"Hmph, as if you really went through a major battle. You were probably just pulling all-nighters gaming with your otaku friends, you addicted gamer."
"I really did go through a fierce battle. I joined a pay-to-win player’s team for a PVP defend-the-base game. I originally intended just to leech some experience, but I didn’t expect the enemy team’s leader to transform and defeat all the experienced players on my team, so I, who was originally supposed to be a leecher, fought bitterly to the end and somehow managed to achieve victory."
‘Yep, that’s the truth. There’s no problem,’ Seiji thought to himself.
"You’ve begun bragging again! Just keep making up stories! I can’t possibly believe that your experienced team members all lost, yet an idle fish like you were able to make it to the end! You definitely must have been casually defeated by the enemy at the very start." Her message followed by a condescending emoticon.
"I’m not making this up—this time it’s real! I became the hero of the defending side, and the pay-to-win player even rewarded me with 500 thousand!" Seiji sent her a brilliantly smiling emoticon.
"Wow~ 500 thousand! Amazing! What a hero~~" This was followed by an emoticon with an icy gaze.
Seiji smiled upon seeing this message and changed the topic while casually chatting with his internet friend.
On the other side.
Cat-loving Flying Fish typed at a high speed that showed her familiarity with the keyboard while continuing to converse with her internet friend "Idle Fish that Never Gives Up."
Not only did that guy stop streaming lately, he rarely logged in to the chatting application for the last few days. He must have gotten too addicted to gaming!
Was he really just gaming?
He wouldn’t even say what game he was playing specifically… Flying Fish felt that there must have been something going on in his life, and she was somewhat curious as to what he had been doing recently.
If it was something normal, it wouldn’t matter if he told an internet friend like her, as there would be no need to hide it.
If there was something he wanted to hide… did he get a girlfriend?
Hm, that seemed likely.
Flying Fish thought this possibility seemed extremely plausible as she considered it.
Although she still hadn’t seen his true appearance under the mask, it was certain that he must be rather handsome. He also had a good figure, and his communication ability… if it was the same as what he showed on the internet, he was fine.
No, not only fine—he was an excellent boy.
The problem was his hobbies. This guy was a true otaku, which wouldn’t make it easy for him to find a girlfriend that matched his interests, which was why he probably didn’t have a girlfriend.
But now, did he finally find one?
Flying Fish felt complex emotions within her heart.
The next message that appeared on her computer screen startled her.
"My apologies, beautiful Flying Fish, but I think I’m going to stop streaming. Thank you so much for supporting me."
"Why!?" Flying Fish hurriedly inquired once she regained her senses.
"Because," Seiji replied, "I’m no longer living by myself now, so it’s a little inconvenient."
He felt that it would be really embarrassing if Shika saw him singing and dancing while streaming!
Even though he felt it was a bit of a pity to let go of the points he could earn from [singing] and [dancing], he had plenty of other point-grinding actions now, so it wasn’t that big of a deal.
"Although I might still stream once in a while… just treat it as me retiring. Well, retiring might not be the correct word, since I was never much of a real streamer to begin with, nor did I stream for all that long, and you were my only ever spectator. I’m truly grateful for your support. We’re still friends after all, just like right now."
Seiji felt that this was only a small matter.
He had simply decided to stop streaming, but he was still an internet friend with Flying Fish that shared many of the same hobbies.
Flying Fish didn’t respond to his message for a long while.
Just as he was beginning to feel it was a little strange, she sent him a new message.
"You moved in together with your girlfriend!?"
Seiji was rendered speechless by this!
"That’s so quick! Just what kind of person is your girlfriend!?" This was followed by a shocked emoticon. "Could it be that an idiotic idle fish like you is being fooled by her!? Just how long have you known her? Do you know exactly who she is!? Are you sure that she truly likes you!?" This was followed by a staring emoticon.
"Wake up, idle fish! I know that since you’re an otaku, you’re delighted to find a girlfriend! But you should know that there are many wicked girls in this world!! You need to be careful!!!" This was followed by a roaring emoticon.
The strong emotions seemed to jump at Seiji from across the computer screen.
Seiji didn’t know whether he should laugh or cry at this.
His internet friend was obviously worried about him and had misunderstood. Somehow she construed "not living by himself anymore" as "having made a girlfriend and moving in together with her..." Wasn’t that too much a leap of the imagination?
Just as he was thinking about how to clear up this misunderstanding, Flying Fish sent him another message. To Seiji's amazement, it was a link to a report about scams!
And after the first link, a second link immediately appeared, followed by a third, and a fourth… Before long, his conversation window was filled with webpage links that had some rather scary topic titles.
"Stop! That’s enough!"
Seiji hurriedly typed out a message in an effort to stop his conversation window from appearing like a news webpage.
"You got it wrong. Sorry, it was me that didn’t explain clearly, causing you to misunderstand. I didn’t get a girlfriend, nor am I cohabiting with anyone—I’m just living together with them!"
Flying Fish was surprised when she saw this message.
Then, her face began burning up slightly in embarrassment.
"This… you should say this earlier!!" She maximized the font size of this message and sent several angry and roaring emoticons behind it.
She covered her face with one hand as she battled with her embarrassment and continued typing with her other hand.
"Stupid idle fish!"
"Stinky idle fish!"
"You can’t even explain things clearly! Go die!!"
She sent a barrage of complaints at him.
Faced with such an attack, Seiji could only smile wryly and type gg… whoops, respond with wryly smiling and helpless emoticons.
He never said that he had gotten a girlfriend to begin with; it was Flying Fish who misunderstood in the first place.
But she was simply concerned about him. It was no big deal for him to shoulder the blame.
He kept consoling her until she finally stopped sending angry messages.
Moments later, Flying Fish had calmed down.
"Didn’t you say that you started streaming in order to give joy to another person? What’s with giving up like this?"
She felt that perhaps this message was too direct after typing it, so she hurriedly added another message. "Sorry, I shouldn’t have said it like that. I just feel… it’s a bit regrettable."
‘I like your performance.’ Flying Fish realized her own inner feelings.
No… it should be said that she wanted to see him.
His performance was honestly nothing special, but it was fun.
This was his charisma… as a streamer.
"I believe that you truly have potential," Flying Fish told him honestly. "If you treat it seriously and become a real streamer, you’d definitely be able to attract many viewers! I have confidence in my eyes, which is why I can say that. It’ll be a real pity if you give up like this."
Seiji mulled over her words before sending a reply.
"I’m delighted to see that you appreciate my streaming," he wrote. "Perhaps if I continued working hard at this, I can get some results… but that’s not what I wish for. There are many ways to give other people happiness. There are more appropriate things for me to do, and things that I want to do more. For example, I’m currently writing novels."
‘Especially together with Shika-chan.’
"I do feel as well that it’s slightly regrettable to give up on streaming. Even though you’re my only spectator, you quickly became my friend due to it. That was a pretty nice feeling." Seiji added a sincerely smiling emoticon to the end. "That’s why I said I may do it again sometime if I have the chance… just for you."
He had begun streaming just to grind points but got such a cute spectator as his friend, which was beyond his expectations.
‘Sorry that I may have lied slightly to you, Flying Fish. But it’s true that I wish to bring some joy to your life,’ Seiji thought to himself as he looked at his computer screen.
Flying Fish didn’t respond to him for a long time.
Just as Seiji was considering whether or not to end the conversation here, another message appeared.
"Stream again if you have the chance. I don’t want to hear something so vague. Right now… I’d like for you to do one thing, and it’s not to perform."
"Please take off your mask… and allow me to see your face."