── [ 𝐓o 𝐁e 𝐁y 𝐘our 𝐒ide ] mika m .

IV

Dec. 24, 2023

"Happy Holidays, Aether!~" Rosemi cheered as she joined the discord call. "Rosemi-sama, thank you for coming! Happy holidays!" You greeted her back with an ecstatic smile.

As a sort of Christmas present for your followers, you played fall guys with them. Though, as the stream progressed, more and more of your friends began popping in here and there. You turned it into more of a zatsudan, about 2 hours in. And much to your absolute shock, you even received a response from Kuro on your 'Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays!' tweet. Things were looking up, weren't they?

"You're celebrating Christmas, right?" The familiar voice of Selen chimed in. She joined a while ago. "Yep." You replied with a nod, which your VTuber model picked up. "Oh thank god. Just making sure." She sighed out, making your heart practically drop.

"What did you do this time?" You questioned suspiciously after a moment of silence, earning Selen's iconic laughter. "Nothing, nothing!" She snickered.

"Well, you'll see." Selen added, suppressing another giggle. "No comment." Rosemi perked up with a smile. She obviously knew exactly what Selen was talking about.

"It might be a bit late, I dunno, the shipping wasn't narrowed down to a specific date."

"Excuse me, the shipping?"

Your eyebrows raised as you tried to make sure you heard Selen correctly. "Huh? Shipping? What are we talking about?" Perfect timing, Mika. Nice way to scare the living soul out of you for the second time ever.

"Jesus, Mika." You breathed out after recovering from your mini heart attack in the span of a few seconds. "Happy Holidays to you too, I guess." Your voice was laced with sarcasm, though you were quite obviously happy to be talking to Mika again.

"Merry Christmas, Aether." She chuckled in response. After a moment of silence, a sound of realization escaped her lips. "Oh, hi Selen!" Mika greeted. "Now I know what you guys were talking about." She blurted out quickly, as if thinking out loud.

"Pardon?" Your eyes fully widened. So, not only did Rosemi know, Mika knew too? What're they and Selen scheming? "You might get a knock on your door today." Mika remarked, leaving you baffled and scrambling to form a response.

"What?" You eventually managed to squeal out in a borderline whistle-tone, leaving you even more shocked. You didn't know your voice could even go that high, if you were being honest. You suppose that's what Mika and Selen can do to someone.

Although, this'll be the last time.

Your grin faltered at the thought, though chat's focus was more on Mika, Selen and Rosemi's laughter. Nobody seemed to notice you.

"I mean, I gotta make an impact," Mika giggled. "It's the last chance I get." She murmured. Despite her joking tone, you could recognize the underlying dejection behind her words. The chat immediately spammed with equally joking and serious comments.

"Yeah. This'll be the last Christmas we spend together, huh?" You muttered. "Mhm, so let's enjoy it!" Rosemi attempted to lighten the mood. "We shouldn't waste too much time moping, when we could be spending it with Mika instead!" She added with a sugary sweet smile.

"Right, sorry." You giggled, eliciting a quiet yet comforting "it's okay" from Mika. "If it's the last Christmas we spend together, we better make it the best one." You shrugged.

"That being said - Christmas karaoke?" You joked, now with a smile. You weren't sure how much of it was forced and how much of it was genuine at this point. It was odd, you were starting to tire of acting like you're not worried, and yet at the same time, you didn't like opening up on stream. You wanted them to know how you felt, but how could you portray it if you weren't going to tell anybody?

Well, except Mika. You could tell her anything, and you did just that.

"Uhm.." Mika considered. "If you want me to sound like a dying duck, sure." She agreed, voice laced with little to no sarcasm. And yet, you could tell she was simply kidding.

"No joke, now I want to." Selen remarked with a borderline audible grin. "Because you want to hear Mika?" Rosemi questioned, earning a "no, no, no!" blurted out through giggles from Selen.

"Like- I wasn't thinking about it before, but now that Aether mentioned it, I kind of wanna." She rambled, seeming to be holding in some form of laughter, hence her voice sounding mildly strained.

As Selen and Rosemi continued conversing, your gaze drifted off to the chat displayed on screen. Everybody seemed to be having fun, some even wishing the other happy holidays as they had just joined. Perhaps it wasn't all that bad, after all.

But, could you really ever get used to it - without Mika?