Lucky Bastard
Lucky bastard. -This is Sino. Is something up?
I did have a bit of a crush on Yuu, but that didn't mean I wanted to show it. Sino was all about the mystique, after all. Better to play it cool like this than fanboy out and declare myself her biggest supporter.
"Oh, this knife-cut noodle soup is amazing."
Thankfully, Suihwa in front of me wasn't paying me much mind. She must've been starving. I watched her devour her noodles while waiting for a reply.
How long had it been? Not too long.
"Oh."
I kept a straight face, but inside I was losing it. Getting nods from Rito and Yuu in this short time? Most Korean artists couldn't dream of that kind of cred.
"Heh heh."
A sleazy chuckle slipped out on its own. Couldn't help it. No matter how cool I tried to play it, these were major-league Japanese manga creators. One of them asking me for illustrations?
Good thing I didn't crank the spiciness too high. I'd been dying to strip the characters bare, but I kept it tame to avoid getting banned. Smart move—if I'd gone full monty, no way Japanese pros would've been hyping my comments like that.
"...Why are you grinning like a perv, oppa?"
"Just... something good happened."
Suihwa used to draw back in the day, even if she wasn't anymore, so I was careful not to spill about my art stuff. This was my little secret.
*
"Ugh... so much luggage..."
"What'd you pack all this for? It's not like you're staying in Japan forever."
"Pfft, oppa, you don't get it. Gotta do some cosplay over there."
"...Cosplay?"
Was I hearing right? I'd heard it was an anime-related event, but cosplay? Never mentioned that. I stared at her, flustered.
"Ah, you didn't know, oppa? I'm doing cosplay, and helping out at another streamer's booth too."
"Huh."
Suihwa in cosplay. Never even crossed my mind.
"You ever done cosplay...? This is outta nowhere—kinda throwing me."
"Of course! Never brought it up, but it's a big hobby. You'd know if you checked my YouTube channel."
"Nah, I don't watch channels from people I know. Feels weird."
"Fair enough."
She giggled mischievously. No wonder her suitcase was bursting compared to her schedule. Cosplay plans, huh.
"What character you cosplaying?"
"That's..."
She pretended to think—
"A secret!"
She flashed a cheeky grin and bolted for the immigration line. Damn it. Now I was dying to know. Grumbling, I followed her.
*
How long were we on that plane? Finally.
"Uwaa... we made it...!"
Japan at last. Neither of us were newbies here. We were both hardcore otaku at heart, so we'd been plenty of times. Third trip for me; Suihwa, at least five from her SNS stories.
"Yawn..."
I was stretching out my stiff body from the two-hour flight when Suihwa unzipped her suitcase and handed me something she'd assembled.
"Here, oppa."
"...?"
"Camera. Time to stream."
"Oh, right. Streaming."
Yeah, I'd agreed to help with random stuff.
Gotta hustle. She'd covered my flight and hotel—well, technically the event organizers footing the bill at her request.
"Just film me—no showing your face. Watch for mirrors and stuff. And even then, better wear a mask just in case."
"Hmm..."
Face on stream? I had zero friends anyway. Just Suihwa and Yujia; nobody else knew me.
...Mask seems like overkill. I wasn't famous enough for viewers to sleuth out a mirror reflection. Not worth the attention.
"I'll just film. No mask needed."
"Gotcha."
She fiddled with the camera for a sec—
"Here, oppa. Film just me from now on. I'll be talking to myself a lot for the stream... just ignore me, no need to reply."
"Okay."
I nodded, and moments later—
The broadcast kicked off. First time seeing this setup—pretty wild. But before I could gawk—
The chat exploded right away. Damn, it's flying by. How does she read this? I was scrolling slowly, amazed, when Suihwa greeted naturally.
"Hey everyone, hi hi."
"First time streaming on the way here. Japan trips are usually for chilling—no broadcasts."
While Suihwa chatted, a massive van pulled up.
Then—
Vroom.
"Karin-nim, hop in. We're here to pick you up."
"Ah, yep."
She boarded smoothly.
Shitshow? What was that about? Did Suihwa have some bad stream history? I'd ask later. Carefully, I climbed in too.
"Off we go then."
"Yep~"
We headed to the hotel.
"Here you are. Head to the counter—our staff will assist with check-in."
The staffer unloaded the bags succinctly and sped off.
"Great service. Picking us up and everything."
Suihwa grabbed her stuff and headed to the counter.
"Room 406 for you. Your companion is 407."
"Got it."
We got our keys and hit the elevator. Fancy as hell. How loaded do you gotta be to stay here? Dying to ask the price, but I held back—knowing might just make me uncomfortable.
As we rode up—
"Hmm, not a manager—just a close friend."
Huh? I didn't remember dropping formalities with her. I shot her a weird look, and she grinned shamelessly.
"They covered my ticket and hotel in exchange for me cameramanning the whole trip—verbal agreement."
...Okay, maybe dropping formalities for the trip was fine. That thought crossed my mind just then—
> Kashio Yuu sent a message
Yuu messaged again.