After playing some more games for about an hour, the two CPUs decided it was time for some rides. Unfortunately, as fate would have it, most of the ones that Neptune was actually tall enough to go on were either under repair or had huge, huge lines, leaving the duo without much to do in the rides department.
"How about we just use our 'Hey, we're CPUs! Let us in!' cards to skip the lines?" Neptune had suggested, half-jokingly. She didn't really intend to make use of such a card — not that it existed in the first place — but she was curious to see how Noire would react to the idea.
Needless to say, the raven haired CPU hadn't taken it well.
Neptune and Noire eventually found themselves seated at a picnic table, snacking on a variety of treats that they'd picked up from various stands on the way over (Neptune had finally gotten Noire to give in). Noire had picked what she felt was more appropriate food — a caramel apple and fried onion she was splitting with Neptune. Neptune, along with the friend onion, had snatched up just about everything she could get her hands on, much to Noire's dismay.
"Something tells me someone won't be in the mood for dinner..." she grumbled to herself, watching Neptune finish off her corndog in one tremendous bite before moving on to finish off the last of the fried onion. Noire had been looking forward to going to a nice restaurant with Neptune, too!
... Well, she supposed she could always drag Neptune out somewhere after the wedding. It wasn't like spending time together would be hard once all of that was settled, now would it?
A light blush rose to Noire's cheeks as she wondered how things would change after the wedding. Chances were that she and Neptune wouldn't start living together right away — if they would at all, but Noire certainly hoped they would. There would definitely be a lot of work involved, and something told her Neptune wouldn't be as eager to take time off as she would have been in the old days with Nepgear still out of commission.
Noire frowned. Would Neptune drown herself in work, like she had been before Histoire had brought the other CPUs into it? That wasn't a particularly appetizing thought, but at the same time, it seemed like it was the most likely... Noire had better prepare herself for it. It wasn't like she had been hoping for a honeymoon or anything (especially knowing Neptune), but the fact that Neptune might out and out run off hadn't occurred to her until this moment.
Sighing, Noire took a small bite of her apple. This was going to be incredibly complicated, wasn't it?
Well, moreso than it already was.
"Noire? What's wrong? Something not agreeing with you?" Neptune's voice quickly brought Noire out of her thoughts. Blinking, Noire glanced back to Neptune and nearly dropped her apple — Neptune had finished all of her food in the short time Noire had been thinking to herself.
"... Want to finish this? I'm suddenly not hungry," offering Neptune the apple, Noire watched as the purple haired girl lit up and snatched the half-eaten apple out of Noire's hands. Noire shook her head, fighting back the urge to smirk. Neptune could be so easy to read sometimes.
"Thanks Noire!" Neptune cried between mouthfuls of apple. The sight was both endearing and, well, disgusting. As soon as Neptune finished it, she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and stood. "You sit tight, okay? I'll throw all of this stuff out, then we can figure out what to do next."
"Huh?" Noire tilted her head as Neptune began to gather up the remains of their snack (or feast, in Neptune's cast) before heading off to find the nearest trash receptacle. That had been oddly... nice of her.
Noire placed her elbow on the table and her chin in her hand, watching Neptune look for somewhere to take the trash. Noire could have pointed out that there had been one right next to the picnic table, but watching Neptune look around helplessly was just funny — little did Noire know that Neptune had gone off on her own on purpose.
"I really am glad she can still be herself, even in these circumstances..." Not talking to anyone in particular, Noire closed her eyes. It was almost hard to believe that this was the same CPU that had been sobbing in her arms just a few days ago. And yet... it was. Despite how Neptune was acting now, inside, those feelings were still there, weren't they?
Noire felt a pang of guilt stab at her as she thought back to that frail, pitiful form of Neptune that she had held in her arms.
What kind of person was she to fantasize about a person who was in such pain? Wasn't she just taking advantage of Neptune, taking advantage of Planeptune's situation? Vert had told Noire that she was being "mostly" noble, but Noire had to wonder if she was being even a little noble in what she was doing. Sitting her, on a "date" with Neptune — a "date" that was only possible because of this whole marriage thing — she didn't feel particularly noble.
"... my mission is to gather information on what makes amusement parks successful, and then return back to my school with the data I gather so we can use it for our school festival."
"Wow, Marvy, sounds like it'll be fun! Can I come?"
"I don't see why not. I'll send you a message over Chirper with more details later."
"Great!"
Noire opened her eyes at the sounds of approaching voices. To her surprise, Neptune wasn't alone — with her was the ninja-slash-student, MarvelousAQL, who Neptune had encountered a few years back on one of her crazy adventures. The busty orange-haired ninja was wearing a peculiar outfit, Noire noticed. It was some kind of red jumpsuit, and she carried a matching helmet under her arm.
"Hello, Lady Noire," MarvelousAQL was usually polite, and today seemed to be no different. Noire nodded in response as Marvy and Neptune seated themselves across from Noire, but she couldn't help but be taken in by what the ninja was wearing. It wasn't as if the outfit was alien to Noire — in fact, as a cosplayer, she'd even worn a similar outfit once, but the fact that Marvy was wearing it in public like this?
"Hello, Marvy. I hope you don't mind my asking, but... What's with the getup?" Noire couldn't help but let her curiosity get the better of her. As her eyes had been on MarvelousAQL and only MarvelousAQL, she missed Neptune's eyes light up mischievously at Noire's question.
"I'm glad you asked!" Marvy smiled brightly and placed her helmet on the table. "I'm going to be playing the main character in the special performance that starts in a little while, and this is my costume for it. Neptune was actually just telling me how you two were going to come watch, so I was going to get you two some special seats."
Noire blinked. They hadn't had any plans like that, but... There wouldn't be any harm, would there? It might even be fun.
"Yeah, that's right," Noire offered a smile to the ninja. "I'm ready to go now if you two are."
"I was born ready!" Neptune piped in. If Noire hadn't been giving most of her attention to MarvelousAQL, she might have realized Neptune sounded a little too eager — like she had just watched a particularly large fish grab onto her bait.
"Then it's settled. Let's go, Marvy."
As Noire got up and stretched, closing her eyes as she did, MarvelousAQL and Neptune shared a high five.
Things were going all according to plan.
"This is one of those kinds of shows, huh?"
Noire looked around the audience curiously. It mostly consisted of children and their parents, though there were more than a few people that were older as well. Having never been to one of these (she'd only seen them in anime), Noire couldn't help but be a little excited — but only a little bit!
"I guess so? I don't know what you mean by 'those kinds of shows,' but they're always really fun!" Neptune seemed cheerful enough, so Noire had decided to stop worrying about things for the time being and just enjoy the show. "Nepgear's favorite part is when the robot comes out. Oh, and this one time, we were here with NISA, right? And she thought the stuff happening on stage was real! So she jumped up and..."
Noire smiled as she listened to Neptune's story. It was obviously a tale from when Neptune was still able to slack off all the time, able to come to places like this whenever she wanted without concern for appearances or worry over shares. It was nice that Neptune still held such memories close.
"- oh! It's starting!"
Noire turned from the other CPU towards the stage — and sure enough, music had started playing, and after five explosions of different colors, five different heroes made their entrance on the stage.
"Nep Red!" There was Marvy. Though Noire couldn't see her face now that the ninja had her mask on, the costume was the same as the one she'd been wearing earlier — not to mention that the girl's bust was quite memorable. Behind Marvy, four more heroes announced themselves.
"Nep Blue!"
"Nep Yellow!"
"Nep Purple!"
"Nep Pink!"
"And together..." The five of them began to pose in unison. "Heroes of Planeptune and protectors of Gamindustri! We are..." Explosions and confetti burst from the ground behind the five heroes. "The Nep Rangers!"
The crowd erupted in cheers. It was so loud that Noire nearly jumped out of her seat — what made it more surprising was that Neptune was cheering right along with them. Trust Neptune to get swept up by something like this.
With their introductions out of the way, the show could start in full. The heroes first began interacting with each other, doing some sort of comedy skit. The children seemed to love it, and even the older fans seemed thoroughly entertained by the heroes acting just a bit out of character for the show. As the show continued, there was a monster attack — the children all cried out in surprise, while the announcer declared that the heroes needed the children's cheers to help fight off the enemy.
Noire smiled faintly, picturing the CPU Candidates in the audience, cheering their hearts out to help the heroes... Well, Uni probably wouldn't cheer. She was like Noire like that. Nepgear would probably be concerned about the heroes and be doing her best, while still trying to look like an adult, and the twins would probably be two of the loudest in the audience. Uni though... Noire shook her head. She wondered if Uni would want to cheer, but would be too embarrassed, or if she'd think the whole thing was too childish.
She hadn't been spending as much time with Uni lately, had she? Uni had been so busy with work — not that this was anything new, but ever since the incident with the Deity of Sin, Noire had tried to make at least a little time for her sister every so often... And of course, she always did her best to look her best when she was around her sister! But here Uni was, far too busy for her now, while Noire seemed to have more time on her hands than ever with how much success she was having. It was kind of ironic.
Well, at least she'd gotten away to come see Nepgear, so that was a start.
Returning her attention to the show, Noire watched as the heroes were pushed back by the monsters. Children cried out in the audience, and it looked to Noire like even Neptune was ready to jump in. There was something... unsettling about Neptune right now, actually. Maybe she was just really enjoying the show, but the smile she had on her face was just... Unfortunately, Noire didn't have much time to think on it, because as soon as she opened her mouth to ask Neptune what was wrong, the announcer made a declaration.
"Uh oh! Our heroes are in real trouble now!" Running onto the front of the stage, the young woman who had been giving commentary throughout the show pointed dramatically towards the crowd. "It looks like we're going to have to call out to a member of the audience for help! And wouldn't you know it..."
Neptune's grin widened. Noire frowned, turning to her friend as the stage grew dark and a spotlight began searching through the crowd, as if looking for someone...
"Neptune, what are you-"
The spotlight froze on Noire.
"... Lady Black Heart of Lastation is here, and she's raring to go!" Pointing at Noire, who suddenly felt very small, the announcer motioned for the CPU to join her onstage. "Hurry up, Nep Black! Our heroes need your help! You're the only one who can save them now!"
"N... Nep Black!?" Noire slowly got to her feet, shaking slightly as she felt all eyes on her. She felt her cheeks burning — what was expected of her!? — as she looked around, seeing the gazes of countless children watching her expectantly, placing all of their hopes in her. T-This was just too much!
"You heard them, Nep Black!" Neptune gave Noire a light shove, and Noire realized in that instant that Neptune must have set this entire thing up when she ran into MarvelousAQL earlier.
"H... Here I go!" Fighting the urge to drag Neptune up there with her Noire transformed into her HDD form — much to the excitement of the crowd — and floated over to the stage. She blushed, realizing she was probably supposed to do something — so Noire did her best imitation of the poses the heroes had done earlier, tossed some of her hair behind her, and declared for the world to hear: "N-Nep Black is here! Watch out, bad guys!"
For a brief moment, there was silence — then the crowd erupted in excited cheers.
"A-Ah, you didn't have to pose or anything..." the announcer whispered into Noire's ear. Noire quickly dropped her hands to her side, her cheeks turning crimson.
Even though Noire couldn't hear it over all the cheers and camera flashes her posing had earned her, she just knew Neptune was laughing at her right then.