So here the three of them were. Sitting at the table — none of them underneath the table anymore — each with a mug of hot chocolate in front of them. Rom had opted to sit between Ram and Vert, taking both the mediator's role as well as the role of the nurse (Ram was having trouble drinking her hot chocolate and holding the ice at the same time — Rom was quite happy using one hand for her sister's ice and the other for her own mug now that Ram was with her again), and it should have been the time for things to go as Vert had wanted from the start of this little episode.

Unfortunately...

"So, now that we've settled down... Perhaps we can now resume..." For the third time since she'd poured the hot chocolate, gotten Ram's ice, and situated herself in the least threatening position at the table for the twins, the CPU sheepishly tried to start the conversation back up again. Rom looked to her, ready and waiting. She was halfway there! One twin down, one to go! There was no stopping her now! All she needed now was...

The look Ram gave her stopped Vert cold. The CPU instead smiled awkwardly, a half-hearted laugh escaping her lips as she looked down at her own mug of hot chocolate, marshmallows looking up at her mockingly. How dare the marshmallows make fun of her? They would be melted or in her stomach in a few minutes! They had no right to make fun of her for not being able to talk to her girlfriend's sisters! They... They were much too soft to judge her, that's what they were!

After giving the marshmallows a good stare down, the young woman sighed, raising the mug to her lips and taking a sip. The warm drink was incredibly soothing after how cold she had been earlier — she could still feel that chill, even now that she was in a warmer part of the Basilicom. If only she could get the ball rolling here, maybe then the cold room she had been in just a short time ago would seem like a thing of the past, a funny memory, rather than what it felt like now — the result of two young girls feeling left behind. That was simply unacceptable.

If only she could just talk...!

Vert tried looking in Ram's direction, but since she was doing so without bringing attention to it, the CPU Candidate didn't notice. Rather than the look she had been being given before, a much more passive look was on the girl's face. She seemed uncertain. Perhaps she was thinking about things herself? Vert was pushing it, after all, and Rom wasn't "on her sister's side" anymore either. From what Vert could gather now, it wasn't so much now that the issue of Blanc and Vert's relationship was stopping things... It was more that now that Ram was aware she had been set up, Vert was taking the blame for the lovely little lump on her head.

Vert... couldn't exactly deny this particular accusation...

She sighed. She had gotten Ram to come out, but had she put a petty wall between them over how she'd done it? If that was the case, was there anything she could even do at this point to repair the situation and move it to the point where conversation was possible? She wanted to show Ram she was on the girl's side too — that it wasn't even an issue of sides to begin with but at this rate...

"You're lying. I won't forgive you lying to Rom."

... Ram would apparently decide to start things herself?

Dumbstruck by both the turn of events that were transpiring as well as the accusations being thrown her way, Vert simply stared at the girl, who was looking over at her with an extremely serious expression. Her mind had been going so far, so much, in one direction that now that the situation was going in an entirely different one, she needed a minute to load it all! Let her pick up the ammo box over there first, please, Ram!

"See? See? I caught her and now she's in shock that I did it!" Taking Vert's lack of a response to mean something entirely different than what it actually did, Ram turned to look at Rom triumphantly, jabbing a finger in Vert's direction all the while. Vert might have considered the action almost... spiteful if she weren't able to hear the panic in the girl's voice, but to Vert, her tone was far more clear to her than the words it was being used to convey, and that was what managed to snap her back to attention. "She's a liar, Rom! A liar! So now..."

Vert placed her hands on the side of the table, moments from pushing herself into a standing position. If this was what Ram wanted to do, then she would have to act like the adult here and tell it to them straight, rather than gently as she had wanted to. After all, there was no way Rom would shake her head like she was doing right now. Rom would certainly agree with what Ram was saying, and Vert would be back to the very start of all of this if she didn't do anything before Rom disagreed like she was doing right... now?

The blonde blinked, nearly slipping in mid-stand and falling face-first into her drink. Ram was in a similar position, not that Vert was paying too much attention at the moment.

Rom shook her head.

While Ram had perhaps had too much faith in her (baseless) accusation, shamefully, Vert realized she had had too little faith in Rom, hadn't she?

"Now we listen to her." Rom's voice was as quiet as ever, but there was a pleading firmness to it that hadn't been present earlier. Both Ram and Vert watched her, frozen for a moment, before they both lowered back into their seats in one obedient motion. Realizing that she had somehow managed to hold a lot of power over both her sister and a CPU of another nation, Rom's eyes widened as she assessed what she had done, and she too sunk into her seat — even lower than Ram and Vert had sunk now. "O... Okay... Y-You can talk now... Um... Go ahead..."

The CPU next to her smiled brightly. Things were going to be just fine between the three of them. Now she was just sure of it. It would just take a little bit of effort, that's all. She could do that much. She would do that much.

"Ram, Rom... No, I suppose I'll start with you, Ram. Rom, just listen to this part for a moment, if you wouldn't mind." After giving Rom an affectionate nod, Vert took a deep breath in and straightened her shoulders as she turned to face the longer haired twin head on, who gave her a defiant look in response. Vert could certainly go toe to toe with her if that was what she wanted to do. "Ram, you and your sister seem to think I'm taking your sister away from you. I could understand that, but then when Rom was 'taken,' you decided I was after her too, so you didn't want to be left behind. Am I right so far?"

Ram tilted her head. She had to force her super serious angry expression to stay on her face as Vert spoke — so far... That sounded right. It didn't sound like Vert was admitting to any of this, but she couldn't get excited or mad or anything when Vert was saying what was true, could she? T-That was obviously what the sister stealer wanted!

"S-So what if you are?" Deciding on this tactic, Ram crossed her arms in a huff. Quite frankly, she was a little bothered that Vert was facing her crimes so calmly. She should be freaking out and crying and her hair should be turning strange shapes and her eyes should be bulging, like in her and Rom's lawyer games! "That just means you know you're guilty and you know just what you're guilty of. Just admit it then."

Rather than admitting anything, Vert just laughed. She really wanted to get this over with so she could give this girl a big, big hug.

"My, but that's strange... Yes, it is. It definitely, absolutely is. Isn't that strange? First I was here to take Blanc away, now I'm here to take everyone away from you and leave you behind. Why in the world would I do that? Does that make sense to you, Rom?" Turning away from Ram for a moment, Vert looked to the girl's sister to see if the girl could see where she was trying to take this. It looked as though the gears were starting to turn, but she hadn't quite arrived at the station yet. That was close enough, Vert supposed. Seeing that Rom wasn't saying it wasn't strange, at least, she decided she could take that for now and turned back to Ram. "Now Ram, which is it? Were you worried that I would take your big sister away, or were you worried that you would get left behind?"

The CPU Candidate being spoken to stared, while her sister next to her tilted her head, as if the question had made the gears start turning that much faster. Was someone going to explain what was going on here, or did Ram have to do all of this herself? That wasn't fair at all!

"A... Aren't they the same thing now that you have Rom?" Ram shook her head furiously, confused. She... She was trying to be tricked! That had to be what was happening here, there was just no other explanation. There wasn't! Not a one! Vert was trying to trick her, just like Rom and Blanc had been tricked! She wouldn't let it happen! She... She had to stay not-tricked so she could un-trick the tricked ones from their being... Argh, she was even more confused now! This was all Vert's fault! "J-Just stop it! Jerk! I'd be left behind if you took her too, so you're just taking them both! They're the exact same thing and you know it! Stop trying to confuse me!"

At this point, Rom couldn't help but quietly interject from her position in the middle.

"B... But... I'm not taken... I'd never leave Ram..."

Sadly, she went ignored for the moment, at least by Ram. Vert may have heard her, or maybe she didn't — either way, she had something to say that overrode that regardless.

"Really, Ram?" Vert crossed her arms and leaned back in her seat. She was speaking calmly and her posture was fairly nonthreatening — a start contrast to how discussions with the twins' older sister normally went when they lasted for this long. Vert simply sat there, arms crossed, and asked: "Are they? Are you absolutely sure about that?"

Silence.

Ram couldn't fight it. For some reason, maybe she knew somewhere inside and she just hadn't realized yet, she couldn't bring herself to snap back a retort. Instead, she lowered her gaze to her mug, before grabbing the ice that had been sitting on her head and setting it on the table — relieving Rom of nurse duty — before grabbing her mug and taking a good, long sip.

Vert supposed it was a start.

"It's not, Ram." The CPU closed her eyes as she continued, leaning back into the chair as she spoke. So... This was what being a big sister was really like? She didn't hate it. Opening her eyes again, she leaned forward, a soft smile forming on her lips. "If I was just 'taking' Blanc, you would still have Rom, but now you seem to think you don't. My, that seems like a rather noteworthy contradiction to me, doesn't it? So let's look at it like this: Why would I 'take' Rom and not you? If anything, wouldn't I want a complete set? How could I possibly live with myself having 'taken' two of the three cutest girls in the whole wide world when I'd left one behind? I don't think that sounds like me at all."

Ram and Rom both blinked in unison, their cheeks tinged with identical patches of pink — not just at the sudden compliments, but at being put in the same category as their sister. Their sister... The most beautiful and wonderful and amazingest person in the whole wide world, and they were comparable to that? Even Ram — or perhaps especially Ram, with her little fledgling ego — couldn't help but like the idea of all of that.

Vert couldn't help but giggle at the reactions she had received. She had just been being honest, but it seems the two thought rather highly of their sister, didn't they? Well, not that she could particularly disagree... If only the CPU in question could get it through her head and stop being so fussy about certain things, honestly...

Well, that was a matter for another day, Vert supposed. For now, she still had these cuties to deal with.

"... that is, by the way, if my objective was to 'take' anyone in the first place." She finally added, now that the two had had enough time to think about the error in their logic. While she certainly would like to 'take' Blanc someday, it most definitely was not in the way the twins were thinking — even Vert could barely stand thinking about it without acting like a schoolgirl! The CPU offered them a rueful look as they processed this new idea, but she wasn't done quite yet. "From what Rom's told me, I can certainly see how it looks like that's what I'm doing, but I assure you both, that's not what's happening between your sister and I — have you considered that your sister has been a willing participant in all of this? Or, in your words, that she wants to be 'taken' by me?"

While Rom had been thinking about the idea since Vert had suggested it to her earlier, when they were making their way through the tremendous Basilicom to get to the kitchen, Ram looked affronted by the idea.

"Ram... She says Sis is happy..." Having already been warming up to the idea, however, and been looking at the past year with it in mind, Rom was already quick to speak up in the idea's defense, much to Vert's inward relief — she would be sure to give that girl an extra big hug later! — but she knew that were she to show any signs of that, Ram would probably return to thinking this was all some kind of setup. "If... If she is happy, then maybe..."

"T-That's not true!" Ram's face was red, and if Vert didn't know better, she looked like she was going to start crying again. Her heart ached seeing this, but she didn't know what to do. She felt helpless — for a moment, she felt like she didn't belong, like she was in over her head, like... The moment quickly passed as Ram continued, however. "Blanc... Blanc's been acting too weird! She's not happy! When she's happy, she remembers to read to us! When she's happy, she gives us extra cookies after dinner when Mina's not looking! When she's happy, she makes sure we understand the whole story, even when we're not paying attention! And she gets annoyed when we're not, 'cause she's happy and spending time with us and we're not paying attention to her...! When she's happy, she doesn't... forget to... But now... Now she just..."

Ram couldn't finish, but after her conversation with Rom — combined with the glare Ram shot her way before she started wiping at her eyes to prevent the incoming tears — Vert had a fairly good idea of what Ram had been going to say. Vert hesitantly looked in Rom's direction, hoping that maybe, just maybe, the little angel might come up with something to help pacify things once more, that she would come to Vert's aid once again... but Vert knew better than to hope for another miracle like that. Ram's words had reminded Rom of why she had been fine with freezing Vert in her guest room in the first place. She too was tearing up, her head dropped against Ram's shoulder, who had in turn wrapped an arm around her sister like it was second nature. It probably was. It obviously was.

Watching this display, a painful, sinking feeling struck Vert. She covered her mouth and looked away.

How often had this happened?

How many times had she and Blanc stayed out longer than planned on a date?

How many tears had these girls spilled waiting for their sister to come home and read to them?

And how many times had that hope been betrayed when Blanc came home and instead got on the phone or the computer to spend more time with Vert instead...?

Too many times.

The CPU knew that it wasn't like this all the time. She knew it for a fact — she knew it personally, on top of that. And unless Blanc was lying to her, which she sincerely doubted, Blanc still spent time with her sisters, for she confided in Vert about it during rare and precious moments of vulnerability. Even Rom had mentioned time the sisters still spent together — changed time spent together, yes, but time still spent together. From a logical, reasonable perspective, Vert understood that the times Blanc was there probably far outweighed the times she wasn't... On the other hand, it might have been too close for her to feel comfortable with that knowledge.

Shaking her head, more determined than ever to make this right, Vert rose from her seat. The twins, holding each other, didn't notice her approach until she had descended upon their seats, her arms around them both and hugging them as tightly as she could.

"Listen to me, girls. I don't know what I can tell you that will make this right. I can only tell you the truth, and no matter how much you don't like it, all I can do is tell you that." She pulled them closer and pressed her face against the top of their heads. They weren't resisting — that was a good sign, she hoped. "Your sister isn't being taken away... Do you know the princes and princesses in your stories? How they fall in love and go off and live happily ever after? Well... Girls, I love your sister. I would never do anything to hurt her, or anyone she loves. That means you. It means you two more than anyone else." A pause so that could sink in. "The thing is... When people are in a relationship... things change. It's a very new experience. Perhaps some change things that shouldn't, perhaps some things happen that aren't nice, but it's what happens. Blanc and I... We're still learning too. This is a very big change for the both of us as well, you know... Have you thought about that before?"

Still nothing but sniffling. Ram hadn't tried to run away again, so Vert decided to take it as a sign that she was being listened to.

"It's okay if you haven't. We didn't either. We didn't think nearly as much about how the two of you were taking this as we should have... I certainly didn't. I think she and I are going to have a talk later, and I promise, it'll be a good one and everything will be much better after. But for now, let me tell you something. Blanc has been trying. She may not show it, but trust me, she doesn't show a lot of things — even Noire is more honest with herself than Blanc is sometimes. But Blanc... She has been thinking about you two, in her way. Don't you ever think she's forgotten you for one minute — if you want to not like me, that's fine, but I won't stand for you two thinking that about your older sister." This seemed to finally get the attention of the twins — as one, they pulled away and looked up at her, surprised. "It's true. She is happy with me, but she'll still think about you. She loves you. I... Well, I foolishly told her that she had nothing to worry about, that you two would love her no matter what, but after tonight, as true as it may be... I see I was speaking out of place. So maybe it is my fault, and for that, I owe you both a lot, and I'll do my best to make it up to you. But as for your sister? You must understand... Even if that's all true, that doesn't mean... It just means..."

"It means... She just loves you too. So she's trying to figure out how to share... 'Cause... She should get to have that too..."

Vert blinked.

Rom blinked.

Both girls turned to the source of the interjection.

With her "stubborn as a mule" expression on as strongly as ever... It was Ram that had spoken up.

Realizing all eyes were on her, the girl quickly became defensive — at least as defensive as she could be, considering she was still making no attempt to escape from Vert — and crossed her arms, looking pointedly at the table.

"W-What? I... I had to do the same thing... Me and Rom did, sort of... When we got to know Nepgear and Uni, I mean..." An adorably stubborn scowl graced Ram's features as she stared pointedly at the table, memories of how she had refused to accept the girls who were her now closest friends into her life. She hadn't disliked Nepgear and Uni so much, but... But Nepgear had been taking Rom away, and she was the enemy so... It wasn't the same, but it was similar enough in Ram's mind that she could understand her sister's position more. A little, anyway.

Ram swallowed.

She was about to do something very unlike her... but... if... if her sister really was happy... And she couldn't truly deny that anymore... And if Vert was the one making her that way... And after everything else Vert had said up until now...

"I'm sorry."

There was silence for a few moments. Rom was stunned, and Vert, well, stunned was simply an understatement for what she was.

And then...

"I take it back! I'm sorry, Blanc, but I take it all back! I am taking you! I'm taking both of you forever and ever and ever! Oh, I love you, Ram! And you too, Rom! Mwah! Mwah! Mwah mwah mwah!"

"Blegh! G-Gross! Stop kissing me! My cheeks are getting all wet!"

"I... I want a kiss...! Want one too..."

"Ewww, no you don't!"

"But I do..."

"Don't worry girls, there's plenty to go around!"

"I'd rather have more hot chocolate!"

"There's enough of that too. Now hold still...!"

"Nooooooooo...!"

And so, at long last, this chilly night in Lowee had finally warmed up.