Chapter 42

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A Step Forward. (3)

“Totomo-chan, do you have any favorite foods?”

“Hmm, I’m not really picky… but if I had to choose, maybe beef and potato stew?”

“So you like home-style cooking.”

“Y-Yeah, kind of…”

I couldn’t say it was because I didn’t have a family that I liked home-style meals, so I gave a vague reply instead.
Still… for talking with someone I just met, wasn’t this going surprisingly smoothly?

There was something about Nagisa-san that put people at ease.
Her gentle tone, her calming aura… It just made it easy to talk without feeling nervous.

“What about hobbies?”

“Um… I used to enjoy listening to music a lot, but lately I prefer just staying in my room.”

“But you still listen to music, right?”

“Yes, a little bit.”

I wasn’t picky about genres—pop, rock, classical, hip-hop—I listened to them all.
Back when I was alone, I’d sometimes have music playing on my phone all day just to fill the silence.
But lately… it felt different.

I realized that maybe all that music before wasn’t just for enjoyment—it was to push away the loneliness with some kind of sound.
Ever since I started living with Toya, I barely listened to music anymore.

Maybe it was because I now had someone beside me who talked to me every day.

“Do you like singing too?”

“…I do.”

Even if I can’t sing now.

I frowned slightly, remembering the time I tried to sing again.
Just thinking about it hurt.

I could manage normal talking okay, but singing? That was a whole other level.
It made me cough terribly. It hurt a lot.

“I hope we can sing together someday, Totomo-chan.”

“Ah, I already promised to do that with Toya first!”

“Wha—”

She was just bickering with Inari a second ago, but she jumped on that conversation instantly.
Was she worried that Nagisa-san might “steal” me away?

I was a bit flustered as Toya hugged me protectively.

Nagisa-san, as composed as always, just smiled gently and chuckled.

—wwwwww
—Toya’s so possessive LOL
—Is she afraid someone’s gonna steal her bestie?
—Well, Totomo-chan is Toya’s only friend after all lol
—Wait, isn’t this the opposite of the “bonding as a group” thing? (laugh)
—True lol

“Toya, are you trying to stop me from making new friends?”

“No! It’s not that! I just couldn’t stand someone else jumping in and snatching the promise I made with Totomo-chan!”

So even a passing promise was that important to her, huh?

Honestly, if the day ever came when I could sing again, I’d already decided that the first person I’d sing with would be Toya.
Whenever that day might be…

[1000¥]

—By the way, isn’t this the first time the three of them are doing an offline collab?

“It’s our first… right?”

“Did we really not meet like this before?”

“The last time we got together was…”

Toya started counting on her fingers, slowly folding them one by one… until her eyes went wide.
She looked like she’d just been smacked upside the head.

Apparently, they really had never done this before.

Even Inari had the same stunned look.
Nagisa… well, Nagisa looked exactly the same as always.

“…We really never did an offline collab with the three of us before?”

—wwww
—Took you long enough to notice LOL
—Well, you’ve all been busy growing individually, so…
—Toya’s just been gaming with Yeoreum the whole time anyway
—VTuber Yatogami Toya, the amazing singer who never sings
—Stop gaming and sing, Toya!
—Now that we’re all here, let’s have a four-person song collab lol

Seeing my name pop up in chat made me flinch a little, but I didn’t have my avatar up, so I didn’t stand out.
Still, a song stream, huh…

I hadn’t heard the others sing before, but I knew Toya could sing.
Now that I thought about it, it might actually be kind of nice.
I did love listening to music, after all.

“All right then, I’ll go first! Nagisa, you can go next, or Toya if you want?”

“Um… I think I’ll pass…”

“What? Are you scared I might sing better than you, Toya-kun?”

“…As if!!”

Apparently, the “ya scared?” line works in Japan too.

I couldn’t help giggling at Toya’s flustered reaction as she jumped to her feet.

I guess thanks to Inari, we’d actually get to hear Toya sing tonight.

I felt like Toya would’ve sung if I asked her, but…
I didn’t want to use our friendship to force her into it.
There must’ve been a reason why she didn’t sing that often.

In that sense, the time she sang for me before was something I was really lucky to experience.

—Inari! Inari! Inari! Inari!
—Wait, are we starting already?! LOL
—Give the viewers time to prepare, you dumb fox LOL
—Is this the start of the Toya vs. Inari singing battle??
—Even if they haven’t done offline collabs, these three really are close.
—grass
—grass

‘Wow… Inari-san’s actually good at singing…’

Not as good as Toya, but still really impressive.
I’d rate her… about 0.7 Toya?

Okay, that might be a little harsh, but Toya really is that good.

Maybe Inari got all fired up because she wanted to hear Toya sing too.

“Nagisa, you’re up next, right? I’ll go after you.”

“Of course.”

“Ooh, Toya. You’re not backing out because you’re scared, right? Don’t go running away now~”

“Run away? Please, the main character always shows up last!”

After confidently finishing her song, Inari passed the mic to Nagisa.
She threw another jab at Toya, but it didn’t land this time.

Toya had already recovered her composure and was now the one teasing Inari back.

Despite the two of them bickering again, Nagisa quietly picked up the mic and prepared to sing.

“If the main character appears last… then today’s real protagonist is Totomo-chan.”

“…”

“…Ah.”

As soon as Inari said that, Toya’s mood visibly dropped.
Maybe it wasn’t obvious to others, but to me, she seemed… off.

It wasn’t because she was mad at Inari or upset at what she said.
I knew exactly why—because Toya was looking right at me.

“Um… I’ve got asthma, so singing really hurts. Sorry.”

Inari’s face crumpled immediately.
She looked like she wanted to scream, “I shouldn’t have said that!”

I was honestly fine, though.

Sure, it was a bit disappointing, but I wasn’t about to cry or spiral into gloom.

“Oh, but I love listening to others sing, so please keep going.”

As I tried to comfort a guilt-ridden Inari who was now sincerely apologizing to me, I thought:

Maybe I should’ve just said, “I’m not singing today,” and left it at that…

—

[Tonari Song Collab Stream Happening?!]

[(Screenshot of Toya, Nagisa, and Inari with mic icons)]
Of course it’s happening, lol. Why else would I post it?

ㄴ[Today we worship you, oh pedo fox goddess…]
ㄴ[(Inari Emergency Worship Emote)]
ㄴ[(Inari World Conquest: Child-Lover Route Emote)]
ㄴ[(Inari Justice for Adult-Lovers Emote)]
ㄴ[Why are Inari’s emotes all cursed like this lol]
ㄴ[She brought it on herself.]
ㄴ[Anyway, seeing those three together is already wild, but them singing together?! Unreal.]
ㄴ[Empress Inari Rising]
ㄴ[She made both Toya and Nagisa sing… Legendary.]

[Is Totomo-chan going to sing too?]
[(Totomo-chan can’t sing due to asthma.MVI)]
…

ㄴ[She said she likes listening to music (but can’t sing because of asthma)]
ㄴ[How bad is her health, seriously…]
ㄴ[Toya mentioned in a late-night stream that she’s always sleeping beside her.]
ㄴ[Yeah, both she and Toya have said her health’s not great.]
ㄴ[You can’t even see her expression, but somehow you feel it…]
ㄴ[The emotion is real.]
ㄴ[You can hear the longing in her voice.]
ㄴ[Maybe the reason she loves listening so much is because she can’t sing herself.]
ㄴ[That… might be true.]
ㄴ[ㅠㅠ]
ㄴ[Inari asking if she’d sing and then immediately regretting it—LOL and RIP]
ㄴ[Totomo-chan handling that awkward moment like a pro. Respect.]

Fables