I Quit Being an Idol and Became a Youtuber - Chapter 57

The car that Shion was driving passed through the downtown area and entered a residential neighborhood.

As I got out of the car, a two-story house that looked like it came out of a comic caught my eye.

“Wow…”

I couldn’t help but exclaim in admiration at the sight.

I had known it for a long time, but Shion was really well-off.

I suddenly realized how messy our parents’ home, which was just a single room filled with trash, had been.

“But, is it really okay for me to come in?”

“It’s fine, both of them are on a business trip abroad.”

Shion answered my worry.

Well, that’s a relief; I won’t have to worry about being uncomfortable.

‘My mother doesn’t really like me that much…’

Ah. Just to clarify, she’s not someone who blindly believes articles floating around on the Internet.

It’s not that she’s concerned about recent controversies; she’s just always been a bit like that.

Perhaps because of our parents, who have thrown responsibility far away to Andromeda, she just doesn’t like my background.

Well. From the parents’ perspective, I can understand it, but still, it feels a bit like being treated like a germ.

I’m not some daughter-in-law trying to win over my mother-in-law.

Is there really a need to improve our relationship? I’m currently avoiding it.

It’s like a mongoose and a cobra kind of relationship.

Creeeak—

As Shion opened the front door, I cautiously entered the house.

“So, you two live here together?”

“Yeah? Well, sort of? The dormitory hasn’t opened yet.”

Just then, a voice came from upstairs as if waiting for the moment.

“Uh? What’s going on? Who’s here?”

With the sound of someone slowly coming down the wooden stairs, a black-haired beautiful girl peeked out around the corner.

“Uh…?”

“Hey, Kotoh?”

It was a face I absolutely couldn’t not recognize, even if it were a different kid.

By the way, she has changed a lot. When did she grow so much?

As the girl who came down to the first floor noticed, Ren cautiously greeted her.

A beauty with smooth black hair and brown eyes.

Shion’s younger sister, who just entered high school.

Her name was Takamine Kotoh.

“Onii-chaan!”

Kotoh, who recognized Ren’s presence, immediately hugged her.

“Whoa, be careful. You might fall.”

“Hehe…”

I gently patted Kotoh, who was burying her face in Ren’s embrace.

As the younger sister of the male protagonist, she held a certain significance in the game.

Of course, there were no routes, so don’t worry.

She was just a character playing the role of a monitor to see if the heroines were decent people.

‘But she’s especially affectionate to me.’

Could it be because I’ve been seeing her since she was little?

Maybe it’s because I treated her cutely differently from the original story.

She might have been happy to have a close, older same-gender friend after just having older brothers.

Considering that in the original story the two of them had crazy sparks flying, it would be believable even if this were an alternate world.

“Hey, shouldn’t we go in first?”

“Oh, right.”

The hug that had lasted for a while finally broke apart only after Shion’s words.

“By the way, why are you two together? No way…?”

After getting out of my arms, Kotoh began to look at us both with a strange expression.

Late evening. A guy and a girl in a car, heading to the guy’s house…

Well, it’s certainly a situation that would be perfect for a drama.

In that sense…

“…I’m confiscating your Winter Sonata.”

“Huh?! I’m sorry, Onii-chan! Please forgive me!!”

Kotoh despaired at Shion’s declaration.

To make Kotoh like that… I can’t forgive Korean dramas.

“Well, it’s not like that. Just that some problems came up. I decided to stay here for a few days.”

“Oh, I see…”

At those words, as if recalling issues regarding me, Kotoh’s mood quickly dropped.

“Sis, I don’t believe anything those people say.”

“Right, right.”

Our cute Kotoh wouldn’t get swept away by such rumors.

Hearing that a drama was being discussed makes me a bit uneasy.

But it should be fine.

Pat pat—

“Kyaa—!”

When I patted her head, Kotoh, appearing pleased, acted a bit spoiled.

She looks husky, but her personality is totally like a retriever.

Upon entering the house, the pretty interior immediately caught my eye.

Perhaps because my mother has a slight cleanliness obsession, the house was very well organized.

“First, you can use the spare room on the second floor.”

“…There’s a spare room.”

Is it because both parents are executives at overseas conglomerates?

Who said that everyone is equal?

I once again realized that the world is unfair.

I unpacked my things in the spare room and went back down to the first floor.

As I cautiously peeked into the kitchen, Shion was preparing a meal.

“What are you doing?”

“Oh, it’s almost dinner time.”

Hmm, so it’s a meat-based diet today.

Well, it must be tough for Kotoh now that she’s entered high school. She’ll need to eat well in advance.

“Give it to me, I’ll do it.”

The distance from my house to here was a full hour.

After driving without stopping at the rest area for that time, wouldn’t he be tired?

This is the least I can do for him.

“Oh.”

I approached him and snatched the frying pan.

I’ll be the one to cook the meat.

“So, take that off.”

I pointed to the apron Shion was wearing.

“…Since there’s one Kotoh used, I can give that one to you.”

Before I knew it, I had already wrapped the apron around myself and started preparing.

But the chest part feels a bit…

No, it’s really tight…?

“Can’t you just wear yours?”

“…Please, don’t say that, idol-san.”

Referring to the apron request was rejected as if it was only natural.

Well, Shion is still a guy, after all.

He might be sensitive about another girl wearing his clothes.

‘Thinking about it, I really threw a very embarrassing line, didn’t I?’

As I turned my head again with that thought, I noticed Shion looking at me with a somewhat anxious expression.

…What’s this?

“I can cook quite a bit, you know?”

“Really…?”

Having secretly practiced cooking to feed the kids without letting the boss know about keeping my figure, I’ve improved my skills a bit.

‘Well, how does one build muscles without feeding them some meat?’

First of all, you have to eat healthily to gain muscles.

That person probably has never done any gym exercises.

More importantly, does he think I’m some kind of alchemist? I might as well make a poison dish.

As long as you follow the instructions, it should be over half already. What nonsense.

Anyways, enough about cooking…

“So, what are you thinking?”

I asked Shion, who was currently chopping vegetables, about the future plans.

“…For now, I’ve already informed the others. It’ll be more effective to do it together than to do it alone.”

Hmm, that makes sense.

It’s definitely more impactful for an idol from the agency to directly reveal things rather than a simple insider whistleblower, whether it’s good or bad.

But…

“Are you sure it’s okay?”

Although I gave permission to do as he pleased, I still couldn’t help but feel anxious.

If it’s revealed, there could be legal disputes with the company’s legal team.

“Yeah, so for now, I’m planning to only spill the things we can definitely win with.”

To sum it up, he was planning to expose issues like internal personnel corruption within the company.

Hmm, if that happens, he might not be able to do anything about the stalker issue from that side.

There’s no solid proof that the company leaked my information anyway.

“Then, let’s just drop the stalker issue casually through the lyrics.”

“…Is that okay?”

“Sure, no problem.”

We just have to use it to grab attention.

I might get some more curses thrown at me, but I’m already getting them, so what does it matter?

Now I’ll just ignore the comments section altogether.

“Definitely, the effects will be better… Kotoh! Get ready for dinner!”

“I’ve already done everything! Ahem!”

Turning to that voice, I saw that Kotoh had already finished setting the table.

Oh, how mature of her.

The atmosphere makes her seem really grown-up.

‘Wow, she’s two years younger than Yui?’

No matter how you look at it, she seems more mature.

Should I completely change everything here? (Just kidding)

“Wow, Sis… that apron. It’s really pretty…”

Kotoh, whose voice gradually got softer as she spoke, eventually looked down at herself.

When she noticed her feet, a somewhat bittersweet feeling washed over her.

“Stop thinking weird things and sit down quickly.”

“Yes…”

Kotoh, feeling down, only sat down after Shion’s scolding echoed.

“By the way, this is really the first time the three of us are having a meal together in a long time!”

“Has it really been that long?”

Just a moment of feeling defeated about my underdeveloped body was gone.

As soon as she picked up her spoon, Kotoh came back to life and continued speaking.

Let me see, it doesn’t feel that long.

About three or four years…

“Well, it’s probably been almost ten years, right?”

“More precisely, about eight and a half?”

“…Is that really true?”

That means the last time was when I was in middle school.

‘Why is my sense of time like this?’

Ren was in shock.

* * *

“Etchu?!”

Meanwhile, Yui at the lodging sneezed.

“What’s up? Yui, are you sick?”

“Uh, not really…”

Did someone say something bad about me somewhere?

Yui quietly rubbed her nose.

Given that she was getting goosebumps, she might be coming down with a cold.

“Do you know about that? The, uh, corona?”

“What are you talking about! I’ve never been to China!”

This isn’t some ransomware.

How could a disease that’s only spreading in China find its way to her, who has just been holed up in a Japanese lodging?

Yui rebutted Hina’s remark and focused back on the meeting.

While Hikari had left to meet with other entertainers, all the members were sitting in the living room.

“So, everyone, can we all share our opinions on what we should do next?”

At Natsume’s words, the eyes of the Cornelia members changed.

Given Ren’s almost forced departure and Hikari’s situation, dissatisfaction had already built up plenty.

And just that was more than enough.

“Excuse me? Did your sister get targeted by a stalker?!”

It was a story delivered through Shion, who had just come back from the police station.

This alone was a huge event. The words that followed were even more shocking.

‘The company leaked information…’

Common sense would suggest that this is extreme.

But there was only one possible suspect.

‘And it feels like there might be reason behind it.’

Since the stalker had been sent to jail by the company’s legal team, there was a chance there had been some contact during that time.

The way the company had been operating lately felt somewhat strange too.

If I could, I would want to gather Hikari and the President in the office and throw a bomb or something at them, but what can you do…

“First of all, realistically, holding a press conference is going to be difficult.”

You can’t just call journalists so easily.

Especially for major media companies.

“Then how about a YouTube live stream? There are a lot of people who would watch, and we can do it right away.”

“But can we use the company’s official account?”

“Won’t it be fine since the producer will manage it anyway? The aftereffects will be the problem.”

Emotions are one thing, but being careful is still necessary.

You never know what kind of backlash you might face if you get swept away by emotions.

Even though we’re planning to deal with this with plenty of evidence in our favor, the opponent is a huge group known as a talent agency.

Among them, there are quite a few lawyers.

We need to first secure the win with a foolproof method.

Once opinions began to come together, the sub-leader Natsume spoke up.

“Then, let me ask just one more time before we proceed.”

Is everyone prepared?

“We might really end up going for a legal lawsuit, and we may never return to this industry again. No, we definitely won’t come back.”

There aren’t many agencies willing to keep an idol who exposes the company.

Even if there are, most of them probably wouldn’t be genuinely committed to the entertainment industry or wouldn’t offer proper support.

Even if we somehow debut, we probably wouldn’t be able to come back as major stars.

Given the nature of an idol whose face is all over, if things go wrong this time, finding a different job would be tricky.

It’s a gamble that entails betting both the 20-plus years of life we’ve built and the future life we’re going to lead.

Honestly, I could understand if someone just wanted to back out now.

In response to her words, as if waiting, the members began to respond.

“Let’s go for it. We’ve got no other choice.”

“A fabulous retirement ceremony that comes with an explosion sounds like something out of a tokusatsu film. I like it.”

Though the expressions varied, the meaning behind their words was the same.

“Then, I’ll consider everyone’s agreement… Let’s get prepared for the live.”

Let’s properly hit those bastards on the back of the head.