unnecessarily sharp.
So…
I should act normal again.
In the end, if she wanted to keep her feelings hidden from Sihyun… for now, that was the right thing to do.