That Half-Finished Drink Was Lethal— What Happened When I Left My Bottle Behind in a 1:4 Male-to-Female World - 10

Chapter 10: That Stream Is Lethal —The Fall of the Queen and a Brewing Storm

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Miya Akutsu’s POV

Crash!!

A cheap, transparent glass cup shattered into pieces across the cold flooring.

“Goddamn it all!!!”

My scream, tearing through my throat, echoed through the cramped one-room apartment.

“Don’t screw with me…! I’ll kill her…! I’ll fucking kill that bitch!!”

On the screen of the smartphone trembling in my hand, the merciless numbers of my banking app were lined up. Until yesterday, there had been tens of millions of yen supporting my sense of omnipotence. Now, all that remained was the pathetic remainder of “1,408 yen.”

I knew the cause. It was Saki, the woman who had supported me behind the scenes for three years as my manager. Under the pretense of supporting me, since I couldn’t handle any clerical work, I had let her control everything, my wallet, my schedule, and even my brand strategy as the “Queen.”

She told me she needed it to put out the flames of scandals, and the moment I handed over my seal and passwords was the end. This morning, just as my accounts were frozen, Saki withdrew all my assets and cut off all contact.

That wasn’t all. The shady things I had done during my underworld days, the past grudges I had hidden, even records of my behind-the-scenes manipulations, she dumped all of it onto the internet at once.

『Miya, you’re finished. Being called a queen made you think you were special, and that was your downfall. …Oh, and I’ll be taking this money as compensation for putting up with your selfishness all this time. See you, loser. Try not to die pathetically in that dump of an apartment.』

Every time I remembered that final message, my vision turned red. I had trusted her. I had entrusted her with my back. And yet, in the end, everyone was just trash that fed off me.

(What the hell!? Who are you calling a loser!? Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!!!)

I kicked the wall in a fit of rage, but the sharp pain shooting through my toes forced reality back on me. The internet was overflowing with slander like “ex-con” and “casting couch,” and all the people who used to suck up to me had blocked me at once. No money. No allies. All that was left for me, who had once sat arrogantly as a so-called queen, were shards of broken glass and a dark room with the electricity cut off.

What I loved were just the “numbers” inside my phone. And what loved me back were just those convenient “numbers” that danced for me.

(…This is empty. I want to die. No, before I die, I want to drag that woman down to hell with me. But I don’t even have the strength for that anymore…)

In the darkness, I started to feel like nothing more than filthy garbage. My phone battery showed “2%.” If even that faint light went out, I would truly disappear from this world.

That was when it happened.

Knock, knock.

A strangely out-of-place, almost foolish-sounding knock cut through the silence.

“…Huh!? Who the hell is it at a time like this…?”

I crawled to the door and roughly unlocked it. A debt collector? A gawker? Whoever it was, I was ready to vent all this anger. But the one standing there was—

“Miya-san. Good evening. …Wait, it’s pitch black in here. Is there a power outage?”

It was Yuu Yuuki, the guy from the room next door. He stood there holding a plastic bag, wearing a carefree expression like he was strolling through a field of flowers.

“…You bastard. What the hell do you want…? Are you here to laugh at me? Huh?! Look at me, the penniless queen… Kehyahya! Quite the masterpiece, isn’t it…?”

“I didn’t come to laugh at you. …I got a ton of potatoes from a regular at work. I made some nikujaga, but I can’t finish it all by myself. …Do you want some, Miya-san? It’d be a waste to throw it out.”

“…Huh? Nikujaga…? Is your brain boiling, you prick? If you’re planning to do me a favor and cash in later, don’t bother.”

“Ahaha, there’s no way I’d do that. It’s just nikujaga. …It won’t be good if it gets cold. I worked really hard on the heat control and everything.”

As if he hadn’t heard my insults at all, Yuu stepped into the room on his own. A warm scent of broth drifted from him.

“I don’t know what happened, but please go back to being the usual Miya-san who eats chips and throws out sharp remarks. Oh, and please stop barging into my room without permission.”

Yuu took out a plastic container from the bag and continued.

“I brought this because I wanted to, Miya-san.”

He wasn’t looking at me as a “queen,” just as a “neighbor.”

In his eyes, the value of the “numbers” I had lost wasn’t reflected even a single yen’s worth from the start.

“…Idiot… You bastard, don’t go saying whatever you want…”

There was no calculation, no contempt, not even pity in his eyes. There was only pure “goodwill,” so genuine it was almost blinding, simply caring for a neighbor.

(…Ah. This guy… he’s not looking at my numbers or money. He’s looking at me.)

Before I knew it, tears spilled from my eyes.

“Hey, Yuu. …No honorifics.”

I wanted him to call me without any honorifics.

“Huh?”

“If I tell you to call me that, you call me that! …Come on, hurry up…!”

Yuu scratched his head awkwardly, then gently, so very gently, called my name.

“Haah… just for today, okay? …Miya.”

Thump!!

My heart jolted with a shock I had never felt before.

(This is bad, bad, bad… way worse than I imagined…! You bastard…! With that face, with that voice…! Damn, I’m gonna get a nosebleed…!!)

Being called by my name could be this indecent, this powerful. The “queen” mask inside me shattered into pieces, revealing the part of me that was just “a woman.”

“…Here. Nikujaga, and a note. …Miya, it’s my secret recipe, so keep it between us.”

Saying that, Yuu left. I sank to the floor, surrounded by the warm aroma rising from the container. I took a bite. Warm. The carefully simmered potatoes melted in my mouth.

“…Ha… ah… ugh… ahhh…!!”

(The “numbers” I believed in never warmed me. But this bite… this is undeniably real…)

With trembling hands, I held the note Yuu left under my phone’s light. It was filled with messy, clumsy handwriting, written with earnest effort.

『If you simmer the potatoes until the edges soften, the flavor soaks in and tastes better. -Yuu』

“…What the hell is this. Your handwriting sucks… Why… why don’t you ask anything from me…!?”

(I want to believe there’s no one I can trust… but because of you, I can’t give up on that…!)

I carefully dried the smudged note with a hairdryer and smoothed it out so there wouldn’t be a single wrinkle. Through tears and laughter, a light returned to my eyes, not as a queen, but as something far more terrifying, a “devotee.” I had lost my numbers and my money. But I had learned what the one and only “real thing” in this world was.

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A few hours later. In the dark room, using a spare battery, I turned my streaming light to max and started a live broadcast. The camera angle was fixed to show only the food on the table, my fingertips, and the clothes below my neck. My face wasn’t visible at all. But anyone would recognize me by my voice alone.

“Hehya! Look at you crawling in, trash. …Check this out, this nikujaga. Perfect heat control, right?”

The chat scrolled faster than I had ever seen before.

《You’re still alive, you trash?》

《Do a retirement stream》

《Ex-criminal》

《Get lost.》

《How dare you show up again》

《Die die die》

(…Hehya! Normally I’d snap at this abuse, but right now it’s the best background music to my ear.)

“Yuu. …Hey, Yuu. Another coffee. Black, but one sugar like always. And I told you earlier, no honorifics.”

“Miya-san, you’re really back to normal. Alright, alright, I’ll make some coffee.”

“I said no honorifics! And drop the polite speech too… come on, hurry up…!”

“Okay, okay, Miya. I’ll make coffee.”

(This is too good… I’m seriously gonna get a nosebleed. Hearing my name from Yuu’s mouth… I wanna record this…!)

Yuu’s voice came from off-camera. The chat froze for a moment, then exploded.

《Wait, was that a guy?》

《His voice is amazing》

《No honorifics!?》

《Is that a bond of fate!?》

《Who’s Yuu!?》

《Identify him, hurry up!》

《Switch with me! 》

《Show the guy already!》

“…Ahh, the coffee Yuu makes smells incredible. Feels like my brain’s melting. …Hey, everyone, can you hear that? The sound of grinding beans. That sound exists just for me.”

The grinder’s sound carried into the mic. When Yuu placed the coffee down, I deliberately scooped up some nikujaga and aimed it toward him outside the camera’s view.

“Here… say ‘ah.’ Ahh. …………I mean feed me! Don’t make me say it! And blow on it too!”

“Miya, you’re really something. Well… just for today. Here, blow… blow. Okay, Miya, open your mouth.”

“…!”

(Ah… Yuu’s breath… on me… blowing so carefully so I don’t burn… I want to breathe in even that air…!)

“Nom… ah… ha… warm… delicious…”

(This is happiness. Too much happiness, I’m going crazy.)

My voice had turned syrupy sweet, like a sleepwalker’s, even to my own ears. The chat had turned into pure chaos.

《Ahh!? That’s illegal!》

《Switch place with me now!》

《Too erotic, die!》

《The so-called legendary act?!》

《Where do I donate!?》

《Doxxing team, track her location now!》

《asdfghjkl!!!》

“…Ah, this is still hot. Yuu, again. Blow on it more.”

“Still hot? Sorry. Fuu… Fuu… There, that should be fine.”

“Ahh… perfect. This is it. Everyone watching? I’m the only one who owns this, who gets to love this…!”

I briefly showed that “messy handwritten recipe note” to the camera. That scrap of paper now sat in the center of my room’s highest-grade safe, a place that once held tens of millions in cash. Now, nothing else deserved to be stored there except that note and the half-empty bottle from that day.

(I don’t need money or followers anymore. People like you who only see “numbers” will never understand the beauty of Yuu’s veins or the depth of this broth…!)

This stream was no longer an apology. It had transformed into a display, a declaration that I alone possessed the greatest treasure in the world.

“Oh, that’s right. I’m uploading a new video tomorrow night. The title is ‘Undressing My Devoted Pet Dog’… just kidding. Kehyahya! It’s a joke, Yuu. Don’t… Don’t look so troubled with that cute face!”

“Please don’t joke like that…”

(Ah, that troubled look… I want to show the whole world, but I also want to keep it all to myself… I’m seriously getting excited… oh, nosebleed.)

I didn’t have the composure to keep streaming anymore.

“See ya, trash. Watch my happiness while drooling! Later!”

Click, I ended the stream.

“I’ve got an early shift tomorrow, so I’m going to head out now.”

“…Hey. …Um… ah… well… tomorrow… will you come again…?”

The honest words slipped out in a faint voice, and I immediately snapped back to my senses.

“What!? Don’t get the wrong idea! I just want you to finish cleaning!!”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it. …Get some rest today, Miya.”

(Stop calling me like that… I’m gonna die. My heart’s gonna melt and kill me…!)

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Meanwhile….

《A girl who sniffs a man’s underwear every day, watching the stream》

“…That guy’s clothes that showed up for a second. The color and size match the ones I lent Yuu-kun before! Could it be… my Yuu-kun!?”

《A refined young lady who dreams of kissing every night, watching the stream》

“…Those lips I saw for a moment. There’s no way I’m mistaken. That man must be my Yuu-sama…!”

《A girl who stalks with a drone every day, watching the stream》

“…That container model matches the one Yuu-san bought at the 100-yen shop last week. The voiceprint matches too. …Could it be that person is my Yuu-san!?”

No one yet knew that a storm wrapped in hellfire was about to rage.

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