Injury
"Ugh."
"Ming-chan. What's wrong?"
"Nandemonaiya."
"Oho, that song's a good one."
I brushed it off and stuffed my phone into my bag. I'd checked the community on a hunch, and sure enough, everyone was still talking about yesterday.
Something about it made me want to crawl into a hole.
Why, though?
I'd been completely fine while streaming yesterday. Better than fine — I'd been having so much fun my energy had been at an all-time high.
But seeing the reactions laid out like this... the secondhand embarrassment hit me like a truck. If I rewound the memory even a little...
Bocchi~ Bocchi~
"Haaaaaah..."
I clapped both hands over my face. The shame was physical.
What the hell did I do...?
Was I drunk? Yeah. Let's just say I was drunk.
A dark history like this only gets worse the longer you dwell on it. For the sake of my mental health, I needed to forget it as fast as humanly possible.
Still, it hadn't been a total loss. I'd burned my character into the stream, nice and clear.
A little cute, a little clumsy, that kind of vibe! Yeah, yeah!
...Anyone who wants to point out that I was already that character can leave.
Anyway.
"Ming~chan. What are you actually doing? Don't tell me you're sitting there getting all lovey-dovey because we're filming self-content together for the first time in ages?"
"No."
"Hidoi!"
Today was a self-content day.
The cast: HYPE's proven same-age duo, Jimin and Haruka. The concept was simple enough — we filmed whatever we felt like and uploaded it to NewTube.
"Don't talk to me today. I'm in a bad mood."
"Eh, samui."
"Cold? Want me to take my clothes off for you?"
"...Ming-chan, what kind of bit is that?"
Today's Lee Jimin was a little different from usual.
A touch of kuudere.
If I had to put it in terms, I was going for the kind of character that would look right at home with silver hair and red eyes.
Thanks to a series of unfortunate events, I'd done a whole pile of clumsy, Bocchi-suspicious things during the last K1 collab.
The thing was, the original image of idol Lee Jimin was someone cool who still took good care of her fans.
Today, I was going to hammer that image in for good.
And then I would drive a wedge so clean between idol Jimin and streamer Bocchi that nobody would even be able to suspect they were the same person!
This was the big picture.
We hadn't started filming yet, so I figured I should give Haruka a heads-up and get her on board.
"Haruka. Come here."
"Hm? W-wait, Ming-chan, that's way too close—"
I leaned in until my face was right next to hers and whispered into her ear.
"I'm doing a kuudere concept today... so play along with me..."
"U-uun? Kuudere?"
"Yeah."
I gave her a reasonably trimmed summary of my current situation. Haruka already knew I streamed, so there was no point dancing around it.
"I see. Ming-chan really has been slacking on this, huh. But did you have to say it as a whisper?"
"Someone might overhear."
"I-it's just, you're really close..."
"What's with the sudden shyness. Wanna shower together after we're done today?"
"Eeeeh!? Hontou?"
Haruka jumped like a cartoon character. It was just cute.
"Ah, we aren't even dating yet. Showering together is moving a little fast. H-hey, Ming-chan. Just marry me."
"No. The shower thing was a lie too."
"Hidoi!"
Haruka puffed out her cheeks and started swatting my arm over and over. Who showers together at our age. Go do that yourself.
Anyway.
"Haaah, okay, I get what's going on."
Haruka nodded and kept going.
"Then today Ming-chan is Atashi's pretty-girl bodyguard."
"What pretty-girl bodyguard. There you go saying weird stuff again."
"Why~? You know the thing. The battle maid from manga who protects her master? Sonna kanji."
"That is genuinely the most weeb thing I've ever heard."
"What! Ming-chan, you're an otaku too!"
That was true. But an otaku's natural enemy is another otaku.
"Anyway, today's self-content is battle maid and master. When HYPE fans come up and ask for a photo, Ming-chan steps in and goes, 'If you wish to take a photograph with my master, you will need my permission first.' How's that? Fun, right? Heheh."
"Oh, that actually sounds pretty fun."
"Right? Right?"
I nodded.
Doing it that way would definitely put my cool side front and center on camera. The NewTube angles would come out great, too.
"Alright, we're rolling~"
And just like that, the self-content shoot began. Today's destination was the famous Bakery Cafe near the company.
It was a weekday, so the streets were quiet as we walked. Even so—
"Is that HYPE?"
"It's Jimin and Haruka."
"Holy shit, they're so pretty..."
People spotted us at a glance and started murmuring, even on a slow afternoon.
And among them—
"Kyaaaaaah! I'm a fan! Please take a picture with me!"
A little girl fan came running over, begging for a photo.
This was it. Time to put on the little play Haruka and I had rehearsed.
I held up a hand and stopped the fan before she could reach us.
"Halt, young lady."
"Y... yes?"
"If you wish to take a photograph with my master, you will need my permission first."
"Young lady? Permission...?"
"Yes."
"Uuuuh."
The little fan looked completely lost. Haruka, on the other hand, watched the whole thing unfold with a look of supreme authority.
"Fufu. Well done, Atashi's maid. Eheheh."
She was enjoying this way too much.
She'd clearly pitched this whole thing for her own satisfaction, not mine.
"Th-then... can I just take a picture with Jimin unnie...?"
"Of course. Come here, young lady."
"Kyaaaaaah~ You're so cool! I love you!"
"Eh... Ming-chan?"
Click.
I took the photo with her, and the little fan went on her way looking perfectly happy. Haruka staring at me with a hollow expression was a free bonus.
What was her problem. The fan was satisfied. Wasn't that a good thing?
"Medetashi, medetashi."
"What's medetashi about this!? This isn't how it was supposed to go, Ming-chan!"
"Hm? Was I not doing well?"
"Chigau! You were supposed to stand there and do nothing until I gave permission! A battle maid can't just act on her own!"
"Master, you smell like an otaku."
"Hidoi hidoi hidoi hidoi hidoi hidoi."
"Pffft—"
Her reactions were delicious. The video going up today was going to clear a million views, easy.
We kept wandering the streets in full kuudere-battle-maid mode.
"We're almost at the cafe. I heard the bread here is really good."
"Is that so? I have no particular interest. Open parenthesis maybe I should get some to-go for the kids too close parenthesis."
"Ming-chan, that's forced kuudere. Oh, look, those little kids up ahead are going to the cafe too. Kawaii~"
"They're cute. Like me."
"Augh."
We were getting close to the Bakery Cafe.
Just around this corner and we'd be right there... ah?
"......!"
VROOOOM!
Time slowed to a crawl.
A motorcycle was tearing toward us from the other side of the street. The little kids walking a few steps ahead of us hadn't noticed it at all — they just kept going forward.
One thing was certain. If nothing changed, the motorcycle and those kids were going to collide head-on.
But who was I? Owner of the invincible TS physique... you know, that whole long spiel.
I grabbed them.
The second I processed what was happening, my body moved on its own. I shot forward, seized both kids by their clothes with both hands, and yanked them into my arms.
The motorcycle screamed past, close enough to feel the wind of it.
I'd saved the kids. That part had gone right. But—
"Ugh!"
I lost my balance.
I hit the ground with the kids still gathered against my chest, my own body taking the fall for them.
THUD!
A dull sound. My elbow had slammed straight into the asphalt, and it hurt more than I wanted to admit.
...Well. At least that was the end of it. Small mercies.
"Kids, are you okay? You're not hurt?"
"Y-yeeees..."
"Th-thank you..."
The little ones blinked up at me from my arms, still too stunned to process what had happened.
There, there. Watch where you're going from now on.
"Ming-chan! Are you okay!?"
I was still looking at the kids with a warm, satisfied feeling when Haruka came running over, her face tight with worry, and started checking me over.
"That was so reckless... wait? Ming-chan! Your arm — there's blood!"
"Blood? Oh. There is."
"Kyaaaaaaah!"
I lifted my arm to check. Blood was welling up around my elbow. Bare skin plus asphalt. In hindsight, a pretty obvious outcome.
"Jimin, are you okay!?"
"Ming-chan, don't dieeee... hueeeeng."
After that it was all a blur. Our manager unnie came running, talking about calling an ambulance. Haruka was sobbing like I'd been mortally wounded. The motorcyclist showed up and couldn't stand still. The kids' parents arrived late and bowed over and over, thanking me. The people around us kept murmuring about how cool I'd just been.
"Hmm..."
I was actually getting dizzy.
Ah, well. Today's shoot was a bust. Completely wrecked.
The wound, thankfully, was nothing more than a scrape on my elbow.
At worst, my arm throbbed a little.
The company was already talking about plastic surgery — to erase the scar, apparently — just because I'd gotten a little banged up. But this was an invincible TS body. The healing factor was probably nothing to sneeze at. I doubted it would come to that.
Which brought me to what I was doing right now....
"I'm not feeling well today."
"Could you stream for me instead?"
I'd turned the stream on and was just lying there.
Aah~ I'm hurt, it's so hard~