Ch 60 - The Girl I Like Pt. 3

Shiro froze up and had chills go down his spine from the question. Generally, he was okay with the girls. Some needed more interaction, while others were considered his friends. But when he thought of Subaru, he didn't know how to express it in a way where he's not lying, but he's not telling the truth either. A half-truth, to be exact.

"Um...wh-what's with the sudden question?" Shiro chuckled.

"Oh, nothing. It's just that...I've been noticing you've been warming up with the girls lately! I'm your friend, you know? It makes me happy seeing you happy, especially considering your trust issues against women. And that's why, what do you think of them?"

Shiro looked away for a bit and scratched his head. Blushing, he groaned ever so slightly and recollected his thoughts, especially for the part where he would explain the half-truth about his feelings for Subaru.

He would like to confess to her soon, but it wasn't the proper time yet. Shiro needed to find the right timing with the right relationship, only then could he tell the whole truth.

Subaru and the girls, on the other hand, had their hearts almost jumping out of their body. Starting from their forehead down to their hands and feet, they sweated like a fountain. A few held their dress tight, a few squinted, and a few breathed slightly heavily. What could Shiro possibly answer? The suspense grew ever so stronger.

And there, he said his answer.

"They're nice, I guess."

"Hmm...mind elaborating on that, please? Like...who do you think is cute?"

"Oh, cute? Let's see…"

Shiro crossed his arms and looked back at all of the Hololive generations like a list in his mind. Despite it being only for a few months, he knew them all like 1 + 1 = 2.

Then it finally hit him, when he opened his eyes, that Subaru was the cutest among them. If she wasn't that cute, he wouldn't have been as stiff and hard as a log back when he first saw Subaru's outfit today. Recalling back to it, he's back to being a log again.

"W-Well, if you want my honest opinion, all the Hololivers are cute and beautiful."

"Really? How cute and beautiful?"

"I mean...I would've made one of them my girlfriend if I had a very strong sex drive. I mean, I do, but like...I have restraints, you know? As for somebody like Rushia, she's very cute. So cute, it's like I have a little sister." Shiro giggled.

"Eh? Really?"

"Yeah. I may not look like it, but I wanna give her a lot of hugs to comfort her. I also wish I could hug her while sleeping. And if somebody were to mess with her, they would never get to live for another day. That's how much I treasure her."

Subaru's face lit up from this. She was delighted to see Shiro would do anything to protect even at least one of the Hololivers. Of course, it's Shiro, so saving people is a part of him, but for Shiro to say his personal feelings and what motivates him to jump into the fray was very refreshing.

"I'm so happy you think of her that way!"

"Mhmm. Somebody like Mel ain't that much different either. She's such a cute cinnamon bun. I mean, she's horny, but like...she's such a cuddly and happy cream puff that I wish I could squish her." Shiro said.

"You know, they're just a few examples out of all of you. I have personal reasons for protecting you all. Besides, not all of you are right in the head, since some of you might be depressed, or have developed a few personal issues and whatnot. Regardless of that, that part of me that always loves to protect people will never fade away." Shiro continued.

"Even me?"

"...Yes."

There it was. Shiro's serious face. The face everybody knew and loved as this signified he had strong resolve in his words. Subaru loved this side of Shiro. As much as he is a bit of a crackhead and sort of weird and funny, she's always welcome to see Shiro getting into business mode.

"Now...lemme ask you something. Who's the cutest?"

This made Shiro jump and sent a bit of an unwelcome chill down his spine, breaking his serious face. 'Not now', he thought. 'I still haven't made enough memories with her to get to that point yet.'

"Well, I already told you, didn't I? Why're you asking me that? It's a bit redundant, you know?"

"Eh?~ No, it's not! You didn't really say who was the cutest! So I'm asking you right now! C'mon, I'm like your best friend, right? I won't tell anybody! Not even the closest Hololivers!"

"But I did just tell you. It's not like I have favoritism or anything. You all are pretty cute, you know?"

"Hmm?~ Or is it?~"

"Is it not?"

It was quite a sudden change in conversation, but Shiro knew this was a battle of stubbornness. Who would be able to answer who's question first? The winning condition was not to stubbornly push Subaru back, but rather, make her lose her resolve little by little.

Knowing Subaru, Shiro knew silly questions were out of the equation. It wouldn't work on somebody like her. What would work, however, is to give small hints as to who the cutest was. Ironic. To win the war, he had to lose and surrender in the battle subtly. It was the quickest strategy he could think of though.

"So you're telling me it's hard to pick one?!"

"Yeah. I mean, you're cute, Subaru. Like, really really cute, but others are just as cute, you know?"

"...Sigh, well of course you'd say that. You're Shiro, after all." Subaru sat back down after leaning on the table from the intense psychological battle.

"Well, that was fun, I guess. Let's continue eating, shall we?"

"Yup!" Subaru said, grabbing her chopsticks in a flash.

They chatted more, the girls observed them closer than ever, and it all seemed to go well. Subaru did little subtle questions, and Shiro still answered them with iffy answers. He was fine talking about anything for the Hololivers since he knew he didn't have feelings for them, but he wasn't that careless that he'd let his crush slip out from his mouth that easily. All in all, they had a good time eating their meal.

However, after he took a sip of his glass of water, that'd signal his cue to stand up and recollect his thoughts in a quieter place.

"Subaru, I gotta pee real quick. I'll be back."

"Okay!"

Once he made his way to the bathroom, he let his male instincts tell him the right urinal to pee in. After that, he unzipped his pants and took a good leak. Euphoria ensued and he breathed out with pleasure.

'Now...time to think back to the date. Eight suspicious people hiding about thirty meters to my left behind a plant. Don't think I saw you fuckers. You're dead to me if you ever take a single step closer.'

He didn't have a knife near him, but he did have chopsticks, his bag, his phone, a saucer from the table, and the huge plate he used for eating too. Those were deadly enough to kill a person.

He may have looked relaxed while chatting with Subaru, but he wouldn't let his guard down that easily, and especially not when it's to protect the girl he loved. Worst comes to worst, he'd have to tell Subaru to run.

"Oh, now that I remember, I had to buy a gift for Calli and Shion...shit."

He had three tasks to do, and he had to do two of them quickly. Protect Subaru from possible danger, and buy gifts for Calli and Shion.

"Alright." He said, zipping his pants back up, and then proceeding to wash his hands at the sink.

"Let's finish up quick and do this shit."

~~Misogynistic Hololiver~~

Subaru saw Shiro walking off into the distance, and as soon as she saw him enter the bathroom, she made a certain handsign by making an L-shape with her right hand.

This was discussed last night within the girls' Discord server when they chose a representative from each generation where the handsign meant it was safe to put their guard down and text each other as to what happened.

Subaru: It was going so well, but Shiro is just suuuuch a hard nut to crack!

Korone: What do you mean?

Subaru: He won't tell his crush that easily!

Reine: Seriously? I thought he would let his guard down for that. He just told me his type a few days ago!

Matsuri: How about trying to ask who was cuter?

Subaru (Replying to Matsuri): You think I didn't try that? I tried everything, and he still couldn't budge!

Sora: How about asking him his oshi, or who he looks up to the most?

Subaru: Isn't it already obvious, Sora-senpai? It's Ayame-chan!

Ina: Hmm...how about mentioning some names around him?

Subaru: Ah, I didn't try that! I'll try it after he comes back!

Subaru: He might be coming back now any second, so let's talk later, guys!

And so, that ended their conversation, and just Subaru's luck, Shiro came out the same time she put her phone back in her bag.

"Hey!" Subaru waved.

"Hey." Shiro waved back.

He didn't look like it, but he took a few glances around the food court and checked to see if the suspicious people were around.

'How magnanimous. A few are gone. Don't know where they went to, but that makes my work less troublesome.'

Shiro got back into his seat and took off his mask while grabbing his chopsticks again.

"So, we're almost done eating, right?" He asked.

"Yeah. What about it?" Subaru asked as her mouth was full.

"...You should prolly finish your meal quick, 'cause I sense a couple fuckers spying on us. They're prolly bad guys or something, and I don't want you to get hurt."

Subaru spitted out a bit of the food she was currently chewing and some of it went down her throat.

"H-Hey, are you okay? Here, drink your water." Shiro said as he handed her the water, and she drank it all down to the very bottom.

"Gah! That was a lifesaver…"

'...AREN'T THE 'FUCKERS' HE'S PERTAINING TO SORA-SENPAI AND THE OTHERS?!'

Subaru trembled and was shaken. Normally, it'd be funny if it were someone else, but considering this is Shiro, who knows what would happen if he didn't get to find out who the suspicious people were?

"A-Ah, r-really? W-Well then, let's c-c-continue eating! Ehehe…" Subaru said with a wavering voice.

"Why're you shaking? Does that fact scare you?"

"Ah, n-no. You're here with me, so it doesn't scare me in the s-slightest!"

'WHAT SCARES ME IS WHAT YOU'RE CAPABLE OF!' Subaru thought.

After they were done eating, Subaru told Shiro that she was gonna go to the bathroom. He didn't want her to be alone and risk her being taken hostage, so he just stood by, acting natural while still standing on guard. Once Subaru got into a stall, she instantly got her phone out and texted this,

"ABORT MISSION! ABORT MISSION! SHIRO KNOWS YOU ALL ARE SPYING ON US! WHO KNOWS WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF HE WERE TO ATTACK YOU ALL WITHOUT KNOWING YOUR IDENTITIES! I REPEAT, ABORT MISSION!!!!"

When the girls got this information, they instantly went as pale as a ghost. The mere fact Shiro knew they saw them afar was enough to shake them to the core. It was also amazing and chilling to know he somehow knew that when they were hiding pretty inconspicuously.

"S-S-S-S-Should w-w-we go out? I-I'm s-s-starting to get scared as to w-what he might do to u-us!" Aqua's legs quivered.

"Um...yeah, I-I wouldn't want to mess with an ex-JGSDF member too." Matsuri also said, quivering like Aqua was.

"Y-You guys don't think Shiro would actually hurt us, right?" Sora asked.

"He wouldn't, but assuming he will know our identities, we're still invading his privacy! We need to move!"

"I mean, I like Shiro-kun, but what I don't like is how scary he could get when he becomes serious!" Nene shivered.

"I doubt I could even beat him, and I'm always called a 'gorilla', you know?" Kanata sweat dropped.

The girls split up into different directions. Aqua and Sora went to one direction, Korone, Kanata, and Matsuri went to another direction, Nene, Civia, and Noel took a different path, while Ina and Reine went out and hid at the nearby department store where it wasn't that far from where they were just hiding.

"Alright...they won't know I'm hiding at all…" Reine said to herself.

"...Surely Shiro's vision isn't that superhuman to see me this far away…" Ina peeked from behind a couple dresses on hangers.

"...Oh?"

They both looked at each other and thought of the most possible reasons why the other didn't just go away. Standing there, it took a good 5 seconds before Reine would take the initiative.

"Um...what're you doing here, Ina?" Reine asked.

"I-I should be asking the same thing, Reine."

"Oh, you know. I was just about to go home, but I wanted to see where they were gonna go before going back. Just uh...you know, curiosity. What about you?"

"Oh uh...I just hid here 'cause I like the dresses, you know? Lately, I've been getting into fashion, and uh...I was gonna browse for a bit after seeing that Subaru and Shiro have finally gone off...yeah."

The two sweated profusely on the inside and tension lingered in the air, but they had to keep up the strong front. No matter what, they will never say to each other that deep down in their hearts, they actually had a crush on Shiro.

"...Oh! There they are!" They said in unison, seeing Shiro and Subaru walking side by side as they went out from the bathroom.

Now that they were on the move, the two predators came out of the bush and tailed accordingly. During that time, Shiro kept observing his surroundings, looking for possible people that could harm them. At the same time, he and Subaru went around looking for gifts he could buy for Shion and Calli.

He's still going strong with what he wanted for Shion, but as for Calli, he planned to buy her flowers and a choker. Why a choker? He just thought it'd look good on Calli. Considering that despite being a bit boyish, she's actually really feminine, so she might like something like that, especially the flowers. Though, because she's Death's apprentice, he needs to buy something with a skull on it or something similarly themed to that.

So as they went around the mall, Shiro sort of noticed, but he was treating Subaru more aggressively than he ever did.

"H-Hey! T-This is embarrassing, Shiro-kun!" Subaru said.

"It's better to look like a couple than to see you get taken away by a dang felon."

All eyes were on them. They both were blushing, albeit for different reasons. As for their position, Shiro and Subaru intertwined their hands together. So when they walked side-by-side, they actually looked like a couple who are still somewhat shy around each other.

'Why did it have to lead to this type of miscommunication?' Subaru sobbed internally.

'Hmm...nobody at our backs, nor to the sides. I don't hear heavy footsteps either, nor any suspicious movements from within the crowds of people. We're still safe for now. Just endure it, Shiro.' Shiro thought to himself, still sharp about his surroundings.

All while they were walking, the turkey and the tako observed closely from afar. They weren't gonna back down that easily anyway.

"Grr! They're holding hands! Man, they look like a couple!" Reine said.

"That'd be nice...holding Shiro's hands, I mean...Wait a minute, Reine???"

"Ina???"

They looked at each other again for 5 seconds like last time, and Reine started the conversation once more.

"Why're you still here?"

"Didn't you say that you were gonna see where they were gonna go before taking a ride back to the school? Why're you still here?" Ina asked.

"I mean...I didn't say that I wouldn't stick till the end of it. D-Didn't you say you wanted to browse the dresses?"

"I mean, I did say I was getting into fashion, so uh...I'm just looking around for references! Yeah! I mean, don't you see all these Japanese women with cute clothing? That's why!"

"Well uh...don't mind me. I'm just gonna go here." Reine pointed to the direction where Shiro and Subaru were walking and went away.

"Yeah, me too." Ina followed suit.

And they went back from reality to tunnel vision as quick as a blink of an eye, still tailing Shiro and Subaru without caring for their surroundings.

~~Misogynistic Hololiver~~

"Oh? Cat food?" Subaru asked.

She wondered why Shiro took a sudden turn and faced towards a pet store. Subaru initially thought he wanted to buy a pet or something, but he instantly went to the food section and started looking for cats. He didn't really look like a cat person either, so it perplexed her even further.

"Yeah. I mean, if it can make Shion at least a bit happier, then I might as well buy it."

"Shion-chan?"

"Yeah. Isn't that why I would buy a gift for them?"

Subaru stood there, her mind struck suddenly with an epiphany. She did think Shiro was quite a weird person, but he was a very good person. However, that didn't mean he always had to act good impulsively.

"Does that mean you just want to lighten up their mood for a bit?"

"You could probably say that. More like people are always stressed, but especially Vtubers. When Japan culture has treated them to act like idols, they're constantly walking on eggshells, especially when it's a girl. That means they have to act careful around boys, act cute and cheerful constantly, and most of all, act normal. When in reality, they have other problems like family problems, financial problems, and the most prominent being mental problems."

Shiro smiled and looked back at Subaru.

"They know nothing about anatomy, psychology, physiology, and all that medical shit, and think they know themselves the most when the truth is that they're befitting for a mental hospital, and that includes even me, just so you know. You'll know they're mentally unhealthy when they think that way. How ironic that streaming is the only thing that gives us happiness, yet it's the same thing that destroys us. Just like smoking a cigarette, you know? It's a smoker's only happiness that also kills him insidiously. A vicious cycle that's hard to escape. You can't even take a break because of pressure and all these factors."

"And we're Hololive, so we're supposed to help each other, right? If their mood can be brightened for even just a fraction, it'd mean a lot to them and can restore their mind a bit. Even if the gift seems meaningless, if they laugh and think about the ridiculousness of a gift, it's enough of a happy memory for me. Besides, I believe all content creators deserve a reward here and there sometimes. Mere numbers and milestones aren't enough, in my opinion."

Shiro sighed and chuckled.

"Then again, that's just a small rant and a bit of the philosophy that comes from your egotistical misogynistic ex-general of the JGSDF. You form your own opinions from that."

Subaru giggled a bit from Shiro's usual speech about what goes on in his mind. It's so predictable and so Shiro-like that it's almost refreshing everytime it's heard.

"I expected no less from Shiro! What else are we gonna buy after this?"

"A dress. I'm fully aware Shion is an introvert, but if she ever needs something for going out, she can always wear something. Mind helping me in choosing it? Maybe girls' fashion is constantly changing and I'm out of the loop."

"Sure!" Subaru said.