Chapter 403: – Kofi Tech Support |
While Alfi and Aoko performed on stage, their support staff worked behind the scenes in a small control booth overlooking the concert hall.
A man with hulking muscles wearing an 'Alfi-sama Forever' t-shirt stared at a tablet, closely monitoring the live chat of the concert's stream. After watching for a bit, he nodded and said, "Knight checking in. Chat is behaving."
Seated in front of a monitor and console filled with various stream diagnostics, a pretty brown-haired woman with a perfectly chiseled muscular body nodded and said, "Couch here. Stream health is good."
At that time, the door to the control room opened, and a young man with silver hair walked into the room. Balancing a tray of drinks in his left hand and carrying a bag of donuts in his right, he said, "Hottie checking in. Grabbed the snacks."
A seemingly professional trio, working efficiently and effectively. Of course, that was expected of the three strongest Alfis.
In contrast...
An exasperated young man with black hair leaned back in his chair to glare at the trio. Wearing a blue dragon hoodie and holding one side of a pair of headphones to his ear, he rolled his eyes and said, "It's not that serious."
A young man with tank skin and curly brown hair glanced over and chuckled. "It's part of their charm, Garbo." Adjusting his golden orca hoodie, he glanced back at his computer, opening a UI to queue up some visual effects to spawn in time to Aoko and Alfi's performance.
"It's Garbage, Orca." StraightGarbage adjusted the audio on the fly with a mixer and then said, "I'll take Trash too, but Garbo is too weird."
StraightGarbage (a.k.a. Garbage) groaned and said, "Could we not, Foxy?" He quickly dimmed the instrumentals and queued up the next tracks since Aoko and Alfi were winding down. "There's already hella stuff to prep."
"You're no fun..." Foxy puffed her cheeks to pout and then sighed. Looking back at her own computer, she started maneuvering the cameras to get the best shots for the livestream.
Hottie set the drinks and donuts onto the singular table in the room and said, "Everything on schedule and working well then?" Glancing over at Garbage he said, "No issues with mixing, Garbage-san?"
"Finally, some respect around here." Garbage reached up to stretch and then said, "Yeah. Things are chill for now." He got out of his seat and stepped over Foxy to grab a drink. "Queenie and Alfi are god-tier at vocal control, so we don't have to adjust much." He grabbed a donut from the bag and munched on it before saying, "They also have god-tier sounding vocals too, so it's a hard carry either way."
Orca spawned in a burst of fireworks as Aoko and Alfi finished their first song. After that, he got up to stretch and then walked over to grab a drink as well. "It's pretty surprising." Pulling a straw out from its wrapper, he placed it in his drink before saying, "I guess Queen has been diligent about practicing."
Foxy adjusted the lighting and cameras to focus on Alfi and Aoko for the intermission before she got up to stretch too. After that, she giggled and said, "I bet Queen's been getting a lot of 'vocal practice'... hehehe."
Garbage groaned and waved his drink at Foxy. "Look. I'm a die-hard otaku and even *I* think you're being weird, Foxy." He took another bite of his donut and said, "Like... I get you pandering to those weird furries when you stream, but could you at LEAST try to keep it professional when working here?"
Foxy walked over to grab her own drink and said, "Fiiiine." She unwrapped a straw and stabbed it into her drink before muttering, "Boring virgin prick."
"What was that?!"
Knight looked up from his tablet and narrowed his eyes. "This is a sacred moment for Alfi-sama and Aoko-sama. It is imperative to stay focused to ensure no problems."
Couch nodded as well and said, "We have received seats of great honor. It would behoove us to act as those in such a position ought to do."
Hottie grabbed a powdered sugar donut from the bag, and then the last drink in the tray. After that, he frowned and looked over at Couch and Knight. "Okay, I'm fine with acting like secret agents, but do we *really* have to act old-timey like that, guys?"
Knight puffed his chest out and said, "As the vanguard of Alfis, we must uphold the proper image."
Couch gave a serious nod and said, "If we will not, who will?"
"Right..." Hottie took a bite from his donut and then glanced over at Garbage.
The two shared a look and then sighed.
Hottie took a seat on the edge of the table and then said, "Any word from Bossman by the way?"
Orca pulled out his phone to check and then shook his head. "None." He slipped his phone back and then turned his attention back to the computer since Aoko and Alfi were getting ready for the next song. "He did say that he wanted us to try and handle this on our own though."
Garbage sighed and shoved the rest of his donut in his mouth. Washing it down with his drink, he brushed off his hands and walked back to his seat. After sitting down and putting his headphones back on, he shook his head and said, "Some boss John is. Shoving all the hard stuff on us and bailing for his daughter's first day of school..."
Foxy plopped back down on the ground in front of her laptop and pulled up the camera controls again. After that, she said, "To be fair, considering Big Boss went out for milk and just came back, it'd be a bad idea to bail again."
Garbage sighed and started adjusting the audio for the next song. "Yeah, yeah. Still annoying though."
Orca pulled out a silk handkerchief from his pants pocket and wiped his hands clean. Afterwards, he started cueing up some visual effects and said, "Take it up with HR next time you see her. And try not to flirt with HR again too."
Garbage turned red and said, "I didn't realized it was Miss Jenny, Okay?! She's like, REALLY hot in a secretary outfit!"
Foxy quickly looked up and nodded her head. "Agreed! 10000%"
Hottie glanced around the room at the bickering trio and then the two hyper-fixated colleagues of his. After that, he shook his head and muttered, "Why am I the only normal one here?"
Garbage clicked his tongue and said, "Shut up, Normie. Stop complaining about being hot and start timestamping for clips we can put on social media."
"Whatever you say, Garbo."
"Hey!"
Hottie laughed and then pulled out his phone and a pair of smart glasses. Putting the glasses on, he made himself comfortable and started watching the concert stream again from the beginning at 4x speed.
Garbage rolled his eyes. "Whatever, man. And text John while you're at it."
Hottie paused the video and said, "Good point. Let's see what the Bossman has to say..."
xxx
A soft chime echoed in the silent cafe.
John ignored it for now.
Probably just Garbage and the others checking in. More importantly...
John stared at the man in front of him and said, "I thought you died. And yet..." He glanced at the silver-haired woman right behind Gray.
Specifically, at the wedding ring on her left ring finger.
John looked back at Gray and let out a cold laugh. "And yet, here you are! My big brother in the flesh, happily married and healthy." He let out a cold smile and said, "You left behind quite the baggage, you know?"
Gray wiped the blood from his mouth and then said, "Yeah, well..." He stood up straight and adjusted his suit. "I've had a hell of a trip."
"Funny." John chuckled and said, "Must run in the family then."
