TGS – Vol 1 Chapter 1 Part 3 – After the streaming incident

[Haruto’s PoV]

After delivering a punch to Ayaya, Oni-chan typed in the chat, “Oi, hurry up and loot.”

“Are you not mad, Ayaya-san…?” (Haruto)

Despite currently recording for a video, Oni-chan seemed weak and anxious, as if forgetting that he was even recording.

Of course, he would.

This is the second time he has played a game with her. Just his second time.

Although they are technically friends, their interaction has been limited to simple email exchanges. It would be an overstatement to say that they were close.

Despite this, he delivered a punch and a message with a rough tone to such a person.

“B-But, if I don’t do this much, I can’t maintain my character…” (Haruto)

That streaming incident was a fatal mistake for his career as ‘Oni-chan’. He managed to survive thanks to the explanatory stream earlier, but the mistake was still not completely erased.

To cover up such a failure, there was no choice but to leave new marks.

Oni-chan had a single goal in mind.

It didn’t matter if it was done as a joke or whatever.

But if Ayaya could spread that she ‘got punched’ or ‘got provoked’ by him, he would be able to make a comeback as a toxic character. The best-case scenario would be that she mentioned this during her stream.

“This is also to survive as a content creator…” (Haruto)

In this industry, the moment you lose the interest of viewers, your income drops drastically. However, it is also possible to pull off an uno-reverse card¹ to recover from the situation.

Because his channel was a valuable source of income, it’s natural to want to recover from the current situation as quickly as possible.

“I feel bad for, Ayaya-san, but maybe I should punch her one more time if an opportunity shows itself…” (Haruto)

While earnestly gathering resources and having such reckless thoughts, a chat message arrived.

“(Hey, Oni-chan, is it possible to VC now?)” (Ayaya)

The message came from Ayaya, whom he had been trying to exploit.

“…Eh? A voice chat invitation from Ayaya-san…!?” (Haruto)

He stretched his neck, bringing his face close to the screen.

To ensure there were no misreads, he checked two or three times.

It’s quite hard to swallow, considering that the other person is a big creator with over 300,000 channel subscribers, in other words, a top-tier streamer.

Moreover, despite the troubles he caused earlier, he received a friendly invitation.

Confused by the unexpected situation, he was speechless, but being invited by a pro is a rare opportunity—and though he keeps it a secret, he also respects Ayaya-san as a fellow Octane main.

“W-Well, there’s no point in trying to act rude if she’s being this friendly to me… If she’s inviting to voice chat, it means she wants to interact outside of streaming.” (Haruto)

Someone like Oni-chan is seen as a bothersome figure by other ABEX streamers.

No one comes near him, and he has never been invited to casual tournaments for streamers before.

He never even received collaboration invitations.

Even someone like him is aware of the reason as to why.

And yet… He received an invitation to voice call from Ayaya-san.

There’s an unspoken rule that even if you accidentally run into other streamers, you don’t directly interfere with their business.

The fact that she’s not following this rule suggests that she must have looked into whether he’s streaming or not, and she is likely playing games privately without streaming.

She probably checked Oni-chan’s channel, confirmed that he was not streaming, and then sent the invitation.

“Well, if she’s playing outside of stream I suppose there’s no need to try so hard acting rude… And since it’s just a duo match, Ayaya-san is my only ally.” (Haruto)

Although he initially acted rudely, it was potentially because Ayaya might be streaming, and he intended to showcase the real ‘Oni-chan’ to her viewers.

If she isn’t streaming, there’s no point in trying so hard.

Switching his mindset, Oni-chan replied to the chat in a genuine manner.

“(Yeh, sure!!)” (Oni-chan)

“(Really!? Then let’s talk!)” (Ayaya)

Ayaya, renowned for her social skills, quickly went into voice chat with an energetic voice, seemingly waving her hands.

“Oii~ Oni-chan! Can you hear me?” (Ayaya)

He also turned on his voice chat.

“Ah, yes! Long time no see, Ayaya-san. Thank you so much for that day. I expressed my gratitude in a private message, but it was truly an honor to be able to play with you.” (Oni-chan)

He responded with a polite acknowledgment.

“…” (Ayaya)

“Ah, sorry. Can you not hear my voice?” (Oni-chan)

“N-no, I can hear you… Sorry, Oni-chan. I’m currently streaming… you know?” (Ayaya)

“Eh?” (Oni-chan)

He had thought their conversation was private. Because of this unexpected development, his mind went completely blank.

If Oni-chan had been doing a face reveal during the stream, he might have inadvertently exposed a surprised face.

“Ah, oh, I see. You’re streaming, huh… Well, I already knew that. It’s kind of a bit of a joke, you know.” (Oni-chan)

Comments: [He definitely didn’t know lol]

Comments: [Probably regret not checking for her stream.]

Comments: [His tone suddenly changed a lot.]

Comments: [Impressive how fast he switches gears.]

Ayaya’s comment section is flooded with comments teasing him on his awkward excuse.

Oni-chan, unaware of the comments, continued to talk in his new tone and asked something that was bothering his heart.

“…Hey, um, is it really okay to interact with someone like me while you’re streaming? Isn’t your stream getting chaotic? It is, okay?” (Oni-chan)

“No! Not at all!! On the contrary, there were a lot of comments asking me to talk with you.” (Ayaya)

“R-really? Well, if you say so…” (Oni-chan)

Oni-chan’s usual streaming style garners both support and criticism.

Knowing his own position, he makes sure to be careful to ensure that the criticism or comments don’t spill over onto other streamers.

He doesn’t want to involve them if something goes wrong.

“…Ah, uh, anyways! Ayaya, you use the R-301, right?” (Oni-chan)

“Yeah! You know about that huh?” (Ayaya)

“Well, uh… it’s here, so I’ll ping it for you.” (Oni-chan)

“Thanks! By the way, Oni-chan, aren’t you using it? I saw a clip of you saying, ‘R-301 is so strong!’ a while ago.” (Ayaya)

“Oh… I already picked one up.” (Oni-chan)

“Really!? I’ll take it then! I’m close to you, Oni-chan.” (Ayaya)

“Sure. Do it fast.” (Oni-chan)

As he looked back, Ayaya’s Octane was rushing towards him with high-speed dashes.

They passed each other as she swapped in, but then he heard a puzzled “Hmm?” from her.

“Wait, Oni-chan, do you really have the R-301?” (Ayaya)

“W-well, yeah, I have it.” (Oni-chan)

As soon as he was asked, he instinctively started moving away from her.

“Really? To me, it looked like a shotgun and a pistol.” (Ayaya)

“I do have the R-301, really…” (Oni-chan)

Surprised by her ability to accurately identify the weapons he was carrying, he quickly escaped.

“Then, can you show me your back for a moment?” (Ayaya)

“No. I don’t have time to show you. And stop chasing me!” (Oni-chan)

“Why! I just want to make sure!” (Ayaya)

“I don’t have time for that, hurry up and loot… Wait, footsteps! Right corridor!” (Oni-chan)

“Huh!?” (Ayaya)

At that moment, an enemy burst out of the double doors, appearing near Oni-chan.

Suddenly, a firefight ensued, but it was a favorable 1v2 situation in an open area. Furthermore, Oni-chan had a shotgun effective at close range.

Despite losing 40% of his health, with Ayaya providing cover, they easily took down the enemy.

“Nice cover. Thanks. That enemy had really good character control…” (Oni-chan)

“There’s definitely another enemy, right?” (Ayaya)

“There probably is, but how about we retreat for now? They might be waiting to ambush or trying to get a positional advantage.” (Oni-chan)

“Okay! Sounds like a plan!” (Ayaya)

Oni-chan was able to convince Ayaya of this because he possessed the same level of knowledge as her.

“Ah, we don’t actually have much loot.” (Ayaya)

“Well, I left behind some earlier. And the enemy we took out earlier didn’t have much loot either, right?” (Oni-chan)

“S-sorry! I may need to borrow something.” (Ayaya)

“What do you need?” (Oni-chan)

“Healing items!” (Ayaya)

“Alright, then take these two. I could have given you more if I hadn’t taken damage, sorry about that.” (Oni-chan)

While apologizing, Oni-chan dropped healing items on the ground.

“Not at all, not at all! You really helped chip away at the enemy’s health just now, Oni-chan! So, is it okay if I take this!?” (Ayaya)

“I have one too. Oh, but I’m worse at the game, so it’s probably better for balance if you give one back.” (Oni-chan)

“No, no, I’ll take them all because I appreciate your sentiment!” (Ayaya)

“Hey, don’t steal them! You already picked them up?!” (Oni-chan)

“I didn’t steal them! Oh, enemy behind us!” (Ayaya)

“Huh!?” (Oni-chan)

As they were bantering, the remaining enemy closed in. Oni-chan quickly turned around and fired a few shots, and with Ayaya’s support, they eliminated the threat.

“Oh! That was a pretty nice headshot!” (Oni-chan)

“It’s not as impressive as you make it out to be~” (Ayaya)

The head is the most vulnerable area for dealing damage to an enemy, but it’s also the hardest to hit.

While it could have been a lucky shot, considering the speed at which the enemy went down, there’s a good chance it was deliberately aimed.

“You’re really good. Pros are amazing, seriously.” (Oni-chan)

“Hehe, thanks! So, shall we move?” (Ayaya)

“Got it.” (Oni-chan)

Oni-chan’s character was already falling apart at this point.

While paying with someone he respected, Oni-chan had almost forgotten that Ayaya was streaming.

Maintaining his nonchalant attitude, they enjoyed three games together over the span of an hour.

“Well, I’m gonna log off soon. I’ve got some stuff to do.” (Oni-chan)

“Huh?” (Ayaya)

“I said I’ve got stuff to do.” (Oni-chan)

“Not that, but… did you just switch to your dialect²?” (Ayaya)

“What are you talking about? Must be your imagination.” (Oni-chan)

If they were playing privately, he might have been able to brush it off, but she had a lot of viewers.

“You switched! There are tons of comments saying so, onii-chan~” (Ayaya)

“Shut up. And don’t call me onii-chan! I don’t want that incident to be brought up again.” (Oni-chan)

“Sorry! Hehe.” (Ayaya)

“As long as you understand. Well, it’s getting late, so see you. I had fun today.” (Oni-chan)

“Me too! Let’s play together again when we both have time!” (Ayaya)

“Sure thing. Look forward to it.” (Oni-chan)

After a brief farewell, they ended the game.

Then, while immersed in the afterglow of enjoying the game with the professional gamer, Ayaya, Haruto started prepared for his part-time job.

“Today was a really good day~” (Haruto)

Humming a tune, he continued with his tasks.

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Thanks for reading!

In the end, she never checked what weapon MC was using. Well, the stream is probably archived, so anyone could go and check lol.

Maybe I should play Apex to understand things better…

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1. This is basically a meme of when the tables have turned or something like that.
2. Idk about Japanese dialect honestly, I only know that there are a couple of them.