Bonus Chapter - A Greedy Heart

"I want in." The young, heartbroken blond man strode into his producer's office and announced his intentions loudly.

    "That was quick. What did I tell you? You need to practice or-"

    "Shut up, Natsuki. I'm not in the mood for your stupid jokes."

    "I see. You didn't even get a chance to make it to bat, did you? I told you you should've gone after Asa when you had the chance."

    "Hey!" A girl next to Natsuki shouted in indignation, before eyeing Hayate and softening her reaction. "He is cute, I'll give you that, but he's nothing compared to you, *Natsu*. But you can all come perform for my group next. I heard about your little concert. Three of you, three of us, there's someone for everyone. I bet it would be the best thing to happen for them since they met me. Minori is just your type! She's twice as cute as that midget *Eimi* *Inagawa*!" The blonde girl cuddled closer to the idol next to her on the couch. He responded with casual indifference, though she took this to be just more of his trademark suave attitude. The boy sitting in a large armchair in the corner laughed.

    "Yeah, someone for everyone… aHAH! Highschool girls sure have big opinions of themselves nowadays, don't they?"

    The scene in the office wasn't too different from any given evening lately. Having little else to do, Goro Matsubara spent long hours in his office to give the impression that he was hard at work, even though much of his time was spent scheming, plotting, playing games on his phone, and ranting tipsily to whichever of his idols happened to be around. Some of his idols had taken it to be as good a place as any to hang out, sharing many of the same interests - except, of course, for *Capsule Girls* - and taking advantage of the food and drink Goro would inevitably have delivered around dinner time. Lately they weren't even all his idols, though he saw the potential in that as well. You can never have your thumb in too many pies.

    "Asa, sweetie, do ol’ Goro a little favor and go get us some coffee. I have some business to discuss with my best idols and we're gonna need a pick-me-up. Close the door on the way out, okay sweetie? Can't have nosy people sneaking a listen."

    "Sure thing, Mr. Matsubara! Don't forget what we talked about, alright?" She bounced up off the couch with an impressive recoil and turned to the boy she had been trying hard to cuddle with, addressing him in a cute, babyish tone. "I'll miss you, *Natsu*. I'll get you your usual!"

    The boy rolled his eyes a little before responding. "Sure, hurry back."

    "I will! Don't worry, I'll get enough for everyone!"

    Hayate watched as she left and quietly shut the office's door, confused as to why this girl had even been here in the first place.

    "Don't mind her, my boy. She thinks if she impresses me I'll take over her group and make 'em stars like you boys. Natsuki seems pretty fond of her too, so we tolerate her for his sake. She's pretty eager to run errands though. Can never have too many gophers."

    "Hey, you have to admit that she's pretty fun to look at. At least when she shuts up…" Natsuki defended her presence to the minimal extent you could expect from a young man such as him. Which was virtually none at all.

    "Speak for yourself. For some of us the stuff she says is the only interesting thing about her. She's actually not a total nitwit. Though she's still barely more entertaining than an empty sofa… I mean I'm on payroll as a part-time stylist and I'm still bored of all the fashion gossip she spews. Read a new magazine once in a while…" Yuu was nearly as rude in his assessment of the young girl as Natsuki. Hayate shook his head lightly in disapproval.

    "You guys can be terrible sometimes, you know that? She's your coworker. At least show her a little respect."

    "Curious that you say that," the producer addressed Hayate loudly in response, "Especially since you seem to have had a rather sudden change of heart regarding exactly that!"

    "Only towards Eimi. Look, you guys are right, okay? I see it now. She needs to be taken down a peg. I don't want to hurt anyone else, but Eimi needs a serious reality check. She thinks nothing else matters except her career! That a bunch of fans are more important than her friends! It's for her own good. She'd probably thank me if she understood how far gone she is. It's like she's not even a person anymore, just an idol."

    "Well, Boss, what do you say? Do we read him in? Buuut… There's no turning back once we do, Hayate, so you'd better think clearly about this. We didn't mind you wanting to stay neutral. It was kind of cute in an old-fashioned kind of way. It made me respect you, even if I thought you were being a little dumb." The white-haired boy made an excellent point, causing Hayate to pause in consideration. As he did, the door to the office burst open. It was Asa, who had only pretended to leave, and had instead lingered in the hallway silently with her ear pressed against the door.

    "I want in too!"

    After a brief moment of surprise at the girl's nerve, Natsuki spoke up. "We told you to get lost for a while. This is Kerberos business, not your little sunshine girls or whatever."

    "Sunrise Girls! I know what you told me, and I don't care! You're planning something against Eimi Inagawa? Well I! Want! In! Got it? Or maybe Mr. Shishito would be interested in knowing what I just overheard?"

    "Are you threatening me?! Why you little ska-!"

    "Not at all, Mr. Matsubara!" Asa's voice took on a saccharine, cloying tone. "I'm proposing you let me prove to ya how valuable I would be as one of your idols. You too, *Natsu*! Y'all will see how impressive I can be. You're all just being too dumb to realize what I'm offering you on a silver platter."

    "And what's that? What could *you* possibly offer *us* except getting our coffee?" Goro was fuming. The ice in his highball glass clinked from his hands shaking with rage. A producer should never let an idol talk to them like that. That was a mantra Goro lived by. And this one wasn't even one of *his* idols. "Who do you think you are? Just because one of my boys is getting his jollies-"

    "Ohhhh. I get it!" Yuu started laughing to himself loudly. "Boss, you should listen to her. She has a point."

    "I get it too. Asa, you may be useful for more than I thought."

    "R-Really, Natsu?"

    "Sure. Why not? I see what you're getting at. That's almost smart."

    "I promise I won't let you down! You can count on me! I bet I can even get my friends to help."

    "Whoa whoa whoa! What's going on! What are you all talkin' about? We already have a plan, and we don't need some bimbo comin' in here and-"

    "You should listen to her." Hayate cut off his producer, much to his displeasure. "You really can't figure out what she's saying? Tell me this… What happens if any of us get caught in the residential areas of the building?"

    "None of you are dumb enough to do that, so it doesn't matter. That's why you have your own places for that kind of thing."

    "We'd get immediately suspended." Natsuki answered since his producer refused to. "If we were doing anything fun then we're in breach of contract. Our careers get nuked from orbit."

    "But Asa, why don't you tell Boss what you can offer our plans?"

    "I live in the dorms! Does that make it clear enough for ya?"

    Goro grumbled as he took a long swill of his drink. Everyone could tell that he was unhappy, probably not at the plan as much as because someone else had thought of it.

    "Fine! But you'd better do everything I tell you to, because I won't tolerate any messin' up our plans! We have big things in motion! Yuu, I'm thirsty. Fill them in while I take care of that, will ya?"

    The producer sulked over to the corner of his office and prepared another drink, his customary whisky on the rocks. While he did, his second-in-command took over the briefing.

    "It's pretty simple, really. Boss is upset that Eimi Inagawa moved to a different producer, so he wants to prove that she isn't as big a deal as everyone makes her out to be."

    "She was nothin' before I turned her into a star! The ungrateful little wench!" Goro drained two fingers of whisky right after shouting, sputtering lightly as it slid down his gullet.

    "Exactly, Boss. So, we need to make sure her little experimental phase is a disaster. Right now we're I MY ME's number two idol group, so it's in our interest for that entire Interlunium thing to have some problems, if you get what I mean."

    "So you're after the entire group…" Asa's lips twisted into a particularly nasty grin at that news. "This just keeps getting better and better. I was all in for goin' after Eimi, but messin' with all of 'em sounds way more fun. Well as a member of the *other* number two idol group, I say we c'n make their lives *very* rough."

    "I like your enthusiasm!" Yuu smiled in an almost equally menacing fashion. "Maybe you aren't just a pair of huge boobs with a mouth."

    "Your group isn't even close to being number two, Asa. Don't forget where you rank. We're fighting it out neck and neck for number one, and you're waaay back there somewhere watching. Don't forget who's in charge here."

    "O-Okay, Natsu. I know you guys are super popular! I promise! You'll be number one once we're done. Having a guy in the number one group is just as good as being number one anyways…"

    "I didn't even know I MY ME had other popular groups besides us and Interlunium…" Hayate said honestly.

    "W-Well, we haven't quite debuted-" Asa was cut off by Natsuki clicking his tongue and she fell quiet, letting Hayate continue.

    "So, what have you done so far?"

    "We've already got a few things in motion. Junko is basically already a sure thing. I just need to string her along a little more first to prime the pump, then she'll be begging me for it. That little stunt with her roommate got her seething with jealousy. Of course if it doesn't work with Junko, now her roommate's a sure thing too."

    "J-Junko?! That slag?! What are you-"

    "Asa, shut up. We're filling you in on everything going on. Appreciate that you're getting that much, okay?"

    "S-Sorry, Natsu… but…"

    "Shhh…" Natsuki rolled his eyes and patted the spot on the sofa next to him. Asa gave up her protests and sat down, then scooted as close as she comfortably could, clinging to his muscular left arm. This seemed to satisfy her for the time being, a large smile overtaking her face.

    "I spread a few rumors around my school about some of them, but nobody much seemed to care. Everyone just thought it was cute when I said that two of them share a bed instead of being out for blood like they used to. So now I need to think of something else. I have access to the makeup department. Maybe swap out some of Chiyo's stuff for green? Rumor is she hates that color. Or maybe just mix up all of the files before a big performance so everyone's makeup is experimental. There's a chance that could go pretty bad."

    "That's… kind of sad, Yuu. Is that seriously the best you've got? How would that teach any of them a lesson? They'd just use different makeup. Heck, I'm pretty sure that even I could make someone who's already cute look good in a pinch. If anything that punishes the stylists, not the idols." A sensible point from their newest coconspirator, which made everyone scratch their heads. "This is all you guys have come up with? Natsuki's thinking the same as always and you're just spreading childish rumors?"

    "Well you haven't put forth any great ideas yet. Go ahead, how can we really stick it to them? We're all ears."

    "Well, we'll never cause real problems unless we split them up. Remember MagiK Zone? They imploded as soon as they started fighting a little amongst themselves. Going after one at a time won't do anything. But… Why am I helping with that? I said I didn't want to hurt anyone. Just teach Eimi some humility. I don't want to interfere with all those other girls' careers. I don't have any problem with them."

    "What's the difference?" Natsuki spoke up. "They're a group. Let's say you manage to hurt Eimi's reputation… That's going to hurt her entire group anyway. It works the other way too. If the group becomes less popular than she used to be, then she'll realize she's made a mistake and come crawling back. What hurts one, hurts all of them. Imagine a double concert with us and Eimi though? Plus Interlunium out of the mix? They'd have to make up a number higher than 'number one' just to describe us. We'd be kings."

    "Plus they ***all*** deserve it. They act all sweet and innocent but they're just a bunch of bullies! They made fun of me an' my friends after we'd worked so hard to impress them! They don't deserve to be successful. We'd be doing the company a favor. Mr. Shishito deserves a better group to represent the company than them!"

    "Yeah, so come on Hayate. Spill it. You've gotta know some stuff that'll be helpful. You know Eimi better than any of the rest of us. What's something we can use?"

    "Well…" Hayate hesitated, then pushed past his reservations. "I don't know if it means anything, but Eimi seems really close to one particular member of her group. She's never had much use for friends before, but she brought that Aihara girl along with her today. I wasn't supposed to know, but she was right in the next booth listening to everything. So if you're going to go after all of them, she's probably the one that Eimi would take personally. Beyond that, I don't know much about any of the other girls. Maybe Asa can help with that."

    "What do you need me to do, Hayate? I'll do anything to prove myself!"

    "See? I told you she was eager to please."

    "Natsuki, stop being rude to our new friend. She's proving herself to be quite innovative, don't you think? Asa, you probably know some of their friends and schoolmates, right?" Yuu jumped in and took over, steering the plan in a direction he found amusing. "You should be able to figure out the kinds of things we couldn't. If they have any weird habits. Who they're each close to. If there's any discord in the ranks. Anything that may be useful to put a little wedge in between them. Then we can streeetch that gap until they're falling apart."

    "Got it! I have the perfect idea then…" The blonde girl fished around in her school bag before pulling out a large red notebook. She opened it up and tore out the first few pages, shoving them back in her bag haphazardly. She then took out a pen and wrote, in large letters, "INTERLUNIUM'' at the top of the new first page, then found a red pen and made a single slanted slash through the entire word. "You can count on me. We'll find out everything there is to know about each of them."

    "Why don't ya go get started on that right now?" The producer broke his silence from the corner of the room, slamming his glass on the counter angrily. "In fact, everyone get out. I need peace and quiet to figure out our new plan and you all talk too much! We're gonna teach everyone a lesson: You don't mess with Goro Matsubara!"

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