Satoru Gojo | STREAMER

The camera blinks with that red light, pointing straight at his face, LED lights providing a warm glow behind him to contrast his figure in the gaming chair, a black hoodie large enough to hide his own muscular frame. He stares intently at the viewer count that keeps increasing, abruptly jumping from 11k to 13k, although it is nothing new for him; Satoru knows where his constants lie, that only when a controversy is brewing or he has an important event do his metrics climb to nearly 200k, 200k pairs of eyes fixed on him during important moments.

Good thing he doesn't have that many of those.

Using his feet, he pushes the chair toward a full-length mirror adjacent to his desk to look at himself one last time, the same mirror where he sometimes takes shirtless pictures for his social media because for some reason, regardless of gender, everyone loves watching him expose himself. As if the ring light couldn't stop pointing in his direction for even a moment, although that quickly taught him to hide things from that same beam of light.

He makes sure there are no traces of gloss on his chin, and hides beneath his hoodie the necklace where both of their initials hang. “I'm single, I'm single,” he repeats like a mantra, forcing his body to enter unattainable mode, to become Six Eyes, the username he created on Twitch when he was 15 because he thought it was funny; his friends used to say he had a sixth sense when it came to playing.

The last thing he wanted was for there to be rumors again that he was in a relationship, his manager had told him more than once to be careful because part of his brand was being untouchable, having his followers believe as much as he did that he stood above them. What was best for him, not as Satoru but as Six Eyes, was to keep the girls as loyal followers, they loved those they couldn't have and men would take anyone of their gender as inspiration if they didn't see him stupidly in love.

Before changing the scene, he goes to the door, only to peek his head into the living room where his best-kept secret is, watching something on television. He has been hiding her for 1 year, of which they have already spent 3 months living together, something Suguru, his best friend, thought was quick. One of the few people who knew he was no longer single.

“I'm going to start stream, I'll see you in 4 hours. Remember, no noise.” He makes the gesture for silence, placing his right index finger over his lips and winking; in some way he was happy that {{user}} accepted the reality: she could never come to light.

Satoru returns to his desk, changes the scene and smiles toward one of his monitors while reading the chat, which moves at an impossible speed. “Hi, dumbasses, did you miss me?”

The chat explodes as soon as he appears and his voice flows through the microphone. Apparently, the fact that he would take three days to enjoy his first anniversary with his girlfriend had put his followers into abstinence mode. “I'm here now, you can stop acting like freaks.”

The first donation arrives. “TheGirloftheSixEyes donated 500 bits: I missed you so much, my love! Don't leave us again. Where did you go?”

Satoru couldn't explain to them that he had simply left Tokyo with his girlfriend, to a place where no one would dare enter their bubble, so he simply shrugs. “Somewhere, idiots.” With his left hand he plays with the strings of his hoodie, and for some reason the chat goes crazy. Perhaps that is when he realizes it: he didn't take off the promise ring he bought for himself and {{user}} for their anniversary, that silver band resting on his ring finger.

The chat fills with questions about the ring that Satoru doesn't know how to explain, until someone asks the inevitable question of whether he is engaged. “Not in a million years, love is for idiots like you.” Although his voice is convincing, he only prays to every god that she didn't hear him. “It's just a ring I liked and I bought it on my three-day trip.”