Chapter 60

Ｒｅ​ａｄ ｏｎ​ ＫａｔＲｅａｄｉｎｇ​Ｃａｆｅ

A Scandal That’s Not a Scandal, But Still a Scandal

If there was ever a so-called “controversy” surrounding Ichinose Natsu, it was the rather flimsy accusation of her being a “nepo hire”—and even that was a stretch.
But now, at this moment, a not-really-a-scandal kind of scandal had popped up: the “Ichinose Natsu is Korean” controversy.

You might ask, “How is a VTuber’s nationality a controversy?” But the world’s full of people with… let’s say, strong opinions.
For example, certain locals who aren’t too fond of Koreans.

> [Wait—Nacchan is Korean? For real?]

“…Seriously, people get so weird about the strangest things.”

“There’s all kinds of people in the world, yeah.”

I thought I was fine with people knowing my nationality.
But maybe I wasn’t entirely okay with it.

I said it casually, but… yeah. It didn’t feel great.
Sure, the negative reactions were just a vocal minority of a minority—practically nonexistent.
But it still got to me.
Probably because I didn’t want to be hated for any reason.

“Now, now! Here’s a little present for you, Nacchan, to cheer you up~!”

“Ah, thank you…”

“Wahaha~ Nacchan thanked me!”

People online weren’t the only ones who reacted to the “Korean” thing.
Right in front of me, smiling like a goof, was Inari—who also happened to be one of the people who “reacted.”

Or rather, maybe she just wanted an excuse to come visit me.

I blinked at the butter cookie tin in her hands.
It was snack time, and the timing couldn’t have been better.

“For Inari, that’s a surprisingly good gift.”

“Haaah? What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Oh, uh… nothing.”

“Hey!!”

As the two of them bickered like usual, I opened the cookie tin to check what was inside.

Smelled good.
The rich scent of butter, a hint of sugar.
Like Toya said, this was surprisingly thoughtful for Inari.

How did she know this was exactly the time I’d be hungry?

I quietly picked up a cookie studded with chocolate chips and glanced around.
Even just looking at something tasty can be satisfying.
And then—

“Here you go.”

“Eh?”

“Huh?”

I held out the cookie—pretty big in my small hands—toward Inari.

Even if she was the one who brought it, it wouldn’t feel right if I just ate first.

The person who gave the gift should have the first bite.
It’s a silly thought, sure, but it was my way of showing gratitude.

“Inari-san brought the cookies, so you should have the first one.”

“W-wow… I-I really can?”

“? Of course.”

Inari’s hands trembled as she accepted the cookie.
I had no idea why she was so nervous, but one thing was clear: this was not a normal reaction.

She didn’t think I put something weird in the cookie or something… right?

Without hesitation, she popped it into her mouth.
It was big enough that I’d have to take a few bites, but for her, it was basically one bite.

And wow, she really was enjoying it.

“Thanks, Nacchan.”

“Y-yeah… Thanks for enjoying it. Uh… thanks again. I mean—yeah. Thank you.”

Wait a second…
She gave me the cookies, I gave her one, and now I’m saying thanks?

As I tilted my head, Inari just smiled, totally overjoyed.

Seeing her smile like that—just because I accepted her cookie—it kind of made all the stuff I’d been worrying about melt away.

“See? Just looking at a dummy makes you feel better, right, Yeoreum?”

“Yeah, you’re right. Not that I’m saying Inari-san is a dummy or anything.”

“Nacchan…!!”

She lunged at me, but paused—waiting for permission. I gave a little nod.

‘Next time I come visit Nacchan, I’m bringing a whole bunch of cookies!’
I could practically hear her thinking it as she picked me up.

Sigh. Maybe Toya’s right—she is kind of a dummy.

Inari, thrilled to be hugging me at last, spun around gleefully.
I glanced over at Toya.

‘Huh… she doesn’t seem jealous.’

For some reason, I thought Toya would be the type to hate seeing me in someone else’s arms.

But thinking about it, Toya never obsessed over me—she just cared a lot.
She didn’t dislike it at all. In fact, she just pulled out her phone and started snapping a ton of pictures of me and Inari.

I turned away, a little pouty.

Maybe it was just me… but I was starting to feel a little prick of jealousy.

Lately, it was hard to tell what I was feeling.
Like right now—what even is this emotion?

“You can keep watching if you want, you know~ Hehe.”

“…I wasn’t really looking.”

“Aww, don’t be like that~ You’re totally in ‘really-really-like-her’ mode, aren’t you?”

What does that even mean?

Confused by Toya’s nonsense, I clung tighter to Inari out of sheer spite.

Inari made a dying-animal sound, but Toya just kept grinning like always.
Tch. Not fair. Normally, she’d yank me away from someone else’s arms immediately.

…Wait.
Why does that even bother me?
Am I just mad for no reason?

“Don’t worry about what people say online, Nacchan! You’ve got me!”

“Yeah, that’s not comforting at all…”

“Wha—?!”

Inari looked genuinely shocked, so I gently tapped her arm.

“Put me down, please, Inari-san.”

After being in Toya’s arms so often, other people’s arms just felt… off.

Once I felt my feet touch the ground, I walked over to Toya and looked up.

She tilted her head in that annoyingly cute “what’s up?” way.

“Here.”

“Ehehe~ You missed my arms, huh? I knew it~”

I stretched my arms out in front of her, and Toya, smirking like a goof, lifted me up with ease.

Hope my legs don’t lose muscle from this or something.

My head had been a mess a few minutes ago…
But now that I was in Toya’s arms, I felt calm again.

Was it because we’d spent so much time together?
Or was it because Toya was the one who appeared when I was at my lowest?

I reached into my small pouch and pulled out my phone, gazing quietly at the strap attached to the end.

“…Yeah. You’re right.”

“Right?”

“…How do you know what I was thinking?”

Somehow, Toya responded as if she knew exactly what was on my mind—even though I’d only whispered it.
What don’t you know about me?

I pouted internally and tucked the phone back into my pouch.

Ugh, forget it.
I’m just gonna go all floppy and lazy like this for a while.

Whether it’s about Ichinose Natsu’s nationality or identity or whatever…
The moment I decided to return to VTubing, I had already accepted all of this.

There’s no point overthinking it now.

“Since we’re here, how about we do a collab stream where Yeoreum teaches Korean~?”

“Even though you already speak Korean fluently…”

“There’s someone here who doesn’t, remember?”

Following Toya’s gaze, I turned to see Inari glaring at us with pure jealousy.

Really?

I glanced back at Toya. She just looked amused and said it might be fun.

Fun, huh…
It might be fun, yeah…

“…Wanna try?”

“Not a bad idea, right? Oh! I’ll join too—what do you think about the three of us doing it?”

“If we do that, won’t people say we left Nagisa out…?”

“Oh, Nagisa’s on vacation for a while.”

Really?

I don’t use social media much, so I don’t post—and I don’t really check others’ posts either.

So Nagisa’s on vacation, huh…

Even though we hadn’t known each other long, the way we chatted made me feel kind of close to her.

“…If we do a three-person collab now, people might say we excluded Nagisa on purpose.”

“Oh… true.”

Unless we had debuted separately, it wouldn’t matter, but we were all introduced as a unit.

So for our first collab stream, I wanted it to include everyone.
Even though we kept saying “let’s get closer,” neither Toya nor I went out much, so there weren’t many chances to meet Inari or Nagisa.

And honestly, if Toya didn’t go out, I didn’t go out at all.

So yeah—for our very first collab, it should be with everyone. Decision made. Boom.

“Oh right—there’s a trending game right now. Wanna play it with Nagisa once she’s back? It’s meant for four people, perfect for us~ What do you think, Nacchan?”

“I’ll check what game it is—”

“Nope. Yeoreum always studies ahead of time when we’re gonna play something.”

“Ehh, really? But games are most fun when you go in blind!”

“Right?!”

I only meant to ask what the game was, but suddenly I got dragged into their entire gaming philosophy.

…Ugh, they get along too well. It’s annoying.

Fables