123: Injured

“♪ ~ ♪ ~ ♪”

…Hey, Rinne-han. Just what do you think you’re doin’? It’s not like I’m expecting good manners out of you at this point, but can’t you at least follow through on things?

So sorry, I just had a little somethin’-somethin’ I had to take care of. No idea how well it’ll pan out, but yanno, I drove a wedge in there. Now we just sit back and watch ♪

And that’s that! Now that the opening act’s all over, let’s get the real show on the road… ♪

Yeah, okay, but what is this “real show” you’re talkin’ about? We just sent out all those requests to get other units to perform at random, and it was all but a flat-out rejection from all of them.

Won’t it be rough to try and pull off this live just the four of us?

Just hang in there. You’re always gonna have rough patches when you’re gambling, so you just push through the storm ‘til you’re raking in the dough—

And if all the pieces fall in place, we’ll have it a shit-ton easier later on ♪

Or maybe I should say this all how I expected it—I figured all our costars would turn us down.

‘Specially all those big-name units who hate the way we always give our enemies a bad name.

Our confrontation with Akatsuki was effective; the fire we set was bigger than it needed to be. They have still yet to extinguish those flames.

Weaker units have also lost their nerve. A number of them even went bankrupt and collapsed in on themselves immediately after facing us.

So basically, it doesn’t matter whether they’re strong or weak, young or old, man or woman—Everyone and their dog hates our guts.

It’s not like I don’t get that, but then why’d you go through all that trouble to ask other units to come perform?

If you think about it for more than five seconds, there ain’t a single fool out there who’d wanna get mixed up with us; we’d just get ‘em all dirty.

For sure. Like, even I still regret picking up Rinne-kun off the streets an average of three times a day.

Aw, you think about me that much~? Cut it out, Niki, you’re makin’ me blush… ♪

But anyway, that’s not important…

Now listen here: I got Meru-Meru to put together some documentation on our requests to other units and their responses.

Yes, we have a non-disclosure agreement… so HiMERU has taken the utmost care not to infringe on that by hiring a disposable middleman.

Of course, it’s nonetheless a dangerous bridge to cross.

Gyahaha, get outta the kitchen if you can’t take the heat! I’ve already bet all my chips—Only god can know whether I’ll make it big or taste defeat.

So anyway! I’mma go make the official proclamation about the exchanges we had with all those other units. Kickin’ it off with a bang!

Huh…?

“Can I get everyone’s attention now? We had a slow start saying hello, but we’re the Crazy:B you guys know and love!”

“Sorry to crush anyone’s hopes that we wouldn’t be here!”

“But turns out we’re the only ones who’re performing today at Idol Royale!”

“Well, to be honest, we did ask a buncha other units to come out, but can you believe? They all turned us down!”

“None of ‘em wanted anything to do with us. Something about our bad rep I guess? But man, they all think they’re way out of our league!”

“All those other idols who usually put on a good face in front of people—”

“They talk big about love and hopes and dreams and look like they’re enjoying life to the fullest? Yeah, right!”

“It’s nothing but an act, a total sham!”

“They’re all just a buncha collared dogs wagging their tails at their agencies—at ES!”

“All of ‘em, slobbering all over the place as they obey every command their master ES gives them!”

“‘Cause otherwise they’re not getting fed. Must be tough being working adults—I feel for them, I really do! Poor babies!”

“ES is a utopia of idols, by idols, and for idols, huh?”

“Couldn’t be farther from the truth! This is just a factory for breeding and packaging the leading cash cow in the country: idols! It’s nothing but an animal pen!”

“So lemme give you a glimpse into the real feelings of these fake-ass ‘idols’ who insist they’re all hunky-dory being domesticated here!”

“First up, I’mma expose the hypocrisy of those heroes of justice: Ryuseitai!”

…Huh? Uh—wait, isn’t this bad…?

What’s wrong, Takamine? Does your stomach hurt? Exercise is great for helping your gastrointestinal tract, so we could try doing some Hindu squats together ☆

Shut up. …But look at this, Morisawa-senpai.

Did you just tell me to shut up like it was no big deal?! And with such a threatening voice, too! You really are in your rebellious phase, Takamine~ Can you not feel how much I love you?

It’s not a phase; I’m always “rebellious” toward you…

Anyway, here. Look at this. This is like, really bad, isn’t it?

Hmm. This—isn’t good. Depending on how it plays out, it could even be fatal for us.

Let’s get in touch with everyone Ryuseitai and met up. We need to get to the Idol Royale venue.

Huh? What… Are you sure? I know you decided to see me off for whatever reason, but weren’t you swamped with work until tonight?

Yeah, but I’ve been building up trust with my coworkers; they’ll understand.

I’ll just tell them I have to move the date of our shoot to a different day, so for now let’s get going.

No way… You go do your work. I’ll meet up with Tetora-kun and them and handle things.

You’re still a new face, so you’re not in the position to do anything dumb.

One blow is all it could take to break all that trust you worked so hard to build up—Look out for yourself once in a while, too.

Uh, I mean, don’t get carried away; it doesn’t really mather whether you’re there or not.

So quit butting in on everything and just trust that we can deal with it.

Yeah… you’re right. You’ve grown into a fine young man, Takamine. I’m so proud of you ♪

Don’t pat me on the head.

…Anyway, I’m in a hurry, so let’s leave it here for now. I’ll keep you posted about things.

All right. Be careful, Takamine. I have a bad feeling about this.

I’ll admit, I got careless because it’s been so peaceful lately, but it feels like there’s just as much evil swirling in the air as there was two years ago during the revolution… or maybe even more.