Greatest Streamer System

After returning from Nina's restaurant, Max sat on his apartment's balcony and contacted Lily. He explained Nina's request and asked for a favor from the girl.

"That's why. Can you grant me this favor, Lily?" He asked earnestly and looked straight at her on the screen.

Her beautiful face turned into a frown for a second before she hummed, thinking about it. After a while, she nodded to herself.

"Do you like this Nina, Max?" Lily asked curiously, pouting slightly. "She's the waitress, right? The cute girl with a sun-like personality."

Jealousy was evident from her voice and tone. Her gaze seemed to bore through the screen, and she would accept no lie.

And there was no point in lying to her either. So Max responded truthfully.

"I do like Nina, but not romantically." He said, "For what I could remember in my life, she had always been there for me. It would be strange if I said I hate her, no? Also, I have stopped her advance subtlety. She knew about that, but we are still friends."

He chuckled after seeing Lily's stupefied expression.

She probably didn't really expect that answer at all. What she understood was like and disliked. As far as human emotion went, she wasn't really good at expressing it without her specialty, music.

And from the movies she watched, those who got rejected and the one who rejected usually put distance between each other. So, this was a pretty strange situation for Lily.

But then, Max's answer was satisfactory, at least for her. It made sense. Because when she put herself in his position, she would also say she liked Ferin because they were friends.

"I see." She nodded and smiled, "Tonight at the park?"

"Tonight at the park," Max confirmed with a nod, relieved that Lily accepted his favor. "Thanks, Lily."

"Un. See you later."

[Video Call Ended.]

As much as he actually didn't want to ask for a favor, he wanted to make Nina's departure have as little regret as possible. And to do that, he wanted to grant her request.

'There will be no bad blood between them, right?' He hoped sincerely, heaving a sigh. 'I shouldn't worry too much. Nina and Lily are good girls. They will be good friends.'

***

Night arrived soon.

Max stood in front of his apartment, hands in pockets. He leaned against a lamp pillar and waited for Nina to arrive. The park they agreed to meet was just a block away from his apartment. And because Nina never visited, he decided to wait for her in this place.

Looking at his smartwatch, he found out that it was 7:13 PM.

Just as he lowered his hand, he heard footsteps approaching from the right. He raised his head and found the short-haired girl he had been waiting for walking toward him in a casual yellow exercise shirt and white shorts.

"Ah, you saw me." The girl giggled and stuck out her tongue, "I thought I could surprise you as you were watching your smartwatch. I guess I wasn't stealthy enough."

"If that's your intention, then you should've tried to tiptoe." Max chuckled at Nina's antics as she stopped next to him, "Well, miss assassin. Let's get to the meeting place, shall we?"

"Alright." Nina hunched forward with her hands behind her back. "Hehe, I am curious about Lily. I always saw her in your or her livestream, but this will be the first time I will directly meet her. I suddenly feel a little bit nervous."

"Don't be. Lily won't bite you." He joked around as he began to walk to the park side by side with Nina.

She pouted and looked at him, "I know she won't bite. But you see… Isn't she like a distant princess? She's so beautiful and graceful. I know some girls in your fanbase who admired and wanted to be like Lily."

That was not surprising. Max knew that Lily was beautiful, and many people would definitely want to be like her. But still, how did Nina know about the girls in his fanbase when he didn't even know about it himself?

Facing his questioning look, the short-haired girl only put her index finger in front of her lips and giggled playfully.

"Oops, forget about that, please. I said something I shouldn't say to you."

Max was curious but decided not to ask. They continued to walk to the park, around the place where the pillars he climbed were.

Looking around, Max immediately found the girl he had been searching for. She was sitting on a bench, scrolling a screen that showed nothing but blue light. She had activated the anti-spy function, so only she could see it.

"Hey, Max. Is that her?"

Nina pointed at Lily, who sat on the bench without any kind of subtlety, causing the black-haired girl to notice them. Lily closed the screen and stood up, smiling at them.

"Yes," Max answered Nina and smiled at Lily. "You're pretty early, Lily. There are still a few minutes until our promised time."

"I exercised while waiting,"

Lily answered, pointing at her clothes, the usual black tank top and long spats. There was no trace of sweat, a sign that she was lying to them so they didn't feel bad making her wait. Then, she looked at Nina, who stood beside Max.

"Nice to meet you. Lily Spencer." She introduced herself and extended her hand. Her expression was stone cold, observing Nina as if she were some kind of opponent in an important tournament.

Smiling excitedly, Nina took her hand and shook Lily's hand.

"It's nice to meet you! My name is Nina, Max's friend." She introduced herself with an energy that even surprised Lily, "Woah, you're more beautiful up close. Hehe, I always wanted to meet you since I saw you in his stream. Finally, this day has come! Say, do you want to be friends?"

"Uh…" Lily looked troubled and glanced at Max, who pretended not to see them and caressed the pillars. She felt a little bit betrayed and looked back at Nina.

The short-haired girl's eyes were shining. The intent to befriend her was genuine, and there was no hidden intention at all.

"I… don't mind," Lily answered with a weak smile, still overwhelmed by the energy the other party gushed. It reminded her of Ferin and their first meeting. "Let's get along well?"

"Yay!" Nina cheered in happiness as she hugged the other party. "Let's get along well, hehe. I can call you Lily, right? I have so much to talk about with you!"

After releasing Lily, Nina pulled her hand and went to the nearby bench. Lily looked more troubled and sent a signal for help to Max, which he ignored again splendidly.

"Wow, what a beautiful pillar." He said in an emotionless tone and a fake smile. He would let the two girls talk to each other without bothering them.

Because she was forcefully pulled to the bench, Lily had no choice but to sit next to the cheerful girl. She looked at her, waiting for Nina to speak first.

"Max won't be able to hear us here." Nina broke the awkwardness with a smile, "Sorry to be so forceful in our first meeting, but I have a question that I am so curious about."

Sensing the change in Nina's mood, Lily also reacted accordingly. She nodded with her usual cold expression.

"Me too. After hearing something from Max, I have a question for you too." She said.

"I will answer your questions later, but first…" Nina's voice died down a little and her expression turned serious. "Can you take care of Max for me? Even if he looks like he can do everything by himself, he's actually pretty weak inside. So, please promise me. Please take care of him."

Lily nodded. It seemed like she had a wrong idea of Nina.

'I thought she would be angry, but she's only worried about Max.' She thought, 'She's so kind.'

She didn't need to ask her question now. She began to like Nina as an individual and happily accepted her as a real friend.

"I promise," Lily answered seriously, smiling gently. "Please trust me."

"I will trust your words," Nina giggled and her cheery expression returned. Then, she clasped her hands as if remembering something, "Oh right, let's exchange contact information too. I want to invite you to a private server where I act as the moderator. I promise it will be fun."

"Sure."

On the side, Max looked at them but was unable to hear their conversation. However, it seemed like everything went pretty well, considering both of them were smiling now.

'I am glad.' He thought, patting his chest.

There was something hard underneath his shirt. It was a makeshift armor he made in case something bad happened.

'It seems that I don't need to take some hits. That's a relief.'