Chapter 12: The Girl with the Leafy Bow
"Lady Cyan Heart… Filyn…" The Guild Manager said, addressing both of us. "Might explain to me why I heard two different reports about you two again!"
We were both standing side by side in front of The Guild Manager's desk. I had to transform into HDD because she doesn't know me in human form. But I knew not to talk out of line in front of her. The Guild Manager had brown hair tied up in a ponytail with blue eyes and wore a white dress shirt and pants with a red tie. Even though she does have a name, she's usually called Boss by most people.
"Um… I…" I stuttered a little, looking down a little. If you told me centuries ago that I looked like a kid that was getting scolded by a teacher, I would have never believed you. "I saw someone hurting Iffy and I didn't like that and um…" I then looked at Filyn before looking down again. "…sister…" I muttered under my breath.
"Hm? Did you say something?" Boss asked, tilting her head with confusion. "Because I heard you said 'sister' just now." She said, narrowing her eyes towards me.
"Mmh…" I looked at Filyn again nervously, who nodded back. "I… have a younger sister…" I told her, biting my lip a little. I knew she would ask about the young girl I was with, who was Venus, so there was no escaping from that even if I tried lying to her. That and it's probably impossible to lie to her. "She was just born a few days ago so I kind of want to have her tour around Planeptune… and um… when we went to the incident in question… she… um… tried to stop the man from hurting Iffy… and got hurt in the process…"
"Which led you to attack the assailant and cause a scare from the citizens…" She continued, scratching her chin. "First of all, I believe you since there was a report from IF's friend that you knew about a young girl named… So I want to congratulate you on your sister…" She told me. "Also, seeing from your side of your story, I have a better understanding of what's going on…" She then turned to Filyn. "As for you… could you tell me your side of your story?"
"What's anything to say that hasn't been said already?" Filyn said, scratching the back of her head. "I pretty much cleared the area of that gang that has been stuffing up the streets… and it's pretty much the same with Cyan Heart… taking her sister out for a while…" She said, to which I sighed a little. Filyn had to convince me to tell Boss about my sister. And by convinced, I mean she promised me that she would buy me a lot of candy so I had to agree to this.
"I see…" Boss then sighed before thinking about it for a little while before she then leaned forward. "I'll just give you a light warning again since your actions are justifiable. And the fact that some of the residents didn't help the former incident is a bit… well… you get the idea…" She said before she cleared her throat. "Either way, we should talk about the other elephant in the room… the whole attack on Lowee and the attack on Filyn's life part."
"Yeah…It seems like they're still hacking into the camera system throughout Gamindustri…" I then thought a while before I sighed. "However, it also seemed that they covered their tracks very well like what happened multiple times before…" I said before I groaned childishly as I put my hands behind my head. "Which just SUUUUCKS!" I exclaimed in annoyance. "Every single time we tried to protect our camera systems, they seemed to find a way in! Like they have a super hacker in their organization or something!"
"Agreed…" Filyn said as she then frowned a little. "It seems that Arfoire is still busy with a lot of stuff…" She then looked down before she muttered something incomprehensible to me and Boss.
"Filyn? Did you say something?" I asked her, tilting my head with confusion. "Is there something wrong?"
"No! It's nothing!" Filyn answered back immediately as she waved her arms. "I'm just thinking out loud! That's all!" She said, to which I frowned before I immediately tackled her into the ground. "Wha–!? Cyan Heart–!" She exclaimed, before I started to pinch her cheeks.
"Filyn… Don't lie to me… You know I hate liars, right?" I told her, pulling her cheeks. "So come on! Tell me what's on your mind! Please!" I plead to Filyn, going right into her face.
But before Filyn said anything, we both heard someone clearing their throat. "Excuse me. Could you two leave that for later?" Boss said, making us look up at her. "We have more important things to discuss…"
"Ah…" We said in unison before we looked at each other and blushed and I immediately got off of her before we both got up. "Go on… Say something…" Filyn whispered to me.
"Okay…" I whispered back before starting to tell my story, leaving out a few things like what Arfoire said to both me and Shift while Filyn chimed in with her story. I then told her about Shift, leaving out her human name, and that she would help the two of us beat Arfoire and destroy ASIC. I even told her that I sent Lowee's CPU some files of some of the info we gathered over the past years.
"Hmm… It seems that you got your hands full… You both always talked about this to me but…" Boss then frowned a little. "…you never got anyone from either the Guild or anyone else involved in finding and fighting them… And when you do get them involved… it's a lot less dangerous work… like gathering info… and making sure everything is secure…" She said, crossing her arms. "Why don't you get some people to actually help you two?"
"Hmm… I… don't know…" I said, thinking about it for a little while. "But I'll think about that… since I have no idea what to do about that!" I exclaimed, putting my hands on my sides. "EITHER WAY! Can I just leave now?" I asked her, tilting my head.
"Hmm…" Boss frowned a little before she then nodded her head. "Yes. You two can go now. Just remember what I told you… Okay?" She told us, giving us a small smile.
"Okay! Come on, Filyn! Let's go!" I said before forcefully grabbing her hand and taking her outside of Boss's office. Then we went over to Venus, who I had to take with since I didn't want her to be alone in the Basilicom, and wore her normal clothes as she was sitting on one of the chairs that was Boss's office; watching her legs dangling off the chair's edge. She then noticed that we were standing in front of her.
"Ah. Sis! Filyn! You're done?" Venus said, looking up at us before she frowned a little. "So um… did you tell them about me…?" She asked, looking a bit curious and a bit worried for some reason.
"Yeah… she seemed to accept it very quickly… but then again… nothing really seemed to surprise her at all when it comes to the two of us…" I told her as I frowned a little. "Before she used to be surprised by some of the stuff we told her, but now she just accepts what we told her… Well… except the few times we got into trouble…"
"She's pretty much used to our shi… I mean…" Filyn cleared her throat a little. "…stuff to a point that if we told her that we saved Gamindustri from a falling meteor from outer space before everyone knew it was coming, we would get a few eyebrows raised before she accepts it." She jokingly said, putting her hands behind her head in a relaxed posture. "But then again, it would sound very impossible, even for both of us."
"Yeah… flying up into space with HDD form is actually MUCH harder than one might think…" I said, agreeing with what Filyn said. "Buuut…! It's too hard to try and explain it in this form, so I'm just leaving the explanation as too much Share Energy consumption and that's all." I then looked at both Venus and Filyn with a huge grin. "Either way! Let's get some candy!" I excitedly turned to Venus. "Venus? Are you ready to get some candy!?"
"Okay, Sis! Let's go get some!" Venus exclaimed with an excited grin as she pumped her fist with eyes sparkled. "You promised, right?" She said as she looked at Filyn.
"Yeah… yeah…" Filyn groaned a little, before she then looked at me with one raised eyebrow. "But uh… Cyan Heart? You're not going to the store looking like that, right?" She asked me.
"Yep! Gonna stay like this for now!" I exclaimed, crossing my arms with a frown. "Why? Should I not?" I asked before she then pointed at what I'm wearing. "What? You're worried about what I'm wearing! Not that I could be recognized!"
I mean… that too… but… Are you sure that is even appropriate?" Filyn asked, looking at me from head to toe as I then smirked at her. "Huh? Why are you looking at me like that?" She asked another question before I then closed my eyes. "What are you…?" Then a bright light envelopes me before it fades and there I stood with my old blue and purple hoodie with blue and purple shoes. "Wait… hold on! You can do that!?"
"Uh… yeah? You've seen this form have formal wear; why is this any different?" I asked with a tilt of my head. "Of course I could wear something else…" I told her with a frown, stating the obvious.
"But you never told me that you could put on THAT!" Filyn exclaimed, pointing at what I'm wearing now. "And since when did you have a chance to put that as one of your processor units?"
I thought for a moment, trying to remember when I put this outfit as one of my processors. "Uhhh… Can't really remember…" I said simply, shaking my head as I then grinned. "Sorry~! It's hard to remember anything in this form!"
"I see… I see…" Filyn then turned to Venus. "Hey, Venus? Could you grab your sister from me real quick?" She asked with a mischievous grin.
"Why Filyn?" Venus asked, looking at her with curiosity and confusion. "Why do you want me to do that?"
"Um… well… Ah! Screw it!" Filyn exclaimed before whacking me on the head over and over without warning. "Remember! Remember! Remember!" She repeated over and over.
"Ow! Ow! Ow! Hey!" I exclaimed as I covered the top of my head as I backed away from Filyn. "Why the heck did you do that!?" I asked angrily, putting both hands on my hips
"To try to get you to remember." She told me with a smirk. "But it doesn't seem to work. Oh well!" She shrugged it off before walking away. "Let's get over to this candy store, okay! You said you want candy, right" She said before she quickly walked away from me.
I was still rubbing my head so I didn't notice Filyn walking away or what she was saying. "Ow~! You did that pur—! Hey! Get back here!" I exclaimed before turning to Venus, taking her hand as I then took her along with me as she yelped and chased after Filyn. We chased her until we were outside of the Guild. "Hold it, Filyn! I know you did that on purpose!" I said, pouting a little before we catched up to her.
"Hehe. No, I didn't~!" Filyn said, sounding like she was feigning ignorance as she turned around and grinned while she walked. "And besides! Even if I did, that's the only way I could jog your memories in that form!"
"Wh–!? That doesn't even work like that!" I exclaimed before narrowing my eyes. "Is it…? Um…" I tried to think for a while, but struggled to think about that. "Uhhh… Does it work like that?" I asked myself.
"Yeah. It worked before… I think…" Filyn then thought for a while before seemingly recalling something that happened before. "Yeah. It worked before." She said simply.
"Wait… when did that happen!?" I asked her, looking at her with confusion. I don't recall anything like that before. "I don't remember you hitting my head once!" Then I noticed that most of the citizens were looking at me, so I stopped for a little bit. "Move along people! Just talking to my friend!" I exclaimed, to which a few people just shrugged it off and more along, but still looking at me or rather Venus and the fact I was holding her hand which I immediately noticed. "And stop giving weird looks at her!" I stomped my foot, to which everyone immediately looked away. "Geez… why is everyone like this…?" I muttered under my breath.
"One is that no one knows who Venus is yet. Another is probably because you're so loud in that form…" FIlyn responded with a frown before looking at Venus. "Am I right, Venus?" She asked the young girl in question.
"What!? Don't bring Venus into this!" I exclaimed before looking at Venus. "I'm not loud in this form… Right?" I asked, not sure what she might say next.
"Umm… maybe just a little bit?" Venus replied, before looking up and smiled at me nervously. "Sorry, Sis." She said to me simply, looking rather apologetic about what she said.
"Ack!" I then let go of Venus as I stopped walking and took a step back, clutching my stomach. "E-Even Venus said I'm loud…" I muttered under my breath, but was loud enough for them to hear. "Aah! It's over for me~!" I exclaimed very loudly as I then clutched my head.
Venus then frowned a little before she walked up to me and gave me a hug. "Loud or not, I still love you, Sis." She said, giving me a small smile."So please calm down, okay?" She asked.
'Venus… is so sweet…! Hao…!" I thought as I patted her head as I smiled to myself before blinking twice. 'Wait… since when did I become that one character from Higu…'
"Um… Cyan Heart… Stop being so dramatic…" Filyn said, interrupting my thoughts as she crossed her arms and frowned. "Also I realized something, why are you still in that form!?" She asked me, staring at me from top to bottom. "I get that you don't want to show your human form earlier, but you could at least quickly run to another alleyway and change back…"
"Well… First, I was chasing after you so I didn't have the time and two…" I then grinned very widely, giving my little sister a hug. "I still wanna hug Venus in this form~! And three…!" I then looked at Filyn with a cheeky grin. "We're getting some candy so I had to let this form out!" I exclaimed before leaning forward and whispered into her ear. "Actually… it's to keep my guard up because of what happened yesterday…"
"Oh. I see…" Filyn muttered, leaning back and scratching her chin before she then sighed. "Welp. No use arguing about that." She shrugged before beckoning us. "Come on, let's go." She said, sounding almost like she was talking to some kids which kind of rubbed me the wrong way.
"Oi. Stop treating me like a kid." I told her before I then noticed she was walking away again. "And don't walk away when I'm talking to you!" I exclaimed as I grabbed Venus's wrist again and pulled her along with me.
-Few minutes later of walking and talking-
We finally came up to the candy store, which is a store you can pretty much find almost anywhere. Filyn then turned to us with a frown. "Wait… why does it feel like no time has passed…?" She asked me, to which I shrugged.
"Probably because while we were talking, we didn't keep track of time." I told her before I then grinned as I looked over to Venus. "Well then! It's time to get some candy! You go and pick some!" I told my little sister, to which she nodded and we went in.
When we went inside, Venus looked at the wide range of candy, different types of chocolate, and cookies with her eyes wide. We all decided to pick out our own candy and decided to meet up again for a few minutes, of course I decided to stick by Venus. So after a few minutes had passed, Venus picked out a rather big chocolate chip cookie, and some white chocolate dipped strawberries. I decided to grab five pieces of lollipops, eight bags of hard candy, and ten bars of milk chocolate. However Filyn just grabbed one bar of dark chocolate that was the same brand as mine.
"Geez Sap… I mean… Cyan Heart… You didn't have to get that much…" Filyn muttered as she looked at all the candy I grabbed, which were all in my arms. "Isn't that hard for you to hold?" She asked me with a worried frown while Venus looked at me with curiosity.
"It's fine~!" I told her as I flashed a smile at her as I spun around, showing off to Filyn. "In this form, I can hold more I could…" I then immediately bumped into someone. "Wahhhh!" I exclaimed, almost falling on this person, but immediately dropping some of my candy bags in my arms. "Wha–!? Hey! Who the heck…?" I immediately turned around and saw a familiar face. "Ai-chan?" I spoke as I looked at her, seeing that she was holding two bags of candy. 'What is she doing here!?' I thought, a bit surprised that she's here now.
"Y-Yeah and who are…?" IF then looked directly in my eyes and realized who I am. "Oh. You're the CPU, correct? CPU Cyan Heart." She said as she looked at what I got in my arms. She had this very neutral look on her face, different from when I first met her. "You're… buying candy?"
Ah! Yes." I exclaimed as I immediately scrambled to pick what I had dropped. "What are you doing here?" I asked, looking at the two bags she was holding.
IF frowned a little as she narrowed her eyes past me before looking back at me. "No reason. Just buying candy like you." She answered me as she crossed her arms. "Is that the same for you three?" She then looked past me again, probably looking at Venus and Filyn.
"Ah. Yeah." I said, stepping in front of her. For some reason, I didn't like the way she was looking at them. So I just crossed my arms and narrowed my eyes, like my eyes were telling her to stop.
IF seemed to notice this, so she just shrugged. "Oh. I see. Hm… I guess I'll leave now." She said before she turned around and walked away.
After she seemingly left, I just sighed to myself before turning around to Venus and Filyn. Venus was looking away, being rather silent for some reason while Filyn was rather aloof. "Venus? Is there something wrong?" I asked her.
"Oh. Ummm… nothing." Venus said, chuckling awkwardly as she gave me an awkward smile.
"Mmh… Okay." I said with a frown, even though I know there's something wrong. "Just tell me when you tell me when you feel like it." I said before I turned to Filyn with a smile. "So! Could you grab a basket so I don't drop this again?" I asked her, to which she just sighed.
"Fine…" Filyn said with a groan before she walked away for a while before she came back with a basket. "Just put them all in this basket." She told me with an exasperated tone, holding the basket up before we then put all of our candy and chocolate in the basket.
After that, we went to the cash register and paid for our candy though I had begged the cashier to not let us go without paying since most of the time they would let me off without paying in my HDD form while my human has to pay for it. When we walked out, me and Venus were happy with what we got while Filyn chuckled very awkwardly as she held the bag that was full with our candy since she was forced to pay for it.
"So, Sis?" Venus spoke up, catching my attention as I looked at her with a bit of interest. "Are we going anywhere else?" She asked me with curiosity as she tilted her head.
"Huh? Um… Maybe? I mean…" My voice trailed off as I thought for a while. 'I did all of the paperwork last night since Filyn didn't do a single one…' I then narrowed my eyes towards Filyn, who looked back at me with confusion. "Yeah. There's somewhere I want to go."
"Oh yeah…? Where?" Filyn asked, raising her eyebrows as she then frowned before she then took a step back. "Please don't take us someplace where you force me to pay for more…" She said, sounding rather pleading.
"Um… no? How about a change of pace, yeah?" I told her before I then put my hand behind my back and grinned. "Come on! Follow me, okay?" I told them, as I took Venus's hand and beckoned Filyn to follow.
We walked towards the tower, but decided to take a slight detour away from it until we reached a rather huge park filled with grass and with trees that were planted around a while back. Around the right side was a circular platform with a rather large fountain. And somewhere off to the side, there's a playground with the whole slide and swing set. There's even tracks where people could run or jog on.
Venus was enamored by all of this, especially when probably only seen the technology side of Planeptune and not the nature side. "Woah! Sis! What is this!?" She asked me as she looked up at me.
"It's Planeptune Park. It's pretty much a place where you can just come here and clear your head." I told her as I gave her a smile. "It sort of makes you feel safe… well… only in the daytime. Nighttime makes it feel like you're being watched." I joked a little before letting go of Venus's hand, walking a few inches before letting my body fall on the grass, feeling them on my body. "But man… Doesn't it feel nice to lie in the grass like this?" I asked, both Filyn and Venus with a smile.
Venus, seeing this, lay down right next to me and giggled a little. "Yeah! It really does feel nice!" She exclaimed, almost sounding very relaxed.
"Mhm! Well then…!" I then sat up from the grass with so much enthusiasm since I just thought of something just now. "Let's eat some of the candy we got!" I said before looking at Filyn with a grin.
Filyn was a bit taken aback by this. "Huh!? You want to eat right now!" She exclaimed before then groaned a little. "But eh. Guess that's not surprising since that's what that form does to you…" She before digging through the bag. "Okay… whatcha want…"
"Chocolate bar!" I exclaimed before hearing her sigh as she took out a chocolate bar and gave it to me. "Yay! Thank you!" I said before peeling the wrapper and taking a bite off of it. "Mmh! So sweet!" I said, relishing the sweet taste of the milk chocolate before noticing Venus was staring at me. "Hm? Is there something you want?"
"Huh?" Venus blinked a little bit before she then stared at the bag then back at me as she then nodded her head. "Hm… maybe that white chocolate dipped strawberries I got?" She said, not so sure about her answer. Filyn then chuckled a little before she dug through the bag again before giving the strawberry to Venus, which she grabbed from her, took out the plastic wrapper before eating it. "Mmh! Sho gud…!" She said as she ate the strawberry.
I smiled, seeing that she's enjoying the food before chuckling to myself. "Venus… I know it tastes good, but don't talk with your mouth full." I told her before I giggled a little.
"Okay, Sis!" The young girl exclaimed as she ate a bit more quietly as she seemingly ate a bit faster than me, but I didn't mind it as much so I just shrugged it off.
Meanwhile Filyn dugged through the bag and took the dark chocolate bar before she peeled off the wrapper and sat down right to Venus and ate it too. She didn't have much of a reaction, but I could tell by her smile that she liked it.
We were all sitting on the grass, eating what we got while me and Filyn started to do some small talk or stuff that comes to mind. Of course, I didn't have anything on my mind so I kind of let her talk before speaking. 'Man… this reminds me of the good old days…' I thought to myself before I then frowned. 'Why…? Why do I keep remembering the past…?' I thought to myself before shaking those thoughts off. 'I… don't know…'
Hey… Sapphire… You alright?" Filyn asked, looking at me confused. Since no one is around, she could call me by my normal name, which I don't mind as much. "You're looking sad again. Is there something on your mind?"
"I am? Oh. I am." I said with a frown before crossing my arms, thinking to myself. "It's nothing… I'm just thinking about how this reminded me of back then…" I told her, waving it off. "It's not something that would be interesting though… Y'know?"
"Oh, really?" Filyn said with a smirk I know all too well. She then looked to Venus, who just finished with her strawberry and was now listening to what we were saying earlier. "Hey, Venus? Do you want to know what your sister is talking about?"
Venus obviously looked curious about that, but bites her lip. "I… do want to know, but I don't want to force Sis into telling anything." She told Filyn. "She'll tell me when she's ready to."
I sighed in relief when I heard that. 'She's so kyute…' I thought before shaking my head. "Haha… I mean… Even if I told you, it would be soooo boring! Y'know?" I told her before I then grinned.
"Uh… huh…" Filyn muttered before she hummed a little bit before she bit more of her chocolate. "If it was boring… isn't it easier to say the boring parts…" She muttered under her breath.
I ignored what Filyn just said. "Either way, so about what happened yesterday with you two…" I said, catching both of their attention. "I remember, seeing through your guys' memories, you bought Venus a weapon…" I asked to which Venus and Filyn nodded slowly. "Think I could see it?" I asked with curiosity, to which she nodded again before she summoned a scythe and showed it to me.
Of course, I gave it a look and instantly noticed some strange mechanisms on it. It was way too different from Filyn's scythe, which has a more simple design, than this one. I didn't pay attention to it, so I sighed. "Err… I… can't seem to figure your weapon out… It looks way too complex…" I told her with a frown. "But you can figure it out! Since it's yours after all!" I told her.
Venus was a bit surprised by what I said before she smiled before she nodded, looking rather thankful. "Thanks, Sis." She said before putting away her weapon.
"Ah. No worries." I told her before standing up with the chocolate in hand. "Either way, let's go home!" I announced with a huge grin. "Gotta put those away, right?" I said, pointing at the bag. "So let's go! Waahhh—!" I was pulled down by Filyn. "Oi! Filyn! What the heck!?"
"Are you seriously gonna accept that!? Just like that!" Filyn exclaimed, looking at me really surprised about what I just said. "You're not gonna like… take it away from her?"
"Uh… no? I figured that it would be pointless to take it away from her. And beside…" I then narrowed my eyes with a frown, remembering what I saw from that memory. "Your teaching sucks balls." I told her very bluntly.
"Wh-!? That's not true!" Filyn exclaimed before she then turned to Venus, who was listening in on the conversation. "R-Right…?" She asked to which Venus just bit her lip, seeming unsure about what to answer.
"Hehe… Well…! That answers that!" I said with a smile before helping Venus up. "Come on! Let's go home! I got some stuff to do." I told Filyn as we both walked away from her.
"Hey! Come on! Talk to me for a sec—!" Filyn exclaimed as she stood up, grabbed the plastic bag and rushed after us.
-Later that night.-
It was late in the night and I was in my human form. We had our dinner so I sat on the couch, doing absolutely nothing while watching Venus playing a game, and thought about what happened earlier. Since I finished all of my work and was sure there would be more to be brought up to me tomorrow, I recalled when we were sitting in the field, eating sweets.
It reminded me of when me, Saki, Kuro, and another person used to sit down in a field from centuries ago and eat sweets from centuries ago. We would always talk about what we had in mind and never hold any lies or secrets from each other.
"Friends share sweets and secrets…! At least… that's what that means to me…!"
That was something that Saki told me when I asked her what friends are. It was a strange concept to me, but I just accepted it because it was a bit easier to understand.
But…
I can't exactly share my secrets to Shift, Filyn, and the other CPUs. It's a bit… difficult to explain to them… what really happened back then…
I immediately stood up as that image of that incident centuries ago flashes through my mind before smacking my head over and over, trying to stop myself from thinking about it anymore. "Sis? Are you okay?" Venus asked me, she was sitting right next to me.
"Y-Yeah…! I'm okay! I'm going to um…" I immediately darted my eyes away from her. "Going to get some fresh air! Yeah! Be right back!" I said as I immediately rushed off to the balcony and transformed before flying away, leaving Venus a bit confused about what had happened.
Filyn's POV…
"Filyn…! Could you come here for a second?"
Filyn heard Venus calling out to her from her room. Of course, she was just lying on her floor, thinking about earlier, so she wondered why she was being called in the first play. So she stood up and walked out of her room and into the living area to see Sapphire wasn't nowhere to be seen.
"Um… so… Sis just left…" Venus said with a frown, looking at the balcony with worry.
"Oh. I think I know what's going on…" Filyn said very casually, putting her hands behind her head. "Don't worry about it, Venus. Your sister is just clearing her head over by that big tree over there…" She said, pointing her finger towards the far left. "It's surrounded by other trees and it's not overgrown either…" She explained before shaking her head. "Either way, there's no need to worry about it. She'll come back in a few minutes or hours… Between the two…"
"Ah… Okay…" Venus said with a frown as she looked at the balcony longingly where Filyn assumed Sapphire ran to. She's probably still worried about her older sister and she should be.
"Don't worry about it, Venus! She'll come back! I promised!" Filyn told her again with a smile as she looked to the balcony. "She sometimes thinks about things that could cause her to be overwhelmed at times like uh… very strong emotions…"
Back to Sapphire's POV…
I kept walking around the huge tree in my human form with my face stained with my own tears, overwhelmed about what I remembered about that incident. Why did I have to keep remembering that over and over again? I thought to myself, hitting my head over and over as I kept walking around the tree. 'Stupid brain… Stupid…' I thought before I stopped to look up, wiping away my tears. 'At least this is still here to calm me down…' I sighed to myself, kicking the ground. 'This place is special… almost magical somehow…' I thought before I closed my eyes, trying to breathe the forest air in. 'No monster… No noises… No nothing… Just me and this tree…' I smiled to myself, listening to my surroundings.
"Hmm~ Hmm~ Hmm~ Hmmmm~!"
I was already humming to myself at this point; this always happens whenever I come here. I just let myself go and start to sing out loud. Maybe it's the air or just how I am when no one is around to hear me. Of course it's probably because it was a song from a phone rhythm game that was stuck in my head when I listened to it initially and I just kept thinking about it.
Probably it hit almost close to my heart for me? I don't know anymore. Either way, I finished humming the song to myself with a sigh. There was this feeling that there was someone watching me from behind my back.
"W-Who's there!?" I exclaimed, looking around from behind me. There wasn't anyone there, just the smaller trees and bushes. Though I was suspicious at first, I turned around, pretending I was oblivious to whoever was behind me. 'There's definitely something behind me…! There has to be…!' I thought to myself. 'I just heard a small rustle just earlier… whoever that was… they're not good at hiding their presence…' I then summoned out my gun, but kept it closed to my chest so that whoever that was wouldn't see it.
Then I heard another rustle, but this time, I was prepared. Without a second thought, I immediately turned out and shot in the direction where I think I heard rustling. Then I heard something that sounded like a stumble.
'I knew I wasn't imagining things…!' I thought before I started walking to where I heard the noise from. "W-Whoever you are, s-show yourself!" I exclaimed loudly as I inched closer to whoever was there. Then, from their point of view, it seemed like they had no other option and stood up with their hands raised. My eyes widened with surprise when I saw the person's face. "IF…?" I looked at the brown-haired girl.
"Uh…? Yeah? That's me." IF then narrowed her eyes towards me. "Huh? How did you know my name?" She asked me, before staring at the gun. "Also, could you stop pointing that gun at me!?"
"O-Oh. S-S-Sorry…" I then put the gun down, summoning it away. 'I've been meeting her a few times this week…' I thought with a frown as I closed my eyes. 'Hmmm… Maybe this is my chance to talk to someone (since I never talked to anyone before)… but…' I then held my head. 'But I don't want to talk right now…' I then shake my head. 'Ah~! I don't want to hold this conversation now~! I was about to go home!' I screamed in my mind.
"Oi! Are you going to answer my first question?" IF asked me, snapping me out of my thoughts.
"O-Oh! Um… Y-Yes… Um…" I then thought for a while. 'I knew her from famously going out of her way to do all of the gathering and monster quests… at least… from what I heard from the Guild Manager…' I took a deep breath before I turned to her. "F-From the Guild! I-I work for the Guild too!" I said in a very quiet tone.
"The Guild? If that's the case, then haven't I seen you before?" IF said, questioning me even further. She crossed her arms and frowned. "Because there is no way anyone would miss a blue-haired girl like you. Well… there was that other one… but…"
"A-Ah… Well…! I-I don't go there a lot." I told her, trying to move the conversation along "B-But I did h-happen to catch your name somewhere…! Yeah." I said, waving both of my hands.
"Oh really?" IF said, a bit surprised by me telling her that before she narrowed her eyes. "Either way, why are you here?"
"Uhhhh… J-Just… um… um…" I looked down and blushed a little, panicking internally. 'Would I sound too normal if I just say that I came here to clear my head? Actually, never mind… I'm just gonna say it…" I then opened my mouth. "U-Um… s-singing… I guess…" Before I said something completely different. 'No! You freaking idiot! You're supposed to say something else!' I screamed at myself before I slowly stared at her.
"Oh wow! If you're practicing for some concert or something, then you're pretty good!" IF said with awe before she seemed to realize her awe since she cleared her throat. "Either way, it seems that I'm wasting your time so I'll go…" She told me before she was about to leave.
'Good… she's leaving… Now I'll just go the other way and…!' I then said something that surprised even me. "Um… w-what are y-you doing here…?" I then immediately covered my mouth in shock as I started kicking myself internally. 'Stop talking…! Ahhh~! I want to go home~!' I screamed at myself again.
"For a collection quest. I'm supposed to collect Healing Grass, if I recall correctly. Some sort of request that someone put in." IF told me as she crossed her arms before she tilted her head in confusion. "Are you okay? You look like you're freaking out."
"Y-Yeah… I-I'm okay…" I told her, chuckling awkwardly to myself. 'A collection quest… Never done that in a while… or any other quest…' I thought to myself. 'Wonder how she conducted these…' I ponder that thought before looking at IF. "S-S-So um… C-Could I watch? I won't get in your way." I told her since I was a bit curious about these small easy quests. "A-And… I-I want to make sure you keep q-quiet about w-w-what just happened…"
"Hmm… Sure?" IF said, she looked unsure and confused about what was going on. "I don't want to know why you want to watch, but eh!" She shrugged to myself as she turned and walked away.
I followed her through the woods, watching her looking and picking up Healing Grass. Of course, I didn't want to get in her way so I just silently watched as she was doing that. I knew the reason was due to people wanting to find herbs that you could find anywhere else, but never had the time to actually find it. This was the reason the Guild would accept requests from others, to have people who have time to find what they were looking for.
'I think the quest was at least ten of them… Which is probably a lot…' I thought to myself, frowning a bit. 'Healing Grass is not really uncommon nowadays… but would be a bit hard to find…' I sighed before looking at IF, who was kneeling down, looking for the herbs. "S-S-So… um… how much do you need now…?" I asked her out of the blue.
"About three more…" IF said simply, searching through the ground. "So… I never asked… What's your name?" She asked me, looking at me over the shoulder.
"S-S-Sapphire… That's my name…" I told her while looking off to the side. "My name isn't really that special though…" I said with a rather depressed sigh. I honestly believed that my name wasn't that special now. Sometimes I wished my name was Jupiter or something, so I could match with Venus on the planet naming scheme.
"I think any name can be special…" IF told me before she kneel down, looking for another Healing Grass. "Well… at least that is what someone told me before…" She said, seemingly recalling whoever told her that before she shook her head. "Forget what I said."
"Mhmm…" I mumbled as I looked down, frustrated at my own stuttering. 'Stop stuttering, me! You can't keep doing this every time you meet someone new!" I thought to myself before I took a deep breath. "So… you've been doing a lot of quests… right? Why do you do this? Even when it's so late…" I asked, before she then looked over and glared at me. "O-Oh… Did I say something wrong…?"
IF then looked at me dead in the eyes, narrowing her eyes before sighing to herself. "No reason. It's sort of a job, y'know? She told me before going back to doing her quest. "I also want to get stronger…" She then shook her before going back to her quest.
'Stronger… huh… That goal is…" I thought to myself before I sighed to myself. '… I see…' Then I see IF stand up again. "You're done now?" I asked her.
"Uh. Yeah." IF said as she pocketed all of the rest of the Healing Grass before she then looked at me. She stared at me silently for a while before she sighed to myself. "I'm gonna go back to the Guild and drop them off. So uh…" She then noticed something. "Did you hear that?" She asked, looking ahead of me.
I nodded slowly since I heard the same thing as well. "Yeah… I know…" I told her before slowly looking behind me. We saw something rustle in the bushes before three Horsebirds popped out of it before they charged in for an attack.
IF, when she saw them, immediately summoned out both of her katars and rushed towards the monsters without warning and attacked them. Of course, I was a bit confused until one of the Horsebirds maneuvered around IF and went and attacked me. I dodged immediately before summoning out my gun and shot at the monster. It didn't go down from the first shot, so I shot it again. It still didn't go down and immediately charged at me again, to which I dodged again before I shot at it again, taking it down as I saw it digitized into nothingness.
I then turned to IF, who was still fighting the other two monsters, so I tried to help her but she glared at me. "I'll fight them." She quickly told me before quickly going back to fighting them. She seemed to not have any sort of trouble, but I still felt worried.
Almost all the time, I always jump in without hesitation. But this time felt a bit different from the other times. 'Why am I hesitating!?' I told myself, getting mad at myself all of the sudden. 'Is it because… I told her that I won't get in her way earlier…? But what if she gets hurt…?' I thought as I looked at IF. 'I'm overthinking too much… I promised myself not to do that… So… let's see what happens… If she does get hurt… then…' I didn't continue that thought and stand there while watching her fight.
The more I watched her, the more I thought she might be capable of handling this on her own. Like she could dodge some attacks, block them, and counter them. But there was still some doubt in my mind that she might not be able to. I saw her take one down before turning to another one and attack it.
This is where I sigh to myself in relief. 'I guess trusting my heart brought better results than I thought…' I thought to myself. I keep trusting my heart since overthinking things would only complicate things further. I also know in my heart that trying to do the impossible will only have you running around in circles.
But you have to try your hardest, even if your hardest isn't good enough. That's what I used to believe back then. That's what I see from IF right now. She tried her hardest and she got good results because of it. She finally defeated the last of the monsters.
After that, she turned to me with an almost confused look on her face. "You… didn't help me…? You… let me fight them…?" She asked, almost sounding surprised.
"O-Of course… I-I told you I wouldn't get in your way…" I reminded her, remembering what I promised earlier. "A-Always make small promises before you make big ones…" I told her with a small smile on my face. "And don't make promises you can't keep…" I added after that.
"Huh. I guess I can get behind that…" IF said as she unequipped her weapons and scratched the back of her head. "By the way, do you have somewhere else to be by any chance?" She asked me all of a sudden.
"Eh? Oh. Um…" I went completely before I quickly and silently nodded to her, to which she sighed a little.
"Yeah… Figured as much… Well, I guess I got to go as well…" IF said before she turned and walked away. "See you, Sapphire." She then rushed off with our saying no more, leaving me there alone.
After seeing she disappeared, I immediately rushed towards the other direction before immediately transforming into my HDD form and flew back to my Basilicom.
—
I landed on the balcony where I saw the light was still on. I disengaged my transformation and walked back inside. There I saw Venus, curled up, sleeping on the couch. I also saw Filyn sitting right next to her, watching her, not noticing that I was there
'Oh… I left her here… huh…' I thought sadly before I walked to the couch. "Hey. I'm back. I spoke up, catching Filyn's attention. "Sorry, I left… I…"
"I know…" Filyn spoke up, immediately cutting me off. "But still… I wished you could tell me what's going on with you. In your mind. Your thoughts…" She told me, but she knows that I probably won't tell you. "Come on… At least, tell me something."
"I…" I looked down, trying to choose my words carefully. I could just not say anything and tell her it was nothing. But at the same time, I wanted to say something so bad. "I don't think I can…" I finally said, to which Filyn sighs. "But I'll say this… Remember when I told you that a monster attacked Planeptune in the past? And I couldn't stop it." I asked, to which she nodded. "Well… I can't exactly remember if it actually happened… and yet… I also remember certain parts of it… And it's something that I felt guilty about." I told her, to which she looked at me with confusion. "That's all I have to say."
"Huh? Wait, what do you mean…?"
I then immediately shook Venus awake. "Mmh? Huh…? Filyn…?" The young girl muttered before she groggily opened her eyes. "Sis…?" Is that you…?" She asked in a very sleepy voice.
"Yep! I've finally returned!" I told her with a quick smile. "Sorry for making you wait." I said, ignoring Filyn's bewilderment before softly rubbing Venus's head.
"Mhm… It's fine, Sis…" Venus mumbled before she slowly stood up, rubbing her eyes. "Filyn told me about that…" She added.
My eyes widened a little before I looked at the redhead. "Oh. I see." I said before stretching my arms. "Either way, I'm gonna take a bath…" I said, walking to the bathroom.
And after my bath, I went straight to my room, threw on my long-sleeved pajamas and fell into my bed. I thought about meeting IF multiple times today.
'Is it fate that I met her again…?' I thought, remember the two times I've met her today. 'Eh. Probably not…' I shrugged before closing my eyes.
'If it was, then maybe fate can give me another day of nothing happening…'
That's all for now! This is just a rest chapter, so I don't have much to say other than giving Sapphire a bit of something. I want to say that her backstory is something that sort of evolved over time from NextDimension Sapphire to ReBirth. And I want to give clues to what her backstory is before revealing it.
I actually want to write a prequel story about her meeting Neptune and the others, but I don't remember most of the cast's personalities. But would you like to see that?
Either way, Please Review and Stay Safe!