The day had drained him completely both physically and mentally. Every step he took towards his apartment felt heavier than the last. While walking in the dimly lit streets, he finally came across his old friends who were waiting for him outside his building. It was the two dogs whom he gave away his food, back when Suzi rejected him. Since then every night Coby shares some of the leftover food with the dogs. Seeing Coby, the dogs could not stop waggling their tales.
Hear you go Sammy and Sophie, Coby didn’t feel like eating that night as well and handed out all of the food to both the dogs. In the past month no matter how stressed Coby gets, seeing the happy dogs always makes him forget about all his exhaustion that he accumulated throughout the day. But for some reason both of them didn’t eat much.
Coby also noticed a bowl with some left over premium dog food on the street corner. Must’ve been that mysterious pink hoody girl, he thought. A couple nights ago he noticed from his window some girl covered in pink hoody giving food to the dogs. Coby felt a bit relieved that someone else was also feeding the dogs because if he lost his part time job in future he might not be able to feed them any longer.
Coby's apartment didn’t allowed dogs otherwise Coby would have given those dogs shelter in his apartment. After searching for so long his mother was able to find the cheapest apartment in that area. And he definitely couldn’t risk hiding them in his room. If they get evicted then it'll be a disaster for her mother to manage it all, who was already struggling a lot. So, putting a stone in his chest Coby said goodnight to both of the dogs and headed toward his apartment.
He lived in a cramped rundown building tucked between two taller complexes. The kind of place people did not even glance at twice. On the apartment hallway, Coby heard some faint giggle that was coming from the hunted room. Suddenly a chill sweat ran down his spine. Rumor has it there was a guy called MadDomain who used to live there. But for some reason one night he roped himself out of the blue. The police called it succide and closed the file. Then later, some guy called Mauler tried to live there as well but he also roped himself. No one knew why, even the cops were clueless. Some residents talked about seeing a black figure at night. Since then the apartment is known to be haunted and called the roping room in the neighbourhood. And everybody avoids living there. And it was also the reason how his mother was able to secure their apartment at that chip price.
Moments later Coby noticed some lights leaking from the apartment door and felt embarrassed for missing the obvious. Of course, it must be some girl wanting to save money on rent had started to live there. But judging by her giggle she must be unaware of the rumours or she is just a crazy one. or maybe both.
Minding his business Coby entered his apartment. His apartment was small and cluttered, lit by the faint orange hue of a dying street lamp outside the window. He shared the apartment with no one but with his mom and her cat boba. But mostly it's him and his cat that lives there because his mom comes late at night.
His mother worked long hours as an insurance saleswoman. Being a single mother in a city like this was not easy. The loneliness, stress and constant pressure had worn her down over the years. These days she often escapes to bars and returns home well past midnight. Smelling of alcohol and cheap perfume. Because of her late nights Coby was usually left to feed himself with whatever he could. Most nights it was the leftover food from the fast food joint that he ate. It usually takes like 25 to 30 smash burgers, with some greasy fries to satisfy his hunger. Not a balanced diet but it is all that he had. Maybe that was the part of the reason he has gotten a bit chubby over time.
Life wasn’t exactly kind to Coby. School was a nightmare, work was just as bad, and home, home was quiet, empty and cold. But there was one bright spot in his life, Kirsche.
Kirische wasn’t just any vtuber, she was a soft spoken girl with a voice so gentle it felt like a chill bottle of lemonade after a long summer's day. Her streams weren’t loud or flashy like most others. There was something simple and genuine about her. Like she wasn’t trying to be popular. Just being herself. To her viewers she was a vtuber avatar of a cute fox anime girl with silver furs with two sets of pointy ears. Her vtuber model often wore a white dress. She always seemed happy and down to earth. But sometimes she goes full on nuclear mode if she does not like a certain topic.
Coby felt like she truly understood him, and Kirsche always responded to his messages. She knew Coby by his user name THE_Synthetic_Man. Even though Coby wasn’t a paid member or a donator, she never ignored him. She replied to his chats, laughed at his jokes, and once even tried to comfort Coby after hearing he had a bad day. That alone meant the world to him, but not everything in her stream was perfect. Her chat’s filled with creeps and weirdos, who constantly tried to make her uncomfortable with their shameless comments. That’s why she had chat moderators. People who kept peace, by banning spammers and creeps.
But in Coby’s eyes most of them were questionable themselves. They acted like knights in shining armor. But deep down they’re like jealous gate keepers. One mod in particular stood out Tucan67. He is a slick two faced type who is a big whale of hers, and often donates a lot of money. And always acts polite and helpful. But Coby knew better.
Tucan67 was the kind of guy who would ban someone for breathing wrong if he thought it would make him look good in front of Kirsche. Coby had already been timed out by him. Always for petty reasons. And whenever Coby confronted him, Tucan67 would brush it off. Blaming it on a technical issue.
The other mods always backs him up, like a pack of loyal hounds. But few members questioned his actions and supported Coby.Toucan67 wanted Kirsche to treat him as her sugar daddy. Instead of wasting her time with losers like Coby.
Coby suspected they did not like how often Kirsche talked to him. A free viewer who hasn’t spent a cent. It probably ticked them off, especially Toucan67.
Still despite the pettiness Coby couldn't stop smiling tonight. Compared to the horrible day he had, the thought of hearing Kirsch's voice again made everything seem lighter. As he slipped off his shoes, he already started to plan what he talked to her about. Maybe something funny, maybe something silly his cat did.
Speaking of which, Coby paused mid thought. Boba hasn’t eaten yet, he mumbled to himself glancing around the room. The cat was nowhere around to be seen. Normally by dinner time, Baba would be curled up somewhere waiting near his food bowl. But lately Coby noticed his chubby black cat had been spending more time outside.
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Sometimes he comes late, full and sleepy, ignoring the food entirely. It wasn’t like his cat seemed sick but quite the contrary. Coby scratched his head, wondering what kind of rats his cat was catching that beat even cat food that he bought from the store. Still he filled the bowel and placed it into the usual spot near the window. Here you go bud, whenever you decide to come.
Then he grabbed the coffee mug from the kitchen and turned on his computer and sat down, Heart already racing in anticipation. Kirsche’s stream is about to start.
At her usual hour Kirsche started the stream with her signature warm greeting. Her voice is soft and playful. I hope everyone is doing well! she said sweetly. Her tone is gentle and innocent. And sorry in advance if I make any mistakes tonight. Her voice had that comforting charm like a childhood lullaby mixed with sunshine.
Tonight's stream was different though.
Kirsche is about to start her first playthrough of an action horror game called Resident Evil 4. She wasn’t someone who played horror games often, far from it. Instead she liked to play games like Dragon Ball the Breakers and Yu-Gi-Oh master duel. Still a donation from one viewer called Debin, someone claiming to be in his final moments, has asked her to play his favourite game in professional difficulty. Debin is dying of mold and won't live for long. Coby had his doubts about that guy. It smelled like the work of a troll. Someone just wanting to watch a cute girl crap her pants in fear. But Kirsche, being her kind hearted and gullible self, took the request seriously. She promised to complete the game, even if it killed her, in game at least.
The stream started off strong, The intro of the game dazzled everyone. And Kirsche moves through the first section of the game clumsily but with determination. But then she reached the first filter area of the game, The village square and things spiralled into chaos. No matter how hard she tried she kept dying by the chainsaw guy.
The chat exploded, some viewers began criticising her gameplay harshly. Tossing out mocking messages like candy at a parade.
nirlicnick: “Lol, DSP”
Retardicus: “Ayo bitch betta grab dem green erbs”
GeorgeTheGunWalker: “Oh it's bad, Oh it's bayaaad!”
Thoughnificent: “Shieet”
Cry: “Lmao, You’re playing like a retard!”
KanesGames: “Your brain is denser than your weight”
MegaRockingrola: “Total Landwhale Death!”
LatinaParfait: "You deserve Nuggeting!"
BrianC: “Hey genuine advice, drop the controller and go to the kitchen, at least you’ll achieve something.”
Cobain: “This is why foid’s should only stick to Candy Crush!”
MelGibson_After_3Beers: “Stop dying you dumb bitch!”
ThatsARandomName: “You have the IQ level of a Chimp!”
PuarIsSexy: “What difficulty is she playing on?”
Egad: “@PuarIsSexy Um.. probably easy mode”
Husky: “-10000000 Social Credits”
Arkoo: “At least FIFA lets you groom”
Normally mods would’ve banned them on spot. But before starting Kirsche made a specific request, please don't ban anyone just for criticising my gameplay. Only time them out if they’re spamming actual bad stuff.
So, the mods were limited, the hate kept coming. Some tried cheering her on, and a few simps uh.. I mean generous souls even donated to lift her spirit. But her struggle was real; she couldn’t beat Dr.Salvador.
She died again and again, and again, and.. again. Even in the middle of all this Kirsche kept glancing at the chat, reading messages and responding. And somehow she always found time to reply to Coby. Despite not being a paid member or a frequent donator, she never ignored him. Coby was one of the original viewers she had, when she had started out as a Vtuber. Most of the original viewers of her moved out with their life but Coby was the only one who regularly watched her streams. That's why She treated him like he mattered, like his messages worth reading. Coby always felt that tiny thrill in his chest whenever she replied. It was like they shared a sacred line, something just between them, even if the rest of the world is watching.
But not everyone felt the same. Toucan67 the overly possessive and two faced moderator couldn’t stand seeing a non paying viewer getting that much attention, it made his skin crawl. The moment Kirsche died 67 times. Toucan67 saw an opportunity to strike. He wrote honestly I think the reason she keeps dying is because THE_Synthetic_Man keeps distracting her with his messages. Might be best to time out him for a while or just ban him.
The chat grew tense, some supported the idea and others were confused. But Kirsche quickly shot the idea down, no, no THE_Synthetic_Man not bothering me. Don't ban him. I like chatting with him. Her voice was firm at least, as firm as her soft tone allowed.
Toucan67 dropped after that, but Coby felt a strange guilt bubbling in his chest. He didn’t want to be the reason she was losing. So, he stopped chatting at least for now. Choosing instead just silently supporting her from the sidelines.
Then after her 69th death screen Kirsche sat the controller down and sighed. Okay, okay uh.. I'm taking a short break, my friend just arrived. The chat exploded,
Darken: “Uh oh friend?Boyfriend?”
SaltyMedPac: “Wait, Noooo!”
Waffleman:“MODS, DO SOMETHING!”
Xboxhue: “Hey E thought, You took all my money and are now revealing this!”
SilverSterling5: “Never trust a foid”
ThatsARandomName: “Repeal the 19th”
Earnest: “Aghh.. What a whore!”
Toucan67 was practically foaming at the mouth. But there is nothing he could do to moderated real life. Curiosity surged like a tidal wave through the viewers. People spammed messages begging to know who the friend was. The chat grew desperate. Some viewers typing in all caps and others throwing money to get answers.
Kirsche giggled but then she sounded a bit nervous, clearly not enjoying the chaos.Alright, alright calm down I’ll show you.
She switched off her vtuber model and turned on a camera instead. The screen revealed only her hand wrapped in the long pink sleeve of her hoody. It looked delicate and soft, her finger small, nails clean and neatly trimmed.
The chatters collectively gasped,
PuarPudding64: “UWU”
IrishMajorTom: “OMG! Her hands are beautiful”
charlie1234500: “Confirmed Kirsche is a girl”
LM16813: “Just imagine her face”
triggeredbyanemoji: “Drop the hand cam face reveal now!”
Seeing her soft, beautiful hands, Coby didn’t know what to say. He typed, “WOAH MAMA,” then immediately cringed.
She ignored the thirsty comments and simply moved the camera down. And then it happened, She gently lifted into frame a chubby black cat, his fur was fluffy, tail twitching lazily, ears flicking and sleeping with irritation. This is Oishimaru, she said with a giggle. He comes by sometimes, isn’t he cute? Then she opened a box of fancy gourmet cat food and set it down. The cat immediately dug in.
The chat went into a frenzy,
Jeb Reggie: “Hey, Look, it's Ricardo!”
zendariun101: “Thank God, it's just a Cat!”
minuteworld: “I thought it was a guy”
zyonhunter: “I swear my heart stopped”
DeviantCrustacean: “Never been happy to see a furry little dude!”
The mod called Toucan67 is about to throw hands, then he joked or maybe not so jokingly, “if that cat was a guy, I swear I would've thrown hands.”
But Coby sat frozen in his chair. His eyes were locked on to the screen, his eyes wide open, hands hovering over the keyboard unmoving. That cat! That is Boba. He can recognise the chubby fluff ball anywhere, the slightly bent whisker, the nick on one ear, the same grumpy eyes, that looked like they had seen too much of the world. He didn’t need confirmation, his cat was sitting in front of Kirsche. And suddenly the dots began to connect.
The pink hoody,
apartment next door,
the faint giggles he had heard in the hallway,
the mysterious change in Boba’s dinner habits.
It couldn’t be? But it all made sense now,
Kirsche is living next door.
