39: The A.I Idol

Kana: [Where is Natsuo? Didn't you guys notice that he doesn't chat with us as often anymore? @Chelsea, could it be that both of you are always talking and leaving the rest of us alone?]

Chelsea: [Not everyone is as free as you. I am a professional assassin. There are people waiting for me to kill.]

[Natsuo is probably training. He is also a student and a businessman, so of course he is busy.]

Kana: [Oh, I call that bullshit! He is probably dating some other girl. Chelsea, your man will soon be stolen by another woman, and there is nothing you can do about it!]

Chelsea: [He can date whoever he wants. I gave him my permission. On the other hand, why do you sound more concerned about him than I do, his girlfriend?]

[The A.I Idol has joined the Dead Girls Chat Group!]

Hilda: [A new member?]

Chelsea: [Welcome, @A.I Idol!]

Kana: [Welcome, @A.I Idol!]

Hilda: [Welcome, @A.I Idol!]

A.I Idol: [What is this app?! Who are you?!]

...

Being an idol is tiring and not particularly rewarding. The fans can be unforgiving and sometimes downright cruel; the pay is often too low, and idols have very little freedom. They cannot openly fall in love or even be seen with other men without risking backlash. On top of that, their careers are usually very short, with the majority of idols retiring around the age of 25.

However, Ai Hoshino liked this line of work. Even though her smile was fake, her actions were all fake too. When she told her fans that she loved them, that was also a lie. But she liked it. She liked seeing her fans cheering for her.

Maybe one day, she would be able to smile naturally without having to wear a fake smile.

"Good work, everyone!" Ai Hoshino greeted her groupmates before entering the restroom.

"Haah! I am so tired!" She sat down on a chair and let out a tired sigh. Singing and dancing for hours was so exhausting!

"I wonder what they are saying about me this time." She opened Twitter to look at the tweets and comments about her. Ai wasn't really a popular idol, but she was really cute, so even though her popularity was growing slowly, she was gradually gaining more fans. Maybe if she got a decent opportunity for exposure one day, she could explode in popularity.

[Ding!]

However, before she could open her Twitter account, a notification suddenly appeared on her phone.

[You have been invited to the Dead Girls Chat Group. Do you want to join?]

[Yes] [No]

"What is this? Is this the legendary virus? Is my phone getting hacked?" Ai wasn't tech savvy. She didn't know shit about electronics. Her first thought was to press no, but then she became curious about what would happen if she accepted.

Would her phone really get hacked and her information get leaked?

She didn't have any real scandals on her phone. She wasn't dating anyone, barely went out, and didn't have any friends either. Suddenly, she smirked and pressed the 'Yes' button.

She really hoped that her phone would get hacked and all her information would be made public. Maybe this could cause some sensation on the internet and get her some attention.

[Breaking! The Idol Ai Hoshino's phone had been hacked, and her information made public!]

Imagining the scene on social media, Ai felt that she was a genius!

She had heard that some stars in America had leaked their sex tapes and gone viral overnight, achieving fame and becoming world famous stars!

She wasn't planning to go that far, but leaking some cutesy images of her in real life, like eating, watching TV, practicing, and so on, along with her chat logs, should at least cause some sensation, no matter how small, right?

It was like free publicity!

[The A.I Idol has joined the Dead Girls Chat Group!]

A strange application opened on her screen, with a notification saying that she had joined the chat group. She glanced at the name and felt offended. Her name was freaking Ai, not A.I!

Why had they added a dot between the letters of her name? Did it have some meaning?

Her attention turned back to the app when she saw messages from the other chat group members welcoming her.

Natsuo: [Welcome, @A.I Idol!]

Natsuo: [Weird nickname. Are you an A.I?]

A.I Idol: [What is an A.I?]

Kana: [Is she an idiot?]

Natsuo: [Kana, don't be rude! A.I mean Artificial Intelligence. It's like a program that can think for itself.]

A.I Idol: [No, I am not! My name is Ai Hoshino! Who are you guys, and what is this chat group? I thought someone hacked my phone.]

Natsuo: [Yeah, normal reaction. We all thought our phones were hacked at first. I'll change your username.]

Natsuo was surprised to see that a new member had joined them. He had thought that perhaps they would have to invite new members themselves, but now it seemed that the chat group would randomly invite new members from time to time.

'Still, Ai Hoshino, that idol who died in the first episode.' It was a coincidence that he had watched Oshi no Ko last week when Marin forced him to watch it with her. Seeing the scene of her death had left a deep impression on him, and Marin had been so affected that she started crying.

He did her a favor and changed her name to Ai.

Chelsea: [This is a dimensional chat group. We are all from different worlds. It is called the Dead Girls Chat Group because all the members here are girls who are destined to die.]

Ai: [Are you kidding me? Is this some kind of prank? Furthermore, even if what you say is true, Yusuke doesn't sound like a girl's name. Why is he here?]

Natsuo: [My name is Natsuo! I am a guy and also the owner of this group. Anyway, you are going to die in the future. Watch this if you still don't believe us. Otherwise, you'll have to wait for the Chat Group's next mission to convince you.]

Natsuo: [Natsuo sent Anime: {Oshi No Ko}! Manga: {Oshi No Ko}!]

After sending her the two files, he decided to stop paying attention to her. He wasn't too concerned about whether she believed them or not. Once she saw her life story, she would be forced to believe it, whether she wanted to or not.

Kana: [@Ai, do you really have star eyes? Also, also! Are you dating that scum Hikaru Kamiki? Did he pop your cherry yet? Are you pregnant? Are they twins?]

Ai: [Dafuq are you talking about?!]

Natsuo put away his phone when he saw that Kana had once again started provoking a new member. He pitied Ai for having to deal with that social media addict for the first time.

They all had to deal with her stupidity at least once.

...

"I found out that my boyfriend was going out with my best friend. He made sure we both found out at the same time. When we confronted him, he laughed in our faces and said, 'Well, see what kind of friends you both have.'"

Kana used a tablet to watch reels while chatting on her phone. She immediately bombarded Ai with countless questions, confusing the poor idol, but Kana managed to get quite a bit of information about her even though Ai didn't answer all of them.

For example, it seemed that Ai Hoshino had only recently started taking lessons at the Lala Lai Theatrical Company, which meant that her relationship with that psycho, Hikaru, hadn't started yet. But if nothing changed, she would soon be in a relationship with him.

"Being an idol is such a pain in the ass. Only masochists would want to do it." Kana sympathized with Ai's tragic life. Her life was truly a sad story.

...

Ai Hoshino obviously didn't believe what the people in that weird chat group were saying. She was also very offended by the way Kana talked to her. However, what scared her was how much they seemed to know about her from the questions they asked. She started to think that these people might be some group of stalkers who had been following her life.

"It's really me! An anime about me?" She watched about a third of the first episode before returning home.

There, she watched the entire anime and found herself half believing what they had told her. "Could it be that I really am going to die?"

The impact of watching herself being stabbed to death was quite strong, and seeing her weird ass children, who were the reincarnations of two people, made her question once again whether what the others had told her was actually true.

As she read the manga, she felt horrified when she saw how Hikaru had become a serial killer.

She had met Hikaru before. He had seemed like such a pitiful and sad person.

Ai: [If what you said is true, then all of you guys are people from fictional works? And we're all destined to die?]

Kana: [Except Natsuo. He is not a girl.]

Chelsea: [Yeah, my death is the most gruesome. I recommend you see it.]

Hilda: [Why are you talking about your own death as if you are recommending a dish?!]

Ai: [Really? @Chelsea, how did you die?]

Chelsea: [See it for yourself. Check the chat history.]

Ai became curious. Even though it was already late at night and she was supposed to go to sleep early, she started reading through the chat logs. From their discussions, it seemed that they were actually having fun together!

She also became interested in the 'Domestic Girlfriend' anime. She wanted to take a look at it since it was Natsuo's world. From their discussions, it seemed that he had actually slept with his stepsister. However, she was also curious about Chelsea's death, so she decided to watch Akame Ga Kill! first.

By the time she finished watching all the two animes, it was early in the morning. Only when the light shone through the curtains did Ai realize that she was screwed.

"It's already morning! I have an audition today! President Ichigo will kill me!"

...

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