Chapter 176

&R;&e;​&a;​&d;​& ;&o;&n;​& ;&K;&a;&t;​&R;&e;&a;&d;&i;​&n;&g;&C;&a;&f;&e;

Has Something Changed? (1)

After Toya’s live, if someone asked if anything’s changed drastically… well…

> “Natsu~ Sing a song, sing a song~”
“Not today…”
—wwwwww
—Lately, Toya seems way too HIGH lol
—It’s like she doesn’t even bother hiding how much she likes her now
—Before, it was obviously easier to get Nacchan to sing and harder to get Toya to sing ww
—Suddenly, that’s flipped now ww
—But when Nacchan hums a tune, my heart still flutters lol
—I wonder how Toya feels, being right next to her.
—草

Other than Toya pestering me to sing for her more often, not really?
Well, to be precise, it’s just that a new pattern—Toya asking me to sing—got added, and that’s about it.

“Though truthfully, I’d like to sing for her, too…”

Maybe it’s because it was meant as a surprise for Toya back then, but I don’t feel that same confidence I did at the time.
Even though back then, I sang with Toya right in front of me—why can’t I do it now?
There’s no way I used up all the ‘strength to sing from now on’ back then, right?
…No, that’s not it.

> “Huh? Natsu~?”
“Uh…”
—She’s embarrassed.
—Embarrassed Nacchan is so cute~
—She’s been getting more shy lately, lol
—Probably because she basically confessed ww
—They even opened a “Tona-Tsu” channel on iTube now ww

Actually, maybe things have changed a bit.
People found out Toya and I live together, and since we’ve been streaming together more, we ended up creating a separate “Tona-Tsu” channel.
Of course, we still do our individual live streams, but we archive any streams we do together on the Tona-Tsu channel.
Anyway, the listeners seem super supportive of… well, whatever our relationship might be.
(Though even I don’t know exactly how to define “our relationship.”)

> “Then, so Nacchan can gather her courage, how about Toya goes first?”
—wwwwww
—A surprise utawaku (singing stream) ww
—Feels like the afterglow of that recent live is still lingering lol
—Could this turn into a daily live show at this rate?
—Watching Toya live every day would be awesome lol
—If she’s doing a daily live, might as well have Nacchan sing at the end ww
—Then we’d get Nacchan singing every day, too ww

And so Toya started singing.
It’s not the first time Toya has sung, but today’s was a bit special.
Normally, she’d sing either her original songs or some trending J-pop. But this time she went for something else.
Specifically, the song I sang not too long ago at my live show.

> “T-Toya?!”
“I can’t say it’s a perfect ‘reply song,’ but—I practiced a lot, so I’m pretty sure I can sing it well!”
“That’s not the problem! You can’t! Absolutely not!”
—wwwwww
—Don’t interrupt the song lol
—I was looking forward to hearing Toya sing…
—Nacchan, you’re mean.

Even if everyone’s disappointed, I won’t allow it! Absolutely not!
The lyrics are way too embarrassing, and just remembering them from the live show makes my face heat up. And now I’m supposed to listen to them from right beside Toya? No way!

I hurriedly stopped the music and glared at Toya with all the force I could muster.
I meant it as a threat, but Toya only found it cute, judging by the amused glint in her eyes.

> “Okay, then how about this—one little kiss and I’ll let it slide. Deal?”
“Uh… no way! We’re streaming right now!”
“Ubu-bu-bup…”

She cleanly gave up on singing and instead stuck out her lips, pouting them forward.
Startled, I quickly clamped a hand over Toya’s mouth.
N-not that I hate it! I don’t hate it, but can’t we please keep our private and public stuff separate, okay?!

Even though Toya still looked playful, I couldn’t let my guard down.
She wore the kind of grin that said, “If you don’t give me what I want, I’ll do something even bolder.”

Smooch—

> “H-happy now? S-so, let go of me already!”
“Natsu, you’re the best! I love you!”
—Too sweet…
—I love you too, Toya!
—I’m clipping that ‘I love you’ as my morning alarm…
—Nacchan’s blushing face when she kisses her on the cheek is so cute…
—In the end, Toya always gets exactly what she wants ww
—Nacchan can’t win against Toya~ 草
—草

Wh-what! It’s not that I can’t win; I’m just letting her win on purpose!
I wanted to shout that silently in my head, but seeing Toya’s big grin, I couldn’t say a word.

So this is what my life’s become on-stream, Toya…!

> “Heey, Natsu. You’re not really mad, are you? Right? Come on, right? Eeh?”
“I’m not mad, okay? But if you keep it up, I will be.”
“Okay, okay, I won’t, promise~”

I glared at her with a bit of genuine annoyance, and she started patting me on the head like you would a sulky kid.
If it were anyone else, I’d be more upset, but it was Toya’s hand ruffling my hair… so I couldn’t help but hum a little tune in response.
It really did feel like a knee-jerk, reflex reaction.

> “Huh-hmm~♪ Hmm~♬”
“Ah! That’s the song Toya sang at the live!”
“Eep…!”

Startled by Toya’s shout, I clamped my hands over my mouth.
What are you doing, Han Yeoreum?! You were supposed to be acting upset, so why the heck are you humming a tune?!

—

[Doesn’t Nacchan these days look like someone who’s fallen head over heels in love?]
[(Nacchan all embarrassed as Toya begs her to sing.MVI)
It’s like watching an innocent rom-com play out in real time lolol]

ㄴ[Suddenly I understand why slice-of-life anime has been flopping lately ww]
ㄴ[←Because this is true slice-of-life lol]
ㄴ[I think they’ve gone beyond the realm of a rom-com. 草]
ㄴ[←So Tona-Tsu is pure love, right?]
ㄴ[←They’ve proven their existence, so it’s full-on pure love, indeed.]
ㄴ[←What’s with the fancy wording lolol]
ㄴ[You could totally tell Toya was the one more in love at first.]
ㄴ[←Well, from the moment they first met, Toya was obviously smitten ww]
ㄴ[←‘Smitten’ might be an understatement lol]
ㄴ[Now that it’s come to this, maybe Toya should give Nacchan some kind of “answer song,” too?]
ㄴ[←Like “Will you marry me?” or something?]
ㄴ[←Aren’t they basically living like a married couple already?]
ㄴ[←They live together, wake up together, eat together, bathe together, work together, sleep together…]
ㄴ[←That’s pretty much living as one person ww]

[Today’s Cutest Nacchan Moment.]
[(Nacchan blocking Toya’s attempt at a kiss, but then giving in when Toya looks like she’s about to cry and kissing her on the cheek.MVI)
It’s so sweet I think I got a cavity…]

ㄴ[…I was just drinking water, but now it tastes sweet for some reason.]
ㄴ[←Because they’re doing something so sweet, obviously.]
ㄴ[At times like this, I’d normally feel like “Stop rubbing it in!” but just watching them makes me happy, so it doesn’t feel that way at all ww]
ㄴ[“Shouldn’t you keep the flirting off-stream?” I thought, but… it was too wholesome to complain about…]
ㄴ[I’m saving this clip. I won’t need food for the next week.]
ㄴ[←Hey, even if you’re a livestream addict, you still need actual food, come on lolol]
ㄴ[←But we have to tip Nacchan in cookies, you know…]
ㄴ[←Then Nacchan will say she’s bursting at the seams from all the cookies lol]
ㄴ[I wanna get a kiss from Nacchan, too…]
ㄴ[←I’d rather be the one kissing her, actually.]
ㄴ[←Then you’d get arrested.]
ㄴ[←Off to jail you go.]
ㄴ[←But Nacchan’s an adult, so it’s not a child crime, right?]
ㄴ[←No, if you go kissing a stranger, you’ll get arrested anyway lolol]
ㄴ[←Ah.]
ㄴ[←Why do you sound like you just realized something monumental lolol]

[Oh, Nacchan’s singing!]
[(Nacchan humming the melody of the song Toya performed at her live.MP3)
Well, she’s not exactly singing… but humming a melody kinda counts, right?]

ㄴ[I hope one day they’ll do each other’s original songs. Like swapping them or something ww]
ㄴ[←Actually, Toya has covered some of Yeoreum’s songs before, hasn’t she?]
ㄴ[←Right, there are at least a few covers out there ww]
ㄴ[←If you look at it, she’s practically tried covering them all lol]
ㄴ[←So now all that’s left is for Nacchan to sing Toya’s original songs ww]
ㄴ[←Not sure when she’ll get around to that, but I hope it’s soon lol]
ㄴ[The way Nacchan hums along reminds me of my daughter, so it’s kinda heartwarming.]
ㄴ[←Wait, you have a kid? Why are you also a VTuber…?]
ㄴ[←Well, maybe Nacchan’s like a “second daughter” figure to them lol]
ㄴ[←If I had a daughter like Nacchan, I’d spoil her rotten ww]
ㄴ[She was supposed to be mad, but then she just started humming. So cute lol]
ㄴ[←I wonder what it feels like to get petted by Toya…]
ㄴ[←Probably just like… being petted by Toya. ww]

Fables