As she peered out of the largest window in Planeptune's Basilicom, Noire just knew that today would be a good day. The sun was shining, giant bird monsters were chirping, shares worldwide were doing just swell, and there was no longer a horrific backlog of things that needed to get updated and posted. So long as no evil plots started up right about now to ruin her positively positive mood, she was pretty darn sure that today would be fantastic. She and Neptune had the entire Basilicom to themselves for the next few days, and today seemed like the perfect day to start. Nepgear and Chian were off on their honeymoon on Leanbox's space colony, and Histoire was on a singles cruise, looking for large love in small places. Sounds reasonable, right? No? Well, maybe none of that is true, but because the only characters who are relevant to this Special Stage are Noire and her protagonistastic wife, what anyone else is doing is really up in the air! Enjoy those mental images, Gamindustri!

"Where is Neptune, though?" Noire murmured to herself. Turning from the window, Noire realized that she hadn't actually seen her wife all morning — not after breakfast anyway. Neptune had scarfed her food down, mentioned something about needing an important item from the basement, and run off... She didn't even know this Basilicom had a basement. "Well, maybe she's still looking for... whatever it was? I can't believe she'd blow me off when we finally get this place to ourselves... That 'item' of hers better be worth it."

Shaking her head, Noire figured that if Neptune was missing, then she had nothing better to do than to descend into the Basilicom's depths herself. If Neptune wasn't there, she'd have just wasted a little time, but if she was? Then maybe they could start enjoying themselves like a proper married couple for a change, no consoles or business or work or sisters to speak of to get in their way.

"O-Only because the opportunity has presented itself, though! If it weren't for that, then there'd be no reason to do it." Noire reminded herself. It wasn't like she...

... Oh, who was she kidding? There wasn't even anyone around to kid.

The CPU sighed and headed off to find some stars, her cheeks tinged with pink.

Some things never changed.

As it turned out, the Basilicom did have a basement... in a manner of speaking. As far as Noire knew, "basements" didn't really look like the area she had just entered — she wondered if this was a secret dungeon, if anything. The fact of the matter was that the "basement" was so tremendous that, upon putting her foot on the ground after the last stair, Noire had to wonder if she had just stepped inside some kind of ancient Planep-tomb rather than their basement of all things. It may have been lit well enough, but... What in Gamindustri could Neptune be looking for in a place like this? It was bigger looking than an entire city block, maybe even more — how was all of this even under one building? Did it expand beyond it?

Noire was at a loss for words. If Neptune had come down here looking for something, it was no wonder she hadn't come back. She'd probably gotten lost!

"Neptune?" Cupping her hands around her mouth, Noire called out the other CPU's name in a random direction. She could hear her voice echoing all across the strange "basement" area. Who knew how far this really went back? Maybe it extended to underneath all of Planeptune, or at least the main city? That would be crazy! Despite herself, Noire imitated Neptune's voice, as if imitating what she thought might be the reason for such an absurd place to exist. "'Don't you know anything, Noire? Main characters need to have access to random buildings to break into at all times! How else are we supposed to get paid?' Right, Neptune? Sheesh..."

Noire shook her head. She doubted that the reason was anything as silly as that, but... With Neptune, one could never be too careful. Speaking of careful, considering this area was one she had never been to before and knew nothing about, despite her desire to track down her wife, who was supposedly down here (maybe she had lied to see if Noire would actually come down?), now that Noire was actually seeing it for herself, she was getting the distinct feeling that it might be better for her to not try to go spelunking here without some kind of guide — Neptune might know her way around or have her minimap of the place filled out enough to know her way around, but Noire didn't and Neptune had all of their Eject Buttons on hand right now.

"I guess there's always tomorrow..." Noire commented to herself, feeling rather sullen. Sure, she had tried to convince herself (rather badly) that she wasn't all that interested in spending the day with Neptune, but now that it looked like she wouldn't be able to find the other CPU? That was downright depressing.

Turning to leave, glad she hadn't traveled so far that she couldn't still see the stairs, Noire resigned herself to another afternoon of stealing Neptune's clothes to cosplay her and pretending her pillow was Noire herself — or maybe just normal cosplaying things — when she heard a crash. Alarmed, Noire turned on her heel. If Neptune had been down here... Then surely that noise had involved her! Whether it was danger or something stupid, it was a clue, and if Noire followed the noise, there was no doubt in her mind that she'd find her wife.

Relieved, the black haired young woman took off, not paying attention to where she went or how she got there. The sound had definitely come from this direction, past those strange looking statues, around that massive pile of stuffed animals, just beyond those empty vats that Noire was going to pretend weren't labeled "100% PUDDING," and now all she had to do was turn this corner and...!

"There you are!" Before her hesitation and reservations could catch up with her (they were still trying to get over the boxes of limited edition Nep Bull that had been stashed down here), Noire saw the outline of the CPU she had been looking for. She must have transformed for some reason, perhaps to avoid whatever that crashing noise had been, because the outline Noire was heading for was closer to that of Purple Heart than that of Neptune, but no matter. Noire was just so happy to see her wife after all of this wasted time. "Why did you come down here by yourself? Jeez, you really are a big..."

Noire gasped, retracting her arms from the person that she had reached for. She had assumed only Neptune would be down here, obviously, but... Shockingly, now that she was close enough to get a good look, not only was there someone she had never seen before here, but this person appeared to be...

"A CPU...?!" Lastation's CPU felt alarmed. Either Planeptune had been hiding another CPU all this time in their basement, or someone, perhaps from a newly developed nation, had broken in and was up to no good. It would explain why she hadn't seen Neptune for so long too! This intruder had taken advantage of her wife's carefree nature, that must be what had happened. Neptune had probably come down here to find a present for Noire and had gotten attacked! That was the story that Noire was going to stick with, anyway.

There was something strangely familiar about this CPU, though... She was looking at Noire like she was familiar with her, which made no sense to Noire, because she had never seen this CPU before in her...

Noire squinted. There was... something about her... Her eyes, a light turquoise, not quite blue or green in color, were watching Noire, clearly waiting for a reaction. Her hair... It was tied back in long, single braid, which was sort of familiar but sort of not... And it was definitely the right color for Planeptune, but at the same time, it was a lot lighter, like Neptune or Nepgear had tried to get it bleached but hadn't gone all the way with it. This HDD form... Not that Noire was the type to get worked up about this sort of thing, but it seemed like her bust wasn't that far off from her own... And the form itself? It was reminiscent of something, but... Noire felt like the colors were off... What was a dark purple should have been a light purple, what was black should have been dark purple... Bits of metallic silver decorated her armor, and that actually reminded Noire of...

Slowly, Noire raised a hand to rub at her eyes. The similarities were all there. They were impossibly obvious to her now... The CPU still had yet to speak or even so much as react to what Noire had done. She was either exceptionally slow or she wanted to see Noire's reaction without so much as giving any hint to her identity... Or maybe... Maybe... Wracking her brain, Noire finally came up with an answer — and once it dawned upon her, Neptune's earlier behavior all made sense. The "item" that Neptune had come down here to find? It was standing right before her very eyes!

"Neptune... Neptune..."

The CPU's eyes lit up. Her lips turned upwards into a small smile.

"Neptune created a child for us...?!"

The CPU's mouth opened, her expression one of surprise.

"I... I can't believe this... I know we're making a game console now, so I guess it makes sense it would have a personification, b-but this is so sudden! I... I mean..." Noire shook her head. She was embarrassing herself in front of her daughter! Oh gosh... She had a daughter now! Taking a deep breath, Noire gently placed her hand on the CPU's arm in what she hoped was a motherly gesture. This was so sudden...! "I-I don't know what to say... Where's your... mother? Y-Your other one, I mean, u-um... S-She should be d-d-down here too, right? I really need to talk to her about this- You, I need to talk to her about you!"

What did this make her title, though...? Purple Daughter? Black Daughter? Purple-Black Daughter?! What a mouthful! No one better make fun of her, or else Noire would show them what for!

The CPU — CPU Daughter? CPU... Spawn...? What was the proper thing to say here!? Was it Candidate here too? — was biting her lip. She still had yet to say anything... Had Noire made a bad impression? Of course she had! She had practically jumped her own daughter!

Although... If Neptune had just "made" her, then... Maybe it really did get back to Noire's original thought...?

"D... Do you not know how to talk yet?" Noire tilted her head, concerned. Maybe she was just confusing the poor girl. Maybe, despite her looks in this form, if she returned to normal, she would look like a young girl — maybe even younger than Peashy... And... And she'd look like her and Neptune, wouldn't she? Noire had to turn away from the CPU at that thought, clutching her bright red cheeks as her heart pounded away. "What will she look like? What if she's more like me than Neptune? Wait, what if she's more like Neptune than me?"

Amidst the pitter pattering of her heart and her imagination running absolutely wild...

"Pfft."

Noire blinked. A sound had come out of her child's lips. It was almost like... No, this girl was a mere day old, she couldn't make that sound. Of course, Noire had been making the situation worse by ignoring her — she would just accept the girl no matter how she looked or what sort of sounds she made! With that in mind, Noire turned around and faced the strangest sight yet.

Her daughter was holding her hand to her mouth, looking like she was desperately trying not to... To throw up...? Did the baby need to throw up...?! How was this supposed to work!? She was bigger than Noire right now! Noire couldn't burp her if-

The CPU couldn't hold it in... and she laughed.

It was a very familiar laugh.

"F-Forgive me, Noire, I was sure you would realize, but then you jumped to this conclusion and I-"

As soon as the CPU had started speaking, it all became clear. Noire's eyes widened, her jaw set as her cheeks began to burn an embarrassed crimson. That was why "her daughter" hadn't said anything...! It wasn't because she didn't know how to talk... It was because she couldn't...

Because her voice would give her true identity away!

"Neptuuuuuuune...!"

The CPU who looked like Purple Heart and Black Heart had been stuck in a character-fusing-blender offered an apologetic smile as Noire raised a shaking, angry hand — unsure of what to do with it, of what she could do with it to the CPU before her. She was still acting like someone more mature (though after this little practical joke, Noire wasn't so sure about that) than Neptune was... Or rather, she was acting like Purple Heart. There was no doubt about it now. Whether this was some kind of strange new processor set or what, this was definitely Noire's missing wife.

Neptune... Or Purple Heart or Purple-Black Heart or whoever she was now, decided to take the initiative by taking Noire's raised hand into her own, her smile still apologetic... and maybe just a little bit amused.

"This is what I wanted to find. It's a... special processor set that takes form based on the user's shares. I wanted to see what I would look like now." The transformed Neptune smiled knowingly as understanding dawned on Noire's face. "That's right. Your shares are my shares and my shares are your shares. You would think that our transformations would have changed form as soon as our marriage was settled and we became connected, but I suppose that kind of thing is too confusing for a story like this... It's an interesting concept though, isn't it? And you weren't too far off in your little theory either, if you think about it. Maybe a hypothetical child of ours would look something like this."

Noire wanted to be upset with Neptune for letting Noire act like that, and she wanted to ... yet looking at this form Neptune was in, this physical state that could only be described as them...

Her sentimental thoughts about Neptune wanting to look like "them" were interrupted as her gaze settled on the transformed Neptune's chest once more. Her bust matched the size of neither Black Heart nor even herself as Purple Heart... It was somewhere in between. For sure. Meaning this form really was both of them... Which meant...

"Wait. Wouldn't I look exactly the same if I used this? Wouldn't that be... y'know... kind of weird?"

The HDD CPU blinked, raising a hand to her chin thoughtfully. Noire breathed a sigh of relief. At least in this form, Neptune wouldn't-

"Some people would probably call it 'hot,' Noire."

"Oh come on!"

As the two CPUs (not transformed, thank you very much — Noire had made Neptune put that "special" equipment in her inventory so she could stop being weirded out by it) began their climb up the staircase back into the Basilicom, where Noire hoped they could finally start on enjoying their day, Noire found herself being stopped by a hand clutching her wrist. Sighing, the black haired girl turned around — she really wasn't in the mood for more games right now. This had just been one weird event after another weird event, and all she wanted to do was take Neptune upstairs, sit on the couch with her, and act like she would rather be anywhere else while loving every moment of being in the presence of her wife.

"Neptune, what are you..."

"I don't think we can have kids, Noire, but... I'm sorry! I shouldn't have let that drag on...! It was just... You know how I... Anyway, I, uh, dunno what I can really do more than that, but..." Noire tilted her head as Neptune bowed her head, her body language offering as much of an apology as her words. Way to add a serious note to this scene right at the end, Neptune."I'm super super sorry, Noire!"

Strangely enough... Noire wasn't actually bothered by it. She wasn't ready for that kind of thing, after all, as this had oh so clearly proven to her, and she was already thinking about her and Neptune's future console like their "baby" anyway — even if it was possible through some freak manipulation of shares (nothing would surprise her at this point), there was no way it was ever going to be on the table for them any time soon, and certainly not within this story's time frame... And yet, more than that, she just found this kind of... funny.

She didn't want to embarrass Neptune right now, so she simply nodded slowly, glad Neptune's head was still bowed.

She couldn't help but let one thing slip out.

"P... Pfft."

Like a bullet firing from a gun, Neptune's head shot up, and the CPU looked at her wife like a stunned little child.

"Huh? W-What's so funny?!"

Noire shook her head furiously, doing her best to cover her mouth to restrain any further amusement escaping her. She hadn't meant to let Neptune know how she felt! Neptune had been being so serious with her, after all!

"I just... I think this is the first time I've ever seen you apologizing for something you've done as Purple Heart in this form. Isn't it usually the other way around?"

Neptune's mouth fell open somewhat.

"Noire, I have to change back! The processor must have switched my personalities around! If I don't change back before midnight, I'll be trapped this way forev-OW! Why do you always do this to me?! Get some new punchlines! Nooooiiiiiireeee...!"

Sighing, Noire rolled her eyes as she pulled Neptune up the stairs — gently — by her ear.

Neptune definitely didn't have to worry about her personality going anywhere or doing anything, that was for sure.