Idol Gunner [Yuri Villainess LitRPG]

He had done what? That hadn’t been one of the answers that Kana had expected to come out of that man, but times had clearly changed. She did not know what to say as he reached the end of his little recollection. Emi stared daggers at her, but there was no time to respond to her right now.

“I’m on the way to Katsuhara.” He explained, his voice quivering. “I won’t stay for long, but I’ll drop Kelsey off if that’s alright.”

“Uh…” She hesitated, torn between wanting to say yes and being worried about what would unfold if Emi saw them right now. In the end, though, she had to pick. “Sure. Get over here, and we’ll see what to do. I mean, Abe did not actually see you leave the cabin, did he?”

“No, he didn’t,” Kelsey replied. They must have turned on the speaker. “But I’m pretty sure he will make the connection soon enough. There was a dot of blood on Yamazaki’s shirt.”

“Yeah, but we can’t be sure he saw something like that.”

“We can’t, Kana.” Yamazaki gulped. “Still, better safe than sorry. Assuming the worst will keep us prepared for whatever’s to come. And I…I’ll come there, and we can discuss. About twenty minutes.”

“Su-”

The call was cut from their side, finally giving her the chance to keep the phone down and focus on her girlfriend.

Still sitting on the suitcases, she had reached the end of the cigarette in her hand and threw the butt away. It bounced off the couch and fell on the floor, its last embers dying out in the otherwise dark room. Only the light that found its way in through the massive windows illuminated Emi’s ferocious look.

“What happened?” Kana asked. That was the least she could do. It was also the most she could manage.

“What happened?” Emi snickered. “What if I asked you the same question?”

“Emi, this is not abo-”

“About me? I know. It’s never about me, is it? It’s about you, and your friends, and your family, and your job. It’s always about you. It’s about your ego. It’s about your ideals. It’s about you getting to live in this hollow shell of an apartment. Just like before, when I was smart enough to get away, it’s all about you.”

“That’s not what I was going to sa-”

“Shut up! I will talk today. I’m done listening to you. I’m done listening to your stupid fucking arguments and psychopathic ramblings. How about you sit down and actually listen to me for once?”

Kana raised her hands and gestured for her to continue. It was true that she had not meant to say the usual stuff. Before Emi had suddenly lost it, Kana had been prepared to tell her not to worry about them. She had been leading to a conversation where they could talk about whatever was bothering Emi.

“Every time I try to talk to you, it’s one of two things. You either want to rant on about some random argument that’s bothering you, or you want to talk about my petty little problems that nobody cares about. Because that’s what I am, right? I am the little child that needs to be taken care of, and is not strong enough or smart enough to understand what’s going on with you.”

“Well, Emi, that’s because it’s dangerous.”

“It was not dangerous when you pulled out a military-grade explosive device in front of me and shot it at three people?! Was it not dangerous when you got me involved in your world of weirdo monsters and fucking mafia corporations who murder you if you try to run away from them? That was not dangerous!? But, oh no, telling me about whatever happened in your day is dangerous. Yeah. That makes sense.”

“Emi, that’s not…”

“One call, Kana.” She stood up and got behind suitcases, as if she wanted to maintain as much distance as possible between them. “I made one call this afternoon because I wanted to talk to Naomi-san. Can you guess what I heard? Or will you still try to hide it from me because I am too weak and too innocent to hear it?”

“I did not know that was going to happen either, alright? What happened to Naomi-san wa-”

“The norm. That’s what it was, Kana. That was the fucking norm in the world that you live in. And that finally made me realize why you never tell me anything. Because if, for some godforsaken reason, I actually grew a brain and tried to leave, the same thing would happen to me! And for just one moment, I thought that was you being kind. That was what I considered. But that’s not the truth, Kana Minami. Is it? That’s not the truth because you just said it yourself…”

What was she trying to say? Kana did not know. She did not want to hear it. Her brain went haywire in a matter of seconds. She wanted to cry, but she did not have the time to do it. Fifteen minutes from now, Yamazaki would get here. If Emi was still volatile, all hell would break loose. She did not need to know about Sakai, too.

“The reason is not that you’re worried about me. You’re just worried about yourself, Kana.”

“W-what?”

“What were you thinking just now? It was about that call, wasn’t it? You think I don’t know you, but I know every inch of your body. I know every single nerve in your brain.” Emi slowly stepped closer, moving past the suitcases to stand right in front of her. “You can try to hide yourself, but you can’t stop me from seeing every little thought that’s popping in your head.”

“N-no. Emi…”

“Something bad happened, and someone is coming here. So, you want me to shut up before they do. That’s it, isn’t it? I’m sure you even tried to convince yourself that it was because you want to keep me safe.” She smiled, pushing one of Kana’s strands of hair behind her ear. “But the only one you want to keep safe is yourself. You don’t want me to know anything because you’re scared that I will leave.”

“No…that’s not it. No.”

That wasn’t it. That wasn’t it, and Kana knew it. She knew it. Right?

That…wasn’t it?

“Not because you’re scared that I will die. Nope. You’re scared of me leaving you forever. Again.” Emi shook her head in dismissal and walked back to her luggage. “Because that’s all you are, Kana. You love to go on and on about how you don’t need anyone, but that’s just one lie after another. The truth is that you’re just scared of being alone.”

Yeah, she knew. Kana was not going to deny it. She was not going to act like it was some unthinkable new fact Emi had brought up. Who was not scared of being alone? She was, too. But she could accept that now. She could understand that and agree with it. That was why she was different. That was why Emi needed to hear her out.

“And you know the worst part?” She still kept going. “Even when you do something good, it’s out of fear. Do you know why? Because there’s one thing that you’re afraid of more than loneliness. Do you know what that is?”

“Don’t…”

“You’re afraid, Kana.” She said what she should not have. Even with a whimper and shaking body, tears streamed down Emi’s face as she spoke. “You’re horrified by the possibility of someone loving you for who you are. Deep down, you’re so sure of the fact that you’re a bad person, that you can’t stand the idea of someone liking that thing.”

“No-”

“I mean, how could you? Even your own father didn’t lo-”

“Emi!” She screamed, curling her palms into fists.

“It’s ok.” Emi laughed it off, not even a little bit fazed at her raising her voice. She just grabbed her suitcases and shrugged. “Takes one to know one, KanKan. I’m sure you don’t actually care about what I have to say. Not beyond your pretension, at least. So, I’ll keep it short.”

Kana did not have the strength to reply to that. Emi had gone somewhere that she had never expected her to.

“I went home, and my father asked me to do that translation job once more. It has good pay and everything. So, I was about to accept it.” Emi started walking, slowly. “But you’re the same. Both you and him. You keep telling me what to do, where to go, who to be. And I made the mistake of thinking I had a choice in my own life.”

“You do, Emi,” Kana whispered. Even with her anger that had burst out of her because of what she said, she still couldn’t say something she knew to be untrue.

“Yeah, I know. That’s why I’m leaving.” She chuckled. “I can dance. I can translate stuff. I’m not half bad at chemistry. I guess you didn’t know that last part. I have this stupid fucking hair everyone likes to make fun of. But I can’t be just one of those things. I gotta be all of them. And if someone wants to laugh at me for my hair, it’s my choice to let them.”

Emi walked past her, towards the door, and there was nothing Kana could do about it.

“I tried to be someone you could love, but that’s just not who I am. You see…being tolerant is not my weakness, Kana. Thinking that it is, is yours.”

The door opened, and Emi Kitamura was gone.

In response, Kana tried to hold it back, but she couldn’t. A second later, she was laughing her heart out.

_____________

Kana never heard the door to Jina’s room open. The constant, ominous beeps were the first thing Jina heard when she opened her door.

By the time she reached the stairs and looked down into the living room, all she could do was gasp in shock. Kana stood right in the middle, completely still. All around her, spread across the floor, were the very clear red beeps of landmines every ten or so inches. If the girl took even one step, they would blow.

“Kana?”

She did not respond.

“Kana, what did you do?”

“She’s gone. Happy now?”

“You don’t mean that. Remove the mines, please.”

“But it’s fun like this.”

“Well, I don’t want to die. How about that? That’s not fun.”

“Hmm…”

Kana raised her leg with a blank expression. It took Jina a long time to understand what she was going to do next, even though the answer was quite simple. Perhaps it was because it was so simple that she did not consider it. She never thought that Kana could do something like that.

In the next moment, before she could run forward and jump towards her, Kana had already taken a step and activated the mine in front of her.

“Kana!”

Jina did not think. She should have run back and hidden in her room, but emotions were an irrational thing. The idea of seeing her take such a drastic step bothered her so much that she could not stop herself from jumping into the wall of flames as it erupted.

All of the landmines blasted one by one, letting out multiple explosions and covering the apartment in fire and shattered marble. The windows broke, spilling glass out into the air and letting the flames out. The apartment collapsed around them, but as Jina hopped down from the stairs and ran towards Kana, she did not feel any of the heat.

Even the one who had activated the mines found herself surprised. There was no damage on her body, but their entire house was burning. Running towards her, Jina grabbed Kana by the shoulders and pulled her away. Both of them hit the wall at the end of the room. A dazed Kana stared at the apartment, which had been destroyed in a matter of seconds.

As the two of them watched, a crack appeared in the floor, flowing all the way to the swimming pool. The water started to pour out of the broken windows. Jina trembled, opened the door to their apartment, and looked outside.

Three people she had never seen before were standing at the end of the corridor, right on top of the stairs. They must have been the people living below them. Taking one look at the fire, one of them panicked and ran back down.

“Get out!” Jina screamed, pulling Kana and dragging her out as smaller explosions further rocked the insides. “Tell every floor. Don’t use the elevator!”

The two remaining neighbors nodded and ran down. Jina, coughing, dragged Kana out of the scene and led her down.

About ten minutes later, the two of them sat on the sidewalk, looking up at the burning building. The fire had spread to six floors below them. The soot had coated nearly the entire structure.

And yet, not a single person had been hurt. That was, perhaps, the only good thing to come out of this.

Jina took one look at Kana, hoping to shout at her for what she had done. But when she did, she lost all confidence. She lost the wish to tell this woman anything.

Because lying on the concrete with her eyes wide open was nothing more than an empty husk of a human being.