the ghost of christmas present gave me a "nightmare" where blanc had another pair of twins for candidates and i was panicking because i completely forgot about them
in fact, i seem to get a lot of dreams where i freak out over forgetting about imaginary stuff that i shouldnt be believing in at all like deadlines for a history essay, even when im not in any history classes


The flight back home was relatively quiet. Anyone would be too tuckered out to talk after a day trip like that, though.

As the three Candidates and chamberlain fly within Lowee's Capital, Nepgear breaks the silence by asking the twins, "So, what are you two going to do when we get there?"

Ram tries to think of something, but instead gives a shrug. "I dunno. I guess we're gonna have to talk with Blanc again."

"Mina..." Rom is more concerned with what her Oracle has to say about them. The last time they heard from her, she was certainly not on their side. "I hope she isn't going to be super angry when she sees us."

Financier speaks up. "Miss Nishizawa isn't the kind to give out a lot of punishments to you two, right? She seems nice enough."

Nepgear nervously chuckles. "Heh, not exactly...I've never seen it actually happen, but sometimes, even I get intimidated by her whenever she needs Rom and Ram to do something."

"Huh, really?"

"Hey, that was a long time ago," interjects Ram. "She can't do that to us anymore, I think."

"Are you sure?" asks Rom, who still remembers what Mina was capable of.

"...Maybe. I just think that she knows by now that we're grown-ups, and we're totally above that kind of stuff."

"Mm…" Rom knows that she has to still be angry at them about last night, and simply being "grown-ups" will not placate her.

As they talk about their next encounter with Blanc, Nepgear notices their lack of enthusiasm compared to this morning. Wondering if they changed their mind, she asks, "So, what are you going to talk about with Blanc?"

Ram appears to space out upon hearing the question, but she quickly and flatly answers, "We're gonna get her old self back."

"...Really?"

"Yeah, really. Are you gonna do something about it?" she adds without raising her voice.

"Well, no! It's just...I don't know if there's really a way to turn her back now since Mina won't prepare the spell anymore."

"We'll find a way."

Nepgear hesitates to ask further for now, leaving an awkward silence before asking, "...What about you, Rom?"

"I want to end all of this arguing we've been doing over Blanc today," she answers in a similar tone.

"That's...good to hear." It's clear to Nepgear that they're a lot more tired. It's probably from their day trip, but perhaps they're also getting tired of their pursuit for their "old" Blanc, and they'll finally accept this new Blanc out of fatigue.

As they're within minutes from arriving at the Basilicom ahead of them, they can spot a red and light blue dot right at the front door.

"Is that her? I hope she isn't mad that we didn't adequately warn her ahead of time, either…" worries Nepgear as they start their descent.

"Uh…" Getting closer to her, Rom and Ram snap out of their tiredness and become alerted when they spot her crossed arms; a harbinger they're more than familiar with. Their caretaker has done too well of a job in conditioning them to react in fear to that stance, whether or not she had intended to. Sure, Ram seemed pretty apathetic about her just a few minutes ago, but actually seeing it has caused all of that courage to defy her has inconspicuously dissipated. They know they should listen to what she has to say if they don't want things to get messy.

Seeing the flying figures coming close, Mina looks up at them, unmoving and stoic as they approach her.

Once they land in front of her and de-transform, they can get a good look at her piercing gaze, precisely locked on to them, on an otherwise aloof expression. Ram immediately tries to lighten her mood before she can say anything. "H-Hey, Mina! Uni took us to this convention thingy, and we bought a bunch of cool stuff!"

Rom catches on to what she's doing and points to her bag that Nepgear's carrying. "Do you wanna look at this cute figure I got?"

"I know that you wanted us to put them in time out or something like that, but honestly, I think we all benefited from hanging out at the mall, so I hope you don't mind," adds Nepgear with a cheery smile.

Mina doesn't react in any way to their greetings. "I see. Financier, could you take their stuff to their room?" Without waiting for a response, she turns around and commands, "Come with me, you two."

"H-huh?" Rom has never seen her act this cold.

"Um...right." As Nepgear hands her their merchandise, Financier walks ahead into the Basilicom.

"Nepgear said you two were ready to talk to your older sister. Is that correct?" She begins walking in.

"U-uh...yeah." They do want to talk to her, but Mina is making this too blunt for them.

Before they walk in, Nepgear asks, "Um, may I come in? Or am I intruding on something…?"

Mina stops and thinks it over before looking back at her. "I apologize, Nepgear. I think this conversation will be better suited if it is just us."

"Oh...I understand." Even if she doesn't mean to, she can only see her response as threatening, and she gives Rom and Ram a concealed look of sympathy. "But...are you sure I can't stick around? I just want to be here in case something goes wrong."

Mina stops, still looking away from the others. "Are you saying that they are not ready to talk, then?"

Nepgear backs off a bit, unsure of how to reply.

There's a moment of stillness before she loosens her shoulders and adds in a warmer tone, "...I am sorry if that comment sounded hostile. In truth, there is some confidential information I want to share with these two, and I am not ready to disclose it to anyone outside of the Basilicom."

She relaxes herself as well, sighing in relief. "O-Oh, I see. That's perfectly fine!" What Mina said only makes her more curious, though, but she'll have to respect her request and have faith that whatever she has can solve their dispute. "I guess I'll talk to you all later."

"Likewise. I would like to thank you and Uni for accompanying the twins today," MIna politely responds.

"Yeah. Today was pretty fun," adds Rom. They wave at Nepgear, and she does the same before she slowly backs off, transforms back, and flies away.

Once gone, Mina leads the twins inside. She immediately re-ushers the heavy, suppressive air, keeping the twins silent.

After a short period, they arrive at the dining hall. The table is completely barren except for a briefcase in the middle. "Sit down," commands Mina.

They follow her demand without question, sitting next to the papers on the same side. Perhaps she's being more bossy than she really needs to be, though…

Sitting between them, Mina still upholds her silencing pressure. Even when she's taking brief glances inside her briefcase, neither of them has any intention to annoy her or even ask if she's angry.

"Miss Mina...What's inside?" Rom asks as politely as she can.

"We will discuss these when Lady Blanc and C-sha arrive," she answers without looking away. "In the meantime, we will wait and silently contemplate what we will talk about with them when the time comes."

At least it doesn't seem like she wants to punish them, though. They both decide to exactly do as told so as to not incur her wrath.

(-)

Eventually, the dead air breaks when there's a knock on the hall's door.

"You may enter," answers Mina.

The door opens, and C-sha and Blanc come in. The tense air instantly gets to them, warning them to avoid any frivolous talk. At the sight of Mina and the Candidates looking up at them, C-sha uneasily greets, "Hey, y'all. How's everyone doing…?"

"We are doing well," Mina emptily replies. "Please, take a seat, you two. Rom and Ram are ready to talk to you again, Lady Blanc."

"Getting straight to the point, huh..." notices C-sha before walking towards them. "Well, the sooner, the better."

As Blanc follows her, she notices that her sisters' have been staring at her since she got here and returns the gaze. She knows that it's only been a day since she's seen them, but being face-to-face with them once more after everything that happened last night feels unsettling, to say the least. Their neutral expressions are a step up from yesterday and provide her with some security, but she still doesn't feel safe around them. Maybe they can finally make up today, just as C-sha hoped for, but it still seems likely that they will jump on her out of nowhere.

C-sha and Blanc sit on the opposite side of the others. While the former sits up, a bit more tense than she usually is, the latter quickly sinks further into her chair, trying to obscure herself.

Mina clears her throat. "Now that we're all here...Rom, Ram, I believe there is something you have to say to your older sister."

When there are so many things they want to say, it becomes difficult choosing which one to say first, and they end up needing a moment to decide on that.

When they don't respond, Mina blunts her approach. "Why don't you two apologize to Lady Blanc?" she firmly asks.

Ram reactively goes on the defensive. "But-"

"Apologize for what you two have done to her over these past few days."

"Mmmh…" Mina might be scary, yet Ram is still rather steadfast in her opinion about Blanc. Strangely enough, it's because of that that she finds her pushy rather than intimidating. At the least, though, she thinks about last night and, in an attempt to placate her, reluctantly says, "I guess I'm sorry we used all of that magic to hurt you last night."

Rom solemnly bows her head. "Yeah, I'm sorry, too…"

Their older sister sits up, her interest renewed while judging their apparent sincerity with a critical eye. She didn't expect them to apologize so soon. "Is that...so…"

"Yeah, that is so," Ram dryly confirms.

Blanc doesn't respond at first, allowing silence to fill the room again while the three stare each other down. Prodding for a more thorough apology, she cautiously asks, "What…made you change your mind?"

Ram's eyebrows furrow more. "...We realized that we shouldn't be doing that kind of stuff as goddesses. That's the sort of stuff villains do."

"Then...why did you do it in the first place?"

"...We were just really angry at stuff like when the other you wouldn't help us, or...I don't know why, but it's like we forgot why we decided to do that..." Rom sheepishly attempts to explain.

C-sha interrupts Blanc before she can ask another question. "Being angry makes people act that way, but hey, it's okay. Anger can be a pretty hard thing to tame. We all have done something we regret because something was frustrating us," she assures with a smile, giving the twins a brief respite from the negative mood the other two are setting. "As long as you recognize it happened and do something about it, it'll be alright."

"Okay," mutters Rom, feeling a bit better.

"But what will you do to prevent yourself from causing a similar incident? An apology is not much without a concrete promise to do better," lectures Mina. "Lady Blanc is more than eager to know what you have in mind, you know."

They don't exactly have anything to show for it, but Rom wholeheartedly confirms, "We really promise we won't do anything like that."

Ram sighs. After thinking it over for a day, she ultimately doesn't approve of how she escalated their situation last night, and perhaps something good will happen from admitting that. "I guess I can try."

"Not 'try;' you will promise to not attack your older sister like that."

She groans even harder, becoming increasingly irritated by Mina's pushiness. "Fine, I WILL not attack you with magic, Blanc."

Their older sister is still careful of how to respond. The difference in earnestness between her sisters is what catches her attention the most. While her trust in Rom is slowly improving, it appears that Ram is apologizing only because Mina is making her. Do these two have different stances on her? She had always thought of them as always being on the same page, regardless of their personalities.

While she's thinking this over, Mina sternly points out, "Furthermore, I noticed that you two are not apologizing about all of the verbal abuse you dealt. Is there any specific reason why that is the case?"

Rom shakes her head. "We're sorry about that, too. It wasn't nice of us to say all of that mean stuff..." she apologizes, continuing to gradually earn Blanc's favor.

Her twin stays still for a moment. "...Is it really an insult if it's an actual problem with her…" she tries to murmur to herself.

Mina is able to pick that up, however, clearly intolerant of what she said. "What was that?"

She quickly shrinks away from her. "N-nothing…"

"What was what?" wonders C-sha, too far away to hear her.

Mina stands up and breaks the silence, returning to a particular scolding mood that she hasn't been in for a long time. "It is an insult when you intend to hurt her feelings, regardless of if it is true or not. There are many ways to express your worries, yet you choose the most egregious ways when it comes to your own sister!"

"But-"

"Did you know that there are already negative rumors about you two that stem from what you two did last night? Speculation over why you two were antagonizing and kidnapping Lady Blanc...I have even heard people speculating that you are conspiring to incite an early Shift Period! Dispelling these notions will be difficult, even more so if they have some basis in truth. If you cannot change your ways, our shares and your livelihoods will quickly plummet!"

She already started to feel guilty the moment she saw how everyone reacted to her question, but when Mina scolds her like that… "Jeez, why do you have to be so bossy…"

"We are waiting for your apo-"

"I'm getting to it! Calm down!" shouts Ram with her arms raised. "I'm sorry about saying mean stuff to you! There, are you happy?!"

Seeing her becoming so irate again only scares Blanc more as she recoils from the volume. Is she seriously supposed to accept her apology when it's so clear that she doesn't mean it?

C-sha notices Blanc's uneasiness and leans a bit towards her, putting on another reassuring smile. "Hey, she's only mad because of Mina's lecturing. She's not mad at you, honest. She really is sorry-"

Ram overhears her and interrupts, "I'm mad at both Mina and you because of how annoying this...whole situation with the memory loss is! I just want her to get her memories back and get done with this already!"

Her sister tries to calm her down. "Ram…"

Both C-sha and Blanc are stunned by her sudden exclamation. "But...you said you were sorry about what you did," the former tries to remind. "Rom, aren't you fine with this Blanny?"

She knows how much it hurts her, but she shakes her head. "We felt bad about the mean words and the kidnapping, but we still want the old Blanc back."

C-sha takes a deep sigh. "And it was going so well, too...That's fine; we can still talk this out."

Mina doesn't look so fazed by this. "I am assuming that you would still like for me to prepare the restoration spell."

"Yeah."

She was sure that they knew she wasn't going to use it, but she gives them the benefit of the doubt and sternly reminds them, "I have already decided that I will not be using that spell for now. You will simply have to learn to become reacquainted with your older sister as she is now."

Ram clenches her fists, taken back in shock. "W-what? But why?!"

"There is merit in Lady Neptune's suggestion. We can use this opportunity to raise Lady Blanc into a better CPU."

"You're still ignoring-!"

Just as she's about to slam the table, Rom gently grabs her arm from her side. "Ram…"

With the help of her sister, she remembers what happened the last time she used anger to escalate her problems. Putting her arms down and crossing her arms in a huff, she declares, "...Fine! We'll just have to find another way to change her back."

"There are no other ways to restore her memories. Not even the other Oracles will be able to help you, as you specifically need an Oracle of Lowee to help you."

"We don't care! We'll just...find another way."

Mina raises an eyebrow. "And do you have any idea of where to start looking?"

"Y-yeah. And we're not telling you what they are, if you're wondering."

It's fairly clear to the others that they have no idea. "You are only wasting your time by continuing this search. I highly urge you to at least help your sister in her training," warns Mina.

C-sha notices that Blanc looks rather on edge from what her sisters said. She sidles closer to her and whispers, "Hey, on the bright side, you can feel safe that they don't have a way to turn you back."

"I don't know…" Despite what Mina said, their commitment to changing her back convinces her that their chances of succeeding is non-zero, and that's enough to keep her restless. "...Ah."

"Hm? What is it?"

She leans over and whispers, "What if...they secretly make me look bad in front of Mina to convince her to use the spell on me?" That's something they would do, right?

That proposition flat out confounds C-sha with exasperation. She takes a deep sigh to try improving her mood before responding, "Just...Blanny, there's no way that's gonna happen. Even if they were to stoop that low, there's no way any of us wouldn't notice."

"U-uh...okay…" Just another paranoid thought that she'll have to keep to herself...

As they're whispering to each other, the door opens, diverting everyone's attention.

From the slight opening, Financier slips herself in. She can already tell from some of them glowering that the conversation hasn't been going so well. "I finished putting away their stuff, Miss Nishizawa."

"Thank you, Financier. You are dismissed for now," Mina politely responds.

Before she steps back out, C-sha interrupts her. "Hey, uh, you said you were with Rom and Ram, right? Wanna tell us what happened?"

"Huh? Um, are you sure this is a good time?"

Before Mina can say something, she answers, "Yeah, yeah, come here; maybe you have something that can help us out."

"Oh, um, okay!" Sitting next to the twins she begins, "So, uh, we went to the mall with Lady Nepgear and Lady Uni, and then we saw Lady Noire walk into a voice acting audition…"

As she recaps their day, Mina gives C-sha a look that questions her insistence on keeping her around.

Looking back at her, her unfazed expression assures her to share her trust that Financier will inadvertently give them some breakthrough to their argument.

Blanc also shares C-sha's insight. While the twins blankly wait for Financier to finish, she intently listens in to her story.

"...And then Lady Noire and Miss Jinguji gave the two a pretty big lecture before booting us out. Part of me wonders what would happen if they did get away with the prank…" Though she knows to be serious, she can't help but smile and giggle a bit while recounting what happened. "Uh, anyway! Do you two remember what they said?"

"...That we should listen to others, even about things that we already know a lot about?" answers Rom, still unsure why the others wanted to listen to her.

C-sha perks up right away upon hearing that. "Y'know, I think that's super relevant to what we're talking about."

"Huh? What do you mean?" asks a confused Ram.

"I know that you've said that you know best for what 'old Blanny' wanted, but..." She lets them make the connection on their own.

When they do, Ram immediately frowns. "That's...that's not how it works! Like, sure, there are going to be others who know about pranks, but there's absolutely no way that anyone knows Blanc better than us, and we know that she would want her memories back!"

Though wanting to keep calm, her claim personally bothers Mina, leaning forward in her seat. "Is that so? Do you know who took care of her before you two were born?"

"Yeah, duh, but you were gone for a while after that, so I still think we know more about her."

"How about before I left, then? Or perhaps, before you two were even born?" She opens the briefcase and starts delicately but promptly searching through the hundreds of pieces of paper inside. "It is quite outstanding how ignorant you two have been to her past before you were born."

"Yeah? Well, if Blanc didn't tell us about it, it probably wasn't that important," Ram refutes, arms crossed.

"Um…" Her twin isn't on the same page, though.

"What is it, Rom?" She looks over at her, but then back at Mina when she spots her souring grimace.

"I know that Lady Blanc wanted to avoid talking about her past, but honestly…" she mutters while searching.

"Uhh…?" Just this quiet and dismissive motion is the first thing that has managed to challenge her persistence. Not convincing arguments or even physical submission, but the subtly real threat that she and Rom just might be wrong because of something they should've known, but just forgot.

Their uneasiness doesn't go unnoticed by Blanc and C-sha either, who intently watch at the briefcase. Neither of them can predict what she has to show them, being completely unaware of this past, though it probably would've saved them a lot of hassle if she did this earlier. At the same time, being capable of striking fear in them just by mentioning it serves as a serious warning of what it must be.

Mina pulls out two worn pieces of paper before closing the case. "Every time you claim that you know what she would have wanted...have you ever considered her experiences with Indigo Heart?"

"Indigo-" With just that name, both Rom and Ram tense up, knowing that Mina really does have something serious to say. "Oh, uh…"

Blanc also sits up upon hearing the name. She's been interested in it ever since she heard about her earlier, but seeing it completely turn her aggressors on their heads...

The name is completely unfamiliar to C-sha and Financier, but they can easily understand its importance from the twins' reaction. The latter asks, "Indigo Heart...That's the CPU before Lady Blanc, right?"

"Correct. She was, perhaps…" An irrational spike of ire shoots through Mina, so sudden and sharp that it momentarily frightens the others, but she manages to stop herself with a deep breath. "Highly irresponsible and corrosively insensitive are some immediate thoughts I have about her, but what is pertinent to our situation right now is that she was certainly not the best sister."

To everyone else's surprise, Rom and Ram take her brief explanation to heart, flinching at the instinctive thought of such a goddess. So much so that, for the first time in a while, they give Blanc a sorrowful, but empathetic glance.

"Did you two never consider what she might have done to your sister? It is rather obvious that you have never forgotten what she did to you, too."

"Yeah, but...I thought maybe she was nice to Blanc…" Clearly not the case as Mina is suggesting; Rom probably should've realized that way earlier.

"I swear that we found, like a picture or old news article or something that said they were fine together!" Ram attempts to deny.

Their Oracle understands their excuse. "I suppose I should not have been blaming you for thinking like that. With how deliberate she was with her and Lady Blanc's public appearances, even I sometimes underestimate how sour their relationship really was." Their Oracle passes out the papers to the twins. "However, the day after I came back, I was sorely reminded when I happened to find a few of Lady Blanc's old diary entries a few days ago. These can only tell of a piece of what truly happened regarding their relationship, but reading one should paint a well-enough impression of what it was like."

"Huh, I didn't know Lady Blanc had a diary," murmurs Financier.

Everyone lets the two read the entries in silence. Their eyes scan through their papers at an increasingly slowing rate.

"Mind if I take a read after you two are done?" asks C-sha.

"Perhaps after we are done with everything here," answers Mina. "And…actually…" She beckons Financier, whispering something to her in private.

Despite her initial curiosity with the entries, Blanc has all her attention on her sisters' reactions. As they motionlessly read through her words, their expressions turn woefully vulnerable and hurt by whatever happened to Blanc in the past. They clearly didn't know of any of this, yet at the same time, they don't look so surprised by any of it. If anything, they regret not realizing any of this earlier.

"Hey, uh, you two alright?" C-sha reaches out to them, having enough of this silence.

Rom solemnly looks up from her paper. "U-um…"

"Do you wanna talk about it?"

She shakes her head without hesitation.

"Are you sure? I don't wanna press you too hard if it's really that serious, but-"

Ram speaks up, quickly slamming her paper down. "Look, all you need to know is she was just really mean and scary, okay? Like, really scary! I mean, she was only around for a week or so right after we were born, but…" She shudders before blurting out, "She tried killing us because she said that we were the reasons we were losing Shares! That's how bad she was!"

C-sha, Blanc, and Financier sharply gasp, staring wide-eyed at the twins. The fact that they can see Mina not even flinching upon hearing that, instead just nodding in confirmation, makes it that more jarring. While Blanc immediately looks down, furrowing her brows, the other laments, "That is, uh...Gosh, I'm really sorry that happened to you girls. And right after being born, too…I heard of some CPU in Lowee going haywire a really long time ago, but now it makes me really wonder how she wasn't immediately booted out if she was acting that way..."

"The answer to that is a history lecture in itself, but...let's get back to the point," reminds Mina unassuredly. "Rom, Ram, I did not mean to bring up such a sensitive topic simply to intimidate you. Now that you have a better understanding of Lady Blanc's grievances with Indigo Heart, do you see why I reconsidered performing the spell?"

Rom slowly nods, still haunted by what she just read.

Ram hesitates to answer at first. She looks rather hurt by reading those diary entries, but that pain starts to subside as starts frowning, but not at what Mina said. "Does…does that mean..." she murmurs.

The others stay quiet, raising eyebrows at what she has to say next.

After a bit, she suddenly stands up, walks towards Rom, and whispers something in her ear.

Whatever she's asking is a long question, but the others patiently wait for them to talk over whatever Ram wanted.

Despite her efforts to keep it discreet, Rom has a rather conspicuous response, from being slightly startled to answering somewhat audibly, "I don't know…I didn't like her though...Is it wrong to like that she did that…?"

C-sha already has a fair idea of what they're talking about, but she still amicably asks, "Whatcha talking about?"

Hastily looking up at her, she quickly dismisses, "It's...personal stuff."

"It's about whether or not it's alright to like Blanny for being cool, even if she's that way because something bad happened to her, right?"

Were they that obvious? "...So what if we were, anyways?"

"Nothin' wrong with it, honest. Just, uh...wait, hear me out." She has to take a moment to think this out before starting, "So, I don't think Blanny didn't actually become cool only because of Indigo. She had to gather the courage beforehand in order to step up to her in the first place, so it's like it was in her all along, or something like that. Sure, Blanny might've been content with staying all shy if she wasn't that awful, but y'all can see that there should definitely be other, less harmful ways to bring that part of Blanny out." She goes for a side hug with Blanc, who has been deep in thought about something. "And she's got just the perfect friends and family to help with exactly that, isn't that right?"

As expected, the sudden movement startles her as she almost loses balance. "H-huh? Um, yeah..." She murmurs while blushing deeply at C-sha's touch.

Rom and Ram remember hearing something like that before, but now that they have this context… "Then...I guess this is better for her…" the former very reluctantly admits.

Ram doesn't have anything to add; she simply silence looks down in agreement.

Is this it? Are they finally getting to the end of this? Glancing at everyone, C-sha asks, "So, how 'bout it? We all ready to make up?"

Having been looking away from each other, the goddesses lock eyes again, knowing they must confront each other before they can reply. Just from their looks, the others can see that today's conversation has broken the ongoing dynamic between them. Instead…it almost seems to have reversed; it's now the twins who feel uneasy confronting Blanc.

Mina notices their mood and, easing off of her scolding attitude, asks, "It might feel difficult to apologize, but I promise that you will feel better off once you do so."

Ram glances at her to acknowledge her advice, but doesn't say anything before looking back at Blanc.

When the twins appear this unsure of themselves, their older sister isn't so afraid of talking to them. Though the constant staring still makes her look away every once in a while, she seems much more eager to hear what they have to say next.

With everyone waiting for their answer, they certainly feel pressured to say something. In truth, they're holding on to one last concern before they can really accept this new Blanc, yet they're certain that it'll only make everyone mad at them for thinking like that. Even C-sha, who's only been kind and understanding to them all day, might turn a frown.

It is important enough to just not put it out there, but actually saying it…it sends the two into a deepening panic on what to do, trying to find if there is just some other excuse to say instead.

After a while, Ram swallows her guilt and finally confesses, "I…I don't know if Blanc loves us as much as she did before…"

Most of the others don't seem too surprised. They mentioned something like that the first time they argued, too.

Just as C-sha is about to respond, Blanc rather abruptly interjects , "But…don't you remember…what I said right after losing my memories?"

The two look at her. Expecting her usual timid expressions, they instead find her wide-eyed pupils piercing through them, as if she just had some table-turning epiphany. For the first time in a while, they are daunted by their older sister. Neither of them feel like repeating what Ram said earlier when she asked the same thing, either.

Out of nowhere, her eyes widen more, and her brows start to furrow deeply. Something they said, whatever it was, has provoked her into making one revolting realization. "And…You…You said you hate Indigo Heart for being abusive, and I don't know exactly what happened…but what you two have been doing to me doesn't sound any more different!"

Gasps are heard all around at her accusation. The others sort of already realized it, but chose not to mention something so inflammatory. Yet, for someone so reserved to bring it up is ominous, to say the least.

Rom sits there in silence, mouth hanging open as she tries to deny to herself that she would be anything like her.

"What are you talking about? That's a load of…It's not the sa…" Initially poised to backtalk, Ram comes to dead silence when she soon realizes that she can't argue back; she has been following in the footsteps of someone she has deeply resented, even if it was all unconscious. "Th…That can't…"

She clenches her fists, oblivious to Ram's reaction. "And, and I also might not know why Indigo Heart wanted to get rid of you in the first place, but I bet it was similar to what you were thinking of, too!"

Even Mina is increasingly shocked at her outburst and how poorly her sisters are taking it. She tries to interrupt, suggesting, "Now, now, that is not exactly tr-"

She can't really hear her over her own thinking."To get rid of your sisters just because she was different is just…H-how did you not see that there was anything wrong with that?! Especially when the same thing happened to you?!"

C-sha becomes mortified when she notices the twins' reactions. "Hey, uh, Blanny…"

"I wanted to be the best older sister I could, but you just bullied me just because I wasn't what you wanted! And now you're asking if I still like you?! How is anyone supposed to like that?! You two are f…" As she pauses to find the most fitting word, she finally looks up and sees their looks, which swiftly knocks her out of her anger and back into shock. "H-huh…?"

Looking down to hide her expression, Ram is audibly sniffling, not caring about wiping the tears dropping from her face. Utterly defeated, she can't even consider thinking about saying anything back. Barely audible, she whimpers while choking on her words, "I…I'm sorry…I'm so stupid…"

Rom is no better, looking away from everyone, though they can still hear her weeping.

Did…she cause this? Well, of course she did, but to bring someone to tears… "I-I…" Stunned in horror at herself, she realizes that she just put herself in the same hypocritical vice as theirs. Despite being so afraid of adopting this kind of behavior, she just let herself go…and it all just happened so quickly and without thought. It only felt natural to let all of her bottled-up gripes spew forth the moment they stopped seeming so hostile to her. In fact, she's been going on a lot of these rants recently. Is she really just as bad as she made her other self out to be?

With such a miserable sight all around, should she try to fix this? Well…they did deserve it for everything they did to her, but…No, that can't be right; she can't let herself get any worse! Yet, it's so hard to forgive them, especially with all of her animosity still fresh in her mind from her rant. Feeling helpless with this revelation, she looks at the other three.

Financier…seems to have slipped away when no one was looking. Mina is too busy and panicked trying to cheer the candidates up. Even if she isn't looking at her, she probably doesn't have any kind words for her. "Please, calm down. You two are not as bad as you think…"

"No…We really are the worst…"

"Y-yeah…W-we're really bad sisters…"

C-sha is starting to slack on her chair, resting her head on her hand with her elbow on the table. When she spots Blanc looking at her, she lifelessly remarks, "I suppose you had your right to say all of that, but…"

Blanc has never seen her friend be this weary to anything like this. She really did mess up, didn't she? "I-I'm sorry…"

"You're apologizing to the wrong person, unless you still want to just shove your sisters away," she remarks, before shortly taking a deep sigh. "I'm sorry about that. All the arguing over the past few days…It's starting to get to me."

That's another reason to feel dirty for being selfish. Why does she keep forgetting how important her sisters must be if all of her friends are trying so hard to get them back together? Shaking in panic, she confesses, "N-no, I really didn't mean to do that! I never wanted to be this kind of person who yells at other people! I really do want to make up with them, but I don't know how. I'm sorry that I'm making you do too much for me, but please, I really need your help this time…"

Hearing this sparks a little bit of hope in her eyes, but she can't help but stay aloof after what just happened. "'S that so? Do you really want to reconcile with 'em, or are you just worried about your own image? There's a pretty large difference."

Aren't those two connected? She looks back to how her other self dealt with Rom and Ram. If they had to fight every time they disagreed on something…It was convenient that she was on her side back then, and she clearly wants to avoid being like that…but how do those two feel about that, having to fight their way through every disagreement? She had thought they enjoyed going through all of that, but now they're plenty more than remorseful for what they've done…

Mina is rubbing their backs, still trying to calm them down. "It will be alright, okay? She'll forgive you soon enough."

"N-no she won't…no one should have to put up with us…" laments Ram between sniffling.

Blanc has made up her mind. "...I really do want to make up with them. Even after everything they've done, I understand how much we mean to each other."

C-sha cracks a tired smile. "That's good to hear. Even then, though…well, at this point, I can't help ya; it's all up to you to talk to them."

Anxiety runs through her spine again. "H-huh? But-"

"This might sound a bit harsh, but it's you who put them in this mess, so it'll also have to be you who gets them out. Mina might be trying to help, but they have to hear it from you that you forgive them to make it work."

That only makes sense to Blanc, but she has nearly zero ideas on what to say. She looks down, uneasily twiddling her thumbs while trying to think.

"Just…remember what we've been talking about. They're mainly just looking for you to forgive them." She knows that's a bit vague, but she assuredly nods back that that's everything.

It takes a moment to fully remember, but she assuredly nods back, even if she isn't completely confident in herself. Shakily standing up from her chair, she walks around the table to her sisters, but doesn't come any closer than a couple of arm's length from them. Maybe moving as slowly as she can will give her enough time to think over her words.

"Shh, shh…You already recognized what went wrong…" Though the two haven't noticed her, Mina looks up at her. Her disappointed frown conveys a similar mood C-sha had, but she still has faith in her to help them.

Still, no words come to her mind. Awkwardly standing around might be bad, but the pressure to say the right words is beyond suffocating. "I-I…uh…"

Both of them look up at her after hearing her trying to talk, which only prompts her to hurry up. "W-what now?" whimpers Ram, wiping her tears away from her reddened eyes.

In the middle of her thinking, Blanc noticies Financier trying to sneak back in the door behind Rom, holding some sort of book in her hands.

When she last left, they were all still actively arguing, so she's left confused on how everything became so silently gloomy. Everyone seems to be looking expectantly at Blanc, who is in turn looking at her with a helpless look. Even if no one else has noticed her, she feels put on the spot to help somehow. Unsure of what to say and with a vague inference of the moment, she simply…gestures for a hug with an unconfident smile.

Perhaps the best thing to say at first really is just nothing. Following her loose advice, she slowly comes closer with stretched arms and wraps both of them in her arms.

The twins stop their weeping, jolting at her sudden touch. "H-huh? What…?" murmurs Ram.

Still careful of her words, Blanc simply replies in the calmest tone she can put on, "It's…It's okay. I forgive you two. I…I should also say I'm sorry for yelling at you."

"But…w-we've been so mean to you, and…" She is almost trying to escape her hug, thinking she doesn't deserve anything but shame.

That is true, and it's still rather hard to look past that…but she knows that everyone, and not just C-sha and Mina, is relying on her to reconcile with them. "I-I don't think I should've done that, especially when you already saw what went wrong, though, but…um…uh…" She timidly blushes and looks away for a bit. "Let's just…forget about everything that happened these past few days…like we're starting over."

With such simple words, even if they're all jumbled, they can start to feel an incomprehensible warmth lifting them up from their own sorrows. Yet, it only feels right to reject that feeling when they can't understand how she's able to accept them so easily. "R-really? Is that okay?" mewls Rom. "A-are you really sure you're fine with everything we did?"

To Blanc, their confusion almost sounds like they're giving her last chances to stay angry at them. If they're so willing, then maybe…No, this is the only way to move forward, no matter how tempting the other option is. "...There's…Yes, because I know that you won't do something like that again, right?"

"Y-yeah…" both of them murmur.

She feels a bit more confident when she remarks, "What matters now, though, is…if you can love me as your sister, then I will love you both as my sisters. I think I said something like that the first time, but…let's try that again, okay?"

With that, the two immediately throw their arms around their older sister. "Blanc…Blanc!" they both cry out in tearful glee.

Feeling them return her embrace…it's odd, but warm and comforting. It completely assures her that she made the right decision. She can finally relax; she has finally overcome this feud between her sisters. The future has already become much brighter for her.

Her feeling of ease spreads out to the spectators in this room as well. C-sha, Mina, and Financier all wear warm smiles at such a heart-tugging scene while giving them space, all thankful that they managed to work it all out at the end. "This whole thing…it's been pretty intense, hasn't it?" C-sha whispers to Mina.

"Indeed. Even if mistakes were made on all sides…this was arguably the best outcome to this."

"Yeah, I guess. It felt kinda weird we sorta had to rely on pinning the blame on someone who isn't with us…but, in a way, Blanny's spiel sorta brought everything together."

"Mhm."


yeah, overall this whole arc of rom and ram trying to turn blanc back felt like a disaster

it was something that came up to me at the moment when i was writing the whole trip to ultradimension lowee, and on retrospect, it lasted for way too long (in-story not real time but also real time lmao)
i initially planned this fic to take up 200k words and im definitely overshooting it (though i wont pressure myself to keep the rest of the fic close to that, so w/e comes next shouldnt be rushed bc of the word count)

even then, i am confident that there were at least several mistakes w/ mood whiplashes since all of this conflict generated a crap ton of moments where it was hard to exactly tell how blanc or the twins or c-sha or w/e would react
i think i already mentioned something like it, but for some scenes, i definitely wrote like 1k words of deleted scenes for each of the recent chapters going back and forth between reactions, and eventually i had to stop myself and just publish what i had (after a quick proof-reading, which im also not 100% good on, oopsies)

another thing i messed up on is in including financier; i thought she was going to be important when i start a chapter, telling myself she'll be important in the next one, only to change my mind, stripping her of my planned role for her and leaving poor financier just kinda standing around and not offering much at times

at the same time, doing uncomfortable stuff is how u get better, or something like that, so hopefully the next drama scenes will be much easier to write (especially the ones i specifically plan to include)
the next in-story day should feel much easier to write than the last two, if im thinking about it correctly (that is, another spontaneous idea wont sprout up)

anyways merry christmas everyone, and heres to another year of nep (im excited to see the new ovas / game staring the candidates)


As Lowee's goddesses continue to embrace each other, Mina whispers back to C-sha, "If I may, I sincerely thank you for helping us with today's conversation. You did a very splendid job helping me with managing everyone's arguments!"

"Aw, it was nothing," C-sha humbly waves off. "Dealing with these back-and-forth conversations, keeping track of evidence and what people said…It's all natural to me. Though, at the same time, you did a pretty solid job doing your part of the whole 'good cop, bad cop' shtick!"

Mina raises an eyebrow. "'Good cop, bad cop…?'"

"Y'know, when-"

"I know what it is, but that would make me…" She frowns further. "Was I really that harsh?"

C-sha holds in a chuckle. "Never mind. Forget what I said, heh."

Financier walks up in the middle of their conversation, holding up her book. "Um, do you still need this, Miss Nishizawa?"

"Hm? What's that?"

"Oh, it is just another past document of Lady Blanc's that I thought we might have needed at the moment," Mina answers while taking the book. "It is too late to bring it up…Though, actually…" She starts walking towards the goddesses.

"I'm still really sorry about everything…" says Ram into Blanc's arm, her voice still a little shaky and breathy.

"Yeah, me too…" adds Rom. "Is there anything we can do for you?"

"No, no, it's okay," answers Blanc. They're rather cute when they're hugging her like this, which certainly makes it easy to forget all of the past few days and forgive them.

Once Mina's close enough, Blanc looks up at her. "Hm?"

She warmly offers the book to them. "Lady Blanc, Rom, Ram, I think it is close to bedtime. Perhaps you would be interested in reading this? It might not exactly be a bedtime story, but I think now is the perfect time to read this."

None of them recognize that it's still pretty early. "A bedtime story? Does that mean…" wonders Blanc.

Both of them hug her tighter.

"You don't have to sleep with them; you can simply read it for them until-"

"That's okay; I'm fine with it." Blanc takes the book and observes its exterior. It's rather nondescript outside of its green color and a little bit of dust covering it. "Thank you."

"Of course. Now, go ahead and get prepared for bed, you three."

"Alright."

"Yeah…"

"Okay." Finally letting go of their hug, each of the twins continue to hold on to one of their older sister's hands as they exit the room.

"Huh, never seen Blanny go to bed this early. Gotta use this memory loss opportunity to get rid of that habit of hers, am I right?" supposes C-sha with a grin.

Mina giggles a bit. "You read my mind."

"Heh." She stretches her arms over her head. "Well, now that's all done and through…Mind showing me some of that stuff about Indigo?"

"Hm? Are you not tired?" She certainly is after today.

"I mean, a little, but now is a convenient time before I have to do something tomorrow."

"Understandable." She packs up the entries Rom and Ram left on the table in her briefcase and starts walking. "I should have some more information about her if you follow me."

"Alrighty then. I'm down for a little history lesson."