It started with a ping.
🐾 FoxGirl99 has joined the server.
Kai stared at the username for a long time.
FoxGirl99.
He hadn't seen that name in years. The American girl. Her real name was Zoey, if he remembered right. She used to stream on and off way before it was cool, back when having a mic with decent quality was considered "pro." She was loud, quick-witted, had the reflexes of a cracked Overwatch god, and constantly used soundboards to annoy everyone in voice chat.
She was also one of the few people in the group who'd ever seen Kai's face on camera—back when they did a drunk webcam call on New Year's and he accidentally turned his cam on for five minutes.
She DMed him right after joining.
Zoey 🦊:So you're back back, huh?
Kaijo:Hey Zo. Yeah. Took me long enough.
Zoey 🦊:You owe me three lost seasons of friendship and a ranked carry.
Kaijo:You still play?
Zoey 🦊:No, but I'm still a carry. Just in life now.
Kaijo:That's a lie and you know it.
Zoey 🦊:Shut up. When's your next stream?
Kaijo:Tomorrow night.
Zoey 🦊:Bet. I'll lurk and flame you in chat.
Kai leaned back and grinned. It was like stepping into an old pair of sneakers that still fit.
The next night, his stream got 12 viewers.
That was double the last one.
Most of it was probably Zoey flaming him for missing an obvious quick-time event in the horror game he was playing.
"Did you turn into a boomer, Kai???"
"My grandma would've hit that button, and she's DEAD!"
And the chat ate it up.
He didn't mind. Her energy filled in the dead air he still wasn't used to navigating on stream. And for some reason, her chaos made it easier for him to relax.
Later, when the stream ended, she called him directly on Discord.
"You actually got better at this," she said, casually munching on something in her mic.
"At streaming?"
"Yeah. Less awkward. Still ugly, though."
"Glad some things never change."
"We should do a co-stream. Just like old times. You can be the awkward straight man. I'll be the unhinged gremlin."
Kai laughed. "You haven't changed at all."
"Nope. But you did."
He paused. "That bad?"
"Nah. I think it's the first time you're not pretending to be someone else."
That week, another name popped up.
Hào—the Vietnamese guy who lived in Sweden. Chill, half-asleep voice, but a lethal FPS aim. He joined the server without saying anything. Just dropped a GIF of a cat slapping a keyboard.
Kaijo:Hào??
LazySweater:💤 sup
Kaijo:You're alive?
LazySweater:barely. saw Zo's message. heard the ghost of Kaijo is haunting Twitch now.
Kaijo:Very funny.
LazySweater:actually pretty cool. I watched your last VOD at work. you didn't suck. I mean, you died like a scrub, but vibes were good.
Kaijo:That's the goal. Chill vibes. Cozy chaos.
LazySweater:If you ever wanna run duos again, I still got the aim. Just not the brain.
Kai saved that moment.
✅ Slot 3: "Reconnections Begin"
All three save slots now filled.
He stared at them for a moment. A sense of quiet responsibility settled in. These were his anchors now. Not to go back to endlessly, but to hold—just in case.
Slot 1: "The Beginning (Day of Return)"Slot 2: "New Light, New Warmth"Slot 3: "Reconnections Begin"
A few days later, Eclipse messaged him again.
Eclipse:Not saying you're starting a revival arc or anything but… this feels like the old days.
Kaijo:It's not nostalgia if it's new.
Eclipse:You ever think about the content house thing again?
Kaijo:All the time.
Eclipse:I'd move in. No joke.
Kaijo:Let me get my money up first. I'm not putting seven broke degenerates into a house with one bathroom.
Eclipse:Damn. So you're serious?
Kai hesitated… then typed:
Kaijo:Give me time. Let me build it right.Then we bring everyone in. Everyone who still wants it.
Eclipse:Like old dreams with new lives.
Kaijo:Exactly.
That night, Kai turned off his PC, pulled on a hoodie, and stepped outside.
Berlin was quiet this late—just scattered lights in windows, the distant rumble of trains, the occasional passing cyclist. The city didn't know who he was. But soon, maybe it would.
He didn't need it to. Not really.
But the idea of building something—something where his friends could thrive, where his past wasn't a closed book but a warm prologue—that was worth chasing.
The content house was still just a dream.
But now?
It didn't feel impossible anymore.
It just felt like something he hadn't saved yet.
SUPPORT (Early Chapters): patreon.com/KyJo_
YT GAMING: https://www.youtube.com/@KyJoGaming
DISCORD: https://discord.gg/v2uSTygMgb