It seemed as though helping Koyori with her problem boosted my reliability among the girls since I was called into another job not long after I finished the last one, this time with the lorelei of Hololive, Suisei Hoshimachi.

But before that, I was called into the office to discuss the ongoing problem we haven't made any progress on.

Inside the office, it was me, A and Mr Motoaki, they were checking up on me in terms of my investigation and unfortunately for them, Virtuo was secretive, not letting anyone know any of their plans or activities, not even members of their channels, they don't also use social media a lot and tend to only post their schedules and nothing more, making it hard to track their internet footprint.

Motoaki heaved a heavy sigh when I gave the news, he was really hoping that I would give some semblance of hope, but instead it was all nothing but dead ends.

"This isn't good, at this rate we won't be able to support the girls any longer and we'll have to cancel any concerts and projects."

"Did you have a lot planned for them this year?"

"Yes, there's a couple of concerts and then there is also the winter music festival we were invited to."

"Music festival?"

A then cut in and explained to me about the festival that a bunch of virtual singers, idol groups and bands were invited to. According to her, the festival was a celebration of the many talented Vtubers across Japan, Hololive, being one of the biggest names out there was unsurprisingly invited to perform.

"Unfortunately with the way things are, there is a huge risk to the girls' wellbeing if they are to perform in the festival."

Mr Motoaki was right, with Hololive's name in the gutter, performing was a huge gamble because there was no guarantee they would be accepted with open arms.

"Well that's enough of that. Rio, apologies if I seem hasty, I just want the girls to be back on the saddle as soon as possible."

"You have no need to apologise, I understand completely. I'll try and dig deeper to see if there is any info I may have missed."

"Thank you, we owe you a lot."

A and I left the office and made our way back to her desk to discuss my job for the day. Along the way we talked about reasons why Virtuo was being so secretive, A suspected that maybe their company didn't want them spilling something to the masses.

"If that is the case, then the group must be doing something behind close doors which would be either incriminating or controversial. Takamura is not above shady business practices, so your theory may as well be fact."

"You seem to know a lot about him."

"It's years of research A."

"But you know stuff even the public doesn't know, just how much did you snoop into?"

A gasped when I didn't answer and quickly apologised, her voice full of regret and pain.

"Sorry… I…"

"No need for an apology, it has been years after all. Naturally, I should've stopped… but I can't. Not yet."

"Yeah… I know."

We both made it to A's desk where a blue-haired girl with deep blue eyes was sitting in front of said desk and fiddling with her phone.

"Ah Suisei, you're here early."

"Hey A it's been a while."

She waved to A with a bright smile, but the moment her eyes then travelled over to me that smile quickly faded away and was replaced with a slight scowl.

I didn't interact all that much with Suisei before that meeting, all I knew about her was from what I watched online and Sora. Suisei was quite the singer, and for some hailed her as the best in Hololive. I've listened to some of her songs and I could understand why she was labelled as such, her voice was definitely powerful and captivating, like a siren who can lure men to their end, and in some regard, she has pretty much done just that.

I can only imagine how many guys fawned over her, abandoned all responsibilities to watch her daily and most importantly, emptied their wallets for her.

Well, all of that could be said for everyone in Hololive, since it was their job after all.

Suisei didn't just capture people with her singing alone though, her streams were always full of people and through that, everyone got to see different sides of her. Her sweet side, her joking side and also her murderous side. That last one definitely caught me off-guard but it was this sort of thing that made Hololive feel more human in some way I suppose.

Still, I highly doubted that everything the girls showed on screen was fully them, Sora being the perfect example, so I was curious as to how Suisei was any different off-camera.

"So, you're actually here."

"Um, yes, you requested me to accompany you correct?"

"Yeah, I did."

I didn't recall her being so bratty, as such I thought that I may have made the wrong impression on her.

"Are you concerned about something?"

She eyed me up and down before pumping her chest out and heaving an audible huff.

"You don't look all that muscular to me."

"Huh?"

"Koyori said that you were a good fighter but you sure don't look like it."

"I took martial arts as a child, so I am trained, sort of."

"Hmm? Well, I doubt you'll need to fight anyway."

She then turned to A and asked if I was ready to go, of course, I wasn't, so I had a quick brief while Suisei waited outside the office in the hall. The job was simple, Suisei was invited to a radio show to answer some fan questions and also crack a few jokes with the host.

Normally the girls weren't allowed to go into any program or streaming because of the trouble they were in, but considering some companies outside Cover had a good relationship with the girls, some were willing to work with them still, surprising honestly. I would have thought that the moment Hololive loses face they would have dropped them immediately, but it went to show that sometimes humanity wasn't all that cold-hearted after all.

Out on the street, I trailed behind Suisei while keeping an open eye for anything suspicious and I had to be extra vigilant because, for whatever reason, Suisei decided to wear the least secretive clothing for an idol, a black, shirt, trousers, tie and gloves. The girl looked less than an idol and more like a secret agent.

It was the definition of cool, but with the stares all over her, I couldn't help but worry that she would havue been found easily.

"So hey."

"Hmm?"

"You and Sora went to the same school right?"

"Yeah why?"

"What was she like?"

"Huh?"

"In school, what was she like in school?"

I had to choose my words carefully if I didn't want to face Sora's wrath, which meant about an hour of her ranting to me and I didn't want to go through that. Or there was also the fact that Suisei was in front of me and considering what I'd learnt, my life was also in danger with her. So there was no joking around, even if I wanted to.

"She was… popular to say the least."

"Was she?"

"Is it that surprising? She is a kind and patient individual, she was willing to help anyone around her. She was a celebrity even before Hololive."

"Oh really? So she must've had groups surrounding her all the time huh?"

"By no means, she was popular yes, but everyone knew to give her space when needed. The only people who followed her around were me and A."

"Hmm? So how long have you and Sora known each other?"

"We only met in highschool, we were in the same class while A was in a different one. We didn't interact much at the start, but we were both fans of someone and we bonded through that one person."

"That's interesting, I thought you two would be childhood friends or something."

Did she think Sora and I were from an anime or something? Reality wasn't that convenient. If anything my relationship with Sora was not romantic in any way, I only ever viewed her as a companion and good friend, or in this case an accomplice.

Could it be that she was worried about my relationship with Sora?

"How come you are curious about mine and Sora's past?"

"Like you said, she's a worrywart, always wondering if she said something that would make people hate her, because of that she barely joins collabs since she knows the others often feel a sense of rigidness around her."

I wasn't surprised, Sora, as the first member of Hololive was well-loved and respected, but sometimes that respect became a shackle for others. I could see that clearly from the moment I met the entire group, once Sora was in the room, the air became stiff.

"Are you worried about how distant some of them may seem towards her?"

"Not so much them… but more so myself."

Seems I somewhat misunderstood, what she was aiming for.

"Do you want to get closer to her?"

There was a moment of silence, but from behind, I saw an interesting sight, redness at the tip of her ears.

"Yes."

It was in a small voice, but I could hear it loud and clear. Judging from her reaction and her change in volume, I surmised that there was a high chance that Suisei may have been looking for more than a mere friendship. Unfortunately, I had no concrete evidence to support such thoughts.

However, this was an opportunity, if she so desired to gain my help, then there was a chance I could also gain hers.

"Would you like me to help you get closer to her?"

Suisei then stopped in her tracks and turned to me with eyes sparkling with hope.

"Would you?"

"Sora is preoccupied with the happenings around Hololive that she may not be able to see your efforts. I would be willing to help, so long as you do something for me in return."

Suisei seemed hesitant to accept my offer, but eventually caved in.

"I hate the idea of owing you, but I do want to get closer to her, so…"

"I will not let you down. Before the end of the year, your relationship with Sora will improve."

I could see that she was still in two minds about the entire thing, understandable, but nothing could be done about it now.

We then made it to the building where Suisei finished her work with the radio host. Surprisingly it went smoothly with no trouble, I half expected there to be some sort of mob outside all calling for the girl's head, but no, it was just a simple recording session.

Afterwards, I escorted Suisei near her place before making my way back home since my job was done for the day. Only one girl per day after all, the rest of my time was spent on investigating Virtuo.

Once home I changed, tossing my vest and tie to the side before preparing myself a cup of coffee to take to my desk for when I have to stare at my screen for hours, browsing the internet for any dirt on a newly established idol group.

Though after weeks straight of no progress, I was starting to question whether they really had a hand in the attack on Hololive in the first place.

Hours went by in a flash and before I knew it the sun had already gone down and my eyes were throbbing.

I was ready to call it a night, but just as I was going to leave my seat, my phone began to ring and on the screen was a certain dirty detective I hired.

I answered the phone and groggily greeted Shoji on the other side.

"What is it?"

"Well hello to you too."

"Do you have info that will be of help?"

"Yeah, it's a video I took from one of the Virtuo members' streams."

"Which one?"

"The leader, Lilia Mirror and she had a lot to say about Hololive that you might find interesting. I'm sending you the vid right now."

The video then came in through my phone and what was inside was rather enlightening, to say the least.

What Shoji took was a talking stream and on it, miss Lilia Mirror was very vocal about her opinion of what Hololive was going through.

"I'll be honest… I'm somewhat happy they're gone, gives room for us real idols. Yeah, I hope they never come back, like, who would even miss them right?"

It was an entire tirade and I was surprised she was allowed to continue for such a lengthy amount of time considering the video itself was over 10 minutes long, I was surprised there was no staff there to stop her just in case the entire thing got leaked, which it did.

Were they that confident that they wouldn't get in trouble if the video was released? Or that nobody supported Hololive anymore?

Well, this slip-up was going to cost them and I was gonna make sure of that.

I returned to the call with Shoji and thanked him for his services.

"Sure no prob, just call me when you need something else."

"Will do, I'll make sure to send the money over as usual."

"Cool, but can I ask what are you gonna do with that vid? Hand it over to the police?"

That would've been the obvious choice, the video clearly captured her complaints and face, but I highly doubted they would've been able to do much against Shuu Takamura.

"No, this will be used for something else. If I want actual evidence that they were a part of the attack, it will need to be more incriminating. Unfortunately, your video only shows that one of them hates Hololive, but nothing to pin down a crime on them."

"I guess that's true, but how are you gonna do that? They don't really show much to the public."

"That part I haven't gotten fully down yet, but there is one thing I can achieve."

"Which is?"

"Getting an insider. Luckily your video is quite the ammo."

"I'm sure it will, you're quite the puppetmaster after all."

I didn't answer back on that comment and decided to end the call there.

Now I had something useful in my hands, information, and in war, information had always been a powerful weapon and the video had more than enough info for me to use it as one.

All I had to do was find a way to talk with miss Mirror in private.

Luckily there was more than one way to do that and not before long I managed to strike up a conversation with the Virtuo talent through text.

"Hmm who's this?"

"Nobody, I'm just here to show you something."

"Huh? What are you on about?"

"Just watch."

I sent her the video and for a while, she stayed silent, probably watching the footage or panicking internally when she realised she got caught badmouthing another company.

"What's this supposed to be? A voice-over?"

"I'm sure you know this is not a voice-over."

"That's a lie, I never said these things. You have no proof I did."

She probably thought so long as she deleted the original video she could get away with it, unfortunately for her, since the video I had wasn't edited or doctored there was no way for her to save her skin so easily.

"Would you like to bet on that? I'll release the video to the public and everyone will see just what sort of person you are."

"Go ahead, not that they'll believe you."

"You'd be surprised at how little people care about whether something is true or false on the internet."

There was another moment of silence. At this point she was most likely realising her options were limited, but just from our brief interactions, I could tell she was a prideful individual, meaning she wasn't going to back down so easily. That was fine since I was trying to get her to realise something and for that happen I needed her to come to the conclusion I wanted.

"Even if you release it, this won't do anything, the video is just me exercising my free speech."

That's right the video itself was not incriminating and probably won't get her in much trouble in the long run, but…

"What if I said to the world that you were the ones behind the negative attacks towards Hololive as of late, what would you do then?"

"So you're gonna lie?"

"Yes."

"And you think people will just believe a blatant lie like that?"

"As I said before, whether something is true or false on the internet doesn't matter, any bit of info will be believed by someone. If I release this video with a caption, forcing a connection between your comments and the sudden wave of negativity that Hololive experienced, plus your group's sudden rise to fame not long after they dropped out, is food for speculation and the internet is nothing but speculations. Are you willing to take that risk?"

"My fans are loyal to me."

"You want to test that?"

I knew she wasn't an idiot, she knew that people are fickle and that they'll abandon or betray anyone once their image of someone was ruined. She was a rising star, so while her members didn't care, what about the general public? Could she survive their judgement? Hololive didn't, they didn't survive their controversies without repercussions and I didn't believe she could either.

Shuu Takamura may have been a powerful individual but even he was at the mercy of the public if they all decided to turn on him, that's why that option was closed off to her as well.

What about tracking our conversation down? Possible, but then she would be risking admitting her involvement in the matter.

In other words, she was trapped, nothing she could do would have saved her from becoming the blamed, except…

"What do you want from me?"

Submit.

"I won't ask for much, but just do as I say."

I could hear her squirm from the other side, but agreed to my terms nonetheless.

I ended the call there and went to take a shower before falling onto my bed to relax for the night.

But, the night wasn't over and just when I was about to close my eyes and fall into slumber my phone rang once again, making me sigh in annoyance. Seriously couldn't a guy get some rest?

Reluctantly I picked up my phone and gazed at the screen which showed the ID of the woman that's been continuously calling me every night.

I wanted to just ignore her and not answer, but knowing her, she was going to keep calling until I do pick up.

Placing the phone to my ear, I tried to put on my best, not-annoyed voice I could muster at the time, but before I could finish what I was saying she quickly blurted something out.

"I got evidence on Virtuo."

I was ready to put the phone down if she said something random, but now she actually captured my attention.

I sat back up and began to ask her what she knew.

"What?"

"Virtuo did instigate the attacks, however it was their fans who performed them. I looked into it and discovered that there were rumours about how Virtuo members gave 'special streams' to fans who did their bidding."

"You're basing off your evidence from a rumour?"

I laid back down in slight disappointment, thinking I had my expectations too high.

"I'm not stupid, of course I did my own investigation to see whether the claims were true. I've been quite active on that site and managed to get to a position where I can speak with the admins on their private group chats."

That was the first time I heard that she was going through her own investigation and considering the position she was in, she must've been doing it for a substantial amount of time.

Impressive, I never made her out to be a sly person, she definitely changed in some ways since we last met.

"So? What did they say?"

"The shows were real, they're sent to each person individually and requests could be made on who they wanted. Every girl except one provided those services."

"Do you have pictures or even recordings of that conversation?"

"Yeah, I'll send them over right now."

The pictures she sent clearly showed Sora's conversation with one of the admins, who gave Sora some screenshots of their own conversation with one of the talents, Midori Hana, plus a picture of the talent bearing it all.

"Wow."

"What? Are you planning on using it?"

"What are you on about?"

"Nothing, nevermind."

She probably thought my worldly desires as a man were taking over from seeing a picture of an idol in her birthday suit, but in reality, I was just expressing my shock at how relaxed the admin must've been sending over, what would've been, a private, exclusive photo.

"Is this all they sent over?"

"Yes, the admin stated he was new so he only had so much to share with me. Meaning the higher I go the more risque the acts become."

"This is surprising, I didn't expect you to come to me with such results."

"If I don't pull my own weight, you'll just use one of the girls to do it and I'd rather avoid that."

"Surely that's not a concern by this point."

"It's less I don't want you using them, but moreso I don't want any more finding out about this. I would much rather keeping it between us and Virtuo, no need to pull innocents."

She changed. Just through the text alone I could tell she changed. It was almost as if this was a completely different person from the girl I was reunited with.

"Anyways, this is useful, we've got more evidence now."

"Hmm? Did you get something?"

"Yeah, I'll tell you about it when we meet up, I need to get some sleep."

"Keeping stuff from me again huh? Well that's to be expected, have a great night."

The conversation could've ended there, but I got curious about something and decided to ask it before the call ended.

"Sora."

"Yeah?"

"Am I really the only one keeping secrets? It seems as though your mask has fallen off in this conversation."

"... It didn't fall off, I took it off, I was just waiting for the perfect time. Let's meet up Rio, I'll tell you everything. But for now, you should know, you're not the only one who's been busy."

I'll be honest I loved writing this chapter, especially that scene with Rio and Lillia Mirror. I wonder how many she'll make an appearance?

Anywho next to chapters are a bit different but relevant. Gotta let this one linger for a bit before we progress and I'll be honest I'm really taking my sweet time with it, which honestly I don't know if it's a good thing. I'll figure it out somehow.

That's all from me this week, hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Feel free to leave any comments, thoughts and complaints. Bye bye :)