The Secret Business Partner of That Idol (4)
Seeing the mirror subtly tracking Nagase Yohiko’s every movement, I realized my hunch had been right. But why didn’t they install something like this at school? The answer came easily once I thought about it. No insane mage would dare pull a stunt like this in a place where both a demon royal and the elf leader’s daughter were present. So instead, they’d naturally set it up in a softer target—one that only Yohiko frequented, the place where she could happily go haha over her beloved idol, Red Butterfly.
I picked up a nearby stone and hurled it at the mirror. The sound of shattering glass rang out, followed by the distinct crunch of something mechanical breaking inside. So the surface was just camouflage—the real device had been hidden within.
When Yohiko finished her call and returned with an irritated expression, I spoke up.
“Looks like things didn’t go well?”
“There was… an issue.”
“If it’s a money problem, you could just come over, right?”
“Come over?”
“Change your nationality. These days, with all the monster problems, immigration is easy. And in countries where you’re considered an adult, you can manage your own assets.”
“…Are you telling me to leave my parents?”
“That’s not what I meant, but…”
“Please don’t concern yourself with it.”
“Alright.”
I probably shouldn’t have stuck my nose into someone else’s family business.
“If you’re pretending to care about me while actually scheming something, I’m sorry to say you’ve failed.”
“Yeah…”
I pointed at the broken mirror and continued.
“Some nonhuman fan of yours was watching you through that thing.”
“…Pardon?”
“Exactly what I said. But since I was being friendly with you, it seemed to get upset. It was radiating some nasty energy through the mirror. I’m guessing it can do something remotely?”
“…”
“I’m thinking the attack last time might have been done the same way.”
“I see.”
“I don’t mean anything bad by this, but would it be okay if I walked you home? Just in case.”
“…”
“Both me and my little sister will go with you.”
“Let me say it again. I dislike Haru-nim’s little sister.”
Primrose is better than me at detecting or using mana, after all.
“If that’s how you feel… fine. We’ll do it that way. But how exactly are we going to walk home together? If you don’t want to, I won’t force it.”
“I’ll rent a room at your house.”
“Haa… What? Are you crazy?!”
“The things in the temporary lodging I’m using… my clothes keep disappearing.”
“Shouldn’t you report that to the police?”
“I’m an idol. If the police get involved, it’ll leak to the media and become a huge headache. Besides, among the stolen clothes… there are some very personal items.”
In other words, the list of stolen goods included embarrassing “personal items” she couldn’t even say out loud.
“You can come, but I’m sorry—we don’t have any spare rooms right now.”
“Is it a studio?”
“No, it’s an apartment, but I already have people living with me. Nonhumans, too.”
“…Excuse me?”
“There’s Sorcia, Daisy, two little sisters, and one Kasif.”
“Wait a second~!!! You’re telling me you live with four Serena Union members that are almost impossible to see in one place?! With you?!”
“It just kind of happened. Oh, I used casual speech again.”
“Ah… I was so shocked I slipped without realizing. I’m sorry.”
“You can speak casually with me. As long as other people don’t catch you treating me that warmly, it’s fine.”
“Avoiding any situation that could spark rumors is basic common sense for a top-tier idol.”
“Yeah, yeah. So what do you want to do? Just get escorted?”
“There’s a house I bought under my company’s name nearby. I originally left it empty so no one would find out I was the real owner, but given the current situation, I don’t have much choice. Would you like to stay there with me for a while?”
“Hold on, how much does a house around here even cost that you can say you bought one so casually…”
“I am Nagase Yohiko! Leader of the shining butterfly, Red Butterfly! Do you really think someone like me couldn’t afford a single house?”
“Well, being a top idol probably means you have plenty of money.”
Then buying a house wouldn’t be a problem.
“Can all of us fit in that house?”
“It’s a two-story standalone home, so there are plenty of rooms. And you can install whatever security equipment you want. With two Serena Union princesses living there, you wouldn’t install surveillance cameras just to film me, right?”
“Of course not.”
“Right. Of course. Then it’s settled? I’ll call a cleaning service right away to get it ready. We can move in together tomorrow.”
“Huh?”
“Oh. Give me your personal information. I’ll register you as the homeowner.”
“Wait… Isn’t that your house? You bought it.”
“Putting it in my name would be annoying. Since you live with two princesses, Haru-nim, you wouldn’t have any reason to be interested in my house. Right?”
“You didn’t trust me at all before, but now you’re suddenly doing this. It feels weird.”
“Would someone who lives with two Serena Union princesses try to scam me?”
So this is the power of Sorcia and Daisy.
“If I tell them to clean it today, we can move in tomorrow.”
“Just so you know, one of the girls living with me is an Infected, and we’ll be bringing a dog too. Is that okay?”
“It’s fine.”
“Really?”
“Haru-nim will take care of it, won’t you?”
“That’s true. I’ll make sure there are no problems no matter what.”
I would use any means necessary. That was the promise I made when I brought Daye home.
I won’t abandon you like your parents did. Like your friends did. Like your teachers did. Like the whole world did. I will definitely make sure you can live as an ordinary girl.
“Then starting tomorrow we’ll be living together. But is there any way we could do something today? Even just staying together for one night would be fine. I can rent you a really nice hotel room.”
“Is it okay to stay with a guy like me? And you’re an idol. You said I shouldn’t be seen acting close with you.”
“Couldn’t you come without anyone noticing?”
“Sorry, that’s impossible.”
“You really can’t come?”
When Yohiko suddenly spoke with a desperate look on her face, I hesitated for a moment. In that instant, I felt someone’s rage flicker past. The moment I looked around because of it, the air twisted.
“A rift?”
Grotesquely distorted lizardmen poured out. Damn it. Not this crap again! I cursed inwardly and threw the basic attack spell Fireball that I had secretly practiced alone. The lizardman shrieked so loudly it felt like my ears would burst and died on the spot. Blood sprayed from its body into the air, and I shielded Yohiko with my own body so none of it would splash onto her.
I thought it was over after killing the lizardman, but then human soldiers appeared behind it. I had no idea how they got here so fast. Our country’s military is seriously amazing!!
But the flesh of the soldiers I thought were rescuers began to writhe. Sharp horns burst through skin swollen like tumors. As I created another fireball to eliminate the monsters and prepared an attack spell, a strange scent hit me. Something alien. It felt familiar, but I couldn’t quite remember it—until the realization struck.
“…That’s it.”
The same scent that had come from Daye’s blood. The scent that came from the blood of the Infected. It was the stench of contamination-type monsters from infected zones that lured innocent children, turning them into Infected or straight-up monsters. The moment I realized it was identical to the scent that had ruined Daye, a wave of intense disgust washed over me.
“Grrrrr…”
A sound that wasn’t human came from my throat. The inside of my mouth itched with an alien sensation. Unable to hold it back, I let out a roar. Crimson flames flew out and engulfed the soldiers who had become monsters. Without making a single sound, they were reduced to nothing but a handful of ash.
When I inhaled, the contaminated mana rising from the monsters’ corpses flowed into my body. I returned to my original form.
What the hell was that just now…
While I was still stunned, Primrose arrived late at the scene. Seeing me back in human shape, she spoke in the most ordinary sibling-like tone she could manage.
“Oppa, the class bell is about to ring! If you’re late, the teacher will scold you, so you need to hurry!”
“I can’t believe it’s already this late. Thanks, Rose!”
Even though I was just an ordinary human, the fact that I could use magic was already strange enough. And now I had turned into some bizarre monster. Just what on earth had I become? I thought to myself, completely unable to make sense of my bizarre ability.
Nagase Yohiko looked at the boy named Haru in front of her with a lonely expression as she recalled her own past.
Her mother had been like a star of the school during her school days—a [shining] woman who drew men to her like moths to a flame. Mother fell in love with one of them and gave birth to me at the tender age of sixteen. The man who had said he would “take responsibility” the moment he heard she was pregnant immediately abandoned her. In the end, she gave birth to me alone.
After the birth, when she returned to school, the students and teachers whispered behind her back.
She’s already selling her body and has a kid?
At that age, she’s already poisoned by money. Isn’t she crazy?
How much do I have to pay?
Will she do it with me too?
Mother couldn’t endure the filthy gossip. She threw away her school uniform. While scraping by on pocket change at the very bottom of society, she met a rich man and learned the taste of real money. Once the money started flowing in, everyone who had looked down on her began bowing and flattering her. Mother would laugh by herself and say,
“I’m shining again.”
She tried to break up with that man and return to an ordinary life, but by then she was already addicted to money. A woman who shone like her realized the easiest way to earn it. Once the money came in and she began to shine once more, she bought piles of luxury goods and pretty things to maintain that glow. But it didn’t last forever.
As she grew older, her beauty faded. The less beautiful she became, the less money she earned. The more she clung to expensive things to fill her depleted self-esteem, the closer the footsteps of debt collectors came. Mother told me,
“Yohiko, after all I’ve done to raise you? You look just like me, so you’ll earn way more. So go out and make money!”
She wanted me to follow the same path. I hated the idea of living the same broken life as my mother. While searching for an honest way to earn money, I saw an idol audition advertisement and thought, This is it. I auditioned and became an idol.
I worked desperately for my mother and eventually became the best idol. I became a being who shone far brighter than my mother ever had, and I earned a lot of money. I thought I would finally be free of that wretched pain. But I was wrong.
The more money there was, the worse my mother became. Recently she even told me to give money to some man she introduced as “Dad.” I knew the situation was wrong and told her to stop, but Mother insisted the man was making her shine again and refused.
I thought about abandoning her, but she was the person who had given birth to me. She was the only one who had ever truly cherished me. So I endured and endured. But Mother, seduced by that man’s false whispers of [love], tried to take all my money to open a huge bar in Shinjuku under his name.
I reached my limit. I spoke with my agency, moved all my money overseas, had it deposited into foreign accounts, and began living abroad while only doing overseas performances so the two of them couldn’t reach me.
When their main source of money—me—disappeared, Mother and that man started calling every single day. When I deliberately didn’t answer, they sent threatening texts saying they would give an interview claiming the parents who raised me had abandoned them because they were no longer useful.
To think people who called themselves parents saw their own child as nothing more than an ATM that spat out money. Any last shred of pity I had left vanished.
I wanted to abandon Mother right then and there. But I knew that if I left, she would use any means necessary to cling to me—her personal ATM. She would take money from reporters and leak everything to the press, or use the fact that I was still a minor and she was my legal guardian to bind me.
Because of that, I couldn’t do anything. And on top of this infuriating situation, a stalker had appeared.
Normally, a top idol like me always has stalkers, but this one was on another level. Even after I went abroad, he followed me every day, monitoring my every move. Somehow he got into my room and stole the socks I had worn the day before.
Monster attacks had started happening too. I had been in danger several times, but each time my manager appeared and barely managed to handle it.
Why is all of this happening to me?
Was a normal life too much to ask for someone like me?
The strange boy who could use magic even though he was human—the one who had told me that the stalker tormenting me was actually a mage—was none other than Haru.
And right now, that Haru stood before me in the form of a massive wolf with pure white fur fluttering in the wind. Two enormous, brilliant wings had sprouted from his back. As I watched him slaughter the monsters like a divine beast from myth, I murmured quietly.
“I’ve finally found it.”
The [KEY] that would completely resolve this infuriating situation.