Idol Gunner [Yuri Villainess LitRPG]

Kana kept watching as the tentacle withdrew towards the mansion. It took its time, as if taunting her to jump up and fight back. Calling her out for being too much of a coward to do something. But she wasn’t a coward. She was rational. She knew what the right thing to do was, and trying to attack the tentacle back was not it.

Nobuko shared her opinion, apparently. Before she knew it, the girl had already grabbed Kana’s shoulder and started to drag her towards the exit. There was still quite a run ahead of them, and they would need every bit of their stamina to survive it. Jina, hobbling along with help from Atlas, mumbled something before slowly losing consciousness. The entire group began to run, with Megumi Ishida walking behind them.

The tentacle had not been kind to her earlier, and left nasty scars and bruises across her body. Weapon withdrawn, the only reason she was moving was because of her adrenaline. Megumi’s eyes looked like they had given up a long time ago.

Hovering over her and then moving back to the enemy in the air, Kana felt something she hadn’t felt in a long time. A pang of guilt. Every step she took with Nobuko at the helm made her want to scream and cry. Her stomach churned with a feeling of intense dissatisfaction, even though she knew that what she was doing was the rational thing to do.

There was no point in going back and checking on Marie Iwata. She had been taken by the enemy, and that was that.

“Walk yourself, Minami!” Nobuko jerked her hand and made her turn her head. “Where’s your damn head at? I can’t keep pulling you the entire time, and you’re not injured.”

“Then let go of me,” Kana whispered back, and she did as obliged.

The group stopped, with Nobuko being the first. She sighed, glanced at the massive villain above, then started to take slow steps backwards once more.

“What are you doing?”

“I…”

“Minami, fucking move. Either do that, or die alone. We’re going.”

“Kana!” Atlas adjusted Jina’s unconscious body. “You can’t beat that damn thing all alone. It’s not worth it. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. It’s about time you stopped letting your ego make stupid decisions.”

“I know. Shut up. I know.” Kana gulped and started walking once, tightening her fist as the entire group breathed with relief.

Akiko had come back from the dead. Kana had seen her entire brain melt, then she had seen it be put back together again in the same minute. And Marie was gone. Gone for pushing Kana out of the way and helping her escape.

The tentacles carrying her reached the mansion’s window and stopped right there, waving the ball-like container they had created in the air. Through it, even from the distance, a single flash of skin was visible. Just the smallest bit of life poked through, grabbing the air in a desperate attempt to fight back. The last bit of her strength was being exerted.

Kana wondered how she would explain that visual to Nanoka Iwata. She wondered what that woman’s expression would be. What would she say, and what would she do next? Would she stop being a manager? Would she stop helping them? Would she break, would she cry, would she laugh to hide the pain? The more Kana tried to imagine, the more reactions she could come up with for that woman.

It’s your partial duty to maintain a balance, too.

For some reason, that conversation from last night came to mind. The others kept walking, and she stopped once more. They did not turn back to check on her, and she did not alert them to her break. Jina, carried by Atlas, was safe. She would get out, especially with the help of all of those girls.

Kana could not explain why she cared so much, but she did. Even right now, as she tried to make a plan, she had worried about Jina’s safety first. Was that because of Nanoka, too? Was it because that woman had reminded her that, as someone who had the strength to control Jina’s feelings, there was some responsibility on Kana’s shoulders?

She had never thought about it before that. Yet, she had allowed herself to act out of order just now. She had let herself be consumed by a bad decision and come to help Jina out.

Balance, Nanoka had said. What kind of balance had she meant? Truly meant?

Jina, Keiko, Yamazaki, Naomi, Emi. If there was one thing Kana Minami was…she was a fucking hypocrite.

Because even as she stood there, knowing that she had nothing to gain, she felt her eyes moistening at the sight of Marie Iwata’s struggling hand. Still trying to crawl out of the cramped space she was locked in, stealing millimeters of freedom with every desperate breath. Kana couldn’t walk when she saw that sight. She couldn’t just turn around and act like everything was fine. Her hands itched to do something.

She was a hypocrite. She was incapable of treating people equally. Kana knew that Marie Iwata was not as important as herself, and yet she felt herself choking and crying as she succumbed to her fate. She was a hypocrite who lied to herself, over and over and over. She lied to others, too; imposing on them rules that she could never follow.

But she hated hypocrites more than anyone else. And so, she equipped her grenade launcher and started walking. With every step, she picked up the pace until she was running towards the mansion. Through a building, up its stairs, she got on the roof.

Kana jumped from one to the other, eyes locked on the tentacles that had stolen Marie Iwata from her. Because that was what she was. She was hers. She was Kana’s. The moment she had stubbornly dared to walk into her apartment and shout at her, Marie had signed over her life. Without Kana’s permission, she was not allowed to die like this. She was not allowed to sacrifice herself for no reason.

Strike a balance, Nanoka had said. Well then, this was it. Kana blew up some of the monsters still trying to get to her, and hopped to a building closest to the mansion. From there, she backed up and put all of her strength in her legs to hop over to the wall that separated the mansion from the rest of the city. On it, she looked around and took her time clearing out the general area of any enemies.

This was her balance. This was her rejecting the hypocrite that she was. After all, you couldn’t be one if you just accepted both sides, right? Kana Minami had people she did not compromise with. She had people who were special to her, and she would do anything to save them. She would go to hell and drag their souls back to life if they made the mistake of dying in front of her.

Because that was what her heart said. That was what she felt like doing. Rejecting that was just another lie. Trying to force herself to be rational was another lie. She couldn’t just stay on the same platitude as always. She couldn’t just half-ass her life and claim that some people deserved to die. Because if such people existed, then the opposite did as well.

Helping her win the competition, helping her take down MidoriLIVE – all of that had been a selfish choice. Marie Iwata and her group had a lot to gain from that. But telling her she was cool that day, inviting her over for a party, singing that song last night. Marie had had no reason to do that either, but she had. Because that’s what they were supposed to do.

“Ah, Minami!?” Akiko appeared on the highest window of the mansion. The black liquid on her had completely worn off, leaving her naked body clean. With a sadistic smile, she licked her lips and looked on with a carnal impatience. “Something to say? Wanted to let me know something? Not running, Minami?”

“Yeah.” Kana switched to her railgun, shaking with rage. Her chattering teeth were unable to contain her excitement as she started to load it up. There was a strange euphoric release in her. It was happening. It was actually happening. She could say it to that woman, finally. Everything in her life had led to this moment. “Had to tell you…”

“Yes? Yes?” Akiko laughed. Hands grabbing the edges of the window, she leaned out. Her hair waved in the wind, and the tentacled monster rushed around the building in the back. “What is it? Something important? Something cute? Something cool? What are you going to say next?”

“Self-serving…egoistic…narcissistic…unloving…pathetic…rat of a bitch like you!” She screamed, pointed the powered-up railgun at her, and took a final look at the woman. A few smoldering embers rose in her eyes. The soot of a dying campfire burned her fingers once more. Not a single bit of evidence had been left that day. Except the one in her. “You don’t touch my people.”

Kana traced the shape of the trigger and pushed it.

The blast rushed forward, ripped through Akiko’s flesh, and echoed through the city, shattering the upper floor of the mansion into pieces. Rubble rained down on the streets, and the resulting dust cloud covered the place in a haze. Taking advantage of the confusion, Kana hopped into the window closest to her and started to move upwards.

There were stairs quite close by, so she followed them in a loop. Made out of the same red stone as the other houses, it was way colder than she had expected. Even colder than the Monster Dimension already was. Up the second floor and the third floor, she reached the fourth. Up here, moving from one window to the other, she only rested once she found the monster that had captured Marie.

The mass of the tentacle lay on the floor. The second one must have been in another room. Through the window, Kana could see the prison that they had created to hold the girl. Her hand was no longer moving with the same resilience, but she was alive. She was still tapping the flesh of the demon that had captured her. Kana felt her heart calm down at the sight.

Switching to the Portable Landmine, she took a few steps back and placed it on the floor. She had never tested it on something that wasn’t the ground before, but all she could do was pray. The landmines were stronger than regular grenades, which meant they would do more damage. Praying for it to work, she judged the distance and prepared to plant the explosive.

“Rude, Minami…”

Holding her breath, she turned with terror to see Akiko walking towards her. The upper half of her body had been torn apart by the railgun. But instead of dying, she had started to heal once more. Her skeleton had been fully formed by those purple cubes, along with her full mouth. Now, little by little, flesh appeared on her bones and skin on top of that.

“Very rude.” She repeated, though with a mischievous smile. “I was trying to have a nice conversation with you, too!”

Kana let the mine go and ran forward, equipping the grenade launcher immediately. The mine landed on the stone floor, and thankfully worked. Akiko maintained her distance as Kana reached the tentacle’s mass and turned to the window.

The explosion went off behind her as soon as the tentacle made a move. Screeching at the sudden hit, the grip it had over Marie loosened, and the makeshift flesh prison opened up. Within it, an out-of-breath girl looked at her with profound confusion. There was still time before the tentacle recovered, and Akiko had only just gained her body back. Kana jumped out of the window and landed into the now open prison.

“Kana?” Marie coughed, adjusting to the sudden burst of breathable air. “What…why?”

“Oh, shut up.”

She grabbed Marie by the shoulder and helped her stand up. Peering down, a long jump awaited them. It would hurt, but that was the only option they had. Behind them, after all…

“Ah, taking her?” Akiko had her hand on her chin, and that black liquid was suddenly on her body again. Covering her head to toe, it dripped on the floor and the recovering tentacle. “Ok. Didn’t have much use for her anyway. Kind of a waste of a character.”

“You’re a waste of a…” Marie tried to bite back, but succumbed to a fit of coughing again.

Kana held her tight and dragged her to the edge of the little platform they were on. Soon, the monster would recover and wrap around them again. They did not have time to get chatty right now. She would come back for Akiko someday. Soon, she would destroy this woman and wipe every atom of her body from this universe. But for now, she needed to get out.

“Jump.” She whispered, ignoring the still-monologuing Akiko.

“Jum-!?”

Pulling Marie into a hug, Kana hopped off the tentacle, right as it recovered and wrapped shut again. Below them, the ground hurtled closer by the second, and Kana closed her eyes.