I sighed as everyone left. I began to flicker into unconsciousness once again. Then I heard a voice. "Oh, baby Kenji, just lying there. So cute." The mocking voice came from behind the door. It creaked open, and a small figure floated in. Did Histy wake up on the wrong side of the bed? Then I was able to get a good look at the figure. The girl had lightly-tanned skin and a devilish smirk. She plopped herself onto the bedside table. "Hmmm. It's strange that your friends haven't detected me yet." she giggled. I looked at the figure. "I hope you don't plan to cause trouble." I warned. "I can scream, and Histy will call security." The figure sighed. "I surrounded both of us in a sound barrier. Scream all you like, dearie- no one will hear you." I look around. A shimmering forcefield surrounded us. "Trouble is my middle name." said the figure. "The name's Croire." I sigh. She giggles. "Goodness, you are really fucking pathetic at times, you know that?" I frowned, slightly insulted. But I said nothing. "I would like to give you something." She handed me a necklace. There was a blue orb on it, shimmering with energy.
"With this, you would have a power that only an oracle would be able to match. The ability to jump dimensions." She used telekinesis to wrap it around my neck. "Plus, it looks nice on you. And, also, I might as well." She tapped my injury, and it healed instantly, the skin losing it's purple color and flushing to a more healthy color. Croire disconnected me, unplugging machines and tugging tubes out of me. As she finished up, she unwrapped my injured arm from the cast that had been written on all over. Probably by the twins. I sat up as I regained mobility. "So cute." Croire chuckled. Then she gasped. "That's my cue. I will see you later?" I nodded as she took down the forcefield and flew out the open window. Compa rushed in. "Who disconnected you? I just- huh?" She saw my arm, frowning as she examined it. "How'd you heal so quickly?" She let me sit up again reluctantly, examining me as if I would just suddenly collapse from sudden cardiac arrest. When I was fully standing up, she escorted me to the couch. I sat down, but she made me sit down slowly. I stretch softly as Compa booted up one of the many consoles, handing me the remote. It was a game about the CPUs duking it out. I took control of Purple Heart. I had played this game before. It was almost impossible to win as Purple Heart. The other CPUs would swarm you, and you would fall over, the screen reporting, Game Over! and it would return you to the starting screen. Only in my case, since I was in single player mode. In multiplayer, it would be different. But I had found a way to win as Purple Heart. If you took down each CPU one by one, eventually, the screen would go black, and a cheerful Neptune would tell you, "Good job!" before the console shut off by itself.
I sighed as I set down the controller, shutting off the TV. Compa looked at in surprise. "Done already?" she asked. I nodded in reply. She shrugged. "Well, I could go get you a cola, if you want." I held up my hand. "Nah, I'll get it myself." I walked over to the fridge. Me and everyone else shared the fridge. I opened the fridge, and there was a string that was pulled. There was a crash as one of the cupboards opened, spilling cans everywhere. I heard a cheerful "Aha!" from the corner as Neptune jumped me. "So it was you!" she cried. I put my hands up. "No! I was getting a cola!" Neptune frowned. "Likely story. How about-" A voice came from behind Neptune. "Knock it off, Neptune." it growled. I sighed. "Sorry about that, Nepgear." I replied. Neptune sighed. "Someone has been eating my pudding, and I need to know who." she snapped, walking off. I sighed. What Neptune needed was a kick in the butt. Suddenly, Neptune yelped. "That felt like a kick in the butt! What the nep?" Huh? I didn't actually kick her! I look at the necklace. It glows softly. Does it do my bidding? I looked at the table. There was an empty plate on the table. What if that plate had the most delicious serving of pudding ever made? Immediately pudding appeared on the plate. And it looked quite delicious. Nepgear looked at the table, taking a second look at the table. "That wasn't there before." she said softly, walking over to the table. I have this weird ability now, and I am already quite bored with it.
How about I get that Cola that I wanted before? The can of soda materialized into my hands as I sat back down onto the couch. I looked over to the TV stand. Until Histy found me a mission, I was stuck here. I looked over to the counter. Gift boxes were stacked neatly on it. Compa looked at the counter. "Oh! I almost forgot... Happy birthday, Kenji." she told me. I looked over at the calendar. It was June the 22nd, which is my birthday. I nodded to Compa. "Thanks." Nepgear walked into the room, with the other CPUs and CPU candidates and a doctor in tow. Then, they saw me. "Good morning," I greeted. Vert dropped the game controller, and Ram froze. The room, which was once filled with the chatter of the goddesses, went silent. Nepgear giggled. "Oh, that's the other part of the surprise... Kenji's awake." Blanc growled, slowly turning towards the doctor. Then, she lunged, and I had to hurry over to stop the tiger from mauling the doctor. I grabbed her by the arms, holding her back. "You told us last night, he was critical!" Blanc roared. The doctor stammered out, "I was telling the truth! I swear!" Blanc snapped back, "You're a quack!"
It took a while to calm Blanc down, and eventually, we settled to play a video game or two. Neptune got frustrated since I kept beating her in one of the many multiplayer games she had. Her frustration was amusing at times. "Rrrrgh! I screwed up again... that corner gets me every time!" Neptune soon stopped to take a break, and Blanc took the controller. We switched games, and now we were playing Star Wars: Battlefront II. We both kept picking different sides than the other, and soon Blanc began to get frustrated at the loss and death count she was racking up. "What the hell? WHERE DID YOU COME FROM, YOU JERKWAD?" At that moment, I ended up shooting and killing Blanc. She banged her fist on the table and hurled a pillow in anger. "F**k you! I hope your whole family has a nice Christmas!" The others laughed softly at Blanny's rage. I calmed her down quickly, then I decided we should start on either the presents or the cake. Majority vote said presents. So I was sat down at the table, and Vert sighed. "So, do we start with the letters or the presents?" I said letters, so she started handing me stacks of five at a time. Some of the letters came from members of the nation's higher-ups. I didn't know half of the people who sent letters. Then I came to a letter with black paper. Uni sat up, peering over my shoulder. I carefully opened it, trying not to tear the nice paper. I unfolded a piece of paper from within. It said,
Kenji,
I thought you would be just a normal Planeptune citizen. I guessed wrong.
You are unique in so many ways. So, I will give you a unique gift- some pictures of my big sister.
Enjoy!
-Uni
I took out the pictures. They were quite unique. The pictures were all of Noire, wearing different costumes. Noire looked over my shoulder. "Did you get anything-" she began, then she saw the pictures, out in the open for everybody to see. She started screaming again, as Neptune looked at the pictures. "Huh! Noire is into cosplaying? I know she's a good candidate to be a model." Noire responded, "Stop looking!" I put the pictures back into the envelope and waited for the tsundere to finish her freak-out. I sigh softly as she calmed down. I sighed as I created a restriction field- while it was up, no weapons could be summoned by anybody, not just CPUs, for safety purposes. I soon got through the anonymous letters. At the last 7 letters, it was color coded. two purples, three whites, a green, and a black. I opened each letter carefully, daring not to tear the expensive-looking paper. Both Neptune and Nepgear sent cheesy gaming joke and pun-filled letters to me. The twins wrote long and nice poems to me. Blanc sent me a passively aggressive letter to me. And Vert sent me a nice letter praising me of my bravery, and that she believed it wouldn't take long for me to get "laid," whatever that meant. There was another one just on top of one of the presents. It was a blue one, and it was quite thick. I opened it, and a scroll lay within. I unlatched it, and one of the cylinders fell and rolled past everyone out of the room and into the hallway. That was from Histoire. I rolled it up quickly, planning to read it later. Now, it was time to move on to the huge stack of presents on the counter.
I picked up the first present. It was a magenta box, and I opened it. It was labelled badly, but I already knew what it was. I opened it, and I pulled out a string of beads, lined up neatly from smallest to biggest. Someone made me a necklace! Everyone looked at me, shocked. Vert snatched it. "I will borrow this for... science." I nodded. "Go right ahead!" I get the next present ready. This one was covered in black wrapping paper, complete with a bow on top. I open the present slowly. Behind the shiny foil I see a box that's not like the others- Noire sent me a model Unicorn Gundam! Now, to move on to the other gifts...
