Chapter 7: Earthly Baggage
"Hey, Yuki, I’m curious," Vee started, the warm water of the hot spring gently lapping against her digital form. "What did you actually do for work back on Earth? You called yourself an introverted gamer, so how did you manage to become such an expert in survival and harvesting and... other things?"
"Oh, that? Well, I wasn’t exactly an indoor guy," Yuki replied, casually splashing water over Vee’s head to wash her.
"What do you mean?"
"While I was definitely an introverted person, I actually went solo camping a lot," Yuki explained. "I usually went camping out in the mountains abroad, and I traveled quite a bit, too."
"I see. So what did you do for work then?" Vee asked curiously. "I don’t think traveling to different countries just to camp is exactly cheap."
"It wasn’t," Yuki chuckled. "I was a streamer... and a massage therapist."
Vee looked up at Yuki, completely stunned. "A massage therapist?"
"Yeah, I was! i loved working their, It was actually a really nice job."
"Was?"
Yuki let out a soft sigh. "It got shut down because the owner was using the place as an underground market. They were hiring young men to service older, wealthy women who needed... satisfaction."
"So... an adult massage parlor?"
"Yeah. pity much"
"Isn’t that legal?" Vee asked, her digital eyes widening.
"Well, it’s totally fine for us to perform standard massages. But having someone pay for extra services inside a business establishment without the proper legal paperwork counts as illegal prostitution. The owner got arrested, and the whole place got raided and shut down."
Vee narrowed her eyes slightly. "Wait... were you one of those ’secret’ workers?"
"No, I was just a regular, above-ground worker!" Yuki countered proudly, puffing out his chest. "But it is the reason why I’m so good with my hands and my tongue. Hence, why I’m such a natural seductor!" He finished with a smug, dazzling grin.
"What kind of massages do you do with your tongue?" Vee thought "Never mind better not aske knowing this idiot its something ridiculous."
Vee rolled her eyes in sheer annoyance at his ridiculous claims. "So, what made you transition into becoming a full-time streamer then?"
"Ha! Now that is a really funny story," Yuki laughed lightheartedly. "I was at a mall for a convention when it suddenly got attacked by terrorists. I tried to run away, but I got caught by one of them. The guy mistook me for a woman and tried to drag me off to use as a hostage to force the police to comply with their demands. But I wasn’t going down without a fight! After a brief scuffle, I ended up stabbing the guy right in the neck, killing him."
Vee gasped, but Yuki kept talking with a casual smile.
"I completely freaked out when it happened and forgot to drop the knife. I ran out of the building covered in blood while still wearing my cosplay. I ended up running straight into the SWAT team. I couldn’t hear or see them very well because I was crying and panicking so hard. Since I was running at them with a weapon, I was shot directly in the face."
Vee just stared at Yuki, utterly horrified. Nothing about that story was funny at all.
"The doctors said my brain got scrambled pretty badly. I suffered permanent neurological damage, and it completely altered my personality," Yuki’s tone finally darkened a fraction, his gaze dropping to the water. "I couldn’t walk properly for a long time after the incident. The government paid me disability checks every month, so I just stayed home. Eventually, I became a streamer since I couldn’t go out and travel anymore. My viewers always said I seemed really detached from reality."
’Well... that certainly explains his current personality,’ Vee thought, a wave of profound sympathy washing over her. ’How am I even supposed to respond to a story like that?’
"Vee?"
"Yes?"
"Do you think I’m weird?" Yuki asked softly.
"..." Vee let out a quiet, gentle chuckle. "Yeah. I think you’re incredibly weird. You’re way too confident, and you’re always cheerful even when the situation is completely against you... But honestly, that’s what I like about you. I like you being weird. You might be a blissful idiot, but you’re my blissful idiot."
With a genuine, breathtaking smile, Yuki locked his emerald eyes directly onto hers. "Thanks. And sorry for being so hard to deal with. I’m really glad I have you, Vee."
Vee felt her digital heart flutter violently, a strange warmth spreading through her core. "Um... thanks. I’m glad to be your familiar, too." She quickly cleared her throat to break the intense tension. "We should probably get out soon. We need to continue our journey."
"Right," Yuki agreed, nodding.
"..., um, Yuki? If this isn’t too personal... how exactly did you die? You know, before coming here?"
"Ah... that’s kind of embarrassing," Yuki said, instantly looking away and rubbing the back of his neck.
"It can’t be that bad, can it?"
"I died from alcohol poisoning."
"..."
"..."
"Oh..." Vee blinked. "How?"
"Because of my brain injury, I couldn’t actually taste the alcohol," Yuki groaned, looking thoroughly ashamed. "I thought the store had just sold me some cheap, fake, watered-down liquor, so I kept drinking more to taste it. Turns out my body just processed the effects way slower than normal. By the time it hit me, it was too late."
Vee let out a long, heavy sigh, her usual exasperation returning. "Yeah... that sounds exactly like something you would do."
Yuki chuckled sheepishly as he finally stood up to step out of the hot spring, completely prepared to face whatever the demon mountains had waiting for them next.
Yuki and Vee made their way down the steep cliffside and back into the dense forest, continuing their journey toward the human settlement. Despite the heavy nature of their conversation about his past, Yuki wasn’t affected by the memories at all. He simply continued blissfully humming a tune as he skipped through the fresh snow.
