The Betrayed Hero and the Idol

"Aqua, Omari totally likes you! Why aren't you going in for the kill?" Ruby says.

Haa... this shit again.

"I said before, Ruby. I'm just not ready for a relationship yet." Aqua responds.

And the same response.

With his looks, smarts, and mature disposition, Aqua had taken middle school by storm.

More specifically, the females.

So this was a common trend.

New week, new girl, new broken heart.

My son... was he a eunuch or something?

Well, I guess it's still too soon to tell, but at 14, he should at least show a little interest in the opposite sex, no?

Not much has changed within the family over the past five years, the main things being the kids growing older, my book being published, Nimbus officially breaking up, and of course...

"Ai! The corn is done!"

"Thank you, Kana. But you know you can call me 'Mama' too, right?"

"I-I'll stick with Ai. Please."

"Fufufu, don't worry. You'll be my daughter eventually."

"Umm okay?"

Kana had been adopted.

Well, that wasn't quite right.

Her mother, the bit- I mean, the difficult woman she was, had decided to move back to the countryside, leaving Kana by herself in the city.

She had enough money to not be homeless or anything, but a young girl like her shouldn't be living by herself.

 As for why her mother was so distant... I had finally figured it out.

She was living her dream of fame vicariously through her daughter.

And since Kana was having trouble getting acting gigs now that she wasn't the 'genius child actor'... she had disappeared.

A true piece of trash.

But, it was fine.

Without her mother around, I was glad she was living out of the toxic environment she was in, and as a result, she had really grown into her own person.

...Though she still hasn't mustered the courage to ask Aqua out.

Anyway, when I found out about the extent of her situation, the first thing I did was make sure her love for acting was real, and not just a form of brainwashing her mother had forced upon her.

Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, it wasn't.

She really did love acting.

I say 'unfortunate' because it only makes the fact she was having trouble in the industry even worse.

But things were finally looking up.

Just last week, she had been accepted to be the main lead in some sort of psychological horror.

Not a great movie, from what I could tell, but with such lousy production, Kana's talents will stand out even more, at least to those who try to look.

From what I could tell, she just needed to be a bit more... selfish, or something close to that.

She had been chasing her admiration of Aqua, who acted for the production rather than himself and had completely left behind her pure talent as a result.

Hopefully, she'd start to grow out of that bad habit, but it wasn't my place, nor my area of expertise, to do anything about it.

Maybe that dense son of mine would do something for her, making her fall even deeper in love.

Speaking of Aqua and acting, he... had taken a break.

From what I could understand, the Dunning-Kruger effect had hit him hard, and he had sunk into the valley of despair.

The valley of despair being the point where you are knowledgeable enough about a subject that you can clearly see how much you suck at it.

Of course, Kana and his instructor, Gotanda, had tried to change his mind, saying he was a wonderful actor for his age and experience, and performing was the best way to get better.

But he didn't want to put out any lacking products.

He wanted perfection.

A mix of pride and perfectionism had taken over his mind, leading him to train his individual skills, either with me or Gotanda, rather than gain some experience in the entertainment industry.

But I didn't mind.

After all, my biggest fear with letting him act so young was that he'd get burnout, but now that wasn't much of a concern.

As for Freya and Amethyst, I had finally gotten a glimpse of what their true personalities would be like.

Freya was a cute and quiet girl, who loved music and was always looking to learn.

Your typical silent yet talented beauty.

And Amethyst...

"Dad! Fight me!"

...She was basically a musclehead.

Well, maybe that was a bit harsh.

When she wanted to, she could be as quick as a whip, and inheriting her mother's cute face, she was a beauty that put models to shame.

It was just... she really liked fighting.

More specifically, martial arts and swordsmanship.

Even though she was eight, she was already strong enough to put down an adult with no fighting experience, so in short... a scary kid.

I was glad one of my kids had inherited my martial talents... but as this was a world of peace, I didn't want them to focus on it like she was.

Hopefully, she'd grow out of it, and if not... well, maybe she could open a dojo or something.

As for the last one, Ruby not much had changed about her over the years.

She had grown older, of course, with her charming beauty and cuteness showing more on her face every passing day.

And her singing and dancing... well, I wasn't really an expert, but they were pretty good.

 Now all that was left for her to do was get signed to an idol group, but since she had only recently turned 14, it would take a while to-

"Oh yeah! Guess what!? I got accepted by an idol group!" Ruby cheers.

...Nevermind.

----- 30 Minutes Later -----

"Nope! No. Absolutely not!" Ai says sternly.

"But Mama!"

"No! I am not letting my sweet and pure daughter into the clutches of these people!" Ai says.

And I agreed.

We were currently reviewing the contract that Ruby had been given, and unfortunately, signed.

As a front, it looked like a good deal.

Ruby gets to look pretty, and they grow her brand as an idol, everybody wins.

But... that was only the front.

There were a few hidden clauses laced within the legal text, such as how she would be paid the same, regardless of her success, as well as how Ruby would have no choice in her managers and fellow idols, and other such traps.

But that was only the contract.

Looking at the company itself online, it was quite obvious this was not a place I would want my daughter working at for any amount of time.

"Haa... Why didn't you have your mother look over it before you signed it?" I ask.

"Umm... they told me they had someone else waiting, so I had to sign it right away or they would go with the other candidate." She says shyly.

"That should have made you want your mother to review it even more." I say with an unimpressed sigh.

Idols, you see, were very... vulnerable.

They were often young girls with no experience in the world who were chasing the dream of fame, and as it happens, those types were very easy to exploit.

Sexual favours, unfair compensation, emotional manipulation... things such as these were not uncommon at all.

While I would have rather waited a while to reveal this side of the world to this innocent daughter of mine, she had already found a bit of it herself.

Sending a glance over to Ai, I get a nod in response.

Well, at least I could leave it to the professional in this case.

While I knew that Ai, while an airhead, was not stupid, even I was surprised by how much she knew about the entertainment industry and the secrets and lies that are often used in it.

Apparently, this was a mix of always sticking around Ichigo, who was a genius at things like this, while also trying to get any leg up she could in her desperate search for love.

"Kyahaha! You got played, Ruby! Just be glad your parents caught it before an idiot like you went headfirst into this. I've seen a lot of girls get screwed over by contracts like these." Kana says with a teasing smirk.

"S-Shut up! You haven't grown for like a year!" Ruby retorts.

"What does that have to do with anything!? And I have enough womanly charms already!" Kana says, glancing over to Aqua who was reading on the couch.

She was ignored.

Ruby then gets up and stands in front of Kana before placing her chin on the redhead's head.

"Ah~ You're so small and cute... You're like a loli!" Ruby says.

"Don't call me that!" Kana bites back.

"But 'loli' doesn't sound quite right... Ah, you're a year older than us, so how about loli-senpai!" Ruby says happily.

"That's not any better!"

The two then begin to wrestle on the ground, with Ruby using the moves learned from me to easily put the smaller girl into a headlock.

"Girls. Stop please." Ai says, putting a stop to their antics.

"Ruby. I know you're just doing this because you want to get out of the conversation, but this needs to happen. You made a mistake, so now you have to fix it."

Ruby begins to pout at Ai's words.

"Although..." Ai continues.

"'Loli-senpai' does have a nice ring to it." Ai says with a grin.

"Not you too!" Kana says, her face falling at the betrayal.

"Anyway, Ruby. While scummy, everything in this contract is legal. Including the two-year exclusivity clause. Do you know what this means?" Ai says with a raised eyebrow.

"No?" Ruby says.

"It means after you quit, which you will be doing, you cannot be an idol for another two years." Ai says.

"B-But that's-!"

"The consequences of your own actions." Ai finishes for her.

Ruby's face turns downcast, her eyes brimming with unshed tears.

"But don't worry, sweetie. Most idols don't start their careers until they're 16 or 17 and for a good reason too. If you start too young, you'll market yourself as the youthful 'cute' type, and when you grow older, if you're no longer as 'cute' as you are 'beautiful', you'll get caught between the two ideals. Kind of like how Kana had so much trouble after growing out of her 'child actress' days." Ai says.

"Ouch." Kana says.

"You know it's true~" Ai says with a teasing grin.

"That's why it hurts even more." Kana says with a glare.

Though I knew from the girl's tone that it wasn't that serious.

While she still loved acting, she wasn't as stressed about getting roles as before, likely due to leaving her mother's sphere of influence.

"Anyway, it seems while your singing and dancing have grown over the years, you're still missing a few things you need to succeed, but worry not!" 

Ai then stands up and puts her hands on her hips.

"Mama here will teach you!"

She then pulls out a pair of glasses before placing them on her face.

...Did she prepare those just for this moment?

How long had she kept those in her pocket?

"It was for tonight, darling." She then says, winking toward me.

...Oh.

"Ew."

"Mama..."

And look, now you made Kana and Ruby sad.

And also a little embarrassed.

But seeing her in those glasses like that, gave her a rarely seen... mature appeal, contrasting her usual ditzy cuteness.

Picturing her in the bedroom like this...

I like it.

I like it a lot.

"Papa. Stop staring like that, it's gross."

Kana nods along to Ruby's exclamation.

Oh, whoops.

I seemed to have spaced out.

"Fufufu. Husband~ You're drooling~"

Was I?

For some reason, I didn't mind though?

"Papa!"

A sharp smack, courtesy of Ruby, wakes me up from my stupor.

Huh, where was I again?

Oh yeah, that.

"Anyways, yeah. You can't do idol work with these guys, nor can you do idol work at all for the next two years. But don't worry, we'll work something out, alright?" I say, gently patting Ruby's head.

"Okay..." She pouts.

Seeing her despondent face, I lean down to her ear.

"Besides. If you really beg for it, Mama might even be your manager. Wouldn't that be cool?" I whisper.

Her eyes light up at the thought.

"Manager Mama?" She says breathlessly.

"Mhmm. Manager Mama. I'll tell you what, Ai really turns into a beast when she wears her strict persona. Not that I mind of course, if anything I-"

"Ahh! I get it! I'm going to my room!"

She then stomps off up the steps, her cheeks red, but face no longer sullen.

"Well, that's that dealt with. And you'll make sure she doesn't do anything stupid anymore?" I ask Ai.

"Of course!" She says with a smile.

"Alright, that's good."

Sitting back down on the chair, I looked over to Aqua, who was deeply engrossed in his laptop.

"What are you doing over there?" I ask.

Glancing back at me, he then asks a question of his own in response.

"Cassius... how much money would you be willing to spend on me?" He asks.

"How blunt!" Kana says.

"You need me to pay for something?" I ask with a raised eyebrow.

It's not like Aqua never needed anything, but with his money from his acting jobs, he had always been able to pay for himself.

Even with the fact he had stopped for the past two years, he still had enough money for any gadgets and toys.

"Yes. Please." He says seriously.

Well, while our family lived a fairly modest life, with my royalties from my story, we were definitely considered 'loaded' in terms of money.

But, I was curious about what exactly he wanted, and why it would cost so much.

Was he wanting a moped or something?

"Sure, but what exactly are you gonna use it for?" I ask.

Looking back at the laptop, he reads the screen over once again before answering.

"I'm thinking of getting tutoring." He says.

"Oh? Really? For acting, right?" I ask.

He nods.

"Uhh... didn't we already ask if you wanted to go to acting classes? What changed your mind?" I ask.

"...Apparently there's a genius my age, and seeing her performance, I can see why. I'm hoping I can learn something from her." He says.

I notice Kana's eye twitch from the corner of my eye.

"Ah, that's cool. And? What's the place?" I ask.

"Lala Lai Theatrical Company." He says.

I send a glance over at Ai.

Hmm... getting lessons in acting from Lala Lai, huh? 

Like mother like son, I suppose.

"Sure thing. But no chasing skirts there, understood?" I say with a smile.

"Hah. Haven't I already told you? I have no need for romance at this point in my life." He responds.

Looking to the side once again, I see Kana release a relieved sigh.

Seriously... just how bad did she have it?