Chapter 16: Café Hangout
It was a quiet day for Histoire. For the past week, every day was quiet for Histoire. But only because she couldn't face anyone else right now.
She couldn't get what happened at Lastation's founding ball out of her head. That she had... hurt Venus. Made her feel... insufficient as a person.
Granted, it was not only Histoire's fault, the other CPUs had played their parts in bringing her down. But she was only trying to teach her.
Venus was a goddess. One day, she'll have to lead the people of Planeptune, and Histoire didn't want her to be like how Neptune used to be: Lazing around and not serving the people as she should. It already didn't help that she wasn't born with the basic knowledge that other goddesses were born with, like reading and math. Even Neptune was born with that.
But that one thing she said... how she just wanted to be herself. Histoire... even she couldn't disagree. Even goddesses need to figure out who they are to know how to lead their people. But... Venus, such a young Candidate. This was the time that she had to learn who she was, but instead, she was taught to believe she was nothing more than a substitute.
Histoire must've pushed her too hard, making Venus think she was incapable. How could she be so stupid!? How was she going to fix this? She didn't want to tie Venus down, and limit her growth. She deserved to figure out who she was. But she also needed to learn, to become a leader...
Histoire shook her head. Venus just needed some time. Maybe take things more slowly...
But Histoire felt it took too long to teach Neptune, and she had something to start with. And of course, Neptune still ended up being a lazy CPU. It took the unfortunate disappearance of her sister, something Histoire never even wanted, to change that. Nepgear learned quicker, but even then, she was always distracted by some robot or another piece of tech...
And that's when she realized it... Histoire was afraid. Afraid that what happened to Nepgear... could happen to Venus. Or Neptune, even. That Planeptune could be left leaderless.
...But she never considered how they felt, did she?
Well, she tried to help Neptune, after she was left alone, but she never REALLY tried. Noire was the one doing that. And she completely ignored how Venus felt, until she pushed the tome away in frustration and anger.
The signs were there. How Venus didn't want to visit Lowee a second time. What happened in Leanbox. And Histoire never once thought to talk to Venus about it. She merely told her that she was expected to get over it, because she was a goddess.
And that Venus should be more like the person that she felt everyone was comparing her to. That she felt she had to be, but couldn't.
It was a miracle, honestly, that Noire was always there to help comfort the new Planeptune Candidate, and that Uni made up with her. That Lastation was the one nation, outside of Planeptune, that didn't make Venus feel worthless.
Voices were heard outside. Seemed like Neptune and Venus were up.
A week ago, Histoire arrived from the ball long after Neptune and Venus returned. And she found the two sisters asleep on the couch, snuggling with each other. She noticed tear stains on Neptune's face, but both had soft smiles on their faces. Histoire knew it was best not to disturb them.
The following day, and every day since as the week went on, Neptune seemed... happier. She kept working, but now she wouldn't get up so early, sleeping in like she used to, but not at long as before, only for an hour or two. She would also start taking regular breaks, mostly to hang out with Venus. She wasn't getting as much work done, but what she did do was done in a timely manner, and she got enough done to still be productive. This was more of the balance Histoire wanted...
But on top of that, Neptune was starting to smile more, even when working. And as mentioned, she was spending more time with her sister, playing games, trying on some different outfits. One day, they even spent the whole day questing with IF, Compa, and other Guild members (despite the risk of the robots attacking, though it didn't sound like anything bad happened).
Well, Neptune was happy most of the time. There were those times... at least once each day... it mostly happened at night, but it also happened twice while Neptune was working... but Neptune would leave her room or office, walk straight to Venus's room, knock, and be let in. After this, Histoire would hear loud sobbing from the room whenever she passed by.
She was happy that Neptune was starting to feel better, but she did want to know what was making her so upset that she'd go to Venus for comfort. It couldn't be Nepgear, could it?
At least she was healing now...
And after a week of this, Histoire wished she could bring herself to talk to them. Outside of work, she hadn't spoken with Neptune, much less Venus. She hadn't talked to them about what happened in Lastation. She... didn't know how to bring it up.
Listening outside, she wondered what the sisters were talking about now. Maybe something fun to do, a nice bonding activity...
Then she heard a knock on her office door.
"Come in," Histoire called out.
And in came Neptune.
"Hey, Histy, I was wondering if you've reviewed the documents on that one proposal?" the purplette asked. "Uh, what was it again...?" she scratched her head. She may be working more, but she still wasn't always the brightest.
"Um, Neptune, your working right now?" Histoire replied.
"What, of course I am!" Neptune said, offended. "What'd you think I'd be doing!?"
"Sorry, sorry, I just... thought you were talking with Venus. I just heard you outside. As in, just now."
"Huh? Oh, that wasn't me," Neptune explained. "Uni's hanging out with my sis."
"Uni? She's here?"
"Yeah, of course. She said that Noire would be late today, but she wanted to come as soon as she could."
"Oh, I see." Histoire forgot, Noire comes around to see Neptune every week. The events at her nation's founding ball likely wouldn't have changed that. But Uni...? Maybe she shouldn't be so surprised, Uni really did seem like she wanted to help mend things with Venus. Continuing, Histoire said, "I bet Noire would love to see how much better you've been over the week."
"What do you mean?" Neptune replied.
"You've just... looked so much happier after you came back."
"Um... yeah. Venus has been helping me get over my... sad thoughts. And bad dreams."
Histoire considered what Neptune had been doing in going to see her sister at night. "I see... she has been a really good sister to you, hasn't she?"
"Yeah, she has. That's why she's here after all. To help us feel better."
Histoire raised an eyebrow. She hadn't heard this opinion about the new Candidate before. But before she could ask, Neptune said something else.
"Oh! I'll be finishing up work early today. Uni said that when Noire gets here, she wanted to take us someplace. I don't know where yet," Neptune said. "Also, IF and Compa are supposed to join us, according to Uni."
"That's okay. We're close to the quota we need to meet for the bi-weekly period, and you need to take a few more breaks. A day off will be nice for you."
"Oh, thanks, Histy!" And Neptune left. Seems she forgot about the proposal she came to ask about.
But Histoire put that aside for now. Venus and Uni... She just... needed to see what those two were up to.
Heading out to the main room, the tome found the two Candidates playing... a broad game? At first, she thought it was chess, but she noticed other pieces on the board.
"Uh-um... hello," Histoire stumbled in her greeting.
"Huh? Oh... hey, Histoire," Uni replied.
Venus looked up, and said, "Hi! Uh... good morning."
Of course... Uni probably didn't want to talk to her, after what was revealed a week ago. And Venus was being friendly, but that was probably just the person she was.
Still, she was only here to satisfy her curiosity about what the pair was doing. She just didn't know how to bring up what happened, or how she treated Venus.
"So, may I ask what you to are doing?" Histoire asked, trying not to sound too authoritative (not that it was the reason she was here in the first place).
"And why would you like to know?" Uni replied.
Histoire sighed. Seemed like she was going to have to bring it up after all. "Listen, I know you don't have much reason to... trust me, after my treatment of your friend. But honestly, I feel so bad about it, and I just want the best for Venus."
Uni turned to Venus, who just had a blank expression. "So, what do you think?" she asked.
"Um, I'm having fun!" Venus exclaimed. Then she nervously followed with, "...And I don't want Histoire to ruin it."
Histoire and Uni could read between the lines, knowing that Venus was too simple-minded to explain how deep the problem was. But Uni just took a deep breath.
"Okay, look, I just want to do right by Venus," Uni replied. "Until a week ago, I hadn't treated her fairly. I'm sure you want something similar, and I don't have a problem with that, if you want to fix things, too. But my sister... she's been ranting about you all week. I'd imagine, once she got here, that she wouldn't want to talk to you."
"I... understand," Histoire replied. "She, and you, have every right to be mad at me."
"As long as we are on the same page. But, at least something my sister said about you gave me this idea." And Uni waved her hand over the board.
"We're playing a math game!" Venus exclaimed.
"A math game?" Histoire replied.
"In Noire's ramblings, she mentioned you tried to teach Venus... the basics. And... well, I think we both know how well that went," Uni said. "So... I wasn't planning to help there, but I just couldn't stop thinking about it, so I thought, maybe I could make it fun."
"W-w-well I tried using some of Venus's favorite things to... help visualize..." Histoire stumbled, which got her thinking about Venus's "collection". She was just a bit scared about bit it might have gotten.
"'Vizualize', huh," Uni responded. "You know, I might not be the best example, as I responded to my school pretty well, but I can tell you, if Noire used bullets and the targets I shot to try to teach me math, it wouldn't change how interesting it is. It's just a proxie, and doesn't mean much."
"I'm sure you still have to use math to count the targets you hit, though."
"I do. But it's just... whatever to me." Then Uni pointed to the game board and table, covered in various chess and checkers pieces. "But this... is a game. And you know that every Planeptune CPU LOVES their games."
"Yep!" Venus agreed.
"...I can't disagree," Histoire replied, knowing how much Neptune enjoyed playing games. "So, how does this work?"
Uni went on to explain the rules, how each piece had a different number assigned to it, the king counting as the highest with a value of 10, and a checkers piece counting as 0. Uni would place down a certain number of her pieces to challenge Venus, and Venus would have to set down an equal amount of pieces, and their combined value would have to be higher than Uni's. After that, you had to put those chess pieces aside, and couldn't use them again, but this didn't apply to checkers pieces. On top of that, every round you win, you'd earn three new checkers pieces, and you could trade one checkers pieces to regain a chess piece.
"So it's an addition game," Histoire said.
"Yeah. It took me an hour to explain it to her," Uni said. "But she's enjoying it."
"I've won two games!" Venus said proudly.
"That's great," Histoire replied.
"Yeah, but I've won seven," Uni whispered to the tome. "And I'm on a four-win streak. It's a work in progress. I'm just wondering how to make a game out of subtraction next, plus reading and writing. That's important."
"Well, good luck. Her writing is rather atrocious," Histoire told her.
"I didn't think she even knew how to write yet," Uni said. "But that's good to know, something to work with. You know... if Blanc was willing to play nice, she could help with that."
Histoire looked away. Uni was right, and the tome had no idea how to improve the White CPU's opinion of the young Candidate.
Then they heard, in an unfriendly tone, "Histoire."
Everyone turned. Noire had arrived.
"Oh, Noire. Good to see you. Your sister came up with this game to play with Venus," Histoire said. "You should hear about-"
"I already know," Noire replied. Uni was right, she clearly didn't want to talk to Histoire right now. "Is Neptune ready?"
"She was finishing up some last-minute paperwork, but she said she'd be ready when you arrived," Uni said.
"Okay. Sorry I was late, but this massive project in Lastation needed my immediate attention, and it couldn't wait," Noire replied, ignoring Histoire.
"It's okay, I've kept Venus entertained."
"I'll... go get Neptune," Histoire said, before leaving.
Uni stared as the tome left. "You know, Histoire-"
"I know I need to talk things out with her," Noire interjected. "But I'm just so mad at her right now! It just isn't a good time. I'll talk to her when I'm good and ready." She then turned to Venus. "How are you doing?"
"Oh, great. Me and Neptune have hung every day!"
"That's great! And no one hasn't caused you any trouble?"
"No... I've just been helping Neptune feel better."
The Lastation sisters looked at each other. "Has she told you anything about this?" Noire asked.
"I've only been here for a few hours," Uni said. "I didn't think to ask. I just... I feel I should get to know Venus better, so I wasn't concerned about Neptune."
"Right... okay, I guess leave Neptune to me," Noire sighed.
"You really like big sis, huh, Nora?" Venus chimed in.
"W-w-wait, what!?" Noire replied in shock. "What are you saying?"
"You said you want to make Neptune feel better. So you must like her, right?"
"W-well, I, uh-"
"Like how Uni likes me."
Uni quickly turned and raised an eyebrow. "...What are you talking about?"
"I mean, we're friends, right?" Venus replied
"Oh. Yeah, of course!"
Noire sighed. She knew that both she and Uni must've thought Venus was talking about something else... That would've been awkward.
Noire looked up to her sister with an awkward smile, trying to establish how they misread the situation, but Uni seemed to be in a moment of thought, and then when she noticed her sister, she returned an almost insistent look.
This confused Noire, but then it clicked, what Uni was trying to silently tell her.
"Well... yes, me and your sister are good friends, Venus," Noire replied. "The best of friends!"
"Aw, thanks," a voice said, as Neptune walked into the room.
"Oh, Neptune!" Noire freaked out. "H-hi!"
"Hey. So are we ready to go?"
"Yeah!" Venus got up excitedly.
"I guess we'll have to pick this up later," Uni said as she got up, and offered her hand to Venus. "Good game."
"Oh, uh, yeah!" Venus replied as she shook Uni's hand.
"So, do you know where we're going?" Neptune asked.
"Noire hasn't told me yet," Uni said.
"Oh, it's someplace here in Planeptune," Noire exclaimed. "A very popular place!"
"Someplace here in Planeptune?" Neptune inquired. "Coming from the goddess of Lastation?"
"Oh, just come on. You'll see when we get there."
Noire had led her fellow goddesses to a café. Neptune knew her nation very well, because of course she did, it was her nation. But she had never really this place.
As Uni promised, IF and Compa were waiting for the group.
"Nep, Ve, good to see you out here!" IF called out.
"Nep-Nep!" Compa cried, as she ran up to glomp Neptune.
"Geeze, d-didn't I just see you the other day?" Neptune sputtered out.
"Yeah, but we haven't had a casual hang out in so long!"
"Hey, Uni, I heard about what happened in Lastation," IF said. "I hope you've started making things up with Venus."
"Yeah, I have. Still, I feel bad that I just... let my judgment get that clouded," Uni replied shamefully.
"Well, I can tell you're doing better. You and Venus seem like good friends. If only the others can do that," Noire exclaimed. "Hindering Venus's growth like that, and they won't even apologize."
Though looking over, Venus didn't seem concerned at the moment, just taking in the new location.
"We should head inside," Neptune said after pushing away from Compa. Everyone agreed and in they went.
Only a few seconds after coming in, a waitress looked and saw the group. Instantly, she smiled and shouted, "miss Neptune! You're finally here! And you brought your sister!"
Before Neptune could react, the waitress turned to the back, calling out, "our goddesses are here! Both of them!", followed by cheering from the rest of the staff, and even a few of the patrons. The waitress then quickly guided the group to an open table, which conveniently was by an open window, providing a nice view. Then she left to get some menus.
"Geeze, all of this attention for a café," Neptune remarked. She knew that her people loved her. Sure, she used to be a lazy goddess, and always had low Shares, but she always got along well with her people. But this was bit much! "It's like they were expecting us."
"Well... they were," IF replied. "I think you underestimate just how much you people care for you."
"They do?" Venus asked, also feeling a bit overwhelmed.
"I would hope so!" Uni replied. "They're your people."
"Neptune," Noire spoke up, trying to sound calm. "You've been holed up in your Basilicom for over a year. Your people knew you were grieving, but after a while, they just wanted you to be happy again, for you to know that you're loved. That's how this café was founded."
The waitress came back, back everyone the small café menus. Neptune took a quick look, and noticed, "this place mostly serves pudding!"
"You're favorite, right?" Noire responded.
"Yeah..."
"And the regular for you, miss Noire?"
"Sure," the black CPU replied.
As the waitress left, Neptune asked, "the 'regular'? Again, you, the CPU of Lastation, are a regular of this little place in Planeptune?"
"Well, yeah. I mean, since I'm not the goddess of this nation, most of the people don't recognize me in my human form, which is kind of surprising, but makes sense. If someone does recognize me, I just politely say that sometimes, I like to eat outside of my nation."
Neptune understood that, but she wasn't fully convinced.
"Look, Neptune, they made this place for you. They primarily make your favorite food, in an attempt to bring you out, and make you feel better. This is all about honoring the goddesses of Planeptune." And then Noire motioned over to the wall above the main counter, something that Neptune had so far missed.
By the menu, was an artist's representation of the CPUs of Planeptune. Neptune, Venus, ...and Nepgear.
"Nepgear..." Neptune sounded.
Venus looked over too, and said, "that's sis-gear?"
"The third purpled-haired girl, yes. Is this the first time you've seen her?" Uni asked.
Venus nodded.
"At first, I thought it was a bit distasteful, to put Nepgear up there," Noire said. "But now I realize they're just honoring her, and all of their CPUs."
"Maybe it would be better if it was just more than just us sisters, and they included other Planeptune CPUs," Neptune noted. "Like Uzume. Or maybe Uranus. Though I've never seen what she looked like."
"Well, perhaps they could've. Who knows?"
"But doesn't it make you wish... that this was reality," Uni said. "That they were ALL here." Noire could sense that she wanted this for more than just having all of the Planeptune sisters together.
Neptune looked down, silent. Then she softly said, "You came here because of me, didn't you?"
"What was that, Neptune?" Noire asked.
"You came over so often," Neptune continued, speaking up a bit more. "You were there to try to cheer me up, but instead I pushed you away. I tried not to talk to you. So when you failed, you came here, didn't you?"
Noire look at her with a bit of sadness, and nodded. "Yeah..."
"I'm sorry... I'm sorry I pushed you away, Noire. You're my friend, and I... I just..." Neptune started to tear up.
"Hey, hey, it's okay. You're better now, right?"
"Yeah..." Neptune looked down at the menu. "You know, I actually haven't had pudding in a long time."
"What!? But you love pudding!" Compa cried out.
"When was the last time you had pudding?" IF asked.
"Not since before Nepgear..." and Neptune trailed off.
"Not a drop since?" IF asked.
"I mean, I think the only thing Neptune loves more than pudding was her sister," Uni chimed in. "It probably didn't seem right."
"I... yeah, I'd understand that," IF replied. "But that changes today. And I think I know what you should try." And IF had Neptune flip her menu over, and pointed out one entry.
"Egg pudding in a sugar cookie crust in a small cup?" Neptune read out. Specifically, it was a large sugar cookie, shoved into a cup, acting like a pie crust, with egg pudding plopped in upside-down.
"I know it isn't public information yet, but I think someone may have tipped this place off that the new Candidate has her own taste in sweets," IF slyly said.
Indeed, Venus seemed very excited at the idea of a special cookie dessert. In fact, with the combination of both of their respective favorite foods, the Planeptune sisters had glistening, starry eyes, and drool coming from their mouths.
"Well, I think we know what they want. Let's make our orders," IF said, almost proud.
Once their orders were made, the conversation continued, starting with Noire. "So... how have you and Venus been since last week?"
"Oh, great. In fact, we've never been closer," Neptune replied.
"Really. I'm glad to hear it!"
"Yeah, I make sure Neptune doesn't have to feel sad anymore," Venus added.
After getting some quizzical looks from the other girls, Neptune explained the conditions of her opening up to her sister.
"So, you've been holding back all these emotions, but now Venus is helping you vent them out," IF summed up. "Still, I know you've been pushing everyone away, but you've really just been bottling everything up this whole time. That sounds like a recipe for disaster."
"I guess we should be glad that Ve-Ve was there to help Nep-Nep not blow up in a bad way," Compa added.
"So, does that mean I've been a good doggy?" Venus asked.
"U-uh, sure..." Compa replied, with a sweat drop.
Uni, a bit gobsmacked, leaned over to Neptune to whisper, "Does Venus really think she's a...?"
"Kind of," The Planeptune goddess replied, "only with Compa, really."
"Weird... but alright, I guess."
Noire spoke up, saying, "well, I could see the signs, but I didn't think it was this bad, Neptune."
"I... I'm sorry," Neptune replied.
"It's okay. I tried so hard to get you to open up again. But I suppose it wasn't me who needed to do it." And Noire turned to Venus. "Make sure to keep helping Neptune heal."
"Yes! I will, Nora!" Venus exclaimed.
Uni back and forth at everyone, and made a realization. "You know, with my sister trying to help Neptune open back up, and Neptune just trying to hold everything back, it's kind of like... they've switched roles."
IF snicked at this. "So what you're saying is... is that Neptune's become a tsundere."
Noire wanted to argue against what this implied she was (or used to be, under Uni's theory), but Neptune spoke up first. "What!? I'm not a tsundere!"
"Quickly denying the accusation, just like a tsundere," IF teased.
"Well, I... I'm not one okay!"
Venus tilted her head in confusion. "Um, what's a... soon-dairy?"
Neptune blinked, and then snickered. "Okay, that's good."
IF sighed. "A tsundere is someone who tries to hide their emotions out of embarrassment, and attempts to deny any accusations of something they can't handle, including that they might like someone or something. This usually makes them come off as cold and distant, or at least very closed off from everyone."
Venus turned to Neptune, thought about it, and said, "yeah, big sis is a tsundere."
"Hey, I wasn't trying to deny how I felt. I'm not a tsundere!"
Everyone laughed at Neptune, save for the Lastation goddesses, due to their very tsundere tendencies that they didn't want to admit to.
Finally, everyone's food and drinks came, and Neptune and Venus wasted no time in digging in.
"Oh, so good," Neptune said with a full mouth. "This is the best pudding I've ever had!"
"Maybe you just don't remember the taste as well," IF said. "Compa's is still a tad bit better."
"Or every new pudding is the best to Neptune when she tries it," Uni joked.
Venus was trying to get in as much pudding and sugar cookie in her mouth with each bite. And she was getting a bit messy.
"Hey, slow down," Uni told her new friend, "You're getting pudding and crumbs all over you."
Noire smiled, happy to see her sister getting along better with Venus. Though she did want to know a bit more about the Planeptune sister's relationship. "So, Neptune, I'm glad that Venus is helping you work things out. And I hope the same is true the other way around?"
"Yeah. Venus and I have been hanging out a bit more," Neptune replied.
"Compa and I joined them for questing with some other Guild members just the other day," IF noted.
"Oh," Noire sounded. "And... did you find anything... interesting?"
IF quickly picked up onto what Noire was doing: Indirectly asking about the robots stalking Venus. She wasn't aware whether or not Noire knew that Histoire tasked her with looking into it, but she did know that it was because of Noire that the Lastation Defense Force was assisting with the investigation.
However... strangely, there were no sightings of any strange tech on their day questing.
"No, not really..." IF answered.
"There was a really big Dogoo!" Venus exclaimed.
"Well, there was that," IF said. "...It's always got to be the Dogoos."
"...At least it wasn't a Dogoo Man," Noire noted. "I know they mostly work for S-Sha, but I had to fight one once... It was bizarre."
"Dogoo... Man?" Venus questioned.
"Please, don't ask."
Neptune started looking around. Despite the excitement earlier, it seemed the staff and patrons weren't close enough to bother them. Probably out of respect for the goddesses as they had their day out.
Knowing that they were relatively in a private conversation, Neptune quietly asked, "Noire, were you asking if we saw any robots?"
A silence fell over everyone, except for Venus, still enjoying her meal. "D*** it, Nep," IF replied.
"Robots...?" Compa nervously asked. She didn't want to think about those.
"Neptune, I don't think-" Noire started, but Neptune interjected.
"I think she deserves to know," the purple goddess said, before turning to Venus. "Sis?"
"Uh-huh?" the Candidate replied.
"So... you know those robots we ran into before?"
"Yeah."
"Well, there's something you should know about them. I... suspect that they were there to kill you. I mean, all monsters want to kill us, but I mean that... they were after you, specifically."
Venus stopped, just as she was about to take the last bite of her pudding-cookie. "What...?"
"They always seemed to appear whenever we went on quests, besides the ones we went on last week," Neptune explained, "or they are watching us, I swear. And that time you went with IF and Compa, but I wasn't there, and as I heard, you fell down..."
"Um... You mean when I met Lindy?"
"Who?" Noire asked.
"Some friend Ve made that day, who knows," IF replied.
"Well, when you fell, that was a trap," Neptune continued. "I mean, maybe I'm paranoid..." She looked up at the art of her and her sisters. "After losing one sister... I just... couldn't lose another..."
"Yeah, I think we would all understand that..." Uni said. "You're not wrong to think like that."
Since Neptune was being honest right now, Norie wondered if she should bring up Uni's continued search for Nepgear. While she felt that to some degree, that was between her and Uni, it also wasn't something she should hide from Neptune. But she decided that now was not the right time. She would talk to Uni about it later.
"Well, don't forget about the fact that, in general, they are still suspicious," IF told Neptune.
"Right," the purple CPU agreed. "When we looked at the scraps of the robots we wrecked, they had our nation's symbol on them."
Venus looked at the stylized N on her jacket's pocket, said national symbol. "Is that bad?"
"Well, if your nation's symbol is on something, it means that it is your nation's property, or it originated from your nation," IF explained.
Venus tilted her head.
"She means that it either belongs to your nation, or someone in your nation, to showcase their pride for their home," Noire stepped in, trying to explain it simply for Venus, "or that it was made by people in your nation. Namely, people who have been properly registered to do so, meaning that they've been approved to do so."
"But these robots that attacked you..." IF continued, "they don't belong to Planeptune, nor is there anything that suggests that they were made by the people of this nation."
"But why? Why would someone put our symbol on robots if we didn't want them?" Venus asked.
"Put simply, fraud," IF answered. "Someone wants everyone to think that Planeptune is responsible for those robots, when we aren't. But if people think this, and find that they are attacking people, they might blame the goddesses, including you. They're trying to make you guys seem like the bad guys."
IF looked around, and no one had arrived to eavesdrop. Everyone was still unaware of what exactly they were talking about. "The reason we're being quiet is because if the people found out, and found out that they, or their new CPU Candidate, are possibly in danger, they'll panic. It won't be pretty. Someone might get hurt, and not by the robots. We don't want that."
Venus nodded, showing that she understood, at least enough. "So... are the robots the reason sis-gear is gone?"
"Venus, you know as much as we do about Nepgear," Noire told her. "We don't know how or why she disappeared. The robots being responsible for it is a working theory, given that they are now targeting you, but we just don't know."
"But why would someone want to get rid of me or sis-gear?"
Everyone looked at each other uncomfortably.
"Venus, here's the hard truth," Noire finally said. "Not everyone likes the goddesses. And many of them... want to get rid of us. Many times, organizations of these people, meaning very large groups, get together, and they end up threatening the whole of Gamindustri."
"ASIC. The Citizens Group," Uni listed. "Heck, think about Warechu."
"Or Underling," IF added. "Man, we haven't seen her since ASIC fell from grace."
"Point is, there are people out there who hate us enough to wish they could just get rid of us," Noire continued. "And you know what, because you are such a new Candidate, you act as a sign to these people that even if we lose a goddess, more will appear to replace them. You frustrate them. That might be why they are targeting you."
"Are we any closer to finding out who is responsible for these robots?" Uni asked, feeling a little on edge.
"Unfortunately, no," IF replied. "Histoire asked me to lead the investigation, and we've taken down many of their hidden factories, but we are no closer to figuring out who is responsible, or how to stop these robots."
Venus looked down. "...Should... should I be scared?"
Neptune looked at her sister. "...I wish I could say no..." she said sadly.
"Hey, don't think that way, Nep-Nep!" Compa cried out. "Ve-Ve, you shouldn't be scared, as long as you have us with you!"
"Compa's right," Noire replied. "Venus, you have your sister, me and my sister, and all of our friends, looking out for you. We all are behind you, and will help and protect you when you need it."
Venus smiled. "Th-thanks, Nora."
"Venus, you're still young," Neptune finally said. "You still have so much to experience. And I promise you, I'll make sure you get to experience everything there is to see!"
"Y... yeah! I want to see more interesting stuff!" Venus said.
Neptune raised her hand, and Venus returned with a high-five.
Everyone finished up their meals, and get ready to leave. "Well, this has been fun!" Compa said.
"Yeah, it's great to be outside again, hanging out with friends," Neptune said.
"IF, good luck in your investigation," Noire said. "The faster we can find out who's responsible, the safer everyone will be."
"Yeah," IF replied, looking around one last time. "After this conversation, I'm starting to think that this isn't just about Venus at this point. I have to wonder if we actually are dealing with another anti-goddess organization."
"It is strange," Uni said. "Why try to kill Venus, but pretend the goddesses are at fault. Who's going to believe that Neptune would purposely harm her sister. Or they going to throw the blame on a different nation."
"It's probably more complicated than that," IF replied. "Well, I've got to go. See you later!"
"Bye-bye!" Compa called out, as she and IF left.
"Noire, thanks for bringing us here," Neptune told her friend. "I really needed that."
"Yeah. And Venus, do you think you'll be okay?" Noire asked.
"Yeah. I believe in my big sis!" Venus replied. "Meanie robots will go boom, and the bad people will go away!"
"Something like that." And Noire gave Venus a hug, and then Neptune.
"Wow, hugs from Noire?" Neptune teased.
"J-just go home, already!" Noire replied, embarrassed. She just wanted to make her friends feel comforted.
"Sis, we should play some games!" Venus said, and began to drag Neptune home.
"See you later Noire. You too, Uni!" Neptune called out as she left.
"Yeah, see you later," Noire waved, but didn't speak very loudly. Not enough for Neptune to really hear.
Uni looked at her sister, and said, "you should tell her how you feel."
"Uni, I don't... I don't like Neptune that way..." Noire replied. Though she didn't know how she felt...
And Uni caught on. "Are you sure?"
"Yeah, it's like you and Venus. Just friends."
"Venus is my friend. I think you care about Neptune more than that."
"Uni-"
"Tell her. Soon. You know I never got that chance." And Uni transformed, and flew into the air, making her way back towards Lastation.
Noire stood there, and before she transformed herself to follow, she had to wonder... what did she think of her friend?
Author's Note: So, here's the first of the few chill chapters. And really, the focus was on the aftermath of the last two chapters, especially with Histoire, even though she didn't have a big part in this chapter.
I did make sure to have Uni start off by trying to actually get to know Venus, starting with picking up where Histoire failed in Venus's schooling. And fun fact, that math game, not a real thing (like something I played as a kid). Just something I came up with on the spot for this chapter. And it isn't even as fleshed out as it seems. Like, there is no victory condition set, when clearly the two Candidates have both won some games. I just explained enough to give an understanding of what they were doing.
Funnily enough, that's not the only thing I just came up with in this chapter. The sugar-cookie pudding-cup was the other thing I came up with. I mean, it is possible, the way I explained it, especially with how Neptune's favorite egg pudding, which I think is some kind of flan, is shaped like a mound when plopped out of its cup onto a place, flip that back upside-down, and voila.
I actually came up with that because I thought about what a combination of those two food ideas would be like, in concerns of the café scene I planned. I decided to look it up, to see if they existed, and found recipes for pudding cookies, where you take pudding mix and use it to make cookies. ...Not exactly what I was looking for, since it doesn't work with what the popular pudding in Hyperdimension is, but not surprising. My sister used to make powdered cookies made from cake mix, I think it was a recipe on the cake mix we used to get. They were good cookies, and I'm sure pudding cookies would also be good. Still not what I was thinking of for this chapter, though.
So, finally, I want to address the part where they talk to Venus about the robots pursuing her. I wasn't planning on it, but decided it would be good to add to give some meat to the chapter. I don't think Venus knowing she is in danger is going to change the story, as I'm sure everyone is expecting her to have to face the robots or their root in a fated encounter (or however you want to refer to that as).
Mostly, I wanted a good plot point for the chapter. Plus, it'll probably be better for Neptune to be honest with her sister.
So, that's it. I should apologize for taking so long. First of all, I put this aside to focus on my Halloween art for DeviantArt, and in the end, I only completed two of the three projects I wanted to do. Part of this was probably burnout.
After that, I actually wanted to wait to post this, so I could post it with an announcement of sorts. My new Zelda story, called "Breath of the Wild: Generation of Heroes", a BotW what-if story starting Linkle and Lana, is finally ready and up! As always, I've written three chapters (well, a prologue and two chapters), and I have posted them alongside this chapter. So if you want to read more from me, go check that out!
Otherwise, I'll see you with the next chapter!