Hm? Something interesting from the past? Oh, if you are asking, I might as well; even though Black Heart tries to keep this a secret.

You see, this happened back when the nations were still young. Lastation's first generation of craftsmen was already in its prime and the nation went at one ambitious project after the other. However, it was also the time when the first graveyards were reused... and when the people dug up the graves previously closed, they often found coffins that, after thirty years, had only just started to decompose.

It is quite ironic to me that this is the only time I can remember people complaining about the quality of Lastation-made goods.

-Purple Heart

IF yawned and looked out over the station.

But a few hours had passed since she told Histoire she would take a two week vacation, which was followed by telling Compa and Mari about the matter; she had already mentioned it to the latter, seeing how she needed permission anyway, but now they were all on the same page. Neither of them had minded, and wished her good luck.

Now it was six in the morning, her train was due in five minutes, and the young woman shivered. Temperatures had been dropping for weeks, yet this morning in particular was chilly. IF wished she could go somewhere a bit warmer, or warm herself like other mages. She did not try using magic, though; considering her control, she reasoned she was more likely to set her clothes ablaze.

Adding to this was that waking up at these times, even if she was used to it, saw her somewhat tired. She would have preferred to go in the afternoon, partly because she had to train, but then she figured she might as well get started early.

As if to mock IF, Nepgear stood right next to her without appearing bothered by anything. The purplette was wide awake and dandy, humming cheerfully as she read Chirps on her heavily modded N-Gear. Whoever had the great idea to name the most used planeptunian tablet after her– IF held the thought and realised it was Neptune without doubt.

Pushing her musings aside, IF tried to worm her hands deeper into her coat's pockets and looked her friend over; Nepgear was pristine even now. "How do you do it?" She could already guess, but the curiousity remained. "Not being bothered by this," she added after a moment.

Nepgear immediately looked up from her device, a quizzical note in her expression; both girls stood straight and alone, with a few others further down the platform. There was very little conversation going on anywhere as the morning sun's first rays began to kiss their faces.

After a moment of consideration, IF felt a slight weirdness and swishing noises around them. Nepgear took a quick glance around. "Just to make sure, don't worry. Anyway, CPUs are pretty resistant to heat and cold. I technically don't need to wear clothes at all, but that would stand out. I wouldn't need anything in Lowee either, but it's the same thing." Then she began to beam at her. "Besides, my sleeping cycle changed after my apotheosis! I only had to sleep every second day before, and now I am already at three and a half; I'll probably hit four days soon. And that is only the time I start to get tired, too. I slept yesterday and worked through tonight."

The human woman shook her head over her friend's joyful explanation. "That's one thing I envy you guys about. Only having to sleep twice a week sounds great." Her words made the divine girl giggle.

"I guess? I'm just a Candidate, though. Sis can stay up an entire week without getting tired." IF's resulting sigh prompted another bout of mirth, though that was what she had aimed at. A CPU's reduced need for sleep was no secret.

However, the sensation IF felt since they started talking vanished and Nepgear put a finger to her lips. "Wind magic," was all she said; it was more than enough to know this had been an advanced technique to stop sound from carrying.

"Attention on platform five," the automated voice announced a moment later. "Please take distance from the tracks, rolling in is CN thirteen thirty-eight from Nicos to Nordral." The train was already visible up ahead, quietly pushing through the morning cold. IF took a moment to marvel at the long structure of polished metal with its purple highlights. Nepgear smiled leniently over her friend, who did not notice.

"Actually, what does CN stand for?" IF turned a curious look to her friend, who closed one eye for a moment. Nepgear had an overabundance of trivia in her head, which included this tidbit.

"Connect Nations; they handle all international travel. We're lucky we are in the capital, that way we actually get a line directly to Nordral." Which IF knew was Lastations capital city. There were similar connections to Lowee and another would exist to Leanbox, were it not on the other continent.

Either way, IF was glad to get out of the cold; she exchanged a relieved glance with the amused Nepgear, then quickly grabbed her luggage as the train rolled by them. Light from the inside illuminated the girls a bit more and drew slightly longer shadows over the pillars behind them. Once the machine stopped and fell quiet, they found a set of doors but a few feet away from them. IF immediately went over and opened it, Nepgear following with her own suitcase.

Warm air immediately kissed her skin, making IF sigh quietly. The young woman took a quick look around and noted the compartments every train was divided in; they varied in size from being made for two to eight people, with the numbers noted on the doors.

Seeing how simple this was, IF just wandered through the rows until she found one that was designated for two people, a buttonpress making the door slide open. Both girls filed in and quickly lifted their suitcases into the holding areas over their heads, then took seats opposite to each other.

Despite it being noted for two people, IF found that the compartment was quite spacious and that the seating was comfortable as well. She cast a glance out of the window, finding just the mostly empty station outside.

Then a screen right below that window came to life, beeping twice to get their attention. "Good morning and welcome. Please slide your tickets over the scanner to validate them." A pad on top of it flashed once, indicating where the scanner was while text with the same message ran over the screen. Nepgear already had her ticket out and slid it over the device; the screen flashed green after a moment.

IF had to rummage through her many pockets for a moment; once she found her own ticket and did the same as Nepgear, the screen flashed green again and stayed that way, white text scrolling over it as the voice spoke up again: "Thank you very much. Please enjoy your ride with Connect Nations, where no borders exist."

She almost snorted about the slogan, even though it did fit the company. Instead, IF curiously looked around to take in the train's interior; their compartment had plastic walls and the doors held but small windows, which meant others could not see much of them from the outside.

"It's very obvious this is a planeptunian train, don't you think? Lastationite trains rely more on human personnel to check the tickets. This automated system was built here and I think I optimised some of its code a few years ago." Nepgear lounged in her wide seat with visible content, immediately reacting to the curious look IF sent her way. "I'm not sure if it was actually given to them, but Histoire had me do it for my degree in Computer Science, um, eight years ago? I think?"

The explanation, in turn, made IF feel small again; she never really got out of her mind just how far she was eclipsed by her friend. Of course that was Nepgear's duty as a CPU, but IF sometimes had trouble reminding herself of that.

That said, the brunette was somewhat curious now. "How many degrees do you have?" She had half a mind to regret her decision to ask, but learning more little things about her friends won out once more. IF waited patiently while scattering those thoughts, noticing she would have hours to do little else but chat and think. Nepgear quickly raised a hand and counted on her fingers.

"Let's see, I started with Engineering and Law. Yes," she noted once IF raised an eyebrow. "Sis and Histoire insisted I study Law early. Then came, uh... goodness, was Computer Science or Physics first?" With four fingers ticked off, the purplette thought for a moment. Then she shrugged and lowered the last one. "Not that it matters. The last one I finished was Business Administration, just two years ago. They have me study up on Medicine at the moment, but that will take another year or two."

IF carefully waited until it was clear her friend was done, then she took a deep breath. "So it's five. At not even eighteen." Nepgear appeared a little sheepish, pushing her index fingers together in a familiar gesture. "I know it's not that much. Uni is already almost done with her eighth degree... she spends a lot more time on these things than I do, even though we have the same amount of combat practice."

The brunette blinked at her friend slowly, expression blank. "I think I just got whiplash," she deadpanned.

Now Nepgear blinked right back before realising that her 'not much' was half a lifetime's achievement for a human being. "Oh, goodness... whoops?"

Knowing that this was her life now, IF sighed and turned to the window; only to realise that they had already left the station, and by extension their hometown. The train moved so quietly and softly that she had not even noticed. The vast plains around them were still dull and grey, as the sun had not yet risen enough to brighten them noticeably. It was only a matter of minutes, however.

The approaching day reminded IF of something else, though. Nepgear seemed to share her thought, as she was staring outside with the lightest of frowns. "Perhaps we should have gone in the afternoon after all. It will be night in Lastation." The brunette nodded.

It was but a bit of trivia that she herself had filed away long ago, and obviously meaningless to a being whose sleeping cycle was just different.

Lastation's timezone was twelve hours different from Planeptune. The Land of Black Regality was actually first on the clock, with intervals of six hours separating Leanbox, Planeptune, and Lowee in that order.

Which meant that after an eight-hour train ride over half of the continent, where it would be the late afternoon at home, they would arrive a few hours after midnight. IF simply shrugged it off; she could get through a few additional hours of activity without trouble.

Their conversation quickly petered out, though; the human girl spent some time by idly watching the landscape pass by and trying to get the itch out of her mind. Ten years of daily morning practice left her in a routine that made her body all but demand she start; in fact, IF would have started to exercise, if she had had the room to do so. Their compartment was spacious, but not quite enough for a girl of her size to do push ups. She had no other equipment, either.

Suffice it to say, IF was uncomfortable with her routine interrupted. Then however, an idea crossed her mind and she quickly turned to Nepgear. "Hey, can you make me some dumbbells?

The Candidate snapped out of her trance and lilac eyes left the tablet's screen; her mouth opened and for a moment it seemed as if she wanted to ask what IF meant, but then understanding flashed over her face and another question came out: "What weight?"

IF considered the question for a moment; she had to work most of her muscles anyway, so it did not hurt to be thorough. "I'm thinking a heavy and a medium pair for today, so one twenty and eighty pounds respectively."

Nepgear had already pushed a hand behind her back, but paused at the numbers. She gave IF a long look before producing four dumbbells one by one, never once breaking eye contact. "I trust that you know what you are doing. Eighty pounds is not medium weight." Her tone made quite clear that she was surprised, and a bit concerned.

However, IF only snorted. "For me it is. Twenty pounds were my medium weight six years ago. Thank you." She quickly weighed the training implements in her hands and nodded; she was used to the weight and could tell that her friend made them just to specification. Though she wondered. "Why behind your back?"

Nepgear shrugged in response, a mote of silver light sparking from her thumb. "Just being careful is all. Someone might have been looking in right as I made them." IF made an understanding noise as she sat straighter and began her improvised workout. "That makes sense."

They each were absorbed by their respective tasks after that; IF did not have much to do as she worked herself, deciding to look out the window to pass the time. Hills, lakes, rivers, forests, plains, all of this passed by them in time. The sun had quickly come out to illuminate Planeptune's vast expanse, but then another sight made her rhythmic motions slow.

In the distance stood another city; IF had no idea which one it was, but its sight made her marvel nonetheless. Brightly reflecting the morning sun's light, steel buildings reached for the heavens. Yet the skyline was dominated by the local Basilicom; a far cry from Planeptower itself, but nonetheless impressive to behold. IF knew that this design was on purpose, too; no matter where you were in a planeptunian city, you would always know where the city center was by looking up.

Errant monsters were also visible in the grassland surrounding this city, though most appeared to keep their distance from it. Outside of the metres-high walls was a patch of cleared space, which was the defenders' kill zone. Anything that passed this border was immediately targeted by the defense crews. In fact, as she watched, two of the stationary plasma cannons raised their long barrels into the air.

IF quickly closed her eyes, but still saw the blinding flash of plasma streaking out through her eyelids; when she opened them again, the bright projectiles were impacting a floating Dolphin far up in the sky. Flames lashed out and, without any sound carrying to them, the monster disintegrated into shining particles.

With no other danger to fire on, the weapons returned to their ready positions. It was a much different sight from the outside, IF realised. She had seen those weapons fire from within Nicos' walls in the past, but never like this.

Some time later, when she put down the dumbbells to rest her arms for a bit, Nepgear looked up from her tablet. "I have some games on here. Do you want to play?" Her words were considered for a long moment, then IF nodded and nudged the training aids; the CPU picked them up without any visible strain, lowering her hands and absorbing them into herself. The dumbbells flashed weakly as they shrunk and lost form before vanishing.

Her curiousity piqued, IF motioned for Nepgear's empty hands. "How does that work?"

The purplette looked down, then back up at IF with a confused smile. "Um." She looked back down again before folding both hands in her lap. "That's a pretty difficult question, to be honest." As she saw the brunette's raised eyebrow, one of her own rose slightly. "Try to explain to someone without magic how magic feels like."

"Oh." The comparison made sense; IF never tried to explain to anyone, but she knew she would not be able to find the proper words.

Once her point was understood, Nepgear nodded at her. "See, that is the problem. I could always do this, ever since I was born. Share Energy is malleable, it can be whatever you want it to be for as long as you have an idea of how it works. We are very, very careful with Sharicite Engineering, though." The purplette frowned and thus stalled her impromptu lecture. "For one, all CPUs agree that the people should not become dependent on black boxes they can neither reproduce nor repair. Once we are all gone, everything would crash and burn.

"Secondly," she continued levelly, "while Share Energy is so malleable, it also almost has a will of its own. Sis described it as being a grumbly cat, which is more or less accurate." IF snorted quietly, which prompted a weak smile. "I mean it. It prefers to stay as Share Energy or Sharicite instead of taking any other forms, and pushes back the more you want. Goodness, I am really not explaining it well. The short version is that you need a lot of energy to make it do what you want. Your magic could act as a way to provide that energy, but by all the heavens never do this."

At this point, Nepgear actually cast a serious look at her that made IF feel as if she had done something wrong. Her voice held an edge rarely heard from the gentle purplette. "Are we clear about that?"

The brunette quickly nodded, purging the curious idea of trying a piece of Sharicite from her mind as fast as it appeared.

Nepgear nodded back, happy with the reaction she got. "Even if you survive, the consequences are heavy. Anyway, Share Energy." She quickly returned to a more lecturing tone. "It is pretty easy to make something like those dumbbells, to be honest; I just need to make it take a proper form, which it does not mind because that is little different from solidfying into Sharicite. Then I tell it how much weight to have, which is just a single property. The more complex the thing you want, the harder it is to do. That's why most of our weapons are simple melee weapons and why Uni is so great; she is the only one our age who can pull off actual firearms at combat-acceptable speed."

While Nepgear made her last comment and IF rolled her eyes, the human girl's mind was churning. She learned a lot in the past two minutes and was hoping to remember most of it later. One thing put her off, though. "It feels weird to talk about Share Energy as if it's alive, you know?"

Her comment made the CPU tilt her head; this time, both lilac eyebrows rose to almost meet her hairline. "But it is and that is what's so implicative about it. It is the belief of our followers made manifest, it comes from people. If any of us were capable of controlling the energies required without destabilising the Sharicite, we could create life. Histoire is the greatest marvel of Sharicite Engineering." Nepgear paused for a moment, then faintly touched a hand to her own chest, a weird note in her voice: "I am made purely of Share Energy, too. Just like all of us CPUs. Did you really never think of that?"

IF had not; she never really paid much mind to such things, focussed on her goal as she was. At least Nepgear appeared to not be angry or sad, merely curious. "Sorry, I haven't been thinking much about how things work for you guys. Thanks for telling me."

"It's no problem." Nepgear apparently considered the conversation to have concluded, seeing that she shuffled around in her luggage before pulling out a second tablet computer. "Anyway, here is my backup, just give me a moment to..." She immediately began mumbling to herself as the screen flickered to life, tapping around and nodding a few times. Then she handed the device over. "Here you go."

IF took it gingerly, careful not to damage her friend's possession. It was a little silly, considering how sturdy those were, but she always found herself being extra careful when handed something not her own.

Already running, an arcade game greeted her eyes. IF had not really played many games during her life, so the name Marble Jam did not hold any meaning to her. After blinking down at the title, the brunette sucked in a deep breath. "I just realised the grave mistake I made. I'm not much of a gamer."

"Oh, it's fine." Nepgear giggled over her expression, but held an understanding glint in her eyes. "This one is mostly for cooperative play." She quickly explained the game, which sounded easy enough to IF; each of them would be given a set position on the board, with coloured marbles rolling down the predetermined path. The players' task was to shoot those with coloured marbles of their own, and prevent them from passing through into the marked area at the end.

It sounded easy enough in theory. Once they connected their devices, Nepgear found herself as Player 1 and controlled the field's first half; IF held the second half, which she quickly realised meant to clean up anything her friend did not completely wipe from the board.

They were a good team, even as the speed increased; two years of working together revealed their influence as the girls easily communicated with few words, exchanging warnings and information whenever necessary. Marbles shattered by the dozens and their score kept increasing for a good while.

At some point however, the game became too fast for a casual IF to handle; they had lost before she decided whether to ramp it up.

Nonetheless, both girls smiled at each other as their score was displayed in six digits. Then Nepgear got a mischievous streak to her features. "Looks like you are better at this than you thought."

IF just tilted her head, slightly embarassed by the praise. "Well, it's mostly hand-eye coordination and reflexes. There are no advanced controls or anything." She already knew what her friend was planning though; not that she minded. "Versus mode?"

"Versus mode." Nepgear confirmed. Her smile had slimmed down, becoming competetive while IF unconciously straightened her back. They both knew this would be much more challenging than the previous round.

As IF quickly found, they remained sharing the same track instead of being separated. She held the first half, with Nepgear overlooking the second; that allowed the human girl to get the first shot in. At first her friend did not even get any points at all, but IF soon realised the catch of being first; she had almost no time to react to the new marbles while her friend had precious seconds to prepare for whatever entered her reach.

She started out with quick swipes and skilled hits, making marbles crack and dissolve by the dozens. As the pace picked up however, the first made it past her domain and were expertly shot down by Nepgear. Even once IF began to focus and increase her speed once again, she could not stop more marbles to make it through; a fleeting glance to the scoreboard told her that Nepgear started to catch up.

This went on for a while, their scores quickly growing from four digits to five, and then to six. By this point, IF's eyes were darting over the screen at the end of her perception speed, fingers guided no longer by concious thought.

Hit, hit, hit, miss. Her eyes darted back to the remaining marble and she scowled. The new set was already out of her reach, though IF heard them cracking as she focussed on the next. Her attempts were fierce, yet marbles made it through time and time again.

Soon after that point, the screen froze and displayed Game Over. IF stared at it for a long moment, only to realise that her eyes were stinging with pain. She quickly blinked, finding that she apparently forgot to do so for longer amounts of time. "Ow." A slight wheeze accompanied her quiet groan, though it was heard anyway. Instead of fussing over her like she might have done a few months ago however, Nepgear broke into giggles at the sight. IF glowering at her only made it turn into fullblown laughter.

While her friend slowly calmed down again, IF blinked rapidly and took a look at the final scores. She gained 645,120 points, with Nepgear holding 645,333 and thus having won by a bit more than two hundred points. This was somewhat surprising to the brunette, who let out a low whistle; they individually reached around the score they got when playing together, and she almost won.

She continued to compare the numbers by herself for a moment longer, but a sigh from Nepgear interrupted her musings. The CPU was done laughing and leaned back with an apologeptic smile. "Sorry. I had to cheese it toward the end. We both might have been a bit too competetive."

A minor surge of disappointment made itself known to IF, though she quickly pushed it aside; she had lost, yes, but she also brought a CPU-Candidate to her limits, even if just in Marble Jam. The purplette's comment made her curious, though; in several ways, but she would take it one question at a time. "What do you mean with cheesing?"

Nepgear shrugged in response, a delicate finger pointed at her N-Gear. "First half gets the first shot, but second half gets more time to prepare and control over the target. I had full control over when the game ends, it just took letting a few more marbles pass. I caught up to you, but you might as well have managed a second wind, so I let it end there." Her smile grew a size over IF's snort. "I mean it, my toned-down skills would not have been enough to beat you."

This, however, led to another question that IF decided to ask first, an eyebrow raised. Nepgear immediately caught her expression and explained before the brunette could do so much as open her mouth. "I think we both know that my limits far exceed yours, or that of any human. We tone ourselves down in order to interact with you better, to the point where it becomes second nature. Actually," she finished sheepishly, "I had to spend my first few weeks learning how to keep a lid on my strength; I broke a lot of things before I got the hang of it."

The purplette kept quiet for a moment, shuffling in her seat before sighing. "Honestly, it is still jarring at times. Humans are so fragile to me, I was afraid of accidentally hurting someone for years." IF nodded quietly, recalling that CPUs had their own problems to deal with; that did not stop her from being a bit more disappointed. However, her friend straightened out and smiled again. "That said, I actually had to take away some of my usual limits on reaction time and speed to keep up with you."

It only took that much to make content blossom through IF; she felt happy about having pushed a CPU, even if it was not as much as initially thought. "Makes sense. I didn't really take you for the competetive type, though." And it was true; to this day, they had never once competed in a proper fashion.

Nepgear shrugged in turn, taking the change of topic in stride. "From what I saw, most people are. Some more than others, but nearly everyone is competetive to a certain amount. As CPU, I am much more so because I have everything to prove. I do not like losing, at all." Her smile became a little strained over those words; the purplette turned her gaze out of the window for a moment as she leaned back, appearing as if she did not want to meet her friend's gaze. "And everyone else is the same. Uni and I compete less than our sisters, but that might come with age and responsibilities. Or maybe it is because we were friends since we were little."

For a long moment, IF considered asking more questions; then however, she reminded herself that she ought to keep her nose out of CPU-business. Nepgear would probably tell her, but prying into those matters without a good reason did not feel right.

So instead she remained quiet save for an understanding noise; Nepgear kept to her own thoughts for a moment longer, then she shook her head and the unreadable expression vanished. It was replaced by a weak smile as the CPU turned back to IF. "Should we play something else?"

This question was considered and turned down quickly; IF shook her head. "Sorry, but my eyes probably won't like another round like this one." Her response made Nepgear blink and lean in to check; IF dutifully held still, knowing easily what her friend was trying to do.

"Hmm." The purplette tilted her head from left to right before retreating, her face a mask of curiousity. "You're right, there is red in your eyeballs at the moment. In hindsight, I should have expected something like that from you."

"And what is that supposed to mean?" Sadly, her question only made Nepgear snicker; it only got worse when IF crossed her arms to make her stop, and the purplette would not provide a proper response.

In the meantime, as more light flooded into their compartment, IF could feel a certain force pushing her back into her seat ever so slightly. The train slowed down, and an announcement told them they were stopping at another station. More people soon walked down the length of the train, looking for a compartment of their own.

Looking outside revealed not only the massive skyline of yet another city, but also the increasing bustle of pedestrians and all kinds of public transportation. Students were carried along by unseen energy fields in groups of dozens, even then barely visible amidst the constant stream of people traversing the city.

By this point, it was seven in the morning. Two hours of their journey had passed; IF adjusted her feet to sit more straight, considering to take a walk around. Sitting around for that long might have been more bothersome than she originally expected.

In the end, the brunette decided against getting up for the time being; she could deal with this.

Her attention wandered back to the horizon instead, where Lastation awaited them. "I read up on the place beforehand, but what can you tell me about it?" Considering that she made her decision just a week earlier, there had not been much time to research customs in their neighbouring nation. "I know Lastation is the place to go for quality-products and the people there are hard workers, but what about the details?"

Nepgear put down the tablet she had been tapping on again and tilted her head in thought while IF waited. The purplette curled a strand of her long hair around a dainty finger as she spoke with a note of hesitance: "I, uh, did not see as much of Lastation as you probably expect. Or as I should have, honestly. As you said, Lastationites are known for their high-quality work and serious behaviour. I do find that they have a fine sense of humour once you get to know them, though quite a bit darker than you normally find in Planeptune. Going by the people, you will fit right in."

One of IF's eyebrows rose while Nepgear giggled over her own jab. She could not actually disagree with her friend, though.

"Anyway," the CPU went back on topic after a few moments. "Lastation is proud of its industry, and rightfully so. Society is focussed on work and doing well, though there are less forms of entertainment as a consequence. What is there is big, but they barely have any arcades for example." They both knew that basically any corner in their hometown had an arcade waiting for customers, the places booming easily. "I didn't visit any of the clubs, though I heard those are pretty nice. Oh, and the electronics- and hardware stores are great!"

"Why am I not surprised?" Now it was Nepgear's turn to pout over IF's jab while the brunette smirked. However, this comment had also been an interruption; with how Nepgear's eyes had been shining, IF expected a tangent in the making. In addition, there was something else she read which she wanted to ask about. "I read Lastation has active air travel?"

It was not important, but indeed interesting; the other nations completely barred civilian air travel due to safety concerns. Planes were far too easy targets for flying monsters, and even just one of those in the wrong place could crash into any aircraft.

As if she had said something magical, Nepgear's eyes lit up in joy; she quickly nodded enthusiastically. "They do! Flying with the airships is great! They aren't fast enough for civilian travel, but the view is wonderful and you can actually book tours. Uni and I rode some before, and getting to look down at our vast cities from up high felt... almost like I do while flying myself. We imagined being in HDD while up there when we were younger."

IF nodded understandingly, though her heart was not in it despite how dreamy Nepgear sounded; her only experience with flight had been the few minutes in Purple Heart's arms. Which she could experience little of, considering that there being a deity holding her had taken up most of the young woman's mind at the time.

However, the mention of Uni brought IF back to the lastationite Candidate. They had only met once, but IF did not dislike her; Nepgear was obviously very fond of her as well. "Say, how did you and Uni actually meet? I know it was around the time I was a toddler, but you never went into details how it happened. Did you just tag along with Nep and she was there one day?"

Nepgear already had her mouth opened to respond, but snorted once she heard the last question. "Pfft, hehehe..." it passed quickly, though; the purplette chuckled quietly for a moment longer and smoothly went to explaining again: "It was honestly nothing big. When I was born, Sis went around to... introduce me to her friends." The CPU slowed down a little, her cheeks pinking. "Well, I think she also wanted to show me off, but that is neither here nor there."

She remained quiet for a moment, then returned to the subject. "Anyway, miss Noire, that is Black Heart, did the same thing with Uni once she was born. Sis did not tell me ahead of time, though; imagine my surprise when her friend walks in with a little Uni in tow. Actually, hang on, I think I have a picture on here."

As her friend began to swipe furiously on the tablet, going through what appeared to be hundreds of pictures, IF let things sink in. She already knew the two of them had been more rivals than friends at first, though she also became mighty curious about that picture.

"There it is!" Nepgear held out the device triumphantly, and IF took it without hesitation. Once she looked upon the remnant of a time long past however, the young woman realised she made a grave mistake.

She stared down at the picture, trying her hardest to keep a straight face. IF noted the Candidates' more pudgy faces, how bright Nepgear smiled and how Uni scowl-pouted at her despite being hugged to her side. Her eyes glanced over the frills on their children-sized sundresses as IF futilely clamped down on herself.

IF, who had grown up surrounded by children and spent most of her free time playing with them, the same girl who big sistered dozens, found herself squealing helplessly over what she saw.

Where teenaged Nepgear and Uni were beauties, their eight-year-old looking incarnations were diabetes-inducing adorable.

The sound had left her throat before she even realised, and only Nepgear's surprised look made IF realise that it got out. In moments, both of them sported luminous blushes; one of them for having squealed, the other for being squealed over.

Seconds ticked by and neither of them spoke, unable to meet each other's eyes. Ultimately, IF took a deep breath and shook off her embarassment. "Sorry. It's just... you know?" The purplette nodded understandingly and both of them gradually returned to normal.

"I, uh, yes. We used to argue whose big sister was better when we were little. And every time we met in the past, it was with included sleepovers because we had to travel for so long." The last part caught IF's attention, but her question was pre-empted by Nepgear: "Our sisters were busy, so asking them to carry us over to another nation felt like bothering them too much. They did it in a heartbeat anytime we asked."

Then however, Nepgear's smile fell. "Well, then things happened that I do not want to talk about, we went over that before. But after we started to actually get along, Uni and I found out we have a lot in common. I always loved tinkering and she had the same devotion to firearms in particular, and some more things that I think she doesn't want me to talk about."

IF nodded understandingly, returning the device after one last look at the oozing cuteness that was two little CPUs. "Yeah, that's fine. And thank you for telling me."

The talk about friends made her a little sad that Compa had been unable to join them, as she was surprisingly busy with nursing school. However, she already promised her friend to supply pictures and souvenirs, and the other girl had been happy enough with that.

For now, IF was curious what Lastation would hold for her.