Ueno Yuuka

Tokyo, in a student apartment.

"Ahem, testing! Hmm, looks like the camera's fine." A lively voice echoed through the kitchen.

The next moment, a girl in an apron appeared before the island counter where her phone had been placed.

Her softly curled brown hair made her look gentle, framing her round forehead. Her bright eyes seemed able to speak, as though they always carried a smile.

She reached out and slightly adjusted the phone's angle before speaking to it again.

"This is Yuuka's personal channel. It's nice to meet everyone. Next, I'll teach you how to make the yuzu pepper you need when eating udon and yakitori." As she spoke, Yuuka held up the small green yuzu and green chilies in her hands before the phone.

"Yuzu pepper doesn't actually contain pepper. The 'pepper' here is a Kyushu dialect term and really refers to ordinary chilies."

"First, we need to carefully remove the white parts of the yuzu peel. Be sure to pay attention..." As she explained, Yuuka meticulously separated the yuzu peel.

"Mm, this is a little difficult..."

Yuuka had not expected something that looked so simple on Google to be so hard in practice.

Who knew how much time passed? After she finished cutting it bit by bit, she subconsciously glanced at the knife in her hand and suddenly noticed that its blade had turned somewhat black.

"Why did it turn black? It shouldn't have... Could the yuzu I just bought be poisonous?!" With her overactive imagination, Yuuka immediately began letting her thoughts run wild.

It was not her fault. It was only because a movie she had watched yesterday had featured a similar scene. Images of movie characters seeing their cutlery turn black before instantly collapsing flashed through her mind, leaving Yuuka completely at a loss.

"But I've been touching the yuzu for so long already. Don't tell me I'm poisoned? It's over—I've only just begun enjoying university life!"

In her panic, Yuuka did not even care that she was still recording. She quickly picked up her phone and shut down the video recording app.

"I shouldn't have copied other people and tried to become a blogger. Why didn't Google teach people how to tell which yuzu are poisonous?"

As she exited the app, memories flickered through Yuuka's mind like a revolving lantern.

Ueno Yuuka, a first-year student in the literature department at Ochanomizu University, had only wanted to earn a little spending money by posting cooking videos on YouTube. Instead, she had bought poisonous yuzu.

"Is this fate? Is this really where it ends for me?" After muttering dramatically to herself, Yuuka finally came back to her senses.

Her gaze happened to land on the still-open Google page for making yuzu pepper, where a line of small text caught her attention.

(Warm reminder: Please use a stainless-steel knife when handling yuzu peel. Iron knives will discolor due to oxidation.)

"Huh?" Yuuka stood there blankly. So it was just the knife oxidizing?

"Ahahaha, I knew the supermarket wouldn't sell me anything poisonous..."

With an awkward laugh, Yuuka felt fortunate that she rented a single apartment. If she had had a roommate, she would have been utterly humiliated today.

Yuuka had often caused similar misunderstandings when she was little. She had not expected that even now, as a university student, a movie could still make her lose her calm judgment.

"Mm, why am I always this stupid?" With a sigh, Yuuka prepared to resume recording.

"The earlier part should still be usable, right?"

Clinging to that hope, Yuuka opened the video playback. Her phone began showing the moment when she had panicked helplessly—except it did not show her carefully handling the yuzu peel at all.

"Could it be?" Yuuka's eyes widened.

Only then did she realize that when she had tested the camera earlier, she had never pressed record. The moment she thought she had ended the recording was actually when she had pressed record and started it.

"It's over! There's no way to start the video like this!"

"The yuzu's all been wasted, and going out to buy more would take time. I still have to study tonight too... Damn it!" Pouting as she rubbed her cheeks, Yuuka felt completely drained.

What should she do now? Yuuka was troubled. Would it be bad to give up on the very first day she planned to post a video?

"Yuuka, don't you like playing games? Why choose to be a blogger instead of becoming a gaming companion?" Her best friend's words suddenly echoed in her mind.

Gaming companion services were a fairly popular part-time job in Japan, with all sorts of categories. Besides games, they even covered services like emotional counseling.

Overall, it was easier to get started with than being a blogger. And Yuuka herself loved playing games, so it was practically in her field.

The reason Yuuka had not chosen it was because she was not very good at communicating with strangers. She was afraid people might dislike her because of it.

"Maybe... I could give it a try? I can use it to film an episode too." Yuuka pondered for a while, her heart beginning to stir.

Since she was filming a video anyway, why not record herself trying out gaming companion work instead? It seemed like no hugely popular blogger had done that yet.

Though she was afraid something unexpected might happen, it was still a good idea. Maybe she might even gain something unexpected.

The more she thought about it, the more feasible it seemed. A smile appeared on Yuuka's face again. She would do that! If the view count was not ideal, she could go back to making cooking tutorials.

"What was that website called again?" Yuuka murmured as she headed toward the living room.

"This one definitely doesn't look promising. Based on my experience, it feels like she's using deceptive photos." Zhao Yu browsed the webpage while chatting with the Bullet Screen.

After entering the League of Legends category, the first thing he saw was a girl whose bangs covered her forehead, with hair on both sides hiding her cheeks, and makeup that looked extremely heavy.

[You know again?]

[She looks really cute, though? Is the streamer planning to secretly keep her to himself later?]

"What do you guys know?" Zhao Yu began explaining helplessly.

"Look, her bangs cover practically her entire face. She's probably trying to hide her face shape. I guarantee her actual face is a size bigger than it looks in the photo."

"It's like how some people always wear tight pants because they think it'll show off their special talents..."

[??? What special talents?]

[You're making dirty jokes the second you open your mouth?]

[Streamer, stop talking. I have a buddy who isn't very happy.]

"Hahaha, anyway, just listen to me, brothers." Zhao Yu smiled at the Bullet Screen and kept scrolling with his mouse.

After searching for a while, he found that almost everyone in the League category used anime avatars, with only a small number using photos.

"Damn, I didn't expect Japan to have such a high concentration of anime fans. I thought they got attacked by everyone..." Zhao Yu could not help muttering to himself.

Seeing that there was really no suitable choice, he could only return to the homepage and refresh. At that moment, a profile with neither a photo nor much of a personal introduction caught his eye.

"Yuuka? Interesting. This one it is!"

As he spoke, Zhao Yu clicked into that person's profile.

[Huh? You spent all that time choosing, and you picked one without even a photo?]

"What the hell do you guys know? People usually go out of their way to show off whatever they lack, so lots of pretty girls use particularly abstract profile pictures." Zhao Yu laughed.

"They're already good-looking, so they don't need to deliberately flaunt anything. I guarantee this girl is prettier than all the ones before!"

[No wonder my roommate always likes usernames like 18 centimeters. I understand now!]

[I see. So could those female bodhisattvas showing off their figures in photos be fake too?]

"No, female bodhisattvas are different. They truly enjoy saving all living beings," Zhao Yu said.

[So you get to say both the good and bad sides, huh?]

[You've got an excuse for everything. As expected of a sarcasm master—your tongue is really sharp.]

Ignoring the Bullet Screen's teasing, Zhao Yu smoothly entered the voice channel after seeing that the other party had accepted the order.

"Moshi moshi? Can you hear me?" A crisp yet gentle voice rang out in the stream.

[Hiss! This guy really struck gold!]

[Holy crap! It really feels like an anime!]

[I can't understand what she's saying, but her voice really is nice.]

[It's a real Japanese girl!]

The moment the Bullet Screen heard that voice, it began flooding past wildly.