Episode 24: Solstice
"You surprised me." Vert said with feigned composure. The two of them had pulled away from each other after Blanc had bumped into her chest. The distance between them was decidedly vast.
"Why'd you stand in the middle of the doorway? Not my fault." Blanc put her hat back on straight.
"I… was about to leave."
"Uhuh." That was a sensible explanation actually. Maybe the fault lay with her after all. She had just briskly stormed into this room without considering that someone was in here… "Wait." She finally realized where she had ended up. "This is my room!"
Vert's shoulders twitched.
Yes, this was her guest room in the Zero dimension's Basilicom. She had left here not too long ago. What the hell? Had she really gone full circle? What were the odds? It was almost comical. Blanc tilted her head in thought.
"M-my, look at the time. It seems that I will have to return to Leanbox now." The blonde CPU passed her smaller colleague with a calm demeanor and moved to the door.
Pat.
A hand was put on her shoulder.
"Hey." Blanc's voice rang through the quiet room. "What were you doing in my room?" Those were the words Vert wanted to hear the least it seemed as she stiffened up.
"W-well, you said that you would return home. What happened to that determination of yours?" She dodged the question!
"I didn't say I'd go home. Only that I would go for a walk." Blanc corrected her.
"My mistake then." She was sweating…
"You can see the Basilicom's entrance from this window." Blanc continued the conversation casually while still holding Vert in an unyielding grip. "Too bad I came from the basement, eh?" Suddenly she felt incredibly sharp. Everything seemed to fall into place. Except for one thing… "Don't make me repeat myself." She squinted at her from the side. "Why were you in here?"
"…" The busty goddess fell silent. For her to be so evasive, she must've regretted this situation quite a lot.
"My bed…" She analyzed the room. "It's tidy."
Vert relaxed.
"But when I left it was a mess."
"!"
"And the computer isn't running. Even though I left it on." That was a bad habit of hers, but she had no mind for guilt right now.
With each observation Vert was left more panicked.
"If I didn't know better I'd say that someone tried to make it look neat like it would've been before. But I didn't make it all tidy and nice."
"It slipped my mind." Vert said with a distant voice.
"Hm?"
"My thoughts were elsewhere. I had forgotten that you were a slob." She shrugged in defeat.
"What did ya say?!" She let go of Vert's shoulder to make a fist.
"Don't deny it now. Your sloppiness is legendary. Even Neptune would feel at home in such a wild room." Vert kept poking holes in her patience in a demeaning manner.
"Did ya seriously come'ere just to pick a fight?!" Her eyebrow twitched in response to the sudden attitude. One might say Blanc had been successfully thrown off track.
"Naturally I would not waste my precious time on something like that." Vert crossed her arms and shook her head.
"Then why?" Blanc scratched her head in annoyance.
"…if you keep trying to make me say it I will leave right this instant." For the first time in a long while Vert said something truly aggravated. She was not her usual aloof self. No, not even her sarcasm was like this. She was actually reacting… emotionally. Upset.
If she did something that would upset her this much it must have been unthinkable. But Blanc didn't know what could be so extreme. In her room no less. Everything looked pretty normal?
"My documents!" She hurried to the computer and booted it up. After the familiar jingle she checked the files retaining to Lowee's secrets. There was no alteration to them and the last time they were accessed was this morning before she left.
What the heck? If it wasn't economic espionage, then she had no idea what could be bad enough to make Vert that guilty and prickly. She leaned her head on one hand and scrolled through her files. She could feel Vert's presence behind her. That blondie still hadn't left. Apparently she understood that she wasn't allowed to go just yet.
"Huh?" She noticed that a few text files had increased in size. Particularly… those of the story she had been writing on for the last months. The one that she was agonizing over so much, unable to finish. With a shaking finger she double clicked and opened it up.
Minutes later she had skimmed through it all.
"You… did…. this?" She could barely press out the words.
Vert did not reply.
"After all of that…" Blanc covered her face with one hand. "Why?"
"Because I am your ally." Vert replied silently.
"Well shit…" Blanc felt her eyes get hot. The urge to cry was growing immensely.
"I'm sorry." Vert apologized and suddenly Blanc felt the blonde's chest press against the back of her head while her arms embraced her from behind. It was… a pleasant feeling in its own way.
"The hell are we even doing?" She didn't know how to cope with this situation other than to ridicule it.
"I am thankful this isn't a quiz. I would have lost a lot of points because of you." Vert whispered with uncertainty.
"I need some fresh air."
"Indeed."
They ascended the stairs to the top of the tower. The rooftop was windy and fresh, but it didn't bother them. From here they had a good view on the half-ruined city below. The horizon of this capsule dimension seemed to be endless, even though there was a clear barrier between the edge and Gamindustri.
"Do I even wanna know about the bed?" Blanc asked while leaning against the railing. Her coat fluttered in the wind.
"I'd prefer you didn't." Vert was actually turning slightly red.
"…" Even Blanc couldn't tear her eyes away from that sight.
Things between them only had potential to become more awkward it seemed. Vert moved to the railing as well and rested her chest on it with a sigh. They did look heavy sometimes.
Blanc was hopelessly lost in a swirl of emotions. After all that thinking she had done the conclusion was what terrified her the most. Some may have said that this troubled face of hers was endearing.
"I only found it with you." She said mysteriously.
"Is that a problem?"
"I don't know. It makes me feel like I can't do anything… on my own. Just can't make sense of this stuff." She said exactly what was going through her head. "Is it wrong that I don't mind it anymore?"
"It would be foolish to ask me to give you an opinion on that matter." Vert smiled faintly. "As I am the same."
"Sometimes I wanted to have someone close to me too." Blanc went off on a tangent. "You know… f-for comfort."
Vert nodded with a pounding heart.
"Everyone's got their weak moments." She played with her hat. "That's not what I wanted to talk about. Stupid." She scolded herself.
"Cute."
"Huh?"
"Ah… u-uhm it's nothing." Vert fidgeted around. Suspicious.
"How did I end up here?" Blanc was utterly defeated. "I can't believe I am saying this, but…" She grabbed the rail with both hands for support and looked up at the mildly glowing sky. "Wanna date?"
Silence.
Then Vert almost fell over the railing and started to cough ceaselessly. The reaction hadn't come as much of a surprise to Blanc, but it was still a little embarrassing.
Scratch that, she had long since passed embarrassment and hit the realm of contend with the universe. No matter what happened next, she felt like things were in balance again.
"Y-y-you must be joking." Vert finally regained her breath and put a hand on her chest to calm her heart.
"No good?" Blanc leaned her head to the side and looked up to Vert with a cute expression.
"Hnng…" Apparently this wasn't a question of good anymore, but rather whether Vert would survive this assailment of cuteness. "Is this also for 'material'?" She asked with a twitching mouth.
Blanc looked down at her feet. Her mind shifted a few times before she came to her conclusion.
"No."
"Oh."
Some noise would have been really appreciated right about now. Even the chirping of a bird to save them from this oppressive atmosphere.
"Do not get me wrong, but I can't give you a fitting answer without knowing this fact." Vert moved away from the rail and stood in front of Blanc now. "Was that a confession?" She asked seriously.
She was tall. Blanc only really noticed it now that she was looking up to her pretty face. That determined expression made her look like a noble or something.
"I don't know." She replied truthfully.
"Heavens." Vert lost her cool façade and let her head sink. "You never cease to amaze. Such a troublesome princess."
"I am not a princess." Blanc said with red cheeks. "Aren't you the more sophisticated type?"
"A modicum of manners and style are a given for a lady, but only royalty could act so demanding and torture her subjects as you do." Vert said with a wry smile.
"I wasn't trying to-"
"Then let me reiterate. You ask me to start dating you, but without being certain of your feelings for me?"
"If you put it that way…" Blanc was feeling bad too; she just had trouble showing it.
"Would you be interested to know my side of the equation as well?" Vert crossed her arms derisively.
"…" Blanc suddenly turned squeamish. Her arms felt like pudding and her head was heating up.
"Don't make that expression! You have no right to act like I am the one putting you into a tough spot." Vert looked miffed.
Nod.
"Hm?"
Nod nod.
"You… wish to hear me out?"
Nod.
"Now I am not too sure myself anymore."
Jab.
"Goodness… a lady's body is delicate, weren't you aware?" Vert held her hurting waist. "I… am truly not sure myself. Recently I have realized that you are indeed someone I wish to look out for. You are certainly cute. Almost like a little sister."
"HUH?!" Blanc was shocked for many reasons after that reveal.
"This is even more agonizing than expected." Vert looked disgruntled, but then she put her arms around Blanc's back and pulled her into an embrace.
"!"
"I am not certain what these feelings are yet. Please forgive me for being this way." She whispered into her ear. "That kiss had completely thrown me off. To steal my first kiss so brazenly… Have you no shame?" She didn't sound angry though. More like… endeared.
Blanc squirmed in the embrace like a fish pulled on land.
"S-sorry." She was tearing up.
"No harm done." Vert looked at her warmly. "To answer your question then: I don't mind."
Blanc's ears perked up. Surely she had misheard? If she just went over the conversation again… and again and again! But there was only one conclusion.
"I will date you. To find out what these feelings really are." Vert agreed with a slight flush on her face.
"Ha-a-ah…." Blanc deflated like a balloon. Her oxygen had been cut off for a while between those ample breasts.
"Blanc? Wait, did you faint? Please open your eyes! Stay with me!"
Lowee's Basilicom.
"How! Did! This! Happen!" Back in Lowee Blanc was hammering her head against a wall with the intensity of a wrecking ball. It left visible dents.
"Big sis, is this a new game?"
"Yes! It's called forget everything!" Blanc yelled and kept going.
"It looks like it would give you ouchies." The pink wearing twin seemed slightly worried. "Will the wall be okay?" For the wall.
"I don't caaare!" If she imagined this wall as Vert she could very well live with a few more dents.
"Blanc… is happy?" Rom tugged on Ram's dress and tilted her head.
"Yup!" Ram agreed.
"I'm not happy at all twerps!" She denied the accusation with a red face. And the redness didn't come from her continuous impacts with the wall.
Meanwhile in Leanbox.
"Dating, huh?" Vert was clicking the mouse buttons at the pace of an automatic rifle to speed up the mining in her MMO. It was a monotonous work that allowed lots of time for introspective.
"Did you say daaaating Vert?" Chika creeped up from behind her chair where she had apparently been hiding the entire time. Her breathing was way too rough for such a small action. "If you need a partner I will always, always, always be available! I will even cancel all my plans! Just say the word!"
"That is sweet of you Chika, but I already have a partner."
"GEEHA!?" Critical hit. "H-how… is this possible?" She sank to her knees. "I thought now that the devious Nepgear has been eliminated all my rivals had vanished." Those fallen in eyes… the eyes of despair.
"Haha." Vert laughed sympathetically with furrowed brows. "It is a mystery to me as well."
But the longer she pictured herself at Blanc's side the less problematic the idea appeared to her. Whether this was love or not, she could not tell. But she felt that the small girl was gaining a bigger space in her heart.
"But it's still 60% territory of Chika, right my darling Vert?!" She held on to her arm from the side as exaggerated tears were spilling from her eyes.
"I wonder~" Vert chuckled.
(To be continued in: Best Spouses Forever!?)