Inside Lion Telecom’s Akihabara headquarters, in a private gym designed to withstand the power of Awakeners, a girl was striking a sandbag. Her fists delivered blow after blow, followed by a lightning-fast high kick combo that sent the sandbag swinging violently. Finally, with a finishing move that seemed meant to destroy, she struck the sandbag hard enough to burst it open, sending sand spilling out in a rush. Unbothered, the girl wiped her sweat with a towel — and then angrily slammed that towel onto the floor.
"Argh, seriously! What's with that stupid ‘dazo!’ speech quirk! I didn’t become an Awakener just to spout some dumb catchphrase!"
"Calm down, Seo-chan. It’s work."
"I am doing it for work, aren’t I?! Acting like that stupid character!"
"Well... cute characters are trendy right now..."
At that, the girl — Lion Telecom’s new mascot, Seo Hikaru — plopped into a chair and let out a huge sigh.
Seo Hikaru, age 23. Despite looking like a middle schooler, she was fully an adult — a result of her awakening.
Hikaru had awakened when she was about twelve years old. While awakening had no age requirement, it was still rare for someone so young to awaken. Moreover, Hikaru’s job was a close-range dealer — specifically, a physical-type Martial Artist.
In truth, for physical-type close-range dealers, it was common for their physical growth to slow or even stop entirely. It was said that their bodies would “freeze” at their optimal state to adapt to the system of “growing stronger” through job and level development.
Thus, Hikaru’s body had stopped growing entirely at age twelve. No matter how much she trained, her physical form remained unchanged, as if to declare that this was her peak form. That said, being small was hardly advantageous in the realm of martial arts. Many monsters were large, and as a Martial Artist in close-range combat, this was fatal. Naturally, she had difficulty finding parties and mostly worked solo, but the future looked bleak.
Until—something miraculous, something people later called a miracle, happened.
Hikaru didn’t talk much about exactly when it happened. But one day, her job changed to one called “Lion King.” With blinding speed that negated her small size, and with overwhelming strength that could send ordinary monsters flying, combined with her years of honed technique, Hikaru transformed.
In Kyushu, where she had been based at the time, she became known as a famous yet mysterious “close-range dealer with unknown details.” Naturally, Lion Telecom took notice.
A mysterious figure could be easily given a character persona. And she even had looks that could rival FoxPhone’s mascot, Kogami Inari. There was no way they would pass up recruiting her. And though Hikaru had previously refused every offer from Awakener companies in her home region of Kyushu, she accepted this one without hesitation.
Thus, the present Hikaru came to be. However... she was growing quite fed up with the character Lion Telecom had assigned her — one that emphasized cuteness above all else. The broken sandbag earlier was a testament to that frustration.
"Trendy, huh... I should just overwrite that trend myself. Once people see me fight, all that ‘cutesy’ stuff'll get blown away anyway."
"If you could just sprinkle in a bit more… you know, like a nyan-nyan vibe?"
"We're supposed to be lions, right!? Shouldn’t it be Gaooo! instead?!"
"Yes, yes! Like Gaooo~♪ exactly!"
"Maybe... I signed with the wrong company after all..."
Hikaru buried her face in her hands while her manager gave her a gentle pat on the shoulder. Truthfully, Hikaru’s strength and job were a perfect match for Lion Telecom. Even among the executives, they thought it would be almost impossible to find another Awakener that fit so well.
The manager and higher-ups secretly believed that even if Hikaru showed her true fierce side, they could spin it as “gap moe” — the cuteness of contrast. But they didn’t dare tell Hikaru that, because if they did, she might abandon the character setting completely.
"...Seriously though. That Kogami girl isn't even appearing in commercials. Is it even necessary?"
"We need to paint over her presence before she does. It’s a necessary strategy."
"Strategy, huh... Well, it’s work, so whatever."
"Exactly. So let’s keep up with your voice training and dance practice too, okay?"
"Does an Awakener really need singing and dancing skills?!"
"They do. Even the Musclers from Bronze Man Gym are singing, you know?"
Nowadays, it was common for mascots to release songs. The Musclers' hit single “You Too Can Walk the Path of Muscle” had even become the theme song for their company.
Thus, songs were considered quite important. Lion Telecom was no exception. They needed to quickly replace the "previous mascot’s" song — they couldn’t keep relying on ad-libbed background music forever. Consumers were surprisingly quick to notice such half-measures.
Pushed along by her manager, Hikaru, still grumbling internally, thought about one of the reasons she was here today: Inari.
“Kogami Inari, huh... I really ought to meet her soon... but how should I go about it…”
Whether this was a rivalry-driven thought or something entirely different, no one could say — not even Hikaru herself. What was clear, though, was that the fox deity in question still didn’t even know Hikaru’s name... and wasn’t particularly interested either.