Chapter 99 – MiAFK

"Morning!"

Mia pulled the mic a little closer and checked that the audio indicator was moving properly.

"Can you hear me?"

The answer came instantly. Not one message, but hundreds started climbing up the right monitor so fast that Mia could barely finish reading one before it disappeared.

KuroNeko22: [NO]

PepeTheMage: [cant hear anything]

Sora_77: [yeah i can hear you]

VortexXD: [turn it up]

SaltedMango: [AAAAAAAAAAAA]

LordDuck: [hi mia]

UnemployedCat: [shes not AFK anymore]

RafaFPS: [A MIRACLE]

NotABot: [its 3pm and she says morning LMAO]

MiAfkMod: [No spamming.]

The corner of the screen filled with emotes.

Mia sighed.

"Okay, so clearly you can hear me..."

KuroNeko22: [who said that]

PepeTheMage: [i still cant hear anything]

Sora_77: [then how do you know she asked]

PepeTheMage: [skill]

MiAfkMod: [@PepeTheMage stop messing around.]

Mia let out a small laugh as she opened her library.

"We've got a few options today."

That was a mistake.

The messages doubled.

HorrorEnjoyer: [NIGHT HOUSE 3]

KuroNeko22: [HORROR]

SofiUwU: [THE NEW HORROR ONE]

SaltedMango: [HORROR HORROR HORROR HORROR]

UnemployedCat: [i want to hear her cry]

Lucho1998: [night house]

SaltedMango: [HORROR HORROR HORROR HORROR]

MiAfkMod: [@SaltedMango last warning for spam.]

RandomGuy55: [does anyone know when yetis6 comes out]

NotABot: [face reveal]

ChonkyPup: [FACE REVEAL]

Alonso17: [what face reveal shes a 40 year old dude with a voice changer]

SofiUwU: [Mia doesnt exist]

KuroNeko22: [MiAfk is an AI]

Mia stopped moving the mouse.

"Can we stop saying I'm some old guy with a voice changer…?"

Alonso17: [thats exactly what a guy with a voice changer would say]

The chat filled up with laughter.

Mia rubbed her forehead.

'Every single day...'

It was a joke that had started months ago.

Since Mia never showed her face, part of her community had decided that MiAfk was not a girl.

Depending on the day, she was a forty-year-old man… an artificial intelligence… three people sharing one account.

Or, according to one particularly stupid theory, a teenager using a program to change his voice.

Mia had already learned that defending herself only made it worse.

So she went back to the previous topic.

"I'm not playing Night House 3."

HorrorEnjoyer: [????????]

KuroNeko22: [Y]

SofiUwU: [coward]

UnemployedCat: [fear]

RafaFPS: [she gets scared by the menu]

Mia shook her head while she looked for another game.

"It isn't fear."

Dozens of messages appeared saying exactly the opposite.

"It isn't fear!"

HorrorEnjoyer: [then play it]

"No."

HorrorEnjoyer: [XD]

Mia let out another sigh.

"If I play a horror game at night I don't sleep well afterward."

Alonso17: [so its fear]

HorrorEnjoyer: [XD]

HorrorEnjoyer: [XD]

RafaFPS: [XDDDD]

UnemployedCat: [can somebody send her the definition of fear]

"Chat, I know my limits."

KuroNeko22: [fear with extra steps]

NotABot: [face reveal]

ChonkyPup: [PLAYYYY]

Alonso17: [if its not horror im leaving]

SofiUwU: [Mia doesnt exist]

"Keep this up and I'll play Minesweeper for six hours."

The threat worked for about three seconds.

Then somebody wrote:

UnemployedCat: [do it]

Mia sat there looking at the message.

A short sound came out of her headphones.

DING!

An alert appeared over the stream.

StreamBot: [xXDarkPandaXx has subscribed for 8 months.]

xXDarkPandaXx: [8 months of paying for you to never show your face]

Mia rested her forehead on one hand.

"Thanks for the eight months..."

Another alert.

DING!

StreamBot: [SofiUwU gifted 5 subscriptions.]

BreadGuy: [THANKS SOFI]

SaltedMango: [I GOT ONEEEE]

HomelessPedro: [i never get one]

KuroNeko22: [skill issue]

SofiUwU: [FACE REVEAL WHEN]

"No."

SofiUwU: [refund]

"There are no refunds."

Mia was about to open one of the games when a sentence appeared in the middle of all the movement.

marcosV: [are you the sister of matt the ex pro player who disappeared?]

Mia's hand stopped moving the mouse. The message climbed, and disappeared.

Another took its place.

k1ngZero: [im sleepy put on different music zzzzzzz]

Mia read that one too.

She didn't answer.

The sheer volume of messages helped.

Two seconds later they were already buried under questions about games, emotes, people arguing about Yetis6 and somebody asking what Mia had eaten that day.

But another one appeared.

PlayerOne93: [whos matt?]

Mia closed her eyes.

She didn't want to read them.

Much less in front of hundreds of people.

MiAfkMod: [@PlayerOne93 Don't push on personal topics.]

The message disappeared.

Another moderator stepped in almost immediately.

Lyn_Mod: [No questions about family. Next one = timeout.]

Mia said nothing about it.

She opened another window.

She looked for a smile in her voice before speaking.

"Okay..."

She clapped twice near the mic.

"I've decided what we're playing today."

HorrorEnjoyer: [NIGHT HOUSE]

KuroNeko22: [horror]

RafaFPS: [Lotta2]

ChonkyPup: [minesweeper]

RandomGuy55: [yetis6 isnt out yet bro]

Mia shared the new window.

A chessboard appeared on the stream.

The reaction was immediate.

Sora_77: [NOOOOOOOOOOO]

KuroNeko22: [NOT AGAIN]

UnemployedCat: [im leaving]

HorrorEnjoyer: [BAN]

Alonso17: [this woman hates entertainment]

ChonkyPup: [CHESS GOD]

ChessEnjoyer: [FINALLY CONTENT]

RafaFPS: [here come 9 hours]

Mia smiled, satisfied.

"Exactly."

She moved the mouse over the find match button.

"Today we're playing chess."

The messages kept climbing.

"And we're not stopping until I climb high enough to be allowed to say I'm good."

ChessEnjoyer: [that could take years]

Mia narrowed her eyes.

"I saw that."

ChessEnjoyer: [:(]

"Besides, you complain too much. Chess is fun."

UnemployedCat: [its staring at wood]

"They're pieces."

UnemployedCat: [wood with shapes]

"There's strategy."

Alonso17: [so does Lotta2]

Mia's smile disappeared.

"I don't want to talk about Lotta2."

That name was all it took.

RafaFPS: [LOTTA2]

KuroNeko22: [LOTTA2]

Lucho1998: [climb to diamond]

NotABot: [platinumafk]

SaltedMango: [PLATINUM PLATINUM PLATINUM]

MiAfkMod: [@SaltedMango take 10 minutes off.]

SaltedMango vanished from chat.

Mia couldn't help laughing.

"Thank you."

MiAfkMod: [no problem.]

The match found an opponent.

Mia moved a pawn.

"Seriously, I want to take a break from Lotta2."

RafaFPS: [but theres the challenge]

SofiUwU: [everyones playing]

xXDarkPandaXx: [NekoRay is already diamond]

KuroNeko22: [Rex too]

HomelessPedro: [mialol is still platinum]

"My name is not MiLoL."

HomelessPedro: [MiPlatinum]

"I'll ban you myself."

HomelessPedro: [abuse of power]

Mia tried to concentrate on the board.

Her opponent had brought out a knight.

Mia answered.

While she calculated her next move, the chat went on doing exactly what it always did.

Arguing with each other.

Asking stupid questions.

Fighting about which game was better.

Asking for a face reveal.

Sending emotes.

One of them was explaining a pasta recipe for some reason.

Another was trying to convince everyone to buy shares in a company nobody had heard of.

One asked whether the knights in chess could jump because they were horses.

The mod let him live.

Mia was used to mentally filtering down to only part of it.

If she tried to read all of it, she'd end up with a headache.

DING!

Another alert appeared.

StreamBot: [Donation of $10 from RafaFPS.]

RafaFPS: [Play Lotta2. Everyone's doing the ranked climb challenge and there are prizes.]

Mia looked at the alert.

"Thanks for the ten."

She moved the bishop.

"But I don't feel like playing… that game… for a while…"

DING!

StreamBot: [Donation of $5 from KuroNeko22.]

KuroNeko22: [Lotta2.]

"I said no..."

DING!

StreamBot: [Donation of $20 from xXDarkPandaXx.]

xXDarkPandaXx: [please i want to watch you lose points]

"What a lovely community I have."

xXDarkPandaXx: [<3]

Mia took one of her opponent's pieces.

"I know about the challenge."

RafaFPS: [THEN PLAY]

SofiUwU: [almost everyone is in]

NotABot: [theres a prize for whoever climbs the most]

Lucho1998: [NekoRay said he'd beat you easy]

Mia looked up from the board.

"He said what?"

The chat got even faster.

KuroNeko22: [SHE FELL FOR IT]

RafaFPS: [HAHAHAHA]

SofiUwU: [ITS A LIE]

Lucho1998: [it was bait]

Mia went quiet.

"I hate you all..."

Lucho1998: [worth it]

Mia went back to the board.

"I'm not playing it either way."

She had already spent too many hours in Lotta2 over the last few weeks.

Good games.

Horrible games.

Teammates insulting each other.

People surrendering before the ten-minute mark.

Promos that ended badly.

And above all, a rank that seemed to have fallen in love with Platinum and refused to let her leave.

Mia needed a break from that game before she started to really hate it.

But above all, lately, when she played that game, it reminded her of him.

"I want to play other things for a few days...," Mia said with a smile.

RafaFPS: [coward]

"No."

"Besides…"

Mia moved her queen.

"Yetis6 comes out soon."

That diverted part of the chat.

RandomGuy55: [YETIS6 GOD]

KuroNeko22: [its going to release broken]

Sora_77: [i already bought it]

ChonkyPup: [80 bucks up front lmao]

Alonso17: [mia is going to disappear for a week]

NotABot: [24 hour stream]

"Not twenty-four."

xXDarkPandaXx: [12]

"That one's possible."

RafaFPS: [24.]

"I said no."

DING!

StreamBot: [Donation of $50 from UnemployedCat.]

UnemployedCat: [Lotta2.]

Mia let go of the mouse.

She looked at the alert for a few seconds.

Fifty dollars, to write one single word.

"Thanks for the fifty..."

UnemployedCat: [np]

"But no..."

The chat exploded with emotes.

Mia went back to her game.

She was down a rook.

She didn't know when that had happened.

"What?"

She checked the board.

"When did I lose that?"

ChessEnjoyer: [like 2 minutes ago]

"Two minutes?"

ChessEnjoyer: [you were busy fighting with chat]

Mia let herself drop back against the chair.

"This is why I can't play things that require thinking while I'm streaming."

Alonso17: [Lotta2 doesnt require thinking]

RafaFPS: [HAHAHA]

"That was offensive to Lotta2."

A door opened behind her.

Mia didn't pay attention to it at first.

She assumed Julieta had simply walked past in the hallway.

Until she heard her voice much closer.

"Mia."

Mia sat up.

"Yes?"

"The food you ordered is here."

Mia looked back.

Julieta was inside the room with a delivery bag.

For a fraction of a second, Mia completely forgot about the stream.

Then she remembered that her mic was open.

"Julieta!"

Her voice came out so loud that the mic bar touched red.

Julieta stopped.

"What?"

"I'm live!"

"Oh."

Julieta looked toward the desk.

There was no camera.

She didn't have to worry about appearing in front of anyone.

But her voice had already gone out through the mic perfectly.

Mia covered her eyes.

"Just leave it there."

"Alright."

"And get out fast."

Julieta set the bag down on a nearby table.

"Sorry. I didn't know you were working."

Mia lowered her hand.

"It's fine. Thanks for taking it."

"No problem."

While Julieta walked toward the door, Mia looked at the chat.

Mistake.

KuroNeko22: [????????????????]

SofiUwU: [WHO WAS THAT]

RafaFPS: [WOMAN DETECTED]

Alonso17: [MiAfk talks to women confirmed]

xXDarkPandaXx: [JULIETA]

ChonkyPup: [THE VOICE]

NotABot: [thats his wife]

Sora_77: [HAHAHAHAHA]

PlayerRandom44: [does mia have a girlfriend?]

UnemployedCat: [PLOT]

MiAfkMod: [Don't be weird.]

Mia started reading too fast.

"No!"

Julieta stopped in the doorway.

Mia pointed at her.

"Don't read."

Julieta looked toward the monitor.

"What?"

"The chat."

That, obviously, made Julieta curious.

She came a little closer.

Mia's eyes went wide.

"Julieta."

Julieta read a few messages.

RafaFPS: [JULIETA TELL HER TO QUIT LOTTA2]

KuroNeko22: [tell her to stop screaming]

ChonkyPup: [please tell her she makes way too much noise]

Alonso17: [save us julieta]

SofiUwU: [JULIETA FACE REVEAL]

MiAfkMod: [Do not ask for personal information about third parties.]

Julieta laughed.

"They say you scream a lot."

Mia spun around in the chair.

"Don't listen to them!"

KuroNeko22: [SHES SCREAMING RIGHT NOW]

RafaFPS: [EXHIBIT NUMBER 1]

Mia pointed at the monitor.

"They provoke me!"

Julieta looked at the chat again.

"They also say you should show your face."

"No."

"You've never shown it?"

Mia looked at her, horrified.

"Julieta!"

"What?"

"Don't give them conversation!"

The chat was completely out of control.

Alonso17: [CONFIRM THAT SHES A MAN]

SofiUwU: [JULIETA TELL US THE TRUTH]

UnemployedCat: [IS MIA REAL?]

ChonkyPup: [touch mia and make her squeal so we can verify]

MiAfkMod: [@ChonkyPup 10 minutes.]

Mia pointed at the door again.

"Out."

Julieta let out another laugh.

"You're exaggerating."

"You promised me you weren't going to watch my streams."

"And I don't."

"You're reading the chat."

"Because it's right in front of me."

"That counts!"

Julieta raised her hands.

"Alright."

She backed toward the door.

Mia followed her with her eyes until she was sure she was actually leaving.

Julieta put a hand on the frame.

"Have fun."

Mia huffed.

"Thanks."

"I'll be watching the perimeter."

Mia opened her mouth.

Too late.

Julieta had already left.

The door closed.

CLACK!

Mia turned slowly toward the monitor.

She already knew what she was going to find.

KuroNeko22: [PERIMETER????????]

RafaFPS: [WHAT]

Sora_77: [what do you mean perimeter]

Alonso17: [SHE HAS A BODYGUARD]

SofiUwU: [LORE LORE LORE]

UnemployedCat: [JULIETA IS YOUR PROTECTOR?]

NotABot: [why does she need somebody watching outside]

RandomGuy55: [i just wanted to talk about yetis6]

ChonkyPup: [i got unmuted]

MiAfkMod: [Do not speculate about private information.]

Mia started scrolling.

There were too many.

Some of them were asking seriously.

Others were making memes.

Several had decided Julieta was a bodyguard.

Others were certain Mia was some politician's daughter.

One person wrote that she was obviously in the mafia.

Another replied that a mafia woman wouldn't be playing online chess while hardstuck in Platinum in Lotta2.

Mia didn't even understand the connection and put both hands in her hair.

"You people…"

The messages kept coming.

"You people hear one sentence and build an entire novel out of it."

RafaFPS: [so shes not a bodyguard?]

Mia read the comment.

She could answer no.

The problem was that it wouldn't be exactly true either.

Mia looked away from the chat.

"I'm not answering that."

KuroNeko22: [CONFIRMED]

SofiUwU: [CONFIRMED]

Alonso17: [100% bodyguard]

"I didn't confirm anything!"

The chat filled up with emotes again.

Mia breathed out through her nose and went back to the board.

"Right."

Her opponent had just taken another pawn.

Mia didn't even know how.

"Let's talk about something important."

UnemployedCat: [CHANGING THE SUBJECT]

"Yes."

Mia opened another tab.

"I found a new feature on the site."

ChessEnjoyer: [the game analysis one?]

"Exactly."

ChonkyPup: [it tells you how many screwups you made]

"It puts it a little more politely."

ChonkyPup: [but thats what it means]

Mia hesitated.

"Yes."

She opened the analysis of an earlier game.

"The good part is that it points out exactly where you started losing."

ChessEnjoyer: [move 1]

Mia sat there looking at the message.

MiAfkMod: [LMAOOOO]

Mia leaned in toward the mic.

"Even the mods?"

MiAfkMod: [sorry.]

"I don't believe you."

◇◆◇

Julieta sat down on the couch in the living room.

From there she had a wide view of the street.

Not many people.

One vehicle parked two houses down.

A man walking a dog.

Nothing that caught her attention.

Much better that way.

Julieta took out her phone, and saw that she had three new messages.

Laura: [hows it going?]

Laura: [is she still shut in there?]

Laura: [???]

Julieta wrote:

Julieta: [Yes.]

Julieta: [She's still streaming.]

Julieta: [I don't think she's going out today either.]

The answer came fast.

Laura: [im so jealous]

Julieta: [Jealous?]

Laura: [i wish carmen was like that]

Laura: [that woman does not know how to sit still]

Laura: [hospital]

Laura: [another hospital]

Laura: [somebodys house]

Laura: [another hospital]

Julieta smiled.

Julieta: [She's a doctor.]

Laura: [I KNOW]

Laura: [but shes like 200 years old]

Laura: [she could rest]

Julieta: [She isn't 200.]

Laura: [it feels like she is.]

Julieta sent a laughing emoji.

Laura answered with an exhausted one.

Laura: [luckily its been quiet these last few days]

Laura: [zero problems]

Julieta: [Then maybe you'll get a rest today.]

Laura: [DONT SAY THAT]

Laura: [now something is going to happen]

Julieta: [Superstitious.]

Laura: [realistic.]

From the bedroom came Mia's voice.

"BUT WHY IS THAT MOVE BAD?!"

Julieta looked up toward the hallway.

Mia kept going.

"IT WAS GOOD TWO TURNS AGO!"

Julieta went back to her phone.

Julieta: [Everything normal here.]

Laura: [HAHAHA]

A few seconds passed.

Another notification appeared.

Laura: [hey]

Laura: [did you hear the rumor?]

Julieta: [Which one?]

Laura took a little longer this time.

Laura: [the one about princess matt]

Julieta shifted on the couch.

Julieta: [What happened with him?]

Laura: [they say she finally came out of the cave]

Julieta read it again.

Julieta: [From the Forge?]

Laura: [yes]

Laura: [at last]

Laura: [and she did her debut yesterday]

Julieta looked toward Mia's door.

Closed.

The sound of the stream was still coming through it, muffled.

Laura wrote again.

Laura: [but thats not the weird part]

Laura: [she came out with a sister]

Julieta frowned.

Julieta: [A sister?]

Laura: [thats what theyre saying]

Laura: [another white haired girl]

Laura: [they look a lot alike]

Julieta left her thumb resting on the screen.

That didn't match anything she knew.

Matt had one sister.

One.

And she was in this house.

Julieta: [It could be a rumor.]

Laura: [i thought the same]

Laura: [but a lot of people are saying it]

Laura: [and the best part is still coming]

Julieta waited.

Laura: [they say she has TWO ego weapons]

Julieta sat up.

She read it again.

Two.

Julieta: [No.]

Laura: [HAHAHA]

Julieta: [They're exaggerating.]

Laura: [THATS WHAT I SAID]

Laura: [but somebody i know says she saw them]

Julieta: [Two different weapons?]

Laura: [yes]

Laura: [one on each side during the debut]

Laura: [and apparently both of them are strong]

Julieta rested the phone on one knee.

Matt had spent weeks inside the Forge Cave.

Now he was reappearing with a supposed sister and two ego weapons.

Julieta picked the phone up again.

Julieta: [What did he do inside that cave?]

Laura: [no idea]

Laura: [but there are way too many rumors]

Laura: [they also say the queen is preparing something]

Julieta looked out at the street.

Nothing.

She went back to the conversation.

She was writing an answer when she heard a shout.

"WHAT?!"

Julieta lifted her head.

Another one.

"NO, NO, NO!"

She put the phone away and stood up.

She crossed the living room.

"Mia."

Another shout.

"THAT'S CHEATING!"

Julieta opened the door.

CLACK!

Mia was still in front of her computer.

There was a board on the screen.

The game was over.

[DEFEAT]

Mia had the mouse in one hand.

"HOW IS IT CHECKMATE IF I STILL HAVE ALL THESE PIECES?!"

Julieta checked the room.

Nothing out of place.

Just Mia losing a game.

Again.

"Mia."

She turned toward the door.

"What?"

"I thought something had happened."

"Something did happen."

Mia pointed at the monitor.

"He stole that game from me!"

Julieta looked at the board.

She didn't understand enough chess to know whether that was true.

Probably not.

"Alright."

Mia turned back to the mic.

"Don't laugh!"

The chat was moving too fast for Julieta to read it from the doorway, but she could make out an absurd quantity of emotes.

Mia turned again.

"What are you doing?"

"Checking that you were okay."

"I'm okay."

"So I see."

Julieta started to close the door.

The sound of another alert escaped from Mia's headphones.

DING!

Mia looked at the screen.

StreamBot: [Donation of $100 from xXDarkPandaXx.]

xXDarkPandaXx: [Play Lotta2.]

Mia went quiet.

So did Julieta.

"…"

Mia slowly leaned toward the mic.

"I'm not playing that game… but thank you so much for the donation… xXDarkPandaXx…"

Julieta let out a laugh and closed the door.

CLACK!

She went back to the living room while Mia started arguing with the entire chat again.

"A HUNDRED DOLLARS IS NOT GOING TO CHANGE MY MIND!"

Julieta sat down.

She picked her phone back up.

Laura was still waiting for an answer.

Julieta wrote:

Julieta: [Let me know if you hear anything new about Matt.] Laura: [sure]

Julieta locked the screen.

From the bedroom came another protest.

"STOP DONATING TO MAKE ME PLAY LOTTA2!"

Julieta looked toward the hallway.

For now, Mia was busy, and that was probably for the best.

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