Two days later, Tristan prepared for another day of work as he had just changed his clothes to his work uniform. He was just about to leave the storage, hand already on the door handle, when suddenly, he heard that familiar Twitter notification ping on his phone.

… what?

His mind took some time to comprehend what he just heard, and when he did, he quickly reached for his locker key, opened his locker, then reached inside his bag and grabbed his phone like a madman. Curious as to which artist that just finished his commission.

And when he saw who it was, he let out a loud gasp.

It was the character sprite artist.

He was so shocked that he almost dropped his phone. His hands shook as he slowly lifted his finger to tap the message. The app loaded for a few seconds, but it felt like a painful eternity for Tristan.

The first thing he saw was the illustration of Mr. Loveboy’s smile, then the half-white mask covering his eyes, then the curly-ish magenta hair.

Mister Loveboy looks so… beautiful…

He couldn’t tear his eyes off the phone. The illustration looked a hundred times better than he expected, mesmerizing every detail of the drawing from the hair, mask, and the outfit.

That’s when he realized that the artist's watermark was plastered all over the illustration, but it didn’t deter Tristan from openly gawking at his phone.

He gawked at it for so long that when his eyes darted on the time at the upper right of his phone, that’s when he realized he was already five minutes behind work schedule.

"Oh, shoot!"

Tristan shoved the phone back into his bag, locked his locker, and left the storage room as he dashed to the counter. Almost vibrating with excitement and joy.

Fidel was filling the chiller with fresh jugs of milk when he heard Tristan's footsteps. He turned his head around and saw Tristan and his ear reaching smile. A smile that felt contagious as he himself smiled widely as well.

"Woah! You're extra cheerful today! What's the occasion?"

"Ah, I received good news! So I'm pretty hyped right now!"

Fidel chuckled. "Nice! Glad it makes you happy! Keep it up!" He gave Tristan a thumbs up before turning back to putting jugs of milk in the chiller.

Tristan began to help Fidel with pre-opening preparations, letting out some silent giggles when he thought of the drawing again.

I can't wait to see the high quality later!

Four days later, Tristan had just arrived back home. Tired, shoulder slouched, and a bit bummed.

I'm such an idiot for forgetting to charge my phone.

After going upstairs and into his room. He changed clothes to something more comfortable before charging his phone at his desk.

I wonder if there are commissions that arrived today?

Tristan plopped down in his chair as he quickly opened his computer. After it booted, he opened Twitter, eyes already glanced at where the message tab was.

He received two messages.

The two remaining commissions.

Tristan felt a pang of anxiety as he started dumbfounded on his screen, mouth agape, trying to comprehend what he just saw, before it slowly turned to excitement, smile reached his ears. "Yes! They're finally here!" He exclaimed loud, fist shaking in excitement.

He clicked the background artist's message first. The low quality preview of the background was the first thing he noticed, but it was enough to make his jaw drop.

It was a counseling inspired semi-dimmed room, illuminated by warm fairy lights. Decorated with a white table in the middle, opaque magenta curtains, gems hanging from the ceiling, sparkling stars on the walls with some magical romantic astral vibe in it.

But because of the quality of the image, Tristan couldn't see the smaller details as they looked too pixelated.

Still, it didn't deter Tristan's excitement as he quickly paid for the rest of the commission, excited to see the higher quality version of the background.

Then he checked the logo artist's message. They sent two files, a compressed file, and the logo image.

The soft, curvy-like magenta text with a hint of gold glittering stars, the small heart besides the text, and the white border effect made his jaw drop again. The artist perfectly encapsulated the aesthetic he had for Mr. Loveboy.

Tristan felt emotional. He felt like he was going to tear up.

He leaned on his chair and stared at the ceiling, recollect his thoughts. He felt too overwhelmed to think properly, never been happier than when he got hired as a barista.

Who knew becoming a vtuber would bring me this much joy?

After a while, he let out a satisfied chuckle. Excitement slowly rushed in his body again.

All what's left is to debut!

He was about to reach for the mouse, but his arm froze when he remembered something.

Wait… how do I… debut?

Realizing he failed to research a very crucial part of being a vtuber, Tristan immediately went on YouTube and looked up tutorials on how to do a vtuber debut, as well as watching the debut of his favorite vtubers. He grabbed his notebook and took notes as he watched along the way.

From his observation, most new vtubers do a "model showcase" where they show their model before debut, and there were three types to do it.

The first one is a "Tease Reveal" where a vtuber post their debut announcement accompanied by their model blacked out. The more likes, retweets, or both the tweet gets, the more parts of the model shown off, starting from shoes, legs, torso, and head.

The second one is a "Live2D Model Showcase." where a vtuber showed their model's movements. Usually the many expressions their models are capable of, as well as their head and body movement.

The third one is an announcement tweet with an attached photo of the model and their logo, usually accompanied by a debut date. The simplest of the three.

Since Tristan only had a static image of Mr. Loveboy, the second option was out of the question.

Hmm… The first one reaches out to a potential new audience the most, especially since I'm new into the world of streaming with no connections.

Then his eyes gazed at the third option.

But, I also don't feel comfortable fishing for likes and retweets… and it's the easiest option so far. Just edit, post, and done.

Tristan continued to debate with himself what type he should follow, going through the pros and cons of both options. Until after further comparison, he noticed a rather peculiar detail that most vtubers who did the first option had a full body of their model to show off, while Tristan only commissioned for a half-body of Mr. Loveboy.

Oh… Third option it is then.

Afterwards, he looked up vtuber debut announcements on Twitter to use as reference. Once he collected enough, he opened a photo editing program, imported the background, sprite, and logo, then began to arrange the materials together to make his debut image.

Thank goodness I can actually use the things I learned in computer class!

After fifteen minutes of tinkering, Tristan finished editing the photo. He felt satisfied being able to make the announcement image that matches exactly with Mr. Loveboy's aesthetics of magenta and white with golden sparkled around.

While mesmerizing his own work, Tristan realized something yet again that made him face-palm.

I forgot to create the social media accounts! I'm so unprepared!

Tristan quickly created a Twitter and YouTube account for Mr. Loveboy, changed the profile picture to a headshot of Mr. Loveboy, and typed out an in-character description for both of the accounts. Afterwards, he quickly typed Mr. Loveboy's introduction tweet. Every key press made his smile wider and wider.

"Hello Twitter! My name is Mr. Loveboy, a love consultant from the stars! I invited you all to the grand opening of my clinic on July 10th 5PM GMT+8!

If you have any love problems, please sent me a message on my marshmallow page! I will do my best to serve you all!

*See you at my clinic!"

And pressed enter.

Tristan gawked at the image of Mr. Loveboy with a bright smile. He unconsciously touched his chest as he felt a weird emotion in his heart.

Well, I've already gone far enough. I hope it was worth it.

Afterwards, Tristan created an account for a website dedicated to submitting questions for individuals, and be downloaded in an image format. He imagined his inbox filled with love related questions, an imagination that made him giggle in excitement.

I wonder if I could properly answer love questions from strangers? I hope Samantha was right about me giving great love advice, though.

Since Tristan schedule Mr. Loveboy's debut a week after he tweeted his announced, he began to practice for his debut. Giving himself enough time to prepare while juggling work at the same time.

He imported the assets on OBS and arranged them so he knows where goes where. Then he learned how to do basic transitions between screens, shortcut keys, and even practiced livestreaming as Mr. Loveboy using his personal YouTube account.

Seeing everything Tristan commissioned live on YouTube sent him to tremendous joy. Something that was just been a silly idea weeks ago had now turned serious and fun.

He continued to practice after work. And within a week, Tristan gained fifty-five Twitter followers, thirty-six YouTube subscribers, and received four question submissions.

Tristan was very thankful that the artists he commissioned contributed a great deal promoting Mr. Loveboy's accounts. They posted their commissions of Mr. Loveboy, tagged him in the post, and some even advertised to their followers to watch Mr. Loveboy's debut too.

It was a complete surprise for Tristan, but a one he welcomed with open arms.

Despite all the preparation and joy, a part of Tristan's mind is still unsure if streaming is for him. But he tried to shake the negative thought off, because one thing is certain.

At least he tried.

The day of his debut, Tristan tried to focus on work, giving his best as he usually does. But his pessimistic thoughts were dragging his mood down.

What if no one showed up? What if no one cared?

He tried to distract himself as much as he could, hyper-fixating on practically everything he sees.

However, it did not work.

The closer the end of his shift was, the more tense he felt, enough that his work performance was getting sloppy.

Enough for Fidel to notice.

His slight frown and concerned gaze was unnoticed by Tristan.

Later on, Tristan heard the cafe bell chime rang. He glanced up and was about to welcome them when he realized it was the afternoon shift baristas. He felt a mix of relief and dream.

Once the afternoon shift baristas took over, Tristan and Fidel went to the storage room to remove their uniform and change clothes.

"Hey."

Tristan flinched. His heart skipped a beat when he turned around and saw Fidel inched close to him, worry in his eyes. "Are you ok? You've been… quiet the whole day."

Tristan's face flustered. He looked down, hoping that Fidel didn't see his blushing cheeks. "Sorry… just had a lot of things in my mind…"

Fidel let out a faint sigh. Tristan raised his head to see Fidel looking a little troubled. "I see… I'm here if you need someone to talk to, alright?" he said with a small, assuring smile.

His smile alone was enough for Tristan for his paranoiac concern fade away a little. His eyes couldn't tear off the way Fidel looked at him with such positivity, despite his worry.

His heart skipped a beat again, and he swore he felt like it was going to jump out of his chest.

When he realized he was blushing in front of his crush, he quickly gazed down again and his face nod his head with a tiny hum.

And then Fidel's expression slowly brightened up. "Don't let your thoughts cloud your mind too much! Or else ill explode like- whoosh!" he playfully gestured an explosion.

Tristan was caught off guard by Fidel's childish antics. A faint laugh escaped his lips until it slowly built up to a full-blown laughter.

"That's more like it!" Fidel chuckled back.

After a while, Tristan's laughter calmed down, letting out a few more small chuckles. Fidel tapped his shoulders a few times. "Feeling better?"

Tristan smiled and nod.

"Good! You look better when you smile! So keep that cheer up!" he raised his fist in mock victory before turning around to remove his shirt.

Tristan's expression dropped. He spun around and felt his face just exploded from how hot his cheeks felt.

What was that? What was that!

He quickly removed his work uniform and dumped them on the laundry basket, trying to occupy his mind with his debut later. But his mind was still flustered. Fidel's sweet words overtook his thoughts, making him even more flustered.

I swear! This man!

Later on, they left the cafe together. "Alright! See ya tomorrow!" Fidel waved his hand and walked away.

Tristan gave him a small wave before he turned around and walked back home.

Don't let my thoughts clouded too much, huh?

A smile formed on his lips.

He tried to channel his thoughts on his debut instead.

While walking home, Tristan channeled his thoughts to his debut later, this time, on a more positive, excited note. However, he almost stopped in his tracks when a thought crossed his mind.

Should I tell Fidel about me being a vtuber?

He continued to walk, debating his mind whether or not to tell Fidel.

I can't even confess to my crush, let alone me going to be a vtuber…

Tristan let out a bitter chuckle.

Maybe in a year or two, I will… I don't think I want to keep it a secret forever…

Hours had passed. Tristan ran his fingers through his hair, trying to calm his nerves as he was a minute away before his debut.

His heart pounded like crazy, breath shaky, nerves flaky. He double checked his microphone and headphone, ensuring worked properly to occupy the seconds.

Ten seconds remaining.

Tristan moved the mouse cursor and hovered it on the "Start Streaming" button on OBS. He took a slow, huge exhale, partnered with a slow, huge exhale, then clicked the button.

"Well, here we go."