only now have i realized i may have screwed up and wrote something in an order i did not intend :[
in chapter 9, vert asked if "she's that tough-acting girl I fought earlier," but i accidentally put that in front of the wrong dialogue so that "she" could be taken as the person annoying ud blanc when i specifically meant for vert to be referring to ud c-sha

pls understand


It took a lot of time and energy to pull Ram out of the wall and heal her. What should've been a peaceful work day just before a deadline was interrupted by two of Gamindustri's most mischievous goddesses. "Just...how did you two get in here when I told everyone to keep this floor off limits?" said Ultra Dimension's Blanc while pinching her nose bridge.

"We just flew in from above and walked in," replied Ram, rubbing where she hit her head.

"No one noticed us…?"

She supposed that's what those footsteps were coming from, but that wasn't important anymore. "Whatever. Please leave; I'm busy."

"Aw, come on! You don't even know what we came here for. We have something really important to ask!" Ram attempted to plead.

"I also happen to have something really important, which is why I ask you to leave me alone. Also, why can't you bother your own Blanc?"

"B-because…" Rom had some trouble explaining herself. "...it's about her."

Blanc was alarmed by how ominous that sounded when combined with how Rom was holding her older sister's hat, and she started to regret dismissing them in the first place. "Did...did something worse happen to her? What happened?"

"She..." Ram took a deep breath. "We found a way to turn her back, but for some stupid reason, our Blanc doesn't want to! She just wants to keep being a wimpy loser! We don't know what to do…"

"'Wimpy loser?'" She was still anticipating some form of bad news, but hearing Ram say that made Blanc frown in doubt. "What have the other goddesses said or done about this?"

"That's the thing!" Ram shouted. "All of them are just letting this happen!"

Blanc was considering if she had overestimated these two's explanations. "What...does that mean? Be more specific."

"They said they want to give her a chance to be a CPU, but…" began Rom.

"But?"

"...Mina said the spell to restore her won't work if we wait too long."

It still wasn't adding up for Blanc. "That still doesn't make any sense; I doubt that they'd do something so careless."

"Oh yeah; they came up with the dumb idea of using Histoire to show her a bunch of videos and pictures of herself. But how is that supposed to bring her back?" argued Ram.

"I see." She was finally understanding the situation, then sighed and returned to her usual tired expression when she realized she fell for these kids' exaggerations. "So...seeing that what you had was not as urgent as you made it out to be, I need you two to leave now."

"What? No! We're not gonna leave until you help us out!" argued Ram.

"Help...how exactly?" Getting yelled at did not combine well with her preexisting deadline stress.

The two stood there for a moment. "Just...like, make her take the spell or tell her that she's wrong!" Ram attempted to elaborate.

Blanc started to regret becoming so invested in what they had to say. "If you don't have a concrete plan yourself, how do you expect me to come up with a better one?"

"Our big sis always helped us out with ideas when we were stuck…" reasoned Rom. "And now, we want to help her back."

"Yeah, well 'big sis' I'm not, and I still barely know anything about the goddesses in your world or even the other me, for that matter," she was quick to point out. "Besides, I thought you two were alright with the new version of herself, unless something changed since when we met."

"What? That's so stupid; I never liked her!" Ram seemed almost offended by that.

"I'm pretty certain you didn't say anything like that yesterday," she attempted to refute.

"...Well, I did, and it was so obvious that I didn't like her!" she simply stated back. "Anyways, don't you not like having that weird Blanc? The one that runs away from everything and can't stand up for herself? Are you just gonna let her keep being like that?"

Blanc's frowning eyebrows eased up for only a split second. "While it is...harrowing to see myself like that, it's still not my problem or responsibility to force her to be a certain way. Also, as I said before, I'm busy. And when I say busy, I absolutely mean it. So, even if I want to help you, I can't right now, so just scram."

"We can wait," said Rom.

"Yeah!"

"Okay…"

The twins began their waiting by standing there silently in front of Blanc.

Their stares were becoming increasingly distracting. "...Go wait somewhere else that isn't right in front of my face, or anywhere in this room, for that matter."

"We can help, if you want!" Ram suggested. "That way, you can help sooner."

"No, you can't." She definitely did not trust kids with paperwork. "Just...leave already and go pester someone else!"

"P-please?" whimpered Rom.

"I told you; no!" Blanc shouted with a raised voice before standing up from her desk. "Just come back after I finish up, you whiny crotch-goblins! I'll be done in five hours at most."

Ram attempted to challenge that, but backed down when she saw her annoyed frown deepen and her fist rise from below her desk. "...Fine. But you better be ready in exactly five hours!" She turned around and grabbed Rom's arm. "C'mon, let's go get breakfast or something."

After letting themselves out, Blanc slid closed the doors without as much of a goodbye.

Right after, they heard the sound of something heavy skidding across the floor to right in front of the door. "How does putting something heavy in front of sliding doors keep it shut?" Rom wondered.

"Leave already, dammit!" They abruptly heard, spurring them to start running down.

"Jeez, what's up with her?" Ram was too angry and impatient to deal with other angry and impatient people.

Her sister didn't have an answer to that; they simply started walking to the balcony they came in from. "What do we do now?"

"Weren't you listening? We're getting breakfast," returned Ram.

"We don't have any money, though…" She wouldn't have asked, otherwise.

"Didn't you take some from the drawer with me?" She pulled out a handful of credits from one of her pockets.

"You're...stealing? That's wrong!" reminded a surprised Rom.

"It's not wrong if it didn't belong to anyone in the first place!" reasoned Ram. "Do you want breakfast or not?"

Rom was put off by how hostile her sister seemed. "O-Okay, then." Both Candidates transformed and flew off the balcony.

(-)

As the sun rose above this Lowee, its citizens were almost finished settling into their workplace, leaving the dirt roads relatively empty. Normally, Rom and Ram would've been happy to explore a city by themselves with money in hand. This time, however, they didn't seem to realize that, as they were too preoccupied with their problem. In particular, they were thinking up an actual plan for the two and Blanc to get their sister back.

"How about that place that sells grilled...lampree? Lampray?" Rom attempted to offer when looking for something to eat.

Ram understood what she was trying to say. "That food made me sleepy. Let's get pancakes instead."

"Pancakes? Yummy…"

Despite her sister's comment, Ram didn't look so excited for pancakes, even if she suggested it. Ever since they left the Basilicom, Ram had been as quiet as Rom usually was.

They started wandering around to find a place that looked like it served that kind of food. Of course, there weren't any modern or shiny or retro-looking diners around when everything had that 1800s Japanese architecture. "Let's ask someone," bluntly suggested Ram.

"Strangers are scary, though…" That's what Mina and their Blanc always told them.

"We're super powerful CPU Candidates! No one's gonna want to mess with us!" she assured her sister. "Let's see here...wait a minute…" She spotted a certain silver-haired woman walking towards the Basilicom. "Huh? What's she doing here?"

"I don't know...maybe she lives here now?" The last time they saw a Rei Ryghts was when she was sulking while doing community service around Planeptune.

"Hey, you! Crazy murder lady!" Ram yelled out.

As much as she didn't want to, Rei instinctively reacted to that call and turned around. "H-huh?" After a delay, she finally took in what she said. "A-and, please d-don't call me that! I said I was sorry!"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Hey, do you know a place that makes pancakes here?" Ram asked quickly.

"...What?" She guessed that these two kids were lost, and that their family was probably at a diner. "I...think there's one on the south side of the capital. I can walk you there, if you'd like," she offered with a smile.

"Nah, we're fine. Thanks, crazy murder lady," she yelled back before dragging Rom in the direction she pointed out.

"Thank you, Miss Rei," added Rom.

"Is that what I'm still remembered as? Some psychopath?" the old goddess sorrowfully wondered. "That any normal citizen could recognize me like that? Maybe helping out Blanc can help raise my reputation…" She resumed her walk to the Basilicom.

(-)

The two were able to locate the restaurant with ease. Despite its exterior matching the surrounding buildings, the inside was much more contemporary to them, even if it still didn't exactly look like the most restaurant-like setting. Instead, it was mostly like a regular house kitchen and a dining room renovated to hold an adequate amount of diners.

There was only one patron at the moment, but the amount of food she had was enough for a full house. Her plate was filled with a smorgasbord of breakfast foods and a large cup of a fizzy dark brown liquid. As she ate, she kept her eyes glued to the CRT TV in the corner.

"Drinking soda for breakfast? That's not good…" whispered Rom.

The blonde girl in red immediately turned her head at them. "Did you say something?"

"Eek!" Rom jumped back a bit.

"Oh! Are you two lost?"

"H-Huh?" The twins turned around to find what looked like the owner of the business.

"Did you two lose your parents? Don't worry, I can let you stay here until they come! Oh, you poor kids must be hungry too; I can whip up something while you wait!" the motherly cook offered.

"We, uh, don't have parents," Ram tried to explain. "We're CPU-"

"CPUs? You mean-?!" the cooking mother concluded how the parents of these unfortunate victims of the Seven Sages had been long gone.

Before she could take more pity, the diner interrupted them. "You two...You really look similar to Lady Blanc. Are you new CPUs for Lowee? Or rather, has she been trying to build a dynasty?"

"W-what? No! We're CPU Candidates for a different Lowee!" Ram yelled in building frustration to the first question while not understanding the second.

"There's a different Lowee…?" She had confused the cook enough for her to stop asking any more questions. "'CPU Candidates?'"

"Different Lowee?" the teen asked with suspicion. "As in...a different dimension?"

"Yeah! Jeez, it's like anyone here barely knows anything about our dimension here!" Ram shouted in exacerbation.

"There's a portal in Planeptune to visit our dimension," explained Rom.

"A portal? I must investigate this 'other dimension' sometime…" The TV switched from commercials to an old cartoon, and she sat back down and refixed her gaze there. "...but not today."

With no one proposing any more questions, Rom asked, "Can we please have some blueberry pancakes? I'm starving…"

"...Oh, sorry! Yeah, coming right up!" The owner slipped back to the kitchen to start cooking.

They waited for their food by sitting near the girl, watching the show along with her. However, they soon became inclined to start reminiscing about their Blanc once more and how they had to "save" her. "Do you think Blanc will really be able to help us out?" worried Rom.

"Well, what else are we gonna do? Cry?" Ram curtly asked. "All we have to do is just get Mina to change her mind, and then get this Blanc to tell our Blanc that she's wrong."

"But our Blanc said she didn't like her, remember? What if she doesn't listen?" reminded Rom.

"...Ugh, then we can get her to hold down our Blanc for Mina to cast the spell."

"That sounds dangerous. What if she accidentally uses it on the wrong one?"

"I don't know! Can't we just bop her on the head to make her stop moving? Look, we came all the way here for Blanc, don't you wanna have her help out?"

Her sister was becoming more uncomfortable with her. "Ram…you've been kinda mean-"

"What are you two talking about?"

The two turned around to see the other patron frowning at them cautiously, who had been overhearing a small part of their conversation. "We need help from this Blanc," answered Rom.

"Really, now? Because it sounds like you're trying to assassinate or kidnap Lady Blanc, and I won't stand for that." She almost seemed ready to draw a weapon.

"What? We just told you we're CPU Candidates; why would we do that?" Ram agitatedly asked.

"Why WOULDN'T CPUs be plotting something against each other?" she casually returned.

"Please calm down and listen," Rom weakly attempts to pacify them.

Despite usually not being the best at stopping fights, the girl couldn't bring herself to get angry at such a sad child, and Ram knew better than to go out of her way to upset her.

Rom took a deep breath. "We just came here to get help from the Blanc that lives here for the Blanc from where we are from. We don't want to hurt anyone; we promise!"

"Hmm…" The teen took some time to assess her explanation. "Is that so?"

"Yes! Jeez, why is this Blanc so important to you? You got a crush on her or something?" Ram asked in a half-tease, half-insult manner.

"If someone has the power to, they should do their best to protect their leader," she explained in a stern manner. "Assuming that your Lady Blanc is the CPU of your Lowee, don't you do the same for her? Or do people from your dimension not even do that?"

"H-huh…?" Neither of them were expecting her to say something like that. Her question impelled Rom to wonder if they acted the right way towards her.

Not Ram, though. "W-well...you assumed wrong! She's not the CPU, because she turned into some weak noodle phony!" she shouted, rattled by how this random person somehow knew about their problem when in reality, it was only a coincidence.

"That shouldn't matter. You should still be supporting her through both her highs and lows." To some, she might seem more focused with waxing heroic poetry rather than having an argument.

"W-why you…!" Ram was convinced that she was personally targeting her. She absolutely did not like this teen patronizing and scolding her, either. "You don't know us; so just back off, creep!" she snapped as she pulled out her staff and stood up, ready to battle.

"R-ram!" Rom was quick to pull her away and try grappling her weapon away.

The stranger already seemed mentally prepared to retaliate, silently looking down at her with an aloof glare.

"Here ya go, you two!" Two plates surprised them by their sudden appearance behind them, each handed down by a smiling yet concerned chef. "Is everything okay here? I heard some yelling."

"U-um…" Rom looked at Ram.

It took a while, but her sister understood that she should stop and begrudgingly sat back down. "Hmph."

"...everything's okay; thank you, Miss," said Rom to the cook.

"Yeah...thanks for the food," added a grumbling Ram while pulling out their payment.

The cook raised a hand to stop her. "Please, it's on the house! You don't have to pay."

"Are you sure? We told you that we weren't lost," reminded Rom.

"Aw, but I've always wanted to treat some CPUs to some free food! And you could look like you two needed a pick-me-up when you came in."

Ram, still feeling rather bitter, took a slow and silent first bite, but that was enough to turn her frown around at an uncannily rapid rate. "Mm!"

"Heh, by the looks of it, your sister's already enjoying it!" She was very delighted that a goddess was that pleased with her work.

"Ram, slow down! You'll get hiccups…" Rom pointed out as the cook backed away to the kitchen.

"It's really good! You gotta try them!" Ram said between audible bites, apparently already forgetting about her anger and woes.

"Okay." She too didn't take long to start devouring her pancakes.

The other diner stared in disbelief at how quickly Ram changed moods, but at least she wasn't threatening her anymore. "Hey, you two. Keep it quiet; I'm trying to watch something here," she directed.

They shortly complied, but Rom decided to ask something only a few moments later. "Excuse me, miss. I've been wanting to ask: is your name C-sha?"

"What are you talking about, Rom?" asked an immediately confused Ram.

"Nepgear told Blanc to watch out for someone like her, remember?"

"Yeah, what about it?" The words "watch out for" made this C-sha in red cautious again.

"Really? You're C-sha? Man, you're nothing like the C-sha we know!" Ram remarked in between bites.

She raised an eyebrow. "Is your C-sha the one that's older than me and wears blue?"

"Yeah! You met her?"

"Yes. She also seems pretty obnoxious like you two, though in a different way."

"What? You're crazy if you think she's obnoxious. She's super cool."

C-sha was still distracted by how quickly her mood changed from grumpy to a much more docile demeanor. "You're too easily swayed by food, aren't you?"

"You're the same way, aren't you? That's how our C-sha's like," returned Ram while still enjoying her pancakes.

"You already said that I'm not like her, and that's definitely true with that!" she lied before going back to eating her large serving in silence.

"What are you doing after breakfast?" Rom had been wanting to ask this for a while.

"Eh? Why do you need to know?"

"We have to wait until Blanc is not busy, and we want to do something while we wait," explained Rom.

"So? You're going to follow me?"

They both nodded.

"Please don't." Despite everything she's ordered, C-sha was almost done eating.

"Aww, but why not?" pouted Ram.

"I don't like kids following me," she bluntly answered. "Especially those who threaten me over nothing."

"We won't do anything like that again; we promise," said Rom with another sad look.

"Yeah. I'm..." Now in a much better mood due to her pancakes, Ram started to retrospect about her actions.

C-sha raised an eyebrow. "You're…?"

"...I'm sorry about all that stuff I did."

"Mmm...apology denied." She wasn't the kind to trust anything volatile so easily.

"...What?" It had never come to Ram's mind that people could choose not to accept an apology.

As the cartoon's credits started, she quickly wharfed everything on her plate and her drink, then speed walked out, looking back to make sure they didn't get up with her.

"...What do we do now?" wondered Rom.

"…" Ram was still shocked, but she didn't get angry like before. "...Why did I attack her like that in the first place, Rom?"

"Because…I don't know." She knew that Ram was already bitter about Blanc before that, but why she lashed out on her was completely unknown to Rom.

Finished with her food, she tried finding the answer to her question in her mind. She knew for sure it was when C-sha was telling her to support her sister, and she vaguely remembered being startled at how she knew about their problem. In hindsight, Ram knew it was just coincidental, which led her to become frustrated with figuring out why she didn't realize that in the first place.

That question proved to be much more difficult to solve; instead, there was something else on her mind that was easier to address. "Eh, never mind. C'mon, Rom! I know where to go!"

(-)

Above the streets that were still rather unpopulated, C-sha watched the few people walking from the rooftops. Her eyes quickly darted between each one, trying to find one specific target that had been on her mind the whole day. "Rumor has it that the Seven Sages' leader came to Lowee. She can't be up to no good; I must locate her quickly," she mumbled to herself.

"Who are the Seven Sages?"

"Huh?!" She swore no one was near her when she got here. She instantly brandished her saber and flicked her head around, only to find those two annoying kids from before casually standing there. "Just how did you find me? And how did you get here?"

"We saw you from below and flew up here," Rom shortly explained.

Their behavior from before made her forget they said they were CPU Candidates. Nevertheless, they were still a persisting pain that she wished she didn't meet. "I told you to not to follow me!"

Ram spoke up. "Yeah, well I need to show you that we're not that bad-"

They suddenly heard an explosion from outside the city. Smoke quickly rose from the source of the noise.

"Whoa, sounds like danger! We oughta help; c'mon Rom!" shouted Ram, testy to prove her worth as a goddess to C-sha.

"Right!" Very quickly, they transformed in front of her, then immediately started lifting her up.

"H-hey, what the hell are you doing?!" she cried while flailing her legs around, unable to retaliate.

"You should help out too since you spouted a bunch of stuff about helping Blanc, right?" Ram answered while getting ready to fly.

"I-I don't- whoa!"

The Candidates, determined to solve this incident, abruptly blasted off to the smoke pillar before she could answer.


usually i dont like making edits, so hopefully these erratas will do the trick

(even though they might be too telling of things i consider important and things i dont, but i guess thats my fault for making mistakes like that in the first place :v)


As she FIRMLY requested earlier, the floor she was in was completely silent. All she could hear was her laptop's fan with the occasional scribbles on papers she needed to sign.

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-

"Those damn brats!" She immediately stood up and marched to the noise again. "Why the hell do these kids never listen?"

While she was undoubtedly surprised to not find them when she got there, the person in their place aggravated her far more than those two could. "Wha- What the absolute hell are you doing here?! Do the words 'restraining order' mean anything to you, or did someone fill your ear canals with cement?!"

The intruder, holding a stack of boxes, turned around and guiltily greeted her. "...Oh, hi, Blanc! I was just leaving-"

"Why are you here in the first place!?" Blanc was ready to strangle her.

The goddess's anger could make anyone tremble, and she certainly wasn't any different. "E-ehm...I was just...y'know, moving out of your attic!"

"MY ATTIC-" She doubled over in complete disbelief, letting her anger out in a verbal form before getting ready to let it out in a physical one. "Just how?! HOW did someone like YOU get there? Why didn't the staff notice? Why didn't I notice?!"

"H-hey, calm down! It's all in the past, and I told you that I was moving out, so I won't be staying in your attic anymore! It was kinda dusty and stuffy, though..."

"OF COURSE IT'S DUSTY; IT'S AN ATTIC-" Blanc stopped her tirade when she noticed something on the top of the boxes. "Is...Why do you have my binder?"

"...Hm?" She casually looked over to what Blanc was referring to. "That's actually my binder. I think..." She started opening it. "Here, let me check-"

A large hammer grazed the trespasser's right ear as it flew at mach seven speeds past her and cut through the wall behind her like butter.

She stared at it as it disappeared into the sky, knowing that she was beyond screwed. "I-I...guess the binder's yours, then...heh, heh..." Carefully putting it down and turning back to Blanc, she felt like she had seen the most terrifying White Heart anyone had ever seen.

Without a word, the CPU held out her arm.

"Huh?" She had quick enough reflexes to hear something coming from behind her, thankful that she ducked before an axe could cleave her open as it flew from behind her into White Heart's hand.

"You...I will grind you so hard into the earth that I'll send you DIRECTLY to hell where you rightfully belong!"

"E-eep! Actually, you can keep my stuff! I need to get going so bye!" She sprinted in the opposite direction towards the lower floors of the Basilicom.

"GET BACK HERE!"