RaiXGear Chapter 16
[Raiken's P.O.V]
-5:30AM-
Being friends with a CPU is one thing. But falling in love with one is another.
I begin to reevaluate all of my decisions, all of the words that I had said, all of the deeds I have done towards the beautiful CPU Candidate. I question myself as to what would have happened if I had never encountered her on that intersection on my way to work. I thought within myself about how things would have gone when she wasn't the person I met.
Now don't get me wrong when I said that last part. Whoever I encounter, whoever I meet, to me, they have a place in my heart. It may or may not be close, but in some way or another, they will have a place there. I wouldn't forget about them. I had no regrets meeting them, truthfully. In Lady Nepgear's case, it was something entirely more than just me wanting to crown her the queen in my heart.
Morning dawns as those thoughts finally fade away, as the sun rises up and shines through the curtains, illuminating the room around us. Nepgear was still peacefully asleep on her bed. I then slowly sat up and rubbed my eyes with a smile.
"Another day, huh…?" I spoke to myself. "Right…we're moving to my place today." I grinned even more at the thought of being able to take the highest beings here in Gamindustri and have them enjoy their time at my house.
I then stood up, neatly folding up the futon I slept on and placing it gently on the corner where I usually put it. I grabbed my bag and inspected my phone, looking at the wallpaper again.
"…It's another day for me, Kurumi. Just sit there and watch…I'm gonna be training these ladies similar to how you trained me." my forehead touches the screen as I said those solemn words.
I placed my phone beside my bag and approached the sleeping Candidate, listening to her cute snores.
"…Geez. Lady Nepgear, you make my mornings special." I spoke to myself before leaving the room, heading towards the kitchen.
Histoire greeted me as I enter the main lobby whilst moving my way towards the kitchen. "Good morning, Raiken." she smiled.
"Morning, Lady Histoire. I'll be making breakfast for today. Please have a seat while you wait." I replied as I began carefully choosing some ingredients from the fridge.
"I do wonder how everyone will be once they're under your roof, Raiken." she subtly, but teasingly blurted out.
"Hah…I might spoil them. I have a lot of fun things we can do after training, you see." I replied with a confident smirk.
"Now, now, Raiken. Do not spoil them too much, yes? Especially Neptune. She can easily pop your nerves with her lazy outlook." she crossed her arms. "Please do take care of everyone though. I'm sure they will succeed in their training under your supervision." she confidently proclaimed, making me smile with pride.
"Don't worry. Leave those girls to me. I'll be sure to teach them my way of leading." I began frying some bacon, eggs and creating hashbrowns, then working my way with some beef udon noodles as I said those words.
"Raiken truly is the ideal man for her…the only matter in question is…will she be able to open up to him…" she thought to herself while I was working like a certain angry British celebrity chef back home in the kitchen.
[Nepgear's P.O.V.]
-6:00AM-
My eyes flutter open to a new day, the warm rays from the sun illuminating the room as I sit up on my bed, my blanket cover falling down a bit, revealing my purple long-sleeved pajamas.
I groaned and stretched my arms up in the air, quivering quite a bit to shake the drowsiness out of me. I then looked at the neatly placed futon on the corner of my room along with some luggage and a knapsack.
"Raiken woke up earlier than me again…hehe…I wonder what he's doing…" I chuckle to myself as I stood up from my bed, turning the AC off and combed my hair before going outside. I was confidently smiling this time without worry because I know for a fact my voice reached out to him during that rainy day.
From the other side of the dark hallway, I see Histoire sitting on the couch, looking back at somebody from the kitchen. She then turns her gaze towards me after hearing the creaking of the door. "Oh, good morning, Nepgear." she smiled.
"Good morning, Histoire! You and Raiken are quite up so early today." I grinned.
"Of course, Nepgear. Raiken is preparing breakfast for us. Today is the day you will all transfer to Raiken's mansion, no?" I sat down as I listened to her.
"Yes. I'm very excited to be working there. I can hardly contain it…" I spoke up.
Meanwhile, I heard a cool, manly voice coming from the kitchen as the aroma of fresh eggs, bacon and hashbrown hit my nose. "Well, aren't we all excited." Raiken came from behind us as he says so. "Let me just settle these dishes and I'll work on the noodles. We have a lot to discuss." he proceeded to the table after.
"Good morning, Raiken." I bashfully replied, my hand on my chest as I feel for my heartbeats.
"Good morning, my Lady." he simply replied with a casual tone.
I bowed my head, smiling more. "Breakfast is almost ready. Just a moment. The beef udon will be there in a second." he alerted us as he returned to the kitchen to check on a boiling pot.
"O-Oh! You made udon? Wow…I tried some before, but I wanted to taste how you cook it…" I had a dreamy expression on my face as I talked. "Ahh…"
"Well, don't get too excited now, you hear? We have a lot more fun things to do today." Raiken turned off the stove and began placing some noodles on bowls on a tray, then added some poached eggs into them. "Great. They're just about ready…"
"It smells good, Raiken. I'm quite eager to try this dish from you." Histoire floated up on her book, observing what he was doing. Then she took notice of the time in her watch, it was 6:05AM "Ah, Nepgear. You should wake up Neptune." she sighed as she thought of my sister. "Goodness, she is much difficult to awaken, it frustrates me." she continued.
"Nah, don't worry, Lady Histoire. I'll do it." Raiken smirked evily, creeping me out a little bit.
"P-Please go easy on her…" I replied with a sweat drop. "He's still not over 'that', is he…" I thought to myself as I see him grab an air horn that Neptune uses for brutal wake up calls and slowly walks mischievously towards Neptune's room.
"You might want to cover your ears on this one, Nepgear…" Histoire warned me as she wore some earmuffs on. I immediately complied and wore one as well.
This is going to be quite the wake-up for Neptune…
[Neptune's P.O.V.]
-In a dream where she's having the time of her life-
There were numerous foods on stocked on the dining table, Histy complimenting me on how I am the best, Nepgear and Raiken just sitting along with me while having a good massage. Meanwhile, I watch the news.
"Planeptune's CPU, Neptune, is running ablaze in shares, and is ranked the best protagonist ever!" said the announcer on the TV.
Meanwhile, my stomach growled as I snapped my fingers to call someone for my favorite delicacy.
"Pudding pleaaaaaase!" I called out while a certain black-haired twintailed tsundere, wearing a maid outfit, brings me a tray of pudding and some cake.
"Neptune, d-don't get me wrong…i-it's not like I wanted to do this or anything…!" she cutely spoke while she layed down the silverware tray onto my table.
"Ahh…this is the life…" I grabbed my pudding while looking directly at the reader [(HEY, NO META EVEN IN A DREAM!)] Thanks anyway for giving me a chance to relax, Writer-kun!
[(Ugh…whatever…)]
As I was about to chomp in to some delicious custard pudding, the blonde protagonist, Raiken, approaches me while smiling so casually. He looked so photogenic that Iffy and Compa got distracted from massaging Nepgear.
"Hey, Lady Neptune. Mind if I say something?" he asked in his awesome, Meijin Kawaguchi-like voice.
[(Seriously, Neptune? Directly putting Tatsuya into this…really?...)]
"What is it, my dear ol' Gundam buddy of mine?" I asked him with a wide grin on my face.
He slowly nears my face with a seductive look. "O-Oooh…h-heading that route now, are we…? Uhh, well…even though this is supposed to be RaiXGear…well…this is kinda going off track with the plot but..." I cutely shy away playfully as his face was an inch away from my ear.
When suddenly…
*HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOK HONK HONK HONK HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONK!*
"G-GHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!"
So much for a nice wake-up call.
Someone blew my air horn into my ear, loudly ripping away through my eardrums. I suddenly sat up my chair, feeling a bit dizzy from the sonic waves coming from the aftermath.
"What the nep, dude?!" I suddenly said in a bit of pain.
"…Heh. That's double getback for putting me into last night's shenanigan." a familiar male voice sounded in my head. It was Raiken all along.
"N-Nepping heck, dude! You already hit me with a bat…meanie." I puffed my cheeks in a cute effort to get him to submit. Well, it somehow worked.
"S-Sorry. Anyway…how about I make it even with breakfast today? I made some special noodles and some of the usual. Come on, get the heck up!" he clapped his hands like a drill sergeant as he commanded in a cool voice. "We're leaving in an hour, so hurry up!" he said before leaving the room, with a confident smile on his face.
I rubbed my head, still feeling drowsy, but could never fall back to dreamland. "Crap…such a meanie protagonist. Ah well, I had it coming…whatevs'." I got up from my bed and lazily just compressed my blanket on one spot, and then proceeded to have my change of clothes.
Hey. No fanservice from me right now. You made Raiken do mean things to me, Writer-kun.
[(Damn it, stop breaking the 4th wall and I'll stop messing with you!)]
[Nepgear's P.O.V.]
Despite me and Histoire wearing earmuffs, we clearly heard the loud noise and felt the sonic wave through our skins when Raiken blew the air horn in Neptune's room. I was basically shocked, literally.
"W-Wow…" I mumbled in silence to Histoire. "Even Neptune wouldn't play it that loudly…" I added.
"T-That was quite the intense shockwave…e-even I could not do such a drastic thing…" she replied, taking the earmuffs off after seeing Raiken return with a casual look on his face.
"Alright, she's awake. Maybe some neighbors or the guards, but still. She's up." Raiken pats Neptune around the shoulder with a grin, the latter's face looking haggard and a bit annoyed considering the loudness of the wake-up call she received.
"N-Neptune…" I looked at her nervously. "G-Good morning…"
"…Oh heya, Jr…" she replied in a low, tired tone.
"Alright, let's eat breakfast. Too bad IF and Compa left earlier for work." Raiken pats Neptune's shoulder again before proceeding to the dining table.
We then sat down, marveling at how good Raiken's cooking smells.
"It's like we're at a 5-star hotel, Jr.! T-This is ultimate cooking mastery right here…" Neptune said, drooling intensely.
"Y-You're right, Neptune…t-this is really lavish…" I replied.
"Eat up, guys. You deserve it." Raiken bowed and began munching away, leaving us in awe. "I do hope everybody arrives safely. Can't have a member of the troop have any problems now, can we?" he added.
"I do hope so." Histoire simply replied, sipping her cup of coffee.
"Hey hey Mr. Gundam, what's the game plan when we get to your fabulous mansion?" Neptune leaned a bit forward and asked before using her chopsticks.
"Well, to be quite simple, I'll just let you guys tour around my place for a while, then an orientation meeting. Then we can have fun after all is said and done." Raiken replied, slurping the delicious soup from the bowl soundly.
"I wonder how many consoles you own…I want to see them all…" I mumbled under my breath, dreamily staring at my food as I thought of the cool, nifty things he may own.
After a few minutes finishing our meal, Raiken took care of the dishes as he was already prepared with his things for the trip back to his home. Neptune and I on the other hand began getting our luggage ready.
I returned to my room with a smile, wondering "Hmm…I wonder if I should bring Nep-E with me…do I have enough space for the equipment? Ohh, I should have done modifications to the Nep dimensional storage cube a few days ago…Ahh, now I can't carry everything with me…What ARE the things I can bring…?" I wondered to myself dreamily, staring at my wonderful array of various gadgets and my trusty toolbox.
[Noire's P.O.V.]
"Phew. Finally at Planeptune's Basilicom."
We finally arrived front of the big doors of Neptune's Basilicom. Bringing a bunch of luggage with me, Uni and I entered forward, the guards greeting us "good morning" as upbeat as ever.
"Onee-chan, do you think this is really gonna help us improve? I mean, we already tried a lot of innovative methods at our disposal when it comes to improving Lastation…" Uni wondered, settling down her luggage before taking a seat at the lobby couch.
"It's good to learn different things from others, Uni. And from what I hear, Tsutsumi's constant success in leadership intrigues me. I really wanna see how he works as a commander and a leader." I replied as I sat down with her as well.
"Well, that's true. I guess I can agree. It's been a while since we all stayed in one place together though." she smiled back, looking out the window.
"Geez…" I scratched my head, giving a little smile.
Meanwhile, we hear the elevator door open, and out came 4 people. It was Raiken, Nepgear, Neptune and Histoire.
"Good morning, Lady Black Heart." the blonde in a black leather jacket said with a bow.
"Morning. How was your stay in Planeptune? I hope Neptune didn't—BWAH!" before I could finish my reply, Neptune glomped on me by surprise.
"Hey, Noirey! I missed ya so much!" she said in the most upbeat, yet annoying tone. "Don'tcha miss me? I bet you were so eager to come see your good ol' pal Nep-Nep."
"D-Don't glomp me like that! A-And it's not like I missed you or anything! Don't get the wrong idea!" Raiken just stares at us, somewhat amused of the situation.
"Hi, Uni!" Nepgear greeted towards my little sister enthusiastically.
"Hey, Nepgear. It's been a while since we saw each other." Uni replied.
Raiken approached the two warmly as Neptune clung to me like a monkey. "Good morning to you, Lady Black Sister."
"O-Oh, hey Raiken! How's it going? I heard of what happened back at the Nasuune Caves from Nepgear the other day." Uni said.
"Yeah. It's been a pretty rough time since then. But, I'm doing well. I'm quite looking forward to working with all of you. I'll do my absolute best." he held out his hand to shake hers with a bow.
It didn't take even a millisecond to see in his eyes that Raiken is indeed a hard-working individual. His position as a commander is the result of his sacrifices, griefs and the endeavors he had to go through. And though they seemed impossible, he actually went beyond it.
I can only imagine a scenario that plays into mind if Raiken was a CPU of this world or Earth as a whole. His nation would topple Lowee and Leanbox, heck, even my nation in terms of constant development and leadership under him.
I wondered too if I was his co-leader in a military force like the Federation, which was already a might to begin with.
"Well, well, it seems that everybody is already here." a certain sultry voice stopped my trail of thoughts as I turned around.
Vert arrived, carrying a knapsack and pulling two luggage bags with her. Following behind her was Blanc, Rom and Ram, the two latter very much excited.
"Hey." was Blanc's simple greeting as Raiken stepped forward to shake her hand.
"Good morning, Lady White Heart. It's been a while." Raiken said, smiling calmly. "Hello, Lady Rom, Lady Ram." he bowed low to greet the two child sisters before him.
"H-Hello…" Rom clasped her hands together, smiling back shyly.
"Hey there, Mr. Raiken!" Ram greeted back.
"Ooooh, hello kids. We are going to have so much fun together. Trust me on that. I got a loooooot of stuff for you girls to indulge yourself into." he pulled out an anime disk from his jacket's inner pocket, much to the two Lowee sisters' delight.
"Wooooooow!" the two ogled at the sight.
"He sure is good with children…" Blanc slightly smiled.
"It's hard to believe that he is a war veteran…" Vert added.
"I can be good, I can be bad. It all depends on who I'm dealing with, really." was Raiken's low tone reply as he stood up and grabbed his bags. "Now that everyone is here, follow me! It's not that far away from here." he said ashe raised his hand when he reaches the door.
We all smiled and followed him, our luggage in tow. Histoire waved us goodbye.
"Take care, everyone!"
"Leave the ladies to me!" Raiken replied back with a confident smile on his face.
[Nepgear's P.O.V.]
10 to 15 minutes after we left the Basilicom, we reached suburbs. We were 7 blocks away from Raiken's house, but from here, we can actually see it already. It was a wide, 3-story mansion, with a wide space between two 2-story buildings beside it. I assumed it was a large field with a beautiful garden, veranda and other various aesthetics that may catch the eye of any passerby.
I could barely hold in my excitement as I gazed into the said mansion in the distance, wondering what fun lies ahead inside. Though Raiken and Naomi live alone, the place seemed to be brimming with a positive vibe.
"Hey. Are we there yet?" Neptune bluntly asked.
"Just a few more blocks, Lady Neptune. You can see my house anyway from here." Raiken said.
"Geez, Neptune. You seriously need to fix your eyes. Look, the mansion can already be seen from here." Noire replied, a bit annoyed I might add.
"Oh." was a dopey reply from Neptune, making everyone facepalm.
A few minutes later, we were finally in front of the abode Raiken resides in. It was a large lot that contained a wide garden, fitting for Rom and Ram to play outside, and a large, beautiful mansion.
The colors are vibrant white, blue and grey with some hints of black on the entire building. The yard is full of green and pastures, a single beautiful tree with a swing hanging from the branch can also be seen. The garden has a fountain nearby, and there are a lot of flowers with lots and lots of colors. Nearby are ceramic tables and chairs, wide enough to have a nice meal while admiring the outside nature of the entire lot.
Meanwhile, I can see that there is also a hangout spot at the rooftop of the building. I noticed that due to 2 large umbrellas on top of the building. Also, I spotted a huge radar dish nearby. One thing is for sure, Raiken has powerful reception when it comes to internet signals and TV signals.
"This place looks absolutely grand…" Vert commented, settling down her luggage for a while.
"Welcome to the Tsutsumi abode…Gamindustri branch, by the way." Raiken said as he placed his hands on his hips.
"W-Wow…" I mumbled. "This looks like a really high-class home, Raiken."
"Wait 'till you see what's inside the house. Come on, guys. I'll knock on the door." Raiken replied before proceeding to the door.
"Woooooow! Look, Rom! The yard is so big! We can play tons of the stuff we brought with us here." Ram jumped in joy.
"U-Uhuh…I-I'm excited…" was Rom's shy reply.
"It seems like a hotel due to the size…seriously." Uni looked up to the top as she said so.
The growing curiosity as to what could be awaiting us inside the Tsutsumi mansion becomes even more apparent as Raiken finally knocks on the door.
"Onee-chan…" Raiken spoke loudly to call her attention.
"…I'm home."
(A/N): It's been a while since I last made a chapter. Took me quite a lot of time to think this through.
Hello once again, dear readers. I hope you forgive me for my lack of content here lately. College stuff is really beginning to get the worst out of me. Right now, I'm surviving.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Next time, I'll definitely try to make it earlier and a bit longer. And there will be tons of more Nep action. I hope you're all looking forward to it.
Thanks for reading!