Chapter 26

Misjudgment

I make a turn to the third corner of the street after entering Lastation's city where the Basilicom is most likely at.

I'm not entirely fond of things that have a black scheme around it. It generally reminds me too much of the Black District on one section of the city in the Soleil Kingdom. And, like that time when I first met IF, that place has a lot of bars and pubs to the point that it's basically a common building around there. At first glance, people would think "Hey, it's a bar. Sweet." But then they realized it was more than they bargained for. It shouldn't be surprising when I say that it's a place filled with ruffians and thieves.

Even though Lastation has a lot of blackness in its buildings, signboards, vehicles, and heck the more I walk down the road, it's so dark that it's hard to tell if it's a pit of oil or not, it's not as shady as the Black District.

In fact, though I don't know if it's the same for the other parts of this city, there are quite the number of buildings emitting dark smoke from some kind of chimneys I've never seen before. Some buildings have one, others have two or more, while few of them don't.

I have a chimney in my own house in Lunelit Forest, but it's not as impressive as the ones here. Although, it's arguable that I almost never use my chimney in the first place besides the winter season, but other than that, I always make sure every part of my house is free from forming a large pile of disgusting dusts. Those are a nightmare to clean especially when they land on your face from the ceiling.

Mind you, I got here to Lastation first thing in the morning, but the sidewalks are already filling with a group of people wearing tights and hard helmets, as well as some people window shopping.

And surprisingly, kids are already running around with other kids. Nobody seems to mind the children at all. Guess that's why that one woman one that morning before going with IF for her job said it was sad to see no kids running around this early in the morning, and surely enough I'm convinced from her statement now. It actually does make the place livelier than Planeptune. But it does also remind me of the village I used to live in.

I shake the thought the moment I reach a small building with a familiar name.

"Passe?" For some reason, it's like I know what it is, but can't remember how and when did I hear it. It's weird. This is my first time being in Lastation and yet it's like I've been in this building in specific before.

Instead of standing around to ponder about it more, I approach and open the door to Passe. The moment I twist the knob and swing the door open, a bell chimes once and then twice after I step in and close the door behind me. The instant I burn the image of the whole place made me feel right at home.

"Oh, didn't expect anyone would come at this hour. Welco— Oh, hey, it's you!" A girl with short blue hair with goggles strapped around her head comes out of a doorway with a rectangular curtain with a light shade of moss blocking the view behind it.

"Wait, I remember you," I say. "Your name is . . . Chian, correct?" She lets out a hearty laugh.

"Good to see you remember me." She scratches the back of her head. "Though, embarrassing as it is, I don't remember your name. Sorry."

"That's fine. I'm used to it."

She flings a hand towel on her hand to her shoulder and lean an arm to a long table where four black circular stools stuck to the floor are in front of it. Three napkin boxes and three condiments next to it lies on top of the table. Now, what are those used for? Judging from the multiple tables and chairs around, plus the cabinets, fridge, and cooking utensils behind the table, I'm guessing this place is some kind of restaurant.

After wiping a bit of sweat on her forehead with the hand towel, she places her fingers on her forehead. "I'm sure your name was related to a type of sushi or something. What was it again?"

"That's one way to put it, I guess. I'll give you a hint. It's a roll."

"Oh!" Just then, a lightbulb appears on top of her head. It didn't last long though. "I remember now. Your name's Maki, isn't it?"

"Guessed it right."

"Hoo~ That's a relief." Her hand towel finds its way to her forehead again. "It would've bothered me if I was the only one who didn't remember. But enough of that. Want something to eat? It's on the house."

"Sure? I have some Credits on me. I can pay." She shakes her head.

"Don't bother. You were an interesting fellow back in Planeptune." Her other hand lands on her hip. "No need to be shy! Here, just pick something from this menu here." She grabs a small and thin sized board paper with the food, drinks, and their prices. They're surprisingly cheap compared to the ones in Planeptune and way more reasonable than Leanbox's restaurant.

Since she's kind enough to offer, refusing now will be rude.

"Then, I'll have a tuna sandwich with lettuce and tomatoes. Also, a cup of coffee. Make it a strong one if possible." Her green tea looked tempting, but coffee will get rid of the lingering sleepiness I have.

"Alright. Be right back." After she disappears into the same curtain she went out from earlier, I let out a big yawn and stretch my arms.

Before heading here, last night I had to help Nepgear with the multiple stack of paperwork. I handled most of the minor stuff while Nepgear did most of the harder ones since I didn't know much about Planeptune's priorities. By the time we finished, it was already 1:42 in the morning. So, I didn't sleep, took a warm shower, and head straight to Lasatation. Probably not the best plan, but I did promise Noire.

Glancing around the place some more, there are about six lamps with the same light moss color and bright lightbulbs inside it. The walls have a whitish-green color with wooden borders. The bottom part consists of a pattern of wood clamped vertically together.

Other than the poster of a cup of beer with some green things popping out of it adjacent to the long table, there is a tall glass cabinet containing bottles. I'm guessing they're beers and liquors and other stuff that people like to chug in their throats with.

After short while, Chian returns from the same doorway with a plate of a sandwich and a cup of coffee on each her hands and place them on the long table.

"Here you are. Enjoy!" She says, sitting on the stool next to where she placed the sandwich.

I sit on the seat beside her and take a bite on the sandwich. Even though I barely know her, it's nice that there's someone who I'm at least familiar with. Of course, it's not to say Noire and Uni are complete strangers at all.

"So," she starts, "what made you decide to visit Lastation all of a sudden?"

"Was invited." I take a sip of the coffee.

"Really now? Like what, some kind of birthday party or something? Thought you said you weren't from here. Got any relatives then?"

I shake my head. "I wish it were, but I'm here for a different reason."

"Oh? And what would that be?"

"Simple. Some people I met two days ago invited me to the Basilicom here."

Her eyes light up and leans closer to me. "Wait, don't tell me. You gotta be screwing around with me, right? Noire invited you?"

"You know her?"

She laughs and slams the table a couple of times, forcing me to pick up my cup of coffee to prevent it from spilling. "You being serious right now? She's Lady Black Heart! Of course, everyone knows about her. But don't worry, I won't blame you since you're not from here."

The moment I finish taking the last bite on my tuna sandwich, the door opens and the same bell chimes again.

"Oh, speaking of which," Chian waves an arm at the new guest. "Over here!"

When I turn to look at the person who entered, I almost drank the coffee to the wrong pipe. Surprisingly, I'm not the only person who got to this small eatery this early in the morning.

"Chian, I'll be having the same one as yesterday."

"Just a simple miso soup, right? Alright. Why don't you go sit with your special guest while you wait?" Before Noire can react, Chian winks and disappears to the kitchen.

"Special guest . . .?"

"Didn't think you'd come to a small place like this."

She takes a step back the moment she sees me. But she quickly regains her composure, coughs, and sit on the stool next to mine.

"G-geez, you should've told me you're here already," Noire says.

"That so? Sorry, I just got a bit excited to see you."

"S-see me?"

"Yeah. That goes for Uni as well." I take another sip of my coffee. At least finding her won't be a problem anymore. But who knew she knows Chian? She didn't look like someone who'd go around entering a small place like this. Although, I don't blame her. It's quite comfy here, and just right at home. "So, what are the plans?"

"P-plans?"

"Hm? You know, the plan. You said you'd show me around."

She turns away and begins fiddling the strands of hair on her pigtails. "O-oh, right. That plan." She coughs. "Well, I was just thinking maybe you can help me with something first . . ."

"As long as it doesn't involve taking out any trash, sure."

Chian comes back with the miso soup on hand and places it down in front of Noire. "Here you are." After she gives her her chopsticks, Noire splits it apart and starts sipping on the noodles. "How've ya been? Sounds like things are going on in your end."

Noire sighs at her statement. "Not going too well, unfortunately."

I shoot a curious glance at her. "What do you mean?"

"Well, before I got here, there was a note in one of the documents I had. Of course, I did think it was just some kind of prank, but when I read it, it bothered me."

"What did it say?"

She shakes her head. "I don't know. It looked like scribbles to me. But when I kept looking at it, it made me more uneasy."

"That so? Show it to me later. Maybe I can help."

"I'd like that. Thanks." She finishes her miso soup and drinks from her glass of water. "All right, why don't we get going?"

I nod. "Sure. Thanks for the sandwich, Chian."

"Yeah, yeah, just get going already you two." She flashes a wide grin. "Wouldn't want to ruin your date and all." Then she disappears to the curtains again. Again, with the date thing? Is she always going to assume it's like that every time I go around with someone? Or maybe she's just like that, I don't know.

"Huh, that was weird. Well, no matter. Let's go. Hm? Noire? You okay there?" I wave a hand to her face.

"A-ah, yeah! L-let's go."

Like in Planeptune, I let her lead the way since I don't really know my way around this place. Although, I say she's leading, we're just walking beside each other. It's just more so her giving the directions than anything else, really.

When we round to another corner, Noire suddenly stops in front of a clothing store.

"This is the place," she says.

The store is comparingly similar in size as Chian's eatery. And, although I can't say for sure since it's still early in the morning, like Passe, there's practically no customers around other than Noire and I after stepping inside. There aren't a lot of clothes in display here, but the clothes here don't look like ones where people usually wear in their day-to-day basis. It's more extravagant to say the least, also the prices, but Noire doesn't seem too bothered about it.

Noire takes a black dress from one of the racks, but she takes off to the changing room so quickly, that I didn't have the chance to get a good look at the dress she took.

But then again, why is she buying clothes with me in the first place?

It's not in my position to ask, and because it's something the Princess would usually tell me to do for almost all the time whenever she asks me to escort her, but it doesn't sit well to me from the fact that she's not the Princess. Well, she did ask some help from me earlier, and since I agreed to it, I can't exactly complain. Not like it matters though.

"I-I'm done." Noire gets out of the changing room. She doesn't have her outfit earlier and is now wearing the one she picked earlier.

Instead of her pigtails, she has her hair tied up with a butterfly-shaped purple ribbon. Not only is her dress black, there are purple plated armor on her shoulders and her waists, a skirt with a pink color that fades out that's reaching her knee, a pair of purple petal-cuffed gauntlets, and armored boots.

"S-so, what do you think?" Even though she asks that, it's hard to make words for it.

Something like "beautiful" or "gorgeous" doesn't cut it, but it will be rude especially since she took the time to wear something like this if I don't respond anything at all.

"Whoa, never thought you had it in you," I say, my eye unblinking.

"No good?"

I shake my head. "Completely opposite. You look stunning."

Her eyes lit up. "Really? Thanks!" She twirls and faces a mirror, fixing some minor stuff on her clothes and her hair.

She's like a totally different person in that outfit. She looks like someone who would fall from the sky or something and destroys a whole building. Maybe she'll look even better with a large sword on her hand. The color of her eyes did change though, which made it hard for me to tell if it was really her earlier. Instead of her crimson, she had purple eyes, almost the same shade as Neptune's and Nepgear's.

"Say, Noire?"

"Yeah?" She says, adjusting her hair.

"Why'd you take me to a place like this? If you wanted to shop for some new clothes, you could've just taken Uni to come with you."

She shakes her head hard. "No, that wouldn't work at all."

"Why?"

"W-well, just because okay? And besides, you already know my secrets so there's no use hiding it from you anyway. So, instead, I had you come with me to help me with my cosplays!" Her arms crosses under her breasts. "N-not because I enjoy it that much or anything."

"A-ah, right. That." I completely forgot about that. That was supposed to be a lie, but she took it seriously apparently.

Although, I'm more surprised to the fact she's telling me all this with no restraints. She must be that convinced I know her every secret. And that's just my fault entirely. Well, no use telling her about it. She'd probably crawl into a hole if I did.

"Why don't you pick some yourself?" Noire suggests. "Don't worry, pay is on me."

"All right, but you don't have to pay for me though. I've got more than enough to buy myself one." As long as I can limit myself to at least one or something, then I should be fine.

I make my way to a rack at the opposite end where Noire is, but they were all dresses. While I scratch my head, my eye catches a pink dress along the rows of other dresses. Now, don't get me wrong, it's not something I would wear, but the color and design, and maybe just coincidental that the dress is very similar to the one the Princess' younger sister would usually wear inside the castle.

"Found something?" At Noire's words, I snap out of my trance and head for another rack, this time having some clothes for males.

"There's so many to choose from," I tell her. "It might take me a bit. You fine with that?"

"That's not a problem. I'm still finding some more myself."

More, she said. Just how rich is this woman?

Instead of thinking about it, I browse the different rows of clothes lined up in the rack. Most of them are jackets with different colors. There is also an orange one that looks like something a ninja would wear.

But then, a figure passes through the store in a rushing pace.

"Found anything yet?" But again, at Noire's words, my trance breaks. Without a second thought, I randomly grab a hanger from the rack of jackets. Surprisingly, the one I grabbed isn't a jacket like the rest. It's a plain soft-red kimono with a white long skirt thing. When I ask the woman behind the counter what it was, she said it was a umanori hakama, whatever that is. It also comes with a pair of sandals with straw soles.

After coming out of the changing room myself, there is some kind of restriction around my body when I try to move around, but it feels natural to me however.

"Huh, I've never worn anything like this before."

"How is it?" Noire asks.

"It's actually quite nice. Although, something's telling me there's something missing on my cheek, but other than that, it's good."

"Wanna buy them now? We can head to the Basilicom after this."

"Sounds like a plan."

Before paying, Noire returns to her old outfit and purchases the clothes to the woman behind the counter. And to my relief, the outfit didn't cost too much. Then we head out and make our way to the Basilicom. While on the way there, Noire hums some kind of tune. I don't know what the song is at all, but it looks to me that she's enjoying herself, so I paid it no heed.

~0~0~0~

When we reach the Basilicom and arrive at the floor where Noire's place is supposedly be, Uni stops whatever she was doing, wiping something that resembled something similar to the weapon she used against that giant spider, and greets both of us.

"Welcome back," Uni says. "Well, I guess it's not 'back' in your case."

"Can't deny that," I say. "Though, the city was overwhelming. Is it fine if I take a seat?"

She nods and shows me the couch she was sitting on earlier. After I settle in, Uni goes back to wiping her weapon. As she does, she sings a tune similar to the one Noire just did earlier. Is it popular here or do they just like it that much?

"What are you humming?" I ask.

"Huh?" Uni stops wiping again. "O-oh, uhm, i-it's a song Noire and I sang a long time ago together."

"What's it called?" Have to hand it to her, it sounds catchy. And fitting to the both of them.

"Sh-Sham Cold Girls . . ." Her whisper was barely a whisper at all.

"What d'you say?"

"I-it's called Sham Cold Girls, okay?! Hmph!" She looks away, pouting.

A bead of sweat rolls down my forehead as I try to find out the reason why she's acting like the way she's doing right now. But nothing comes to mind. I know I said I didn't have any big plans to get closer to them, but I don't mean this.

Instead of asking any further, in the meantime, I hop out of the couch and wander around the room. It's quite roomy in here, honestly.

"I need to take something downstairs," Noire announces. "It won't take long, but feel free to look around here." I'm sure that statement is directed towards me.

Regardless, I was planning to look around anyway. A quick rest on the couch was enough to get me going again.

It's something I learned from Neil, only I learned it backwards, if that's even a thing. Basically, since his job is the head butler, it's a good idea to sit still and rest up whenever you can. And only get back to work when you feel like you can actually breath again like any other normal person would.

What he said did make sense, but I'm not really someone who likes to idle around too much when I finish something that needs doing.

Anyway, I kind of got too excited on looking around the whole place that I tripped and fell forward to some kind of black table with some drawers on it. However, the things hanging on the ceiling are the ones that caught my attention.

Just like the one Uni is wiping with a dry white cloth, there are multiple ones like it.

"Say, Uni," I point at the wall, "what are those things? I've seen you use one of these before, but don't even know what it is."

She lets out a giggle and walks to my side. "They're called guns, caveman."

"Guns, huh. Got a nice ring to it."

Uni grabs one that has some kind of scope on it and takes something out. "Nothing in the magazine . . . okay." She then pulls something on the side that makes a loud click and then takes a position.

"What are you doing?" I ask.

"Getting a good aim. Keep steady and . . ." She pulls a trigger on her right index finger that makes a small click instead, "Bullseye. Here, why don't you try it?" She hands me the gun after pulling the side again.

I try to imitate how she did it, but I'm not even sure if I'm getting it right at all.

"Pfft. What are you even doing? That's not how you hold it." She stands beside me and adjust the gun position. "First of all, you were holding it backwards. Pfft . . ."

"I get it, I get it. There's no need to rub it in on me."

She shows me how to hold it in place, looking through the scope with one eye, correct breathing, and other stuff. Honestly, it's hard to get all of what she's saying in my head, but I try to not to fall behind. I'm not going to let myself be a laughingstock any longer.

"Lastly, just pull the trigger with your index finger. That should be easy enough." I nod as she finishes.

"Steady and . . ."

Bang!

The moment I pull the trigger, it pushes me backwards with a strong force that it makes me hit the floor with my back. Before I even reach the ground, the sound of glass shattering resonates around the room as well. When I collect myself and rub my head, there is a small hole on one of the windows with some of the shards below it.

"Ah, crap," Uni says, grabbing the gun from my hand. "I thought for sure there was no ammo in the magazine."

I cough. "Well, that was a nice experience." And here I thought I wouldn't be a laughingstock anymore.

Uni pulls out the magazine and toss it to the couch. She then returns the gun back where she grabbed it from. "Didn't think there'd be any defectives," she mutters. She keeps her back towards me, remaining still, then sighs.

"Welp," I get to my feet, "any brooms around here?"

"There's one in the closet over there." She points at the direction, not bothering to turn around.

I follow the direction she was pointing and find a broom along with other cleaning materials I've never seen or heard of before. Regardless, I grab the dustpan as well and start sweeping the shards of glass.

As I sweep the remaining shards, Uni sighs again. She must be bothered from what happened.

"Uni, it's all right," I say. "I'm not mad about it."

She shakes her head. "No, that's not it."

"What do you mean?"

Right as the words come out of my mouth, Noire comes back. Not sure if it's a good timing though.

"Hey, I'm back—What happened?" Noire's stares at me with her eyes wide open.

"Sorry," I say. "I kinda broke your window. Don't worry, I'll clean it all up. Don't mind me; I prefer to do something than not anyway."

"If you say so . . ."

"Hey, Sis?" Uni suddenly speaks up. "Mind if I head to my room for now?"

"What's this about all of a sudden." Noire crosses her arms. "All right, you did fine today. Go ahead and take the day off."

"Thanks . . ." With that, she heads off through a door, most likely her room.

Now I'm sure she was completely bothered about what happened. But there's nothing I can do about it, though. She's in her own private quarters and I can't just barge in there.

Before anything else though, I better clean up my mess first.