Melée 5

Tomoya: G–Gatekeeper’s true goals...?

Hiiro: Hm. Perhaps it’s money?

Chiaki: That’s my guess. You’re very clever, Hero-kun. Like we were just saying, the winners of SS get a massive amount of prize money.

That’s what’s written in the rules. And the ones who wrote the rules are the Administration—headed by Gatekeeper.

From that position, he can bend the rules however he likes, to whatever conveniences him most.

Hiiro: I see. I finally understand.

Tomoya: Huh? Huh? What do you mean? Am I the only one who doesn’t get it?

Chiaki: It’s disgusting to even think about. The idols who win SS get a mountain of prize money—

And then Gatekeeper blackmails those idols to get them under his thumb.

Tomoya: Oh... Y–you think so?

You’re joking... That sounds more like a villain in a manga, right?

Chiaki: You could say that. I’m sure Gatekeeper is going to come at us as soon as the SS Finals are over.

He already did enough experiments in the Qualifying Rounds to confirm that we would obey him when under threat.

He’ll extort money from every one of the winning idols. Tons of it. All that money we worked so hard to get—money that could change the world.

Eichi: Yes, indeed. If I were him, I would respond like this:

Eichi: —“All youse are the ones who kept insistin’ you weren’t in this idol business for the money.”

“You did this ‘cause you wanted to see your fans happy and smilin’, and for your family and friends who are so important to ya, and dreams and wishes and love.”

“So if you’re not here for the money, then you don’t really need it, neither. So how’s about lettin’ me take it off your hands?”

How was that? Close enough?

Hokuto: Not really, but in terms of how uncomfortable it was, it was practically identical.

And it’s exactly something that guy would say, too.

I’ve only had a few conversations with him—but I was struck by the way he looked at me, like I was a worthless insect, as if he didn’t care even a bit about idols.

From the very beginning, it must have been about money. That’s all he wants.

Keito: It seemed like he has other intentions as well, but for now he’s prioritizing this.

The more profit ES turns, the bigger SS gets, and the better it is for him.

And he walks away with an overflowing purse.

Hiiro: I see. Then he planned to exploit those idols by working them like slaves to make him money.

I wonder if that was his only goal.

Tomoya: Wait, that’s so shitty! Are you being serious right now? You’re sure he’s not in the yakuza or something?!

Eichi: He is—He is a creature of the underworld, an immoral mafioso.

From the outset, he never once hid this truth, and he thoroughly acted the part of a villain, as well.

In our world, these people really do exist.

If you can’t believe in them just because you can’t see them, the way you would a ghost—

Well, as they say: ignorance is bliss.

Tomoya: ......

Chiaki: The worst part of this is that there’s no guarantee of an end to these threats. If he keeps leveraging these things against us with no way for us to refuse—

He can keep snatching up everything we have, bleeding us dry indefinitely.

Tomoya: Wh–what the hell are we supposed to do, then...? The mafia is scary. Why are they getting involved in the idol industry?

Eichi: Long ago, there was indeed a connection between the entertainment industry and the underbelly of society. The ghosts of our past, I suppose, have decided to haunt us once more.

But don’t give up yet. The landscape of today is different. The laws are different. The culture is different.

The roots that connected us to the pollution of the underworld have disentangled almost entirely, and that connection is almost unrecognizable nowadays.

We will just need to purify it once more, in the same way. I do have the workings of a plan for that—

And I’m sure Nagisa-kun and Saegusa-kun over on the White Team are thinking about much the same thing, since they have an even deeper connection to Gatekeeper.

We are not fighting alone. It may sound like something out of a shounen manga, where they topple an indomitable foe with the power of friendship.

But it is precisely because there is truth in it that we keep telling this same clichéd story time and time again.