•[•]•[•] Noire [•]•[•]•

"It's been a couple hours since the meeting finished and Hiroshi still isn't home." I frown at my homework, which lay on the desk, unresponsive. "When's that idiot coming home?" Why is Hiroshi out so late again? Is he taking care of something at the school? Or is he out with someone and didn't tell me? Or maybe he's just giving me space to calm down because I wasn't being the friendliest before I left the clubroom. I sigh and get up, leaving the bedroom. Maybe I could make dinner for Hiroshi as an apology for leaving without him. Wandering down the stairs, I find myself in the kitchen.

"Alright! Let's see. What's in the fridge? Ooh, there's pork belly!" Pulling open the refrigerator door, I scan the ingredients before deciding on a meal. Taking inventory of the ingredients, I make my way over to the pantry. "It looks like we have enough stuff for yakisoba. Let's go with that!" I smile to myself and pull out all of the ingredients necessary to make the dish. Putting on an apron, I start by making the yakisoba sauce, humming to myself as I do so.

"Wow, this is kind of romantic. Imagine Hiroshi's reaction when he comes home to an amazing meal after a long, exhausting day! Maybe I should do this more often?" I pause and furrow my brow, a counterargument spurring up in my head. "B-but we're not even a couple, so that would just be weird… and that idiot is the reason why I even left in the first place!" Arguing with myself, I begin to chop the vegetables, neatly placing them in their respective categories on a separate plate.

"W-well regardless, I'm just doing this for my sake! I shouldn't care about how Hiroshi feels right now!" I put my hands on my hips with a confident smile as I stare at the arrangement of ingredients in front of me. "Alright! Let's get to it!"

...

As I finish plating our meals, I hear the door being unlocked. Oh, perfect timing! Quickly taking off my apron and hanging it on its hook in the pantry, I quickly place a pair of chopsticks next to the plates before sitting down. Watching as the door opens, I see Hiroshi taking a step into the house.

"Welcome back, Hiroshi." I attempt to put on my best smile for him and he looks up at me as he takes off his shoes.

"O-oh, thanks." He walks over to the dining table and glances at the plate of yakisoba that was on his placemat. "What's all this? It looks delicious!"

"I made it just for you! I-I mean, I made it for us to eat tonight." I quickly correct myself as Hiroshi sits down. The two of us give thanks and begin to eat our meal.

"Wow, this is actually really good! Where'd you learn how to make this?" Hiroshi looks up at me, blushing as he compliments me.

"U-um I don't remember. I think I had read it in a cookbook in the Basilicom or something." I say before taking another slurp of noodles. "Why were you out so late?"

There was a pause. "I-I was taking care of some stuff for Mr. Jameson. He needed me to run some errands for him."

"Oh, okay." I looked up at Hiroshi, who had his attention focused on the piece of pork belly. "Well let me know if you're gonna come home late. You're making me worried."

"I'll remember to do that." He says, not looking up from his plate.

"A-anyway, I would like to apologize for my rude behavior earlier." I managed to get his attention, for he stopped playing with the piece of meat and looked up at me. "Y-you know, how I left and all without waiting for you."

"That's okay, I kinda expected something like that to happen sooner or later."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I glare at Hiroshi.

"S-sorry, I didn't mean it in a rude way. It's just that things have been pretty awkward for a while now and we haven't really been talking as much recently." He elaborates, looking back at me. "While I was out, I spent time thinking about your confession."

"A-and..?" I set my chopsticks down with a look of anticipation. W-what's he gonna tell me?

"I would like to apologize." All of the anticipation had left my body. "I wasn't able to give you the response that you wanted, nor was I able to even respond in the first place. I know that I should've at least said something, but it just happened so quickly and I didn't know how to respond."

"I-it's okay. I was the one who rushed things." I let out a sigh and stare at the noodles on my plate. "I didn't consider your feelings and I was just being selfish. I'm the one who should be apologizing."

"I accept your apology." Hiroshi reaches over and gives me a pat on the head.

"D-don't touch me." I give him a glare with a blush, slightly disappointed as he pulls away.

"S-sorry." He blushes and averts his gaze. "But to give an answer to your confession, is it okay if you give me some time to think about it? I wouldn't wanna run away and ignore your feelings, although it's not like I would be able to in the first place."

"I guess that's acceptable." I huff and take a bite of my yakisoba. "However, I'm expecting an answer a week from today."

•[•]•[•] Hiroshi [•]•[•]•

"Thanks for dinner. It was really delicious." I look at Noire, who busies herself with cleaning the plates. "Maybe I should have you make dinner sometimes."

"Why of course it was delicious! I'm the one who made it, so there's no way that it could be anything but delicious!" She retorts, handing me a dish to dry.

"There you go again with those tsundere remarks." I sigh and begin drying the dish, putting it on its respective stack in the cupboard. At least that means things have gone back to normal, right?

"Wh-whatever!" Noire huffs and shoves another dish into my hand.

"But this makes me happy." I smile and she gives me a confused look. "I'm glad that things aren't awkward between us anymore."

"Mhm…" She mumbles something else under her breath, ending the conversation and leaving the two of us to finish cleaning up after dinner.

It didn't take long for us to finish cleaning, so I had wandered up into the bedroom to finish the homework that was assigned for the day. Noticing Noire's neatly stacked homework on the corner of the desk, I pull open my textbook and begin working on my math homework. Having some peace and quiet to myself, my thoughts begin to flood my head. I was able to do as Neptune had told me, but what do I do now? Where do I even start?

Flipping through the pages of the textbook, I begin to think about what Neptune said earlier. Have you ever considered your feelings toward Noire? You must've at least thought about it at least once, right? Besides, I think that you two are bound to become more than pseudosiblings… Furrowing my brows, I rip out a piece of graph paper and pull out a pencil. How do I feel about Noire? Sure, I definitely considered her to be somewhat of a sister, but she confessed to me out of nowhere. I-in that case, I don't think that I'm allowed to think of her as my sister anymore. But if I don't think of her as a sister, then what do I think of her as?

"Gah, this is so frustrating!" I ruffle my hair in frustration. "How am I supposed to do math homework like this!?"

"Do you need help with homework?" Noire's head pops into the doorframe before stepping into the bedroom. "You seem pretty stressed."

"W-well, if you're free then I wouldn't mind the help." I accept her offer and she sits down next to me, glancing at the textbook. "I'm working on the section about circular sectors. I'm pretty stuck on this problem. Right here."

"Oh, these are pretty fun to do! Let me show you how…" Noire takes the pencil from my hand and begins to show me the solution to the problem. She smells good. W-wait, that isn't creepy, is it? I think to myself as she leans forward to get a better look at the problem, the scent of strawberries wafting through the air.

The two of us breezed through the homework assigned to us without much difficulty. It was a huge help that Noire had already finished the homework beforehand, so we could reference her homework if there was any confusion. Geez, I've never met someone who's this productive. I think to myself as Noire hums to herself, stacking my homework into a neat pile. Is she usually this productive? I mean, I would assume so if she's been managing the work at the Basilicom. I can't imagine myself sitting at a desk and doing paperwork for hours upon hours every day.

"Thanks for the help. I really appreciate it." I give Noire a smile, who turns her head away with a blush.

"D-don't worry about it! It's the least that I could do." She says and gives me a sideways glance. "Is there anything else that I can help you with?"

"I've got some other homework to do, but I can do that on my own." I get up from the desk, moving to my computer and turning it on. "Do you have anything that I can help you with?"

"Let's see…" Noire puts a finger on her chin. "I think I'm okay for now. Well, I'll leave you to it."

"Okay, I'll let you know if something comes up." I give Noire a smile, who returns the smile and exits the room.

...

"Everyone, I would like your attention please!" Neptune speaks up, abolishing any sort of side conversation between the members of the Extradimensional Dispersion Club. "I would like to introduce you to a new member of the club! Would you like to introduce yourself?"

"Of course I would, Neptune! After all, it is quite wonderful to be reunited with my fellow Gamindustrians once again." The woman at the front of the room had a mature timbre to her voice, her accentuated, physical appearance adding to her demeanor. All of the other Extradimensional Dispersion club members' eyes lit up at her appearance, leaving me to await her introduction. "I'm Vert, the CPU of Leanbox."

She scans the room, stopping and staring at Vii. "Oh, my! It's my precious Vii! You're so much cuter than I had imagined!"

"Th-thank you, Vert." Vii avoids Vert's gaze with a blush.

"So, Vert," Noire speaks up, Vert's attention shifting from Vii to Noire, "I'm sure that you're aware of what's been going on recently. Can you tell us what you know?"

"Of course! I would do absolutely anything to be able to return to my ultimate gaming system back in Leanbox!" She lets out a small, frustrated sigh before proceeding to answer Noire. "I believe that each of us CPUs had received some sort of collection quest, talking about collecting the Share Crystals. Fortunately, I was able to get my hands on my Share Crystal a while back when I was shopping." Vert then puts her hand on her chest, her palm beginning to glow a vibrant green. Slowly, a Share Crystal had emerged from her chest and begun to float in her hand.

"Does anyone else have a Share Crystal besides me?" Vert looks around at each of the club members.

"Yes, both Noire and I have Share Crystals." The two of them extract their Share Crystals for everyone to see. "However, it is quite interesting to see that these Share Crystals are personalized. Back in Gamindustri they look like your average crystal, right?"

"You're right…" Noire puts a hand on her chin, her Share Crystal phasing back into her chest as she spoke. "I wonder if that has to do with anything."

"Do any of the Candidates have Share Crystals?" I speak up, looking at Uni, who shakes her head no.

"I didn't think that it would even be possible that there are Share Crystals on Earth so seeing them here is pretty surprising." Uni says. "I didn't get any notifications or letters regarding the collection of Share Crystals either."

"Wow, no wonder we're CPUs! We get the real VIP treatment!" Nep crosses her arms over her chest with a smug grin plastered on her face.

"Oh, shut up, Nep! You're not even the one with a Crystal: Neptune has it! B-but the idea of being VIP doesn't sound too bad…" Noire mumbles the last part, Nep responding with a defeated sigh. "But moving on, Vert, do you have any other information that you would like to share?"

"Yes, I do! In fact, I have some excellent news to share with you! I've been in contact with Nepgear and the two of us have been conversing through email ever since we were able to get a hold of each other. As far as I know, Nepgear knows where Blanc is, but she has yet to confirm the location of the twins."

"Oh, excellent! Where is Nepgear currently?" Neptune asks.

"She's actually here at this school. Now that I think about it, why isn't Nepgear in the club yet? There must've been some club fair that advertised this club, right? Maybe she missed it. I can text her to see if she's available." Whipping out her phone, Vert proceeds to send a message to Nepgear at breakneck speed. Hearing a small "ding!" sound from Vert's phone, she looks up at us with a pleasant smile. "It seems as though she will be here at any moment."

"I-I'm so sorry!" A loud, yet innocent voice bursts through the door, revealing a girl. She is dressed in a sailor's outfit, colored multifariously with different purples, her hair matching the color scheme with long, neatly combed, lilac locks. Although she was able to maintain most of her hair, there was a bang that seemed to refuse to cooperate with her. "I was looking for this club when I was at the fair, but it didn't seem to be advertised!" I shoot a glare at Vii, who just whistles and avoids eye contact with me. I had the feeling that someone would be looking for our club right after she shut it down!

"I-I guess that was partially my fault." Vii lets out a shaky laugh, scratching her head. "I may or may not have closed down the booth after I had recruited Uni, Noire, and Fujita-san. I didn't think that there would be more people applying."

"Oh, it's not your fault! Forgive me for being too late to catch you guys before you left!" She then bows, Nep letting out a sigh.

"I know it's a part of your appeal, but you don't need to apologize for everything that goes wrong!" Nep gets up and walks over to Nepgear, pulling on her cheeks. Nepgear lets out a slurred line of apology in response. Seeming to finish with their quarrel after a few moments, Nep sits back down, an eyebrow twitching as Nepgear proceeds to bow in apology to her sister.

"Before we get off task again," Uni speaks up. "Nepgear, were you able to find the Loweeans?"

"Yes, I was able to find them!" Nepgear then clears her throat before continuing. "I've done a lot of research about our current situation and with my handy-dandy device, the N-Gear, I was able to successfully track one of the CPUs. Although I hoped it was Neptune, it turned out to be Blanc. I need to make some revisions to the N-Gear later…"

She trails off before snapping back to reality and continuing. "She lives in a neighborhood nearby that's within walking distance of Ksugakari High. I was able to contact her, and it turns out that Blanc is currently unable to attend school at the moment because she's been busy trying to take care of the twins, Rom and Ram.

"Also, with the help of my N-gear, I have been able to locate Histy. Unfortunately, I'm unable to get a hold of her which led me to the conclusion that she's being controlled by someone. Because Histy is able to converse and help us even if we're in different dimensions, I believe that it's very likely that the person controlling Histy is using her to communicate to us. Unfortunately, I don't have the resources to free Histy from her restraint so we're going to have to return to Gamindustri in order to save her."

"Wow, you're amazing, Nepgear! I didn't think that we'd be able to make this much progress in one meeting, but this is definitely our most successful meeting so far!" I exclaim, everyone else clapping and applauding Nepgear's discoveries.

"O-oh, don't mention it! It's the least that I could do." She waves her hand in front of herself with a blush. "Besides, it shouldn't matter about who's contributed the most or least. We're all in this together!"

"You're absolutely right about that, Nepgear." Neptune gives Nepgear a nod before continuing. "With that said, all that's really left is recruiting the Loweeans and then finding a way to return to Gamindustri."

"We could first start by meeting Blanc." I speak up, gaining the attention of the club members. "I believe Nepgear had said that she knows where Blanc is, so we could start by giving her a visit. There shouldn't be a problem with that, right?"

"That sounds like the most logical plan to me." Noire agrees with me before continuing. "Now, the real question is: 'who should be the one to go visit Blanc?'"

A/N

Hey, how are you doing! How'd you enjoy this week's chapter (I've decided that I wanted to post weekly on Saturdays until the story is finished)? Wow, there's been a lot of characters that were finally introduced! Meanwhile, what's gonna happen between Hiroshi and Noire? How will Hiroshi respond to Noire's demand? Stay tuned for more! Sorry for the cheesiness... but anyway! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! If you're interested in the story, drop a follow! If you enjoyed it, then drop a favorite! Aaaaand, if you really enjoyed it, feel free to drop a review! Anyway, enough soliciting. Have an amazing day! :)