"What... is this...? T-This is fake, right?"

The CPU Candidate of Lastation didn't know what she should think right now. She had been sent an e-mail... well, no, everyone had been sent the e-mail. Uni would have pegged it as simple spam at first, but the fact that the subject line had her sister's name in it made her pause. If someone was sending spam about her sister, ohhhh, she wouldn't let them get away with it!

Rather than nasty comments or baseless flames or dirty stories about the sender and her sister — the usual sort of thing one might expect from spam e-mail directed at a CPU — what Uni found inside the e-mail was a simple set of links. Not a single picture and not a signature for Uni to attribute the e-mail to. It didn't even look like the same people were hosting the different links, so this was likely a gathering of... well, it was a gathering of something, that was for sure.

In other words? Nothing too bad...

... or something so bad that it couldn't be contained in a simple e-mail!

With her sister's reputation potentially at stake, Uni knew she didn't have a choice in the matter. She made sure all of her anti-virus software was up to date and proceeded to open up the first link, prepared for the worst.

What did she find?

A page showing off the pictures Cave had taken earlier in the special (not that Uni knew anything about that). On the page, for the entire internet — meaning all of Gamindustri — to see was Noire prancing around and posing like some kind of... well, Uni wasn't actually sure what it was like, but between the dedication she was clearly showing and the odd clothes, it was quite obviously something that she had been working very hard at.

And given the clothes and poses, it was obviously fake! Right? Why would her sister, her cool and awesome and sophisticated sister, be hopping around her room and jumping on her bed and... and all of these things...? Uni didn't understand! The pictures didn't look fake, and the comments weren't even questioning whether or not they were real! Why didn't anyone believe in her sister? What was Gamindustri coming to?

"Well, I'll just have to show them..." Cracking her knuckles, Uni began tapping away at her keyboard, determined to show these ignorant people online that her sister would never do something like this! That other Noire might, but her Noire was a respectable lady with only proper hobbies... Well... Maybe Noire did have some... No no no! Her sister would definitely never put herself out on display like this! Definitely not! Nodding at her screen as she finished rereading her comment, Uni tapped the send button. "There. That should fix this."

Naturally, it did no such thing, and not two minutes later did Uni find herself responding to a slew of comments making fun of her defense of Noire and denial of the identity of the woman in the pictures.

"I-It is not the most obvious thing in the world! It could be something totally different!"

"My butt isn't hurting! Why would they even ask that?"

"W-W-What do they mean I sound like I think she's my 'wifey'...?! She's my sister...!"

"H-How could I... w-with her... I-I-I-I-I d-don't even h-h-have a..."

With that last comment forever burned into her mind, Uni decided it was time to leave this page forever. As she shakily moved her mouse to close out of the page, her entire face a bright burning red, she found that she had a newfound respect for the parental controls Mina forced on the twins — she really wished she had had something like that on, but for some reason, Noire never seemed to want to push the subject...

Uni shook her head furiously as her mind began adding two and two together. Noire just didn't like censorship, that was all! She wanted her people to have the freedom of choice! T-That was all! Just like how Uni had chosen to stay on the page instead of leaving it, now she was choosing to leave it! Noire, in all her brilliance, had left out things like that so that people could grow and learn from mistakes, yes, that must have been it!

Her faith in her sister now even stronger than it had been prior to seeing those obviously faked images, Uni found herself looking at that e-mail again. There were still two more links left to click. Did she want to risk it? It would probably be more of the same, but...

"Wait a sec... My name is in the address for that one... But what's that 'x' between us for...? Ah, it couldn't be! They probably put pictures of me and Noire together to make it look like we're fighting! That's just playing dirty! Well I won't let them get away with it...!"

A few rooms over, having just seen the e-mail herself, Noire was in something of a panic. Not only had incredibly unflattering pictures of her been posted all over the internet and been sent to places and people she absolutely had not wanted them sent, but those fans were taking advantage of the "scandal" to send around all kinds of fan-made pictures in the midst of the real set's hubbub. With that real set in the mix, of course people were looking at everything, wanting to see even more, and naturally, this meant they'd find the things that absolutely weren't real...

"I can't believe they sunk so low... This time, I'm not letting it slide! Anonydeath in the anime was one thing, but this is another... Luckily, I have a plan in place for this."

Just as Noire was about to call Blanc so she could ask if Felix Wrong was taking cases right now, the sudden sound of gunshots interrupted her train of thought.

What had just happened? And so close? That had been in the Basilicom!

Wasting no time, Noire whipped a blade out of her inventory, left her office, and was dashing down the hall towards the source of the noise. If she was right, then that had come from Uni's room, but... What could have caused that? Had Uni been attacked? Was this entire situation online an elaborate ruse to distract the CPU so that her sister could be left defenseless...?!

Just as Noire arrived at her destination and was about to open Uni's door, to her surprise, the door opened all on its own. There stood Uni, looking physically no worse for wear, apparently on the way out.

"O-Oh, hello Uni, I..." Noire quickly returned her weapon to where it belonged before Uni could question her on it. If she had jumped to a conclusion, well, that would just be embarrassing! Setting that aside, Noire decided the adult approach was in order. "Are you heading out?"

To Noire's surprise, Uni didn't even look at her — or maybe she couldn't — as she walked past her. Her only explanation for this peculiar behavior was the single sentence she spoke as she brushed past Noire, not even addressing the issue of the gunshots.

"I need to buy a new computer."

With that, Uni was gone.

Now while certain things went over Noire's head from time to time, the fact that Uni had randomly decided to get a new computer right after those pictures had gone viral... Probably wasn't a good sign. Especially considering the sounds that Noire had heard prior to meeting Uni just now. Swallowing, Noire peeked into Uni's room, though at this point she was fairly certain that she knew what she would find within.

And she was quite right.

"S-So... Uni saw those pictures then, did she..."

It wasn't a difficult conclusion to reach after a glance into the room — for there, sitting on Uni's desk, was her laptop... or what remained of it, that is.

Closing her eyes, Noire slowly stepped away from the room, closing the door as she retreated into the hallway.

"Well... Better she react like that than decide she likes it, I suppose..."

Noire paused as she considered the fact that the e-mail would still likely be in Uni's inbox if she had chosen to close it out that way rather than by simply deleting it.

"Maybe I should ask Blanc about parental locks instead of a lawyer... Just to be safe."

They did say curiosity killed the dogoo, after all.