Rua's Reckless Duo
I licked my lips while watching the stream on my phone. Streamer Rua. Rua had twice as many dedicated viewers as Uni. She streamed with her cam on and had such high energy that collabs were frequent. Her style naturally made her channel grow fast. That was why today's broadcast had clear entertainment value.
[Can I call you Uni? Should we drop the formalities?]
[...Ah. Sure. Shall we?]
Uni had only just connected to voice chat, yet she'd already lost control of the situation. Rua was already preparing to speak casually with her.
[No, no. Not "shall we?" Just say "yeah." Try it!]
[Y-yeah.]
[That's it~. Good job, our Uni.]
Her style was completely different from Uni's. Uni only ramped up her energy at certain moments and was strong only toward viewers. When it came to fellow streamers, she was quite weak.
[Uni.]
[Yeah?]
[I've wanted a little sister since I was young. Would you call me "unnie"?]
[...Uh, unnie. Like this?]
[Kyaaaa~!! I love it. Your voice is so cute too. Can you really not be my little sister?]
Rua squealed with genuine excitement. Hey, Rua. You're just doing this collab to satisfy your own desires. Uni had already opened a notepad on her screen.
[Save me... everyone...]
And she was sending us an SOS.
[You chose this collab. Endure it with sheer willpower!]
[ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Serves you right. Go Rua!]
[ㅋㅋ Uni looks really tired, doesn't she?]
But the chat had no sympathy for Uni. Viewers always wanted to see her suffer. Then more text appeared on the notepad as she typed away.
[It's especially hard today. Mom...]
Rua immediately called out to her, apparently hearing the keyboard sounds.
[Rua. Our viewers say you're sending out rescue signals?]
[W-what are you talking about? I have no idea what you mean~?]
Startled, Uni quickly closed the notepad.
Today's games were played in Silver queue. Uni had probably borrowed a Silver account from somewhere.
[But is it okay to queue with Master and Silver together? Isn't this a crime?]
[We still need to practice for the tournament. We have no choice.]
[I'll leave everything to you, Uni?]
Uni had slipped back into formal speech. It seemed Rua had given up on making her speak casually. Uni would be the one shotcalling, and I worried whether Rua could follow her orders. Uni was an ADC who demanded a lot from supports.
[What supports do you usually play, Rua unnie?]
[Me? I'm a flex. I can play every support. Just tell me whatever.]
Being a flex usually meant not being good at any of them. Especially in Silver.
[I need to check your op.gg first, RuaRua.]
[Huh? Wait! Are you looking up my match history right now?]
Uni searched for Rua's nickname in the match history. Finally, the red-stained traces of defeat appeared. A disastrous win rate that kept the shock coming.
[Um... Rua unnie? Are we sure this is okay?]
[...Yeah. Of course~! My condition's just been bad lately. Forget what you saw. Let's start fresh.]
Rua said something shameless. Judging by the win rate, it wasn't just recent. I didn't watch her often, but Rua was famous as a "bad at games" streamer. Her viewers even joked that they'd each lost at least one molar watching her.
The game finally started for Uni and Rua. Uni picked Kog'Maw without hesitation and spoke to Rua.
[Let's test the basics of support first. Lulu.]
[Lulu? Okay. I'm really good at Lulu. Don't worry.]
The worrisome game began. After some time, an ally had died. Rua had carelessly stepped on Caitlyn's trap, gotten pulled by a grab, and died instantly.
Viewers used to Master queue streams couldn't understand the sight. Uni called out to Rua with a trembling voice.
[Unnie...? Why did you...?]
I couldn't help but laugh in disbelief. Hang in there, Uni. Her ordeal was only just beginning.
*
[You worked hard, Rua unnie...]
[No, Uni. You're the one who worked hard. But you really carried~.]
[Nah. I can't be this bad here. I do have my tier, after all.]
Of course, they won every game today. There was no way I couldn't carry in Silver. When unnie got pulled by a grab, I got a double kill alone. When she wandered off and died, I reassured her. Unnie kept making reckless dashes and crazy plays at every opportunity.
[Let's play again next time~! Bye Uni.]
[Bye~!]
I quickly ended the voice chat before unnie could catch me. I-it's finally over. ...Guys. I tried my best. I really did. I slumped forward, resting my head on the keyboard.
Every single game had been a chain of suffering. Since I'd never duoed before, it was hard to give instructions while playing myself. There were many things I couldn't say for fear of hurting Rua unnie. I could now fully understand what people meant by "she wouldn't have survived if she wasn't cute." My molars were going to get ground down a lot more in the future. Haah. It would've been better to duo with oppa. I even found myself missing our last duo at the PC Room. If it were just that level, I'd have no complaints.
[Everyone, did you enjoy it?]
The stream wasn't over yet. I had to pull myself together. I steadied my dazed mind and started talking again.
Still, the viewers' reactions weren't bad. Yeah. This was enough. If my suffering made them happy, that was all I needed.
[I was thinking of dragging it out a bit longer, but I'm really tired today.]
[That's it for today then. Bye everyone~]
I ended the stream while watching the chat beg me to stay. When I tapped my phone, a message notification appeared.
"Oppa messaged me?"
Oppa had never sent me a message first before. Maybe the gods were rewarding me for doing so many good deeds today. My lips curled up naturally as I checked his message.
A photo of the tricolor cat came with the message. Black, orange, and white fur mixed together. She wasn't tiny, but she still looked like a kitten.
"Whoa... so cute... I'm healed..."
So that's why he didn't send it yesterday—he forgot. Just one cat photo was enough to heal all the pain I'd endured. I was glad he'd sent it today. I sent back a flood of messages praising the cat.
Her tiny white-furred paw pads. I wanted to get hit by those little cottony punches. It felt like I could reach nirvana.
If any of the names oppa came up with were decent, I wouldn't mind using one. I decided to check the owner's naming sense first. After a while, his reply came.
[Oppa, those are a bit...]
No way. Has his brain been completely soaked in games? Every single name except one was a game character. ...So he really was bad at naming.
A girl, huh... Any good names? After thinking, I suggested one to oppa.
Because I'm a hardcore cat person. My phone gallery had more cats than people. None of them were mine, of course.
I replied telling him to sleep well too and closed the chat. ...Haah. When is this weekend coming? My heart was already starting to race. The thought of going to oppa's place to see the cat made me a little nervous. It would be my first time visiting a guy's house. And this time, it would just be the two of us. My favorite oppa and my favorite cat. It was a combination destined to make me happy.
"I hope time passes quickly..."
Until I fell asleep, I prayed for the week to end soon.