It's quarter to five am in the morning but the sound of pressing keys and simultaneous clicking of the mouse can be heard in the gaming area of the JLNC base.
Keychantel is currently on air, playing a ranking game while practicing the shinigami; Chasseur.
They had just finished a match against Phantom the day before, and according to Dewy, they will be endorsing some of their sponsor's products, so she thinks that she must accumulate her required monthly airtime unless she wants to cram.
[SleepEatPlayRepeat: Are you having fun playing?]
"Yes, I am having fun playing." She answered while using tiratore against an opposing shinigami
"I love the feeling of adrenaline rush every time I'm in an intense match." Key added while heading to battle the manticore that is in the opponent's jungle
She alternately used her first and second skill in battling the manticore, she used Chasseur's ultimate skill against the newly resurrected opposing off-laner who have come to stop her from taking out the manticore.
She managed to take out the opposing off-laner after using her first and second skill after her ultimate skill drained half of its blood.
She continued focusing her eyes on the screen as she joined her in-game teammates in finishing off the final defense tower outside the base.
She needed to keep up her account's rank, and at the same time, she is practicing Chasseur. It may look risky as she's having difficulty with using that shinigami yet she used it in a ranking game but Key loves the feeling the risk is sending in her veins.
"You guys don't have any other questions?" she asked because the pop-up comments became clear but then another line popped up on the side of the screen, it piqued her interest quite a bit
[45Chasseur: Are you afraid of anything? Like rats or something like that?]
"Something I'm afraid of?" she asked while blinking for a moment but her hand continued moving and her fingers continued pressing the keys
"Silent places," Key's not exactly scared of silent places, she just doesn't like it
"I don't like being stuck in a silent place, especially a blank white room." She answered and slightly shivered at the image of a blank white room.
They can scare her with roaches, rats, insects, or anything for all she cares, they can also lock her up in a quiet and dark room, she won't give a damn, just not that.
"Is that all?" she asked while her Chasseur is attacking the base tower
She waited for some of their team's minions to come and take the damage from the base tower that they are currently attacking. Key had already orchestrated everything, from trapping the opponent's shinigami to facing off against her in-game teammates who have the upper hand, to ensure that they'll have the lead in both gold and number of kills.
Her desire to stand at the top has rooted in the mindset imposed on her as she grew up, and this reflects in her overly calculative attitude.
"I almost forgot, I have to end the live after this match." She said
[Game4Life: Why did you wake up this early?]
"Oh, I woke up early to complete my airtime requirement." She answered with a smile
"I'm not confident that I can finish it within the month with all those schedules we have. Since I woke up early, I thought I might use the time to complete it." She added with a smile
[Rio_r0ar: Do you like anyone in JLNC? Who is it?]
[Xnyl3: Do you earn the same as the others?]
Key couldn't help but chuckle a little after reading the first question, and she smiled with her crescent-like eyes after seeing the gold-plated word on her screen; 'VICTORY'.
"To answer the last question, yes, I pretty much receive as the others do every month, though I might not receive the same as others if I were to be unable to accumulate enough airtime." Key answered
"And to answer the question about me liking anyone in JLNC, I like all of my teammates. They're good friends and I enjoy playing games with all of them." She answered with a smile
[Ziggystardust: That's a showbiz kind of answer.]
[Powerpixel: So pretentious, ha!]
[SugarLips: What was that with you and Alexei before the first match, then?]
"Although I had said those two questions will be the last, I'll give you an explanation to avoid any issues." Key said with a warm smile after reading the three bullet comments that appeared after her answer
"As some of you speculated, they treat me like a little sister and I treat them as brothers as well. And yes, I read the industry's farm," she said and chuckled softly
"To answer your question, Sugarlips, Alexei was just helping me get through the crowd, I wasn't used to dealing with such a crowd just yet so as a good senior, he helped me." She said with a smile
"And to clarify everything, I don't like anyone in our team romantically. It's purely platonic relationship at this moment." Key added and smiled with her crescent moon-like eyes
"That would be all for this live, good morning, and have a good day ahead, everyone." She said and turned off her camera and ended her live, just as she caught a figure's appearance in her peripheral vision
"You woke up quite early, Captain," Key said, turning her gaming chair to face the stairways where their captain is leaning on the handrails
"You went live quite early," he commented with a rather different than usual expression
"Hmm, I'm lacking fifteen more hours." She said with a small smile
"There's still two weeks," Nico said and walked past her
Key followed him to the kitchen again, she's been up since three-thirty am. After doing some exercises to wake her system up, she went on air with an empty stomach and now she's famished.
Although she doesn't exactly mind her grumbling stomach, she knows that she needs to eat or else it'll reflect on her appearance and performance, which she doesn't want to happen at any cost.
"What, you want hot chocolate?" Rasheed asked without facing her, and Key looked at his back quite puzzled by his question but still, she answered
"Will you give me a cup, Captain?" Key asked him and Rasheed couldn't help but snicker while reaching for the container of hot chocolate in the cupboard
"Shameless," he thought while putting two tablespoons of chocolate powder in the two mugs
He poured hot water on the two mugs in front of him before stirring both. He took the two mugs and placed them on the island counter, where Key as if she had developed as a habit, is currently leaning.
"You like hot chocolate?" Key asked him while stirring her hot chocolate with a spoon
"You think?" Rasheed replied shortly without looking at her
Key just stared at the mug of hot chocolate in front of her as she continued to stir it. She doesn't exactly like chocolate, because it is not advisable for the three of them whenever they have something important to do to drink or consume anything that has chocolate.
It makes them lethargic, and instead of making them hyperactive, it makes them drowsy.
"Captain," she called him and looked up to see his face
"Do you have some bad impression of me?" she asked directly and Rasheed looked at her while leaning on the sink behind him
"Why ask?" Rasheed asked and took a sip from his mug
"Well, ever since I came here, I felt like you were kind of not-so-welcoming." Key said, not meeting his eyes and still stirring the hot liquid in front of her slowly
"Not that I didn't consider your help on my first day here when I shopped for my things as something good," she chuckled softly
"It just makes me wonder if I did something for you to be so… I don't know, distant, I guess?" Key said and held the mug by its handle and took a sip while holding the other side with her hand
"You look troublesome," Key looked at Rasheed because of his answer
"If I analyze the underlying meaning of that, it means you think that I'm someone who will throw her tantrums when she doesn't get what she wants. Is that right?" Key said
"Didn't know you have that much self-awareness," this comment from Nico made Key shake her head
"I do look like that kind of person…" she muttered under her breath
Key never thought of changing how people viewed her. Even when she was training as a 'maggot' in the Navy, and when she was training in the military as a cadet, she didn't really mind that people underestimated her because it fueled her desire to prove them wrong.
To prove herself with her own skills and abilities, she didn't need her background in those fields.
"You don't seem that bad now." Rasheed said with a small smile as if to cajole her and she chuckled