After spending the entire day trying to come up with new lyrics and setting up a viral-worthy hook step with their dance instructor, Kana and Jina finally took the same car home at nine in the evening. It wasn’t late enough for them to go to sleep, but it had also sucked enough energy out of them that the ride was spent in peace.

  Coming back to their apartment, Kana retired to her room and crashed on her bed immediately. This was just the first day. Maybe she was more tired than she should have been because it was a Sunday, and she wasn’t mentally prepared, but she knew that this amount of work was normal. She had also signed that contract, which made her put in more time than normal.

  As she flipped back and looked at the designer fake ceiling, she wondered what kind of contract Jina had signed. She had worked the same amount of time as Kana and had even entered the building before her. What were her final goals, either way? Kana shook her head and decided that it wasn’t worth thinking about. For now, a good bath would do.

  Stepping into the precisely cleaned bathroom, she took off her clothes and hopped into the shower. She was an avid hater of cold water, but it soothed her today. After all that work, this was exactly what she had needed. Tomorrow would be even worse. She had no idea about the specifics yet, but Monday was when the Battle Royale for the week would start.

  From tomorrow, they needed to do everything they had done today, and then also go to the Monster Dimension to start harvesting points. She spread her fingers along her hair and brought it all together. Keeping it in her hands, the stress on her neck was much less than normal. She took a deep breath and enjoyed the feeling for now.

  “Kana?”

  She turned to notice Jina standing in the doorway, looking straight in. For a split second, their eyes met, and Jina’s eyes moved downwards. Personally, Kana could not care less, but Jina wasn’t exactly an ugly person. Thankfully, that goth bitch was the one who reacted first. Jumping back and hiding behind the wall, she apologized and then continued,

  “Yamazaki’s here for some reason. He’s brought a laptop with him and said that he has some important information for us in there. You called him?”

  “Yeah. Wait in the living room, and I’ll be there in a moment.”

  “Is this about your magnificent plan?”

  “I asked you to wait downstairs, didn’t I?”

  “Fine, fine.”

  Jina retired from the room, and Kana got back to her bath. She knew that she needed to hurry, but she wanted to stay here forever. It was just so peaceful. Still, she hurriedly stretched her body a little to wake herself up, and then turned the shower off.

  Putting on a bathrobe and wrapping hair with a towel, and went to the closet and pulled it open. Last night, she had spent quite a bit of time arranging all of her effects in there properly. She took out a perfume and sprayed it on herself sometimes. When she was smelling just right, she put it back and left her room.

  Climbing down the stairs, she noticed Yamazaki and Jina sitting at the dining table. He had her back to her, while she was staring straight up at the doorway.

  “Geez, at least put on some clothes!” Jina complained.

  Yamazaki did not move an inch, continuing to type on his laptop as he worked on multiple tabs and windows at the same time. Kana smiled and decided to take a quick detour to the kitchen. Earlier in the morning, she had seen some orange juice in the fridge, which she took out and poured a glass of for herself. Then, out of pure goodwill for the other two, she got them a glass each and the entire bottle of juice.

  Bringing it to the table, she sat down and kept the empty glasses in front of them to let them pour it themselves. Jina quietly took up the offer, while Yamazaki resisted. Instead, he just turned the screen towards them and coughed once. Apologizing, he took a napkin out of his pocket and covered his mouth.

  On the screen that he had turned towards them was a live camera feed. Kana crossed her legs and leaned in. The time was close to ten in the morning, which meant they were looking at the exact opposite side of the world. If she had to guess, then the environment suggested that it was Brazil. She looked back at Yamazaki and waited for him to start. Jina, meanwhile, focused on enjoying her juice.

  “The A Team is currently out of Japan. They’re in Brazil for a music video shoot, and will be coming back in 12 hours to participate in the Battle Royale this week.” He said, “The camera feed is of the mansion that they are currently halted at. I guessed that it would be easier to get them acquainted with you if you saw them live.”

  “And?” Jina peered deeper as the three girls appeared out of the mansion in swimsuits and walked to the pool, “It was absolutely necessary to do that while they were going swimming?”

  “That’s…just the time we landed at.” Yamazaki looked down at the table in embarrassment.

  “She is just joking, Yamazaki-san. Keep going, and please, drink some orange juice. It is not half bad. Taira-san seems to know the brands she is picking.”

  “Taira?” He asked, “Aiko Taira? She is the representative for your batch?”

  “Why? Do you have a crush on her, Yamazaki-san?” Jina laughed and leaned in closer, blocking the screen as she forced the poor manager to give her an answer.

  “N-no!”

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  Kana looked at his flushed face. What a pathetic man. Was there anyone in this industry who was not lying all the time? Well, her, obviously. But nobody else she met had the courage to just say things as they were? Ryu Sakai had tried, but even he had disguised his actual threats in his statements. Now, she had to face it on a whole other level. A thirty-plus-year-old man too uncomfortable to admit he thought a girl looked pretty.

  She put her palm on Jina’s face and pushed her away as she asked, “Why? Is there something about Taira-san?”

  “No, nothing.” He shook his head, “She, uh…Aiko Taira was actually the one who scouted the current group members of Ruby Passion. She was also their manager for three months before she was removed from her position.”

  Kana took that information and put it in the more important sections of her mind. Aiko Taira, then, was someone to be watched out for. Her warnings before had not been hollow. Being kicked out of the Ruby Passion group just weeks before they went viral was certainly a choice that she would have to look deeper into when she got a chance. For now, though, Sakai Entertainment’s A Team was her target.

  “Who’s the blonde?” Kana asked.

  One of the girls, wearing a blue two-piece with floral patterns, was resting on a poolside chair with sunglasses and a straw hat. A martini in hand, she was clearly the one most at peace with her current position. Plus, the color of her hair was certainly something that attracted Kana. It reminded her of Emi.

  “That’s Chika Maeda.” Yamazaki pointed at her, as if it wasn’t obvious who the one with the golden hair was, “Stage Name, Kelsey.”

  “Kelsey?” Jina asked, “What kind of name is that?”

  “Well, she was adamant that she wanted something close to kerosene, since she claims that she ‘sets the stage on fire’ when performing. So, they took advantage of her blonde hair dye to sell her as a west-obsessed idol called Kelsey.”

  “What does she do?” Kana finished her orange juice and poured another glass for herself. The bottle was slowly ending, and Yamazaki still hadn’t taken any. She looked at Jina, who still had half a glass, and then back at the screen.

  “Kelsey is the best dancer in the group. Her vocals are average, but she makes up for it by having a natural sense of rhythm. She also took voice lessons when she was younger, so it smooths out.”

  Kana hated her types the most. Taking lessons to become something you are not? Who did she think the original singer was? Did the original singer ever take lessons? No, they did not. Nobody in this world needed to learn skills from other people. If you were good at something, then you did it over and over again until you were perfect at it. Nobody had taught Kana how to bend people to her will. She had gone and learned it all on her own.

  But that was that for Chika Maeda. Or Kelsey, as she preferred.

  Yamazaki waited for her to say something, but she did not. She wanted to pressure him into taking the lead. Someone who would wait for her to order him at every point did not deserve to be managing her. Once he caught on to that, and Jina got back to focusing on her juice, he pointed at a second girl and started to speak.

  “This one. The one with the brown bob-cut. She is Rie Rin.”

  She was in a yellow one-piece. Resting inside the water, she had the third group member right beside her. The two of them were floating and having a nice chat while eating grapes, which were also floating in a container beside them.

  “Rie Rin?” Jina laughed, “Nice. Very nice. Group full of eccentricities.”

  Yamazaki smiled, but then wiped it off his face, “Rie Rin’s stage name is Riri. For…obvious reasons. She is not particularly good at anything, but she has a way of commanding stage presence and making sure that everyone remains in line. She is the leader of the group for all tactical purposes.”

  Kana, once more, did not say anything. This time, Yamazaki kept up with her wishes and immediately switched to the third and final member, who preferred a dull magenta color. At least her long, silky black hair made up for it.

  “Lead Vocalist Mari Sanada. She does not have a stage name and prefers to just go by Sanada. Nothing particularly stands out about her more than that.”

  “What’s that on her leg?” Jina peered into the screen, and Kana had to move her head away again to check what she meant.

  Sure enough, Sanada’s leg had a bandage on it. It was wrapped all around her ankle, and she had held it stiff the entire time, paying close attention that it did not get wet. Yamazaki acknowledged it too and nodded.

  “Sanada-san recently got-”

  “Sanada.” Kana looked at him.

  “Excuse me?”

  “No need for honorifics. They’re the competition. Call her Sanada and nothing else.”

  Yamazaki looked at her for a second, and then at Jina. All her roommate did was shrug, and finished her juice. As she reached out for the bottle, Kana stopped her hand in the way and pushed it back. The juice was not for her. There was only enough for one glass, and there was someone else on this table who needed to learn to take things when they came his way.

  Normally, Kana would not push herself this far to force someone else to change. But she had seen that fire in his eyes this morning. He was going to take. And when she met his eyes once more, he did. Yamazaki picked the bottle up, poured the entire juice into his empty glass, and took a small sip.

  Turning back to the screen, he started, “Sanada hurt herself when she was practicing for the music video. As a result, her placement was reduced, and she took over some of the vocals that were originally given to RiRi. She has more of her voice in there, but does not really appear much now.”

  Kana smiled and locked her eyes on Sanada. Mari Sanada. Now, her plan was going even better than before. She had already found her first target, and now all that was left to do was hammer that nail until it caused the brick to break.

  Yamazaki drank more of the juice with his eyes on the two of them. Kana looked at the two beside her and sighed too. It wasn’t the ideal team, but they would do. She hated Jina with a passion for what she had done to her, but she was a competent dancer, singer, and fighter. Yamazaki needed to be pushed to do things, but it would only be two or three more pushes until he started to make decisions on his own.

  “Alright then, Yamazaki-san. Moving on.” She said, “Tell us about their classes.”

  “For…the Battle Royale? But they are on our side there.”

  “That’s exactly why.” Jina said, “We need to know our allies, too, don’t we?”

  “Right…”

  And so, he started with that. As Kana took all the information in, the grin on her face got wider. The universe was with her. This was going to go a bit too well, and that was exactly how she needed it to go. Looking down at the building Emi had been held hostage in, Kana took a breath of relief. Tomorrow, when she entered the Battle Royale, she would start putting her plan into action.

  every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday at 14:22 UTC! See you on the 17th!