How I became my boyfriend’s favorite VTuber

by Fidget

Chapter 1

Meg waited impatiently in the light drizzle outside the patisserie. It was just like Cho to be a few minutes late, though she knew her childhood friend would never actually stand her up. Sure enough, she saw his characteristic dark green pullover appear out of the mist as he jogged easily up to the restaurant.

"It's about time!" she scolded, good-naturedly wagging her finger in his face for his tardiness. "I was about to get something to go and leave your sorry ass!"

"Yeah, right!" he shot back. "We both know there's no chance a cheapskate like you would give up the chance to be treated, especially on your birthday!"

Meg grinned and pulled the door open. The delicious smell of coffee and fancy pastries wafted out into the thick evening air. This was their favorite spot to grab a coffee and a sweet treat after work, and Meg couldn't deny that she was looking forward to getting treated for her birthday, especially by Cho.

A blush rose in her cheeks as she watched her friend's shoulders while following him into the shop. She would never tell him, but she had been nursing a crush on Cho for quite a while now. It hadn't been intentional on her part, but had arisen organically and to her utter surprise over the past few years as she had come to appreciate and then love her best friend's quirks.

Cho was a very particular individual, with a lifestyle that deliberately mixed long periods of relaxation with bursts of intense focus and inspiration. Meg marveled at how he could get away with doing as little as he did while also somehow putting himself in a position to excel at everything he cared enough to attempt. It frustrated her too, of course, especially when his tendency to succumb to his instincts to be lazy interfered with her own plans, but she also couldn't help finding his need to take time to himself to "change up his battery" endearing, and as she began to recognize his infrequent bursts of intense, shining brilliance for what they were, they began to leave her breathless.

It didn't hurt that he was cute too, with a boyish charm in his early 20s Asian-American features that took a continual effort on her part to not just stare at. And she was always careful to put forth that effort as well, because as attracted to him as she had become, she knew that he didn't feel the same way about her, and the last thing she wanted to do was jeopardize their friendship.

By the time Cho turned around to ask for her order, the flush was gone and Meg was the usual plain-looking Asian-American girl in frumpy clothing that he had known for almost two decades.

And that was ok. Meg had long ago accepted the fact that there was no reason for Cho to be drawn to her glasses, ordinary features, and incredibly petite frame, and she had grown comfortable with their current dynamic. The two friends felt perfectly at-ease with each other, and Cho was one of the few people who could both keep up with her banter and put up with her frequent clumsy outbursts. Still, hope springs eternal, and Meg was always on the lookout for ways to better appeal to his preferences.

Recently those preferences seemed to revolve around something called VTubers, which were Cho's current obsession during his extensive downtime. It was all he talked about when they hung out nowadays, and while Meg did her best to keep up, more often than not the conversation went over her head.

This was one of those times. As Meg daintily ate her birthday gateau she tried to follow as Cho waxed poetic about the VTubers he had been watching recently, their storylines and character arcs, and the "ships" he was most interested in. While she couldn't quite follow all of the details, she imagined what it would be like to have some of those traits herself, so that Cho might talk about her the way he talked about his favorites.

As oblivious as he was, Cho had always been kind and sensitive toward Meg, and he soon sheepishly realized that he was monopolizing his best friend's time on her birthday. By way of apology he left the table and went back up to the counter, and when he came back he had a chocolate cupcake in which a single lit candle flickered.

"I talked to the guy at the register, and he guaranteed that this candle would make your birthday wish come true," he joked as he set the cupcake on the table in front of her. "Happy Birthday, Meg."

Meg furrowed her brow as she looked down at the dancing flame. What did she want? She glanced back up into Cho's warm brown eyes, eyebrows raised with excitement as he watched and waited for her to blow the candle out, and she knew exactly what she wanted. She reached out to the universe as she took a deep breath.

I wish that I could give Cho everything that he wants in a girl!

The flame disappeared, and the universe listened.

Later that week Meg was hanging at Cho's apartment with Lin, her best friend from high school, chowing down on Chinese takeout. Cho had a VTuber stream on in the background, and, as was usually the case of late, the conversation soon turned to his latest hobby.

"I just don't get it!" Lin grumbled, her brow furrowed. She sat protectively close to Meg, and the broader shoulders of her larger frame brushed against her friend's as she glared at the cute animated character chatting perkily on the screen. "Is this just something for you to jerk off to?"

"Lin!" Meg sputtered, shocked as always at her friend's characteristic bluntness.

"What??" Lin responded. "Look at how she's drawn, with those big tits and revealing clothes! And listen to how she talks, with that affected hyper-feminine voice! Her entire design is clearly based around titillating horny dudes!"

"I'm sure that's not true!" Meg exclaimed, immediately jumping to Cho's defense. "There's no way that those things are why Cho likes watching VTubers!"

"Oh yeah, definitely not!" Cho agreed a little too quickly, before chomping into an eggroll as he continued to lounge on his cushion.

"Yeah, sure," Lin's arms were crossed sketically. "Boys are pervs." She glanced over at Meg for support, and then let her eyes linger on her cute friend for a few seconds longer than necessary when she noticed that Meg's gaze stayed fixed on Cho.

"There's way more to it!" he insisted, getting even more defensive about the sexual turn the conversation had taken. Still, he was clearly happy for the chance to talk about his newest hyper-fixation, despite Lin's disapproval. "There's also the satisfaction of getting to know the different characters, following their story arcs and personal growth, and theorycrafting and speculating with the rest of the VTuber community."

"See?" Meg burst out, eager to take some of the heat off her childhood friend and crush. "He's not watching them to jerk off!" Her cheeks turned pink as she looked up at Lin. "It's like following a TV show!"

Lin gave her friend a look of mild disapproval. She had known about Meg's crush on Cho for a while now, and while she respected her friend's right to make her own choices, she couldn't help but feel that if Cho was blind to all of Meg's many appealing qualities, he didn't deserve her.

"I mean, a lot of VTubers are definitely cute," Cho admitted, causing Meg to gasp. "But I'm much more interested in the design and aesthetics of the characters than in their curves and skimpy clothes."

"But the appeal of their curves and skimpy clothes is there, is it not?" Lin asked, unwilling to fully concede the point.

"I am a guy, so yeah, I guess," Cho said sheepishly. "I'm just saying that there's much, much more to VTubers than just sex appeal."

For some reason, however, with this last, tacit admission that he did find VTubers at least somewhat attractive, Meg found her main takeaway from the exchange to be Cho likes women with curves and skimpy clothes, just like those VTubers, as though that fact seemed incredibly important to her all of a sudden. If only she had curves and was brave enough to show them off - maybe then Cho might actually notice her!

Lin hadn't noticed that her friend had become absorbed in thought, and pushed Cho a little further. "But what does that do to your expectations for real women?" she asked, consciously making a point not to glance over at Meg as she did so. "Aren't you worried that obsessing over impossibly perfect women specifically designed to appeal to your fantasies is going to keep you from noticing the real women right in front of you?"

"I think I'm able to tell the difference between real women and VTubers," Cho responded grumpily. "Actually, with how much more realistic VTubers are when compared to other types of media, I honestly think it's giving me a better idea of my own preferences when it comes to real women."

Again, Cho's VTuber preferences are the same as his real world preferences was what Meg's mind insisted on taking away from the exchange. He really does like girls with curves who are comfortable showing their bodies off a bit. And I bet he likes the cute way they act too!

The conversation soon moved on, and the three friends enjoyed the rest of a fun evening together before going their separate ways, but all the while, and long afterward, Meg frequently found herself dwelling on these new, interesting ideas about Cho's preferences for women, and somehow it was as though each time she did, they cemented themselves a bit more firmly into her psyche.

The week passed uneventfully, with all of Meg's time taken up by work and by her own interests and hobbies, but even so she found herself thinking back multiple times per day to what Cho had said about finding the VTubers attractive, dwelling on this tiny tidbit she'd discovered about what her crush liked in women. She wasn't really sure why she found herself thinking like this - it wasn't like she was bothered by the idea of Cho being attracted to animated girls, especially since Cho was just her best friend, and not her boyfriend or anything - but for whatever reason the thought continued to intermittently pop into her head and resonate with her as she went about her daily activities.

Saturday morning, however, when Meg was changing out of her loose, comfy bedclothes into one of her more form-fitting t-shirts for the day, she was surprised to discover that her small chest felt larger than it normally did. It was hardly noticeable, and her only indication was the way the fabric of the babydoll cut pulled slightly tighter around her bust than usual, but the sensation was there nonetheless.

It wasn't that time of the month, so Meg just assumed that her shirt had somehow shrunk in the wash, but when she changed tops and noticed the same thing, a slight tightness of the fabric around her small breasts, she undressed to her thin, almost-unnecessary bra and looked herself over in her mirror more closely.

Sure enough, her little boobs appeared to be the tiniest bit larger. Meg had been a large A-cup for as long as she could remember, but all of a sudden she looked to be a small B. Her bra still fit, and to be honest she didn't really feel the difference until she put a top on, but there was clearly more of her light brown skin visible around each cup than usual, and for the life of her she couldn't figure out why.

She hadn't been eating any more than usual, and confirmed on her bathroom scale that she was only two pounds over her usual weight. She looked the rest of her petite body over - did her hips and ass look a bit larger as well? It was hard to tell. Maybe she was just hormonal?

Meg unsnapped her bra and shrugged it off. Her small breasts and tiny, dark nipples looked about the same in the mirror as they always had, but when she cupped them experimentally, it was clear that they filled her small hands slightly more than they usually would.

Well, Meg certainly wasn't going to complain about having a little more up top, especially since her clothes still fit and the rest of her petite figure seemed mostly untouched. She once again found herself thinking back to Cho's preferences for curvy VTuber girls and suddenly found herself feeling comfortable, almost satisfied, with her subtle new look. Maybe Cho will actually notice me now, for once!

That thought was foremost in Meg's mind early that evening as she fretted over what to wear to dinner with Cho that night. She felt more self-conscious about her larger breasts than she'd expected, and while they probably wouldn't be noticeable to someone like Cho, they were noticeable to her, and when combined with her feelings for him, the overall result was Meg feeling flushed and self-conscious as she flipped through her outfits.

Even so, Meg nonetheless found herself inexplicably drawn to dressier options for her top that evening, and was even tempted to wear one of the low-cut numbers that she usually reserved for clubbing with Lin.

She ultimately compromised by going with a top with a slightly deeper V-shaped neckline than she would normally wear, and she even added some light makeup to complete the look. She gave herself an appraising glance in the mirror as she headed out, and her cheeks colored warmly at the slight hint of curve that was now visible on her upper chest, above the hem of her shirt. She wouldn't necessarily call it cleavage, but it was something, and that fact made her feel surprisingly good inside. She skipped out of her apartment with an excited bounce in her step and over to Cho's next door.

"Hey, Meg, come on in!" Cho smiled like he always did as he opened the door for her, but otherwise showed no sign whatsoever that he had noticed Meg's slightly larger chest.

Tonight Cho had actually applied himself, and the tofu stir-fry he had made was predictably delicious. They joked and laughed as they usually did while eating, but still Cho paid no attention at all to her body, in spite of how good Meg felt about it that day. She had expected as much, of course, and reminded herself not to get her hopes up at the odd circumstances she had found herself in this morning. She didn't even know if her larger bust was permanent, or just a short-term hormonal thing. Meg was just happy to be here as Cho's friend - yes, her crush was still there, but she was an adult, and more than capable of dealing with her feelings.

Even so, she again found herself reflecting on Cho's preferences for women multiple times throughout the night. It's clear with how he's acting that I'd need to be even curvier for a him to actually notice me. As usual, Meg felt like each of these reflections carried a strange gravity, hanging heavy in her mind, but they seemed natural enough to her, and so just as she had the previous week, Meg paid it no mind and focused on enjoying her dinner conversation with Cho.

After the meal he put a VTuber on in the background while they chatted. Normally Meg wouldn't find it distracting, especially with the volume so low, but this evening she found herself focusing on the cute character and paying special attention to her clothes and figure.

It was surprising how realistic the girl's movements were, with just enough ethereal cuteness to go beyond what a normal human girl could achieve. Her looks were also striking: the first thing Meg noticed about this VTuber in particular was that she had one blue eye and one purple eye, and that her cute face was surrounded by bright, neon blue hair that flashed as it bounced. She had two small white wings above sharply-pointed ears sticking through her hair, and her bare-shouldered, cleavage-enhancing dress was white with gold trim.

Cho noticed Meg's apparent interest and was more than happy to give her an introduction to the character. According to her name on-stream, apparently this was Æven Yleese, a supernatural elven being who had been banished to our dimension by her superiors for displaying too many humanlike traits.

"Æven? How are you supposed to even pronounce that?"

"Well, that's kinda the thing," Cho said, getting characteristically intense now that he had the opportunity to gush about his favorite VTuber. "Her pronunciation changes depending on her mood, location, who she's talking to, and lots of other factors. There are entire chat channels devoted to categorizing how she says it, trying to crack how her name works. It's part of her mystique. There's not a whole lot of data though, because she usually goes by Yleese, and doesn't say her first name very often. Most people in the community just pronounce it like 'even', because that's how she says it most of the time."

"Wow, that's, um, intense," Meg responded.

"I know, right? Isn't she great!?"

"Wait," Meg interjected, now confused about a different part of what Cho had told her. "If she was banished to Earth for being too human, why does she play video games and chat with people online now?"

"I mean, she's first and foremost an idol," Cho explained, his eyes once again glued to the cute girl on the screen as she laughed and chatted. "She has a beautiful singing voice and her music videos are amazing. You should check them out. Aside from that, though, her traits are mostly intended to tell you something about her character and personality, so that you'll have an idea of why she acts the way she does, and what her goals are relative to other VTubers as her character and story develops."

"So then what's she like?" Meg asked, her expression strangely intense. She was staring at the bubbly VTuber's cleavage, thinking about the small amount of visible skin on her own chest as she did so. Cho likes curvy VTubers.

Cho's eyes grew thoughtful. "Well, from her Nirvan nature and background she's always positive and trying to find the good in people. She can be a bit naive as a result, but in an endearing way. She's shy, but has developed an impulsive streak from her extended contact with humans, and has a tendency to blurt out anything that comes to mind without thinking first.

"Actually," his head went back slightly as he hesitated, and his warm brown eyes cleared and focused on hers in what appeared to be realization. Meg felt a thrill run through her, but tried not to show it. "She kinda reminds me of you, Meg, in a way. I mean, you're very different people, of course, but now that I think about it, the similarities are definitely there." He smiled, and Meg's chest fluttered. "Maybe that's why she's my favorite VTuber. That and the fact that I love her, um, look and aesthetics, and of course her voice."

I remind him of his favorite VTuber! Meg almost died of happiness and even let out a little audible "Eep!"

Cho immediately backtracked. "Sorry, Meg, I didn't mean to embarrass you," he said. "I just meant, like, a passing resemblance in the way you two act, not that you're literally the same person or anything."

"Oh, no, it's fine." Meg was trying not to grin, still riding the high of being compared to her crush's favorite, but the implications of the rest of what he had said were starting to sink in as well.

This is Cho's favorite VTuber! If only she could be literally the same person... Meg found herself looking even more closely at the cute Nirvan on the screen, taking in all of her idealized features. Cho had told Lin the week before that he wasn't really interested in VTubers for their more sexualized aspects, but while Meg usually trusted him implicitly, she was beginning to think that he was fibbing about not finding them sexually attractive. Like the way he had just hesitated before talking about Yleese's "aesthetics". What had he been about to say instead? Even more convincing than that, though, was the look on his face as he watched the spunky girl on the screen. Those were very clearly the soft eyes of a man who had fallen for a woman. Or a Nirvan elf, as the case may be.

What else was it that he had let slip the previous week? Something about his preferences for VTubers showing him his preferences for real women? While Meg had originally taken his statement at face value, she was now starting to think that what he really meant was his ideal girl will look and act like his favorite VTubers. Just like the other thoughts she'd been having about Cho's preferences this week, that one in particular hung low and heavy in her mind somehow, suspended like a shadow over her consciousness, as did the next: if I looked and acted more like Yleese, I'd be more like Cho's ideal girl!

Her eyes roamed over the VTuber, trying to memorize every detail. Her skin was pale and flawless, and her white and gold dress bared both her shoulders and much of her chest. Meg found herself wishing that she'd worn something just a tad more revealing than the relatively conservative V-cut top she'd gone with. But then again Yleese had actual cleavage; her breasts didn't look that large at first, but given her otherwise petite figure Meg guessed that she was about a D or E cup.

Meg saw that Cho's attention was still riveted on Yleese as well and snuck a glance down at her own small chest. Whatever is happening, you guys need to keep it up, ok? she thought encouragingly, and then blushed at her silliness.

They continued to watch as Yleese interacted with her chat on the stream, and Meg soon saw what Cho meant about her being shy and slightly awkward. She'd word things strangely, and once or twice she even let something slip that sounded almost lewd. Meg glanced over at Cho at these moments and saw that his gaze at Yleese had intensified. It's affecting him, she thought to herself. Well, it was no wonder with how hot Yleese was, and with how cute and flirty her voice sounded.

"The VTubers we've watched so far always talk like they're flirting," Meg commented mildly, breaking the silence between them after Yleese playfully chastised a viewer for pointedly mentioning how "bouncy" she looked that evening.

"Yeah, I guess they do," Cho admitted sheepishly. "I hadn't really noticed, but I suppose it's a, uh, natural way of building a connection with the viewer. Not all VTubers speak like that though - they each have their own voice, and they can be pretty different!"

"Oh." If I flirted with Cho more, like Yleese does, I could build more of a connection with him.

They watched the rest of the stream in silence, both focused intensely on Yleese but for completely different reasons, and when Meg finally left at the end of the night her head was full of compelling new ideas and impressions that felt more and more like a part of her each time they occurred to her.

I need to be more like Yleese!

The half-serious encouragement Meg had given to her small breasts that night seemed to have worked, because by the end of the following week her girls had somehow swelled to a solid B-cup. While her bras had been able to handle her slight initial growth, they were now clearly inadequate to fully contain the small mounds now protruding from her chest, and most of her tops were borderline indecently tight. Meg also confirmed that her ass and thighs were growing, just enough to add a bit of soft, feminine curve to her lower body but not enough to be conspicuous. It was, similar to her bust, enough to require clothes that would fit more comfortably around her slightly wider hips.

Meg knew that she should be worried about these inexplicable changes to her body, especially with the way they reflected her interactions with Cho and his new VTuber obsession a little too closely, but, strangely, everything just felt so natural that it was difficult to muster any concern. It wasn't just that her new body felt great - it did - but also the fact that Meg felt sexier than she had in a long time. She smiled at the slight shimmer that had slowly appeared in her hair over the past few days. Cho wants a girl who looks and acts like Yleese, and Yleese has silky, shiny hair.

So, Meg mostly just accepted her new assets as a happy coincidence, and welcomed the opportunity to go shopping for new clothes to fit her new figure. Plus, she'd been feeling an odd inclination to be more daring with her outfits lately, an inclination that had grown stronger and stronger throughout the week, and a new wardrobe would give her the perfect opportunity to show off her fledgling curves.

Excited, Meg called up Lin and made plans to go shopping with her that afternoon before her weekly hangout with Cho, and two hours later she was happily holding up outfits against her small curves that would have scandalized the shy Meg of three weeks ago.

Lin had immediately noticed that her friend's clothes looked more... restrictive on her petite body than they usually did, and her brow furrowed in suspicion and confusion as she followed her slightly-curvier friend through racks of clothing that the reserved girl would normally never have touched. Before she had developed her crush on Cho, that is.

"Hey, um, Meg?" she asked a few minutes later, as bras and tops and skirts made their way into her shopping cart.

"Yeah?"

"Is everything, you know, ok?" Meg missed the concern in her friend's voice as she tried to picture how much attention each piece on the rack would draw to herself, aiming for "eye-catching but not slutty".

"Of course! Why do you ask?" Her eyes were bright as she grabbed a shiny green top with thin straps that crossed above a plunging neckline, added it to the pile of clothes in her cart, and headed to the dressing rooms.

"I dunno, it just seems like things are a bit different about you lately."

As she opened the door to the dressing room this comment immediately caused Meg to glance down at her chest, which by this point was visibly pressing out against her overtight shirt. Again she'd gone with one of the more low-cut tops that she owned, and Lin was all too aware of the slight curves of caramel cleavage that hadn't been there before on her cute friend's petite frame. Lin averted her eyes and cleared her throat, hiding a subtle blush.

Meg disappeared into the dressing room none the wiser and Lin listened to the subtle rustle that meant her friend was peeling the too-small clothing from her body. She tried not to think about what Meg might look like in her underwear.

"I know, isn't it great?" Meg finally responded. The more I look like Yleese, the more likely it is that Cho will finally notice me!

"That's not quite what I meant," Lin responded, "but I'm happy that you're happy. It just seems like you've been, well, different in multiple ways since you've developed this crush on Cho." Lin's voice had been growing in quiet intensity while she was talking, and now the dam burst, and her impassioned words gushed out through the closed dressing room door.

"Meg, you shouldn't change yourself for someone else like this!" she urged. "You should be with someone who" - her voice suddenly dropped almost to a whisper, and she looked away - "someone who appreciates you for who you are..."

"But I'm not changing myself!" Meg insisted, unable to see her friend's expression from the other side of the thin sheet of particle board. She pulled her new, slightly more revealing bra on over her protruding breasts and settled them into place before taking a hesitant, appraising look at herself in the mirror. "Or at least I don't think I am. Not on purpose, at least." There was still confusion in her reflection's expression, along with a healthy dose of embarrassment and trepidation at seeing herself so exposed in her new underwear, but as her eyes made their way down her petite figure, she had to admit that she was shocked at how good she looked even with the relatively small changes she'd experienced so far.

I wonder what Cho would think if he saw me right now... she found herself thinking, and as she did so she felt a shiver run through her body that quickly became a small, pleasurable tingle. I bet he couldn't help but notice me! She gave herself an impulsive, cheeky wink in the mirror, appreciating her changes more and more by the second as she thought about how much Cho would like them, and all the while that tingly pleasure continued to grow. The idea of sexy underwear had never really appealed to Meg before, but now, seeing how great they looked on her, all nice and snug against her expanded breasts and hips, she was quickly changing her mind.

"Like, I realize that I might be changing a bit," she called through the closed door as she ran her hands up and down the skin of her slim waist, "but I like who I'm becoming."

Growing more confident by the second, Meg pulled the shiny green top down over her new bra and enjoyed the way it hugged her larger bust. Her breasts peeked happily out at her in the mirror, below the attention-drawing strings stretched across her upper chest, and then Meg shifted her gaze lower to her wider thighs accentuated by the skimpy bottoms she had chosen. Without really meaning to, Meg brought one hand up to cup a nice, plump handful of boob, and the other hand stole down her waist to tickle at the hem of her underwear. The soft, silky fabric felt amazing on her hardening nipples and moistening snatch, and, caught up in the fantasy of Cho seeing her like this, a gentle finger traced its way along her labia through the thin fabric.

Meg gasped as the jolt of surprisingly intense pleasure shocked her back to her senses, and she let out a small "Eep!" as she jerked her hand away from her crotch. This time her reflection turned scarlet at what she had caught herself doing, but she could still feel the pleasurable throbbing of her vulva and the tight stiffness of her nipples against the smooth fabric of her skimpy new underwear.

"Everything ok in there?" Lin asked. She'd heard a strange squeak coming from Meg's dressing room, along with what almost sounded like panting.

"Just fine!" Meg called back as she quickly threw on the skirt she had picked out. "Out in a second!" She slipped her shoes back on, but before she turned the handle to leave the room she caught one final glimpse of herself in the mirror. Damn, her new curves looked good, especially with the way her revealing clothing was showing them off. There was just something right about the whole image. It felt like her. Satisfied, and still more than a little turned on, Meg opened the door to the changing room and stepped out.

Lin's eyes widened and her hand flew up to her mouth. Change or no, she couldn't deny that Meg looked hot in that top and skirt, and there was an uncharacteristic amount of appealing color in her cheeks for some reason as well. It also seemed like her friend was short of breath - maybe her new top was too tight? - but her gently heaving chest made it clearer than ever that her bust had grown, and the skirt showed off to perfection a subtle, appealing flair of Meg's hips that Lin had never noticed before. How had this happened?

Overcoming her initial, automatic reaction, Lin told herself that she should be happy to see her shy friend feeling more assertive and confident about herself like this. Honestly, with the glow in Meg's face it did feel genuine, but as Lin tried to tear her eyes away from the attractive curves of her cute friend's body she still felt as though something were off somehow. "I just don't want you to be doing this for the wrong reasons, Meg. I don't want you to try to change who you are just to chase Cho, when he's already made it perfectly clear that he doesn't appreciate you for who you are."

"I won't," Meg responded, but as she made her way to the register to pay she thought to herself, But why wouldn't I want to change who I am to please Cho? Her body tingled in agreement.