Could This Be the Pajama Party I'd Only Heard Rumors About?
"Aaah, seriously! Then promise me. Once a month, a regular collab. Do that, and there's nothing to worry about, right?"
"R-really...?"
"...Ugh. Yeah—yeah! It's a promise."
"Heh, hehe..."
I was happy. Truly happy that Suzuha had said we should do collab streams on a regular schedule.
Obviously, I hadn't become an outsider with a communication disorder because I enjoyed it. If you pressed me, yes, I was the type more at ease alone—but that never, ever meant I was fine without friends. So the kindness of her offering to keep collabing, even with a weirdo like me, made me happier than I knew what to do with.
"That promise. You didn't just nod because you felt you had to, did you? If that's what it was, you really don't have to collab next time."
"...Eh?"
What was she even saying?
"M-Miss Koga. D-did I do something wr-wrong...?"
So she had decided, after all, that a monthly collab with someone like me was too much?
Well, of course. A standing collab with someone who couldn't hold a conversation and had no sense for the room would only be exhausting. It really had been more than I deserved....
"Hm? No, no."
"Huh?"
"You're the type who'd rather be alone than on a collab stream, aren't you?"
"Ah, yes..."
"So I figured locking in a monthly collab would be hard on you. And the situation being what it was, you might've just nodded to get through the moment."
"N-no, that's not it!"
"No?"
It was true that I was a textbook outsider, the kind whose battery only recharged when I was resting by myself. Honestly, right after I'd agreed to a once-a-month collab, a small part of me had regretted it—can I actually pull this off?—that sort of thought. Even so, I didn't want to pretend the promise had never been made.
"H-hard or not, I still th-think collabing with you, M-Miss Koga, is f-fun."
"Really?"
"Y-yes. You're a p-precious friend, aren't you?"
"Huuuh?"
At that, Suzuha shot upright and looked straight at me.
"I didn't know you thought of me that way. Thank you. Really."
"Hehe..."
"Honestly, I've wondered about it a lot. Am I pushing my side of things on you too hard? Are you forcing yourself to keep me company even though it's rough? If that's not it, I'm really glad."
It wasn't as if I felt none of that. But I knew there was no malice in her, and if anything I was simply grateful she kept spending time with someone like me.
"So I'm counting on you from here on, too, Izumi."
"M-me too. Please take care of me."
"Then when I get home tomorrow, first thing, I should announce it on stream. That you and I decided to do a regular collab once a month."
With that, she flopped back down into the blankets.
"Well, since I'm staying over anyway, want to talk a little more?"
It was late, but once the conversation caught, its warmth didn't fade easily. I mostly just listened, of course. That alone was more than enough fun.
"...Hah. C-could this be one of those p-pajama parties you only see in anime...?"
"Well, something like that, isn't it?"
A pajama party with a friend, at the very tail end of summer break. Had I finally become a certified insider...?
"I don't think so."
So mean....
Noona, something's weird down there...
https://ontu.be/XXXXXXX
I can die happy now...
"I'll head out, then. If I call in a bit, you pick up right away, okay?"
"Ah, I-I got it."
I saw Suzuha off, then lay back down on the bed and stared at the ceiling.
Today was August 31st. Once today was gone, summer break would be over. Somebody please go to school in my place, just until winter break....
"Uweeeeh...."
One day of vacation left, so I hadn't scheduled a stream. From here on I would do absolutely nothing with my time—the most outrageous luxury in the world, if you looked at it a certain way. In other words, I was the true Time Killer—.
Time Killer—. What a magnificent title.
Anyway, today's plan was simple. Kill time like this, then close out the break by watching Nacchan's stream at eight. A truly perfect plan. If a god of time existed, they would surely leap up and applaud my flawless management.
"Mmm."
...But I was kind of bored. Was it because I'd streamed almost every day for a month?
Even the praise(?) I'd turned up while ego-surfing felt a little hollow when I was the only one looking at it. Well, yeah. Takes like these were the ones I used to haul onto stream and spin into a whole bit. Not that the praise I actually wanted ever came back. Just the sarcasm.
Why were there so many abuse-faction types among the Iztomo.... Still, it was because they all liked me, right? Hehe.
"Well, fine."
No stream on the schedule, but what if I just went live guerrilla-style? As expected, I'm the only one who thinks of the Iztomo!
"K-Konzumi~. Affiliated with Stars Flow, the a-atmosphere maker who dreams of a world where e-everyone can smile.... Kaino Izumi, here I aaam."
"I was by myself, not d-doing anything, so I got bored. I really turned it on for n-no reason at all. M-Miss Koga ate lunch and went home an h-hour ago."
Turning on a stream just because I was bored. Subtract the lack of tact and the stutter, and wasn't I basically a professional broadcaster now? Well. The problem was that I couldn't fix the two most important things....
"A-anyway, today, just like it s-says in the tags, I'm gonna play some TLQ. It's been a while."
"A fun episode? Mmm."
What even was there? We'd talked pretty late last night, but as usual I'd mostly been the one listening. Was there anything fun in what I'd heard?
"Ah."
Not a fun story, exactly. But there'd been a pretty fun experience.
"S-so, M-Miss Koga and I t-talked before bed yesterday."
"I-it's our own kind of c-conversation, okay...?"
I'd even heard her say she was counting on me from now on. A little wedge like that couldn't split us apart.
"Anyway, we t-talked before bed, and Miss Koga said something like this. 'Izumi must still feel awkward about a lot of the streaming stuff, but seeing you try so hard, you're really something.'"
"Right? I was so m-moved. B-but then, when I thought about it, hearing that from a girl who's even sh-shorter than me was just t-too cute..."
"Huh? ...U-um."
Yeah. I was fucked.
That was the conclusion I reached after careful deliberation. I was fucked. No—wasn't this a bigger disaster than getting swept up in a sandstorm on Mars? Suzuha was pretty sensitive about her height....
"S-still! I m-meant it when I said I was moved, M-M-Miss Koga!"
Terrifying. That one word from her was scarier than the horror game we'd played yesterday.
Or was it not? Then let's call them the same level.
"OkaythenshallwestartwithTLQfirst?!"
And so I started a TLQ ranked match.
"Th-that's all for today's stream..."
I ended the stream without winning a single round.
"I'm sorry..."
"Ah, I won't do it again..."
And after that, I got scolded within an inch of my life.
But I am Kayano Mina, a man's man. One who does not bow to outside pressure—not when the truth must be told....
"I-I'm sorry..."