The stream went live the moment Kaiden allowed it.
There was no countdown, no warning banner, no carefully timed announcement pushed hours in advance.
Perhaps it was laziness, perhaps it was cockiness - or they just knew there was no need for such a thing any more.
One second, the battlefield was silent to the wider world; the next, it was everywhere, his perspective snapping into place as the Awakened Media Platform latched on with greedy efficiency.
Kaiden exhaled slowly and rolled his shoulders once. The glow of his interface hovered at the edge of his vision, numbers already ticking upward faster than most creators ever saw on their best days.
He smiled.
"Well," he said calmly, voice carrying easily over the chaos of the battlefield behind him, "looks like you found me again."
The chat detonated.
Messages flooded in so fast they blurred into streaks of color and icons, but three names appeared exactly as they always did, right at the top.
- Princeless Princess: YOU鈥橰E BACK!!!
- Kaiden鈥檚 Wife: Where have you been, Kai?!
- Lady Leia: We were so worried... 馃槶
Kaiden chuckled, feeling genuine warmth creeping into his tone. "Took a little break from the action."
He glanced at the viewer count, then back at the familiar names pulsing with activity. They were always first. Always waiting. No matter how long he disappeared, no matter how chaotic things became.
- Kaiden鈥檚 Wife: I understand the need for a break, but... The petition has been raging on.
- Lady Leia: Runewoven is slipping down in the rankings fast...
- Princeless Princess: Have you stopped gunning for first place, Kai? We鈥檇 understand, it鈥檚 unreasonable with those New Dawn S-tier people...
"The petition鈥檚 been raging, and the standings are concerning, yeah, but sometimes you must take a step back to take a much bigger leap forward."
The concern in their messages didn鈥檛 fade. If anything, it sharpened.
- Princeless Princess: You vanished for DAYS!
- Kaiden鈥檚 Wife: But it felt like WEEKS!!
- Lady Leia: Next time, warn us at least...
He shook his head lightly, amused and perhaps even a bit touched. "Maybe that one鈥檚 on me."
And then, as the stream stabilized and the girls behind him shifted into position, an idea sparked.
Without changing expression, Kaiden issued three invitations through his interface. These were private and direct.
At the same time, he felt the seamless transition as Aria and Luna took over the public feed, their perspectives sliding into place through [Harem Vision].
The audience barely noticed the handoff, swept up in the sudden change of angle as moonlight and stormlight flooded the screen.
Kaiden stepped back from the stream.
And smiled wider.
...
Sarah was in the middle of pacing her apartment when it happened.
Her Awakened Media Platform flickered, once, twice, then she froze.
{Kaiden Grey is calling you.}
She stopped so hard she nearly tripped over her own feet.
"Hah?!"
Her heart slammed against her ribs like it was trying to escape. "No no no no no..." She grabbed the side of the bed, staring at the glowing prompt hovering inside her mind. "THIS IS NOT HAPPENING!"
She slapped accept so fast she nearly blacked out.
...
Emily had been curled up on her couch, hugging a pillow like it was a lifeline, eyes glued to the stream as Aria鈥檚 crescent blades tore through monsters.
The notification appeared.
{Kaiden Grey is calling you.}
She screamed.
Not internally. Out loud.
Her pillow went airborne. "OH MY GOD! Have I died?! When did I enter heaven?!"
She accepted the call with shaking hands, already crying.
...
Leia was calmer.
At least, for half a second.
She stared at the message floating serenely before her eyes, reread it once, twice...
{Kaiden Grey is calling you.}
Her brain promptly shut down.
She sat perfectly still, posture immaculate, breathing shallow.
"...Ah," she said faintly. "I see."
Then she collapsed backward onto her bed like a Victorian noblewoman overe by scandal, whispering, "I somehow sensed that supporting him might pay off, but a direct call...?"
All three calls connected at once.
Three fangirls. One impossible invitation.
The silence that followed the connection lasted exactly half a second.
Then...
"Kai... Hello..." a girl said sheepishly.
"SARAH?!"
"EMILY?!"
"Which of you two bitches did this?! Is this a prank?!" Leia shouted.
"It was you, Leia, I know it!"
"Yeah, stop pretending!"
Three voices collided at once, overlapping in a chaotic burst of disbelief.
Sarah blinked hard, then squinted at the two very familiar presences. "Okay, hold on. Emily? Leia? Why are you on this line?!"
Emily gasped, scandalized. "S-Sarah?! I thought you were Kaiden! I thought he called me!! How can you play this rude prank?!"
Leia, on the other hand, had already gone feral.
"So this is how you two shameless crooks operate?" she hissed, voice sharp and dramatic. "Inviting me into some elaborate psychological ambush? I expected better!"
"I didn鈥檛 invite anyone!" Sarah shot back. "I thought you changed your display name to mess with me!"
"That is blasphemy! I would never impersonate Kai! Unless I imagined him rawdogging me senseless and back!"
Emily made a small, distressed noise. "W-Wait, wait, stop! Why are there three of us? I thought it was a private call!"
They all froze.
A beat passed.
Then Emily鈥檚 eyes widened, her breath hitching sharply.
"...Wait."
Both Sarah and Leia turned toward her presence instinctively.
"This is the Awakened Media Platform," Emily said slowly, voice trembling with dawning horror of her realization. "You can鈥檛 just... change your caller name to Kaiden Grey. It鈥檚 not like a chat app."
Sarah鈥檚 stomach dropped.
Leia鈥檚 pupils shrank.
"...Oh," Sarah whispered.
"...Oh," Leia echoed faintly.
"Which means..."
*Clap. Clap. Clap.*
The sound echoed cleanly through the shared mental space.
"Well done," a familiar voice said, warm and amused, deep and masculine. "Bravo, ladies. I must be dealing with three Sherlocks."
All three of them busted internally.
Sarah covered her face, heat rushing to her cheeks. "Oh my god..."
Emily let out a tiny, strangled squeak and folded in on herself. "H-He heard everything...!"
Leia made a sound somewhere between a laugh and a death rattle. "It was Kai himself who pranked us... Curses!"
Kaiden鈥檚 low chuckle followed, unmistakably pleased. "Prank? I just didn鈥檛 get a word in because three angry kittens began hissing instantly."
That did NOT help in the state of their rosy cheeks.
"I鈥檒l keep this brief," he continued, tone shifting. It was still light, but more sincere now. "I didn鈥檛 call to mess with you. I called because I wanted to thank you."
The three of them stilled.
"You were there during the Maximilian scandal. You fought the millions of trolls, corrected misinformation, and kept things from spiraling when it would鈥檝e been so much easier to walk away. Even now, you鈥檙e always the first ones here. Every stream. Every time."
Sarah swallowed. "Kai... we don鈥檛 do it for gratitude. We do it because we want to. Watching you and the girls grow, feeling like we鈥檙e a part of it, even if silently... It鈥檚 honestly the highlight of our days."
Emily nodded rapidly, even though he couldn鈥檛 see her. "Y-Yeah! It makes me happy. It doesn鈥檛 feel like work."
Leia scoffed lightly, trying and failing to sound casual. "Obviously. Getting to moderate the channel is a reward in itself."
"I know," Kaiden replied softly. "That鈥檚 what makes you special."
They all felt it... That warmth, that sincerity, that made following him feel different from any other creator.
"And that鈥檚 exactly why I鈥檓 worried," he went on. "You鈥檙e spending far too much of your lives moderating my channel. There are days when you barely get to leave your homes, let alone hold down a stable job, unless you abandon your posts."
Leia snorted. "Which we won鈥檛 do."
"Exactly," Kaiden agreed. "So I either let you keep living like that... letting you sacrifice for my sake without doing my part... Or I make it official."
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