Idol Gunner [Yuri Villainess LitRPG]

The ringing in her ear was starting to get to Kana. Losing sound little by little had been bad enough, but this constant hum refused to go away. It was like the universe itself was taunting her way of life, even though she had done nothing but win the last few days. Despite a couple of embarrassments on the way, she had achieved everything she set out to do.

MidoriLIVE was going under because of Tanaka’s greed, and Nanoka Iwata was going to buy THE POP-JO from them. Keiko had been successfully saved by Naomi before the police rounded up the rioters. After all of that, she had also managed to successfully tone down the potential fallout from that mistimed audio clip. It had only helped her more and more.

The audience's reaction to it had been negligible. That pissed her off, but she could allow it. In the grand scheme of things, it did not matter at all. All of this had already been discussed before, and she had made her peace with their love for her. She didn’t need to think about it at all.

And yet. Incessantly. It kept bothering her. That ringing in her ear that had become a constant reminder of loss. Even if she won everything else, she was losing her hearing. There was no way to fix that.

Well, she could go to the doctor and answer a million questions. But she also could not be bothered to do that. It was a pain in the ass, and she did not want to deal with one of those right now. All she could do was think about it. Or maybe talk. But if Emi found out, she would force her to go and get it checked. That took that option away.

Right now, lying down on her bed, Kana grimaced and tried to hide her discomfort. Emi looked out of the small window nearby, staring down at the far-away, impoverished wards of Neo-Edo. In the dim, warm orange hue of the room, she looked like a heavenly angel ensuring her kingdom was safe.

Even with all of the recent fights they had had, there was no other person Kana would rather be locked in a room with. Nobody she would rather have by her side at the end of a long, painful day.

“Come to bed.” She whispered, unsuccessfully shaking her head to get the ringing out.

“Yeah…” Emi replied, closing the window. “I’ll turn on the AC.”

“Sure.”

Emi walked to the table, picked up the remote, and walked back. Turning on the air conditioner, which was set at the lowest temperature, she got into bed and yawned. Kana wasn’t sure what she had done all day, but it was probably something cute. That’s all she knew. That was all she wanted to know.

“Keiko-chan.” The girlfriend brought up something slightly uncomfortable. “Did she not feel that something was weird about her being taken out by herself? She should have guessed it was all to get her.”

“Nope.” Kana decided to deal with it and put the topic aside. “Naomi acted like she just randomly kidnapped one of them and then let her go for some stupid reason. Nothing too difficult. Anyway…what did you do all day?”

Emi snuggled up to her, pushing her head deep into Kana’s shoulder.

“Nothing special. Came up with some steps for the next concert. I was really trying to add more grace to the movement, you know? The songs themselves are much sharper and have a higher tempo, right? So, I decided that maybe having smoother movement would contrast well with the lyrics and their speed, and add to the entire discordant vibe of Chandelier. Don’t you think so, too?”

“Uh, yeah. Sure. I don’t really remember a lot of the songs, so there’s that. Been too busy with the other work.”

“Singing…is your work. That’s what you do for a job.”

Kana laughed. “Oh no, that’s not what I mean. I meant just…in general. I’ve been focused on other things, and didn’t really care about the songs and stuff.”

“Still, it’s your job.” Emi looked up, coming face to face with her, just inches away. “When we were dating the first time, you spent half of every day ranting about how bad newly released songs were. Now that you have the chance to make them on your own, you don’t care?”

Her every breath felt heavy on Kana’s face. Even with the AC turning the entire room cold, the warm, rhythmic exhales and inhales of Emi Kitamura kept sending chills down Kana’s spine. So, she pulled away and sat up, shaking her head. The ringing got louder due to the sudden movement, but she tried her best to ignore it.

“That’s not it. No. I just haven’t thought about them because we’ve already recorded them. I was just trying to keep my eyes on the current prize. Saving Keiko, the entire audio situation…it was all way more important.”

“Yeah. All of those being holes that you dug for yourself. How about that?”

Bzzzzzzttttt…

Now it was starting to get louder. Kana could feel even the near-silent hum of the air conditioner messing with her. Every little object in the room was trying to tick her off. She got off the bed and hit her head, hoping that it would go away already.

“KanKan?” Emi sat up, looking concerned.

“It’s ok.” Kana held her hand up, stopping her. “Look, I just don’t wanna talk about any of that. Everything went well, and we’re right back on track. Everything is just perfect. That’s what it is. No need to question things that have already happened.”

“You threw a smoke bomb in a residential area and staged a kidnapping of your own sister. Kana…I know that you are in a business that I won’t ever fully understand, but when does it go too far? Have you asked yourself that question? Is there a limit to this? Is there an end to it?”

“It ends with Akiko Har-”

“What? Dies?” Emi raised her voice. “This ends when Akiko dies? Is that what you want? Kill the girl you hate so much, and then you will finally have your peace?”

“No. I just want her to know her place. There will be no killing Akiko, of course. I’m not that dumb.”

She could already feel what was going to follow, but her horrible ear took all of her attention. Kana would just have to wait for it.

“You were dumb enough to kill other pe-”

And there it was.

“A drug dealer taking advantage of other people, and a fucking pedophile!” Kana screamed. “Yeah, I know. I killed them. I killed them because I wanted to. I know. I’m a horrible person, and I love hurting other people, and I’ve heard it all before. I’m so sorry that you empathize with those two assholes more.”

Emi was taken aback, looking down with exhaustion and fear.

“I am not saying I empathize with them. I am just sayi-”

“Didn’t ask!” She bashed her head, and the ringing stopped for a second. Kana paused for a moment, but then it came right back. Bzzzzttttt. And so, the head bashing started once more. “Didn’t…ask. I don’t care about what you’re saying. I don’t care about what any of you are saying. I got this annoying fucking…sound…”

“What sound? Is something wrong?”

“No! Nothing’s wrong. Absolutely nothing. Everything is just fine. I said so, didn’t I? It’s perfect. Stop asking. What’s your job, Emi? Dancing. So, dance. Teach me how to dance, and teach all of us how to dance. Just stop trying to get into a place where you’re gonna spend half of your time debating ethics.”

“Well, I can’t debate ethics in dancing, can I?”

“Sure, you can. There are so many discussions about that. Ethics in dancing…”

The ringing paused all of a sudden, but with an implosion. Kana crouched down as the deafness compounded. The hum had vanished, but now the damp nature of her ears was more obvious than ever. She could hear everything, but it was like everything in the world was whispering.

Kana felt her forehead, only to find sweat on it. How was that even possible? This room was so cold. In fact, she had specifically set the temperature to keep it cold. She stood up and started walking to the door. Her own body was getting warmer, and she could feel it rising by the minute.

“KanKan? Where are you go-”

“Shut!”

She did not even know if she had screamed or just whispered. Both of them sounded the same to her. Kana opened the door and got out, closing it behind her. She was not dressed properly, but that was fine. Nobody was going to be looking at her. There was some place she wanted to be.

There was just one place that her body was screaming for. Everywhere else was too warm. No, too hot. It was scalding. Her insides were on fire, and her face was already covered in sweat. Kana walked to the kitchen first, grabbed what she needed, and then got out of the apartment.

Behind her, she heard Emi come out and constantly call out to her. But this was not the time for that. She didn’t want to deal with her right now. Emi deserved more attention than this. She deserved more time, and focus, and love, and care. Kana did not want Emi to deal with any of this.

For now, she just took out her phone and booked a cab.

_____________

The moment she opened the door with the key she had gotten from Yamazaki, the familiar smell calmed her down. Instantly, it brought her heart rate to a more manageable pace and made it easier to breathe. The chill of the Monster Dimension was enough to get the sweat on her to vanish, even though it had only increased during the cab ride.

Taking the knife in her pocket out, purely for self-defense, she entered the door.

On the other side, she slumped her shoulders and took a deep breath. This was what she needed. How long had it been? This barren red scenery meant something to her, all of a sudden. She had never expected to feel so calm here, but she did. Even with her overpowering deafness, this was better than the world outside.

“Fuck…” She whispered, wiping her moist eyes while keeping the blade away.

“Ah…”

Kana instinctively raised her knife and pointed it to the right, where the voice had come from. What she found was a face she hadn’t seen in a while. Wearing the same beret as the day they had first met, along with the same green dress from back then, was Nobuko Kimura. In her hand was a sword, which she must have procured from…somewhere.

“What are you doing here?” Kana asked.

The ringing in her head returned, increased to dangerous levels, but she stood unmoving.

“What are you doing here?” Nobuko just returned it.

Then, at once, the ringing stopped. Her ears popped open, and everything was loud again.

_____________

November 14, 2043 – 02:56

Monster Dimension Door No. 4

Kana Minami and Nobuko Kimura enter the Monster Dimension