Idol Gunner [Yuri Villainess LitRPG]

The Bobtail Felis office space had been given a complete makeover. By the time Kana, dragging Jina along, reached there, it was already evening. There had been some complications with Sakai, since he wanted them to keep practicing for the new concerts. In the end, however, everything had worked out quite well.

A quick knock on the door, and Hiromi Kitani opened the door with a grin on her face. Pulling both of the girls into the ribbon-decorated underground hallways of her office, she gushed about how much work they had put into the preparations.

“Marie-chan has been waiting all day for you both. She’s been super excited and anxious about what you guys think. So, what do you think?”

“It’s surely extravagant.” Kana looked around at the additional ribbons hanging down from the ceiling and the balloons scattered across the floor. It looked more like a ten-year-old’s birthday party to her, but she wasn’t going to be rude to her hosts. “Iwata must have been really busy doing all this, huh?”

“Yup! She didn’t even let us touch most of the stuff. Insisted on doing it herself and then asked us to do the grunt work like blowing balloons.” Hiromi sighed, shaking her head. “That’s a little dictatorial, don’t you think? Not even Nanoka-san is that bad, and she is literally a dictator in sheep’s clothing!”

“Yeah…” Jina whispered. “I don’t know if she’s really wearing that sheep’s clothing, but sure.”

The door to their left opened, and Nanoka stepped out herself, cigarette in her mouth. Kana took a quick glance at the room she had just come out of. It was a small cubicle with a mirror and a single chair. A smoking room, then. The president saw them, noticed Kana’s analytical eyes, and put the cigarette out inside the room.

Throwing it away in what Kana assumed was a trash can outside her view, the woman smiled and welcomed them. “You’re late. Did something come up?”

“Y-ye…yeah!” Hiromi nodded, hurrying her footsteps to slowly get out of range. “I’ll…I’ll go and tell Marie-chan they’re here!”

“Please do.” Nanoka smiled. “Tell her to be ready with that surprise of hers. Once you do that, you can meet me in my cabin, alright? I’d love to hear the rest of that thought of yours! It’s quite unique, yes?”

“N-n…” She gulped, nodded, and then ran off into the Studio room.

Nanoka lightly laughed and gave Kana a headpat. That caused her to automatically click her tongue, which did not go unnoticed. Still, the president continued to scratch her head before moving on to Jina and doing the same. The entire time, she kept her wide, warm smile on.

“Thanks for coming. Marie’s never had any friends over before, so it’s a big deal for her. You’ve both been kind to her, and I hope you understand that I’m really grateful for that.” She purposefully lowered her voice. “How are things over at Sakai’s? Torturing both of you enough?”

“Oh, you don’t even know,” Kana replied, glad that her head wasn’t being assaulted with affection anymore. “Still annoying as ever, though he’s been happy about the MidoriLIVE thing. That gave us enough leeway to convince him to let us go for today. What about you? Is Ito behaving?”

“Behaving?” Jina scoffed. “She’s not a child, Kana.”

Nanoka shrugged. “Close enough, actually. She’s difficult to deal with, but I’m managing. The woman definitely hates Tanaka with a passion by now. Though don’t be happy about that. She probably hates you more than that, Minami. Just be glad my meeting with her isn’t until tomorrow.”

She looked at the Studio, where laughter and screaming had suddenly erupted. One of them must have done something to get the others to crack. It almost made Kana laugh, but she couldn’t bring herself to. It was almost unsettling to her to hear them like that. None of the other idols she knew were like that.

To her, from this position, the Nozoki Neko girls almost fell…normal. They were in some small, nameless building making music. They got excited about parties, over-decorated for visitors, and got anxious to know how they would react. The three of them almost felt like regular young adult girls. That scared her, for some reason.

“It’s good that all of you are going to Akiko’s thing tomorrow. Just take care, I guess.” Nanoka continued. “I’m completely free the entire day, so it will be nice to sit down with Ito and get some things ironed out. Anything you want to focus on in particular on that front?”

“Nope.” Kana shook her head. “You can handle it, I think.”

“Mhmm.” Jina nodded. “Sorry. I don’t really know you all that well, but I agree. What you did with Sakai-san was very cool!”

“Aw. Thank you.” Nanoka gave her another pat on her head. “I wouldn’t have had the strength, honestly. I used to look up to those bastards for far too long and thought I should be grateful for everything I had been given. But then I kinda saw what this one pulled off at the resort, and something just broke. So, thank you for that, too.”

“Oh…”

That one incident had caused way too many ripples, hadn’t it? Everywhere Kana went, she only saw people associating her with it. Once you did something that loud, that publicly, it wasn’t easy to get away with it. Even if the actual audience did not know anything about it, the people who had been there had all started looking at it as a defining moment.

On one hand, it was everything that she had always wanted. For once, she could see the world trying to be better than it was. On the other hand, though, it was a bit too much. She hated being connected to one thing, and one thing only.

“Yes.” Jina picked up, noting Kana’s complete silence. “We’ve been hearing that a lot. Actually, well, Kana’s been hearing that a lot!”

“As she should.” The president’s eyes switched between Kana and Jina multiple times, and then she settled on the latter. “Ohara-san? Do you think you could go and tell Hiromi not to come, after all? I’ll let her pass, now that I think about it. I’ll send Minami soon. Just got some questions about Ito.”

Jina hesitated for a second, sensing that she was being sent away on purpose. Still, she nodded and then walked away into the Studio. As she entered the room, more noise erupted from inside, ensuring that she would not be coming out any time soon. Just what Nanoka had intended.

“So, what’s with you and her?”

“Huh?”

“She looks at you like a cat looks at its owner when it wants food. Pity eyes and everything.” Nanoka smiled, turned, and opened the door to the smoking room. Taking a cigarette out of her pocket, she lit it inside the room. “I’m not going to say that getting into a relationship with a co-worker is a bad idea. But do try to separate love and work, alright?”

“I…I don’t love her.” Kana snapped. “I have a girlfriend already, and it’s not Ohara. She loves me, yes. I know about it. She confessed. But that’s only really her thing. We’ve settled into being good friends a long time ago. And I’m sorry, but that’s really none of your business.”

Nanoka took a puff and let out the smoke inside the room before closing it, keeping the cigarette on a tray inside. Back to normal in the corridor, she held Kana’s chin and pulled her closer.

“It’s not just her business if you’ve talked about it multiple times. It’s yours, too. As someone who looks at you with the concern I have for my own daughter, it is also my business. Like it or not, it is what it is. Now, the simple truth is that that girl is clearly not over it. Keep it up for too long, and it will ruin your group. The first month or so is always the easiest, believe it or not.”

“What do you mean?”

“Just after you’ve decided to remain friends, she is going to be too grateful to think anything else. Give it some time and the inferiority begins to crawl deep.” Nanoka let go of her and turned to smoke once more. Door open, puff, door close. She continued, “I’m saying this for both of your benefits. But I won’t tell it to her because she’ll get defensive.

“You can only work together if you take your time settling your differences. You, Kana, need to understand that she will never be the same friend. Never. You can’t just pretend like something didn’t happen because you want it to be so. Anyhow, you’re a smart girl. You’ll figure it out. All I’m saying is that don’t let her dangle for too long. For her own sake, really.”

“You seem to know a thing or two about this.”

“Oh, I know so much about it.” Nanoka laughed, giving her another uninvited pat on her head. She liked those a lot. “Don’t take her feelings lightly, is all I am saying. It might feel like it has nothing to do with you, but it does. Especially when you’re gonna stay by her for the near future. It’s your partial duty to maintain a balance, too.”

“Y-yeah.” Kana nodded, getting a bit red in the face. She hadn’t expected to have this conversation today. “I’ll think about it. Thank you, I guess.”

“No need to thank me.” The president stretched, put out the cigarette, and then started walking away. “Oh, and on third thought, please do send Hiromi to my cabin. I think I’ll have that conversation with her after all.”

She reached the end of the corridor, opened the door to her cabin, and gave Kana a wink before disappearing into it. The lights inside turned on, and it was business as usual.

Kana looked at the Studio room. The voices inside had mostly died down, but it probably wouldn’t take long for them to rise once she got in. So, with the little bit of time she had, she took a deep breath and thought about what she had been told. It wasn’t wrong, but it wasn’t completely right, either.

Of course, she had to be careful with her words and actions. That was true for any kind of relationship, after all. You had to analyze every word you said based on the other person. She had done that for a long time now. But Jina’s love was still not hers to think about. Because she didn’t love Jina back. She loved Emi. That could not be changed, and she could not pretend that anything else was the truth.

All she could do for now, at least to please Nanoka’s wish, was to be slightly less cynical in front of her. She could do that for her own benefit. If Jina were to slowly lose herself and become an unpredictable variable, it would be to the detriment of everyone else. Kana had to pace herself to make sure that didn’t happen.

With that in mind, she walked up to the door and opened it, preparing for the screams that would follow.

Instead, she got a dark room. All of the lights had been turned off, only to be switched on one after the other by Jina, who had taken her place in the corner of the room. Perfectly aligned spotlights highlighted the drums first. Hiromi did not look up, nodding her head along to the beat in her head. Hanae, on the guitar, did the same.

Iwata smiled, giving her a wave before the girls to her left and right started to play their instruments. Hanae went first, playing an opener on her guitar before Hiromi slowly joined her one beat at a time. Iwata harmonized, but did not quite burst into song just yet. They were taking their proper time with this.

Kana felt a rush of warmth in her heart, taking a seat in one of the circular chairs arranged against the wall. Jina hopped over to her side and took a seat, too. As the music got louder and took form, Kana realized that it was the same song that they had been practicing when she had first come here. Iwata must have noticed that Kana had liked the song.

Jina leaned closer, whispering. “Their thank-you gift, apparently.”

“Shh…” Kana shut her up and closed her eyes, allowing herself to absorb the melody.

She finally understood what Keiko had been such a huge fan of. Marie finally started singing, and Kana did not even care to know what the words were. Her entire life, she had been hyperfixated on analyzing every line written in every song. But right now, she didn’t care. The warmth spread across her body in tune with the song, growing up to her cheeks and ears.

This was proof. This was proof for Nobuko Kimura. Kana was not like Akiko Hara, after all. She could think clearly and appreciate this song. She could feel her mouth whimpering without letting out a song, even though she did not know why. Was it just the fact that they were singing this only for her? Or was it something else? Had she finally felt the weight of Emi having left her once more?

She did not know. So, she focused on what she did know. And that was that she wasn’t Akiko Hara. She would never be her, and she would prove that tomorrow. For tonight, that was the fact that she would appreciate.

Kana Minami found herself too lost to understand, and yet, utterly meaningless tears began to flow down her cheeks.