Chapter 5 - First Collab!

"How do I keep finding you like this?" 

Several men groan in pain, lying on the floor between the alleyways, clutching their legs together. Kson stands in the middle of them all, with a baseball bat over her shoulders and a frenzied grin on her lips. A few specks of blood taint the bat, visible even as Kson does her best to hide it away.

Kson laughs. "I'm just awesome like that."

I smile. "So, is this more gang stuff?"

She sighs at that. "Yeah, pretty much." She rolls her shoulders. The nearest gangster tries to reach for her left leg. Kson swiftly kicks him in the face. "They're getting feisty these days. The locals have been complaining. But anyway," She smiles. "Want to have dinner together?"

"I'm down. What're we eating?"

Kson shrugs. "What do you want?"

I hum. This alley's pretty far away from my neighborhood—I jogged a little too far this afternoon. It'd be inconvenient to go to the ramen place I like to frequent these days. "How about…Muragame?"

"Udon…" Kson gives me a thumbs up. "That works."

I grin back.

We leave the alleyway soon after. The gangsters groan in relief as we go.

It's been about a month since Kson and I met that afternoon. We've been friends ever since, often meeting up for lunch or dinner. Money isn't an issue for either of us—Kson is a gang leader of some kind, and I can trade some Stream Points for a good sum of Yen—so our dining options are never restricted.

It was a little awkward at first; Kson is a Streamer leagues larger than I am. But we hit it off pretty quickly. It probably helps that she reminds me of some of my friends I had back in the West.

Now we're in an udon chain, seated at one of the corner tables with bowls of warm udon on the table, each topped with delicious tempura.

And today, Kson has a…surprising request.

"An SMP server?"

Kson nods as she takes a bite of tempura. "Mhm. Some of my pals really like watching you too, and they asked if you're interested in joining our SMP."

I hum. A Minecraft SMP, or Survival Multiplayer; it's a tempting offer. I mean, I like Minecraft and all, but I do admit playing on my own is getting a little dull. And I've watched some of the Vods Kson has of her playing Minecraft with other Streamers from her clique.

It's a little daunting, I suppose. All the members of the SMP are Streamers larger than I am, and I have been invited.

But,

I smile. "I'm down. That sounds like fun." I slurp up some udon. "So how will it play down? Am I going to get invited straight away, or do I have to do something else…?"

Kson shrugs. "We'll have a little chat together, and then probably drop into Minecraft. You know, the usual."

I gulp. A chat with Kson, huh. That's not scary at all. Nope.

"Sounds like fun." I lie. "When're we streaming? 8? 9?"

"We're syncing with my pals in the West, so around 10." Kson smiles. "Honestly, it's not that different from our usual schedule."

"True that."

Just like that, my first collab is secured. And it's potentially with an entire agency of Streamers. The jump in scale from my little group is kinda insane. I just hope everything goes well.

But I'll save the worry for later. I have some udon I need to devour.

...

Night falls, and Kson's stream goes live as planned. Thousands of viewers come to watch, excited to see the gang boss play Minecraft again after quite some time away from the game.

But the viewers are surprised. The title of the stream mentioned that a guest is going to appear. Kson cheekily ensures that it's not someone from her agency, promising that they'll soon appear. Some begin to complain in the chat, but most viewers are content to wait for them to arrive.

And then, an unfamiliar voice sounds.

"Finally here." It's a girl, and one that sounds awfully familiar to most regular viewers. "Good evening, everyone. I'm Suzuki Aiko. It's nice to meet everyone!"

The chat blurs as hundreds of comments rush past. No wonder she sounds so familiar—it's that super skilled Osu Streamer Kson likes watching from time to time! The excitement builds as another panel shows up on the stream, showing Aiko giving a peace sign at the camera.

"Aiko-chan's here!" Kson cheers, grin wide as she takes another sip of her beer.

"Drinking already, Kson? It's been, like, only ten minutes since the stream." Aiko huffs. "And didn't you already have a beer before?"

Kson grins. "There's never too much beer, Aiko-chan."

The easy banter is a surprise to everyone. And inevitably, someone asks whether they're friends.

"Of course! Aiko-chan and I go out to eat dinner at times."

"And I'll be there to make sure you don't get piss drunk every time."

Kson laughs as she tries to deny it. Aiko quickly cuts down Kson's excuses, her words cutting and sarcastic. The chat fills with "草" and "www"s. 

Soon enough, the two enter into VShojo's private Minecraft SMP. The few members that are online send their greetings over the game's chat as Aiko enters. A small blush lights Aiko's cheeks as she returns the regards. "I'm a little nervous…"

"No worries, Aiko-chan. Everyone's real nice here!"

"That doesn't make me any less nervous."

Is what Aiko says, but it's clear the nervousness does little to change the fact that she's a professional at the game.

She gathers wood and stone and iron in minutes, provides enough to make tools and armors for both Kson and herself, and proceeds to find diamonds in under seven minutes. The in-game chat fills with advancement after advancement as Aiko practically speedruns the early progression.

Viewers from Aiko's side are familiar with the sight. They've watched Aiko speedrun through Minecraft before—she even has her name on the speedrunning leaderboards. She's a little slower this time, but that's mostly because she isn't playing to finish the game.

This time, she has all of Kson's fanbase watching her. They're all enamored as they watch someone actually play minecraft without dying in the first few minutes.

And through it all, Aiko and Kson talk over all sorts of things; of playing games and streaming and gang fights and nearly dying from poison and so on. The strange and the mundane are treated with the same weight, and the viewers laugh at the absurdity being shown.

"Wait, so you almost nailed your hand? Because someone was flashing their tits!?"

"Well-, uh," Aiko coughs, her cheeks lightly dusted red. "I was working part-time for this construction company. It was summer, and hot, and there was this girl that just straight up took off her clothes to cool down." Aiko huffs. "Like, come on, who wouldn't be surprised by that?"

Kson laughs. "草" and "www"s fill the chat.

It isn't hard for Kson's viewers to be enamored with Aiko. It's clear why she and Kson became friends. They both have quite insane stories to share about their pasts. 

An hour passes. Then two. Then three. The concurrent viewers only continue to rise as they stream into the night.

"Not getting tired, Aiko-chan?"

"I can go for a few more hours." Aiko winks. "I'm used to all-nighters."

Kson blinks. "Eeh? But you only stream for, like, 2 hours usually, right?"

"Because I still have a balanced sleep schedule." She returns blandly. "And I'm not streaming full-time yet."

"But if you could?"

Aiko shrugs. "Once I'm secured financially."

…

At the end, the collab stream lasts for a staggering six hours. It's unusual for just a game of Minecraft, but the stories being shared was more than enough to keep the viewers hooked.

And once the stream ends,

[Today's Stream Rating: A+!]

[Tallying Stream Points:

+7 (Stream Rating: A+)

+6 (Stream Duration: +6 hours)

+5 (Collab Stream!)

+4 (Added new 'Lore' to the Streamer's Character)

+1 (New Viewer)

+4 (10 New Viewers)

+8 (50 New Viewers)

+12 (100 New Viewers)

+16 (250 New Viewers)

+5 (Streamer branched into new Community: Kson Fans!)

+5 (Streamer branched into new Community: VShojo Fans!)

Total Stream Points: 73]

I whistle. Those are some damn good numbers. It really shows how big Kson's presence as a Streamer is.

Not that I really cared about the Stream Points right now. Just being able to talk with Kson, on-stream, all while spilling some of the more out-of-pocket topics I've been keeping on the backburner for months was just too fun. 

And my smile only grows as my cell phone vibrates. It's Kson, and her voice comes spilling through the speaker. "Hey, Aiko-chan! Wanna go for some beer?"

"Didn't you just drink a beer when we ended?" I ask with a laugh. "But I'm down. Are we going to the usual izakaya?"

"Yep!" The phone goes silent for a moment, "But you sure you're fine with that? It's pretty late now, y'know?"

I glance at the clock. It's 4.a.m., and it won't be long before sunrise. But,

"It's my cheat day. And I'm not that tired." I grin. "Well, see you there?"

"Yeah! See you there!"

The call ends, and I waste no time preparing myself. Barely a minute later, I'm out the door.