Idol Gunner [Yuri Villainess LitRPG]

“What do you think you’re trying?”

Kana let go of Sanada the moment the door closed behind them. The vocalist yelped and grabbed onto a nearby wall, wincing. She looked at Kana, replicating her tongue-out cheekiness with a weak smile.

“I really did tear open the wound. Some support, please?”

Kana rolled her eyes and put her arm around her shoulder once more. Pulling her along as she started walking to the infirmary, she asked the question once more. For a second, Sanada acted oblivious. She mentioned how much the wound hurt, and how it was a pain to always rely on someone to get bandaging done.

“You want me to drop you again? Get to the damn point!”

“Now, now, Kana-chan.” She kept her smile up, “Let’s at least get where we need to first. We can always talk there, right? Nobody walking around to overhear what we’re saying.”

What was it, then? Had her little performance in there been to humiliate Emi, or get Kana all alone? If it was the former, then she had done a terrible job by wounding herself. If it were the latter, then she had somehow done even more of a terrible job. Sanada had, overall, formulated this plan with zero thought or strategy around it.

Without a single word exchanged, both of them made their way to the infirmary. A few people looked at them, and even fewer within them put on sad expressions. Every single person who did that wanted to feel better about themselves, is what Kana decided. That was it. They just wanted to look at them and think about how horrible their week had been. She elected not to look at any of them, lest she lose her mind and say something rude.

Once the two of them got to their destination, Kana rested on one of the empty beds. The company medic, in the meantime, checked on her wound and bandaged the girl. She gasped here and there, or made painful expressions to show how much it hurt. When he was finally done, she asked if she could just sit down for some time.

The doctor laughed, as if it were some inside joke, “Sure. Go ahead. What can I say? Your ankle is just so horribly damaged.”

“I know, right?” Sanada laughed back, “Thank you!”

With that, he left the room. Now, the two of them were finally all alone. Pulling her leg up and placing it on the bed, Sanada sighed.

“What was that supposed to be?”

“What? The doctor?”

“No. The alien that landed in Ward G yesterday. What do you think?”

Sanada chuckled, but then grabbed her stomach in pain, “Ohh…fuck. Ouch, that hurts.”

Just a day ago, she had been visibly upset at both the Velvet Choker members. Now, she was laughing at a dumb joke. One so bad that Jina should have been the one telling it. Kana had somehow received one trait from that goth bitch, and it was making bad jokes. How far would she fall by the end?

“When I first came here, I used to be sad all the time. I…hate dancing, you see.” She groaned and lay down on the bed, blinking at the ceiling, “One day, he just suggested that I stay here. He went and told the instructor that I couldn’t dance today, so I got to rest as much as I wanted. Since then, he’s just…”

“Allowed you to do that. Great. Amazing story. Now, get to the point. What do you want?”

Sanada looked at her, and the girl’s eyes moistened. Her smile wavered, but she kept it up. Snapping her head away to divert her attention to the window, she replied, “That’s wrong of you, Kana-chan. Don’t start changing your personality so easily in front of me. It hurts.”

“Then focus on your ankle and let that hurt more. I don’t want anything from you now, and all the cute nonsense pisses me off.” Kana scoffed, but then put on her sweet puppy eyes, “Although it gets the job done, doesn’t it, Sanada-san!?”

She laughed once more, but refused to look in her direction, “You almost made me turn. You’re good at that, aren’t you? I tried back there, but I guess I don’t have any practice with acting. You’re being so aggressive about it. Was it so bad?”

“A five-year-old kid would know that you were doing it on purpose. As for Emi, well, I’m sure she felt quite bad. If that was your goal, then I guess you succeeded.”

“That…wasn’t it!” Sanada raised her voice, actively reprimanding the thought, “I meant what I said at the end, there. I don’t want her to get into any trouble. I really don’t. I just wanted to get some time alone with you, and I wouldn’t get any other way. You’ve always got someone with you, after all.”

“Yeah, I remember. My servant-slash-slave lackeys, isn’t that right? I wonder what Kelsey thinks about that comparison right about now? I could ask her, but she seems to have lost her voice this evening.”

“She’s tired, Kana. We both are.” Sanada turned her back to Kana, and buried her face in the pillow under her, “RiRi…was a good friend. At the very least, I think she was that much. But Kelsey was right, too. I never thought of them as friends in the same way. Now…I’m tired.”

She looked away from the girl and turned her chair for extra measure. As if the words weren’t cruel enough, she was in a bed, too. Now that Kana knew Sanada was not up to some big comeback plan, her brain would start questioning things. The vocalist had been put back in the ‘innocent’ category. A pain in the ass of a category.

“I was angry at you, and I was angry at Kelsey, too. I was so angry at all of you. But then again, it’s not like you actually killed her. It’s not like Kelsey killed her either. It was just some monster, right? It’s not like either of you wanted her to die. That’s got to count for something, I think.”

“You called me here to tell me that you forgive me? Is that it? Can I go now, then?”

She would rather go back and talk to Emi for some time. At this speed, she would probably be gone by the time they made it back. A bad day made worse.

“No!” Sanada gulped, “I mean, I never decided to hate you in the first place, so I can’t forgive you. Kelsey could forgive you, not that she will. I just mean…technically.”

Kana sighed, “I am not here to discuss grammar, Sanada. What do you want?”

“Fine, fine! I’m getting to it. It’s just…a request. It would be nice if you helped me fulfil it, especially since Kelsey is also injured now. It’s the last thing I’ll ever ask of you, I promise. Just help me this once.”

That…Kana hadn’t expected. She shrugged and asked her to be quick with her words. A request hadn’t been completely off her options, but it was so unlikely that she hadn’t considered it. At least it wasn’t too outlandish a want, which put it within the realm of possibility. Maybe she was being honest right now, with no ulterior motives.

“Before that, though. Can I ask you a question, Kana-chan?”

“What else have you been doing this entire time?”

“Answering yours? Hehe. Sorry. Humor’s not my strongest suit.” She laughed for just a second, but then brought herself under control, “I just wanted to ask – if you could take it all back, would you? If letting RiRi live meant not being able to beat Lilac Shower, would you do it?”

Kana let the question sit for a moment. She questioned it with absolute honesty. She remembered just how painful it had been to live with her death. How much it hurt even now, to know that all of this had happened because of her. If losing one small victory meant reversing all of that, would it be worth it? Would she accept defeat to save that girl from an unjust death?

Sanada turned to finally look at her, and their eyes met. With absolute resolution, Kana replied, “I can’t reverse time, Sanada. Nobody can. And I don’t participate in hypotheticals.”

The vocalist forced herself to smile, even letting out a small laugh. Then, clutching the pillow under her head, she struggled to begin. Stuttering her way through the words, she spoke, “I thought that, too. I think…if you had told me that you would do it, then I would have my answer.”

“And what’s that?”

“That you were still lying to me. But given what you said, I guess you’re being completely honest.”

“I never lie.”

Sanda chuckled and took a deep breath. Finally finding the words and the courage, she explained what she wanted. Kana didn’t know what to think of it. But she heard. She heard it all until the vocalist was done with her explanation. And then, as the room’s silence waited for her to speak, she nodded.

“Hmm…”

_____________

Emi had, indeed, left.

When Kana left Sanada in the infirmary and returned, the dance practice room was empty. Kelsey was there, but the two of them ignored each other’s presence. Picking her bag up, Kana left and headed to her dressing room. There, she finally found Jina, who confirmed that Emi had been escorted away once the session came to an end.

“There were three whole guards. One of them had a pistol, too. And that’s just what I saw.” She expanded on the scene.

Nothing could be done about it, so Kana did not waste time worrying. They needed to get to the next step as soon as possible. Yamazaki was probably having his meeting with Sakai right now, so they would get their answer there soon. After that, she needed to prepare for their debut next week in earnest. Then, there was the competition from tomorrow as well.

“I need your help. I’ll explain in the car with Yamazaki-san.” Kana sat down on one of the chairs and rested her legs. The infirmary’s chair did not have that quality-of-life, so they hurt more than necessary.

“No. Who do you think I am? I have no reason to help you. Shut up.”

“That is a comically bad attempt, Jina.”

“It’s an attempt, at the very least. Kelsey was right. W-why should I listen to what you say all the time!?”

“You’re the one who said you would help me, didn’t you? That day on the bridge. Don’t take back your words now. There are very few things I hate more than that.”

Jina pouted and then opened her mouth wide in shock, “That’s, like…support. I was just trying to make you feel better, alright? I didn’t actually mean any of it. Now leave me alone and do what you want to do. All alone, that is.”

“Your great morality is that you will lie to people to make them feel better, and then when they’re fine, you will tell them you didn’t mean it? What?” Kana raised her hands in defeat, “Maybe you should start a special therapist office. Keep that up, and you’ll have an infinite pool of victims.”

The girl’s face grew red. She shut the box of foundation in her hand and kept it beside the rest of the makeup boxes. It was her weird ritual of checking all of them at the end of the day, again. She looked away from Kana and then groaned. Rustling her hands in her hand, she made random, wild, gibberish noises at the same time.

“Arghhh….! You…fucking…fool. Shut up and leave me alone, alright? You don’t get it. You will never get it. Go back home and plan all by yourself. I don’t need to listen to you. I do not need to listen to you.”

“You’re going to let that numbskull get to you!?” Kana screamed in return, unable to understand what was wrong with this idiot, “She was trying to provoke the two of you, and you’re actively letting it work. How dumb can you be?”

“It’s not about…!” She gasped for air, dramatically falling down on the dressing table, and then screaming into the wood.

It had finally happened. Kana could not believe it, but the girl had finally cracked under that intense pressure. The pressure of having to live in the brain of Jina Ohara had ruined her. What other explanation was there for this behavior? She claimed that Kelsey’s words had hurt her, and now it was supposedly not about her at all.

“I…told you something very personal.” Kana debated, “I don’t tell just anyone about my sister, and I told you. You better live up to that. Right now, you’re not. I don’t just order you around. I’ve always given you a choice, and you’re the one who decides to agree with me. What the hell is wrong with you?”

“You…!” Jina stopped flailing around and let out a long sigh. Sitting upright, she shook her head and looked at Kana. With some light back in her eyes, she slapped herself on both cheeks and nodded, “Forget it. Forget all of that. Just…tell me. What do you want?”

“Just…like that?”

The goth girl furiously nodded, “Yes, just like that. You’re right. I can’t let Kelsey get to me. She was only trying to make me furious, and it almost worked. It won’t work again. Just tell me what you want.”

“Oh. Fine, I guess.” Kana shrugged, “Tell me. Do you like Sanada?”

“Huh? What?” Her face grew red, “What do you mean!?”

“Are you sure you’re not on drugs? I didn’t know the industry was being that hard on you.”

“I…ughh!” She slapped herself once more, “I like her. Yes, I like Sanada-san. She’s a good person and never did anything wrong. Why do you ask? Is this about her? What are you going to do to her!?”

Kana chose her next words with precision. The best way she could put the situation came to mind, and she went with it.

“I’m gonna kill her.”