Chapter Text
His younger coworker, Tamura, sought him out per usual at the start of the lunch break. As Satoru Mikami put the first of his lunch into his mouth, a phone screen was shoved into his face. Tamura - in recent months - had been sucked into a rabbit hole. He couldn't stop talking about it. He couldn't stop sharing videos and pictures.
He couldn't stop with these "Vtubers".
Tamura wasn't really the only one, in fairness to him. By now, it seemed like the whole world was swept up in a storm, all caused by these streamers and idols with their virtual avatars.
After the latest clip ending, it transitioned to another that brought out an amused huff from Satoru. This was a compilation of a pretty popular female vtuber named Luminous Valentine; but here, a shorter figure with long blue hair and an androgynous but somewhat feminine-leaning appearance was displayed next to her, with their voice sounding more like a young boy's.
"Oh, yeah, the stream she had with this guy," Tamura said as he noticed this new development. "Rimuru Tempest. The... slime? I guess I've seen more out-there vtuber concepts..."
Within the clip, both Luminous and Rimuru were playing one-on-one in a competitive game, trash talk flying and the gameplay getting more and more intense. Although, the compilation was more focused on the hilarity of their malding and one-liners, so it was unclear who won their little contest.
"I have to admit, he's pretty good at games. Lots of charisma, too. His fans basically rival Luminous' when it comes to the designation of 'cult'. Not really that into dude vtubers, but... Y'know, his design..."
Satoru shook his head. "Have you no shame, man? I mean, don't you have a girlfriend?"
"Hey, if she's gonna watch Veldora, Leon, and freaking Guy Crimson, I think I get to enjoy myself too!"
He'd been going for another bite, but this actually made Satoru stop. "Veldora? As in the dragon one, Veldora Tempest?"
"Er, there's quite a few dragons and dragon-related ones now, but yes."
"The one you showed me an 'idiot moments' video of? He's considered a heartthrob?"
"Never underestimate the appeal of himbos." Looking down at himself, Tamura sighed. "Plus, like... you saw how ripped his model is. And the abs just out in full display! Maybe he's not to the level of Guy or Leon, but I remember this one time he accidentally displayed the NSFW fanart tag when trying to view the regular fanart tag, and damnnn is all I'll say on that."
A sudden sound from Tamura's phone snapped their attention back towards it. The Luminous compilation had ended, with autoplay moving on to related videos. This included a Rimuru Tempest compilation - specifically of a horror game.
Elsewhere in the room, others had also turned their attention to the duo. It didn't help that it sounded like a girl just let out the scream of getting murdered. Tamura lifted a hand up apologetically.
"Sorry, just a video, wasn't paying attention." Turning the volume down, his eyes remained glued even after the task was done.
"Tch, guess I'm gonna be hearing about Rimuru Tempest for a while, aren't I?" Satoru said after a few minutes.
"What makes you think that?"
"You stared at Luminous in the same way right before she became your... 'oshi'. Same with Frey." He stayed quiet for a moment to give Tamura time to respond, only to sigh. "You're not even paying attention to me anymore!"
"I am, I am!" Tamura replied while still only watching the video. "But I haven't seen this stream before."
"Lunch break's going to be over soon. You can drool over the slime when you get home."
This is where Tamura finally snapped back to face Satoru. "I'm not drooling!"
"You might as well be."
"It's not like that! Sure, his design is cute, and can easily be mistaken... especially with his voice... but I'm not into guys!! This is a completely wholesome curiosity, that's all!"
"Sure, sure..." Wiping his face with a napkin, Satoru checked his watch. A minute until work was back on. "Just leave me out of your 'wholesome curiosity' this time. It feels weird."
"Heh, you didn't seem to mind with Luminous and Frey. Or Milim."
"Because Frey was hot, Luminous has her charms, and Milim's too cute. I'm drawing the line at the slime boy that I damn well know you're gonna google 'maid outfit fanart' of later."
With that, Satoru put away the traces of his lunch and returned to his “worker mode”, letting all the numbers and letters bleed into his mind and replace any thoughts of slimes and vtubers.
"Have a nice night, Mikami!"
"Same to you, Miss Ibaraki!"
Only when he was out the exit did Satoru stop waving towards the secretary at the front desk. Now out of the office, his mind was free to wander to any non-related work places.
It immediately returned to the conversation he had with Tamura at lunch.
So, now even Tamura's into Rimuru, huh? Guess I can't keep avoiding him coming up in conversation. Seriously, though, why does everyone keep getting so obsessed? I know people on the Internet can be down bad and crazy, but it's weird seeing the same thing pop up in the real world, too.
He's just a slime...
It hadn't actually been the first time Satoru had come across Rimuru Tempest "in the wild". While not having many friends, Satoru did at least indulge in casual conversation with other coworkers. Several of them were - just like Tamura - getting all wrapped up in the vtuber craze. A lot of them had settled on the slime boy specifically.
"He's just so cheeky, I love it!"
"Just look at how cute he is..."
"I've been watching since his early days, he has such a way with his fans."
"Look at this new outfit debut! He's acting so indignant about it, but I bet he's way into it!"
One day, while leaving the office, he could've almost sworn he saw Miss Ibaraki fidgeting with her phone, Rimuru Tempest on the screen. But he had waved off that thought. It just had to be a hallucinatory symptom of vicariously watching the storm brew.
Speaking of storms: as Satoru entered his humble apartment, his eyes instantly went to inspecting the place. Tidy, no dirty dishes, the washer running... He heard quite a bit of noise from Raiden's room, but he was satisfied enough with the results of the chore work. No need to bug his roommate while he was "busy at work".
Entering his room, he set down a treat he'd grabbed from the kitchen. Ranga - who had been laying in his dog bed waiting for this very moment - was quickly up and licking at Satoru, at first ignoring the treat in favor of greeting his master. After some pets and complimentary words, Ranga finally went for the treat and settled down. The loyal mutt would sit by Satoru's side at the desk, just happy he was home and dedicating himself to silence to not disturb any further. Early on in his stay here, Ranga had not completely understood the importance of this silence. Now his training had kicked in so that it was as if the dog fully comprehended why Satoru and Raiden sat talking to themselves and computer screens.
Brushing off the Steam notification regarding the game "Veldora Tempest" was currently playing, he focused on the plans he'd already settled on at the start of the week. With only so much time left, he started clicking and opening programs at a near rapid-fire pace, the familiarity of the action and order making it all almost autonomous. The super-powered gamer PC barely buckled, though, built specifically for this kind of labor.
In just a matter of minutes, Satoru Mikami's day was officially over, whilst Rimuru Tempest logged on for "a night shift".