Chapter 4: Risa.

After lunch, the three of us sat down and enjoyed a nice conversation.
It’s been a while since we’ve spent time like this.

“I’ll stop using the voice changer during live streams,” Risa said.
“I was just doing it so you wouldn’t notice anyway, Kyo, so I don’t need it anymore.
Actually, I get a lot of messages from viewers saying they can tell I’m a girl even though I acted like a guy, though they didn’t mean it in a bad way.”

“I see.
Well, your voice is plenty cute, so you might attract a ton of viewers.”

“R, really? Attract viewers…?”

“Yup! I mean, if Kenji the Beast actually had a voice that cute, who wouldn’t get excited? That’s an adorable twist.”

“A, adorable twist…”

Her face was kissed in red.
Cute! But ugh, I don’t want any other men seeing her so stinking lovable… Do I want to monopolize her?

“Kyo?” She broke the silence.

Ah, I was lost in thought.
“No, nothing! Your shy face was just too much for my heart… Phew,” I could feel myself become a ripe tomato, and her eyes timidly met the ground.

“Ay, you two! Why are you creating this mellow, diabetes-infused atmosphere, huh?!” Kenichi quipped.
Okay, me, calm down.
Breathe in, breathe out; one-two, one-two… Done.

And we continued our fun conversations, with Kenichi frequently poking fun at the two of us.

The daylight began to pack its things, and evening soon arrived.

“Is it this late already? Damn, we were having so much fun time just flew by,” I noted.

“Nah fam, it’s all because of this lovey-dovey air you two created.
I’mma need some insulin.”

“Maybe you’ll do.”

I was teased so much during the course of today, I might’ve developed a tolerance to it.
To which he cracked back, “The heck, you’re no longer fun to tease.” He had a disappointed expression.

No dude, look at Risa.
She’s still a strawberry.

“I’m going home tonight then.
Um, Risa, wanna start a bit earlier tonight, maybe at 9?” I looked at her.

“Yup, gladly!”

“Is this a frat party or something?! The wording you two used, what are you doing to my sister, man? I won’t allow you to stay the night!”

“H, hey, big bro! What are you saying?!”

Yup, now I see why he kept teasing me.
The view from this side is, mm, chef’s kiss.

“Easy now, he’s just teasing you,” I gently gave her some head pats, to which she softly whined back.

“Argh! I’m gonna puke rainbows if you keep at it! Get a room you two!”

As soon as I arrived home, Maika was just outside my front door again.

While wondering what it could be this time, I realized her face didn’t pop up once in my mind, and I just remembered she existed after seeing her there.
And they say the opposite of love is indifference… Was I always this heartless?

“Where have you been?” She asked.

“At a friend’s house,” since the incident, my tone with her has been rather cold.
I just couldn’t help it.

“I asked you to go shopping with me.”

“And I said no! Didn’t I tell you I was busy?”

“No, I… I heard that…” She said with a voice so weak I could barely hear.

“So, is that it?” I tried to wrap it up.

“Then, let’s go out together tomorrow,” she started it again.

“I’ve got my part-time shift all day tomorrow.
And even if I didn’t, I wouldn’t go.
You can just go ahead and invite someone else, not me.
See ya,” I left her there and walked inside.

“Ah…”

That night we started early so we could play more than usual.
Risa, AKA Kenji, started her first recording without the voice changer, but that didn’t change the usual vibe of the stream.
My voice was also natural.

Of course, as soon as we weren’t live, we talked about all sorts of things from our past, catching up with each other while filling in the gaps from the times we didn’t see one another.

On Sundays, I always work part-time as a teacher at a cram school.
I’m allowed to do so by my own school since they don’t have rules against part-time jobs.
Because I’m in charge of middle schoolers, and due to the fact I’m not the most dignified guy out there, I’m always ridiculed due to our closeness in age.
Still, many of my students say the class itself is quite easy to understand.

“Teach~! You’re from that school, right? Isn’t it awfully difficult there?”

“Hmm, people do say it’s difficult, but I wonder… I don’t really know since I’m used to it.”

After class, I answered some questions and got ready to leave, “Well, if there are no more questions related to the subjects, class is over.
See you next week.”

“Bye teacher!” A couple of them said in unison.

Before really going home, I passed by an electronics store looking for some PC parts.
Then, I saw a poster glued there.
Hmm, an e-sports offline tournament… Oh, and it’s my FPS game, duo matches no less.
Since Risa started using her real voice, could we participate as well? Hmm, but she’s quite shy…

“Kyo!” I was suddenly attacked by a pair of arms wrapping around me.

“You scared me! What are you doing here?”

“Just window shopping.
What about you? What’s the thing you were looking at so intently?”

“Ah, this thing,” I pointed at the poster.
“I was just wondering if we could participate together.”

She took a glance.
“Yes, absolutely! The venue is closed, but there’s still the online qualifiers we can take part in.”

“Let’s see, it happened a few times already, but it’ll happen again next Sunday… That’s fine by me.
You?”

“Yup, fine here as well!”

“But, well, there’ll be an audience.
I’m afraid we’ll be exposed.”

“We can just disguise ourselves, right? Hehe, it looks like fun!”

“Not that I really care if they do find out…” Risa being cheeky? Wasn’t expecting that side of her.

“In that case, let’s practice later today too!” She proposed with a sunkissed smile on her face.
Her happiness was dazzling.

Afterward, I walked her home.
It was embarrassing to have our arms intertwined the whole way there, but it was more comforting and heartwarming than that.
While on our way, we talked about how well we fared on yesterday’s matches, and stuff like that.
It didn’t sound like a typical guy-girl conversation, but it was nice nonetheless.

…But then we ran into Kenichi and were teased to hell and back.

Risa goes to an all-girls high school, so I can barely see her on weekdays.
That’s why I walked home with a tinge of regret.
Despite that, I still managed to review school stuff and enjoy some quality time with Kenji (Risa) while we planned for the tournament.

Then, I plopped on my bed.
Happy.