Idol Gunner [Yuri Villainess LitRPG]

Sayuri Kakuta’s room was empty. Not literally empty, but it did not contain anything that Kana would consider to be important or incriminating information. There were no electronic devices in sight, and no papers that looked official or confidential.

It didn’t surprise her, either. If it hadn’t been for Sachiyo Tanaka interrupting them at the worst possible time, they wouldn’t have stepped into this room. At least now that Hiromi was taking a peek outside to ensure the corridor was empty, it was time to get out and move on to the next one.

They would obviously not be able to go to the room Sachiyo and her mystery friend were in, but the next ones over were still part of their investigation range. So, once it was confirmed that the coast was clear, they got out and back into the corridor.

The door to the room Sachiyo was in was slightly ajar. Barely enough to let some of the voices leak out, but not so wide that they would be visible. At least as long as they were quick and quiet. For that reason, Marie went first. Making her way through the open door in a heartbeat, she made sure to look inside to see whose room they were skipping.

Kana did herself a favor by not checking, then. Once all three of them were on the other side, they checked the door of the third room, only to find it open as well.

“Well, maybe the issue isn’t Sayuri Kakuta, after all,” Kana noted as they got in without a sound.

“Thin walls,” Marie whispered as Hiromi closed the door behind them and turned on the lights.

She was not wrong, as Kana had also realized. The voices of the girls on the other side were much clearer now. If she actually paid attention, she could properly eavesdrop on their conversation without losing much context at all. It was almost creepy how easy it was, too.

“Ai Suzuki.” Hiromi clarified as their sounds became clearer, “She got eliminated as well, so maybe that’s why they’re still here.”

“And I thought they were best friends?” Kana scoffed, “Whatever happened to supporting them as an audience member?”

As if to answer her question through the wall, without ever having heard it, Ai Suzuki spoke up.

“Tanaka-chan, can you grab the pass for me? It’ll take me about ten more minutes to get down.”

“Sure, you got it. Also, again, just call me Sachiyo. In fact, no. Please call me Sachiyo. I don’t want that last name bullshit, alright?”

Her friend laughed, “Fine, fine. Will you get me two passes if I do that, Sachiyo!?”

“Mhmm. Yes, I will.” She laughed back, “You better eat it all, though. I don’t want a repeat of last Halloween.”

“Ok, that’s it. Just get me the ones, Tanaka-chan. Or maybe…you know…don’t bring up last Halloween.”

“Minami-san!” Marie whispered, breaking her concentration, but bringing her back to what actually mattered.

She turned to see the two other girls already looking through the room with their flashlights. And Marie had chanced upon what looked to be official documents. She passed them to Kana, but it wasn’t much help.

It was official, but only to confirm the allocations of their rooms. They were currently in Ayaka Tamura’s room, which didn’t say much either. At least she had a higher chance of having something more important in her room compared to Sayuri. She handed the paper back to Marie and took her own phone out. Sachiyo and Ai clearly weren’t talking about anything important, so it wasn’t worth eavesdropping on the two.

Grabbing the one part of the room that hadn’t been claimed yet, she decided to take her flashlight to the drawers beside the bed. Once more, she wasn’t sure if she would find anything, given that this was a hotel room. But for some reason, she found herself confident in the fact that Ayaka Tamura was the kind of person to unload her luggage into the closets and drawers of a temporary room.

And the very first one she opened caused that confidence to waver. It was empty. She closed it with a sigh and opened the last one. Also, empty. Yet, since it didn’t hurt to be through, she opened the second drawer. There, finally, she found another paper. Taking it out and shining the light on it, she found it difficult to read.

It was handwritten, and the quality of the writing was quite bad. Almost indecipherable. But as she started to guess what the first few lines on the paper meant, she immediately caught on to what it was. Lyrics. Handwritten lyrics that their writer had probably passed on to everyone.

She winced and closed her eyes, putting it back before closing the drawer. The last thing she needed on her conscience was having stolen unreleased lyrics from someone else. Even Kana did not want to fall that far.

“This one, maybe?” Hiromi called out to them, waving her flashlight in their faces to get attention.

“Yeah. Just keep it…down. Thanks.” Marie went up to her first, taking the paper in her hands to check.

As she did, Kana tried to focus on the other room once more. Sachiyo, who had previously sounded like she was leaving the room, still hadn’t done so. In fact, the laughter had only gotten louder and more unhinged. She pressed her ear against the wall, hoping to catch more.

“And Akiko just won’t shut up about it!” Sachiyo groaned, “It’s always that girl this, that girl that. How about that girl can just shut it and leave us alone? We saved their lives, and this is how they repay us.”

Ai Suzuki was the one laughing even now, barely able to control herself, “Yeah, but she was pretty good, if you think about it. I watched the same replay as you did, so I think I know what happened.”

“And I was in the goddamn match for long enough, Suzuki. Don’t try to act smart. You know she cheated.”

“Cheated how? Come on, Sacchan. The weapons summoned there put everyone on the same level and rank. There’s no way to cheat something hardcoded like that.”

She had already moved on to Sacchan from Tanaka-san in that small conversation, apparently. But Kana did not care about that. She cared about the other part. Her lips quivered, and she gulped. How much of that was true? If the weapons had all been the same level in the simulation…

“Give me my actual kit, and I would’ve turned her into pulp.” Sachiyo banged her fist on a table, sending a thud across the walls that made even Marie stop and look up.

Ai’s laughter halted for a moment, but it came back just as quickly, “Alright, calm down. You don’t want to break the table, do you? I got it. I agree. Of course, if you had your actual rank and levels, it wouldn’t even be a competition.”

They were talking about her. Kana felt her heartbeat quicken, her face sweating. To her, this was nothing but half-truths. Cherrypicked nonsense that fit her story. As if ranks and levels mattered as much as she thought they did. In the end, Kana had won. Nothing could change that.

“Yeah, sorry.” Sachiyo sighed, followed by a clatter of chair legs suggesting she sat down, “But you get what I mean, right? Instead of understanding that, Akiko’s just been getting more and more annoying. Almost obsessed with Minami, in fact.”

“Obsessed is…” Ai trailed off, “I guess, yeah. Might be the only way to describe her. But also…”

A sudden break. Nobody spoke. Kana took a deep breath, too, pressing her ears further. She could never be sure if they had stopped speaking, or were just whispering, after all.

“Kana…” Marie called out.

In response, Kana held a finger up, asking her to wait.

“What?” Sachiyo asked, in the same volume as before, “Also…what?”

Ai started with a laugh, but then paused with a more serious tone, “It just means that in terms of pure skill, she won. I’m not saying you’re weak. You’re obviously not, Sacchan. Just that in that particular moment, it was fair. And she won.”

Kana expected an outburst. An overflow of emotions as Sachiyo overturned her table in anger, or something similar. Instead of that, however, she got a whisper. A barely audible whisper from Sachiyo.

“But it’s not fair. In reality, it’s not fair, Suzuki. I have Rank 5 with the highest levels possible. In reality, in the true, unfair world, I could kill her in my sleep. And that too is skill. I didn’t just hop on my uncle’s back because he’s the owner to get here. I put in work and effort. I got to Rank 5 because I deserved it.”

“I know, Sacchan. I am not saying you did not. And yes, in the real world, your dedication to your work would rightfully give you the skills to overpower her. But…it was a game. In the game, she won. It doesn’t have to be that serious.”

“Yeah, yeah. I know. Sorry. I didn’t mean to be so loud.”

“Nah, it’s all good. It’s not like you were bothering anyone.”

“Yeah, except Kakuta, maybe.”

“Kakuta? Sayuri’s got the match, though?”

Sachiyo yawned, “I know. I just heard someone go into her room, so I thought she must have come up. Nobody answered, though. Maybe she went to sleep.”

Ai laughed, “Probably not. Basically impossible, actually. Sayuri’s pretty enthusiastic about all this, and her round’s probably not over yet. So, you know…I don’t think she would come up so early. You were probably just hearing this.”

“Maybe…”

Kana pulled her head back and turned to Marie. They needed to move. There was no telling when Sachiyo would lose it again and try to check every other room. In the little bit of time that she had known this girl, Kana had decided that she was probably not to be trusted with what she herself said.

Leaving the wall, she reached out for the paper that Marie was holding and gave it a read.

For once, it was exactly what they needed. Nothing official, obviously. Stuff like this could never be official. It was a printed copy of an internally circulated e-mail that probably only made it to the top brass. One that confirmed MidoriLIVE as having personally contacted the press for a variety of reasons.

The major one was to bribe them.

With those bribes, the press would make sure to run positive stories on THE POP-JO and cover them in a more detailed manner than other agencies. At the same time, they would paint the others in a slightly more negative light to affect their public perception. Even Lilac Shower was not exempt from that list.

“Holy shit.” Kana smiled as she whispered, looking up at Marie, “This is a career-ending scandal waiting to happen, eh?”

“Consider it already done, dear.” The leader of Nozoki Neko grinned as she pulled the paper back, “Thank you for the help, though. Never would’ve come up with such a devious plan myself.”

“No worries. It’s not like I’ve got no stakes in it myself.”

“Yeah, but it’s pretty cool of you anyway. Wanna grab some lunch once we’re back to regular work next week?” Hiromi asked, enthusiastically folding the paper and putting it into her cutesy sling bag.

Kana raised her eyebrows, “You include some drinks with that?”

“Oh, the best kind.” Marie answered, “And I’ll take that as a yes, by the way.”

“I’ll be there, sure. For now, though, we should leave one by one. Best not to attract attention at a time like this. Kitani-san can go first.”

“You got it!”

_____________

Having ego surfed for some time in Ayaka Tamura’s room, Kana finally opened the door and stepped out. Since Sachiyo and Ai had already left the neighbouring room, there was no reason for her to be careful anymore. Once out, she started walking to the stairs.

The plan had gone well. First, lose Round 1 on purpose. Second, use your own brash personality to justify not being present for Round 2. And finally, use that time to go and search the rooms of THE POP-JO artists for dirt. Now that they had what they needed, it would not be long before the Fair Play Committee would fall.

By then, perhaps, the weekly competition would be back up as well.

“Kana Minami-san?”

She stopped in her tracks, gulping before slowly turning to see who it was. A man, as expected by his gruff, deep voice. And not half-bad in terms of looks either. He had some stubble on his chin and a clean cut on his black hair. His clothes were quite striking as well. A bit brighter and more vibrant than the black suits she usually saw.

Pushing his long, deep blue shrug aside, he took his phone out. Holding his finger up as he scrolled for some time, he finally stopped at a certain page and approached. Immediately holding it up, he showed what he had on to her.

An article published by a relatively niche website regarding the concert they had debuted in. It was mostly focused on the passing of RiRi and Sanada rather than her own introduction. She had read it, obviously. She had gone through it three times over the day it was released.

“Yes?”

The man put it down, “That’s you. Wow. Nice to meet you. I’m Masaru Abe, a senior journalist at Neos-Edo. Can I talk to you for some time?”

Neos-Edo. Not a name that she wished to remember, but a name that she had been forced to. Mainly because of the fact that their whole personality was based on that stupid pun of a name.

“Sure. I’m free. What do you want to talk about? And, just to be clear, I do not give permission for this to be published anywhere.”

He laughed, “Ah, no. That’s not what I’m here for. I’m sure you’ll get your interviews some days, but you’re hardly there, girl. I wanted to know more about Rie Rin and Mari Sanada. What happened there?”

“Exactly what we announced. Please. I do not want to reopen old wounds.”

“Old?” Masaru shook his head, “Let me get this straight. Your performance happened about ten days ago. That is…old…for you?”

“They passed away long before the performance, Abe-san. So, please, I’ve been working on moving on. Let me. Leave me alone.”

“Sorry about that. Of course, I didn’t mean to be rude or disrespectful. I just found some of their situation to be very…weird. Just a lot of it did not make sense, and I wanted to know more about their last few days.”

Kana gulped, looking away, “No, Abe-san. I said it already, but I’ll repeat if necessary. I am not giving you any information about that. And…I’m getting late to go and watch my team members perform. I’m sorry for not being able to help you with that.”

He nodded, letting out a sigh that turned into a cynical smile, “Alright. Just one question, Minami-san. I was just going through some images of this particular countryside town that I got from a visiting friend of mine. And…I saw someone in the back who looked really familiar.”

Masaru Abe passed her a photo. One that, though blurry, showed the unmistakable figure and face of Mari Sanada. Kana’s heart skipped a beat, but she put on a tough face.

“I’m sorry. I do not follow. What do you want me to see here?”

“Oh, no, nothing.” He took the photo back and put it in his inner coat pocket, “I was just…thinking. You know, I’ve been a huge fan of Pink Beats for the longest time, so I was quite taken aback by the news. And I saw that photo, and it just looked so much like Mari Sanada…”

“I wouldn’t know what you mean, Abe-san. I’ve been affected by her death, too, but I would appreciate it if you did not start implying things that would dishonor her legacy. Just let us be, please.”

“Of course, yeah. You know…just…the human brain tends to make so many connections even if you don’t mean it. I just had someone who mentioned seeing a car from Sakai Entertainment near the airport one day, and one of the flights a few hours from then was going to this exact town. And…I just started cooking up a story. You know how it is. I am so, so sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you.”

This bastard…, Kana thought.

“None taken, Abe-san. I’ll be going now, though. If you want a story, then how about this? Mari Sanada was like an older sister to me. She…taught me a lot, and was kind to me when other people weren’t. Please don’t destroy her image like this, even if she is no longer with us.”

“Right. I’ll quote you on that. It’ll get people crying.” Masaru typed it out on his phone and then gave her a quick salute. “I’ll reach out to you later for sure, though. I’d love to do a proper interview with the new Velvet Beats!”

“Please talk to our manager.”

“Oh, I will.”

And with that, he took his leave. Kana stayed standing for some time, wondering how they hadn’t banked on stalkers this bad. Anyway, as long as nobody confirmed anything, they were in the clear.

Yet, she took her phone and searched his name. Masaru Abe. She hadn’t heard of him before, but that might have been her own ignorance. She would have to do some research in her free time.