Chapter 4: The Masked Gamer

Pixie?

Wait—the same Pixie who wiped the floor with everyone at TwitchCon last year?

Is she famous?

Never heard of her.

I have to serve four women 365 days a year, and the rest of my time is spent just trying to survive—there’s no room for entertainment in my life.

[Wait, this little gamer is Pixie? The pro who blew up at U.S. tournaments, always wears the pinkest outfits, and dominates every match in that mobile game?]

[No wonder! She always wears a mask at tournaments—no one knows what she looks like. Can’t believe she’s Aubrey.]

[Wow, why is she only saying this now? That’s it, Aubrey is my goddess from now on.]

[Aubrey is the coolest. I’m totally falling for her.]

Hey, hey, hey, weren’t you guys saying the opposite just a minute ago...

I watched the comments fly by and couldn’t help but smile wryly.

"Hey, Ethan, why aren’t you reacting? Don’t tell me you’ve never heard of Pixie?"

Aubrey sounded a bit annoyed.

"Hey, are you deaf? How dare you ignore me."

"You’re not behaving today. I need to punish you."

"There’s a dog collar in the package I sent you. Go put it on."

Aubrey pointed at me, a mischievous smile on her face.

"How could I ever ignore someone as cute as you?"

I snapped out of it and replied in my usual unhurried tone.

"I was just thinking about your upcoming birthday, wondering what kind of gift would make you remember me forever."

"But since you want me to wear the collar, of course I’ll put it on for you. As long as it makes you happy."

Aubrey seemed pleased with my answer.

"Hey, I have a tournament in a week. You’d better watch it. If you miss it, you’ll regret it for sure, got it?"

Aubrey bit into a juice pouch, giving me her usual bossy instructions.

A week from now...

"Don’t worry. I won’t miss your match for anything."

I replied smoothly, not even blinking.

Aubrey beamed at my answer, then hung up early, saying she needed to rest up and prepare a surprise for me.

I closed the laptop and leaned back, the faint sound of traffic from the street below drifting up through the cracked window. In America, everyone’s got a side hustle—and Aubrey, or Pixie, had turned her gaming into an empire. It made me think, just for a second, about all the masks we wear, online and off. I wondered what mine looked like to her.