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020 – My Favorite Idol # 2

“So, you are that Arachne?”

Arachne.

She was a woman renowned for her exceptional weaving skills, so confident in her ability that she challenged Athena to a contest and won.

The problem was that in the process, she mocked and disdained the gods, which led to a predicament. Arachne was ultimately transformed into a spider, cursed to weave with silk for the rest of her life.

However, the Arachne before my eyes was not in the form of a spider, but a woman.

Her hair was a dazzling silver, like a spiderweb, and she wore a strict-looking women’s suit with stockings.

At a glance, she seemed like a competent office worker, which was rather disappointing.

“Ms. Arachne, why aren’t you in the form of a spider?”

“…That’s not important right now, is it? Didn’t you hear what I was just telling you? I explained for over an hour how crucial this matter is…”

“You did. You planned an idol group performance at the large stadium in Elysium, and the main vocalist, of all people, isn’t cooperating, right?”

“Yes?”

Ms. Arachne looked flustered by my concise summary.

She twisted strands of her hair with her fingers.

“That’s a neat summary. Anyway… she’s asking for a thorny flower for inspiration. I’ve shown her roses, briars, and acacia, but she just says she doesn’t like any of them. Now, all that’s left is this hell cactus flower.”

“And so?”

“‘And so’ you say? Section Chief Joy. If you cooperate well with this, there will be a significant reward from the executives. As an office worker yourself, you must know how important it is to build connections with executives, don’t you, Joy?”

She made her proposal with narrowed eyes, aiming at me.

She was truly like a hunting spider flicking out its web to snare its prey.

Ms. Arachne, indeed a capable woman.

And that’s the problem.

If I get involved with such a capable woman, I’ll inadvertently accumulate achievements.

The likelihood of incidents, accidents, and failures will decrease.

So, I wanted to keep my distance from the woman in front of me if possible.

“Ms. Arachne, I have nothing to say. Please leave.”

“Wait a moment! Do you know how many people’s jobs will be cut if this fails? How many people will be fired due to the executives’ anger… no, perhaps that responsibility could even fall on you!”

That actually piqued my interest.

The idea that the blame for the failed performance could be placed on me.

‘Don’t you hear something?’

The sound of a prime opportunity for dismissal and a job change.

My reasons to reject Arachne’s offer only multiplied.

“Joy, do you know how I got to this position? I grabbed hold of opportunities as thin as spider silk, one after another, and finally made it here. I absolutely cannot stop now!”

Arachne stood up from her seat.

She then took off her suit jacket.

A thin silk dress shirt, almost transparent enough to reveal her undergarments, was exposed.

What’s more, she even began to unbutton that shirt, one by one?

“What are you doing?”

“Section Chief, please sell me those cacti! I’ll bow to you in my underwear! This is my first time, so I might be clumsy, but men like this, don’t they? Lewd and sexual things!”

“What?!”

How perplexing!

What does this woman think men are?

Does she think we’re animals who drool at the sight of any woman?

Though, most men in the Greek mythology world are like that.

And actually, I do like pretty women, but!

The problem was that even though I desired dismissal and a job change, getting caught in a sexual harassment scandal was by far the worst move.

Because right now, I was under the subtle surveillance of the goddess Melinoye.

—How dare you say you like a goddess like me, then immediately turn your gaze to another woman? Do you want to have a terrible time? Joy, you should be a cockroach, not a spider.

—Joooooyyyy!

The mere thought made my legs buckle.

Arachne, she wouldn’t know my situation, but her intuition is sharp indeed, she knows exactly how to persuade me.

Is this some kind of Spider-Sense?

“Alright. I’ll cooperate. But please, don’t take off your clothes or anything. I have a woman I like, and I don’t want any unnecessary misunderstandings! Please!”

“You’ll grant my request? Yay!”

Arachne wiggled her hips, raising her left arm then her right.

Was she dancing?

She even made a peculiar sound.

“Hioong…!”

“…Hioong?”

When I frowned, she blushed and cleared her throat.

“Since I was a spider for a long time, I haven’t forgotten that habit… Ahem, ahem.”

What does that matter?

Spiders don’t make a “Hioong” sound.

Anyway, that’s how I ended up cooperating with this performance.

My cooperation just involves selling a few cacti.

Now that I think about it, it feels wasteful.

‘If I reduce the number of cacti I have, it feels like the cockroaches will invade. If another manager-sized roach comes like last time, I’m confident I’d faint with my eyes open.’

In other words, it’s like selling off my shield.

Is there any good way around this?

After thinking for a while, a good idea struck me.

“You said you wanted to find a rare flower, right? I do have a cactus with yellow flowers.”

The yellow-flowered cactus I had gifted to Orpheus a while ago.

What if I made this woman buy that?

It would be enough monetary compensation for Orpheus, who has been holed up for the past few days, enough for several months’ living expenses.

And I wouldn’t lose my roach shield, which is good for me.

Arachne, in her own way, would get a rare flower, which would be good for her.

It would be a win-win-win strategy.

# # #

“Ugh, what a terrible smell.”

Ms. Arachne lost her relaxed smile and pinched her nose.

The miserable state of the multi-unit dwelling must have been hard for her to bear.

“It’s completely different from the new apartment I live in in Elysium. Are you really saying the flower I’m looking for is in a place like this?”

“Of course it’s messy. This is a slum famous for its cheap rent, even within ‘Happy World’. This place was originally created as a place of exile.”

Knock-knock-knock-.

I knocked on the door.

“Orpheus, are you there?”

Ms. Arachne was greatly startled.

“Orpheus? You mean *the* Orpheus? The legendary one…!? Wait a minute! I didn’t know I was going to meet such a great person! I’m not mentally prepared yet—”

Thump, screech-.

The door opened, and a man with a bushy beard and messy hair, looking utterly exhausted, appeared.

At that sight, Ms. Arachne’s expression also grew cold.

“What, he’s a fake.”

“Fake? What do you mean, fake?”

“Well, a legendary singer like Orpheus wouldn’t live in such a poor corner. I’ve seen how many fake Orpheuses like you since I started making connections in the entertainment industry…!”

‘I got nothing out of this expectation,’ Ms. Arachne thought, fanning her face with her hand.

Are there many fakes impersonating Orpheus in this ‘Soul Society’?

But the man in front of me was the real one.

So, just as I was about to open my mouth to lightly explain, Orpheus spoke first.

“Th-that’s right. Actually, I’m just a man who dreams of being Orpheus. What was his name… Krauser. Johann Wolfgang… something Krauser. I dream of being the Emperor of ‘Happy Metal’! Wow yeah! Rock spirit!”

“Ha, Happy Metal? What a baseless and uncommercial genre! Tsk!”

Ms. Arachne clicked her tongue.

As I was failing to grasp the situation in many ways, Orpheus pulled me aside and said to me in a very low voice.

“If they’re involved in the entertainment industry, they might have connections with Eurydice, you know. I don’t want her to know I’m living like this. So please, keep it a secret…”

Goodness, what a strange thing to ask.

But I had once tried to use Orpheus for my own failure.

‘It seems that’s why this man ended up holed up in his room even more.’

Because of that, I had a debt of gratitude, and hoping to repay it, I had been giving him cacti and visiting frequently to help him out.

Going along with a joke-like lie like this was easy.

“Anyway, the flower Ms. Arachne is looking for is with this Krauser.”

“Actually, I don’t have it either.”

What?

This was a situation I hadn’t anticipated either.

Ms. Arachne also got angry.

“Hey, everyone’s story is different!”

“I buried it in the front yard. It’s a bit… to keep torture devices in the house.”

What did he say?

To literally bury someone’s goodwill in the yard.

But for some reason, Ms. Arachne nodded and understood.

“Well, it is a bit much to keep torture devices at home… In that sense, Joy’s house was truly terrifying. Oh, sorry. It’s just my personality; I have to say what’s on my mind to feel better!”

“……”

So, we headed to the yard.

In this slum’s multi-unit dwelling, what they called a yard was nothing more than an unkempt vacant lot with trash scattered everywhere.

In such a place, the cacti were ominously placed.

Their branches, sharply extending in all directions like lightning, were indeed suitable to be called ‘torture devices.’

‘Even I think those look a bit sinister. Why did they grow in that shape?’

However, unlike their sinister branches, the beautifully bloomed yellow flowers were exceptionally vibrant.

They seemed to have a pleasant scent too.

The scent was so pleasant that this yard, full of trash, was filled with the fragrance of flowers, making it refreshing.

Ms. Arachne was delighted.

“…If it’s that!”

*Slick-*.

Ms. Arachne reached out her hand towards the flowers.

“Ouch!”

But she pricked herself on a thorn.

Blood was profusely flowing!

Ms. Arachne sucked her finger repeatedly, then extended her other hand, but the result was the same.

With both hands injured, Ms. Arachne burst into rage.

“At times like this, I miss having eight arms!”

Is that the problem?

Even with more arms, it seems she wouldn’t be able to pick the flowers because of those thorns.

Just in case, I brought thick gloves, but the thorns pierced even the gloves.

“Ack! I got pricked too!”

Given this, there was no choice but to call in an expert!

“…”

Mrs. Kshali, the cactus expert, looked at the cacti for a long time before giving her answer.

“I told you. These children become more affectionate when you give them attention. Conversely, it seems they’ve become wild because they were left neglected in a harsh place for a long time. If it’s like this, there’s no solution.”

“Th-that can’t be…”

Ms. Arachne slumped to the ground.

But at that moment, a good idea suddenly struck me.

“How about we just hold the performance here? We can bring that picky main vocalist here and have them perform while looking at these flowers. Isn’t that a brilliant idea?”

“Wait a minute! Are you telling us to ditch a large stadium and bring our singers to this dangerous and dreadful place for a performance? And invite the executives to a roadside like this?”

“Then what do you propose? Rather than your singer refusing to sing at all and facing the executives’ severe punishment, at least if they can perform even in a place like this, they’ll avoid a major penalty.”

“But…”

“It’s fine. If push comes to shove, just use my name, Section Chief Joy’s. Ms. Arachne, even if this fails, you can just use my name.”

Inviting important VIPs to a roadside performance.

That sort of thing couldn’t possibly succeed.

‘Unless the singing skill was on par with Orpheus.’

But there was no Orpheus in this ‘Soul Society’.

Only Krauser of Happy Metal existed.

Therefore, this performance would inevitably fail, and when they started assigning blame, my name, Joy, would inevitably come up.

I was deeply moved.

That such a brilliant strategy had come from my own mind.

It was truly perfect improvisation.

Wasn’t I the maestro controlling the surrounding situation to my will?

# # #

“I said no, I objected, but the person called Section Chief Joy from ‘Happy World’ pushed for this location to the very end. How about it…?”

Arachne discreetly observed the picky artist, the main vocalist Euriol.

Euriol’s eyes lit up as she looked at the ominously extended ‘torture devices’ and the flowers growing on them.

“It’s coming. The inspiration.”

“If you had objected, I would have just gone with the stadium… What? What did you say? What’s coming?”

“It’s a place where the soul of art can be felt. Seeing this place, I no longer want to go to a stadium. I want to sing here. Arachne, you really tried hard!”

“Th-that’s right? Oh, um… I did put in some effort, didn’t I?”

“Torture devices and flowers… the ironic juxtaposition. A paradox… Good, I’ll write a song too. I want to release a new song for this performance, is that okay?”

*Sparkle-*. Starlight shimmered in the idol’s eyes.

At that moment, the competent producer Arachne instinctively knew.

Whatever happened, this performance would cause the greatest stir in the history of Soul Society.