Dora demolished two steaks in the blink of an eye, then shoved the salad and veggies I'd brought along straight into the fridge without a second glance.
Only then did the peppermint tea I'd picked up earlier emerge from the freezer to quench her thirst.
"Haaah. Perfectly chilled. Full, refreshed... Feels so good."
I held out a pizza topped with vibrant, appetizing fruit slices toward her.
"You really won't have even one slice?"
"I eat food, not junk. Hehe."
"Mmm, but it's so good."
As I munched diligently on my second pizza, Dora wandered lazily into the living room and flopped onto the addictive beanbag cushion in the corner, as if waiting for my slow eater self to finish.
"Jia, check this out. My belly's about to burst."
Dora drummed her pale, bloated stomach like a drum.
Sprawled out defenselessly, she looked every bit the stuffed fool.
But she stood at a whopping 171 cm.
Compared to my shrunken 140 cm, that was a full head taller—more, even.
Grinning like an idiot in her satisfied stupor, she was still a dangerous predator, just like her streaming persona, the Red Dragon.
Why else would the boss park our high-salary team leader in the monitoring room instead of me?
Because if Dora got hold of me, I'd never escape.
"Don't lounge around too much. You'll fall asleep. Time to prep for the stream soon."
Dora sprang up and plopped down across from me, flashing a grin.
"Once you finish eating, Jia."
"Make us late again?"
"I won't be late. We've still got thirty minutes till stream time."
"Better prep early so nothing breaks."
"Ughhh. It's not like stuff breaks 'cause we didn't prep!"
She huffed and puffed, but kept smacking her lips, her face screaming she had something to say.
"If you've got something to say, spit it out. Tell me if you need help with anything. I'll handle it after we eat."
Dora slammed her chest and elbows onto the table, leaning in toward me like she'd been waiting.
"Horror game. Won't you... play it with me from the side...?"
Her smug expression from moments ago had turned pitifully pleading.
Like she'd burst into tears if I refused.
At least she wasn't talking about plopping me on her lap like Komari.
Or yanking me into a hug out of fear.
She treated me warmly, sure, but there was still a bit of distance.
Dora was infamous among the 1st Gen as the Hugging Devil.
Little Komari went without saying—even Maru and Rain couldn't escape her enthusiastic embraces whenever they met.
She minded her manners a tad more in public, but according to the 1st Gen spill sessions, she stuck to someone like glue at a fellow genmate's place.
If she saw me as one of them, she'd have wordlessly scooped me up and dragged me to the soundproof booth.
But this lingering distance.
Not bad at all.
After all, I was here to work, not hang out with friends.
"I can stick around. But I won't be much help on stream."
"That's enough for me...."
Amazed once more at the boss's foresight in handing my duties to our team leader.
I nodded.
"Got it. Finish eating, then we'll head over."
"Yay!"
Dora's head bobbed frantically; her ashen face flushed with revived color, like she'd cheated death.
"B-But. Are you sure you're okay, Jia? Komari's fearless, so she was fine.... But this is a horror game, of all things...."
Today's stream was Pandemic Village—a survival horror where players got weapons to fight off enemies.
Monsters popped out to scare you, sure, but you could always beat them down in the end.
That's why I, an FPS fan, didn't count survival horror as "horror."
I've got a gun?
Just kill the enemies?
...Shoot whatever shows up—what's scary about that?
"I'm fine."
A bit later, I borrowed a guest chair and sat side-by-side with Dora.
Watching her prep the stream was oddly captivating—her character panel at 5 o'clock on screen, calmly tweaking settings.
I'd seen her streams daily, but never the prep up close.
She had frequent gear issues, yet the second she went live, she was pure professional. Impressive.
Intriguingly, today's setup had an extra piece of equipment: a screen tablet, usually clamped to an arm and tucked behind the left monitor. A used model she'd owned since before debut, since she loved drawing.
⚡ZZZAP
[ Akari Dora / AKARI DORA ]
@akaridora_parallel_vtuber | 261K Followers
A dragon curious about humans, Parallel 1st Gen Akari Dora!?
[ (?Live) Too Scared, Calling in My Buddy~ ] ?4,491
#Pandemic_Village #Parallel #TotalCoward
The stream kicked off moments later.
Intro music faded, mic went hot, and viewers faced a blank white canvas in Comic Pro.
— ?
— Whatcha doing?
— Dora~
— Dragooon~
— Wtf sudden ㅋㅋ
Everyone freaked at the random white page, but Dora popped up giggling from the bottom right.
Her pen danced—black lines sprouted across the screen.
— Drawing already?
— This is fresh
— Draaagon
Seemed sloppy, but her drawing chops shone through in speed and polish.
Lines crossed, colors filled, effects layered—and soon, a cute hatchling emerged: red skin, black horns. Dora's fan character.
But not your standard hatchling—this one had illicit long black hair and an ID badge around its neck. Head looked comically bigger than usual, intentionally or not.
Folks quickly clocked who it was and cracked up.
— Bigheadling ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
— Look at the lil' shrimp ㅋㅋ
— ㅋㅋㅋ So cuuute
— Yuppp
Half hadn't caught on yet, debating if it was a female viewer hatchling or who it depicted.
Dora cut out the drawing and placed it next to her character at 5 o'clock.
A donation pinged instantly.
:: Anonymous Donor sent 1,000 Clouds! ::
:: Lol who tf is this ㅋㅋㅋㅋ ::
— Fr ㅋㅋㅋ
— Gave all the hints ㅋㅋ
— ??
— Someone I ate with today~
"Hehe. Who could this beee?"
Dora winked at me as she said it.
Self-intro time, as planned.
I cleared my throat.
"Hey everyone. Staff D here. Not really a guest—Dora's collab streams always glitch out, so I'm here early on standby. Plus, she was scared, so I'm parked next to her like a good luck totem. Ignore me and enjoy the stream."
Reactions split starkly: the clued-in cheered, the clueless got hyped.
— KYAAAAAAAA
— SHE'S HERE!!!!
— Irasshaimase!!!!!
— Waitedwaitedwaitedwaitedwaitedwaited
— ????
— Huh
— Staff D here??
— Insane ㅋㅋㅋ Staff D here??
— My day off tomorrow was worth it♣
— Dang ㅋㅋㅋ
The informed went from guess to glee.
The oblivious felt gifted, shoulders dancing.
Crucially, having staff on standby thrilled viewers.
No more ignoring issues—preemptive coverage to minimize glitches? Trust in the company skyrocketed.
— Parallel working overtime
— Fair ㅋㅋ Dora collabs always chaos ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
— PA RA LLEL
— This is management ㅋㅋ
The company cheers naturally pivoted to me.
Folks praised the smart company—and hey, a company rep was on stream.
:: Anonymous Donor sent 1,000 Clouds! ::
:: Sudden Q, but is Staff D actually cute irl? ::
— ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
— Been wondering too
— Voice makes ya curious ㅋㅋ
Dora turned to stare at me.
Expected her to describe my looks, but she seemed to be asking my take.
I shrugged palms-up: your call.
I wasn't here to interfere.
Just like ceiling lights or stage speakers—use me however.
Dora hmm'd, then teased into the mic.
"That? That's my little secret. Puhehe."
— Total kid sis vibe?
— Augh tease
— Won't tell huh
— Yup~ Everyone knows Staff D's cute~
"Cute? Nah, you don't know. How cute is your Rain unnie? You got no idea."
— Straight cap
— What nonsense
:: Anonymous Donor sent 1,000 Clouds! ::
:: By that logic, why not say the boss is cute too? ::
— Kawaii Raw Fish Master at Company HQ
— ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
— Boss is scary no cap
Dora was a total goofball, no doubt.
Chats with her? Endless typos. Acted so childish, you questioned if she was over twenty.
But flip the broadcast switch, and she turned pro.
Just now, she twisted truth into viewer bait instead of spilling facts—wrestling the chat.
That was the glimpse of genius she flashed sometimes.
Her daily flubs screamed "bound to mess up," yet streams were rock-solid.
:: Anonymous Donor sent 1,000 Clouds! ::
:: My take: Staff D's a total kawaii girlboss, that's why they hide her ::
"Yup~ But you'll never see~ She's precious, all mine~ Hehe."
— Boo
— Boo monopoly's illegal
Pure stream theatrics.
If I were precious, huh? She wouldn't have dragged me here.
Whatever she said, viewers pictured me as the cute girl, landing there naturally.
:: Anonymous Donor sent 1,000 Clouds! ::
:: So Staff D who looks like Jamari does cute reacts during collabs too? ::
— KYAA
— Eeee
— That I'd pay for
— Heh heh
— Kinda wanna hear her scream ㅋㅋ
Scraping me Korean-style? Bold move.
Pandemic Village had guns—no fear there.
But an hour later, I faced true terror.
"Hwaaaang, what do I dooo? Hwaaang... Die! Geeet crusheddd!"
— Bruh how many tries on the first boss??!?
— Pls look before shooting ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
— AIM!!!!!!!! DOWN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
— (Facepalm)(Facepalm)(Facepalm)(Facepalm)
— (Blushing hard)(Blushing hard)(Blushing hard)
— Argh grr
Never seen anyone "play" horror like this.
A sight only possible sitting shotgun.
I'd braced for a startled desk-flip gear fail.
Nope—the issue was not looking at the screen at all.
Stream made it look like shaky aim from panic.
She straight-up averted her eyes.
Monster pops? Eyes elsewhere, blind-spray firing everywhere.
Her mouse hand was the real hazard.
Stray movements kept perilously grazing the gear cluster.
Wait—heading that way hits the audio interface—uh oh?