that omake was probably way longer than it should've been
probably not good if some random attempt at humor takes up almost a 1/5 of the actual chapter :p
After Neptune clicks to multiplayer and through the other menus, the four are prompted with the character select screen. "Hey, this mecha-looking dude looks fun," points out B-sha before selecting him.
"This one has a drift bonus, if I recall correctly."
"Main character's gotta pick the main character, obvs!"
After everyone picks, Blanc is still looking at each character one by one. "Hm…"
"Hey, Blanny, how about you pick that one?" C-sha gently suggests while pointing to a blue character. "Blue's my favorite color."
It's not like there's no reason to not pick it or to pick someone else. "Alright."
"Anyone got any track preferences that I'm going to ignore?" Neptune asks out loud. When no one responds, she simply picks a random one.
B-sha interrupts her before she hits start. "Wait! Blanc doesn't know the controls!"
"Hmm...that is a pretty serious conundrum there…" notes Neptune with a concerned frown.
"Well, it shouldn't be long to learn them, right, Blanny?" Vert knows that a kart racer shouldn't be the hardest kind of game to pick up.
Blanc takes a shot in the dark. "...It should be A to go, B to stop, this stick to turn, and these shoulder buttons for other stuff, right?"
Neptune's frown immediately turns upside-down. "...Eh, good enough! Looks like Blanc's a real smart cookie who don't need any help!" Without asking anyone else, she starts the first race. "Here we go for realsies!"
The other players seem more than giddy to see who's the best racer, but Blanc once again tries to absorb much more details about the game than necessary. She almost ends up missing the countdown timer as she looks at everything else in not just her small quadrant of the screen, but everyone else's quadrants, too.
Once the music starts, she takes off...at a slow accelerating pace. While the others use their start-off boost, Blanc is left behind at the line. "...Huh?"
"Aw, forgot to tell ya to hold down the A at the countdown, Blanny; sorry," mentions C-sha from over Blanc's shoulder. "Just make sure you use your items. That's what these kinds of games are about."
"Oh...okay."
While she's still approaching the first turn, the other three, still next to each other, approach the first set of items. "Take this!" Neptune yells as she immediately uses her item behind her, not even registering what she pulled.
To no one's surprise, no one hits the red crate she laid down. B-sha, on the other hand, uses the boost she got to casually push herself from second to first without having to worry about Neptune. "Shoulda saved that one, Nep Nep!"
Back in fourth, Blanc ends up almost missing the turn while she looks at the other players' screens, distracted by their banter, and is forced to slow down to avoid the off-road. Finally reaching the item crates, she stares at the flickering item roulette until it finally settles on a funny-looking wooden mask. "Hmm...what does this do?"
"Hm? I forget; I think you use that when you're right behind someone; I don't exactly remember," answers C-sha.
"Okay." She'll save it for later. Now that she's on a straightaway with no obstacles ahead of her, her vision wanders around again. This time, her eyes land at Vert's part of the screen. Her eyes widen when she watches her about to crash into a wall, only for her kart to use a small and barely noticeable bump as a ramp to jump over the wall to a higher section of the course. Once she comes back down, she silently overtakes first place.
Catching herself before she crashes at a turn once more, she promptly plans to copy this shortcut. For now, though, she's attempting to drift on this upcoming turn. She's seen the others do so, so it probably must be good. As her back wheels skid on around the bend, she...almost gets it, but accidentally lets go too early. "H-huh?" Relying on her instincts, she brakes before she can hit the back wall. She feels a bit bad for her clumsiness, but she doesn't have much time to dwell on that; she has a race to win! Or, at the very least, a race to not get last place in…
"Hey, Nep-Nep."
"...Whoa what do you think you're doin'?!" Neptune almost leans on Blanc, subconsciously believing that leaning in that direction would make her dodge those three successive missiles. "Man, why do they have to make items that you can't dodge?"
Still trying to ignore the distractions and holding on to her mask item, she approaches the shortcut she kept in mind. She mentally replays what she saw from Vert, and, much to her surprise, manages to barely land her front wheels on the ridge. "Ooh!"
"Huh, how'd you do that?" C-sha asks, still looking over her friend's shoulder. "I would've never thought about that."
"Vert was- whoa!" Her explanation is interrupted when she veers to the left to avoid ramming straight into a red explosive crate.
"Hm? Did you say something, Blanny?" The aforementioned CPU asks after hearing her name while cruising far ahead in first place.
"...No, not really." Now that she's on lap two, and that there won't be anything new for her to react to other than hazard items, she starts focusing more on catching up to the others.
"More speed boosts? Don't mind if I do!" While it would take a considerable amount of luck to reach Vert, B-sha further secures her second place position away from Neptune and Blanc.
Trying to make the most optimal runthrough she can, Blanc forgoes, or rather forgets about, item use to complete a relatively successful but uneventful second lap, complete with barely making the shortcut again. So successful, in fact, that she's closing in on Neptune from behind.
Neptune nervously laughs. "Jeez, if I lose to Blanny, I'm really gonna keel over early. I'm just gonna dump everything I get behind these corners..." She needs to make sure she can at LEAST get a humble third place.
"H-h-hey!" Her rather slow reaction time leads her to hit the first bomb among the many obstacles heading towards her.
"Phew! That was almost close!"
"My, Neptune. Having to resort to such dirty tactics against Blanny? That is not very goddess-like, you know," amusingly chides Vert as she crosses the finish line.
"Hey, if they didn't want that to happen, they shouldn't've put 'em in in the first place!" Neptune giddily responds with only a tad bit of guilt.
"Aw…" To Blanc, any hope to pass Neptune is lost. She'll just have to accept that she's going to get last place.
"Blanny, if there's anything you can learn from these games, is that anything goes!" C-sha cheers on. "Don't give up until the end!"
"Really?" Without realizing it, she takes C-sha's sageful advice and starts off once more. Hands tensing up and posture leaning forward, she spruces up the cleanest lines she can while, at the same time, playing it safe for any obstacles. This still results in nonoptimal play, as she intentionally avoids making tight turns to give her more time to react to items placed there, but at least it's somewhat better than Neptune's driving.
"Wow, B-sha, really gonna dump all of that on me when you're all super comfy in second place?" She says as she hits another crate.
Her hypocrisy immediately annoys B-sha. "Nep-Nep, you were just doing that to Blanc," she points out while crossing the finish line.
"Aw, I'm just playin'. I mean, we literally are playing a game, right?" She quietly chuckles.
Even though her chances to catch up are slimming as Neptune gets closer to the end, Blanc still doesn't give up. When she sees the shortcut she's familiar with, though, she already knows there's nothing to lose for attempting it.
"What? Was that shortcut there the whole time?" B-sha gasps in surprise, with this being the first time noticing Blanc performing it.
"Yes. Though, how Blanny figured that out is very remarkable," Vert adds with a suspicious glare. "Unless…" She chuckles a little. "My my, a screen-peeker. I suppose that it's only natural for a newcomer to do so."
"Wait- shortcut?" Neptune's heart drops as she hears that. As she passes the shortcut's exit point, Blanc drops from above right behind her, almost touching her kart's behind. "Oh boy. This just got dicey."
Gaining that much ground grabs all of Blanc's attention and excitement. Yet, the finish line is right there! What can she do to just overcome the last few feet to pass Neptune? There doesn't seem to be many options, as they're both on a straightaway, but her eyes keep looking all around for help until… "...Oh!" That mask! She completely forgot about it for the whole race! C-sha told her to use it when she's behind someone, so…
Neptune sits in complete shock when Blanc suddenly speeds up and rams her with her invincibility powerup. By the time her recovery animation finishes, Blanc is already a long way past the line.
The other three can't help but giggle and laugh at the timing of the situation. "Well, looks like Nep-Nep really did lose against a complete newcomer," B-sha points out with a smug grin.
"Indeed. How will she ever recover from such humiliation?" Vert mockingly swoons.
Neptune is still sitting in shock, which starts to worry Blanc. "Um...I still think you're better, Neptune. I only won because of that item," she attempts to reason. When that doesn't work, she mutters, "Did I do something wrong?"
"Nah, you did great!" congratulates C-sha. "I'm pretty sure I got last the first time I played this, y'know."
Eventually, Neptune literally shakes out of her stupor and puts on a confident smile as if nothing happened at all. "Well, you know; it's a game of luck, anyway! I'm not bothered!"
"Really?" asks Blanc.
"Yeah, really?" B-sha repeats with much more doubt.
"Yep!" She answers without skipping a beat. "Besides, someone has to go easy on Blanc. Imagine tryharding against a newbie," she remarks in an attempt to topple the other two's smugness.
"I wasn't trying my hardest, either."
"Me as well. We're not as lowly as you think," Vert continues to playfully demean.
"Huh, you mean…" When they admit that, Blanc feels more unsure about her third place over Neptune.
"Bah, next race'll be different anyways," disregards a Neptune already eager to let go of this. "It's divinely impossible for me to get last twice in a row!"
B-sha scoffs. "I'll see about that!"
"Hey, if you're gonna go out of your way to do that, I'm gonna turn all the action figure factories in Planeptune into pudding factories!" her friend warns.
"If they didn't want something like that to happen, they should not have allowed it to happen in the first place," Vert pompously reminds her.
(-)
With the experience of the first race, the second one becomes much smoother for Blanc. She feels that she's got a hang of the drifting mechanics, so even if she makes a few mistakes here or there, she's able to keep up with Neptune and B-sha. She's even managed to pass Vert every so often! She ends up with third place once again, but she feels that the others weren't going easy on her, so she's more content than last race. At the same time, the racing newcomer wonders if she can get a higher position in later races.
Meanwhile, C-sha is still content with watching the four fight for first, paying more attention to Blanc. She notices as the races go by how familiar this situation is. Despite being a near-polar opposite Blanc, there are times where she swears she heard the old one, particularly as she accomplishes something. Of course, she's still much less competitive and instead more shy and attentive; if her old self was here instead, she would probably be smugly gloating at every exploit she made. She only saw Blanc like this when she was doing something like writing or reading her sisters a bedtime story. Still, though, seeing that calm smile is a warmly familiar moment.
"Phew...say, you wanna play a different game?" Neptune asks with a slightly burnt out sigh after finishing their eighth race.
"I'm up for anything, really," answers B-sha energetically.
"Um…" Blanc tries to speak up.
"Hm? What's up, Blanny?"
"Can we keep playing?" She would really like to get that second place.
"Sure! It's just, uh…" She looks around and spots C-sha checking her phone. "Hey, wanna swap out?"
Before she can answer, the elevator dings. The door opens to three familiar goddesses. "Oh! Hey, welcome home, Nep Jr.! How's your little playdate?" Neptune greets with a warm smile.
"Don't call it a playdate!" Uni commands from her friend's right. "We're not kids, you know."
"Would you have preferred just 'date,' then?" Vert teases.
"Vert, p-please don't…" Nepgear wishes a bit that no one but Neptune was home. Blanc, too, since she needs to introduce her to someone.
"It would've been funny if it really was a date with your sister following you like that," C-sha notices. "How've you been, Noire?"
Lastation's tsundere CPU has been standing silently behind the other two. "Oh, I'm fine. I figured that with Uni stopping by, this is a good time for us to meet this new Blanc," she quickly explains.
"Really? I thought you were all like, 'the next time you all ask for help, consider yourselves on your own,' or something unnecessarily dramatic like that." One can almost hear the capitalization on every other letter in Neptune's mockery.
"Anyone else would've reacted like that, especially when you're involved." Her unusual confidence in that excuse suggests she's prepared that answer for a while.
"Hm?" Blanc remembers seeing this girl right after losing her memories, but then never again. Even when making excuses, this twintailed goddess honestly seems a bit intimidating. She did say she wanted to meet Blanc, though, so she stands up nervously to greet Noire. "U-um…"
"So…" Fearing that Neptune will get the need to interrupt this already-awkward introduction, Noire clears her throat and starts off with a confident smile, "My name is Noire. I'm sure the others told you already, but I'm Lastation's CPU. Nice to meet you! Again…"
Her sister still feels a bit off having to introduce herself to someone she's known for a while. "U-uh, hi. I'm Uni, Lastation's CPU Candidate. Also nice to meet you!"
"H-hello. I'm Blan-" She stops herself when she realizes her redundancy, blushing in embarrassment for not noticing that sooner. "Err, sorry, I meant...u-um...hello."
Both try to hold in their laughter. "Yep. Certainly nothing like the old Blanc," remarks Uni.
"Agreed. We used to always be at each other's necks; you know that?" reminds Noire.
"...Huh? What happened?" Is this rivalry still going on? Should she be more weary of this girl?"
"You know, the Console…" She stops herself short. "...Never mind. You shouldn't have to worry about that. Frankly, I shouldn't be worrying about that, either." It's still interesting to silently compare this shy Blanc to her past encounters with her. Though, she frowns at one particular memory with her. "...I feel like I've seen her like this before, though…"
"Do you mean as a CPU Candidate?" Nepgear asks for everyone else.
"Hmm...Yeah, that should be right."
"It's good to hear that at least one of us can confirm that; we've been stuck trying to remember her past," says C-sha with a sigh of relief. "So...was she really like this long ago?"
Noire nods. "Every so often when I met up with Indigo Heart, I saw little Rom-sized Blanc trying to hide herself somewhere in the background."
"'Rom-sized?'" Uni wonders how different a "Rom-sized Blanc" is supposed to be from just Rom.
Vert tries to offer her own insight. "Really, now? Whenever I saw Indigo Heart in Leanbox, I never saw such a Blanny."
"'Indigo Heart,' huh…That's what my older sister's name was…"
"That's her CPU name, but what about her real name?" B-sha asks.
"Eh, I never spoke to her outside of official business, and I definitely couldn't be bothered to go out of my way to learn it, so...yeah," Noire answers, not so willing to talk much about this Indigo Heart.
"Hey, now's not AMA time; it's game night time!" Neptune doesn't want her friends to dwell too much on the past right now. "We should give our recently arrived guests a turn to play, right, B-sha? Vert?"
"Indeed. It would be nice to spectate while I brew some tea," answers the latter. "Would you like a turn, Nepgear?"
"Yeah, I could give someone a turn to play...for 100 credits," offers B-sha.
Everyone either remains silent or scoldingly frowns at her "deal."
"...Uh, never mind. Here, Uni." B-sha somewhat hurriedly tosses the controller over to her.
"This is sorta turning out to be a party, isn't it? Sure, why not," She grabs it and takes a seat.
"I suppose I could play, but only because we have to get familiar with Blanc again." Noire worms her way out of Neptune's arm to sit with her sister.
"I'm not the best at racing games, but they're always fun with friends! I think…" Some of Nepgear's friends might not be the most humble losers…
"Wow, Noire. I could probably drift better than you with a shopping cart!"
"Be quiet, Neptune! Let me focus!"
"I'm gonna getcha, Nepgear!"
"Ah! Get away from me, Uni!"
"Make sure to use your items often, Blanny."
"Nah, you should save them for the perfect moment."
"Just let 'er play in peace, will ya?"
"U-uu…" Blanc finds having seven people talking and half-shouting all around her rather distracting, leaving her to be in fourth for most of the race. Compared to before, she always seems troubled with everything going in the game.
"Eek! Get away!" Noire shouts when an energy orb circles around her and blows her kart up.
Despite firmly grasping her controller, her yell causes Blanc to impulsively try to cover her ears. For someone who tried to make a professional introduction, her shrill and girly scream was certainly unexpected.
"Jeez, sis. That was almost as loud as Uzume's shouts," Uni mentions.
"Grr, don't think I'll forget about that, B-sha!" Noire growls while gripping her controller. Out of everyone, she definitely seems like the most competitive of them all.
"Hey, did someone call me?"
Vert looks back at the elevator to find yet another of Planeptune's CPU, who's holding a paper bag. "Why, hello, Uzume. We're just having a little gaming get-together."
"Aw, really?" The older CPU eagerly runs up to everyone and leans on the couch. "That's gonna go perfect with what I'd been plannin'."
"Huh? Whatcha cookin' up, Yoozoom?" Neptune asks.
Uzume frowns upon hearing that last part. "...Y'know, I've been hearing people call me that while I was walking around Planeptune. Did I miss something?" When the only responses she gets are shrugs, she resumes, "Anyways, funny that you mention cooking, 'cause that's what IF, Compa, Umio, and big Nepsy were planning to do tonight, so I was just gathering some groceries."
Blanc sinks further into the couch when she hears more people are coming. "Big...Nepsy?" What does that even mean? Maybe she should just go home now, but that would mean having to confront Rom, Ram, and Mina. At this point, she's completely disconnected from the game.
"While you're waiting for those three, how 'bout playing a few rounds with us? You can take Blanny's place," C-sha asks somewhat assertively.
"Hm? Well, yeah, count me in!" Uzume flashes a smile. "You're okay with that, right, Blanc?"
"H-Huh?" All of the noise made her sort of forget she is playing a game. Looking back on the screen, the other three have already finished the race while she was stunned by the noise around her. It's probably time to call it quits. "Um...sure."
Blanc seems rather unsure about that compared to her usual calm self. "You can keep playin' if ya want, y'know," Uzume assures.
"I-I'm sure of it." Blanc starts to stand up, almost staggering due to her dizziness.
"Whoa, you alright?" asks Noire, standing up to help make sure she doesn't fall over.
She instinctively staggers away from the concerned CPU and instead towards C-sha. "Y-yes...no...my head hurts…"
"Aww…" Noire can't help but feel betrayed by that.
"Hey, let's lay down somewhere quiet." C-sha asks the resident CPUs, "Where are the guest rooms or wherever Blanny was sleeping for the night?"
"Down that corridor right behind you," Nepgear answers. Only now is she noticing what's wrong. "I can come with and help with her headache, if you want…"
"Eh, sure. Probably best if no one else comes." She looks around to find B-sha, then nods at her.
Her teammate silently flashes back a thumbs up in confirmation.
With no one noticing, C-sha, Blanc, and Nepgear silently abscond to a quieter area.
B-sha ends up not having to distract anyone from those three, as the others are already too busy looking at the rather unexpected newcomers appearing to the party. "Looks like my wifey gathering signals are still on point!"
"I saw someone bringing steak seasoning here, nyu."
(-)
Although they can hear the continuously growing party to an extent, the walls surrounding the relatively empty guest room provide a sturdy barrier to block out most of the troublesome noise. "Phew…" Blanc can feel her ears immediately healing as her body falls onto the bed.
"Guess we now know you're not a big fan of crowds, huh?" C-sha slightly laughs while sitting down on the bed.
"Yeah. I was sorta like that too at first, Blanc," says Nepgear. "But, I slowly became better with them, so I think you'll be fine, too!"
"Okay. Thanks, Nepgear." She could lay there in silence forever, but it does feel weird just having the other two around the bed doing nothing. "U-uh, so…what now?"
"Hm…" A group dinner would be great for C-sha personally, but she already knows it wouldn't be for Blanc. Actually, if Uzume wasn't planning for everyone else outside of the five she'd initially planned for, that means there probably won't be enough for everyone. Maybe it's time to bring her home and eat something there. She eventually has to, right? "I dunno. When do ya want to get goin' home, Blanny?"
"I...don't know." She could go anytime, including right now, if it wasn't for her inevitable confrontation with her sisters. It's probably going to be soon, too, which only worries her more.
Nepgear thinks it over for a bit. "We could go to my room and watch some more anime, if you'd like."
"Mmm…" The game has been distracting her for a while from the problem, but she knows she has to bite the bullet eventually. Maybe now's the best time to prepare for this. "I...want to ask you something, C-sha."
"Hm? Sure, ask me anything."
She is still hesitant with not wanting to offend her with her question, but she eventually settles one after a moment. "What...do you think will happen when I see Rom and Ram again?"
C-sha has an equal amount of deliberation. "I...think that a day is enough for them to calm down. It won't be anything like last night; I'll make sure of that."
"...Alright." Maybe this next question won't be as bad, then. "Do...do you like me? The version of me right now, after losing my memories?"
Thinking about her delivery for a bit, she believes a casual tone is best for this response. "I think you're definitely worth having around. Really different from what I remember, but you have your own unique merits. Plus, in a way, you still have things I liked about the old Blanny."
"R-Really?" Her mouth hangs slightly agape in surprised flattery. "T-thank you…"
"But that doesn't mean I'm gonna automatically block out anything your sisters bring up." Her mood quickly changes to a stern but still assuring one. "They might not make it out as such, but your relation as sisters is really important to keep between you three."
"I feel the same way," adds Nepgear. "Like Histoire mentioned, when they were being angry, they were just really concerned about you, as paradoxical as that sounds."
"Hm…" Even with her pointing that out, Blanc has a little bit of trouble understanding that logic. "So does that mean…we should make them not concerned about me?"
"That's a good start, but they were pretty insistent on having your old self back." points out C-sha. "That was a pretty difficult deadlock that we couldn't break."
"Maybe...we can work out something with the Blanc from Ultra Dimension?" Nepgear suggests.
"Aren't there any differences between that Blanny and the old version of our Blanny?"
Nepgear shakes her head. "Most of the CPUs over there are pretty identical to ours. At the same time, I don't think they're going to get too attached to her, since she's not actually their older sister."
"The other Blanc?" The shorter CPU looks troubled upon remembering her bad first impressions of her.
C-sha thinks it over. "I suppose it should be enough to keep them happy long enough for them to slowly make up with their actual sis...Alright, sounds like a short but sweet plan."
Blanc doesn't seem exactly convinced, but she can trust C-sha and Nepgear again to make the right decisions. "...Okay."
C-sha breathes in to lighten her mood. "So! That still won't be for a while; anything you want to do while we're still here? I recommend that we stay here for dinner, y'know?"
"Out there with everyone?" Blanc immediately asks.
"Nah, we can bring in some food…" C-sha stops herself. "Hey, Nepgear, do you mind if we eat in these rooms, or if you have a second dining room?"
"Err…" She's sure Histoire would be mad at the mess, but it shouldn't be that bad, right? "If you're careful while you eat, we could have a little dine-in movie in my room."
"That'd be super nice," responds C-sha.
"Movie? What kind?" asks Blanc.
"It could be anything you like!" Nepgear amicably answers before realizing the problem. "Well, I can pick something cute if you'd like."
"Cute...okay. Thank you." Blanc softly smiles at that.
"Of course!"
"You could probably start the movie right now; I'm gonna check up on how the party's doing with food," says C-sha as she stands up.
"Oh, sure." Nepgear and Blanc follow suit before approaching the door out to the hallway.
Right as they're about to open the door, it slides out for them, revealing a particular pair of twin Candidates with the younger one holding Blanc's hat.
Even more particular is the Ultra Dimension counterpart of their older sister, holding hands with both of them. All three of them wear unreadable expressions. "Good evening," the older Blanc greets.
C-sha and her Blanc look stunned at their sudden appearance. "Uh….Hello…"
"I guess we're doing this now, huh?" Nepgear remarks with an unfortunate smile.
see? i really did upload on saturday
as promised, u must gibe me ur yugioh cards
(i think that was how the bet went)
getting reviews sometimes feel unexpected but they always brighten my day; it feels nice to know ppl are getting engaged with my story ^ ^
though with questions that pop up, i feel that sometimes, answering them could spoil too much about what i have (and answering only some, but not others, feels like answering the latter ones anyway since it shows im trying to hide something), so it can be tricky : p
Earlier that day...
As she requested earlier, the floor she was in was completely silent. All she could hear was her laptop's fan with the occasional scribble on her notepad.
She immediately stopped when she heard distant but loud footsteps for a moment, but then went back to her work when it seemed to go away.
It didn't take more than a minute for her to hear it again, and, frankly, it was starting to get annoying. She considered turning on the radio, but she was probably going to become more distracted with finding a station with the "perfect" working music. Instead, she got up from her desk and opened the door to see if whatever was causing that noise was coming nearby.
To her left and right she saw nothing down those hallways, but instead heard it again from her left. Speedwalking towards the sound and turning the corner, she was even more annoyed to find nothing. She waited there in silence, hoping to get another chance to locate the source.
Unfortunately, that chance never came; those footsteps never appeared while she was waiting for them. After standing there for a minute, she decided that it had went away and that she needed to get back to dealing with her mountainous pile of work. "Jeez..."
Plopping herself down on her seat once more, she re-focuses her train of thought back to what she was doing, which was always a slow process. Eventually, though, her work pace was back to what it was. There was nothing to think about other than the screen and the papers directly in front of her. After all, the sooner she finished, the sooner she could relax for the week. "Hmm..."
"Whatcha doin', other big sis?"
"AA-"
