章 31: Mysterious viewer

Anzu sat in her gaming chair, her face illuminated by the soft glow of her monitor. She was live streaming as usual, playing the punishing game Graveborn Saga, a Soulsborne-like game that had her on the edge of her seat. Every attack, every dodge, had to be perfect, but today... it was not going well.

"Come on! What the hell!" Anzu yelled in frustration as her character died for the tenth time to the same boss, a massive, armored beast that could crush her with one hit. She threw her controller down and sighed loudly, leaning back in her chair. "This game is impossible. I don't even know why I'm still playing it."

Her chat exploded with comments.

Chat:

Skill issue, Anzu-chan!

Maybe try dodging for once?

LMAO she's gonna rage quit!

Fight! Fight! Anzu-chan!

Anzu frowned, reading the chat. "Hey, it's not a skill issue, alright? These bosses are just... unfair!" She pouted, crossing her arms, but a tiny part of her was feeling the heat from the comments.

She picked up the controller again, muttering under her breath. "Alright, let's try this again. This time, for real." Anzu focused as she faced the boss again, but once more, she was met with a quick and brutal defeat.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME!" she screamed, almost pulling her hair in frustration. "This game is cursed!"

Chat:

Oof, rip.

There's no way she's beating this one.

Skill issue confirmed.

Anzu gritted her teeth, about to retort when suddenly, something flashed across her screen. A donation—no, not just any donation—a huge donation.

¥100,000

Anzu's eyes went wide. "W-Wait, what?" She nearly jumped out of her seat, staring at the donation alert that flashed by. The name of the donator caught her eye: AnzuFan.

"Did... did you make a mistake?" she asked out loud, her voice shaking slightly. "There's no way that's real, right?" The chat immediately went wild, reacting to the enormous amount.

Chat:

WHOA! What the heck?!

AnzuFan is loaded!

This is insane!

Anzu blinked, her heart racing as she looked closer. The message attached to the donation read: "You should take a break if you need to, Anzu."

She smiled, feeling a warmth in her chest despite her shock. "T-Thank you! I... I don't even know what to say. That's so kind of you."

As she tried to regain her focus and continue playing the game, another donation alert popped up. Another large amount.

¥80,000

The message read: "Did you have your meals today?"

Anzu felt a wave of unease mixed with gratitude wash over her. The chat was going even crazier, but she was now a little suspicious. "Uh, yes, I did... I had lunch earlier," she answered awkwardly, her voice a little shaky. She couldn't help but feel like something strange was going on.

More donations kept coming, all from the same AnzuFan, each one asking something like "Are you sleeping enough?" or "Make sure you're taking care of yourself." Each time, Anzu felt more anxious but tried to play it cool for the sake of the stream.

By the time she ended her stream, she had received more money in one session than she had ever earned in her entire streaming career. The total amount made her head spin. She couldn't believe what had just happened. "Thank you all so much," she said with a final smile before ending the stream. "This has been... unbelievable."

As the screen went dark, Anzu leaned back in her chair, staring blankly at the ceiling. "What just happened?"

Later that evening, Anzu sat at the dinner table with Ryo and Akemi. The atmosphere was calm, but she couldn't shake off the strange feeling from the stream earlier. As they ate, Anzu noticed Ryo glancing at her from across the table, his eyes flickering with something unreadable, but he stayed quiet, especially with Akemi sitting between them, laughing and joking as usual.

"Ryo-kun~," Akemi purred, leaning into him with a sweet smile. "You've been working so hard lately. How about we take a vacation soon, just the two of us? I miss spending time with you." She traced her fingers along his arm playfully.

Ryo, clearly a uncomfortable by her affection but not one to deny her, smiled faintly. "Yeah, sure, we can plan something with Anzu included."

Anzu quietly observed their interaction, pushing her food around on her plate. Ryo seemed distracted tonight, his mind clearly elsewhere even as Akemi showered him with attention. She could easily tell that Ryo was just humoring Akemi and not meaning anything he says.

Once dinner was over and everyone started to head to bed, Anzu caught a glimpse of Ryo lingering by her room. He was waiting for her.

"Anzu," Ryo said, his tone unusually soft as he approached her.

Anzu turned to him, feeling slightly anxious. "What's up?"

He hesitated, as if he wasn't sure how to bring it up. "Are you... okay? I'm worried about you...because of that incident."

Anzu blinked. "Yeah, I'm fine. Why?"

Ryo rubbed the back of his neck, clearly uncomfortable. "I just noticed you've been... spending a lot of time on the computer lately. I know you enjoy your time, but you should make sure you're keeping up with your schoolwork, too."

Anzu raised an eyebrow, suddenly on high alert. "What does my computer have to do with my schoolwork and how do you know I'm on my computer. Have you been spying on me?"

Ryo quickly averted his gaze, his face betraying nothing but mild concern. "Noo! I'm not. Just... make sure you're not overdoing it. Okay?"

Before Anzu could respond, Ryo nodded once more and left, walking down the hall toward his room. Anzu stood there, watching his retreating figure with narrowed eyes.

"He's acting weird," she muttered to herself. Something about the way he spoke, and the way he looked at her tonight, made her feel uneasy. It was almost like he knew something she didn't.

As she closed her door and sat on her bed, she couldn't help but think about AnzuFan and the donations. Could it be connected? Could Ryo be the...?

Shaking her head, she lay down, staring at the ceiling. "He's just trying to care for me... in his own strange way. What a weird man but for some reason he reminds me of..." Anzu quickly erased the thought that came to her mind, as she felt replused thinking of Ryo as his only loving father Kamiya.

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