Memory 6: Changes (Age 10)


"And then the Great Goddess in the sky dropped tons and tons of candy from the sky!" Blanc flipped the page as Rom and Ram, both of whom were sitting in her older sister's lap, tried to grab for the candy. "And everyone lived happily ever after. The End." Rom and Ram clapped as their older sister closed the book. Ram grabbed onto Blanc's shirt, pulling her face close.

"Seshtah, Seshtah! Again, again!" Rom bounced in her seat, agreeing with her twin. Blanc giggled as she hugged her sisters.

"Okay, okay. Let's see which book will-"

"Blaaaaanc!" Surprised, Blanc held her little sisters protectively, who interpreted her hug as loving one and hugged her back, pressing their faces against Blanc's body. Neptune ran into the room, Nepgear piggybacking her older brother.

"Neptune, your shoes!" Mina's voice came from the kitchen, prompting the boy stop in his tracks.

"Ah, sorry!" Neptune backpedaled out of the room as Nepgear mimicked the sound of a car backing up. "Nep Jr., you too!"

"Okay, Big Brother." Neptune returned to the room, his little sister had climbed off his back and walked in, holding his hand.

"Hi, Neptu-" All of a sudden, both Neptune and Nepgear began crying and dove at Blanc. Her older sister instincts kicking in again, Blanc grabbed her sisters and scooted away, leaving the Planeptune siblings to land on the cushion Blanc was sitting on. There was a few moments of muffled silence as the two siblings lay face down and cried into the cushion, while Blanc breathed heavily as her hat fell off her head. Rom and Ram were more concerned about their sister's hat instead of the situation before them.

"Seshtah!"

"Hat! ...Hat!" Both the Planeptune siblings looked up, realizing they hadn't latched onto a kid-sized or medium-sized Nishizawa. Neptune pouted as Nepgear's eyes filled with tears, but then the elder brother began to do the same. The two siblings latched into each other and cried.

The crying affected Blanc's sisters as well, causing Rom to sniffle and Ram to well up. Noticing the influence on her sisters, Blanc picked up Neptune, dislodged him from his sister, prompting the girl to cry harder, and dragged him out of the room by his feet. Just before leaving the room, Blanc turned to the twins, who had already calmed down and were playing with Blanc's hat.

"Rom! Ram! Play with Nepgear, okay?" The twins nodded and crawled, they could walk but only did so if Mina or Blanc held their hands, over to Nepgear and promptly laid on top of her, distracting the girl from her tears.

Eventually getting Neptune to his feet, Blanc took him into her room, handing him some tissues.

"Thank you, Bla-." Blanc pressed a tissue against his face.

"Blow." Once his nose was clean, Neptune lay down on Blanc's bed, staring at the ceiling. "What's wrong?" Neptune's bottom lip quivered.

"Mommy's going awaaaaaaay!" Neptune sat up and grasped his knees as Blanc patted him on the back.

"Why?" Despite Blanc's prodding, all Neptune's answers came in the form of mumbling and sobs. Taking a deep breath, Blanc pit on her coat, dramatically of course. Grabbing Neptune, Blanc ran back into the living room, where Rom and Ram were playing House with Nepgear. "Momma, we're going to Neptune's house to play!" Mina peeked into the room, holding a ladle.

"Alright, well tell Histoire and Arfoire to come eat here for dinner."

"Okay!" Blanc picked up her hat, which was sitting behind Nepgear.

"Seshtah!" Ram reached out for her big sister, who kissed her on the forehead. Neptune hugged Nepgear as Blanc told her to watch the twins for her. Rom gripped her sister's coat, wanting to be hugged.

Once the twins had been appeased, Blanc and Neptune went to the front door, putting on their shoes.

"We're heading out!"

"Be safe!"


Once Blanc and Neptune reached the boy's house, they ran around the back and into the backyard, where Histoire had a flower garden in the top right portion of the yard, where bushes bordered the top and right sides of the garden. The children spotted Arfoire in the living room, in plain view of the glass door that led to the backyard, sipping coffee as she read the newspaper. Hiding in the bushes, Blanc popped her head out, her hat covered in leaves, acting as a disguise. Neptune, with broken branch and bush bunches tangled in his hair, would popin and out of the bush methodically to add more leaves to Blanc's disguise.

"Neptune, why would Aunty Arfy want to leave?" When the girl looked to the side, she found Neptune staring at the sky, his eyes empty. A butterfly fluttered over to the boy and landed on his nose, yet he did not budge.


As Blanc watched his friend stare into space, what they didn't know was that Arfoire had already spotted them, catching Neptune acting like a mole out of the corner of her eye.

Raising an eyebrow, Arfoire pretended to bot notice them as Blanc stared right at her with scrutinizing eyes.

"Histoire."

"What is it?" Histoire had just walked in, carrying some tea and cookies that Mina had baked the other day.

"I'll be right back. Pretend to be upset." Histoire raised an eyebrow until her wife slightly shifted her head to the left, her right.

"The backyard?" When Histoire looked outside, she barely caught Blanc diving inside a bush, eventually grabbing Neptune and pulling him inside too. The butterfly fluttered away as well. "Ah…" As Arfoire left, Histoire wondered if her flowers were alright.


"She's gone!?" Blanc was surprised as she only had Histoire to observe, but what she discovered was her lead. Histoire was sitting arms crossed, her face contorted in sadness. "This is…" Blanc looked towards Neptune, who's face was poking out of the bush. "Could Aunty Arfy…" Blanc put a hand under her chin, pretending to be a detective in that soap opera her mother always watches. "Be having an afar!?"

"Who's having an affair?" Arfoire crouched next to Blanc waving to Histore, whi giggled and waved back.

"You are, Aun-" Blanc froze as she just realized who was next to her. "Ah…" Arfoire smirked, poking Blanc on the nose.

"Gotcha~." Before Arfoire could pry, Neptune burst out of the bush, scrambling into his mommy's arms.

"Mommy, please don't go! Please, I'll be a good boy!" Neptune buried his face into his mommy's chest as Arfoire stroked his head while removing the branches and bunches.

"Neptune…" Neptune gripped his mommy harder.

"I'll eat my egg...plants," The boy shivered, as the trauma of food poisoning years ago still haunted him. "I'll won't ask for games, anymore! I'll study super hard!" Arfoire looked at her son, caressing his face.

"Neptune, my child…"

"Please don't leave us!" Tears forming in her eyes, Arfoire shook her head and held Neptune close.

"I'm sorry, Neptune. But my job as a manager demands that I have to travel abroad in order to search for and train new idols." Blanc blinked.

"Eh? So it wasn't…" Shaking her head, Blanc took off her hat and shook off the leaves.

"Wasn't what?" Blanc looked away, ashamed at pointing a finger at her aunt.

"N-Nothing." Neptune grabbed his mommy by the collar now, pulling his head up to her shoulders.

"No, why do the idols have to take you! Idols are evil!" Neptune pulled away from his mother runs back into the house, jumping into his mother's arms. Blanc reached for his friend but Arfoire planted a hand on her head.

"Blanc, thank you."

"Eh?" Arfoire looked at the girl and smiled, fighting back the tears.

"I was worried how Neptune would deal with this, since he's so young, but I don't have to worry if you're with him."

"Ye-Yeah…" Arfoire lifted Blanc out of the bushes and into her arms.

"Please, look after him for me." As Blanc and Arfoire headed back inside, Mina and the rest of the children were there waiting for them. Nepgear jumped into her mommy's arms, attempting the same thing that Neptune did. Soon enough, botb of the Planeptune children had calmed down, asking for a picture with their mommy. As Mina got everyone ready to take the picture, Histoire pulled Blanc aside, tearfully asking her if she wanted to help set up the dinner table. Upon seeing that face, Blanc couldn't say no.


"A month after that, your Grandma Arfy had to leave in search of idols and making units." Plutia leaned against her aunt, sighing in relief. "Heh… you've always been a sleepy head."

"Don't worry Daddy… Plutia won't… leave." Blanc shook her head, letting the girl lie on the couch as she pulled out a futon. Shoving aside the coffee table, Blanc set up the futon and pulled the covers over her niece. Once Plutia looked comfortable, Blanc climbed into the futon with her, letting Plutia use her hat as a pillow. Grabbing the album, Blanc flipped through the album again. Upon finding a certain picture, Blanc smiled.

The picture was when Neptune was in the hospital to heal from a broken leg and arm. However, Neptune was smiling. Next to him was Blanc, and two new friends. Despite these two causing Neptune's situation in the picture, Blanc never would have imagined that they would have been such close friends. Beside Blanc and Neptune, were two girls, one had long brunette hair and the other had long peach hair, they were both wearing the same uniform that Blanc wore. These two, Blanc and Neptune's best friends... were named IF and Compa.


To be continued in…

Memory 7: Boned by Friends