Blanc's Writing Block
Chapter 1
In the CPU Room at Lowee, Blanc could be seen typing seriously on her laptop, lines and lines of paragraphs without any coherence displayed on the screen. The bookworm scratched her head many times already; exhaling the stressful air around, she closed the laptop and laid in her sofa once more.
"I couldn't seem to get any inspiration to write."
She thought about all of the ideas that were quite brilliant in her own standards and that's after comparing to the dozens and dozens of Webnovels she read. Not to mention, she already read a lot of stuff.
"Still, when it came to writing, why must it be so difficult?" the White CPU thought, "Do I really have no talent after all? I mean, I have been posting my works on the internet for so many years and I only had few views—there's hardly any reviews, favs, follows and so far."
Blanc second-guessed herself. What was the point of being an Author anyway? It wasn't like she's trying to make it big, since it's just a hobby and there's a lot of Authors out there who she thought could make stories much better than her own, with more consistency and faster release schedule.
As for herself, it's not as if nowadays, the CPU work were very busy. Especially in this peaceful time, many of the decisions were left to the ministers at the Basilicom anyway. The CPUs became more and more like a figurehead as the time went by. Even so, the work schedule were quite packed from 9 to 5 and there's got to be a lot of formality events she had to attend, which made her quite exhausted by the end of the day.
Add the little time she had left, she also got to play with her twin sisters. What time left she had to write? Plus, It wasn't like she could just do nothing but write for the remainder.
"It's really difficult and at times so boring—why do I have to keep doing this anyway? If I want to get a good story, I could just read it online or buy the book.
There were countless good Authors anyway. Was there any difference if I stopped?"
She thought about the stories she read, the games she played with both her sisters and also her CPU friends and other Candidates; the kind of vacation and fun times they spent together. How the workload had been pretty chill during the peaceful days. On how the villains who kept making her unable to rest easy hadn't appeared for the longest time.
It was all good, but with a trouble gone, another one appear.
"In that case, why don't you think back the reason why you write in the first place?"
Out of blue, without even the single noise from the door, Vert magically strolled in.
Blanc noticed the cold air wafting in the window; she wasn't even on the mood to get angry due to her writing slump.
At least she was considerate enough to close the window right after coming in.
"W-what do you want? I didn't say anything!" Blanc abruptly jerked her head at the direction of a blond young girl with glamorous outfit and big chest.
"Don't worry. I'm not talking to anyone either." the blond girl let out a feminine giggle while playfully approached the bookworm lying down on sofa. She sat there on the fluffy armchairs, staring closely at her petite friend.
"You might be turning insane, Vert." Blanc frowned and quickly turned her head away.
"We might be in the same ward since I heard you talking to yourself just now."
"Seriously? I...really am not talking to myself."
"Alright, I'm also not talking to anyone in the particular. So, Blanny—about that writing slump you have..."
'So she really did heard everything!' Blanc cursed in her heart.
"...you just came here to tease me, aren't you? If you got no specific business, please return."
"Come on, I'm here to help you. At least I can add up to your number of readers."
"Sigh...Vert, you know I didn't write any that guy-on-guy stuff, alright? I'm not going to write anything about it. Plus, don't call me Blanny."
"So, what kind of things you like to write, Blanny?"
As the topic finally got to her writing, Blanc mustered all the motivation to actually sat upright on the sofa, facing Vert, who kept giving her warm glances.
The blond girl seem to be quite intimate with her lately for no good reason.
"Recently I'm trying to write Isekai stories with game elements but I couldn't seem to put my finger on it—and please stop calling me Blanny."
"Hmm...Isekai huh—it's a kind of overused trope, didn't you think? On a particular Light Novel competition, there's even a ban on those genre."
"I think they're completely missing the point. There's good ones and bad ones. I'm thinking of a glass half-full. No matter how many bad ones were there, the ones that were actually decent could always be found."
"Well Blanny, I understand how they feel. I used to be judging one of these events at Leanbox. We're simply tired of reading such things over and over.
Different than actual readers, we were forced to thoroughly read and analyze the content, even if it was truly painful. Speaking of which, you're not the type that actually likes to read and comment on other Authors, right?"
"Nah, I'm just too busy to be involved in a writing community anymore."
'...and didn't I said it twice already—don't call me Blanny?' but she eventually ignored her, hoping that it was just an ill-natured teasing and it'd be over as soon she didn't react at all.
"Are you afraid that your identity as the Lowee CPU would be exposed then? I could understand if that's the case. When people knew of your status, they may not be able to get their honest thoughts."
"They probably wouldn't believe it anyway, Vert. The same with your Four Goddess Online ID. Who in Gamindustri would believe you're the actual 'Green Heart'? At most people would think you're a Leanbox follower. My Author ID actually had nothing to do with Lowee at all, it's WhiteManjuu from Nepfanfics."
Vert made a strange smile as if telling 'it actually had Lowee-related things in it!'
"True, you got a point. Ah, you're at the site too? Please let me add you. My ID is Green+Heart, the same with my gamertag."
Vert took out the phone hidden in her breast cleavage and browsed the net in it, adding Blanc's account with face flushed from excitement.
Looking at those melons jiggling, Blanc couldn't help but flush her face.
'Hey, you're doing such shameful act in front of me. Why must you flaunt those annoying duffel bags everywhere?'
"...er...like I said, I didn't write any guy-on-guy stories, don't get excited—you'd be disappointed."
"Nah, I'm just looking at which stories you wrote...hmm...seriously..you only made like one or two per year—and you'd like joined more than seven years ago!"
"My main interest wasn't fanfiction. I mostly wrote my original stories on the forums and even managed to become the enthusiast for a year or two but I soon got bored of it."
"The forums hype were like one decade ago? Now, it's all around social media and Neppit. I wasn't all up with the times really. So, did every old member in here quit?"
"Yeah, they got to start a family, going to work or something. When I first started here, there's a lot of college students and we're being such good pals. It's a pity I couldn't even attend that offline meeting with them. How about you, Vert? Since you're a big player in your guild, ever have someone wanting an offline meetup? What did you say to them in this case?
As for me, I think I said my home were far away and I had work during the meetup day."
"Well, I jokingly said I'm the actual Green Heart and invited them for a meeting in the Basilicom. They pretend to not hear anything and left me out. My guildmates never invited me again after that, ahaha."
"...really—and I think when they ask for an IRL pic you showed your own photo and they actually had enough of it."
"Ah...yeah, Blanny. You know me so well, my honey."
"...er, Vert? What kind of medicine you forgot to take today? More importantly, what's the reason you come here? You don't stroll around just because you're bored, aren't you?"
"I'm actually bored like you say."
"You're one unhinged fella, I swear. Didn't you have a lot of stuff to play in your Basilicom? Why must go all the way to visit me?"
"Blanny, in our everlasting lives, time would flow really quickly compared to others. Before we know it, our friends would be gone and the relationship between us would lessen. Even if I couldn't play today, I could do it some other time."
"It's not like you have to visit me today right—we would live for a very long time, after all."
"It may not necessarily be true. Even if we're immortals, there's got to be one point our existence were no more. We might have enjoyed the times of peace, but who knows if one day, a crisis would come again and set us apart forever. Not just us but...Noire, Neptune, Nepgear and the others too..."
"I wouldn't say that you're overreacting but. Why the sudden visit? Please tell me everything Vert. Did you have a premonition of stuff that's going to happen?"
Vert simply gave Blanc a smile before embracing her.
"Nah, I just...wanted to see you again. Being able to talk with Blanny made me feel all warm and comfy."
"...don't call me Blanny...you dummy."
Blanc's face were flushed red as her face were buried in Vert's bosom. The blond girl patted her head; gently stroking her hair, in which made the bookworm girl fell into dreamlike state.
"Oh right—let's read your stuff first."
"...you! Why must break this kind of atmosphere?"
Even if she's happy for someone to read her works, it truly felt as if this blond girl were playing pranks on her.
"Oh my, Blanny...do you like it? You just have to ask. The pleasure's on me though, you're so soft and fluffy."
"Telling me to ask it outright...it's not romantic at all..."
'...it's not as if I like you...I just don't dislike you...why are you such a dummy? Teasing me like that even though we're both girls.'
"Eh? Are you saying we're in that kind of relationship?"
"No! No! No! Don't ever think about it..."
"Even though Blanny dumped me, it's alright. Let us read Blanny's work, shall we?"
"Oi..just now you said it two times already."