[The streamer really formed a team with the juniors? And they’re the most popular ones?]
[And they’re even living together??]
“Cut the crap. Didn’t I say it in yesterday’s post? But first, let me clarify one thing. It’s not living together. They’re renting rooms at my place. Right now, I guess I’m sort of their guardian.”
Bai Qiu sat cross-legged on her chair, grinding a gacha game while chatting with her viewers.
The most asked question today was naturally about yesterday’s post.
[Who’s the team leader?]
“Junior Instructor Bai Qiuchen.”
[Is there even such a person?]
[Wow… The names are so similar. Isn’t the streamer related to him?]
Bai Qiu pretended not to see these questions.
After all, it was too early to expose anything now.
For the time being, she’d let them imagine whatever they wanted about her relationship with Bai Qiuchen.
[What’s the official account called? I want to follow it.]
“…Oh, that’s actually a good point.”
The comment reminded her that they still hadn’t created an official account.
“Whatever, whatever. We’ll deal with that after we figure out the team name. No rush.”
[So did the streamer really latch onto the juniors?]
[The Guild President must have been blind, handing those cute little juniors over to the streamer. My precious mommies won’t fall victim to the streamer, will they?]
[Don’t let that happen!]
[Streamer, please, they’re still just kids! If you’re really that desperate, come to me!]
“Stop spouting nonsense. Do you think I’m a lolicon like you guys?”
Bai Qiu snarked.
“I’ve always admired the Guild President, okay? He must trust me to have entrusted them to me.”
[Same as always.]
[You can fool your bros, sure.]
[The only magical girl who dares to insult the Guild President on stream, and you’re telling me this?]
[So did you really form a team?]
“Ugh, enough with all this pointless chatter. Come on, come on. I’ll take you lot of lolicons to see some real little girls!”
Unable to take the questioning anymore, Bai Qiu turned on her phone’s stream, grabbed her phone, external camera, and lavalier mic, and headed out of her room to hunt for prey.
Rather than waste effort explaining, it was better to let them see with their own eyes.
She could also use this to snag a wave of traffic and her fans’ money.
Bai Qiu had a hunch that after today’s stream, clips would be everywhere.
By then, her follower count would probably break 3.5 million.
Rising into the top ten magical girl fan rankings by her own effort alone wasn’t out of the question.
[Finally, something the bros want to see.]
[The streamer has gained enlightenment.]
[Spoiler: Watch little girls (×) Exploit others to make money (✓)]
Descending to the first floor, she spotted Jiu meditating in the living room.
“Hehehe, target spotted~”
“He Xi, come play a game!”
Bai Qiu called out to Jiu.
Hearing Bai Qiu’s voice, Jiu’s eyes snapped open and darted around.
Seeing Bai Qiu holding a phone, she watched as Bai Qiu pointed at her, then at the camera and lavalier mic, and finally mouthed the words:
“Transform.”
“Huh, huh?!”
Not understanding the situation, Jiu could only follow her senior’s cue and hurriedly summoned her Heart Stone to transform.
After a flash of pink-white light, the magical girl He Xi appeared in the living room.
Bai Qiu bounced over to her, and the two appeared together in the stream.
[Oh ho ho ho ho! It really is He Xi!]
[Little He Xi!!!]
[He Xi! He Xi! He Xi!]
Viewers with He Xi fan badges flooded the chat.
Not only that, gifts started pouring in too.
“Uh… h-hello, everyone… haha…”
Still a bit disoriented, He Xi could only force a smile and greet the tens of thousands of viewers in the stream.
“He Xi~ Come play a game with me.”
Bai Qiu affectionately hugged He Xi.
“Huh?! P-play a game with you, Senior?”
He Xi’s little face flushed red.
She hurriedly pushed Bai Qiu away, awkwardly waving her hands in refusal.
“N-no, no. I barely ever play games.”
“Don’t say that. I’m pretty bad too.”
[That’s actually true.]
[A rare honest statement from Bai Qiu.]
“No way, no way.”
“Come on.”
Bai Qiu grabbed He Xi’s hand.
He Xi’s face turned red again in an instant.
She shook her head and waved her hands even faster.
“I-I really can’t…!”
“Don’t be like that~”
Bai Qiu swung He Xi’s hand like a child throwing a tantrum.
“Senior, please go find Nox!”
“The winner gets to command the loser however they want!”
Bai Qiu suddenly shouted.
[You scared me.]
[Here comes someone who deliberately startles the audience.]
He Xi’s swinging hands slowly stilled.
Her pink-white eyes sparkled.
“…What did you say?”
Seeing the fish take the bait, Bai Qiu giggled and tempted her with a devilish voice.
“Let’s play a game~ The winner gets to command the loser however they want~”
[What wicked words…!]
[He Xi, don’t agree to this!]
[Isn’t this episode getting a little suggestive?]
But unfortunately, with Bai Qiu’s deliberate maneuvering, He Xi had no chance to see the chat.
“The winner gets to command the loser, right?”
He Xi asked cautiously.
“That’s right, that’s right. No matter how embarrassing the command, you have to obey.”
[This episode really is a bit suggestive, isn’t it?]
[Don’t you dare bully my He Xi!]
[CS.]×2000
[CS Bai Qiu.]×200
“Okay.”
He Xi agreed almost without hesitation.
Such a quick answer stunned Bai Qiu for a moment.
But looking at He Xi’s slightly blank expression and the innocence in her eyes, she tossed her hesitation aside.
She set up the camera and grabbed a controller from the TV stand, handing it to He Xi.
Taking the controller, He Xi sat up straight on the couch.
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
Her slender fingers gripping the controller trembled slightly.
Even facing a powerful monster, she had never seemed this nervous.
Bai Qiu loaded up a famous fighting game from years past and sat next to He Xi.
“Relax, relax. I haven’t played this kind of PvP game in ages. I’m practically a newbie now too.”
Seeing the ancient-looking game graphics, the viewers couldn’t help but complain.
[What era is this game from?]
[Bro, you’re bringing out a game from the 2000s?]
[This game literally held me as a baby.]
“…Why haven’t you played in a long time?”
He Xi opened her eyes and picked a character with a katana.
As expected of a true katana main.
She couldn’t resist one the moment she saw it.
“Because it’s not fun. I don’t like PvP games either.”
Bai Qiu casually picked a character wearing a tiger pelt, with a war god’s military belt, wielding a giant wooden club, carrying a bow on his back, and a dagger at his waist.
Anyone could instantly tell the character was based on the Greek mythological Hercules.
Against a newbie like He Xi, there was no need to pick her main.
By using a character she wasn’t that familiar with, making the match look intense on purpose, and then claiming victory, that would be cooler and feel more authentic.
Bai Qiu would never tell He Xi that the real reason she mostly avoided PvP games now, aside from casual matches with viewers, was that she once got utterly crushed and trash-talked by a smurf while streaming an asymmetric competitive game.
That sent her blood pressure through the roof.
The chat was full of trolls stirring things up.
She lost her temper and cursed, got her channel banned for half a month, and was fined 200,000 by the Association for “Crimes Against the Image of Magical Girls,” along with having to write a handwritten self-criticism letter.
When the letter was posted online, people criticized it for her ugly handwriting and a bunch of typos, calling it insincere.
The Association practically forced her to buy handwriting practice books, practice, and rewrite it.
That made her the first magical girl in history to write the same self-criticism letter twice.
Were there magical girls who wrote self-criticism letters for doing wrong?
Of course there were.
But one who was forced to write a second one because of ugly handwriting and typos—she was truly the first in history.
In a sense, that was also a kind of legend.
As for her later refusing to change and reverting to her old ways without supervision, angering the operations department into deciding they’d stop bothering with her until she did something truly outrageous, that was a story for another time.
From then on, she became an Elder God of the magical girl streaming world.
“How do you do the special moves in this thing again…”
Bai Qiu tried to recall how to play the game.
Then she gave up.
Her brain was a bit rusty.
She couldn’t remember for a moment.
But the special move inputs in old games like this were probably pretty similar to modern ones.
The game began.
He Xi was still figuring out how to walk, let alone attack or use special moves.
She was indeed a complete gaming newbie, still adjusting to this new body of hers.
So Bai Qiu created distance and tried zoning with arrows from range.
She practiced a few times while firing, and the controls really were similar to modern games.
She was getting the hang of it.
Every time He Xi got hit, she did nothing in response, just mashing attack and grab.
But clearly, her character didn’t have that kind of range and couldn’t touch Bai Qiu at all.
Just like that, Bai Qiu won the round purely by spamming projectiles.
The chat was flooded with question marks at that moment.
[What is the meaning of this??]
[Truly a thrilling battle!]
[Namu San, what a splendid fight!]
He Xi said nothing.
Bai Qiu didn’t mind either.
The second round began in silence.
He Xi moved her character slowly toward Bai Qiu’s, crouched, and drew her katana.
It was an attack that should have been easily blocked.
Yet Bai Qiu’s character showed no reaction and took the hit straight on.
“Senior?”
He Xi looked in confusion at the little loli beside her, who was a bit shorter than she was.
Bai Qiu had already started eating grapes from the table.
“Hey, hey, you’re a newbie, so I’ll give you a round to make it fair.”
Bai Qiu tossed a grape into her mouth and waved dismissively.
She didn’t think she’d lose.
For someone like He Xi, who clearly didn’t play games, a game with a certain learning curve would take at least ten days to even pull off a combo.
“I understand. Thank you, Senior.”
After thanking her honestly, He Xi began her assault.
Light attack, heavy attack, iaido draw, grab and throw, launcher combo, ultimate.
It looked pretty decent, but she was only beating up a training dummy.
If it were moving, it’d be a different story.
Bai Qiu still didn’t take it seriously.
“Not bad, He Xi. Learning all that so quickly. But I won’t hold back anymore!”
“Bring it on, Senior. I won’t lose.”
The third round began with a smile exchanged between them.
Bai Qiu opened with a projectile to probe.
He Xi dropped prone immediately, dodging and closing in at the same time.
Bai Qiu stopped firing and tried a low attack.
He Xi seized the exact frame when the character put away the bow, immediately stood up, drew her katana, and launched an uppercut.
“You won’t hit!”
If she could just catch the recovery frames and land a throw, she could dump massive damage into her.
A newbie like He Xi definitely wouldn’t know how to break out.
‘…That was how it was supposed to go.’
An attack that should have missed landed because Bai Qiu’s character was a size larger than normal, extending the hitbox of He Xi’s uppercut.
The launched Hercules was juggled in the air with relentless combos.
Bai Qiu got comboed by He Xi into the corner.
In just a moment of distraction, she was already down to a third of her health.
“Huh? What…?”
Bai Qiu tried to press the assist escape, but it was too late.
He Xi had already pulled off her ultimate.
K!O!
“…I lost? What the hell are these stats?”
Bai Qiu stared blankly at the execution screen.
She didn’t know how to feel.
[As expected of the genius He Xi!]
[Classic old-school games with randomly filled-in stats.]
[Even Heracles was just like that.]
[(JPG of a random TV show screenshot)]
She never expected in her life that she, a veteran player, would get taken out in a single combo by a newbie.
‘Was this a bit…’
[She lost! She lost! Great!]
[Serves you right!]
[That’s what you get, meow.]×2200
The chat erupted in cheers, all waiting to see how He Xi would exercise her victor’s privilege.
“Then… Senior.”
He Xi put down the controller and looked at Bai Qiu slumped on the couch.
Her eyes held none of the arrogance or pride a victor should have.
“…Go ahead.”
Bai Qiu closed her eyes in resignation, awaiting her punishment.
He Xi’s face flushed halfway red.
She leaned close to Bai Qiu, covered her mouth with one hand, and whispered in her ear.
Bai Qiu’s eyes flew open.
She looked both dumbfounded and surprised.
“…You really want to do that? In front of all these people? I don’t mind, but are you really okay with it?”
“Mm…”
He Xi nodded shyly, her neck red too.
Anyone could tell she was beyond embarrassed.
“Alright then.”
Bai Qiu dropped the controller and faced her, opening both arms.
He Xi stared at those silver eyes fixed directly on her.
Her heart beat faster and faster.
Even the Heart Stone embedded in the right eye of her fox mask began to emit a faint glow.
He Xi took a deep breath and bravely stepped forward.
Her slender body embraced the petite loli before her.
She squeezed her eyes shut, afraid to look, afraid this was all a fantasy, and afraid this was all reality.
Bai Qiu hugged her back, gently patting her back and telling her through action that this was indeed happening.
She blew a breath into He Xi’s ear and lightly bit her earlobe.
He Xi’s face turned even redder.
“I’ll be by your side, always.”
Bai Qiu spoke softly, uttering gentle words that could never possibly come from her mouth.
[So sweet, so sweet, it’s killing me~]
[May you live together in harmony for a hundred years.]
[!? Yuri?!]×6154
[Here’s my wedding gift.]
[I will quit my job without a backup plan and spend the rest of my life studying this moment.]
[(This account has been blocked and cannot view the chat)]
[Envious of the streamer.]
[(This account has been blocked and cannot view the chat)]
[Envious of He Xi.]
[Streamer, please, let me act in one episode]
The embrace lasted nearly two minutes before the two slowly separated.
Bai Qiu glanced at the viewer count.
It had skyrocketed from the initial forty or fifty thousand to over 200,000.
The gift leaderboard was filled with all kinds of top-tier gifts.
[Legendary Members] had jumped from 1 to 24.
The popularity had reached number one on the entire platform and was still climbing!
“Oh ho ho ho ho! Insane~ The viewer count has reached 200,000+! Well done, He Xi!”
Bai Qiu patted He Xi in praise.
Thanks to her, she’d earned in less than half an hour what would normally take at least a month of streaming.
However, He Xi didn’t react.
Even under her pat, she felt stiff.
Bai Qiu turned to look.
He Xi was clutching her face, trembling all over, red as a steamed lobster, with faint white steam rising from her head.
She was about to be cooked!
“He Xi! He Xi!”
Bai Qiu panicked and quickly shook her, terrified something might happen to her.
Otherwise, the Guild President would never forgive her.
“Ahhh—! I-I-I-I’m fine! Fine!”
He Xi jerked to her feet, mechanically turning her head and revealing a stiff smile.
“I-I-I-I’m going back to my room, room, room! Goodbye, Senior!!”
“Oh, okay…”
Startled by He Xi’s reaction, Bai Qiu nodded dumbly.
She watched He Xi walk back to her room like a robot, one stiff step at a time.
“This time she was so nervous she even forgot to wear her mask…”
Bai Qiu muttered under her breath.