This is a place that's always full of energy. A cheerful office where the singing and dancing VTuber Beat Mario and his friends gather.
Beat Mario is the boss of the doujin music circle Cool&Create. He's a singer famous for Touhou arrangements. His Live2D body was specially made based on his beloved wife. That's why 'I love my wife' is his catchphrase, his morning greeting is 'Konyome,' and his evening greeting is 'Otsuyome.' He doesn't use a voice changer and uses his natural voice. He's easyg
Beat Mario and Friends' Hilarious Daily Life - Confession Day. Mario reveals a promise with his wife.
Autumn sunlight streamed through the windows of Cool & Create.
On the whiteboard in the shared space, Amane's neat handwriting read: "Two weeks until the sports festival." Next to it, a note in Soyo's round letters was stuck: "The clouds look weird. Maybe rain."
Mario sat in his streaming booth chair, staring intently at his phone's lock screen.
It was a photo of him and his wife. Some park, both of them laughing. His wife leaned against his shoulder, looking a little shy.
"……Hah."
A deep sigh was absorbed into the soundproof room's walls.
Mario ran a hand through his short black hair and looked up at the ceiling. His signature fang-toothed grin was nowhere to be seen.
"What am I supposed to do?"
A week had passed since the invitation arrived.
The sports festival was on October 22nd. That was the day of an important promise with his wife.
Unable to tell anyone, time just kept slipping by.
Knock, knock.
Someone knocked on the streaming booth door.
"Mario-san, are you in there?"
A clear, transparent voice. Amane — Cool & Create's vice president, with long purple-tinted hair tied in twin tails. Her narrow silver eyes peeked through the gap in the door.
"O-oh. Yeah, I'm here."
Mario hurriedly shoved his phone into his pocket.
Click.
Amane stepped in. Black cardigan, checkered skirt. Her usual ballpoint pen tucked behind her ear. A schedule book in her hand.
"Are your streaming preparations going well? You have a collab stream scheduled tonight."
"Y-yeah. It's fine. I already checked the mic."
Mario forced a smile. But it was somehow stiff.
Amane narrowed her silver eyes and stared at Mario's face.
"……Mario-san, you've been acting strange lately."
"Huh? Strange? No way."
"You are. For the past week, your stream prep has been taking an unusually long time. Yesterday, you plugged the mic cable in backwards. The day before, you almost put up a photo of your wife by mistake instead of the illustration you meant to show on stream."
"Urk."
Mario was at a loss for words.
Amane opened her schedule book and tapped the page with her pen.
"Also, even during sports festival meetings, you're spacing out. Are you listening to what I'm saying?"
"I-I am listening! Ball toss, bread-eating race, and scavenger race, right?"
"That was last week's discussion. Today, I was talking about the practice schedule."
Mario scratched his head.
"Ah…… my bad. I've got something on my mind."
"What are you thinking about?"
Amane stepped forward, closing the distance.
A petite frame of 152 centimeters. But her silver eyes were fixed straight on Mario, as if refusing to let him escape.
"Mario-san. You're hiding something, aren't you?"
"Wha—"
"Am I right?"
"N-no, I'm not! Hiding something? No way."
"Then why does your face always darken when the sports festival comes up? Why do you sigh while looking at your phone's lock screen? Why won't you meet my eyes?"
Amane pressed him, calmly but relentlessly.
"Amane-chan, wait. Let's calm down. Okay?"
"I am calm. The one who isn't calm is you, Mario-san."
Mario swallowed his words.
Silence fell over the streaming booth.
The Live2D illustration of his wife — modeled and framed on the wall — was bathed in the evening light, smiling quietly.
Mario glanced at it.
(Wife…… what am I supposed to do?)
His chest tightened.
Amane followed his gaze.
"……So it does have something to do with your wife."
Mario's shoulders twitched.
"Why would you think that?"
"Whenever you sigh, you're always looking at your phone's lock screen. That lock screen is a photo of you and your wife. Therefore, you have a worry related to your wife."
"You're amazing, you know that? Are you a detective?"
Mario gave a wry smile.
But there was no running away now.
Amane's serious eyes said as much.
Mario took a deep breath.
Then, slowly, he opened his mouth.
"……The thing is, on the day of the sports festival—"
"Yes."
"I have an important promise with my wife."
Mario's voice echoed strangely small in the soundproof room.
Amane blinked once.
"A promise?"
"Yeah. A promise I absolutely can't break. October 22nd is a really important day for us as a couple."
Mario pulled out his phone.
The lock screen. The photo of him and his wife.
"Look at this photo. This was taken on the first day we ever went out together. That day was October 22nd."
Mario's finger gently traced his wife's smile on the screen.
"So every year on that day, we go out together. We revisit the first place we ever went. That's our promise…… and this is the one promise I want to keep no matter what."
Mario's voice was dead serious.
Amane was silent for a while.
Then, quietly, she spoke.
"So that's what it was."
"Yeah. So I might not be able to make it to the sports festival. But I couldn't tell everyone. They're all looking forward to it — I didn't want to ruin it."
Mario hung his head.
"Pathetic, right? I might end up betraying everyone, and I've just been covering it up."
"No one would ever think of it as betrayal."
Amane's voice softened just a little.
"So, your wife can't come to the sports festival?"
"Right. My wife…… she's not good with being in front of people. She doesn't appear on streams, doesn't come to events. She just secretly watches my streams from home."
"Is that so?"
"Yeah. So inviting her to the sports festival is tough. Being around large crowds makes her really nervous, apparently."
Thinking of his wife, Mario smiled a little.
"But in return, she laughs a lot when it's just the two of us. In front of me, she's incredibly cute."
"That's the usual Mario-san style, I see."
"Oops, couldn't help it."
Mario scratched his nose, embarrassed.
Amane closed her schedule book with a snap.
"Then why not just move the promise to a different day?"
"Huh?"
"The sports festival is on October 22nd. But you could do your promise with your wife on a different day. That solves both problems."
Amane said it without a hint of a smile.
Mario shook his head.
"I can't do that."
"Why not? It's a rational solution."
"It has to be October 22nd. That day is the anniversary of our first outing. On a different day, the promise loses its meaning."
Mario gripped his phone tightly.
"You might not understand, Amane-chan. But to me, that day is everything. My memories with my wife started on that day."
Mario's voice trembled.
Amane stared at his face.
"……I understand."
"Huh?"
"If it's a promise you treasure that much, Mario-san, then it's not my place to object."
Amane straightened her posture.
"But you don't need to give up on the sports festival either. There has to be some way."
"Amane-chan……"
That was when it happened.
"Oh my, sounds like quite a serious conversation."
A woman with a short green bob poked her head through the streaming booth door. Her golden, drooping eyes curved into a knowing smile.
Tsumugi — Cool & Create's manager.
"T-Tsumugi-san! How long have you been there?"
"Since a while ago. From around when you started talking about your wife — I've been listening the whole time."
Tsumugi brought a hand to her mouth and grinned.
"So that's what it was. I knew something was off with you lately, Mario-san."
"Off? Is it really that obvious?"
"It is. Because until now, there hasn't been a single day where you didn't talk about your wife."
Tsumugi moved to stand beside Mario.
"This past week, you haven't mentioned your wife once. That's a huge change for you."
"I-is that so?"
"It is. You're at your most lively when you're talking about your wife, Mario-san."
Tsumugi's golden eyes gazed at him.
"So, I heard the whole story. The sports festival day is your anniversary with your wife, but she can't be in front of people. You're stuck between a rock and a hard place."
"Yeah. I have no idea what to do."
Mario smiled weakly.
"But there is a solution."
"Huh?"
Mario and Amane both looked at Tsumugi at the same time.
"There's a solution?"
"There is. A method that's very much like you, Mario-san."
Tsumugi smiled brightly.
"So, what is it?"
Mario leaned forward.
"That's still a secret."
"Ehhh!?"
Mario let out a baffled cry.
"Why!? Tell me!"
"Because it wouldn't be fun if I told you now, would it? I want to watch you agonize a little longer."
Tsumugi laughed mischievously.
"Tsumugi-san, I'm curious about this too."
"Amane-chan, you wait a little longer too. When the time comes, I'll explain properly."
"But……"
"It's fine. Since I'm the one thinking of it, it'll definitely work out."
Tsumugi's words carried a strange persuasiveness.
Mario still looked unconvinced as he stared at her.
"You really have a solution?"
"I do. A method that makes maximum use of your wife-love, Mario-san."
"My wife-love?"
"Yes. A method that works precisely because you love your wife so much. I won't say anything more right now."
Tsumugi waved her hand airily.
"Well then, I have a meeting to get to, so I'll be going. Mario-san, don't brood so much that you start talking to your wife's photo again, okay?"
"I wasn't doing that!"
"You were. Yesterday, in the streaming booth."
"Urk."
Mario turned bright red.
Laughing, Tsumugi left the streaming booth.
Left behind, Mario and Amane looked at each other.
"……Mario-san, you were talking to your wife's photo yesterday?"
"N-no! That was, uh, practice for the stream!"
"You practice for streams by telling your wife's photo 'You're cute today too'?"
"Urk."
Mario buried his head in his hands.
"Well, never mind that. More importantly, I'm curious about Tsumugi-san's solution."
"Yeah. I'm dying to know too. But when that woman says it's a secret, she absolutely won't tell."
"True. Tsumugi-san never breaks her own pace."
"Right?"
The two sighed at the same time.
That was when it happened.
Knock, knock.
The office door was knocked on, slowly.
"……Hm?"
Mario looked up.
"Someone's here. I'll get it."
Amane left the streaming booth and headed for the office door.
Mario followed.
Click.
Amane opened the door.
Standing there was—
"……Hello."
A slow, drawn-out voice.
Slow — VTuber of Greatest Trading Company.
Long silver hair hanging carelessly, sleepy half-lidded eyes. Tall and lanky. White hoodie, baggy jeans.
"Oh, Slow-san. What brings you here?"
Amane's silver eyes widened.
"……There's something I wanted to ask."
Slow tilted his head, unhurriedly.
"Something to ask?"
Mario poked his face out from behind Amane.
"Ah, Mario-san. Perfect timing."
Seeing Mario, Slow opened his eyes just a fraction wider.
"For the scavenger race, can you borrow anything?"
"Huh?"
Mario blinked in confusion.
"The scavenger race. It's the event where you borrow whatever's written on the card from people at the venue, right? So can you borrow anything?"
"Well, as long as it matches the prompt, anything should be fine?"
"I see."
Slow nodded.
Then, after a long pause, he said:
"Then, can I borrow Mario-san's wife?"
For a moment, the air froze.
The expression vanished from Mario's face.
"……What did you just say?"
Mario's voice dropped low.
"I asked if I could borrow Mario-san's wife for the scavenger race. If the prompt is 'someone precious,' I thought Mario-san's wife would be perfect."
Slow said it in his usual unhurried way.
"Listen here, you—"
A vein twitched at Mario's temple.
"I am NOT lending my wife to anyone!!"
Mario's shout echoed through the office.
"I will absolutely never lend her out! My wife belongs to me and me alone! Using her as a prop for the scavenger race — I won't allow it, not in a million years! Besides, she's not good with crowds! There's no way I'd turn someone that precious into a race prop!"
Mario ranted without pause.
"And even if the prompt is 'someone precious,' the most precious person to me is my wife! But that's exactly why lending her to someone is unthinkable! I'm the one who protects my wife! I won't hand her over to anyone! Absolutely not!"
Mario's voice grew louder and louder.
Slow watched him blankly with sleepy eyes.
"……I see. That's a shame."
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