"Histy! I got it! I finally got it!" says Neptune excitedly.
Histoire floats towards the source of the voice. "Huh? What did you get Neptune?" She sees Neptune looking up at her, with her hands balled into fists, shaking up and down in excitement. Histoire is taken aback when she sees Neptune's face, dark circles under her eyes and what looks to be a slight slip towards insanity. She gets even more worried upon spotting the corkboard covered in paper and interconnecting, multi-colored strings, behind Neptune.
"Neptune, are you ... okay?"
"What do you mean? Of course I'm okay, I've finally got it," she replies with a slight unnerving chuckle. "And just in time before our game this week!"
Histoire tries to recall what has happened in the previous week after they finished playing the game, and checks to see if Neptune has ignored her actual goddess duties to work on the question she left for the players. She doesn't recall Neptune slacking off, more than normal, at the very least, and judging from the bags under her eyes, she must have sacrificed sleep for this, and while it does make her happy that Neptune is getting very immersed into the game and story that she's telling, it makes her feel uncomfortable to see Neptune sacrificing her well-being for it.
"I finally got what the colors mean, I'll tell everyone what I've found out when we start the game."
"Um, okay, Neptune. How about you take a nap before the game? We wouldn't want you to fall asleep suddenly."
"What are you talking about Histy? I'm feeling great!" she says as an empty bottle of Nepbull rolls across the floor. Histoire responds by looking at Neptune with a grimace and a sigh.
"You're taking a nap, no ifs or buts about it."
"Noooo~! Histy I don't want to miss the game, I might oversleep!"
"I'll wake you up when it's time for the game. Now go to bed."
Histoire escorts Neptune to her bedroom and makes sure she's on the bed before leaving. Leaving Neptune to sleep, Histoire returns to the room where Neptune was busy with that corkboard. She looks at the overall scene and can't help but be taken aback on how ridiculous it looked. Placing a hand on her chin, she takes a deep breath and re-thinks the information she left the players with to mull over.
"Was it perhaps too difficult? Or maybe this is just a Neptune-thing," she says to herself.
"Um, Histoire?"
"Huh?" Histoire looks around to see the source of the voice. She sees that it's Nepgear, fidgeting slightly. "Hello, Miss Nepgear, is something the matter?"
"Oh, just, big sister, I saw her sleeping. I don't think I've seen her take a nap for a while now. What happened?"
"Ah, that. Well, you know we play a game each week with the other goddesses, right? It seems that she got a bit too engrossed with the puzzle, well if you can even call it that, I suppose you can call it a cliffhanger in some way, anyway, we basically ended the session with some unknown information. I've given them a journal of sorts that details the effects of each thing, it's vague enough that it takes a bit of thinking on what it does, and I've worded it like a scientific paper... at least as best as I could."
"Oh, I see... do you think you can tell me what you've told them? It sounds interesting..."
"If you're sure, I don't think that's a problem, although I won't tell you if you're right or not, is that okay, Nepgear?"
"Mmm, that's a bit of a tease Miss Histoire... but okay, how about you tell me if I was right but after they've finished their game, instead?"
"I suppose that wouldn't be a problem... okay, let's go to the table and I'll tell you about it."
Nepgear nods and follows Histoire to the table where they usually play. Nepgear takes a seat, while Histoire goes to her usual spot, and looks through her notes to read out to Nepgear. Beginning from the red, Histoire describes all of them word by word including her intonation, just in case it could change things. Nepgear nods along, listening intently.
"And I believe that's all of it. So do you have an idea, Miss Nepgear?"
"Um, the black and white gemstones are easy enough to figure out, the black gemstone was observed to cause 'subject expiration' immediately, so it would be killing them immediately... while the white gemstone is resurrecting them. Although, I'm curious if the ones afflicted by the black gemstone would be resurrected by the white gemstone."
Histoire listens to Nepgear's thoughts, and while she has not mentioned whether the white gemstones would work on those affected by the black gemstones, it would be the same effect as a resurrection, so it would work.
"The other ones, I have some minor ideas for but... um, I want to think about it more Miss Histoire. Thank you for telling me, I'll see you later okay?" Nepgear stands up and walks off quickly.
"Wait, Nepgear! Not you too!" yells Histoire, but to no avail. "I really hope she doesn't repeat what Neptune did... well, it seems my little tangent with Nepgear has been a nice timesink, I should wake up Neptune as it's almost time for the others to arrive."
Histoire organizes her notes before floating off to Neptune to wake her up. She finds Neptune still sleeping comfortably, and while it feels bad to wake her up, Neptune would be more upset if she didn't. Sighing a bit, she shakes Neptune's shoulder.
"Neptune, time to wake up."
Neptune doesn't budge. Histoire sighs with a bit more exasperation. Nudging her harder isn't doing anything either.
"Neptune! You've missed the game already!"
"Waaah! Nooo! Histy why didn't you wake me sooner!?"
"Oh, good, you're awake now. Wash your face before the others get here."
"Huh? But didn't you ..."
"No, of course not. Neptune, you have a few minutes to make yourself presentable. Go on."
"...Oh! Okay! I'm picking up what you're putting down... thanks Histy!"
Neptune runs to the bathroom to wash up quickly, while Histoire returns to the table to take her seat once more. She finds herself doing nothing as she remembered that she has just recently organized her notes. Resting her head on her hands and closing her eyes, she hears the usual elevator tone indicating the goddesses' arrival but is slightly surprised as she hears bickering among them. The bickering stops as soon as the door opens, making her wonder if they've been speaking like that the whole ride up. She hears them take their seats and opens her eyes as they do.
"Um, hello everyone," greets Histoire, "how has everyone's week been?" She looks at them, and aside from Rom and Ram, all of them remind her of Neptune's fatigued face. Dark circles are seen below their eyes as they all look like they haven't had a wink of sleep. She debates with herself if she should make all of them take a nap like Neptune, or simply carry on with the game. She definitely did decide that she wouldn't be re-doing a puzzle or however this can be called again.
"I'm fine, thank you Lady Histoire, same week as usual."
"Same here."
"Uh-huh."
"...would you all please explain why you all have dark circles under your eyes?"
"Um, uh, my guild was struggling on this new raid released in 4GO, you know, well, you might not know, but in, Nyarlatep, the City of Wakening, we needed to finish up the last corrupted goddess of that raid so we can get our purified gear, so I can get my best-in-slot weapons, just spent a few too many nights progressing, last week, definitely."
Histoire does not look convinced, whatsoever. "Uh-huh, okay Miss Vert, what about you Miss Blanc?"
"...I was busy writing reports..."
Histoire nods. "And you Miss Noire?"
"...I was busy hanging out with friends!"
Vert and Blanc's eyes rolled in their sockets as they heard Noire's excuse. Histoire had to stifle a giggle, and after a moment, she coughs and dons a cool and collected face, which hides her inner thoughts. If the goddesses became this preoccupied, would this have dire ramifications for the countries? Is she inadvertently damaging the countries due to this game? Histoire looks at each of them, firstly Vert, and upon retrospect, she does frequently play her MMOs, yet her country continues to flourish, so that's not an issue, it's easy enough for her to simply exchange the time of her playing her games to this, even for just a week; afterwards is Noire, she's a known workaholic, surely her steadfast nature in working would have allotted her plenty of leeway, although her hobby is still very much unknown to Histoire; and lastly is Blanc, if she recalls correctly, Blanc's hobby is to write novels under a pen name and submit them to different groups or contests of aspiring writers, if she would simply use that time to partake in brainstorming for the conundrum that was left to them last week, that shouldn't be too big of an issue.
"..dy Histoire? Lady Histoire? Are you alright?"
"Huh? Oh, my apologies. It seems I was a bit lost in my thoughts, Miss Noire. Anyway, is Neptune here now?"
As she says that, they hear Neptune humming to a tune reminiscent of a commercial for a giant pudding. She takes her seat and places a pudding cup in front of her before greeting everyone.
"Heya, everybody... woah! What happened to all of you?" Neptune sees the exact same haggard looking goddesses as Histoire did a while ago. Meanwhile, Neptune, thanks to Histoire, was able to take a nap and wash her face beforehand, masking her own tired look.
"Everyone," says Histoire, "it seems in our current situation we've all forgotten ourselves slightly. How about we all wash up first before we start the game?"
Noire blushes slightly. "You're right, I got a bit too immersed in the game, I kinda forgot to make myself presentable, be right back!" As soon as she stands up and leaves, both Vert and Blanc follow suit. Histoire looks at Neptune enjoying her pudding cup, who shrugs nonchalantly.
"Hey Histy, feels like we've been here for a while now since you've... um, caught me and made me take a nap. I guess we gotta wait for them to finish washing up. So what are we gonna do in the game today?"
"Well, from what you've all told me last time, you want to discuss what the effects of the gemstones are in relation to their colors."
"Uh-huh, I think that's right, and I know I'm right after spending all that time mulling it over! I definitely know which ones are which!"
"For your sake I hope you're right. So for now, let's wait."
"Mmhmm! I'm done with this pudding, just gonna toss this away."
"Alright Neptune."
Neptune gets up to throw away the empty pudding cup, while Histoire sighs. She has almost forgotten that Rom and Ram are at the table looking at her with curiosity. Both of them look quite awake, no dark circles under their eyes unlike their sister. This has at the very least made Histoire relax, albeit slightly.
"So, Miss Rom, Miss Ram, what about you two? How has your last week been?"
Both Rom and Ram began telling Histoire about their week, and the things they've learned while Mina Nishizawa was tutoring them. They list down the things that they've learned, and Histoire gets increasingly worried as the terms they've been taught were the terms she used last week. She knows they're smart kids, but these aren't the things they would be learning in the current curriculum.
"Um, did Miss Mina teach you those?"
"Yes! She did, although she was surprised when we asked her to teach us those!" says Rom.
"I... I see," says Histoire, growing uneasy.
"Lady Histoire, we're back, my golden hair is once again at its prime." Vert, Noire, Blanc, and Neptune take their respective seats.
"Oh! Welcome back, all of you. Now that we're all here, let's begin the session. Now, where did we ... um," she looks at them and all of them seem to be almost bursting in anticipation to say something. "Is there something you'd all like to say?"
"Yes!" blurts out Noire. "We were just at the room with the gemstones, and we're trying to figure out what each gemstone color did, before reporting it."
"And, I, Neptune, have totally figured it all out."
"Pfft. You? No way, it's me!"
"All my experience with figuring out game hints have prepared me for this moment!"
"Do you all even write books?"
It feels like an argument is about to start, so Histoire slams her hands on the table to grab their attention. Everyone stopped immediately, and Histoire cleared her throat.
"Okay. We already know what the red gemstone does, that leaves 8 unknown gems, there are six of you, Neptune, Miss Noire, Miss Vert, Miss Blanc, Miss Rom, and Miss Ram. So, let's all roll a d20 if you want it. If you're the only one who wants to explain the gemstone, then no matter your roll, you'll get it. But if all of you want it, the highest will get the chance to explain it, and to be fair, once you're done explaining a color, you can't explain another one, until everyone has explained at least once."
The goddesses nod their heads.
"Okay, for the orange gemstone..." says Histoire, feeling like she's managing an auction, and as she finishes the color name all of them aside from Rom and Ram roll their d20s immediately. Purple, Black, White and Green dice roll on the table and collide with each other. The purple die lands with a 15, the black die lands on 11, the green die on 1, and finally the white die shows 7.
Neptune pumps her fist in glee. The others don't look as pleased but acquiesced the results all the same. Neptune pulls out sheets of paper all stapled together and looks through them, looking for something using her finger to guide her. She presses on the paper, locating the section she needed. Clearing her throat, she reads out the section.
"So! For the orange gemstone, as Histy has told us, the test subjects don't have any obvious physical changes like the red gemstone, so everything has to have been a mental change, or a change within their bodies. Now it looks like they've been stealing food from the other group and even hoarding it, so looking at this, if they were given different amounts of food then it wouldn't be too strange, but, they were given the same amount, therefore it's reasonable to deduce that the gemstone has somehow triggered them to steal, or they've become greedy. They wanted more, I'm sure there's probably some excerpts there about the test group stealing from one another. Another thing, they've been getting less sleep, I think? I'm not too sure about that, but I know if I can't sleep I'm probably getting hyper, getting that adrenaline rush, too excited."
Histoire listened to her explanation, and realized an adrenaline rush would have been a good postmortem note to add. It's a bit too late to do that, but she's surprised Neptune has more or less got the orange gemstone correct. She has high hopes that the rest would have the correct assumptions to the other colors. She nods as Neptune looks at her, almost waiting for approval.
"Histy! Was I right?"
"Hm, let's wait for everyone else to say their ideas and then I'll say."
"Aw! Histy! Pleaaaseee!"
"Neptune!" Histoire yells out, making Neptune flinch back to her seat. "Ahem, now let's go for the yellow gemstone. Please roll for them."
5 dice roll down the table, and Histoire sees Neptune rolling again, which landed on 5 before Histoire picks it up and returns it to Neptune.
"S-sorry..."
The four remaining dice were the black, white, green, and light blue. It seems Miss Rom wants to try her hand. She wishes Miss Rom the best of luck. The dice stop on the table and in the same order as she looked at the dice, were the results, 11, 14, 19, and then 20. The fact that the dice landed in an ascending order and with 20 being Miss Rom's result sounds like a well crafted story falling perfectly into place. Truly, reality is stranger than fiction.
Rom looks at her result, and seeing that 20 is much higher than everyone else's realizes that it's her chance to explain. She looks quite excited, and seems to be trying to remember what the yellow gemstone was about. The goddesses look to be more accepting of the result this time around.
"Um! The yellow gemstone, if I remember, um, I think it made the test ... subjects, run around, and um, their heart rate? I asked Miss Mina what that meant exactly, and it's just how fast your heart is beating. It was going up and I think they were also trying to hide from each other. So maybe they were confused, like they didn't know what was happening so they got scared, maybe the gemstone made scary things appear!"
Histoire nods to Rom's explanation, and even while simple, she was able to properly convey the correct assumptions. She gives Rom a smile, similar to how a teacher might give her student on a job well done. Rom meekly smiles back.
"Thank you Miss Rom, now, let's go for green."
Only one die drops when Histoire called for the green gemstone, and it's from Vert. Much to both their surprises. Histoire is unsure whether the green gemstone was too esoteric or too simple, that no one bothered to really put the time in to study it. All the same, the green die lands on 13, but it would be useless as no one else wanted to explain green.
"Hmph. It seems no one would like to even attempt to explain the verdant gemstone. Very well, I'll do it then. So, for the green gemstone, it was a rather short entry, I believe it stated that the test subjects would simply handle it, or keep touching it. We know the effects of the gemstone seems to be activated upon touch, if it wasn't, just seeing it would have immediately made all of us become afflicted by all the effects we've been reading about. Now, I've read in a few real life experiments that seems quite similar to this, which is where I'm basing this information on. Apparently, they had the test mice wired up in their brains, and what's connected there are their dopamine receptors, I think, anyway... they kept pressing the switch that fires up their receptors, and they kept doing it, ignoring everything else. This is quite similar to what we've read, so I believe that's what the gemstone does, touching it is the equivalent of this, experiment."
Histoire nods as she has to the other explanations. The explanation was correct in all aspects. A good sign that things are going well, and that their sacrifice to research these were not in vain.
"Thank you Miss Vert, now let's go for the blue gemstone."
Noire, Blanc, and Ram, roll their dice. Histoire looks at the results, thinking how funny the results came out to be, allowing the little ones have their chance whenever they want. Noire picks up her die, sporting a 13, looking slightly smug, when she peeked at Blanc's 5, but quickly got humbled when she saw Ram's roll of 16.
"Miss Ram, go ahead, you may explain the blue gemstone. Would you need a refresher on what was said?"
"Um, yes, please! I just want to be sure before I might make a mistake."
Histoire picks through her notes, and relays to Ram the section regarding the blue crystal and its effects on the test group. She sees that Ram is listening intently, even though she feels that she's stating words that wouldn't be in a child's lexicon. After the quick refresher Ram nods, looking certain that she has the answer.
"Okay, I asked Miss Mina, about some of those words that was said there, she said that trauma can mean anything that causes, um, really bad feelings, I think? It's something that means a really bad time, so when I asked her about physical trauma, she said that it's a really bad wound. Since it was said that both groups have been hurt, and only the group that was affected by the blue gemstone continued on... I was thinking that maybe the first group thought things would just be bad and gave up, while the others stayed thinking things might get better and kept going, like they were hopeful."
Ram pauses and tries to gather her thoughts more.
"Would that be all Miss Ram?"
"N-no! Although I was just thinking about the last part, during the autopsy, the affliction on their brains. I learned that affliction means that it's something that causes hurt, I asked Miss Mina what could that mean, then she said some big words... like what you said, um, 'dee-tir-yo-ray-shun', so I think, maybe the blue gemstone was actually breaking their brain which is why they kept going, but eventually it gets bad enough they can't go on."
Histoire listens, and thinks to herself, that perhaps the example for the blue gemstone was quite esoteric, yet somehow Miss Ram was able to theorize appropriately what it does. She did plan on the blue gemstone signifying madness and hopefulness, but Ram was able to add those two concepts in a way that would make sense.
"Thank you Miss Ram. What's left is indigo, violet, and lastly black and white, please roll for Indigo."
Blanc and Noire roll. Noire makes a sobbing moan when she sees her 12 beside Blanc's 20. Blanc clears her throat, preparing to explain the indigo gemstone.
"Whenever you're ready Miss Blanc."
"Thank you, Lady Histoire. The indigo gemstone entry was a bit short, but that's fine. It's possible that the testing procedure got more sophisticated, or the tester knew exactly what was supposed to happen and this is just a record of them confirming it. So, it seems like the indigo gemstone is inhibiting something on the test subjects. I mean if I saw someone have ... physical trauma applied to them, and assuming I was truly powerless to do something, I'd be afraid and would want nothing to do with it, yet at the same time I'd like to help. So I was thinking the indigo gem was inhibiting their fear. It also works out that it's inhibiting their pain, like some weird calmness."
"Thank you Miss Blanc," says Histoire. "Would you like to add more or is that all?"
"Wait, it said that the results kept repeating right? So that means no matter what the test subject was probably thinking... even if they're evil and thought that whichever test subject got hurt, they'd help... then maybe it's forcing some weird compassion compulsion. I think that's all."
"Interesting," nods Histoire. "Miss Noire, go ahead and explain the violet gemstone, then afterwards, you'll all roll for black and white."
"Um... did it really have to be me for the violet gemstone... well... it seems that the gemstone makes the test subjects, really friendly to each other, like a ... couple. To the point they would be sharing living quarters to one another... and if they're separated, it's like they can't live without each other anymore to the point they won't do anything if it's not together... like being tired of life."
"Thank you Miss Noire," says Histoire. Noire looks slightly red after explaining the gemstone.
Histoire mentally cheers after hearing everyone's explanations knowing they all got it right. It seems their time spent thinking about this did not go wasted. Now, she'll see if this keeps going to the black and white gemstones, considerably the most simple ones.
"Now, who would like to try the black gemstone?"
Vert speaks up. "Lady Histoire, how about we select the two highest rolls for black and white? They're quite simple."
The rest of the table seem to agree on the suggestion and they all start shaking their die in their hands. Six dice roll to the table, each goddess rolling quickly one at a time. Neptune bemoans her low roll of 3, along with Vert and her six. Blanc sighs at her 8, along with Rom's 11. Ram and Noire look happy with their 18 and 17 respectively.
"Okay Miss Ram, go ahead and say what the black gemstone means."
"It, um, makes whoever touches it die. That's it."
"Miss Noire?"
"The white one, resurrects the dead, it seems they retain all memory as well."
"Okay, that's all the colors of the entries. Finally, I'm more than happy to say that everyone has gotten the color effects correct."
The table erupts into a cheer, and everyone high fives one another. After a few moments of elation, Histoire waits for them to calm down before continuing. They all calm down and take their seats after a few minutes. Clearing her throat, Histoire continues the game.
"Now that the group has found out what each gemstone does, what do they want to do?"
"Well, Histy, after reading these experimental logs, I'm wondering, where are these experiments held? Is there more to this laboratory? I'm calling it a laboratory because obviously this is why there are experimental logs written around here. This isn't exactly a kitchen."
"Roll a search check for me please."
"Let's see here... and 16! Adding my mod of 2, makes it 18. What do I find?"
"Searching around the room, on a blank wall, there is actually a large door, flush to the wall, that looks exactly like a part of the wall, but was only seen after pressing a hidden panel that Sir Puddington found. The door that slid upwards, leads to a series of short hallways. It smells like it hasn't been aired out for a long time. The hallways are all lit with the same kind of illumination in the previous rooms, and upon observation, there's no one around."
"So, we're safe to roam around then Histy? Alright, let's check each hallway! In fact, how many hallways are there?"
"There are 8 hallways in total, four on the left, and four on the right. The hallways are quite wide and tall, but they're short. Let's say about 10 feet wide and 15 feet tall. The group sees that there is a door at the end of each hallway, each of them with a clipboard. There is one thing that the group finds odd, the doors and hallways don't seem to have enough spacing from each other that there would be a room behind each door."
Vert tilts her head slightly. "Can we open a door?"
"Sure. Burt going into a hallway, opens a door. She finds that the door opens with no issue, but behind it is simply dirt."
"...I would like to check all the doors."
"Checking all 8 doors, they all end up the same, more dirt behind it."
"Sir Puddington will read whatever it is on the clipboard!" Neptune blurts out.
"Which one? There are 8 doors and so, 8 clipboards."
"Uh, the nearest one to the left!
"Sir Puddington, looks at the clipboard on that door, and reads, 'Red Gemstone', afterwards it seems to be words such as weight, height, gender, and a portrait."
"Wait... a portrait?"
"Yes, you know, a picture?"
"Histy, even I know what a portrait is, pssh, so, uh, what's on the portrait?"
"Sir Puddington sees a man. He doesn't know who this is."
"Wait... a person? Are you telling me all the test subjects in those test logs were people? I'm going to go through all the clipboards on each hallway."
"Sir Puddington goes through each hallway and reads the clipboards. Some of the clipboards are more filled than others, yet all of them are clearly showing the statistics of men and women."
"...Histy, this is a bit sudden to take in... um, I thought these would be ... um, can we take a break for a bit?"
The other goddesses seem to be agreeing on the notion, as they all nodded when Neptune suggested the idea. All of their eyes have widened in surprise. Histoire looks at all of them and agreed as well.
"Alright. We've spent a good amount of time in the explanation, let's all take a quick break."
"T-thanks Histy."