The Mysterious Guest
"No."
I didn't even have to think about it.
What, she wanted to come on my stream? Shoo. Shoo. Get out of here.
"Wh-whaaaat?! Why?!"
"What do you mean, why? Do you seriously not know?"
"I seriously don't."
"Unbelievable."
I was just speechless.
Haruka was a hard no. The problem was her voice.
If it were Yena or Seohae, whose voices didn't stand out as much, maybe I could have considered it. But Haruka's voice and way of speaking were in a league of their own even within HYPE.
The last time her voice had leaked onto my stream, I nearly jumped out of my skin.
"Wait, were you planning to come on without a mic? That I'd be okay with."
"Chigau. I want to come on with my mic on this time."
"Okay, get lost."
"Why why why why why why?!"
"Ugh, because of your voice!"
"I get it."
So the voice was the problem, huh? Haruka tacked that on and kept going.
"Heh heh... Ming-chan still doesn't know Atashi at all, does she?"
"What is this girl even saying."
"Matte matte."
Haruka suddenly covered her face with both hands, like she was about to start playing a completely different person.
"Ah... ahh. How is it? My voice?"
"Huh? Wh-what?"
I was thrown completely off by a voice that had done a one-eighty.
"Surprised? The Haruka you know is gone now."
"No, seriously, what? You can do impressions too?"
"Mhm mhm. I originally wanted to be a voice actress."
"Ahh..."
Honestly, I was a little shook.
How do I put this. It was an incredibly soft, honeyed voice. The kind you'd hear from a rom-com anime heroine who forgot her glasses and started hitting on the protagonist without even realizing it, because her eyesight was that bad.
Yeah. Nailed it.
"Cute voice. Almost fell for you for a second."
"Really? Ming-chan, wanna marry Atashi?"
"No."
"Hidoi!"
She snapped right back to her original voice.
Huh. I didn't know she had a talent like that. With the voice she'd just pulled out, nobody would even dream of connecting it to Haruka.
But still...
"Still no. What if you come on and slip up?"
There's always that one-in-a-million chance. What if she got on stream and her usual Ming-chan~ Atashi~ just popped out of her mouth?
From that point on, it would be actual UFC.
"I-I just won't slip up, okay?"
When I shut her down firmly, Haruka clung to me.
"Ming-chan knows Atashi is a good actress, right? Right?"
"I said no. There's no point taking a risk for something that worthless—"
"It's not worthless!"
Haruka cut me off and clenched her fists. Not because she was about to hit me — it looked more like she was steeling herself for a closing argument.
I'd thought she was joking at first, but she actually wanted to come on, huh. At this point, I was curious. Why did she want to be on my stream so badly?
"Uuuugh...!"
Haruka stared at me in silence for a moment. Then, as if she'd made up her mind, she clenched her fists one more time and opened her mouth.
"Atashi wants to secretly stan on stream just like Ming-chan does!"
"......"
"I want to look at articles and play dumb while heaping praise all over Haruka!"
"...Stop."
"And I want to watch Haruka fancams with the viewers too!"
"...Stop it."
Please stop.
If she suddenly brought up that embarrassing dark history (which I had thoroughly enjoyed) here... ah. My face was burning so hot I covered it with both hands.
"Ehh, Ming-chan? Why'd you cover your face all of a sudden?"
"I'm... practicing voice impressions too..."
"Pffft, I don't think that's it. Are you embarrassed?"
"P-please be quiet."
Like you wouldn't be embarrassed in my position.
Anyway. If that was the reason...
...Somehow, I found myself convinced.
After my secret(?) sit-down with Haruka in the meeting room, I came home late in the evening and went live. Yep, fired up the stream like always... except.
For some reason, the Bocchi Corps were furious.
"I just got back from a meeting with overseas buyers, so what's going on with everyone?"
"Okay, I got it, so please calm down."
So that's why they were on fire. I'd said I'd play variety games yesterday and then bailed.
Honestly, my conscience stung a little. I'd stayed up watching Jimin videos until dawn and then gotten sleepy and gone to bed.
"I'm sorry. I got too excited yesterday and just... heh. What can I do to make it up to you?"
"Variety games? Well, I did say I would, so I guess playing them today is the right call. Heh."
"Don't get the wrong idea. I'm actually playing variety games today."
Looking at chat right now, most of them figured I'd spend the whole day grilling pancakes and dipping out, just like last time.
But today was different! I'd actually prepared a variety game in advance, for once!
...Which, granted, was the bare minimum. Anyway.
"We're playing Block Craft today."
Block Craft.
If you watched streams, there was no way you didn't know this game. Hell, even if you didn't watch streams, it was the kind of survival sandbox you'd almost certainly have played at least once as a kid.
It had been out for a long, long time, but it was still popular enough that massive servers based on it popped up several times a year.
"A hardcore run? No, I think I'll just kill the dragon and call it."
"What do you mean it was fun. We haven't even started yet."
The reaction was kind of mixed. Some people said it sounded fun; others told me to just drop it.
Well, fair enough. It wasn't a big server or anything — playing Block Craft solo was a little rough. Digging holes was basically half the game.
But who was I? Bocchi, the monster rookie streamer of Chijijik.
Of course I had more prepared.
"I won't be doing it alone. I'll find someone to duo with."
The moment I dropped that out of nowhere, chat — which until a second ago had been spamming "just go die" — instantly flooded with question marks.
And then...
"Hahahaha, that's actually insane."
A tidal wave of handshake requests came pouring in.
They were so cute I could die.
"Ahh~ is there a man around here who's good at working~?"
"Ahh~ is there a man around here who's good at cooking~?"
"Ahh~ really, nobody?"
"Mmhmmhmm, I'm kidding."
Like I'd actually charge people to duo with me. It was all a bit.
And I felt a little bad for the Bocchi Corps, but everything up to this point had been one giant WWE.
In other words...
"By any chance, are there any women in the room?"
All of this had been buildup to invite that person onto my stream.
I'd do a viewer duo again someday. Today, I'd decided to grant her request.
"Why not? There could be. Anyone here who's a girl?"
"Pffft, are you all actually girls? Looks like you've got thick leg hair... is what I almost said~"
I tossed that out casually and rummaged through chat, and then—
"Huh? This person actually seems like a real girl."
I spotted the ID I'd memorized in advance, and put the chat log up on stream.
LuminCouple : I'm a real girl~ HJ#2312
"The ID has a kind of powdery, girly vibe to it. I'll invite this person to voice chat."
I entered the code, sent the friend request, and immediately placed the call.
"Mm..."
I was a little nervous. I sat there on edge, worried that first-call jitters would make her signature verbal tic come tumbling out of her mouth.
"Ah... hello."
Thankfully, that didn't happen. A ticklish, feather-soft voice came through from the other end.
Haruka, gentle edition.
Maybe because I was hearing it through a mic, it was even harder to tell apart from the voice I'd heard in the meeting room. Well, at this level, I could probably relax.
Naturally, chat had also caught on...
"......"
...I couldn't even get a word in.
Something about this didn't sit right.
Hmph. Look at these guys. So any girl is fine, is that it?
