Expected Meetings and Unexpected Meetings (3)

The afterparty kept going long after that. Of course I spent the whole time talking only with Senior Wa Sol, and it turned out to be a pretty good stretch of the evening.

"Alright, time to move on to round two! Anyone heading home, head home!"

It had gotten late enough that the people who wanted to call it a night started peeling off, while the ones still game for a second round fell in behind the club president. The vibe made it awkward for me to tag along, so I was about to head home myself—

"Ah, I'm heading home too. I only came tonight to show my face."

"What!? Senior, come with us~?"

"Sorry. I'm wiped."

The other underclassmen—especially the guys—raised a chorus of protest, but Senior Wa Sol turned them down with a bright, breezy smile.

Once it was clear her mind was made up, the freshmen finally gave up on dragging her to round two. That was when a few of the returning students ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠stepped in.

"Wa Sol, I'll walk you home."

"Hey, hey—you're gonna miss curfew at the dorm. Wa Sol, I'll take you."

It was past eleven, and she'd had a fair amount to drink; they were worried, they said.

That much, at least, Senior Wa Sol seemed willing to accept.

She rested a hand on my shoulder and said,

"It's fine. I've got a bodyguard right ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠here. Gachi and I live in the same mansion complex."

"Ah—yeah. That's right."

Her words, and my agreement, made most of the table stare at us with startled eyes. I hoped they weren't getting any weird ideas.

"There you have it. Everyone heading home, go home. Second-round people, follow me!"

The only person still fully sober—the club president—issued the orders like it was the most natural thing in the world. Watching her, I thought she was more of a man than a big guy like me.

…Or maybe saying that about a woman was rude.

"Gachi, get Wa Sol home safe. Wa Sol… see you on the first day of classes."

"Yeah, got it."

"Thank you for your hard work."

And just like that, Senior Wa Sol and I slipped out of the afterparty and started walking home together.

"Whew. Finally free."

"…Was it that rough being there?"

Once we were clear of the department crowd, Senior Wa Sol let out a long breath like she'd been holding it the whole time. The reaction surprised me enough that I asked.

"Well… something happened a while back. I only went tonight so people would know I'm doing okay now, but it still felt a little heavy."

"Are you sure you're really okay?"

"If it were just that, I'd be fine. But, you know… the clinging…"

"Ah…"

Right. She was beautiful enough that the guys had been swarming her all night. Saying that out loud herself would have been awkward.

"But you saved me, Gachi. I feel bad putting it this way, but sitting at a table with just the two of us made it a lot easier. Thank you."

"Didn't expect to get thanked just for sitting alone at a table."

I answered with a little snort of a laugh, and Senior Wa Sol laughed too, like she found it funny.

It was too dark to see clearly.

But I was pretty sure it was a high-scoring smile.

"I might not be able to show up to these things much from now on. I was trying to come whenever I could, but if the atmosphere's still like that, even that might be hard."

"Busy? Ah—job hunting. Yeah, that wouldn't leave much free time."

"Hm? Oh, it's not that. I'm just… a little busy. Plus I took a pretty long break. That's why I'm still a sophomore."

A sophomore. At twenty-three she was the same age as Su-yeon hyung, which meant she'd taken a leave of absence almost as long as military service.

Given what she'd just said, there had to be a reason.

"So that's what the club president was talking about earlier. I was sitting too far away to catch that part."

"Heh. Funny how you still managed to catch my name, though. Was that flirting?"

"It was not."

"Aww, I don't buy it~"

"Is that some kind of catchphrase?"

"What? Ah… it just slips out. Haha."

Well, I had words that slipped out of me all the time too.

I used "well" and "honestly" way too much. If I ever wrote a novel, those would probably clog up the narration.

"But Gachi—you said you prepped for the retake exam while you were in the military, right? That means you enlisted almost right after high school. How did you know about Utopia from their debut?"

"Ah, the military these days lets you use your phone. Once the workday ended, I'd pull it up right away."

"Really? Back in the day my uncle used to text us begging for calls on the base payphone. What a world."

She had an uncle. For some reason I pictured him as ridiculously handsome too.

"So in that wonderful world, Gachi only ever watched Eve, huh?"

"Pretty much. She's the joy of my life."

"I feel a little bad saying this, but… that kind of devotion can drop you straight into hell, like earlier tonight."

"Even hell is still a kind of joy."

"Nice. It almost sounds like rock."

The conversation truly never dropped. Her reactions were good, too.

I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠wasn't the type to lead a conversation, so the reason this one kept flowing had to be Senior Wa Sol.

What was this feeling?

Hmm… ah. It was strange.

Ever since that day, outside of Eve's streams, my mood had almost never climbed above a thirty out of a hundred. Being with Su-yeon hyung was about the only time it regularly cleared that bar.

But right now… it felt like I was sitting on a pretty high score.

"What?"

"Huh?"

"You were staring."

"Ah—sorry. I was just thinking… short hair really suits you."

"…"

At my words, she stopped walking.

Had I said something wrong?

Words could turn into accidental landmines depending on the listener's circumstances. Afraid I'd just stepped on one, I was about to apologize on the spot—

"Thank you. For saying that."

The streetlight fell on her like a spotlight, and the quiet of the dark night made her voice stand out even more.

Thump.

"…"

A smile bright enough to dazzle even at night.

Probably, out of a hundred points—

"…A ninety-nine-point smile."

"Hm? That's a weirdly specific score."

"Because a hundred's already taken."

"What is that supposed to mean? Hahaha."

I had no way of knowing what meaning was folded into that short hair. You couldn't know everything about someone you'd only met yesterday.

But there was one thing I did know.

Apparently… I kind of liked being with Senior Wa Sol.

We got back to the mansion complex together. After I made sure she'd gone into her unit, I went home and checked the time—eleven-thirty.

Utopia was on full hiatus today anyway, so Eve wasn't streaming either. I took a leisurely shower.

"Whew. Tomorrow's Saturday—she said she'd go live at ten a.m. Better turn in early tonight."

As always, my entire life orbit spun around Eve.

If she was going to stream early, the natural move was to sleep early and watch in decent condition.

Of course, before that—

"Just in case, I should check the café notices…"

—was the plan. But out of pure habit I opened the Diy app instead.

There's no stream today anyway, I thought—and then I noticed the time had flipped.

"Oh. Past midnight."

Which meant "today" had become "yesterday." Maybe there was still a chance?

"…Nothing. Still, just in case, I'll wait a little."

Maybe because I'd already let myself hope.

I tried clinging to a wait that had nothing left in it but leftover attachment, but ten minutes later Eve still hadn't appeared.

Well—she'd said she'd stream at ten tomorrow morning.

She'd be resting until then.

I was about to close the app with that thought when—

An app notification suddenly lit up my phone.

No way.

I tapped it immediately and entered the room—

—and a high-pitched greeting spilled out.

"Ah. It was Kiri."

My oshi was Eve, no question.

But they were in the same group—I hadn't only followed Eve.

Just being Eve's groupmate was more than enough to make a VTuber meaningful to me.

…I'd been a little disappointed just now, sure. But that wasn't Kiri's fault.

…This was actually pretty fun?

The Hara—Kiri's fanbase—kept calling it boring, but the audio never dropped while she talked, and the reactions were pretty tasty.

I typed a chat without thinking. Come to think of it, this was the first time I'd ever chatted in a room that wasn't Eve's.

No way she'll notice, I thought—

Whether she'd actually seen my chat or just timed her reaction to it, Kiri responded right on cue.

The Hara, jealous, started roasting me for it. Well—I understood the feeling.

I found out later that because Kiri's lore said she came from Asgard, whenever an MVP-tier chat or donation dropped, she called that person Odin.

That one line from Kiri made the chat and the donations explode. Games were her main content, after all—and it looked like she was about to play the one she was best at.

Huh. Her tone and delivery shifted a little?

Something about it… actually felt like a real warrior.

And so the game began. It was an FPS—specifically a survival game.

Players dropped bare onto a wide field, scavenged gear and supplies, and tried to stay alive inside a steadily shrinking zone.

I still remembered the time Eve tried it and got absolutely roasted. She had definitely not been good at it.

But she was cute, so I'd forgiven her.

"…She's actually good."

Comparing Eve and Kiri's game skills felt a little unfair, but the gap was enormous.

For one thing, she never asked the chat what to do. And when something happened, her hesitation time was way shorter than Eve's.

On top of that, unlike Eve—whose main content was low-chat banter—Kiri went almost completely quiet once she was in a game.

The Hara seemed to know it too—they weren't spamming noisy donations. If Eve's stream felt like a talk show the streamer and viewers put on together, Kiri's stream felt like a recital where you sat quietly and listened to a pianist play.

The Hara typed helpfully, but even a beginner like me could tell the chats were useless. The only thing worth trusting right now was Kiri's own instincts.

She seemed to know it too—processing every scrap of information the game fed her through nothing but her own senses.

In the end, Kiri took out the last survivor who'd been hiding.

The moment she did, the Hara's chats and donations—held back until now—exploded.

Her voice tone snapped right back to normal. So she had a tryhard mode and a regular mode.

Now that I thought about it, her avatar's armor had seemed to shine a little brighter while she was locked in.

"…She's got a different kind of charm from Eve."

Not the kind of stream that made you smile happily all day the way Eve's did.

The kind that pulled you in without you noticing.

"Not as good as Eve, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠but it's a good stream… Wait, has that much time already passed?"

I'd lost track of time watching—a full hour had slipped by. Figuring it was late, I moved to close the stream.

Fun was fun.

But my oshi was still Eve.

Sometimes you craved something salty and spicy, but you couldn't live without the sweet stuff.

"Huh?"

Right before I closed the stream, something felt like déjà vu.

Just my imagination, maybe.