Idol Gunner [Yuri Villainess LitRPG]

Once the audio caught everyone’s attention, there was no going back. It spread like wildfire, fueled by the rage of Pink Beats’ fans. The thought that they had been slighted and lied to about Mari Sanada’s death was enough to send them into a frenzy online. No number of tries to remove the audio from the web was enough to offset their negativity.

By Sunday evening, every news channel in the country was running analyses and breakdowns of the audio in question. Every child and every grandmother had already heard it dozens of times, trying to narrow down what exactly it meant. Hundreds of YouTube videos were released in a matter of 24 hours, further popularizing the drama around the world.

Two days ago, Kana would have been proud of the reaction. She would have been proud of herself for anticipating that reaction. But not anymore. Right now, she was driven by nothing but concern for the future. Akiko Hara hadn’t said anything about it yet, which left her uncertain about her own reaction.

It wasn’t until Ryu Sakai himself had to call her to his cabin for answers that she was able to find one for herself. The excuse that she used to deter his passionate, drool-filled monologues of mad gibberish was then decided to be the official response.

“That’s what we’re going with?” Marie asked on the phone.

Kana, sitting on Sakai’s desk, looked at him with a smile. “Something like that, yeah. Except I had to explain the truth to Sakai-san so that he is on the same page.”

“Sure. When do you want to do it, then? The faster, the better. Right?”

“Nope.” Kana turned his laptop towards herself and scrolled on the trackpad a bit, glancing over all of the hate-filled social media posts that filled Velvet Beats’ feed. “Let it rise a bit more. Just a bit more. The higher they fly, the harder they fall.”

“I think we’re the ones flying in that metaphor, Kana.”

“Oh, I know. That’s also who I am referring to. Who did you think?”

The more she thought about it, the more she realized that the point was not to deter the hate from themselves. In fact, the more they were hated, the better. Who cared if people knew or didn’t know? They just had to shift the blame and act like they didn’t know any better. Officially, that was all that mattered.

Even though Akiko Hara never ended up reaching out to them or making any statement from her side, the plan still went into motion. The one thing they could do to keep themselves safe was to keep the bigger names in the crosshairs of the public.

_____________

November 9, 2043 – 13:30

Worldwide

Kana Minami and Marie Iwata hold a press conference

“If all of this was AI-generated, as you claim, then how do you explain all the background sounds? Aren’t they far too realistic and obvious? You can’t possibly expect us all to believe that you had nothing to do with it!” The reporter with the first question asked.

Kana picked up the mic, her hands slightly trembling to convince them of her innocence. “T-there is this thing called layering. The…the person who made it must have recorded actual background sounds. Then they….they did…they mixed that together with the AI voices to make it sound real.”

“Alright. Next question.” Yamazaki, who had been put there as a moderator, immediately waved off the reporter and got the next one on the line.

The first man stood up again, hoping to ask a follow-up question, but was asked to sit down once more as the second one took the stage.

“Could you please tell us more about your friendship with Mari Sanada?” He smiled, adjusting his glasses. “And your friendship with each other, too.”

“Mari-chan…uh…” Kana whimpered, looking down at the table, and then at Yamazaki. “Mari-chan was a very, very kind senior of mine. She always took care of us, and…and she was…”

Marie Iwata picked up her own mic and interrupted her. “Please don’t bother her any more than she needs to be. The girl is trying to recover from their deaths, so give her some time. As for your other question? There is none. I believe the people who did this only wanted to target two big names, and Minami-san happened to get famous at the wrong time.”

“I am sorry.” The second reporter continued. “I hope I didn’t make you too uncomfortable, Kana Minami-san. But I find it difficult to believe you two are not friends. Were you not spotted together during the shoot at the Hiroyama Resort?”

“T-that was…!” Kana quickly found an answer, stammering her way through. “That was nothing. Iwata-san just…helped me find my earring. It had f-fallen down, so I needed some help. She gave it to me. That’s it. I am telling the truth!”

“I see, I see. But ca-”

“Next, please.” Yamazaki glared at the man until he sat down, and let the third reporter stand up.

As he did, Kana felt her stomach drop. Curling her hand into a fist under the table, she prayed that he did not do anything to piss her off. The man was on thin ice already, and this would only make it worse.

Masaru Abe cleared his throat before taking the mic and getting to his question. All the other reporters looked at him with hope in their eyes, believing that he would finally push Kana Minami off the edge.

“Minami-san, Iwata-san, I am sorry about the incident. It is always difficult to deal with malicious fans.” He started. “However, I was fascinated by the story of this house that the audio mentioned, so I tracked it down for my own peace of mind. And…there is a particular place that fits the description, but it is owned by MidoriLIVE. The agency behind your friends, THE POP-JO, as you might know. Did you know about this?”

Marie tried to answer, but Kana quickly pulled on her dress under the table. Not just yet. Being too quick would make them even more suspicious. They needed to make it feel like they were actually considering the question.

Only after a bit of time had passed did she let go of Iwata and let her answer.

“Uh, no.” She went with the simplest form. “We know nothing about this, and we did not know of any house. Both of us are also unrelated to MidoriLIVE, so we aren’t sure what to say about that.”

“Y-yes. Same.”

“I see. Thank you for the information, both of you. But the property rights of the house are interesting!”

Yamazaki tried to stop him by the time his thank you had ended, but Abe was smart. Driving the question into property rights without wasting time, he had caused enough ears to prick up now. Shutting him down would make them look far too guilty. While that was Kana’s intention, she did not want it to fall on Yamazaki. Her acting would be enough to get her message through. She trusted in that.

Abe continued. “It has belonged to MidoriLIVE for a very long time, but they’ve never used it for anything. No official registrations as an office, or as a studio, or as anything at all. It is just a random house that the company directly bought. What’s more is that I ended up interviewing the people living around it, and they mentioned that there are always black sedans stopping in front of it as teenage girls get in and out. Those are their words, not mine. Of course, this has nothing to do with you, so you wouldn’t know anything about it.”

“No. We know nothing about it…mister.” Kana mumbled, nodding and then turning to Iwata, who also gave a nod in solidarity.

“We can move on to the ne-”

“You were there, Minami-san.” Once more, the order of his words stole the spotlight. “One of the younger kids said that he remembered seeing you, along with the late Mari Sanada-san, near the house and entering it. Isn’t that a little interesting? He saw your photos on the television and claimed that he had seen you there before. Is there anything you would like to say about that, Minami-san?”

Did she have anything to say? After she had just claimed that they had nothing to do with MidoriLIVE, he had dropped that bit of information. That was the difference between Masaru Abe and any other reporter, after all. A lesser one would have led with the reveal about her presence at the house. Masaru Abe had kept his trump card hidden until their own words could contradict it.

Kana glared at him, and he smiled, waiting for an answer. Iwata tried to go first, but she was stopped once more. There had been a moment of panic, but she had found an answer for herself. One that she was confident in.

Abe wanted drama. He wanted her to accept her place. Fine, then, Kana decided. She would give him exactly what he wanted, and still get her dues. It would be easy work, after all. More than easy work, even. She was grateful to him for making her job easier. Throwing MidoriLIVE under the bus and keeping herself safe required but one throw of a stone.

“You’re right, Abe-san.” She stopped stuttering and tripping over herself. As straightforward as possible, she answered in an honest tone. “You’re very right. I did go there, Abe-san. MidoriLIVE often uses that house to host parties for their album launches, and invites people they want. We were called there because Mari-chan was good friends with members of THE POP-JO. What’s wrong about that, Abe-san!?”

He tried to answer, but she did not need one. She kept going instead.

“There was nothing bad involved. There was nothing illegal involved. It was a simple party that I was invited to because of a good friend of mine! And what do I get in return? You tell me. What did I get? I got some insane, rabid fan making up stories about Mari-chan and me because they got news of this party from somewhere. I’m not allowed to say anything about it because they didn’t want to reveal the location to everyone. So, please, keep that to yourself. But you tell me. Go on. What did I do wrong!?”

“N-nothing.” He shook his head, shrugging to hide his rage-induced frown. “You did nothing wrong, Minami-san. As I said, I am very sorry for your loss. The industry can be a brutal place, but you are doing very well. Truly. I wish both you and Mari Sanada-san the very best. I think…I am sure she is doing well. Aren’t you?”

“W-what?” Kana shifted back to the stammer and let him take the brunt of the negative perception.

“Nothing. Sorry, I just tripped over my words. I meant to say that I am sure she is very happy…in heaven. She was a good person. And you will also do well, I believe.” Abe kept nodding as he sat down. “I’ve seen many idols come and go, Minami-san, but I do think you are special. And one day, I hope the entire world sees who you truly are. A great artist, and an even better person. People often just need a little push to truly understa-”

“Alright, please move on to the next one. You have wasted too much of our time, Masaru Abe-san.”

“I didn-” He began to speak up again, but was quickly shut down once everyone started to stare at him out of exhaustion.

Even once he did settle, however, Kana kept looking at him. And he kept looking at her. Marie Iwata had to handle the rest of the questions because Kana did not have the patience or attention to care about them. Her eyes stayed locked on the man, thinking of the many ways in which this thread could end.

Fortunately for her, she ended up being the one smiling in every case she could dream up.

_____________

Later in the night, Emi combed Kana’s hair.

Lying head down on her girlfriend’s lap, Kana played the encounter with Masaru Abe in her head on repeat. But the moment she found herself questioning if there was something that she could have said better, she waved it off and stopped thinking altogether.

“That Abe guy,” Emi questioned. “He’s the one from the resort, isn’t he?”

“Yeah. That’s him.”

“Do you think…he is trying to take revenge for what happened?”

Kana chuckled. “What do you think? Why else would he be doing all this?”

“I don’t know.” She meticulously went through the hair, pulling on every strand to remove knots. “Maybe he thought the entire thing was interesting, so he went the distance. I mean, isn’t it a bit twisted? His friend was the one who did the wrong thing, so he paid the price. Not in the correct way, I don’t think, but he was still the one in the wrong. So…”

Kana reached out and held her face, squeezing her cheeks with a louder laugh. “You’re so cute, Kitamura-chan. Come and kiss me.”

She pulled her in closer, but Emi did not move her lips. She stayed there, just inches away from Kana’s face, and looked deeper into her eyes.

“Answer my question, Kana?”

“Well, it doesn’t matter. Alright? It has nothing to do with you, and I don’t want to involve you in this anymore. I just decided on that. I want to give you the love you deserve and none of the pain. Can I do that?”

“No!” The answer was swift. “No, you can’t do that, Kana. I don’t want it. If I’m in, then I’m in for everything. We’ve had this conversation before!”

“Look, Emi, I can’t be bo-”

Kana’s phone rang, and she immediately picked it up. Normally, she would have ignored it, but this ringtone was different. It was the one she had set exclusively for Keiko after the recent visit home. There was no telling what their mother might do with her recent behavior, so Kana had tried to take her precautions.

“Hello?”

“Oh, hi!” Keiko’s cheery voice chirped through the phone, which put her at ease. “What’s up? Nice! I’m good. Anyway, what’s all this about the house?”

“Since you answered it already, who cares?” Kana yawned. “Don’t worry about the house thing. It’s nothing. Just some bullshit that they’re trying to pull me into for no reason.”

“I see. Mhmm. But it’s become a huge thing online, you know? All of the Velvet Beats forum boards are talking about it. And I mean, like, all of them. VelvetBeats, VelvetBeatsOfficial, VelvetBeatsFans, VelvetBeatsUnofficial, PinkBeatsMemorial, MariSanada, KanaMinamiFans. That’s just the names I can remember right now. There are so many more.”

“Ok. First of all, get out of all that. That’s creepy. Who the hell made a whole forum about me?! And again, don’t worry about the house. It’s just made-up nonsense.”

“Oii, don’t talk rudely about my forum like that! It took me two whole hours to figure out how to make it, got it!? Don’t lie about the house, either. People have actually found the location after the press conference today, and they’re planning to break into it to find out the truth. Did you know that?”

Kana would have reacted to the first bit of information, but the second one instantly made her sit up, ripping her hair out of Emi’s hands.

“What did you just say?”

“Yup! A bunch of the group’s fans and Nozoki Neko’s fans have come together to decide on a day to storm the house and break into it together. They are going to get in there and check every corner and every drawer to expose the people behind all of this.”

“T-there’s nothing to expose, Keiko. It’s not important. It’s a stupid story. Why do you know all of this, anyway?”

Don’t say it, she thought, please don’t say it.

“Eh? I know it cause I’m going too! Proud of your little sister, aren’t ya!?”