•[•]•[•] Hiroshi [•]•[•]•
Was it something that I said to her? Maybe it's because I was being obnoxious and insensitive towards her. I watch as Noire walks away from me, not glancing back behind her as she does so. It could also possibly be the food that we've been eating recently. Or is it the way I've been treating her at school? Or at home? I let out a frustrated groan, and motion to swing my bag onto my shoulder, but realize that it wasn't there. Oh, I forgot my bag thinking. I'd better go back before it disappears somewhere. Turning around, I begin to make my way into the building to retrieve my belongings.
Returning to the club room, I collected my bag, which remained in the spot where I sat. Exiting the room, I hear footsteps sound from my right. Turning to look at the source of the sound, I find Neptune walking down the hallway with a purse in hand. Slinging my bag over my shoulder, I give her a small wave, her attention shifting onto me. Watching as she makes her way over to me with a smile, the two of us begin to walk towards the exit side-by-side.
"I couldn't help but eavesdrop on your little… quarrel with Noire just now," Neptune speaks up, giving me a sideways glance as I push the door open for her.
"Y-you could hear?"
"What are you gonna do about Noire? You're not just gonna let her go, are you?" I look back at Neptune, who just lets out a sigh.
"Well I can't just chase her down right now. She said that she wanted to have some alone time to think. I have some groceries to take care of as well, so I figured that I could take care of that while she gets her thoughts together." As I finish speaking, I feel my phone buzz in my pocket, a reminder for me to take care of my groceries popping up on the screen.
"Would you like me to accompany you?" She gives me a smile as I look up from my phone. "You must have a lot of groceries to buy, right?"
"Are you sure? You don't have to if you don't want to."
"It's fine! Besides, I've got a bit of free time before I need to go home." Neptune then shrugs and the two of us take a turn. I smile and hand her my phone, which holds the list of groceries.
"It might seem like a bunch of stuff to handle, but I think that with the two of us, it shouldn't be too hard to handle."
"A-and you had offered to do all of this by yourself!? The list doesn't end!" She stares at me with astonishment before handing me back my phone.
"It's a normal load for me to take care of," I say with a shrug, slipping my phone back into my pocket. "We'd better get over there before it gets dark."
"What do you mean, 'before it gets dark?'" Neptune stops and checks the time. "It's currently 14:35… and the sun sets today is 20:30… So you're saying that it's going to take nearly six hours to simply go grocery shopping?!"
"At least for me it usually does." I blatantly state.
"THIS IS NOT WORTH YOUR TIME!" She looks at me, flabbergasted. Yeah… I guess spending six hours on grocery shopping isn't really normal.
...
"Hey, Hiroshi?" Neptune speaks up as she grabs a bottle of red wine vinegar and places it into her cart.
"What's up, Neptune?" I look at her with a sideways glance.
"Have you ever considered your feelings about Noire?" I almost steer the cart into the aisle as an image of Noire appears in my head.
"Wh-what's this all about?" I stutter, feeling a blush creep onto my face.
"Well, you two have been together for a while now, haven't you? You must've thought about it at least once, right?"
"W-well, I actually haven't been able to give it much thought, now that I think about it," I say, tossing a can of canned tomatoes in the cart. Now that I think about it, I think to myself, glancing at the chocolate that Neptune had "secretly" slipped into the cart. I've been too focused on school and adjusting to Noire being in my life that I haven't really had the time to think about this. How do I feel about Noire?
"I guess it hasn't been long enough for you two to really nurture that bond. Let's take a step back, then. How do you feel about Noire?" Neptune drops another candy bar into the cart.
"If I'm being completely honest, I feel like Noire's like a little sister to me, maybe an older sister. She's helped me learn more about myself than I have in a while. I've done so many things that I never thought that I was capable of doing, and she's the one who's allowed for me to step out of my comfort zone. I haven't really given much thought to that, so I'm sure there's other things that I have to say about her." I find myself going on a tangent, Neptune throwing in a few packs of pudding as I rant.
"Well, why don't you give it some thought? Maybe she could upgrade from being a sister to being something more than that. You know, it's kind of an insult, sister-zoning someone like that. She's not even related to you! Besides, I think that you two are bound to become more than pseudosiblings because the author had already made a one shot about you two." Neptune just sighs as we pass through another aisle of food.
"Wh-what's that supposed to mean?!" I exclaim, but quickly lower my voice in fear of disrupting the other, fellow customers. "What kind of one shot is it anyway?"
"Oh, you know, your good old… erotica…" She winks at me as I look at her with a blush. Me, in an erotica!? What the heck is that all about!? "You know, you've made an appearance in 'A Collection of Lustful Wonders' so I think that it's gonna be a guarantee that things will work out between you two if something does happen." Was that a shameless plug via fourth-wall break?
"A-ah… well let's continue shopping, shall we?" Is all I say before we turn the corner of the aisle, entering the frozen section.
"A-anyway!" Neptune coughs and leans next to me to look at the shopping list. "All we need are a few more packs of pudding, right?"
"Pudding? Pudding isn't on the list." I say but Neptune just gives me a cheeky smile before grabbing a few packs.
"I think it's my payment for helping you out, don'tcha think?"
"You were the one who offered your help, but I guess it wouldn't hurt to spend a little more today." I smile and she lets out a squeal as if she were a child as she places them in the cart. "Geez you're such a kid when it comes to pudding, Neptune. Are both of you Neptunes like this?"
"Excuse me, there isn't anything wrong with someone liking pudding, is there?"
"Yeah, but you seem to enjoy pudding a lot more than most people who enjoy pudding." I laugh, making her cross her arms over her chest.
"You're really mean, Hiroshi." The two of us proceed to make our way to the checkout counter. "Are you this mean to Noire? If you're like this, it's no wonder that you consider her your sister and not anything more than that."
"That was harsh." I take the bags from the checkout stand, leaving Neptune to stare at me in awe. "I'm not that mean, am I?
"Are you sure you can take care of all of those bags? What if you drop one?"
"It's fine, Neptune. I've been doing this for a while now, so I'm pretty used to it" I just shrug and the two of us make our way out of the supermarket.
"It may not be apparent at first, but you've got some pretty attractive qualities to you." I give Neptune a quizzical look but all I receive is a small smile from the purplette.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"A-ah, nevermind. Ignore me." As I let out a small complaint, Neptune averts her gaze with a blush. "Would you like me to accompany you home? I don't have anything much planned this evening; I've got next week's activities planned out already."
"Wow you work surprisingly efficiently, at least when I compare the stories that I hear about Nep's productivity at the Basilicom to you. I wouldn't mind you tagging along with me; it'd be nice to have some company." I give her the nod of approval and the two of us continue on our journey back home.
As we had crossed an intersection to make our way to another street, Neptune looks at me with a sideways glance. "So what are you gonna do about Ms. Lonely Heart?"
"What about her?"
"The whole shabang between you two." Neptune just sighs. "Did you really forget about what we just talked about?"
"O-oh yeah. It's still been on my mind; I haven't forgotten. I just don't know how to really approach the situation, especially since I haven't really given it much thought up until now." Another question came to mind as we continued walking. I really do consider Noire to be sort of like a little sister to me, but Neptune said to give it some thought. What if she's right and Noire is someone more than a sister to me?
"You should give it some thought." She answers my own question for me. "Although I can't directly speak for Noire, I'm sure that she thinks pretty highly of you, and that's saying something."
"Thanks for the advice, Neptune. It's really nice being able to talk to someone else about these kinds of things." I say, giving her a smile.
"Oh, don't mention it! It's always nice to help people out." She then stops and puts her hands behind her back. "Well I think I'm going to head home now since this is the street where I live. Go get 'em, tiger!"
"Thanks, again, for everything that you've done for me, as well as Noire. The club has done a great deal to the both of us, and with you being our advisor makes things even better!" I begin to leave, but then I realize that I had forgotten to give Neptune her chocolate and pudding.
"Oh, Neptune! Sorry, I nearly forgot to give you the pudding!" I quickly hand her the plastic bag and she just giggles, a small blush on her cheeks as she quickly turns around and makes her way back home, immediately digging into a container of pudding as she does so.
•[•]•[•] Noire [•]•[•]•
When's that idiot coming home? I think to myself, pacing around the house, waiting for something to do. I know he had some shopping to do, but it's taking him a lot longer than usual to do this. I let out a frustrated grumble, half directed towards Hiroshi, half towards my own thoughts.
As soon as I finish that thought, I hear the key to the house clicking and clacking as Hiroshi fiddles with the lock. Rushing to the entrance, but quickly stopping myself from being overly-excited, I open the door to find myself facing Hiroshi, who was nearly buried with grocery bags.
"What took you so long, you idiot!?" I pout at Hiroshi as he stumbles in, barely managing to get his shoes off. I take a few bags from him and carry the groceries into the kitchen before sorting them.
"I was out taking care of the groceries for the week." He sorts the bags into categories as he speaks. "We eat so much so I have to spend a little more time out at the supermarket to get the ingredients."
As we begin to sort the groceries, we work in silence, placing them in different cabinets and shelves as we do so. Although we were working without fault, the atmosphere was a bit awkward. Subtly glancing at Hiroshi as the two of us sort out the groceries, I feel Hiroshi's hand brush against mine as we reach for the container of Pocky sticks. Immediately pulling back with a furious blush on my face, I shuffle away from him and leave the bag of Pocky sticks and miscellaneous foods to be a small barrier for the time being. As we continue to work in silence, the rustling of the bags and shuffling of containers being the only, present noises, Hiroshi had made his way over to the candy bag and had begun to sort the candies. My shoulder was pressing against his, neither one of us daring to disturb the quiet, yet enjoyable presence of each other. I wonder if he likes me. The sudden thought caught me off guard, my face immediately burning a bright red.
"H-hey, Hiroshi?" My heart leaps as I speak, the words flying out of my mouth before I could think about it.
"Yes, Noire?" He sets down the bag of tomatoes in his hand, turning to face me.
"U-um…" I space out, my heart beginning to beat faster as I stare into Hiroshi's eyes. "A-actually, nevermind!" I tried to shut down the topic before it could escalate, but Hiroshi continued to press on.
"This whole day you've been acting really weirdly, especially around me." Th-that's becau-. "I don't know if I can help you, but after we finish sorting the groceries out, we can talk about what's been bothering you."
"S-sure, no problem!" Various thoughts fly in and out of my head as I finish sorting another bag of groceries into its designated area in the kitchen. "I'm finished with my end of the sorting. I'm going to head to the bedroom." I abruptly say, maybe a bit too rushed, as I exit the kitchen and rush upstairs, quickly closing the bedroom door behind me.
Flopping onto the bed sheets, pulling them over me and covering myself, I feel my face burning red. Why is my heart throbbing and my head spinning so much!? It's driving me insane! I held my head in an attempt to shake the dizziness out of my brain but it was no use. I've never felt like this before! What is this feeling!? I've never felt a debuff like this before. I pout into the bed, puffing out my cheeks at the thought of that annoying idiot.
"Gahhh! I hate this!" I abruptly sit up, clenching the bed sheets beside me as I let out a groan of frustration. Hearing Hiroshi's muffled footsteps cascade the stairs, I start to feel nervous for his arrival. Why am I getting so nervous? It's not even something that special! It's just Hiroshi coming up the stairs, so what makes this time so nerve-wracking!? I banter with myself, awaiting his arrival. Hearing two knocks on the door, then the creaking of the door being opened, I watch as Hiroshi awkwardly steps into the room, staring at me.
"I'm finished, Noire."
"O-okay." I hear myself stutter, slipping off of the edge of the bed and standing up.
"Would you like to go to the cabin to talk about whatever is bothering you?"
"S-sure why not?" Do I say how I'm feeling right now? Do I tell him how I feel about him? What do I do!?
Following Hiroshi out of the room, I do my best to attempt to ignore my thoughts, which were constantly nagging at me. The warm breeze of the autumn afternoon breeze had wafted through the air as he opened the door, in which the two of us had exited the house and stepped onto the porch. We make our way off of the porch and turn to head to the road where the cliff was. Inhaling the relaxing, sea breeze that replaced the air back near the house, I found myself able to relax.
It didn't take very long for us to reach the cliffside, where we had visited a few days ago. Hiroshi walks over to the campfire and sits down on a log. He pats a spot next to me, gesturing for me to join him. Awkwardly meandering over to Hiroshi, I seat myself next to him, enjoying, but also hesitant about the minimal space between the two of us. Staring out into the sunset, which its reflection glistened across the ocean, amplifying the beauty of the scene before me.
"Would you like to talk about what's been on your mind now?" He speaks up.
"I-I mean, if you're okay with it." I find myself stammering. Ugh, why am I so nervous!? Just take a deep breath and calm down.
"Of course I'm okay with it." Hiroshi gave me a smile and I let out a long exhale.
"This whole situation about my friends and I being displaced and thrown into this dimension has really been bugging me." W-wait, this is not what I wanted to talk about! Well, I mean I was intending to talk about it later, but this is not what I wanted to say to Hiroshi! Despite my thoughts, I continue. "While you were gone making our lunches at the Orchid, Neptune had brought up some interesting ideas about us coming to Earth. How are we able to access our inventories now? Before I wasn't even aware of the fact that we could access our inventories, but suddenly we're able to. Also, the fact that we're able to send and receive letters not only from each other, on the same dimension, but from that anonymous sender who I can assume is from Gamindustri!"
"You bring up a good point." Hiroshi replies, leaning forward and leaning against his palm, which was propped up by his elbow that was on his knee. "A lot of that stuff is fishy, especially the fact that some of your powers have transferred over to here. I wonder if other people, besides you Gamindustrians, are able to possess powers like you girls do."
"Mhm." Is all I say, biting my lip.
The two of us fall silent, the ambient noises taking over our conversation. I look away from Hiroshi and stare at the charcoal, which laid in the campfire pit, unlit. What am I doing!? Just do something, already! Don't make things more awkward than it already is, Noire! Taking in a deep breath, I turn back to Hiroshi, who notices that I'm looking at him and looks back.
"What's up?" He asks and sits up.
"U-um." I stutter, a blush rising to my cheeks. "I-I have something to tell you."
"I'm all ears."
"L-look," Ugh, I can't stop stuttering! This is so embarrassing! I think to myself, "although I actually wanted to talk about the whole situation about my friends and I on Earth at some point, that really wasn't what was stressing me out." I waited for a response to Hiroshi to delay the inevitable. Much to my dismay, he remained silent, waiting for me to continue.
"U-um, what I really wanted to talk about was…" I drift off, my face burning hotter than the sun. Suddenly, a wave of confidence washed over me. Oh, screw it! Let's just get it over with, no matter the outcome! I look directly at Hiroshi, meeting his gaze "Hiroshi?"
"Noire?"
"I-I think I like you."
A/N
Hello, everyone! Man, it's good to write these again. As you may have noticed, this is the first chapter with an a/n, and that's because this is really, the current chapter that I have begun to write and make big changes on. I hope you enjoyed the chapter! I figured that a lot of the story line was pretty choppy and illogical so I did my best to make things feel smoother and more fluid. I wonder what Hiroshi's response to Noire's sudden confession will be!? Stay tuned for more! If you ever feel like it, drop a follow, fav, and possibly leave a review if you really enjoyed the chapter! Anyway, I hope you have an amazing day!