The week after the livestream was weird. In our house, an unspoken tension hummed beneath the surface. I kept catching myself staring at Rina, listening intently to the sound of her voice when she asked me to pass the soy sauce, trying to find a difference, any difference, from the voice I'd heard in my headset. There was none. It made the hair on my arms stand up.
Rina was acting strange, too. She'd go quiet whenever I entered a room, and I'd sometimes catch her looking at me with a confused, searching expression before quickly looking away. We were like two spies who suspected the other was a double agent but had no proof, circling each other in our own home.
Online, however, things were much clearer. The livestream had been a triumph, and the Ectiqa Alliance was buzzing. Everyone was praising Starlight_Knight_01 for his cool-headed crisis management. But I wasn't focused on the praise. I was worried.
Through M-Chan, I had learned that Ectiqa was exhausted after the stream. She had been dealing with a lot of "personal stress" lately. My mind immediately went to the stalker, the forum drama, the pressures of her secret life. My idol was suffering, and I couldn't stand it.
I had to do something.
I couldn't offer support as Rui. But as Starlight_Knight_01, I could be her provider, her silent guardian. I went online and ordered a curated gift box from a high-end tea shop- a selection of calming herbal blends meant to de-stress and aid sleep. I had it delivered to a P.O. box Miki had set up for fan mail, with a simple, typed note:
You give so much of your energy to us. Please take some time to recharge. - Starlight_Knight_01
A few days later, in the studio, Miki handed Rina a beautifully wrapped box. "This came for you. From him."
Rina's heart did a little flip. She opened it and saw the teas, along with the simple, thoughtful note. It was such a small, gentle gesture, but it felt incredibly intimate. The voice from the livestream echoed in her head- a voice that sounded so much like her brother's- and she felt a confusing swirl of emotions. This mysterious knight, whoever he was, seemed to know exactly what she needed, exactly when she needed it. It felt like he could see right through her mask and into her tired soul.
At home, the irony continued to stack up to skyscraper heights. I saw Rina yawning at the kitchen table, looking completely drained from a combination of school, her cafe job, and Haruka's relentless bullying.
"You look awful," I grumbled, pouring myself a glass of juice. "Seriously, you look like a ghost. Go drink some tea and get some sleep or something."
Rina looked up at me, her eyes wide. It was almost the exact same sentiment as the note from her knight. She stared at me, a flicker of that impossible suspicion crossing her face again, but my grumpy, uncaring tone was nothing like the gentle kindness of Starlight_Knight_01. I was just her annoying brother. She shook her head, dismissing the thought.
"Yeah, whatever, Onii-chan," she muttered.
The next week, I heard from M-Chan that Ectiqa was complaining of sore muscles from a long crafting session. The day after, a gift card for a luxury spa, specializing in deep tissue massages, arrived at the P.O. box. A week after that, when the weather turned cold, a soft, high-quality cashmere blanket was delivered.
Each gift was a quiet, anonymous act of care. Each one made Rina's heart ache with a sweet, confusing yearning. The boy at the convention, the voice in the headset, the knight who protected her online, and the silent benefactor who seemed to read her mind- they were all a single, enigmatic person. A person she was beginning to feel was an indispensable part of her life. A person she was, impossibly, falling for.