Night Sakura was reading a chat comment, but she burst out laughing halfway through. Kohinata leaned in to look, her hammer almost knocking over the coffee can on the table, but Amamiya moved the can out of the way with lightning-fast reflexes.
“True. You won't see idols bickering on camera during a livestream, nor would they rest their weapons by the coffee table and almost crush their own feet.”
She pulled her gaze back from the projection screen and looked down at Misa Tachibana. “But I doubt your Plan B script included Amamiya taking the initiative to introduce herself before the stream even officially started.”
“...That part was the biggest surprise of the day.”
A hint of helpless amusement laced Misa Tachibana's voice. “According to the original plan, she only needed to say a few words during the video commentary segment. I didn't expect her to jump the gun before the opening. But the effect was great—her personal brand was established instantly.”
Misa Tachibana swiped on her touchpad to bring up the viewer demographic data. “The viewer age distribution is more concentrated than expected. Eighteen to twenty-five-year-olds make up almost half of it.”
“This segment of users overlaps slightly with Meruru's core fanbase. They like Meruru's professional yet approachable idol vibe, but they don't reject the Wings of Freedom's more casual, free-spirited style either.”
“Do you plan on having them go down a professional route or a casual one in the future?”
“Neither,” Misa Tachibana said, turning off the screen. “Just let them be themselves. Kohinata doesn't need to learn how to keep smiling for the camera, and Amamiya doesn't need to memorize scripts.”
“What the viewers like isn't a polished, manufactured group image; they like that these girls are the exact same people whether they're fighting or livestreaming. You can't package that kind of authenticity, and there's no need to.”
She withdrew her gaze from the projection screen and turned her head slightly to look at Qiluo. The light from the desk lamp happened to catch the faint mole at the corner of her eye, softening her usually stern expression.
Envisioning every worst-case scenario beforehand, and then letting them go do as they pleased.
This kind of gentleness was everywhere in the Wings of Freedom. Misa Tachibana had it, Night Sakura had it, and even Kohinata and Amamiya were passing it along in their own ways.
“...Store Owner, you seem to be in a very good mood today.”
“I suppose,” Misa Tachibana said, picking up her thermos again. “It's the Wings of Freedom's first livestream, and my temporary member didn't run away. She even made sure to rush back from her date—though she claims it wasn't one.”
“The chat hasn't had any major incidents since the stream started. Night Sakura is controlling the tempo, Amamiya is speaking far more than usual on her own initiative, and Kohinata didn't get stage fright. As the Store Owner, today is a good day.”
Qiluo was momentarily at a loss for words.
How did the word 'date' sound so natural coming out of the Store Owner's mouth...
She simply shifted her weight from her left leg to her right, continuing to lean against the wall.
She felt like she would probably never get used to having people show her they cared in this way, but she didn't dislike it either.
“You can afford to be a bit happier. The stream isn't over yet; there might be things that'll make you even happier later.”
“Or things that will make my blood pressure skyrocket.”
“That's also part of a good day.”
Misa Tachibana chuckled softly and didn't reply.
The two of them stood quietly in the corner of the streaming room.
They watched as Night Sakura naturally transitioned the topic to their daily training. Kohinata eagerly stood up to demonstrate the new hammer techniques she had practiced in the training room today, with Amamiya serving as a human punching bag on the side.
The scrolling speed of the chat didn't slow down in the slightest.
【Mama Hinata is so energetic!】
【I envy Amamiya.】
...
The finale.
Suddenly, the chat began spamming a single name at an abnormal frequency.
First a few, then dozens, then an entire flood of them—Meruru was about to start her stream.
The three characters of her name self-replicated like a virus in the chat pool, completely scattering the attention of the viewers who had been discussing their training routine.
Qiluo shifted her gaze from the scrolling text on the projection screen to Night Sakura's profile.
What was bound to come had finally arrived. Fortunately, it was timed right in the final few minutes of the Wings of Freedom's debut stream.
What would she do? Even though there were only a few minutes left, what would they do?
Night Sakura was reading a comment about their training intensity, but she stopped halfway through.
Her eyes lingered on the screen for about half a beat, and then she finished reading the comment, her tone unchanged.
“Wow, the chat suddenly got so lively.”
Night Sakura pushed her mask up slightly and bowed toward the camera.
“We'll answer one last question and wrap things up. Someone just asked when the Wings of Freedom's next livestream will be. It'll be at the same time next Saturday.”
“The exact details are a secret for now, but I can reveal that there will be a new training segment designed by Kohinata and me.”
“That's about all for today's debut stream. Thank you to all the viewers who have been following us since the teaser announcement, and thank you to every new friend who just clicked in.”
“The Wings of Freedom's first stream had far more people and far more kindness than we ever expected.”
Kohinata rested her hammer against the sofa armrest and waved energetically at the camera, her arm swinging so wide it almost hit Amamiya's shoulder next to her.
Amamiya sidestepped to dodge, raising her hand to give a small, subtle wave. Her cooperation was visibly much higher than it had been at the start of the stream.
“See you next week at the same time,” Amamiya said. After finishing, she blinked, seemingly a bit surprised that she had taken the initiative to say those words.
A flurry of goodbyes and promises to tune in next week drifted across the chat, interspersed with a few comments still spamming, “Is the white-haired big sister really not going to show her face today?”
Night Sakura's gaze paused on those comments for half a beat, her fingers unconsciously touching the edge of her mask.
She didn't respond. She knew Lightweaver didn't want to appear on camera, but she also didn't want to flatly deny the viewers' expectations.
This dilemma lent a trace of subtle, hard-to-detect hesitation to her parting smile.
Suddenly, she felt a gentle stir in the air behind her.
An extremely thin thread of warm white light extended silently from the side, passing over her shoulder and drawing a small halo directly above the camera.
The thread of light looped back, swiftly sketching the outline of a pair of wings next to the halo—identical to the emblem on the Wings of Freedom's account avatar.
As it drew the final stroke, the thread of light gently tapped Kohinata's head, then tapped Amamiya's.
Immediately after, the entire thread dissolved into tiny, warm white specks of light. Like a small flurry of snow falling upward, they drifted down slowly over the heads of the three girls.
The three of them looked as if they were bathing in a river of stars.
Night Sakura recognized this mana fluctuation the moment the thread of light swept past her shoulder. She didn't look back, but the corners of her mouth slowly curled up beneath her mask.
Kohinata reached out to catch the specks of light, which slipped through the gaps between her fingers. She tilted her head up to watch them float upward, her eyes shining just as they had when she first saw Lightweaver's net of threads on the battlefield.
【Could it be...?】
【The big one is coming! (double entendre)】
【Not showing her face because she's ugly, probably?】
Qiluo retracted her threads, preparing to see how the chat would react, but her fists clenched slightly when she saw that last comment.
What's that supposed to mean? I'm not showing my face for your own good, lest you guys start obsessing over me day and night once you see it.
Pfft. Trying to use reverse psychology to make me show myself? In your dreams!
Just as Qiluo was about to ignore it, she spotted another comment.
【Have you seen her? Don't talk nonsense if you haven't. I bet she's beautiful.】
Who's this? I already have a fan defending me?
Though I don't know who you are, since you defended me, love ya!
Night Sakura pushed her mask up slightly and flashed a composed smile at the camera. “Thank you to this viewer for your passionate defense. As for Lightweaver's looks, our internal consensus is that she is very beautiful.”
“As for when she'll show her face—that is her choice. The Wings of Freedom respects the freedom of every single member.”
A barrage of “protect” and “well said” swept through the chat, mixed with a few stubborn trolls, but they were quickly drowned out by the influx of positive comments.
“And with that—we are the Wings of Freedom. Spreading our wings to fly high, where the light shines. Protecting your dreams with magic. See you next week!”
...
After the livestream feed went dark on the screen, Shizuru Kirishima flipped her phone face-down onto the coffee table, then slowly buried her face in the sofa cushion.
Nuomi hopped down from the kitchen island. Its four short legs pattered across the hallway before it leaped onto the sofa and nudged her finger with its nose.
“Shizuru, are you okay?”
“...No,” Shizuru's voice came out muffled from the cushion, her tone dragging out longer than usual.
She pulled the cushion away from her face, revealing eyes filled with extremely complex emotions.
Admiration, grievance, defiance, and a tiny hint of a flutter in her heart that she probably didn't want to admit.
“She signed off for them. She even touched their heads with her threads of light, and all three of them got showered in light specks. She's never done that for me...”
Shizuru hugged the cushion to her chest, resting her chin on its edge while her fingers unconsciously toyed with the tassels on the cushion cover.
“She was in a good mood during the stream, which means she likes that organization.”
Nuomi squatted on her lap, tilting its head and twitching its ears. “It also means she was already in a good mood today. It might not necessarily be because of the stream.”
“Then what else could it be?”
“Maybe something good happened during the day,” Nuomi said, tapping her wrist with its tail, a look of absolute certainty flashing in its caramel-colored eyes.
“The person in the chat who defended her—”
“It wasn't me. That account isn't mine.” The tips of Shizuru's ears peeked through her long hair, already starting to turn red.
“I didn't say it was you. I only said there was someone in the chat who defended her~”
“...I just happened to be watching, and happened to see that comment.”
Shizuru pulled the cushion back up, covering her face once again.
...
Meruru, huh? Liked by so many people, is she?
Qiluo had only ever seen glimpses of Meruru in advertisements from afar, but Qiluo didn't really care.
Since the Association is pushing this Meruru so hard, I'll see for myself just who you are!
Qiluo silently clicked on the featured livestream room on the streaming app.
Rate on N.U.
