Idol Gunner [Yuri Villainess LitRPG]

10:13

Netsolnia Source Portal

The rules had been changed by the time they woke up. Akiko had woken up late, too, so she had called everyone directly to the portal in the ruins. Nanoka did not want to get involved or be seen nearby, so the girls had decided to get their own managers. Yamada drove Kana and Jina, and Nozoki Neko’s personal chauffeur drove them.

Once they reached the location and got out, they found themselves to be the first groups to have arrived. Akiko and Yuko were sitting on one of the higher floors, legs dangling down as they talked. Noticing the approaching participants, the two gave them both a wave and then went right back to being absorbed in each other’s words.

“Why don’t they just kiss already?” Marie whispered with a hint of sarcasm.

“Akiko and Yuko?” Jina inquired, sliding closer to her. “They’ve got that kind of relationship?”

“Nope.” Hiromi corrected her. “People just like to talk. Akiko is pretty close to both Sachiyo and Yuko, but she hangs out with Yuko a lot more. Some people, like Marie over here, like to imagine that’s because she’s interested in the girl.”

“Sachiyo’s just probably busier, though.” Kana considered. “That’s probably it. I refuse to believe that there’s anyone in this world whom Akiko Hara loves more than herself. She’s with Yuko because Sachiyo isn’t here yet, and that’s it.”

“Oh, come on.” The leader of Nozoki Neko sighed. “Let a girl dream, alright? It’s a bit cute, you have to admit. Just the idea that someone like her could have a cutesy, childish crush on one of her team members. Yuko is that kind of person, too. It’s difficult not to fall for her.”

“Sounds more like someone else has a crush on her…”

“Hiromi!” Marie snapped. “The president shouting at you last night was not enough, huh!?”

“Nope~!”

She ran away, making some distance before Marie could catch her to fight back. Kana smirked and stole another glance at the Ruby Passion members. Marie and Yuko. It was an odd pairing, but she didn’t really mind it all that much. Yuko Suzuki’s only crime, after all, had been to be complacent.

The woman allowed Akiko to do what she wanted and made mediocre music along with her. She went along with what the others said with seemingly no input of her own. Technically, that made her just as much of a culprit. But it all honestly, it did not make her as horrible as Akiko herself. Just a bit bad. Nothing a little bit of time with Marie Iwata and her mother couldn’t fix.

The five of them took their own seats on the broken rocks scattered around. Kana had always been fascinated by the sheer efficiency of the Coalition, and it was most obvious on this day. Usually, when the competition was taking place, people were posted around the ruins to stop trespassers from wandering in. At the same time, multiple outposts were set up here for operational and medical purposes. As soon as the competition ended for the day, though? They were gone in the blink of an eye.

Now that the Coalition wasn’t officially conducting any events, the ruins looked like they hadn’t been touched for a couple hundred years. Kana did not even recognize a large part of the structure, since she was used to seeing the Coalition’s constructions around the place. With only Akiko Hara handling this little gathering, those had no reason or permission to exist.

After they sat there for some time, more of the girls started to make their way in. Ruby Passion Jr. came first. Nobuko had a visceral, almost murderous reaction to seeing Kana waiting there, but she did not approach her. That was for the best, too, since Kana hadn’t bothered to share the story of her chance encounter with anyone else. She was guessing that Nobuko hadn’t either.

Once they successfully ignored each other, more time passed, and everyone else arrived one after the other. The two groups that Kana could not even remember a single song by, Fluorescent Angels and then THE POP-JO. The discussions got louder and louder by the minute as more of them came in and started splitting off in groups.

Ayaka Tamura and the rest of her team had gone straight to Akiko and Yuko. The six of them were now laughing together, as if the entire lot was not filled with psychopaths who had no right to call themselves human. Kana scoffed and stood up, stretching as she prepared for the gates to inevitably open any time now.

“Water?” Marie offered, pulling a bottle out of her bag.

“Not really.” Kana waved it off. She was too busy looking at her enemies to care.

Ayaka now had an arm wrapped around Yuko’s shoulder, patting Akiko once in a while as she told some hilarious story. It pissed Kana off to no end. Who had given them permission to be so normal, all of a sudden?

As she was busy seething in her mind, Jina put a hand on her shoulder and came closer.

“Kana! Want me to call Emi-chan?”

“No need. Don’t try to be Cupid and just do your job. What’s with the lot of you trying to offer me your services?”

“I…I did not offer you any services, alright!?” Jina gasped, stepping away with haste. “Wow, you really do not have any delicacy or innocence at all, do you?”

All Kana could do was roll her eyes. She did not have the time to participate in such low-brow conversation with this woman. They kept getting worse, and no number of innuendos could possibly be helping her feel better. But before she could say that out loud, she remembered what Nanoka had told her last night.

Maybe the joke wasn’t for Jina herself, but for Kana instead. The girl wasn’t making a stupid joke because she thought it was funny, but because she wanted to see if Kana would allow it. If that was the case, then Kana could not help but feel like it was a dumb idea. Why try something like that so late in the game? Hadn’t it been more than clear that she did not really care about whatever Jina said?

“You know, you don’t need to walk a-”

“Hello everyone!” Akiko interrupted her with a wireless mic in hand. Out of all the equipment she could have brought, she had decided on that. “Welcome, and thanks for coming. We’re late already, so I don’t want to waste too much of everyone’s time. Let’s just go in there, have some fun, and then come back with some good memories. Is everyone ready?”

The girls cheered and clapped. Kana refused to.

“Ok. So, just to set some ground rules. Let us see. Sachiyo won’t be attending because she had urgent work to attend to. It’s a shame, but it is what it is. Our team will only be competing with Yuko and me. As for the rest of you…everyone has different teams. I know that not everyone has shown up, which does make me sad. But that’s fine. We’ll do the best with what we have!”

More cheering, though mixed in with some whispers. A few girls looked back to note Kelsey’s absence.

“Now, for the points.” Akiko continued. “Of course, we have the points enabled with the System. But as you might notice, we do not have the usual equipment that keeps track of everyone’s numbers. As such, we will have to work on a trust system. I’ll be randomly pairing up two teams with each other, and they’ll be responsible for keeping an eye on the other team and their points. We need to stick to what our own Systems say our points are, and then share at the end. Is everyone fine with that?”

Everyone was fine with it. They just shouted out in a chorus of confirmation. Kana did not like the idea of being paired up with a different team, but she didn’t want to attract any more attention than necessary. That meant that she kept quiet and waited for Akiko to give them team names.

And in the end, those decisions were quicker. Ruby Passion was paired up with one of the smaller, useless teams. The same went for THE POP-JO. Ruby Passion Jr. had been teamed up with Nozoki Neko. Finally, Velvet Beats were asked to stick with Fluorescent Angels.

All in all, not the worst teams, according to Kana. She could accept being with Atlas, Saturn, and Neptune once more. Their relationship had mostly improved, after all. Kana looked at them to confirm those suspicions. Both Atlas and Neptune gave her a thumbs-up to do exactly that. Saturn, as usual, kept to herself and did not care.

“Well, see you!” Marie wished both of them the best and headed off towards Ruby Passion Jr.

At the same time, their own three partners walked to them with some excitement.

“How are you doing?” Neptune asked, giving Kana a pat on her head. “Look at you. All grown up.”

“I haven’t grown even an inch since we last met.” Kana frowned and pushed her hand off. “Please don’t do that.”

“Aww. Look at that.” Neptune sighed. “She says she hasn’t grown at all, and yet she follows it up with a please. Who could have ever guessed that Kana Minami was capable of being so nice?”

Jina laughed along with Atlas. It wasn’t even a realistic, honest laugh. Just one that she had forced out purely to annoy Kana. For that, she got a chop on her head. One that had the power to even shut the Fluorescent Angels girls up. That satisfied Kana enough to finally smile a little.

Akiko and Yuko, in the meantime, walked up to the gates and started opening them. The red wastelands of the Monster Dimension slowly began to stretch out, and Kana felt a rush of adrenaline in her body once more. Something about just seeing the place made her happy. No matter how many warnings she got, she couldn’t stay out and keep her distance.

Kana Minami took a deep breath and prepared herself for another expedition into familiar territory.