That night, when I got home after meeting with Raya, I called Sora to tell her what had happened.
She couldn't believe the burden that Raya had carried for years and shared my sentiment in acknowledging her innocence in my sister's murder, claiming it to be nothing more than just horrid lies spun together by Takamura to turn Raya into his scapegoat if the need ever arose.
However, now that I had absolved Raya of her involvement I believed we dodged a bullet.
"Things seem to be looking up now huh?"
Sora pondered, her voice showing a hint of both relief and disbelief. I couldn't blame her, a few months ago she and the rest of Hololive were drowning beneath a sea of negative press, where escape seemed impossible, now they were riding the currents back to where they were and while they weren't there just yet, they were at least away from the depths.
"Such a state would not be possible if not for your performance, you truly showed the world that Hololive is not some glass castle that will crumble from mere pebbles."
"I wouldn't call those attacks pebbles, but I doubt we would've lasted if not for you either. You planned everything down to the wire and even made sure it was a clean swoop. I don't think I would've been able to do that on my own."
I decided not to comment further and just accept the gratitude since there was a good chance we would fall into a back-and-forth of trying to give the other person more credit.
I then swiftly changed the topic to the next part of our plan against Virtuo, which I had made the outline for and just needed Sora's input to refine the rest.
Essentially the plan was to enter the upcoming Virtual Music Festival and win the support of the people for Hololive while simultaneously exposing Virtuo and Takamura's involvement in the attacks.
Our trip to the Virtuo concert got us evidence of Virtuo's methods of gaining fans rapidly, and I still had evidence of Lilia Mirror's slander from that one stream. But as for evidence for Shuu Takamura's involvement, we were still empty-handed and I was now relying on Shoji's own investigation on the matter to get me something. Raya's confession was something I also considered, but she wasn't in a good state of mind so I couldn't guarantee it in the meantime.
In other words, we were still far from ready to actually accuse them of anything.
"So we've got no chance is what I'm hearing."
"In layman's terms, yes. We need more solid evidence, something that cannot be denied by anyone."
"Do you have an idea of how to get that?"
"I have an idea, but it will be somewhat confrontational."
"Oh, that's not something you usually choose to do. Why not be sneaky like usual?"
"Because there is no chance we can ever get close to either Virtuo or Takamura again. Remember I said that once we wipe the servers suspicion will rise on us, and now that you've returned, no doubt he suspects your involvement."
"I guess so. So what's your plan?"
"I hardly call it a plan. More like the natural course of the plan."
"And that is?"
"Doing concerts of course."
I could hear her chair rattling in the background and her hands slam on her desk, she must've shot up quite violently if that was caught by the phone.
"Already?! Isn't that a bit too risky, it's like we're gonna pick a fight with them."
"Here I thought that your declaration on stream was a sign you were ready to go through any lengths for your group. But yes, doing something like this can seem like that, but highly unlikely because Virtuo isn't the only group attending the festival."
Sora groaned, she wasn't in favour of such an assertive plan, but understood that we had no time to take it easy.
It was now fall and the festival was in winter, we needed to act fast if we still wanted to enter.
"How many people do we need to watch us to enter again?"
"10,000."
"That doesn't seem so bad."
"You realise the only ones that count are from live concerts, virtual ones do not. And considering what you did during the re-debut, I doubt everyone views you in the same way as before. Not everyone will want to support an idol that is openly looking for a fight."
Sora groaned again, and for another time I heard a slam on her desk, though this time it was far more blunt.
"Did you just slam your head against your desk?"
"Yes. The more I listen the more impossible it becomes."
"I do understand, it is a huge responsibility for us to bear alone."
"... But who else can help us gather more people?"
"Perhaps we do not need to do this on our own."
"No, I refuse to pull the girls into this again. We already ended up asking for Koyori's help, I don't want them to be a part of this again."
"Sora, you cannot win a war on your own."
"I'm not on my own, I have you, A and Mr Motoaki."
"But we cannot perform with you, you need other idols by your side."
Sora's hesitance was costing us time, and she knew that, but her kindness kept her from using people as needed. A part of me didn't want to wait for that, but I knew by acting on my own I would only lose her trust and therefore she would become hesitant in doing as I asked.
The best I could do was simply convince her to at least have a conversation with the others to see their reaction and hopefully, their willingness to participate because that was the only way Sora would ever agree to using the girls.
"Guess I have to resort to some forceful tactics then."
"Sora."
"Yeah?"
"You do realise the more you do this on your own, the more your peers will worry for you right?"
"Huh?"
"Furthermore doing it yourself despite being a member of an idol group sends a message to the public that you have no trust in your members and may look at them in a bad light."
"I would never-"
"Plus, people now slightly view you in a more negative manner, if you were to go off on your own, it may further darken their view, making them believe you are selfishly and aggressively pursuing the spotlight on your own, leaving your friends in the dust."
"..."
Silence, just as I had expected. My harsh, yet speculative comments did as I had intended, make her think.
Sora may have had 1 million subscribers on her YouTube channel, but only a fraction of those viewers could actually come to a concert live and only a fraction of those fans were her die-hard fans who were willing to come and see her, so there was no way she alone could possibly earn 10,000 viewers for a live concert on her own. On the other hand, if she were to perform with someone like Hoshimachi, then that count would increase because Hoshimachi also has her own set of die-hard fans.
It was a simple case of probability, but if I had explained as such to Sora she would've still insisted on doing it on her own. So injecting some fear into her was a necessary step in order to convince her.
And it worked.
"Do we really have to involve the girls?"
"Unfortunately."
"... Fine."
Our call ended shortly after that conversation, but before she could hang up Sora asked me to join her in the office the next day saying I needed to take as much responsibility as she did. I didn't refute a word, agreeing to accompany her and finally allowing the rest of the members into our mission.
The next day both of us were facing the entirety of Hololive members, most of them, unsurprisingly, confused as to the sudden summons. The only one who wasn't, being Koyori who had already known since the beginning.
Once everyone had settled I looked over at Sora who was nervously fidgeting in place.
"Try not to get cold feet now Sora."
"Shut up would ya, I'm trying... but this is harder than it looks."
After some deep breaths, Sora managed to finally speak up and tell the others what had been happening, albeit with slight hesitance.
"Um, as you all know we recently managed to get out of a massive problem. And I'm sure you're all wondering how we got that point."
Everyone nodded.
"Well you see... ever since that wave of antis attacked, I've been uh... investigating the cause and found out who did it."
Despite her rather timid execution, Sora managed to get the point across and not before long the entire room burst into a series of questions which quickly overwhelmed Sora's senses.
Questions like: who was it? Why did you do it on your own? And Was the culprit arrested? Were a small sample of the collection that was thrown at Sora.
In order to allow Sora to speak, Koyori stepped in and told everyone to listen until Sora was finished, which I appreciated since I didn't wish to be the one to rally the group into silence.
"Thanks Koyo. Now I know you all have questions, but hear me out, as much as I want to tell you the whole story, there are things I can't..."
She glances over to me, hinting at the fact she was on about my sister.
"But what you all need to know now is that the culprit is none other than Virtuo and Virtuo's producer and CEO, Shuu Takamura, who attacked Hololive in order to get me to join his group."
The entire room gasped, before bursting into a series of murmurs that Koyori once again had to silence. This was a recurring thing that kept on happening every time something huge was revealed and I couldn't blame them, for the average person who didn't know much about Takamura, this was a shock, especially since in their minds they'd done nothing to earn his ire.
One of the members a pink-haired shrine maiden girl named Sakura Miko put her hand up and asked Sora what reason Takamura had to attack everyone if his only interest was on her.
"Shuu Takamura is the type of person who doesn't like getting rejected, in his mind if he can't have someone, no one can."
"Is he a yandere?"
"It does look like that doesn't it? But no Miko, he's just scum who views people as items he can collect. To him, I'm just another doll in his collection."
I couldn't have put it a better way myself, didn't think she had it in her.
Another hand then shot up, this time it was Suisei's.
"Yes, Sui?"
"What do you plan to do now? We can't let him get away with what he's done."
"And we won't..."
She glanced over to me, something the girls followed suit in.
"Rio here has devised a plan that will get us to him."
"Huh? The bodyguard made a plan? Isn't that a bit too far from your job description?"
It was, but it wasn't like I was much of a bodyguard either since the girls were constantly cocooned in their homes.
"He was only hired as a bodyguard as a front, his real job is to help deal with Takamura."
"Then hasn't he done that?"
"Not quite. Virtuo and Takamura still have power, even if they're now out of commission doesn't mean it's forever, if we don't do something they'll come back stronger and kick us down harder."
"...Oh, I see."
Suisei turned quiet, confusing everyone in the room.
"Sui, is something wrong?"
"No, no... continue."
"Right... Well, okay. The plan that Rio currently made is that we plan to expose Virtuo and Takamura, during the Virtual Music Festival in December, but in order to do that we need to get in and the only way to do that is by getting points during live concerts."
Sora then passed the conversation to me and when I went to tell her she should continue she explained she knew little about the plan and that it was best I finished up from there.
Troublesome as it was, I couldn't disagree, so I cleared my throat and took over as she wished.
"Before that... I would like to be frank. At the moment Hololive is merely hanging by a thread, the victory you all attained is nothing more than a temporary solution, if we fail to take care of both Virtuo and Takamura, all of you will sink and be left with nothing."
The girls stiffened, I could see them actively hold their breath and furrow their brows at my words. But that was needed to make sure they felt and knew the gravity of the situation. Without it, the girls would not even consider that they were still in a dangerous position.
"However, despite it seeming impossible, Sora has managed something that no one has ever done before... bite back against Takamura. If you all support her, then there is no doubt in my mind that she will succeed."
Everyone then shared a glance with one another before returning their gaze to me with a more stern expression.
"Very well, it seems you have all steeled yourselves. Let us carry on then."
I had to first begin by explaining the Virtual Music Festival, which despite its name was more of a competition than a festival.
"As you all know, the VMF will be hosting all sorts of talents into their programme, Hololive was originally invited, but with the attacks that most likely got revoked so Virtuo stepped in as your replacement."
"How did they get in when they're so new?"
Koyori asked with her hand up.
"Takamura would have pulled some strings to make it happen."
"He can do that?"
"His power and influence is no joke, if he so wished he could easily rig the competition in his favour too."
"And you expect us to fight against that?"
"You have to if you wish to survive."
"... Blunt as always."
"As if I need to be reserved around you."
Once the remark left my lips, I immediately felt the many curious gazes directed at me, with one being a bit colder than the others.
"Guess I shouldn't be too casual around Koyori."
"Regardless of his strength, we have already proven that he can still be bested. Granted, that was mostly due to him probably underestimating mine, Sora's and Koyori's ability to sneak into his office, but it does not mean he is a god. There is still hope that we can topple his empire."
Suisei then raised her hand, bringing my attention to her.
"So what have you got planned?"
"Takamura holds the most power in the music festival, so he will not be able to predict that we are going to use it as a way to expose him and Virtuo all at once."
"But since we aren't a part of the festival anymore, we need to do it by earning points."
"Precisely, Sora on her own will not be enough considering the time frame, but if she had more join her, then the number will increase."
"Huh? Why wouldn't Sora be enough?"
"I already told her this, but we need to look into earning points through die-hard fans, she just does not have enough."
"So you want to use our fans for this? Isn't that a bit too cruel?"
"It is not like we will be forcing them, the plan is to perform as normal, more performers just means a higher probability of people turning up, that is all it is."
"But that's not why we perform-"
"It's either this or be crushed."
I could understand the doubt, from the way I portrayed it, it did seem like we were herding people to milk them for points, and in many ways, it was exactly like that. But there was no other way to gain points in such a short amount of time, a little bit of heartlessness was necessary.
Not that they hated the idea since after I had explained everything, Koyori immediately shot her hand up and told me she was willing to participate.
"That was a fast decision."
"I was already a part of this mission, so why not see it to the end right?"
"I suppose that is true. Try not to fail."
"How encouraging."
The rest of the members took some time to decide their answers, but one by one they all began to raise their hands until not one was left down.
It was a sight to behold, the solidarity of idols, it reminded me of my sister's group and how they would make every decision together. Yet, my sister decided to take the burden of dealing with her scandal on her own.
"Sora."
"Yeah?"
"Are you not glad they are willing to stick by your side?"
Sora was caught off guard by my question, but when she turned to the rest of the members, a small smile formed on her lips.
"Yes, I am."
I left the room to let Sora handle the decision of who to perform with. Just as I closed the door, however, I certain blue-haired employee walked up to me with a smile and a not-so-tired face.
"Oh did you finally get some sleep?"
"Yeah, with things slowly returning to normal, I managed to find time to get some."
"Congratulations."
"So, why are you out here?"
"I left the group making to Sora, figured that was the most optimal option."
"I guess that's true... Hey, thanks."
"For what?"
"For stopping her from doing everything on her own. She told me you gave her quite the warning."
"It was the most logical thing to do."
"Hmm?"
I could tell she didn't believe my reason, and when I glanced over to her I saw the clear smirk on her face as she leaned against the door.
"What?"
"Are you sure that's the only reason?"
"Huh?"
"I heard about your sister."
So that's what led her to her conclusion. While I could see the correlation between my warning and sis' situation, it really was not so emotionally charged, but if I were to look at it from her perspective, then yes, acting on our own was going to cost us, it cost my sister her life and in some ways, mine as well when I decided to chase after Takamura in my lonesome.
I didn't regret that decision, but even I was not unaware of how fruitless it was in comparison to what I accomplished with Hololive.
"The reason does not matter, so long as Sora knows there is value to having companions, then that can propel us forward."
"Heh, that's true... let's make sure this is a success."
"Yes, let us."
God I hope it's all consistent and makes sense, I edited the chapters so heavily that even I wonder if it all makes sense.
Oh and this chapter is the penultimate chapter before this arc ends. Arc 3 is obviously being written and I do hope I won't take another year to finish it, but I won't make promises.
Anywho, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and see you all next week for this arc's finale, Bye Bye!