Chapter 42: Chapter 41

That happened last night.

["W-would you like to meet in front of the company tomorrow...?"]

Inagika had sent me a message.

"You know we’re going to meet everyone at the company tomorrow, so are you asking to meet me separately?"

["Yes... that’s right..."]

"I don’t understand. Why would you make such a troublesome request?"

["I’m nervous about meeting the others..."]

Inagika mumbled hesitantly.

["I haven’t really spoken to Chell properly... And even though I’ve talked to Sora, Sora... makes me a bit uncomfortable."]

"Uncomfortable? Why?"

["Sora’s so popular... she’s probably the type who was super popular during school... unlike me..."]

It was true that Sora gave off that kind of vibe. Even from the first time we met, she seemed so friendly.

But it was all rather superficial.

She didn’t reveal her true feelings and only showed a carefully constructed image of herself.

'Now that I think about it, she’s the most similar to a noble lady among the people I’ve met since returning to this world.'

Granted, I hadn’t met that many people. Just Rion, Anna, Inagika, Chell, Sora... along with CEO Jung Ho-young and Manager Lee Jung-woo, making only seven in total.

Back in my world, noble ladies were experts at hiding behind masks. It was seen as a virtue to conceal their weaknesses.

That’s why interacting with noble ladies was always exhausting. It felt less like a conversation and more like participating in a theatrical performance.

Given that, I could understand why Inagika found Sora uncomfortable.

In the world I came from, commoners were always uneasy around nobles. Nobles viewed masking their true selves as part of their social skills, while commoners despised such behavior.

Inagika and Sora’s dynamic seemed similar.

["So, I’m a bit scared of meeting Sora and Chell..."]

"And what about me?"

["Well, I feel the most comfortable with you, Aurora... If you come with me, I think I’ll feel more at ease."]

So that’s how it was.

Loved again.

Sigh.

'It’s starting to get a bit overwhelming.'

To think Inagika, who hadn’t even seen my face yet, could be so captivated just by my voice alone.

But this was the fate of a duchess. To be adored by all was simply part of life and a responsibility I carried.

If I were a lesser person, I might have been crushed by the weight of this responsibility, but fortunately, I was someone comparable to Atlas.

"Alright. I’ll grant you this special favor."

And so, today, the day after that conversation, I arrived at the company in Rion’s car.

"Drop me off in front of the company. I’m meeting Inagika."

"Okay. I’ve got some things to take care of inside, so I’ll head in first."

After sending Rion ahead, I opened my parasol under the hot sun.

For the record, I’m resistant to both heat and cold. Even the scorching summer heat couldn’t touch me.

Back when I was still part of the Iris family, I’d even visited volcanoes a few times. Compared to that, this heat was nothing. I soon found myself growing bored.

With nothing else to do, I pulled out my phone.

'Maybe I should check out my fellow 6th gen’s streams.'

I usually watched their streams from time to time, but since gaming (aka streaming) always took priority, I hadn’t really watched them properly.

Now that I had some time, and since I’d be meeting my peers soon, it wouldn’t hurt to learn a bit more about them.

I clicked through the archives of their streams one by one.

Inagika’s streams were fairly standard gaming streams.

She seemed to play a lot of gacha games like Kenshin, Break: Moonrail, and Light: Lightning Wave. In her chat streams, she often talked about TRPGs, and she seemed to have an interest in games like mahjong and poker. It seemed she liked board games.

Chell’s streams were also primarily gaming, but her content had a different vibe compared to Inagika’s.

Her main content was Blue Record, along with free horror games like Aib and The Witch’s Mansion.

When I clicked on one of her streams, I noticed that Chell did voice acting for each character. She seemed to use her ability to change her voice to make the streams more interesting. Blue Record was also a gacha game, but it didn’t have any voice acting for the main story, so Chell filled that gap herself.

Chell also did anime watch-alongs, making her content surprisingly diverse.

Finally, Sora’s content was mostly singing.

'She’s not much of a gamer, is she?'

Of course, she couldn’t do singing streams every day. So she had quite a few chat streams (just chatting), and recently, she had started playing a game called Rave the Diver.

But her gameplay... wasn’t great.

'She’s the type to mash random buttons in fighting games.'

After watching for a bit, it became clear that when Sora played games, her brain wasn’t fully engaged.

Her sense of urgency seemed to get ahead of her actions, and she kept dying to the fish she was supposed to collect. Every time, all her collected items would disappear.

"Wow, you’re terrible at this lol."

"My eyes are bleeding from watching this."

"Come on, Sora, do better!!!"

"Maybe we should just stick to singing..."

"Hmm."

She picked a game that really didn’t suit her.

I suppose it could be entertaining if someone is really bad at a game, but that only works for a while. Watching her fumble like this was getting frustrating.

She sings well, though.

"...Aurora?"

Lost in thought, I was startled by a voice calling my name.

"That voice... Sora, is that you?"

I recognized it immediately.

Not only had I just been watching her stream, but I never forget a voice once I’ve heard it.

When I looked up, I saw a woman staring at me, wide-eyed.

The first impression I got was "college student."

She looked about the same age as Rion. But while she had a more mature look, there was also a hint of cuteness.

Half of her face was hidden behind a black mask, and it suited her surprisingly well.

"Is it really you, Aurora...?"

Sora asked in a voice filled with disbelief.

I tilted my head slightly.

"And if I weren’t Aurora, who would you think I am?"

"That tone... You really are Aurora."

Click-clack. Click-clack.

Sora quickly walked up to me.

The shadow from my parasol gently fell over her head.

She stared at my face in awe.

"You look exactly like your character model..."

"Well, of course. My character model was based on my face, so why wouldn’t it?"

"Why did you do that?"

"Do you think there could be a character design more beautiful than my own face?"

"...Are you serious?"

Sora folded her arms, looking dumbfounded.

She scanned my face carefully, as if trying to analyze every detail.

"Then why are you standing out here? Shouldn’t you be inside?"

Sora’s mouth moved, but there was no real sincerity behind her words. It was as if she was speaking without thinking, her mind still elsewhere.

Her eyes remained fixed on my face, and she seemed a little out of it.

"I was waiting for Inagika."

"Inagika?"

"Yes. She asked if we could meet in front of the company. But at this rate, I’m wondering when she’s planning to show up."

It had been quite a while, yet Inagika was nowhere to be seen.

To keep me waiting, a noblewoman, no less.

Inagika had some nerve.

Still, I couldn’t help but chuckle, thinking how fitting it was. She really was worthy of being my peer if she had the gall to keep me waiting like this.

But as I looked around, I realized my assumption had been wrong.

Inagika wasn’t running late.

From behind a distant streetlamp, I spotted a girl nervously peeking out at us.

"Eek..."

The moment our eyes met, she quickly turned her head away.

I had never seen Inagika in person before, but it was clearly her.

Sora was losing focus.

She was fully aware that she wasn’t herself today.

'...Thank goodness I’m sitting next to her.'

That was the only thought running through her mind.

In the meeting room at EYEAI, the 6th gen members sat side by side.

From the outside in, it was Sora, Aurora, Inagika, and Chell.

Whenever Sora glanced to the side, she caught a glimpse of Aurora’s profile. And every time, she found herself staring.

'...Why do I keep looking at her?'

It was a natural human reaction, or so Sora thought.

People tend to keep rewatching visually impressive scenes in movies or anime, or they repeatedly revisit certain pages in a comic.

This was no different.

In other words, Sora had been enchanted by Aurora’s face, a fact she didn’t want to admit.

'As much as I hate to admit it...'

Sometimes, no matter how much you want to deny it, you can’t escape the truth.

If they’d been sitting across from each other, Sora would have been staring even more.

It wasn’t just that Aurora was beautiful—there was something about her that irresistibly drew your gaze. Honestly, it felt like Sora was looking at an ice queen. Not human.

She suddenly remembered ghost stories about people who were bewitched by spirits. Until now, she’d never understood what it meant to be "bewitched," but now she was starting to get it. The ghosts in those stories must have drained people’s souls the way Aurora was drawing in her focus.

Because of this, Sora found it incredibly hard to focus on the meeting.

"I hope the 6th gen can collaborate soon."

"Does anyone have ideas for future projects? Please share any suggestions you might have."

"We also need to decide on a group name for the 6th gen. If you can’t think of one, we could always decide with the viewers during a collab stream."

Rion kept speaking from across the table.

Sora answered each question, but honestly, she could barely remember what she had said. Her mind was a blur.

"We’re planning to make an MV for the 6th gen. Sora, is there a song you’d like to sing?"

"Uh... maybe Celestial Observation by Bump of Kitchen...?"

"Celestial Observation is a great choice. I love that song. Does anyone else have any ideas?"

Sora had just thrown out the first thing that came to mind, but it ended up being the final decision. It seemed like she had the most musical experience, so her suggestion carried weight.@@novelbin@@

But having her opinion accepted didn’t make her feel particularly happy or upset. She felt indifferent.

As Sora returned to her senses, she realized she was once again staring at Aurora’s profile.

"Haa... Focus..."

Sora shook her head lightly.

She felt like she was losing her grip on herself.

And once you lose yourself, who knows what happens next. Sora didn’t want to find out. No one likes feeling out of control.

Besides, from the flow of the meeting, it seemed like Sora was still the leader of the 6th gen.

Chell remained as silent as she had been on Discord.

"Uh, I think Celestial Observation is a good choice too..."

Inagika was practically just going along with whatever was said, rarely voicing her own opinion.

As for Aurora...

"What’s Celestial Observation? I’d like to listen to it."

...It was clear she didn’t really know much about VTuber culture.

Well, Celestial Observation wasn’t exactly VTuber content, but still.

Leading this group was clearly going to fall on Sora’s shoulders.

'It doesn’t matter if she’s beautiful.'

VTubers don’t succeed because of their looks. It’s about their inner qualities—voice, wit, charisma. Aurora should’ve been a streamer or model with that face. VTubing didn’t make sense for someone like her.

In any case, it wasn’t like Sora would be seeing Aurora’s face often.

VTubers typically handled things through online meetings. Gatherings like this one were special exceptions.

Sora had to focus.

The most important thing in this field was mental resilience. She just needed to hold onto her own center.

"Oh, by the way, would you all like to have lunch together after the meeting? It’s my treat," Rion said.

What?

"That sounds nice. It’s been a while since I’ve eaten out."

"I’m fine with that..."

"Sure, no problem."

Suddenly, everyone was quick to respond.

It would have been awkward to be the only one to decline.

"Y-yeah... sounds good... I’ve actually been wanting to have a meal with my peers..."

Sora responded, her voice trembling slightly.

She glanced at Aurora’s face as she spoke.