The Cheerleaders | Issue #2

"We enter the next scene, somewhere secure. A place that Heiki's mentor had given her, for all of you to use." The Producer meet's Syuko's eyes. "One of your resources, that you picked, is a hidden base. Describe it for us, if you could."

"Okay, cool." The pale girl gave her fox-like grin to the table, as she leaned back in thought. "I'm thinking, it's a small apartment complex, that my father secretly owns. He's made sure of it that no one ever comes here. Its four floors, with one of the rooms being used as a medical lab. The ground floor has a garage that I use for my bike, that I apparently have." She rolls her eyes as Shiki snickers. "One of the floors is used for our own rooms, and a living area. And I think… that it's located somewhere in the middle of the city."

"And you're all there, celebrating your hard fought victory." The Producer finished.

"Oh oh, is this the part where we do our Team Moves?" Frederica asked, raising her hand up.

The Producer nodded back. "Exactly. So, I don't think I need to guide you girls. Your Playbooks should be enough for what you think you can do. The floor is yours."

The girls looked over their respective Playbooks as the Producer sat back himself. Ushio had taken a break from taking pictures, sitting beside him in her a chair she pulled out, sipping on a bottle of water.

"You're really good at this." She commented with a smile.

The Producer shrugged. "My friends and I liked paying these games, especially before I moved to Japan."

"You played other ones?" she asked him curiously.

"This one wasn't released yet." He told her, gesturing to the book on the table. "We played a wide variety of games, of different genres. It's quite the feeling, playing together around a table."

"We're ready, Producer!" Shiki's words cut off any response Ushio might have had. He nodded to the idol, to show her that she had gotten his attention. "Okay, I take Ajax to my room. He was hit hard by the Unknown Soldier, so I need to fix him up later."

"I take off my mask once I'm certain that we're all secure in here." Syuko said, mimicking the motion with her own hands.

"What does your costume look like?" Mika asked her friend. "You said it was derivative of your father's, but we don't know what his looks like."

"I wear a white and blue padded body armor, with a reinforced helmet covering my head. Armory's is white and red." Syuko answered easily. "When my mask comes off, you see a teenager with white hair, cut to her shoulder. There's a cut over my left eye."

"That's just you!" Frederica said in laughter.

"No it's not!" Syuko denied with a smile. "My hair doesn't reach my shoulders! And I don't have a scar on my eye."

"Oh, of course. Now she's a totally different person!" Shiki said, as the group then erupted into laughter.

When the laughter died down, Syuko took the initiative once more. "I turn to the others, to address them, and say 'That was a great mission, everyone! Couldn't have asked for a better result!"

"It felt like we were on the back foot, but things went well." Mika said with a nod and a smile.

"It's because at the end of the day, we were all careful." Kanade interjected, leaning her shoulders on her knees. "We learned our lesson, after we all stumbled into each other that night."

"I'm sorry. I couldn't do much." Frederica said in a low tone, almost whispering.

"It's alright, Venus. It happens to all of us." Shiki said, grabbing the blonde by her shoulder. "It felt like I didn't do much too."

"That's not true." Syuko said with a smirk. "Ajax made sure that none of the hostages were hurt while we all focused on the Unknown Soldier. We were all pivotal."

"I agree. Each one of us played our part." Mika said with a nod.

"You two should not be so down.' I say, as I move to hug the both of them." Kanade said, nodding to the two friends. "You both did incredible. The fact that the Unknown Soldier was so focused on you guys showed how much of a threat you were to it."

"Which in turn allowed us to deal with it, without getting the hostages hurt. Which definitely raised our standing with the heroes, at least." Syuko finished.

"I guess it's no surprise then, we had a good leader with us." Shiki said in a somewhat deprecating tone.

The Producer smiled, seeing the girls really lean into their characters so easily. It shouldn't be surprising, since as idols they would at times get acting jobs (though not as of recent, since the five's responsibilities as LiPPS superseded many other opportunities). But it was still a welcome sight to see again.

"So, let's go through what you girls have then, ok?" he called their attention, as he brought up their Playbook copies he had. "Heiki, your mentor loses influence over you, and you get to mark a potential because Chiron said you were a good leader."

"Nice." The pale girl responded, marking it on her Playbook.

"Venus, you get to clear a condition and mark a potential. And Chiron, you gain influence over Heiki."

"I already have influence over her though." Shiki said as Frederica marked her potential.

"Then you get to shift her labels." He told her.

"Oh, uhm…" she closed her eyes in thought for a quick second. "You were being really nice and considerate. Move your Mundane up and Freak down."

"Alright." Syuko responded in turn.

"Would my mission debrief give me anything, Producer?" the brunette asked him.

"Hold on, let me check." He brought a copy of her Playbook into his hand, and read through her move list. "Ah, okay. Wait a minute." He looked in thought for a few seconds. "I will allow it. So, take a potential and shift your Superior down."

"I'll shift Savior up, because of Ajax's efforts."

"Good. Wonderwood, you gave someone an affectionate gesture, so you give them influence over you."

Kanade nodded, turning to look at Frederica. "I'll give it to Venus, and since she already has influence over me, then…"

"You should also shift your Mundane up, but your Superior should go down." The blonde said with a smile.

"And Rider, you didn't do anything with your Team Moves."

Mika shook her head and shrugged. "I figured since I don't have any conditions, and have a bit of potential, I'm fine."

"Alright then. You girls still have a bit of time left though, so you can do what you want while we're here." The Producer said to them.

"Then I guess I'll try and comfort or support Chiron then." Mika said, meeting the brunette's eyes. "Before she leaves to fix her bot."

"Then roll for it please." The pink haired girl took the dice, and threw it onto the table.

A 6, and a 4. "10, +3 with my Mundane. I maxed out!" Mika said excitedly.

"You didn't even need your +3!" Syuko said in light hysterics.

"Wow, so what can I do then?" Shiki asked, looking over the move list. "Oh, I see. I'll mark a potential."

"What?! You have two conditions crossed!" Mika responded flabbergasted.

"What? More potential is good though." Shiki said without shame, as the girls laughed around her.

"How many do you have now?" Frederica asked her friend.

"Four."

"Four?! I only have one!" Syuko asked with wide eyes.

"I have none." Kanade commented with a light smile.

"Yeah, you nailed your rolls there. The Unknown Soldier melted like butter." Mika said with a chuckled. She coughed into her hand before returning to character. "Ajax did an incredible job, Chiron. And so did you. Don't let yourself get too down, okay?"

Shiki held her gaze with Mika for a good few seconds before replying. "For a scary looking person, you sure know some sweet words, Rider. Thanks.' And then I turn back to my room, and get working."

"She's like that, Rider. Don't worry.' I say to Rider, patting her shoulder. 'It's a test of patience when you're working with her." Syuko said to the gyaru.

"People with strong intellect tend to be like that." Kanade added from her position, sitting between the two of them. "Back home, my younger brother has plenty of times brought my parents stress for how out there his thinking could be."

In the background, the Producer was writing on his laptop, updating the notes as it went on. "Well, I will have to head out early, guys." Mika continued, nodding to the other girls, except Shiki. "If anything happens, don't hesitate to call."

"I stand up abruptly, and say shakily to her, 'Stay safe, Rider." Frederica said in a subdued manner, shifting her gaze away from the pinkette.

Mika, for a single moment, seemed liked she was caught off guard. She gathered herself just as quickly, and replied with her own. "Thanks, Venus. Take care of yourself too.' And then I leave the base, perhaps a little too quickly."

There was a slight pause in the air before Kanade spoke up. "I turn to face Venus and ask her 'Do you know Rider?"

"I look back, unsure and confused. 'I don't know. I think so." Frederica replied, shaking her head. "But, I feel like, she knows me."

"Perhaps you could be closer friends, if that's the case?" Kanade says, looking between the two of them.

The blonde's shoulders slump dejectedly. "I don't know. Things changed for me, and who knows what Rider experienced herself. I might be involved as well."

"I don't think that's the case." Syuko said in response. "Your incident is public knowledge. There wasn't any casualty aside from you. So, whatever her problem is, it's something else."

"So, if she is someone who knew you from before, she must have her reasons." Kanade added with a comforting nod. "People are complex like that, Venus." She then glanced towards the Producer briefly. "Producer, I'd like to roll to comfort or support."

"Go ahead."

She took the dice into her hands, and rolled. They landed on a 1, and a 4. "A 7, with my +2. That was close."

"I know.' I say, and I'll clear my last condition." Frederica said with a smile. "Yay, I'm clear as well, now!"

"All of a sudden, your communicator rings, Heiki." The Producer said. "It's from Armory."

"Uh oh." Syuko said with a chuckle. "I think it's good, but you never know. I'll head to my room to talk to him personally."

"Alright, you do that. Are you two doing anything else while you're left alone now?" the Producer asked Kanade and Frederica.

The both of them shook their heads. "I think we'd just be talking to each other." Kanade replied with a nod to the blonde. "I'd do my best in making sure she feels at home."

"Ironic, coming from the alien." Mika said with a giggle.

"Then I leave them and enter my room." Syuko said to the Producer.

"As you enter, there's a large monitor in your room that lights up the moment you stepped in." he continued. "His logo appears on the screen, rotating slowly like a screensaver, before his face finally appears. He's wearing his mask whenever he's speaking to you as Armory, even though he has retired."

"Sir." Syuko nodded to him respectfully.

"Heiki. Word of your accomplishments has spread quickly.' He says, sounding somewhat emotionless, but with the years you've spent with him, both as a family and as his protégé, you could tell that there was a hint of pride to it."

"We did our best, some of us even more so after our earlier debuts." Syuko responded respectfully.

"You and Chiron had a bit of a headstart in that regard to further get acclimated. The others weren't as fortunate.' He said matter-of-factly."

"And even she's still coming to terms with all of this, Sir." Syuko said, keeping her attention solely on him.

The Producer nods, indicating Armory's understanding. "I've met people like her before. Worked with them before. They are often lost in their own sense of superiority, that they tend to fall behind when it comes to real world applications. She is no different."

"She's not that bad."

"No, she's young enough to grow from it." The Producer nodded in agreement.

"Is there anything else you wish to talk about?" she asked him.

The Producer shook his head. "No, I simply came to congratulate you, that is all. Perhaps you can return by the end of the week. No doubt, others would wish to celebrate as well."

Syuko blinked her eyes in confusion before realization dawned on her. She smiled. "Yes sir, I will return soon."

"And keep an eye out for Wonderwood.' He tells you, as he leans closer to the screen to you. 'She is an anomaly, and it's better if we can be prepared for any sort of happenings involving her."

"I sigh and shake my head before I answer him." Syuko said in response. "I won't overstep my boundaries, Sir. She has done nothing to deserve that."

"As long as you are careful.' He said, somewhat relenting to you. 'Once again, congratulations on a clean job. I'm proud of you."

"I… thank you, Sir." Syuko sniffed and wiped her nose.

"He nods one final time, before he disappears, leaving behind his logo on your screen."

"I sigh again, and then just sit down on my bed." Syuko says, leaning back into the sofa, seemingly mentally drained. "I'd probably sit there for a good few minutes before taking off my armor."

"Then, while you take this moment for yourself, let's quickly cut to Chiron, shall we?" the Producer says rhetorically, though the girls nodded in response. "Chiron, what have you been doing in your room."

"Fixing up Ajax. Do I have to roll anything?" she asks him, her hand reaching for the dice preemptively.

"Let's say, roll to unleash your powers." He tells her.

Shiki rolls the dice onto the table, landing on a 6, and 3. "A 10, with my Freak."

"Nice. Fortunately for you, the damages weren't deep, so it didn't take too much of your time to get Ajax to perfect condition." The Producer detailed. "Do you want to do anything else?"

Shiki looked over her Playbook, her blue eyes squinting carefully. "Considering my character, I would probably have a very powerful computer, alongside my tinkering tools and a telescope, right?"

"Makes sense, your chosen field is astronomy." The Producer agreed with a nod.

"Then, I'll try and do some research on my shame." She tells him with a finality in her voice. "Try and search through, occult channels about some eye in space. Especially since I've never heard about it before."

"Alright, then please roll… hm…" the Producer looks over the moves list. "Assess the situation, please."

"Okay!" the dice landed on a 4, and a 6. "I got an 11 total!"

"Three questions, because this still falls under astronomy for you, as part of your scientific insight. But since nothing from the list fits, I'll let you ask any question about your shame. However…" he raises his finger before she could respond. "It doesn't guarantee that you'll get an answer. It's a difficult situation you're in, especially this early."

"So think your questions carefully, Chiron." Kanade says, nodding to the brunette.

"Okay, okay. Hmm…" Shiki pouted her lips in thought, thinking over through it for a few seconds before her eyes opened on the Producer. "Is there really no other, published research papers about it? It's a celestial object, or at least that's what I thought I saw. Is there really nothing?"

"Nothing put to paper." The Producer replies with a shake of his head. "You mostly get the occasional testimonial from blogs or comments by people who seemed to be sharing what you experienced, although not as detailed as yours. Probably not as, horrific as yours. At best, there is a single thread in some astronomy forum that talks about it, with a new post once every few months."

"Damn." She half whispered, clicking her tongue in a rare moment of frustration. Half of the girls seemed to wonder if that was Chiron or Shiki herself. "How about if I search the dark web? Maybe I can find mentions of it?"

The Producer's eyebrow rose, but he didn't question the genius. "You had to go through obscure channels, and though you didn't find any organized discussion about it, the astronomy forum was more collected. But, you do notice something." The Producer leans closer, with his elbows on his knees. Shiki leaned closer as well, drawn in. "The few people that talked about this, eye, have replies by other posters. And the majority of these posters have, a shared profile picture of some sort." His hand reached out for his laptop, pressing a few buttons, eliciting an alert on Shiki's phone. "That's what it looks like."

She quickly pulled out her phone, seeing the message she got. Her eyes blinked for a moment. "Wow, Producer, I didn't think you'd prepare this much!" she says as she opened the message. It was a single image, a silhouette of an eye, seemingly covered by a sheet. The other girls of LiPPS leaned in closer to her, to catch a glimpse of what she got.

"I told you girls that I've done this before." He said with a rare tone of smugness. "Cooked that up while you girls went out for food." He said, taking the chance to rehydrate himself.

Shiki nodded, her character's apprehension forgone for her natural excitement leaking through. "Last question. Do I get a name?"

"No you do not." The Producer said with another shake of his head. "You do however, get a location. Just as you were about to end your search. You don't exactly know where it is, but…"

"Then I'll go out and try and check it out." The other girls were taken aback by her action.

"Alone?"

"Yes." The brunette replies.

"Are you sure?" he asks her.

"Positive." The genius reaffirms with a nod, her smirk not doing any favors for the others, who were looking at her worriedly. Only Frederica seemed to be going along. "That's foolhardy, right?"

"Yes." The Producer confirms with a smirk. "I'll say, you'll no longer be Insecure, once you get to wherever it is you're going."

"Got it! Thank you, Producer!" Shiki raised both her hands up in triumph.

"And, I think we'll call it for today." The Producer concludes with a sigh. "We'll end the scene, with a panel, showing Chiron leaving her room. Leaving in a rush, with Venus and Wonderwood looking at your back confusedly and worriedly."

"Wooo!" the girls clapped their hands, sharing the moment after their first ever session of a TTRPG game. Another picture was taken to commemorate this moment, the light flash of the camera coming from the assistant that was recently assigned to them.

"So, excluding the time we took to prepare you girls, do you like how long this game? Or would you prefer longer, or perhaps shorter games?" the Producer asked, as he closed his laptop and began gathering the notes he had collected.

"I think it's best to see it by the moment." Kanade replied, crossing her arms over her chest. "Something flexible would work for us."

"You're right, Kanade-chan." Mika said, agreeing beside her. "This felt nice though, I've never gotten to do anything like this. It's real different from an acting job."

"And we know how rare we get those, as LiPPS." Syuko said with a chuckle.

"Ah, Producer, where have you been all my life!?" Shiki complained with an exaggerated cry. "If I knew there was someone who could create such worlds-"

"Weren't you in the States before?" he cut her off before she could say things that could be taken out of context. "I only moved to Japan a couple years ago."

"If we ever finish this game, can we play other games, Producer?" Frederica asked with twinkling eyes.

"If you girls are interested." He told them. "If we ever get there, I have other games you girls can try out. Some more complex. Some, less. Oh, Shiki, before I forget. You get another potential, for trying to make amends with your shame."

"Nice, cool!" she quickly marked it off, her eyes showing her delight. "I got 5, woo! Can I pick one now?"

"Sure."

"Then I will take…" she looked over her Playbook for a second, letting the other girls wait in anticipation. "the Sanctuary."

"Then mark it on your Playbook. You won't get it immediately though." The Producer tells her as he takes out his own notes.

"You're already thinking of ways to add it into the story." Kanade remarks with clear appreciation. This was a side they rarely got to see of the man after all.

"But of course. You girls will have to see it next session." He sets the note aside as he holds back a yawn. "You girls should head back, you all have an early day tomorrow."

"Will you be alright, Producer?" Mika asks with concern.

"I'll be fine." He tells her with a comforting smile. "I'll just get a quick start on the report with Ushio-san's help."

"Should we take our Playbooks with us?" the blonde asked.

"You girls can leave it with me."

"Then I guess we'll see you tomorrow, Producer." Syuko stands up first among the girls, stretching her back.

"Good bye girls, it's a pleasure meeting you all." Ushio said as she moved aside.

"You too, Ushio-san!"

"We're glad to have you with us."

"Hope you enjoy it here!"

It wasn't long until only the Producer and his assistant was left in the room, the setting sun providing a picturesque backdrop. The long haired woman helped the heavy set man organize the documents that had accumulated during the session, before they both vacated towards the Producer's inner office. He took an caffeine drink from the mini-fridge inside the office before sitting himself down. Ushio was about to sit herself on the one of the chairs before being told to pull it up to his side.

"Do you think we can get this done tonight?" he asked her as she placed the camera on his desk.

She looked away in thought for a second before answering. "I think so."

"Good." He said with a nod. "Then let's get to work."


AUTHOR'S NOTE

eyyo, after a 2 yeah gap between the last chapter and the one before that, here we go!

another new one for you guys!

there's not much to say, but i've got a backlog already set up, so you might expect the next chapter soonish, more so than this one.

thanks again guys for reading through this story!