A Job for Children 3

A few minutes later

Rinne: Welcome in~ ♪ Welcome to the Beehive, a dreamlike nightclub where you can watch and interact with adorable idols up close and personal!

HiMERU: ......

Rinne: Oh? Well, look who it is! I wasted all my niceties on you, Meru-Meru... Sorry, but we can’t let little kids in, yanno?

HiMERU: —Please stop treating us so arrogantly like children simply because you’re the only legal adult of us.

Regardless of the legal definition, HiMERU engages in commercial activities and therefore he considers himself an adult.

Rinne: Ooh, we got a smartass over here. I’m sure that’s super convenient for you... but it’s convenient to me to keep seeing you as a kid, right?

You think people are gonna respect your wishes just ‘cause you want it really really bad? You shoulda stopped believing in stuff that stupid when you got outta middle school! Gyahahaha ☆

Yuuta: ......

Rinne: Hm? Ah... this guy again? Can’t wait to see what happens next.

All right all right, what do you want this time? If you’re gonna bitch and moan about wanting your Aniki back, then do it outside, ‘kay? You’re obstructing business here.

Pain in the ass, damn brats throwing their little tantrums.

Yuuta: (Wh–what? What’s with this attitude? This is the same way he acted during the MDM, but it’s like he has no remorse for any of that—)

(Does he not even realize he’s at fault for all of that?)

Rinne: Mmmm? Well hey, don’t you look all pissed off now. What, were you raised in a barn or something...?

Oh, lemme guess: all you had to do up ‘til now was bitch to your sweet, beloved Onii-chan with teary eyes and he’d roll over like a dog begging for forgiveness. Am I close?

But I’m not apologizing to you. Even if I did, you wouldn’t forgive me... would you?

I mean seriously, just by being alive, humans use up all the oxygen in the air and fuck shit up for animals everywhere in the world...

If I had to go around groveling to all of them, I’d waste my whole life on that. And what was it they say—YOLO?

Yuuta: ......

Rinne: So here’s what we’re gonna do. I’ll make sure your profit’s higher than your losses.

When people feel like they’re reaping the rewards, everything they’ve lost just gets brushed under the rug—

The poster boys of ES, those Big Three guys, are great example:

They’re the worst of ‘em all. They trampled over uncountable people to get where they are, and yet the world exonerates them like they’re the cream of the idol crop.

Why’s that? ‘Cause they keep winning. ‘Cause they make money for everyone they work with.

It’s hard to come by someone who can rationally criticize or even get rid of something that gives them even temporary profits and pleasures.

That’s why there’s no getting rid of casinos, and the alcohol and tobacco companies are never gonna run short of people looking for a quick escape...

But if you actually consider all of it as a whole, they’re only losing money there, and at the cost of their time and health, too.

HiMERU: —Exactly. So please stop all of these immoral pastimes you keep engaging in. You are leaving a negative impression on all of us.

Rinne: So what are you asking me to do? Die? Disappear forever?

You think I’m just some waste of space that doesn’t have the right to live in society?

HiMERU: —The request is merely that you live a more desirable life as an idol, at the bare minimum.

Rinne: Ahhh, so you want me to be a good boy and kiss up to everyone? That it?

If I coulda gotten anywhere working hard and being earnest, I wouldn’t have turned out like this. And even if I change my life around now, what good’s that gonna do me?

When you’re a little stinging bee that hurts other people, it doesn’t matter how much you promise you’re not a bad person anymore. No one’s gonna believe you anyways.

If anything, they’d just end up taking that as an opportunity to torture me into an early grave.

HiMERU: —Your distrust of and despair toward your fans, or rather all the people around you, is deep-seated, it seems.

One would have thought the final round of the MDM had quelled even a little of those concerns.

Rinne: Aww, you little baby chicks must be so proud of yourselves—you got to teach the veteran Amagi Rinne-kun what it means to be an idol.

I’ve got plenty of fans who love and support me and Crazy:B.

So long as there’s just one person out there who appreciates me, I’ll keep living for them, even if I gotta eat dirt.

I do it for them. But I’m not about to bend over backwards for anyone else out there. I’m not gonna be their slave or kill myself trying to get their approval.

If we sell out trying to become “ideal idols” that cater to the lowest common denominator—

Isn’t that just betraying all the people who love us right now?

HiMERU: So you became an idol not to seek the approval of the many but to be loved by a select few.

The natural course is that fans choose the idols they like. If idols begin choosing their fans... what is the world coming to?

Rinne: Gyahaha. Real original opinion ya got there, Meru-Meru~ Is that how you really feel?

Yuuta: (Uh, huh? Did they seriously just ignore me to start philosophizing about idols?)

(That’s not what we’re here for! I need to see what Hinata-kun’s been up to since he won’t tell me anything—)

Hinata: Rinne-senpai? What’s up, did you get into some trouble?

Yuuta: —Hinata-kun!

Hinata: Whoa, Yuuta-kun?! I didn’t actually think you’d come all the way out here!

Damn... Well that sucks. I guess it was fun while it lasted—

Yuuta: ...?