A few days later.
Beautiful Dream Succubus Human Resource Creation Company.
Long Bridge Conference Room.
“Ahem, the collaboration with Sigma Hero Company has been confirmed.”
The four people from the company sat around the round table for the meeting, with black tea set in front of them. In the center of the table sat a small bamboo basket, filled with sweets and snacks that Fran had bought.
“Next week, the ‘Sigma Series’ will be heading out with our company’s ‘Magical Girl Clara’ to the newly built Moon Sea Resort outside Central City, for a week-long joint training camp… Sigh—”
Although it was clearly a good thing to have finalized the collaboration, Chesya’s expression was far from happy. She let out a long sigh, as if holding back some dissatisfaction…
Bang—!
Then she clenched her tiny fist and slammed it hard onto the table, leaving a small fist imprint even on the solid wood.
“That guy named Ace! He actually leaked the news about the collaboration to the Sigma Series’ fan community in secret! Trying to use public opinion to pressure us into agreeing—If we refuse now, their brainless fans will attack us… That kid looks like such a gentleman, but his actions are truly rotten!”
Spreading things in the dark makes it hard to gather evidence, and even if you catch him, he can just claim it was an employee’s personal behavior. Chesya really had no way to deal with such shameless tactics. Although continuing the collaboration wasn’t affected—in fact, it could even serve as early publicity—it was still annoying all the same.
In the end, that producer turned out to be rather petty as well.
But perhaps the reason he resorted to such tactics was also because of Chesya’s attitude as president…
Clara recalled the interview she had given yesterday afternoon. The reporters had already caught wind of the news, a leak straight from Sigma Hero Company.
“Hero Company doesn’t play fair, either~” Clara propped her cheek with one hand and sighed softly, then added, “Come to think of it, Magical Girl Clara has even made it onto the Fourth Calamity’s urgent extermination list. Collaborating with us at a time like this—won’t Sigma Series get dragged into the mess?”
“Hmph, dragged in?”
Chesya grinned with a sneer.
“The ‘Sigma Series’ have always been on the Fourth Calamity’s list. How’s a newbie like you going to drag them down? To them, working with us isn’t any loss at all. They’re bound to clash with those lunatics sooner or later… Mmm, so sweet!”
She leaned across the table to grab a snack from the bamboo basket, tore the wrapper open, and popped it into her mouth.
“Sigma Hero isn’t a big operation, but they’ve been fighting the Fourth Calamity all this time?”
Hearing this, Lucia was surprised. “Those handsome heroes are pretty strong, huh?”
Back then, they managed to fend off Ps·ycho’s raid with incomplete gear. They truly were capable heroes, but for Clara, that incident wasn’t exactly a happy memory.
“Don’t look down on Sigma Hero Company just because they’re small—their Sigma Series exoskeletons are very advanced, definitely not the work of some back-alley workshop.
If I’m not mistaken, Sigma Hero is probably backed by some major tech company. As for which one specifically… I’d need to get access to their exoskeleton systems to find out~”
When Fran said this, Lucia couldn’t help but mutter,
“Wow! Fran, are you thinking of being a tech thief again?”
“Mhm~”
After all, having worked at Knightmare, Fran had no qualms about shamelessly stealing technology. As for Chesya, she was even less likely to object.
“In that case, do you two want to come along on this joint training camp? Since hero companies are rivals, there’ll definitely be a chance to get close to their exoskeletons. It’s a good chance to gather intel—”
“Eh? We can go?” Lucia straightened up in delight, a grin creeping across her face.
After all…
This training camp is at a luxury seaside resort!
Even if it’s an artificial ocean, Lucia had never been to a beach, even back on Earth, so of course she was excited~
“Of course you can! Actually, I’d say we need someone to go along! A week-long collaboration—no way we’d let her go alone, right?”
As Chesya spoke, Lucia nodded in agreement.
“Yeah, if we leave it to Senpai, she might end up eaten alive after a week.”
Just what does Lucia think of me, anyway?
It’s true, though—if my identity gets exposed just like that, as a big brother my dignity would… well, there’s not much left anyway… but it’d be gone for good.
Clara tugged at the corner of her mouth but didn’t dare argue.
After all, sending her to collaborate with four handsome guys for a week sounded way too much like one of those otome games, where all the male characters have deep, magnetic voices.
Spending a week in that kind of environment?
Clara could hardly imagine it. She was getting goosebumps just thinking about it. In that sense, having someone go along was definitely a relief.
Lucia asked, “President Chesya, aren’t you going?”
“Hmm? I’d love to go, since it’s a brand-new resort! But I’m way too busy—it’s impossible for me to take a week off for a vacation…”
As Chesya spoke, she hopped up onto her chair, put one hand on her hip, puffed out her flat chest, and raised her fist with gusto, shouting, “So, enjoy it for my sake too, livestock!”
“Yeah!”
Lucia and Fran were both pumped, and Clara half-heartedly raised her hand and cheered along, then quickly asked, “What kind of activities are planned for the training camp? Are we going to livestream the whole thing?”
Fran answered, explaining, “It’ll be streamed live on the day, and an edited version will be released the next day. Except for special situations, there won’t be any livestreaming in the bedrooms or during breaks—after all, the heroes need their privacy~”
That “special situation” was suspicious. Clara frowned.
“Wait, don’t tell me there’s going to be some sort of prank-wake-up segment?”
Even though she didn’t usually watch variety shows, in this information-saturated age, it was impossible not to catch glimpses here and there. Celebrities or heroes on these shows always ended up as targets for pranks, and to boost ratings, the producers would even set up crude, tasteless stunts…
“Don’t worry! Producer S already showed me the training camp plan. Overall, it’s pretty acceptable…
… As long as they don’t make any changes on the spot?”
Given how Producer S acted, there was a real possibility of last-minute changes.
“If there’s something you can’t accept, you can refuse, right?”
“Of course. Your role this week is to act as the Sigma boys’ little sister. They should take care of your feelings… But, I do have a task for you…”
“A task?”
“Mhm! You can’t be hated by Sigma Series’ fans, and you’ve got to try to turn some of those idol-chasers into your own fans! Think you can do it?”
“No, I can’t.”
Clara didn’t even hesitate.
“President, you don’t know much about the Sigma Series, do you? All their fans are here for the handsome faces. For me to get close to their idols… I’ll be lucky if those fangirls don’t try to kill me.”
“As long as they see that you’re worthy of their idols, that’s good enough~”
Chesya spoke nonchalantly, but the way Ps·ycho had practically wanted to eat her alive was still fresh in Clara’s mind, and her frown deepened.
Forget about gaining fans—it’d be enough just not to get hated.
During the training camp, it’s probably best to keep some distance from the Sigma Series heroes.
Author’s note: Just to be safe, there will be no direct romantic developments with male characters in the upcoming resort arc.
Of course, that doesn’t mean anything if one of Sigma isn’t male.