Chapter 9C: A Best Friend's Favor

"So, Miss Blanc. What will we do alongside watching this little purple ball of adorableness?"

"Well…" Hmm… I mean there's the obvious.

"Wanna play some games?" The small Rom and Ram jumped at the opportunity immediately, grabbing Vert and Uni as the two remaining players they needed to have full player game. The Other Vert was accepted the offer enthusiastically while Other Uni gave some resistance.

Meanwhile, the Other Noire curled her finger around her hair as she watched this spectacle happen.

"What's up, Other Noire? Don't wanna play?" The younger-ish Noire pressed her index fingers together.

"I… I wanna play but," Frowning, Other Noire gestured to her companions lying around. "All we do is sit around playing video games!" Hmm… True.

"Is there something you want to do?" Huffing, Noire crossed her arms.

"At least something productive would be a nice change of pace!" Exasperated, Other Noire collapsed onto the couch next to me. Curious, Plutia climbed onto Other Noire's lap, grasping onto her shirt and staring at the goddess's face. "W-What is it?" Smiling, Plutia reached for a lock of Other Noire's twintail and began tugging on it, giggling in delight. "What are you-?" Plutia's large innocent eyes embraced Other Noire's features.

"So, what you say is productive?" I picked up one of the books that I had brought out for Other Me, but since she's not here. Might as well crack one open.

"Well… hunting monsters," ...What? "Dealing with paperwork that concerns the safety of my country…" Hold on.

"Country?" Other Noire nodded.

"Yes, I lead a nation." Uh… huh.

"Oh…" I felt a drop of sweat roll down my cheek as Other Noire crossed her arms proudly, meanwhile Plutia got bored of the goddess that was basically her mom and crawled towards me. "Hm, what's up?" Giggling, Plutia stumbled over to me, falling over my lap. After a second of watching fumble around, I picked up Plutia so that she was sitting down and facing me. Staring at me with her large eyes, Plutia reached up for me.

"Ban-Baaaan!" All the chatter stopped as I scooped up Plutia into my arms.

"Yeah, what is it Plutia?" The little one pressed her head against my chest and giggled. Rolling my eyes, I shifted so that I was lying down on the couch, causing Noire to stand up and move over to the girls.

"Ban?"

"...Ban?" Lying down, I stared at the girls as Plutia nuzzled into my chest. Hey, that tickles. Stop it.

"It's what she calls me," I guess, since is the first time she's actually called me that. But whatever makes her happy. "What about it?"

The girls shook their heads.

"It's… cute." Rom stared at Plutia with wide eyes while Ram nodded.

"Yeah! And y'know…" Ram scratched her head and looked at Uni. "Uni, tell her!" The Other Uni hopped up from her seat, startled.

"What!? No!" Other Uni shook her head feverently and pleadinly glanced at Other Nepgear, who shook her head in a such a way, it looked like she was trying to hide it.

"What the children are trying to say…" Other Vert stepped for the kids, allowing them to sigh in relief. "Is that while this adorable child has given you a cute nickname… you and Blanc are…" Great, now she can't bring herself to say it.

"What, I'm not cute?" Everyone immediately tried to deny it. "Hey-" Plutia's trying to sleep! I put a finger over my mouth, making a "Shhh!" sound. The girls froze in their panic as I shook my head. "It doesn't matter if I'm not cute. Actually, you girls have seen how I dressed? I don't really care." Other Noire put her hand on her chin.

"But what if you want have a family with someone?" They were surprised when I scoffed.

"Please, if I wanted to marry someone, I wouldn't be living with my best friend and his wife. Besides, I'm almost thirty and I don't want to find a husband." Stroking Plutia's head, I glanced at the girls, smirking. "After all, I already have a child." Gasps erupted from the group of goddesses as I patted Plutia on the back. "Right here."

"You mean you're the real mother of Plutia!?" ...Dammit.

"Wh-No! I meant that I take care of enough that I'm basically her second mom!" More sighs of relief. Geez, these girls are goddesses? They're more like idiots, but that would be too biased. A yawn came from the tiny tot on my chest.

"Is she sleepy?" Other Rom and Ram walked up to me, getting a closer look at the half-awake Plutia.

"Looks like it." I pointed to the cushion on the arm chair across from me. "Do me a favor and pass me that?" Other Rom ran over and grabbed the cuhsion, passing it to her sister, who held it out to me. Lifting my head, I guestured to Other Ram to push it under my head. Ah… that's better. Noire has some good fashion sense, but these arm chairs are way too hard for me to lie on.

"Hey, hey!" Other Ram's head popped up next to mine, her large blue eyes staring at me. "Can we play later?" Other Rom popped up next to her sister, her eyes shining.

"...Can we read a book too?" They look excited. Shaking my head, I used one hand to keep Plutia in place while using the other one to pat Other Ram in the head.

"Sure, just let me wait for this little tyke to head to DreamyWorld." The twins looked at each other, high-fiving and cutting off their cheers so they wouldn't wake up Plutia. They slowly looked at Plutia to see the little one happily grab onto my shirt. "Go on, play with the others." Nodding, Other Ram held onto Other Rom's hand and skipped over to the rest of the goddesses.

I sighed in relief and turned to the sleeping baby on my chest. Hey, aren't you a sleepy head. Neither Neptune nor Noire fall asleep this often. Hell, Neptune almost never slept when we were kids.

"Ba….n" Sheesh, this kid.

"I'm right here…" Ugh, this kid's sleepiness is contagious… Getting sleepy…

*Pin pooooon~*

Hmm?

*Pin pooooon~*

Is that… the doorbell? Wait, did Noire leave her keys? No… her house key is on the same key ring as her car keys. Who is… that?

Sitting up, I cradled Plutia in my arm as I rubbed my eyes with my free hand. Looks like the little one is still asleep. Turning to the others, I shook the sleepiness out of my eyes to see that they had paused… Hyper Mash Siblings for Lii W and were staring at towards the front door.

"I'll get it." Handing Plutia over to Nepgear, who became flustered as the sleeping girl gripped onto her hair. I staggered to my feet.

*Pin pon, pin pon, pin pooooon~*

"Okay, okay." I walked over to the door, stretching my li-

*Pipipipipippipipipipipipipipipi-*

"WHAT DO YOU WANT!?" Geez, they're gonna wake up Pl- Huh?

"It is Blanc!"

"...Hi, Blanc." Well, I'll be an older sister.

"Rom, Ram. What are you doing here?" My little sister gave me a big hug as Ram made a huge grin.

"Hey, Blanc. Guess what?" I raised an eyebrow. Judging from her smile, it must be something pretty good.

"I'll bite, what is it?" The twins stepped back from me and Rom pulled out a bag with what looks like the shape of a box inside it. The bag had the symbol "Lowee Bakery" on it. "Lowee Bakery?" You mean the bakery Mom started years ago? Rom nodded excitedly.

"Mhm! Mama made these… for us." Huh, cool.

"Alright, I guess you can come inside." The twins cheered in happiness as they hopped inside. Waiting at the door, I cupped a hand over my ear.

"Woaaaaaah! Look at all the people!? Oh, and little wittle Pwuttie too!" I could hear Ram cooing over Plutia, and Rom giggling at our sister's antics. Strange, I thought that the little Rom and Ram would ha-

"IS THAT ME!?" There it is. I shook my head and walked back inside to see my twins meet Little Blanc's twins.

The other goddesses looked surprised to see the older versions of Rom and Ram, especially Little Nepgear and Uni. Ram was currently holding Plutia, making baby faces and mimicking Plutia's cries of delight, Little Ram was already on my sister's back, staring at the Neptune baby over her shoulder. Rom was currently reading a picture book to Little Ram, which looks like the book she was reading was actually one of the books that Rom made.

"Hey, hey, Big Blanc!" Little Ram waved at me as I carried the sweets in. "Look, look! I'm on my back~!" Nodding and walking past the Rams, I placed the bag from Lowee Bakery onto the table, catching the eyes of everyone present in the room.

"I wonder that's this." My Rom and Ram grinned at each other. I took the thin white box out and opened it, revealing a ton of cream puffs inside it. A collective "Ooooh~!" erupted around me as the girls surrounded the sweets.

"Cream puffs~!"

"They look delicious!" I eyed Other Nepgear walking to the kitchen.

"Hey," Surprising the goddess, I stood up and pointed at my chair. "I'll get the plates, you sit." Other Nepgear looked uncomfortable, as if tending to people was second nature to her. I walked over to the girl and patted her on the head. "Don't you worry your pretty little head. Just go have some fun." Other Nepgear nodded and hesitantly walked back to the group, where Little Ram began to brag about her bigger version.

Opening the cabinet doors, I looked for the plates. Uh… they should be in-Where are…? I guess they're not in here. Weird, I thought they were in there last time. Noire probably moved them around again. Or Neptune. Yep, ninety percent sure that it was Neptune.

"Goddammit, Neptune." Cursing under my breath, I continued to search for the plates.

"Do you require some help?" Sounds like Other Vert, I can tell it's not my sister since Vert never asks politely unless it's to hold Plutia or she's sick. Or when she wants a hug, or when she's lonely… or- Okay, not never. I dropped onto a knee and opened the cabinet below the one I was searching through previously.

"No thanks, I'm fine." I heard her footsteps approach me. Ugh, she's not gonna take "no" for an answer huh?

"I believe that Miss Noire keeps the plates in the cabinet besides the one above you." ...Oh. Quickly getting up, I dust myself and open the cabinet Other-Vert directed me to. Huh, they were right here…

"...I knew that." Other-Vert giggled as I grabbed about ten plates and stacked them on top of the table. As I was about to carry the plates back, I felt a tap on my shoulder.

"Um… Miss Blanc?" Ew. No.

"Just call me Blanc."

"But, if I don't it might get confusing." Oh, right.

"Why don't you call your Blanc, Little Blanc?" Other-Vert glanced to the side, laughing awkwardly.

"Blanc… has a complex about her height."

"Oh."

"And her breasts." I know that already.

"Okay, okay. I get it." I lifted the plates to notice Other-Vert looking bashful. "What?" Other-Vert twiddled her thumbs and smiled at me, apparently embarrassed.

"Bigger Blanc," Eh, that works. "You could say that you and my counterpart are close, correct?" I nodded.

"Yeah, basically."

"Out of the two of you, which one is the older one?" Huh? That's a weird question.

"We're twins, so we really don't care who's the older one." To be honest, I think I'm the older one, but I don't remember.

"Um… Blanc?" Other-Vert's bashful smile now turned into a hopeful one. "I was wondering… if you could treat me like a little sister." What? Why?

"Don't you have a sibling or something?" Vert stared at the floor, her eyes downcast.

"In my dimension, I'm have no sisters to call my own." Oh… Hmm.

"Vert," The goddess looked at me curious. "Come closer." As soon as Other-Vert stepped forward, I reached out and patted her on the head, catching her off guard.

"Eh!?" Heh, so she isn't used to this type of affection. That's cute.

"Well, little sister version of my sister, want to help your Big Sister Blanc set up the table?" Other-Vert's eyes shined in glee as she picked up some of the plates, practically skipping towards the living room.

"Yes!" Well, this is interesting. Having one Vert as my twin sister and another one acting as a little sister… Hmm, this might be a good idea…

Pushing the idea to the back of my head for later, I followed Other-Vert out of the kitchen. Gotta get those cream puffs out for the girls first. Story later… Well, after I read that picture book to Little Rom and play with Little Ram, of course.

"Wow~ You wrote this?"

"Yeah. Do you like it?"

"I love it~!"

"Woaaaaah, are you saying that I can make manga?"

"Make? Pfft, I practically invented manga with my skills. Right, Blanc?"

"Wow, really!?"

Heh, it feels like I've got my own family… But not really, that's Noire's job. Not mine. I'm just here to write.

"H-Hey, Plutia! Don't crush the cream puff like that!"

"Uni, I don't think Plutia understands you…"

Doesn't mean I can't act like one.

"Alright you munchkins, Aunty Blanc wants you to behave or else!"

"Okaaaaaay~!"