Halfway through the third match, the fight was still deadlocked.
Kiana put down her phone.
She shifted her posture, unconsciously pressing her legs together and rubbing them slightly, restlessly.
That bowl of hot soup at dinner, plus the earlier giant cup of "happiness soda," had finished its journey through her body and was now converting into one overwhelming pressure.
She glanced at the system panel in the corner of her vision.
That "30-Minute Free Time Card" had long since been burned up in the clothing store incident, and there were still many hours until it refreshed tomorrow.
Endure.
As a Valkyrie, endurance was a core skill.
But biology didn't negotiate.
The heavy swelling sensation in her lower abdomen grew stronger and stronger, like an overinflated balloon crammed inside her.
Kiana bit her lower lip and looked toward the figure with his back to her.
Su Yu wore full-cover headphones and was completely immersed in the late-game cleanup, sealed off from the outside world.
"Su Yu…"
She called him tentatively.
Her voice was so small she could barely hear it herself.
No response.
"Hey…"
Still nothing.
On the screen, Su Yu had his sniper rifle trained on a corner, holding his breath, waiting.
That imminent, about-to-burst urgency finally pushed Kiana past her limit.
Shame lost to physiology.
She got up from the floor bedding and almost shuffled her way behind Su Yu.
Then she reached out and lightly poked his shoulder.
Su Yu was so focused on the crosshair that when he felt the touch, he reflexively turned his head and lifted one earcup off.
Kiana leaned in.
Because of that despair-inducing distance restriction, she had to get close.
So close Su Yu could feel her slightly quickened breathing—so close that… her lips were practically right next to the pickup head of the microphone.
"Su Yu…"
Her voice trembled with embarrassment, kept low—but under the capture of a high-performance condenser mic, it came through with crystal clarity, like a whisper in everyone's ear.
"I want to use the bathroom…"
Those five words.
Those five words carrying warm breath—and that faint, sweet nasal tone born from sheer endurance—
Went through electricity, down the cable, and in less than a second, detonated inside the headphones of hundreds of thousands of viewers.
The world went silent for a beat.
Then the chat went insane.
[????????????]
[HOLY—A GIRL'S VOICE?!]
[I'M HALLUCINATING. I'M 100% HALLUCINATING!]
["I want to use the bathroom"… this is too—]
[That voice is way too good—WAIT, WHY IS THERE A WOMAN IN SU BRO'S HOUSE?!]
[And it sounded like it was RIGHT IN HIS EAR—she said it into the mic, didn't she?!]
[Middle of the night, lone man and woman, and she has to report in to go to the bathroom?]
[SU BRO! YOU BETRAYED US! WE AGREED TO STAY SINGLE TOGETHER!]
[HIDING A GIRL AT HOME—CONFIRMED!]
[That tone… so soft… SU BRO YOU ANIMAL!]
Su Yu stared at the explosion of comments flooding the screen and went stiff in his chair.
His crosshair drifted.
His in-game character was instantly headshotted.
Game Over.
His mouse hand froze midair, like a freshly unearthed terracotta warrior that hadn't even had time to weather.
In that moment, it felt like he could hear the bell tolling for his social death, loud and clear, echoing in his ears.
He turned his head—slowly, like a rusted machine.
On the bedding behind him, Kiana was fully cooked—her face so red it looked like it could drip blood.
She hugged her knees into a ball, heterochromatic eyes screaming I didn't mean to and please let there be a crack in the floor I can crawl into.
He turned back.
The chat waterfall was moving too fast to read.
All he could make out was a blizzard of white text, with the occasional glaring red superchat, all "???" and "!!!".
Finally, his gaze had no choice but to fall on the pink call-in window.
There, Pink Fairy Miss was propping her cheek on one hand, smiling brightly—
Like a man-eating flower blooming in a field of spider lilies.
Her beautiful eyes shone dangerously: the look of a top predator catching the scent of blood.
"Su Yu-chaaan~"
That call was sweet beyond safe limits, like three thick layers of lethal frosting—precisely stabbing into Su Yu's trembling eardrums.
"Who was that voice just now? Is there a cute girl right next to Su Yu-chan♪"
[Elysia's started!!]
[THE SSS-RANK GOSSIP RADAR IS ONLINE!!]
[Su Bro, you're done. Truly. Jesus himself can't save you, I'm telling you!]
[Confess and you get leniency! Resist and it gets worse!]
"That was… anime."
He took a deep breath and spoke in the flattest tone imaginable—one he didn't believe himself—trying to fight a losing battle.
"I alt-tabbed to watch an episode and forgot to mute it. Uh—anyway, I'm going to the bathroom. Can you pause for me?"
[Heh.]
[Yeah, sure, like we believe that.]
[What anime heroine whispers 'I want to use the bathroom' with breathy ASMR?!]
[Su Bro, could your excuse be any worse? Are we idiots—or is Elysia the idiot?]
[ELYSIA! GO! INTERROGATE HIM!]
Su Yu didn't dare look at the soul-piercing comments.
He didn't even dare look at Elysia's meaningful expression.
He slammed the mute button, yanked off his headset, and sprang up from the chair like a refugee fleeing disaster.
Silence at last.
…Not complete silence.
He couldn't hear, but he could see Elysia on-screen raising one finger, lips moving—apparently launching into an inflammatory deduction speech.
In the stream, Elysia had already begun her "analysis."
"Let's do a simple process of elimination~ First of all, with Su Yu-chan's sloth-like personality—'if he can lie down, he'll never sit'—there's no way he'd actively invite a girl into this… bachelor-scented room, right~?"
[True.]
[Too real.]
"So he absolutely wouldn't invite a girl over by himself~"
[Makes sense!]
"Then there's only one possibility—that girl came looking for him!"
[Sherlock Holmes possessed her!!]
"And judging by that voice—soft and sweet—there's no way it was his mom or some older relative~ So, could Su Yu-chan be playing that legendary game of… hiding a beauty in a golden house~?"
[SU BRO YOU SCUMBAG!]
[WE'VE BEEN LIED TO!]
[THE SINGLE-DOG ALLIANCE LEADER HAS A GIRLFRIEND?!]
[WHERE'S THE FFF SQUAD? BURN THIS NORMIE!]
Su Yu couldn't bear to look.
He turned his back to the screen and faced the true culprit.
Kiana had her face buried in her knees, the tips of her ears red and almost translucent.
Hearing his footsteps, she finally lifted her head a little, voice muffled like it was coming from inside a jar.
....
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