Chapter 7: Kaoru and Shirona and Getting Along
“Ryoâs face is shining happier than Iâve ever seen it!?”
His face was glowing so brightly it felt like you could hear a shine sound effect, making Kaoru cry out in shock.
Even as his childhood friend and bad influence, it was no exaggeration to say he had never seen that expression before.
But as if he could not hear his bad friend at all, Ryo voiced his heartfelt amazement.
“I had no idea cockatrice meat could be this deliciousâŚ!”
“Right?
Thatâs why I canât stop hunting for dungeon ingredients.
I even turn these discoveries into stream content.”
Minato puffed out her chest cutely as if to say how about that, and Ryo nodded again and again in agreement.
“And Ryo-kun, look at this!”
“T-that isâŚ!!”
What Minato produced from nowhere was a zippered plastic bag filled with chicken.
There was something that looked like sauce inside the bag, clearly soaked into the bite-sized pieces of meat.
“This is chicken marinated in my special soy sauce!”
“FwoooooâŚ!”
Ryoâs excitement rose so high he let out a strange sound.
That reaction must have been fun, because Minato kept theatrically pulling out one thing after another.
“And flour!”
“OooooohâŚ!”
Watching the two of them from a short distance away, Kaoru let out a wry smile.
“They look like theyâre having fun.”
“Are you not joining them?”
Shirona spoke to Kaoru, who was watching over them like a guardian.
Kaoru replied with the same expression he always used when hitting on girls.
“Iâd rather chat with you, Shirona.”
“You certainly have a smooth tongue.”
A crease deepened between the cool beautyâs eyebrows.
Apparently, it was not a reaction she appreciated.
Seeing that, Kaoru immediately shifted to a just kidding expression and replied lightly.
“I get that a lot.”
Then, after a brief pause, Kaoru asked,
“Thereâs something Iâd like to confirm now.
How are the gourmets viewing Ryo?”
“âŚâŚâŚâŚ”
Shirona did not answer right away.
It was less that she did not want to answer, and more that she seemed unsure how to put it.
âGourmetsâ was the fan name for Otsuno Diaâs viewers.
Since the camera had been rolling during their escape from the Sharkdile, Ryo had definitely appeared briefly, so Kaoru wanted to know the fansâ reaction.
“Since it was only during the escape and part of the fight, I donât think Ryoâs face was shown very clearly.
When we thanked him, I lowered the camera angle so his face wouldnât be visible.”
And thenâshe continued.
“Since his gender is unclear, things donât seem to have gotten very heated.”
“Then keeping his gender ambiguous would probably be more convenient going forward.”
“However, since Dia said sheâd treat him as thanks, there was some stir.”
“Any real problems?”
“I donât believe so.”
Feeling reassured for now, Kaoru let out a small breath.
Then, as an additional suggestion, he raised his index finger.
“It might be better if Minato calls Ryo â-chanâ or something instead of â-kun,â just to keep things messy.”
“That would help, but⌠is it really fine not to use â-sanâ?”
At Shironaâs reasonable question, Kaoru looked toward the kitchen, where Ryo was frying chicken together with Minato, and gave a wry smile.
“Second fry?”
“Of course!”
“OooooohâŚ!”
The way they cooked together so happily was heartwarming.
Precisely because of that, Kaoru and Shirona wanted to handle the troublesome matters themselves.
“Theyâve gotten that close already.
If it comes out that the two of them are often together, wouldnât it be easier for you if we prepared excuses and a cover story in advance?”
“So, make it that theyâre close real-life friends who casually call each other by name?”
“Itâd be bad if he were clearly identified as male, but right now his gender is still ambiguous.
That also reduces the risk of troublesome unicorns latching on.”
At Kaoruâs words, Shirona murmured softly and brushed her shapely lower lip with her left thumb.
“This all sounds far too convenient for us.
What do you want in return?”
“How about a date with you?”
When she openly frowned, Kaoru exaggeratedly shrugged.
“Just kidding.
Seriously though, thereâs no need for compensation right now.”
“Right nowâŚ?”
At Shironaâs suspicious look, Kaoru gave yet another wry smile.
“I havenât gotten Ryoâs approval yet, but Iâm thinking about having the two of them stream together someday.
Whether they join an agency or go independent⌠thatâs undecided for now.”
“And how does that relate to compensation?”
“When that happens, Iâd like you to teach us the basics of streaming.
Through your agency or personally, either is fine.”
“Youâre moving this forward without Ryoâs permission?”
At the reasonable question, Kaoru replied with a meaningful smile.
“I think itâll be fine.
Thanks to that cockatrice steak earlier, it feels like something clicked in Ryo.
If I persuade him today, I think itâll work.”
“âŚI see.”
To Shironaâs eyes, Ryoâs expression did not seem to have changed much.
But there were probably things only Kaoru, who had known him longer, could tell.
“Itâs done!”
“Itâs done!”
“Yay!”
“Yay!”
The kitchen duo raised both hands and high-fived.
They were already too close, celebrating with the same rhythm and energy.
“Letâs continue after we eat.”
On the plates, fried chicken was piled up like a pyramid.
“Is that really an amount four people can eatâŚ?”
“Ryo can finish all of that by himself.”
“What is going on with Ryoâs stomach?”
“Who knowsâŚ?
Even I donât understand that, and Iâve known him a long time.”
With a fairly serious shrug, Kaoru headed toward the table where the two were carrying the fried chicken.