The Story About How I Was Fired From My Company and Then Picked up by a Possessive Streamer With Over 5 Million Subscribers - Chapter 128-129

Chapter 128: The Usual Routine

“…Hmm.”

It’s morning… well, it’s only 5 a.m. though.

Muttering to myself, I push aside my blanket and get up.

“Ugh… it’s cold.”

Since it’s winter, the chill hits me hard the moment I get out of bed.

Honestly, I’d rather stay under the blanket… but I can’t give in to that weakness. I open the door.

“…Morning, Eiji. I’ve been waiting.”

“Morning, Rinmei. How can you just wait out here in the hallway despite the cold?”

Standing there is Rinmei, clearly waiting for me. About school—she convinced Sayaka and Kanna-san and officially dropped out.

“I really wanted to go to school with Rinmei more!” Sayaka had said, but Rinmei brushed it off with a sharp, “Not interested.”

“…I couldn’t do the morning runs while in school. So, I’ll do them now. You’ll join me, Eiji, as part of your rehab.”

“Got it. Just wait a bit while I get ready.”

“…Okay. Then I’ll wait in your room.”

“I’m going to change, you know? It’s embarrassing if someone’s watching.”

“…No problem. I don’t mind at all. In fact, bring it on.”

“Alright, alright. Stop with the nonsense and wait in the living room.”

I lift her up and close the door. Was Rinmei always this bold before?

While pondering that, I quickly take off my pajamas and change into workout clothes. Then, I head to the living room where Rinmei is waiting.

“…Hmm. That’s enough for today. Good job.”

“Yeah, good work. Whew… that was tiring.”

Running outside after a long time feels refreshing. Although, I’ll definitely need a bath afterward…

I sip the water I brought along and open the front door.

“Welcome back, you two!”

There stands Sayaka in an apron.

At first, I was surprised by the unusual sight, but now I’ve gotten used to seeing her like this.

“…I’m back. What’s for breakfast?”

“It’s not ready yet… Kanna-san and I are making it together.”

“…I’ll pass for today.”

“Hey, Rinmei! That’s so rude.”

Sayaka grabs Rinmei by the neck, preventing her from escaping. Well, I understand her unease. Kanna-san’s cooking… yeah.

Since I was hospitalized, something seems to have changed among the three of them. They’ve started doing housework themselves.

While I still can’t quite imagine Kanna-san doing chores, Sayaka and Rinmei actually manage to pull it off surprisingly well.

Maybe Haru-chan has been teaching them…? She’s really amazing.

“Sayaka! Help me out here! What do I do with this!?”

Kanna-san’s voice calls from the kitchen.

While Rinmei heads straight for the bath, I check on Kanna-san with Sayaka. And then… oh boy.

“Eiji-san, I get how you feel, but please don’t make that face in front of her, okay?”

“Y-Yeah, I know…”

In front of us is… a monstrosity of a dish.

What is this? Did she throw a whole fish in there? And is that mayonnaise in the pot? Why is the soup black…?

“Oh! Eiji-san, welcome back! I’m making hot pot now, so just wait a bit, okay? Want to taste-test it?”

“…I’ll eat it when it’s done.”

Seeing her light up with childlike glee at my return, I couldn’t find the right words, so I just gave a vague response.

…What am I supposed to do? Will it even taste okay…?

“Kanna-san, we made this together, right? How did the soup even end up looking like this?”

“? I read somewhere that beginners should just throw in lots of ingredients, and it’ll turn out tasty. Plus, cooking is all about love, you know!”

“There’s a limit, though… there’s definitely a limit…”

Sayaka’s exasperation at Kanna-san’s logic is evident.

(…Maybe letting Kanna-san handle chores was a mistake…?)

But if I say anything, she’ll definitely sulk…

As I’m thinking that, I notice Rinmei peeking at us from the door.

“…I’ll pass on dinner. Later.”

“Hold it right there.”

“…Let me go, Eiji. I’m sensing serious danger to my life. I need to escape.”

“If you do that, Kanna-san will cry. You haven’t run the bath yet, right? Let’s eat first. It’s our day off, so we’ll deal with whatever happens to our bodies later.”

“…Ugh… You traitor, Eiji…”

No way we’re finishing this with just the three of us.

After some time, Kanna-san’s monstrosity of a hot pot—an “experimental hot pot”—is ready, and we sit down to eat.

As for the taste… well, I’ll leave that to your imagination.

—

Chapter 129: Muscles or Trivia?

“…So, I came.”

It’s been a while since I’ve seen Rigel-san and Ren-san.

When I arrived at the office, I spotted the two of them and greeted them, only for them to ask me to join them for a live stream.

Apparently, they had something important to discuss, and their serious tone left me with no choice but to follow them.

“Hey, so you came, boss. Go ahead and take a seat.”

“Uh… sure.”

Is Rigel-san always this calm? I remember him being much louder.

With that thought in mind, I sat in an empty chair. Ren-san was also staring at me intently… Something felt off about the two of them compared to usual.

“So, what’s this about? Also, I’m not a boss, you know?”

“But Sakurin said you were someone important. Ashida siblings said the same thing.”

“…What on earth are they telling people?”

Sakurin-san… well, I guess I can understand her saying that, but what are those two going on about?

Isn’t it supposed to be you guys leading this group? I’d appreciate it if you didn’t treat me like someone higher up.

“Today, uh… we called you here, boss…”

“…Just Yusuke is fine.”

“…Sorry, I’m not good with formal speech. Anyway, we wanted to ask you something today, Yusuke. It’s about the live stream.”

“The live stream?”

Hearing that, I straightened up a bit.

After what happened with Sayaka-chan recently, I couldn’t help but wonder if it might be something serious. With that in mind, I listened closely as Rigel-san began to speak.

“Well, the thing is, we’re planning a collaborative stream today, just the two of us.”

“I see.”

“And we’ve been debating what to do—whether to talk about the greatness of muscles or discuss some random trivia this guy has.”

“Uh-huh… Wait, what?”

“We couldn’t come to any conclusion, no matter how much we talked. So, we figured we’d ask you since you’re here. So… which one do you think we should go with?”

“…Is this really that important?”

I couldn’t help but ask. Sure, I suppose it’s somewhat important, but is it really something to agonize over this much?

“It’s understandable if you’re not sure. You don’t know us that well, Yusuke-san. But it’s a very serious matter to us.”

…Is it, though?

Well, I guess their collaborative streams usually focus on either trivia or muscles.

It’s what makes them popular with a certain audience, after all.

“What do you think we should do? Fighting over this isn’t ideal, but we just can’t decide.”

“We’d really appreciate hearing your thoughts, Yusuke-san.”

Muscles or trivia, huh…

“Um… Is there a reason you can’t just do both?”

I blurted out the question. I mean, if it’s such a big deal, why not just combine the two?

“Well, we could make it a little special. For example, muscle-related trivia. Like, how the so-called ‘superhuman strength in emergencies’ is actually real…”

As I said that, both of them widened their eyes and stared at me intently.

“You…”

“Y-yes?”

“Could it be… you’re a genius?”

“…Excuse me?”

Uh, doesn’t this seem obvious? Before I could say anything else, Rigel-san looked genuinely amazed, while Ren-san started mumbling to herself.

“Certainly, including necessary information about muscles could work. For instance, the required protein intake per kilogram of body weight, or how there are 600 muscles in the human body…”

mumble mumble

“Well, then it’s decided! Let’s get ready! Thanks, Yusuke! You saved us!”

With that, Rigel-san pulled the still-mumbling Ren-san out of the room.

“…Those two really seem a bit scatterbrained.”

But maybe that’s part of their charm.

As I thought about it, I found myself staring at the door for a while.