"Yes! Finally done! Hisui, I've finished my work! Time to start building the dungeon!"
Stretching my body, I called out to Hisui, who had been lounging nearby. Her tail shot up, and she trotted over to me. I had wrapped up all my work in just over three weeks. After submitting the final files, I patted her head.
"You've gotten huge... Your head is almost at my shoulder now."
"Meow?"
I chuckled as I cupped her fluffy cheeks with both hands and gave her a playful squeeze. She purred happily.
"Alright, since my work's done, I'm moving on to dungeon creation. I'm not sure if my overseer is watching this stream or not, but hey, please activate my gacha again."
I wasn't sure if the god in charge of me had been keeping an eye on the stream, but it didn't hurt to ask aloud.
"Yes, I'm here. Gacha reactivated. Good job finishing your work. Want to pull today's free gacha?"
"Oh, you were watching. Yes, please. So far, I only have Hisui, and from now on, I'll be pulling daily."
"Got it. Keep it up!"
The free daily gacha icon, which had been grayed out, came back to life on my screen.
"Meow."
"Oh, right. Let's see what's going on in my own stream. It still feels weird watching myself like this."
I turned on my personal laptop and pulled up the god's video streaming site—its name was exactly as basic as that—and navigated to my channel page. Clicking on my name, "Ibuki Hijikata," I found the playlist labeled "Daily Stream" along with today's live feed right at the top. I clicked it open.
"This is so weird."
"Hijikata-san! Hello!!!"
"Hijikata's watching his own stream!!"
"Great job finishing your work!"
"Hijikata-san is here!"
"Whoa, uh, hey, thanks..."
Feeling slightly overwhelmed, I backed out of the stream for a moment to take a deep breath.
"Hisui, I think I just saw an insane amount of comments and viewers..."
"Meow?"
She tilted her head adorably, and I hugged her tight before diving back into the stream.
"LMAO"
"LOL Hijikata's back!!"
"草"
"w草ｗｗｗｗｗｗｗｗ"
"Can y'all stop with the endless 'grass'? It's overwhelming."
"He actually responded! LOL"
"YESSSS!!!"
"He's back!!"
"Alright, since the comments are coming in way too fast for my eyes to track, I'm just going to talk. Hi, I'm Ibuki Hijikata. I'm an introvert. Profession: Dungeon Master, freelance game music composer, and Vocaloid producer. I won't be able to make any new Vocaloid songs for a while, so sorry to everyone who enjoys my music. Please bear with my existing tracks for now. Also, to all the companies who've been commissioning me, I apologize, but I won't be able to take any new work for a bit. I have to prioritize dungeon creation. I'll update my work Twitter soon, so... please forgive me."
"Too fast!! LOL"
"Slow down, man!!"
"Yeah, I'm not keeping up with the comments, so I'll just ignore them. Anyway, this big kitty here is Hisui. She's a Nukkonyan, not a cat, apparently. Super fluffy, super cute, and really calm. Now, let me check her entry in the monster encyclopedia... I haven't done that yet."
I brought up the translucent interface and tapped on Hisui's entry in the monster encyclopedia.
Species: Nukkonyan
Rarity: R
Description: Not a cat, but a Nukkonyan.
Allergen-free.
There are both long-haired and short-haired varieties.
A monster that can only be obtained through gacha.
Not particularly strong in combat, specializing in healing magic.
It grows larger over the span of about a month.
Starts at the size of a regular adult cat.
Eventually grows to 1.5 to 2 meters in height.
Large breeds may surpass 2 meters, while smaller ones might not reach 1.5 meters, with the minimum being around 1 meter.
Big cats are adorable.
"Ah, so that's why Hisui's getting bigger. It's part of her species. She's been with me for three weeks now, and her head's already under my shoulder. She's based on a Maine Coon, or maybe a Norwegian Forest Cat, so she'll probably hit 2 meters, huh?"
"Meow?"
"Doesn't matter. You're cute, and that's what counts."
"The last line of the description though!! LOL"
"Whoever designed Nukkonyan is definitely a cat lover!"
"Allergen-free?! A blessing for us allergy sufferers!"
"Goodbye to the days of teary eyes and sneezing!"
"By the way, I'm definitely a cat person. I don't mind dogs, but no offense to dog lovers—I could never own one. I had a traumatic experience when I was around three years old. My relatives had a giant dog, like a Saint Bernard, and I bawled my eyes out. Even now, I can't imagine having one, not even a small dog. Also, the smell is a bit much for me. If dogs didn't have that smell, maybe I'd consider it."
"As a dog lover, I'm sad..."
"But dogs are cute!!"
"He knows his dog breeds, though!"
"Trauma is trauma, can't blame him"
"Oh, and just a heads-up, the way I'm talking now is my natural tone. When I was dealing with my overseer, I tried to sound more professional, but this is how I usually speak."
"Knew it!"
"This feels way more relatable!"
"He's like the introvert with social skills!"
"Makes sense—being a freelance composer, he'd need some communication skills."
"I still can't keep up with these comments, though. Anyway, I've introduced myself and Hisui, so now I'll pull today's gacha. I had my overseer pause the daily gacha while I was working since I wouldn't have been able to manage multiple monsters. Sorry, Hisui, for leaving you alone."
"Meow!"
"Such a good girl..."
She rubbed her face against mine, her fur soft and comforting, and I was in heaven.
"Big cat head rubs!!"
"I'm jealous, Hijikata!!"
"I'd love to get headbutted by a giant kitty!!"
"Okay, let's go over the gacha rules first... Opening the help page... Capsules are all silver, but the light that comes out determines the rarity: N is blue, R is silver, SR is gold, SSR is rainbow, and UR is a mix of rainbow, gold, and silver. Got it. Let's spin."
"Excited!!!"
"What will he pull?!"
"Daily gacha has low SR or higher rates, but here's hoping!"
"Okita and Saito went wild on the gacha, but Kondo's only pulled one SR so far. Tough luck."
"Okay, spinning... Silver capsule."
"Silver!"
"It's an R!"
"Meow?"
"Oh, another Nukkonyan. Let's appraise it... if that's okay with you?"
"Meow!"
"Thanks. Compared to Hisui, you look pretty small..."
Name: None
Species: Nukkonyan (Long-haired, Red Tabby & White)
Gender: Male
Skills: Charm (Weak) / Healing Magic
Description: Not a cat, but a Nukkonyan.
Adorable enough to charm anyone.
Its charm ability affects cat lovers deeply but works mildly on cat haters.
It may attack anyone other than its dungeon creator, so be cautious.
"Another Nukkonyan!"
"The odds of pulling a dupe with so many monsters available, lol!"
"But next to Hisui, the size difference is insane!!"
"Looks like their default skill set is the same."
"Still, it's cute, so who cares?"
"You'll grow big in about a month... Being male, you'll probably end up even larger than Hisui. For now, I'll call you Inaho, after your golden eyes."
"Meow!"
"Welcome, Inaho-kun!!"
"Grow big and strong, little guy!"
Watching Hisui and Inaho sniff each other and rub noses was beyond adorable—pure bliss.
"This stream might as well just be a Nukkonyan channel at this point."
"Wait, no!"
"Don't give up yet!"