"Hidey howdy hodey ho, Nepgear! It's your new sister-in-law, Uni! Sorry for not calling you back about your e-mails sooner, I wasn't sure if you'd adjusted to your whole world being turned upside down yet, and to tell you the truth, I've been too scared to know where I stand with you after hearing how badly you're taking things to work up the courage to call you! Gooooolly, was the pressure on knowing that you want to see me! Let me know how you're doing, and maybe we can grab a bite! Hope you're excited as I am to get to work on that baby console of ours once you're all better! Kisses! ... Desu!"
Uni stared at herself in the mirror. A picture perfect fake smile was on her face. Sparkles were floating around her in the air in such numbers that they had to have been artificially placed there.
She took a good, long look at herself like this for a few minutes. Every so often, she added in a wink, which seemed to generate more and more of the sparkles. Each new batch appeared faker than the last.
Then, suddenly and all at once, the image completely shattered.
Wailing, Uni covered her face with her hands. She was filled with so much despair that she couldn't even manage as much as a little blush at how humiliating what she had just said to herself in the mirror had been.
"As if I could ever actually say that to someone...! How do idols do it?!"
Running her hand through her hair in frustration, the CPU Candidate stomped out of the bathroom and into her bedroom. She felt horrible for what she had done, for what she was continuing to do, and in feeling horrible, she felt horrible for feeling horrible, knowing surely Nepgear was much worse off, but...
"What am I supposed to do? I didn't... How was I supposed to think she'd take it all like this...?"
She had no idea what to do. Here she had been thinking to herself about how they would make a baby (console) together once Nepgear woke up, but the idea that Nepgear might not want to — that Nepgear might not want anything to do with any of this- No, that wasn't it. The idea that Nepgear might not even be able to process all of this to the point where she was ready to even start deciding whether or not she wanted to... that hadn't even crossed Uni's mind.
Now, ever since Nepgear had woken up... She'd just been feeling more and more frustrated.
"Why did I think she'd be ready to join in and be all caught up with us as soon as she woke up?" the Candidate asked herself miserably. "It's not like she had a TV playing in her head while she was asleep...! What am I supposed to do?"
As if someone up there had heard her cry, her bedroom door slammed open, and in rushed-
Someone who most definitely did not look like they had the answer Uni was looking for. Or any answer or probably anything else that might help her in any way, for that matter.
"Hey, hey, Uni, you in here- Oh, good! Do you know where does Noire keep that big book of businessy people she's always bragging about? Somebody's gotta make this call about some Nepstation stuff and since Kei's not here and it's gotta get done before..." Neptune looked around the room helplessly, smiling for the first time since her rushed arrival when her eyes landed on the clock on the wall. "... weeeell it's a good thing I'm cute... Anyway, I don't know their number, so..."
"Hold on, hold on a minute... Okay, I know which book you mean. You really want that?" Uni tilted her head, trying to recall where her sister actually kept the book in question — she chose to ignore the fact that it sounded like Neptune was late for whenever the appointed time for this supposed call had been. "Just a minute, let me think..."
Somehow or another, Uni had finally managed to get used to Neptune's presence in their Basilicom, more or less, and dare she say, maybe she was even starting to... kind of... perhaps think of their relationship as more than just Candidate and CPU from different nations... but when it came Neptune working in their Basilicom — Neptune working period was still something, after all! — but this, and when her sister wasn't even there on top of that? That was an entirely different matter!
It was becoming apparent with each passing day, however, that this was something Uni was going to have to get used to eventually — at least Nepgear had years of Noire and the others messing around in Planeptune to have hopefully built up some kind of preparedness for Uni's sister's presence over on her side. Uni liked to hope that that was how things were going over there...
She had a feeling — just a feeling, a feeling that might just have happened to have had some backing to it thanks to some e-mails she juuuuust might have been ignoring — that that might not be the case, though.
"Oh, I remember where she keeps it now! I'm pretty sure she keeps it in the office safe, since she's got them all memorized she doesn't usually need it except to put new ones in after all." Uni offered her answer to Neptune with more than a little pride directed towards her sister. "And the spare key for it is-"
"- in the drawer with the extra hair pins, right?" Neptune quickly interrupted, her eyes already darting from Uni to the clock. Did she look pleased, or was she already thinking about the call she was about to make?
"W-Well... That's actually the stationary drawer, but... You're not wrong..." Uni grumbled, sighing at Neptune's simultaneous display of both her newly gained diligence and her everlasting absurdity. Honestly, why did the hair pins stand out more to her in such an important drawer?
No matter. Since Neptune was here, this was a good chance!
Go, Uni, go!
"Could I ask you something, Neptune? That is... Um... Listen, I want you to tell me, how is Nepge- Eh?"
Uni had taken too long to work up the nerve to ask her question. Neptune was already dashing down the hall, in all likelihood having completely missed the moment the girl had asked it. The only proof she had even been there to begin with was a "Thanks, Uni!" she called out after she had already left Uni's room.
The CPU Candidate sighed, her shoulders slumping. She might have considered chasing after Neptune anyway, either to yell at her for disrespecting her sister's drawers or to get her answer anyway, but she just felt too lousy to do it. Had overdone it the day before and tired herself out trying to distract herself from all of this...?
She looked forlornly towards a pillow. For a moment, she wanted to just... grab it and scream as loud as she could into it, but all of this thinking was making her too tired to do any of that. She was pooped, and she still hadn't seen Nepgear!
Had it really come down to this? Her backup plan's backup plan's backup plan?
She supposed... If it came down to it... Which it seemed like it had...
The CPU Candidate glanced towards the direction Neptune had gone. No sign of her.
"It wouldn't be stalking if I do it out of concern, right?"
She was truly (unknowingly) the apple of her sister's eye.
It was always nice to take a moment to break away from the usual and sit down with a guest. This afternoon, Leanbox's goddess happened to be partaking in this much needed delight.
Pleased to see her visitor, Vert sipped her tea and smiled, eager to dive right into whatever this distraction from her recent concerns would bring her.
Nervous about what this discussion with her host was to entail, Vert kept her voice especially low, dodging any question that would lead to having to discuss her reasons for visiting for as long as she possibly could.
Today, Vert had come to visit Vert — that is to say that the Vert of the dimension host to the likes of Plutia and Peashy had, out of the blue, appeared on the other Vert's balcony, the balcony known best for lilies and loving, looking like she'd seen a ghost. Or perhaps like she was considering becoming one herself.
"So, what brings you here today?"
Unfortunately for the visiting Vert, the Vert of this dimension happened to want a distraction very much, and she wasn't going to be able to avoid her reason for coming round for any longer than she already had.
"Well, you see... It's a rather long story... There was even going to be a whole spinoff about the two of us at one time, you know. Unfortunately, it ended up being canceled along with all the other side projects that got shelved, and, well..." Shaking her away her doubts and all of these unnecessary meta-topics, Vert raised her head to look at this world's version of her in the eye. "Oh, that all doesn't matter right now...! We'll work the important bits in through flashbacks later on, I'm sure! What matters is this: Vert, I need to switch places with you for a little while. Tomorrow, to be specific."
"You need to... No, you need me to..." Vert brought a hand to her mouth in surprise. Needless to say, she hadn't expected this. At the same time... If she were to be honest about the matter, she had often wondered why this type of subplot had never happened before. It was such a delightful cliche after all! Was it because, for some strange and mysterious reason, the two groups of Noires, Verts, and Blancs were just never around for some mysterious reason? Regardless... now that it had actually arrived, she wasn't quite sure what she should make of it. Perhaps she had simply always envisioned Noire being the one? "I'm sorry, can you explain this to me?"
Was something going on in the other dimension that required her interference? Was there some sort of threat? If that was the case, it seemed hardly right for only her to be involved — but if that was the case, would switching really help anything? Did her counterpart simply want a day off to enjoy things over here? Rather ironic, considering Vert would have liked the same.
If that was what was happening here, perhaps this was a blessing in disguise, but somehow she doubted it.
"You see, my situation is quite dire." The Ultradimension's Vert was looking so serious. Oh dear, the other Vert thought to herself with a wry smile, this Vert had no idea. Little did Vert know... Now why was her mirror image looking timid all of a sudden? "I... Well, that is... You mustn't... You won't judge me, will you? No, what am I saying, you're me... I mean... You aren't me, but..."
Vert frowned as she watched her counterpart try to collect herself. Perhaps this was more serious than she had first anticipated.
"Are you alright? You look like you're coming down with a fever... Shall I get you something for it?" she offered the Vert of the Ultradimension, but Vert simply earned a shaking head in response.
"No no, it's not that... You see, I, well I..." Taking a deep breath, the Vert across the table placed a hand to her chest, her cheeks stained with such a fire that Vert was about to get something from the kitchen to help her for it. At least, right until she said- "I believe that I'm developing feelings for Blanc — the one over on our side, that is — and I can't have her finding out. I... I may even be falling in love with her, so...!"
A look of determination shining in her eyes, Vert reached over to take one of Vert's hands in her own. She was clearly drifting into her own little world now.
"That's why I need you to take my place on our- Well, it's not, but it might as well be one- We going on a 'date' tomorrow. She must still think I can't stand being near her by the time it's done, and as I am now, I just..."
The goddess' mirror image smiled softly at Vert.
"I truly don't think I can do it.."
The sheer sincerity of this blonde goddess stunned her.
Could it be that Vert had forgotten what that was like? It had been... Yes, it must have been quite a while since she'd last been able to express herself like that in the same way, now that she thought of it. Between hiding away her budding feelings for Nepgear and pushing forward with this Blanc business and trying to deal with Chika without giving her any false hope, and then-
Wait wait wait wait.
Waaaaait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait.
Just a moment.
Excuse her, she needed to back up a moment, and she was quite sorry here for anyone oh so interested in what she had just been thinking, and this subplot was probably very very interesting, Vert was sure, but who did this fat, ugly, hideous looking impostor that looking nothing like her in a million years sitting across the table just say she was falling in love with?
"... Vert?" The impostor, the wolf in Vert's clothing, the scoundrel of scoundrels, in question blinked. "Is something the matter?"
"That- That is not an explanation! S-Start over, please, right now, this moment, right this instant! From- From the beginning! Our readers- No, I'm afraid I can't be concerned with them right now, because you see, I was not mentally prepared to ever heard the words 'I may even be falling in love with her!' in regards to that goddess coming out of my mouth for as long as I live, and until I hear an explanation, I... I don't think I'll be able to..." She couldn't — she just couldn't wrap her head around this. Why... Vert felt faint. She had to pull out her ace in the hole. No, her aces in the hole! "What about Nepgear? O-Or- Or P-P-P...Peashy?!"
She had practically been squeaking by the time she had gotten to Peashy's name. Was she pale or red? How long had it been since she'd gotten this flustered about something? Rather, had she ever been this taken off guard before? Certainly not in recent memory.
No, she supposed this was quite the event — only you can really do this to yourself, after all.
Was this how she had made Blanc feel when she had made her "proposal" to her?
She could practically hear the other goddess whispering "Karma's a bitch, huh?" into her ear now.
Vert finally understood... No wonder Noire avoided these kinds of interactions... She hadn't been giving her nearly enough credit at all, had she?
The other Vert blinked. Her counterpart's desperation here... didn't seem to be the same kind of desperation she was used to seeing from the likes of Noire — that is to say the likes of a tsundere. So this her was genuinely bothered by this development? Did that mean she couldn't see the appeal of Blanc? Or was she just jealous...? Well, she supposed it wasn't her business. She was probably the same way not too long ago anyway.
Still, there was one thing she had to address here.
"My, Vert, I don't think I would survive trying to court sweet little Peashy even if I wanted to. Short of Iffy or Compa, since they were childhood friends and raised together, I don't believe anyone could get away with it..." Since there was another person to consider, Vert had to stop to consider it. It wasn't that she hadn't ever thought about it, but... "Yes, I do love them, but... This is different. I wish it wasn't so, but I'm afraid I'm serious."
Seeing Vert's resolve clear as day, something she realized she herself had been lacking lately, particularly when it came to affairs involving the Blanc on this side of things, Vert took in a deep breath. She was acting just shameful right now. It was a good thing Chika was out right now, or- Well, come to think of it, it was a good thing Chika was out for a lot more reasons than the one she had just been about to think about. Four of them at the absolute minimum, to be exact.
The goddess sighed. How childish of her...
"I... I believe... Yes, goodness, I believe I owe you an apology for reacting like that." Straightening her back, Vert reached for her tea — and set aside any pretense of politeness by downing the rest of her cup straightaway. "Could you please explain how this came about? It must be quite the story if it had almost been a story all its own. Would you tell me the details?"
"Well, if you insist... Oh, if only Blanc hadn't overheard Noire's confession! Ah, forgive me, I'm getting a little ahead of myself. Believe it or not, it actually started when we came over here for Neptune's wedding..."