"Ugh. I thought Kanna was going through puberty again. Saying he’s going to work and secretly eting his boyfriend…"
"I’m sotis curious about Da-eun's way of thinking."
Actually, it’s not sotis, it’s always.
"Anyway, I think we should eat lunch separately."
Though, I’m more likely to skip it and just go without eating.
The four of us gathered around the table, chatting happily together.
But, honestly, among the four of us, I’m the only one who would be worth using the term ‘person’ for, but let’s just let that slide for convenience.
One of us doesn’t even need to eat.
Another one is like the first one, and I don’t even know what they look like.
Another one finds it much more efficient to absorb energy in other ways than by eating.
And the last one, which is , does need to eat, but missing a al or two won’t cause any problems.
So, it was no wonder that I couldn’t imagine the situation where four people, none of whom absolutely needed to eat or were in any urgent need of food, gathered together.
It’s not that my imagination is lacking, though.
‘I wonder if I’ll get to see the manager's face this ti.’
Originally, I wasn’t interested, but the manager’s strict secrecy had made curious.
Of course, the possibility of not seeing them again was probably higher.
"I want to go too!"
"…Huh?"
"I want to go with Kanna to Demons!"
"Da-eun too...?"
"Yeah. By the way, is it sothing I shouldn’t hear?"
"No. I don’t think so…"
Is there anyone who knows the current situation as well as Da-eun does?
Well, except for , there’s definitely no one who knows.
I already know everything, and I’ve t them before, so there’s no way I’d hear anything I shouldn’t now.
"Aren’t you tired?"
I asked, looking at Da-eun’s face, which clearly showed signs of exhaustion.
"Well, I’m a bit tired. But it’s more ntal fatigue than physical, so it’s okay."
"Tired is tired, right...?"
"It’s the difference between feeling like I’m about to faint and just wanting to go ho and rest quickly. The forr is physically impossible to endure, but the latter, I can hold out."
"Do you really have to hold out that long?"
"But I’m curious! If there’s a problem, I need to pay attention. It’s wrong to just think 'it’ll be fine' when the world I live in is in danger."
"…."
It’s true.
It’s true, but…
"That’s a bit too grand for this situation. If you’re really curious, I could go by myself and tell you about it afterward."
Da-eun snapped her finger.
"Tsk, tsk… Kanna is still so young, huh?"
"What are you talking about now?"
"No, I’m serious. I know what you think of , but listen!"
"...If you know, can’t you hold back?"
"But Kanna’s reaction is so cute."
"…."
This is really unbelievable.
"You know I have a lot of people watching my stream, right?"
"Are you bragging?"
"I’m not bragging, but I am proud of it. It’s the result of my hard work. Anyway, more people like edited videos than live streams, but the opposite is definitely not a small number. If the forr was overwhelmingly popular, there wouldn’t be so many viewers for the live stream."
"So?"
"Isn’t it strange? It feels a bit weird to say this as a strear, but live streams are often more boring than edited videos. The flow is long, it’s hard to keep the energy up, and not every mont of the stream is fun. But edited videos—"
"Yeah, I get what you’re saying. You only show the fun parts, so it’s less boring, right?"
"Exactly."
Da-eun snapped her fingers.
"But why do so many people watch the live stream? Isn’t that weird?"
"Now that you ntion it, I’m a bit curious."
"Right?"
Having watched many videos of Da-eun floating around on the internet, I found it interesting.
As Da-eun said, edited videos are easier to watch and get more views than a full live stream.
Seeing that I was interested, Da-eun’s tone noticeably brightened.
"Live streams have sothing special that edited videos can’t capture. It’s like a sense of being there in the mont."
"A sense of being there?"
"It’s the feeling of watching the broadcast in real ti, breathing with the strear and other viewers. That’s sothing you can’t get from anything but a live stream, right?"
"That’s true, but is it really that big of a deal?"
"It’s not sothing you can just ignore, right? And not just that, but there’s also the satisfaction of seeing a fun mont live. Later, when you watch the edited version of the sa mont, it feels different."
"Hmm…."
I instinctively scratched my cheek before moving my hand to my hair.
They say touching your face isn’t good for your skin.
Of course, I didn’t look that up myself—it was just so information Da-eun forced into my head.
I have no interest in beauty or grooming, so it’s not like I’d look it up.
Though, I did think that unless I’m scratching with mana on my fingers, my skin probably wouldn’t get worse.
But I didn’t want to hear Da-eun’s nagging about "just in case."
Twisting the hair on the side of my head, I spoke.
"So, you want to go to Demons for that reason?"
"Yes! It’s more real to hear sothing from the source than secondhand."
"…Fine, do what you want."
"You’re letting ? Thanks!"
"It’s not like I have a say in it."
Since Da-eun wanted to go, I couldn’t exactly stop her.
Of course, if it were sothing dangerous, I would stop her, but this wasn’t that kind of situation.
"First, the house… No, never mind."
I was originally planning to go back ho, help Da-eun carry her luggage, and then go on my own.
But since Da-eun decided to co along, there was no reason to go back and forth.
"I’ll leave it to you."
"Understood! I’ll escort you safely, Miss!"
"...Understood?"
For a mont, I tilted my head at the strange cheer.
Then I shrugged it off and leaned back against the seat.
It was better to take a quick nap than pay attention to sothing like that.
"Are you sleeping?"
"I'm not."
I know it's rude for the passenger in the front seat to sleep alone.
Da-eun chuckled quietly when I responded.
"Are you worried about that? How considerate~ But it’s fine, really."
"I’m not fine."
I know, from what I read online, that it’s considered treating the driver as a chauffeur.
And there were other etiquette rules, like not sitting in the back seat or eating snacks that are too crumbly.
I can’t rember all of them, but I can at least avoid sleeping in the front seat.
"It’s really fine. I’m glad you’re thinking of , though."
"Everything makes you happy."
Even with my eyes closed, I could tell what kind of face Da-eun was making, so I turned my head toward the window.
Her humming seed oddly distant.
"..."
"...Heh, phew!"
A laugh I couldn't suppress slipped out.
Looking over to find the source of the laughter, I saw Da-eun trembling her lips as though there had been an earthquake.
If it were normal, I would have just thought, "Da-eun is being Da-eun again," and either ignored it or snapped at her about why she was laughing.
But because I had caused the situation, I couldn’t bring myself to do that.
"...Just laugh."
"Ha ha ha!"
At my resigned words, Da-eun burst out laughing as if she had been waiting for that mont.
It was true that I made a mistake, but it wasn’t really that funny.
After laughing to the point where I thought she might pass out, Da-eun finally stopped and cleared her throat.
"Heh, ahem! Did you sleep well?"
"...Yeah."
The reason I was doing this and why Da-eun had been laughing so much could be understood from her recent words.
Despite saying it was bad manners to sleep, I had completely dozed off after she told it was fine to sleep.
I hadn’t intended to fall asleep…
But listening to Da-eun humming while my eyes were closed, I accidentally drifted off.
"Kanna, do that thing. The thing."
"...What’s that?"
"The one where you said, 'I’m sorry to sleep while my beloved sister is driving, so I won’t sleep!' Can you say it again?"
"I didn’t say it exactly like that."
It was embarrassing, but I still shot down Da-eun’s attempt at twisting my words.
"If you’ve had enough fun, let’s go upstairs."
What are we even doing in front of the elevator?
If there were other people around, I would have been really embarrassed, but fortunately, since we were using the back entrance where no one was around, it wasn’t too bad.
"Hey, I’m only doing this because no one is watching. Do you think I would do this in a crowded place?"
"..."
"...Why are you suddenly quiet?"
I brushed off Da-eun’s unconvincing words and got on the elevator.
The number on the screen quickly changed, and as soon as we reached the intended floor, the doors opened smoothly.
By the way, Da-eun had been chatting nonstop even as we were exiting the elevator.
Bang.
"Oh, hey."
"Looks like you’re living the good life."
"It’s thanks to you."
As I opened the door and walked into the office, a girl with a sowhat unfamiliar yet familiar look greeted from the couch.
No doubt about it, the girl was the dinsional being I had t more than ten days ago on the island.
"Ugh, Kanna, you shouldn’t call soone with a proper na a 'thing'."
"She’s not human, though."
"Still."
"Ugh."
Even if she had a na, I would still end up calling her ‘you’ anyway.
"If you keep doing that, I’ll tell Yuki how cute Kanna was earlier."
"...Is it really sothing worth talking about?"
"If it’s not worth talking about, then can I say it anyway?"
"Sigh."
It’s better to die than suffer.
Even though I had proudly bragged about staying awake, falling asleep wasn’t that embarrassing.
But I thought continuing the argunt was foolish, so I gave up.
Again, I’m not embarrassed, really.
"Alice."
"Yeah."
The one sitting on the couch, Alice, nodded in response.
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