A Happy Family
"Something's gone terribly wrong here."
It was 3:23 a.m. I had gone to Leon's room wondering if those girls were still singing. What greeted me was nothing short of a scene from hell.
Sora, slumped over a chair and nearly asleep, her face flushed red. Chel, sprawled across Leon's bed with the same crimson cheeks. And scattered across the floor like fallen soldiers were several bodies—Rinko, Anna, and Ainatsu—all equally flushed. Empty pizza and chicken boxes lay discarded, but the real culprits were the soju bottles rolling everywhere. This wasn't some university MT trip.
The stench of alcohol hung thick in the air.
"L-Lora…"
Amid the chaos, Inagika spotted me and called out hesitantly. The sole survivor, it seemed.
"What exactly happened here?"
"W-Well, you see…"
Inagika launched into a rambling explanation. The karaoke stream had continued nonstop while I was busy climbing ranks. Sora, Anna, and Chel alone couldn't handle a broadcast of that scale, so they'd called in reinforcements—including Inagika and several others.
"Even Michael-senpai and some of the other seniors dropped by in between…"
The stream had apparently gone quite well. While the juniors struggled to keep the karaoke going, the seniors would pop in to sing a few songs. The viewers loved it. Our sixth-generation members had only recently had their collab restrictions lifted, so seeing us interact with our seniors was still a novelty. Chel and Inagika were far too shy to initiate such things themselves, and while Sora was friendly with everyone, she'd been busy preparing something lately. The sight of our generation mingling with the seniors had been surprisingly fresh content for the fans.
There had been quirky song choices from the seniors, Inagika being half-forced into duets, and even some light talk segments. Nothing entertained EYEAI fans quite like seeing the generations interact. It had been a very satisfying stream—right up until Ainatsu showed up with alcohol.
"Ainatsu-senpai offered us drinks, and then everyone…"
"So she wiped the floor with all of you."
Most of the seniors, Michael included, had stayed for anywhere from thirty minutes to three hours before leaving. But Ainatsu had declared she would stay until the very end. Being the lonely type, she seemed to enjoy gatherings like this. Unfortunately, she also enjoyed drinking—a fatal combination.
"But why are you still sober, Inagika?"
"I-I can't… drink alcohol. So Ainatsu-senpai didn't force me…"
"You can't drink?"
"Y-Yeah… There's no one to drink with, I've never learned how, I don't even know what it tastes like… Back in university, I…"
Inagika's expression darkened. Had something gone wrong at a university orientation? I decided not to pry.
"Can't be helped. Leon, let's clean this up a bit."
"…Unni?"
"I'll carry the people. You and Inagika handle the cleaning. If you need more hands, wake Chel."
"Unni… You're actually helping?"
"You can't carry them yourself, can you?"
I folded my arms. I wasn't one for menial labor, but as a ducal daughter, I also had little tolerance for filth. If this had been the ducal estate, I would have left everything to the servants and walked away. Sadly, no one here possessed the strength to handle it. That left only me.
"This can't be real… Unni helping us…"
Leon looked utterly shocked. Was it really that strange? I considered myself a flexible ducal daughter. Hiring male servants was out of the question—bringing men into a household of women would violate proper decorum. Besides, every VTuber in EYEAI was female. And asking Leon or Inagika to do heavy lifting would be like telling a newborn to run the washing machine. Inefficient and impossible. I valued efficiency as much as any ducal daughter.
I lifted Anna.
"Whoa… Lora's strong…"
Inagika stared in amazement. They weren't particularly heavy. They were all women, after all. I carried Anna, Rinko, and Sora to the guest rooms one by one. Inagika was busy trying to wake Chel, while Leon silently gathered the trash.
"Hmm. This one's tricky."
Ainatsu, completely drunk, proved difficult to lift. She wasn't heavy—quite the opposite. She looked so thin I wondered if she was eating properly. Her health clearly wasn't great. But her height made it hard to balance her center of gravity or lift her stably.
"Mmm… Mommy…?"
Should I just carry her piggyback? Or use a fireman's carry? While I debated, Ainatsu stirred slightly from the movement.
"Awake?"
"Ugh…"
"If you can walk, get up."
At my words, Ainatsu wobbled to her feet. This wasn't going to work.
"Mommy… I…"
"You clearly can't walk. Climb on my back."
"My stomach…"
"What?"
"Urrgh…!"
Ainatsu's body convulsed violently.
…
……
………………
I'll spare the detailed description. Some things need no explanation. It was damp, sour-smelling, and… I was going to need a shower.
"U-Unni?!"
"Lora!"
"Hmph."
My clothes were ruined, reeking of vomit. I brushed off my shoulder and chest half-heartedly. It didn't make them clean—only dirtied my hands further. It had been a while since I'd been in this state. The last time was on the battlefield, drenched in monster blood and occasionally worse. It didn't particularly wound me.
"Ainatsu."
"Ah… Y-Yes."
Realizing what she'd done, Ainatsu seemed slightly more sober.
"From now on, you ask my permission before drinking. Understood?"
Ainatsu stood in Daejeon, breathing in the early morning air. Her mind felt foggy—probably from lack of sleep. Her body trembled, and she felt cold. Maybe she had a fever. She was simply anxious.
"Um, are you all right…?"
"Y-Yes?! Ah, I-I'm fine…"
The bakery clerk looked worried at Ainatsu's pale face, but Ainatsu shook her head furiously. The line was far too long. Being alive was torture. How much longer did she have to wait…? She was going to die… Save me…
"B-Bread… The most popular ones… I'll buy them all… If you have anything that goes well with black tea, p-please recommend it…"
When her turn finally came, Ainatsu swept up every loaf in sight. The receipt was comically long, but she had no time to care. All that mattered was keeping the packaged bread from getting crushed. It felt more important than her own life.
The moment she received the bags, Ainatsu fled Daejeon in a panic. The journey back was agony. People in Gyeonggi Province supposedly spent a third of their lives on subways and buses. Wasn't that hell itself? Why did humans have to suffer so much just to exist?
"I-I'm back…"
The moment she arrived, Ainatsu called out in a slurred voice. Inside, Lora was waiting.
"You're back."
"Y-Yes…"
Ainatsu held out the bread bags.
"Oh my, you went all the way to Daejeon? That must have been tiring."
"N-No, I didn't work hard at all…"
"You didn't have to go this far. You're such a good girl, Ainatsu. —Good children deserve rewards."
Lora smiled and pulled out a soju glass. She poured a third of it with beer, then filled the rest with water. Ainatsu snatched the cup desperately.
Gulp, gulp…
Ahh… It's spreading through me… I feel alive again…
"M-More, please…"
"Ainatsu, you didn't sleep properly, did you?"
"No…"
"Go take a nap. And after you wake up, you're going to the gym with Inagika to exercise."
"I-I will…"
"Good. You're very obedient."
Lora poured her another glass of beer (plus water).
Ainatsu, currently under drinking restrictions as punishment for vomiting on Lora's clothes, was experiencing powerful withdrawal symptoms thanks to Lora's spartan alcohol control. But the fact remained: Ainatsu was getting healthier.
"Hehe… I'm so happy to be Mommy's daughter…"
But if two sips of beer could bring such happiness, perhaps it wasn't so bad after all. Her health was returning, her family was happy. Everyone was happy, so what did it matter how things were?
It was autumn.