"Well, Noire... This is it."

It had finally arrived. The dramatic closing sequence of the anniversary episode. The two CPUs found themselves standing atop a building as the sun set before their eyes — if Neptune had to guess, though she couldn't see or here it, the credits were rolling as a touching song with lyrics that only half-fit them played at this very moment.

"Aren't you being just a little too dramatic?" Noire shot her wife a curious expression, raising an eyebrow and crossing her arms. After all... "It's not like the story is ending — this is the complete opposite! The fact we managed to pull through for an entire year and that we're still going was the whole reason for doing this, but you're making it look like this is the very last anyone will ever see of us. Can't you get your moods together, Neptune?"

Neptune stuck her tongue out at her wife. Now who was ruining the mood?

"I do say, I think I earned the right to be dramatic! Even after we went through editing and cutting down scenes and even cutting out scenes completely, look how long this thing got! Kind of a weird way to say thank you, if you ask me. Couldn't we have just sent everybody a card?" Neptune shook her head, dismissively raising her arms in a half-hearted shrug. "How is everybody out there watching us in Gamindustri — and beyond, even! — supposed to know how we feel? We can't just say 'Hey everybody! Yeah, you! Especially you! Thanks for supporting us and this crazy story for this past year! Your encouragement has meant a lot, and no matter what happens with the story, even if something you don't like happens, we're super thankful for you being there and super duper hope you'll stick with us and' blah blah blah, right? That'd be so... cliche."

Noire raised a hand, a single finger held up, because she really wanted to point out that Neptune had just...

... Well, whatever.

"Like Oracle, like CPU I guess." Noire shrugged. Nothing she could really do about it now. That was just how Neptune was, after all, and she happened to like Neptune. "So now what? Do we just... wait? Oh, want to bring out the 'super-computer' again? There was that one idea for the scene that we didn't get to do, after all... I really wanted to look at the Part 3 spoilers that we were going to before it turned into-Mmpngh?!"

Before Noire could continue, she found an annoyingly familiar hand being pressed against her mouth. The owner of said hand had practically flown across the building and was now holding her free hand to her mouth, a single finger raised as she made the "sssshhh" hand gesture. Noire rolled her eyes and shoved Neptune out of the way, but Neptune would not be stopped.

"Noire! You can't talk about that kind of thing here, especially not now when the credits are rolling! It's bad karma!"

"And where else am I going to get to talk about it? If you're right about those 'invisible credits' — yes, I looked at what you were thinking, since this is the last time I'll probably get a chance to — then this is the last scene, isn't it?" Placing a hand on her hip, Noire shifted slightly so she could better give Neptune the look. "I was looking forward to seeing that... And now that I've mentioned it, I'm betting all those poor people out there are going to be disappointed that they didn't get to see it too."

"It's not like they won't get to see all that stuff eventually... We weren't going to spoil that much anyway." Neptune smiled sheepishly, shifting awkwardly from one foot to the next. Leave it to Noire to get stingy right at the finish line. "Plus, there are tons of people who hate spoilers, right? You'd just get 'em mad if we did that. Look, it'll all work out, you'll see! Didn't Part 2? Even after we had those fights? Don't you worry your pretty little head off, missy, nobody'll be missing anything — in fact, I betcha that they're all glad this wall of text is finally almost done. Man, just scroll up a little, Noire, look at the size of it! We dragged it out waaaay longer than we meant to, and I bet our ratings are in the toilet now... Oh man, oh man..."

Noire would have done a double take if she had been in the position for it, but it didn't matter — Neptune was starting off on some crazy subject that she couldn't even hope to understand. Ratings? Dragging it out? Honestly, this wife of hers. What in Gamindustri was she going on about now?

"Neptune, this was a gift. A completely irrelevant chapter to thank people for sticking by us and to celebrate the fact that we're still here a year later. That's all that it is, and that's all anyone needs to take out of this! Really! That means you too, Neptune!" As she said this, seeing that Neptune clearly wasn't listening ("... and they'll introduce a new character no one likes with a special new form to try to boost toy sales! It's just like Nisa always warned me...") Noire considered something. After another moment of thought, she turned towards the closest window, as if someone might somehow be peering through it — or as if a camera might be there. That was silly though... Wasn't it? "By the way... If anyone out there is somehow listening to this conversation, please don't expect anything like this to ever happen again. For something that doesn't really hit on the main story at all, much as we are happy that we've made it this far and are still going, chances of us stopping everything — even work on Part 3 — for over a month like this, in fact... They're really, really slim."

Finally catching on to what Noire was doing, as if she hadn't just been in the middle of a paranoid monologue about ratings and staff changes, Neptune bounded on over, a mile-wide smile on her face, and waved to the "window."

"Sooooo, if you ever have any doubts about how much we like you guys or any of that other junk, just get your tushes back on over to this chapter instead of hoping for a new one! 'Cause while we love you guys and we love the story, we don't love you that much." While Neptune seemed particularly proud of her being so brutally honest, Noire could only gape at her wife. What... the.. hell had possessed her to say something like that?! How could they end things here, on a sour note like that?!

"Nep...tune...!" Arms poised, as if she was going to strangle the other CPU, Noire began her approach — at which point Neptune just raised a hand and offered the peace sign.

"What's with the face? I don't know about you, Noire, but I love you a lot more than I do random people I've never met, and I'm sure they love reading about us and reading the regular story a lot more than they did this. That's kinda what everybody's here for, in case you forgot. It's what we're celebrating, after all!" Finishing her explanation with a wink, Neptune proceeded to grab Noire by the wrist and pull her over. "And since Part 3'll be a loooong while in the making, I think it'll be best if we end this part on a high note! Whaddya say, sugar butt?"

"S-Sugar butt!? Anyway, listen to you! You could have said this on a much more positive note, Neptune...!"

"Come on, Noire...! Roll with it! They all know what I mean, and we're out of time and the script ended a few lines ago! We used up all the narration too, see? It's just dialogue from here on out!"

"Oh... Alright, fine!"

"Great! So thanks for reading, everybody! Hope ya didn't get too bored by Noire here-"

"- or too annoyed by Neptune."

"Hey! I am not annoying!"

"Whatever. Anyway, random stalkers and people out there that we're pretending that we're addressing for the sake of the scene even though everyone knows we're really addressing the readers- Just remember when waiting for Part 3 that the reason Part 2 was able to come out so quickly and so frequently was because a lot of time and work had gone into it long before it started coming out, so..."

"So keep your pants on! It'll be worth the wait! Probably, anyway! Now... If you excuse me, I'm going to take Noire's pants off."

"- Eh?! B-But I'm not even wearing any..."

"Oh good, you're one step ahead of me. Attagirl!"

"Wha- That's because I never wear- Stop, Neptune! Neptune? Neptuuuuuuuuune!"

"Aaaand that's all folks! Doo dee doo~ Dee doo doo doo dee doo doo doo doooo~ Doo doo doo doo doo doooooooo!"

GAME OVER