It was an average Sunday morning in Gamindustri. Shop owners were enjoying the fact that they could open their stores late. Students were sleeping in, happy that they didn't have to go to school - unless they were the type had stayed up all night gaming, of course. The Guilds all across the land were just opening up, bright and early, to start a new day of taking and completing requests for the citizens.
All in all, it was very peaceful. Nothing suspicious or noteworthy was going on. Why would there be anything like that? There were no evil organizations out to conquer the world (at the moment, at least), the CPUs were all at peace with each other, and shares across the world had been a record high, what with all of the CPUs unveiling new hardware left and right, trying to (peacefully, mind you) outdo the others as best they could.
There was absolutely nothing strange going on in Gamindustri, that's for sure.
... That is, unless you counted a certain gathering that had been taking place for a few months now.
Every Sunday, at seven in the morning sharp, three girls would break from their usual duties and all travel to the same Lastation apartment - well, two of them would travel. The third was the one living in the apartment, and she would have been up bright and early to get things ready for her guests.
"Hmmm..." The apartment's tenant, a self-proclaimed hero of justice, also known to the waiting masses as NISA, surveyed her living room. The TV was on, currently playing some commercial or another. The couch was nice and cozy, as was expected of any hero's. The coffee table in front of the couch had a number of snacks laid out, ready to be eaten, and on the walls, various posters of multicolored and motorcycle-riding heroes were spread out.
Everything was ready! All she needed now was...
As if on cue, the doorbell rang. Laughing (heroically, she might add) to herself, NISA made her way to the door and flung it open to greet...
"Nepgear! Lady Vert!"
"Not so loud... It's still early..." The CPU of Leanbox, Vert, let out a loud yawn as she stepped inside NISA's apartment, making herself at home right away and heading straight for the couch. NISA, though used to this behavior from the woman, turned to Nepgear in the hopes of an answer as to why she was like this today.
"She was up late on one of her games," explained the last member of the trio, the CPU Candidate of Planeptune, smiling weakly as NISA let her in and closed the door. Following after Vert, Nepgear turned to NISA and offered a wider smile to the blue-haired girl. "Ah, good morning, by the way! I'm glad we weren't late..."
"You haven't been late once, and I didn't expect you to be this week!" proclaimed the heroine happily. She had never doubted that her fellow friends of justice would fail in arriving on time, it simply wasn't in her nature to do something like that.
"Oh, good, I'm glad," seemingly satisfied, Nepgear joined Vert on the couch. The Leanbox CPU let out a loud groan and dropped her head onto Nepgear's shoulder, closing her eyes and nuzzling into the girl's neck, eliciting a yelp from the poor CPU Candidate, who was rapidly turning the color of some of the masked heroes on the walls.
"Wake me when it's starting, okay...?" Vert never had any problems making herself comfortable when it came to Nepgear's personal space, and this morning appeared to be no exception to that - though for her part, Vert honestly was just tired, and once Nepgear caught on to that fact, she resigned herself to her fate and began rubbing the blonde's back in an effort to help her relax.
Despite the fact that, for all intents and purpose, the two girls before her were essentially deities, NISA had grown used to these types of scenes over the past few months, and thus didn't pay it any mind when the being that countless people worshiped across the land, the being that the citizens of Leanbox prayed to every day... began mewling like a housecat.
Besides, NISA had much more important, more heroic things to attend to!
"Now that you're all here, ladies... I want to show you something...!" Puffing out her chest proudly (not that you could really tell), NISA made her way to her bedroom. Vert peeked an eye open lazily, wrapping her arms around Nepgear to make herself more comfortable, while Nepgear watched in honest curiosity. Whenever NISA had something to show them, it usually made for a good time... Well, sometimes, anyway.
Slowly making her way back to her living room, a large box in her arms and her eyes blazing with the spirit of justice, NISA began counting down in her head as she watched Nepgear analyze just what NISA was holding.
Five... Four... Three... Two... One...
"UWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
Flinging Vert off of her, Nepgear leapt over the coffee table piled high with snacks and stood in front of NISA excitedly, unable to keep still. Vert, now on the floor like a discarded blanket, could only manage to pout as she watched Nepgear gleefully examine the box that NISA held in her small, yet justice-filled arms.
"I-I-I-Is that what I think it is, NISA!?" Nepgear, eyes sparkling, could barely contain her excitement. She had waited up all night to try to order one of these, but preorders had sold out almost instantly! For her to be seeing one in front of her very eyes... It was like a dream come true!
"... Well, I guess she's cute like this too," Vert remarked to herself, brushing herself off and standing up to join Nepgear as NISA began her explanation. Truth be told, she was rather interested in the box as well, though not nearly as much as her two companions.
"It sure is!" NISA proclaimed proudly. She took a step back to set the box down on the ground, allowing Vert and Nepgear to sit down with her, so she could properly show them just what she had acquired. "The Limited Edition Justice Special DX Kyoryuzin!"
For some, a toy robot, even a limited edition, limited run, with an insert autographed by the cast toy robot, was... well, it wasn't a big deal. But to these three girls (well, mostly NISA and Nepgear), there was something special about it.
"C... Can we open it?" Nepgear whispered quietly - as if it would be wrong to raise her voice before such a prize.
Vert laughed. While some might put a lot of collector's value on the item, if she knew NISA at all...
"I thought you'd never ask! I was waiting for this day just so I would have you two here with me when I did it!" NISA declared happily, putting one hand on her hips and motioning to the other two with her other hand.
"Yaaaay! Did you hear that, Vert, did you?"
"I heard, I heard. I think I'll lie down until it starts, though. You two have fun..."
"Okay!"
"You can bet we will, Lady Vert!"
And that was that. NISA gently lifted the oversized robot from its cardboard prison, and proceeded to place it on her floor. She began disassembling it into its various, smaller robot parts, and offered some to Nepgear, who gladly took them. The two girls, putting a certain pair of Lowee CPU Candidates to shame, began playing with the toys, much to the amusement of the Leanbox CPU who was watching them.
Overall, the morning was passing quite pleasantly, but everything came to an abrupt halt when a familiar tune started playing on the TV. Three pairs of ears perked up, and toys were dropped without a second thought. NISA rushed to the couch and Nepgear practically plopped herself down in Vert's lap she was in such a rush to get a good view.
"What the goodness...! Why is the couch so... Warm, and soft..."
"I'm not a couch, Nepgear."
"- Ah! I'm sorry! I'll move..."
"Waaaah! Well excuse me for not being warm and soft!"
"N-NISA!? I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"
"... DINOSAURS! PLUS HUMANS!"
Vert quickly clamped a hand over Nepgear's mouth (which was rather easy to do given the girl still had yet to remove herself from Vert's lap) and made a "sssshhhh!" noise towards NISA.
"Shush you two! It's starting!"
Eyes wide, the two immediately silenced themselves, turning their complete and total attention towards the TV screen, as images of heroes in various colored jumpsuits along with giant, multicolored dinosaurs began flashing on the screen.
"AFTER MILLIONS OF YEARS, THE STRONGEST AND BRAVEST TEAM IN HISTORY ASSEMBLES TO PROTECT THE EARTH! HEAR OUR ROAR!"
And with that, what was rapidly becoming the trio's favorite time of the week - Super Hero Time - began.
It had been a complete coincidence that the three had discovered their mutual interest in the programming block. There had been a fan-centric event in Lastation, where the actors of the shows had been giving out autographs, and the three had just happened to bump into each other in line. From there, the conversation erupted immediately.
NISA, of course, enjoyed the heroics that the characters displayed, and she considered them to be an inspiration and something that citizens far and wide should strive to be like. Nepgear, on the other hand, was a complete fanatic when it came to the different weapons and robots to the point that she had every different robot's name going back over thirty years memorized, and could even give out details about each and every one.
... Vert, though...
"Aaaaah, look, look, look! Look at how Black and Green are gazing at each other! That smoldering expression on Black's face... Ohhhhh, you can just tell what he's thinking right now, can't you? Can't you?"
Vert's reasons for watching, compared to NISA and Nepgear's, were fairly straightforward.
With their three interests combined, they had made it a sort of tradition to get together every Sunday morning to watch the superhero shows together. They would laugh together, occasionally cry together, get angry when their favorite characters didn't get enough screentime together, and NISA and Nepgear would exchange looks together while Vert yelled at the actors on the screen to kiss already. NISA and Nepgear would compete in posing along with the heroes on screen (NISA always won, Nepgear usually fell over), and Nepgear always jumped out of her seat when the robots finally appeared at the end of the episode to battle the giant monsters.
In short, it was a time for the three to let loose their inner child (especially in the case of Nepgear) and just have fun together. It was a special time that they could break away from work and all the evils of the world and the fact that the three of them each came from different nations, and just enjoy each others' company.
But all good things must come to an end. As the masked hero declared that it every Sunday morning was showtime, the credits began rolling and, with that, Super Hero Time had officially ended.
Vert was the first to make a move, lifting her arms up (which had at some point wormed their way around Nepgear's waist) and stretching, letting out a roar of a yawn. Nepgear looked up at the blonde CPU, concern written all over her face.
"... You know, you really should have just skipped out this time if you were that tired," Nepgear commented, which earned her a light laugh from Vert.
"And miss my mornings with you two?" Smiling gently, Vert tugged NISA over to join Nepgear in her lap, much to the surprise of the blue-haired heroine. "I wouldn't miss it for anything."
The two girls both flushed at that - praise like that from a CPU, friend or no, and in such close proximity was...
"W-What the goodness, it's too early for this, Vert..."
"A-Agreed! How about we go get some breakfast?"
"My my, that sounds lovely. Did you have somewhere in mind?"
Though their strange friendship had been forged by heroes clad in armor and spandex, they wasn't all that held them together anymore. The trio stood from the couch, chatting, laughing, enjoying themselves, and left to find themselves a meal, and after that, they would go their separate ways once more.
Until next Sunday, that is.