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Aragami Oga was not a native to the human world, therefore life wasn’t immediately enjoyable when he first arrived. At first, there were a lot of adjustments to make: his magic powers, his strength level, his appearance, way of communicating, the weather in general. It was just a lot.
Of course, there were things he enjoyed upon first encounter, the food (burgers and yakiniku are nice), the small animals (not lethal, very cute), and night walks (not the part where a uniformed human stopped him for being suspicious, though). But then there were also other things that needed more time, like the people and those twee human traditions which somehow happened all year round. Like this Christmas thing where everything was expensive and all the paired human beings went out and about, bundled in layers of fancy-looking clothes. Sure the illumination looked nice, albeit a little too dainty for his tastes, and the some limited edition food were actually tasty, but he just didn’t understand the point of it. He was a military man, it all seemed very form over function to him.
On his first Christmas eve on earth, Oga spent it alone eating delivery pizza and getting acquainted with this thing called RPG all the way until morning came.
—
The second year was vastly different. Somewhere along the line, he was scouted by a certain Daidou Shinove and ended up joining a ragtag team of idols, if he could call himself that. Holostars, he called it. There were two other guys, sussy-looking guys alongside him. Seems fun, he thought at first. He might or might not have known what he had gotten himself into at this point.
They debuted at the end of spring, one of them retired right next summer. It was part awkward, part lonely, part starting to get what it means to be part of something. The other guy, Shien, took it harder than he’d thought. People tend to grow closer in the face of adversity, he had learned as a military man.
Oga was just starting to understand the concept of live streaming services and suddenly it was already the end of the year and they were having an all-members christmas party stream. There was food (thank humans for these little celebrations, because free food), games (it was chaotic, more so than battlefields), gift exchanges (he was unsure what to buy initially, he ended up going with his guts), and a general air of merriment.
The gift exchange was interesting, another one of human traditions he came to learn. He was told to buy gifts for this exchange, but paid little mind to what it meant, but it turned out to be a nice feeling to see others feeling happy for the things he bought. It was an action figure, quite a big one too. During his stay in the human world so far, he had found a massive appreciation for action figures, so strived to spread that love to other members of his group. He himself got a 3D drawing pen, a fitting gift for him since, aside from action figures, he had also developed a certain mastery in drawing. His familiar (mascot, they call it in the streaming world) was summoned from something he drew. He even gifted another hand drawn familiar for his genmate, Shien. The point is, it was a lot of fun, more than he thought he would get to have.
—
The third year went by like a blink of an eye. He started the year with winter and his birthday celebration. Fast forward a few months and in spring there was his anniversary. Suddenly it’s summer and there was his 3D debut. He gathered enough cult following in the past year or so, enough to have the manifestation of that cult follow him into the 3D world. Apparently it was a big deal in the streaming world, he learned. Well, that was fun.
Oga spent the autumn practicing a lot for their upcoming concert and playing Animal Crossing whenever he could. The practice was grueling, he lost his voice practicing singing, went from not being able to dance to being able to dance barefooted. He hit his horn on the ceiling once or twice, but don’t worry, it’s strong. Even if it was chipped, just pour some water and it would grow again easily. When practice was over, some days he would go eat dinner (supper?) with his fellow Holostars. He started being able to tell their eating habits, Rikka wasn’t a big eater, Izuru reprimanded Miyabi for eating too much and getting fat but still gave him food anyway, Shien had a vast knowledge of fancy eating places, Temma ate ramen. He was used to eating alone and quickly, after all it was just for sustenance. But eating together like this, especially after a long day, felt pretty good.
(Speaking of food, sometimes he still wondered whatever happened to that pig Tonkatsu.)
At the end of the year, in another winter, they had their first concert. He also debuted his original song for the first time at the concert, another thing he would never have thought he would do a few years back. That was nerve-racking. He didn’t know he could sing, let alone for people to like it. It was good to know that those late night karaoke sessions bore some fruit. It was crazy, it was grand, it was a lot of sweat and tears and frustrations and cracked joints and laughter. Oga had thought that coming to the human world was a literal out of the world experience, but this concert definitely topped that.
—
This was Oga’s fourth year in the human world and he had been able to confidently say that he had fully assimilated with the cultures. He started the year by eating fancy meat at a fancy restaurant and visiting a temple. He wasn’t the type to do temples, he was a demon after all, but it was interesting to learn about the customs from his genmate. They both bought good luck charms and got their fortune told, both getting super lucky this year and that was nice.
All the while, Oga was busy preparing for his birthday. He ended up spending it with this following of his, dramatic chasing scenes all included. He thought he was giving extra service that day, did the humans like it, he wondered. The next day his genmate complained to him for staining his upholstery with rainbow coloured… things. Now if that was not enough service, he upped his game on his anniversary where he roped his fellow Holostars member to provide an even greater service to humanity. How did you like it now, greedy little humans?
Soon enough he had to prepare for more recordings, more songs, more practices, because along with Holostars, his presence was becoming bigger in this streaming world. He didn’t have time to stop and think about the point of it all like he did in the beginning. He was having fun and he even made friends, despite the pandemic, the busy schedules, the lack of cute animals he could keep in his human world flat. About that, he had the perfect remedy, though. Recently he drew and summoned yet another familiar to keep him company. It’s cute, it’s fluffy, and it looks yummy. The human cult following he gathered seemed to like this little fellow as well, so he considered that a win. Hm? His old familiar you ask? Ah, that guy… Well, you know, somewhere out there doing something.
The year was coming to an end again. He did many things, the good, the bad, the questionable. They even had cakes with a tiny illustration of them in Santa clothes this year. Funny little human tradition, but he’s starting to find the fun in it. He wondered if he was on Santa’s good or naughty list this year. Santa, not Satan, that’s his boss and he didn’t want to deal with that guy for now. Ah, it was getting cold again. Time to order in and play some RPG or that sushi game he got hooked on lately. Or maybe do another round of service, maybe with this ASMR thing humans seem to really like.