Idol Gunner [Yuri Villainess LitRPG]

Sprawled on her bed, Kana stared at the ceiling in defeat. She wasn’t sure how much Akiko had remembered. She wasn’t sure if she even knew that burning a single time capsule was going to cost her so much. Did she even remember that part, or had she deleted it from her freakishly good memory already?

Kana shook her head and looked around her room. It wasn’t small by any means, which only made the fact that they were all given separate rooms even worse. She could have been living in the same room as Emi, but that option had not been provided. Maybe that was for the best, too.

Sure, the idea of sharing this large room with her girlfriend would make it seem like a real vacation. That dressing table with a long mirror, or the many small cabinets placed aesthetically around the carpeted room – she could imagine Emi on all of them. Not all of those imaginations were particularly innocent, but that came with the territory. Sighing, Kana stood up and stretched.

She needed to look at the positives. She had made a small connection with Marie Iwata from Nozoki Neko. Then, she had also found out more about Akiko Hara and how the other girls perceived her. There were super fans like THE POP-JO’s Sayuri, who could not even speak properly in her presence. But there were also people like those last two groups who had ignored them. The ones who didn’t care about her enough to let go of their own pride.

Kana opened the suitcases strewn around the room and took a look at the closet. This was the part she hated the most. Having to open the suitcase over and over to take her clothes out would be a pain in the ass. But putting all her clothes in the closet made her feel queasy. Not only because she wasn’t sure who would have access to them, but also because it felt too sophisticated for her tastes.

Pulling her knees close to her chest, she rested her head on them. What kind of trouble was this? She had never expected to complain about a lavish lifestyle, and yet here she was. The idea of putting your clothes in a resort’s closet was too foreign. Who even did that? Akiko Hara, probably. Kana fell down on the floor, spreading her arms, and kicked the suitcase down.

It was already past eight. Usually, she would have her dinner right about now. When was that going to happen? Kana groaned and yawned, closing her eyes. For a while, she considered going to sleep. Nothing was going to happen until tomorrow, so there was no point in staying up. Skipping dinner for one night would not destroy her life.

Standing up, she got ready to get on the bed and call it a day. But then the bell rang. Once, then twice, and then thrice. By the time she made it to the door to open it, the person on the other side had resorted to rapidly knocking in a melodic tune. How pathetic, Kana thought as she opened the door.

The moment she noticed it was Emi, though – “Wow, that was a nice tune!”

“I know, I know, right?” Her girlfriend smugly smiled, “Come on. Wanna take a walk? All of the corridors are empty for some reason, so we can look at the whole resort!”

“Empty? Everyone’s that busy getting ready for dinner?” Kana asked, closing the door behind her as she stretched her arms once more, hoping to get rid of any remaining fatigue, “Come on. I was getting bored anyway.”

The two of them started walking. Emi led Kana through the corridors that she had already familiarized herself with. Most of the first floor seemed to be nothing but hotel rooms. Emi claimed that the second floor was more of a recreational area, along with the obvious swimming pools and parks on the ground floor. The third floor contained more rooms, and the fourth floor had the staff quarters.

The entire resort had been set up in a donut-like shape. Except that the donut was hexagonal with sharp corners. In the middle of the hexagon was a massive lawn where events were held. On the side opposite the entrance, and behind the hexagon, were the many pools that Hiroyama boasted of. All of them, of course, were either different depths, shapes, or featured gimmicks like wave machines.

“We should go tomorrow, right?” Emi leaned out of one of the windows, looking at the pools. “Also, who’s that?”

“Hmm?”

Kana put her hands on the windowsill, bending down to check. On the side of one of the pools was a girl wearing a long sweater. Standing there with her arms crossed and hair fluttering in the light breeze, the moon felt like it was exclusively shining on her. The first thought in Kana’s mind wasn’t her identity, but just a question. Was she not feeling hot in that sweater?

“Shoko Takahashi.” She whispered once the girl’s face became visible, “Ruby Passion Jr.”

“Oh.” Emi nodded, “What could she be doing there?”

“Who cares? She’s not exactly a great person. Come on. I don’t want her to s-”

She looked up. Right as Kana considered how annoying that would be, she went and did it. The Healing Class girl’s eyes were just as sharp and judgmental as they had been the first time they met. Shooting both of them a dirty look, she turned and left the poolside. Back inside the main building, she went out of sight.

“Well…” Kana yawned, putting her arm around Emi’s shoulder and pulling her away, “Let’s go.”

Pulling her along as the corridors got quieter and darker, and as the moonlight filtered in through the windows, Kana started to focus on things she should not have. The way Emi’s blonde hair shone, and the lipstick that she had decided to wear tonight. She was even wearing a wavy black summer dress that perfectly flowed around her body as they increased their pace.

“She looked a bit sad.” Emi said, looking back at the window, “Do you think something happened?”

Kana groaned, gave her shoulder a tug, and pulled her into a small offshoot of the corridor. It probably led to a maintenance room, but there was nobody to access it right now. Pushing Emi against the wall, she smiled.

“I really don’t care, got it? You’d get it. Takahashi is not the kind of person to care about other people. She doesn’t deserve it in return.” Kana played with Emi’s hair, curling it on her finger, “And anyway, we’ve got better things to do than to worry about that girl. They’ve got a member who can cheer her up.”

“That’s…” Emi smiled, resting her arms on Kana’s shoulders, “Nice, I guess?”

“Mhmm. Anything else you want to say?”

“Huh? No…not really. Why? Something you want to say?”

“Hmm…I don’t know. Something like…let me see.” Kana leaned in closer to her face and whispered, “I love love love love you.”

“Is it? Well, from my side, I more like…love love you. Not four. Just the two lov-”

Kana shut her up with a kiss. Hugging Emi, she brought her closer as they lost themselves in the moment. After everything that had happened with Akiko, this was soothing. This was all she needed to calm down and realize that everything would be fine. As long as she had Emi, nothing could destroy her. Not even that bitch from Ruby Passion.

Letting the girl’s entire body rest against the wall, Kana freed her hands to move down towards her waist. Emi let out a slight moan, and her muscles tightened. Kana chuckled, letting out, pulling away for just a second, and then going back in. As her mind cleared out, and she forgot about where they even were, a single whisper escaped her.

“Thank you…”

“Hehe. What fo…WAAAAHH!”

Kana pulled away at once, wondering if she had hurt her somehow. Emi immediately wiped her mouth, smudging the lipstick as she pulled up the loose strap on her shoulder. Standing straight, she looked at the end of the darker corner they had gotten comfortable in. Understanding why she might have reacted like that, Kana also turned.

Nobuko Kimura. Leaning against the wall with her arms crossed, she was rapidly blinking with a complete lack of expression on her face. Once both of them had stopped, she nodded and sighed.

“That made me cringe. Anyway, they’ve been waiting for everyone to come down for about twenty minutes now. What have you two been doing here? Except…that, I mean. It’s pretty obvious what you two have been doing.”

“What?” Kana asked, “I wasn’t informed.”

“Jina Ohara called you six times. Kelsey called you once. I think that was their attempt at trying to informing you. Now, do me a favor. Get ready and get down there before Taira loses her shit. The nerve to send me instead of one of your stupid teammates.”

Emi, beet red, cleared her throat, “Y-yes. And sorry. I didn’t mean to hold her up.”

Nobuko waved her off, rolled her eyes, and walked away.

_____________

By the time the two of them got down to the ground floor, enough time had passed for everyone in the dining hall to be looking at them as they walked in. Quietly making their way past all the people who now knew about the two of them, they sat down at the Velvet Beats table and grabbed the plates Naomi had already prepared for them.

“Took you long enough.” Kelsey mocked them, slurping on her spaghetti with a satisfied expression.

Jina, on the other hand, quietly ate her own food. Seeing the two of them together probably wasn’t doing her any favors, so even Kana felt grateful that she was keeping it to herself. More embarrassment was the last thing she needed right now.

After Emi and Kana got to eating their own food, Aiko Taira finally entered the room. With a mic in her hand, she looked at the Velvet Beats table for a long time before turning to address everyone present. Keeping her distance so that she was visible to all the tables, she first welcomed them to the Hiroyama Resort and then started explaining what they were doing here.

“As you all know, the Dimension is still under investigation. I would like to confirm that we have, indeed, been making quite a bit of progress. The System should be up and running very soon, so I expect we can get back to the regular schedule from next Monday. Until then, however, our little gift to all of you has been planned with a lot of thought. And all of it is for one reason only – to increase cooperation and hopefully allow more of you to learn about each other!”

“Cooperation, my ass.” Kana whispered.

Taira unfolded a paper in her hand and started reading, “All of your mornings will be completely free. We did not want to disrupt your regular practices, so you will be able to keep up with those without any issues. In the night, however, we have decided to run a mock competition. A friendly game between all of the teams to ensure that you still get to fight with the weapons you’ve gotten used to, while also making some changes to allow the Coalition’s wishes to be fulfilled.

“And this will be accomplished by a simple tactic. One that we call rearrangement. That means that all members from the eight groups present here have been rearranged to create brand new teams! Every team except one will have three members. The last one, Team 8, will have four members because of the extra player we would otherwise end up with. I’ll be announcing the team names right now, but I’ll just go over the process of the competition before that.”

“What the fuck?” Kana whispered.

Somehow, Kelsey also had the same reaction. Stopping her spaghetti spree, she cleaned her mouth with a paper napkin and completely shifted her focus to Taira. Every girl in the room did the same, too. Whispers, laughs, and groans filled the entire hall. They might have been professionals, but Kana often forgot that almost everyone here was quite young. Of course, this was going to get them riled up. She was no exception.

Taira started explaining what the game was. They would be using virtual pod machines that would simulate the battlefield for them. Here, the girls would not just engage in the monster killing they were used to, but also in PvP battles that would encourage direct conflict with the other teams. The game would be divided into three rounds, and the team left standing at the end would be the winner.

It was a simple, yet intriguing concept. Kana could see what Tanaka wanted with it, too. Anybody with half a mind could probably understand it. By doing this, he would break the balance that had kept the competition as it was. Creating new connections would lead to more friendships, rivalries, and changes in loyalties. If he was confident that his own teams would not be personally affected by this, it gave him the perfect excuse to push Ruby Passion Jr. to the top.

Every team would be in disarray if things did not go well for their members in the game, and that would affect their actual competition stats. What a bitch move. They hadn’t been given a choice, either. This had been decided for them, and they were expected to do it. Kana wanted to scream about it and spit right there, but she wasn’t going to bring more embarrassment to the table.

“And here are the teams. I will read them out one by one for your benefit. This page will also be circulated in every room, so that you can remember all eight teams. Here we go. I’ll start with Team 1.”

As long as there was nobody from Lilac Shower, Kana would be fine. She could handle anyone, as long as they were not from that bastard’s company.

“We have Kana Minami from Velvet Beats, Marie Iwata from Nozoki Neko, and Shoko Takahashi from Ruby Passion Jr.”

Why did she think? Why did she even try to wish? Resting her forehead on the table, she made no attempt to hide her displeasure at the names. Nozoki Neko was good. But Shoko was the worst. Even Nobuko would have been acceptable. But that Healing Class asshole was an A-tier jerk who did not deserve to have anyone even talking to her.

Kana did not pay attention to the rest. She could read them when she got back to her room later. For now, she needed to think about what she was going to do with this team. She didn’t know what Class Marie Iwata had. It would be nice if it were something helpful. Even with Emi’s hand on her back, she could not focus.

By the time she had regained her focus, the dinner ended, and everyone started to disperse. The whole Velvet Beats table, which included Naomi, stood up and decided to retire for the day. Emi wished her a good night and left all alone to get rid of any further gossip. The others did the same, and Kana was left all alone.

She stood up and pushed the chair back in, already feeling weak after the psychological blow that she had been dealt. Shoko Takahashi was not even a real opponent. She did not make her weak like Akiko Hara did. The one issue Kana had…was her being annoying as hell.

And then, for some reason, as she made her way out, Aiko Taira looked at her. While packing up with the other Coalition members, she had the gall to smile, wave, and give her a thumbs up with a wink. As if she had just done them a great service with those teams.

Kana ignored her and got out of the hall. Everyone in this resort had gone insane.