“No, wait a second!” She lowered her hand, watching the chat spin out of control, and raised an index finger to the camera.
Dropping her playful tone, she continued, “What I just said wasn't a provocation. Meruru is an idol Magical Girl I deeply respect. I've carefully studied both her combat style and her stage presence—wait, can we edit this part out? Oh right, this is a livestream, we can't.”
“Then let's just leave it in. I meant it, anyway. What I meant was, if one day we can achieve the kind of influence Meruru has—not that we definitely have to surpass her, but—”
“You're only making it worse,” Amamiya chimed in from the side.
“I know!” Night Sakura buried her face in her hands, the bridge of her mask pressing against her palms as she let out a muffled laugh. “I'm doomed, I'm doomed. The debut stream isn't even halfway through and I've already dug myself a grave. Kohinata, why didn't you stop me just now?!”
“I thought you did it on purpose!” Kohinata hugged her hammer, looking both innocent and excited. “Besides, you looked super cool when you said it! Everyone's cheering you on~”
Night Sakura peeked through the gaps between her fingers to look at the screen.
The chat was indeed spamming hype messages, but there were also some different comments mixed in.
【Came from the Black X, who is Night Sakura?】
【A new organization actually dares to clout-chase Meruru?】
【Clippers, make sure to take this out of context!】
Night Sakura adjusted her mask and straightened her back once more.
Forget it, what was said was said. In any case, the Wings of Freedom was never an organization that played it safe. It wouldn't be normal if their debut stream went completely without incident.
“Alright, back to the main topic. That concludes our self-introduction segment—even though we're a few minutes ahead of schedule, and it wasn't even started by me.”
She glanced at Amamiya, who blinked blankly, showing absolutely no remorse. “Next up is the second part of today's stream: the video commentary.”
Kohinata raised her hand high, like a student eager to answer a question in class.
“Let me do this one! Let me tell you, that medium-sized Erosion Body we fought that day had an incredibly thick shell. My hands went completely numb the moment I swung my first hammer blow!
“But then I thought, 'No way, this is our first public appearance, I have to make this swing look amazing'—”
“So, what did you yell during your second swing?” Night Sakura prompted.
“...'This strike is for the Wings of Freedom!'”
“And then you were almost swept off your feet by its counterattack.”
“That was because the ground was uneven!” Kohinata planted her hammer on the floor with a thud. “Amamiya! Back me up here!”
“The ground was indeed uneven.” Kohinata flashed a peace sign at Night Sakura, but then Amamiya added, “But you were knocked over by the recoil of your own hammer. It had nothing to do with the ground.”
Watching the chat scroll by, Night Sakura's tense shoulders finally relaxed a bit.
She steered the conversation toward Amamiya's twin-blade coordination. Amamiya surprisingly took the initiative to chime in, mentioning that she had almost lost her grip on her weapons during their debut because of the shockwaves from Kohinata's hammer.
“And that's why we need more joint training,” Night Sakura smoothly picked up. “The Wings of Freedom hasn't been established for very long, so there's still a lot of room for us to improve our coordination.”
The livestream continued.
On screen, Kohinata was using the handle of her hammer as a pointer, gesturing wildly at the playback of the battle. Amamiya occasionally chimed in to correct her wording, while Night Sakura managed the overall flow, throwing out interactive questions at the right moments to guide the chat.
The coordination between the three had transitioned from stiff and awkward at the start of the stream to increasingly seamless. Comments flowed through the chat like a river, and the viewer count steadily climbed.
Where was the Store Owner? Qiluo turned around and saw Misa Tachibana sitting alone in the shadows of the corner, watching the projection screen.
Her expression was calm. She must be feeling incredibly proud. These girls, whom she had personally raised, were now capable of holding their own.
Qiluo stood up from her corner on the sofa, walked over to Misa Tachibana's wheelchair, and leaned back against the wall.
“The chat atmosphere during the debut stream has been better than expected so far.” Qiluo crossed her arms, her tone returning to the typical detachment of Lightweaver.
Misa Tachibana nodded slightly and rolled her wheelchair forward just enough to place her thermos on the edge of the coffee table.
“The way the three of them coordinate in front of the camera is looking more and more like a real team. Amamiya is speaking up far more than she usually does at headquarters, Kohinata isn't nervous anymore, and Night Sakura's reaction time is as sharp as ever.”
“When Night Sakura mentioned Meruru, a few negative comments popped up in the chat.” Qiluo looked down at the Store Owner, whose expression remained serene, as if she had long anticipated this.
“She handled it well. She didn't rush to defend herself, nor did she drag out the explanation. She simply brought the conversation back on track. That was already excellent. They're doing great today.”
Misa Tachibana lifted the thermos to her lips, letting the warm steam rise against her chin.
After a few seconds of silence, as if weighing her words, she said, “Actually, I had prepared a different script for their debut.”
She looked up. “Plan B in that script was much more conservative. The self-introduction segment had stricter time limits, and the Q&A portion had a pre-selected pool of questions...”
“But after thinking it over, I decided to scrap it. They don't need to be sheltered so tightly. Letting them do things at their own pace is far better than any script.”
The Store Owner... truly trusted them.
It was a deep trust—a belief that they were fully capable of weathering any storm.
“Did you back up Plan B before deleting it?”
“No. I knew I wouldn't use it even as I was writing it. I only wrote it to put my own mind at ease.”
“Are you at ease now?”
“Yes.” Misa Tachibana raised her eyes, looking at the three Magical Girls huddled in front of the camera on the projection screen.
“A debut stream doesn't need to be perfect. They aren't idols, so they don't need every single frame to be picture-perfect and screenshot-worthy.”
“Seeing them get nervous in front of the camera, stumble over their words, and playfully bicker with each other... it actually makes them feel much more real.”
Rate on N.U.
