Chapter 93: Christmas

“Hmm~ Hmm hmm hmm~ Ba ra ba ba~”

My humming came out naturally.

In front of me was pizza and beer.

Pizza, a food with quite a lot of upsides from the perspective of someone living by himself.

First of all, it was super easy to clean up after eating one.

Unlike other dishes that came with a lot of containers and side dishes that often end up as food waste, pizza was overwhelmingly superior in terms of convenience.

When I opened the box, the classic greasy aroma wafted up to my nose.

Of course, when it came to pizza, you just gotta pick pepperoni.

I swallowed my saliva, grabbed a plate, put two slices on it, and sat down in front of my computer.

The waiting screen was already buzzing with activity.

Since I wasn’t the only chronically online person in this world who was waiting for the Closer Collab.

Actually, saying it that way wouldn’t do justice to the sheer scale of this event.

I mean, look at those numbers. 10,000 people in the waiting room. There was no way anyone could pass it up as a normal event.

All the viewers were shouting the names of their oshis.

[fumurin, come ouuuuut!]

[So looking forward to Luka-tan’s Christmas outfit fr]

[How can you resist Leah’s christmas carols wwww]

Usually, I’d join in to chat and play around, but I was too busy eating my pizza right now.

The savory cheesy taste in my mouth made me realize that this was what life was all about. After I chugged my beer and finished my first slice, the stream finally began.

-Ding-dong ding-dong

The familiar carol rang out, accompanied by the sound of jingling bells.

Next, the illustration of all the CLOSER members sitting in front of a tree slowly faded out before being replaced by the members themselves.

「Hello everyone~!」

At Jennifer’s cue, the Closer members gathered in a single line.

I heard that they were rehearsing something earlier. Since they did it so smoothly, I bet that they must have practiced hard for it.

「Alright, everyone! Say hello!」

At the energetic leader’s call, the CLOSER members stretched their hands forward and waved.

「One step closer! We are CLOSER! Woohoo~」

The chat had already turned chaotic for a while now.

Actually, the collab was similar to their regular ones, it was just the hype was even higher due to the CLOSER members’ new outfits.

It went without saying that each outfit suited them well.

All five of them were wearing red-toned Santa outfits, but there were slightly revealing parts here and there, maybe to satisfy the desires of the more unhinged viewers.

「Wow! Thank you so much for being with us on Christmas, everyone!」

The maknae, Fumurin, brought her face close to the camera and shouted.

「Hey! I want to do it too!]

Next, Luka-tan jumped out, her twin tails moved around.

[NOONAAAAAA!]

[I LOVE YOU LUKA-TAN!!!]

[so CUTEEE!]

Ha. Seriously.

I took a sip of beer, feeling a satisfied smile forming on my lips.

This girl was way too cute,

Rocking that twin tail while wearing a shoulderless Santa outfit like that. No way anyone could resist that.

This girl was like a fox, igniting a burning desire in the hearts of the otakus.

「Hellooo Pink Armyyyyy~」

Luka burst into giggles.

As she started playing with the camera, the other members flocked behind her and began communicating.

「Hey. Let’s take a picture!」

When Clover tried to grab Luka’s arm, she naturally pretended to be pulled.

Gotta say that was pretty impressive, considering that she wasn’t actually being pulled by anyone.

The image of Doah all alone in the studio, jumping around the space while wearing her headset made me laugh.

Anyway, I hoped that she could keep warm there.

Earlier, when I went there, the place was a little cold.

Chances were, I was just worrying for nothing, though.

「One, two three!」

Accompanied by a clicking sound, the members took a picture like they were real high school girls.

Whenever their oshi was shown in a close-up, their respective fanbases welcomed them loudly, making a huge ruckus in the chat.

「Leah-ssi, how are you today?」

Luka, who became the main cameraman, started to interview Leah.

「I’m happy and grateful… that so many of you tuned in today… It’s truly a wonderful end to the year.」

「Then how about an acrostic poem for Christmas?」

People poured out playful boos, calling Luka a troublemaker for intentionally asking this while knowing full well that Leah had no talent for such wordplay.

「C!」

「C-Creativity of a brick wall, that’s me.」

Huh, but she still did it anyway.

I was sure that she’d laugh it off, saying something like ‘I can’t do it’, but instead she was actually trying hard to come up with something.

The green-haired avatar’s eyes trembled slightly.

「H!」

「H-Heavy lifting? More like heavy breathing…」

Meanwhile, everyone was wondering what on earth she was going to say next.

「R!」

When Luka called out the next letter with an expectant face, Leah just went ahead and…

「Respectfully bow down, I must!」

Suddenly bowed to the floor.¹

Both the members and the viewers all laughed, finding her action absurd, yet cute.

「Wow~ Luka unnie! Did you just make Leah unnie bow?]

Fumurin, who snatched the camera, now tried to interview Luka.

「Luka unnie.」

「Yes, Murin-chan?」

「Do you know Santa Claus’ real name?」

「Oh~ Of course~ I definitely know.」

「Ooh~」

Fumurin reacted with interest and asked again.

「Then Santa’s full name is…」

「His name is…」

Luka continued speaking in a tone reminiscent of a saintess calling upon the name of a sacred god.

「…Pink Army!」

Simultaneously with those words, the Pink Army showed their fierce power.

[RudolfLukaNim donated 200,000 won!]

[Luka-tan! I am Santaaaaaa!!!」

The members gathered and reacted to the substantial amount.

「Oh~ RudolfLukaNim! That’s quite a lot~~ I must’ve lived a good life to get this much gift from the real Santa. Finally, I feel like I’m being rewarded!」

As Luka blushed and shook her shoulders, the Pink Army poured out even more donations.

「Um…what about us…?」

When Clover slid in from the side to induce donations, a crazy donation war unfolded on the official CLOSER channel.

After a short battle between fanbases and a zatsu, the screen changed into a very wide stage map.

A virtual space that looked like a real end of the year stage for singers appeared before my eyes.

Unlike before, the five members wearing stage outfits sang their debut song, Boundary, live.

The performance wasn’t choreographed like in the MV, but the fact that they sang it live together was enough to make their fanbases feel moved.

Also, even though Doah was lacking in confidence regarding her singing, she sang her part really well.

Of course, I didn’t need to mention the main vocals at all.

Leah exuded an overwhelming aura while Clover tackled the high notes perfectly.

After finishing CLOSER’s song, the members took turns performing one song each.

First, Fumurin, who sang a cute Japanese song.

Then, Clover sang a wintery ballad.

After that, Jennifer sang a popular western Christmas song, while Leah sang an OST from a drama.

And Luka was the last one.

Anyway, why didn’t she tell me about this?

She told me that they were doing something similar to a concert, but she never said a word about what song she was about to sing.

「Ah, ah. Can everyone hear me? The song I prepared for you all is…!」

Which meant that this was a hidden piece that even I, her boyfriend, didn’t know about.

「A song by YM sunbaes! Wow!」

As the stage went dark, light pink began to fill up the darkness.

Over 10,000 people cheered for her.

It made me think that there was no way the girl eating jajangmyeon with me earlier today and the person standing on that stage were the same person.

Seriously, we were both pathetic pushovers during the day.

「I won’t stop!」

「Huu!」

As she ended her performance with a final wink, making a gun shape with her hand, my heart ached as if I had really been shot.

Haa… Now, this was Christmas!

The normies going out were all losers!

I also joined the ranks of those viewers and shouted Luka’s name fiercely.

After going around each member, a group cover song march ensued.

To emphasize that it was Christmas, yellow lighting and a tree were set up on the stage, and the members gathered around a bonfire diligently singing the festive songs they had prepared.

「Everyone. We hope you all had a merry Christmas~」

With Jennifer’s words, the CLOSER members waved their hands.

The collab lasted for five hours.

By the time it ended, the clock was already pointing at 1 am.

「With that, we’ll conclude our time together for today! And tomorrow, we’ll have individual streams prepared for each member, so we hope you’ll be sure to tune in! Goodbye~」

「See you tomorrow everyone!~」

「Byeee Pink Army!」

With Luka’s last giggle as a cue, the Christmas collab ended.

Feeling quite tired from sitting for a long time, I plopped back down on the bed.

Doah still hadn’t contacted me.

I assumed that she’d be cleaning up the studio right now.

Well, we promised to meet up after the stream, so what time would I get to see her?

After about ten minutes, Doah finally texted me.

[oppa, can you meet at about 2am by any chance?]

「It just turned 1 though, why so late?」

「i have stuff to pack and organize.」

Since it was late…

「Got it, but where should we meet? I mean, 2am is…」

I thought the only options available for us were either Doah’s house or my house.

「the park」

「…Seriously?」

「yes, i want to meet u at the park.」

The park would be freezing at this hour, but if she wanted that, sure, I guess.

「Got it, then, I’ll be there at 2.」

「okay! thank u!」

I hung up the phones and took out clothes to wear from the closet.

A padded jacket and jeans would be enough, right?

But, it was Christmas… Should I dress up a bit more?

After a long contemplation, I decided to wear a coat.

I had a feeling that we wouldn’t be outside for very long anyways.

Lying on the bed and watching some videos, I put on my shoes and went out at 1:50.

“…It’s snowing.”

The night perfectly fitted the expression—falling softly and gently.

Under the orange streetlights, the snow fell gently.

With better weather than expected, I went down the hill towards the park towards our promised meeting place.

When I get there, I should tell her she worked hard and give her a tight hug.

It was Christmas, so I wanted to say something encouraging to her who had worked so diligently.

Anyway, I planned to arrive a little earlier and wait for her, but…

She was already there…

…Standing so demurely, waiting for me.