Ayanokoji's Life As A Streamer!

Arc II; 1: Kiyobaka Can Barely Communicate

"Congratulations on the 30,000 followers, Ayanokoji-kun!" Uto clapped energetically over the table, then blew on the cheap party blower on her hand.

As the landlady said, we're celebrating a milestone for my twitch channel. I thought it was unnecessary, but Uto insisted that we should at least make a tiny party for it. I didn't really have it in me to refuse her, especially when she was just doing it for me.

As soon as I got back from my gym stream earlier, she wanted to surprise me in my room, but I went home earlier than she expected and I caught her in the middle of 'decorating' my room instead. This is another reason why I couldn't really refuse her: she was almost done with the preparations.

And here we go back to the present.

"Oohhhh." I tried sounding excited as best as I could as I clapped back. I really did. What I got in response was just the landlady giggling at my horrendously flat voice instead...

"Hehe, come on Ayanokoji-kun! Put some more spirit in it!"

"I'm trying."

More laughter. Well, at least she's having fun.

We proceeded to eat right after in an amicable silence. Nothing fancy, just some ordered food which the landlady insisted on paying for. Pizza, Takoyaki, some soda and snacks. She actually wanted to buy some alcohol as well, but luckily I stopped her. Tenshi-san can be really clueless at times. Or perhaps she just trusts me that much.

Strange, as I know she already read my book, which portrayed my 'less ideal' side quite frequently. And I already confirmed to her that it's real, seeing as I didn't see any merit in lying to her about that particular thing.

What an intriguing person.

"Hey! Ayanokoji-kun, are you listening?" She pouts at me while giving me a faux angry look. I recall what she was talking about while I was in the middle of my thoughts.

"Yes, and sorry if I startled you. Since you gave me that name, I thought you were expecting me to know of it later anyway..."

Uto was talking about me accidentally calling her 'Tenshi-san', around the time I asked her for the city's gym. I have, in fact, never called her that in person ever before that one night, as that nickname was only reserved to her vtuber persona, 'Amatsuka Uto'.

She never told me she was a vtuber. I just found out about it when I decided to dig around my landlady's identity. I thought it wasn't a big deal when I found it, so I never really confronted her about it. Me calling her by her internet nickname was merely a slip of the tongue, really. I always called her 'landlady' and rarely Uto.

"No, please don't be sorry. It should be me that's saying that." She looks down with a contemplative look. "I didn't tell you my real name and gave you my alias instead."

"It's only natural that you'd be wary of a stranger. I'm just grateful that you even took me in despite everything." If Uto chose to ignore me 'that night' instead, I might as well be living an entirely different life right now. Most likely worse, as well.

"...Why do you have to be so understanding? Now I'm feeling even more guilty." She chuckles for a bit.

"I do have one question however, Uto." I place my chopsticks back on my plate, looking her in the eyes. "If you don't mind."

"Hm? What is..."

"The reason for your hiatus from your vtuber career. Can you tell me what it is?"

Amatsuka Uto has already announced her hiatus before I even came to this world. Her message said it was to 'focus more on her in-real-life affairs', but I've never really seen her talk to anybody here. This entire apartment complex is empty, save for my and her room. Not once has I ever seen anybody visit her here either, and the only time she went out for a business alone was that time when she forged my documents. Any time aside from that, I was with her. Either she was shopping for groceries or just taking nightly walks around the neighborhood, she'd always invite me to go with her.