bogos binted, the group project but the group members dont do too much and require micromanagement
you thought i was finally done with this "arc" of the fic, but instead here are 10,000 words of narrative lmao
Within the Basilicom's library, there is a lit fireplace with a complementing set of armchairs, sofas, and a coffee table, along with an outside view of Lowee's snowy landscapes; the perfect cozy scene for nighttime reading.
"Y'know, I don't think I've actually seen Blanny read here, which is pretty weird," ponders C-sha as she takes a seat. "Also, I appreciate the tea you set for us."
"You're welcome. It should help ease us after today," responds Mina before settling down herself. "Now then, where would you like to start, regarding Indigo Heart?"
There's certainly a lot of questions she has about her. For someone who had such an impact on her friends, she feels there's something wrong or off about the fact that she only had learned of her today. "...I dunno. How about, eh, her real name? Y'know, the one that doesn't have 'Heart' in it, 'cause it's getting weird just calling her 'Indigo' all the time."
"Her real name…" She furrows her brows a little while murmuring to herself. "Despite working with her for so long, that is a question that has been left unanswered for a long time…"
"You mean after however many years you worked with her, you never learned her name?"
She looks up. "…It's somewhat complicated. Are you familiar with how the etiquette around referring to a goddess changed over time?"
C-sha tilts her head. "In what sense?"
"While it may seem normal for us and even ordinary citizens to refer to the goddesses by their real names today, it was expected, almost required for most citizens to call them by their CPU names back then. Only the ones closest to them, such as their Oracles and younger sisters, were usually allowed to use their real names. Indigo Heart, on the other hand…She was rather adamant about everyone only referring to her as such."
A raised eyebrow. "So, I'm guessing she never actually told you her 'real name,' then."
"I am certain she told me at least once…" When her memory fails her, she suddenly pulls out a laptop stored under her robe. "Give me a moment; she should have it written down in Lowee's records…"
C-sha sips more of her tea, contemplating on her own on why something like this would happen in the first place.
"...Right. Her real name is…" Her shoulders slump. "...She also just wrote down 'Indigo' whenever her real name was required."
C-sha shrugs. "Huh. To be honest, I see no reason for her to hide her name like that, so maybe her name really is just Indigo. I don't know."
Immediately after, Mina straightens her posture in excitement, typing faster into her laptop. "Wait, actually…Maybe…Right, of course. I recently gained access to a database of particularly old Basilicom records from even before I was an Oracle, so if I search through there… she should have had some name during her time as a Candidate to Cubist Heart…" Her fingers move at a fervent speed, ending in one last mousepad click. "Here! Her real name was… Koumei. Koumei Mushijitsu!"
"Koumei, huh?" She repeats the name in her head several times. "…I mean, I don't see anything wrong with it, and, in the end, what's in a name? Nice work on the search, though." Even if it isn't that important to her, Mina seems pretty proud of her work.
"Thank you. It is still shocking to me that only now, after many years serving her, have I learned of her real name." She adds in a bleaker tone, "…Though I will say that it would have been like Koumei to act that way…"
"Well, at least now we know." Before she moved on, she wanted to ask one more thing. "Goddesses share the same last name as their older sisters, right?"
"Correct, though Candidates changed their surnames upon ascension or, as you may have guessed, forwent surnames altogether when they started to fall out of fashion."
"Makes sense." That's probably why Neptune doesn't have anything related to Uzume in her name. "Moving on to my next question…Ram mentioned that she was still around when she and Rom were born. Was Blanny still a Candidate, or what's up with that?" Could Candidates have their own Candidates?
Mina nods while thinking over her answer. "I can understand why that may be confusing. To start, although Rom and Ram were formally considered Candidates to Koumei, everyone treated them as Lady Blanc's Candidates. This is in part due to the fact that the timing of when Rom and Ram were born was a sort of…'consequence' of Koumei's actions."
"Consequence…?" She sharply raises an eyebrow upon hearing such a word. "...Go on."
"The consequence, in this case, is due to the Shift Period ongoing at the time. I believe that this kind of event needs no introduction, seeing as you and your friends helped our current CPUs successfully manage their own Shift Period, but Koumei was one among many goddesses who failed to do so." Her gaze gradually becomes more unfocused as she continues to recollect deeper into her memories. "Despite our efforts, her citizens' doubts and rumors continued to fester, which eventually grew into an excess of vocal dissatisfaction and an uptick in protests, until she found herself falling past…a certain point in the Period where a CPU's downfall, however that may happen, becomes inevitable."
"Really? Like, some extra CPU trait or rule that forces them to step down, or just…a thing that angry crowds of people tend to do?"
"Because of the goddesses' nature of relying on Shares and the people's faith, it was technically both. After this point, as more people shift their faith from their CPU to her Candidate, her younger sister will start to gradually become more CPU-like on her own to adapt to the people's wishes. Usually, this is just in terms of power or maybe personality, but it appeared that Lady Blanc also 'received' her own Candidates because our citizens' desire for her to become their CPU was simply that strong. At least, that is the leading theory; no other CPU in Gamindustri's history had this kind of issue at birth, and there are no other theories for why the twins were born at such a tumultuous time."
Furrowing her brows, C-sha is starting to put the puzzle pieces together. "I can already tell that Koumei didn't take too kindly to any of this."
"Indeed. She thought that…" Mina bows her head slightly, obscuring her face. "...S-She thought that eliminating Rom and Ram would have reversed her fate."
An instant shocked frown from a taken aback C-sha. She'd never think that any goddess would kill her own family, let alone someone so young. "W-what?! Does it work like that…?"
"...No."
She is almost afraid to ask, "Then why…?"
"By now, you can understand why I do not talk about her so kindly, no?" She asks as her tone becomes increasingly bitter and shaky. "To kill two newly born children, just because you had deluded yourself into thinking that was the only way to retain what little power you had left…I would think not even ASIC could do something like that. Because of everything she's done to them, I vowed to take the utmost care with those two as if they were my own children."
"Damn, I'm…sorry to hear that." Taking a sip of her tea to calm herself, it's hard to find any redeemable qualities in her. "I'm assuming she, like, died because of this, right?"
"No," she immediately answers. "Even when people caught word of her treachery, she still persevered in her pathetic, futile attempt to hold on to her title."
C-sha's eyes widen, almost spitting her tea out. "Wait, what? Then what happened to her? Where is she now?!"
Mina straightens herself a bit. "That Shift Period was particularly catastrophic to not just Lowee, but all of Gamindustri, due to ASIC's increasing power. Shortly after her attempted siblicide, they summoned monsters that managed to overstorm and destroy the old Basilicom. In the midst of this chaos, she used this opportunity to flee, never to be seen again."
Her answer doesn't put her at ease at all. "Aren't you…afraid that she'll come back, then?"
"I was for a long time after Lady Blanc's formal ascension. We made sure to alert our military to keep an eye on her, but she had completely eluded our forces. There were two instances where a patrol unit reported to us that they saw her, and they were perhaps close to arresting her both times, but they were ultimately unsuccessful, and she was never heard of again since then. If it puts you at ease, remember that as a goddess who had lost all of her followers and was left with zero Shares, she was bound to perish and fade from existence, no matter where she was hiding."
"Uh huh…"
"Perhaps she is still alive after fleeing from Gamindustri, amassing a new base of devotees blissfully unaware of her past in a faraway land and knowing to never step foot on this continent ever again." Her voice becomes scarily low, and her eyes shine red in a fashion not so different from how her goddess's used to. "However, if she, for whatever reason, decides to come back…I will personally ensure that she finally receives the comeuppance she deserves."
"I…see." C-sha finally understands why Rom and Ram can get so afraid of Mina. Despite having many unanswered questions about her, C-sha is almost afraid to ask any of them, instead simply sitting uncomfortably in silence.
After a bit, she clears her throat, exhaling her dark aura so quickly as if it was part of a spell. "But, it is not good to dwell on the past, nor is it healthy to be obsessed with retribution. Is there anything else you would like to talk about?"
"Err, well…" She's an adult; she shouldn't be so afraid of her. "About those diary entries…Could I take a look at them now?"
"Hm? Oh, of course." She pulls the dated parchments out and hands them over. "The later of the two should be from around the beginning of Koumei's Shift Period."
"Thanks." Not waiting any further, she starts reading.
"Dear diary, today continues my upward trend of fear of my older sister. For whatever reason, she's started a peculiar habit of yelling at me out of nowhere. Earlier this morning, she told me to stay in my room while she attended a meeting. That may seem normal, but after an hour or so, she then suddenly barged into my room and proceeded to diatribe without relent about something she could not have expected me to be aware of. Whatever it was, she kept repeating over and over like a broken record that it was my fault because I wasn't there to do something about it. Even though I remained clueless about whatever it may be that caused her to be so irate, I couldn't help but feel guilty because of her, even if she wasn't yelling or showing any other signs of anger. I don't know what I can do to appease her…"
Skipping the latter half of that entry, she takes the other sheet, dated to be several years after the last one. "Dear diary, there were a lot more protestors around the Basilicom today. This time, though, a lot of them were complaining about Indigo. Frankly, I can't help but agree with them. I have been wishing the best for her, but I can't help but be…" There are a couple of erase marks around here. "…pissed at her for refusing to listen to anyone.
"I've been doing the best I can about ASIC. Sometimes it feels really rewarding to beat these bad guys up, but Indigo still does that annoying passive-aggressive act where she pretends to not be angry, but really is. Again, she just seems to be doing that for no actual reason. I just want to ignore her when she does that, but on top of being rude, that will probably just screw me over harder. Perhaps I should keep at it and ignore her harder."
Through Blanc's not-so-articulate handwriting that's even sloppier and harsher than last time, she can still perceive her animosity. "Man, were there actually any redeemable qualities to her?" murmurs C-sha while shaking her head. "That part about, y'know, being a good and respectable leader that CPUs need?"
"Many people did see her as an enjoyable and charismatic goddess throughout most of her time," answers Mina with a tinge of regret. "That probably had to do with the multitude of parties she held…"
"So, what, she was the kind of person who did her best to appear friendly, but was secretly a jerk whenever possible?"
"Not…entirely. It will be hard finding any sort of concrete evidence, but anecdotally, people who did not mesh well with her outgoing and reckless personality…She tended to act bitterly towards them. For quieter citizens, it might've been easy to avoid her, but in Lady Blanc's case, as well as all of the other more reserved Basilicom staff…It was hard for her to not let things go south between us, to say the least."
"So she was really only supported by a portion of Lowee, is what you're saying."
"If you want to simplify it like that."
"I guess that explains a lot." Overall, though, it's still hard to believe that someone so polarizing like her got to be a CPU.
Mina takes off her glasses, taking time to wipe them clean with her robe. "You know, when I studied history as a child, my professor was keen on underlining how flawed goddesses could be and that their rule was never without fault, despite the constant insistence from every other possible source of their perfection. It was certainly an unpopular opi…fact at the time, but I never thought I was going to learn what she meant the hard way when I became an Oracle…" She stops a bit before snapping her attention back to C-sha. "...Oops. I did not mean to ramble on about her again. I thought I had ditched that habit years ago…"
"Hey, it's alright. I'd imagine that it wasn't easy being forced to talk about her after so long," she says before taking another sip. "Look at the bright side: there's no way Blanny's going to be acting that way to Rom or Ram any time soon. All of those troubles are in the past, it looks like."
"It certainly seems that way. Even before this incident, their relationship never got anywhere as sour as the one she had with Koumei, despite her…" She slightly grins for the first time in a while. "...many tendencies to lash out at them."
"Yeah, you got that right." She doesn't have any other pressing questions, but maybe there's one more to ask. "You must've taken good care of Blanny when she was a Candidate, what with Koumei doing her own thing, and I've got that to thank you a lot for."
Mina freezes upon hearing that, blushing a little. "Well, it was just my job. All Oracles should be taking good care of their goddesses, especially the Candidates. I have been wondering the same about you, as well. Given her introversion, I actually find it unusual for her to make friends with someone as sociable as you," she compliments back with a smile. "I have you to thank for taking care of not just Lady Blanc, but Rom and Ram as well while I was gone."
"Aww. To be fair, we were kinda stuck together because of that whole Rewrite incident. That was partially my fault, actually…But, uh, it was my pleasure! If it weren't for Blanny, I'd probably be in a much darker place, really."
"Oh." A point that would pique anyone's curiosity, but Mina shows some restraint. "Should I refrain from asking…"
"I think I'll just say I've had some trust issues in the past and leave it at that. Anyways, since she helped me out, it only makes sense to do what I can to help Blanny with this memory stuff, even if it was getting kinda exhausting, y'know…" Even if she can't be certain, knowing that the rest of this ordeal will be much easier from now on makes her feel much more relieved.
"Of course, and thank you for that as well. Lady Blanc and her sisters got along so well the first time they met, and I found it quite jarring to see such an escalation between them."
She stretches her arms before covering a yawn. "Really, now? Maybe that's a story I'd like to hear. Gotta bring something uplifting to the table after learning about all of…that, y'know?"
"Of course. Actually, that book I gave to Blanc? It actually has a lot of entries and retellings of those days. Perhaps I can remember enough of what I put in there to retell a couple of them…"
(-)
In the middle of a dark room, only lit by a single bedside lamp, the CPU Candidates of Lowee lie in bed, staring at the light coming from the adjacent bathroom.
Once it turns off, their older sister slowly walks out in her pajamas and towards the two, yawning and stretching her arms. "I wonder if I can read with just this lamp."
"It's bright enough, but not too bright to hurt my eyes," says Rom.
"Oh, that's good to know." She sits down on the bedside closest to Rom and picks up the book. As she silently examines the cover again, she notices how much more silent these two are, especially Ram, and looks up at them.
It's apparent that both of them aren't back to their usual selves, still shook by everything that happened today. With their slightly reddened eyes and quiet and wistful smiles, they're much tamer than the rambunctious and quick-to-act pair she's seen for a while. Nevertheless, they look eager about what kind of story she's about to read to them.
To Blanc, it still feels like everything is moving a little too fast. They were at her throat just yesterday, but now, they look ready to snuggle up with her after a bedtime story. Maybe that's just how kids work and that she should just be grateful for how quick everything passed. It's not like she would have preferred alienating them forever over this outcome.
Putting those thoughts aside, she lifts the cover, ready to read. "Hm, there doesn't seem to be a title." Flipping through a couple of pages, she tilts her head when she stops on the first non-blank page. "Huh."
"What is it?" asks Ram.
She turns the book around to show them the page, revealing a photo of Mina and herself, but apparently much younger. "I don't think this is a story…"
The twins sit up a bit to get a closer look. "This was…Wow, that's a long, long time ago," points out Rom.
"How do you know?"
"There's tiny text that has the date below the photo."
"Wow, that's really old, but Blanc barely looks any different." Looking down at the photo, Ram can tell that she doesn't look that much younger, especially when compared to the much younger Mina, who's maybe in her teenage years. While her Oracle mostly retained the robes she wears today, and the same can be said for Blanc's dress, her signature white, oversized jacket is instead a much tighter, appropriately-sized indigo and light gray winter coat. Instead of ornate decorations along her jacket fit for a snow princess, this coat has mostly flat colors with rounded angular designs. Her usual puffy hat is absent, though in her left hand she holds a purple newsboy hat. Both of them seem fairly happy, putting on small, polite, but genuine smiles for the camera against a wall with ornate old-fashioned wallpaper.
"Does that mean we're not gonna get bigger when we become CPUs?" worries Rom.
Her twin pauses a bit before shortly replying, "I hope we do…"
After showing them the photo, Blanc turns the page to find a handwritten passage, timestamped with the same date as the photo. "It says here…'Today, Lady Indigo Heart went away on an emergency quest, which left me with the newly born Indigo Sister, also known as Blanc. She is much quieter than her older sister, which at least will make babysitting her much easier than I had expected. To be honest, interacting with her has been way easier than with her sister so far. Even if there are many things around her that confuses her, she can quickly learn and understand my explanations. Perhaps teaching her in the future will be just as smooth.'"
"Hey, did Mina give us her diary?" Ram wonders out loud.
It looks like it, judging from a quick flip through the pages, all of which are filled similarly with more photos and captions. The book's also fairly thick, as if there really are decades worth of entries; no way she's going to finish this tonight. Maybe she'll just keep reading until they fall asleep.
Blanc skips to the next photo, showing it to her sisters again while leaning forwards to get a view of it herself.
"...Cute…" Rom simply comments. With a view of heavy snow outside a window in the background, Mina and Blanc are kneeling on the floor, playing with a set of toy soldiers and building blocks. While Blanc looks calm as she enjoys this toy set, Mina seems somewhat surprised at herself with how entertained she is, using both hands to move around figures while looking for others to move next.
"Mina used to do stuff like this with us," reminisces Ram, still more glum than usual. "I wonder if she'll still play with us."
Her twin tries to answer positively, but her slight gloominess gets to her. "Yeah…"
"What do you mean?" asks Blanc, tilting her head.
"Well…I don't know…" Ram replies after some weak consideration. She has a lot of possible reasons why, especially after how they've acted against her recently, but it's hard to be confident in answering with any of them.
She's unsure of what else to say, but the picture does spark an idea in her. "...Would you want to do something like this with me?" she quietly offers.
"But you don't-" Rom had always remembered her older sister as rarely ever having time to play with them, but now… "...That would be nice," she answers as she warms up to the idea.
"I…" Ram looks up, her glazed eyes lighting up. "Yeah, that'd be really cool. Also, do you wanna play Pocketmon with us?"
She tilts her head. "Huh? What's that?"
"Pocketed Monstrosities is a really cool game with, like, millions of monsters you can catch and fight other people with! All the monsters are really cute or cool, and…Actually, I can show you right now!" Unprompted, she jumps out of bed and half-jogs over to her nearby desk.
"Wait! We're supposed to be sleeping," Rom half-heartedly warns.
"Where is it, where is it…We put our handhelds in this desk, right?" she asks over the room.
"Mhm. We always put it there when we go to bed."
"Then why…Oh. You don't think Mina moved them, did she?" she groans.
"Maybe."
"Ugh, that sucks…" She sulks back, tucking herself back into bed. "Blanc, you gotta remember to ask us about it tomorrow morning. It really is a cool game that you should play with us."
So that's what Pocketmon stands for. She heard them mention it a couple of times, so it probably is fairly important to them. Nevertheless, now that's seen her be excited to do something with her once more…It's honestly heartwarming. She understood C-sha when she told her how, as kids, they can quickly get worked up over a lot of things, and while it was scary when they were directing their attention towards capturing her, it's strangely endearing when it's over something far less serious. It's also comforting to see them feel much better after all of that emotional business. With a smile and a nod, she confirms, "Okay, I will."
"Does Blanc have her own copy? She might need one," Rom asks her twin, still barely holding her excitement.
"Probably not, but it'll be easy!" She whispers back. "She can just buy her own."
Blanc returns to reading the book, turning the page away from the two. "'Today was supposed to be a day for training Blanc, but there was a-'"
"Um, Blanc?"
She looks up to see Rom, staring back with imploring eyes. "Hm? What is it?"
"Do you wanna lay down with us? It'll be easier for all of us to see the pictures." She pulls up something from under their blanket. "We have another pillow for you, too."
"O-oh, um, of course." What she said made perfect sense to Blanc, but isn't that a bit too close for comfort? She tries shaking that thought off; they are her sisters, so of course this is normal…right? The way that she's staring at her with those puppy eyes really makes it hard to resist, too…
As she slowly slips herself into Rom's side of the bed, Ram sits up. "Hey, I can't see the book from here! Get between us so that we can both see it."
"R-right." She looks at Rom, who's already crawling around Blanc to make room for her. "Did…I used to do this with you two often?"
"Yeah…" Ram looks up in recalling to correct herself. "...Err, actually, it's been a long time, probably. I don't remember the last time you did this because it's been that long. Do you remember, Rom?"
She shakes her head. "You went to bed late a lot because you liked working on your computer at night."
"I see. Well…I guess I…" She finds it a bit embarrassing to propose what she has in mind with both of them staring at her. "...I don't mind doing this every so often, if you'd like."
Rom lights up in excitement. "Wow, really? That'd be really nice, Blanc."
Right before eagerly agreeing with her sister, Ram hesitates a bit.
The other two direct their attention to her upon noticing her silence.
The two pairs of eyes prompt her to immediately stammer, "I-I mean, I guess for a little while, but aren't we supposed to be big girls who don't need their older sister to sleep with them?"
"Huh? But I like sleeping with Blanc, and you do too, don't you?" a confused Rom asks back.
"I do, but…"
Blanc makes sure to take note of this kind of worrying, especially since she didn't expect her to think that way. While the subject at hand is pretty silly, maybe she feels the same way for other things that make her feel like a kid. Right now, though, she stays quiet.
"Oh, okay. I guess it'll be fun to have Blanc sleep with us for now," Ram poutily concedes. Even she has trouble turning down her own sister's pleading.
"Yay!"
It's also a bit odd to Blanc that they didn't even consider the idea of Ram sleeping by herself while Rom stays with her, but she also supposes it shouldn't come as a surprise to how much they want or need each other's company. With a smile to their resolution, she returns to reading, sitting herself up against the headboard and holding the book out for both of them to see. "'...but an unusually sudden and violent snowstorm was passing by the capital, prompting all of us to cancel our plans and stay home. I left her alone for a while, as she was usually one to keep to herself, but she invited me to play with her with her toy set. I probably could've spent my time more wisely elsewhere, but it was so nice seeing Blanc so happy! She was always more than excited to share what she was thinking while she was building these forts and soldier formations, and her strategies, seemingly formed only by intuition, were remarkably competent for a relatively newborn Candidate without much training. Meanwhile, she always seemed scared or cautious about most other things around her, so it should be good for her if I dedicate more time in my schedule towards keeping watch of how she spends her free time. Perhaps I can even use this medium towards her CPU training as well.'"
"Huh. Makes me wonder why you stopped liking playing with toys," wonders Ram, leaning over to read along. "Must've been something to do with that dumb Indigo…"
Blanc spots a folded ear in the back half of the pages. Opening it up, she sees a photo of her and her two sisters knocked out cold on a couch. The place they're in looks nowhere as extravagant as the places in the previous photos; must be some ordinary community center instead of the Basilicom.
"This one's from…" Rom sinks a little into the bed when she sees the date, partially hiding her face under the blanket. "...Right after we almost died."
"Really? That's…" Ram quiets down again, already uneasily looking away.
"Oh…um…" Certainly nothing to be happy about. "Did I…What happened?" Blanc cautiously asks.
"It was when the old Basilicom was being destroyed by monsters."
"Huh?" Mina didn't mention anything about that. "Then what about…"
"You kicked her butt before she could hurt us when she went all crazy about killing us," clarifies Ram rather bluntly. "Right after that, though, a bunch of monsters attacked the Basilicom and, um…" She stops for a moment, gloomily looking down in recollection. "We were really hurt, or something. I can't remember. There were just a bunch of monsters everywhere surrounding us before we were knocked out, I guess. The only other thing I can remember is that we were getting really tired, then when we woke up, we were in a new place, and you were hugging us really hard."
"Hey, Ram?"
She looks over to her sister, almost startled. "Huh? What is it?"
"We should read what Mina wrote here. I think it might be really important…"
"Oh, um…" Blanc clears her throat. "'Thank-'" She jolts when she feels Ram leaning towards her, clearly very serious about getting a better look at the book. "'Thank goodness that everyone managed to evacuate the Basilicom. I can only describe today as one of Lowee's darkest days, yet, at the same time, I recognize it could have been much, much worse. We are currently in the Guild Hall at the closest city, thankfully safe for the moment.
"'All of this began when, in a crucial lapse of judgment, I chose to pursue Lady Indigo Heart, not even remembering that I had left the Candidates alone. I have no excuse for my actions, and I am eternally grateful to Blanc for her success in rescuing the twins and making up for my near-fatal mistake. Even then, after seeing a transformed Blanc arrive at the hall, carrying both Rom and Ram under her arms and braving burn marks all over, collapsing the moment she reached me…'"
Something sparks within Blanc. It takes a lot of mental effort to recall something from her dreams, but everything she's reading is too familiar. "I…I think I understand a little better."
The two simultaneously look up at her. "Huh? Understand what?" asks Rom.
Drawing more from her fleeting memories, she recalls, "I, um, can't exactly know what happened because this was all in a dream I had-"
"A dream? What?" interrupts Ram, perplexed at her proposition.
"W-well, yeah. I know it's kinda silly, but I really did have a dream that sounds a lot like what Mina wrote here." Her gaze becomes still for a moment. "It really is strange how similar they are, so maybe it really is me regaining memories…"
The twins silently glance at each other, having learned about this for the first time. If they weren't already emotionally and physically exhausted, they would've immediately gone into debating over what she said meant to everything they did over the past few days. Given her relatively stoic reaction, maybe they can address it some time later.
She shakes the thought away. "...B-but, anyways, I think I remember how much I was probably really pushing myself to make sure you two were safe. And…I'm not sure, but you said that this happened a week after you were born. That means I barely knew anything about you two, right?"
"Uh huh."
Ram looks away for a bit, almost too embarrassed to admit something, before looking back. "Y-yeah. After we were born, we didn't actually talk a lot. It was actually kinda creepy the way you stared at us. Sometimes, when Mina was taking us somewhere, I would look around and just see you staring at us from the other side of the room, or some other far place."
"Huh…?" Maybe a bit too much information that she didn't need…
"I don't know why you did that, but…That doesn't matter. You still saved us from that…meanie AND from the burning Basilicom. That's how we immediately knew that you were the best older sister we could ever have. Right, Rom?"
"Uh huh. Even though you were being really quiet and mysterious before, you suddenly became really awesome and powerful, especially when you were rescuing us!"
With their comments, she has come to a more complete understanding of why they were so attached to her past self. It'll be a long while before she can muster up the courage and initiative to do anything like that again, but it's nevertheless a goal she is determined to reach. "I see…"
"But now that we realized that you were like that because of bad things Indigo did to you…I still don't know what to think about that," considers Rom. "We thought we were doing the right thing because it was something you would've done, but…"
"Err…that's alright." She tries to think of some wisdom to impart as their older sister and reminds them, "We…don't have to think about the past too much. Let's think about what we'll do in the future, okay?"
Hearing that for the second time today, Ram speaks up and remarks, "It's kinda hard to think about what to do next without thinking about what happened in the past."
"Huh? Um…" Blanc is taken a bit by surprise. She can't deny what she said, and she feels like she's starting to annoy them by repeating what she said earlier. It's not like she wants to avoid discussing more about the past, but today was already more than overwhelming for her. She nervously replies, "W-well…that's true, but…I guess it's just a matter of balance. Maybe we can talk about it when we need to later on. Yeah…"
"Mhm."
"...I guess so."
Before they can ask another question, she moves away from the subject by quickly flipping to another page, this time towards the very end of the album.
Almost immediately, the twins' mood turns around as they light up in excitement, happily exclaiming, "Ooh! Ninten Land!" This page is filled corner to corner with a collage of photos. One of them shows the two gleefully running along a brick road, pulling a slightly hesitant Blanc by her hands. Another shows each of them carrying a stack of giant coins with both hands at the exit of some building. A third shows Blanc unsteadily aiming an elemental bow with her sisters huddling behind her, waiting in anticipation. Even with the lack of confidence in her marksmanship, she still seemed dedicated at hitting that bullseye.
Looking through the rest of the photos, they all convey a similar mood. "Did we go here often?" In all of these, she's certainly a far shot from anything she's seen from her Ultra Dimension counterpart, or rather, her presumed impressions of her past self. "I always thought I was…sort of…"
Ram's gleeful grin dies down momentarily. "You thought you were a meanie who didn't like us?"
"U-Um…" Her bluntness almost causes her to panic.
"Well, that isn't true at all." Her sudden attempt at being disappointed falters just as quickly, looking down abashedly. "…Well, maybe sometimes I thought that too when you always used to say you were too busy doing other things. After you became the CPU, you were always really excited to do stuff with us for like a month, too, so…" She thinks over what changed after that month, but perks up upon realizing something. "Hey! We still haven't shown you Super Ninten Land, though!"
"There's a Super version?"
"They closed the old one for a long time, but they just finished upgrading it and opened it! We need to go there soon!"
"Uh, sure! That would be nice." The only reason not to go is that they might be piling on too much on her. While thinking over this future day trip, she resumes examining herself across all the photos.
It's only after a minute of silence when Rom chirps up, "Um…Blanc?"
"Hm? Oh, um…" Now at the end of the book, she ponders on what to do next. She first thinks about jumping to a previous page or putting it down and going to sleep, but then something crosses her mind; something risky, yet important to ask. Her future relation with her sisters hinges on their answer.
Staring at Blanc fidgeting with her fingers, Ram gets a little antsy and blurts out, "Blanc, what are you doing?"
Her sister's call, while startling, prompts her to ask, "So, um, when I talked about thinking of the future, I meant…What…If you wanted me to do anything…different…uhh…" She has to avoid eye contact to ask, "...What would it be?"
They stare at her for a moment, and they continue to do so when she takes quick, meek glances to check their reactions. She obviously knows what they've been clamoring about for the past few days, so why would she ask that? Sure, they're definitely not as determined to force her memories back into her as before, but if it can be "anything," then…
Rom shakes that thought away. She knows that she and Ram need to be more considerate of her older sister's new views; that was the whole point of what they talked about today, right? Thinking for another moment, a more exciting answer causes her to smile a little. "I would really like it if you played with us a lot more."
Ram flashes another slight grin at her response. "Maybe, but first, we gotta train her back to become super strong. Well, you're still probably really strong, but we have to teach her cool moves and stuff, both old and new ones."
"That's also really fun, and it's kinda like playing, too."
Blanc blushes upon hearing their answer, having been expecting the more pessimistic answer Rom initially thought of. "R-really?"
"Yeah! And we can go on a lot more quests!"
"Oh, yeah! It's fun doing them with C-sha, but she's not always around when we want to go."
"A quest?"
"Y'know, like when we go out and beat up some monsters? Mina told you already, right?"
They're certainly giving her a lot to plan in the future. "Ah. W-Well, maybe when I'm…more prepared for that."
"Mhm. We're gonna help with that, too."
"Yep. C-sha's probably come around by herself when we do that, and then Uni and Nepgear can also help…" Her legs start kicking up and down under the sheets, still racking her brain coming up with plans for her older sister.
"Heh heh…" It's nice to see them all cheerful again. Maybe a little too cheerful; how is she going to get them to sleep now? "...Hm?"
"Huh? What'dya find?"
Blanc sees at the very back, under the cover of the album, a folded piece of paper.
"A secret paper…! I wanna look," Rom scooches closer to Blanc.
As her older sister unfolds it, Ram does the same and notices that the handwriting on it looks significantly different from Mina's. "It looks like you wrote it. What's this doing here?"
"I wrote this?" Taking a look at it herself, it definitely looks like a cleaner version of the writing she saw on her desk. She takes a quick skim through it. "It looks like a story…I think? Should I read it?"
"Eh, I dunno, Your stories were always kinda weird," Ram comments without hesitation.
"What do you mean?"
"Maybe it'll be different. If she gave it to Mina, then it was probably too important to be weird," proposes Rom.
"...Yeah, I guess that makes sense. But why'd she give it to her in the first place?"
That's a question Blanc is certain is on everyone's mind. While trying to figure it out herself, she notices Ram staring at her, a look contradicting her initial reaction to the paper. "Oh, um, I guess I'll go ahead…
"'There once was a shepherd who lived on a vast, but relatively empty island. Over the many years she's lived there, she has not seen a single human being. Instead, for many miles from where she was, hundreds of sheep, among an unknown, ferocious wildlife, populated the environment around her. Ironically, despite her role to guide her flock of sheep, she herself often felt lost or misguided in her work, always paranoid of that one unidentified monster who would sneak behind her and strike at the worst moment. Given the lack of others to talk to, she also felt lonely at times. Nevertheless, she had dedicated herself to fulfilling her job to the best of her ability, as she knew it was her sole duty to do so.'"
Blanc looks up from the book at Rom to gauge her reactions.
Though her tired and droopy eyes are glued on her, she seems a bit too motionless, as if expecting something more interesting to happen soon.
"Yeah, this is one of your old weird stories," deduces Ram before yawning.
"You don't like it?" Starting to close the book, maybe they're better off just dropping the story for now.
Ram sits up a bit. "Hey, don't just stop, dummy! We have to know how it ends now!"
"But…" Talk about confusing. "A-alright…?" Blanc looks over at Rom to see if she wants to listen more.
She seems distracted looking at Ram, but she looks back and smiles a tiny bit while nodding.
"Ahem… 'On one fateful day, however, she woke up to find two unfamiliar cats, strolling around her sheep. She was quick to distrust these felines, given their wanton behavior around her flock. Yet, they were quicker to make themselves comfortable around her. Eventually, and perhaps against her own will, she befriended these two, feeling relatively at ease around them. They enjoyed watching her perform her daily activities and listening to her, and she enjoyed letting out all of her thoughts throughout her ordinary daily life in their presence. At first, they did not understand each other, both literally and in how the other acted. They had the tendency to linger around her, watching her every move with frequent meowing, and the shepherd certainly did not enjoy their seemingly chaotic and meaningless antics of bothering or harassing her sheep. Regardless, they became accustomed to each other over time. The shepherd felt that her overall mood had undeniably improved with these two around. They provided a contrast between the present and the past, underlining just how isolated and lonely she was on this farm with nowhere to go. Even their pestering had became manageable, as she chalked it up to innocent curiosity.'"
To an extent, she does agree with Ram in that the story…won't be as entertaining in the usual sense. Instead, there's still something else insightful about this story that's worth reading. Blanc looks up to see if her sisters are thinking the same thing.
Though she doesn't get a clear answer, they're considerably sleepier, maybe a little too reactionless, but still patiently attentive.
"'As the days went by, the shepherd's mind grew a tendency to wander around these cats. She deduced that they had most likely left their previous owners due to their negligence, but she couldn't understand why they chose her over anyone else. In a sense, she didn't understand why life had entrusted her with these two, especially when she was nowhere as qualified to take care of them. Of course, fate is a cruel mistress who answers to no one and never abides by fairness or justifications, yet the shepherd had always tried to ask her that question, becoming more desperate for an answer with every solicit. In the absence of an answer, she speculated by herself what that reason was. Perhaps it was a test, or perhaps it truly was a kind gesture from fate. Nevertheless, such pondering eventually transitioned over what would happen if, or maybe when, they left her, for whatever reason that may be. She entertained the pessimistic thought that their separation was inevitable, and that fate may be so cruel as to cast that to happen when she least expected it. There were many things to worry about, such as if her happiness would stay intact without them, would they be safe, or would they not cause any trouble on their own. Across multiple nights, she had lied in bed with these thoughts swarming in her head, draining her of her energy for the following day.
"'Above all else, given how their separation could be at any moment, she had decided that she had to do whatever she had wanted to do with them as soon as possible. Clearly, it was a daunting task to plan out. Her work had left her with little free time as well. The morning after, however, as she was watching them follow the sheep again, she came to an epiphany. Rising up from her chair, she had decided she would train these cats to become the best shepherds…' Huh…?" Despite her tendency to give the benefit of the doubt on most things, she can't help but stop there, checking on the twins' reactions again.
Neither of them seem to react much, as if they expected this writing to take this turn. "Y'know, I'm usually asleep by now," Ram points out, seeming a little less tired than the last time she checked.
Surely they have something more than just that, right?. They spur her, despite their unengaged comments, to ask, "Do you know what this story is about?"
"A weird shepherd and a bunch of weird cats?" she answers with a weak upward inflection. After a brief pause and an unconvinced stare from Blanc, Ram looks down and away from her. "...Yeah. You were talking about us, weren't you?"
Rom also appears a bit wistful as she nods along.
"I dunno why you couldn't have just written how you felt instead of having to make up a story about some weird girl and some cats."
"Maybe we would've thought the story was too boring for us to notice and draw on."
"Yeah, maybe…"
Despite Blanc's indifference to the plot, this is really the closest she'll probably ever get to talking to her past self: reading her thoughts wrapped up in some odd story. She's still unsure as to why she had to write them in such a decorative manner, just like the twins. Did she really used to enjoy writing stories to the point where she wrote messages this way? At the very least, it's more than obvious how sincere she was being here. If she still had any doubts that she used to adore her sisters, they've certainly disappeared by now. She might've seen this version of herself as cold and mostly uncaring at first, but, in retrospect, it only makes sense that her sisters fought tooth and nail to restore her.
Blanc takes another moment to think about what else to gain from reading this. While she's still glad that her sisters have dropped their attempts to bring her back, it isn't so cut and clear on whether she made the right choice by stubbornly avoiding her memory restoration as she had thought. After learning of her acts of bravery and her commitment to protecting others in the face of danger, even she can't help but admire how great she used to be compared to how she is now, and she could easily bring her back if she…No, even with this in mind, there is still something about the idea of overwriting her current self that scares her too much.
So, maybe reading this isn't exactly as impactful to her as she had thought. Nevertheless, it's still nice information that sated her curiosity of the past, and it definitely taught her that there was a flip side to her past brash personality, both intrinsically linked to each other.
In the midst of silence, Rom wonders before trailing off, "Hm…That one part where you said you were worried about if we might get separated all of a sudden…"
"Huh? What about it?" asks Ram before frowning a bit. "You think she was talking about something like this happening?"
"She probably meant when we became CPUs for real, but…" Rom looks away, unsure of what else to say.
Her anxiousness sparks something within Blanc. She quickly, but still carefully, starts off, "It sounds like I also was scared about being separated from you two."
"Yeah…" murmurs Ram with a stare that gets emptier the more she thinks about what Rom pointed out.
"W-well, it's a good thing that we'll still be together for a long time, and…" Abruptly cutting herself off, she anxiously swallows, hoping that she isn't going to mispeak. "I know I said that I wanted to be different from how I was before, but…I'm the same as before, so it really is like I never left or changed. Um…"
Snapping the two out of whatever contemplative trance they were in, they both sit up and shoot her a suspicious glare.
"No, wait! That's not what I meant! Uh…I mean…There are some things that I didn't like about myself like how I got mad a lot, but everything else is kind of the same, I think. No, wait, that's not…" She would look away if not for the fact that they're on both sides of her. All she can do is do her best not to blush so much.
They stare at her as she continues to fumble with her words. As annoyed as they are at her inability to complete her sentences, whatever she has in mind seems important enough to not interrupt her.
"...Okay, um, you know what C-sha said about me being the same as when I was born? That's…sort of what I'm trying to say! Mina talked about how a lot of bad things happened that changed me to the me you loved, but, even after everything that happened, it's still true that I love you two as your older sister. The past few days might have been really rough between us, but…" Not realizing that she had stopped tripping over her words, she takes a deep breath. "Reading this book helped me understand a lot about you two. I had a hard time understanding why you really wanted to change me back, but now I think you two are really nice and motivated to protect everyone you care about. In fact, that's one thing that I've been wanting to learn from you two."
Both of them stare a bit with wider than sleepy eyes. "Huh…?" murmurs Rom.
"You disliked me because of how scared I am to make decisions and stuff like that, and I don't like that, either. There are probably a bunch of things about my old self that were cool, too, so won't you two help me learn all of that stuff?" Despite still holding on to some tension, another deep breath eases her into a calm smile. "It might be bad to assume, but maybe we'll all be better than ever this way."
It seems that they might have gotten used to their "new" sister quicker than they had thought, given their silent surprise to another one of her now-uncharacteristic monologues. When she tops it all off with that look she's given them…"U-umm…" stutters Rom.
Her expression may seem mundane, but it all really does bring the both of them back. Back to during harder times, where Blanc, in between her valiant yet raging battles, would assure them the best in the same, exact tone with that same, exact smile. The kind of smile that confidently promised her best in whatever was at hand while asking nothing in return. Their stubborn and skeptical side can't even consider this as a coincidence. At this very moment, they are looking at the same exact Blanc they've spent many years with.
Ram's voice starts to get a little shaky. "You're… I…I don't know what I wanna say…"
"We love you, Blanc," Rom speaks up while scooching as close as she can towards her. "You're right. You're still our big sis that we'll always love."
"Huh? But what about…" Ram pauses before doing the same. "Yeah, you're still our big sis. It's just that…We already talked a lot about how this is all really sudden, so we didn't know what to do when you lost your memories. I didn't expect our Blanc to completely change, but we should be open to what you want to do." Ram's eyes widen a little. "That must've been what Noire was trying to tell us today!"
"Yeah…" In retrospect, Rom feels like she and Ram should've taken that into account much earlier.
"I don't know why, but we always thought that change was going to be bad. Like, I can't explain or remember why. I also can't remember why I thought something good wouldn't happen out of this and…and I guess I got so caught up with that that I didn't think about how you were similar…"
"That's alright. I think what matters now is that if we work together, nothing wrong can happen."
"Promise?"
She turns to face Rom upon hearing her, finding large piercing eyes locked on to her. Even though she's mostly confident in reassuring her, that stare is easily anxiety-inducing. Despite this, she has faith in herself to make this work out, and she pushes those doubts away. "...I promise." To seal the deal, she very slowly wraps her right arm around her shoulder in a side hug.
Just at the slightest touch, Rom leans over for a full hug, her smile brimming with glee.
"H-huh?" The sudden movement caused her to jump a little, but she does so again when Ram does the same from the other side, being a little rowdier than her sister.
"Hey, no fair!"
Being an older sister means she's going to need to start managing these two around, doesn't it? Though their warm embraces do make her feel all fuzzy inside, she asks them, "U-uh, let's calm down, you two, okay? We should be sleeping by now. Y-yeah…"
"I know, but…We're gonna have so much fun together! Isn't that right, Ram?"
"Yeah! That's one thing we definitely missed: having fun doing things we already did!"
"Mhm, but we can talk about that tomorr…" Blanc takes a long yawn; it's fairly late by now. "Could you turn off the light, Rom?"
"Okay-"
"But I'm not tired enough," interjects Ram.
"Yeah, me too."
"Maybe just one more page from the book?"
How do these two keep knocking themselves wide awake on the most random topics, just when they're about to fall asleep? "I could but…" Another yawn. "I'm getting really tired."
"Aw, okay." As Rom reaches for the switch on the lamp, she says, "Good night."
"Good night. I'll see you two tomorrow, okay?" replies Blanc.
"Mhm! Good night, sleep tight!" says Ram.
With the room going dark as Rom pulls the switch, Blanc lets herself fall backwards and nearly instantly falls asleep.
this took long enough that i initially called cubist heart "gray heart" until neptunia svs got announced
also, because im a degenerative weeb, i spent a non-negligible amount of time coming up with koumei's name, despite her not-so-important role and also the fact that i know absolutely no japanese, because i liked the idea that older cpus had names in a format more similar to ours
i took the same approach of japanese names that touhou does in the sense that the name is definitely not common but at least has some meaning (afaik koumei might be a slightly common name, but definitely not the kanji i came up with for it)
her name, koumei mushijitsu, is written as 虫実 虹溟
as "cubist sister," or the candidate to the cpu representing the n64, her surname is the same as her older sister, and its a combination of bug (虫) and reality (実), since the n64 was codenamed project reality
the bug part seems kind of generic to programming and games in general, but mushi (虫) can also be read as six-four (i think)
in her given name, 虹 means rainbow, and 溟 is a kanji for dark or ocean; as the candidate representing the game boy color, i think both are very fitting for pokemon gold and silver, which i think are flagship games for the console
anyways, who knows how long the next chapter gets cause i gotta start making the money and/or look at other forms of art, probably less time than how long this took
"Psst. Hey, Ram?"
"...Yeah?"
"Can you sleep?"
"Sorta. What, you can't sleep?"
"...It's just a bunch of scary things I can't stop thinking about."
"Really? What are they?"
"...Remember that one part from Blanc's weird story where she said she was worried about what'll happen when we get separated?"
"..."
"When we become CPUs, what's gonna happen to Blanc?"
"I guess she retires, or something, but it'll basically be the same as it is now, and she'll still be around to hang out with us. That's what I got from what Mina told us, anyway."
"...But…have you ever seen any retired CPUs before?"
"…Rom, what are you trying to say?"
"Is Blanc really gonna be with us…forever?"
"What? Of course she is."
"But what about-"
"I don't care about what happened to the last CPUs. We're too strong and awesome to let anything happen between us, right?"
"Heh, um, yeah-"
"And now that I think about it, Uzume was a retired CPU who was basically dead, right? We helped Neptune and Nepgear bring her back, and now she gets to hang around with us! Who says we can't do the same for Blanc if something goes wrong?"
"..."
"...Assuming that we mess up somehow, which we won't."
"...Yeah. I guess."
"...Come on, Rom. Don't worry about it. At least, go to sleep or something. You'll feel better, especially because there's so much stuff we can do tomorrow!"
"Yeah, you're right. I feel a little better now."
"Mhm! Just, uh, if you're having sad thoughts like that again, just hope for the best, or whatever Blanc would say right now if she wasn't such a heavy sleeper."
"Okay, I'll remember that. You always know how to cheer me up, Ram."
"Duh, 'cause I'm an awesome sister! Now, good night again."
"Good night."
"..."
"...Just hope for the best. Hope for the best…"
(-)
"We don't need to hope for the best; we all already know what's gonna happen, don't we?"
As the figure in front of her raises both of their hands to beckon the crowd in front of her and Blanc, they all let out a deafening cheer. Every single face in that mass is unrecognizable, yet what matters the most is the fervent energy and praise racing through every human that she can see.
The one riling up the crowd is what draws her attention the most. Standing by her own behind a podium and with her back facing Blanc, she sizes up to be only a few years older than her. Her primarily indigo and white CPU suit glows brightly, even under the midday sun. Her indigo hair, going down to a little under her shoulders with a blowout, sways calmly, even in the absence of wind. It's as if she expected Blanc, as well as everyone in front of them, to pay attention to her.
"You've probably heard your folks tell stories of how CPUs bit the dust in this dungeon, but, y'know, us two? We're a dynamic duo. We'll easily breeze through it, no sweat. We already math-ed out that all the usual monsters in there won't be a problem for us. Now, the big bad boss at the very bottom? That's also already a done deal. I'll bet we'll take it down in less than a minute!" Just as the crowd is about to cheer, she throws in, "You all wanna know how we can do something like that? Killing something that other goddesses wish they could even scratch? Well…" She uses an arm to beckon to Blanc, her back still facing towards her.
Almost as if she has no control over herself, she immediately pulls out a small , indigo handheld device. Its small screen shows a simple, unassuming map with a relatively minimal UI surrounding it.
"Our new game-changer that our Basilicom R&D just finished up!"
Almost immediately, they all delve into a frenzy, not that much different to how a crowd would react to a new game.
"Some of you are probably adventurers yourselves, so you all probably know how much of a pain in the neck managing your inventory and resources are, right? I mean, if we could just hoist a missile launcher into a dungeon, dragons would probably go extinct by next week, am I right?"
Almost as if on command, the crowd lets out a collective laugh.
"Hah hah, yeah. Well, actually, that's essentially what we're doing, 'cause this little number has a handy, yet portable teleportation feature! Using our own divine CPU power, we can bring out just about anything lying about in the Basilicom to us. That serpent turtle at the end of this cakewalk won't know what hit it when we smack it down with a magic cannon! Nah, not just that dinky little monster; Green Heart, Orange Heart, heck, not even Black Heart'll stand a chance once we whip this out for real! This whole dungeon expedition is just a test run of what's to come with this little device!"
Again, another fervent cheer.
"Now, my sister here, our own Indigo Sister; she's gonna be handling the device. You all probably haven't seen her often, but she's been a pretty capable Candidate. Keeping up with her training, keeping track of all her CPU duties, et cetera. Proud of her!"
Blanc probably should've expected it, but the people give her an extended ovation. Only now does she pay particular attention to how they clap their hands above their hands, how they blow whistles with their fingers, and even a little of how they smile.
"Yep, I really am. She's even got lots of potential with magic, just like I do. Who knows; she might just be what Lowee needs to just dominate the competition and crush the other goddesses!"
"The other goddesses…" Blanc mutters.
"The others…"
"C'mon, we gotta meet up with the others!"