Idol Gunner [Yuri Villainess LitRPG]

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Akiko Hara

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November 12, 2043 – 17:12

Lilac Shower HQ

Cameras go offline; Akiko Hara enters the server room

She closed the door and took a second to breathe in. Yuko had done her job, but that did not put her in the clear just yet. Someone could still walk into the room and ruin all of their plans. Akiko had to move fast, get done, and get out as soon as possible.

The primary goal for the day was to deal with the System issue. Yuko needed a back-end entrance to turn it on for Sunday, and a single USB would do the trick. Tanaka had been disrespectfully clear with his words. In no circumstances would he allow the System to be turned on. He claimed she would fail, and she was grateful for it.

If there was one thing it had truly achieved, it was getting Akiko on her feet. She would do it herself.

Fiddling with the stick in her hand, she walked over to the exact system Yuko had asked her to go to. The one that controlled the internal workings of the System. Just as instructed, it was the one with the weird cube symbol on the top. It was customary to mark them all to make it easier for newer recruits.

Akiko took out her phone and dialled Sachiyo’s number. There was just one last thing she needed to make sure of.

“Aki-chan?”

“Yeah. What did you say about the USB stick? The one you gave me goes first, right?”

“No!” She replied with haste. “No! Put Yuko’s thing in first, and then the other one. That’s what the YouTube video said, at least. And the AI thing. Essentially, we are letting her script run first, and then adding our own stuff on top of that.”

“You…don’t know what you are talking about. Do you?”

“Duh, of course not.” Sachiyo chuckled, which did not inspire confidence. “But I guess we’ve got no option except trusting what we learnt. That’s what I think, at least. Go for it!”

“Fine, fine.” She put Yuko’s drive in first and then waited for the LED on it to turn on. That meant that the script on it was running. “Ok. It’s happening. Seems to be working fine. What about you? Any closer to the place?”

Sachiyo stopped replying for a while, but the sounds of her boots smacking the concrete below still made their way up. So did the vibrations from her light jogging speed. She was the one who had volunteered to go and check out the house after Akiko came across that forum.

A simple search to check up on Minami’s surging popularity had saved them from a fairly catastrophic outcome. Sachiyo would keep an eye on the crowd heading to the house and give an anonymous call to the police if necessary. They couldn’t risk anything more than what had already happened. That audio tape was a blunder that Akiko did not want a repeat of.

“Yeah, I’m here.” Sachiyo finally stopped and caught her breath. “Wanna see?”

“Sure. Got nothing else to do.” Akiko looked at the LED, which was still unflinching and cold. The work was not done until it turned off.

“Switch to video.”

She waited for Sachiyo to switch modes, and then did the same. Soon, the view of the streets graced her eyes. Taking a seat on the floor, leaning against one of the cold walls of the server room, she paid attention to what was being shown.

The group was not that big, but it was scary. About thirty or so men and women were talking and walking, slowly making their way towards the house. All of them had special bands with medical symbols on them. Probably to make it look like they were there was some other reason, and not alert the residents. What a headache of morons.

Sachiyo followed them from a distance, making it look like she was scrolling on her phone while noticing their presence. With a hat and some glasses on, along with clothes that did not fit her public persona, it was easy for her to blend in as a random passerby. The pop of the bubble gum in her mouth attracted some attention, but the group couldn’t care much.

“Follow them.”

“Yeah. That’s what I was planning.”

Once they fully moved on, she slowly started walking behind them. Akiko glanced at the USB drive, confirmed it was still going, and looked back. Sachiyo was not being very subtle with her movement, but it was fine. Someone was bound to follow them eventually, and they weren’t going to freak out about a single woman.

None of them stood out as being the leader, either. It looked like it was more of an ‘equals’ situation. They were all divided into smaller groups and chatting with each other as they walked. The largest of them was around a single girl who also looked like one of the younger ones there.

“Sheesh,” Sachiyo whispered. “Looks like she’s sixteen or something. Already trying to commit a crime.”

“As if you’re one to speak.”

“Yeah, well, I’m not in school.” Came the reply. “And I do…worse. These people are just trying to act all smart and miserably failing at it.”

“It is what it…” Akiko paused and brought the phone closer to her eyes. “Stop. Stop right there.”

Sachiyo did as asked instantly, keeping her phone still.

At the very edge of the screen was a turn of the road. Not much of it was visible except the walls of the houses around them. But leaning against one of those walls was a figure. It was a woman in a suit, and her hair was what gave her away. She waited as the crowd passed her by and looked away until they did.

“Whose is that?” Sachiyo asked. “Ito, you think?”

“Nah, she’s not smart enough to do all that. I don’t think she even knows this is happening. That woman wouldn’t realize that her company died until she was already on the floor, begging.”

“Ooh, funny. Cause you know…that already hap-”

“The USB’s done. Check on that woman. I’ll switch them for now.”

Akiko kept her phone down and took the other USB out of her pocket. The office was empty for now, so there weren’t a lot of chances of her getting caught. Still, she couldn’t stop her heart from racing. Unplugging the first drive, she put in the second one. That lit up, and she sighed with relief. Just a little bit of waiting now.

She sat back down, picking up her phone. Sachiyo was already moving, though slower. There was an attempt to be slower than the woman, who hadn’t moved at all. Instead, it looked like she was fishing for something in her pockets. The closer Sachiyo got, the more her body became visible.

The more she became visible, the more obvious the contents of her hand got. The purple-haired woman was shaking. And she was carrying what suspiciously looked like a grenade. A smoke grenade, but it wasn’t like that carried zero risks. Sachiyo’s eyes landed on it before Akiko’s could.

By the time she could order the girl to move in and subdue her, she had already started moving. Unfortunately, so had the woman. Increasing her pace as she stepped into the main street, the purple-haired woman gulped and readied her arm to throw the smoke. Sachiyo got closer, almost running as the camera went out of focus.

Akiko panicked, but there wasn’t much she could do except pull her phone closer and grip it tighter.

“Hey!”

All that was visible on the phone screen was the road they were standing on. But Sachiyo’s voice echoed through it and was followed by a hurried whimper. The phone went up to show the woman raising her arm to throw the grenade, looking back in fear as Sachiyo increased her pace and reached out to grab her.

The idol’s hand reached her shoulder and pulled back, but the woman grunted and brushed her off. Turning as Sachiyo stumbled, she pushed the girl to the road, and the phone fell out of her hand. The camera pointed up, innocently showing the view of the sky as Sachiyo shouted to attract attention. Some other people started whispering outside the screen, only to be followed by the distinct clank of a grenade hitting the floor.

Hissing as it poured out of the container, the smoke covered the entire street inch by inch, until it was also over the phone’s camera. Akiko panicked, but kept her voice down. Even a single scream could alert someone outside the room. It wasn’t like she was alone in this building.

A hand grabbed the phone and pulled it up, turning the camera to show Sachiyo’s face. She coughed and pulled her hand down, trying to get deeper into the smoke to find the woman responsible.

“Sachiyo, get out,” Akiko warned. “Just leave and call the police.”

“Yeah, I will…” She answered, and then flipped the camera once more to show the coughing members of the forum riot crowd spread out in the street.

Even in the dispersing smoke, the purple of the woman’s hair stood out. Sachiyo reached out for her, but was almost always a bit too far. The fall had taken its toll on her, and the smoke wasn’t helping either. The perpetrator, who had grabbed one of the rioters by the arm, slowly disappeared deeper into some other street.

“I’ve seen her somewhere,” Sachiyo whispered. “I’m sure I’ve seen her somewhere. Fuck!”

“Yeah, I know.” Akiko wasn’t sure what she was talking about, but that didn’t matter. Right now, they needed to make sure that she did not get recognized.

The second USB drive stopped glowing, and Akiko stood up to take it out. Putting it in her pocket, she headed to the server’s room exit while keeping the phone close to her.

Back on the street, the woman had completely disappeared. All that was left around Sachiyo were the people who had just become victims out of nowhere. All of them except for the one mystery member that the woman had disappeared with. Who had she come here for, and who had sent her?

Akiko got out of the room and put the video call aside. Since Sachiyo was too stuck on her personal witch hunt, someone else would have to take the necessary precautions. She dialled the emergency number and quickly gave them the address of the location.

“Yeah, I need the police. There seems to be something going on in the street.” Akiko whimpered on purpose, adding as much fake anxiety to her voice as she could. “I…I don’t know what’s going on. Please send someone!”

“Uh, yes. They’re on their way. Someone else called us five minutes ago, so you can expect them faster than normal. Thank you!”

They cut the call and left her hanging.

Someone else had called them…five minutes ago? There hadn’t even been an incident five minutes ago. Whoever had sent the police there had known what was going to happen. Probably the person who sent the woman. But why? Why not just call the police? The person she had escaped with probably had something to do with it.

“Fuck!”

Akiko turned back to the video call, only to see that Sachiyo had made her way out of the smoke. Still rushing to get out of the immediate area, she checked her own face on the video call. And finally, Akiko could see why she had been so agitated.

It hadn’t been obvious before, but the push from the woman had not been pretty. On Sachiyo’s chin was a scratch that had already started bleeding. Not small spots, either. The wound was a long gash tracing her entire skin, causing blood to spurt out at alarming rates. The girl wiped some tears from her face and took out her napkin to cover it.

“I remember that bitch.” Sachiyo whispered. “I just remembered her.”

“Who is it?” Akiko asked, wondering. She had also seen the purple hair before, but she couldn’t quite pin down the circumstances.

“It’s that assistant who always followed Maeda around at the resort.”