A Familiar Emptiness
After leaving the cafe, we grabbed a simple lunch. The place we chose was the same gyukatsu restaurant I’d gone to with Wa-sol last time.
“...So that’s how you get a bigger chest, huh.”
“She really does eat a lot.”
I never imagined Eve would polish off five servings all by herself.
Of course, as an Adami I already knew Eve loved to eat. But Utopia almost never showed themselves eating anything on stream besides drinks, so I had no idea she could put away this much.
“No way. I need to diet too...”
“Wh-why are you looking at me like that?”
The second Wa-sol declared she needed to diet, Gyu-ri scanned her from head to toe, let out a deep sigh, and passed the baton straight to me. You’re dumping this on me...?
“Wa-sol. I’ve been wanting to say this since last time. You are not allowed to talk about dieting...”
“Why? I’ve gained so much weight...”
Right. While we’re at it, let’s talk about what Wa-sol actually looks like.
First, her face.
Short black hair for a girl, eyes with a faint reddish tint. And a face so small you start to wonder how her eyes, nose, and mouth even fit on it. Her ears are usually hidden behind the side of her hair, but whenever she tucks it back they appear—so cute I can’t help staring.
Then her figure.
She’s in the late 160s, overall extremely slim and slender. She even has a faint six-pack on her stomach... She complains her chest is small, but honestly a full B-cup doesn’t feel small to me at all. If anything, bigger breasts would look weird with her current style.
In other words, Wa-sol has almost everything most women want. She is absolutely not someone who should ever complain about her appearance in front of other people.
And now she’s talking about dieting?
If a genuinely chubby woman with a complex overheard that, a stabbing wouldn’t be out of the question. For the sake of world peace, I felt I needed to burn this fact into Wa-sol’s brain properly.
“Look at this. My stomach never used to stick out like this.”
“And look. My arms got super thick too.”
“No, and look at my cheeks. Aren’t they chubby?”
Gyu-ri glared and shoved her tablet at her. Wa-sol turned to me with a face that clearly wanted backup.
Honestly, this time Gyu-ri was a hundred percent right.
“I also think Wa-sol doesn’t need to diet. No—she must not. If you lose any more weight you’ll stop being a Valkyrie and turn into a skeleton.”
“Uuum... is it really that bad?”
What on earth was she looking at when she decided she’d gotten fat? Did Wa-sol’s eyes come with concave lenses or something?
“Huk.”
Like Archimedes shouting Eureka, Wa-sol looked like a lightbulb had just popped over her head. Then she suddenly cupped her own chest with both hands...
Completely unguarded...
Just in case, I shifted my body to block anyone nearby from seeing.
“You’re right... even this much is precious to me.”
“Yeah. That’s not exactly the point I was going for, but the conclusion’s the same. Wa-sol must not diet.”
Honestly, from where I stood Gyu-ri didn’t look like she had anything to lose either. But compared to Wa-sol she did look a little rounder, sure. (Though anyone would look that way next to Wa-sol...)
“Gachi, do you like me the way I am now?”
“Yeah. Wa-sol is prettiest right now.”
“Hmm~ Then I won’t.”
“I should’ve just said that from the start.”
“Hehe, hey. Which part is the prettiest?”
Which part? I couldn’t pick just one.
There wasn’t a single place that wasn’t pretty.
“Kiss the place you think is the prettiest.”
“...Gyu-ri’s right here, you know.”
Why does she keep doing that?
Whenever Wa-sol tried to start some PDA, Gyu-ri would pretend she was going to look away. Even now she was peeking at us over the tablet that just said “thump-thump,” covering only up to her eyes...
“...”
Of course Wa-sol didn’t care either way. She simply closed her eyes and waited for me.
Two exclamation marks had been added to Gyu-ri’s tablet.
...Is this one of those moments where running away isn’t allowed?
Haa...
I had no choice. I pulled Wa-sol in with one hand.
Peck.
First her eyes.
Peck peck peck.
Then her nose, her cheeks, her lips, one after another.
Peck.
Then her neck. And finally the back of her hand.
Peck.
“I want to do all of them, but we’re outside, so...”
What kind of public humiliation play is this... Doing PDA this openly with Gyu-ri watching is pretty embarrassing.
Am I the only one feeling shy? Wa-sol looked more excited than embarrassed as she pulled me into a hug.
“Hehehe, I told you to pick one~”
“I just picked Wa-sol.”
“Hehe~ I want to do it too.”
“Later. Even for me, any more than this and I really can’t handle the embarrassment.”
~Ding-dong
Right then the call bell rang—probably Gyu-ri pressing it. A young female server came straight to our table.
“Yes, did you call?”
“Pardon?”
“...Excuse me?”
Gyu-ri... you can’t joke around with stuff like that...
In the end I apologized for her and sent the flustered server away. Thankfully she was a kind person and just laughed it off.
Nice place...
“Hey. Why did that server just now smile at Gachi?”
“Because she’s working.”
“Gachi, you are never coming here alone. Got it?”
Wa-sol’s jealousy seemed to have ramped up a lot lately. Or was I imagining it?
After the meal we headed to the arcade.
Gyu-ri and I got absolutely destroyed by Wa-sol like dogs on the hottest day of summer. (In games, of course.)
She was so into it she completely forgot she was the oldest one here and dove into pure childlike joy harder than anyone. Was finding that cute just the rose-tinted glasses talking?
Only after losing every single game to Wa-sol were we finally allowed to leave the arcade.
Well... we lost everything, but still.
“That was fun.”
“Then let’s come again next time.”
“Gachi will come with me, right?”
“...Sure.”
“Your answer was a little slow.”
“...”
Gyu-ri, stop. Wa-sol is silently glaring daggers at me right now.
“Well, anyway, Gachi already promised he’d always be with me.”
“R-right.”
“Hehe, then we should head back soon.”
“No. Stream time is coming up. Let’s go.”
Today Gyu-ri... Eve’s stream started at ten. Kiri’s at nine. And it was already seven.
I didn’t know exactly how long it would take to get to Gyu-ri’s place, but we figured we should head back now if we wanted to prepare without rushing, so we decided to wrap things up here.
But Gyu-ri would probably have a hard time going alone. Maybe I should take her home.
Poke.
“That face again—worrying about someone else. Are you fretting about sending Gyu-ri off alone?”
“Uh... ah. Yeah. How’d you know?”
“Hehe, it’s written all over you.”
Wa-sol poked my cheek with her finger and smiled like she’d read my mind. If that was a passive skill, I was in big trouble. It’d be pretty embarrassing if she found out exactly how much I liked her.
“Don’t worry. Just in case, I called Manager Unnie.”
“Ah, that person.”
Utopia had individual managers for each member plus one overall manager who oversaw them all. That overall manager was usually just called “Manager Unnie.”
“Yeah... I can see her over there.”
Where Wa-sol pointed, a black van was heading our way.
“Kinda feels like an idol.”
“Because we are real idols.” / We really are idols~
“True.”
It still didn’t quite feel real.
But now we were actually saying goodbye. It was a little sad.
I’d only just started feeling like I’d gotten close to Gyu-ri.
Poke poke.
“Hm?”
Gyu-ri gestured for me, so I turned my head toward her.
I felt a little moved.
...Right. Just because we were parting here didn’t mean it was the end.
I’d keep being with Wa-sol from now on. That meant I’d get to see Gyu-ri too.
“Yeah, see you. Next time I’ll take you somewhere even more fun.”
“Alright alright, stop flirting with someone else’s boyfriend right in front of his girlfriend and hurry over to Manager Unnie.”
Saying that, Wa-sol pushed Gyu-ri’s wheelchair toward the black van. Even while being wheeled away, Gyu-ri held up her tablet that said Today was so fun~~!
“Yeah, me too!”
I shouted loud enough for Gyu-ri to hear. She waved at me as she got into the van, then closed the door. At the same moment the black van pulled away.
“She’s gone.”
“What are you doing, getting all wistful? Gyu-ri’s place is only a taxi ride from here. If you miss her you can go see her whenever.”
Wa-sol linked arms with me and leaned against me the way she always did, speaking to the me who couldn’t hide how empty I felt.
That was true, but this feeling was probably inevitable.
It was a feeling far too familiar to me.
“Eve’s streams always leave me with this hollow feeling the moment they end. Right now feels similar. Maybe it’s because Gyu-ri is Eve.”
“Hmm~ Then what about Kiri’s streams? Do you feel empty when those end?”
Kiri’s streams?
When Kiri’s stream ends I get to meet Wa-sol, so I don’t really feel that kind of regret. Plus—
“...Honestly I rarely watch until the end, so I don’t really kno—ow!! That hurts!!”
“Thank you so much for the honest answer!”
Looking back now, maybe I should’ve said the monologue part out loud and kept the spoken part as monologue, but well... too late for that...
More importantly, why has she been pinching my cheeks so much lately?
At this rate my face is going to change shape.
And so my first meeting with Eve—Gyu-ri—came to an end.
I’d been surprised by a lot of unexpected sides of her, but realizing once again that Gyu-ri really was Eve also made me quietly happy for no particular reason.
Even so, there was one question I’d kept hidden in a corner of my heart that I never managed to ask until the very end.
I wonder if Gyu-ri... if Eve remembers.
That day, in that empty place.
That we had only been looking at each other.
The one person who had been watching Eve. The first person who ever discovered her.
I wonder if Eve remembers that person.
I wanted to ask... but I couldn’t.
I’d been telling myself it didn’t really matter anymore, but the honest truth deep down was... I was simply scared.
What if I was the only one who remembered that meeting?
What if I was the only one who still treasured that memory?
Just imagining it made my heart go hollow.
So I didn’t ask.
No—I didn’t want to ask.