Chapter 46: It’s not okay to pursue salt in regular collaboration? (No)

[[Regular Collab] The Angel and the Incarnation #StarsFlow#KogaSuzuha#KaiNoIzumi#SuziIzu]

[Suzu-hai~! The angel who wants to be praised by everyone, Koga Suzuha!]

-Suzu-hai!

-Suzu-hai!

“Konzu, Mi……. the mood maker, Ka, Kai no Izumi.”

-HaiIzumi!

-HaiIzumi!

[It’s finally starting, the once-a-month regular collab!]

“Y-Yeah….”

In the end, the inevitable has arrived.

The once-a-month regular collab we promised during the last offline collab.

Originally, it was supposed to start last month, but for various reasons, it was decided to start this month instead.

…It’s not all my fault.

Of course, I’m responsible for most of it, but Koga was busy last month too……

[Just so you know, it’ll probably be held on the third Sunday of every month, so please take note.]

-So, is today just a casual chat stream?

[First, let’s decide on our collab unit name, read some macarons, and then move on to chatting, shall we?]

Koga expertly started the broadcast while reading the chat.

Of course, since this is a collab stream, I couldn’t just sit back and do nothing either.

-Are you two alternating between channels?

[Yes. We’re on my channel this month, but next month it’ll be on Izumi’s channel.]

“Y-Yeah….”

Phew. Aside from the greeting, I’ve already said two lines.

At this rate, I think I’m doing my best.

-It feels like Mei-chan’s talking even less than usual today

-Is it because it’s a collab?

-Even considering that, she’s being really quiet

“…”

The chat instantly shattered my happy delusion.

So, everyone thinks something is off, huh?

-Did you two have a fight?

[Huh? What are you talking about? Us, fight? If we had fought, we wouldn’t even be doing a collab, haha.]

Koga chuckled at the chat’s wild speculation.

“Y-Yeah. We didn’t fight….”

Yeah, we didn’t fight.

It’s just that I’m feeling awkward and can’t talk much.

But think about it.

When Koga came to find me after Natchan’s 1st-anniversary live.

Koga cried, but I cried my eyes out too, didn’t I?

How could I have such an embarrassing memory and still hold a normal conversation with her?

[Looks like we’ll need to do another offline collab soon, Izumi.]

“Ugh….”

[That reaction is just too much!]

It’s not me that’s strange.

Koga’s just a communication monster who can laugh everything off so easily.

[Well, first things first, let’s decide on our collab unit name.]

“S-Sure….”

Honestly, I thought we could just go with SuziIzu, but Koga opposed it for some reason.

Since we’re doing a regular collab, she wanted to come up with a proper unit name.

[What do you all think would be a good name?]

-Wouldn’t SuziIzu work just fine?

-SuziIzu sounds catchy

[That feels a bit lazy……. It’s our first time forming an official unit, so I’d like a cooler name!]

“Th-Then, Koga, do you have any ideas in mind…?”

I asked because, judging by how strongly she opposed SuziIzu, I figured she must have something in mind.

[Well, not really……. We’re asking for suggestions because we can’t think of anything ourselves.]

That’s the response I got.

…Then, wouldn’t SuziIzu be fine?

But if I said that, Koga would probably scold me later, so I kept quiet.

-How about “Pure White Ocean”?

Suddenly, that message popped up in the chat.

Pure White Ocean. Since Koga is an angel, her symbolic color is white, and I’m the incarnation of water, the name

actually seems quite fitting…

[Pure White Ocean……. It’s nice, but it feels like something’s missing.]

Koga must have seen the same chat as me, as she shared a similar sentiment.

And just as Koga said, something about it felt like it was 2% lacking.

“White, sea. Water… sky. Ska, i.”

Ah.

“I-If that’s the case, how about ‘Blue Sky’?”

I thought we could use the concept of Koga as an angel descending from the sky and me representing the color blue,

then name the unit in English.

-Why English though?

“Well, things just sound cooler in English….”

It gives off that impactful, emotional vibe.

Explaining this kind of boyish dream wouldn’t make sense to Koga, though.

-The thought process of a middle school boy

-Isn’t Mei-chan a girl though?

[Blue Sky. Blue, Sky… Hmm. I think it’s nice. It’s catchy, too.]

Even though the chat was full of teasing, as long as Koga was okay with it, it wasn’t a problem.

“T-Then, the collab unit name will be Blue Sky, right…?”

Even though I suggested it, I think it’s a good name.

Maybe I have a bit of talent for naming things.

[You just took a viewer’s suggestion and translated it into English.]

Please don’t read my mind like that……

In the end, we settled on the original “Pure White Ocean” as the collab unit name, which I had first seen in the chat.

Initially, I was going to stick with “Blue Sky,” but when Koga voiced her opinion, I felt a bit of pride and dropped the

idea.

So, I guess I really don’t have a talent for naming things after all.

・Pure White Ocean.

Even though it felt a bit underwhelming at first, the more I hear it, the more it grows on me. It kind of reminds me of

“Stygian Stars,” which makes it sound pretty cool.

[HaiIzumi! Suzu-hai!]

[A question for Suzuha-chi!]

[What kind of colleague does Suzuha-chi think Mei-chan is?]

Since it’s a collab, most of the macarons were questions about each other.

For example, I got asked how I feel when Koga tries to act like the older sister…

Of course, if I gave a straightforward answer like “I think it’s cute,” she’d definitely get mad, so I carefully responded,

“Koga is a dependable and cool older sister.”

But somehow, Koga’s reaction wasn’t great.

Lately, I’ve been thinking she can actually read my mind, and it’s starting to scare me…

[Hmm. A cute colleague, I guess? Though that applies to the others too, but since I’m the oldest, I feel like I have to take the lead.]

“Heh… Even though you’re the shortest one, acting like you’re the cutest….”

…Oops.

ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

-Didn’t something similar happen last time too?

[Huh?! Are you picking a fight, Izumi?!]

“S-Sorry! I’m really sorry!”

I quickly exited the Mistcord call in a panic.

I didn’t even realize I’d said it out loud.

…Now, what do I do?

-Is the collab ending here?

-No wayㅋㅋ

[Koga Suzuha: Get back in here, now!]

“I-I’m back……..”

In the end, I rejoined the Mistcord call.

[Izumi…. Didn’t I warn you about this last time?]

Even though we were still on stream, I got scolded for a whole hour.

[Come to think of it, weren’t you late for your stream recently? Was it because of the school festival?]

“Y-Yeah. I, uh, was helping make some decorations….”

The stream ended, but Koga and I continued chatting through the call.

Thanks to getting scolded earlier, the awkwardness from last time had faded quite a bit.

・Should I be grateful for that?

[But if you were preparing for the school festival, shouldn’t you have stayed at school longer?]

“I, um, was in charge of making the flyers at home, so I just made some simple decorations and came back early.”

It’s been a week, and I’ve made about four drafts of the flyer, but they all feel a bit lacking.

The flyers need to grab attention, after all.

[Got it. So when’s the school festival at your school, Izumi? Next week?]

“Yeah… It’s on Thursday and Friday next week.”

Thankfully, our class’s cosplay café preparations were going smoothly.

I took a quick look, and the quality of the costumes was outstanding. I even tried one of the brownies we’ll be selling,

and it was seriously delicious.

I think we’ll definitely be popular on the day of the festival.

Of course, my flyer will play a huge role in that success.

Just thinking about it makes me feel so much pressure…

[Thursday and Friday next week, huh… Don’t you have anything to say to me?]

“Huh, what?”

Something to say?

Hmm, could she be offering to help?

Well, Koga has experienced three high school festivals already.

There’s probably a lot she could help with when it comes to the preparations.

But unfortunately, all the tasks I have to do can be handled on my own.

At most, I might ask her to give me some feedback once I finish the flyer design.

“I-I think I’ll be fine for now….”

[Got it. Let’s end the call here for today, then?]

“O-Okay. Thank you for your hard work.”

[Yeah. I’ll get in touch tomorrow.]

With a ringing sound, Koga ended the Mistcord call.

…Hmm. It felt like she was a little upset at the end.

Maybe I’m just imagining things?

I mean, I didn’t do anything wrong………

[Yukari: Izumi, is the reason you’ve been streaming late recently because of the school festival?]

[Izumi: Ah, yes. I’m in charge of making the decorations.]

Wait. Didn’t I just have this conversation with Koga earlier?

As I was feeling that sense of déjà vu, Akabane Yukari sent another DM.

[Akabane Yukari: Do you remember the penalty from our last bet?]

[Izumi: Yes. It was to treat you to a meal, and I was supposed to set the date…]

I was planning to sort it out after the festival…

Since meeting up might be awkward, I was thinking of just sending an expensive meal gift card.

[Akabane Yukari: Sorry, but I’d like to change the penalty a little.]

[Akabane Yukari: How about inviting me to your school’s festival instead?]

“…What?”

Technically, I can invite up to two people, excluding family, to the festival, but I never thought I’d actually use that privilege.

Just as I was about to ask if she was really serious about changing it, she sent another DM.

[Akabane Yukari: You can buy me lots of delicious food at the festival.]

It seemed I no longer had any say in the matter.

Here’s another new novel for you, give it a read…..

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