Late at night, inside a twenty-four-hour convenience store.
"That'll be 128."
Without looking up, the clerk spoke to a girl in a thin black long-sleeved shirt standing at the register.
"Beep!"
The girl scanned the code with her phone to pay, then left the store carrying a large plastic bag filled with assorted snacks.
She paused outside the entrance, glanced left and right, then casually headed off in one direction.
"Haaah—"
The girl yawned as she walked. Her long black-purple hair was a tangled mess, and its split ends suggested she had not tended to it in quite some time.
Her habit of staying up all night had left dark bags under her eyes, and fatigue showed plainly in her pale purple gaze.
She walked alone into a deep alley, took several turns, and finally entered an old apartment building.
On the fifth floor, she stopped outside her apartment, fumbled in her pocket, then pulled out a key and turned the handle to open the door.
The rusty door gave a rather shrill creak as she felt around in the dark for the light switch.
With a click, a dim yellow light filled the room.
She stepped inside. A faint, damp, musty smell hung in the air, but she was already used to it.
After casually setting the bag of snacks on the coffee table, she took out a bag of chips and a can of cola, made her usual way to the computer desk, and moved the mouse.
The sleeping monitor quickly lit up, casting a blue glow over her thoroughly lifeless-looking face.
She popped the cola tab with one hand, drinking as she used the mouse to open her streaming software and today's game.
Just as she was about to press the button to start streaming, a sudden