Hyperdimension Neptunia belongs to Compile Heart, Idea Factory, Sega and whomever else worked on it.

Three one-shots in under 24 hours? The hell is wrong with my muse?

This short was inspired by "Sitting on the Event Horizon" in a recent review for "Shadows of the Heart".

Uzume sometimes wondered why she bothered coming to a small diner in a small town that happened to be fairly close to the Planeptune and Lastation border. Sure, it was nice to hang around with her juniors, but she knew that it wasn't her place to stick around. 'After all, if people put too much faith in me, that'll hurt Nepsy.'

The last thing she wanted to do was to hurt the girl who had done so much for her.

Still, Uzume knew she was on borrowed time, even with Planeptune's shares doing really well and retro gaming being a big hit lately, she knew that eventually her time would come and unlike last time, she doubted she could seal herself away into a game console for another half a century and survive.

"Oh well, just live in the moment!" Uzume smiled brightly. "Speaking of moments... Hey, Reizy!" She waved at the older-looking woman with long, light blue hair, who was sitting at a booth.

"Ah! Uzume!" Reizy, or rather, Rei Ryghts, smiled as she saw the redhead enter the building. "H, ho, how are you doing?"

"I'm fine." Uzume slid into the booth so that she was sitting across from the other woman. "And what have I told you about stuttering?"

"B, bu, but it's ju, just how I am." The woman protested, getting flustered while Uzume chuckled. "Mouuu! No fair! You're teasing me again!" Rei yelled, her face red.

"You're so easy to tease too." Uzume grinned at her.

Rei pouted, but as she saw Uzume's smiling face, she started to smile as well. "So how's being a retro CPU going for you?"

"Uzume thinks that it's super duper that people like older games, but is worried that..." Both Rei and Uzume's eyes went white and blank as Uzume's true personality slipped through. "Ahem..." Uzume coughed into her fist. "It's pretty cool that people are liking older games, but I can't help but worry that eventually they'll move on. How can I stay alive without shares, you know?"

"I dunno, you could always ask my other self how she survived for centuries without any shares." Rei muttered, thinking about her Ultra Dimension counterpart. A savage grin came to her face, "and maybe you could ask the worm what it's like to turn me into a CPU that everyone hates and fears and..."

"You're doing it again." Uzume pointed out, causing Rei to blush hard as she calmed down.

"S...Sorry, it just slips out when I think of my other self and how she made me go crazy." Rei squeezed her hands as she looked into her lap. "The worst part is, I still have some of that power, even after Iris Heart took most of it from me and my other self took some back with her."

"Yeah, and Big Nepsy's fairy friend took it away from... Iris Heart, was it?" Uzume asked, getting a nod from Rei, "yeah, took it from her and gave it to the other me, so..."

Rei gave her a small smile. "You and I are probably the only two in the multiverse who have this problem, huh?"

Uzume shrugged at that. "Hey, it's part of the reason I keep coming to see you." After all, Rei's power as Tari's CPU was a never-ending source of grief for the older-looking woman, and it was something that Uzume understood very well.

"Only part?" Rei asked, confusion on her face.

"Can't I just come to see you because I want to?" Uzume asked, tilting her head in confusion. "As much as I love Nepsy, Gearsy and the others, there's just some things that act as a barrier between us." She pouted at that. "Uzume thinks it would be awesome if she could talk to Nepsy and the others about everything, but sometimes Uzume..."

"You're doing it again." Rei pointed out, causing Uzume to flush.

"Ahem, as I was saying, there's just some things that they don't understand. It's not like it's their fault or anything."

"Like being a fish out of temporal water?" Rei asked, getting a nod from Uzume.

"Yeah! That!" Uzume smiled at Rei. "See, you get it."

"Only because there was another version of me that gave me thousands of years of memories and made me go temporarily insane."

"Aww, don't say that, Reizy," Uzume pouted at her, "you make it sound like it was a mistake."

"It was." Rei muttered, a dark look on her face. "Sure, I nearly destroyed two dimensions, no one lets me forget it, but then..." She trailed off, noticing a distressed look on Uzume's face.

"I get it." Uzume shook her head. Unlike Rei, who had an alternative dimensional version of herself, Uzume had to deal with the fact that it was the "real" her that had caused everyone to forget about Neptune and the others and had nearly collided the Zero and Heart Dimensions into the Hyper Dimension, which would probably not only destroy all three dimensions, but cause harm to any dimensions that happened to be close by. She remembered something Nepgear had said about a dimensional portal being open that led to an Ultra Dimension or something, but Uzume hadn't really paid attention. "I did more than you did, but people love me."

Rei sighed heavily. "Th, that's be, because you're a CPU a, and you got to be a main character."

"And a Final Boss at the same time." Uzume pointed out, causing Rei to pout. "Come on, Reizy, it could be worse." Rei looked at her, pouting. "You could be dead."

"Considering that everyone wants me to..."

"I don't." Uzume interrupted her, causing Rei to blush hard. "I love my juniors and their sisters, sure, but like I said, there's things they just don't understand. You do though."

Rei blushed softly. "So, um..."

"When we're done here, want to go back to your place and just chill?" Uzume asked, getting a soft nod from Rei. "So, gaming, movies, or..?"

"Um... L-Le-Let's just see what happens." Rei stuttered out, looking nervous while Uzume smiled at that.

"Sure."

Yes, a Rei Ryghts and Uzume Tennouboshi (Reizume) ship one-shot.

...Why not?