New Year's Eve Visitors
Don’t empathize with me there… Before I knew it, the last day of the year had arrived. Thinking back, so many things had happened. Meeting Bora, suffering through that ridiculous smear campaign about being a hacker, sticking the eyes back on my teddy bear, starting my stream with Tyuni’s help, discovering a new raid, even PvPing against a pro gamer… It’s amazing that all of this happened in less than three months. Or maybe not…? Do ordinary people just live like this, constantly running into all kinds of incidents?
“Mmm…”
If anything, the thought that I’d been doing nothing until now made me feel strangely negative. This is exactly why you shouldn’t overthink things about yourself. Anyway, it really is the last day of the year. More than two years have passed since I returned to Earth, and I’m now seventeen. Twenty-one, if you go by my ID. The arrival of a new year always stirs up all sorts of thoughts, whether it was in my past life, in that other world, or after coming back to Earth. First I start wishing the world would just end already, then I feel like giving up on everything… Yeah. Maybe it’d be better if there were no such thing as New Year’s. If the very concept of dates didn’t exist, I wouldn’t have to think about any of this…
While I was rolling around on the bed with those pointless thoughts, the doorbell rang with a cheerful ding-dong.
Bora? It has to be Bora. She didn’t say she wasn’t coming today.
“Yeees…”
Dragging myself up like a jellyfish, I shuffled toward the front door. A quick glance at the intercom confirmed it was Bora… or so I thought.
“Eeh?”
Someone was standing behind her. Not a complete stranger, but not someone I was used to either. Well, if I had to classify them, they were someone I was familiar with… just not in the sense of actually meeting them face-to-face.
“Lene unni! Open the door!”
…Should I just pretend I’m not home? Dealing with Bora alone is already mentally exhausting. An unexpected extra guest on top of that is way beyond my current preparedness.
[Mmm… Lene unni~!]
[She might not even be home, so maybe we should come back another time?]
Mm. I really want to agree that’s a great idea.
[Huh? No, it’s fine. Lene unni gave me a key and told me to come in and wait if she’s not here.]
[Aha.]
That “Aha” doesn’t sound right to me.
[Besides, there’s no way Lene unni wouldn’t be home at this hour!]
[…Aha.]
[She was home last time too.]
[True. She might be asleep, though.]
Don’t empathize with me there…
[Should we just go in then?]
[Yeah!]
“W-wait a second! I-I’ll open it right now…!”
If they realize the door is already unlocked and I’m standing right here, who knows what might happen? Especially with Bora—I can’t even begin to imagine what she’d do. The moment that thought crossed my mind, I shouted and flung the door open.
And there stood Bora, looking the same as always, and—
“Ah, hello. Sorry for dropping by so suddenly…”
—my streaming mentor, Tyuni, was standing there.
★
“Ah, hello. Sorry for dropping by so suddenly…”
“Uh, um, ah… yeah, i-it’s fine…”
‘You look anything but fine…’
Swallowing that thought, Tyuni stepped inside with Bora.
“Um, by the way… h-how did the two of you end up coming together…?”
“Ah… I had plans nearby, and on the way home I ran into Bora.”
“Yeah! I met Tyuni unni in front of the convenience store!”
“So after we said hi, I was going to head home, but Bora suggested we stop by to see you since we were already here… I thought it might be a bit rude, so I tried to refuse, but somehow we ended up like this…”
“Aah…”
At Tyuni’s explanation, Lene gave an awkward smile and lowered her head.
‘This wasn’t how it was supposed to go…’
Watching her, Tyuni quietly scratched her head.
It was true that Tyuni had plans with a friend in the area. It was also true that she’d planned to go straight home afterward. On the way back, remembering that Lene and Bora lived nearby, she’d thought she might as well drop by and say hello… so she stopped at the convenience store to grab something to drink. That’s where she happened to run into Bora, who was buying snacks. What was supposed to be a quick greeting had somehow turned into Tyuni being half-dragged along.
“I bought some honey water…”
“Ah… th-thank you. I’ll enjoy it…”
The Lene Tyuni saw in real life was completely different from the one on stream. Bora seemed used to this version of her, but the Lene Tyuni knew was nothing like this. Even on stream her voice was a little small and she sometimes stuttered, but never this badly. No matter what, she always said what needed to be said and stubbornly stuck to her own standards no matter what. But if that strength came from old wounds…
The thought made Tyuni feel like tears might spill from her eyes.
“Lene, are you having a hard time with anything…?”
“Ah, yes…? I-I’m doing fine…”
Lene’s words were sincere. She’d escaped being a total no-name streamer, her income had stabilized, and she was living her life doing the things she wanted. She was doing so well that she genuinely wanted to thank Ia for sending her back to Earth.
‘…Still, it must be hard for her to open up to me.’
But remembering the things Lene had said on stream, Tyuni couldn’t help but think that way.
★
Did I do something wrong? Why does she keep glancing at me from behind…?
Tyuni’s gaze was so intense that Lene was seriously considering apologizing.
“Um, so… what do you and Lene unni usually do when it’s just the two of you?”
While Lene was quietly panicking, Tyuni patted Bora’s head and spoke up.
“Huh? I tell Lene unni about stuff that happened at school!”
“Even now, during break?”
“We look at our phones!”
“…I’m not sure that really counts as playing together. You’re not actually doing anything together.”
I quietly agreed with Tyuni’s words. Well, Bora does sometimes show me things she finds funny on her phone, but… it’s still hard to call that “playing together.”
“Mmm… I just like being with Lene unni, so I never really thought about it…”
“Oh my.”
“Eeh?”
But Bora’s next words made it impossible for me to hide my embarrassment.
“You like Lene unni that much?”
“Yeah! She’s kind, pretty, and… um, I just like everything about her!”
“Ah, ugh…”
Bora said that and threw herself into my arms. I’d gotten somewhat used to it, but it still felt like my soul was dying—especially with Tyuni right there watching.
“Can we stay like this all day today?”
Just kill me already…
★
“Mmm…”
After laying the now softly breathing, sleeping Bora down on the bed, I quietly sat on the floor.
“…”
“Mmm…”
Tyuni only gave an awkward smile at my silence.
What do I do? This is only the second time we’ve met in person, and now we’re in a situation where we have to talk alone. This is way too cruel. I’d rather the world just end right now. And to make it worse, I’m the host and Tyuni’s the guest, so I’m supposed to be the one keeping the conversation going…
What on earth am I supposed to say here…?
[Let’s just… talk about the weather!]
While I was agonizing over it, something I’d seen while studying about VTubers suddenly came to mind. There had been something about how if you have nothing to say, just talk about the weather…
“T-Tyuni!”
“Yes?”
“The w-weather’s nice today…!”
“Y-yeah, it is…?”
What? That felt like it backfired…
“Haha…”
Yeah. It definitely backfired. I really shouldn’t trust random internet advice. In my past life and in that other world, I used to be decent at conversations when I was younger… How did I end up like this…? It’s all Ia’s fault. That shady bitch.
“Um, Lene… am I making you uncomfortable?”
“…Huh?! N-no, that’s, um, ah… I-I mean, it is uncomfortable, but, um, that’s not because of you, Tyuni…!”
Of course this situation was uncomfortable. But that didn’t mean Tyuni herself was the problem. How could I ever think of her as uncomfortable? She was someone I was endlessly grateful to—words weren’t even enough. It was just… facing someone and having a conversation like this that made me uncomfortable. Especially with people I’d grown close to, like Bora and Tyuni. Thanks to Bora I’d improved a lot, but fifteen years of experience, memories, and habits still bound me far too easily.
“…So you’re saying it’s not me that makes you uncomfortable?”
“Ah, yes…”
At Tyuni’s painfully accurate words, I nodded with all my strength.
“That’s a relief.”
Once those words ended, silence fell again. Tyuni looked at me with an awkward smile while I quietly avoided her gaze and stared at the floor.
Bora… I miss Bora. If it were Bora, she’d be chatting away without a care even in this situation.
While I was quietly trembling with that thought, this time Tyuni spoke first.
“Lene, you revealed that you’re a girl this time, right?”
“Ah, um, yes…”
Well, “got caught” would be more accurate than “revealed,” but…
“So, are you thinking of turning on your cam?”
At Tyuni’s next words, my mind went completely blank.
“…Huh?”