Idol Gunner [Yuri Villainess LitRPG]

Kana looked at the team information sheet that had been left in her room and put it down. Lying on her bed once more, she tried to clear her mind and calm down.

When she really thought about it, Aiko Taira was not a madwoman. She would not have reacted that way unless she had something planned. To have someone from Nozoki Neko end up in Kana’s team was not a fluke. Shoko Takahashi had probably been a randomized misfortune. The goal here was Marie Iwata, and nobody else.

Nozoki Neko had a very clear reason to fight back against Ruby Passion and Lilac Shower. Just like Sakai Entertainment, their own management agency had been dealt a massive blow by that bastard Kenji Tanaka. The chances of them looking for revenge were high. Taira had been careful with the placements. Not just Kana, in fact. Kelsey had been given a Nozoki Neko team member as well.

Why not Jina, then? Why did the last of Bobtail Felis’ girls end up in the same team as Megumi Ishida? Kana tapped her feet against the mattress, racing her mind. It had to be Yamazaki and Taira’s plan. Jina was close to Kana, which meant that their teams being too similar would raise suspicion. Kelsey, on the other hand, was probably not aware of these things herself.

Jina’s rolls had been truly randomized. That was why she had ended up with a heavy hitter like Akiko Hara. The goth bitch had been blessed by the Gods herself. By being in Akiko’s team, she had automatically secured herself the victory of this game. There was no way anyone was strong enough to beat the leader of Ruby Passion, after all. Not yet, at least.

She picked the list up once more, hoping to catch any more help that Taira had left in. The moment she did, however, the bell rang.

It was almost midnight. Yet, it rang once more. Kana got up and walked to the door. Looking through the keyhole, she saw a shy Jina standing in the corridor, looking left and right as if she were committing a crime.

Kana opened the door, and Jina let herself in. Pushing past Kana, she entered the room and took a deep breath.

“Huh? What’s this? You haven’t cleaned up your room yet? Why? Why are the suitcases just lying around!?”

“Why are you here?”

“Uh, yeah, that. Right. Of course.” Jina nodded, “I’ll tell you. But we really should clean this room first, right? Totally. Let’s get to work, you sloth. Come on! We need to put these clothes in the closet.”

“No, we do not. What do you want?”

“Yeah, see? That’s what I meant. Let me get this…” She stopped midway and looked back, “Wait, you’re not arranging your clothes? What do you mean? Why? You’re, like, the last person who would do something like that, though?”

“No. I am the first person who would do something like that.” Kana groaned, taking a seat on the bed and crossing her legs, “What do you want? Just get to the point.”

“Uh…um…the competition! Yes. The game. It’s quite interesting, isn’t it? I got put in with Akiko Hara. Can you believe it!? If you want, then I’ll cause her to trip and fall down on her own gun or something. Wouldn’t that be awesome payback? Right?”

“Jina.” Kana held the girl by her shoulders and then landed a light slap on her face. “What do you want? This is about Emi and me arriving late, isn’t it?”

“I…uh…” She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. With her body shaking, she finally spoke the words she had wanted to, “Yes! Yes, it is. And I just wanted to apologize once more. I was completely insensitive when I confessed to you, and it was my fault. I never should have done that, and it was dumb. I just hope we can go back to being friends, yeah?”

“You…told me the exact opposite thing last time we talked.”

“Ye…ah. I know. I know what I said, and it was dumb. Right? It was totally stupid, and I didn’t mean that either. I’m the one in the wrong, and that’s it. I ruined this, and I just want to try and repair it.”

Maybe not wrong, but she was clearly not as fine with it as she claimed. It wasn’t like Kana had never fallen in love before. It wasn’t like she had never had her heart broken. If she had to guess, there would be about three or four more of these flips before this girl finally found some peace and resolution.

For now, then, being rude about it would achieve nothing.

“Alright, Jina. Yes. We can go back to being friends. We’re friends right now. Got that? Now…is that it?”

“Y-yeah. I just…I’m so sorry for barging in like this.” Jina finally calmed down, taking controlled breaths, “I’ll go now. You didn’t need to entertain me, but you did. I’m sorry, once more. For, like, the tenth time, I think. Either way, I’ll go now.”

She turned to the door. The moment she did, however, the bell rang.

Kana internally groaned. As if things weren’t a bit difficult already. Asking Jina to stay where she was, Kana walked to the door and looked out of the keyhole. Her heart skipped a beat.

Looking left and right, as if she were going to commit a crime, was Emi. In her hands were her blanket and pillow. She was even wearing her pajamas. Kana quivered, looking at Jina, and then back at her. She wondered if it would be better to ask this stupid wolf-cut girl to leave through the window.

But she got no time to think. Emi looked to the right and almost jumped. Then, she hurriedly started knocking on the door. Someone was coming, and it was clearly not someone she knew. Since Kana did not want her to get caught, she decided to bite the bullet, and open the door.

Emi barged in, pushing past Kana and entering the room. Her view covered because of her blanket, she hit Jina and both of them fell down on the floor.

“Owww…” Jina gasped, rubbing her head.

“Jina-chan!?”

“Ah…Emi…chan…”

The two of them helped themselves up. Jina gulped, already red in the face out of embarrassment. Emi, on the other hand, kept switching between staring at her and Kana. As their brains tried to process what was going on, Kana moved past both of them and got on her bed. Clearly, she was the only one who could clear this mess up.

“Jina was here for some…discussions. About the game tomorrow, you see?”

“Tomorrow?” Emi tilted her head, “But the game starts on Thursday, doesn’t it? Day after tomorrow.”

“Huh?” Kana picked the flyer up, even though she knew for a fact that she was aware of that, but had somehow overlooked it, “Oh…uh…yeah. That’s right! It’s actually the day after tomorrow. You’re a life-saver, Jina! Good job. Now, uh, Jina? You can leave?”

“Oh, yeah. Totally.” Jina vigorously nodded, “That’s what I was doing. Haha. Uh, I’ll go now.”

“Uh, Jina-chan?” Emi put a hand on her shoulder, “Before you go, I wanted to ask you something. Kana is here too, so I thought it might be a good idea right now.”

“W-what?!”

“No need to be so alarmed, Jina-chan. I just…thought that you’ve been a bit distant lately. I wanted to know if you two fought or something. Are both of you fine?”

“Of course…we are.” Kana answered immediately, “Why would you ask that? We’ve just been a bit busy with all the work, so we haven’t been able to talk a lot recently. That’s it, really.”

“Hmm. Ok.” Emi sighed, “You two are just such great friends, so it would be sad if something happened. But it’s just work. Is that right, Jina-chan?”

“Y-yeah. Totally. I should go now. Waahh. I’m so sleepy! Bye!”

“Good night, Jina-chan! And you, Kana! I expect a continuation of a few hours ago~”

Jina’s face went red again, and so did Kana’s. The former started to walk towards the exit. Emi threw the blanket on the bed with a smile and prepared to jump on it.

The moment she did, however, a flurry of knocks filled the entire room.

Everyone stopped and looked at each other. Kana rolled her eyes and got off the bed. She tried pushing past Jina to get to the door, but was stopped. The goth girl claimed that the noise had not come from the door. No. It had been the window. The first-floor window that was attached to her room.

“What the fuck?” Kana whispered, moving towards it once more. As she did, the knocks filled the room once more. Emi jumped in fear and moved back to hug the wall.

Steeling her nerves, Kana took a deep breath and walked to the window. Opening it with her hand, she prepared the other to punch whoever was on the other side.

“Ah, Minami-san. Thank you!” Jun Yamazaki, in his usual suit, snuck in through the open window and got into the room, “You’re here too, Ohara-san? This is perfect. I have some news for you.”

“Ahh…Yamazaki-san?”

“Huh? Oh…Kitamura-san.” He bowed down and took his tablet, “Nice to meet you, too. But I must get to work immediately. Please, take a seat. This should not take very long.”

“Ok…”

Kana walked to the bed and sat down. Emi loosened up, but maintained her distance. Jina took a second to let it all in, but eventually decided to sit down beside Kana. Once they were in position, Yamazaki opened something on his tablet and cleared his throat.

“Alright. So, the Coalition has gotten into the Monster Dimension, obviously. Their investigation is going well and has made some strides. The System, for example, has officially been updated to accept any and all types of monsters now. No matter who you kill, it will automatically apply points to it and give them to you.”

“Wow. Too little too late.” Kana sighed.

Yamazaki smiled, “But that’s not it, Minami-san. It gets worse. Or, in a way, more interesting. They did not stop there. They’ve broken the virtual barrier that they had set up for the competition and are finally exploring further into the dimension. First, Tanaka focused on finding the battlefield where Velvet Beats and Fluorescent Angels had their encounter with the warring factions. That location has been found.”

That was the furthest Kana had been. And since Ruby Passion Jr. had found the Four-Armed Demon, then it would be safe to assume that was also as far as they had made it. Whatever lay beyond it was probably what Tanaka wanted to hide right now. Kana had not been very keen on the mysteries of the Monster Dimension at all, and she still wasn’t, but any information that Tanaka had was dangerous. She wanted all of it, too.

“Further investigation is still going on. But at the very least, they do currently think that the monsters are more advanced and organized than we assumed. Some scans have found structures that look like cities. That is what they’re currently working on finding out more about. But…get this…” He started scrolling through his tablet, and stopped on a particular slide, “I got some information from before the Coalition was formed, and…”

Kana leaned in, hoping it was something nice. Jina did the same, and Emi seemed like she was suddenly interested in the conversation, too. Yamazaki looked at all of them and opened his mouth to share the information.

The moment he did, however, the bell rang.

“Huh?” He looked at the door, and then at the window, wondering if it was time to leave.

“Hold on.” Kana groaned and stood up, making her way to the door.

Who was it this time? How many people were suddenly interested in her room, anyway? To think that she was considering sleeping early a little while ago. Kana made it to the door and looked through the keyhole.

The girl with the long ponytail, Marie Iwata, was not looking left and right. She had a serious expression, and her hands were on her waist. She rang the bell once more and started humming a tune as she waited. Kana smiled and gestured for Yamazaki to stay. This was good. If they could get this girl in right now, it would help.

She opened the door and welcomed the Nozoki Neko member in. Marie wished her before stepping in, and then stopped the moment she noticed the three other people who were already inside.

“Have I…interrupted something?”

“Nope. Not at all!” Kana led her further into the room and made her sit down in one of the chairs, “Welcome, Marie Iwata-san. We’ve been hoping to talk to you for quite some time. And just to make things clear before we get to that – everyone in this room knows about the Fair Play Committee.”

“The…oh.” Marie straightened her posture, “I guess we can skip that part, then. But, uh…my name is Marie Iwata. I’m your teammate for the game, of course. More than that, I am a part of Nozoki Neko and an idol under the agency Bobtail Felis. I…need your help, Kana Minami.”

“Isn’t that funny, Iwata-san? Because I need your help as well.”

“You need our help?”

Yamazaki nodded, “As Minami-san mentioned, we know about the Fair Play Committee. We just want to ensure that Lilac Shower does not get complete control over this competition. Since you’re the ones who have been most directly affected by this situation, we need your help to try to bring this to light. All of it without letting either Bobtail Felis or Sakai Entertainment get into any trouble with them.”

“And who are you?”

“Oh, uh, sorry. I am Jun Yamazaki. I was the manager of Velvet Ch…Beats. And then I was promoted to exclusively focus on this situation, and am currently working as a corporate investigator for Sakai Entertainment.”

“I see. Nice to meet you, Yamazaki-san. And you too, Ohara-san. Of course.”

“Yeah!” Jina nodded, getting up to shake her hand, “Hope we can get along, Iwata-san!”

“All of you are a bit…” Iwata shook her head, “Normal. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to say it like that. I just meant that Velvet Beats has a slightly angry reputation, to put it lightly. Most of the groups think you’re sitting on a high horse as if you own the whole Coalition.”

Kana laughed, “Oh no, not at all. Not yet, anyway.”

Iwata kept quiet for a second. The whole room went silent with that final line. And then, Emi was the first one to break the tension with a laugh. Once she did, Jina did as well, and so did Yamazaki. It was only after that that Marie Iwata understood that it was meant to be a joke and started laughing as well.

A couple dozen seconds after that, all of them stopped once more to continue the conversation. Marie adjusted her position to include Emi in her view and started to speak.

The moment she did, however, the bell rang.

“Holy fucking mother of G-” Kana almost lost it before bringing herself under control. Jina gave her a few pats on her back with a nervous smile, and she calmly stood up.

“Sorry. That must be my teammates.” Marie cleared her throat, “They know I’m in here.”

“No. That’s no issue. I’ll let them in.”

Kana walked to the door and did not care to check the keyhole this time. Opening the door, she noticed two girls standing in front of her. One of them was the one with the extremely short hair from earlier in the day. Hanae Miura, if Kana remembered well. The one with her, though, was a puzzle.

“What the fuck are you doing here?”

“Isn’t Marie-chan in there? What do you mean?” Hanae asked, hand on chin.

“No, not you, Miura-san. I meant…Kelsey, what the fuck are you doing here?”

“Shut up.” Kelsey pushed Kana away and got into the room. Hanae Miura apologized to their host and followed her new game teammate into the room.

Both of them stopped at the sight of the party that had been assembled here, and then slowly took their places. Kelsey moved to the very corner of the room and stood without moving a muscle.

“Thank you for joining us, Kelsey-san. I just thought that if we had all of our players right there, then it would be easy to plan everything at the same time.” Marie added, giving Kelsey a nod.

In return, she got an indifferent grunt and a line spoken in Kelsey’s classic bully tone, “And what’s this plan? We’re gonna murder Kenji Tanaka tonight?”

Marie laughed, “Nothing that drastic, trust me. I wouldn’t even dream of hurting someone. I just…need your help to, uh, completely dismantle and internally destroy both MidoriLIVE and Lilac Shower.”

“See? Basically, friends already!” Kana nodded with pride and sat down on the bed once more, “So, yeah, just to clarify, we’re totally in.”

All of them looked at each other. This had turned into quite a gathering in a matter of a few minutes. Kana looked at Yamazaki, who seemed impressed at the number of potential allies who had come together. Then, now that everyone was finally here, she decided to address them all at once.

The moment she did, however, the bell rang.

This time, she gave up. Instead of uttering a single word, she quietly made her way to the door and opened it. At this point, even Akiko Hara was welcome. Anyone could walk in, and Kana wouldn’t blink twice. It could be the President, and she wouldn’t really care.

Yet, her eyes widened at the two who had shown up. One was the girl with two hair buns on her head. The last Nozoki Neko member – Hiromi Kitani. And with her, for some reason, Naomi Yamazaki.

“Sorry, Minami-san.” The personal assistant spoke in a soft tone, “I found Kitani-san looking for your room, so I just helped her out. I think I saw Kelsey heading in here as well. I needed to talk to her. I hope that it is…uh…it is…um…is that my brother behind you?”

Why not? Why couldn’t Naomi Yamazaki appear at this very moment and run into Jun? Kana did not question it. Opening the door wide and letting both of them in, Kana’s tired eyes watched as Hiromi Kitami ran to her teammates, and Naomi rushed to her brother with an angry expression.

Once the door was closed, Kana quietly walked back to the bed. Before she got on, though, her eyes met Emi’s. Her girlfriend gave her a short smile with a nod, and Kana found her strength once more. Nodding back, she smiled and sat down.

The noise blended into one. Naomi fought with Jun over what was going on with his supposed sacking. The Nozoki Neko members talked amongst themselves about what had happened till now. Jina and Emi shared some small talk about tomorrow’s breakfast. Kelsey watched from the corner while muttering something under her breath. All of them, for some reason, were in her room at half past midnight.

It was annoying, tiring, a pain in the ass. And also, exciting. When else was she ever going to gather a team like this without asking for it? She hadn’t even made any plans this time around. The universe had just dropped all of these chess pieces in her lap as a reward. This time, all she had to do was think.

And if it was a matter of thinking, then she didn’t feel any fatigue at all. Instead, she calculated just how much everyone here had against Kenji Tanaka and Lilac Shower, and started putting the puzzle together.

Emi Kitamura, Jina Ohara, Jun Yamazaki, Kelsey, Naomi Yamazaki, Marie Iwata, Hanae Miura, and Hiromi Kitani. A smile spread across her face. She could see it all already. The perfect way to not only get what they needed, but also how they could potentially win this mock game and give Akiko Hara the finger. They would have to ignore Kenji Tanaka for now and shift targets, but it was worth it.

So, she cleared her throat and clapped her hands. No matter what anyone else thought, she called this fate. A little something that Kana Minami had spent a lifetime learning how to manipulate and bend to her will.