Idol Gunner [Yuri Villainess LitRPG]

Even with all of her preconceptions about what Akiko Hara’s house would look like, Kana still found herself surprised. On the ride to the mansion, she had conjured up the most luxurious spaces she could dream up in an effort to prepare herself. Yet, on arrival, the beauty of it still managed to blow her away.

Sitting in an unassuming part of Ward A, on top of a small hill, the white and blue building was subtle in its execution. The brutalist architecture, the smoked windows, the slick walls and gates surrounding it. They pulled into the gate and stopped at the steps. Yamada’s car was asked to move away by the guards the moment Kana and Jina got out of it, and they were ushered in through the main door.

“How much you wanna bet her floor is rosewood?” Kana asked, waiting for the black doors to open.

Jina clicked her tongue, disagreeing. “Winner treats to one dinner, no limits. Mahogany’s my bet. She cannot possibly flex that hard. Also, I don’t think she has that kind of money.”

The doors opened to reveal the people who had already checked in. THE POP-JO, Nozoki Neko, Fluorescent Angels, and Ruby Passion Jr. were all there already. Kana and Jina walked in, ignoring the girls staring daggers at them. A quick acknowledgement from Neptune, however, and they started walking towards their group.

“Redwood,” Kana whispered, looking at the floor as they got closer to the group.

Jina rolled her eyes in response. “It better not be some expensive shit, got it?”

“Oh, you don’t even know…”

Atlas handed both of them short glasses of wine as they got close. Wearing long cotton dresses of different, pastel colors with the same pattern, they had clearly thought this true. Feeling slightly out of place in her hastily put-on gown, Kana grabbed the drink in hopes that nobody cared enough to notice.

“How have you been?” Neptune asked Kana. “I heard Sakai’s been chewing you out about that Hiroyama business.”

“Something like that, but it doesn’t matter. An ant’s bite hurts more than his words could.” Kana sipped on the wine, only to immediately pull back and look at the glass. Very fruity, and very crisp. Impressively dry, yet satisfyingly sweet. The woman really left no stone unturned when it came to impressing people.

Jina did the same, but tried not to let her surprise be that obvious. Masking it beneath a jab, she turned to Atlas. “What’s up with you all, though? Do you want something in return for all this kindness?”

Atlas scoffed. “As if. You’ve got nothing we need, and you never will. We just thought it would be rude not to say hello to the star of the evening. The girls haven’t been able to stop talking about you, Minami.”

“Great.”

Now that she understood the reason behind all of those stares, it certainly did not make her feel any better. She was used to the despicable hatred and jealous glares. Now, they had been replaced with admiration, and it pissed her off. The absolute embarrassment of it all was too much to accept or take seriously.

“Told you she was gonna hate it.” Neptune laughed before snatching another glass of wine from Atlas’ hands. “So much for her being a better person all of a sudden. You should stick to your own best friends, At-chan.”

“Shut it.” The leader of the Fluorescent Angels looked away and picked up another glass.

“What did you bet?” Jina asked, exhausted at the loss of her dinner money already.

“Lyric writing privileges.” She replied with a sour expression. “Neptune and Saturn have been wanting to write a song about pastries for years now, and they’ve finally got the chance. Thanks for that.”

“Atlas hates not getting to write the lyrics,” Neptune smirked. “Thanks for that, too, Minami.”

“Yeah.” Kana noticed Hiromi waving at her from a distance, but she ignored her after a slight smile. There was no need to alert everyone to their friendship. Especially not when the audio was going to go live in an hour.

Instead of her, then, she set her eyes on THE POP-JO. Specifically, the slightly bulky girl standing right in the middle and chatting to Yuko Suzuki. Grabbing Jina by the collar and hastily saying goodbye to the Fluorescent Angels, she started moving towards their group.

“Don’t you want to talk to your former teammate, Ohara?”

“Eh?” She looked at who Kana meant, and immediately replied in defeat. “Ayaka Tamura is not as fun as you think, you know? She might be strong and all that, but she’s the most cookie-cutter idol you’ll ever meet.”

“Yeah, I’d prefer to find that out myself. Come on, introduce us.”

Pushing Jina ahead, Kana took a step back and waited for the other girls to notice them. But even as the others stayed absorbed in their conversations, Yuko Suzuki managed to see them waiting. That caused Sayuri Kakuta, the new girl, to turn and acknowledge them first.

“Ah, Velvet Beats.” She exclaimed. “You don’t have your third member with you?”

“Hiding somewhere like the rat that she is?” Yuko asked, but not before waving them off and shaking her head. “Sorry, forget about it. That was a bit uncalled for. I hope she’s doing fine.”

“That’s right, Suzuki.” Ayaka Tamura smiled, pulling a reluctant Jina closer and giving her a quick hug. “I don’t know about that Maeda girl, but this one is a good kid. How have you been doing, Ohara?”

“F-fine.” She whimpered back before pulling away and taking a breath.

“Maeda likes going by Kelsey,” Kana explained and pushed her hand forward to shake hers. “It’s nice to meet you, too.”

Tamura squeezed her hand at once, shaking it up and down with a laugh. In case it wasn’t obvious that she was a Melee Class, it looked like she was desperate to prove it. Once she finally let go, she nodded.

“Got it. I hardly keep up with all of this stuff, so I wouldn’t know. Give her my best, though she isn’t here. As for you…you’re not bad, either. That was some performance back at Hiroyama.”

“Which part? The unhinged massacre of the first round, or the unhinged murder at the end? ” Suzuki needlessly added, and then shook her head in disappointment again. “I am so sorry. Just to be clear, I do not think what you did was wrong. I’m just…Sachiyo is rubbing off on me.”

“What was that about Sacchan?” Ai Suzuki looked up from her phone, raising her eyebrow. “Where is she anyway? Haven’t seen her. Not even Akiko-chan. Still getting ready?”

“Yeah,” Yuko replied. “Actually, I’ll probably go check up on them. Have fun, girls,”

And she walked away. Kana wasn’t sure what to think of her. Was she being ‘accidentally’ aggressive on purpose, or was it actually just a slip in her speech pattern? Either of those could have been the answer. Being in the same room as Akiko Hara probably did irreversible damage to your social skills.

“Ah, Kana Minami.” Ai Suzuki finally noticed her. “Good job with that fat bastard, I guess. Could’ve been a little subtle about it, though. Huge pain having to deal with all the fallout. Do you know the media’s been on the Coalition’s ass basically every waking moment of their lives?”

“I’ve heard, yes,” Kana replied, shaking her hand as well. “Nice to meet you. Can I call you Ai-san, though? Wouldn’t want to confuse you with-”

Tamura laughed, giving her teammate a pat. Sayuri laughed with her, though in a more reserved, cutesy manner. She turned to Kana and gave her a thumbs-up. “Go ahead, Minami-san. That’s basically what all of us do. It’s a nightmare to go out with both her and Suzuki-san otherwise.”

They had been going for a while, then. Kana filed that away for later. It wasn’t exactly surprising information, but it made her rethink the top of the Coalition once more. They were clearly not as competitive as she had thought. In fact, it did not look like THE POP-JO had any friction with Ruby Passion at all.

“Pain in the ass,” Ai whispered and got back on her phone. “Imagine prioritizing a different group over your own. I should be your Suzuki-san, dammit.”

Well, everyone except her, at least.

“Say, Minami. Are you fr-”

Tamura was halted by everyone going silent all at once. Yuko Suzuki did not need to go far, after all. By the time she had made her way halfway through the dining room, her two teammates had already appeared on the other side, fully dressed. And now that Akiko Hara was here, the meeting could finally begin in earnest.

Even wearing formal pants with a slightly crumpled white shirt that loosely hung on her shoulders, Akiko seemed to have made a conscious effort to look different. And now, stepping up to the dining table’s head chair, she picked up her own glass of wine. Larger than the others, even the cutlery was trying to make a statement.

“Hi. Welcome.” She started. “Sorry for being late, but I guess we can get started now.”

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November 7, 2043 – Around 17:45

Akiko Hara’s Mansion

Akiko Hara begins her meeting

Everyone shifted in their positions, waiting for a signal on what to do next. It was only when Nobuko Kimura started moving and ended up inside the dining room that the others also moved. One by one, the girls poured into the room and huddled around together to listen to the woman.

“Could’ve done in the living room,” Jina grunted, trying to keep her voice down.

“Yeah, but then we’d be equals. Don’t you hate that idea, too?” Kana mocked Akiko while taking a quick look at the people around her.

Ayaka Tamura was closest, with the other members of her group around her. Surrounding them were the girls whose names Kana did not know. Further away, though still visible, were the Nozoki Neko girls. That last part, at least, was ideal. They would be able to see each other as the audio clip was released.

“So,” Akiko hit her glass with a spoon to get attention. “All of you have read the letter already, which means I do not need to repeat myself there. Still, I will confirm once more that we’re not trying to cause harm to anybody here. Not to any humans, at least. Your agencies may remain as they are and continue to produce for you all. That, of course, given that they do not hate the very prospect of you being independent for a day or two.”

“Well, we hate them for hating that, so I think it’s fine to do what we want.” One of the nameless girls answered with confidence, causing a few others to clap and cheer her.

Akiko smiled and gave her a nod. “Thank you for understanding. Now, what I wanted to do here today was quite simple. It is an invitation to another event. One that will be completely overseen by us and fairly simple to execute. I’ve tried to ensure that it causes as little collateral damage to the Coalition as possible, though a small financial dent is to be expected.”

Kana did not like how often she was trying to assure them of her position. Once in the letter, and twice already today. Every single line with potential subtext of rebellion was balanced by respect for the people she claimed to hate. For being the apparent champion of the people trying to get them free in this case, she sure did have a very corporate way of handling her words.

“Just get to it already, Akiko.” Yuko Suzuki, the only person sitting down on one of the chairs, quietly declared. “Sorry, guys. She’s a bit nervous about everything.”

“N-no.” Akiko glared at her and then turned to everyone else. “I’m not nervous. I was just trying to build it up. I guess that is not what people here want, though. The event will take place on November 15th in the evening. I’ll confirm the timings later, once I am sure of them myself. And as for what the event will be, I think I will stick to calling it the competition. It will be a smaller, personally organized, unofficial version of what the Coalition used to organize.”

“Where will you get the weapons from?” Atlas asked, raising her hand to do so before awkwardly pulling it back down.

“The Coalition’s system, obviously.”

“I thought…the system was dead?” Tamura took over from there, asking a logical question. A question that Kana knew the answer to already, thanks to Yamazaki, but the others still did not.

“It is, but it does not need to be. Yuko and I have done some investigation into the technicality of it all, and the system can be started whenever they wish. I think they’ve kept it closed because it has no reason to exist right now. We’ll turn it on for the day, and then turn it off when we’re done. Easy enough, right?”

“Will nobody have issues with that?” Tamura continued her crusade for the facts.

“No, they won’t. It is only meant to be used inside the other Dimension anyway, and that’s all we’re doing. Also, if we all step in there at the exact same time, I am pretty sure the Coalition would want it to be turned on. We are their investments, at the end of the day. They’re not going to let us die that easily.”

And in that explanation lay the final problem.

Since nobody else brought it up, however, Kana was forced to voice her own concerns. “You said 'at the exact same time’. What about the members of the press keeping an eye on all the doors? They’ve clearly sensed that those places are important to us, so you can’t expect them to keep quiet about it if we all step into one building at the exact same time.”

The last thing Kana needed was them getting caught, after all. She was the one releasing the audio, yes. But the intention behind it had never been to truly reveal the existence of the Monster Dimension. If they did this, on the other hand? That would only get the media riled up even more. And a riled-up media would get them into more trouble than was necessary.

“They can be paid off, Minami.” Akiko addressed her directly, leading to everyone whispering the moment they heard her name. “I am sure you know that well by now, don’t you? The media cares more about money than they care about the truth. Bribe the people watching the gates, and they’ll never report back to anybody. Is there anything else you want to ask?”

She did not, really. But at the same time, she had things to consider. Akiko’s plan just now had gotten her heart racing. What would happen if they released their audio right now? They could bribe the members of the media, but how would you be able to bribe the eyes of the entire country?

While she thought it up, she needed Akiko to keep speaking and give her time.

“What are the rules of this competition of yours?”

With the audio released, everyone would be looking at the idols. Everyone would document every little detour they took in their lives, in an effort to understand the reality of their industry. They would wonder about the circumstances of Sanada’s ‘death’, and ensure nobody got away with it.

“Simple enough,” Akiko explained. “We all go in, we kill monsters, and one team wins. The winners get bragging rights, and that’s about it. There’s nothing truly at stake here, Minami, so you don’t need to worry about winning and losing. We’re doing it to have a bit of fun and say goodbye to something that has been part of our lives for way too long now. Do you understand that?”

With the audio released, all of them would get into trouble. She turned to look at Marie, only to confirm that the leader of Nozoki Neko had also reached the same conclusion. Her hands were already furiously clacking away on her phone. They couldn’t release it right now, after all.

Akiko had just brought too much attention to these spaces. Even if her unofficial competition was a week away, it wasn’t far enough ahead to rely on the public to forget. If the audio went out, they would all get caught. And if Akiko was forced to cancel the competition because of the audio leak, there was no telling what she would do.

Kana had come here because of how unhinged that letter had been. She had come here to see just how far this woman was going to fall because of her obsession with the Monster Dimension. Take that away from her, and it would all fall down on the two people involved in the audio. Kana and Marie. And even if she herself could handle Akiko’s wrath, the potential damage that could be done to Nozoki Neko was immense.

“We’ll all meet somewhere on the 15th, then,” Akiko said. “If you’re not interested, you can still leave. But if you’re going to show up on that day, then I hope that all of you know you have my sincerest thanks. We all know how connected we have been to that competition in all this this time, so it is only right that we get to say our goodbyes.”

Fucking madwoman, Kana thought. She wasn’t obsessed with the Monster Dimension. She was obsessed with the fighting itself. She was obsessed with the entertainment that came along with it. The cracks in Akiko’s psyche went so much deeper than Kana could have imagined, and the top idol still managed to present herself as someone calm and composed.

Looking at Marie, she expected a sigh of relief. She wanted to know that the audio had been delayed, so that they could release it later. But no such luck. Instead of the happy thumbs up that she had expected, she got a look of horror. Marie shook her head and typed out a message on her phone before sending it.

Kana felt her own buzz and took it out to read. As she did, the realization of their error set in. This could no longer be undone.

It was automated. The release was set up for a particular time, and that time has passed.

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November 7, 2043 – 17:52

An audio file containing the voices of Kana Minami and Marie Iwata is suddenly released on more than 200 different forums and social media sites at once

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