19 Garnering Attention
Actions have consequences, as one would say. Kia was definitely feeling a thousand years of pain, a different kind but it hurt nonetheless.
Lying on the ground, motionless, she hesitated to even move an inch, dreading the potential repercussions. "Ugh…." Kia looks around cautiously.
Her phone lay nearby, long switched off. She reached for it, only to retract her hand due to a sharp twinge. "Ngh! Why was it a good idea to work six days? Now I have to get up. Mmmppphhhh… fuckin' hell."
Maybe she could skip another day? No, she'd already gone on unnotified leaves; she might as well power through. What was a bit of muscle soreness to her? She'd experienced this in the past.
Before attempting to get up, she checked the time, recalling the clock from last night. Kia estimated it was still early morning.
"Low battery, darn," she muttered as she limped up, also noticing her laptop's low charge. "Good thing I didn't leave it charging while gaming; it could've been damaged overnight."
Kia had time to get ready for work, so she brought her charger along, planning to get her battery back up during one of her allowed breaks.
<>
Leg day, everyone's nightmare. For someone who had the physique of an average woman, it was terrible.
People often glanced at her for always swaying like a zombie before randomly massaging her legs at regular intervals. Of course, since this was a respectable community, everyone just did one quick look before minding their own business.
"Finally… I'm here!"
Tanaka, sweeping outside, heard Kia's greeting. "Good morning, Kia. If I may ask, what's with your posture?"
"Uh… it's just a bit of leg day."
"Well, if that's the case, take it easy. Matsuura has already done everything inside. Get ready, it's going to be half an hour before everyone starts packing this place full."
Kia hobbled into the store, exchanging a greeting with Matsuura. Finding an outlet, she started charging her phone.
The day grew hectic, typical for Mondays. Kia's fatigued legs led her to switch positions with Matsuura at the cash register.
As the morning rush subsided and Kia found herself alone behind the counter, she muttered to herself.
"Hmm… I wish chat was here. This day is dragging." Kia couldn't complain too much though. Yesterday was indeed all just streaming, but it worked out in the end. Hours of content that she could eventually cut into clips.
"I haven't even watched the VOD back yet. I wonder how the stream went."
Matsuura's sudden voice startled Kia. "So you've gotten a big break, Kia?"
"Yeah, I think so," she replied with a smile. "I'm treating myself to some pizzas and a hamburger after work. Any good places around here?"
Matsuura surprisingly acquiesced. "There are some in the mall east of here. You can look it up on Google Maps. I suggest taking the train if you plan on going."
"Aren't there any shops that are closer and more local?"
"International brands are more likely to be in a mall rather than restaurants here. Plus, you might find something else there to buy with the money you got from that stream."
Kia nodded. "Thanks… wait a minute. Are you watching my streams?"
"No. I just peeked at your phone. You should probably put on a passcode. Also, you have an interesting fan base."
"My fanbase? What about them?"
Matsuura laughs. "They've made a dedicated thread for you on 4chan. You're so blissfully unaware of what you've done."
Lunch break rolls around.
Kia finds herself looking for her phone; when she does, she is baffled at the amount of notifications covering her screen.
"Woah…"
All of them were people commenting on VODs from yesterday's stream. The majority were on her performance, while others were plain unusual.
Kia starts to say them all out loud. "I can't imagine how hard this would be. Keep up the good work. 8 hours of this is torture, are you some kind of masochist?"
"Honestly I expected worse." Kia jokes.
She was curious though, what was Matsuura talking about? Being blissfully unaware of what she did? As far as Kia knows, she just played Minecraft with a dance pad.
"4chan… Matsuura said that I have a dedicated thread."
Would Kia dive into the depths of hell just to satiate her curiosity?
Kia typed in that fated URL, there was no turning back. After scrolling, she finds her thread, titled with her streamer name — KTari General.
Inside was… oh no… was that her stomach as an attached image?
"Christ."
Everything was pretty normal, a short introduction to who she was, a small section explaining Minecraft, and what content she has done so far.
Underneath were replies that hovered around fifty. As for unique people having the conversation, Kia could not be bothered to remember their names
[Anonymous27219272: People are missing out on her. The way she acts with us, it's a bro kind of friend. K doesn't feel like she's a woman.]
Kia was pleasantly surprised. "I never thought I'd be thankful to someone on the internet for confirming that I don't display estrogenic properties."
[Anonymous26519273: Damn it, why does she have to be so cute? :sob: :sob: :anger: :anger: It's making it harder to resist giving my money away, especially after all the noises she made.]
"Hmm?"
[Anonymous29210128: >Replying to 26519273< It's a bit concerning, she may get banned or something because of it. Who knows what YouTube might do if someone flags the stream.]
"HMMM???!!!"
[Anonymous27219272: Don't worry, I have all of the stream saved. Here's the link for all of you.]
Kia saw the link plus the embed on the message. "Here we go… I really need to know what they're talking about. I don't remember doing something heinous enough to be reported or flagged—"
The video played.
[Ha… mhn! Fuck! It's too hard!]
Kia felt a bit of her heart tear itself. "I-It's just me struggling to fight off mobs in a cave."
[My legs are going to give out.]
"Uhmm er.. this is perfectly normal commentary."
[No, no! Ah! Ah! Fuck!]
"It's all out of context."
[Ha~ah! Hnngg! No, please… Aahnnng!]
With every suspicious noise that played in the compilation, Kia could hear Vine booms playing in her mind. There was no way anyone wouldn't mistake her tired pants for something else.
"What the fuck?! This is what I sound like? I'm just tired!"
"Kia?"
Kia snapped an embarrassed look towards the door, seeing her boss standing there. "S-sir?! Uhm, yes?"
"Ahem, I was going to ask you to take out the trash." Tanaka didn't make eye contact, making Kia fear the worst.
"...Did you hear anything?"
Suddenly, the elderly man bowed. "I'm sorry for intruding. All I can say is that I respect any career choice. If you find that this job pays too little, I respect your decision to move forward to work in… whatever you're doing."
Kia approached with a frantic wave. "Nonononono! It's not what it looks like, I'm not some kind of deviant on the internet!"
Tanaka didn't hear a thing, probably from shock. "Is this why you can't walk properly? The youth are far too extreme these days…"
"It's just a game!" Tanaka already left, making Kia slam her head on the table. "I didn't even notice. I swear I'm seiso!"
She could explain later that it was all a misunderstanding but at some point, Kia realized the obvious — the lewdness of the entire stream was all due to her being exhausted.
Maybe as a man, Kia didn't notice or pay attention whenever she exerted herself. Taking deep breaths, grunting, and groaning sounded typical but as a girl… everything sounded suspicious.
"Ugh, so this is why they were thanking me. I should really stop talking like that." Kia pauses, realizing she just did it again. "Damn it, why am I such a vocal person? Maybe all the people that watch me are just degenerates."
Kia continued to scroll through the thread despite knowing she wouldn't like what would be shown.
[Anonymous20024151: Wow, this is a one-hour compilation.]
[Anonymous21992813: Never mind all that, she played the game with a dance pad. Are all of you just too horny to realize how hard that is?]
[Anonymous23365291: >Replying to21992813< What do you expect with people like them who follow women streamers? I'm going to try watching her previous content but if this fanbase keeps being like this, I'd rather not be associated with incels who donate to seek someone's attention.]
[Anonymous21992813: >Replying to 23365291< I think it's because K accepts them being like this.]
Kia seriously thought about the implications of what she was doing. It wasn't her fault that people just started making compilations of her being exhausted but… she did encourage them by acting so nonchalant at what she did.
She saw many new people commenting on her VODs and a lot of active participants in the thread, it'd be time to think about what she was supposed to represent as an influencer.
"Screw it, I already knew I was going to use my looks for this. Besides, it's not like I'm explicitly being R18! But I still need to scold my fans, I can't believe they put in the effort at making that compilation of me."
Kia skips all the texts and ends up seeing multiple images of various moments in the stream; shots of her shirt clinging to her body showing her silhouette, others were more mild like sweat dripping down her chin, and a few were the deaths she experienced and the pained looks on her face.
To cleanse whatever information she would rather not remember, Kia browses the YouTube comments. It was more relaxing to see new people complimenting her skills and not anything else.
"Oh shit, I forgot that my break ends." Kia got up with her phone and left the room.
Matsuura saw her as she went to man the register. "Kia, so, did you finally realize what you did?"
"Yeah, apparently I should start wearing tracksuits, or else my fans would be too distracted. Oh, and I have a lot more fans than before. Probably because of my achievement but a few came for just the fanservice."
"I meant about gaming."
"Pardon?" she asked.
"Aside from that, have you not seen what you did to Minecraft, the game you played? It's picking up traction since there's been a post on it. People are starting to play it."
"I'll ask my chat about it. I'm never going to explore 4chan ever again."
