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nChihiro finished eating her bowl of ramen and set her fork down on top of it. After that, she nodded and said, “Not bad, Riri.”

nYuri sat down and crossed her arms. “Shows how much you know. That’s world class ramen.”

nThe girls were seated around at the table again with Jenny. Chihiro sat to Yuri’s left, while Shu sat to Yuri’s right. Jenny sat across from Yuri.

nAfter the short test stream, Yuri cooked a bit more ramen for everyone since it was getting close to lunch… and because Chihiro finished the first batch that Yuri made.

nJenny sipped a bit of broth from her bowl of ramen and nodded. “Good job!” She twirled some noodles and took a bite. After that, she let out an approving nod and said, “It’s missing a bit of ‘oomph’, but you’ve done really nice at bringing out the pure essence of the ingredients.”

nYuri let out a proud smile and then pointed at Chihiro. “See? Jenny knows what she’s talking about!”

nChihiro reached into her bag and pulled out a can of E-Fuel. Cracking it open, she said, “I don’t know what you’re so proud about, Riri. Even if you bring out the essence, it’s still just instant ramen.”

nYuri huffed and slurped up some noodles. After that, she pointed her fork at Chihiro and said, “Ramen is ramen! And besides, if you can’t even cook decent instant ramen, you don’t deserve to cook anything else! It’s a very important staple, you know?”

nShu slurped on her noodles and quickly nodded. “Yuri’s right, Chi-chan! Ramen’s a very cost effective way to fuel up and stay full throughout the day! Plus, all you need is a cup of water, a bowl, and a microwave!”

nYuri’s spoon clattered against her bowl. She gasped and turned towards Shu with wide eyes. “You *microwave* your ramen?!”

n“Well, it’s either that or just munch on the dry noodles.” Shu shrugged and twirled some more noodles. “It’s not bad like that either, actually. Like salty crackers. Only… crunchier.”

nYuri’s eye started to twitch.

nJenny giggled and said, “Well, in any case… It seems like everything’s working on Yuri-chan’s end, right?” She set her bowl to the side and laced her fingers together, leaning on them to look at Yuri. “How was it?”

nYuri forcibly looked away from Shu and started eating her noodles again. “Not bad. Really distracting, but that’s because we have the peanut gallery here.”

nChihiro sipped on her energy drink and said, “And I’m still saying that you’re going to get railed the moment the floodgates open and chat comes in. Almost as bad as Megane-chan did in Transformation.”

nYuri blinked. “Megane-chan? Transformation?”

n“Anyway.” Chihiro looked at Jenny and said, “Should I try it out next?”

nYuri clicked her tongue and said, “As if you can do any better. How the heck are you going to make drawing more entertaining than cooking, huh?”

nChihiro sipped on her energy drink and said, “There’s more than one way to skin a cat. Especially if they’re as degenerate as chat is.” She paused. “Though I don’t think John will appreciate it if I start off doing commissions on stream.”

n“Ooh!” Jenny turned towards her and said, “Can I model?”

nShu’s face turned red and she jumped up in her chair, crossing her arms. “No! NG! You can’t do that, Chi-chan!”

nChihiro sighed. “True. I’ll get yeeted off of UTube before I can even start getting Superchats.” She paused and then said, “Maybe on Twotch though. Gotta talk to John about streaming there too…”

nJenny’s eyes lit up and said, “We can do buddy streams! I’ll do some ecchi cosplay and you can make some fanart! Think of all the subs and bits!”

nYuri looked between Chihiro and Jenny and said, “Do… Do you two have no sense of shame? Are you really going to do all of that for just a bit of money?”

nJenny giggled and said, “Lighten up a bit, Yuri-chan. What’s the point of having it if you don’t flaunt it a bit, you know?”

nChihiro nodded and then she looked down at her chest with a sigh. “What I could do with those sorts of assets… Like Betty.”

nShu cleared her throat and said, “A-Anyway, you can’t do that! If you’re going to draw, do some normal drawing!”

nChihiro slumped on the table and said, “But normal drawing is *boring*. The only people who watch those streams are artists and people who put it on in the background.” She sat up and said, “Besides. I already stream like that anyway, so I want to do something else. Something unique to Rhea Davinki.”

n“Huh?” Yuri blinked and said, “You already stream, Chi-chan?”

n“I did. But I got banned from the major streaming places after doing some risque commissions.” Chihiro pouted and said, “Stupid virgin Twotch and UTube-kun didn’t appreciate my cultured artwork. And I’m apparently too young to open a Lonelyfans or Patron page for private streams.”

nYuri gave Chihiro a blank stare and muttered, “Are you really only sixteen…?”

nChihiro sighed. “Sadly. The number of things I could do if I was legal…”

nJenny giggled and said, “Don’t worry, Chi-chan. Being a cute high schooler has its charms too.”

nShu looked between Jenny and Chihiro before saying, “I-I think there should be an adult here for this conversation…”

nJenny tilted her head. “But I am an adult?”

n“No.” Yuri shook her head. “No you’re not.”

nJenny pouted.

nChihiro stretched and then said, “Well, I guess I should test out my studio before the debuts.” She walked over to her art studio.

nThe camera drone filming Yuri earlier flew up into the air and started following Chihiro.

nChihiro glanced at it and said, “You aren’t a Deceptibot are you?”

n*beep*

n“…Mm. Guess it’s fine. As long as you do your work right, I don’t mind if you’re an alien sentient transforming robot.”

n*b-beep*

nYuri froze and turned to stare at the camera drone. “Did that drone just hesitate in beeping?”

nThe camera drone trembled a bit and then quickly flew to Chihiro’s side.

nShu laughed and went back to eating her ramen. After a few slurps, she turned towards Yuri and said, “You’re imagining things, Yuri. It’s probably just running out of batteries.”

n“…Right.”

nChihiro picked up an easel and propped it up on a stand. After that, she prepared a paint palette, filling it with some colors. That done, she picked up a brush and turned to look at the camera drone. With a light nod, she said, “Let’s get started, Droni.”

n*beepbeep*

nYuri covered her face and muttered, “What kind of crazy world did I get myself into…?”

n—–AI|IA—–

nA plain black background. Standing there in front of a white easel was a beautiful black-haired young woman wearing a dress shirt and jeans.

nRhea Davinki.

nShe stared at the camera with a soft smile, holding a paint palette in her left hand and a small brush in her right. With a tiny wave of the brush, she said, “Hello there. Welcome back to another episode of Laying it On Thicc.”

nA calm and soothing voice. Like a radioshow host or someone doing a podcast.

nRhea’s smile widened a bit and she said, “Thank you for coming today. It’s a bit premature, but we’ll get your brush warm and moist soon enough. But before we start, here are the colors I’ll be using today if you want to paint along with me.”

nShe waved her hand, causing a few words to appear on the bottom of the screen.

nVirgin Cherry

nMilky Cream

nDark Chocolate

nBlonde Fuzz

nBalling Blue

nYuri gasped and said, “What the hell are those colors!?”

nRhea ignored her and said, “Now since this is the first time, we’re still a bit dry.” Rhea turned towards the white easel and said, “I have my regular canvas here, but it’s going to rip and tear and make a mess all over if we press too hard. So to make sure it doesn’t, we have to put on a little bit of lube first.”

nThis time, Shu gasped and said, “YABE! That’s too yabe!”

nRhea ignored her too and dipped her brush into a small bucket of water next to the easel. After that, she stood up to look at the camera and said, “Water isn’t the best for this, and I’d prefer to use some oil. But for the first time it’s better to just get it over with.”

n“HOW are you saying that with a straight face?!” Yuri’s voice called out.

nJenny giggled and said, “It’s called being cultured, Yuri-chan.”

n“HOW IS THAT CULTURE?!”

nRhea shook the brush and said, “Now you might think it’s too wet after you use that much water. But trust me, it’s better too wet than too dry.” She moved her brush to the palette and dipped it in the red. “Now, we’ll be making a pretty cherry blossom scene today, so let’s get that Virgin Cherry on our brush and get that red stain down on the white sheets…”

nShu let out a loud gasp.

n“@#email protected#!” Yuri let out a strangled scream.

nAs for Jenny, she giggled again and said, “Ooh, they’re going to *love* you, Davinki-chan!”

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