044 Idol Arc 20: Cleanup

"Violation! The Brush Lips Fleet has six ships, doesn't it? That’s an invalid match!"

Complaints pour in from the Barler fleet.

A challenge to the existence of "Fan Nell."

I’d anticipated this situation, so I’d already checked the executive branch’s stance.

"Here’s the executive’s position on carrier craft. Read it."

It stated:

・Carrier craft are autonomous unmanned units under the control of a mother ship.

・A mother ship is a vessel equipped with a brain that controls or dominates carrier craft.

・In simulated combat, carrier craft are considered附属 objects of the mother ship and are not counted as separate vessels.

・Carrier craft are permitted to operate unmanned even in real space.

"...Damn it. But you sent spies into our fleet and turned them against us! That’s invalid!"

This old man’s still stalling, huh.

Then I’ll just have him testify in person.

‘Just have the spy herself—Ayame—testify. Ayame, be honest now.’

‘I didn’t know about the strip rule… I just agreed to negotiate because I was told I could duel the Idol Fleet…’

‘When did you find out?’

‘During the simulation, when one of the idols got stripped… I started panicking, and that’s when I realized the singer was Tanpopo…’

‘I told you to dodge.’

‘Yes. I reflexively dodged, and then got shot from behind—got stripped too…’

‘So what are you saying?’

‘It’s like I’ve been tricked from the start by the Baruch Fleet…’

‘No! I didn’t trick you—“You’re really bad at quitting, you know that?”’

President Kamizawa, the observer, finally snapped and butted in.

"This matter has been reported to the executive branch. The administrative officials are furious about the fraudulent behavior toward new recruits! You can expect due retribution later!"

"Ku...!"

Hagetaka (Baruch) fell silent.

Then, let's just get this defeat handled quickly.

A list of equipment is handed over from the Baruch Fleet.

Glancing at the list. "36cm Railgun!" That's a treasure.

"President, the reward for the bet is that, right?"

"You thought so too? Me too."

"Then, I'll take it."

"Sure."

President Kamizawa smirks on the comms screen. Just like the boss. Gets it.

President Kamizawa speaks on behalf.

"Regarding the bet reward—no equipment needed. Send over Ayame."

"Eh? (Not the Railgun?!)"

I thought rescuing Ayame would be simple.

I figured if we took out their main force, Ayame could just slip away from the Baruch Fleet on her own—after that, whatever came next, we’d figure it out.

“Got it. I’m canceling Ayame’s contract.”

Turns out later she didn’t even have the right to leave. Some black contract had her locked in.

So President Kamizawa pulled a little bluff about the executive branch—just enough to make it look real.

And that’s how Ayame became a new recruit candidate.

Here’s Kamizawa’s angle:

A young, beautiful, skilled SFO gamer with no fleet affiliation? Rare as hell.

Turning an idol into a pro SF player on Earth? Takes time.

Then Ayame shows up—perfect talent, barely escaped the net, didn’t even have to strip for the cameras.

Best move: owe her a favor, pull her in.

Again with the shady stuff from Kamizawa.

No one had mentioned the 'fan-nel' being insurance, but apparently neither the president nor the members thought it was an unmanned fighter jet.

That's a self-propelled missile, stripped of explosives, fitted with a beam cannon and a repaired shield field.

I’ve installed the neural interface controlling that into my Personal Ship and backed it up.

Since full autonomy hasn’t been proven trustworthy yet, we’re restricting certain autonomous functions and maintaining constant surveillance control through a data link to the Sub-Computer.

Small, high-mobility, high-output stealth. Mobility was its weak point, so we called it 'Fannell.'

The Vulture Fleet had been scanning the gravity well ahead for sniping opportunities, so we slipped around behind it, hidden within the field, and positioned ourselves behind the enemy flagship.

Used the time singing to good effect—what a lucky break from injury.

When I asked about handling the carrier aircraft, I ended up talking to the government. They said it’d be more useful as a suicide weapon than just a bomb—so they’re considering mass production.

But they also said the shielded versions are classified as special—can’t make many of them.

So, in the future, carriers will start appearing as stations.

When I asked about the idea fee, they just laughed and waved it off.

Debt isn’t going down. Threats are only getting worse.

It’d be terrifying if the enemy got their hands on this.

I fixed the scene where Akira choosing the railgun over Ayame made it seem like he acted out of character. I’d thought we’d broken the Baruch Fleet and rescued Ayame, but we were actually bound by a black contract. The difference in how Akira and President Kamizawa handled it—Akira not knowing, Kamizawa knowing—made all the difference.

Maybe I should’ve just played the hero and saved Ayame outright.

In the R18 version, Ayame gets stripped naked by the enemy side.

If that's the case, the idol path meant becoming Shira's partner in the real world—no escape from it.