One Month (2)

I came back home.

I'd been out for a good while, but there was still plenty of time left in the day. Not that I needed to worry about that anymore.

"They should be up by now, right?"

It was about time Elmil and Yo-ona would have woken up. I washed up quickly and sat down at the computer.

Yo-ona shot back a reply at once, saying she was already live. Elmil had the day off from streaming, so I didn't see her online — she was probably still asleep.

After that I followed her instructions and downloaded the game. It was a board-game style title, and it looked like she was in the middle of a viewer-participation match. So even with me joining, the open lobby would stay open — there'd just be one less seat?

"Alright, everyone~ Miren's here!"

Luckily the reaction wasn't bad — probably because I'd dropped in after they'd already been playing with viewers for a while.

"Come on in first, Miren! I'll share the code after that!"

I typed in the code and entered the room, and she revealed it to chat immediately. In the blink of an eye, viewers filled the two empty seats.

"They're in! That's it!"

She hid the code again and ran through a quick sound check.

"Okay~ can you all hear me? If you can, drop a greeting emote!"

Two of the viewers sent greeting emotes.

".....Huh? Why isn't the last one doing it?"

The last one?

.........

"Me?"

"Huuuh~? That's weird, still nothing?"

"Hold on..! Is it this one?"

I mashed my way through every button I could find, hunting for the emote key.

"Ten~ nine~"

"Got it, got it!"

Thankfully I hit the emote button before she finished counting down from ten.

"Okay, looks like everyone's here? Then since Miren's joining us, before we start — one more time!"

"Watching my stream is cheating! Everyone knows the UHO rules, right?"

UHO, briefly put, was a game where you played cards matching the number or color of the one in play, and the first person to empty their hand won.

"Yep~"

Once everyone had mumbled some kind of answer, she started the game. Turn order was assigned automatically, and I landed dead last.

"Wow~ Miren's in last!"

"........ You know that, right? In UHO, going last is actually an advantage."

"Ehh, really?"

"I'm lying, though."

"Whatever! Just start already!"

The viewer who had first turn, however, was of one heart and one mind with chat, and refused to begin just to mess with her. A thought struck me then — I was starting to find this woman genuinely impressive. Off-stream she was always so serious and polite about broadcasting, and yet.... I paid her a silent tribute of respect and started the game.

The opening card was a red 3. Pretty standard.

"It's my turn.....?"

"...............It really is my turn.......?"

What? She's empty already?

She drew a card. After that a red 7 hit the pile, and if it was red.... I only had one of those.

"Draw Two."

A card that forced the next player to take two from the deck. And the trick of it was that if the person who had to draw played another plus card, they could pass the whole stack to the player after them. Meaning if the person after me also dropped a plus card—

".......I don't have one... I'll draw four........."

—it would go like that.

From the moment the game began, all she had done was draw five extra cards. Which meant she was sitting on six or seven more than the rest of us.

".........Want a hand?"

"No..! You don't have to help me!"

Suit yourself, then.

The viewer after her played a green 4, I played a green 5, and the next person played a blue 5.

"I've got one this time! Blue 8!"

"Wooow, congratulations."

"Don't tease me..!"

After that, things proceeded more or less normally. Blue 6, blue 3, a blue Skip, a yellow Skip, a yellow Reverse, a yellow 1. The upshot was that Yo-ona was still losing to first place by nine cards, but still.

"You little shits! You're doing this on purpose!!"

"Aww.... there was nothing I could do, you know?"

A few more turns passed, and first place won without much trouble. That left the three of us. Yo-ona was still trailing the most, but she'd clawed her way back enough that it was starting to look like a decent match.

"UHO!"

Of course, that was only ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠if she'd been a little faster.

"That's my last card."

"Kh......"

She had three cards left. I had one. UHO! And then the last remaining player was down to one as well. There was no sequence of plays left that could get her second place. On top of that, if she didn't have a special card, last place was locked in.

"Draw Four."

"!"

I didn't have a plus card in my hand. Which meant I had to take all four. The viewer after me played their last card and claimed second.

"A last-place showdown, is it..? Heh. I won't go easy on you from here."

"But Miren, you have five cards left..... while I have a mere two, you see?"

"UHO, red."

She played a wild. Now she had a single card left. The whole game had flipped in an instant. But it wasn't over yet.

"Blue."

I played a wild of my own. The confidence in her voice cracked as she picked up a card.

"Kh...."

Which told me that one of the cards she had left was red. I was behind on card count, but I had the edge ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠in information. Two of the four cards still in my hand were even blue. The goddess of victory was smiling my way.

"Blue 6."

"Th-that's....."

She drew another card. Apparently the one she'd picked up last time hadn't been blue either. Alright. Time to put some real distance between us.

"Draw Two!"

Of the two cards I had left, one was a wild and the other was a special that could be played on any color. Victory was certain.

"Heh heh heh......"

Wait. No.

"Draw Two."

She played a red Draw Two. I checked the cards I'd been about to win with. Naturally, there was no plus card among them. I had to take the whole stack.

"No way....."

That left me with six cards. Worse than where I'd been a minute ago. And in that situation, she played her next card at a leisurely pace.

"Red 2, U...."

"UHO."

Yes. Leisurely. She wouldn't have run into this yet, not with how fast the games had been going — but there was a rule that if someone else called UHO before you did, you had to draw a card. In this game, that meant hitting a button. Thanks to her taking her sweet time, I got to it first.

"Ah...... How sly of you. But this will be the last time."

"Well. Succeeding even once is enough for me."

She drew a card, looking thoroughly aggrieved.

"Yellow 2."

She drew another.

"Yellow Skip."

"Yellow 9."

I was down to three cards. So was she.

"Blue 9."

She played immediately, as if she refused to lose. She was still out in front.

"Blue 5."

"Green 5, UHO."

This time she called it at once, without letting anyone steal it. Even so, the win was mine.

"UHO."

Tap.

I played a wild. The one card I had left was the special. I could change it to any color I wanted...... wait.

What color was she holding?

My pupils started to shake. The special that ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠could be played on any color was unique to this game — and the opponent could answer it with anything, regardless of color or number. I'd been so focused on getting the wild down first that I hadn't thought it through. If I wilded into her color now, she would win.

What color was her card? Red? Blue? Green? Yellow?

Thinking back, the one she'd had left before was red, and she'd played red twice in a row after that — so statistically, going red was the safest bet. But I also couldn't ignore the chance that two or more of the cards she'd newly drawn were red.

"Ah, screw it! Blue!"

I waited, tense, for her to play. And......

"Khh..!"

She picked up a card.

"YEAH!"

I played my last card. I'd won.

"Wow, that was fun."

"That was fun."

We played a few more rounds after that, then said our goodbyes. Still soaked in dopamine, I tipped my chair back.

"It's fun, after all......"

And then a faint unease started creeping in. That thing — the message-thing that had dragged me all the way into this world and made me stream — was a blessing and a curse in the same breath. It granted my wishes quickly and without fail, but it always assigned goals that were somehow annoying, designed to make my life harder. So what was it going to set as the next one? Now that streaming had gotten this fun, what if it handed me a mission that said quit streaming?

I didn't know anything for sure. I'd gone and gotten attached to broadcasting, and now it was going to be a pain.

I checked the clock, tense. After a little while, the hour rolled past eleven. I fidgeted with my phone for no reason, went and brushed my teeth, and by the time I came back it was fifty-two past. Then I started watching the minutes and the seconds.

A flash of light—

......Huh.