Trouble

They say praise can make even a whale dance.

And the more I thought about it, the more I had to wonder — did a teacher really have to be strict? Even among soccer coaches, there were the ones who wrapped their players up like a father and guided them from there.

Maybe that approach had suited me better all along.

"Fighting… I'll just be here cheering you on from now…"

"Ah— yes."

"Is the whispering weird…? Does it sound strange…?"

"I-I'm fine with it!"

"He says he's fine, though…?"

"The 'gonna Bocchi lose it' bit's actually kinda fire… heh."

I'd only whispered as a joke, and the Bocchi chatters were losing their entire minds over it.

A few of them were even typing about how jealous they were.

Wait. Are they actually jealous right now?

I figured I might as well keep going.

"Sole… you're going way too fast…"

"Ah, yes yes."

"Take it… slow for me…"

"Yes…"

"You're doing so well right now… hehe."

"Urgh…"

"Pffthhhh…."

Yep. Called it.

They were jealous. Definitely jealous.

"Ah, what do I do. You guys being jealous is like, ridiculously cute, isn't it? I kinda wanna flick every one of you on the forehead. Hahat."

"What thirst bait… heheh. I am coaching right now."

People were being so weird. If this wasn't coaching, then what was it?

Just look at Bocchi's Sole over here, basking in my cheers.

Whether he'd actually awakened or not, he closed in on the enemy top laner mid-lane with a deranged triple-Q—

—and shut down an opponent who'd been ahead of him in items. Now that was genuinely impressive.

"Bocchi, I got a solo kill!"

"Yeah, that was actually really good just now. That was cool."

"Thank you… hehe."

And after that — had he actually awakened from my cheering?

He won a one-versus-two on the side lane. Then he did it again.

He closed the game with a perfect carry in the final teamfight.

"Heh."

As a teacher, I was feeling deeply, profoundly proud.

Maybe I actually had a talent for this teaching thing? Then again, what couldn't this invincible TS body do?

"Hey, maybe I should try being a Lel coach later?"

"What did I do? Sole awakened because of me, obviously. Right?"

"O-of course!"

"See?"

What was I even supposed to do.

I already had to be an aidoru and a streamer.

And now a Lel coach on top of that? That was genuinely impossible.

God. Having too much talent was such a painful burden.

I couldn't even properly do all the things I wanted to do. Aigoo, aigoo.

"What a predica~ment. Hehe."

I enjoyed the chat's reaction to my surprise variant ceremony, then turned back to my student.

"Sole, you may descend the mountain. I have nothing left to teach you."

"Ah… thank you. I feel like I really learned a lot! I think I've gained some confidence in my skills too. Hehe."

"Don't mention it. Ah, but you know you can't get cocky, right? You have to guard against arrogance at every moment. Stay humble."

"Yes!"

It was about time to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠part ways with my disciple. The whole thing had been about to wrap up on a warm, wholesome note—

"Um, Bocchi… so…"

Sole, who still hadn't left the call, spoke up.

"Yes? What is it?"

"I-I think I actually really like you, Bocchi…"

"Okay~ thank you. You can leave now~"

I force-ended the call on the spot.

I mean, what was I supposed to do when he pulled that all of a sudden? We'd been having such a nice time just a second ago.

This was such a predica~ment.

"Ah, he seems pretty young, so don't come down on him too hard. And besides, if any of you were in his position, you'd confess just the same."

"'Not me though' — no joke, I feel like I see this exact chat fifty times a day. Hehe."

I grinned at the chat, sheepish and pleased — and then.

Ah.

The thought arrived out of nowhere.

How much time did I even have left to stream?

The comeback was in six months, which meant I'd be slammed starting at least three months out — barely able to go live a handful of times a week. And once the promotion cycle actually started… that was a minimum of six months to a year. I'd be so frantically busy I wouldn't have time to stream at all.

Once that thought settled in, my chest felt a little heavy.

"Ah, right, I should take the next student."

A streamer showing a gloomy face on stream was against the rules.

I snapped right back to my usual energy.

"Didn't you guys just say this wasn't doing anything, though? Should I scrap it and we just go play solo queue?"

Right. The future could wait.

"The flip-flopping is actually insane. Fine. Next student, please apply~"

"Ah~ there's way too many of you, so I think you'll have to do it through donations~"

I'd leave the rest to future me!

Dawn, after Bocchi had ended her lecture stream(?).

It was the hour when most people were asleep — but LelGal's Rank-0s were posting at full throttle.

Everyone had apparently been so wrecked by Bocchi's voice today that they were juicing post after post, throwing LelGal into complete chaos…

The gallery mod, unable to watch any longer, stepped in to get the topic under control. And fortunately, a massive piece of news landed at just the right time to bury the Bocchi bait.

Of course.

…This was about Bocchi, too.