Hello hello, and welcome back to my illustrious one-shot collection. This time I didn't take too long to write, whew! And hey! I think this one came out pretty adorable. Some of you might know, but my favorite of the candidates is actually... Ram! I love that adorable little shit, and I'm surprised I didn't think of this sooner! Never the less, I hope you all enjoy this cute little shot!

Synopsis: Ram has had enough of Nepgear and Uni's dumb asses, and it's time for her grand design to play out!

Ram pursed her lips as she blew her hair out of her face. She was known as a "pouty" girl or whatnot, but it didn't really bother her, even if a lot tended to. Perhaps she was too much like her older sister in that way. She often found it kinda funny how her and her own twin were like the two 'halves' of their beloved older sister. While Rom was how Blanc often acted soft-spoken, Ram was kinda like the loud (and super cool, if Ram had to say) Blanc.

Regardless, Ram stared forward at the latest source of her frustration. Her pout was likely barely even hidden, although it wasn't as though the annoyances, yes annoyances, plural, were even paying her any mind. Not that it bothered her, actually that was a lie, it really did bother her. Narrowing her eyes on the two annoyances in front of her, she glared at the back of their black and lilac hair.

"Awww you beat me again Uni…" Nepgear pouted as she flopped her arms, giving the girl next to her (awfully close, if Ram had to say) her best puppy dog eyes.

And just of course, Uni reacted in the way she always did, her usually flustered mess. Ram wasn't even sure she spoke words. And just, of course, that's all Nepgear would pay attention to. There was something about this situation that annoyed Ram to no end. Even more so than when Blanc would accidentally pay more attention to Rom than her. Those two dummies... they... they... they were ignoring her, and yet...

Didn't they see there was an absolutely hilarious, cute, and amazing girl on the other side of her? Besides, they were totally at Ram's house! This was bogus! Those two idiots were not allowed to come over to her house, when she invited them over and ignore her! Rom and Blanc went out for that totally lame whatever it was they were doing, something or whatever to do with books, that Ram couldn't care less about, and she had the absolutely brilliant idea to invite her friends over for the day, and…?

They were ignoring her!

All because those two lovey-dovey idiots couldn't stop beating around the bush as they had for… well as long as Ram had known them! Sure, Ram was actually the youngest goddess (that one kid that went to visit Neptune all the time notwithstanding), and sure, she was immature in many ways, even she was aware of that. But I mean c'mon. Literally, everyone knew about those two at this point.

Ram remembered the day she decided she needed answers, and while the two in question were not present at the moment (and even if they were, even Ram had enough tact to not ask them straight up to their faces) she made her way down to the room of the smartest person she knew. Gently knocking on the door, she awaited a response, which came nearly as quickly as she had knocked,

"Come in" the voice spoke as Ram had always known her to speak.

"Hey, Mina!" Ram enthusiastically entered the room of her favorite oracle/totally not mother figure. Hand in the air, she ran up to the desk where Mina was working on some extra documents for the day,

"Hello, Ram. What can I help you with?" She asked, with a smile, as she turned to face the long-haired brunette,

"Why are Nepgear and Uni such big dummies?" Never the one to mince words, Ram immediately asked the astute woman. If anyone would have the answer to that question, it would be her. After all, Ram couldn't think of any time she had ever asked the blue-haired woman a question that she could not answer. But, as Ram looked at her caretaker, she saw an all too familiar glare on her face as she responded,

"Ram! You shouldn't speak that way of your fellow goddesses. Would you like it if they called you a 'big dummy'?" Mina lectured the child, who only pouted,

"Well, they are big dummies! They keep focusing on each other! And not me! Nepgear always plays dumb, and, and Uni… she acts all embarrassed for no reason… like her older sister does when Nepgear's dummy older sister is around her!" Ram tried her best to explain it, it was difficult to put into words, but that was why she was here! She didn't know the answer, and she was sure Mina would! Those two were acting weird.

She felt like she knew those two well. Even if she could never tell them, because it was super embarrassing, she really did consider them to be great friends. And she could tell that they acted differently around one another, and it was starting to annoy her. Whenever she was with just one of them, Ram felt like they paid a lot more attention to her, and that they were a lot easier to be around. But put them together and they just paid attention to each other. After Ram's mini rant, Mina simply sighed as she tried to think of what she should say. Putting her hand on the most precious girl in all of gamindustri's forehead,

"Ram… Those two…" Mina was struggling with how she should explain it, without A. divulging too much personal information about the two, whom she wasn't even particularly close with, and B. Confusing, or not explaining enough for Ram's curiosity. "When you candidates are all together… Who's your favorite?" Mina tried her best, eventually deciding to ask the question, to which she already knew the answer,

"Well Rom, duh!" Ram responded, confused as to why Mina would ask such a stupid question. Obviously, Rom was the coolest, cutest, most amazing girl that wasn't Ram! Mina gave a soft smile as she worked her hands through Ram's hair, who did her best to show that she disliked the gesture (although she really didn't),

"Well. Those two, they like each other a lot" Mina explained, before quickly clarifying something, lest Ram got the wrong idea, "Not that they don't like you. I'm sure they do. But you know how you love your family?"

"Mhm! I love Rom, and Blanc, and you… when you're not being mean" Ram nodded, before feeling the need to clarify her last statement, as she quickly felt embarrassment crawl its way onto her features. Mina, who chuckled at the words, continued her explanation,

"Well, that's how Nepgear and Uni are. They just don't know it yet, or they feel embarrassed by it" Mina was fairly confident in her assessment of the two CPU candidates. She sure would regret this if she was wrong. But, when she was talking with Kei the other day, if even she noticed how the candidate under her care was acting, then she was pretty sure her assessment could be trusted,

"What? But those two aren't family? Are they dumb or something?" Ram seemed confused, so her friends really liked each other, so much so to the point it was comparable to the way Ram loved Rom, and they just didn't know it? Well, that was dumb. Those two were even dumber than Ram had initially thought. All the while, while Ram seriously pondered this, Mina couldn't help but chuckle at the raw innocence exhibited by the young girl in front of her.

"Oh, Ram… There are different kinds of love. I'm sure you will figure out the answers to all those questions in that head of yours at some point." Mina finished up, as she ended the conversation, and Ram pouted as she left the room, only mildly closer to figuring out why her friends were acting like such dummies.

Back in the present. As the trio started up another game on their mobile devices, Ram still kept her glare on the two, who still carried on as if their friend was not even there. Thinking it over, Ram considered any way she could garner any attention. Eventually, she realized if she simply won the game they were playing, a rousing game of Super Clash Brothers, she could force them to pay attention to her! And, I mean, c'mon, Super Clash Brothers was a loweean classic! As if Ram could lose! Especially if she pulled out her secret main, Pyoshi!

So, as Uni and Nepgear selected their characters, Synke and Sanic respectively, Ram prepared her ace up her sleeve, and like clockwork, she quickly won the match without even so much as losing a stock!

"Wow, nice job Ram"

"Man… when did you get so good, Ram?"

Uni, and then Nepgear spoke to the girl, who could only feel a self-satisfied grin form on her face. Well, until…

"Oh, man! We're out of snacks! I'll go grab some!" Uni soon exclaimed, and, Ram considered, that was fine enough. She wanted snacks, and if Uni wanted to grab some, that was fine. She could spend time with Nepgear, and she couldn't be ignored if it were only them! But…

"Oh! I'll go with you, Uni!" Nepgear soon stood up herself, "We'll be back in a bit, k?" She asked, rhetorically, before getting up, and leaving the room in tow with the black-haired tsundere, awfully close if Ram had to say.

Ram practically threw the comfortable bean bag she was sitting on, the pout on her face much too fierce for a girl her age.

"Those dummies! Idiots! Meanies! I hate them so much!" She raged, even if she knew she didn't believe the words that left her mouth. And for a moment, that's where she found herself, slinging insults at her friends with reckless abandon. Before, eventually, taking a few deep breaths, grabbing her bean bag from across the room, placing it back in its rightful location, before flopping onto it.

"Hmph… those two…" She pouted. Before considering. Drastic measures clearly had to be taken. With a devilish smile, Ram considered all the ways she could fix her current predicament.

Walking down the hallway, a bowl of snacks in each hand, Uni did her best to balance the delicate cargo she carried. Making her way back to the grand game room in Lowee's castle of a basilicom. Trying her best to ignore the girl beside her, while, admittedly, failing tremendously at this task. She really was hard to ignore. Her bright charisma made her the center of any group she was in, well, perhaps apart from her own sister. But, if Uni had to say, she preferred the younger of the Nepsisters. She could recall no less than 3 times she and Noire had gotten into borderline screaming matches late late at night on the very topic… of course, just as that thought entered her mind,

"Hey, Uni?"

"Gah! W-What!" Uni screamed out, being pulled out of her embarrassing thoughts.

"Oh… uh… I just wanted to say, uhh doesn't Ram look a little unhappy?" Nepgear pointed out. Even if the young brunette in question assumed that the lilac-haired girl did not see her extreme pouty face, she did. She was very astute, especially when it came to her friends.

"Hmm you think so?" Uni, however, really didn't notice, perhaps because she was on the opposite side of her, with Nepgear in between her and the pink goddess,

"I think she feels left out. I think we should do something for her" Nepgear offered, and Uni considered it for a moment, as they approached the door to the game room.

"Hmm sounds fine to me, but what?" Uni asked, tilting her head as she motioned for Nepgear to open the door,

"I don't know… I'll think of something" Nepgear passively offered as she did as she was instructed, and the two made their way into the room. Soon spotting the candidate their conversation revolved around, in the same spot she had been when they left, gently kicking her legs as she laid stomach first on her pink bean bag.

"We're back!" Nepgear exclaimed as she and Uni made their way to rejoin her. As they sat down at their respective bean bags, picking up their consoles, they soon heard their friend speak, mouth full of the snacks they had just grabbed,

"Mehhh I'm bored with Super Clash Bros…" She exclaimed flopping over onto her side, and Uni and Nepgear could only eye each other, they had only played 5 matches of that. Additionally, it had been Ram's idea in the first place. Eventually, they looked back at the youngest member, with Nepgear's earlier words in mind.

"Did you have an idea?" Nepgear asked, and she saw as Ram seemed to ponder the question for a moment, before sitting up, seemingly having an epiphany.

"Ooo! I remember this game me, Rom, Blanc, and Mina played once!" She exclaimed, a bright smile on her face,

"Oh? Is it on this console?" Uni asked, and soon Ram responded,

"Tsk tsk, not every game is a video game my dear friend" She waggled her finger for added effect, and as Uni rolled her eyes, Ram continued "This is a physical game, I think we keep it in the closet down the hall"

"Alright, wanna go grab it?" Uni asked as she stuffed her face with some snacks, Ram seemed to contort her face for a moment before she brought her index finger up, seemingly figuring something out,

"Well… I uh…" She said, poking her fingers together, "I'm not tall enough to grab it…" She explained, seeing her friends both chuckle, she soon felt a rosy hue form on her face, "Hey! Not everyone can be tall! Ok! So… just grab it for me, you dummies!" She yelled out, and through their continued chuckles, both Uni and Nepgear stood up, as they let Ram lead the way down the hall, eventually spotting the closet in question.

Opening up the door, Ram gestured for the two to enter the closet. As they did, they both looked around the humble room to see… It was without a shelf. Everything in this closet was on the ground. Furthermore, this closet looked to be a storage closet, full of cleaning supplies. With a puzzled look, both adolescents turned around, to see the door closed behind them. Looking at each other for a moment, Nepgear spoke for the duo.

"Hey, Ram? I think you might have the wrong closet, there isn't anything but cleaning supplies in here!" She explained, and she couldn't help but notice a slight light behind the door and hear a slight buzzing behind the door. It was as if… it was as if Ram was using a spell. "Ram?" She asked again,

"Hue hue" Ram mischievously laughed as she spoke to her friends, who had beautifully fallen into her ingenious trap! As soon as her unsuspecting friends had entered the room, she quickly shut the door behind them, using her magic, she sealed the room close with an ice barrier. It was genius! Of course, this wasn't the first time she had pulled a trick like this. One time, when Blanc wouldn't give her a treat she wanted, she pulled a similar stunt, and, well, Blanc simply used her hammer to break down the frozen door and give Ram a thorough punishment.

But. Ram was better now. Her seal was even better than it was back then. And the two inside had not half the strength of Ram's berserker older sister.

"You dummies fell right into my trap!" Ram spoke like a Machiavellian villain in one of the shows she had watched. "You hear me. You're trapped!"

"What are you talking about!" Uni yelled out in frustration, as she tried to open the door, finding the task to be impossible with the ice sealing them in. "Ram! What the hell! Let us out!" She pounded on the door, but Ram only laughed once more,

"You dummies had your chance! I am a villain of your own creation! Muhahaha!"

"Ram? Why are you doing this?" Nepgear tried her best to be as tactful as possible, as compared to her co-prisoner

"You dummies wanted to be sappy losers and do nothing but pay attention to each other! So now, that's all you can do! Muhahaha!" Ram once more gave her best villainous laugh, and she could hear a sigh behind the barrier that now separated her from her friends,

"Look… Ram… we're sorry… Right, Uni?" Nepgear explained, and Uni soon voiced her agreement with the words. But to the evil mastermind, this was simply not enough,

"Tsk tsk tsk I'm afraid that won't be enough!" She exclaimed, before clarifying her statement, "You two dummies aren't allowed out until you stop being massive losers and stop beating around the bush and finally get together!" Ram offered her demands, and she heard a gasp behind the door,

"R-Ram! W-w-what are you talking about!" Uni yelled, with Nepgear soon offering a similar cry, with Ram only glaring at them from behind the barrier, even if this act was invisible to the prisoner,

"You know exactly what I mean! You two dummies are so caught up in your own sappy loserness that you ignore the cutest, smartest, most brilliant girl in all of gamindustri!" Ram proclaimed, and as her decree hung in the air, a few minutes would pass, before Nepgear spoke once again,

"Ram… we really do feel bad about that, c'mon let us out" She pleaded, but to no avail,

"Hmph, you shoulda thought of that before, now unless I hear smoochie noises or whatever the heck it is you two want to do, but are too dumb to do, then you're staying!" Ram yelled, and Nepgear and Uni could only sink back in embarrassed silence, unable to even look at one another.

After who knew how long of sitting in silence, Nepgear could feel the silence starting to eat at her. What they had done to Ram was rude, she knew that much, and if she would go this far, just so they would pay attention to her, Nepgear figured she had earned it. With a sigh, she looked over at the other girl close to her in the confined space, with a gap still between them.

As she looked, she thought, and she thought. About everything. Had she really lost track of her friends around her? At this point, she had been trying for what felt like years at this point to try and judge anything from the tsundere next to her. She didn't want to say something corny like it was 'love at first sight' but goddess darn it if it wasn't damn near that. There weren't enough adjectives in the language to describe everything she thought about her. Brave, cool, cute, funny, graceful, the list went on and on.

Yet… it was so difficult. Every time she thought she knew what the red eyed beauty from Lastation thought of her… it would fade. Every compliment followed by a backtrack. Every moment she felt she was finally getting close to her, she immediately felt she was at the beginning again. Her frustration only grew as she tried everything she could think of. And yet…? She appeared no closer than at the very start.

Hugging her legs to her chest, Nepgear felt ashamed of herself, that she would treat her friend like that.

Meanwhile, as Uni felt the silence eat at her own sanity, the air around her cooled due to the lack of ventilation, and the ice used to seal them in. Her earlier anger only faded into embarrassment. Was she really that easy to read? Had even Ram seen right through her? That Ram? The least tactful person she knew bar, Neptune? She had seen it? For how long? From the beginning?

With a sigh, she considered it. If she was really that easy to read, didn't that mean that Nepgear herself saw how in love she was with her? If she did… would that be why she didn't do anything about it? Thinking it over, it really made sense. Nepgear knew full well… she just didn't want to be rude, she didn't want to hurt a friend, who she cares about.

Just not in the way that Uni dreamt she did. Really that sounded just like her.

As the air got colder and colder, Uni felt her mind get colder and colder still. She just needed to accept it. She would probably be happier that way, even if she could never love Nepgear, she could at least still be her friend, right? That should be enough.

Yet. If even for one moment, a singular moment. She wanted to grasp what she always wanted. As the air chilled more and more, she felt herself shivering as she curled herself into a ball.

"H-hey Nepgear?" She softly spoke, breaking the silence,

"Y-yea?" Nepgear, also shivering by this point, looked over, only to feel Uni wrap her arms around her, "O-oh…"
"It's just so cold…" She pointed out. Yet, it really was a lie, she could manage the cold, she had dealt with worse. Feeling Nepgear soften into the embrace, Uni felt herself relax slightly. Looking ahead, she could feel it in her mind, a selfish twinge, this might be the only opportunity she would ever be afforded to know what it would be like. It was selfish of her, she knew that. But. With the situation as it was, perhaps she could use this…

"We need to get out of here…" She pointed out, seeing Nepgear nod for a moment, gulping. Uni felt something take over, some type of boldness she didn't even know she had in her, leaning forward, she planted her lips firmly on Nepgear's mouth. Feeling the girl startle back before accepting the moment. But only for a moment, before Uni quickly backed away, turning her back to her fellow candidate.

"I knew it…" Uni softly spoke, tears already filling her eyes,

"Uni…?" Nepgear didn't know what to think anymore, Uni had… kissed her? But, given the situation, it may very well have been an attempt to free them from their icy prison. "Uni?" She asked again, as she saw the girl in front of her sob quietly,

"I knew it wouldn't be enough…" She said, as she rubbed her eyes, ceasing her pointless crying, looking up to the ceiling reflectively, "I'm really selfish, aren't I?" She asked, rhetorically, and Nepgear could only look on more confused,

"Uni? What do you mean?" She asked as she scooted closer to her,

"Nepgear… Ram was right. I-" Uni looked down as she knew the next words she would say would break her heart, "I love you. Even she could see right through me. There's no way you didn't, right? You're just being nice… not trying to break my heart… I get it, I- I just-" Uni no longer heard the words leaving her mouth, as they were soon silenced by Nepgear returning the assault from earlier in kind. Pressing her mouth onto the smaller girls, and there they stayed, connected, for longer than they even knew,

Eventually Nepgear withdrew her face, as she soon wrapped her arms around her, "I can't believe how silly we are…" Nepgear somehow managed to laugh. "All this time I was trying to figure out if you loved me too, and apparently it was so obvious Ram could see it, yet I couldn't" At that point Uni joined in, as the two laughed about how ridiculous their situation had become. After who knew how long, the two stopped their fits of laughter, as Uni buried her face into Nepgear's shoulder, with barely hidden embarrassment, she spoke again,

"D-do y-you think we can well I can we do that… uh" Fumbling with her words, Nepgear cover her mouth with her hand as she softly chuckled, before speaking,

"Of course, silly," she said before she once more planted her lips on her new partner. And for a moment. In a single broom closet in Lowee's basilicom. All had become perfect in the world.

But. As you all know. All things must return to neutral.

"M-miss Nepgear? W-what are you d-doing in our closet?" Immediately the duo in the closet felt panic like nothing they had ever experienced in their entire life, as they practically jumped apart. The soft voice of Lowee's older twin coming from the door,

"Rom!?" Nepgear practically yelled, and, if only so the universe could laugh at our poor star-crossed lovers, they could not mistake the form of Lowee's patron CPU.

Many, many, many, many hours of desperate explanation later, Uni and Nepgear would eventually explain what had transpired to Blanc. Who eventually took their word, when she eventually coerced a confession from the guilty party.

And so that's where Ram found herself. Locked in her room. 4 days into her mandatory 7-day grounding. Pouting, she couldn't help but think about how all this was Nepgear and Uni's fault!

"If those dummies just fixed their own problems, I wouldn't be here!" She grumbled. At some point in her seemingly endless punishment, she heard a knock at her door. With a scrunched face, she let whoever it was let themself in, only turning around when she heard the voice, no not her twin, or her older sister, or the maid Financier. No.

"Ram?"

Whipping her head around, she saw the very single D-clip adorned goddess who was responsible for her entrapment at her door, with a pout she made an effort to turn her head away, "What do you want?" She asked, and eventually, the guest responded,

"Can I come in?" She gently asked, and Ram scoffed for a moment,

"I suppose" she acted tough, but really she needed company. Any company would do, slowly, Nepgear made her way over to the bed, thinking over her words carefully,

"Ram? Why did you do that?" She gently asked, and Ram looked at her, rolling her eyes she responded,

"I told you, you two dummies were ignoring me, and-"

"That's not it, is it?" Nepgear, in a rare move for her, cut off her friend,

"W-what? I said I-" Ram was once more cut off, yet, unlike most times when people would cut her off, she wasn't particularly angry,

"If it were like that. You probably would have just yelled at us…" Ram gulped as her eyes widened, "You… you did that for us… so we could be happy, right?" Nepgear asked, and Ram could feel herself gulp once more, as she considered it for a moment. The whole time, she could feel herself more annoyed than she usually would have been, and really. Nepgear was right, if they had just been ignoring her, she probably would have just yelled at them. So, was that really it? Did she really do all that for those dummies? Suffer this imprisonment at the hands of her older sister, just for those dummies!

"...well, are you dummies at least happy now?" Ram asked, quietly, facing her friend, looking into her eyes, seeing a soft kindness written on her face,

"Yes. We're very happy Ram. Thank you so much. You are a great friend, Uni probably won't tell you, but I know she feels the same. I promise we won't ignore you again" Nepgear brought her friend into a hug, as she wrapped her arms around the young adolescent. And Ram couldn't help but smile, as she reciprocated the gesture.

Maybe those dummies were worth her imprisonment…

Popular chapter last time? I see I have a few reviews to get to, so I'll get to it.

BlueAbyssHax- I tend to agree with you. Most interpretations of Nep are of the overly silly, and stupid variety, which is perfectly fine, and I've certainly done it myself. But I think too often people confuse Nep for being incompetent, instead of lazy. To which I like to refer to chapter 7 of the 'Hello New World' manga, wherein, upon thinking she will shortly die, Nep decides in her last days, she doesn't want Histy worrying about her, and decides to actually work. And she becomes the shining example of what a good goddess should be lol.

Gigarot- That really is an interesting way of analyzing the goddesses, one I never really considered for myself, like I said in the above review, I always considered Nep to be just lazy, not actually bad at her job, and the reason I thought that she would do that, is that all she wants in life is to have a casual everyday life, as is revealed in the dream sequence in Megadimension. As for the second part... yea, unfortunately I tend to agree with you. I like to leave a lot of my endings pretty open, for a bit of interpretation, and perhaps to write sequels, but with that one. I just sat there for like 15 mins and couldn't think of a better way to end it, I even considered doing what you had suggested, but I had established earlier that the groups had gone in opposite directions, so i scrapped it.

end5- Thank you very much, I do to enjoy Nep reminding people she is capable.

Tony Anderson- thank you thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed that Nep! that's what I would consider how I would analyze the character of Nep in a serious manner.