"Alright. I'll be leaving for a moment", IF said at the entrance of the daycare. She has to shop for supplies since they are low of some materials.
"Yes! Take care, Iffy!", Compa said cheerfully.
"Then, I'll leave everything to you Compa", IF leaves the daycare.
Compa watches IF as the brunette walks and turns to a corner. "Hmm. I wonder what else is there to do? Maybe I'll check the kitchen", Compa goes inside the daycare.
Meanwhile, inside the main room...
"Everyone! Look what I found!", Vert calls the attention of the other children.
"Oooh! Whaddya got there, Vert?", Neptune responds. Gradually, children gathered around Vert.
"I don't know yet, but I think it's interesting", Vert shows a folded paper in front of them.
"Open it! Open it!", Ram excitedly said.
"Yeah!", Rom follows.
Vert unfolds the paper, and lays it flat on the floor. Everyone looks down at the contents of the paper.
"Is this a-", Nepgear starts.
"-treasure map?!!", Neptune finishes with sparkly eyes.
"Vert, where did you get this?", Blanc asks.
"In the next room. I just passed by and then I saw it lying on the ground. I think Iffy or Miss Compa dropped it. I don't think they mind if I borrow it for a bit", Vert smiles.
"That's sneaky", Noire comments.
"But looking at the map, doesn't this look like the daycare?", Uni said.
"Wah, it really is!", Plutia said.
"I just noticed that the writer is forcing all these stories in one setting. How hopeless", Neptune sighs. Hey I heard that! "Wah! She spoke!", Neptune sweats.
"Neptune! She can hardly update this fanfic regularly! So stop poking at the 4th wall!", Noire scolds. Thank you Noire! "Y-you're welcome! I-it's not like I want this story to continue or anything!". So tsun, I'll be building back the 4th wall now.
"Yes, ma'am!", Neptune flinches.
"So going back on topic, the map seems to point to a park just near the daycare", Blanc said.
"Then let's go! Like, right now!", Ram seems eager to go.
"Yeah! Let's. Please, Onee-chan?", Rom looks at her older sister.
"These two", Blanc looks at the rest of the children. "What about everyone?".
"Absolutely! I'm also kinda curious what Iffy and Compa are hiding", Neptune pumps two fists in front.
"If Onee-chan is going, I'm going too", Nepgear said.
"I'm going too. But i-it's not l-like I'm curious about this treasure", Noire fumbles her hands behind her.
"W-well if N-nepgear's going, I am too", Uni glances at every direction possible.
"I'm the one who found the map, so it makes sense that I'll go find the treasure too" Vert then picks up the map.
"Well, I-",
"Nuh-uh, Plutie. You're coming with us", Neptune confiscates her pillow.
"Eeeeh...How mean...Neppy", Plutia grunts. "Well, if that's the case, someone will have to carry me when I get tired", she said in her usual slow voice.
As there are eight other than Plutia, the children anonymously agreed that someone will carry Plutia along the way.
"Well then, it's decided", Blanc nods.
"Alright, everyone! Let's find the treasure", Vert holds up the map.
"Yeah!", everyone cheers.
Sometime later...
"We're here", Blanc said.
"But, where exactly is it buried?", Noire questions.
"Ugh! Why did Plutie have to fall asleep in the middle of the road?", Neptune plops down on her behind. She seems to be giving Plutia a piggyback ride.
"Yay! Neppy is so strong!", Plutia gets down from Neptune.
"Hmm", Vert opens the map. "Aha! There's a password written here!", Vert shouts.
"What does it say?", Nepgear said.
"Thy cursed treasure shall be sealed where shadows fall beside thy barrier of darkness", Vert reads.
"I didn't understand but it sounds weird and cool!!", Neptune said.
"It sounds like something from a book", Blanc comments.
"I don't understand half what it says!", Ram flails around.
"It sounds hard", Rom said.
"I wonder who wrote it?", Uni said.
"I don't get it", Plutia smiles.
"Since it's a password of course we won't get it the first time", Noire walks to Vert. "Vert, let me see".
"Of course", Vert releases her grip from one side of the map. Noire then holds the other side of the map which was not held up by Vert.
"Hmm...", Noire reads the password the second time with her eyes. "Barriers are half circle, right? There must be something here that has that shape".
"A barrier-like shape...Ah, the dome!", Blanc exclaims.
"Wah! It really looks like a barrier!", Ram points to the dome.
"It's also dark inside", Rom added.
"Then, 'where shadows falls beside' it must be just around the dome", Vert said.
"Aha! X marks the spot!", Neptune hurriedly went to the shadow of the dome and then she dug the ground furiously. "Huh? There's nothing here!", Neptune shouted from the hole she dug out.
"How did she dig so fast?!", Noire gapes at Neptune.
"Ahahaha...", Nepgear laughs nervously.
"One more time!", Neptune digs the next spot on the ground.
"No fair! I wanna dig too!", Ram digs another spot beside the dome.
"Nothing here too!", Neptune shouts.
"Same here!", Ram follows.
Neptune and Ram continue to dig the ground around the dome. Eventually the circumference of the dome has been dug out.
"Arrrgh! Where is the treasure?!", Neptune lied on the ground throwing a tanrum.
"This stinks! Maybe we read it wrong!", Ram stomps angrily.
As Neptune flailed around, she hit a spot on the ground that felt hard. "Huh?". With a determined look on her face, she stands up and prepares for another round of digging. "Now you're mine!".
"Onee-chan?! You're still going?!", Nepgear worries.
"Yaaaah!", Neptune digs twice as fast as she did before. Thunk! "Ow ow ow!", her hands hit a hard object. She reels back into sitting position and blows her hands.
"Onee-chan! Are you alright?!", Nepgear runs to her sister's side.
Blanc walks to the new spot Neptune has dug out. "It's here!", Blanc pulls out a large wooden box out of the hole.
"H-how?", Uni gaped at Blanc. How did the bookworm pulled out a box twice her size?
"Onee-chan is so strong!", Ram cheers.
The other children once again gathered around the said spot.
"I wonder what's inside?", Rom said.
"Let me do the honors", Vert steps up.
"Go ahead", Blanc backs up to create some space between her and the chest.
Vert opens the chest. The rest of the children peers over the contents of the chest.
"These are the treasure?", Noire said. Inside the chest is a book, a wooden staff, and a few stuffed octopi.
"Waaaa! These are cute!", Plutia took one stuffed octopus out of the chest.
"They come in lots of colors too!", Ram also took one and then Rom followed her. "Squishy...".
Blanc kept staring at the book and eventually she pulled it out. There is a weird symbol on the cover of the book that seems to take her interest. She starts to open the from its cover.
"Stop right there!", a unfamiliar voice spoke.
Blanc looks at the direction where the voice came from.
"Before you open that cursed grimoire, are you prepared to embrace the darkness that is sealed within it?", a woman with long blue hair asked. She wears an outfit that resembles a dress and a labcoat. To top it off, she also wears a witch hat. The woman poses mysteriously.
Blanc looks at the book again and then back to the woman. She gives a nod in reply.
"Once you open the grimoire, you shall be as cursed as I was. Is that your final decision?", the woman asked again.
Blanc shifts a little. Somehow it made her more curious about the book she is carrying.
"Come on, Blanny! Just open it!", Vert intercepts and opens the book surprising the brunette.
"It's too late. These two children have been afflicted by the curse sealed within the grimoire", the woman withdrew her pose.
The two continues to read the first few pages of the book. They seemed to be heavily absorbed within the contents.
"It's so cool", Blanc mutters.
"You think so too?!", Vert said excitingly. "The monsters here looks like they're from a video game or manga!".
"Whoa! Check this out!", Neptune swings the rod around which appears to be twice her own height or more.
"Hey! Be careful with that. You might hit someone!", Noire scolds.
"Noire, you wanna hold it too?", Neptune offers lifting the rod in front of Noire.
"E-eh? W-Why would I want to?", Noire indirectly tries to reject the purple head's offer. Meanwhile in the back of her mind, she actually wants to use it for her Magical Girl pose.
"Come on, Noire! Something tells me you wanna!", Neptune grins.
"Strange, she seems to be unaffected by the Willow Rod's dark power", the mysterious woman mutters. "Could it be she possesses no such darkness in her soul?". Continuing to watch the children, she saw that girl with twintails finally took the rod from her energetic friend.
"Ei!", Noire twirls the rod.
"Nepgear, Watch out!", Uni saw that the rod will hit Nepgear and she pushed her lavender haired friend out of the way.
"Ehh?", the push caused Nepgear to move a few steps away.
"Gwah!", Uni gets clocked on the head by the end of the rod.
"Huh?", Noire looks around. "Ahh. Are you alright, Uni?", she drops the rod and went to her sister.
"Hey! Is that you, MAGES.?", IF happened to walk by as she was going home from shopping.
"So you have arrived, my comrade, the sage of dark magic", MAGES. replies.
"I see you haven't changed...", IF felt nostalgic and decided to play along. "...Mad Magician of Time".
"I'm afraid your arrival was minutes late. These children have dug up our sacred artifacts", MAGES. points to the children.
"Children?", IF looks to the direction where MAGES. points. "Ahhh!! You kids, what're doing outside?!", IF yells. At the back of her mind, she was relieved that none of the children has seen her act strangely earlier.
"Oh! It's Iffy! Look at what we found, Iffy!", Vert says cheerfully.
"You guys..."
IF explains that the things inside the chest were buried by her, Compa and MAGES. back when they were kids. The map that Vert found might've fallen from her notebook's pages. However, it seems that MAGES. mixed some stories while she was explaining and now Vert and Blanc are interested in hearing more from IF herself.
Good luck telling them the stories of your childhood, IF.
Author's Notes: Yeaaaah, I haven't uploaded anything in two months. Good luck guessing which item belongs to which. And also shoutout to the Neptunia Fanfic Writers Discord Chat for being a fun little place to talk about stuff. See you next chapter!