Reconciliation Rehearsal
Haram turned off her mic and pretended to go to the bathroom. "Hehe, time to watch something cute." Yeon-a and Suhyun. Both of them had adorable moments together, so Haram was curious what kind of reactions they'd show if she brought the two of them together. Of course, that wasn't the only reason. She figured that if a third party was watching two people who used to be friends but had parted ways for some pretty serious reasons, they probably wouldn't be able to have a proper conversation. Plus, if the two of them ended up fighting, she could step in at the right moment to mediate.
"This way they'll think I'm not here, so they can have a serious talk!" Praising herself as a genius, Haram hugged her beloved dinosaur pillow and grinned from ear to ear. That expression on her face didn't last long.
"Hic… Stop, please stop… It's too much, hic! I'm so sad……." Her face was soaked with tears. Haram's tear ducts just wouldn't dry up while listening to Suhyun's dark and painful life story. Regardless, this time it was Yeon-a who started sharing her own story. Before Yeon-a began, there had been multiple warnings. Haram had begged her several times not to do it, but Suhyun's mind was different—she asked to hear Yeon-a's story. So Haram was forced to listen to her life story as well. Thanks to that, the tears that had barely stopped came flooding back again.
"Hic…! Hiccup!" Haram's face left an imprint on the blue dinosaur pillow she was hugging, as if it were expressing her sorrow. Fifteen minutes later, Haram, who had finally calmed down, was able to join their conversation as if nothing had happened.
After clearing up all the misunderstandings with Yeon-a, they started catching up on each other's recent lives.
[By the way, was the hard labor tough?]
"O-Of course it was tough……."
[After your leg got injured, where did you work?]
"I just did sorting work among the aunties, pulling out defective items. There were times when the logistics warehouse was short on staff so I helped out there too, and it was exhausting……."
[Aigoo… You're not doing that kind of work anymore?]
Yeon-a asked, wondering if it wouldn't be better to at least try some simple part-time job. It was impossible, so Suhyun shook her head in denial.
"…After sending the kids off to college, I guess you could say I lost the will to work. Once I felt like I'd achieved all my goals… it just fizzled out, you know."
She had become nothing but ashes after the fire burned out.
"Burnout…? I think that's what they call it… Anyway, after that I just stayed holed up at home."
[Sigh.]
"W-What about you, Yeon-a? How did you end up with drinking and smoking……."
[…It was too hard to endure with a clear mind. I knew I shouldn't, but I guess you could say I wandered a bit… Ahaha…….]
Yeon-a said this, then suddenly startled herself and continued.
[B-But that doesn't mean I went around acting like a delinquent… I hate people like that.]
"I know. I-I remember it clearly."
She remembered it clearly. Yeon-a, who used to despise delinquents.
"The Yeon-a I know… is someone who really hates that kind of stuff. I know that very well."
[…Thanks. I guess in your memories, I'm a completely good person?]
"O-Of course."
[You still haven't dyed your hair back?]
"Y-Yeah, I don't like how it looks… but I don't want to cover it up either."
It was a strange feeling. Not liking how it looked but not wanting to hide it either. Thinking her personality might be a bit troublesome, Suhyun gave an awkward laugh when she heard a click sound.
—Ding-dong
[Tachibana Kits: (photo of orange hair)]
Right after, a photo arrived in Discord. A picture of Yeon-a's pretty orange hair.
"You grew it out?"
[Ah… Yeah, I think it looks prettier when it's longer, hehe.]
Yeon-a smiled brightly and said she'd show her face photo when they met in person next time.
"Ugh……."
[Is it hard to meet people?]
"…Y-Yeah, I guess so."
[Then… we should get closer!]
"Y-You're so positive."
[I have to show this side of me in front of Suhyun.]
It didn't really matter. Even if Yeon-a showed her wounded self, it would be fine.
"…You won't say anything even if I show my wounds? I-I think we could actually get close faster that way……."
When Suhyun said this while gauging her reaction, Yeon-a looked slightly surprised, then chuckled and agreed.
[Got it. Then I'll call you when I'm feeling down.]
"…T-Then I'll have to call you all the time, Yeon-a……."
[Pfft…! I'll be waiting then.]
Yeon-a said this while giggling. It felt comfortable. For a moment, it felt just like back then when they danced together and hummed in the gym storage room.
[Uhehe… C-Congratulations, unnies…….]
[Ah, so Karikari was gone.]
[What!? That's too much!]
Haram sniffled and reappeared, saying this. When Suhyun giggled, both of them went quiet.
"W-Why are you both suddenly quiet……."
[Isn't our Suhyun cute?]
[…I knew she was cute from the moment we met.]
[What, you two already met?!]
Yeon-a was startled. Haram explained her relationship with Suhyun to the surprised Yeon-a.
[I-I didn't know. Suhyun's amazing.]
Yeon-a praised Suhyun like this. Embarrassed, Suhyun let out a hiccup. Their chat, which was more of a rehearsal than an actual rehearsal, continued until dawn before finally coming to an end.
The morning after the rehearsal—which had been an excuse for Suhyun and Yeon-a to reconcile—ended.
—Bzzzzz! Bzzzzz!
"…Ugh."
The phone rang loudly, announcing both a call and the arrival of morning. Rubbing her eyes, Suhyun checked her phone and saw a single character.
[Tangerine]
It was a call from Yeon-a. She was still nervous about answering calls. Especially now, with her voice still low, it was even more nerve-wracking. But Suhyun gathered her courage and picked up.
"H-Hello……."
[Hello…! Heheh, Suhyun-ah!]
"…Good morning."
[…It's already 12 PM.]
"…Dawn? You're a little slower than me……."
When Suhyun tilted her head and said this, Yeon-a asked if she should fix her sleep schedule and whether that was okay.
[We have to do the collab today.]
"Ugh… That's in the afternoon or evening… at 6……."
[We still have to write the announcement.]
Yeon-a said this and started nagging. Suhyun nodded and sat on the edge of her bed, messing up her hair.
"I'll wash up and write it……."
[Okay, got it. See you later!]
Yeon-a said this and hung up. Suhyun stared blankly ahead for a while before suddenly standing up and limping her way into the shower. After scrubbing herself thoroughly and putting on a gray hoodie, she walked over to the window covered by blackout curtains and pressed her ear against it.
—Tweet tweet!
—Honk honk
—Vroooom.
"…Can't open the window."
Just from the sounds, it was clearly a very clear day. Suhyun pulled the curtains tighter and went to sit in front of her computer. With a hair tie in her mouth, she made buns on both sides of her head. It was the hairstyle her mother in this life used to do for her often when she was young. She didn't know why, but doing this hairstyle made her feel at ease. It was one of the few supports that helped her endure. Of course, now she had many more things to lean on besides this.
"…Where should I write the announcement."
She thought there was a fan cafe, but it wasn't her who made it—the Jireongis had created it, so she didn't have access. To join, she'd have to do all sorts of things and verify that she was herself, which would trigger her social anxiety, so she passed on that for now. That meant she'd have to use her own livestream channel's announcement section.
"Uh, where is it……."
She didn't know where it was.
"……."
The announcement section was hard to find. If the announcement section was hard to find, then there was no choice.
"I-I'll just have to say it out loud…!"
Couldn't she just turn on the stream and announce it verbally? It was truly a genius solution. She wasn't going to stream for long anyway, and she didn't have anything else to do if she wasn't streaming, so Suhyun smiled and decided to start the stream.
"…Reach top 100 in ranking before the collab. Let's make that today's goal."
Of course, the ultimate goal was to show Haram and Yeon-a the true taste of Suika. That thrill of using skills to take down enemies. The unfairness of being the only one using weak skills while everyone else just auto-attacks. She wanted to share that hipster-like flavor with Mama and her best friend.
"Hehe."
A sinister smile naturally crept onto her face.
"…No, I can't… If I force it on them, they'll hate me."
Suppressing her sinister smile, Suhyun summoned her avatar and did a little cheek puff. "Huuu… Okay." She was in good condition. She didn't need to be nervous. Slowly moving her keyboard, she typed out the stream title.
[Title: Mom and Sis Want Me to Teach Them Suika…….(Students: Mizuame Akari, Tachibana Kits)]
A perfect title.
"I-It's not Suika, it's EoW they want me to teach……."
Did it really matter? A little false advertising was fine. "I'll just change it to EoW before the lesson starts." Grinning, Suhyun started the stream right away.
"…P-Probably because there are two big names in the title, people are gathering fast."
Thanks to that, the chat window was rising rapidly. Because of it, Suhyun felt like she was about to foam at the mouth and collapse. She hadn't been nervous at first, but strangely enough, now she was.