Idol Gunner [Yuri Villainess LitRPG]

Kana opened the door, letting Yamazaki and Abe step in. Never had she expected that she would be in this position, but desperate times called for desperate measures. Kana Minami was, today, meeting with Jina Ohara, Marie Iwata, Jun Yamazaki, and Masaru Abe, along with Keiko – in a mansion that was formerly owned by Akiko Hara.

Just the logistics of this gave her a headache. But when Keiko had stepped in, given her a hug and started crying about how much she hated not knowing what happened, Kana wasn’t left with a lot of options. She knew one person who was good at finding people, and it was Abe. The only one to keep him in check was Yamazaki.

Of course, even the Abe part was just conjecture. For the last three months, their former manager and the journalist had been working overtime to find Kenji Tanaka. Had they been able to? No. But not one day had gone by when that wasn’t the top priority in their heads. Even when Kana had stopped talking to them, Yamazaki had kept the job up. As for Abe…he had found his own reasons to not speak up.

“It’s a matter of pride, Yamazaki.” He had told the man after a month. “I haven’t been in this business for so long without any talent or skills. I know how to track people down. If I’m not able to do it, then nobody will! And this business with the aliens. What the fuck is wrong with you all?”

Aliens.

That was what Abe had resorted to calling them. Probably because he was not scared of saying it like it was. Kana had slowly come to the realization as well. She was sure that people like Tanaka or Akiko had known it for much longer than that, but just kept it to themselves. There was no strange, mystical dimension of monsters.

They had just been fighting on the frontline of an intergalactic war. One that the Coalition had started for…what, exactly? She still didn’t know that part.

“Her name is Riko. Riko Minami.” Keiko explained, sitting beside Abe as she explained the situation to him. It was enough to give Kana whiplash. There she had been, sitting on the couch and unknowingly drifting off into thoughts about the Netsolnians, and her sister had pulled her back.

That was right. This was what she was doing. Kana had nothing to do with those people anymore. She did not want to step back into that place, even though her hearing had all but vanished. It didn’t help that she hadn’t told anyone. Staying locked up at home and refusing medical checkups was probably not the smartest way to deal with deafness. Still, she couldn’t care less.

Why would she ever need her ears anyway? As far as she was concerned, not being able to hear would only help her in the long run. She was just a regular person now. No fighting. No killing. Nothing to do with the darkness of that disgusting place. Kana wanted to stay here, and stay safe. She was taking the smarter, mature decision.

“And you tried calling her, but she did not pick up?” Abe confirmed, muttering to himself in between his questions. “I guess it should be difficult to track her down as long as the phone rings. She doesn’t even need to pick up. And also…actually. You, Minami! Don’t you dare think I’ve forgiven you. Who do you think I am!? Making me do this domestic detective work is not your jo-”

She only really heard him when he had gotten halfway through his rant. Turning towards him, confused, she wasn’t sure what he was saying. Tilting her head to visualize her lack of understanding, Kana hummed as she did, waiting her turn to ask. But for some reason, just her looking into his eyes made Abe panic and shut up. He turned back to Keiko and continued to work on the case.

Kana shrugged. She wasn’t sure what he had seen, since she hadn’t said or done anything. That was the last thing on her mind right now. Abe was here because nobody else could take his place. Kana Minami, at the end of the day, was still a prime suspect in the burning of Katsuhara Apartments. Her public image might have been maintained by the Coalition, but the police would still be looking out for her.

As the others continued to consider options, Yamazaki crouched down beside her.

“No work on Tanaka. Do you think he’s in some other country? That’s the answer we’ve started considering now.”

“Hmm?” She nodded. Thankfully, his being close by had helped with the volume. “Talk to Aiko Taira. Please. I don’t care anymore.”

“Yeah.” He sighed. Then, out of nowhere, he gave her a pat on the head. “Take care of yourself, got it? It’s good to see you again.”

Kana pushed his hand away, snarling. “What do you think you’re doing?”

Yamazaki laughed, stood up, and shook his head. “I’m not your manager anymore, Kana. I don’t take orders from you. It’s about time you realized that you’re almost the age of my daughter. Got it?”

“Your daughter? Hmm. How is she? Sorry, they. Have you visited them?”

“I did, yes. They think I’m doing some really important work abroad right now. Saw them at Taira’s place. She was kind enough not to bring up anything too bad.”

“Well, well. Of course she was.” Jina clicked her tongue, invited herself into the conversation, and leaned on Yamazaki’s shoulder. With her usual bratty tone, she looked at him with false contempt. “You wouldn’t want your wife to find out about your extramarital affairs, ri-”

“I’m not having an affair!” He smacked her on the head, and she yelped.

“Y-Yamazaki-san is having an affair!?” Marie gasped. “Never took you for the type.”

Where had she come from? Had she been listening in the entire time, too?

“That’s just the kind of man he is. You find out pretty soon.” Abe shook his head in disappointment.

“Oi, not your place to speak up.” Jina pointed at him. “You do your job and shut the fuck up, got it? Just because you’re here doesn’t mean you’re allowed to say what you want. Fucking freak.”

She still hadn’t gotten over the resort incident. That was to be expected. You did not try to defend a pedophile and get away with it. Not in the eyes of Jina Ohara, at least. Kana could respect that, though she had started to consider what Abe had told her back then. The law, huh? The law could have punished that man as well.

But, of course, it wouldn’t. That was the truth. She had taken matters into her own hands, and there was no regret there. The law was just a fancy word to protect whoever had the most money.

“Can you call her for me?” Abe ignored Jina and got back to his professional tone. “I’ve got the equipment ready, so it shouldn’t take too long.”

Keiko nodded and pulled out her phone. “But will it work? I mean that she doesn’t pick up, so you won’t get the time you need to get her location. Isn’t that how it works?”

Masaru Abe rolled his eyes and slammed the table. Everyone jumped for a moment, and he groaned. Pressing his forehead, he started tapping away on his laptop and handed her a cable.

“This gets tiring.” He explained. “I don’t care how many movies you’ve watched. That’s not how it works. Think about it. How do you think you can press a button and then someone else’s phone rings, huh?”

“Uh…it sends a phone call?” Keiko asked.

“You’re so smart, aren’t you?” He mocked

Kana took one glance at him, and the smile vanished from his face.

“W-What I’m saying is that sending a call requires you to be connected to the target’s phone. The moment you call and the phone rings, your devices already have a link between them. Talking is irrelevant. You just need to let it ring long enough for me to get the data.”

“Well, that shouldn’t be difficult,” Kana said. “If there’s one person in this world who loves to let their phone ring out instead of declining, it’s that woman. One should be enough, right? I need you all to get done and get out as soon as possible.”

“Why? Got people locked up in the basem-”

Abe stopped before he could be chided any more. Jina looked like she was prepared to punch him already, but restrained herself. Addressing Kana instead, she spoke in a sweeter, calmer voice.

“Marie got you groceries. Do you want to go arrange them?”

“Sure.”

Kana stood up and walked away with her. The less time she needed to spend with this group, the better. As happy as she was to see Yamazaki, she didn’t really want to talk to him either. Not because he had done anything, but because…she just didn’t feel like it. There was a reason why Jina and Marie had been the only people allowed to come in for the last three months.

Picking up the bag she had kept near the door, Kana reached the kitchen and placed it down. Marie was talking to Yamazaki, so it would be fine with just the two of them.

Jina took out some of the stuff and started placing it on the counter. It was common practice between them to empty the contents of the bag first, and then arrange them later. Made it easier to keep track of what needed to go where. Helping her do that, Kana hoped that there would be questions about what was going on. She didn’t need that right now.

“So, uh…” Jina ended up doing exactly that. “Keiko told me about the…thing she did. You know?”

Kana cursed her breath and pretended not to hear her. It was barely audible anyway, so might as well go the distance.

“You’re two meters away from me. I think you heard that, Kana. What happened to your mother being the one who took her phone away?”

“She did!” If ignorance wasn’t going to work, she would have to get direct. “She did take her phone away, got it? I didn’t lie to you. I just di-”

“Didn’t tell me the whole truth? Is that what you’re going to resort to now?”

Jina wasn’t wrong. If someone else used that argument against her, Kana would have hated it. She would have probably said that not telling the whole truth made you a bigger coward than being a liar. At least to tell a lie, you had to have some confidence in your words. You needed to perform well enough to make someone believe.

Half-truths were the easy way out. Things you said when you did not want to take the brunt of the facts, and did not want to harbor the guilt of a lie.

“So what?” Kana grunted. “She tried to commit suicide. So what? That had nothing to do with what I was telling you that day. That wasn’t what you needed to hear, plain and simple. The plan was to get you back on your feet, and the plan worked. That is all that matters.”

“Plan, was it? I see how it is.” Jina whispered, but then gulped. Placing the last object on the counter, she apologized. “I don’t want to fight with you. You’re right. It has nothing to do with me and…Keiko’s fine now. That’s what matters. I’m fine now. Nobuko…I don’t know. I haven’t talked to Nobuko since that day.”

“Good. I don’t care.”

“Yeah, awfully talkative for someone who is depressed, aren’t you!?”

Kana did not respond to that. Being completely honest, she did not even know what Jina was trying to say. She looked at her with the same look of confusion she had given Abe. Not anger, or fear, or sadness. Just one trying to question what they even meant.

“Ok, fine. Just joking. Calm down.” She pinched her own wrist. “I’m so sorry. It’s just escaping me today.”

What? Kana still did not understand. Was this meant to be a joke or a skit?

“What!?” Jina sighed and then started arranging the items. “Don’t look at me like that, geez. I was making a joke.”

“I guess?” Kana picked up some cans herself to put in the fridge.

Was her confused face that scary? She had never looked at it before, but it had already gotten two people on their nerves. Or was it she herself who was scary? Did they think that because she was making that face, it meant that she was pissed off at them? Kana did not get it. If she were angry at someone, she would make it known.

“Found her!”

The voice rang out from the living room with triumph. It must have been validating to the man to realize that he hadn’t lost his touch. Kana and Jina made their way to him and watched as he celebrated. Putting the laptop in front of Keiko, he pointed to the spot her phone was and marked it for her.

“Right there. Looks like she’s around Ward C. Weird place to be.”

“She has a friend there!” Keiko nodded, amazed. “There’s this woman who comes to our house sometimes with beer and stuff. She lives in Ward C in this cool apartment! Do you remember her, Kana!?”

“Hachitsuki something?” Kana looked at the map. “I guess she could have gone there. Good for you, isn’t it? Now go find her if you want. Leave.”

“Don’t you wan-”

“Leave,” Kana repeated. “I don’t care about that woman. Find her, talk to her, do whatever you want. If Jina does not want you, then you can come back and live here. Just don’t bother me too much.”

“Y-yeah.”

Kana wasn’t sure why she was being like this. She loved Keiko. She wanted to hug her and stay with her forever, but she did not have the strength to. For some reason, the cruelty came naturally to her right now. To push people away was the easiest thing in the world.

“All of you leave.” She firmly planted her feet on the floor and tried to be as stern as possible. “No ifs, ands, or buts. I want every single one of you out. The job’s done. Stop bothering me.”

“Hey, you’re the one who called us h-” Abe tried to speak up, but was stopped by Yamazaki.

Putting a hand on Abe’s shoulder, he pulled him back. “Let’s go.”

“I have work in the office, too.” Marie smiled. “See you later, Kana.”

Kana nodded, smiled back, and looked at Jina, who also decided not to make a big deal of it. Walking to Keiko, she picked the girl up.

“Wanna go and find her?”

Keiko nodded, and Jina decided to go with her. Both of them noted the location on their map and said goodbye. Her sister decided not to make a big deal out of it. Giving her another promise of reunion like Marie, she got out of the house with Jina.

Now, there was only Kana and the two men.

“What are you waiting for?” she asked.

“We are leaving. Sorry about that. Come on, Abe, wrap it up!”

“Yeah, yeah. But-!” He finally met Kana's eyes and raised his hands. “We should tell her about that thing.”

“What thing?” Kana inquired.

“There’s no thing. He’s babbling. We’re getting out of he-”

“What thing, Yamazaki-san!?”

Abe took his chance, picking the laptop up and explaining. “We, uh…we found something interesting regarding those aliens. And also about, um…Akiko Hara. I think we can actually find a way to deal with her once and for a-”

Yamazaki tried damage control. “Kana, it’s nothing. It’s not concrete and not imp-”

Kana, however, had already been pulled in. “You found a way to kill Akiko Hara?”

“I think so.”