Idol Gunner [Yuri Villainess LitRPG]

How do you fake a death? It was a question Kana had asked herself multiple times. A handy skill to have if you were capable of doing it, so of course, she was interested to know. But even with all the knowledge she had gathered over time, it didn’t change a fundamental difference in the situation she was faced with.

She had to sell this death to these girls, right here and right now. If Sanada were to die, she needed to die with visual proof. That would make her life even easier once she got away. Maybe Nobuko being here wasn’t that bad of a thing. Kana would pull this off, somehow, and Nobuko would be an accomplice in this little magic trick without knowing anything.

“It should be easy enough for you, right?” Jina asked, catching her breath as Kelsey’s fight with the demon continued in the background, “I mean, you’re good enough at performing as it is. Now you just need to teach Sanada-san some of those skills.”

As if it was that easy. Kana scoffed and took a second knife out of her boot. This was the last weapon she had left, and she did not intend to fight with it. The demon, using his own arms as weapons, was not a threat she intended to directly face. Her battle was right here – trying to make Sanada good enough to fake her death. Except it wasn’t a walk in the park, even if Jina claimed otherwise.

“I’ll try my best, Kana-chan.” The vocalist held her hand, “I’ll do everything you want me to. If it doesn’t work, then I’ll just…not go. Alright? I’ll forget this whole plan and come back to work. For now, can you save her? Kelsey is…she is not going to last.”

Kana clicked her tongue. First, that annoying goth girl had started acting like Kana was some gift-granting goddess who could turn Sanada into a human retractable knife. Now, Sanada wanted her to save one of the worst people Kana had ever met. Not that the worry was baseless. Kelsey was, indeed, going to lose. The demon was overpowering her. As if it was that easy.

“Kana-chan.”

“Kana…”

As if it was that easy…

Nobuko still hadn’t shot. Megumi was still trying to find a weak spot in the flurry of blows the enemy and Kelsey were trading. It would not be easy for her to get anywhere. Kana closed her eyes, even as Jina kept asking if she could really pull this off. Even as Sanada begged for her to somehow help Kelsey, she focused on her breathing.

How do you kill someone? How do you convince another person you did it? How do you make all of that up and get away with it in plain sight? She gulped. It wasn’t that easy. It wasn’t even difficult. And that was what pissed her off. It was right there, in that small pocket of mental torture. To know you can do it, but without knowing how.

“Kana-chan, she is…”

“Kana! Stop zoning out right now. What are we doing? That Shoko girl is starting to look in our direction.”

A particularly loud clang caused Kana’s eyes to fly open. In the air, right above Kelsey’s head, was the sword. The demon’s weapon-arm had knocked it out of her hand. It did not move right away, though. It let the despair of the girl set in. It let the sword clatter to the ground, so that she knew there was no getting away. The blonde girl cowered, taking a step back as the demon smiled, baring its teeth.

“Kill. Kill. Kill!”

Frothing at the mouth, it put its arms in a cross, one torn hand in each. Kelsey did not move, probably out of panic, as they started coming toward her head. Megumi scrambled in the back, trying to find a way to win. Sanada started running forward, and Jina grabbed her by her sleeves.

“Kana, do someth-!”

It paused. It all paused. Everyone stopped moving, and Kana finally took a breath. Her eyes suddenly opened. This time, truly opened. A little bit of the morning sun in the sky caused Kelsey’s leg to glint. Why? Because it wasn’t organic. Because it was metal and glass. It was…not flesh.

Who said that you needed to hurt the attacker to save the victim?

Time started moving again, and Kana threw the knife. The demon’s hands, inching closer, were almost at Kelsey’s face now. Before they could hit, she did. The knife crashed through the outer glass of the mechanical leg, shutting it off in an instant. The blonde girl yelped, her shoes slipping on the dirt and sending her falling down. The arms reached their target, but only hit each other.

The resulting blast of energy crippled the demon. It hit its chest and made it stumble. Below the mammoth legs, Kelsey pulled her body into a fetal position; her leg completely unresponsive.

Three seconds later, Nobuko Kimura shot one of the weapon-arms out of the demon’s hand. The bullet pierced through its wrist, tearing through the muscles that let it move. Four-Armed Demon howled in pain, and the arm fell down, barely missing the sobbing Kelsey.

“What…did you…?”

“Kana-chan, you…”

“I saved her.”

Kana replied, but she wasn’t certain of it herself. Was that what she had done? She didn’t remember what had gone through her mind, but the results were in front of her. For a second, she had taken Jina’s previous words to heart, and it had just worked. This was just a performance. Just…an act.

“I…” This time, the words came a bit more naturally: “I made her fall.”

She made her fall. Kana didn’t do anything. Kelsey was the one who fell and saved herself. It was just a performance, after all. It was that easy. She could kill Sanada. She could do it in front of Nobuko and make her believe it.

The stones, the dirt, the pebbles, the heat, the demons flexing muscles, and Nobuko’s trained eye. They all changed. All of a sudden, they weren’t mere objects anymore. All of a sudden, they were props. This was a performance. The rawest, most honest performance of all. Kana wondered how many times this stage had been set before her, and she hadn’t noticed it.

“Sanada…” She whispered, putting her hand on her shoulder, “Look at Kelsey. Do you see where she’s lying?”

“Y-yes?”

A little pat, and “Keep her there. We are going to keep her there. And Jina, you’re gonna stand here and make sure Sanada doesn’t move. Got it?”

“What?”

“Don’t. Move.”

Withdrawing from the position, Kana turned her hand and landed a slap across Sanada’s face. It was sudden and uncalled for. She could give her a short apology later, too. But right now, it attracted Shoko’s attention.

“Kana!? What are you doing!?”

“This is about survival, dammit!” Kana screamed, pulling back from the two of them, heaving, “That numbskull got RiRi killed the same way, and now you wanna save her? I’m getting out, so you can do what you want!”

She ran. Once she knew that Ruby Passion Jr. had seen and heard it all, she had no reason to stay with them anymore. Her job was done. This was the last time she was going to put her on the stage today. Because she could see it now. She could see it all exactly as it was. Not how she wanted it to be, but as it was. This was a performance, but she was not a performer in it.

Kana needed to be the director. She needed to be the one at the helm, controlling every minute moment in this kingdom of hers.

Rushing past the many rocks in the area, she hid behind one as the demon stood up once more. She couldn’t see, but the ground was rumbling. Soon after, Nobuko’s gunshot echoed through the landscape, and everything shook. It had fallen once more, probably due to some kind of attack on its leg. The knee, perhaps. Whatever. It didn’t matter. Nobuko was the one who needed to worry about the demon. To Kana, even that hulking beast was an actor on her stage.

By now, she expected Sanada and Jina to be confused. But the latter would follow her orders, no matter what. She was definitely making sure that it looked like they weren’t going to save Kelsey anymore. To someone as calculating as Nobuko, though, what did that mean?

Kana sneaked to the end of the wall of rocks and started to climb up. The demon howled in the back, and Ruby Passion Jr. kept up their attacks. A bit later, even Sanada’s screaming for Kelsey became louder. It was the perfect scene as she got to the top and looked down on them. Nobuko had her eyes on the sights of her revolver, but she was definitely stealing glances at Kelsey.

The leader of Ruby Passion Jr. bent as the demon backed away after a wound, asking Shoko Takahashi something. Megumi interrupted them with another projection near the demon’s temple, and Nobuko turned away to shoot. At the same time, Shoko left her side. Looping around, she started to head closer to Kelsey.

“So predictable.” Kana sighed.

To the left, the rocks allowed her to slide down to the ground. Happy that she didn’t need to worry about ripping any luxury dresses, she moved. Jina would need an update. But how? A sign was required. Something which would help her understand that she needed to handle Shoko.

“Kimura!”

Kana decided to call her out directly. Once Nobuko turned to her out of curiosity, she scowled. Just seeing her face up close was a pain. Especially now that she had put on an ugly eyepatch to aim better. For now, Kana made a quick check on Shoko, who still hadn’t reached Kelsey.

“What? Go on, run. You did it. Leave us alone, you greedy…ugh. What do you want?”

She held her poison back, not wanting to aggravate her any more than necessary, “Funny. I was about to tell you the same thing. Get out while you can. That blonde idiot there can keep the monster occupied. It will stop looking at you once its eyes are back on her. Anyway, do with that what you will.”

Nobuko, of course, was not going to agree to that. To her, just the chance of being able to help someone was enough. Not for altruistic reasons, though. She just wanted someone in Sakai Entertainment who owed her. It was just good business. Kana would’ve even been impressed if Nobuko Kimura wasn’t Nobuko Kimura.

But since that was done, she didn’t need to wait for any replies. Acting like she was escaping, she took the opportune moment. The demon had pulled back its broken wrist. Rotating his body to generate force, it hit the arm on the floor with his dangling hand. Seeing it come straight at her, Nobuko shot. As the flesh blasted into pieces and landed on the floor, it caused enough dust to let her loop around.

Hopefully, Jina had caught the exchange. Kana hadn’t had enough time to look at her. For now, she ran. All of that stamina from the performance training was finally paying off. Without pause, she looped around to the other side, where Shoko was moving to. Getting behind the healer, she looked at Jina, who locked eyes with her and nodded. Sanada, still being held by her, seemed to have understood that something was up.

Kana picked up a rock from the ground and waited for Nobuko to shoot. That usually caused some dust to rise. Keeping it aimed, she gestured to Jina for her knife. Nodding, the goth girl took it out in a second, lining it up with Sanada’s neck. This was it. A few moments to get this right, and the first half of this would go well.

Nobuko shot, and Jina sliced through the back of the vocalist’s neck. The chip on her flew off, falling to the ground. As the bullet hit the monster, its howl covered Sanada’s shriek. That was step one taken care of.

Kana threw the rock as soon as the dust rose. It hit the demon, attracting its dwindling attention towards her and Shoko. The healer, confused, shrieked, unsure of what to do. Jina, far away, looked at Kana’s new gesture. It might have confused her, but she did what was asked.

As the demon snarled and decided to attack the healer, Jina threw her knife in their direction. If there was one thing a Melee Class like her could be relied on, it was arm strength. The knife landed straight on Shoko’s leg. It sliced through some of her flesh, leaving a small mark, but not hurting her too badly. The knife clattered to the ground, and the girl screamed.

Nobuko and Megumi would turn here soon. The scream had been loud. Spreading some of the dirt with her own hands to cover the area, Kana moved. Running straight towards the healer, she leaned and swiped her legs. Another move that would be attributed to the demon, since there was no other context. Shoko fell to the ground, and Kana picked the knife up in the confusion.

That was it for that stray variable.

“Kelsey!”

Sanada screamed once more as the blonde girl started moving once more. Her little panic attack had ended. Just in time, too. Kana had used the time to get away from the scene of the crime and move back to the little fortress Megumi and Nobuko had created around themselves.

“Nobu! Sho-chan!”

“Ugh, yeah.” Nobuko looked at her teammate, “Go and get her, quick.”

“Thanks!”

Almost there. Kana smiled, getting back to Nobuko as her teammate left, and calling out to her once more. In the back, as the leader of Ruby Passion Jr. turned, Sanada broke free from Jina’s control and rushed in. It was bound to happen soon. You couldn’t, after all, throw a knife with such precision and keep your grip on someone at the same time.

Now, though, it was a matter of seconds.

“Why are you back?” Nobuko asked.

“I don’t know. I had a few questions. One most important, actually.”

“Yeah? What’s that? I don’t talk to whor-”

That…Kana was not going to accept. In the back, Sanada had already made her way to the demon. It had locked in on her, too. Too close for comfort.

Kana ran in, rolling her fist into a punch and smashing it across Nobuko’s cheeks. Feeling every tooth in her mouth, she was hit with a sense of catharsis. As the shocked leader spat some blood out of her mouth, Kana grabbed the girl’s revolver out of her hands. Nobuko fell to the ground, unable to maintain her balance.

The world paused once more. Sanada next to the demon. The demon, ready to attack. A confused Jina, running in after her. To the side, Megumi picking Shoko up from the ground. So much was happening. Yet, Kana’s focus was on the gun in her hand. The gun, which had finally gotten into her hands.

Class – Theoretical

Weapon – WC712

Class…Theoretical? What was that? She had never heard of it. The shock in her face was probably visible from a thousand kilometres away. And that shock, as real as it was, could help her. Nobuko was seeing it too, after all.

Kana gritted her teeth, rooting herself in the moment, and shot. The demon had been damaged enough. As the bullet reached its skull, the thinned skin allowed it to pierce through without issue. Breaking through its body, it escaped out of the other end. The monster let out a final shriek and collapsed on top of Sanada and Kelsey.

“Fucking thief!”

Nobuko got back up, wrestling the revolver out of Kana’s hands and stepping back. It was done, though. It was already done. As the revolver touched her hands once more. Nobuko probably got the points for the kill. With a slight smile, she looked up at the dead body of the enemy.

Below it was Sanada. And on top of it, by now, was a crying Jina. The reactions were real. They were real because Sanada could actually have been crushed by the monster. Because Jina did not know that that was impossible. Demons barely weighed anything. How else could a seven-foot monster like the Lizard Demon have snuck up on them? They were light as air.

Most people didn’t know that. They didn’t care enough to find out. And that was why they all fell for it. Every single one for them, even as Sanada got out unscathed, and tapped Jina on the leg to reassure her.

From Ruby Passion Jr.’s perspective, after all, her death was undeniable. She might not have been crushed, but there was a very clear, thick trail of blood running down the vocalist’s neck. The one from her chip being ripped off. As far as they knew, though, a wound from the demon.

“Sanada-chan!” Jina screamed, forcing herself to cry, even though it all sounded like laughter to Kana.

As long as the others fell for it, it had worked.

“What did you do?” Nobuko whispered, gulping, “You…”

Kana closed her eyes. She couldn’t laugh now. It had worked.