Sugar Sweet Date
Uni checked her hair one last time. Then she checked her dress. Then her hair again. "Come on Uni get it together!" She smacked her hands to her cheeks. "There is nothing to be worried about, it's just a d-d-d..."
"Date?" Uni spun around, her face suddenly bright red. She found her sister leaning against the doorway between Uni's bedroom and bathroom.
"W-We never said it was a date!"
"Of course. That's why you've spent the last hour in front of mirror. Not a date." Uni's face took on a pout as she glared at her older sister.
"You don't have room to talk! I remember how you were before your first date with Neptune!" Uni wasn't going to let her sister get the better of her here.
Noire however just smiled. "Yes, yes I do. I was as much a wreck as you are now." Noire walked into the bathroom and patted her sister on the head. "Don't worry. Nepgear won't hate you if you have a hair or two out of place. Besides, if you don't hurry up you'll be late."
Uni blushed again, though for a different reason. "Thanks, Noire." She moved towards the door when her sister called out to her.
"Don't forget this!" Uni turned and Noire handed her a small package. It was wrapped in shiny black paper with a dusky silver ribbon, Uni tucked it into her bag. Noire reached out and ruffled her sister's hair a bit.
"Nooooiiiire!" Uni stretched out her sisters name, but hurried out of the room, patting her hair back into place.
Noire leaned against the doorway, smiling as she watched her sister's retreating form.
A few hours later, Uni landed at the agreed on meeting point. Right outside the new Lowee amusement park, Super Plummet Land. Changing back into her human form, she looked around. Good. She was still here first. Of course, she'd told Noire that the date started an hour earlier than they'd planned, so she still had over half an hour.
Leaning against a pole, she thought back over how hard it was for her to even ask Nepgear out. She'd practiced over and over but still ended up stammering it out. Her heart nearly did flips when Nepgear grabbed her hand and said she'd be thrilled to go with her. Finally, her and Nepgear alone. No older sisters. No Ram and Rom, no Peashy. Just the two of them. Well, the two of them and several thousand citizens of Gamindustri. But that was different.
"UUUUUNNNIIIIIII!" A cheery voice called through the crowd. Uni's head snapped up. A quick check of the time showed that it was still 15 minutes before. Nepgear was of course early. That's why Uni made sure she was extra-early. "Uni!" The black-haired girl's heart leapt at hearing her name spoken with that angelic voice. "You haven't been waiting long, have you? I thought I was early, but am I actually late?" Nepgear's voice was earnest.
"Oh no, I just got here myself!" Her plan was working perfectly. "Come on, I've already got the tickets." She'd had the tickets for days now.
Uni and Nepgear walked side-by-side towards the entrance, Uni wanted to take Nepgear's hand, but she couldn't do it. Then they were at the turnstile. Uni pulled the tickets from her bag and handed one of them to Nepgear. Their fingers lightly brushed, the sensation running through Uni's body like electricity. An instant later the contact was gone. Nepgear turned and slipped her ticket through the slot, then moved through the gate, Uni following suit.
"Where do you want to go first, Uni?" Uni had thought this through. They'd start with some of the more exciting rides.
"Let's do that one first." She pointed at a roller-coaster. "It's called 'Flight of the Pegasus', its supposedly the tallest and fastest coaster in all of Gamindustri." Nepgear seemed uncertain, but agreed.
Half an hour later they walked out of the ride. "That was...ok?" Nepgear seemed confused at her reaction. "I was expecting it to be scary. Everyone else on the ride was screaming."
Uni was also surprised at how little reaction she'd gotten from the ride. "Maybe it's because we're used to flying? I went faster than that on my way here, not to mention some of the battles we've been in." She sighed. "Well, I guess we shouldn't bother with thrill rides." There was a good part of her plan gone. She thought for a moment. "Let's try out the games." Nepgear nodded in agreement.
They made their way to an area with a lot of carnival games. It was set up like a traditional Lowee carnival. Games of chance or skill alternated with booths selling all sorts of food. "Oh! Uni! Let's have some of this. Ram and Rom were telling me about it and they said it was amazing." They stopped in front of a stall selling some sort of floaty, puffy candy. It said "Cotton Candy" in big letters.
Nepgear ordered two, one was a pale blue, the other a bright pink. She handed the pink one to Uni. Uni took a taste. "It's sweet!" The cottony strands melted in her mouth, leaving behind a taste sort of like bubblegum. Nepgear held her blue one out to Uni, who took a taste. This one tasted like berries. She offered Nepgear her pink one.
"You know Nepgear, this reminds me of your hair when you transform." Nepgear blinked and then blushed. Uni wondered what prompted that reaction.
She glanced around, noticing one of the stalls had rifles laying on it. No! She was with Nepgear, she wasn't going to let herself get distracted! Suddenly Nepgear stood up.
"I think we should do this next." Nepgear led her over to the very stall she'd been looking at. "Oh! Isn't that cute!" Nepgear pointed at a stuffed doll, it looked to be of some sort of robot? Or a person in a yellow and red robot suit? She wasn't sure. But she saw an opportunity.
"I can get that!" She confidently picked up one of the rifles. She was surprised to see it was a fairly high-end air rifle, not one of those silly things that shot corks.
"Five shots for 300 credits. Your score determines what prize you can get." The booth attendant pointed at the target, labeled with 100 at the center all the way out to 5 at the very edge. Uni looked at the doll. 500 points. She had to make every shot count.
She slapped three hundred credit coins down. "You're on." Picking up the rifle, she examined it closely. It was nearly new, as expected of a brand new park. She pulled it to her shoulder, looking down the sights. It all seemed to line up properly. Resting her arms on the counter she took aim. Her breathing slowed, everything around her became a blur. She focused exclusively on the target. A light squeeze of the trigger and a small hole appeared in the target. Squeeze. Again. And again. Four shots, four bull's-eyes.
One left. If Uni looked up, she would see Nepgear to her side, hands covering her mouth. She'd see the booth attendant agog at the seeming impossible shots from this tiny girl. She did not look up. She stayed focused. Her finger squeezed for a fifth time. The pellet left the gun, traveling downrange. It sliced right through the hole made by the previous four shots. A furious ringing jolted her out of her reverie.
"It's a perfect game! This little lady just scored five perfect bull's-eyes! The first perfect score in Super Plummet Land history!" Uni flushed as attention was drawn to her. "Which prize do you want little lady?" Suddenly incredibly self-conscious, Uni pointed at the red and yellow doll. "Oh, the Zamuz doll? Of course!" The carney pulled the doll down and handed it over. Uni made haste away from the stall, Nepgear right on her heels.
Once they got a distance away, she turned and pushed it at Nepgear. "H-here. It's not...it's not like I tried really hard or anything!" Nepgear took the doll.
"Thank you Uni!" She then grabbed the black-haired girl by the hand, causing Uni's face to turn even redder. "I know what we need to do next!" Uni found herself pulled towards a small booth, its entrance screened off by a curtain. Nepgear popped a few credit coins into a slot on the outside and then pushed Uni inside. "Say cheese!" Before Uni really realized what was happening, a camera began to flash.
Nepgear pulled Uni out of the booth, Uni realizing that somehow their hands had stayed together the entire time. Nepgear reached into a slot on the outside of the booth, pulling out a strip of photos. She tore it in half, handing half to Uni. "To remember this day." Uni about died of embarrassment - she seemed to be doing a lot of that today - but took the photos. Slipping them into her bag, she remembered the package, and her plan for it.
Nepgear took Uni's hand again. "Let's look around some more!"
The next few hours were a blur for Uni. More games. lots of fried carnival food. A trip through a haunted house that was exhilarating in a number of ways, finally night was falling. Uni wracked her brain, trying to figure out how to bring it up. Suddenly Nepgear stopped. Uni felt the purple haired girl's hand tighten on hers.
"Let's do this now, Uni." Her voice had taken a different tone from before. Uni looked up and was shocked to see they were right in front of the Ferris Wheel. Exactly where she had planned on ending the night.
"S-Sure." Her voice caught. They lined up, almost everyone else in the line was obviously part of a couple. No one paid any attention to one more pair of girls.
Suddenly they were in the cabin, just the two of them. Facing each other. Uni started to fidget. If she'd been less nervous she would have noticed Nepgear had started twirling a strand of her hair. Dammit. She just had to say it.
"Nepge-"
"Uni!"
The both bit off their words. They tried again.
"This is for you!"
"I want you to have this!"
Uni had closed her eyes as she spoke, having pulled the black package out at the same time. She'd completely missed what Nepgear said. When nothing happened for a moment, she opened her eyes. To her shock, Nepgear was holding out a package of her own. Slightly larger, wrapped in white paper with a lilac-colored ribbon. Nepgear opened her own eyes at the same time.
They both laughed. "I guess this is pretty silly of us, isn't it Uni?" Nepgear wiped a small tear from her eye. "This is for you." Uni took the package, handing hers over at the same time.
"And this is for you."
They both carefully unwrapped their presents. Uni's was a white box. Lifting the lid off, she found two ribbons inside. They were lilac, trimmed with black. In the same style as the ones she wore now. She looked over to Nepgear, who had just opened up the case inside her present. Inside was a black D-clip, with lilac trim.
"Uni its beautiful!" Tears had reappeared in Nepgear's eyes.
"So are these. Thank you." Uni realized she had a few tears of her own.
This was it. She had to say it. "N-Nepgear. I...I love you. Will you go out with me?" She nearly shouted it. Her face turned bright red.
For a moment Nepgear didn't react. Then she leaned across the small cab, her face inches from Uni's.
"I love you too, Uni."
Their lips met.
-End-