•How to Not Confess Properly for Gun Dummies!•
5) Aim for an AT Rifle, falter at the price.
Uni focuses completely on the big screen before her, taking a deep breath as she watches carefully every single action.
Her hands hold the black controller without the slightest trembling, moving the right analog stick with an outstanding precision as her scope searches for the next target.
Aiming right at an inconspicuous bush amidst the forest, Uni takes the shot, a loud bang sounding all across the elegant living room any other would call outright 'elitist.'
Following that, as she makes her Lastationite soldier raise from the ground before sprinting off to the next spot, a single name is displayed near the bottom edge of the screen, identifying her latest victim.
The girl can't help but smile. And, as the match ends soon after, signaling her 256-person team's absolute victory, her lips morph into a dark smirk at the sight of her name above all her teammates'.
She still got it.
Victorious expression still in place, Uni sinks back on the black sofa and leans over one of its arms, looking much like a pleased queen in a display of satisfaction befitting of the Candidate of Lastation.
There's only one thing which could make this morning better.
"Uni, where are you?"
And speak of the devil.
Or rather, angel.
With a large smile on her face, the ravenette puts down the controller and raises from the sofa, making her way to the living room's entrance.
"There you are!" Nepgear's own lips curl upwards as she appears in said entrance, her beautiful purple eyes looking straight into Uni's scarlet orbs. "Sorry for being a bit late, Histoire asked me to— Ah?!"
Whatever explanation the girl had, however, is completely forgotten as Uni's palm suddenly hits the wall behind her, making the lilac-haired freeze instantly.
Perfect.
"U-Uni...?" Nepgear just about manages to mutter as she finds herself mere centimeters away from her friend "W-What are you doing...?"
Somehow, those words only encourage Uni.
"I don't know~" the ravenette coos rathen than giving a straight answer, an impish smirk finding its wy to her face. "What I do know is that K-Sha dragged Noire away, and Kei isn't coming today~" With those words, Uni raises a hand to the lilac-haired girl's face, cupping her reddening cheek and turning centimeters into millimeters.
And then, she as their faces are practically touching, the ravenette whispers a simple sentence.
"We have the entire house to ourselves~"
The effect is instantaneous as all the red on Nepgear's face becomes pure scarlet, amethyst eyes widening noticeably before instinctively averting their sight. "G-Goodness... You're being so pushy..."
Still, it's a fact that she doesn't even try to push Uni away.
And, as the lilac-haired girl wraps both arms around her, pulling them even closer—
"... Ah."
"Hm?" Seated right next to Uni on the sofa, controller in hand, Nepgear turns towards her. "What's wrong?"
"Um..." At first, the ravenette doesn't respond, just blinking at her friend. Slowly, she glances at the controller in her own grasp, then at the TV, displaying a simple yet pretty party game.
And then it hits her.
'Ah, that's right...' she thinks, resisting the urge to sigh as she does so. 'She came over and we're just playing together...'
Of course nothing else happened.
As such, Uni simply gives the most genuine fake smile at Nepgear. "I just... remembered about a sale I missed yesterday," she blatantly lies in the most casual tone possible. "Nothing I can do about it now, I guess, hahaha..."
"Is that so...?" Even though that has nothing to do with her — or with reality, for that matter — the lilac-haired girl still looks genuinely sad at her friend's — again, nonexistent — failure. "Goodness, I know exactly how that feels like..."
As Nepgear starts muttering about the pains of letting great discounts slip by, the ravenette's smile twitches, her mind doing its best to smoother all the unexpected guilt present.
Seriously, why is this girl just so nice?!
"A-Anyway!" Uni suddenly speaks up, directing her eyes back to the TV. "You better get ready, because I'm not losing next time!"
Wait, did the ravenette lose a game...? Her memory says yes, but it still feels like it never happened.
... Just how out of it was she?
"Ah." Fortunately, Nepgear doesn't seem to notice her friend's sudden pensive expression as she snaps out of her musings, a smile returning just a moment later. "I'll do my best too!"
And so, they continue to waste away the Sunday.
.
.
.
Uni can't stop a smirk from surfacing as the screens proclaims her definite victory, and with that Nepgear's absolute defeat.
As expected, a disappointed sigh sounds from her side. "And here I thought I had gotten you at the end..."
"You can't just drop your guard like that," the ravenette says as she turns to her friend, a message which could easily be taken as some advice... were it not for the satisfied voice coming alongside it. "I mean, seriously, weren't you the one who showed me this game?"
The lilac-haired girl can only squirm in her spot at that, shooting a few bashful glances at Uni. "W-Well, yeah, but..."
At the sight of the embarrassed girl, a chuckle escapes the Lastationite Candidate's lips. "Don't worry, I'm sure you'll improve with time. Until then, though..."
"Huh?" Nepgear's squirming suddenly stops as Uni cups her cheek, all embarrassment replaced by confusion. "Uni...?"
The ravenette simply smirks at her friend, placing her controller by her side. "What? I'm just taking my prize."
With that, the girl leans towards—
Uni blinks, finding herself leaning slightly forward.
On the screen before her, clear for all to see, is the proof of victory.
Nepgear's victory, that is.
"Goodness..." the lilac-haired girl sighs in relief, a smile gracing her lips. "You almost got me there."
"...Yeah, I did," the ravenette lets out her own sigh before straightening her back.
She did have another daydream, that is.
"..."
Forcing a smile once more, Uni glances at her friend who she most certainly never kissed before. "Well, what now?"
"Hmmm..." A pensive expression crosses Nepgear's face at that, her rosy, kissable lips twisting into a minuscule frown. "Maybe we should try one of those shooting games you have?"
"Sounds good," the ravenette replies cheerfully, but, inside, she can't find it in herself to care.
It's not like it'll help her get a kiss, after all.
.
.
.
A big breath Uni didn't even know she was holding exits her lips as the victory screen shows up.
That was... intense. Really, really intense.
Next to her, Nepgear seems to hold similar thoughts as she breathes slowly, a hand over her chest as her heartbeat slowly returns to normal.
"Goodness," she breathes out, "I can't remember ever feeling so tired because of a game before..."
"Yeah..." the ravenette nods, even as her situation is far better than her friend's. "In my defense, I've never experienced so many near-death experiences in a single match."
Seriously, being almost flattened by helicopters five times is already impressive, but how come they always ended up circled by twenty times more enemies?!
Sure, death is a slap in the wrist, but there's only so much that can do about the adrenaline.
"Even so, I think FPSes might be a bit too much for me," Nepgear comments, bearing an apologetic smile. "Sorry."
Something about how the lilac-haired girl felt the need to apologize brings a smile to Uni's face. She really is too nice.
"Don't worry about it, we can just play something else," the ravenette suggests with a smile, glancing at her exhausted friend. "... After taking a breather, I mean."
"Oh, thank goodness." Nepgear doesn't waste time in leaning back on the sofa as if she had just ran a marathon, dropping the controller next to her without a second thought.
And Uni can only chuckle at that, redirecting her sight to the screen which just displayed all sorts of insanity. It's true that she didn't do any effort to confess today, but they had lots of fun. That's... That's okay, right?
... Right?
"..."
Just like that, a frown mars the ravenette's features.
Is it really alright to leave things like this?
Uni shoots a sideway glance at her friend, who's blissfully resting off the effevts of their match. All this time, the ravenette has been trying all sorts of things, none of which even came close to working, and most of which turned out to be embarrassing whenever she came to her senses afterwards, but... rather than trying too hard... maybe she could just... say it?
"... Hey, Nepgear?"
"Hm?" Just like that, the lilac-haired girl's turns her attention to her friend, amethyst eyes focusing on ruby as a smile graces her lips. "Yes?"
For the first few seconds, the ravenette simply stares at her crush, taking in every single detail of her cheerful yet curious expression. She can do it. Right now, all she needs to do is make her lips move, and force the right sounds to come out. It's no rocket science, all that is necessary is a few words, maybe even just three if she can't bring herself to let out more.
And then, at last...
...
She chuckles.
"Why were you using a Sniper-class with a shotgun?"
"... Eh?" At that, Nepgear blinks, staring blankly at the ravenette for several moments.
Then it clicks.
"EEEEHHHH?!"
"I mean, sure, that was pretty impressive in a way," Uni continues with the widest smile possible, doing her best not to break down laughing at her friend's blatant 'the heck did you say' face, "but I'm pretty sure that's a bit wrong, you know?"
"W-Why didn't you tell me?!" the lilac-haired girl borderline screeches, her face red beyond belief. "Goodness, and here I was wondering why I couldn't pick an assault rifle!"
At that, the ravenette's expression manages to become even more smug as her smile turns into a grin.
And then she speaks.
"I thought it was funny."
The half-baked punch to the arm she gets is pretty much deserved.
"G-Geez!" Nepgear actually huffs as she picks her controller once more, pouting ever so slightly as her eyes focus on the TV. "Alright, our break is over, start another match!"
This time, Uni does laugh.
.
.
.
Carefully, the ravenette moves from cover to cover, aiming her AR turned sniper at wherever an enemy might show up. Her eyes, holding a strange calmness — or is it apathy? — don't even waver whenever her predictions are fulfilled, and the noises of gunfire sound.
This time, unlike several other matches earlier, she's alone, surrounded by people too busy caring about themselves to think about such a thing as teamwork. As midday approaches, Nepgear has long since gone home, and Noire is back to being locked in her office dealing with paperwork — or perhaps just playing around, Uni doesn't know anymore.
And so, as yet another name appears on the screen following a successful headshot, the Lastationite Candidate shifts a bit in her spot on the sofa, all the while thinking about what happened hours earlier.
Or, rather, what didn't happen.
Because she just can't bring herself do it like that.
Because Nepgear is more likely to reject her if she's not impressed or just plain happy beforehand.
Because Uni can't take the shot so freely when there's a way to increase her chances, even if only by one percent.
And so, for the time being, the ravenette continues to shoot in her game, if only to distract herself from a failure that hurt more than being slapped around by a giant sea serpent.
Missing the shot and not pulling the trigger are completely different things, after all.
"...?!"
It's then that it happens.
'It' is not a dramatic realization to modify her way of thinking, however, nor a shocking occurrence that changes her life forever.
Instead, it's a pair of arms wrapping around her from behind, joining together just below her neck in what can only be called a caring, sisterly embrace.
The short, puffy red sleeves on said arms, however, pretty much shoot down Uni's first guess as to the culprit.
"Lunch will be ready in ten minutes, alright? So put that frown upside down, because you're going to get food!" K-Sha's eternally cheerful voice sounds from behind her, and, for some reason, Uni can't help but find it sort of amazing how she's always like this.
Even more amazing, however, is how a minuscule smile does find its way to her lips.
"What's with you and making our meals everyday?" the ravenette ends up asking in an easy tone. "You do know we can cook by ourselves, right?"
"That's just too bad!" the other girl responds happily, her hug tightening ever so slightly. "As Lady Noire's loving future wife, I can't possibly allow that~!"
At the straight up outrageous reply, Uni can't stop a chuckle from escaping her. "My sister-in-law, huh..."
A few giggles sound as K-Sha finally lets go, taking a step back. "In any case, you better not be late, 'little sis'! Because if you tell me you're not hungry, I'm telling my dearest about that robot you bought!"
"Hey, I'm sad, not depressed," the ravenette protests half-heartedly, smile still in place and not a trace of panic in her features as she turns around. "I'll be there, honest."
"Good!" Satisfied, the second black-haired girl in the room makes her way to the exit, only to stop right before reaching the hallway.
Turning around, K-Sha shoots Uni a bright, wide smile and says one last sentence, one single phrase that should be only a string of words, but which, right now, Uni finds much more important than that.
"Just do your best, 'kay?"
With that, she walks out of the living room, leaving behind only the Candidate on the sofa, staring at the spot the other girl once was.
...
...
...
"... Heh," after a moment, Uni chuckles yet again. "Seriously, what's with her? So nosy."
Well, it's not like she hates it.
Finally, the ravenette turns back to the TV—
"..."
—and sees the death screen displayed, quite obviously the result of not paying attention.
"... Of course," the girl mumbles, her lips still curled slightly upwards. She was in the middle of a firefight, this was to be expected.
Then again, this is as good an excuse as any out there.
Without hesitation, Uni puts down the controller next to her and raises to her feet, reaching out to the console and turning it off rather than simply spawning once more. That done, she proceeds to march out of the room, the smile on her face widening even further.
Operation 56 won't plan itself, after all.
... And maybe it wouldn't hurt to help her best big sister make lunch.
At the same time, in the room hidden behind the bookshelf in Black Heart's elegant chambers, a certain girl halts for a moment, wondering where this sudden sense of inadequacy came from.
She gives up on that soon enough, however, and proceeds to pick a considerably risqué outfit from a nearby pile, holding it in front of her before the mirror with a wide, almost prideful smile.
And all's right with the world.
