Ch 25: A Cold Welcome
"Sis, this is a very bad idea."
Vert gave a sigh as Sync once again voiced his concern about their trip.
The two of them were currently in a private jet headed towards the Land of Extremely Angry Lolis (more commonly referred to as Lowee). Based on both their expressions though, it was clear that neither of them were really looking forward to arriving at their destination.
"We've been over this a dozen times already," Vert sighed, looking more resigned than anything else. "Blanc specifically asked for me to bring you so there's not much I can do. And considering the help she provided us during the Lastation incident, it'd be rather irresponsible of us to simply ignore her request."
Not to mention that she'd most likely launch a full-scale invasion of Leanbox if we didn't show up, she privately added.
Seeing Sync's nervous expression though, Vert felt a twinge of pity and tried to reassure him.
"You really needn't worry so much. I planned this as a formal visit so I doubt Blanc will be able to do anything to you with the public's attention focused on her like this."
Sync, however, did not seem to be all that comforted by her words.
"Blanc's not the one I'm worried about," he told her in a distressed tone. "It's Ram and Rom. They're going to massacre me for that little publicity stunt I pulled."
Vert refrained from rolling her eyes at this and instead gave him a disapproving look.
"Well, you should have thought of that before you flirted with every schoolgirl in Leanbox on live television."
"It was just an act, sis," Sync countered. "I thought I told you that already."
"Then I'm sure you can explain that to the twins as well without any problem."
A familiar green aura began to form around Sync in response.
"Don't you even think about it," Vert said sharply. "Like it or not, all of this is a direct result of your actions and you will take responsibility. Besides, the twins will only get more upset with you if they find out you ran away from this meeting."
Sync seemed to reluctantly accept her point as the glow around him faded.
"Well, I guess this is how my story ends then," he lamented despondently. "Let's just hope the twins will be merciful enough to grant me a swift and painless death."
Vert really did roll her eyes at this.
"Oh stop being so melodramatic. Ram and Rom are not going to kill you. The worst they'll probably do is force you to play with them for the rest of the day or something."
Sync gave a sigh before slowly turning his despondent gaze towards the window.
"Yeah, they'll probably do that... right after they freeze off several of my fingers as punishment."
Vert could not outright deny this possibility so she decided to remain quiet.
A long and awkward silence filled the cabin following that. After a while, Sync turned back to Vert as a faintly hopeful expression appeared on his face.
"You know, seeing as how I'm most likely going to be horribly tortured by the twins soon, can I at least have some whiskey to dull the pain?"
Vert gave another tired sigh as she leaned back in her seat and closed her eyes.
"Absolutely not."
Blanc ground her teeth as she waited at the private airfield reserved for foreign dignitaries.
As much as she hated to admit it, Thunder-Tits had clearly pulled one over her. The damn cow had released a formal statement to the media a few hours ago stating that she would be promptly visiting Lowee to "discuss the recent diplomatic developments between our two nations." As a result, Blanc had been forced to waylay her plans of immediately flattening the blond idiots as the eyes of practically everyone in Gamindustri were currently focused on her and her impending "guests."
"Lady White Heart!" a male voice suddenly shouted out from behind her. "Do you have any comments about the recent revelations made in Leanbox?"
Blanc ignored him just as she had with the other five hundred reporters that had asked her the exact same question that day.
Much to her frustration and ire, it seemed that every media-person in Lowee had stormed the area as soon as word had gotten out about the incoming celebrities. Not only that, a massive crowd of female civilians that had also followed along in the hopes of catching a glimpse of Leanbox's new CPU Candidate. The massive mob had luckily stayed behind the fences surrounding the airfield (for now) but the incessant squeeing and excited babbling about the blond brat was seriously starting to grate on Blanc's already agitated nerves.
"Kyaa! I can't believe Sync-senpai is coming all the way to Lowee! I hope he notices me! I bought a new dress and everything!"
"Oh please. Like he'd ever go for a shallow brainlet like you. It's obvious that he's the type who prefers intellectual girls such as myself."
"Ha! Intellectual my ass. Did you two idiots already forget about his engagement to the twins? I bet you anything that this meeting is simply to finalize their marriage date."
It was only by the extremely good fortune of Vert's plane appearing right then that the girl managed to avoid being turned into paste by her CPU.
With her patience at an all-time low, Blanc stomped her way forward the moment the jet touched down on the tarmac. By the time the plane had come to a complete stop and lowered its main ramp, the wrathful CPU was already waiting at the bottom with her hands visibly twitching for her hammer.
Much to her ire though, the blond idiots did not immediately exit as instead Vert's exasperated voice was heard from inside.
"Sync, what are you doing?"
"Just doing a quick perimeter check." There was a brief pause before the brat spoke up again. "Whew. Well the good news is that my executioners don't seem to be here right now. The bad news is that Blanc's waiting right outside and seems to be debating whether or not to throw this plane back into the sky."
There was the sound of running footsteps before Vert's harried form appeared in the doorway. She gave a minute flinch at the wave of killing intent that Blanc shot at her but she quickly seemed to recover as she spotted the crowd of onlookers in the background. Apparently deciding that she was safe from Blanc's wrath for the time being, she schooled her features and walked down to approach her.
"It's a pleasure to see you again Blanc," she announced, plastering on a strained smile as she extended out her hand.
It took all of the Lowee CPU's willpower not to flatten her rival in response. However, the sound of several hundred cameras going off in the distance infuriatingly reminded her that her public image and reputation were on the line. With that in mind, she forced on a smile that probably looked more like grimace and accepted the handshake.
"Likewise," Blanc ground out, discretely doing her best to crush Vert's hand. The Leanbox CPU's smile twitched a bit but she otherwise managed to mask her discomfort as the two held their pose for the reporters.
Just as Blanc finally let Vert go from her death-grip, the blond brat finally decided to appear. Not surprisingly, this caused the younger fangirls to go wild as a deafening cacophony of squeeing and cheering broke out.
"KYAAAAAAA! IT'S HIM! IT'S REALLY HIM!"
"SYNC! SYNC! LOOK OVER HERE! I NEED A PICTURE!"
"I WANT YOUR AUTOGRAPH!"
"I WANT YOUR BABY!"
The brat seemed understandably disturbed by this (as well as by the various other similar declarations) as his smile looked just as strained as his sister's. Still, he managed to give off a casual wave before descending down the steps and coming to a stop next to Blanc.
"The royal carriage waiting at the south-east exit," he suddenly whispered, still keeping his face towards the over-excited crowd. "That's our ride out of here right?"
Blanc flashed him a murderous yet slightly confused glare before silently answering with a curt nod.
He affirmed this with a discrete nod of his own before turning his full attention towards his fans.
"Hello Lowee!" he shouted out. "Thanks for the warm welcome! It's really great to be here!"
His declaration was met with a resounding cheer from the teenage girls. Without waiting for the crowd to calm down, he blew out a kiss towards his fans.
"I love you all!"
Blanc's desire to throttle the little man-whore was quickly replaced by alarm as the fangirls went absolutely insane at his declaration. With a chorus of high-pitched squeals that shattered every glass object in a mile radius, the fangirls surged forward. The flimsy chain-link fence stood no chance against this sudden onslaught as it quickly found itself being torn apart and trampled by the charging mob.
"Time to leave."
Saying that, Sync grabbed onto both Blanc and Vert's shoulders before the three of them disappeared in a flash of green.
The atmosphere in the carriage was... tense to say the least. Blanc was busy glaring death at the boy while Sync was trying and failing to hide his increasingly nervous fidgeting. Vert meanwhile had her face buried in her hand with an aura of extreme exasperation.
The only bright side to all this was that both the fangirls and the reporters seemed to have been caught off-guard by Sync's sudden disappearance. This allowed the trio to slip out in the prepared carriage and swiftly blend into the crowded traffic of the main street before their pursuers could figure out where they had gone.
Speaking of, Vert had to briefly wonder why the boy had not simply teleported the three of them directly to the Basilicom instead. After a moment of thought though she decided the place was probably out of his teleportation range. Not to mention he was probably in no rush to meet up with the twins.
"I'm... uh... guessing Rom and Ram are waiting at the Basilicom then?" Sync asked, echoing Vert's thoughts.
Blanc let out a sound similar to an enraged Fenrir in response. Deciding the Lowee CPU was likely to tear the boy in half if he kept talking, Vert decided to intervene.
"What were you thinking Sync?" She lowered her hand from her face to glare at the boy. "You, more than anyone, should know by now how dangerous a fan mob is. So why would you go and rile them up like that?"
To her surprise, Sync visibly deflated as he stared down at his knees.
"I figured it would be worth the risk to help boost Leanbox's shares," he muttered. "After all, it's the least I could do for you before I die."
There was a moment of absolute, full-blown panic in Vert's head before her logical side quickly calmed her down by telling her that he was most likely referring to his meeting with the twins.
"Oh." Doing her best to hide her mental freak-out episode, she let out a forced cough. "Ahem. Well, I... appreciate the sentiment. However, there's no need for that type of morbid thinking. I'm sure Ram and Rom won't be too hard on you if you properly explain yourself."
Blanc let out a snort of disbelief to this causing Sync to shrink back even further into his seat. Vert leveled a glare at her fellow CPU which was swiftly returned.
"Don't push your luck Thunder-Tits," Blanc growled. "The only reason the brat's still alive is because the twins made me promise not to eviscerate him."
Sync seemed to brighten up a bit at this as he looked up hopefully.
"So they're not mad at me?"
The evil grin that Blanc suddenly gave sent shivers down Vert's spine.
"Of course not," the Lowee CPU responded. "They're fucking livid. They just didn't want me to flatten you into a pancake before they could turn you inside-out." Her grin widened as she decided to add, "With a rusty spoon."
Sync froze for a moment before he pulled out a pen and paper from his inventory and began to write down something that looked like a will.
Vert simply buried her face in both her hands this time as she let out a long, suffering sigh.
C-Sha paced about nervously in front of the Basilicom's main hall as she waited for Blanny's return. After a couple more steps, she looked back to make sure that the two living CMDs (Candidates of Mass Destruction) were still secure.
Thankfully, Ram and Rom had shelved their plans of invading Leanbox once Blanny had informed them of the Leanbox siblings' visit. However, the twins had been none too pleased to find out that their older sister was planning to greet the two "guests" by herself. Blanny's logic of trying to keep her sisters from committing deicide on international television was not lost on C-Sha but the twins had refused to be left behind. It was only after nearly an hour of persuasion, and Blanny being forced to pinky promise both of them that she would deliver Sync to them unharmed, that they finally allowed her to leave alone. Even then, they had tried to sneak out as soon as Blanny had left which brought them to their current situation.
"Graaaaah! Let... me... go!" Ram screamed, not for the first time, as she struggled against the massive bundle of ropes tied across her entire body. Not taking any chances, C-Sha and Financier had wrapped up everything but the Candidate's head causing her to look like a lumpy brown caterpillar as she flopped about on the ground in rage.
"Blanny will be back any minute now," C-Sha said, privately hoping that this was actually true. "Once she gets back, I'll let you out so you can... play with Sync." She gave a slight wince as she said this. While she really had nothing against the nice little boy, it was probably not a wise idea to deny the twins their prey in their current state.
A quick look at Rom only reinforced this idea. Unlike her sister - who was still squirming on the ground – she made no moves to escape her bonds as she simply sat in silence with her back against the wall. However, her expression conveyed her extreme displeasure well enough as the glare she was giving could have frozen the sun. Even C-Sha, who routinely faced down building-sized monsters with nothing but her bare fists, could not help but shudder under Rom's icy gaze.
Yes, it truly was unfortunate but Sync would have to be sacrificed to the twins for the greater good.
Right at that moment, the doors to the main hall flung open as Blanc stomped her way inside. She momentarily paused upon seeing her sisters tied up on the ground before wordlessly looking to C-Sha with a raised eyebrow.
"They tried to sneak out after you," the buxom fighter answered.
Blanc looked like she couldn't decide whether to facepalm, rage at the twins, or give her friend a hug for preventing a potential PR nightmare. She eventually just settled for giving an irritated grumble before continuing her march towards her office.
Vert walked through the doors shortly after looking like she had aged a good decade since C-Sha had last seen her (metaphorically of course). She too stopped upon seeing the twins before quickly recovering and letting out a small sigh of relief. With a grateful nod towards C-Sha, the Leanbox CPU dragged herself after Blanc with a tired and resigned face.
The expected third member of the entourage, however, did not immediately appear. Just as C-Sha was beginning to worry that he had bailed at the last moment (and dooming both Lowee and Leanbox in the process), a familiar green coat held up by a long wooden stick slowly extended out from the edges of the large door.
"Um... Sync?" C-Sha asked. "Is that you?"
The coat was waved up and down as if imitating a nod.
Despite the situation, C-Sha could not help but give a bemused smile.
"What exactly are you doing?"
"Just making sure that Ram and Rom wouldn't maim me the moment I walked through the door," Sync's voice called out. "Figured I'd test the waters by sending out a decoy first."
C-Sha glanced back at the twins who were both glaring daggers at the coat but otherwise making no hostile moves.
"I have them tied up so it's safe for you to come in," she told the boy. Seeing Rom's icy glare become even more glacial she hastened to add, "I highly recommend that you apologize as soon as you enter though."
Sync let out something that sounded like a mix between a whimper and a nervous laugh before pulling back his coat-on-a-stick. A few seconds passed where he presumably put his coat back on before he hesitantly made his way through the doorway.
"H...Hey there you two." He raised a shaking hand in greeting towards the two tied up Candidates. "I just wanted to let you know that-"
That was as far as he got before the temperature in the hall suddenly plummeted. As C-Sha, Sync, and even Ram watched with wide eyes, the ropes restraining Rom became covered in a layer of ice. With a low growl, Rom moved her arms outward causing the frozen ropes around her to shatter into a thousand pieces.
Sync remained frozen in fear as Rom slowly picked herself off the ground and stalked her way towards him. With a murderous glare that brooked no argument, she roughly grabbed him by his shirt and began to drag him away down the hall towards what was most likely her room.
C-Sha and Ram, meanwhile, simply continued to stare with open mouths as the executioner and prisoner disappeared around a corner. The younger twin soon came back to her senses though as she immediately jumped up to a standing position.
"Hey Rom! Wait for me! I want to punish him too!"
Saying that, she began to hop her way across the hall in her bound up form.
For a long while, C-Sha remained standing in the now silent hall as she tried to figure out what to do.
He'll be fine, she told herself. I'm sure the twins wouldn't do anything too drastic to their friend. Although... Rom did try to take a katana to Leanbox to cut him open. But I'm sure she was just exaggerating. They'll probably just hit him with some low-level spells to scare him before forcing him to apologize. Yeah, I should probably just leave them be while they vent their anger.
I still recommend that you check up on them, a different voice said. They are Blanc's sisters after all. They might let their emotions get the better of them and end up doing some serious harm.
C-Sha blinked in confusion as she looked around her. Finding no traces of anyone else in the hall, she eventually gave a shrug and decided it was simply her conscience talking to her. Deciding to follow its advice, C-Sha made up her mind and hurried down the hall after the twins.
"Well? Don't you have something to say?"
Vert blinked in surprise as Blanc rounded on her as soon as she had slammed her office door shut.
"Pardon?"
Blanc's left eye twitched as she clenched her fists.
"I'm saying you owe me one heck of an apology for not keeping your stupid little brother under control!" she yelled. "That little shit-stain's been causing one incident after another lately and you've done nothing to stop him!"
Despite herself, Vert felt a twinge of anger at the insult towards Sync. She might not have accepted him as her family but she could no longer deny that he was someone important to her (even if the reason for it was rather selfish and sounded completely delusional to her logical side). Regardless, she found herself glaring back at Blanc with her own indignant look.
"Firstly, do not refer to Sync in such a vulgar manner. I have no business stopping you from saying such things to your own sisters but I will not tolerate you doing the same to my... er... that is to say, Sync."
Blanc looked completely taken aback by Vert's apparent newfound concern for the boy. Taking advantage of this Vert plowed on with the rest of her rebuttal.
"Secondly, don't you dare accuse me of not doing anything about his pranks. I've been running myself ragged these past few weeks trying to prevent his disasters." Blanc raised a skeptical eyebrow at this – most likely remembering the Lastation fan incident - causing Vert to guiltily backtrack a bit. "Alright, I will admit that I may not have been as... attentive as I should have been early on. However, since then I have been doing my best to keep him in line." Granted, the only real thing she had limited him on so far was the amount of pranks he could play on Chika but still, progress was progress.
The Lowee CPU remained silent as she simply continued to glare at Vert. After an uncomfortably long period of time, Blanc finally gave a loud huff.
"Hmph. Well at least you're starting to take your responsibilities as an older sister a bit more seriously." Her glare intensified again as she crossed her arms. "But that's not the main reason why I called you here. What I want to know is-"
The rest of what she was about to say was cut short by a fearful scream echoing down the hall. Feeling a sudden wave of dread and panic, Vert immediately turned around and made her way out of the office. She was vaguely aware of Blanc following her as she hurried towards where she guessed the scream had come from. She soon ended up in front of the twins' room as she was greeted by a rather unusual sight.
C-Sha was currently holding up both Ram and Rom by the back ends of their coats as she seemed to be scolding them with a rare look of anger on her face. Meanwhile, Sync was collapsed against the far wall while shaking like a leaf. The reason for his fear was rather easy to spot as several large icicles were embedded in the wall mere millimeters away from his face and right arm. Luckily, only the sleeves of his coat had ended up being skewered as the boy himself look fine. Well, physically fine at least. He was probably more than a bit mentally traumatized if his terrified expression was anything to go by.
"...going way too far!"
Vert was jolted out of her own shock by C-Sha's shout. After confirming once again that the boy was unharmed, Vert looked over at the Gold Third leader. Honestly, it was the first time she had seen the normally calm fighter looking so furious. Even the twins, who were probably used to getting angry scoldings from Blanc, looked fearful as they dangled before her.
"Scaring him is one thing but you two could have seriously hurt him with that spell!" C-Sha went on.
"B...But he-"
Rom's retort died on her lips as C-Sha leveled her furious gaze on her.
"C-Sha," Blanc stepped in, apparently a bit unsettled by her friend's anger. "Don't you think you're being just a bit-"
"You're part of the problem too Blanc!" The fact that C-Sha had not called her friend by her nickname did not go unnoticed by the Lowee CPU as she took a hesitant step backwards. "You're constantly showing the kids that it's alright to treat your friends with violence! And look what nearly happened because of that!"
"B... But-"
"No buts!"
C-Sha momentarily paused in her scolding as she took a deep breath and looked over at Vert.
"Take Sync outside and make sure he's okay," she ordered. "In the meantime, I'm going to have a little... chat with my friend and her sisters."
Vert quickly complied as she moved forward to help free Sync from the icicles. After a bit of effort, she managed to successfully unpin his coat from the wall before hurriedly ushering him towards the door. She did her best to ignore the pleading look that the Lowee sisters were giving her as she swiftly headed outside with Sync in tow before closing the door behind her.
Still feeling a bit stunned, the two of them leaned up against the wall adjacent to the twins' room as the muffled sound of C-Sha's scolding started up again.
"Are you alright?" Vert eventually asked, looking over at the boy in concern.
Sync took a moment to respond before he slowly nodded.
"Yeah... yeah, I'm fine." He took a deep breath to apparently calm his nerves before speaking up again. "Just... remind me to never piss off Rom to that extent again. I thought for sure that I was going to die."
Vert did her best to suppress her own panic as she looked over the traumatized boy.
"I will admit, I'm rather surprised you're so shaken up by this," she said. "After all, you seemed fully aware of what the twins would do to you once you got here."
"I didn't think Rom would be -that- serious about killing me! I mean, when you annoy Blanc and she threatens to tear you in half, she doesn't actually try to perform a Fatality on you! I thought Rom would be the same and I would just end up getting shouted at or maybe whacked over the head by her staff."
Vert winced as she realized both of them had severely underestimated just how violent the normally shy girl could be. Clearly the saying that the quiet ones were the ones to watch out for held merit.
"Still," Vert went on, "I figured you'd be used to these types of situations. After all, Chika does try to kill you on a daily basis."
"That's different," he countered. "With Chika, I know she's trying to kill me so it's easy to anticipate it. Same goes for the time I fought K-Sha. But with Rom..." He gave a shudder. "I honestly couldn't get a read on her at all. I mean, I could tell she was angry but that was about it. She just stayed silent while Ram was debating what to beat me up with. She didn't give me any warning at all before she suddenly decided to turn me into a living pincushion with those icicles. I was just lucky C-Sha barged into the room right then and ended up surprising Rom enough to mess up her aim."
Vert paled considerably as she realized just how close she had come to getting a Game Over. After her grand mental declaration of keeping the boy alive through this supposed game of hers, she had nearly ended up failing her quest due to Rom of all people. Resolving to fervently thank C-Sha later for salvaging her run, Vert tried her best to compose herself.
"Ahem. Well... I'm just glad that you're still alive Sync."
"Yeah. Same here."
The two fell silent for a bit after that as C-Sha's muffled voice continued rage in the background.
"Um... do you think we should stop her?" Sync eventually asked. "I wouldn't want her to get into a serious fight with Blanc over this."
Vert shook her head. "It's clear she's been bottling this up for a while. And she did have a point about Blanc setting some bad examples for her sisters. I'd say it's better to simply let her get this off her chest."
Sync continued to look uncertain prompting Vert to hesitantly put a reassuring hand on his shoulder.
"It's fine," she said, mentally taking note of the surprised look Sync gave at her gesture. "I don't hear Blanc shouting anything back so she's probably feeling guilty about all this as well."
Once again, that enigmatic look of worry briefly passed over the boy's face before he quickly shook his head and took a sudden interest in looking down at his ruined coat sleeve.
"Guess it's worse than I thought," he muttered, peering at the large holes that had been pierced through it. "Darn. I'm not that great at sewing and the Basilicom's tailor seemed to really hate this coat for some reason. She'd probably try to burn it if I asked her to patch it up for me."
Vert wondered if she should pursue the matter of the boy's worried reaction any further before deciding against it. Her gamer instincts told her that now was not the time for it as she instead lowered the hand on his shoulder and spoke up.
"I could patch it up for you once we get back to Leanbox," she offered.
Sync immediately looked up at her in surprise before his expression turned into a half-skeptical, half-amused look.
"H... Hey," Vert pouted. "I do possess other skills besides gaming you know."
"You mean like your skill of being able to stay awake for a full week while gaming?"
Vert just shot him a flat look causing him to laugh.
"I'm just joking with you sis. I'd actually be really grateful if you helped fix my coat."
Vert responded with a short nod before the two descended into silence once more. Several minutes passed in the quiet hallway (discounting C-Sha's muffled shouting) before Vert spoke up again.
"Hmm... I suppose I did learn something important today at least."
"That you shouldn't make Rom or C-Sha angry?"
"Well, that too but that's not what I'm talking about."
For the first time since meeting him, Vert was the one to give the boy a mischievous grin as she answered his questioning gaze.
"I meant the fact that you scream like a little girl when you're scared."
Sync's mouth fell open in shock.
"I... I... that was..." His face actually reddened in embarrassment as he failed to offer a suitable comeback.
Seeing this, Vert could not help but burst into laughter. After being on the receiving end of his jokes and pranks for so long, it felt good to finally pull one over him.
She continued to laugh like this for a good long while until Sync eventually seemed to calm down and gave a defeated sigh.
"Ugh. Just don't tell Noire or mini-Nep about this," he grumbled. "Those two would never let me live this down."
"We'll see," Vert taunted, still giggling a bit.
Sync crossed his arms and gave a rather adorable pout of his own. However, it was clear he was not as annoyed as he was making out as Vert managed to catch a faint hint of a smile before he turned away.
Feeling far better than she had in a while, Vert stood amiably with Sync as they waited for the Lowee sisters' judgment to finally come to an end.