My Virtual Lover

Live 31: A Stalling of Disaster

The APEX champion is a child at heart, he doesn’t want to lose to anyone as he leads the squad along with Yellow. Kevin just finishes his chores, after that he’s pumped to play with the woman he adores. Tempesta is a bright woman, her age might be a problem but her personality is his type. However, the young man seems to notice the discomfort in her voice.

She’s not as cheerful as she is, she’s holding back her laughter while following him close. Yellow notices the enemy is not approaching them, rather they decide to back away to another location to loot. Kevin asks Yellow if the area is clear from the enemies since Yellow uses Bloodhound, which is a scanner character.

There’s no one around, hence they can make their move to another area swiftly. Kevin runs first, they want to loot the gold loot in the fighting arena as soon as possible, but Tempesta’s hearing is sharp. She warns the others about the sound of footsteps ahead, and the sound of shootings in the arena.

“Stop! Stop walking” Tempesta pulls the two men back. “There’s a war in the fighting rink”.

“You think that’s the enemy we encounter before? The one who decided to back away?” Yellow asks the other two.

Kevin nods, telling them that the enemies they encountered before might have met another squad by accident. Thus war ensues between the squads, Kevin suggests they stay low and make a surprise attack when they just finished the war. Yellow and Tempesta agree, Kevin scopes with his sniper rifle Sentinel, watching the two squads punching fist to fist on the arena.

After the sound of gunshots died down, the three of them move in unison toward the fighting rink. The enemy squad is currently looting the item as they sneak behind their back. Kevin does the first shooting, his first shot is headshot hence a fatal hit toward the enemy sharpshooter. Yellow rushes over with a Volt in hand, attacking the two.

Tempesta does her things, aiming at the three enemies below while maintaining her current position. Most of her shots are missed, Kevin can hear Nullworld words of concern to Tempesta.

“Tempesta, are you alright? You look frustrated” he asks her.

“I’m fine Null, it’s none of your concern” she replies rather coldly toward the man he just asks to join her server.

Kevin notices her growl and dissatisfaction but decides not to say anything to her so that he won’t cause more trouble at her. Yellow whistles as he loots the enemy, finding R-301 Carbine in the loot box. He gives the Volt to Kevin who loves the Volt more than anything, while Tempesta switches her Mastiff with EVA-8 auto because of its easy maneuver.

Tempesta is being silent is highly unlike her, she’s usually the cheerful bunch who talks a lot. Kevin ignores this, focusing on the target before him. However, he had a feeling that his action somewhat hurts her feelings. Nevertheless, they won the war and proceed to the circle while looting the death box along the way.

Tempesta doesn’t say anything, only Kevin and Yellow are currently talking about the outcome of the war.

“We did a pretty good job” Kevin grins at Yellow. “I remember that you said this is your first time playing APEX”.

“Yep, I usually play Valorant, but this one is more difficult than I thought” Yellows sighs. “The movement is so sharp, it takes more than just a good aim”.

Tempesta agrees as well, she explains how the movement can affect their gameplay entirely. The player has to have a precise aim and a fast movement to utilize their positions effectively, one with a fast hand would be thrilled to play APEX. Not to mention the vast map and battle royale system.

Anyone who loves a great challenge would love to know more about APEX, challenging strong players on the battlefield.

“So what about you?” Yellow asks Tempesta. “What is your purpose to play APEX?”.

“Kano loves playing APEX, that’s why I’m playing the game!” she answers enthusiastically, almost immediately.

Kevin clicks his tongue, as he looks at the screen of his PC in irritation, Kano this and that. The more he listens to it, the more he feels inferior to Kano. Surely, Kano is Tempesta’s favorite Vtuber since he debuts. It shouldn’t be his problem, to begin with, but his temper says otherwise. Kevin crosses his arm, asking if Kano even knows her to begin with.

“You’ve been saying Kano this and that” he scoffs. “Does he even know who you are? It’s not like he will recognize you among his million fans”.

“So what? I want to be as good as Kano does!” Tempesta growls at Kevin, he can hear the hiss tone behind her usual calm and collected voice.

Kevin knows he irritates her, but that’s what’s fun about talking with Tempesta. The woman is a clueless one, an adorable cutie that he wants to keep for himself. However, Kevin doesn’t want her to know the truth about his affection toward her. Rather, he doesn’t want him to know because he doesn’t know how to convey it.

“You’re a showoff! But you can’t even play the game properly!” Kevin smirks, teasing her yet again to gain more power.

He doesn’t understand it himself, he can’t pause his mouth from teasing her. She reminds him of his favorite Vtuber, the gamer maid he always teases every time she Livestream on her YouTube. Even her voice is similar to her, indeed how strange the world is if the person he plays with happens to be the person behind the persona of Rhapsody.

“There’s no way that’s possible” he mumbles to himself.

Her attitude is similar to the cursing machine Rhapsody, the gamer maid with temperamental issues. People like to tease her due to her inability to control her wording and temper despite her effort not to become a toxic person in gaming. Kevin can’t help but shake off the suspicion on the temperamental Tempesta.

Since she’s not in a good mood, he sews his mouth tightly not to make her even more upset.

“You guys are doing fine, keep it up” Nullworld who is still in the background watches the stream closely. “Don’t be dispirited Tempesta, you’re doing good”.

“I don’t need your pity” Tempesta answers annoyed at Nullworld. “I’m doing fine”.

Yellow clicks his tongue, the man stops walking and politely talk to the sulking Tempesta.

“Tempesta, you know that Nullworld is not ill-mannered” Yellow scolds her while scratching the back of his head. “He’s trying to cheer you up, don’t be like that”.

Tempesta silences her mouth as if reflecting on the things she said to Nullworld rudely. She then apologizes to Nullworld for saying such rude words to him. Nullworld was in shock with her treatment of him, loss for words. However, after listening to Tempesta’s apology, she says it sincerely that it was unlike her to lose her temper.

Everyone in the voice channel can sense her quivering lips as she apologizes making Kevin think that she’s holding on to something else. As they continue playing, her silence makes it apparent to them that Tempesta is indeed not in a playful mood to talk. Yellow tries to brighten the situation, but none of his words affect Tempesta’s mood.

Kevin doesn’t know what’s wrong with her, they hung out together before and this has never happened before.

“What did I do to her? I hope that I’m not the reason for her bad mood” he thoughts to himself. “It’s a hassle, but then again it’s her”.

Tempesta walks forward to the circle area, entering the ring in safety. The map is getting smaller because of the ticking circle of death that will deplete their health point if they stay outside the circle for too long. Nullworld enjoys the stream, excited to see the three plays as they encounter more enemies on the road.

“You’ve never played this kind of game, huh?” Yellow is amused to hear Nullworld’s enthusiasm in cheering them. “We can teach you how if you want to”.

“Oh, you don’t need to!” Nullworld replies, somewhat surprised. “My laptop spec is not that high, so I can’t play the games anyway! So no worries”.

Tempesta and Kevin are still in a sour mood, the two of them refuse to talk to each other. Kevin is still ransacking his brain to find a nice topic to talk about, but Tempesta is nothing but silence.

“I can hear footsteps from NW 120” Tempesta talks abruptly to her two teammates. “I’ll follow you guys from behind, you two can go before me”.

* * *

It was another defeat, they ended up in the tenth place due to the crowded squads at one place with no place to take shelter.

“Good game everyone” Yellow praises the two. “Now, why don’t we take a break?”.

“Great idea, I would love to take one” Kevin chuckles embarrassingly. “My aim became poor at that last clutch”.

“We all had bad aim days, it’s pretty normal” Yellow laughs. “I’ll move to another discord server then, my friend calls me to play Valorant with them”.

Yellow bids his farewell as he disappears from the voice channel, Kevin says his goodbye along with Tempesta. However, Tempesta is still in a sour mood even after playing APEX. Kevin was about to ask her, but he was beaten by Nullworld. The mysterious gentleman asks if Tempesta is feeling unwell, she doesn’t answer but merely tells them that she’s not having a good day.

“Sorry, I’ll have to exit the voice channel” Tempesta sighs heavily. “Don’t worry, I’ll be fine”.

She exits the voice channel abruptly, not letting any of them say their goodbye. Kevin asks if Nullworld knows what happens to the young lady, to which Null replies with a simple ‘no’.

“I thought you two are close” Nullworld asks him back. “Am I wrong?”.

Kevin doesn’t answer him immediately, remembering the painful tone he hears from Tempesta’s voice. He wonders if he did something wrong to her for these past few weeks.

“You should try to be more attentive to her needs” Null advises the clueless college student. “I can sense that you’re the type of person who speaks his mind without filtering your word, you should be careful with your bluntness cause not everyone can accept your word as it is”.