31. Wait... You Want Me to Give Them to You?
31. Wait... You Want Me to Give Them to You?
***
—Victory!
Plea let out an inward sigh as she looked at the familiar hologram filling her view.
"Good game!"
She spoke brightly to her opponent, who was just about to dissolve into light and vanish, and slowly collected herself.
She couldn't confirm whether her opponent had heard her before disappearing, but it didn't really matter.
They already knew each other well enough that they didn't need to exchange pleasantries every time.
Even so, greeting people like that was simply a habit.
People who greet others well have a charm of their own. It seemed like such a small thing, but it was true.
It was one of the most basic things she had learned while "acting" to maintain relationships, but it was remarkably effective.
In top-tier ranked games, there were ultimately so few people that you kept running into the same players, so even the user she had just beaten was someone she had met at least dozens of times.
"Looking at this, I haven't gotten weaker."
She stared blankly at the ranked matchmaking hologram, but a sigh still escaped her.
Last night. The shock of the 2:0 complete defeat still hadn't left her mind. After the duel ended, she had pretended to be perfectly fine in front of the user called Rin, exchanging words and even making small talk. But honestly, her head had been a mess ever since.
The feeling of facing 'yet another' massive wall.
She had never felt this way except toward the two entrenched rankers at the very top, and she had never expected to feel it again.
"...I guess I really am a tryhard."
Rank 8 in Challenger. She had thought she was genuinely talented. After all, Challenger was a tier not just anyone could reach, no matter how many hours they poured in.
And even among those 200 Challengers, she was 8th. That was why she had received countless pro offers over the years.
But she had simply chosen the path of a streamer. Because she could earn income by streaming whenever she wanted, and she could play Another World to her heart's content.
And now. People often said there was always a sky above the sky, but what she felt now was like facing another moon floating above the night sky.
She had logged into Another World as soon as she woke up today and had been doing arena for about three hours.
Suddenly, she checked her arena record for today.
[11 wins, 5 losses.]
Her win rate was around 68 percent. It was clearly a solid record.
*
————
[Challenger Tier]
—1870 LP
————
*
Even her score had gone up by about 30 points.
The opponents she matched were relatively lower-tier, so the point gains had been small. Still, her score had gone up.
Her skill was still intact.
It definitely wasn't that I'd played badly.
It was simply that the user called Rin was abnormal.
"Should I just turn it off... and rest?"
Then she shook her head and wiped the thought away. Thinking about it all night wouldn't change the facts.
It was simply her complete defeat.
Unlike usual, her hand didn't reach for the ranked matchmaking hologram anymore.
The gap between her and 7th place was large, and she wasn't in the mood to keep going anyway.
Just as she manipulated the hologram and reached for the option to exit the game—
Ding!
—[Rin : Do you have time right now?]
She was startled as she checked the hologram at the sudden notification sound.
The English ID next to the nickname Rin bothered her, so she had simply saved the name as 'Rin' in her friends list.
—[Plea : Sure, sure. What's up all of a sudden?]
—[Rin : I'm thinking of trying streaming. Could you help me out, Plea?]
A request so direct it was almost brazen.
"...?"
What she had said last night had been at least half sincere. But Rin's answer had seemed so lukewarm that she had assumed she wasn't interested.
Apparently her mind had changed in that short time.
—[Plea : Sure, let's meet and talk first!]
As she sent the whisper, she manipulated the hologram and clicked on 'House.'
When she pressed House, the Colosseum background slowly faded away as if being erased, replaced by a bright garden filled with countless blooming flowers.
Suddenly, she remembered her NewTube channel editor, who had been making a fuss since morning about how a video she had uploaded had blown up.
A person worth getting close to.
Before she knew it, that was the first thought that came to Plea.
After that, she invited Rin. Along with a message saying the invitation had been accepted, particles like a cluster of light formed in one corner of the house space.
A woman with long, silver-white hair, dressed in flowing blood-red cloth.
With her Crescent-Moon Weight unequipped, she looked so feminine that Plea's gaze was drawn to her without realizing it.
An idealized beauty that looked as if someone had painstakingly crafted every detail.
Looking at Rin, Plea greeted her brightly.
"Hello!"
***
"Hello!"
"Yes. Hello."
I answered the bright greeting while looking around.
Colorful flowers of many kinds were blooming everywhere, as if in full blossom.
And right in front of me was a small lake, with a verdant garden making up most of the spacious grounds.
'Where is this now?'
It had said 'Invitation to Plea's House' out of nowhere, so I had accepted while wondering what it was, and it seemed to be something like a personal space.
Judging by the faint scent of grass, I figured it was some kind of relaxation space.
"Have a seat!"
She gestured toward a rather elegant bench, so I sat down without hesitation.
Then Plea immediately sat down beside me.
"So, Rin! You're going to become a streamer!?"
She sat right next to me and stared as she asked, so I nodded.
"I looked into it, and it seems like a pretty good job. And since you're a big-name streamer on tweetie, Plea, I thought maybe I could get some help before starting."
Now that I said it... this was basically me openly saying I wanted to leech off her. But well, what was wrong with a little leeching?
"Well, streaming really is a pretty good job, just like you said, Rin. It's hard to get noticed at first, but honestly, someone like you right now is basically a lottery ticket guaranteed to hit the jackpot."
"Really?"
It felt strange to hear someone sitting right beside me rate me so highly. And being compared to a guaranteed first-prize lottery ticket felt like quite the comparison.
"Rin, do you usually check community sites or places like NewTube?"
"Yes, well... a little."
Actually, these days I had been sitting in front of the PC all day just browsing websites and communities, but saying that outright was a bit... embarrassing.
"Then it'll be easier to explain. You already know to some extent, right? How much of a hot topic you've been lately. Even right now, all sorts of communities are probably full of talk about you. Because yesterday I... completely lost to you."
She laughed awkwardly as she mentioned her own defeat, and I found myself smiling awkwardly along with her.
"Yesterday... well, I just got lucky."
"Hey, you don't have to be so modest, Rin. It was my complete defeat."
Plea waved her hand slightly and laughed, and in that moment, I got a feeling.
This person wasn't actually unbothered by yesterday's result.
She was just forcing herself to act like she was fine. As a ranker, she would have a lot of pride, so I could understand it to some extent.
"You know that if we'd kept going in yesterday's second match, I would've lost, right?"
So I deliberately brought it up to boost her spirits a little.
"...What do you mean? Parrying an Awakening Skill was really beautiful. After that, I felt like I couldn't win."
'Calling it beautiful was... meant as a compliment, right?'
"Actually, I only had 3% of my HP gauge left at that point."
"...Ah. Because of the aftereffects of Counteroffensive?"
"Yes. And I didn't actually parry all of those beam-like ranged Awakening Skills. I ended up getting hit by one at the end."
"...Ah."
She nodded with a somewhat dazed expression, and I could clearly see that she was now regretting that moment.
And thinking that her mood had probably lifted by now, I slowly brought up the next topic.
"So anyway, could you help me with stream setup?"
"Well... for setup, if you search on Google or other major websites, it should all be explained in detail. Is there a particular part of the setup that's difficult for you?"
"Yes, well, there were several donation-related settings for receiving money from viewers, but strangely, I could only figure out one of them."
Before logging into Another World, I had fiddled with broadcast-related settings for a bit, and that was what I remembered.
The articles and guides made it look easy, but when I actually tried to set it up myself, it felt really complicated.
"And could you spec out a microphone and some other streaming gear you think would be good?"
Honestly, I just wanted to ask her to do everything for me.
I had looked into it, and there were all sorts of broadcast equipment, but even a little searching gave me a headache.
The equipment being expensive wasn't really the problem, but buying and setting up each and every thing one by one was something I really hated.
I had liked games in the past, but that didn't mean I was good with computer-related equipment.
"...?"
Plea looked at me as if puzzled, and I faced her with a brazen expression.
"Plea, do you happen to have any microphones you're not using, or old broadcast equipment from before?"
"Wait... you want me to give them to you?"
"Yes."
And I had a feeling that the person in front of me was exactly the type who would just hand things over if I asked.