Y'know, there's two choices you have on outdoor duty: either you get good at holding it in, or you get used to peeing outside.

-Unnamed Guild Agent

Sunday arrived all too fast, and IF left in the morning after saying her goodbyes. Nepgear even dropped by to help her move her things, carrying one of the two boxes holding her belongings.

Compa would have been helping her as well, but she had driving lessons that day; in turn however, André had brought them over to IF's new place. It was a sort-of apology for not being around for her birthday the previous day, as he had already promised his girlfriend to go on a date.

Now it was only the two friends, though; IF quickly unlocked the door of her new flat, balancing the box she held on one arm with a duffel bag slung over her shoulder. They were on the eleventh floor of the towering skyscraper, having taken the stairs just for the fun of it. IF was a little sweaty after the ascent, but otherwise fine; Nepgear did not appear bothered at all, but that was to be expected.

Once the door had been opened, IF moved inside first and Nepgear followed, the purplette pushing it closed with a foot. The human girl ignored the slightly stale air and slipped out of her shoes in the entrance area. The CPU simply vanished her own, leaving both of them to tap over the wooden floor in their socks.

This place, IF knew, belonged to the state; some properties were privately owned, but most living space remained under governmental control. As such, she found a standardised kitchen, bathroom, and living room, as well as some furniture in the bedroom. It was not all that much, but the essentials were already there. She knew she could switch them out for other pieces whenever, for a small fee to have the standard-piece deinstalled and brought away.

As it was, IF was fine with the standard furniture; mostly whites and purples and rather plain, but more than enough for her purposes. The few things she missed, she had already ordered and would install over the following weekend; a desk for her bedroom and a cabinet for her weapons. Especially after Nepgear gave her an extensive cleaning kit for her birthday, IF figured she should take better care of them. Not to mention that Uni would be mad at her if she did not.

They set down the boxes on the small dining table in the living room; Nepgear scanned the place appreciatively before throwing a curious glance at IF. "What do we start with? The boxes or your duffel bag?"

The brunette pointed at one of the boxes before turning around. "That one. I can sort my clothes in later. The place was cleaned recently and I already looked over the furniture." As she spoke, she wandered around and opened every window she came across to air the place, shuddering under the cold breeze for a moment.

Following that, she returned to Nepgear and they began to sort through her belongings in earnest. The notes IF took for and about work were filed away, her few personal effects placed around the place where they fit.

She soon came upon a folder of drawings from her surrogate siblings, which made her smile and realise she did not have any of her own. With that in mind, IF quickly got herself a blank slip of paper and noted down to get some folders for official documents; also another cabinet for things like these, which would just get dusty if left out in the open for no good reason.

Not much later, they were already done; IF had brought her clothes into her bedroom and spread them over her bed to be sorted in later. Following that and closing the windows, the two girls sat down on the couch and just took in the place for a bit.

Eventually, Nepgear spoke up with a sigh: "I actually have to head out in a bit. Sis wants me to run another extermintion close to Ziggu today and I'd rather be back before nightfall."

IF nodded slowly, thinking to remember which city Ziggu was; after a long moment of contemplation however, she shook her head slightly and cast a glance at her friend. "Where was that again?"

Nepgear considered the question before pulling out her N-Gear and swiping around a few times, until she had a map opened to show her human friend. She obviously did not mind having to explain. "It's here in the east, a harbor city."

"You're going all the way to the Droidan Sea?" Nicos was rather more to the west, so this meant there was quite some distance. IF began to understand why Nepgear had to head out so early; even if she could already fly at Mach speeds in a straight line, that would take a while. The purplette simply nodded, getting a sympathetic wince from IF. "Ouch."

"I am getting used to it," Nepgear told her with a shrug. "Sis has me run from one end of the nation to the other almost every night. I'm at a point where I only need to sleep every fourth day, so I'm fine with that. But... she gave me some hints that I'm crossing the sea for my first solo-visit to Leanbox for some business talks soon. She probably just wants to show me off again, but..." Nepgear shrugged again, a bit more helplessly.

IF cupped her face in her hands in mock exasperation. Only CPUs could view flying over the ocean as showing off. Humans could not even fly at all, and non-military air travel was prohibited due to airborne monsters.

Behind the gesture was a smile, though. "Well, I guess she trusts you to take care of yourself. You're getting more work recently, aren't you?" The purplette nodded a confirmation, though she did not appear bothered by the matter. IF was not surprised; both she and her divine friend had a firm stance on working hard. If Neptune thought her sister was ready, then she was.

Nonetheless, the human girl leaned back with a weak smirk. "I don't envy you about the extra work." Then her eyes fell on Nepgear and she actually took in her appearance for the first time. "Now that I look at you, those clothes are pretty cute."

This day, for some reason, Nepgear had foregone her usual uniform-like shirt and skirt. Instead, the CPU was clad in a purplish white sweater and blue jeans, her hair done in a long ponytail. Together with the glasses she had taken to wearing, she appeared quite different to her HDD.

Nepgear perked up with a smile, brushing over the outfit with one hand. "Heh, Sis said the same thing. I figured I should try something else for a change, and it helps with not getting recognised in public."

For a moment, IF was tempted to needle her friend about showing it off to Uni, but thought better of it. Thinking of the lastationite Candidate brought her to mind, though. "How is Uni doing? She should be through her transformation sickness by now, shouldn't she?" She received a nod, though Nepgear apparently became thoughtful as well. By the way her cheeks began to colour, IF could tell what kind of thoughts her friend had.

This, of course, was a little unusual for Nepgear. It was also increasing the temptation to tease her, but she persevered and let it be. After talking to Noire, IF realised that there was more standing in the way of those two than their own heads. Yet she was also curious about the kind of thoughts going around Nepgear's head.

After a moment of internal battle, she decided to take the plunge. "Want to talk about it?"

They both knew the purplette was obvious, so Nepgear did not need to ask what she meant. IF patiently waited for her friend to consider, who took a long moment to stare at the black screen in front of them.

In the end, Nepgear sighed and bowed her head in defeat. "I want to be with Uni some more," she finally admitted. "I've known I love her for a while, but it's just not okay to be hasty in our positions." IF nodded understandingly while the CPU buried her head in her hands, groaning sadly. "But I want to be with her and it bothers me that I can't. Uni needs time to get into gear properly after her apotheosis, and I already decided to wait for her, but, but, ugh!"

The human woman carefuly reached out and placed a hand on Nepgear's shoulder in sympathy, the divine woman keeping her face hidden; she did not understand entirely, but she could at least guess somewhat. "Sorry I brought it up." She considered that with the centuries a deity lived, these two would have more than enough time to be together later; she wisely did not say it, though. That would not help her friend at the moment.

"It's fine," Nepgear told her a moment later, offering a weak smile as her face resurfaced. "Sis even stopped needling me about Uni, so I could tell I have it bad for her even without putting as much thought into it as I did. Thanks for listening. And don't worry, I will manage until it is time."

IF was not entirely sure how to respond to this, so she simply returned the purplette's smile. She knew she was the last person anyone should ask for relationship advice, so all she could do was listen to her friend's problems.

They sat in silence for a few long moments, listening to the clock on the wall. Then Nepgear blinked in remembrance, shaking off her current mood and pulling up her purse. "I just remembered..." She fished out a small headset, more like a headband, with one earpiece and a battery pack on top. "Here, your new gear for work. Histoire gave it to me to give to you."

IF took the device, noting a few additional straps that allowed to secure it on her head even during fast movements. Meanwhile, Nepgear explained the deal she had already researched; IF let her, thinking that it could not hurt to refresh. "We're B-rank starting tomorrow, and it's just the two of us. The Guild will assign an operator to stay in contact with us, who keeps an eye on any reports close to our positions and so on. Oh, by the way, the batteries last for a few days. There should be a second pack in your locker at HQ, you can switch and recharge them there, too."

The explanation touched a few points she had not yet known, making IF nod understandingly. She already knew things would be different, but now she had actual physical reminders of the fact. Granted, her pay had also risen considerably, but she would not bring that up around Nepgear, who did not get paid in the first place.

"Thanks for telling me. Things sure are changing recently." Once the purplette had nodded her agreement, IF changed the subject somewhat. "But there's one thing that confuses me."

She hoped that Nepgear could clarify that for her, seeing that she found nothing useful on the internet once she checked. When the purplette cast a curious glance her way, IF explained: "See, I was checking the lists of missing people a few days ago, and... on all of them, no matter how I filtered it, the first name is the same; someone called 'Waldo'. Do you know what's up with that?"

However, Nepgear did not respond; she fidgeted for a moment and averted her gaze, but no answer was forthcoming. IF's eyes narrowed in response, but the doorbell rung before she could ask any follow-up questions.

The brunette gave her friend a look that promised later questioning, then got up to get the door. She did not notice Nepgear relax and quickly pull out her tablet, the purplette moving to edit the joke out of the optimised code she had written a few years past and figured someone would clean up before implementing it.

Meanwhile, IF opened her front door without even bothering to look outside first. A moment later, a ballistic nine-year-old jumped into her arms happily. The girl was caught easily, her long mane of blonde hair immediately familiar to IF. Green eyes darted from little Louise to the gaggle of children filing in after her, and to Mari in the background. Then she raised an eyebrow. "I was gone for a few hours."

The pinkette chuckled while IF moved back to let them in, keeping a hold of Louise as she did. "While that is true, the children missed you already." There was a wave of nods and vocal agreement, making IF's chest tighten for a moment. She felt a little warmer than she had before, and her hands gently squeezed the girl she held.

She also knew she was blushing, but had nothing to do about it.

. .

. .

The day went by like that and soon turned to night, but the following day was weird to IF.

It started when her alarm buzzed her out of already forgotten dreams; she took a long while to fall asleep, which led to her internal clock not waking her before the external one could ring, as it usually did.

She woke up in an unfamiliar bed, staring at the grey ceiling for long moments after turning off the alarm; the covers were a little different, the room was larger, it felt weird. Strange, not like home.

Even after shaking off the feeling and rolling out of bed, IF found it creeping up on her again when she pulled clothes out of the unfamiliar wardrobe and quickly got dressed. Her shirt and shorts were thrown over the chair by her desk to air out, then she quickly smoothed out her bed and shook out the quilt before putting it back down orderly. She barely even noticed the actions she took, them being long since ingrained into her daily routine.

Then however, the feeling returned as she slipped into her slippers and wandered out of her bedroom after opening a window. She had made her own breakfast before when Mari taught her how to cook, but it was usually taken out of her hand; having to do it herself was at best unusual to IF, amplifying her alienation.

It was not particularly strong even then, but noticeable; IF quickly made some simple food with what Mari gave her the previous day and got to eat.

Sitting alone at her kitchen table was a new sensation as well. No cheerful chatting or groaning about school all around, just the clinking of her spoon in the mug of tea. In-between, Nepgear sent her a text saying she did not need to go to HQ to report in; they could do that once they were on duty.

After sending a quick reply, IF went back to the remainder of her food; their shift started at ten, so she still had a few hours. To pass the time until she could reasonably start her morning workout, the young woman once more looked up a few maps she had been given. They detailed the area her and Nepgear would patrol. Two entire square kilometres were set out for them.

From researching the matter, IF knew that the size was about average; Planeptune mostly consisted of vast plains, so even a single team could keep an eye on larger swathes of land. With an eight-hour shift, they definitely would be able to comb through all of it easily. An area in the northern plains was marked for Nepgear and her. It also held a small piece of Virtua Forest, but none where the trees stood close enough to hide anything dangerous.

After she had gone over everything once more and went through her morning workout, IF put on her coat and double-checked whether she had everything. Katars, pistol, binoculars, Nepgear had the compass, a bottle of water, some sandwiches for lunch, notes, phone, tracker, keys. All there. She double-checked her other pockets to see if there was anything else, noting a pack of tissues that was still more than half full.

Finding everything in order, IF nodded at herself and got going; she still felt a little weird closing the door behind herself and locking it. That was a first.

Following this, she descended to the nearby underground platform, pulling out the notes she made the previous evening. Quite a few trains ran at this time of day, bringing agents from earlier shifts back and the current shift into the field. Planeptune had a rather extensive underground-network, seeing that while it was more difficult to maintain, it was also safer.

No drones or other things were required to patrol the tunnels, seeing that larger monsters could hardly spawn in there; the trains, she read, had been reinforced in the front so they could just ram any errant monster to death. Special shock absorbers ensured that the people on board barely even noticed such an impact.

The only planeptunian train lines above-ground were those connected to Lastation and Lowee, seeing that the other nations had much less emphasis on the practice.

After boarding, she found the train empty enough to get herself a seat. There were other people, most of them from the Guild just like her.

However, IF quickly noticed that basically everyone had a badge noting them as either E- or D-rank. There was an errant C, but no higher. Seeing how she was now wearing her new shiny B-badge, she quickly gathered a bit of attention and curious looks. Nobody approached her, though.

Curiously, close to a dozen other agents disembarked at the same station as her; they quickly formed into two groups and left, some giving her encouraging nods or thumbs ups. She nodded back with a weak smile, happy about the nice gestures.

It was but a short walk from the station. A glance at her phone's clock told the brunette that she could just stroll over there without being late.

Granted, autumn had long since begun to work its magic; the few trees around the area she walked out on started to shed their leaves and the sun was blotted out by dark clouds. Rain would definitely fall before their shift was over, making IF sigh at the sight. The sky had appeared much brighter by the time she descended to the train station.

She got going while pondering the weather; thankfully however, IF already knew she had little to fear of the rain. If it came down before their shift ended, she could ask Nepgear to help her out with magic; her friend would not mind.

Granted, the brunette would not particularly mind toughing it out either, but she could live without getting a lecture from Mari about getting sick in her first week of being on her own.

Either way, Nepgear already expected her; the purplette was clad in her usual attire, having foregone the sweater and trousers for shirt and skirt once again. She waved at IF with a smile, who raised a hand in greeting; they both inspected the other's badge for a moment, not yet used to seeing the official sign of their promotion.

"Sorry, I took the previous train," her friend admitted sheepishly. "I was a little giddy about doing this." IF just shrugged, knowing that she might have done the same if her morning had not already been filled. Nepgear, who had to bother with sleep much less often, would not have this problem. Outside of hunting monsters in her free time, that was.

They chatted a little about how Ziggu had been, then stopped once their headsets emitted a click. Both agents were already wearing their equipment and a glance at the clock told IF that it was a minute past ten.

"Ah," a male voice greeted them a moment later. "This is Kylian speaking, test, test. Okay, the screen says all is fine and you're connected. I heard I got two promising newcomers?" He easily made conversation, sounding both relaxed and curious to them.

IF and Nepgear exchanged a glance, then the brunette shrugged and answered him: "Yeah, that's about right. I'm IF, nice to meet you... kind of."

He chuckled in response, then quieted to let the other woman introduce herself. "Well, I am Nepgear. It is a pleasure working with you."

"Oh, neat," Kylian went on a moment later. "I knew you two are new, but I didn't know you're two lovely ladies. I kid," he added a moment later, probably to dissolve any potential misunderstanding. "Anyway, I am your operator for the foreseeable future. I have your tracker signals on screen here, and all the other stuff you might need. Oh, and say hello to my little scout."

With that, a small drone dropped out of the sky and stopped right in front of them. Its anti-gravity field kept it steadily afloat, a lense in the front adjusting itself as it hovered in front of the two agents. "I'm also your eyes in the sky. If there is danger or something to react to close by your positions, I'll let you know."

The line fell quiet for a few moments; Nepgear curiously looked the drone over before it zipped back into the sky while IF went over her gear one more time. The brunette was in the process of strapping her katars on when Kylian spoke up again: "Okay, that should be about it. I see you got all your stuff ready, that's great. Let's get this show on the road, girls!"

Neither of them had any objections to that, so they got going.