Idol Gunner [Yuri Villainess LitRPG]

Yamazaki had, as it turned out, quite a good reason to have wanted to speak to them. But because of Sakai’s meddling, the actual news became impossible to tell. As Kana learned, his method of investigation heavily relied on gathering communication data and running unscrambling algorithms to get as much of it as she could.

This, unfortunately, meant that he himself wasn’t always sure of every single thing he read. It required multiple emails, texts, or other correspondences to reference the same event for him to decide that it was truly happening. And this last one, which he had never been able to share with the group, had been one of the unlucky ‘rumors’ he never got to confirm.

So, when the Coalition announced on Wednesday night that the competition would now be put on hold indefinitely, it came as a surprise to all of Sakai Entertainment. Kana heard the news and went back to sleep, but the President himself was not that easy to convince. Despite all of the signs pointing to this happening, Ryu Sakai had not been prepared for the inevitable announcement.

The competition being stopped meant something far more terrifying than merely losing out on the Fair Play Committee. It meant that for the foreseeable future, things would go back to being normal. The Coalition’s existence had kept a balance between the agencies and their stage bookings. Without it, Sakai Entertainment would find itself in a precarious position.

“They can’t get the most expensive stuff. Because…obviously. But they also can’t get the cheaper stuff, because they no longer have anything guaranteeing it all to them.” Kana stroked Emi’s hair, lying down beside her on the bed. “That means all of the lower-tier groups will start booking stages without holding back. It creates intense competition.”

“Well, you just need to outbid them, right?” Emi asked. “At the end of the day, Sakai still probably has more money than they do.”

That made her laugh. “As if. It’s a pretty idea, but it’s not that easy. Sakai has standards, or at least that's what he likes to tell himself. He won’t book stages under a certain price point. But he also doesn’t have enough money to reach that certain price point. He’ll choke the entire company and Velvet Beats to death before taking a hit on his pride.”

“That sounds a bit frustrating.”

“It is. I mean, it’s not frustrating because I’m not getting to perform or something. Having a break right now is better. Build the audience's anticipation up as they gather, and then take your time with the announcement. Immediately doing one looks desperate. Taking your time makes me the one on top.”

“On top? Like…how?”

“Hmm…” She locked Emi’s hand on the bed and straddled the girl. Looking down on her, hair spilling from the sides, she smiled. “I wonder.”

Emi sighed, laughing. “Ok, fine. But…I’m serious. What are you gonna do now?”

“You want me to describe what I’m about to do? Like before I do it? That’s new…”

“Oh…um…” She gulped. “Yeah. Also…no. Both? I guess? Shut the fuck up. Tell me what you’re gonna do about the stages.”

“That’s not for you to worry about. I believe you’re gonna have to worry about some other things in just a minute.”

Kana leaned in close to Emi’s ear and started whispering. As every word spilled out, the latter’s face grew plump red with a wide smile. Once she pulled back and looked at her lying there with a welcoming expression, she dove right back in.

_____________

The next afternoon, a hurriedly scheduled meeting sent the entire office into panic. Hiding sensitive information, making sure that anything confidential was not on public display, the staff went on a thorough sweep of the entire building. They needed to be prepared before Bobtail Felis’ president arrived in the evening.

On that account, the girls were asked to stay in their green room so that they would not end up leaving notes or papers all around. For the cleaners, the work was obnoxious enough already without having all of them make it worse. And thus, Velvet Beats finally found some time to give the lyrics of their next song a final pass and some finishing touches.

“And that’s that.” Kelsey pushed the paper in front of her away. “I didn’t catch any, but what type of secret, hidden meaning have you put in it this time around?”

“What could you possibly be implying?” Kana scoffed, passing the paper to Naomi so that she could collect it all. “Are you trying to say that we did something like on our first song? I’m sorry. We would never.”

Jina did not say much. The moment Kelsey looked at her for a response, she just gave a slight nod and went back to scrolling on her phone.

“Can you stop that?”

“Huh?” The girl looked up with a confused, almost scared expression. “Stop what?”

Kana rolled her eyes. “That. Can you stop acting like we killed your best friend in front of you, and then have been forcing you to participate with us?”

“Don’t pull me into your bullshit arguments, lovebirds.” Kelsey leaned back in her chair, yawning to prove just how sleepy she was.

“We…we’re not-!”

“Oh, you’re gonna reply to her, are you?”

Jina went right back to her phone the next moment. Asking her a single question had been enough to trigger that phase in an instant.

Naomi, who was watching from the back until now, finally came over and took a seat on the couch behind their chair. Plopping her files down beside her, she looked at Kelsey first. Once the blonde girl gave her a smile of acknowledgement and approval, she finally cleared her throat and asked.

“Did…something happen?”

Kana was quick to reply. She had been waiting for someone to ask, after all. Not because she wanted to say it out loud, but because she wanted Jina to hear her say it out loud. Turning to look at the Yamazaki sister, she said her piece.

“Jina got angry and told me that I ultra sucked. Something like that. That nobody wanted to know me because I’m a terrible person, and now she’s sulking because she thinks that it hurt me. Imagine how stupid you’d have to be to think that.”

“Uhh…” Naomi weakly nodded, alternating between looking at the two of them, “That’s actually not a very nice thing to say. I don’t want to lie just to agree with one of you. But…don’t say that. Please?”

Kelsey pushed her chair back, picking up her cup of coffee and standing up. Looking at the Jina and Kana, she added on to her assistant’s words.

“If you think you were rude, then you probably were. You say words like that, you own them. Got it? An apology is not gonna cut it, and…acting like it didn’t hurt you is probably more pathetic than saying it in the first place. Get your act together.”

With those words, spoken in a surprisingly honest, almost melancholic tone, she headed for the door. The moment Kana tried to stop her from leaving, she assured the girls that she was just headed to the washroom and immediately stepped out. Behind her, she left a room with a heavy atmosphere.

Naomi uncomfortably shifted in her own place, finally declaring. “Kelsey-chan is right, you know? It’s not very nice to be all alone, so it feels even worse when someone tells you that you’re meant to be like that. Right? Ohara-san should not have said it in the first place. And, uh, Minami-san should not just try to act tough. That’s why I think, at least. I know I’m not as smart as the two of you, though, so do what you think is right.”

Kana looked back at Naomi, who had a smile on her face. If there was someone who knew what it felt like to be alone, it was probably her. Maybe even more so now, since she finally had some of the things that she had once wanted. Kana gave her a little nod and then looked at Jina.

She hadn’t budged an inch. Her hands had, in fact, started trembling just a little. The girl tried to maintain composure as she continued going through her social media feed, but the performance of it all was only becoming more and more obvious.

“…you…” The beginning of Kana’s words did not quite make it out of her mind. Because they spilled out as she let the weight of Naomi’s admission slowly sink in. As she let the fact that those words had very much left substantial damage, she found the courage to be angry at the one who had spoken them. “Fuck you.”

“I know!” Jina started all of a sudden, and then poured out like a broken faucet. “I know, alright? I didn’t mean to say it, and I was just so worried that I ruined it all because you didn’t tell me anything either. And…and…I am not a good person either, got it? I wasn’t even able to control myself from saying something so dumb, and I should be punished for it. All I ever do is pretend, pretend, pretend. I’m not like you, Kana! I want to be. But I am not you!”

“For the better.” Kana turned to the mirror, peering into the face that stared back. Shoko Takahashi’s words from the resort came back to her. Her own thoughts over the last few days made it even worse. She was the selfish one. She was like that because people around her weren’t. Holding back a more violent, profanity-laden outburst, she decided on something simpler. “You shouldn’t try to be like me, anyway.”

The words left her, and the ringing in her brain got louder. Jina might have replied, and Naomi might have added her own remarks. But none of it mattered. Her ears felt like they were only getting worse. No sound made it in for a split second, except the persistent beep of every single decision that had brought her here. Akiko Hara’s face teased her, chastising her for being such a terrible, horrible, pathetic fake.

Kelsey flung open the door, thankfully stopping her thoughts.

“They’re here.”

_____________

Nanoka Iwata, the President of Bobtail Felis, stood taller than anyone else in the room. Taller than anyone Kana had ever met, too. At more than six feet, she had a presence that demanded attention. She towered over Sakai in a subtly, effortlessly intimidating manner. Sitting beside her, Marie Iwata looked more confident than ever.

“You’re her aunt?” Kelsey asked, leaning in to look at her eyes. “The genes are strong, aren’t they?”

“Mother,” Nanoka replied with a smile, contrasting her giantess appearance. “We like to keep it at aunt for the press, but she’s just my daughter. Easier to maintain a professional relationship when that isn’t out there for everyone to know.”

“You’re telling that to us, then?” Sakai asked with a scowl, “Good, good. I guess that means we have the foundation of a good relationship. Let’s just get into the actual nitty-gritty, then. What do you propose for this deal?”

He was being incredibly verbose, Kana noted. It wasn’t like Sakai to be this respectful and elegant with his words. Of course, he wasn’t being particularly fancy with them. But they were certainly less rude and authoritative than usual. Who knew that the president of the corporate idol agency was actually a good businessman?

“I’m afraid I don’t care about you, Sakai.” The reply was brutal and direct. “I’m here because Marie believes that the girls under you right now have a good head on their shoulders. What do you think about that? Actually…what kind of reward have you given Kana Minami for her actions at Hiroyama Resort?”

“Reward?” Sakai tilted his head, chuckling. “Are you kidding me, Iwata? You were there when we had to deal with all those bastards from Neos-Edo, weren’t you? If you think she deserves praise for that, then you’ve lost your mind. She lost her mind and did something stupid. She didn’t have to pay the price for that. We did. All of us. There’s no reward for acting mindlessly.”

Nanoka Iwata nodded. And with that nod, she swiveled her chair around to look at Kana. The bob cut on her brown hair came in the way, so she pushed it aside. Pulling her sunglasses down just a tad, she smiled and took a file out of her handbag.

“I guess Marie was also right about which of those heads actually had a brain in them. Here’s the deal Bobtail Felis has for you. Take it or leave it; just tell us before the end of the day. Covers everything you need to know about the joint concerts you wanted to try out. Will that be fine, Minami-chan?”

“Uh…sure.”

Kana grabbed the file and handed it to Jina, who immediately started going through it. Kelsey, watching from the other side, turned to Sakai to look at his expression.

“You! Who do you think you-”

By the time he could finish his sentence, Nanoka had already gotten up and started walking away. Sakai stood up with a jolt, sending his chair flying back to the wall behind him. Yet, she did not even flinch or look back. Instead, Marie opened the door for her, and the mother-daughter pair walked out without a word.

“Hand that here, Ohara!” Sakai bellowed.

“Just give it,” Kana whispered to Jina, giving the girl a slight pat before leaving the room after them.

Out of the door, she noticed how far both of them had already gotten. Entering a brisk jog, she called out to Marie, which got their attention and made them stop. By the time Kana got to the two, Nanoka had already told her daughter something and started walking once more.

“I just wanted to ask…” Kana watched as the president of Bobtail Felis turned a corner and went out of view. “What if we wanted to change something in the deal?”

“Oh, you won’t,” Marie assured her. “Sakai might, but you won’t. I tried to ensure it was as fair as possible, and my mother wouldn’t try to take unfair advantage of you anyway. God knows we’ve had our fair share of being on the receiving end of that.”

“Uh, yeah. Sorry. Got it. Thanks for the help.”

“No worries. It’s not like we’re done with you either, so, you know…”

“MidoriLIVE, I know. There’s a plan forming, and it’s almost done. I’ll come by to visit your offices when I have something ready.”

“Perfect. See you then?” Marie prepared to turn, adjusting her gloves.

“See you then…”

With a smile and a goodbye wave, Marie Iwata went after her mother. At the same time, Kana heard Sakai shout something loud enough to make it all the way to the end of the corridor here. Steeling herself for dealing with his childish outburst, she started heading back to the president’s cabin.