First Entry

Just as I have finished cleaning the wine spill on the ground, I notice a customer throwing up onto one of the tables.

Oh god, that's disgusting.

The bossman shoots me a look, and I know I'm the one that's up to cleaning it. Fuck my life. Fuck it all. As I take the mop and quickly begin to wipe away the vomit, I see some girls knock over a drink. The glass falls onto the ground, shattering into who-knows-how-many pieces.

Do I have to clean up that too?

I turn my head a little to see what my boss wants, but before I can get a good glimpse at him, a young man rushes by me, almost knocking me over. I manage to catch my balance, but not before I step into the vomit. He gives me an annoyed glare.

"I'm so sorry sir, I-" I try to apologize to him. Why? He's the one that bumped into me. The man gives a shrug saying 'my bad', and then quickly rushes off as if it never happened.

I step backwards and look at the bottom of my shoe. I don't even have any words. Nothing can be said. It just is.

I scrub away the rest of the vomit, and then rush over to the spot where the glass is, where a small crowd has gathered, gawking at the glass on the ground, but the moment I step in, everyone breathes a sigh of relief, and looks away. Soon, I'm invisible once more.

I sweep the ground in near silence as the buzz of the party whirrs around me. As soon as it's one mess finished, it's off to clean another.

Fuck my life.

I gaze around at the crowd, exasperated. Who the hell are these people, having a goddamn party on a Monday evening anyways?

I bet all of these people are losers-

I stop as I notice someone peculiar. He looks just like PixelParker, the famous MeTuber. It's been years since he retired, but he's still the number one Metuber in my heart. Well, it's either him or Samcapis, but Samcapis isn't here, so let me fanboy over Pixel, alright?

It can't be him. Why would he-

"Hey!" I hear a few others from the area shouting as they make their way over to him. "You aren't PixelParker, are you?"

The man nervously laughs. Despite his status, he's a humble man. I've seen way too many videos of him growing up to not know that.

And I know that laugh.

"Yes, that's me." He says, in his signature voice. "Let me guess, an autograph?"

It's him. The famous Metuber who basically inspired me to start streaming. His first Let's Play was playing one of my father's games, in fact. He's a really big fan of that series. I slowly walk up to him, trying my best to slide through the crowd.

This is my chance!

"Uh, sir-"

A table falls over, and all of a sudden, I can see the glare of the boss out of the corner of my eye. Fortunately - or perhaps unfortunately, my words have been completely ignored, as the Metuber walks away from me. I'm not sure if he heard me or not, but knowing how many people surround him, I wouldn't be surprised.

I hope he's not secretly an asshole and chose to ignore me.

"Hinata, I need you in the restrooms, we have sanitation protocol 6." The bossman breaks the moment yet again.

Protocol 6? That's a first.

"Uh, yes sir..."

I turn back to the Metuber. My hero. He's right there, just right there in front of me. This is my chance. I'm the son of Taro Saeki. I'm an interesting guy. If he just gave me a chance, if the world just gave me a chance, I-

He looks at me.

For a moment, our eyes meet, and just as it does, he glances past me, like I was never there to begin with.

"Hinata!" The bossman is trying to be subdued in front of the customers, but I can hear the slight annoyance in his voice, as if to ask why I'm just standing there.

"Y-yes sir."

***

Who the hell thought the sink was a toilet anyways?

A few of the partygoers walks past me, bumping into me once more. For a second time today, I am sent flying facefirst into filth. I manage to catch myself, but it seems like a group of people have decided to use the bathroom as an impromptu smoking ground. I cough.

That's it, I can't take this anymore. I need a break.

I step out of the restrooms, and out of the room. The boss gives me a glare at first, but as I look back at him, he seems to back off a little. Do I look weary? Whatever. I stumble out onto the back alley, where we workers usually go on breaks. To my surprise, Airi is also there.

She's standing there, looking up into the sky. She seems relaxed, actually.

"You alright, Hinata?" Airi asks me. I know that confidence. She's always chatting away with the customers happily, and with an ease I could never have in my own life. But not now. She's out here, standing with me.

"Huh?" I pause. "Yeah, of course!"

There's an awkward pause as Airi stares at the evening sky. Or at least, awkward for me. Airi looks natural and at ease with the way we are.

"Are you...free on the weekends?" Oh god, is this creepy? Is this weird? Dang it Hinata, you've ruined it. Good going. She laughs.

"This your way of asking me out?"

"What? No-"

"It's alright, it's alright." She gives me a smirk. "I like the attention."

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah. And no, unfortunately, I don't have the weekends off. Bar's busy then." 

"Oh." I look down at my feet. 

"But, I am free most weekdays." She says with a smile. Makes sense, the bar isn't open Mondays through Thursdays normally. 

"Well, is this your way of asking me out then? Because that sounds like a yes." I say, as I slick my hair back. Hey, I'm not a total loser. I can be cool.

"Perhaps. I don't mind having someone company for tomorrow's activities anyways." Airi says as the door opens. The boss steps out.

"Hinata!" We have a emergency protocol 19!" 

"I...I'll see you around then." I tell her as I slowly start to walk back inside. "So...tomorrow, right?" Airi laughs.

"Of course!" She winks at me.

"Hinata!" The boss yells out. "You've had your break. Back to work bucko."

"Yes sir." As I pick up my pace and walk back inside, I take one last look at Airi, raising an arm into the sky as she admires the stars.

Then with a huff, I close the door and look back into the bar.

Oh great, someone's unconscious from all the drinking.

***

I'm back home and sitting in front of my computer, waiting for an ounce of motivation to do something. I'd like to check my Metube stats, but I know it will be the same. Best case scenario of course.

Sigh.

I was far too exhausted to ask Airi anything after that whole deal. My joints hurt. And I'm completely worn out after everything.

After sitting there for who knows how long - the clock says thirty minutes - I decide I'll just maybe go to bed. The day's ruined anyways, or I would say so if there was anything to ruin anyways.

Fine, I'll check my comments. There's a few, from a couple female fans I have. Apparently there's this one girl who's decided I'm cute. She has a boyfriend, who I think introduced her to me a few years back, but she's one of the more consistent commenters, saying something at least every month. Which makes her a dedicated fan by my ass-standards.

"Wow, super cool video!" The comment reads. 

That's it.

But it's enough to warm my day. Maybe I'll put on a better show next time. I might not be as outgoing or charismatic as someone like Samcapis, but I know how to appeal to the ladies, given that I put on enough smooth lighting.

I stop.

This is fucking pathetic. I'm never going to actually make it as a Metuber, am I? I'm stuck in a dead end job, and even that's probably not going to last me forever. I gaze back at the front door. Ignore it as I may, the mail containing ignored rent is still piled up on the counter. 

And I'm not even getting into the debt my father accumulated towards the end of his short life. Thanks dad. Love you tons! 

I get back up and walk towards the basement. If there's one advantage to being on the first floor, it's that we get a basement. Makes the coffin that passes for an apartment seem a bit less like the slum it is. 

And this basement my friends, is where I store my father's old stuff.

There's nothing fancy here. All of the big special collector's edition stuff have been long sold off by now. But we do have some basic copies of the games. Better than nothing I suppose, given that it lets me replay the games whenever I want.

I stare at the only tangible legacy my old man has left for me, looking at the catalogue of games that are considered classics by gamers the world over, and as cash cows by soulless corporations the world over. As nasty it may seem, I can't deny I do feel a small sense of satisfaction whenever I see people trashing on the deluge of remakes and sequels no one ever asked for. And the predatory microtransactions. Fortunately, I am here to be annoyed on his behalf so his grave does not turn into a centrifugal pump.

Wait a sec, we had this one?

There's a small game box titled "Our Little Forever" sitting on the shelf. By no means is this basement catalogue the entire collection of my father's works. So it stands to reason that there's a lot missing, but I didn't know that we had this one here. I've played every other game here at least a once. Did I miss this one?

I don't really remember it all too well, but I think this was his third attempt at moving away from the FPSes and RPGs he was known for to go for a more dating sim approach. And his last. He never finished it.

There's a cute girl surrounded by a few others on the cover. I open the case as I walk back upstairs. The CD is more of the same. As I arrive at my computer, I open the CD port - yes, this one still has one - and click on the application that pops up. As I do, my head starts to hurt, but I don't get far before I feel like I'm being pulled towards the computer somehow. Like it's sucking me in.

Wait...what?