3. My apartment roommate is a Goddess

A year and a half later...

I walk in the hot California afternoon on my way back to my apartment, sipping on a bottle of ice cold tea, thinking of all that had occurred to me over the last year and a half.

A out of control flying goddess crashing into you isn't something that happens to you every day. Plus those dreams, with Neptune in them….they're getting stronger.

I stop infront of the tall apartment complex that I live at, craning my neck looking straight up.

A flash of purple at the very top, where my loft is.

"Was that her?"I ask myself as I head to the doorway

I swiped the key card in the sensor for the door, no keys needed, only a small card I had attached to my cell phone, convenient and safe; and called the elevator, within a minute, the doors open to the oriental style entrance of my apartment

"Hey Neptune I'm back!"I said loudly as I was sitting on the edge of the tatami that composed the entrance"What have you been doing since I left?"

"Mike,your back!"I hear a voice say"I was sunbathing in the balcony not long ago!"

Wait I know that voice...

I slowly turn around and see Purple Heart, Neptune's goddess form in a rather revealing bikini, making me stop a second to look her from head to toe in a discreet way.

"How was class?"She asked me, she hadn't noticed that once again, just like the first time we met, her goddess form had me completely hypnotized"I got bored of waiting for a game to update, so I decided to work on a tan."

I snap myself out of my Purple Heart-induced trance and look at her face.

"Why are you in goddess form?"I asked her surprised" I haven't seen you transformed since we met last year."

"I thought it would be a good idea to train my endurance in HDD here since there's nothing to fight soo…."She says before stretching the straps of her bikini a bit "Plus I needed an excuse to wear these clothes I bought a few days ago."

"O-okay..."I said slightly distracted"Well anyways, have you had lunch yet?"

She shakes her head negatively.

"Nope, I woke up 4 hours ago, had breakfast and have been sunbathing since then."She reports" I was thinking of making something for lunch, but then you walked in."

Neptune, cooking in that form... Wait, I thought she had never cooked in her life. She was a CPU in her world, so she had people do it for her or just went out and bought tons of food, or in some cases, had her younger sister give her snacks. But still...

"Well since it's so hot today, I thought of making a traditional Spanish summer meal"I told her" Gazpacho, I do remember the recipe quite well."

"Wait what's that?" She had already transformed into her original form while I finished putting my shoes away, wearing her usual getup" It has a very weird name."

"It's actually quite good"I say as I try to recall the recipe" It's a mix of several different vegetables, minced together to such a fine level, you can drink it."

"Just vegetables?"She asked shocked, with the face I expected from her"How is that healthy?"

"You have your sense of what's healthy and what's not mixed up Neptune"I scold her with a bop to the head"Here let me make it for you and try it, tell me how it tastes. And don't worry, it does not have egg plant"

"Ow..."She fakes"...jeez alright"

After what I can assume was about 20 minutes of cooking, I bring her a big mug of gazpacho, cold and with an ice cube, as the recipe follows with a very fresh batch.

"Here"I give to Neptune, who's reverted to her normal form and is lying on the couch."Drink it while it's fresh"

I can just see her through the corner of my left eye of her smelling it and taking a sip. She gave a momentary face of paralysis as I hear her whisper " it's a bit bitter..." but she completely finishes her mug and asked for seconds.

"So how was it?"I ask her as I hand her over the same mug filled with some more gazpacho a few minutes later.

"I was actually quite surprised" She said in a voice that I can only assume it's that of a food critic" It had good consistency, a bit of kick to it and very refreshing. And it was very yummy!"

She gives me a little silly smile.

"Hey did you get all the travel stuff ready by the way?"She asks me after a while."Technically I don't exist and all…."

I give her a thumbs up.

"Made some calls and everything is ready, this day next week's we take our trip to Spain."I reassure her.

A flash of light blinds me for a second before I regain my vision.

"Well at least I'll have an excuse to be 'Neptune Purpleheardt'"She jokes in her HDD form"...also thanks for the compliment earlier on this...I bought this just for you..."

I trail off with a news section while she says this.

"Say again?"I snap out of it."…...I-I-I'm gonna go clean the dishes, be back in a second"