Chapter 10: Hanging Out Pt. 1

I slowly woke up from the bed, feeling very tired from all of the stuff from yesterday. I didn't feel like getting out of bed, I felt so tired already that my arms and legs didn't want to move. It's something I sometimes do whenever I feel way too overwhelmed. It wasn't so frequent like before where I just passed out from exhaustion from overworking myself too much. However, this felt a bit different.

'Gosh… So much has happened in so little time after we asked Shift to help us…' I thought to myself, before sighing to myself. 'It happened just yesterday…"

-Flashback-

"Will you help us find ASIC and defeat them once and for all?" I asked Shift, narrowing my eyes to her. But then I realized what I was saying before panically waving my hands at her. "I-I mean…! I won't force you, if you don't want to! We could tell you about our plan later and…"

Shift then hold a hand up, signaling me to stop. "Sappy. I'm in." She said to me, before putting her hand down. "I want to be able to help for once… So please, tell me what you're planning…"

"Well… it might be a bit complicated… but it has to do with you and the others… and how we sort of need… them…" I told Shift before seeing her let out a small sigh. "Oh? You already know who I'm talking about?"

"Yeah… You can only mean the other CPUs… right?" Shift asked me, to which I slowly nodded. She hummed a little before sighing again. "If that's the case, then let me get in touch with the Guild… before we go… and establish a stable line of communication…" She told me, to which I stared at her with confusion. "After that, we will go see the other two…"

"Wait! Slow down!" I exclaimed, interrupting her. My head was trying to process what she was trying to say. "When did I say that I want you to come along?" I asked, crossing my arms with a frown.

"And by the way!" Filyn finally spoke up, making us turn our attention to her. She had her hands on her hips with an already frustrated expression on her face. "There's actually five in total, which includes you and Sapphire!" She exclaimed, which I already knew that she would try and immediately correct Shift.

"Five?" She asked, blinking in confusion at Filyn's response. "When did that happen?" She asked, tilting her head to the side.

"Seriously? First Sapphire, now you." Filyn sighed, rubbing her head. I guess she was trying to recall about this fifth CPU. "This happened about years ago… probably even longer… knowing how long that nation was there." She then closed her eyes for a little bit. The fifth CPU's nation is called Eden, PC Continent, or whatever you want to call it… She's called Jade Heart… If I recall correctly…"

Shift looked like she started to recall this Jade Heart. "Ah." She said before blushing red from embarrassment, seemingly from forgetting about her.

I sighed before clearing my throat, catching their attention. "Either way, back to the 'going with us' part." I spoke up, crossing my arms as we got back on track. "Why do you want to do that? You know that going to another nation as a CPU isn't a good idea." I said before looking to the side. 'Even though I doubt that Listoria nor Centauri could do anything…' I thought to myself.

"I know… but…" I then saw her clenched her hands into fists. "I can't just sit here and do nothing, right?" She said, before looking down. "Besides, I have some grievances against that old lady…"

"I… hmm…" I looked down, trying to think about the best way I should go from here. 'I honestly don't want to say no to her… and she really does want to help… but…' I sighed before looking back at her. " Let me ask you this. Are you really sure you want to do this? Knowing that same exact thing would happen from today… Knowing I might one day lose control of myself… Knowing you have to stop me… from hurting everyone around me…"

Shift then take a deep breath before letting it out. "Yes. I'm sure of it." She said in assurance. "Even if or when I have to stop you; I'm sure about what I'm doing."

I bit my lip before I then sighed out loud. "Fine. But let's not go yet…" I told Shift, who seemed to look at me a bit confused. "At least, until I can actually go to at least one of the nations. Lastation's Oracle is a bit strict on me coming there without a given reason. And Leanbox's CPU is probably busy, so it's best not bother him for a while. We could go to this Eden… but…"

"But Jade Heart would probably be hurt by the fact you forgot about her, so you don't actually want to face her at this moment…" Filyn finished for me, to which I sputtered from hearing that. "What? Am I not wrong?" She asked me, to which I immediately pouted at her while blushing. And in response, she patted my head. "Predictable as ever, Sapphire."

"To be fair on that last one, I also forgot about her too." Shift said as she rubbed her in embarrassment. "And to think she actually visited me once before…"

"Yeah… I think that's what happened to me…" I muttered to myself. 'How could I forget someone like her…?' I thought, trying to recall some of my memories of Jade Heart. "Um… E-Either way…!" I said, trying to ignore the fact that Filyn was still patting my head. "Let's decide on this tomorrow, okay? I can't really call them now and…"

"That's fine. And um…" Shift said, nodding at that before seeing her glancing at Filyn for a little bit. The redhead seemed to notice this since she was looking back at her, confused.

"What? Do you want to try patting her head?" Filyn asked Shift, to which I immediately blushed at hearing that. It seemed that Shift was looking at her in bewilderment. "Actually! If you pet her head, her reactions are almost like a cat…!"

I then immediately punched her in the face.

-Flashback End-

'After I punched Filyn, my body felt very heavy and collapsed.' I thought, recalling what happened earlier. 'I didn't feel tired before… and I was still standing and able to do most of the physical stuff just fine… Hm…' I thought for a little while. 'Either it was my adrenaline rush or I just didn't know how long I was going to do that before collapsing… Not that I cared what's going on with my body…'

I looked at the ceiling in very deep thought. 'I didn't actually want Shift to come along…' I thought as I sighed to myself. "Nor did I want her to get involved with this… But we have to push our plan forward now… or else every single time I've stopped Arfoire in her tracks will be all for nothing…' I thought before closing my eyes. 'Probably too early to think about it now…'

"Shhhh… Venus… Don't wake her up yet." I heard Filyn seemingly whispering to Venus. I had no idea what they're doing. "Ready? One… two… three…!" She exclaimed as I felt two people pounced on me. "Wakey Wakey, Sapphire!"

I groaned before slowly opening my eyes before seeing Filyn and Venus, wearing the same clothes from yesterday, hugging me. 'Just pretend I was sleeping before this… and everything should be good…' I thought before pretending to be tired. "Mmh… Filyn… Venus…? Why did you wake me so early…? It's like five or six or something like that…"

Filyn just looked at me confused. "Well, it's not exactly that early in the morning. It's about ten o'clock right now." She told me before going back to squeezing my arm. "But, we wanted to let you rest for now until Shift comes in. And that's very soon."

"I-I see…" I then looked at Venus, who was snuggling against my arm. "And Venus…? Why did you let Filyn talk you into this…?" I asked my little sister.

"Well ummm…" Venus then looked up at me before humming a little. "I wanted to wake you up like normal, but Filyn said this would be more fun." She said very sheepishly.

"Ah. I see." I giggled to myself before making myself comfy again. "Oh, well… If Filyn wants me to rest, I guess I have to comply…" I muttered, though it was still very loud enough to hear. 'And if I don't, Filyn might flip personalities on me and um…' I blushed to myself before shaking it off. "So, Venus? What did you think about the people here? Lite? Shift? Mina?"

"They're nice. Though Lite is a bit weird at times." Venus told me, chuckling nervously before she then smiled at me. "And Miss Shift seemed nice to me, though I don't know about her that much." She said, listing off the top of her head. "And I just met Miss Mina and she was also nice, though I don't think she can see me though."

"Yeah. That kid needs to be on a leash or something!" Filyn exclaimed as she sat up from me. "Because I don't think she can barely control herself at times.

"That's not nice, Filyn…" I said to her with a frown. "She's just a kid and she mostly misunderstood some things." I told her before thinking about it a little bit. "And well… she must have been overwhelmed by these new people… but…" I then looked at Venus. "I have no idea how she got along with you, Venus…"

"Me either." Venus agreed, a bit unsure about her answer.

'Probably because something about Venus is different from us…?' I then shake those thoughts off. "Either way, what's Shift up to?" I asked as I turned to Filyn. "Did you two passed by her on the way here?"

"Yeah, she said she was still doing something in the office and…" Filyn said before she noticed me trying to sit up from her bed. "Hey!" She exclaimed as she stopped me from sitting up. "No moving until I'm done, okay!?"

"Okay, Miss Filyn…" I mumbled under my breath before making myself comfy again. 'Why is Filyn forcing me to rest?' I thought to myself.

"Either way, Shift told me to tell you that you should rest…" Filyn told me, which is suspiciously similar to what she said earlier. "And that she's coming over here soon to tell you about something. Which I did tell you that when we woke you up, of course."

"I see… And I assumed that you picked up Venus on the way here." I said as I looked back at my little sister, who seemed a bit confused. "Seeing as you probably don't really know what she was talking about, right?"

"Um… no…?" Venus said in a confused and not-so confident way as she sat up from hugging me. "Filyn just went into the room I was staying in and said to come with her to wake you up."

"Hm… I see…" I muttered to myself before we heard a soft knock on the door, which probably was either Shift or Mina. "Um… Yes! You can come in!" I exclaimed as I looked to who was opening the door.

The door opened as Shift walked in, looking rather tired before blinking upon seeing all three of us sitting on the bed. "…You two flipped her… didn't you…?" She seemingly guessed out of nowhere.

"F-Flipped…?" Venus then looked at her really confused. "We didn't flip her." She said as she shook her head before she then leaned towards Shift. "We pounced on her!"

"Venus…" Filyn spoke up, catching the young girl's attention. "There are certain things that should never be said, under any cir…" She then stopped before she then looked down, her face scrunched up in frustration. "Cir… cir… cir… um… cir…"

"Circumstances." Shift and I both corrected her before we looked at each other awkwardly.

"Yeah. That!" Filyn said before she then grinned widely. Then smile turned into a frown when she realized what just happened. "H-Hey! I was about to say that! Don't correct me!"

I giggled a little, seeing a hint of blush on Filyn's face. 'This is my chance to finally tease her!' I thought as I scoot closer to her. "No, you weren't~! You couldn't even get more than three words out." I said, teasing her with a small smile as I poked her cheek. I heard a small giggle before turning to Shift giggling at herself and hearing Venus laughing a little. "Ah." I then blushed before turning away, covering my face. "U-Um… E-Either way, what brings you here…?" I asked Shift.

"Well… I want to continue what we talked about yesterday." Shift said with a frown before turning to Venus. "I'm sorry Venus but can you please wait outside?" She asked very politely.

"Okay." Venus said with a nod before she got off the bed, opening the door before closing it behind her.

When Venus finally left, I shook my blush off before looking to Shift. "Hmm." I hummed under my breath. "Like I said before, I can't really walk into another nation without a reason." I recalled what I said yesterday. "And that also applies with you… obviously but… what I didn't tell you is that I have a schedule for Lastation in about five days from now. Probably even earlier, if I'm lucky enough…" I told her as before seeing Shift just nodded as she hummed in thought.

"Oh yeah. You always seem to schedule this stuff a few weeks before the actual meeting day." Filyn said, thinking about it for a while. "Probably not Jade Heart because you forgot she even existed."

"Hey… stop reminding me about that…" I muttered as I looked at Filyn before looking back at Shift. "Either way, it might be a while before we go there… It might be best to wait for a while."

"Hmmm… you might be right…" Shift said before crossing her arms, thinking. "I should probably get in touch with Lastation's CPU too… So that me showing up doesn't come as a surprise to her." She said, to which I immediately shook my head. "Huh? Why not?"

"Because Lastation's CPU is a bit… different to put it lightly…" I told her, chuckling very awkwardly as I looked down. "Let's just say that she's not going to get in touch with you personally, but the Oracle will."

"Yeah… that Lazy CPU would barely pick up the phone for any…" Filyn was about to say before I immediately covered her mouth to silence her. "Mmmh!? Mhmm!?" Filyn trying to say something, only muffled by my hand.

"Shush." I told her before turning to Shift, who seemed either confused or understanding about what Filyn just said. "Please… whatever Filyn just said… just forget that, okay?"

"…Okay…" Shift said, though sounding a bit unwilling to forget about that. Which is something I hope she does forget one day.

"Either way, I don't think I have anything to add." I said as I crossed my arms, thinking about what I should say next. "Unless you have something else you want to ask…"

"Um…I think that's it…Wait…" Shift then rubbed the side of her head, probably recalling what she wanted to say. "Oh! I remember now!" She exclaimed in realization with her eyes widened. "Yesterday, I wanted to ask you about what we should do about our sisters!"

"Our sisters? Oh. Right." I then thought a bit before looking at Filyn, who still had my hand on her mouth, before looking back at Shift. "We could drop Lite off at my Basilicom and have Filyn watch them until we come back."

"Mhmm…!? Mmmmhm!?" I heard Filyn's muffled voice through my hand, but I didn't really care all that much.

"Oh really? Hm… I think I can do that But… um…" Shift then looked at Filyn with concern, then back at me. "Sapphire? I think you should take your hand off her mouth now."

"Oh. Okay." I said as I took my hand off Filyn's mouth, only to be met with the scariest of glares I've ever seen from her. "Ahaha… ahaha… ahaha…"

"I would have pounced on you right now if it wasn't for Shift being in the room." Filyn said before she sighed as her glare softened up a bit. "Yeah… I sort of expected you to say something like that anyway…" She muttered before turning to Shift. "I guess I'll take care of your sister when you go to Lastation."

"Thanks, Filyn." Shift then looked back at me. "So what do we do now?" She asked curiously, crossing her arms.

"Well… first things first, we have to fix the damages done to Lowee so I'll try to help…" I said as I tried to get off the bed before Filyn suddenly pulled me from behind and wrapped her arms around me as she pulled me closer to her chest. "A-A-Ah…! F-Filyn…! W-What are…!?"

"Shush. Sapphire… Now rest." She told me as she patted my head, to which I started to blush out of embarrassment. "Don't even try to get out of bed…"

"B-But… I need to help Shift and… um…" I tried to think of an excuse, but my head started to feel all fuzzy inside. My blush is probably now deep red by now. "U-Um… I… Um… Um…"

Hearing Shift giggled, I turned to see her with a small smile. "You two are pretty cute." She said to both of us, in which we stared at each other before we both blushed as we moved away from each other.

"E-Either way!" I stuttered as I immediately got off the bed, trying to forget what happened. "C-Can we just get breakfast or something…? Not that I'm hungry or…" Then my stomach began to grumble, blushing as I looked away from everyone. 'Stupid stomach! Stupid coincidences!' I cursed at myself before chuckling it off. "Ahaha… What a weird coincidence that was, right?"

Shift just rolled her eyes before giving me a small smile. "Whatever you say, Sappy." She said to me, though it sounded a bit like she was teasing me or something. "But yeah, I'm getting hungry too."

"Okay then. Filyn? Let's…" I then turned to the red head, who seemed to have her only eye narrowed towards me. "Huh? Is there something wrong?"

"Huh?" Filyn blinked out of confusion before shaking her head. "Oh. It's nothing. I was just thinking about something. It's…" Then her voice trailed off before shaking her head again. "Actually, never mind about that. Let's just go and eat." She said as she got to the bed and immediately walked out the door, leaving it opened.

Then Venus suddenly popped her head in, looking around with curiosity and confusion. "Sis? Miss Shift? Did something happen here?" She asked out of pure curiosity.

"No. Nothing happened here, Venus." I told her before putting my hand on my chin, thinking about why Filyn's behavior just now. 'Why did she react like that? Is it something that has to do with me? Or was the problem just me?' I then just sighed to myself. 'Yeah… that might be it.' I then looked down, probably depressed. 'Probably because I'm acting weird to her or something…'

"Sis?" I snapped out of my thoughts as I looked down, seeing Venus somehow right next to me, looking up at me worryingly. "Are you okay?" She asked me.

"Yeah." Shift agreed, making me turn my attention towards her. "You seemed to be out of it just now." She added on, seemed to be just as worried as Venus.

"Yeah. I'm okay." I said, trying to fake a warm smile and waved it off. "Just thinking about what we're going to eat! That's all!" I told them in a very awkward tone, trying very hard not to worry them. However both of them just stared at me like I was saying something wrong. "A-Ahaha… Come on! Let's go!" I exclaimed as I grabbed both of their hands and immediately ran with them.

"S-Sis!" I heard my sister exclaim from behind me. She seemed to be in panic or distress for the reason I do know of. "Please s-stop! Don't pull on my arm!"

"Ah. Sorry." I said as I stopped running, letting go of both of their hands before turning around and faced them. I chuckled very awkwardly as I saw them looking a bit upset.

"Sappy. You shouldn't pull too hard." Shift scolded me, crossing her arms as she frowned. "You were hurting me and your sister." She then narrowed her eyes worryingly. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Sorry. It's just that…" I stopped myself, before looking down. 'I didn't want you two to worry about me…' I thought before shaking that thought off. "Either way, just forget about earlier!" I said with a fake smile before turning around. "Come on! Let's go! Early bird gets the worm!" I said before hearing Venus saying something on the lines of 'Sis… What's going on with you?'

After walking for a bit, I started to feel a bit awkward after not talking for a bit. So I turned to them, wanting to talk with Shift more. "Hey. Shift? Are you okay? And Venus." I turned to her, seeing that she was walking again, only seeing a bit of limping. "Is your foot feeling better?"

"Um…" They both spoke up at the same time before looking at each other. "You should speak first." Shift told her, giving her a smile while seemingly egging her on.

"Um… I'm okay." Venus said while looking down at her right foot as she walked. "It still hurts… but not that much anymore." She said before looking back at me with a small smile.

"Okay. And you?" I asked as I then looked at Shift. "Are you still okay after what happened yesterday?"

"I'm fine." Shift said, waving the question off with her hand with a smile before she then put it close to her chest as she looked down sadly. "You… don't need to worry about me."

"Ah… okay." My eyes softened before I sighed, still walking to where we needed to go. "I'm still worried about you, so speak up when something's up, okay?" I told her, to which she slowly nodded. "Oh and by the way, could you remind me where you usually eat again? I… kind of forgot again."

"Seriously… not again…" Shift muttered under breath in mock annoyance before she then giggled to herself as she then walked ahead of us. "Please follow me."

We followed her to a door, to which she opened to a very huge room with a huge table with a lot of seats around it and napkins and utensils on the table. On the right side was another door, which probably led to the kitchen. Back at the table sat Filyn with Lite sitting across from her, which she noticed before waving us down.

"Oi! Hurry up! You three!" Filyn exclaimed, trying to rush us before looking to Shift. "Your cook told me that the food would be out in a few minutes." She told Shift.

"Thanks Filyn." Shift answered before we all sat down at the table. Me and Venus right next to Filyn while Shift sat right next to Lite, who looked bored out of her mind.

As we waited for a while, Venus asked a very peculiar question. "Um… Miss Shift?" She spoke up, grabbing Shift's attention. "You have a cook?"

"Yes. We do have our own chef." Shift said, before looking at her a bit curious about something. "Why do you ask? Do you guys not have your own chef?"

Venus then shook her head. "No… not really… It was Sis who actually cooked for me." She told Shift, making me feel immediate embarrassment from hearing that. "Her food tasted really good~!"

Shift then slightly side-eyed to me, making me blush even more. "Oh? Did she now?" Shift asked with a sly smile, to which Venus nodded."Well then, I'd like to try her cooking sometimes then. Must be good if you like it so much."

"Um… B-But my cooking isn't a-actually five-star dish…" I said shyly, looking off to the side. I started to feel depressed again. "And I accidentally cooked way too much than we needed… and…"

Shift leaned forward to put her finger on my lip to stop me from talking. "One, you're rambling. Two, I would like to try your cooking." She told me before taking her finger off my lip.

"But…!"

"Excuse me? The food's ready." Someone else spoke up, so we turned to see the chef at the front of the table with plates in hand and a tray behind him. He obviously was looking a bit annoyed at what he was seeing. "And Lady Shift? Lady Sapphire? Please don't lean on the table, okay? You're scaring the kids."

We then looked to Venus and Lite. They were either a bit confused or a bit caught off guard. "Ah. Sorry." Me and Shift said before we sat back down, looking straight ahead awkwardly as we tried not to look at the chef directly.

"Hey!" We heard Lite finally spoke up, turning to her standing up with a very angry look on her face as she looked at the chef. "I wasn't scared at all!"

"Shhh…" Filyn immediately shushed Lite, in which she turned her attention towards the red-headed girl. "You're scared now…" She said, obviously sounded like she was teasing her, given her small smirk and crossing of her arms.

"H-Hey…!" Lite exclaimed, seemingly even more angrier than before. Now she pretty much glaring at Filyn, but she was too short that only her eyes could be seen. "Big Sis! The Red-Haired Idiot is being mean to me!"

"Filyn. Please don't be mean to her." Shift told her, in which Filyn flashed back at her with a smile and a wave. This immediately made her look away from her in a blush. "E-Either way, we should eat now, right?" She asked the chef, to which he nodded and put all our plates in front of us one at a time. Then he put glasses of water for each one of us. After that, he left for the kitchen.

The food in front of us was scrambled egg and rice with toast on the side. I started to eat and it was pretty good, until I heard someone nearly throwing up right next to me. I immediately turned to see Venus covering her mouth with a wide-eyed, disgusted look on her face.

"V-Venus!? Are you okay!?" I exclaimed worriedly before grabbing the napkin that was on the table before giving it to her. "Here! Take this!" I said, to which she immediately grabbed and put on her mouth, probably spitting out whatever she was eating. "H-Hey… Venus… Are you alright?" I asked her again while also soothing her back. Then Venus looked like she was about to throw up again, which made everyone else start to worry about her.

"Is she okay?" Shift asked me with a very worried and concerned tone. She just stopped eating as she looked over at us with a very concerned look on her face. "Should we take her to the doctor?" She asked, to which Venus immediately shook her head.

"Hmmm… I see…" Filyn muttered as she looked at Venus very closely. Seemingly, she recognized what she's looking at. "She looks very similar to when Sapphire eats her least favorite food…"

"Least favorite food…?" Lite spoke up, tilting her head while looking at Filyn very curiously. "What do you mean, Red-Haired Idiot?"

"J-Just forget about it…" I muttered before I looked at Venus, who already stopped throwing up as she looked at me with a bundled up napkin in hand. "Venus? Do you not like the food?"

Venus nodded her head. "Yellow things. Bad." She responded while staring at her plate in disdain. "Really bad."

"You mean the eggs, right?" I asked her, to which she nodded. "Ah, I see…" I muttered under my breath before sighing a little. 'Guess I'm not cooking eggs for her…' I thought before smiling a little. "That's a good thing we know now… but I didn't like how we found out…"

Shift nodded in agreement. "I'll ask the chef to fix something else for her." She said as she stood up and walked towards the kitchen. "Please wait for a few minutes." She told us before going inside.

And then a few minutes passed, and Shift was still not out yet. "Huh." Filyn spoke up, breaking the silence. "Wonder if she's chewing him out or something…"

I immediately shook my head. "Doubt it." I answered her calmly. "Shift is probably just asking him to cook something that isn't eggs…" I then thought a little bit. "Maybe something like waffles or pancakes or something like that…"

"Sapphire… sometimes I do wonder if sweets are always on your mind…" Filyn said thoughtfully as she started to eat her food again. "You brought a bag full of fifty pieces of candy back home… and said… 'I'm gonna eat all of this' or something like that…" She said in-between bites.

"Huh…? Miss Zombie Lady always does that!?" Lite exclaimed as she then looked at me with shock. "She brought twenty of whatever she had in that bag when she came here!?"

"Please…" Venus spoke up as she stared at Lite with slight annoyance. "Stop calling my sister that." She told her as she frowned at her. She was obviously annoyed at the fact that she keeps calling me by that nickname.

However, Lite looked like everything just went over her head. "Huh? That's her name, isn't it?" She asked, a bit confused about what Venus just said. "Miss Zombie Lady is Miss Zombie Lady. And Red-Haired Idiot is Red-Haired Idiot."

"My sister's name is Sapphire! And the redhead is Filyn!" Venus said, sounding clearly unhappy about what Lite was telling her as she crossed her arms. "Stop being so mean to them!"

'Actually, I don't think Filyn's nickname wasn't bad…' I thought, smirking internally, not wanting to say that out loud. 'It actually kind of fit her…' I then looked at the said girl. 'Kind of…'

"Ah. Okay." Lite then thought for a little while. "Filyn and… Saf…" Then her face scrunched up, probably struggling to say my name. "Saf… Saf… Saf… Saf… Um…" She frowned, to which Filyn actually snickered a little. "Hey! It's harder than it looks!"

"You can just call her Sap if you…" Venus then heard Filyn cackling at the top of her lungs while I just groaned. "Huh? Filyn? What's wrong?"

"I'm sorry. It's just that…" Filyn then snickered again, before covering her mouth a little. "It's been a while since I last heard someone getting her name wrong…" She then starts laughing again. "And her name is not even that hard!"

"Filyn! Don't say that to Lite! Or else she would…!" I then noticed that Lite was raising her fork at Filyn with a really furious look on her face. "Actually… nevermind…"

Shift then walked out with a sigh. "Hey… so he said that he'll fix up something for her, so um…" She then noticed that Lite was about to throw her fork while Filyn was laughing, before stopping when she saw her sister. "Sappy? What's going on?"

"Well… Filyn was making fun of Lite for getting my name…" I told her as I let out a fake childish groan. "Which happens aaaaall the time, y'know?" I said, sounding a bit exaggerated in some of my words.

"Hey. You know I only call you Sappy because it's a cute nickname." Shift said as she walked back to the table and sat back down.

"Huh? It was? I assumed you were calling me that because you couldn't get my name right." I said, looking a bit surprised. "Jeez…! Now that I know the reason, it's a bit embarrassing…" I told her, looking a bit bashful. "N-Not that I don't mind… It's just… um… never mind…"

"Just what? Hmmm?" Filyn asked, teasing me as she smirked at me. "Come on. Finished that sentence." She said as I blushed even more, seeing that smirk turning into a grin. And Lite, who was angry earlier, looked interested.

"Yeah. It's just what?" Shift asked as she looked at me curiously.

"Um… Well…" I looked away, trying to find a way to deter this conversation. "It's just um… y'know… I always expect people to keep getting my name wrong… that's all!" I said, trying to deter the fact I was just embarrassed by the nicknames I've been given.

"Hey." Shift said as she frowned while crossing her arms. "I'd always got your name right when we were younger." She told me, which I just stared back at her in confusion. "Huh? Why are you staring at me like that?"

"I… don't remember that…" I said, narrowing my eyes, trying to remember what she told me. "Did you really do that? I… don't remember… I don't…" I clutched my head, shaking it. "Nope! Can't remember!" I said cheerfully, giving her a rather cheerful smile.

Shift then stood up from her chair and approached me with concern. "Hey. Are you okay?" She asked me, narrowing her eyes.

"Sis?" Venus spoke up with concern as she looked up at me.

"I'm fine. Really." I told both of them, trying to deter the situation. "Let's just eat for now, okay? The food is really getting cold!" I told both of them, to which both of them slowly nodded, both are very reluctant.

Then Shift walked back to her seat and started eating again. And after a while, everyone, save for Venus, started to eat their food again. Later, the chef brought out waffles and syrup in front of Venus and replaced the food from earlier. When I saw it, I started to drool a little while sneaking glances at it. Of course, I was still eating my food but I do like sweets. When I finally finished, I tried to not focus on Venus's food to not look like I'm needy.

However, Venus seemingly notices this and cuts off a bit of it. She then puts it on my finished plate before going back in and eating some more. "I… can't accept this…" I said, looking down at my plate.

"But Sapphire… you're the one who was drooling at Venus's food!" Filyn accused me immediately, seeing that she also finished her food. "Literally everyone with eyes could see you!"

"It's okay, sis!" Venus said as she looked at me with a pure smile. "Have some!"

"But Venus…! I honestly don't deserve this and you're the only one who didn't eat and the only reason you did this is…" My voice suddenly trailed off, blushing a little as I remembered what I was doing. "U-Um… well… it's um…"

"Sappy… You're talking too much again…" Shift said again, crossing her arms, seemingly finished with her plate. Then she looked up with thought. "Um… Why do I feel like you're going to do this more than once…?"

"Yeah… She actually does this a lot, Shift." Filyn said, giving me a small smirk before turning back to Shift. "She's never gonna stop talking until you tell her too…" She said, to which I blushed harder.

"Really!? That's amazing!" Lite exclaimed, seemingly actually amazed by the fact I never stop talking. But it was very obvious she doesn't seem to get why I never stop talking.

"Hehe… Well… I mean…" Filyn then looked at me before looking at Lite. "It's not really a skill… more like something that's a part of her…"

"B-But…! I don't talk that much…!" I exclaimed before thinking about it more. I usually never talk to people since I feel like I would mess up in front of a stranger. But at the same time, there are some cases where I never stop talking. "Do I…?" I asked myself.

"Yes. Almost all the time." Filyn sighed, seemingly recalling every time I never stopped talking. "Whether it's something that interests you or it's something that would make you talk nonstop, you'll almost never stop."

"Meanie…" I muttered to myself, pouting a little bit.

Shift laughed a little, covering her mouth since she probably didn't want to laugh too much. "I guess I'm learning something new about you every day… And…" She looked at me. "I don't remember you rambling a lot though… You just say something really cheerful or look out the window most of the time we meet up…"

"Well… My brain would just shut down sometimes when I visit here…" I then look down a little. "…or at least any other nations for that matter…" I muttered under my breath. "But when you ask me for something, I just do it! No questions asked!"

Then Filyn looked at me with a very cheeky grin. "So if Shift all of the sudden tells you to take off your–!" She was about to say before I smacked on top of her head. "Ow~!"

"Filyn~!" I exclaimed very angrily, huffing a little as I crossed my arms. "Don't say that in front of children~! That's very inappropriate~!" I scolded her, seeing that Shift blushed a little.

"Huh? What were you about to say?" Lite asked Filyn, tilting her head in confusion and curiosity.

"Don't ask." Shift simply told her, not wanting to say anything about that. This made Lite still very confused about what's going on.

"E-Either way…" I said as I immediately stuffed the piece of waffles that Venus gave me into my mouth. 'It tastes sweet.' I thought to myself. "Shift? Do you need help with anything or not?" I asked her.

"Um… No, not really." Shift told me, giving me a small yet tired smile as she rubbed her eyes a little. "I had to stay up until midnight to help with repairs. Bunch of calls and stuff like that… And then I woke up this morning to a number of calls as well…" She yawned a little before stretching. "So, I'm a bit tired… "

"Huh. No wonder why you looked a little tired this morning…" I muttered to myself before frowning, leaning forward and resting my chin on my hand. "I think you might need to lie down if you're getting really tired…"

"No. I'm okay." Shift told me while waving me off. "I'm just a little tired today."

"Are you sure, Shift?" I asked, looking at her a bit worried. "We may be CPUs, but we do have our limits." I told her, crossing my arms. "So tell me if you're feeling tired so I can take over for you."

"I'm okay. I promise!" Shift said, still trying to wave me off.

"Okay… but are really you sure?" I asked her again, trying to be really firm about it. "Like are you really, really sure you're okay? Promise?" I asked. 'Because I hate making promises that you can't truly keep.' I thought, looking a bit sad for a little bit before shaking it off.

"Promise." Shift said to me with a small smile. "I promise that I'm okay. So please don't worry about me, okay?"

"I… okay… Hey, Venus… are you done with your…" I then turned to Venus, who's just finished with her food. "Oh. Okay. Uhhhh…" I pondered what was on my mind earlier. "What should we talk about now? Maybe we can…!"

"Sapphire…" Filyn spoke up, catching my attention. "I just remembered that you're supposed to come to the Guild's manager's office for that stunt you pulled two days ago."

"Ah. I see." I sighed to myself, leaning back into my chair. "Why does the manager do this all the time…?" I then noticed that Shift had her eyes narrowed to me. "What?"

"What are you two talking about?" Shift asked as she frowned a little. "Sappy. Did you do something bad? Tell us."

"Yeah! Tell us!" Lite exclaimed eagerly waiting for me to tell them about that.

"Well…" I told them how I wanted to give Venus a tour of Planeptune or just hang out with her. Then I told her about how we saw someone harassing another person. Then I told them how Venus ran after them to stop them, but got hurt in the process and how I angrily responded to that when I was in HDD. "…And I must have scared a few people when I did that… so… yeah… I got carried away for a bit…"

Shift sighed to herself. "It's alright, Sappy. I remember you telling me that your HDD was a bit hard to control because of your personality is a bit… childish…" She said, seemingly recalling what I said before. "Which is one of the reasons why you don't like using HDD to fight."

"Hehe… yeah… it took me forever to at least try and control myself when flying to other nations." I said as I leaned back on my chair. "Staying focused in that form is hard…"

"Yeah… yeah… either way, which leads me to the manager." Filyn spoke up, sighing a little as she shook her head. "We're gonna have to call her soon… or else she'll get really upset for ghosting her…"

"Actually… I think she's already upset by now…" I then thought for a while before pulling out my phone from my inventory. "Wait… I'll text her since I have her number. Hold on…"

Guild Manager:

Cyan Heart: Sorry for ghosting you all of the sudden! I'm a bit stuck here in Lowee for reasons of an enemy attack, so I might not be available for a while!

"…And just put her a cute sorry emoji… and there…!" I hit the send button while giggling to myself before putting away my phone. "She should get my message soon. In the meantime, what else should we do?"

"Ooh! Ooh! Can you show me this HDD thing you said earlier?" Lite exclaimed, looking with expectancy.

"No…"

"Aw~! Meanie~!"


That's all for now! I don't really have anything to say about this chapter other than some dialogue stuff (thanks again to decode9 for helping me with that). The next chapter would have something at the end.

Also, I uploaded another story for my own experiment. So that's all about that.

Either way, Please Review and Stay Safe!