She held up the silver chopstick, the one she'd used to eat the plant, the one that had been in her hair.
"There's a pinhole camera in here," she said, tapping the end of it. "Got everything. Your face when I ate the plant. When my jaw stretched. When I showed you the scales." She paused. "And actually... it's not just recorded. It's live."
"It's ..it's WHAT?"
"Live. Streaming. Right now."
Yuki pointed the chopstick at him like a weapon. "Say hi to the chat!"
Luke looked down at himself. His clothes were a mess from crawling on the floor. There was dust all over his shirt. His hair was probably sticking up everywhere. He glanced around his bedroom: Clothes everywhere, empty cans, that pile of laundry he'd been ignoring for at least 3 weeks.
Everyone could see everything.
His face went red.
"You're.." Luke felt anger rising in his chest. "You can't just..it is so .."
But Yuki was already pulling him closer, angling the chopstick camera toward both of them. "Come on, don't be shy! Your fans want to see you!"
Luke wanted to yell. Wanted to grab the camera and smash it.
But then he looked at her face,that cute smile, these bright eyes and the most important thing is she looked so happy, so proud of herself, literally jumping like a rabbit.
And honestly... the prank was over now. What was done was done.
He took a breath. Forced himself to calm down.
"Fine," he muttered. "Hi, everyone."
Yuki giggled and waved at the camera.
"See? He's okay! Best prank ever, right?"
**
The video exploded overnight.
Within twelve hours, the livestream clip had been reposted everywhere—Twitter, TikTok, Instagram, Reddit. Luke's subscriber count jumped from 1.3 million to 3.2 million in three days. Every major reaction channel was covering it. Memes were everywhere. His terrified face as Yuki revealed those green scales became the new *surprised Pikachu* for about two weeks straight.
Yuki had basically launched him into the stratosphere whether he wanted it or not.
At first, Luke was worried people would focus on how messy his apartment was, that they'd think he was a slob and lose respect for him. But actually nobody cared about the dirty clothes or the empty pizza boxes or that sad pile of laundry in the corner.
All anyone could talk about was how he'd actually been scared. The guy who spent 5 years debunking haunted houses and calling out fake ghosts had been reduced to crawling on the floor and trying to dial 911 because a girl in a lizard suit ate his ex-girlfriend's dying houseplant.
It was humiliating.
Luke had built his entire brand on being fearless, on being the guy who walked into abandoned asylums at midnight without flinching, the guy who laughed at jump scares and exposed every trick. Now millions of people had watched him lose his shit over what turned out to be body paint and a costume. His comment sections were flooded with jokes
"Luke's Dark Side? More like Luke's Scared Side."
"Bro got pranked by a 5'2" girl eating a plant."
"The look on his face when she opened that kimono though."
He tried to laugh it off at first, but honestly? It stung. The whole thing felt like his reputation had been flipped upside down in one night, and he wasn't sure how to handle it.
**
Luke missed so many shifts at The Rusty Nail that his boss finally got fed up and fired him.
Well, technically he got a severance check and a handshake, but it was still getting fired. The bar needed someone reliable, and Luke had spent the last two weeks either hiding in his apartment or dealing with the chaos online.
Meanwhile, Yuki's account exploded. She gained 500k followers in one month. Every single comment on Luke's videos mentioned her. "Where's Yuki?" "Yuki should prank him again." "Yuki was the real star." Some people pointed out that livestreaming someone without clear consent was kind of messed up, that she'd invaded his privacy.
But since Luke had waved at the camera that night and said hello, most people assumed they were in on it together. That it was all planned.
It wasn't.
BUT nobody cares the truth.
So Luke just locked himself in his apartment for a month and a half. He barely left his room except for grab food or use the bathroom. Every day was the same: drink, play video games, drink more, try not to think about what happened. He avoided all social media,turned off notifications and deleted apps, just wanted to forget the whole thing existed.
But every time he drank matcha tea, he thought about that infuriating Japanese girl.
This life mode continued until.. another news hit.
Yuki deleted her account.
She'd reached a million followers in less than two months, and then just disappeared.
No announcement. No explanation. Just gone.
Luke stared at his phone screen, refreshing her profile over and over,but the only thing he can find was just a few words: Account not found.
What happened? Did something go wrong? Was she okay?He felt a weird knot in his stomach. Anxiety, maybe,or concern. He wasn't sure.
Luke picked up his phone and dialed her number. He'd saved it that night after the prank, though he'd never actually called.
The phone rang.
Then he heard a phone ringing outside his door.