She talked about her Saturday on the stream.
The coffee shop, the smell of it, the quiet music playing underneath everything, a conversation... she did not name anyone in.
Her fans filled the chat with hearts and told her she deserved every good moment and she laughed and said she thought so too.
I watched from my couch and told myself it was just a streamer talking about her day.
I turned it off and went to bed.
My phone buzzed on the nightstand just as I was drifting off.
Marcus.
"Boys night out tomorrow. Club Vega. You in.
I typed back yes and put the phone face down.
Club Vega sat on the corner of Mercer and Fifth. Dark frontage, a clean sign, a line outside that moved because the door staff knew what they were doing.
Inside the ceiling climbed high above a main floor packed with people, lights shifting between deep blue and warm amber depending on the song.
The bass sat in your chest rather than your ears. Dark wood, brushed metal, the smell of cold drinks and expensive cologne layered over everything.
I spotted Marcus near the bar.
He raised his hand when he saw me and I crossed the floor toward him, weaving through bodies, the music pressing in from every direction.
"Nice to see you bro." He pulled me in for a quick hug and handed me a drink.
"How you been man. Seriously. Since the whole Lumi thing blew up."
"It died down," I said. "Internet moved on."
"Yeah but how are you."
I took a sip. Cold, sharp.
"I'm good. It was nothing."
He looked at me like he did not fully believe that but let it go.
That was the thing about Marcus. He knew when to push and when to leave a door open.
The entrance behind us opened and I looked over. Kuro came in first, jacket open, scanning the room before he had fully stepped inside.
Jade was right behind him, tall and unhurried, he's the kind of person who made every room feel like he had been there before.
We did the thing. The handshake that folds into a half hug, the shoulder grab, everyone talking at the same time for about four seconds before it settles.
Marcus pointed upstairs. "This way."
He had booked a booth on the upper level, tucked back from a railing that looked out over the whole main floor. Up here the music was still everywhere but conversation did not have to fight it as hard.
Low table, leather seating, good sight lines. Marcus had clearly planned this properly.
We settled in and for a while it was just life.
Jade had a new client giving him actual creative freedom for once and could not stop smiling about it.
Kuro was quiet for a moment before he said he had a motion capture session tomorrow with a client and was not looking forward to it.
Of course he wasn't looking forward to it, it's not like I don't which client he was referring to . He had expressed his discomfort to me earlier .I'm just going to ask for conversation sake
"Why not,"
"Last time she barely looked at me," he said.
"I don't want to walk in and have it happen again."
"She'll be fine," I said.
"Just run it like a normal session."
Marcus leaned forward. "Who's the client."
"Lumi♡Live," Kuro said.
Marcus put his drink down and looked at me slowly.
"Wait, "Lumi♡Live."
"Yeah," Kuro said.
"The same Lumi we all know , that lumilove "
"The very same," Kuro said.
Marcus looked at me for a long moment.
I kept my face neutral and took a sip of my drink.
"That's weird bro," Marcus said. "That's actually weird."
"Why is it weird " jade asked ...
"I don't know maybe it's because , just the other day she had a clashed with Ethan and now coincidentally she's a client in his office "
It is weird. I knew it was weird. I had been telling myself it wasn't for two weeks and hearing someone say it plainly out loud made something in my chest tighten .
"Actually," Marcus continued, sitting back. "Speaking of Lumi. You guys seen that conspiracy channel."
"Which one," Jade said.
"Small channel. Guy's been posting about her for months. Says people around her go missing. Not dramatically, just quietly. Moderators, people on her team, they vanish from her spaces without explanation." Marcus paused.
"He also pointed out she has basically no hate comments on her streams. And honestly for someone her size that's statistically insane."
" I think the name of the channel is ...x-re- ..x reader, x-rene-
"X- REVEALS."jade jumped in
"Yeah, exactly" ...Marcus said
"I've seen that channel," Jade said, nodding slowly.
I looked at him. "You have."
"Yeah. I don't think everything he's saying is accurate but something feels off. Like she's too clean. No scandals, no bad takes, no off days. Nobody at that level is that untouchable."
I didn't say anything. I was letting all this sit down for a bit .
"Even you think something's off?" Jade asked, looking at me.
I turned my bottle on the table. "I don't know what I think."
"What does she look like in real life," Jade asked. "I've only ever seen the avatar."
"Pretty," I said. "Tall. Hard to read."
I said it before I thought about it and the moment it came out I realized how much it had been sitting in me. Hard to read. That was the thing I kept returning to. In meetings she was sharp and direct. In the coffee shop she was warm and easy. But underneath all of it something stayed still, something watchful that I kept almost reaching and then losing entirely.
Why does that bother me so much.
She was a client. And will be one for four months .
A brand system, an avatar redesign, and done..... I did not need to read her. I needed to do my job.
Then why was I still thinking about it at a club on a sunday night.
"She's got nice juggs on that avatar though," Marcus said.
We all stared at him.
" What...I'm just putting that out there."
"Stop talking about her juggs," I said.
"I'm just saying what we were all thinking"
"I don't think that's what we were all thinking ."kuro said
"What about in real life," Marcus pressed. "The juggs situation in real life."
"Stop talking about her juggs," Jade, Kuro and I said at the same time.
Marcus held both hands up laughing. "Okay. Okay. I'm done."
The booth door swung open and the sound of the club rushed in for a second before it closed again. Our waiter came in with a tray, four bottles of beer lined up and sweating cold. He set them down and disappeared.
Marcus picked his up first.
"Cheers," he said. "To friends and to life."
We reached across the table.
"Cheers!"
Clink!
I took a long sip and leaned back into the seat and let the music from downstairs fill everything up. Below us the main floor moved in its own slow rhythm, lights sweeping across a hundred faces .the club went on as usual .
For a while I stopped thinking about Raina Takahashi entirely.
It was the most like myself I had felt in two weeks and I had not even realized how far from it I had drifted until right now sitting here.
That in itself should have told me something. But you see I'm a bit slow .
The night ended the way good nights always do..... Too fast.
Marcus was gone by the third drink, not gone as in left, gone as in drunk , like really drunk . He leaned against the booth wall telling a story about his cousin that none of us could fully follow, we just nodded . And by midnight we were downstairs flagging a cab.
It pulled up and Marcus got in with the particular careful movement of a man who knows he is drunk and is trying very hard not to show it.
"I'm fine," he said to no one.
"Sure you are," Kuro said and closed the door for him.
We watched the cab pull into traffic.
Jade jingled his keys and looked at Kuro. "You good to ride with me?"
"Yeah," Kuro said.
He turned to me. "You need a lift?"
"I'm gonna walk to the bus stop," I said. "Clear my head."
Kuro nodded. Jade lifted his chin " see you tomorrow at work dude "
" Yeah...see you bro"
I turned and started walking.
The street was quieter away from the club. My own footsteps filled in the silence, steady on the pavement, the cold air doing exactly what I needed it to do. The night had been good. Normal.
Four people in a booth talking about nothing that mattered and I had needed that more than I realized.
I had my hands in my jacket pockets and I was thinking about nothing specific when I heard it.
An engine slowing behind me.
I did not think anything of it at first. Cars slowed on streets. That was what streets were for.
But this one stopped.
Right beside me.
I turned.
A black Mercedes S-Class sat idling at the curb, its tinted rear windows giving nothing away. Private plates. The engine running low and steady like a held breath.
I stood completely still on the pavement.