Vermallelia and Kai cleaned together in silence, the tension between them slowly eroding under the shared struggle of the task at hand. He held the door for her as she passed by; she kept the green bag open for him to stuff it full of cans, and they recoiled together at the roaches fleeing from under the pizza boxes. Vira knew it would take more than that to make them friends, but hoped that at least it would temper their animosity.
The Oathless's apartment was larger than the fairy godmother had initially thought and seemed even larger as the trash began to clear and the room opened up. There were, in fact, two rooms in the apartment—in addition to the kitchenette and the bathroom. In one, Kai resided, while the other was left untouched—orderly yet dusty with disuse—and seemed like a lounge or guest room, judging by the furniture.
She wanted to ask him about it, but given that she had compelled them to silence until day's end, she decided it was better to contain her curiosity for the moment.
***
They were done clearing the room of garbage by the afternoon, and hungry and tired as he was, Kai drew a cup of instant noodles out of the cupboard, taking what he considered to be a well-deserved break.
Vermallelia's ears twitched, and her tail spiked up straight at the sight of food. She sent Vira a longing, begging look.
The fairy godmother cleared her throat. "Kai…"
He froze in place at first, then turned and saw the rat-girl twiddling her thumbs, her pink eyes expectant and gleaming.
Damn it, why does she look so cute all of a sudden? He grunted and took out another cup.
Her face lit up with a big, adorable smile that pierced straight through his chest and melted his heart.
It isn't fair, he complained to himself, holding a stony and stoic facade as he heated up water in an electric kettle. Girls could get away with anything, no matter how obnoxiously annoying they are; all they have to do is bat an eyelash, and the entire world falls at their feet. He seethed as the kettle steamed up, and the two sat down to eat.
***
When they finished their break, Vira set them to clean Kai's room from top to bottom, starting with dusting, then cleaning the floor, and finishing with laundry.
By midnight, the Oathless slumped, exhausted, into his chair and turned on his computer, while Vermallelia, returning to her rat-form in a flash of red light, fled quickly through a hole in the wall.
Vira spun around, taking in the new sight of the room. The strong, bitter smell of energy drinks was replaced with the flowery scent of the cleaning detergent, and the floor was visible for the first time in what must have been weeks, at least. She smiled, proud of herself… and of her godchild, of course. There was much more to do: the kitchen and the bathroom, not to mention Kai's sheetless bed and his personal hygiene—
"Oh, isn't that…?" The image on his monitor caught her attention. "The woman, the same one depicted on your pillow."
"Nekoko."
"A strange name, isn't it?"
Kai shrugged, and the fairy narrowed her eyes at the screen. Nekoko appeared as a two-dimensional image, her movements and facial expressions ranging from rigid to exaggerated.
"What is she?"
Kai smirked. "A special agent from another dimension; she works at a maid café as cover for her secret identity." He recounted the VTuber's lore.
"Is that so?" She rubbed her chin. "I travel through different dimensions myself as part of my work… I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that there are other multidimensional travelers on Earth."
"Ah…" Kai blinked, not expecting her to take him seriously after last time. "You've been to other dimensions?"
"Yes, of course. Where did you think I came from?"
"Ah…" He sat with that for a moment, the gears in his head turning. "That could be it…" He smirked and glanced at the open window.
"What could be what?"
"You can cross between dimensions, and you have powerful magic… If I die, could you reincarnate me in another world? Like in a medieval fantasy world, or… maybe a space fantasy universe—either would work." He glanced at the window again. "Just make sure I get reincarnated in a better body, with some OP abilities, or—"
"What are you talking about? I am not capable of resurrecting or reincarnating people. Where did you get such strange ideas?"
"You… aren't?" His enthusiasm deflated.
"Sorry to disappoint you," she crossed her arms. "If you die here, you die for good, and there is nothing I can do about it… not to mention, I would probably have to start over with another Oathless." She shuddered at the thought.
"He is lying to you again, Sister," Aqwyn's voice came from the computer monitor.
"Was not," Kai said and was surprised to see the Royal Headmistress's image was picture-in-picture, taking up the bottom-right side of the screen, allowing Nekoko's live-stream to run in the background.
"This Nekoko person isn't real," she continued, ignoring him.
"She isn't?"
"Yes, she is," the Oathless insisted.
"She is an illusion, Sister."
"No, she—" he began to contradict, but stopped himself. "Ah… that's sort of true."
"So… is she real or not?"
"Look," Kai pointed to the image on the screen. "This 2D image… I guess you could say it's an illusion, but its movements are synced with the movements of a real person, and her voice is real, too."
"True," Aqwyn rolled her eyes. "But she is not a multi-dimensional 'special agent' who masquerades as a waitress."
"Well… no, that's her character's lore."
"Ugh…" Vira groaned. "Fictional lore, again?"
Kai chuckled, and the fairy godmother pouted—though now, her gears were turning.
"So, are you telling me there is a real human woman behind this… illusion?"
"Yeah, sure."
"And… you like that woman, like her enough to print her image on your pillow and go to sleep with her every night."
"Sure… but it's not like I have a chance with her—if that's what you're thinking."
"No, not in your current state," she scoffed. "Honestly, in your current state, I very much doubt you would have a chance with anyone."
Kai scowled.
"But… maybe in the future…" She let that hang, giving him room to think, allowing him to imagine. And so he did, going quiet for a long minute.
"Maybe…" he said eventually. "But I doubt it. She doesn't even live in this country, and besides… I don't even know what she really looks like."
"Is that all that matters to you?" Aqwyn asked.
"Of course," he said. "What if she is fat and ugly?"
"You mean, like you?" she raised an eyebrow.
Kai clicked his tongue and moved his cursor to close her PIP window. All of them were surprised when it worked.
"Aqwyn! What—how did you do that?"
"The magic of technology, I guess."
"Thank you so much for tuning in, everybody!" Nekoko said. "As always, I'll be here again tomorrow to Purrr-tect and serve you, my dear customers." She giggled, snorting at her own silly catchphrase, causing Kai to smile. "I hope you all get a good night's sleep and have sweet dreams. Take good care of yourselves, alright? It really means a lot to me, so you have to Purrr-omise." She giggled again, and the chat filled with emotes of nodding cartoon cats. "Okay, good, I'll see you later then. Bye-bye, nyan-nyan!" Her image faded, replaced with a splash screen of herself, standing beside a door with a 'CLOSED' sign on it, waving goodbye to the viewer, the text: 'Hope to see you again! <3' floating above her in a speech-bubble.
Kai closed the stream and crawled into bed, hugging Nekoko's pillow tight. Today was hard, and if what Vira said was true, this was still the easy part—the part that was fully within his control and that which had immediate returns. Next, he would have to start exercising, and dieting, and find a job that paid well, and do a million other things—things which he knew he had to do before Vira ever flew through his window, but had rejected because… they were too difficult… sometimes, he even thought they were impossible.
He turned, looking out the window.
Why? He asked himself. Why am I like this? Why is everything such a struggle? He sighed. Things would be so much easier if I could just start over, reincarnate in another body, to another family, be innately strong, and cool, and handsome… It would be so much easier if I were someone, anyone, instead of no one. If I had people who actually cared about me, and didn't only see me as a burden.
Vermallelia's words echoed in his mind, Why don't you do us all a favor and—
"Stupid vermin-loli," he cursed under his breath, and turned away from the window.
Nekoko's words followed the echo. Take good care of yourselves, alright? It really means a lot to me…
It was something she always said at the end of her streams. She didn't really mean it, Kai thought. She couldn't possibly mean it, she has thousands of fans, tens of thousands—what does one less matter? She wouldn't even notice if I was gone… no one would…
He kept tossing and turning for hours, haunted by these dark thoughts… until he fell asleep.