Idol Gunner [Yuri Villainess LitRPG]

“Straight down the corridor. Door with a glass charm on the top. Just get some clothes, and don’t think about it.”

Kana grabbed Risa by the wrist and started jogging through the third floor as they got closer to the stairs. The trainee, who was still in shock at what had happened, was only getting worse because of the incessant shouting from the lawn. Once they reached the stairs, she let go of Risa and gave her a little push towards the MidoriLIVE doors.

“Minami-san…”

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll handle everything.” Kana patted her head, giving her a slight smile. “Go inside, and lock the doors. It’ll be fine, ok? You did nothing wrong.”

“B-but I knew it. And I…did it on my own. And I d-didn’t think about a-any of it.”

“Risa.” She put her hands on the girl’s shoulders and pulled her in. As her calm breathing met that panicked shivering, she felt her heartbeat rise once more. “Shut the fuck up. Alright? That’s it. I’ll handle the rest, and you don’t need to bother. The last thing you need is something like this on your name.”

“Minami-san, I did do it. I…I knew what I was doing, and I did it by my own choice.”

As the riot in the laws calmed down, the announcer came back up on the mic. The round had been cancelled, he said. More than that, he confirmed that the man who had fallen down was not yet dead, and that ambulances were on their way. Everything was under control.

Kana let go of the girl and buried her face in her palms. As the sounds started to tune out on their own, she considered the situation. There was nothing in the world that would convince Ueno that she was not in the wrong. Her expressions said it all. Whatever that man had told her had settled deep in her heart. You did not just do a humiliation ritual like the one he was forcing her into if you still had some part of your psyche intact.

And so, she did the only thing that made sense. The one action that this girl was beginning for. Which she didn’t deserve, but that was a conclusion she would have to come to on her own. Kana was not great at being kind, and she knew it. All of yesterday had been torturous. But it wasn’t like she was trying to be a bad person.

Looking back up, she switched her focus back to Risa and met her eyes right before landing a slap on the girl’s cheeks.

The sound rang out through the corridor, punctuating the now-audible footsteps of the many people who seemed to be heading up there to check what had happened. If they saw her, it would not end well. Kana collected herself before taking a step towards the stairs and gesturing towards Sayuri’s room one last time.

“Lock yourself in. Do not answer to any voice except mine or Kimura’s. Go!”

With that, the even more shaken Risa Ueno quietly turned and started to make her way to the door she had mentioned.

Kana looked away from the girl and down the stairs. There were a lot of people trying to make their way up, but it hardly mattered. There were other things that required her direct attention. One half-dead man, to begin with. And so, as the news reporters, guards, and Coalition members began to flood in through the staircase to climb up, she confidently walked down.

Pushing past the confused men and women who stopped in their tracks to look at the girl who had just come out of the crime scene, she quickened the pace of every step. By the time she reached the second floor, the crowd began an indecipherable chatter of questions and whispers, trying to stop her. A few guards tried to grab her, but were unceremoniously thrown aside. In the fully prepped, pretty dress that Emi had picked for her, Kana ignored them and kept moving down.

Once she stepped on the ground floor, the now-aggressive guards and journalists following her had resorted to cheap tricks. The former pointed their guns and threatened to shoot, while the latter tried to convince her that they wanted to just ask simple questions. Both were quite bad at bluffing, and unfortunate in the fact that Kana hated both of them with a passion.

She stepped onto the lawn, only to be surrounded by the faces of every single other idol and trainee who had been watching the round. On the stage, right below the screen, were the open gaming pods that now had both finalist teams standing in surprise. And right in the corner, where she had left his pathetic self, was that jerk with a broken leg and back. With not enough injury.

“Ma’am, this is your last warning. Stop!”

“Kana!?”

Jina called out to her, running to the edge of the stage. Kana appreciated the gesture, but it wasn’t required right now. She was more than enough. Fishing up the back of her hair, she pulled out the hair stick that she had bought very recently, and made a beeline for the injured man.

Beside her, Akiko Hara watched with caution. Her face did not just exude the usual pretentiousness that she had by default, but also a sense of wonder and curiosity. On the other side, Kelsey had a similar look. The only difference was the very clear bit of frustration added on.

“Kana, what happened?” Jina jumped down from the stage, running up to her before she could reach the man. Kana tried to avoid the girl, but there was no way to do that. She had blocked her with both hands and grabbed her entire body.

“Jina, let go.”

“No. What did you do?”

The guards in the back got closer. The Coalition representatives tried to be faster, but had no good reason to draw their own weapons. Aiko Taira, who was standing right next to the dying body, tried to get answers with her eyes. But the eyes she was looking for were engaged with someone else.

“Move. Right now.” Kana took a deep breath, thanking her ears for drowning out the shouting guards. “Move.”

“What did you do, Kana?”

She took a pause, looking up at Taira, who had already started moving the body away, and then back at Jina. It felt disrespectful that she even had to explain herself to this girl. She had fully expected her to not even question it by now, and yet she did. Was it because of the cameras? Had she wavered because of all the eyes?

No.

Her hands were not shaking or anxious. They were worried. About her. Jina’s eyes were not looking at the people around them at all. The only person in her area of consideration was Kana. Sometimes, it was easy to forget what feelings this girl carried, but they tended to come out so easily in moments like these.

“Jina…” She decided to be as straight as possible, pushing her hands away. “He was sleeping with…one of the trainees. I have a good reason. Move.”

The other idols started whispering and looking around. Headcounts were taken as everyone tried to narrow down who it was supposed to be. The girls were doing it to figure out if it was someone they knew, but the media started doing it to get their story. Disgusting creatures. Jina’s hands moved down without any force.

As she stepped away, there was hardly any doubt or care in her eyes. There was just an aura of understanding. On the stage, even Akiko seemed to have shifted her attention to the man instead. Kana checked her grip on the hair stick once more and then looked at Taira. The Coalition rep still refused to budge. It was her job, after all.

“They…” Jina spoke up, giving her space, “They turned the live broadcasts off because of the sudden blood. So, uh…”

Go off? Don’t hold back? Do what you want? – whatever she meant by that last line didn’t matter. The emotion had gotten through quite well. And so, Kana stepped past her and kept walking.

The man’s body got closer and closer. Taira started to move back, finally understanding that there was nothing she could do in this matter.

Kana brought her hand up in preparation. The man was already losing blood from every orifice in his body, and his body was covered in red already. Yet, it wasn’t enough. She hoped that Risa was safe in her room, resting, and not thinking about any of it anymore. Replaying nothing but that slap in her mind.

“Kana Minami. I highly recommend you stop.”

Masaru Abe was the one who spoke up this time. He had not been in the crowd that had come running up, which was why she hadn’t caught his voice till now. But now that she had, she was compelled to answer. Making her way right up to the body, she stopped beside him with her weapon of choice and halted. He could say his piece if he so wished. She gestured at him to continue, too.

“I don’t need to justify my word, Minami. Walk away. You’re not in your right mind, and we’ll ensure you get some help. Alright? Calm down and keep your distance.”

“Is that so? Well, color me surprised, Abe-san. What does it mean to be in your right mind in your field?”

“It does not mean killing peo-”

“Does it mean taking advantage of an underage girl just because she had the audacity to have a dream?” Kana raised her voice, unsure of exactly where it was coming from. She should have been smart about this. She should have focused on the mission. But she couldn’t just keep quiet and let it go. “Please, enlighten me. Does the right mind usually include pedophilia and statutory rape, Abe-san? I’m not very smart, you see?”

“Minami…” Masaru Abe took a deep breath, looking around the venue as he probably tried to calculate the exact psychology of every person on the lawn to understand their potential reaction to any work he would say. “What this man might or might not have done is still conjecture. Until proven, you’re digging your own grave by doing anything. You’re already in a whole lot of t-”

“I can get up to so much more, Abe-san. I can get up to trouble that you don’t even want to have a nightmare about. Trust me. Either answer my question, or fuck off. Which one do you pick?”

“Well, no. There you go. If he did what you say you did, then it’s not right. Ok? I will personally see to it that he gets the worst punishment possible. But if you try to do anything else, then you’re no better.”

“Oh, I’m not trying to be better at all. What makes you think that? I don’t care about some pretentious, fake competition that you’ve got running in the back about who the better person is. I see an asshole; I kill an asshole. Much easier calculation, isn’t it?”

“Sure is, Minami. Unfortunately, that is not the world we live in. You can’t go around murdering people because you feel like it. You’re not some…vigilante. You’ve got a whole career ahead of you, so keep the stick down, and step back…”

“Career? Let me get this right. The one you were trying to destroy just two days ago? That career? Why do you want me to have it now? So that you can destroy it at a later date based on when the audience gives you the most engagement? Maybe during our first album release? That might work. It would be great retention on the segment, wouldn’t it?”

“Minami!”

A new voice entered without warning. Kana did not even turn to look at her. For now, all she needed to do was ignore the girl.

“I am not going to waste my time discussing this delusion of industry politics with a criminal, got it? Keep the damn weapon down, Minami! You’re just a kid. Don’t take the law into your own hands.”

“And it’s fine when this bastard takes the law into his own hands because he’s your friend, is it? It’s fine if he is the one who is actively exploiting a ch-”

“Kana Minami!”

“Shut the fuck up, Kimura!” Kana snapped, looking at her for just a second before snapping back to the man, “I don’t have time for your bullshit right now, so keep it to yourself. And you! You dare step in here to save your animal of a friend after disgracing the legacy of mine?”

“I understand your anger, alright? I see where you are coming from. But this is not a valid or just response. You are still committing a crime, and will be committing an even worse crime if you move that hand even one more inch!”

Kana controlled herself. She controlled herself from jumping on this man immediately after she was done with the first one. His words struck nerves that she did not even know existed. His calm, almost formal disposition flared up levels of anger that she hadn’t been capable of until today.

She opened her mouth to speak back. Without even considering what she wanted to say, she started to form a sentence.

“Minami…”

This time, Kimura’s voice was a simple whisper in Kana’s ear. Leaning in, she merely breathed out the girl’s last name in a strange, almost endearing tone.

“What the fuck do you want, Kimu-”

“Don’t waste our time with your egoistic power trip of a conversation, will you?”

Nobuko moved with an outrageous, outraged grace. Sliding the hair stick out of Kana’s hand, she did not even consider the implications of her actions as she moved to the injured body. How she had figured out the identity of the trainee was anybody’s guess. What mattered was that the hurt in every muscle of her body radiated through her every action.

It screamed in a quiet, agonizing manner as she slickly moved to the man, as Taira completely abandoned him, and pierced the hair stick through his neck.

Silence reigned.

“Wh-what did you do?” Masaru Abe ran forward first, pushing Taira aside as he grabbed the now-dead man, “Are you insane? Wh…what the fuck is this!?”

“It’s ju-” Nobuko started to speak up, but was interrupted almost instantaneously by her own senior.

“What do you mean, Abe-san?” Akiko Hara got down from the stage and walked to the scene of the crime. “It really is a shame that this friend of yours stabbed himself and jumped off the third floor, but please keep your grief in check. You do not want to blame innocents for something they didn’t do, do you?”

“I don’t need your help, Ak-”

Nobuko’s hand found its way to Kana’s mouth before she could begin to spell her points out. As the face of Ruby Passion stared down the journalist, Nobuko pulled the girl away with a simple glare. Not one of anger or frustration, but pure defeat. A face that was asking her to accept what she was getting instead of crying out for her own benefit.

“Hara-san. Do not try to abuse your position. You might be a big shot in this world, but the law is equal to all. You think you can just will a story into existence, do you?”

Once more, silence followed. As Kana got out of the immediate range of consequence, Jina pulled her away from Nobuko and towards the rest of their own group. Kelsey, who had already made her way to stand beside Emi and Naomi, helped her calmly sit on a chair before using an arm to restrain her in position.

As someone who had been here for long enough, maybe, she understood what was about to follow.

“I…” Taira quietly put her arms behind her back, shrugging, “I would also have no idea what you are referring to, Abe-san. Are you trying to threaten Akiko Hara-san with legal consequences for, uh…a suicide?”

“You…!”

What was this, exactly? Kana could not exactly pinpoint the moment this had been decided by everyone, let alone the reason behind it.

Was Taira just being sympathetic? Or had Akiko put herself in the danger zone with a calculated risk? After all, the Coalition would be fine with throwing Kana or Nobuko under the bus. They could not, at any cost, risk the same happening to Akiko. Was that why Taira had spoken up? To protect her?

“Those bastards…” Kana whispered.

“Maybe.” Kelsey had kneeled down already, wrapping her arm around Kana’s shoulder as she whispered back. “Maybe, Minami. Or maybe the situation is enough reason for her to pick her side. Don’t confuse their calculating natures for a lack of humanity.”

Abe laughed, pulling away as he maniacally looked around for an answer. His fellow press members did the same, minus the laughing. Two very clear sides had formed in an instant, and it wouldn’t take too long for them to burst into a larger conflict if this was not handled well. Sitting in a chair, Kana fumed at her inability to add anything more to the discourse.

“Oh, so all of you are going to stick with the lie, then?” He asked, “Great! Amazing. Cameras are turned off anyway. Is that it? You think you can get away with it just because there is no visual proof, do you?”

“No, Abe.” Akiko dropped the honorifics this time around. “We don’t think. We know. You guys love cutting deals, don’t you? Here’s one. You go back to your little cameras and tell them the truth about this being a suicide. Or we might start spreading lies about your dead rat being a rapist. How about that? Because I don’t think anyone here remembers anything about a murder. When did that happen?”

Abe chuckled, slowly calming down with a knowing nod as he understood how this was going to go, “You won’t be able to run away for long, Hara-san. Or any of you, really. You’ve got a chance right now to save yourselves. Or…or you’re all accomplices to a crime.”

“Ugh. Crime, crime. Whatever.” Kelsey groaned out loud, “No idea what you’re talking about. Especially after your sad friend ruined my match!”

And just like that, as if the one line was the confirmation everyone needed, the girls stopped whispering. Looking straight at the journalist with not a lick of anxiousness, they went silent as the night. Not a single one stepped forward to attest to the proof that he wished for. Neither did the rest of the press try to make a bigger deal out of it.

One of them, in fact, quickly ran forward and pulled Abe away. Disappearing into the huddled crowd of journalists and cameramen, he stopped being any sort of threat at all.

Akiko took one last look at the body, pulled the hair stick out, and then moved away. Taira did the same. Right about then, the sirens of the ambulance started to make their way through the resort. Or maybe they had started a while back, and Kana was only hearing them now.

The divide in front of her could not have been clearer. The divide that Akiko had forced on all of them could not have been more obvious. There was no way this was not going to get out of hand. But for now, they were in a perfect fix. The story could not be made public due to the fear of the truth coming to light. And in return for that silence, all of them would be willing to stay satisfied with his death.

For now, that would work.

Akiko walked over to Kana with a smile. For some reason, the same crooked smile as always. Leaning down just a little, she placed the hair stick in Kana’s lap and then stepped back.

“Thank you, Minami-san. For showing me something even more fun than the finals could ever be.”

As she walked away, a silence filled the lawn for a third time. The journalists watched on in horror as Taira explained the death as a suicide to the first responders. The idols quietly watched the scene unfold without a word leaving their mouth. Kana could do nothing but sit and watch as the changed world her direct actions had brought into existence.

In the end, there was but one thing left to do. And Nobuko took the lead on that. It did not take long for her to run over to Kana and bend down to ask in a whispered voice the location of her trainee. Once that information was shared, she left the group and headed up the stairs.

Kana looked on, unable to wrap her head around the entire thing at once. For now, she just hoped Risa Ueno was fine. She just hoped that she was resting in that room, focusing on what truly mattered. She hoped that the slap had been enough to create an opening for Kimura. The journalist’s body was dragged away, and she just hoped that she would never have to deal with his filthy remnants ever again.