Watching MAMA Together
"I don't want to."
"Oh, why not?!"
"Because I don't have the confidence to do well on stream."
She had suggested we watch MAMA together on stream, so I refused.
It had been a while since I talked with Yui on the phone, but after meeting her younger sister it didn't feel unfamiliar at all.
Is it because they're sisters? Their voices are really similar.
I could probably tell them apart by how much more fluent Yui was in Korean.
A collab stream?
We had done a joint stream for the Spotlight release, but that had been mainly about the song.
Watch-along content with a streamer was strictly reaction-focused.
I might just end up wrecking the whole stream for nothing.
Lately I hadn't been dropping by Yui's broadcasts as often, but it was still a stream I enjoyed watching, and I was a fan.
Just imagine me trembling on live and causing problems.
Ugh, no thanks.
Spending pleasant time with my new friend Martin while comfortably watching as a regular viewer was the right choice, wasn't it?
"Hmm. Not the whole thing. About fifty minutes? We'll just watch the categories where Nari and the Muse Family folks have a shot at winning."
"Fifty minutes?"
It was short, but…
My old streamer stats had turned into a giant question mark while my social-maladjustment stats had only leveled up, so I hesitated.
It absolutely was not just because I was scared and it was a hassle. Really.
"Yes yes, exactly! Fifty minutes! And you did great before. It was fun."
"Hmm… Even so, still…"
When I tried to refuse again, Yui rushed in.
"W-wait! You said you bought a guitar recently, right? As the appearance fee I'll ask my friend in Japan to grab you a Japan-exclusive pick set or a strap!! She's an acquaintance who runs an instrument shop?!"
"Oh…?"
What was different about Japanese instrument shops?
"Is this tempting?"
When my answer vanished, Yui pushed harder.
"I'll dig around and find you really good products, I promise!"
"I'm a really boring person. I'll probably just get in the way."
"Whaaat?! Boring? Just watching Yeong-il-nim is already fu— ah, no, that's not it. You spoke really well on the last stream, didn't you?"
"And Nari would be even happier getting congratulations from her company family. If we win an award too, the viewers will celebrate with us on the spot, so double the joy!"
Yui radiated confidence, telling me to just trust her as a pro streamer.
Will it really be okay?
I also wanted to celebrate Lunari's stage and the rookie award.
Being able to receive congratulations the moment I won something sounded nice too.
But I might still tremble on stream, and I barely remembered what kinds of things were fun to say anymore.
"Hmm."
"Just relax! Think of it as simply watching! I'll set the mood beforehand."
I had known for a while that she had a serious appetite for streaming. That was probably why she had succeeded.
With a company person asking this earnestly…
I just closed my eyes and decided to go for it.
I had appeared once before, so I should be able to manage.
After ending the call I lightly brushed the guitar strings.
Ding—
Because I looked at my fan café, YouTube comments, and live chats so often these days, I wasn't as scared as I used to be.
To think that "what if I ruin the stream" came first instead of pure fear.
I guess I had grown a little too.
If I leave a stream celebrating her, Nari-nuna would like that, right?
Thinking of Yu Nari, who was working hard for tomorrow, I plucked the string again.
We had planned to call tonight, so I would tell her then.
MAMA stage day.
Mocap studio waiting room.
Yu Nari had not been sleeping well for several days.
When the schedule had been packed tight, the pressure had been buried under work and hard to notice.
But once the stage was right in front of her, the burden felt like it had climbed onto her back all at once.
Osaka Dome.
Every famous singer imaginable.
Tens of thousands of seats in the audience.
Even though she was performing from a Korean studio rather than Japan, her stomach still churned.
So last night,
while she was on a call trying to heal herself by listening to Do-yoon's voice—
"Nuna, I'll be cheering for you tomorrow. Yui-nim suggested we watch MAMA together, so we'll do a short collab stream. I'll be watching, so just go have fun."
"…?"
It took her a moment to process that single line from Do-yoon.
A collab? With Yui? Yui again—why? Why did she keep hovering around him?
Whether it was the lack of sleep or something else, a crack formed in Yu Nari's mind.
The mix of soft dawn emotion and raw jealousy overflowed before she could stop it.
"Hmm? Do-yoon really likes Yui, doesn't he? You always made sure to watch her streams too."
"Huh? Lately I don't really watc—"
"Appearing again? No, no—unlike Yui I never want to make you uncomfortable, so I never ask you to come on stream. I deliberately don't even mention it. But still, something feels off. It kind of feels like only the ones who beg get special treatment."
Something in her head went snap—
"You remember we planned to drink after everything ends tomorrow, right? Stock up a lot, okay? After the performance tomorrow is the day we get completely wasted."
Do-yoon said something in between, but—
"Huh? No no, what do you mean 'drink moderately'? If you're not getting drunk, why even drink? Our stories don't match? Impossible. Tsk, you're drinking with an adult so it's fine. Trust Nuna? Who's the adult? Me. You have to hang out with me tomorrow, okay?"
Maybe because she had been fretting over so many things lately, she ended up showing a little of her jealousy.
"And you said the two of you would watch together, right? Cheer properly and listen carefully to the acceptance speeches too. Got it? Answer me."
"…Yes."
She had planned to hold back until they actually met, but she failed miserably.
Her face burned hot.
……Aaaargh!!
In the waiting room she wildly flailed her hands through the air.
"You crazy bitch, you absolute crazy bitch."
She had bombarded him so hard she could only pray it somehow passed without issue.
Had Do-yoon gotten flustered? This time it might have shown a little.
She had no choice but to trust Do-yoon's denseness when it came to relationships.
I need to meet him soon and make some real progress.
She was too anxious to focus on anything outside.
Knock knock.
"Nari-nim, time for final rehearsal."
"Yes!"
The curtain rose on the MAMA awards ceremony.
Internet broadcasting platform Link.
Kurogami Yui's Stream — Watching MAMA Together with A-il!
Crossing seventeen thousand viewers within a single hour of going live was a first in Yui's entire streaming career.
The viewer counter floating on one side of the screen had climbed without end and only now was beginning to stabilize.
Yui nervously clicked her thumbnail against her teeth.
This is bad. It's too much, isn't it?
Wouldn't Do-yoon feel pressured?
She had naturally expected the stream to draw aggro.
Lunari of the same company and a personal acquaintance appearing at MAMA.
Yui's own song being nominated in the Best OST category this year.
Those two alone should have been plenty, yet she had also announced that A-il was joining.
Around ten thousand would already have been a jackpot!
That calculation of hers had been completely wrong.
A-il's influence had grown far beyond what she imagined.
His track Invisible had been registered late on the charts yet had already climbed to seventh place, and the YouTube views had hit nineteen million.
The man himself was apparently busy dating his new guitar in the corner of his room, but public interest had been piling up steadily all the while.
It was easy to spot chats calling for A-il, and when she factored in the silent viewers she could vaguely sense the number was huge.
With floating viewers far outnumbering the regulars, the chat had become pure chaos.
Traffic pouring in from Link's own floating audience, external SNS, the YouTube MAMA livestream and more—she was experiencing the highest congestion of her entire streaming life.
She hesitated over whether it was okay to summon Do-yoon into this situation, but…
If A-il failed to appear now, that would be a true catastrophe.
Will Do-yoon-ssi be okay? Please adapt well. I'm sooorrrry.
After boldly declaring that nothing would go wrong, all she could do was pray.
The promised timing drew near.
"Everyone, we have one guest today, right?"
The chat boiled over.
Staring at the three letters of A-il's name that had already joined the Discord, she prayed desperately.
Please let nothing go wrong.
Fortunately—
His distinctive calm voice flowed out.
Contrary to her worries, Do-yoon's voice showed no severe trembling or any sign of freezing up from nerves.
"Nari's stage isn't up yet, so let's just relax and watch the other artists' performances, okay? Ah—everyone. A-il-nim isn't used to chat so he can't read it well. We'll take questions later."
Worried he would feel pressured by questions like last time, she smoothly cut them off.
Instead she planned to focus purely on stage reactions, but……
"The chord progression is nice. It drops into minor for the chorus then resolves back to major at the end? It matches the current vocal tension really well."
"Main vocal and sub vocal have different ranges and colors, but the thickness when they stack in the chorus is great."
"…When it strips down to acoustic guitar in the bridge, it feels like the air clears."
"……"
Wait, wait, wait!!
Yui dove into the private message window and demanded that Do-yoon stop the commentary for now.
Before the stream started she had given him clear instructions:
Absolutely never say anything negative about a stage.
No matter what happened, only say good things.
That level of precaution.
Most of the performers were idols—if he spouted nonsense he would get stoned by the fans.
Do-yoon had agreed he understood, and she had figured he would handle it fine, but—
Layering that kind of commentary over the idols' passionate dance stages was so absurd it became funny.
Nothing he said was actually problematic, and the chat mood was good, but—
"Ah."
Do-yoon, who must have seen Yui's message, reacted awkwardly.
He's this clumsy, huh.
She let out a sigh of relief and the stream continued without further trouble.
Between stages, whenever Yui picked out a few viewer questions and tossed them to A-il—
"Hobby? Hmm… Playing guitar? I like it. I bought a guitar recently."
—he answered without difficulty, making all her earlier worries feel pointless.
What? He's actually good at this.
Maybe he was unexpectedly built for streaming.
While Yui was finally relaxing,
the screen flashed the signal that the next stage was about to begin.