13 Some Progress!

Kia's slender fingers freely tap away at the keyboard of her laptop. It was a new day of work and she brought her device out to continue brainstorming ideas.

While exploring the vast realm of YouTube, Kia stumbled upon a unique form of entertainment that she found as a source of Japanese humor – game shows. 

She was biased in arriving at that conclusion, coming from the good old United States meant Kia barely knew any other culture.

So she assumed this kind of comedy was a good example. Based on the title, the one Kia was watching had the concept of a lot of food in it.

The particular show she was currently engrossed in featured a contestant suspended over a massive water container, filled with various food items worth points. The twist was that the blindfolded contestant, with their hands tied, relied on a teammate to guide a crane without looking, creating a bizarre fusion of a claw machine and apple-bobbing.

Kia had her fingers crossed and eyes unblinking at the ongoing madness. She had a few more minutes before opening time and was coming in early, hence why she decided to use time by enlightening herself.

However, somewhere around the middle of the video, Kia realized that watching a stand-up comedy might be a better use of her time. She can't even apply it in her streams, where was she going to find the facilities to make something like this?

"Overall, it seems like humor hasn't changed much. Namely, being humiliated, hurt, or otherwise challenged and failing."

Tanaka walked in, overhearing Kia's random commentary. "Kia? What are you doing?"

Kia stayed silent, engrossed in the video where a man was currently choking on a piece of zucchini. "Intriguing." 

Would she do the same? Probably not. Would it be funny to see? Absolutely. "Hmm..."

"What are you watching?"

Kia finally hears Tanaka. "Hm? Oh, just something to get ideas from."

The old man walked over to her computer, observing the contestant emitting the sound of a Windex bottle. "Er… is this what young people are watching these days?"

"I know, right?" Kia nodded. "Personally, I would've just bitten that zucchini rather than trying to suck it like he did."

She could see the appeal – doing something inefficient but funny.

Kia needed content that was easily clipped, digestible, and shareable. With dozens of such clips, there might be a chance that one would go viral.

"Maybe beating Minecraft with my feet isn't such a bad idea…" she absentmindedly said.

"What?"

"...Yes."

Kia said that out loud. Thankfully, she just reacted in a completely normal way – by pretending to be distracted.

This is why it's a bad idea to narrate your thoughts. Kia needed the practice for streaming, but she also needed to learn not to say everything she thinks about.

Tanaka shook his head. "Anyway… we're about to open. Could you kindly restock the cans inside the refrigerator? There's also some price updates we have, so change the labels and clean up the place."

With Matsuura still not present, Kia had to pick up the slack.

"Oh!" Kia checked the clock on her laptop; it was five minutes away from opening. "Will do! Where's the new labels?"

"On the counter."

As Kia set out to complete what was required of her, a lingering unease washed over her. "I feel like I'm forgetting something."

<>

Afternoon fell and Kia was having more trouble than ever. Never in her life had she had to overcome such a daunting obstacle…

Figuring out what in the hell was inside her bathroom.

Makeup? Half the stuff in there was a mystery for Kia. Skincare? Soap and water did the job when she was back on Earth but apparently, that wasn't enough now. 

She opened one of the small hand-sized bags and pulled out one of the items. "I have to use these every time I go out?"

Apart from her new looks, Kia never considered herself to be the type of person to be nice around with.

Now that she was streaming, the only thing good about her personality was… well, there was none.

It's why she was looking for any way to become even more attractive. 

Kia glanced at the other products and groaned. "...I don't want to make this a routine."

Looking at the mirror, she lifted her chin, faced side to side, and nodded. "No… maybe I don't have to do it for now. There aren't any dark circles yet."

In her defense, without any practice, Kia would probably look like the Joker after a failed attempt at using cosmetics.

After a not-so-thorough look, she decided to think about it later down the line. Besides, that would be future Kia's problem.

Not only that, she had to go to the gym too.

Too many things to think about, and too many sources of stress… screw it, she's just going to play games and stream.

Kia hoped something would change today. She'd invested way too much effort than she'd have liked trying to make her stream better looking.

Pulling back her chair, she began to fiddle with the stream settings. Now, she had chat overlaid on top of her only monitor. It was a bit transparent, about 50% opacity. That would let her see chat much better if anyone but bots would enter.

"I'll have to get something better to wear next time."

[Live]

This time it would be different. Even without an active audience, Kia kept talking as if there was someone there. The only thing separating a schizophrenic person and a lone streamer is that the streamer thinks they're getting paid.

After a while, Kia opened her game and started filling in what she'd already finished. "So… I've already made some progress into iron but was too busy to get diamonds in this run. I got a little sidetracked when I built my house and added the castle…"

[1 Viewer]

That's a first. A viewer already?

No, she shouldn't get her hopes up. It's probably just a bot again.

[AdmiralRoux: hello]

"Sup?" Kia greeted, still being bot-suspicious.

[AdmiralRoux: What are you playing? I've never seen this title on YouTube before.]

"It's Minecraft, basically it's a game where you build and explore. Uhh… There's an endgame boss and all, although there are a few that I don't know about. The Ender Dragon is familiar to me."

Kia had to wait a few minutes for another response, so meanwhile, while waiting for the new chatter, she proceeded to continue reorganizing some of her inventory and prepare to do another mining session.

[AdmiralRoux: I just looked it up. This game is a century old. Why don't you play something else?]

"Hey, this might not be one of the famous VR titles that people are playing right now or the overtuned games with a hundred mechanics, but Minecraft's allure is in its sandbox nature. Creativity is the limit. It being a century old doesn't mean it's bad. Although, it's a bit hard to enjoy properly without other people…"

[AdmiralRoux: You don't have friends?]

"Not at the moment," she answered straightforwardly.

[AdmiralRoux: How?]

"What do you mean how?" Kia assumed what the viewer meant and answered anyway. "I'm not a loner, I just don't have any friends right now."

[AdmiralRoux: Are you using an avatar right now?]

Kia had to stop playing to properly understand what they said. "Eh?"

[AdmiralRoux: I don't know, with a face like that, it's hard to believe that you don't have friends. You're probably just an old man behind the screen.]

Kia thinks to herself, 'Did he really assume that anyone pretty automatically has real friends? People can still be alone no matter the background of their character. As for me being a secret old man... that's a leap in logic.'

The existence of more advanced technologies made it plausible. VTubers did exist in Kia's time, would realistic-looking versions of a VTuber exist? Probably… Kia wasn't quite sure.

"It's not like I don't have any friends. And no, I am not an old man." Kia demonstrates by pinching her cheeks and pulling. "See?"

[AdmiralRoux: Doubt.]

Kia had an eyebrow twitch. "...What do you want me to do? Do a backflip to prove I am real?"

[AdmiralRoux: Let's go with that.]

She tried being nice, but Kia's personality broke with the impatience of a Florida man. "Go fuck yourself."

…

"Oh shit."

Kia covered her mouth, she'd been so used to being equally confronting and rude. "Er… uh… damn it."

Kia slammed her forehead on the table, making the entire setup shake. 

Her first viewer and she'd gone ahead and told them to go fuck themselves. If her streaming career would have a chance, now, all hope was dashed.

[AdmiralRoux: wwww]

Kia recognized the repeated letters… laughing. Being rude to someone was funny?

"...Uhm." Kia hummed, not knowing how to react.

Despite the small mistake, Kia kept playing. Silently hoping that her one and only viewer would stay after that.

Judging by the long pause in the conversation, Kia guessed that they were at least still interested in the stream.

[AdmiralRoux: That gap moe is amazing.]

'The hell does that mean?' Kia quickly read with a glance, tabbing out of the game to quickly look it up on Google. 'A contrast between a character's appearance and personality.'

"You're weird dude."

[AdmiralRoux: I still want that backflip.]

"Ahaha…. No." Kia sarcastically laughed it off before continuing to play. "Anything else interesting to talk about rather than the backflip?"

[AdmiralRoux: Maybe.]

"Please, share. I honestly would like it better if we didn't speak about 'gap moe' or whatever."

[AdmiralRoux: Someone I know had their school get attacked by villains today. Scary stuff.]

Pausing her screen, Kia almost opened her mouth in surprise. 'So that's what I was forgetting!'

The USJ Incident occurred just a few days after the start of classes in the main story, a spark of rumors about All Might's involvement as a teacher heated up which led to the main villain's first appearance where he made his debut in orchestrating an attack on the students by deploying a group of throwaway villains.

It was major news… and Kia had not heard about it. Somehow. 

Kia needed to get a phone next time. However, it'll be a month before she can even get her paycheck from Tanaka.

Missing an entire canon event and not realizing it already happened was to be expected. Kia knew it didn't concern her.

At least now she knew it'd be smooth sailing for her life. Lay low, work a job until her streaming career takes off, and relax with boatloads of cash just by playing games.

Kia would have her first viewer in two days, a little sad that it remained at one, but at least now, Kia had someone to talk to.

They even subscribed and eventually left a comment on the VOD after the stream finished. They stayed the entire 4 hours Kia streamed Minecraft.

As long as nothing crazy happens.

All would be well.