I wasn't exactly sure how to feel about it.
Someone posted a clip of me breaking down on the stream the night before, the whole 'idiopath' thing, and the odd reaction of karuhi07.
Obviously, I was mortified at having my crying clip circulate on the Internet, but…
"One hundred views…"
Senne whistled, standing next to me holding her marmalade toast.
"Yeah… one hundred views…"
"Way to go, Bree. You should cry some more."
I gave Senne an evil eye, but that didn't seem to phase the devil.
"But we've got to talk about karuhi," I reminded her.
The night before, and earlier this morning too, she avoided answering me when I questioned her about how it was be possible for anybody to see her through the stream. 'I need to think about it a little.' That was all she said.
"What are you afraid of?" Senne asked.
"They could SEE you! And HEAR you!"
"Yeah, that was interesting."
She shrugged.
"God, and you thought it was interesting that I almost died too."
"It was."
"Give me that."
I snatched the toast off her hand.
"Hey! Give it back!"
"No toast for you untill you take it seriously."
"Give it back!"
"If you want it, answer me. Or use your devil power. IF you can."
Senne's black flame flared, which made my heart thump for a beat, but it quickly died down and she sat on the floor.
"You are so mean…"
I stood, looking down at her for a moment, then gave the toast back to her.
"You really can't do anything, can you?"
"We need more than a hundred viewers."
"How many?"
"I don't know."
"A thousand? Ten thousand? A million? Come on, you must at least have some idea."
"I really don't know, but I WILL know when we hit that number, or at least get close to it."
"How?"
"I'll feel it. It's not something I can miss."
"Tell me… have you ever even had that power before?"
Senne said nothing. She looked away and tried to whistle, but her mouth was too full of toast.
I sighed and fell back onto my seat.
"I'm concerned, Senne."
"I'll figure something out."
I cussed at my luck for being paired with the most useless devil ever.
"But, Bree, isn't it a good thing?"
"What is?"
"I mean, you are finally getting the views now. I don't know. Maybe it was you crying on the stream. Or maybe it was karuhi's reaction. But people saw something in it."
"Nobody saw a thing. Except that… person. The only thing everyone else saw was me being pathetic. And now I'm probably stuck with that stupid name."
"Idiopath?"
"Don't you say that now."
I growled.
Senn's flame flickered, and she got up from the floor.
"I think I should show myself to that guy again."
"Don't just gender them like that. Unless you KNOW. Somehow."
"Humans these days…"
I closed my eyes and gave it a thought.
Would it do anything at all if karuhi07 saw Senne again? How would they react? What's the point of it if no one else can see Senne? Heck, even if others could see her, I'm a frigging VTuber. People probably think it's some graphics gimmick.
I looked at the screen again, and refreshed.
"103 now," I said.
"Do it again."
Senne took a step closer.
"104."
"Again."
"Still 104."
"Again."
"Wow, 105," I could feel a pulse in my thumb.
"It's working, Bree!"
Senne stretched her arm toward me and held her palm in front of my face.
"What?"
"High five."
"People don't high five with their face."
"Oh."
I raised my hand, my palm open, and Senne slapped it lightly, almost too soft for me to even feel it.
"Yay~"
Somehow her little, timid, wobbly yay made me laugh.
"I'm glad to see you happy."
Happy…
Not a word I had thought of any time recently.
"Try again."
Senne urged, her voice sprinkled with excitement.
I refreshed again.
"108."
"Nice. Very nice."
It was then that I received the notification. A DM. From karuhi07.
It was simply titled 'hi.'
Purely out of reflex, I closed the notification immediately.
"What is it?" Senne asked.
"It's nothing."
"You just got something. Something just went ding."
"It's nothing. You misheard."
Senne tilted her head to one side.
I hesitated a little, then bit my bottom lip and opened the message.
What do I have to lose?
'I want to see that lady again.'
The message read. Simple. Just a single line.
It made my heart sink, but after Senne leaned in to read the message herself, her flame danced a little.
"I see, I see."
"What do you even see?" I asked.
"I see that they see me."
Tonight's stream was going to be weird as hell.
If I let this devil have her way.