Idol Gunner [Yuri Villainess LitRPG]

“Uh, KanKan? Hehe…” Emi scratched her chin, looking into the door of the car that had just stopped in front of Katsuhara Apartments, and then back at her girlfriend, “There’s, uh, clearly not enough space?”

“Huh?” Kana groaned.

It had been a pain to wake up early and get ready, even with the rest that she had gotten by staying at home all of yesterday. Now, Emi was saying the most outrageous things. She couldn’t even send Jina to check faster, since that goth bitch was still in the elevator trying to drag her heavy bags out.

Rolling her suitcase behind her, Kana took a deep breath and stopped in front of the car.

“Four doors. Five seats, including the driver. Yamada-san, Kelsey, you, me, and Jina. Who’s taking the extra space, huh!?”

Before Emi could answer or Kana could look at who the unannounced addition was, Kelsey popped her hand out of the window. In her hand was her phone, and on its screen was the home page of a premium cab service. Shaking the phone, Kelsey’s voice leaked from Yamada’s open window.

“Do you want me to get the choreographer one? What’s she doing at your place, anyway?”

“I…I’ll do it. Sorry, KanKan. This is right. I should probably take a cab, right?”

“I really don’t have the time for this.” Kana rolled her eyes and walked right to the back seat window to look in. Who had dared take up a spot that did not belong to them?

The moment her eyes cleared and that purple hair became obvious, all of her anger and frustration vanished. Jina appeared from the back, finally having dragged all of her suitcases, and peeked at the woman. Vocalizing the gasp that Kana had only reacted with inside her brain, she spoke in an exaggerated tone.

“Naomi-san? Naomi Yamazaki-san!? What are you doing in the car?!”

The window rolled down, but the girl and her three suitcases had already moved to the front seat.

“Yamada, did she get in without asking? Huh? Did she say that she has something important to talk about!? Did she?! We already talked to her, so there’s no reason for all that. She has nothing to do with all this. You should drop her off right now. Don’t entertain people like this for no reason. We’ve got to get to the resort, you know? Yamazaki would just tell her to get out and leave.”

“His sister?” Kana whispered, shaking her head in confusion. Where did this girl get all of the delusions she used to rant?

Yamada gave a weak laugh in response, “I appreciate the concern, Ohara-san. But Yamazaki-san is here with Maeda-san.”

Kana leaned in through the open window, looking at the nervously smiling Naomi, and then at Kelsey.

“You were eavesdropping outside the door when we were speaking to her?”

Kelsey raised her eyebrow. Pulling her phone back in, she handed it to Kana, “What could you possibly mean? Not a clue. Anyway, come on. Get whatever car she wants, and I’ll pay for it. We should get moving.”

“Wow, Kelsey-chan, you’re rich, huh? You’re always spending money one way or another. First, you give it to Nobuko-chan, and now you’re giving it to Naoki, huh? You got a pile of cash hidden in some locker, do you?”

Kana looked at the phone. The details had already been entered. Katsuhara Apartments to Hiroyama Resort. All that was left to confirm was, as Kelsey said, the preferred car model. This was the first time Kana had even seen an app like this. She looked back at Emi, who shyly tried to reach out for the phone.

Instead of handing it to her, however, she focused on the annoying voice to her right that was still going on about secret lockers and hidden fortunes. So, pulling on Jina’s hand, she put the phone in her hand. Opening the car door for Emi and herself, she sighed and gave their stranded member a thumbs up.

“Well, Jina, make use of that hidden fortune. Pick the most expensive car, got it?”

Getting into the car until she was squeezed against a nervous Naomi, Kana gestured for Emi to come in. Hesitant at first, the girlfriend looked at Jina for an answer. It was only after she got a soothing, supportive nod from her that Emi finally followed Kana into the car and closed the door behind her.

Miss Wolf-Cut then took about ten minutes to select a comfortable car for herself and to send the details to her own phone. Only once she handed the phone back to Kelsey did the car start moving. Leaving Jina behind, the rest of them started for the resort.

“So, what’s she doing in the same apartment? ” Kelsey asked, choosing not to actually look at them as she spoke.

“No. She’s my girlfriend.” Kana crossed her arms, “What’s Naomi Yamazaki doing sitting beside me?”

“Ah, Minami-san, I…”

Before Naomi could finish speaking, Kelsey raised a hand and stopped her. Then, she spoke up. But for some reason, there was a very obvious hesitation in her voice.

“Girlfriend? Oh…uh…yeah. That makes sense, doesn’t it? Sure, yeah. That works. I’m sorry for asking. And uh, sorry to you too, Kitamura-san.”

Emi shook her head, “N-no. No need to apologize to me. It wasn’t such a big deal. Not everyone knows any-”

“Oh, nah. That’s not what I meant. I meant that I’m sorry Kana was the best you could get.”

Emi chuckled and then covered her mouth with her hands. Kana frowned in return, lightly hitting her in the shoulder.

“Don’t laugh!?”

She nodded, getting rid of a few more laughs, and then turned to look out of the window to hide her smile. Kana looked at Kelsey, who was sharing the smile as well. How were the two of them getting along?

“Yamazaki-san is my personal assistant. I…found her on a job listing website, and thought she would be a good fit. That’s it.” Kelsey explained, leaning back in her seat and closing her eyes, “She’s officially registered as a Sakai Entertainment employee now, but will only work with me directly. Do you have any issues with that?”

“I guess not. Good for you, Naomi-san.”

“Y-yeah.” Naomi nodded, “I am sorry for all the trouble that day. I did not mean to be that loud.”

Kana waved her off and then turned away. She would have been fine talking a bit more, but she did not want to do so in front of Kelsey. That would just ruin her mood even further. So, for now, she put her head on Emi’s shoulder and closed her eyes. In return, Emi also rested her head on top of Kana’s.

“Why’d you laugh?” Kana puffed up her mouth and whispered to her girlfriend.

Emi’s hand reached down and caressed Kana’s cheek, “I didn’t think it was true, just to be clear. I just thought…it’s nice that you both are good friends. It’s nice that you have such fun people around you.”

Kana did not reply. She would not know what to say even if she tried. Kelsey? A good, fun friend? That was what it seemed to look like to Emi, at least.

To Kana, maybe that could be true. In a nightmare, maybe.

_____________

Hiroyama Resort was further than they had expected. Only as the morning turned to afternoon, and the sun started setting after that, did they finally start climbing the promised mountain range.

Through a blend of grey and brown rocks, and light and dark green trees, the car made its way up the winding road. They crossed some others on the way and were overtaken in return by others, too. Since not a lot of people were headed up to the top, given the lack of the mountain’s popularity, Kana was sure that all of the cars they came across were one idol group or another.

When they finally got to the resort, that became obvious. Every single vehicle they had seen was parked in the front, and accompanied by its occupants standing beside it. Managers, idols, choreographers, assistants. Ensuring that this event remained a secret must have been difficult, especially if all the scandal-hunting paparazzi were catching wind of so many agencies moving together.

Once Yamada stopped the car, all four of them got out and took in the fresh air. Cool, light, and surprisingly refreshing. Kana finally smiled for a second and rested her stiff shoulders. This was a thousand times better than the stuffy back seat with her squeezed between two people.

Emi stayed close, despite the fact that everybody could see them now. Kelsey did not seem to care and leaned against the car with her arms crossed. Yawning, she looked at the road leading up to the resort, and then back at the many dozen people waiting for the doors to open. Why were they closed, anyway?

“Where’s Jina?” Kana asked the blonde.

Kelsey took her phone out and checked, “Three minutes.”

Since Kelsey then looked away and continued to survey the wood and marble structure of the building, Kana shifted her focus to Naomi. She did not care much for architecture, so it hardly mattered to her what the building looked like.

Her primary goal was to figure out what Tanaka was up to with this. Gathering so many opponents together under the same roof was a disaster waiting to happen. And maybe that was precisely what he was waiting for. She looked at Jun Yamazaki’s sister, and Naomi returned the favor.

“Yamazaki-san is not fired.” She confirmed, “I met him yesterday and discussed some work. You didn’t have to do all this.”

“Yeah, well…” She forced herself to smile, but it just looked ugly with weirdly-colored hair, “Fired or not, I could not have changed what had happened. You and Jun did all that to get me out of there, so even though the…withdrawal…hurts, I want to pay it back. Even if it’s being slightly useful to someone, it’s a good start.”

Kana sighed, “And I thought all former drug addicts turned out to be horrible people. Why would you get into something like that in the first place? Isn’t your own life important to you?”

“It wasn’t.”

The reply was simple, and it came instantly. Without hesitation, and without lowering her head or sweetening her voice, Naomi said it with a certain sense of pride. She looked back at the road as Jina’s car finally arrived. The girl started unloading her suitcases, and Yamazaki’s sister spoke up once more.

“I wanted to die. It’s as simple as that. I’m not ashamed of that. I don’t look down on it, either. The only people who chastise that wish are those who’ve never had it that hard. It’s not a bad thing, right? Just wanting to die?”

“Yet you’re standing here next to a luxury sedan with people that make up half of the entertainment industry’s net worth.”

“Then I guess it’s good that I didn’t.” Naomi laughed, “But I’m right. Wanting to die itself is not a bad thing. It’s just a feeling. It overpowers you, controls you, makes you do things you don’t want to. But not fighting back might be a bad thing. I wouldn’t have minded dying back then, but it doesn’t hurt to keep trying not to, either.”

“Yamazaki-san’s little sister is a philosopher. Who could have expected that?”

“Me?” She smiled as Jina got closer and kept her suitcases down, “Have you never felt that, Minami-san? In this industry, especially? That soul-crushing weight of just wanting to stop?”

“Hmm?” Kana looked at her and then turned to Jina, “What took you so long?”

“Oh, shut the fuck up. That driver ran his mouth all the fucking time.”

“Match made in heaven, then. Did you get his number?”

“Shut. Up.”

“Kana?” Emi called to her, “Is that…?”

She pointed at the crowd, and all of the Sakai Entertainment representatives started looking in that direction. Multiple different groups were standing all around the entrance, but Emi had her finger aimed at just one. Right in the middle, with basically everyone looking at them as they spoke to each other, were the Ruby Passion girls.

“What did you expect?” Kelsey asked, “That they will stay at home and not get the invite?”

Emi turned to reply, but her hand did not move down. To make the situation worse, Sachiyo Tanaka caught her pointing and mentioned it to the other girls. Even as Kana pushed the girl’s hand down, Akiko Hara had already locked onto them.

And then, for some godforsaken reason, the leader of Ruby Passion smiled, waved, and started walking towards them.