Idol Gunner [Yuri Villainess LitRPG]

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Agencies Coalition

November 15th Incidents Report

After multiple deep dives into available information, the Investigation Board has been able to trace the seeds of the incidents that took place on November 15th, 2043.

The following excerpts of the report note the set of events that, starting November 4th, 2043, are believed to have directly led to the incidents later in the month. They have been appropriately laid out in chronological order.

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November 4, 2043 – Around 18:30

Bobtail Felis HQ

Velvet Beats and Nozoki Neko hold an unscheduled meeting

“The public?” Hiromi sat down to let the words in. “That’s just a death sentence for all of us, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, but I don’t care enough about their reaction,” Kana explained, looking at Marie to gauge her reaction. “The point is not how they respond to what we do. The point is giving them a concrete clue from our side, and then forcing them to adapt somehow. By extension, that will…”

“Make the Coalition adapt, too.” The leader of Nozoki Neko finished her thought, putting a hand up on her chin to consider the plan. “I’ll need you to explain it better, but are you just trying to force Tanaka and MidoriLIVE’s hands by putting them in a dangerous position?”

Kana shrugged, “Sort of, but not really. The ones who will be in the most dangerous position will be you and me. Tanaka will have to deal with the fallout that comes from there. If there’s one thing the entire fiasco at Hiroyama taught me, it’s that no matter how much the Coalition hates me, they’ll go to any lengths to cover up the things I do.”

Jina nodded with a smug smile, as if she had already calculated where this was going. “That’s true, for sure. They really should have fired you already, by all means. It’s actually kind of a wonder you’re still work-”

With a single, light punch to the head, Kana claimed some peace back from the goth gremlin. Taking a deep breath to not let her get carried away by the claim, she decided to turn it into her very argument.

“She’s brought up a good point, though. Why do you think they haven’t fired me till now? Anyone? Kelsey, maybe?”

“I’m not here. Leave me out of it.”

“Iwata-san?”

“I…really wouldn’t know. Honestly, it’s just making me wonder what exactly you did before Hiroyama to make them mad at you. That was not the first time?”

Kana smiled, moving to the couch that Hiromi was on and taking a seat beside the girl, legs crossed. There, she looked back on the things she had done. The so-called previous offences that Marie was currently busy trying to conjure up. Things really had escalated since then.

“It’s because you don’t get rid of someone who is actively making the world a safer place for you.” She finally got to it herself, seeing that nobody else had a clue. “I am but a temporary anomaly for Tanaka. Lilac Shower and the Coalition will, according to him, outlast me by decades or even centuries. That’s his plan, at least. And from the perspective of that plan, I keep making the world better.”

“By killing supposedly evil people?” Kelsey yawned and took a seat on the floor, rejecting Hanae’s offer of a chair.

“Nope!” The answer came with a cute grin. “By QA testing for them. As far as they are concerned, all I am doing is helping them learn just how unsafe their system is. I’m such an extreme case that they can’t help but use me to find more loopholes in the Coalition. The more I find out, the more they can fix. Then, thirty years from now, the entire organization will be a well-oiled machine that is prepared for absolutely any possible emergency.”

“So, you’re trying to destroy the entire Coalition. Is that it?” Marie asked. “I am sorry, but I’ll have to push back on that, Minami-san. Nozoki Neko thrives on the popularity they got from the Coalition. As much as I hate it, I cannot deny that it is a necessary evil for us to keep growing. Without it, we wouldn’t even be in the position to threaten Ruby Passion in the first place.”

“Non, non, Marie-chan.” Kana shook her head. “You mistake my words once more. I am not looking to destroy the Coalition. Why would you cut the tree that you’re trying to climb?”

A silence took over the room as everyone waited for the next sentence. Kana’s declaration rested in the air until the tension was cut by Kelsey’s unhinged laughter.

Her cackles menacingly echoed in the room until she had attracted everyone’s undivided attention. When the girl stopped, she had already stood up and taken a look at the faces surrounding her.

“Sure, Minami, sure.” Kelsey mockingly whispered before taking her phone out and dialling a number. “Ah, Naomi-chan, can you come by the Bobtail Felis building? Yamada-san has some other work, so he can’t get here so quickly. Eh, what? Uh, yeah, I’m done. See you!”

Holding the door of the studio open, she took one last glance at the group. Her face radiated an aura of both anger and pity.

“Running away, Kelsey?’ Kana asked.

“Do what you want, Minami. As I said, leave me out of it. Especially when you’re going to make ridiculous statements like that. If you really want my expert opinion on your delusions, then I’d recommend you stop when you have the time. I’ve told you this before, and I’ll tell you again. Falling down is not as fun as climbing up.”

“Running away, then. See you later!”

Kelsey rolled her eyes, giving her another mocking chuckle before getting out of the studio. The door shut behind her with force, leaving it swivelling on its hinge, and letting its creaking act as an epilogue to her statement.

“Well, now that that’s done.” Kana turned to Marie once more. “What I’m trying to say is that Tanaka is using me to make his rulebook stronger. But that is all based around the idea that I’m trying to relentlessly climb up the ranks, no matter the cost that comes with it.”

“You just said you totally were doing that, though?” Jina’s question only came after she had already made some space between herself and her roommate. The prospect of another punch to the head was not inviting her at this very moment.

“I did, yeah. I’m serious about it, too. It’s just that I’m more serious about it than Tanaka is, and he doesn’t know that. His mind has not even considered the absolute boundaries of what cost I am willing to accept for it. That is why he won’t expect me to self-destruct, and because he won’t expect it, he won’t be able to deal with it as quickly as he needs to. Not without some…help.”

“Self-destruct?” Marie connected the dots with what had been said before, and her face lit up with reluctance. “That is what you meant by you and me being the ones in most danger?”

“Yup! So, I want you to consider very strongly if you’re ready to do what I need.” She looked at Marie with conviction and demand. “We’re going to record an audio, and then we’re going to leak it. In that audio, we will discuss that very house which contains one of the portal doors to the Monster Dimension.”

Marie Iwata’s eyes shone once more, but with a better understanding this time. Her mind raced at the mention of the house, now that the rules of engagement had been laid out.

“And why is that, Minami-san? If you really want to reveal the existence of everything to the public, then wouldn’t the main ruin gate be a better place to do it?” Hiromi posed the question from the other side of the couch.

“But I don’t want to reveal it all to the public, Hiromi-chan. The ruin gate would be a one-and-done deal because everyone will be on it immediately. But the house? Well, let’s just say that people are not smart enough to figure that one out. What we’re really trying to do is get the Coalition to panic at the very possibility of the fact that they still might.”

“That’s not it, though, is it?” Marie spoke in a thoughtful, considering tone. “Back when the Coalition was created, those places were bought by the different agencies involved. It ensured that nobody found it weird that a single organization had purchased these random real estate locations. My mother told me that because we had to buy one as well.”

“Bingo! And that particular house was bought by?”

“MidoriLIVE?” Jina guessed.

“Bingo, again.” Kana smiled. “We don’t need to mention the Monster Dimension at all, Iwata-san. Our conversation can just be about the bad event that took place in the house. Once leaked, the public will do the rest. Just their attention will force Tanaka to do something about it. When he does, I’ll handle the rest.”

Jina continued her spree of speaking up with a follow-up question. “How will you do t-”

She was, however, interrupted by Kana. The girl, after all, was only interested in Marie Iwata’s answer.

“So, what do you say, Iwata-chan?”

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November 4, 2043 – Around 19:00 to 19:15

Bobtail Felis HQ

Kana Minami and Marie Iwata record an audio with plans to leak it

“What about you, Kana-chan? When did you leave, then?”

“Ah, I don’t even know. Something like four or five in the morning, maybe? I wasn’t even conscious, hehe. Our manager had to drag me out of there because I was late for practice.”

“I know, right?!” Marie laughed, keeping her inflection as natural as possible. “Although I did hear about that incident with, uh…Sanada-san.”

“Y-yeah.” Kana lowered her voice, letting some hesitation creep through. “That was…yeah. Sorry, I don’t want to talk about it. I’m still trying to make sense of it all, really. That’s why I don’t want to return to that house just yet.”

Twisting the story of Sanada’s death had not been Kana’s first choice, but it was the one thing that the people knew her for. And then again, she wasn’t actually dead. That was why Kana had made the conscious decision to use her name, and not RiRi’s.

“Right, right. That makes sense. Sorry for asking. After everything that happened, especially.”

“No, it’s fine. It was just one of my first few times there, and I didn’t know if it was common or not. The way everyone else reacted was also a bit…”

“I get what you mean. That place can be a bit much for someone new. Do you, uh, want some water, maybe? You’re sweating so much!”

“Y-yeah. Thank you, Marie-chan.”

One glance towards Hiromi, and she stopped the app on her phone. Then, she played it back and let everyone hear it once more. It wasn’t the clearest recording in the world, and some parts were far too muffled because of the cloth that they used to cover the phone. All of that was for the better, though, since it only made it seem more real.

Listening to it, Kana couldn’t help but feel accomplished. This was what she needed to fix her problems. The issue with MidoriLIVE, the issue with the press, and the issue with her being perceived as some sort of pure, cute girl. All of it would be solved at the exact same time with a single ‘leak’ of this audio. At the cost of being criticized by people for doing whatever bad thing they wanted to imagine, she could gain the image she had always wanted.

Because the ones who would stay would be the ones who accepted her for who she was. Those would be the kind of rabid fans she really needed to shoot her way to the top.

BEEP!

The phone playing the audio rang with a notification, interrupting the recorded conversation. Kana groaned, moving to remove it from the screen while ensuring not to look at what it was. Invading someone’s privacy was not something she liked doing unless absolutely necessary.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

In quick succession, notifications appeared on all of their phones. And so, it wasn’t a coincidence. Leaving the one on the phone as it was, Kana pulled out her own. On the lock screen, at the very top, she noticed the email that she had just been sent. One that she would not have expected in a million years.

“Did all of you also…?” Hanae asked, looking at the rest of them.

Iwata nodded back, and so did Hiromi. Jina looked at Kana with a look of pure disgust aimed at the email. A single question circled the minds of all five girls in the room.

Why?

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November 4, 2043 – 19:18

Various Locations

All idols affiliated with the Coalition receive an email from Akiko Hara

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