Embarrassing Memories and the Graduation Gift Hunt
After finishing up with my bride-candidate unnis and leaving the stream on, I was lying in bed, leaving comments one by one on my fans' posts in the Atelier Fan Cafe.
-Beep-
I heard the sound of someone opening the front door. Since I'd told her last time to just come right in, it was probably Unni.
"Unni?"
"Yeah, Unni's here!"
Unni answered brightly as she hurried over to me and started fiddling with my cheeks just like always. Her hands felt cold against my skin, so I could tell it was still pretty chilly outside.
"Is it still super cold out there?"
"It's fine. More importantly, you ended your stream early today—what happened?"
Unni's pronunciation was a bit mushy from messing with my cheeks, but she answered nonchalantly.
"Nooo, I'm doing a streamer tournament with some people in February~."
"Oh? But isn't February graduation season?"
"Huh?"
I closed my eyes for a moment at Unni's words, lost in thought. Graduation... Come to think of it, I hadn't even done my high school graduation yet, had I? I'd completely forgotten. Still keeping my eyes shut, I ran through the dates in my head—thank goodness the tournament was mid-February, and graduation was early February. That was close.
"I-it's fine, the tournament's mid-February."
"Okay? Still, you have practice partners, right? You should've at least said something."
I nodded at Unni's point. We were all streamers, so syncing schedules was crucial. If practice overlapped without warning, it'd be a huge hassle for everyone.
"Got it. But stop touching me already!"
Unni grinned happily at my words and plopped down in the chair, gazing at me.
"More than that, can you believe our Yoon-i is already graduating high school? Time flies."
"Ahaha..."
Hearing her say that brought back memories of four years ago, when my little sister had shown up at my graduation. She'd been all tsundere, grumbling the whole time but blushing like crazy when she handed over the flowers. It was so cute... Well, she was still cute now, so that was fine, right?
"What's up? Hungry for something? You look spaced out."
Unni waved her hand in front of my face with a worried voice.
"Oh, no, just some old memories popping up."
"Old memories? You mean when Unni graduated?"
"Uh... yeah."
It was a little different, but it was still old memories, so I answered casually.
"Remember what you said to Unni back then?"
"Uh... huh?"
My woman's intuition was screaming that I needed to shut her mouth right now, but it was already too late.
"You handed me those flowers and said you didn't wanna go to high school without Unni, begged me not to graduate. You were so adorable."
"S-stop! Please, just stop!"
Every word she said replayed that memory in my head, and I was dying of embarrassment. I wanted to do something to her, but with my strength, it was hopeless.
"Stooop..."
All I could do was squeeze my eyes shut, cover my ears with my hands, and mumble. It wasn't even something I did, but it felt like my own dark history, driving me insane.
"Okay, okay, I'll stop. Our Yoon-i is just too cute, I swear."
I opened my eyes at the teasing voice right in front of me, and there was Unni, somehow right up in my face. I tried to scramble off the bed before she could do anything, but she flopped right on top of me and hugged me tight.
"Our Yoon-ieeee!"
"Aaaah! You're hea—"
I tried to speak, but I had to stop at the murderous vibe I felt somewhere.
"No, I can't breathe!"
"Unni's all soft, so it's nice!"
"Nooo...!"
I flailed around, but she didn't budge an inch—she clearly had no intention of letting go.
"Give up, Yoon-i. Unni's not letting go till her charge is full."
I finally gave up at her words. She'd done this before when I badmouthed the team lead, but this felt even more intense for some reason. Unni rubbed her cheek against the top of my head for a good long while before finally sitting up, satisfied.
"Seriously, you bully me like this every day..."
"Hehe, mad at me? Anyway, what do you want for your high school graduation gift, our Yoon-i?"
I grumbled a bit, and Unni sat on the edge of the bed, smoothly changing the subject. A graduation gift, huh. Back then, my little sister had saved up her allowance to buy me a wallet. Now? I didn't really want anything. The computer behind me was from Unni, and even the clothes from last time—Mom and Dad paid, but Unni chipped in extra.
"Nothing really comes to mind. You've bought me everything already."
"Really? But it's your one and only little sister's graduation."
Unni stroked her chin with a serious look, then spoke up.
"How about Unni hangs a banner at the school gate on graduation day? 'Congrats to the world's cutest Yoon-i on high school graduation!' Like that."
"A-are you insane? Absolutely not!"
Her serious face led to that ridiculous suggestion, and I shook my head in horror. An all-girls high school was awkward enough, but a banner? That'd make it a nightmare ceremony.
"Kidding, kidding. But if you don't pick something quick, I might do it for real~?"
Unni stood from the chair with mischievous eyes, patted my head, and headed to the kitchen.
"Figure out what you want while Unni makes dinner."
Her words as she closed the kitchen door made me tense up. Knowing Unni, she might actually show up with a banner or picket with my face on it. The thought sent chills down my spine.
I rolled around on the bed for a while, racking my brain. Streaming gear? Unni loaned me the money. Makeup? I didn't use it, and the stuff from last time was enough.
Even after eating the dinner Unni made and helping with the dishes, nothing came to mind. But graduation was still far off, so I could think about it later. Worst case, I could ask Huran-i to check with Unni or Danbi-unni.
"You still haven't decided what you want?"
"Yeah. Can't Unni just give me a pretty bouquet and call it good? That'd be perfect..."
Unni turned to look at me as I carried the dishes, her face lighting up like she'd been moved. She ditched the rubber gloves and smooshed her face against my cheek instead.
"You're too cute, seriously?"
"Ack! Hold on, Unni, you're dripping water!"
"How does our Yoon-i say such pretty things? Unni loves you so much."
She ignored me and kept going, but seeing her so happy made me feel good too. I hadn't heard "I love you" since I was little, and it felt kinda weird now. But hey, that dodged the gift talk, right?
"But you're not seriously thinking just a bouquet will do, are you? Tell me if you need anything real. Unni'll buy it all."
Nope, not dodged...
"Got it. I'll tell you if I need something."
I barely peeled her off and dumped the dishes in the sink before fleeing to the bed. Now I had to tell the unnis I might miss practice on graduation day. I grabbed my phone, opened Dascode, and lay back.
Doing Dascode on my phone was a pain—maybe suggest a group chat next time? After a bit of thought, I messaged them.
Sending the same message twice was a hassle, so group chat could wait till we met up. I closed Dascode to check the fan cafe when the notification pinged right away.
They were both streaming or set to busy—how'd they reply so fast? Huran-i's message popped first, then Danbi-unni's right after she read it. It felt like déjà vu. Why was everyone so eager to buy me stuff?
Too late to unsend, but I felt bad for interrupting their streams, so I closed Dascode before they could respond and headed to the fan cafe. Oh yeah, graduation means wearing the uniform, right? My heart fluttered a little at the thought.