To all those people brave enough to come this far without reading the previous stories: Hats off to you! But from here onward it will become nigh impossible to follow without specific knowledge (or at least it will feel disconnected).

So as not to force people to read too much of my nonsense (or to make me retell all the plot points) I will now list the chapters from previous stories that might be helpful to understand the Reverie chapters.

Best Friends Forever?:

-"Epilogue" (Not actually necessary, but this chapter does partially take place there)

Best Girlfriends Forever!:

-"Phantom of the Basilicom" Arc (Actually starts with "Quarrel like Lovers")

-"Nepsgiving" (It helps)

-"Sisters" Arc

That's all. Back to the regular program.

Episode 20: Reverie (Part 1)

This mess began a long time ago. Even before the usurpation of their nations by Gold Third and the final battle with Kurome. Just after they had averted the crisis with Tari's CPU and finally expected permanent peace.

"Your stories, while certainly entertaining in their own right…" Vert said with a barely suppressed chuckle. She was hiding her smile behind one gloved hand. "…lack something important."

"Oh yeah? And what's that supposed to be, wannabe critic?" Blanc was not happy to be lectured by Vert of all people. But she did approach her after reading her newly released novel. How she had found out Blanc's penname was a mystery, but she had mailed her about it and wanted to discuss something regarding the topic of her writing.

"Heart." Vert answered without her previous amusement. Her look wasn't pitying or accusing, but simply sympathetic.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Blanc gritted her teeth while leaning her head on one hand in annoyance. She was resting her elbow on the round wooden tea table. She was posing like she rejected the very idea of lacking 'heart'.

"You have a surprisingly sizable amount of romantic stories in your library, do you not?" The blonde goddess looked over to the well stocked shelf.

"Like I said, what are you implying?" She wanted this big annoyance to be over and done with as soon as possible, so she pushed Vert onward.

"Hmph." Vert exhaled in dissatisfaction. Her amicable nature was lost on Blanc it seemed. "For someone with such an impressive interest in the genre, you utterly lack the sensitivity in describing it." She got to the point immediately.

"I'm not some lovesick weirdo. Those are not exclusively romance novels. They are mixed genres. Mixed." Suddenly the short CPU waved her hand and acted insulted. Almost as if to avoid the second half of Vert's statement completely. Of course this didn't go unnoticed by her fellow goddess.

"I see now. You were completely aware." She folded her arms below her bosom and looked down on Blanc (admittedly their height difference could be to blame here).

"I'm not aware of nothing! Don't tell me what I can't write!"

Bullseye.

"I would not dare to pry any further into your private matters. I was simply trying to support you in your efforts as an author." Vert finished her cup of herbal tea and raised her behind to get off the bench. She dusted off her dress and adjusted her long hair in a ladylike manner. "It seems I will have to look forward to even more amusing comedy pieces from you in the future." She glanced at Blanc from the corner of her eyes.

The short-haired girl was clearly agitated, but she showed a weakness. Her hand was balled to a fist, but she was also biting her lower lip. A small shaking went through her body before her facial expression returned to neutral.

"I can do it. I just need more…" She trailed off.

"Relationship experience?" Vert unintentionally finished her sentence. Almost immediately she realized that she went too far.

"Leave already." Blanc turned away and dragged her feet towards her private chambers. She didn't even attempt to push Vert out of the Basilicom like she usually would have.

"What a troublesome dramatist I have gotten myself involved with." The blonde girl tightly grabbed her elbow and stood in place for a while. There was an uncertainty in her heart. As if she wasn't sure whether to exit gracefully or comfort this oversized prideful puppy.

In the end she decided not to act too uncharacteristically and left the castle behind.

'Heart'. That was the thing her stories were lacking…. She was lacking.

Blanc had reached a dead end in some rundown building. The wall looked weak and less than rigid after all the destruction caused by the Dark CPUs. With uncertain emotions she kicked the bricks in with her right boot. The entire construct toppled over from the force of her anger. Or was it her fear?

A lot of things happened in a short span of time. While she had been busy taking back her country and getting acquainted with C-sha she lacked the time or state of mind to think about trivial things like writing… or her own heart. Instead she was doing her best. Working to save her sisters, her people and the world. They had ruined Kurome Ankokuboshi's plans. The Heart Dimension was destroyed and peace returned to the world… for a while.

But alongside the Heart dimension, Blanc's own heart also returned to being a void. Now that the world was safe, she had nothing to distract her from herself. She had always been introverted, bad at dealing with people and had a foul mouth to boot, that much was true. But she had a softer side as well. Behind the hardened shell still beat a bloody heart dammit!

She was not love struck. She never had been in her life. To her the concept of romance was as fictional as anything else in the novels she read every day. She now had a few friends, sisters that looked up to her and a stable nation under her rule… And that was all she needed. Those were her honest feelings. Love was not necessary to get by. It was not even something altogether desirable if one enjoyed their alone time.

But for her writer side this lack of experience was unacceptable.

Yet she couldn't let something like that dictate her lifestyle. Many writers did not have experience. Neither with love nor with slaying alien invaders or other crazy concepts. Heck, Blanc had never even attended a school in her life, yet most of her plots centered on high schoolers. Imagination and outside media could make up for a lot of inexperience. She was confident in how solid her research was.

Yet how could she hope to copy emotions? No, was copying an emotion really enough to give the story a heart of its own? She couldn't claim it to be so. She sought out romance subconsciously, but in the end she always went for the clichés. For a straightforward, fulfilling romance like only a hormone filled teenager could see it. That was all she could see.

"If I had a real example to compare it to." She often found herself saying that line. Real life models existed everywhere, but she would feel like a disgusting voyeur, spying on couples in town. Her pride wouldn't allow it.

Things took a weird turn soon after. Neptune and Noire got involved in a nonsensical contest about friendship…. And by the end of it all they had finally confessed their love for each other (at least Neptune did. As if Noire could be honest about her feelings). This was an opportunity.

No it wasn't!

Blanc had to bite the inside of her cheek whenever she saw those two hang out together. What business did she have with their lovey-dovey sickly sweet flirty relationship? They were acquaintances, colleagues and ultimately even friends. One should never look at their close ones as material. As something to inspect and observe. The idea that someone would do so for her or her sisters was downright insulting to her, so she would not stoop so low.

But when she had looked out her Basilicom window one day, she had spotted Neptune's hoodie dress from a distance. Seeing her walk through Lowee's busy streets was unusual at least. The purple bundle of uncontrolled energy was known for her theme park visits all across the nation, but she rarely ventured in the center of the city…

Neptune laughed heartily as she pulled someone along by the hand. Noire.

"They sure got a lot of free time." Blanc grumbled and turned away. In her head she made up all kinds of possible scenarios that had led to them appearing below her windows.

It was irritating how they needed to show off their romantic nonsense to everyone (especially her). Maybe they had just come from one of the theme parks actually. Shared some cotton candy, enjoyed the famous 'Love Tunnel' and danced through a field of flowers while holding hands-

"Shit." Blanc held her forehead with a guilty expression. Once again she had tried to use them as models instead of seeing them as her comrades who were enjoying their alone time together.

It was so natural.

With an exasperated sigh she went to her desk and activated the monitor by moving the mouse. Maybe some work could distract her. Her line of sight accidentally went back out the window. Towards the ice-cream stall at the side of the road…

They were taking a single cone for both of them? Strawberry, vanilla, stracciatella. Three layers. Noire was holding it tightly. Neptune watched the shaking mass of gelato with longing eyes. They walked around the corner, out of sight from the ice-cream vendor. They set down on a stone bench. Noire hesitatingly held up the ice-cream, but Neptune had no inhibitions about taking a big lick from the sweet frozen mass.

"H-hey, be careful or I might drop it." Noire (probably) said nervously.

"Ice-cream exists to be licked. It's a natural law or something!" Neptune (definitely) answered with a wink. "C'mon you get some too or it will turn hot."

"You mean cold- Ah." She realized the confusing phrasing was deliberate.

"Lickity~"

"Jeez! Then I will just help myself!" Not wanting to go home empty-handed (even though she was holding the cone), Noire started to tenderly stick out the tip of her tongue and slid it across the vanilla portion of the ice-cream.

"Yoink!" Neptune suddenly picked up the pace and slurped all across the vanilla part as well.

"….!" Noire was even more frozen than the ice-cream in her hand. She only now realized what sharing this really meant.

"Woah there Noiregoyle, why so stiff? Was it too cold?" Neptune teased. Her eyes were focused only on her girlfriend's reactions.

"…" Once again Noire forgot how to talk like a human being and simply opened and closed her mouth.

Neptune grabbed her stiff hand… and pulled it closer. Then she proceeded to take another lick of the ice-cream.

"Yummy! You're missing out." By now all three layers had Neptune's tongue approval on them.

Noire's red eyes were getting more bloodshot by the second.

"Oh lookie over here. It's dripping on your hand. Told ya it would get hot." Nep whistled. Of course Noire's increasing body temperature was also at fault here. "As Nep Jr. always says in mom-mode: Don't waste food!" Nep raised one finger in faux scolding. "I'll take care of that teensy mistake right now." She moved forward and licked Noire's fingers!

"Kiii…?!" Noire jumped a little at the sensation.

"Hey… lap… dun move sho much." Nep's tongue could barely keep up with Noire's shaking hand.

"N-N-Neptune, I can… d-do it myself!" Noire called out to reason.

"But I can do it better." Neptune's eyes sparkled and she kept licking.

"It t-t-tickles! Stop already!" Noire had to suppress a giggle and during that cute display her hand let go of the cone by accident.

"Whoops!" Neptune dropped on the ground like a pro-baseball jockey and caught the falling sweet at the last second. "H-h-hohoho that was a lil' too close even for me. You're too frail for this lifting job Miss!"

"..." Noire looked at the purple haired joker with a pout. Then she lashed out with her mouth and took a bite out of the ice-cream!

"Wowzers, that's at least triple my portion!" Neptune's eyes turned white in shock.

"S-serves you right." Noire licked her lips and smiled confidently. "I am not going to get toyed with by you anymore. So prepare for my counter-attack." She closed one eye playfully.

"…" Now Neptune was the one blushing and shakingly holding the cone.

"Neptune?" Noire tilted her head.

"Y-yeah?" She snapped out of her trance and stared at the food that divided them.

"You can have the strawberry portion if you want it that badly." The twintailed goddess had no clue what was grinding the gears of her girlfriend's mind.

"Do ya want to try it first?" She innocently held it close to Noire's face.

"Alright?" Question marks above her head made clear how confused she was about that meek reaction. Carefully she licked the cream, but Neptune's hand was shaking so much that it was smeared across her lips instead. "Who's too frail for this job now-?" In the middle of her smart comeback she suddenly was interrupted.

By a big smooch.

Her eyes widened as Neptune kissed her strawberry flavored lips and then hastily retreated. It was really short, but all the more sweet. Mostly because of the ice-cream.

"C-couldn't let it go to waste~" Nep rubbed her head while laughing awkwardly.

Noire covered her mouth with one hand and turned redder than the strawberries themselves. She was not used to kissing yet.

"You're not mad right?" Neptune was a little worried about that reaction.

"O-of course not! I was just surprised! Geez…" She flicked her pigtail back and posed as if it was just a trifle to her.

"Then I'm warning you this time." Neptune smooched the stracciatella ice-cream like it was a baby. Then she moved her head up. "I'm going to kiss you now!"

"Ehhh?!" Actually the declaration made her even more distraught!

"Take this ticket to flavoooor toooown~!" Nep jumped forward to tackle Noire, but the raven haired girl instinctively dodged. Neptune smacked into the wood bench's backrest and left a white kiss mark on it. "I knew you were wooden sometimes, but this is a few levels above the usual." Nep said dryly.

"Y-you can't just jump me! We are in public!" Noire held her rapidly beating heart.

"Boo! This is like the least busy back alley in the entirety of the world! Are you just not in love with me anymore? Am I just a smooching octopus to you? Neptopus?!" Neptune pretended to be hurt.

"Don't be stupid." Noire wasn't falling for it. "People walk by here all the time. We could be watched right now in fact… and I didn't mentally prepare myself yet…"

"What was that incredibly low voiced last part? I bet it was super amazing!" Nep was back to normal already.

"Just give me the ice-cream back!" Noire wanted to avoid more embarrassment at all costs.

"Ah." Nep looked at her hand. It was covered in molten ice-cream. And the cone was crushed.

"You didn't." The jaded red eyes were judging passive-aggressively.

"It's still good." The purple haired girlfriend said with sweat pearling down her face and licked her hand. "Shee?"

"I am not going to lick your hand like a dog."

"Waaaah! You thought I was playing doggy?!" Neptune's self confidence was crushed utterly.

"Heh." So Noire had gotten her payback.

"Oh woe is Nep." Her shoulders slumped down.

"…you missed a spot." Noire leaned forward and licked some remaining ice-cream off Neptune's upper lip.

Neptune's shocked O-face was worth the embarrassment a hundredfold!

… … ….

…

Blanc pulled her hat so deeply into her face that she could suffocate herself.

What were they thinking?! This was even worse than two teen romance movies fused with a young adult erotic novel! Such an explosively embarrassing level of lovey-doveyness was not possible!

And why exactly did she add all that dialogue in her head?! It's not like she had perfected lip-reading and from this angle it was even harder to do. Yet somehow all of that mushy garbage had come to her mind naturally.

She couldn't sit still. Without regards to her legs she pushed herself away from the desk and walked through her room in circles.

What was this? What was this? WHAT was this?

This overflowing adrenaline, unlike what she felt in a good fight or when seeing a new book from a series she liked.

This wasn't what she felt when she read or wrote romance at all! Somehow it was thicker. Yes, thicker! She just described an emotion with a physical property. This was hard love? No, they were way too timid for that term, but she couldn't even dare to fathom what would come next.

Is this what 'heart' felt like?

Her giddy mood dropped like the beat in a song.

Watching Neptune and Noire's romance… that was 'heart'? But that wasn't her 'heart'. That was theirs alone. Did she only borrow their essence? Was she… a parasite? Not in the closer sense, certainly, but she had leeched off of that feeling, didn't she? Isn't this exactly why she avoided using her friends as models?

"What a pile of-!" She tripped over a wire and fell face first flat on her bed. The mattress shook a little and then calmed down. Blanc moved her face to the side to breathe… it was covered in a fierce blush.

It was their fault for flaunting those emotions around. She wouldn't be taken in by it any longer. If Noire ever dared to act all uppity again, she would use this as a weapon. Or if Neptune took her snacks again she would just tell her to go lick Noire's face instead. That would teach them!

How childish…

Weeks went by and Blanc had forced herself to stay clear of all bad thoughts. Rather tough to execute for a natural thinker like herself. Of course there was no shortage of work and trouble to keep a needy person busy.

"A play?" Noire asked with a raised brow over the screen.

"A marvelous idea, isn't it?" Vert smiled confidently from the left corner.

"Is that like a stage show?" Neptune played with the straps of her hoodie.

"Close enough." Noire didn't waste time on correcting her.

The four of them were holding a live conference via webcam. Blanc was sitting in front of it with a bored expression. This meeting was all about the coming Peace Festival. She was buried in preparations for this very event in her own nation already, but each year they needed to do something between the four of them to show off the good relations and all that stuff. It was such a bother.

Blanc looked at the clock on the corner of her screen. If they solved this fast she might still be able to go to the bookstore or play with the twins. She had been neglecting them a little recently.

"Do we all agree on those terms then?" Vert asked with mild excitement.

"You got it!" Neptune gave them a virtual thumbs up.

"I will provide the costumes! I-if I must. It's all part of my duty." Noire was shifting her eyes around.

"You can't wear all of them Nowa. Cleanse thy cosplayer soul~!"

"It's n-n-not cosplay! This is the wardrobe for a legitimate theatrical performance!"

"I accept. Get on with it already." Blanc said monotonously. The last thing she wanted to hear right now was them bicker.

"Wonderful. Then I will be expecting the script and casting list from you by the end of the month." The blonde CPU gave her a calm look.

"Sure, end of the month. Got it- WAIT!" The brunette goddess snapped her neck around painfully and stared at Leanbox' CPU. "Why do I hafta write the script? Who decided that?!"

"Uhm… you did say 'I accept' just now?" Nep tilted her head.

"Don't tell me you didn't pay attention." Noire's red eyes were piercing.

"Oh my." Vert acted as if she was shocked as well.

This was just making her look really bad, wasn't it? Another lecture from the twintailed honor student would ruin her evening. Blanc tapped her finger and looked out the window with a grim expression.

"I was joking." She said quietly. "I'll write a script you won't forget."

"That's a given." Nep winked.

"Even if we wanted to I bet." Noire added with a shrug.

After hanging up the call, Blanc let her head sink on her crossed arms. Did she really just agree to that? She wasn't good with deadlines. And one month for a script this important was torture. With her current state of mind she would be even more likely to hit writer's block than usual. Weren't those girls acting pretty cold anyway? Their jobs were way easier than hers! They didn't even give her a genre or any guidelines to work with.

No limitations?

Perhaps that was a blessing in disguise. She could completely unleash her imagination and write whatever her heart desired!

Not likely… Seeing as this was going to be performed in front of all of Gamindustri she had better make it consumer friendly. Something easy to digest even for children and something people could get behind. Maybe a fairy tale? Or even better a hero story. This would be the first time she'd write anything since Vert had told her what she was lacking. Ironically this job was given to her by the very same Vert as well.

Or was it a coincidence? She raised her head and looked at the green cross shaped icon of the blonde girl's profile. Could she really have done this to see how Blanc had improved? That was one shady contractor she had gotten herself involved with. But the idea was agreeing with her actually. A chance to show off to that big busted bimbo.

To prove that she had her own 'heart'.

With unknown fervor she had started writing the script… and discarded it. Over and over and over again. She kept writing out entire stories, only to erase them at the last scene. It didn't feel right. Nothing was good enough! Her frustration grew with each written and deleted page. What was wrong with her? This dissatisfaction was not normal even for a pedantic author.

"Big sis?" Ram had opened the creaking door and was rubbing her tiny eyes. She was in her pink pajamas. Wasn't it a little early to wear those? "You aren't going to sleep? Again?"

That question made Blanc look at the clock. It was the middle of the night. In fact the sun might dawn just in an hour. Time flew by faster each day.

"I'm going soon. You should be in bed right now." Blanc tried to divert attention from herself.

"I went to pee." Ram replied tiredly.

"Don't say that. It's bad manners." She scolded her little sister and stretched her arms before leaving her desk and put the computer in sleep mode.

"Blanc is a meanie!" The pink twin wasn't happy about that reply. "You say bad words aaaaall the time." She pouted.

"I don't do it… that often." She pulled off her hat and coughed. "I'll go to sleep now, so move along." After opening the door fully she moved into the hallway and went straight for her room to show that she meant it.

"….nighty." What a cute sister she was even when grumpy.

"Yeah." Blanc's reply was short.

After throwing away her coat, boots and hat she curled up on top of the bed and hugged the blanket. Her mind wasn't ready to rest yet. So many ideas and worries were floating around inside it. There were only three days left until the first practice day. How on earth would she make a new script that fast?

She felt her eyes burn already. Her sleeping schedule was all over the place, but one thing was for sure, it only got shorter over time. At this rate she would be giving Vert blank pages…

(To be continued)