ch61-ch80 · 063-ch62

Chapter 62

"Wha!?" "You haven't forgiven her but you're hiring the false-accuser bitch?!" "This makes no sense lol"

Watching the confused viewer comments, Toru became aware of his own thoughts organizing themselves. His honest initial feeling was that he didn't really care about this whole matter, but having all kinds of opinions thrown at him had shown him some things.

"Ah... it's just, how do I put it... the false accusation thing, the looking-down-on-me thing — I don't really care about any of that. I told you that, right? But Kawai-san, right now she thinks of herself as 'the worst garbage,' doesn't she? Well, whether I forgive her or not, it doesn't really matter to Kawai-san. It's about whether she can forgive herself, isn't it?"

"I don't really get it" "No, I can understand the false accuser's atonement as a concept" "But why would you accept an apology from someone you haven't forgiven and still have them work for you?"

It wasn't logic — it was articulation of his state of mind.

Since he'd demanded it of Kawai Sakiho, it felt like Toru himself shouldn't avoid it either.

"Right. First, Kawai-san hasn't made any excuses up to this point. Some of you guys' comments were probably over the line, and there were some factual errors and wild leaps of imagination too, but she still didn't make excuses."

He turned his gaze to her — why?

Kujo Reiko had also stopped laughing and was staring at Kawai.

"...It's because... I think I deserve whatever's said about me. Whatever I say, I can't change how the viewers 'feel.' And I don't intend to try. I'm not going to ask them not to say certain things."

Kawai Sakiho stated clearly.

She looked somewhat apologetic, but there was no hesitation, and there was a certain resoluteness to her. It made Toru wonder if this was really the same person he knew.

No, in a sense, she probably wasn't the same person.

He could relate to that kind of change, and as she'd said — the shape of the vessel holding her heart had changed.

And — she had no choice but to keep living with her heart in that vessel.

Without looking away from Toru, Kawai continued.

"With that said, I'm sorry, but I also don't intend to live my life the way some viewers tell me to. If I followed you all, I'd end up in some corner somewhere, looking apologetic, eating dust, and dying by the wayside. I think it's understandable if you think I deserve that, but I don't think I should do it. I'm sorry."

She bowed her head slightly, but the point was that she wasn't going to meet their expectations.

Of course — that 'you all' referred to a small portion of the viewers, and there were 'you all' who weren't like that too.

"Well, sure, you don't have to follow the extreme opinions of some viewers" "But the meaning of making her work without forgiving her is still unclear"

"No, look... if I were in her position — if someone casually forgave me for abandoning my family and running, I wouldn't feel good about it either... and given how things have been up to now, I'm honestly surprised, but since Kawai-san is serious, I'm just being serious back. I can't just lightly say 'I forgive you.'"

Besides, Kawai Sakiho had said she didn't want to be forgiven.

As far as Toru personally was concerned — he didn't think forgiving someone was kindness.

"...Well, when you put it that way" "Do your damn job properly, false-accuser bitch" "Personally I still think she's riding on Toru-bro's coattails and getting too comfortable, but bro's tolerating it so..." "I can't stand to watch this, I'm never watching again. I'm disappointed." "Lmao at the guy who says he'll never watch again but still leaves a parting shot to make everyone else uncomfortable" "What a farce" "What the hell did we just sit through?" "I wanna eat curry" "Show us Mika-chan"

"Alright alright, sorry 'bout that."

And with that, Shenna, who had somehow circled around behind the stream camera, changed its angle. When Toru checked the stream screen on his mobile, it showed a cat beast-person selfie. It definitely didn't look like an explorer's stream.

"Cat lady" "That's the mom, dumbass" "Can I have Mika-chan?" "Can I have you instead?" "Ahaha. You guys are fun. I figured I should say 'sorry' too. Since I'm the one who suggested doing the stream in the first place."

She said it with a carefree laugh, so she didn't exactly seem sorry, but from the comments, no one seemed angry at Shenna.

"Why the hell did a curry-eating scene turn into this chaos?" "Toru-bro agreed to stream because the cat mom asked him to, right?"

"Well, even I didn't expect the ojou-sama to crash in. I forget if I said this or not, but if you guys hadn't commented, I think Toru probably would've just casually forgiven Kawai-chan and been done with it."

"???" "I understood up to the part about wanting to go buy apples together" "Nothing makes sense" "Wait, were we used by the cat mom?"

"Don't put it like that. You guys commented what you thought, right? I mean, like the ojou said, maybe some of you had some agenda, but most of you didn't."

"There's no way to verify that, so whoever says it wins" "Well, we're just irresponsible viewers after all"

"But you're people with wills, aren't you? Each of your comments came from inside your hearts. It's just — I care more about Toru than I care about you guys or Kawai-chan."

Nyahaha — Shenna laughed, deliberately.

It didn't matter, but she was way better at talking to viewers than Toru, the actual streamer. He was impressed at her conversation skills, as expected of a popular nightlife worker.

"What I'm saying is — whether you accept her or reject her, I thought it'd be better for Toru to really think about it first. Kawai-chan is, in a way, Toru's kind of person, isn't she? If he'd turned her away at the door with 'I don't care,' I think he would've worried about it later."

"Well, early in the stream Toru-bro's face looked dead" "He seriously looked like he didn't care. I'll check the archive later and clip it."

"I don't think you should forgive everyone for everything either. If Toru thought about it and decided he really didn't need help after all, that would've been fine too. I'm never gonna forgive Mika's father either."

"O-oh..." "Hard to react to that" "You okay? Wanna go buy apples together?"

"Heh. You guys really are fun. I mean, some people probably got turned off by all this, but for those who didn't — keep an eye on Toru, okay? I think he's better off with you guys saying whatever you want. He's stubborn in all the worst ways, but then other times he just goes with the flow."

"Uh... could you maybe stop being maternal toward your neighbor?"

Toru finally cut in, but Shenna glanced at him for just a moment, then completely ignored him. It was a beautifully clean dismissal.

"So anyway, from the neighbor who pushed this stream — sorry, and sorry for the cheeky request. Also, Mika is not for sale."

With that, Shenna gave a thin smile, put the stream camera back in position and angle, and returned to Mika, who was in the kitchen eating Joichiro's snacks.

"Tch" "Can't be helped. I guess I'll direct my displaced paternal feelings toward Toru-bro" "So, what're you gonna do, bro?"

"Ah... right. Well, I thought about it, and I have one condition for Kawai-san."

"One? I'll accept as many as you have."

"No, one's enough. For now, help me with my paperwork for one month. Kujo-san's agents will audit and supervise Kawai-san's work, right? ...Kawai-san, decide your own salary. If everything including that is acceptable, I'll ask you to continue. Is that okay?"

"...Yes. I'll do my utmost."

Looking at Kawai Sakiho bowing her head, Toru gave a wry smile — he wasn't important enough for people to bow to.

"Well, I guess that's how it ends up" "At the end of the day, we're just viewers" "Can't be helped, Toru-bro" "I guess that is pretty bro-like" "There were some people who were genuinely pissed though lol"

"Ah... uh, viewers — I feel like I showed you something weird. I streamed with a 'whatever, it's fine' attitude, but thanks to some of you guys bitching at me, I got my thoughts together. Thanks. And if I didn't meet your expectations, sorry about that. I mean, I do feel bad about it, but I'm not gonna change anything. Alright, next time I'll stream again when I do a labyrinth exploration."

"Later bro!" "Later~" "You'll show us something weird again, won't you lol" "Forgot. Tia-tan is cute" "Announce it on social media, asshole"

Stream ended.

Kujo Reiko had said she didn't want to see Toru dancing to someone else's tune, but this time, Toru felt like he'd been dancing clumsily to Shenna's tune.

If asked whether he disliked it, he could only answer that it wasn't that bad — but in the end, he figured he probably wouldn't have that many moments where he danced by his own will alone anyway.

Incidentally, and perhaps predictably, the channel subscriber count for 'Cleaning Records,' which he'd expected to drop, had actually increased by over twenty thousand since noon.

Why, after a stream that made no sense at all? Toru wondered, but of course, he had no way of knowing why.

◇◇◇

"Man, that was intense. I couldn't even get a word in edgewise from the middle."

Tia spoke as if she'd just watched an exciting match, carrying a plate of curry. Apparently she'd reheated Kawai's half-eaten meal.

"You were in the middle of eating. If you can manage, go ahead and eat."

"Ah — yes. Sorry, I'll have some."

Kawai nodded and took the spoon, but her hands were trembling slightly, and she couldn't properly scoop up the curry rice.

"...I guess it's hitting me now... the nerves... sorry..."

"Well, that can't be helped, can it? The concurrent viewership was like sixty-eight thousand, and about a third of the commenters were cursing out Kawai-chan. Considering what happened with 'Worksite-bro,' there are probably gonna be a ton of clip videos circulating."

Speaking as if it were someone else's problem, Shenna came back to the table with Mika. She was holding a box of sweets, apparently still eating Joichiro's gift.

"'False-accuser bitch,' huh. That's gonna be rough."

The butler Joichiro also remarked with the detachment of an outsider, placing on the table some tea that he'd apparently brewed in the kitchen at some point. Naturally, it was in expensive-looking cups and saucers that had no place in Toru's home. Kujo Reiko casually picked up a cup by its handle and took a sip.

"Yes. But since he's letting me help... I'll do my best."

"You might get rocks thrown at you on the street."

"Isn't that your fault, Shenna?"

The cat beast-person mother smirked wickedly, and the holy sword user shot back in exasperation.

"If we're tracing this back, it's because she looked down on Toru and falsely accused him in the first place. If someone throws a rock, the thrower is wrong. Doesn't matter if you're pissed, you don't get to throw rocks."

"Ah... by the way, what's that 'request' you mentioned?"

Since the conversation seemed like it would drift into unimportant territory if left alone, Toru tossed a question at the butler Joichiro — not at the ojou-sama who was elegantly sipping her tea. Predictably, the ojou-sama made a face like "Why aren't you asking me!?" but he ignored it.

"Ah, actually, I need to report to the family head about that Lugardo situation and some other things, so I was hoping you could look after Ojou for about forty hours. I figured if I let Ojou stick around, she could earn some favors, so I sent her in. Either way, I did want to ask you a favor. While I'm at it, I'll bring the person who'll monitor Kawai-san when I come back."

Joichiro said it in the same tone as someone who'd left their phone at school and needed to go back for it.

"...It's not like I won't help a friend if they ask. Even without all this, I'm grateful to you guys."

"If you're saying that, same here. You becoming Ojou's friend — I thought my tears of emotion might overflow."

It was a harsh evaluation of his own master, but Kujo Reiko herself was blushing bashfully and grinning, so apparently this wasn't something to get angry about.

"Well, whatever. But why'd you think of leaving her with me? You could both go back together, right? To the Kujo family head... that's your dad, right?"

"Well, as far as I know — bro's vicinity is the safest place in this world. I'll leave her with you for now."

The butler grinned. Toru wondered whether he should grin back.

In the end, Toru just shrugged vaguely and let out a casual sigh.

"Hey, hey. Can I call you Sakih? You can eat while you talk, but first, can I ask what you're planning to do?"

Taking a coffee drink from the fridge and pouring it into glasses, Tia sat next to Toru and said that. Surprisingly, two glasses had been prepared. It wasn't that only one had contents.

"Call me whatever you like. First, I think we need to go to the Labyrinth Department to register a clan. Toru-san's explorer income is probably being paid into his personal account right now, but it would be easier to manage if we consolidate his explorer income into a clan account."

"Ah... now that you mention it, I need a car too. I've got money, so I guess I'll head into town tomorrow. The Labyrinth Department — that's city hall's Labyrinth Department, right?"

"A clan — is that like a party? In that case, what's my status? Would I be a clan member?"

"Ah, um, yes, city hall. As for Tia-san's status... since you're a spirit attached to the holy sword, there's a high possibility that you'd be treated as Toru-san's property. If you filed an objection, the Labyrinth Agency would deliberate on it..."

"Is that so? Well, I don't really care either way."

"Kawai-chan, you didn't come by car, did you? If you'd take a taxi anyway, why not stay at our place? As an apology for putting you on blast during the stream."

Shenna's offer was lighthearted, and Kawai, having somehow managed to scoop up some curry with her trembling hand, chewed thoroughly before nodding.

"I don't need an apology... but if you'd let me stay, I'd appreciate it."

"Ojou, ojou, you've got spare clothes in your magic bag, right? You can change by yourself? Brush your teeth properly, borrow the bath if you need to, and don't be too loud. I'm worried. This is your first time staying over at a friend's house."

"As for me too — staying over at a friend's house... I'm nervous."

Toru thought, wait, you're planning to stay at MY house? — but then reconsidered. There was no other option. The butler had made the deliberate decision to leave Kujo Reiko with Toru, probably out of caution regarding that Demon called Gilgeil.

Anthem's manager had nearly been killed by Gilgeil, apparently.

According to Tia, there was no telling what that Demon Gilgeil would do.

Sighing wearily, Toru picked up his mobile and noticed he'd received a message at some point.

The sender was unknown, but the message was brief:

'Soma Kengo. Got your contact from Sadoyama. Contact me when you see this.'