I awoke to the soft sounds of snoring around me. "Again?" My eyes lazily slid open as I took note of where I was. I was in Compa's apartment however, I didn't seem to be on the couch as normal. I was on a large pink bed. Large enough to fit two or three people. So that's how these girls make due with this place. The room was dark, due to the fact that it was the middle of the night, as evident from the moon that was clearly visible from the open window.
"The moon sure is beautiful tonight, isn't it?" A soft voice said from beside me. It belonged to one of the Goddesses of this world, and that was Lady Noire. AKA, Nowa as I, now affectionately, call her.
"Don't be sly. I know that's another way of saying 'I love you'. Jeez girl. I get you dig me, but gimme a break." I say in an obviously sarcastic tone, garnering a light punch in the arm from the CPU. "What are you doing awake?"
"..." Her face became red as she started at the moon. "I was worried about you. I couldn't get a wink of sleep without thinking...about...agh! Why are you making me say such things idiot?!" Nowa whisper yelled at me.
"I'm fine. You need to get some rest. By the way, how long was I out?"
"Just for about five hours."
"I see. That's good. Looks like I'm getting better at the whole getting beaten up thing." Nowa pouted.
"Sorry..."
"Jeez. It's my fault for being reckless." I attempt to sit up, only to get a rush of pain from my gut. Yeah, we're not doing that. I lay back down and yawn. "Nowa is there any-" before I could even finish my sentence, Nowa put a bottle of ice cold water into my hand. "Well that was awesome, and weird." I sit up enough to drink the water and hand it back to Nowa. "Thanks."
"..." She just nodded.
"...I can't get any sleep if you're just gonna sit there awkwardly. What's wrong?" Nowa scooched her chair a bit closer to the bed.
"W-Well, I told you how I felt earlier today. S-So I-I'd l-like t-to-"
"I love ya too, K? So it's all good."
"H-Huh? HUH?!" Nowa almost jumped out of her chair. "Y-You love me?! R-Really?!"
"Yea...sorta realized it a couple days ago. But it's whatever." I tried my best to brush off the whole confession situation. Ugh, I never thought that I could feel embarrassment. "Sooo, what happened with the whole Histoire thing?"
"Oh, you'll see." Nowa uncharacteristically was sly and giggled.
"What's that supposed to mean? Jeez, since when did you get so playful?"
"Well, that's your fault. You're quite the influence." Nowa giggled as she stood up from her chair. "Good Night D-Darling. I-I'll see you in the morning. Ok?"
"OHHH! So THAT'S why you call me Darling! Man, that makes so much sense." Nowa just sighed and walked out the room. Before she closed the door she looked back at me.
"Idiot." Man, she really is a tsundere.
The next morning, I awoke to the sounds of birds chirping and crickets in the distance. I swear I could hear a lovely flute. "Ah. What a lovely morning."
"I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!"
"Try me!"
"Muda muda! WRYYYYYY!" I hate, I hate, I HATE!
"Would you guys let me rest in peace?!" I jumped out of my bed at slammed the door open. "What are you guys even-" On the other side of the door was the group of seven girls grouped around the Tv, with each of the four goddesses with a gaming controller in their hand. However, one thing stood out. There was a girl with blond hair in twintails who couldn't be more than two feet tall, sitting on a large floating book. "..." I'm still dreaming, right? I must be. I've gotta be.
"Ah, you must be Arc." The girl wore a purple dress with yellow and white frills around the skirt and a blue tie. She had purple detached sleeves with the same frills as her sleeves. With her dress came white stockings and white shoes. The weirdest part about her, to me at least was the fact that she wore a nursing cap with a purple N on it. Like the Ns that had appeared on the fragment keys and Neptune's sweater. Oh, she's also got purple and blue fairy wings, which were lovely.
"Uhhhhhh"
"My name is Histoire. I wanted to personally thank you for assisting in helping me. Thank you, Lord Arc." Histoire respectfully bowed from her seating position.
"Y-You're Histoire? Why are you so tiny?!" Histoire sighed.
"P-Please. I'm very self conscious..."
"Alright. Sorry Histoire." I had the urge to pet the girl on her head, but I had no idea how to do it. Her head was smaller than my hand. She's so small...but "You're so cute, Histoire. Don't worry about your height. Alright?" Histoire giggled and seemingly cheered up.
"Thank you." Histoire flew back to the girls. "Now that Arc is awake, I think it's time that we discuss what we will do next, now that Arfoire's taken Neptune's powers." I nod and walk over to the group. I take an empty chair and drag it behind me, sitting next to the couch. Before I could even notice, Nowa was sitting right next to me.
"Woah, you sure are fast."
"..." She nodded as her face started turning into a tomato. Ah shit! More like a pepper! Nah, hate that shit too. Fuck... an apple? Apples are ok I guess?
"Well, what are we gonna do?" I ask.
"I've got to go back to Leanbox." Vert spoke up first. "Apparently, some stuff is going down there and Yvoire and the others really need me. Something about a clone..."
"Interesting. Because apparently another clone showed up in Lowee. I've gotta go take care of it too."
"Same here..." Nowa mentioned. "Arfoire is definitely planning something."
"Sooo, what are we gonna do? We gonna go around together?" Neptune questioned.
"Sorry, but no." Vert calmly stated. "If we wait for even a moment, who knows what will the clones try to do."
"Hmmm. Have there been any clones that have showed up here?"
"No." Iffy answered. "I tried all of my sources, not a single word about Purple Heart being spotted in Planeptune."
"I see... Welp. Let's go take care of this! Ugh..." I shoot up from my seat, only to get a rush of pain from my stomach.
"Absolutely not!" Nowa suddenly said. "You're not healed yet. There is no way in hell I'll let you even leave this house!"
"Nah, I'm fine! It just hurts a little bit. It's not that bad."
"You've got a fucking hole in your stomach!"
"Well, isn't that how a stomach is supposed to work?"
"...He's got a point." Neptune pointed out.
"Thanks Neptune! You see, I'm totally fine. Just really hungry."
"...Let's go." Nowa, Blanc and Vert left the room, leaving the five of us there, confused.
"Well whatever. I guess we'll start later. Who's up for some breakfast?!"
"Yea!"
"*Sigh* I guess we can start tomorrow." Histoire said as she followed us to the kitchen.
"Hmm..." I was forced into Compa's room and locked in there by Compa herself. Apparently, my wound had already closed by the time the girls had gotten me back here last night. The problem is my internal organs. But that's whatever, I really couldn't care less about that. But the one thing that was bothering me was... "Why haven't I had any dreams with Nes anymore?"
The guy hasn't contacted me in at least a week. Normally, the guy would jump to the opportunity to make fun of me for getting myself hurt. Or make fun of me for losing to Nowa in the confession competition. Honestly, him ignoring me is super annoying. How the hell am I supposed to become King if the bastard doesn't teach me anything! That damn deadbeat! "HERE I CO-UGH!" I could hear Neptune from outside. She sounded like she was gonna try and come in but was stopped by something.
"Is everything ok?" I yell out.
"M-My baby maker..."
"You sound fine."
Iffy opened the door slightly and walks in. Closing the door behind her. "Hey there, Partner. How you feeling?"
"Oh, I'm fine. Just bleeding internally. How you been?"
"I'm... just a bit disappointed." Iffy walks over and sits on the chair next to the bed. "Noire sure had a lot of guts, huh?"
"I guess so. Sure more than me." I did refuse to even think her name in the context of me liking her. God that was weird.
"Same here..." Iffy sighed. "But I'm proud of her! She seriously is pretty obsessed with you, you know."
"What?"
"The time that we went out the day after you woke up, all she did was try to find a way to make you eat tomatoes. And yet, she bought you plain rice. She's quite invested in you."
"... You ok Iffy?"
"N-Not really." Iffy clutched her coat. "Hey, Arc. W-We're gonna stay best friends forever, right?" Tears were starting to well up in her eyes. Iffy...
I sat up and placed my hand on her head. Ruffling her hair a bit. "Of course. You are, and always will be my partner. I owe you my life multiple times over. I'm gonna stick by you till you get sick of me! And even then, I won't leave. Got it? So don't get depressed Iffy. It...hurts. And I'm gonna make sure that we get through this crap and anything else that comes by us. But do me a favor and give me a bit of lee way. I'm still quite shit and unbalanced in this world full of OP characters."
"Hehe. Of course." Iffy wiped away the tears in her eyes and spread out her arms. "Can I?"
"What else are buddys for?" I leaned in and gave Iffy a hug.
"You better keep your promise." She whispered in my ear during the hug.
"If I don't you can kick my ass."
"Kehehe. I'm sure I can do that already."
"Yea, but..." Iffy giggled and broke off the hug.
"Alrighty then Partner, You better get better soon. We don't want to disappoint that Lady of yours." Iffy got up from the seat and made her way to the door. "Oh yea. Thanks for cheering me up."
"I wasn't cheering you up. I was just reminding you of the promise of a partner. You and me are tied together by fate. Don't for get that best bud!"
"Hmmm." Iffy thought for a second before flashing me a bright smile full of genuine happiness. "I won't. Promise." With that, she left the room.
"I'll stick by you. I promise..." You're my first best friend after all...
5 hours later
There was a certain...thing in the air. It was a strange feeling. I felt...bad. Well, it was quite obvious why I felt bad. After all, I did have about thirty plastic bags and containers spread around my body. The girl who did it sat next to me, eating a giant lollipop. "A lolli for the loli! Yippie!"
"Get these damn bags off me dammit!" The purple haired goddess lazily picked up a single bag and threw it onto the ground. "Neptune..."
"Fine..." She threw the lollipop in the air and within a second, the entire room was clean from the plastic atrocities. She grabbed the lollipop in as it fell into her hand and began to lick it once more. "Perfecto."
"Well...I have to say that I am impressed. Good job Neptune."
"Yup. I'm not the protagonist for nothin!" She was smiling when she said that but her smile turned sad.
"Huh? What's wrong?"
"I wonder. Is it better to be the protagonist or the heroine?"
"Huh? Why the hell would you ask that?"
"I don't know..."
"Jeez. Just because you lost your powers doesn't mean you can give up on being the protagonist. You're the girl who would argue with me for hours about this and you wanna question yourself? Come on girl."
"Hmmm. I don't know if you're being mean or nice right now."
"I'm just saying. You're the girl who set this whole thing off in the first place...I never did thank you for that, did I?"
"What do you mean?"
"If it wasn't for you almost killing me when you fell from the sky, I wouldn't have gone on this weird adventure. I probably would be at an Inn right now, sleeping my days away with nothing to do. Now, I'm set to become the next fucking king of the world and I've...I've finally got some friends for the first time in my life. That's all thanks to you. You know that? I'm really thankful."
"Well...you're welcome I guess." Neptune seemed genuinely surprised by my thanks. "W-Well, how will you repay me?"
"Well, I am destined to babysit you for all of eternity. You know that right?"
"Kehehehehehe! So you mean you're gonna do anything I want for the rest of time?"
"I did not say that."
"Yay! I finally got myself a man servant! I've gotta go make a list of what I want you to do for me!"
"Neptune I didn't-"
"This is gonna be sooo fun! Besto dayo ofo za Warldo!"
"*Sigh* Alright." The girl who I'm stuck with skipped out of the room. Lollipop in hand. "I'm definitely gonna regret this. But at least she's happy."