We go inside the place where the convention is held. The inside is damn huge! There are a lot of tables arranged in their own place. Each section(?) is for each VIP or gaming influencer to meet their fans. Right now, there is no one sitting there yet because the event for the fans' meeting is gonna be held tomorrow.
We walk past that place and go to another area where a lot of video games like cosplay, merchandise, a stall that sells video games in a disc form, etc. There are a lot of people here and some of them cosplayed as video game characters. Other than that, I also notice a few streamers like us wandering around the area like Xenaca, Amber, Nachos, Shadow, and Hiro. These people are more famous than me with around 1 million subscribers while I only have around 600k.
While I'm looking at them, Hiro notices me and tells others while pointing at me or us. Then, all of them come to us. "Hi, you're Ban-kai, right? *Turn to Erika* And, you're Cutie-pie?" Amber asks us. She's using our nickname because she doesn't know our real name yet. To be honest, it feels weird to be called by my nickname, maybe next time I have to tell people in my stream that they can call me just by my name. It feels more casual.
We nod. "Yeah, that's us. But, please, can you just call me Kai? I feel weird with that name." I say.
"Hello, please call me Rena. I have the same reason too." Rena greets them. Her subscribers right now are 840k, almost reach their level. When will my time comes?
"Okay, that's better actually. We're all streamers, so why would we use our nickname when we meet? As a part of the streamers' community, we all should be friends! Am I right, Xena?" Amber turns her head to the right where Xenaca is standing. If I remember they are best friends and always hang out together and did streaming together. Add up with the fact that they live together in one house with other people too.
"How many times have I already said, Amber? I don't have the same opinion, I think it's not always good to be friends with any people you met. But, they both seem like nice people according to their streams. Hi, *Shaking hands* I'm Xenaca but you can call me Xena. I'm more prefer if you call me that." For your information, Xena and Amber are women also is Nachos while Hiro and Shadow are men. They don't live in the same house, maybe they come together?
"Forget about them, my name is Hiro and you can just call me that as it's my real name. It's not always for streamers to meet together like this! Truly a rare moment to happen. ...Ah, anyway, I specialize in open-world video games. If you watch my streams, you can see that 90 percents of them are about it. So, if you like games like that, we can play together." Hiro introduces himself. I think he has about 1.2m subscribers since he has been a streamer for almost five years! Do I have to wait that long to get the 1m subscribers too?
"Hey, my name's Shadow, call me Shadow. I like horror games." That's short! The one who just introduces himself is Shadow. He has over 1.3m subscribers. This man is so damn mysterious if you ask me. No one knows his real name, his face, where he lives, or if he's in a relationship. He always wears everything black from hair to toes. He has dark short hair, a black iris, wears a black mask, black techwear clothing, black gloves, and black shoes. Ironically, his earpieces are not black for an unknown reason.
Then, everyone looks at Nachos because she's not introduced herself yet and what she's doing this whole time is eating nachos. I remember one time in one of her streams, she said that the reason she uses Nachos as her name is she loves nachos. That's it. That's the reason.
Because she's busy with her nachos, we introduce ourselves. We say everything they need to know. Then, Xena talks, "Hey, how about we talk at a table? My legs start to feel tired from all of the standing we doing here. I see a table that is enough for eight people to sit over there. Let's go." We then just agree with her because we feel the same too.
We walk and follow her until we arrive at the table that she talked about a minute ago. It has eight chairs and the table is quite big too. I wonder why there is no one has taken these seats already. Then, we sit on the chair, Rena and I sit side by side while they take other seats, leaving only one chair left.
"Anyone wants to order anything? My treat." Xena says. Wait... I just realize that this place is a cafe! Why is there a cafe inside the building like this? And how can I not notice that this is a cafe? I don't see any signboard around here.
As she says that, everyone quickly says their orders. Amber wants Macchiato, Hiro wants a Mocha, and Nachos wants... carbonated drink? Shadow wants Dark Coffee. Seriously, what's wrong with this man? We, on the other hand, feel awkward and guilty because we just know them. It feels weird to just let a stranger treats us to drinks. Xena who notices us, says, "Look, I know we just met but you don't have to feel left out. Don't worry, we're all friends here." She's assuring us.
Yeah, she's right. We shouldn't feel awkward just because we were just met. They all are the same as us too, streamers who hang out together. Nothing wrong with that. After hearing that, we tell our order which is Iced Coffee for Rena and Latte for me. Then, she goes to the counter and orders our drinks.
We wait until the waitress comes with our drinks. We each grab our drinks and take a sip. Hmm, Latte here is quite good. "How about you, Rena? Is yours taste good too?" I ask Rena about her drink and she says that she likes it. I agree with her and I think the rest are on the same page based on their comments.
"Sooo, Kai and Rena, are you two dating?" Amber asks without any warning. "Burfgh! W-what...? Why're you suddenly asking?" I almost choked and it's f*cking hot! Aagh, my throat's hurt! I need cold water! I see Rena's drink and ask for it in an emergency. She panics and lifts it to my mouth and lets me drink half of it while she still holding it. "Haaaaah, thank you. I need that."
"Are you okay, Kai? Do you want cold water? I can get it for you." Rena asks in concern. I tell her that I'm okay and she doesn't have to get it.
"I'm sorry but my question is still on the board, so what is it? From what I see, you two act like a couple since the first time we met." Amber continues with her question. Can you calm down a little?
"Yeah, you come in together, always stick together, sit side by side, and she even worried about you. All the hints are there, it just needs confirmation whether it's true or not." Hiro speaks. Really? I don't know we act like that.
I look at her and I see that she's blushing, her cheeks and ears are getting red, and she covers her face with her hands. Wait, she's blushing? Why?
"No, we're not dating. Maybe in the future? I don't know. We'll see how life going." I deny Amber's question but I also make sure that the change of it happening is possible because I don't want Rena to think that I reject the idea of us dating. I think I like her but we'll see how it's going. Especially with all the pretty women in my city.
They're surprised when I say that. Amber teases Rena while Hiro pats my back and laughs. They all are good people and I feel great hanging out with them. Maybe, this could be a starting point for me to meet with more streamers in the future.
But, I miss my friends in the city. No one can ever replace them. We've been friends for almost five years now and have been through so many things together. But, I also need to be friends with other people too, especially in the same field as me.
We spend time together until the evening when Rena and I decide to go back to the hotel because we're tired and want to prepare for tomorrow. They still want to hang out a little bit before going back too. We say goodbye to them, order an uber, and go to the hotel. I notice that we stay at the same hotel, maybe because the organizer wants to put us together in the same hotel to reduce the cost.
We go into our own room and say goodnight to each other. I know it's still evening but we maybe not gonna meet until tomorrow.