Tap, tap, tap.
Laura was dancing before my eyes.
Her legs moved precisely in rhythm.
Dazzling steps.
I worried that her legs might get tangled, but soon, Narin realized such concerns were meaningless.
How could she be so precise?
Executing choreography itself wasn’t necessarily a strange feat. People who were truly skilled at dancing could pick up a routine just by watching it briefly and perform it on the spot.
But Laura was on a different level.
The angle at which she extended her legs, the exact spot where her feet landed—
Everything fell into place with terrifying precision.
"When the moonlight shines, the lights rise in the red-light district."
Laura softly murmured the lyrics.
It wasn’t a perfectly native Japanese accent yet. However, her pronunciation sounded as if she had grown quite familiar with the language.
Even Son Narin, who didn't know much about the song, recognized it.
Wasn’t this the song where all sorts of 3D characters danced in MMD videos?
Like those dance clips that occasionally popped up in the algorithm.
Without a moment’s hesitation, Laura extended her arms and legs, perfectly replicating the choreography.
"Is this a dream or reality?"
"Now, let’s go—Paradise."
Paradise.
A place said to be reached only by those who lived righteously, according to Buddhist teachings.
In Christian terms—heaven!
Heaven…!
"Hmm. Is this how it should feel?"
As I watched Laura dance, at some point, the performance of "Paradise" had come to an end.
While Narin stood dazed, speechless, Sora approached Laura.
"Are you really sure this is your first time dancing this?"
"I've watched the video a few times, but this is my first time actually dancing it."
"You dance this well, and you're telling me it's your first time…? This isn’t just 3D streaming level—you could perform this at a paid live concert…."
"Hmm. I don't think it's polished enough to show others. I probably won't be dancing it on stream…."
"That’s such a waste!"
Narin interjected.
"It’s a waste! Whether it’s a 3D stream or a paid live show or whatever—please dance on stream too!"
That was what Narin shouted.
What’s up with her now?
***
We had started dance practice.
Me, Sora, and Narin.
Just the three of us.
I had already planned on learning dance anyway.
Not too long ago, thanks to Narin, I got introduced to a dance trainer.
And somehow, for reasons I still didn’t fully understand, Son Narin decided to join the dance lessons as well.
"I feel like I’ve been too absorbed in gaming! I want to set a New Year’s goal and improve myself!"
That was her reasoning.
And for some reason, Narin even invited Sora to take dance lessons together.
‘Does she like Sora or something?’
She’s been oddly friendly toward her.
And it seemed Sora wasn’t completely disinterested in dancing, as she accepted Narin’s invitation.
Since Sora would be next in line after my 3D stream, she probably figured it’d be a good chance to prepare for the future.
And so, the three of us started dancing together.
Apparently, Shina also attended this studio, but I had yet to see her.
"Didn’t you say Shina comes here too? I haven’t seen her."
"She has a different schedule. And you probably won’t get to meet her anyway. I think she’s heading to Japan after this week's match."
Shina was scheduled to perform at an external event called the Badario Festival.
And after that festival, it seemed she wouldn’t have any opportunities to dance for a while.
"Then I guess I won’t get to meet her."
"Probably not!"
That’s a bit disappointing.
I wanted to meet Shina at least once.
So, in the mornings, the three of us attended dance lessons together.
And for lunch, we also ate together.
"So, Sora, are you still staying at Laura’s place?"
"I’m planning to stay until Lunar New Year."
Our lunch spots changed a little each time, but lately, we’d been eating light meals at cafés.
I once suggested going to a soup restaurant, but Sora didn’t seem to like it.
Plus, those places were always packed, so we often just grabbed some bread at a café and chatted instead.
"Heh, I see… Hmm…"
Narin stirred the whipped cream in her café mocha while eyeing Sora.
"Is Laura’s place nice?"
"It is, but it’s a bit cold… Since she doesn’t feel the cold at all."
Sora shrugged.
For the time being, she had decided to stay at our house.
Originally, she was supposed to return home after the Behemoth vs. Cerberus match, but somehow, things turned out this way. Not that I minded—it worked out well for me.
With Sora around, housework was getting done smoothly. Plus, since I was going out often for dance lessons these days, it was convenient.
Every time I went out, Sora did my hair.
She was even better at it than Rion.
Well, it made sense since Sora had studied cosmetology.
"I’d like to visit someday~."
Narin said that.
After chatting at the café for a while, we parted ways once the time felt right.
After returning home, Sora and I each prepared for our streams.
To be honest, I didn’t have much preparation to do.
There were a few planned streams, but they were all collaborations I had been invited to by others.
Since there wasn’t much for me to prepare personally, my stream prep was mostly self-directed.
Checking out newly released games, looking at upcoming titles to decide what to stream.
Listening to different songs and picking which ones to sing for my 3D stream. That was about it.
On the other hand, Sora was quite busy.
She prepared for her streams in Rion’s room, and sometimes, I could hear her warming up her voice through the wall.
Since singing was her main content, she had to do regular karaoke streams.
But since repeating the same songs over and over wouldn’t be interesting, she often practiced new ones at home to expand her repertoire.
Lately, she’d also gotten into ASMR, looking into binaural microphones.
On top of that, she was lightly working on a project.
I wasn’t sure what it was yet.
Anyway, after we both spent some time preparing for our streams, there would come a moment when Sora visited my room.
"I got a collab request."
"If you’re talking about the Dungeon Seeker collab with Inagika, I already heard about it."
"No, this was from Narin-senpai, asking if we wanted to play Dungeon Seeker together… Wait, hold on—Inagika mentioned a collab?"
If nothing special came up, Son Narin would usually invite me to play Dungeon Seeker.
But lately, instead of contacting me directly, she had been reaching out to Sora instead.
"What’s your schedule like today?"
"I didn’t have anything specific planned, but… Wait, I’m not your manager. Why do you keep asking me?"
"If you’re free, just accept Narin’s offer."
And so, in the evenings, we often ended up playing Dungeon Seeker.
That was how the three of us spent our daily lives.
***
What could possibly surprise me anymore?
It wasn’t like I hadn’t spent enough time with Laura.
…Or so Sora once thought.
"Sora! You can’t secure the rope like that!"
Narin pointed out the state of Sora’s harness.
"This is just loosely attached! If you make one wrong move, you could fall straight down!"
"Oh… is that so…?"
"I’ll show you, so make sure you remember this!"
And so, Narin adjusted Sora’s gear.
From a distance, Laura was effortlessly setting up her own equipment. Watching her, Sora… felt confused.
"Uh, we are exploring a dungeon, right?"
"Yep! That’s right!"
"We’re not… mountain climbing, are we?"
"It’s not hiking, but we’ll be doing a bit of climbing!"
"……."
Sora rubbed her forehead for a moment.
Dungeon exploration… Was that supposed to be something you ate?
If they were in a mountainous region or a deep cave, she could understand the need for this kind of gear.
But using climbing equipment inside a mansion?
The very concept of dungeon exploration was becoming increasingly baffling.
"You can’t just walk down the hallways. There’s not much cover, so escaping would be difficult. Moving along the outer walls is the safest option."
I mean, the logic made sense…
But who actually did stuff like this?
It felt like hearing someone say, ‘If you keep jumping from rooftop to rooftop, you’ll reach your destination faster than taking the bus.’
"Come on, follow me."
"Ugh…."
Despite feeling a bit scared, Sora followed along.
She had little experience with climbing, but now that she thought about it, hadn’t she practiced moving between buildings using ropes back in Aseosal?
Maybe because of that training, she adapted quickly.
Once she got the hang of it, it wasn’t as bad as she had feared.
"Oh, Laura. We don’t have any food."
"Then should we catch some rats or bugs to eat?"
…Correction.
This was much worse than she had feared.
But who was she? She was Ayanokouji Sora, leader of EYEAI’s 6th Generation.
Well, a lot of people said the real leader was actually Aurora.
It was true that most of the 6th Gen tended to follow Laura’s lead.
And honestly, it mostly felt like Sora had been forced into the role because Laura found it annoying.
Still, the fact remained that Sora was the official leader.
Whenever Laura suggested a direction, Sora had the ability to organize and execute it.
After going through all sorts of hardships alongside Laura, experiencing rough conditions in Aseosal, and—more recently—trying mealworm snacks thanks to Laura’s sponsorship deal…
She had lost a bit of her femininity in exchange for fully adapting to this madness.
Munch, munch. Bugs taste pretty good.
Munch, munch. Rats aren’t bad either.
And so, the three of them indulged in what could only be described as extreme survivalist hobo gameplay.
Whenever their Hunger Gauge filled up, they caught and shared spiders and rats.
Instead of walking down hallways, they navigated the dungeon using ropes.
Rather than returning to town, they set up camp inside the dungeon.
Occasionally, they ran into members of Behemoth or Cerberus inside the dungeon.
"We’ll pay extra, so could you spare some food or items?"
"……."
Shina made a displeased face but still agreed to trade.
For her, it was an opportunity to earn some extra gold.
For Laura, on the other hand, the logic was simple: ‘Rather than wasting time going back to town, staying in the dungeon longer is more efficient.’
And so, Laura, Sora, and Narin gradually became more and more feral.
"…Are you all out of your minds?"
For the first time, Choi Gaho, who had just joined their Dungeon Seeker collab, let out a deep sigh.
The Franchise Owner had no idea what he was in for.
"Franchise Owner, if you want to survive here, you have to abandon common sense."
"Stop saying weird things…."
The Franchise Owner looked at them like they were crazy.
I was just trying to give him some helpful advice.
He’s still so naïve.
‘Well, he’ll understand eventually.’
Sora thought to herself as she bit into a spider leg.