The Melancholy of Minato Aqua

It was another day at the hololive office. You were just an average salaryman working as a technician, helping the girls with their streams with various tech support and also helping them optimize their streaming experience. Because of this, you interacted with many of them on a daily basis. Secretly this was the reason you wanted the position, but you always kept your professional face on when working with them. It was interesting to see their other sides outside of streaming, but one of them took your interest.

Looking over, you saw the fidgeting girl Minato Aqua sitting on her bed. She had called in earlier about a problem with her streaming equipment, so Hololive HQ had sent you to solve the issue. As you fiddled around with the various settings of her computer, the shy girl kept her eyes on you while she twiddled her thumbs. You had tried to make casual talk with her, but the poor girl was so socially awkward that any attempt to speak to her would lead to a few whispers and a blush so red that it looked like she had a fever. This was the case of anyone outside of her own family and her friend Murasaki Shion. You’d exhausted almost every topic to try and get the girl out of her shell, but nothing had worked. Asking about the weather, things she liked outside of streaming, or her social life were just a few things you had tried asking. You sighed as you turned to face the girl, asking if she could show you where her router was.

“Y-Y-Yes!” she blurted out as she stood up from the bed and rushed to the door of the room. But as she did this, she moved so fast that she ran full force into you and fell downwards. As Aqua fell to the floor, she hit her head on the side of the bed and then fell face first onto the floor.  You rushed to aid the fallen pink and blue haired girl as she rolled on the ground.

“Owww…” she moaned as she rubbed her head. You asked if she had any ice packs in the apartment's freezer and she shook her head, saying that they were cold Red Bulls instead. The girl’s social awkwardness seemed to subside as you rushed to the kitchen and grabbed one of the cans and brought it to her. This was another one of Aqua's tendencies that she was known for, being a complete airhead that gave her the title of ‘Baqua’. Upon returning to the room, you were met with the sight of Aqua curled up by the side of the bed, holding her legs to her chest and sandwiching her head between her knees.

“Why am I so stupid… I can't even talk to people correctly…” she said between sobs. You sighed again as you walked up to her and presented the Red Bull can. Aqua must’ve forgot you were there as she jumped up and hit her head again on the bed frame. You apologized as she settled down and took the can in hand and pressed it against her double-inflicted wound on her head. You resisted the urge to laugh at the comical situation as you took a seat in Aqua's chair and turned to her.

“No, I should be the one apologizing… I’m just making everyone's life more difficult. You had to come from the office just to fix my streaming stuff, just to deal with me being stupid... again…” as she started to cry again you just felt puzzled by the situation. You were a technician, not a damn therapist! Not knowing what you could do, only one thing came to mind. You reached out with your hand and patted her on the head. As you rubbed your hands through her smooth hair, she looked up at you with a look of astonishment at first, but quickly was replaced by one of complete embarrassment. Her face was like a tomato as she turned her head to the side and avoided all eye contact with you.

“Heh… heh heh… heh…” she muttered as you continued the motions. She didn’t seem to mind it as she let out a few giggles and smiled softly. After a minute or two you noticed she had calmed down so you removed your hand and gave her a reassuring smile. You talked about how despite her faults, she was a funny streamer that brightened the day of anyone who watched her. That her singing, dancing and gaming streams brought happiness and enjoyment to anyone, including yourself. She blushed again as she turned her head away from you, but that smile still remained on her face

“Thank you… I really needed that….” she said as she wiped the remaining tears from her eyes. As she was back to normal you returned to fixing Aqua’s streaming equipment, noticing now that her look of apprehension and shyness was now replaced by curiosity and intrigue. You were surprised that she started a conversation about the game APEX Legends while you typed away at her keyboard. Even when you finished the fixes to her computers software, you stayed for a few extra hours to talk about and even played a few games with her. Seeing as it was getting late, you decided to go home, though you noticed that she seemed actually sad to see you go. You reassured her that you wouldn’t mind coming over to hang out again, and that brought her mood back up quickly. You parted ways with Aqua and returned to the Hololive office to submit your report before you went home that evening, content with helping one of Hololives most dumb, but equally most lovable idols, in more ways than one.

But when you returned to the office the next day for work, you were surprised that not only was the onion-haired girl standing in your office, the CEO of Hololive himself Yagoo, was standing there as well.

“Ah, anon! It seems Aqua has taken a liking to you, and since you are one of the few people that she has opened up to, I’d like to make you her manager!” spoke Yagoo as Aqua timidly walked up to you. Before you could even reply the girl ran to you and wrapped her arms around your own and shined a smile so bright you were almost blinded.

“Please take care of me!” she enthusiastically said. With her looking at you that way, there was no possible way that you could say no. You gave her an equally happy smile and nodded. It would seem your time in Hololive would be a lot more interesting than you would have ever thought.