The Guy Who Messed Up Is Gradually Doing His Best - Chapter 80: (Sawakaze Kazuya's Perspective)

In my previous life, December 25th was Christmas—a day when couples dressed a little more elegantly to express their love, or enjoyed Christmas events with friends and family. However, in this world, December 25th is not Christmas, but rather Happy Day.

On this day, there is no custom for men to give gifts to women; instead, the focus is more on spending time joyfully with friends and family.

On this December 25th Happy Day, I am going to do a live stream.

“Um, Kazuya-sama, are you really okay not going?” 

“I’ve already sent them the pre-recorded video.”

“B-But.”

“If I say it’s fine, then it’s fine.”

——Ugh, so annoying. You all should just shut up and listen to what I say. Why do they send people like this to me?

Rinko, Kyoko, Mikan, Suika, and Ichiko, who were my guardians and wives, went on maternity leave after getting pregnant, and five new guardians came in. However, these new ones keep giving me their opinions, which is incredibly irritating.

Just like that one (Mil), but now that there are five of them, they annoy me even more than before.

The manager is even worse. She’s a fat woman. Plus, her face is covered in pimples—it’s hard to look at. She was somewhat tolerable when she first arrived, but she’s been gaining weight so rapidly. She keeps making excuses about being busy and eating out or convenience store meals. It’s exhausting.

If it were Rinko and the others, they wouldn’t irritate me this much. Damn it!

I didn’t know this world’s women immediately take maternity leave as soon as they find out they are pregnant, and they are required to take childcare leave until their child turns two.

During this time, they receive maternity benefits (120% of their average monthly salary from the last three months or the highest of the minimum standard payment) and childcare benefits (130% of their average monthly salary from the last three months or the highest of the minimum standard payment) while on leave.

It’s infuriating that they make more money while on leave than when they work because they’ve created a system that benefits them.

There are also childcare allowances that continue until the child turns fifteen, but since I have income, it doesn’t concern me.

If Rinko and the others hadn’t taken maternity leave, I wouldn’t be this irritated. Ugh.

It seems too soon to take maternity leave as soon as they find out they’re pregnant. In my previous life, there were women who worked up until the last moment. I told them so, but all I got was, “Kazuya-sama… this is mandated by law,” and they packed their things and left the next day.

Such a law that only benefits women, huh?

“I don’t think that’s the case.”

One of the new guardians responded to my mumbling.

“I’m not talking to you, you idiot!”

“I understand. My apologies.”

Despite using charm-up spells, their attitude hasn’t changed at all, which is really frustrating. Toujou is the same. I used to think she was quite a good woman when she gave me a high-end wristwatch (worth several million yen, a one-of-a-kind piece, which Toujou told me was quite stylish, and I liked it a lot) as a token of our engagement. 

“Hmph. Whatever.”

I was originally supposed to appear live on Azuma TV for Christmas… I mean, Happy Day special program “Sing and Dance Together,” but this Azuma TV is also a subsidiary of the Toujou Group.

I have no obligation to appear live for Toujou while we’re still in an engagement limbo.

I tried asking her at school several times, but all I got was that the higher-ups decided it, and she couldn’t provide me with an answer. Plus, with Toujou’s “Armed Girls” keeping the number one spot in the trending rankings… she looked at me with those eyes as if to say she was mocking me.

She’s a total amateur who doesn’t understand anything about netTube, yet she hit it big out of sheer luck.

So, I sent them my pre-recorded music video, saying I couldn’t make it to the show, and decided to do a live stream instead during the same time slot (from 6 PM to 10 PM).

Ahaha, I wonder what will happen to Azuma TV’s ratings if I stream live… Well, since I’m at it, I might as well break into the trending rankings today.

Ahahaha… picturing Toujou’s frustrated face eased some of my irritation.

*****

At 6 PM, I started my live stream from the stage equipped with sound facilities.

“Ah, ah, can everyone hear me? …Yeah, seems fine. Then, let’s begin Sawakaze Kazuya’s special live stream for Happy Day!”

“Yay!”

“Kazuya-sama~”

“So cool~”

Comments from viewers who had been waiting for my livestream poured in like a waterfall.

The number of concurrent viewers exceeded 50,000 during the waiting period, and as soon as the live stream started, it surged past 5 million. 

And it continued to increase.

Hehehe, are you watching this, Toujou Reika? Ahahaha… How’s the viewership for Azuma TV? As for ‘Armed Girls’… I couldn’t care less. They’ll drop off soon anyway.

“To everyone who has been looking forward to this, I’ll sing a song first.”

“Yay!”

“Kazuya-sama~”

“Sing for me, please~”

“I love you, Kazuya-sama~”

“Hehe, thank you. Your cheers give me energy. So, here we go. ‘I Love You All!'”

♪〜

“Ahh. I’m so happy with everyone’s support that I got a bit too carried away with the first song. But today’s live stream is planned for four hours, so I’ll still entertain you with singing, dancing, and talking!”

“Yay~!”

“Kazuya-sama is the best♪”

“Yay!”

The concurrent viewers reached an all-time high. The tips were pouring in, and I couldn’t stop smiling.

“Eh?”

However, that was around 7 PM. The number of concurrent viewers began to drop significantly.

Why? What’s happening? I was internally confused as I tried to maintain my calm demeanor and continued the stream. Before I knew it, the number of concurrent viewers had plummeted to around 50,000.

“Well, then, to liven things up, I’ll dance for you!”

“Yay~!”

“Woohoo!”

What is this? The number of concurrent viewers isn’t increasing. The comments were sluggish and reactions were poor, and the tips had stopped coming. I was internally irritated and cursed multiple times.

By around 9 PM, I was at my breaking point, thinking about ending the live stream.

Huh? The number of concurrent viewers began to rise again, eventually bouncing back to 3 million, and I ended the live stream at 10 PM.

“Hey, you fatso. What’s going on?!”

I unleashed the frustrations I had accumulated during the live stream on the fat manager.

“I-I don’t know!”

“Tch, you useless idiot. Whatever, I’m tired now. You all take care of the cleanup!”

After giving that directive to the fat manager, I returned home with the guardians who silently followed me. However…

I hadn’t noticed that the fat manager’s laptop screen displayed the end screen for the live stream of ‘Masaka Corporation Idol Group. Happy Day Event! We Are You Singing Contest. Special Guests Will Be Coming Too,’ which was seemingly streaming at the same time.