Chapter 4 : Leanbox
During the Siesta Time, one might wonder how the qt 3.14 lolis from the snowy land were doing in Leanbox. To make long story short, Mina was supposed to accompany the twins to a summer school. It's basically something that was mandatory in public schools as a part of their summer homework—like learning about nature, survival and stuff. Both of the twins didn't go to school. Their education came from the glasses oracle but mostly from the internet, particularly Neppit and Nepchan.
They already got pretty familiar with all the dank memes out there and especially about perverted stuff the nerds were talking about. Technically speaking, they were about old enough by age, about the same with Uni, but Nepgear was much older than them by about 20 years due to the events going in Ultradimension.
Judging that the CPUs had the same age:
The romance between Neptune and Noire was like, love between someone that's 20+ years apart. Though, both of the purple CPUs didn't really look older, age was just a number after all.
All that aside, Mina did her job well by sending the twins to Leanbox, but when it came to the summer school itself:
"No! I don't really wanna go, it's so friggin' lame! I ain't no kid anymore. I'd rather stay at Verty and play games all day."
"Don't wanna go...wanna stay with Ram."
Even if the oracle reasoned with them, saying Blanc would be angry, the twins just said:
"It's so unreasonable. We've already helped out enough and be a good kid not to doodle in big sis' notebooks again! As a token of thanks, she sent us to this boring thing. Why do we need survival stuff? Aside from Senmuu Labyrinth we got minimaps, we had everything needed to explore a dungeon due to powerleveling and plan collecting. Even in Senmuu, we just have to download the map somewhere on the internet!"
"Miss Mina, please take a rest. Since you may be tired of dealing with us the entire time, Miss Chika might able to give you some company."
Ram's usual complaint might rang on the oracle's deaf ears, but Rom's consolation struck her right in the gut. She couldn't refute that she was tired being a nanny for them. In the entire Lowee, she's probably the one who needed breaks the most.
Though, the main reason why Mina agreed was—the amount of money paid for the registration wasn't enough. Since it's not their first time anymore, the 70% off this time around were null and void.
She might try telling Blanc to send extra through ATM, but she didn't feel like inciting the CPU's wrath while she was busy writing and reading. The ATM machine was in the Basilicom's bottom floor; the same with Leanbox's.
The twins didn't want to participate either way, and Mina didn't feel willi0%zng to accompany those two throughout the summer school as their guardian. Well, for the first time of their attendance, it was actually pretty decent for both Rom and Ram—Mina didn't really have the stamina to climb the mountains though—it was hell for her.
Deep in her thought, the oracle wanted to think of an excuse. She came with this thing—just lie that the 70% off was still there but the twins tried hide and seek with her—with the oracle couldn't keep up anymore. Though, since guilty conscience riddled her, she wanted to go drunk with Chika instead. If she was drunk enough, maybe things would solve itself. That's what the green oracle taught her.
Once again, to sum it up:
They stayed at Leanbox's Basilicom, and in turn Vert was away at Blanc's-teasing the white goddess. The Leanbox's oracle, Chika was out drinking with Cave, as usual. Cave was one of Leanbox special unit to protect the nation's idol 5pb, although they also got into questionable relationships lately.
The rumor wasn't as fresh as the scandal between Nepgear, Uni and Vert though—it somehow got overshadowed. At this point, these idol-bodyguard pair had been regarded as couple anyway.
What was Chika doing anyway, out drinking in the middle of noon?
She was in a really bad mood due to Vert's confession to Nepgear. Usually she came to Cave, her best buddy, got drunk heavily and they would bone each other, regardless of the relationship with 5pb. That was in the other story though.
The twins arrived at the empty Basilicom at late morning. They flew from Lowee at high speeds, carrying Mina who were completely dizzy and about to throw up. When they were by the green oracle, she just said something about taking some booze in the nearby bar, not really noticing the children.
Basically, they got the whole place to themselves—totally empty, aside from few staff members who just didn't care how the twins were going to make their stay.
Back to present time, Mina already went to the bar Chika's at, wanting to chill out from the sight of being with the twins every single moment.
The twins played some games for a while in the Leanbox console. They went at it for a while but they soon got pretty bored.
"...somehow the games in there were too serious for my tastes. I wasn't that good at FPS. I prefer party games like in Lowee console."
The younger twin didn't like competitive and serious FPS, though she loved a peculiar cartoony FPS—she thought the characters were really funny and unique. That peculiar game was dead though due to the uncaring development team and shitty updates.
"Ram, they also got RPGs, but they're mostly action rpgs. I kinda like the traditional format better."
The older twin love classic RPG games, mostly due to the story.
"I don't really like these either, the random encounters are ridiculous and the amount of grinding was just so much. If only more RPGs were like Nepbound."
"You played it on emulator for the save states though. I also like Nepbound but I played it on the console."
"I can't help it! I don't like having to jump from frogs to frogs just for saving my progress."
One of the other reasons was due to it being easier to cheat the game by reloading the states over and over when you screwed up.
"I guess we have different ways to play games. I don't really mind anything as long I got to have fun."
"Yeah."
Though the save states were kinda a cheat, it didn't totally took out the fun. Kinda different with actual cheats like Action Neplay.
"You also use walkthroughs too, Ram. I notice you've been downloading lots of game walkthroughs."
"Ah yes, sorry that I ended up clearing Nepbound first and spoiled the story to you , Rom."
The game that Ram cleared was the second one.
"Don't mind it, the game's pretty classic. I think we wasn't born during the release of first two games. The third one was several years after we're born though, it's the first one I played on my own and cleared it after some time."
"I remember the usually timid you went all energetic, I almost got scared. You were like 'Ram, Ram! This game is really great, you got to try it, you got to clear it!' The game's awesome, though I spent too long trying to clear it-got stalled a bit. After I played the first two, the third one's definitely the longest."
Rom started at the third game, cleared it and went to recommend it to the younger twin. Ram got hooked she proceed to clear it (with a lot of stalled moments) and the first two games while Rom was busy with other RPGs.
"By the way, Ram. I think the die-hard fans still consider the second game to be the masterpiece. The third game was the one that's really special to me though."
"As for me, I kinda just got addicted trying to combo around the beat and listening to the songs. I forgot about the story sometimes, but it's great really."
Nepbound 3 had the feature that allow you to land 16 hit combo attacks by tapping the attack button along with the music's beat. Since there's a lot of battle themes, there were a lot of different patterns to combo with—some were a lot harder than others.
"The story's the best part! I cried a lot at many parts, and especially the ending."
"I know, right? I cried at the ending too. It was really open though."
Whoops, spoiler.
Nepbound was widely known to have quirky setting and a deep, moving storyline. Blanc was also a fan of the creator and storywriter, Ito-san. The CPU also played the games and read the collaboration work between the author Haruki M. And Ito-san.
"Too bad the creator didn't make more of these games."
The fans wanted to make Nepbound 4, and it's currently still in development. Nepbound 3's production by the actual team took quite some time too. It was said they already got the concept done in Nepbound 64 for the earlier Lowee console, but since it was canceled due to the console's failure—it took them a long while to gather funds.
They also revamped a lot of stuff while making Nepbound 3. The development also got slowed down to a halt but they eventually finished it.
"Well, at the very least, they stopped at their peak point, as compared to some of the franchises here who were once good but now degraded to money milking practices. What's with all those Season Pass and Pre-Orders? I kinda miss the times we'll get the full game in one purchase."
The one who bought their games were Blanc though; using her own money.
"...we just didn't have enough allowances to buy these anyway."
They could just do quests and oneshot some mobs for cash, but they were too lazy to do so.
Speaking of which, Rom was addicted to a phone game recently, but quitted after seeing Planeptune's guild agent IF being so salty about the game even after she spent most of her monthly salary for it.
That was during Nepgear's birthday and the older twin somehow overheard the agent's rambling.
"Not like we're going to buy it. Well, since the ones given to us for complimentary purposes were pretty fun, let's stick with that anyway."
"Hmm...hmm..." Rom nodded.
Since the twins' allowance weren't that much, they simply played free games, those given to them or simply borrowed them from other nations. Most of their spending were on snacks.
"By the way, since we kinda skipped the summer school—what are we going to do for this entire week? We couldn't really go home either."
"It's so complicated yeah."
"At least we can browse the internet for some more memes."
"Okay."
Ram took out her handheld and use it to browse the internet. She browsed Neppit for the latest headlines and memes available. The twins already knew about the fanfiction contest involving the CPUs and Candidates. Ram didn't enjoy reading stories when there's not much pictures in it, though Rom secretly enjoyed fantasizing on these perverted pieces.
Although their attention went on some other thing on Neppit, concerning the Councils. Basically they're group of people who helped reducing the CPUs workload by delegating some of the tasks in accordance to their expertises.
There were mixed responses.
One of the users thought, the Council might even start a rebellion, if they were given too much power. Although the members were hand-picked by the CPUs and Oracles based upon their loyalty and capability, there's no telling if they actually let a rat inside the house.
"Ah, a crisis!" Ram made a V-sign.
"Does that mean we've got to finally use HDD again?" Rom inquired.
"It's the same quest over and over again nowadays. Like, we've beat that Metal Dogoo once in Senmuu and all the other monsters went poof in one hit."
"...rebellion...I don't like political disputes that much."
"It's so lame, the world would be a better place if we could settle everything through card games."
...on motorcycles.
"Ram, since I couldn't play card games, does that mean I'll forever be oppressed?"
"Don't worry, I'll protect my Rom!"
"Speaking of which, I remember you didn't understand that card games either Ram."
You just have to get on a motorcycle and play solitaire.
...huh, I was wrong?
"Hahaha, true. Guess all the memes kinda got to me anyway."
A brief silence.
"Hey, Rom. What would you do if the Lowee Council do rebel? Would spreading nude photos of big sis would repress their aggression right away?"
It was known that the citizens of Lowee love flat girls and lolis.
"Huh? I thought the first thing you'll do was to beat all the bad guys up Ram."
"I'm not barbaric like that? Besides, I doubt these guys would be strong enough to fight back. Since they were all brains, they would use our aggression as their advantage to persuade the masses. We just provided them with Casus Belli."
In a game called Neproppa Universalis, Casus Belli was the reason to go in war with other nation. Be it due to own's personal religious faith, philosophical belief, or mainly as a revenge of that peculiar nation's aggression.
"I thought you disliked those political stuff in the first place, Ram."
"Eh? Ain't this more like grand strategy thing? I thought politics were those boring meetings that seem to go nowhere at the other world's legislation..."
"Oh, I watched Nep Horizon with Nepgear before. She said things like this were also considered those 'politics' thing."
"I see, I still don't get what's those politics were about though."
"We're just children after all, even if it's just in outside, he he."
"Speaking of which, what would you do, Rom?"
To Ram's inquiry, Rom pulled out a handheld. She went to some sites containing list of rules and such—downloaded something from the site. Opening up the document file, she showed Ram some wall of texts.
"By the rule of law, it's a huge crime to commit treason against one's own nation, even more in attempting to overthrow the legitimate government. Though, to arrest someone and pin the judgment on them, we need solid evidence. That's how, intelligence and espionage even traversing private matters were allowed. We gather enough evidence and when something incriminating goes on the radar, we would arrest the perpetrator."
"Hmm...on the best case scenario that would be great. I doubt things would work out as good in reality though. Especially when the espionage went in cahoots with the rebels or so. At most part, if they're serious enough, they would divulge information in places that's almost impossible to gather information from."
"...this is so complicated."
Anyone who walked in on these children talking 'bout complex stuff would think this was even more surreal.
...except for Neptune.
For the lilac girl, everything not involving eggplants was normal.
"Well, complex stuff aside, let's just see through it when it happens. I mean, we've been through the CPU Shift Period without a hitch right? I guess, the main cause of rebellion was due to the our governance not able to satisfy people. I think, if we kept doing our best, Lowee would love us more, and even if there's rebels, they won't have opportunity with our loyalists around."
"Ram..."
Deep in the older twin's thought, she was going to say : it's not going to work since we kept lazing around. Though, seeing Ram being so cute like this, she barely able to muster the self control not to snuggle her own sister.
"Somehow I think it's convenient to be in a children's body forever. I mean, we could screw up more and people would just think—ah damn children. If we look older like Nepgear, Uni and the CPUs, I don't think we would go off easy."
"...uh...I don't think that stuff was okay to make excuse of."
"If we're someone like Peashy, who were just like that despite how long she was alive—we could say ignorance is bliss right?"
"Ram, please don't talk bad about people behind their backs!"
"Ugh...m'kay."
The younger twin was pretty pissed off when Peashy broke one of her dolls some time ago. She started calling the blond kid all sorts of terrible things in her head.
"Sorry to yell at you like this, Ram. I know it's not your fault—let's just hope she would actually grow up. I just hope Miss Plutia won't spoil her so much she thought it's okay to cause trouble on others."
"Yeah."
Since the doll was made by Plutia herself, she fixed it right away—looking e exactly brand new due to her skills. At some parts, the rage was unfounded. A part of it was due to Ram not wanting to grow up herself, so she tried pinning the blame on the other party.
The conversation struck a silent note; the only sounds reverberating were those of solemnly writhing air conditioner, the static noise buzzing of plasma tv and also, the noise coming from the twins' stomach.
"Rom, I was wondering..."
"What?"
"How do we make the air taste delicious?
If you want a serious answer, there's a technique called Nep-Gong. You practiced your breathing to gather as much positive energy as possible, spreading it throughout your body. It wouldn't make the air you inhale taste like pepperoni pizza but at least you would feel refreshed.
This breathing exercise was pretty popular in Leanbox, since they cancelled the summer school, they could opt to learn Nep-Gong instead. The catch was, most of the students were elderly people having breathing issues—not that popular amongst young folks. The youngsters mostly play sports and learn competitive martial arts.
Speaking of which...about a certain pair...
"So, Miss Mina and Miss Chika hasn't come back. How about we cook something together? The fridge had a lot of ingredients."
Rom thought, usually when Chika and Cave were drunk, they ended up boning each other—would the same happen with Mina?
If Rom was drunk with the green oracle, would she also bone the loli? Well, judging by their actual age—they're not exactly lolis.
Deep in their thoughts, the twins wanted to make a bet whether Chika would bone the lolis if she was drunk enough.
"Yay, let's make a curry rice! I read it from Neppit you could just make it with a rice cooker. I saved the page with the recipe."
...and so they ate the curry rice. By the time they realize it, afternoon bell already struck.
By the way, they also had curry for breakfast in Lowee.
...
In front of the children that's eating curry, Mina went to the living quarters with an awful expression and two liquor bottlesey. Her feet wobbly and she fell flat on her face, just as her eyes met with the twins.
Whilst Chika was lying naked in front of the bathroom. There's about 16 bottles on the floor.
Rom grabbed the bottle in Mina's grasp and took a sip.
"This is cheap liquor." she said
"I see. Wait, how the hell you know that Rom?"
"A lady must have refined tastes."
"I don't know what kind of refinement it should be!"
"The ice vodka in Lowee's cellar was first grade."
"So you're the one who drank it!"
"Ehehe..."
"...my innocent Rom is ruined. Who the one who told you to drink?"
"It's you Ram, you said that the female pirate lord was cool due to how well she drinks."
The anime itself wasn't aimed at children, more for mature audiences due to portrayal of drug and alcohol usage.
"I'm kinda speechless how you actually interpret it that way."
"I'd be fine, I drink as much as a lady does. Just one pint at a time."
"Hmm...as much I want to jab at your line, I think we should sort out something before we chatted like this Rom. Wait, why am I playing the straight man here!"
"R-right!"
Rom was about to jab : but you're a girl and I don't want you to be straight, but she successfully stopped her mouth running at the right moment.
They were supposed to dress them up and put them in bed, but what Rom did was actually stripping Mina out, revealing the voluptuous figure that's obscured by plain clothing.
"Wow...Miss Mina really has great body, I regret not touching her when I got the chance."
"You're drunk, Rom."
"Ram, do you want me to touch you instead?"
"No thanks, I don't wanna know what would happen seeing your head got screwed up like this."
...but I don't mind if you really want to do it with me, thought Ram, her face flushed red.
Before Rom got to do anything funny, Ram reluctantly sprayed her with a glass of water, in which made her finally sober up.
Both of the twins carried the nude Mina and left her in the toilet.
"Miss Mina was surprisingly light, despite her figure."
"Hmm...hmm."
As they tried to do the same with Chika though...
"Gosh, Miss Chika is so heavy..."
"Ram, she might strangle you if she heard that!"
They cleaned up all the liquor bottles and laid both drunkards on top each other in the toilet.
All naked.
Rom did strip Mina because she was drunk, but she forgot how to put the clothes back on. Seeing as the toilet was the nearest place for both drunkards and it's too troublesome to carry them to the rooms, they left the bodies there.
The twins went back to the living room and discuss about the chances of people rebelling in Lowee in general. If there's a single rotten apple within the bunch, it would definitely spread sooner or later.
What were the chances?
To clarify this again, they browsed the most reliable source of rumors in the interwebs—Neppit.
The current headline was:
Lowee Citizen : I really want to see loli idols.
...
"Rom, do we have to go through all the trouble practicing singing and dancing again?"
"...maybe after the holiday..."
"Ugh...I want to play."
...and so on, they forgot about being idols once again and played on the Leanbox console again. This time they were able to put up with their discontent.
Meanwhile, two drunkards were having perverted dreams but mostly headaches.
Life was peaceful again at Leanbox.
...
This marks the end of Siesta Time for reals.
Thanks for reading!
