Memory 10: Repetition (Age 14)
The occasional sound of a page flipping echoed throughout the silent Planeptune household. Inside Neptune's room, Blanc and the room's owner were enjoying their Sunday afternoon.
Lying on the boy's bed, Blanc read through her light novel, arms held up towards the ceiling and the lower half her body was propped up against the wall. Neptune, on the other hand, was sitting on the floor, leaning against the bed frame. In his hands was a brand new RZR, that Neptune had bought from the money he got from Arfoire when she came over to drop off his monthly salary and allowance. Engrossed in his game, Neptune didn't noticed Blanc discretely edge herself over the bed and take the pillow he was using to comfort his neck, replacing it with her poofy hat. Blanc returned to her previous position, placing the pillow under her head and sighing in relief. As Neptune leaned his against the bed frame, the boy immediately turned around, finding his friend's hat. Pausing the game and standing up, Neptune stared at his friend.
"Blanc."
"What?" The girl slid the crisp paper to another page, reading the tiny inked worked on it.
"Did yo-" Neptune narrowed his eyes upon seeing Blanc's head. "Gimme back my pillow." Blanc looked up, pressing the back of her head against the pillow. Neptune's annoyed lavender eyes stared into Blanc's dull azure ones. After a moment of silence, the girl blinked, breaking eye contact, and resumed reading.
"No." Neptune pouted.
"Aw… Come on, that's my favorite pillow!" Blanc pulled and placed her bookmark into her book, bending her knees and grabbing the pillow. Rolling to the side, Blanc escaped Neptune's pouncing grab for his favorite pillow, leaving the boy to face plant against the bed sheets.
"Your a guy, man up." Frowning, Neptune got onto his hands and knees, a grin beginning to creep onto his face.
"Okay then…" Blanc was facing away from Neptune, nuzzling her head into his pillow in order to get her friend to react. "Then I won't!" Neptune dropped himself ontop of Blanc, startling the girl as the boy attempted to wrestle the pillow away from the girl.
"I thought you were gonna grow up!" Neptune grinned, using one arm to pin Blanc's leg down while using the other one grapple for the pillow.
"Growing up and manning up are two different things~!" Blanc narrowed her eyes, using her free hand to push her book to safety.
"Oh, it's on!"
Half an hour later, Blanc and Neptune lay in bed, exhausted and sweaty from their round of wrestling. Their match ended with Neptune rolling for a pin up and making a fast count. Panting, Neptune and Blanc looked at each other and after a second of staring at each other before beginning to laugh out their weariness. Blanc sat up, wiping her forehead.
"I'm gonna take a bath." Neptune raised a hand, giving her the thumbs up.
"Kay~." Blanc walked over to Neptune's closet. Opening it, Blanc pulled out a mini-drawer filled with some of Blanc's clothes. After shifting through her clothes, Blanc looked at the clothes she had assembled.
"Ah, I don't have any shirts." Blanc turned to Neptune, who was happy to get his pillow back. "Neptune." The boy pulled his face out of his pillow and turned to stare at his friend.
"Wasssup, Little Dynamite?" Blanc narrowed her eyes while Neptune grinned obviously at him.
"I'm gonna pretend you didn't say that." Walking over to Neptune's drawer, Blanc opened the topmost shelf. "I'm borrowing a shirt." Neptune pressed his face against his pillow.
"Mmmkay~." Pulling out one of his shirts, a purple t-shirt with a pudding picture on it, Blanc slung the shirt over her shoulder and picked up the rest of her clothes to go take a bath. Swinging his legs, Neptune stood and looked around his room. Neptune and Blanc messed up his bed while they were wrestling, pulling off his bed sheets and shifting the bed frame a bit. Sighing, Neptune got out of his comfort zone and got to work.
Once his bed had been fixed, Neptune collapsed on his bed. As he was closing his eyes, the door opened and Blanc walked into the room, a folded towel on her head. Blanc had changed into Neptune's shirt, being large enough to cover her waist and half of her thighs, but Neptune knew that Blanc was wearing shorts underneath the shirt. Steam floating off the girl, Blanc plopped herself next to Neptune.
"Your turn." Neptune sat up, stretching his arms. Scratching the back of his head, Neptune stood up and walked over to his drawer.
"Kay~." Leaving the room, Neptune headed towards the bathroom, for his time to get clean. Drying her hair with the towel on her head, Blanc looked around to find her book on Neptune's desk, next to his phone. As Blanc walked over to the desk, Neptune's phone rang. Glancing at his phone, Blanc saw Nepgear's name on the Caller ID.
"Ah, it's Nepgear." Picking up the phone, Blanc answered the phone and put it next to her ear. "Hello?" A shout of surprise startled the girl.
"No way, Neptune got a girlfriend!?" Blanc rolled her eyes. "U-U-Um… is my bro-bro-brother there?" The girl sighed.
"Nepgear, it's Blanc."
"Blanc!?" Blanc smiled as the girl stuttered about. "Wait, Blanc you're dating my brother!?" Now she frowned. Pinching the bridge of her nose, Blanc let an exasperated sigh.
"I'm not." Now Nepgear sighed in relief.
"Oh good, I was afraid you two were dating…" Eye twitching, Blanc gritted her teeth.
"What do you want, Nepgear?" Caught off guard, Nepgear stumbled over her words again.
"C-Can you get my brother to open the front door? Mother forgot the keys and I really wanted to say hi…" Scratching the back of her head, Blanc headed downstairs. As she went to the front door, Blanc hung up the call. "Ah, she hung up!" Unlocking the door, Blanc opened the door to find Nepgear waiting in a disguise. Nepgear had grown her hair out so that it was up to her back, quite different from when the girl had her hair cut as short as her parents would possibly allow in order to imitate her brother. The girl-turned-idol was wearing a brown button-up sweater and black stockings, with a matching brown hat and dark purple glasses. "Bl-Blanc!? You never told me that you were in here!" Blanc blinked.
"Did you check out house?" Letting Nepgear into the house, Blanc looked outside to see if anyone was there. Upon finding no one, the girl closed the door.
"I did, but you weren't there." Blanc stopped walking and stared at Nepgear.
"Why did you think I wasn't here if you knew your brother was here and I picked up his cell phone?" Nepgear's mouth made a circle shape after a minute of thinking.
"Oh, that's right. I'm sorry." Blanc patted the girl on the head.
"It's fine." Suddenly, Neptune's voice erupted from upstairs.
"Blanc, where's my phone?" Blanc cupped her hand over her mouth.
"Down here!" Nepgear was about to speak when Blanc covered her mouth, signaling her to stay quiet.
"I left my phone on my desk…" Neptune walked down the stairs, drying his head with a towel. "So why would i-" The boy dropped his towel upon seeing Nepgear, who sheepishly waved at her brother.
"Hi, Nept- Goodness!?" Neptune tackled Nepgear, raising her into the air as he hugged her tightly.
"Nepgear! Blanc, look! It's Nep. Jr!" Blanc shook her head and smiled.
"I know, Neptune. I know."
Nepgear placed a cup of tea in front of Blanc. The girl flipped a page of her book and took the cup, sipping it.
"Warm. Nice." Nepgear smiled as Neptune hugged his little sister again, who happily hugged him back.
"Neptune, I missed you so much!" Neptune nuzzled his sister, who happily giggled.
"Why are you doing here, Nep Jr.? I thought you couldn't go anywhere without Mom or Mother." Nepgear nodded.
"Mother's actually in Blanc's house, talking with Aunty Mina." Confused, Blanc tilted her head.
"Why would Aunty Hist-" Neptune stood up and dragged his sister upstairs.
"Come on, Nep Jr.! Take a look at your room, it's still the same the last time you were in there!"
"Wow, really!?" Sighing, Blanc watched Neptune pull his sister out of the living room as the sounds of the front being unlocked caught the girl's ears. Walking out to the hallway, Blanc found Histoire taking off her shoes.
"Oh, hello Blanc!" Histoire smiled as Blanc walked over to her aunt.
"Welcome back."
"Ah, I'm home." Neptune ran down the stairs without Nepgear.
"Blanc, check it out! Nepgear's trapped in nostalgia up… there…" Histoire's smiled widened as she looked at her son.
"Neptune! Look at you, you've gotten so big in such a short amount of time!" Shaking his head, Neptune ran over to his mother in the same manner he did to Nepgear, failing to lift the woman into the air.
"Mother!" Histoire giggled as Neptune held back his tears. Nepgear came downstairs to see her brother reunite with her mother, hugging Blanc as a form of imitation.
"Hi, Neptune." Histoire stroked Neptune's head. The boy looked behind his mother.
"Where's Mom?" Histoire bit her cheek.
"Mom is abroad, managing a two girl unit called the 'CPUs'." Neptune frowned and pouted.
"Alright, I'll do everything in my power to forget and not care about them!" Everyone, barring Neptune, sweatdropped.
"Neptune, would you follow my group?" Neptune let go of Histoire and stared at his sister.
"... I guess?" Histoire looked behind her, gesturing to something.
"Speaking of Nepgear's group, Nepgear is searching for two more people to turn her two girl unit into a four girl unit." Suddenly, Rom and Ram run through the front door, hugging Blanc.
"Rom? Ram?" Ram stared at Blanc, stars in her eyes.
"Ne, Ne! Guess, what Blanc?" Rom piped in.
"We're gonna be famous!" Blanc furrowed her eyebrows.
"Famous?" Liking the ring of the word, Rom and Ram ran around Blanc, chanting the word over and over again. Histoire walked past Neptune and looked at Blanc apologetically.
"Blanc, I'm sorry." Neptune blinked his eyes, widening them as Blanc tilted her head in confusion.
"Sorry?" Neptune clenched his hands and glared at the back of his mother's head.
"Mother, don't tell me…" Histoire turned around, startled by Neptune's glare, even Nepgear was intimidated by Neptune's scary face. Rom and Ram hid behind Blanc while Neptune's best friend stepped backwards. "You plan on recruiting Rom and Ram into the idol industry!" Mina walked into the house, a hand on her shoulder.
"Wrong, Neptune." Neptune whipped around, shock on his face.
"Histoire already talked to me about it, and I agreed to allow Rom and Ram to become idols." Furious, Neptune glared at everyone.
"I can't believe you would do this!?" Nepgear tried to soothe her brother, only for Neptune to run past her and up the stairs. As the boy ran past Blanc, despite being frozen by the thought of Rom and Ram leaving her, the girl caught a tear roll down Neptune's cheek.
"Neptune…" Mina and Histoire looked at each other as Nepgear stared at the ground, ashamed. Rom and Ram were beginning to cry as Neptune's outburst terrified them. Letting go of her twin sisters, Banc headed up the stairs.
"Blanc, what are you…" Blanc turned around, one foot on a higher step than the other foot.
"I'm going to talk to my brother."
Knowing Neptune, Blanc found him in his room, bundled up in his blanket. Shrugging her shoulders, Blanc sat down next to what she assumed what his head. Patting Neptune's head, Blanc leaned against his back, causing the boy to grunt.
"You know, you always sucked a Hide and Seek." Neptune shifted around to make himself comfortable, but Blanc pressed her elbow against Neptune's back.
"...What do you want?" Blanc placed her head on top of Neptune's, causing him to grunt again. "...Move it."
"No." Blanc pulled the covers off of Neptune's head, revealing boy's eyes to be filled with tears. Wrapping her arms around his neck, Blanc lied down next to Neptune. After all, I'm supposed to be the one that's mad, not you." Lifting the blanket, Blanc crawls in with Neptune, lying on top of him.
"What are you doing?" Blanc presses her cheek against Neptune's.
"Cuddling."
"We're too old for that." Blanc laughs.
"Not for siblings." Silence. "You were mad for my sake, weren't you?" When Neptune didn't respond again, Blanc snuggled against Neptune. "You didn't want Rom and Ram to be afraid of me so you took the initiative."
"Sorry… I was just so mad… thinking that Rom and Ram would end up like how Nepgear and I ended up…" Blanc tapped him on the head.
"Wanna just sit here and chill for a bit?" Neptune shook his head and sat up, letting the girl slide off his back.
"Nah, I feel better now." Neptune and Blanc headed downstairs to find Histoire about to up.
"Neptune!" Neptune held his mother's hand.
"I'm sorry, Mother. I lost my cool just now. Forgive me." Just before Histoire could speak, Neptune pulled his mother into a hug. As Blanc walked down the stairs, Rom and Ram hugged their sister.
"Blanc, we're sorry…" Blanc patted her sisters on the head, smiling.
"It's fine, you two have the choice to do what you want, and as a big sister, I have to support you with all my heart." Blanc looked at her mother. "Right, Mom?" Mina teared up and ran over to her daughters, hugging them.
"I'm sorrrrrryyyyyyyyy!" Nepgear walked up to Histoire and Neptune, nudging herself into the hug.
"Mommy, we're gonna visit as much as possible!" Rom nodded.
"And we're gonna call too!" Neptune stared his mother.
"You'd let them do that, right?" Histoire nodded.
"Of course." Neptune then turned to Nepgear, an expectant look on his face.
"I-I'll visit and call too!" Smiling, Neptune pressed his cheek against Nepgear's. Mina broke their hug and headed out the front door.
"I have to pack up Rom and Ram's suitcases so they can leave for training tomorrow, so I'll have to go right now.'' The twins ran after them, pulling Nepgear with them as well. Histoire let go of her son and smiled at him before following them as well. With just Neptune and Blanc in the household, the boy glanced at his best friend.
"Shall we help them out too?" Blanc nodded.
"Yeah."
Blanc shook her head at the memory, reminding herself how quiet, how empty, how… lonely her place was. Neptune had contacted IF and Compa, inviting them to come and sleep over often. Smiling, Blanc played with Plutia's cheek. When Rom and Ram came back, she had gotten used to the quietness that filled their home, barring their occasional visits and phone calls.
"I don't what I missed more… the twins or the silence." Giggling to herself, Blanc moved her hand away from Plutia and back to the photo album.
"Mmm…" Glancing down, Blanc saw Plutia shift around and lazily open her eyes.
"Mornin', Plutia." The girl let out a quiet yawn as she sat up, rubbing her eyes. Blanc flipped the page to find a picture of Blanc and Neptune were lying on the ground, a booklet and pen in Neptune's hands while Blanc was on her hands and knees, looking defeated. Blanc covered her mouth, preventing her laughter. Having finished rubbing the sleepiness out of her eyes, Plutia looked at the picture.
"Aunty…" Plutia yawned again. "Blanny… What's that?" Blanc smiled.
"A good story."
To be continued in…
Memory 11: Book
