Seika's Fresh Start

"… Fuu."

Seika Shikina was in her room, absently looking at her own face in the mirror.

Akai Naoto's home — you could say it referred to the whole network connected by Gate: Leone's Inn, Yuria's house, Griera's house, Ernest Castle.

There was more than ample space, so if anyone wished, each person could be given their own private room.

Seika had requested a private room, and as requested, she'd smoothly been given a room in Ernest Castle.

Being a room in the castle meant it was a lavish one. Even Seika, who had enjoyed great popularity as an idol, had never lived in a room of this caliber.

If she had… well, that house had been Austin's, then Dalido's, and she had been only a slave kept there.

Since she was unquestionably their breadwinner, she was treated decently enough, but ultimately she was seen as nothing more than a tool.

The Seika in the mirror had, in her own opinion, a beautiful and attractive face.

With a face and body this attractive, it was natural for men to want her.

… She was used to it now, but for a while there had been a period when she couldn't even bear to look in a mirror.

Transmigrating to this world…

The one who first picked her up was a low-tier Master whose name she didn't even remember now.

He… simply violated Seika. She tried desperately to resist, but a strange power forced her to obey his commands, and there was nothing she could do.

Seika was so overwhelmingly attractive that, from a man's perspective, she was like a demonic temptation that drove them mad.

The man simply went on violating her to his heart's content.

Seika had no choice but to give up.

In any case… she hadn't been a virgin.

Back in Japan, at her agency's behest, she'd already been made to do that sort of thing.

The partners were producers, composers, and so on — a handful of people.

Her entertainment career had begun, and she'd transmigrated to this world about a year in, so it'd only been a few.

The innocent young girl that Seika had been couldn't believe she was being made to do such things.

She'd done something wrong. Because she'd committed such sinful acts, she'd been brought to this nonsensical other world.

This was punishment from hell —

That was what she'd thought.

The days of being violated under that first man didn't last long. Rumors quickly spread that he was hoarding a high-value Garumon disproportionate to his station…

A C-Class Master who ruled that land took a fancy to Seika and stole her, then a B-Class Master did the same…

And then she was taken by Austin, an A-Class Master. This was less than half a year into coming to this world.

At the time, Austin was a lower-tier A-Class Master.

He had no real ability but had somehow been lucky and risen smoothly up the ranks.

But because he lacked ability, he couldn't get past lower A-Class, and had spent about 10 years there, struggling with the B-Class challenges.

That's when Seika arrived.

Beautiful, yet also outstanding as a Garumon — with her particularly powerful buff abilities, she raised the abilities of Austin's party in one stroke.

And they shot up to upper A-Class.

… Around that time… about 20 years ago.

This world had an idol industry, of sorts.

It hadn't been at all unusual for Masters lacking ability to have their Garumon work as idols — something like geisha or prostitutes — to earn their daily bread.

Sexual services were required, but there was singing, dancing, late-night-pillow-talk performances. There was demand for such things, of sorts.

Garumon Entertainment, which made a business of dispatching idols for such shows, had been around for decades, but the idols' standing wasn't especially high.

Garumon Entertainment was better known as a company that published otherworld stories.

After Garumon Adult Entertainment, which handled introducing, dispatching, and brokering prostitutes, and Garumon Entertainment, which handled work besides prostitution, were split apart, Garumon Adult Entertainment rapidly grew larger, and Garumon Entertainment became the smallest of the four publishing-affiliated companies.

Seika, learning of the existence of such idols, thought that in this world she might be able to realize the idol dream she'd once envisioned in Japan — a dream that had become twisted there.

So thinking, she asked Austin to let her become an idol again.

Austin was half-skeptical about the value of an idol, but grateful that Seika had carried him up to upper A-Class, he generously allowed it.

… And from there, Seika rose to stardom in one go.

Japanese-style idols, with their cuteness, pop singing voice, and adorable dancing. They gained explosive popularity, concerts were always packed, records and magic crystals flew off the shelves…

This was practically what propelled Austin and Garumon Entertainment forward.

… But there were also many voices wanting to sleep with the wildly popular Seika.

Austin made maximum use of this. He had Seika sold for high prices, used the massive sums to buy up ultimate-rare Garumon, slipped into S-Class, and then immediately retired, leaving the rest to his Sub-Master Dalido.

He became an A-Class NPC and joined Garumon Entertainment as a producer.

About 10 years ago.

So Seika spent her days conducting glamorous idol activities while selling her body to men as a prostitute.

Glamorous, miserable days.

… No different from her time in Japan.

Even so, Seika was supported by the pride that she was the top idol, more popular than anyone, sought after by all.

By the time she became Naoto's, she had stood at S-Class twice. Once under Austin. Once under Dalido.

But S-Class was high-level, and she was quickly knocked back down. While she remained upper A-Class, in the Garumon Battle world she was stagnating.

And the idol activities she'd been prouder of than anything, where she'd been valued more than anyone, had also seen the idol world expand, with many producers emerging and successive idols appearing one after another…

Seika's popularity alone being utterly overwhelming was no longer the state of things.

But as the scale grew larger, transparency increased, and the industry became more wholesome.

Within that, it felt as if Seika alone was in darkness.

… Then, 10 years.

The first idol since Seika Shikina to come from Japan. Angel Luna appeared.

The newest songs, the newest fashion, dance.

Seika's shows, which had been growing tiresome, would only fall further behind the times at this rate — she sensed it with alarm.

Stagnating as a Garumon, stagnating as an idol, chased by the up-and-comers, valued only for her skill as a prostitute.

Amid such days, her built-up depression made her snap at Angel Luna to vent her frustrations…

And then she met Akai Naoto.

It wasn't that he was the only Master who loved and cherished his Garumon.

Austin was a Master with zero love for Garumon, and Dalido was a perfunctory Master, but among other idols' Masters, not a few cherished their Garumon properly.

… She did feel envious of such Masters at times.

But a Master who cherished and respected his Garumon as much as Akai Naoto — for Seika, who had seen and been bedded by many Masters, he was a first.

That too made Luna all the more enviable and even resented.

… That said, Luna was a junior idol who'd come from Japan. It wasn't that Seika didn't find her cute.

She didn't want to see Luna entering Lightning, suffering miserable treatment, and her light dimming.

So she'd tried to stop the wager talk too, but…

Akai Naoto ended everything.

In the best possible way. She herself was freed from Austin too…

"Seika-san, work. Today it's as TriAngel."

"… Yes, Farida. Let's go, Luna, Setsuna."

Now, as Akai Naoto's Garumon, she worked at Starlight.

Luna and Seika were active as soloists, and along with Setsuna, formed a three-person unit, TriAngel, for joint activities.

Although they'd only released one debut single…

Their popularity was excellent — or rather, explosive.

Pushing Seika's natural low-range beauty to the fore, harmonizing with Luna's high-range beauty.

Supported by Setsuna's playing, TriAngel's song was high-level and beautiful, as if to declare this is the song of a new era.

… Not blessed with composing talent, Seika had truly struggled even reproducing her songs from Japan.

To have such a song made just like that, she felt jealous of Setsuna's talent too.

Their sky-rocketing-popularity unit TriAngel only had one song to its name, but Seika and Luna both had many personal songs, so they could arrange them as duos and sing them.

Which was why an early concert had been arranged.

Amid a packed venue's thunderous cheers, Seika sang her heart out together with Luna.

Their singing voices seemed to elevate each other, blending perfectly and spreading.

"(… Ahh, so happy)"

The concert must have been fun for the audience, but for Seika performing too, it was a dreamlike, blissful stretch of time.

… Mountains of pillow-business requests apparently still came in for Seika even now, but…

"Luna, Seika, and Setsuna do not do that kind of work, ever. Please never again bring such trivial requests. If you do… your side will never have our idols work for you again, you hear?"

Farida cut all of them off cleanly, and they never reached Seika.

Singing, dancing, bathed in the applause and praise of people… young Garumon admiring Seika and imitating her dances.

The idol world she'd once dreamed of — simply beautiful, glamorous — was unfolding right there.

"… Haa…"

A month after coming under Naoto. Dreamlike, happy time continued to unfold, and…

Looking in the mirror, she could tell her own cheeks had loosened.

The sharp edge she'd had was gone, much more than before.

… When she was so tense, on edge, irritable, of course she couldn't put on good idol activities.

The dip in popularity had been her own doing.

And she'd fallen into a negative spiral where popularity dropped further as a result.

… Breaking such a vicious cycle should originally have been Austin's job.

But Austin wasn't the type with that kind of attentiveness.

He'd just gotten lucky obtaining Seika, and didn't actually have any background knowledge in entertainment to function as a producer.

Just one month after Seika left, Lightning had already fallen all the way to 15th place in production rankings.

With Seika gone, the decline could no longer be papered over.

Padding sales 2 to 3 times can pass unnoticed, but padding 20 to 30 times of course gets exposed.

They still held rights to sell Seika's old recordings, but it was a drop in the bucket.

People moved away from Lightning fast.

Even on the same songs, the records released by Starlight churned out far higher sales, washing away Lightning's performance.

That same songs remade with the latest recording quality, by Setsuna's playing, were of far higher quality and saw sales spike, made sense… but being reborn under the spotlight as TriAngel was a plus too.

Luna's popularity and Seika's popularity combined had become, frankly, something incredible.

At the S-Class Tournament, this year's top idol would hold a concert, and TriAngel was already being called this year's leading favorite.

For Seika, nothing but good things had been happening lately. That, honestly, wasn't an exaggeration at all, but…

"… Haa…"

Seika was a bit troubled.

… In this past month, not even once had she been invited to the bedroom by her Master, Akai Naoto.

"… It's not like I particularly… want to or anything, but…"

After the A-Class Tournament ended and she became Naoto's…

Naturally, she'd expected to be invited to the bedroom.

But the words Naoto threw at Seika when she joined his side had been…

"I'm really sorry. From now we're going into the special training mode for the Ursula match…

"I want Seika to please cooperate with the special training too.

"Use Hero's Triumph to buff Leone and Adelia.

"And Colette, special training to receive Leone and Adelia's attacks.

"Seika, can't you apply buffs to more than 3 people? How about in Out-of-Battle Battle?"

"E-eh, um… Hero's Triumph is limited to 3 people."

"Got it. Then first Leone, Adelia. Singing-type skills don't have person limits, right.

"Let's stack it with Setsuna's March of Passion."

"… Um…"

He was completely in battle mode and did almost nothing but combat training.

While skills were recovering, Farida took her along with Luna and Setsuna for idol activities.

Busy yet fulfilling days, but still…

"S-Something's different…!"

She couldn't hide her confusion.

 

*

 

"… Seika, I'm sorry about until now. Even though you went to the trouble of becoming my companion, we haven't been able to be together much…"

When Naoto bowed his head to Seika and spoke with her properly again, this is what she heard.

"Um, Seika. So that means… you want to do it with me?

"I don't want to forcibly form a physical relationship with a girl who's unwilling.

"Pillow-business is absolutely forbidden. No matter how many hundreds of millions are stacked up, an absolute refusal.

"… Well, if the girl herself wants it, I wouldn't be against allowing it…

"Pillow business — do you want to do it?

"… Hmm, since I dislike it, it's hard to ask without bias!

"I mean, I don't want to deny what a girl likes, but…"

Not knowing what to say, he grew flustered.

"… I-it's fine. I… never did pillow-business because I wanted to either.

"In Japan it was at the agency's say-so. After coming here, it was Austin and Dalido telling me to — I was made to do it without wanting to.

"If you say I don't have to, I don't want to."

"I see. Good. Then you don't have to."

When I said that easily, Seika seemed a bit taken aback.

"… I was so deep in tense-mode that we couldn't even have this basic conversation.

"I'm sorry.

"Confirming contract conditions and such is basic, isn't it.

"Um… first, since you've come to our place, basically you'll be able to have your own time, all right.

"And we'll properly pay you a salary too. Sorry it's about 1/1000 of my income.

"It should be at least in the tens of thousands, and depending on your work, it'll grow on commission.

"And your roles will be combat and sex.

"Basically you have the right to refuse both.

"If you don't want to, refuse. Even vague reasons like 'not feeling well' or 'not in the mood' — free to refuse.

"Of course regarding combat, in cases involving your life I'll use the command right.

"Regarding sex, I will absolutely never use the command right. This I swear on my pride — absolute.

"Then there's freedom to retire.

"If you decide you don't want to be my companion, please tell me.

"Counting handover periods, I'll arrange it so you can leave within a month.

"After that, find another Master or become an NPC — free to choose.

"If you work about 2 years, you should earn enough income to become an NPC.

"Sorry there are no current rules about a retirement bonus."

"… S-Seriously?"

Seika's eyes widened in surprise.

"Yeah, seriously. If I could, I'd want to give every Garumon in this world the freedom to retire.

"Even if you can't defy the destiny of being a Master and Garumon, I want to at least give the freedom to search for a good Master.

"That's my goal in this world.

"If that's the case, Masters will try to improve the environment so their Garumon don't run away, right?

"I'd appreciate Seika's cooperation with that too."

"… That's wonderful.

"Understood. I… will gladly cooperate."

Seika replied.

"Yeah, thank you. Once again, welcome to our group, Seika. Looking forward to it."

"… Yeah."

I shook hands with Seika.

A soft, comfortable hand.

"… And of course, please refuse if you don't want to, but…

"I want to do something sexy with Seika. Because Seika is very cute… How about it?"

I made that offer.

"… I-It's not that I don't want to."

Seika said it, blushing.

Whoa, happy…

I drew Seika into my arms and… kissed her.

A gentle, pecking kiss on the lips.

Sweet, meltingly sweet fragrance…

Half in a dream… right away the strong urge to embrace her tightly, knead and suck on these bountiful breasts, surfaced…

… But beyond that, I wanted to dote on Seika.

This endlessly cute, wonderful idol.

"… Naoto…"

Porori…

A single tear rolled from Seika's eye.

"Eh, huh… what's wrong?"

I hastily pulled back, but Seika clung to me, and this time she kissed me from her own side.

"… Nothing. I just wished I'd met you sooner.

"… That's what I thought."

What a cute thing to say.

"… But isn't it more like the timing was rushed? If you hadn't transmigrated to this world, you'd be 56 in the original world, and for an 18-year-old me to meet you…"

"That sort of thing, please mind your wording."

She pinched my cheek.

True, that was rude.

"Well, I think Seika would still be beautiful at 56 in the original world.

"… But the Seika here and now — no predictions needed. Without a doubt… you're beautiful."

I stroked her beautiful white hair.

Ahh… truly beautiful. To be allowed to do something sexy with such a cute idol…

It really was like a dream.

"But, I'm of the philosophy that delicious things should be endured and endured, and eaten only when I can't endure any longer…"

"… Wait, eh? S-So, I'm being made to wait…!?"

"Y-yeah… at minimum, a week of intimate time with Yumi, and… a week of intimate time with Ursula…

"A week of sleeping with Suzanne and being intimate…

"At minimum, 3 weeks away, I guess.

"By then there's the S-Class Conference, and if something happens there, then again…"

"Ehhh…!? Y-you're, really… pretty weird!"

The pretty in there showed a measure of consideration.

Well, weird was weird, I guess. But that was just how I was, couldn't be helped.

"Well, but, I want to save the pleasure for later, too…

"I'd be happy if Seika could also think of it as something to look forward to."

"… Look forward to nothing, frustration's going to build up! Ahh, honestly, weirdo!"

"… If you don't like it, you can quit, you know…"

"As if I'd quit! Weird… but the most wonderful Master ever. You are.

"You're the ideal master I'd finally met… no way I'd let you go.

"From now on, you have to treat me as your idol alone, or I won't forgive you!"

So Seika fumed cutely.

Ahh, honestly, cute…!

I made out with Seika to my heart's content on the bed.

I was really looking forward to the day of sex that would eventually arrive.