Chapter 2

Lookie lookie, Niki! The food I ordered for you just got here! That’ll fix your piss-ass mood, riiight?

Yep! I loooove you, Rinne-kun! All right, let’s dig in~ ☆

HiMERU often worries that you’re a bit too simple-minded, Shiina.

I don’t care about anything as long as I can get some food in my belly!

Wooow, this chain’s not just tea and snacks—It’s got a full menu to boot~ ♪

Shiina-senpai, was it? Your order was that you’re prohibited to, umm… you know.

You know. (lol)

I–I didn’t know what else to say!

We’re under obligation to keep our orders a secret, so if we reveal them or if someone correctly identifies them, we’re liable to be fined!

With the alliance Knights has formed with Crazy:B, we should refrain from doing anything that might be detrimental to them, shouldn’t we?

That’s right. Well, I do think the rules in that general area have gotten a bit muddied—That is, it feels like at this point they’re just rules in name.

Even still, we must abide by the rules.

—How earnest of you. HiMERU doesn’t dislike that straightforward personality of yours.

Then I’m leavin’ the report all up to Meru-Meru, since he loves ‘em so much!

I’m way too busy eatin’ all this takoyaki and onokomiyaki right in front of poor widdle Niki here! Gyahahaha ☆

You’re so evil! You make me sick…!

(Hm~ That Shiina guy’s order was probably that he can’t eat any food that contains flour.)

(What a shame; we’re in Osaka and he can’t even eat takoyaki and whatnot.)

(—The idols at ES were given these orders by the Administration as a fun addition.)

(If we don’t follow those orders, we’re given a fine.)

(And if we want to win the Qualifiers for SS, we’ll need to stockpile a lot of money—SSL$.)

(So getting fined essentially means that winning the Qualifiers will just be that much farther out of reach.)

(For the idols who don’t care much about winning—or should I say, for the idols who don’t care much for SS, it’s just a fun little game they don’t have to worry about.)

(But Knights will always fight, and we will always triumph.)

(That’s how we got famous, it’s how we climbed up to our current position as one of ES’s Big Three. That’s a badge of honor even UNDEAD, even Anija, couldn’t get.)

(I don’t know what Secchan or Tsukipi~ or anyone else thinks, but at least for me, it’s not something I can throw away so easily.)

…Well then, our report.

If things continue, then at worst, the Qualifiers in Kansai where we’ve been placed will be null and void. It won’t be a game at all.

So before that happens, we’ll need to take countermeasures.

—Yes. HiMERU doesn’t think we can expect much from the Administration, to be honest. Naturally, they must be aware of the state Kansai is in…

But as of now, they haven’t made any attempt to deal with it.

Yes. Which is why I’d like to solve the predicament we’re in and use the results as a banner to display.

I’m positive the Administration is worried about the disaster which has struck the Kansai region.

If we are able to solve this problem, then we may even receive a special reward for our true dedication to ES.

Just like how Switch from our agency was granted a special exception to advance to the SS Finals, or so I’ve heard.¹

Ohh, you mean that whole SHINSEKAI thing? It looks pretty fun—I wonder how long those guys have been working on it.

Yes, it came as quite the surprise.

I had been under the impression that we were the only ones in our agency making great strides, but it seems that Switch, too, was working behind the scenes—no, under the cover of darkness.

Honestly, I’m pretty glad Aoba-onii-chan’s on our side. Thanks to Switch, NewDi’s been able to stay in the Administration’s field of vision.

The easiest and most reliable way to win a game is to bribe the judges, after all.

Well obviously, we’re not playing dirty or anything, but that’s generally how it works.

God isn’t just; he plays favorites, only allowing his most devout believers into heaven.

And as a unit belonging to NewDi, we were able to do exactly what was asked of us this time.

The general idea that hard work will be rewarded—which we all operated on back when Yumenosaki was the center of our world—has already started breaking down. The morons who haven’t figured this out are going to drop like flies, one by one.

This isn’t high school—The stage we’re standing on now doesn’t care about our hard work.

This society we’re in only cares about the end results.

So as long as we don’t misunderstand the premise, we can definitely win here. We’ve been winning, and we’ll keep winning.

If we keep it up, that’ll give Knights value too.

As long as we have value, we’ll be in demand. And in this capitalist society, we can always be the supply to meet that demand.

—Easy-peasy lemon squeezy ♪

……