"How is she, Lady Vert?"

When it came to heartbreak, Vert wouldn't be the first person to go to for advice. Or the second. Or the third. Or the fourth. And so on...

The CPU had never experienced such a thing, and while her pride would always say it was because she was simply too good to dump, the fact of the matter was she had never been in love before. She had heard of it, even seen it quite a few times, but the feeling had never so much as grazed her before. As such, she couldn't deal with Verna's sadness properly. Sure, she tried her darn best, being the older sister and loving Verna to death, but she couldn't relate to Verna's misery. Verna wasn't even a year old (technically speaking) yet, and she already tried and failed the quest of love. Vert had yet to travel down such a road herself, but for now, she had to be there for Verna. She needed to put on the Big Sister pants, so to speak.

"You can say that she is... the same." Vert could tell that Cave winced over the phone. "She won't talk to anybody, aside from myself and Chika, she rarely leaves her room, she doesn't smile like she used to... it's beginning to worry me." 'Beginning' would be a heavy understatement. "It's like she's a robot."

There was deafening silence, then Cave sighed. "I apologize sincerely, Lady Vert. My tactics were... blunt, to say the least."

"Don't place the blame entirely on yourself, Cave. We both know that-"

"This needed to be done." Cave finished. "I am well aware, but I still feel guilty."

"You are not the only one..."

"Do let me know when she gets better. Hearing that Verna is like this..."

"I will let you know at once."

"Thank you." Cave hung up, leaving Vert to pinch the bridge of her nose and sigh. Cave had been calling the Basilicom everyday for the past few days, sometimes more than once, to check on Verna's condition. The warrior had been worrying sick, Vert could tell, and the answer had always been the same. Cave had always blamed herself, which Vert didn't want. She was the one who asked Cave to, for lack of a better word, break Verna's heart. If anything, all the guilt should have piled on Vert's head, and it felt like it did.

"You look guilty, other me..." The other Vert was there too. She heard about what happened to Verna, and practically rushed over to the Hyperdimension. She was worried, of course, since Verna was technically her little sister too.

"Is it that obvious?" Vert sighed miserably.

"I hope you realize that I am worried as well. My darling little sister..." The other Vert slumped.

What were two Verts to do, when their little sister who was clearly in pain kept insisting she was all right? Verna was as stubborn as she was adorable.

"You know something is wrong when Verna turns down Doritos..." Chika came walking in, looking saddened as she held an unopened bag of Verna's favorite snack.

Vert's eyes went wide."Oh my, this is worse than I thought." Verna never turned down Doritos. In fact, she was usually the one who bought them.

"I tried speaking with her, but she kept insisting that she was fine..."

"Let me talk to her..." Vert took the bag.

"I'll come with you." The other Vert followed. She nodded, and off they went to see their sister.


"M-Miss Cave..."

Verna was laying on her bed, clutching her Cave plushie and feeling miserable. Her heart ached, a foreign feeling for the very young girl. A lot of this, the heartbreak, was very new to the Candidate. Her anime and VN's had taught her that love was supposed to last forever, but it was like real life had slapped her in the face. She hated real life.

"M-Mm..." She only hugged the plushie harder, feeling her eyes well up. "I-It's not fair... sniffle..."

"Verna?" The sound of her older sisters voice, it didn't matter which one, caused Verna to dry up the waterworks immediately. She didn't want Vert to see she was still hurting, it would only cause her to worry more. If she had been paying attention however, she would have known that Vert was worried regardless.

"Y-Yeah...?" She tried to put on a brave face regardless.

"We're coming in..." The door swung open, and both her sisters came walking in, looking anxious. Verna was a little surprised to see the other Vert. "O-Other sis? What're you doing here...?"

The twin Vert's each took a seat beside Verna. The Ultradimension Vert spoke first. "I was worried about you, my dear sister. I had heard about what happened between you and Cave..."

Verna flinched.

"Verna..." Her actual sister began. "You know that I'm always here for you. If you are still aching over this, if you are hurting, please, tell me. Tell us."

Both Vert's gave the little girl sympathetic looks, ready to comfort her in whatever way they could.

"S-Sis..." Verna's brave face had almost broken when her sister had said that. It took some willpower to not cry. Verna wanted to be stronger than that. "I-I'm... fine. R-Really..."

The Hyperdimension Vert sighed, expecting this kind of response. "Verna, please... don't lie to me. You know how I feel about that." She tried to sound stern, but it was next to impossible for Vert to be mad at her little marshmallow of a sister for any period of time.

"I'm n-not." Verna kept up her brave face. "I-I really am fine..."

"Oh Verna..." The other Vert gave her a hug. "You really are stubborn, my darling sister..."

"M-Mm..." Verna was going for slight annoyance, but she sounded pitiful.

"You really are like Vert, in some negative ways too..."

"What was that?"

"Nothing~."


"M-Miss Vert, can I talk to Verna...?"

Rom's sudden appearance was no surprise to Vert. If anything, she was surprised the Lowee Candidate hadn't shown up sooner. She gave her a warm smile.

"Of course, she's in her room. Do be cautious, however, she is... not feeling very well." "And you came to make her feel better..." Vert felt herself squeal internally at the thought. She remained composed on the outside.

Rom nodded. "O-Okay, I just wanted to... check on her."

"I'm assuming you know about what happened between... Verna and Cave?" Vert couldn't help but wince.

Rom shared the wince. "Y-Yeah..."

Vert nodded. "I understand. Verna has been going through some difficult times."

"I-I know..." Rom had a saddened look.

"Also, I am surprised to see Ram isn't with you, Rom." Vert had never seen the twins separated before, so this was quite a surprise.

"S-She wanted to come, but I told her to stay..."

"Oh? That's even more surprising. I was under the impression you two were joined at the hip..." Even though they had gotten more independent over the years, you couldn't have Rom without Ram, and vice versa.

"I-I wanted to do this myself..." Rom looked embarrassed.

"Hm..." Vert had to suppress a grin. "Very well, I can understand why you'd want to come alone. She would never admit it, but I get the feeling Verna prefers you a little more than Ram."

Rom blushed at that statement. "R-Really...? That sounds..."

"Nice?"

"Y-Yeah..."

Vert gave a small laugh. "Well, I do not wish to keep you. Verna is in her room, as I've said."

"T-Thank you..." Nodding again, Rom set off for Verna's room, while the other Vert, seated on the couch, looked interested.

"What is Rom doing here, me?"

"She's come to mend Verna's wounded heart, me."

"...We need better nicknames."

"That we do."

Verna's Room

"V-Verna...?" Rom knocked on the big door. "You okay...?"

That was a stupid question, of course Verna wasn't okay! Cave had broken her heart, and that served to shatter Rom's own heart when she heard the news.

"Y-Yeah..." That was a lie, Rom knew it.

"I-I'm coming in..." Rom pushed open the door, and found that the room was rather dark. Even the curtains were closed. In the middle of the gihugic bed, was Verna. Even in the dark, Rom could see that Verna had been crying.

She quickly ran to the bed. "V-Verna..."

The littlest Candidate had her back turned to Rom, still squeezing the life out of her Cave plushie. She didn't turn to look at Rom, making her feel bad.

"Verna..." Rom crawled up on the bed, letting her hat fall off as she rubbed the young girls back. Verna shifted a little from the touch.

"R-Rom..." Verna mumbled her name, sounding miserable. It seems the front she put up was crumbling.

"You're not okay..." Rom sounded sympathetic, and that's because she felt bad for Verna, if it wasn't obvious before.

"sniffle..." Verna sat up, the Cave plushie still in her hands, and wiped her eyes. "I-I'm fine..."

"Verna..." Rom shook her head, feeling more bad. "Miss Cave, s-she..., um..."

Verna winced. "Y-Yeah..." She snuggled the plushie once more.

"D-Do you know why...?"

"...S-Sis told me Miss C-Cave was already i-in love..." She sniffled. "A-And I was too young..."

"Mm..." Rom gave Verna a comforting hug. "L-Love can be bad sometimes, but m-most of the time it's really really good...!"

Verna's head rested on Rom's shoulder. "I-I only got the bad..."

Rom gave her a pat. "You only fell in love once, silly. Sometimes... life likes to mess with you. When you love someone, sometimes they don't love you back..."

Verna sniffled again.

"But that doesn't mean it's the end of the world..." Rom hugged her a little tighter. "You can find love again, even in really strange places. Sis fell for Miss Kei."

Verna smiled a little. "Y-Yeah, she did..."

"And sometimes..." Rom smiled warmly. "Somebody will love you back, even if they don't see it at first..."

"T-That sounds nice..." Verna sighed, not picking up on the subtle signs. "W-Who would fall in love with me, though? I-I'm just a kid..."

"Love isn't impossible, Verna, and besides..." Rom lifted Verna's face up. "I'm a kid too..."

Verna gave her a questioning look. "W-What do you mean? D-Did someone fall in love... w-with me..?"

"Mm..." Rom 'responded' by giving Verna a quick peck on the cheek, making the tiny blonde blush. "Guess..."

It took Verna a moment, for she was so young, but when she noticed that look in Rom's eyes, combined with her vast knowledge of yuri anime...

She put the pieces together.

"R-Rom...!" Verna jumped into her arms, almost knocking her off the bed.

"Hweh!" Rom did fall backwards onto the bed, but she was smiling. "D-Did you guess...?"

"You..." Verna was blushing. "You... l-love me...?"

Rom nodded, sharing the blush. "Uh-huh, for a little while now..."

"W-Why didn't you tell me...?"

"C-Confessing is hard..." Rom looked sheepish. "A-And you fell in love with Miss Cave, so I couldn't..."

"Oh..." Verna gave her a hug. "S-Sorry..."

"It's okay, you didn't know..." Rom, of course, returned the hug. "B-Better late than never..."

"I-Is it... okay...?" Verna was wary. "I-I mean, you're older than me..."

Rom giggled. "Of course it's okay, we're both kids, silly..."

"Yay...~!" Verna snuggled against Rom. "We're in love~!"

"Ehehe, y-yeah we are...~!" Rom adorably blushed.

"Can we, um..." Verna looked a little nervous. "C-Can we kiss...?"

Rom giggled again, though she was blushing profusely. "Y-Yeah, we can...~."

"O-Okay..." Verna leaned in, and shared her first kiss with Rom, their lips lightly pressing together but never going further than that. Both girls felt rather embarrassed, but neither wanted to stop. It was just too good.

Verna did stop momentarily, and that was to say the following: "Ehehe, it's even better than the anime~!"

Rom was a happy, giggling mess when Verna stopped kissing her. "I learned how to do this from Blanc's books...! I-I've never kissed anyone before. I-It's really nice...~."

"...C-Can we do it again?"

"Y-Yeah...~!"

And so the two resumed, both happy and equally thankful that they were alone, or else they would have died from embarrassment.

Unbeknownst to them, however, a certain big sister had taken a picture of the scene with her phone, trying her hardest to keep her squeals inside.

"Too adorable~!" She whispered to herself, then ran off to show the picture to her other self. Oh Vert.