[Looking back, I’ve always been searching endlessly.]
[For the definition of happiness, or a place to discard sorrow.]
[From the moment I was born, until the end of my life.]

With wireless earbuds in, Sora pressed her ears tightly.

If she had been at home, she would have covered her ears with her large headset, but it wasn’t practical to bring that bulky item here. Instead, she settled into the quiet of this isolated world she had created for herself.

The music soothed her, slowly enveloping her body as if sinking deeper, until it felt like the world around her vanished, leaving only the song.

"Haa... I feel better."

Sora exhaled deeply.

Music really was everything to her. It was like her personal drug and comfort.

'Is my mental state weaker than I thought...?'

Up until now, Sora had never considered herself mentally fragile. However, with her emotions fluctuating like a rollercoaster these days, she was starting to wonder if it was time to reassess her resilience.

At least, she was thankful for how quickly she could recover. No matter how down she felt, a few songs could lift her spirits and help her bounce back.

Of course, with her peers waiting, she could only indulge in one song before snapping out of it.

Sora quickly washed her hands and stepped out of the bathroom.

"You’re here?"

And there, waiting idly in front of the bathroom, was Aurora.

Sora glanced around but didn’t see anyone else.

"Are you alone? Where’s everyone else?"

"Yes. Inagika said she needed to call her family. Chell mentioned she would wait outside."

It seemed that Rion had some paperwork to organize as well—signing the monetization contracts and recording everything they had discussed today.

Thus, Sora found herself alone with Aurora.

'Guess I’m getting used to it...'

She had spent most of the meeting earlier unconsciously glancing at Aurora’s face, but after looking long enough, she started to get accustomed to it.

Even so, she knew if she let her guard down, her eyes would wander back to Aurora, so she purposefully turned away.

"Hey, where’s your parasol?"

That’s when Sora noticed Aurora’s hands were empty.

"Didn’t you have a parasol? And weren’t you holding a handbag?"

"Your memory is sharp. Yes, you’re right. I did have a parasol and a handbag with me today."

"That’s not what I meant. Where did you leave them?"

"It seems I left them in the meeting room."

And so, they both returned to the meeting room.

Sure enough, the handbag sat on the chair where Aurora had been sitting.

"You left them here, as expected."

Aurora nodded and walked out of the room without bothering to pick up her handbag or parasol.

She simply closed the door behind her and continued walking.

"...? Why are you leaving empty-handed?"

"Oh my, I didn’t even realize."

Aurora lightly touched her cheek, as if she had made a simple mistake.

"You see, noblewomen typically walk around with both hands free. All the small things are left to their servants. It’s common practice for noblewomen to move about unburdened, don’t you agree?"

"...What are you even saying?"

"It’s just that I’m not yet accustomed to carrying things like parasols myself."

"..."

What kind of nonsense is this...?

Was she joking? …But Aurora didn’t seem like the type to joke around.

'Maybe she really did grow up in an insanely wealthy family...?'

That aura of hers certainly made it plausible.

If Aurora really was from a noble lineage, it would make sense. But then again, why would someone from such a background become a VTuber? Aurora was truly an enigma.

Sighing, Sora shrugged and went back into the meeting room.

She picked up the parasol and handbag and handed them to Aurora.

"Oh, thank you."

Aurora smiled at her.

...Of course, she looked annoyingly beautiful.

It seemed like most restaurants were closed, likely because it was Sunday and the area catered to office workers.

There were several ideas tossed around among the 6th gen members about where to have lunch, when suddenly, Inagika, who had been quiet for most of the day, spoke up.

"What about hamburgers...?"

"Do you like burgers?"

"Yeah, I eat them pretty often... Also, there’s a collaboration going on right now..."

"A collaboration?"

"Yeah..."

According to Inagika, Blue Record was currently doing a collab with a burger chain. Ordering the special set menu would get you a coupon to use in the game and a collectible photocard.

"Let’s go with hamburgers."

Even Chell, who had been silent, chimed in.

Given that Chell’s main content was Blue Record streams, she seemed particularly interested in the photocard.

With no other compelling alternatives, and my own curiosity piqued about the collaboration, we decided on burgers.

The five of us ordered collaboration set menus, and Rion packed hers to go.

"Well, enjoy your meal, everyone... I have to head back to the office."

"Is something wrong?"

"No, nothing's wrong. I just need to get some work done since I came in over the weekend."

Rion sighed as she explained.

Most VTubers stream on both weekdays and weekends, with many choosing to stream during the daytime on weekends. As a result, the staff often work weekends as well.

"It looks like it’ll take me a while to finish up. You still don’t know how to drive, right?"

"Have you ever seen a noblewoman driving a car herself?"

"Ugh, drop the act already... Fine, I’ll take the car when I leave, so find your own way home."

With that, Rion left the burger place, taking her meal to go. She really just paid for the food and then disappeared.

'Was this her way of encouraging us to bond as the 6th gen?'

After all, we would be collaborating soon. Rion probably wanted us to seem close to each other for the viewers.

Hmm...

Would that even be possible?

"Oh, that’s the coupon for Blue Record... And this is the photocard..."

As I examined the items that came with the set, Inagika spoke up.

"The coupon is for the game, right? What’s the point of the photocard?"

"It doesn’t really have a use... it’s just a collectible."

"I see. The character on yours is different from the one on your card."

"There are four characters total, and you get one at random with each set."

Inagika explained, her voice faltering slightly as she continued.

She had a bit of a slouched posture, always slightly hunched over. There was also a noticeable tension in her neck.

She had a decent face, but she carried herself with so much hesitation that it diminished her overall presence.

'She’s actually more talkative than I expected.'

It seemed like she was a bit excited.

When we first met, Inagika had barely spoken, but now that she seemed to have warmed up to the atmosphere, her words flowed more easily.

However, upon closer observation, I realized she only really spoke to me.

She still seemed uncomfortable around Sora, and Chell wasn’t the most responsive.

"..."

Chell remained silent.

She wasn’t as beautiful as me, but she could still be considered a beauty. Some might even say she was the second prettiest among us, depending on their taste.

Her cold, icy demeanor gave her a unique charm.

But she was utterly emotionless.

It wasn’t just her expression—there was a complete lack of reaction to what was going on around her. She simply focused on what was in front of her, indifferent to anything else.

Even as Inagika and I chatted, Chell remained disengaged, quietly munching on her fries.

'She does show up to these meetings, though.'

At the very least, she made the effort to join in. She had some level of social awareness, but with how detached she was, it would be hard to get closer to her.

And finally, there was Sora.

Sora had been staring at my face ever since we left the meeting room.

Tap, Tap, Tap.

She hadn’t even touched her burger or fries, just sipping on her soda through a straw while absentmindedly tapping her finger on the table. Her gaze was fixed on me, lost in thought.

She had been staring since the meeting, and it didn’t seem like she had anything specific to say to me.

Given how quiet she had been—so unlike her usual self—I guessed she was deep in thought about something.

'Is it jealousy? No... I don’t think so. It doesn’t feel like jealousy.'

There was no hostility in her gaze. Rather, it felt like she was curious about me in some way.

Sora’s feelings were hard to pin down.

The one thing that was clear was that she wasn’t paying any attention to Inagika or Chell. She had seemed eager to take the lead among us, but not like this...

'Can we even pull off a good collaboration?'

It didn’t feel like we were getting any closer just by eating together. It almost felt like we were a group of people who weren’t meant to click.

After thinking for a while, I decided to break the silence.

"So, what kind of game are we planning for the 6th gen collab stream?"