Chapter 14: Buds Bloom
"Is everyone ready?" I carried Plutia to the front of the door before turning around to look at the girls. A week has passed since Neptune told me that IF and Compa were hosting a cherry blossom viewing party. After a lot of planning and details, we were able to hammer down a short summary of what will happen at the party.
Neptune and Mother, my actual Mother, not Histoire, would drive two vans to take the girls to the viewing spot. Neptune will take Bura, Beru, Neptuna, Ge-Ge, Gii and Tee while Mother will take Nowa, Yuni, Plutia and me.
IF and Compa will be there early, setting up the barbeque and the table. Histoire and Arfoire will arrive soon after, bringing the food. Chika, Mina, Rom and Ram will bring the drinks and the dessert. Neptune will take half of us to the party early too, so that he can help IF with the barbeque. Meanwhile, the rest of us will arrive whenever we can. Nepgear will come with Uni. Blanc wants to finish up on her rough draft, so Vert will come to pick her up… after she's done editing a video.
"Yeah!" The girls wanted to wear the clothes that they had on when they first fell upon me. Well, Neptuna did. The others just ran up to me. However, Neptune didn't want them to wear it. My husband argued that their clothes were too… much, although he argued that Gii, Tee and Bura's coats were too thick for the season, which I agreed to. Unfortunately, the girls were determined to wear their original attire.
In fact, they went to strange lengths to convince us. Neptuna would climb on top of us and beg repeatedly. Nowa would cross her arms and glare at us, only to look away embarrassed if we made eye contact. Beru would appear out of nowhere and massage me or surprise Neptune by suddenly appearing with a cup of tea. Bura would lean on us whenever we sat on the couch, reading her book and not saying anything. Gii and Tee would follow Neptuna's example and beg endlessly, except they would cling onto our clothes arms. Ge-Ge would come to us with drinks and snacks while passively asking about it. Finally, Yuni would be the only one out of the eight of them to ask us directly.
Obviously at how they're dressed right now, we caved to their demands and requests. However, at this point, Neptune stopped caring as he wanted to get to the party as soon as possible, probably because he's excited to spend some time with everyone again.
"Alright girls, come with me!" Neptune walked over to the door, wearing a hoodie similar to Neptuna's except that his was black and white instead of white and purple. I am proud to say that I made that for him, especially since he loves it so much. It was really tough to replicate his old hoodie. In order to make it, I had to ask his mom to help me and after weeks of pricks and a bunch of ruined jackets, I was able to perfect this one. "I'll see you there, sweetheart." Neptune pecked me on the cheek before playing with Plutia's hand. "And I'll make sure there's plenty of food for my little pudding cup." Plutia gripped onto his finger with both of her hands before Neptune pulled away and walked out the door.
The girls that were going with Neptune piled into the car, with Ge-Ge at the front so that Neptuna wouldn't get in the front and get Neptune in trouble for having a child in the front seat. As Neptune left the driveway, Mother drove in with her rented van.
"See you soon, Noire." Turning around, I waved to Blanc before she headed back upstairs.
"Alright girls, let's go!" I waved to my mother as I walked out of the door. Mother climbed out of the van and met me halfway up the path, hugging me once we reached each other.
"Hello, Noire. You're looking well." Thank you, Mother. Plutia reached out to her grandmother, but Mother sidestepped her grasp and swiftly plucked my daughter out of my hands. "And hello there, tiny one." Confused, Plutia poked Mother on the nose. Blinking, Mother then looked behind me.
"Are you two ready?" Nowa and Yuni nodded, a little hesitant. Mother noticed this and shifted Plutia closer to her head and smirked at them. "What;s wrong? I don't bite."
"No… that's not it." Yuni pressed her index fingers together. "It's just that…" Nowa rubbed her shoulder.
"Aside from my other self, who we see as an older sister, we've never felt what it's like to have a mother." Mother raised an eyebrow as Plutia patted her on the head.
"Well, I guess you should start getting used to it." Both Nowa and Yuni smiled and exited the house and Blanc appeared out of nowhere to close the door.
...How does she do that?
"I already have a car seat for Plutia in the car." Oh, I almost forgot. "By the way, it was the one that you and Uni used when you were babies." Eh. "You were so cute back then, would you two like to look at some pictures in the car?" What!? There's no way that she has pictures of me- "I always bring a pocket book with all your baby photos. It gives me peace." Wh-Wh-Wh-
"Mother!?"
"Wooow, you were so tiny~!"
"Heeeh, so this is what I'd look like as a baby. So cute!" Ugh… please stop. It's embarrassing…
"Mother…"
"It's fine isn't it. You probably gonna do that too when Plutia's grown up." No! ...Maybe, but I wasn't expecting you to do this! "Anyways, you've got a large family." Huh, I guess that I do. "You and Neptune must've been pretty busy." What?
"Ma'am!?" Nowa?
"Wh-What?" Yuni, too?
"Well, I am busy with work and all." Suddenly, everyone stopped talking at looked at me. "And Neptune's hands are full with teaching, so having everyone around is nice." ...Why is everyone looking at me like that? "Is there something wrong?" Nowa and Yuni looked away, covering their eyes, while Mother kept her eyes on the road. There a small smile on her face.
"N-Nothing."
"No-Nothing at all…" Mother chuckled to herself,
"Although, you've grown up and had a child, you haven't changed a bit."
"Aw, that's mean. I've changed a lot, too!" I turned around to look at my daughter. "Right, Plutia?" Plutia held onto her Neptune doll and Noire doll, which Compa made sometime after Neptune and Plutia got out of the hospital, and snuggled them. "I'll take that as a yes."
"Noire, your baby does has no idea what you're asking for."
"Th-that doesn't mean she can't agree."
"E-Even so…"
"Noire."
"Yes?"
"I'm driving."
"Oh… Sorry."
"Ma~!" Hm?
"What is it, Plutia?" As the van slowed down in front of a stop sign, Plutia extended her Noire doll to me.
"Ma!" Reaching over, I took the doll version of me from my daughter. Plutia smiled even brighter… Ah, I feel like I'm being healed.
"Thank you, Plutia."
"Ah! They're here!" As we moved closer to the park, I rolled down the window to let some fresh air into the vehicle. Neptuna spotted us, holding a pudding cup. Running over to us, Neptuna flagged Nepgear down, who then told us where to park. While I got Plutia out of her car seat, Neptuna literally dragged Nowa out of the car and towards the party. Yuni and Mother followed after them as I lifted Plutia, who fell asleep already, onto my shoulder.
"Come on, Plutia. Daddy made some delicious food~." She can't eat most of it, though. I followed the distance figures of Yuni and my mother to find that everyone, minus Blanc and Vert, were there.
Neptune and IF were at the barbeque grill, cooking heaps and heaps of food, which smelled delicious. Gii and Tee were sitting in Mina and Chika's laps respectively, the latter two fawning over their goddess children while their actual children were laughing at the side with Uni and Nepgear when as she walked up to them. Mother found Histoire and Arfoire sitting down at a table and joined them, Histoire pouring a cup of wine for Mother. Compa was working hard, preparing the food so that it could be grilled. Ge-Ge and Yuni walked over to Compa and offered to help her out, which she gratefully accepted. Bura was sitting under a cherry blossom tree, reading a brand new book. Judging from the Histoires & Arfoires bag next to her, I'd positive that it came from my parents-in-law. Beru sat down next to her, glass in hand. Neptuna ran up to the two, holding onto the pudding cup and Nowa. I walked up to Mina and Chika's spot, letting Plutia lie on the ground.
As soon as I placed her on the pink plaid picnic blanket, Plutia opened her sleepy eyes. Rolling onto her stomach, Plutia crawled towards Mina and Gii. Upon reaching Mina's knee, Plutia rested her face on Mina's thigh before returning to sleep. This girl, I swear that she thrives on sleep rather than food.
"Noire." Chika patted Tee's head before scratching Plutia's cheek. "You go ahead and get some food. We'll look after your little munchkin."
"Really? Are you sure that's okay?" Rom nodded her head, smiling at Plutia.
"It's okay, I'd like to use Plutia as a reference, if that's alright with you." Aw, Plutia loves Rom's books, even if she doesn't understand them. She really likes Rom's pictures.
"I think Plutia would love that actually, so go ahead." Rom sparkled, taking out her notebook. Huh, she really is Blanc's sister. Mmm… I'm hungry.
"Ah, hey Noire! Hungry?" Neptune waved the tongs he was using as I walked over to him. IF immediately piled a plate of meat, onions, carrots, and plenty of vegetables as soon as I reached them.
"Here you go, Noire. A Compa prescribed special." Thanking IF, I turned around to see Blanc and Vert.
"Hey, Iffy. Can you take the grill now? I'm hungryyyyy."
"Hey Blanc, you got here fast." Blanc shrugged as IF handed her a plate too.
"Meh, I didn't have much to write and Vert was already waiting outside when I called her." What, really? Vert giggled proudly.
"Of course, I'd gladly work the extra mile to spend time with my beloved family~." As she said this, Vert wrapped an arm around her twin sister, spotting her parents and younger sisters. "Oh, look! They're already eating. Come on, Blanc!" Dragging Blanc away, the author said a hasty "Later." Neptune walked up to me, already scarfing down his meat.
"So… where's our little pudding cup?"
"Plutia, sleeping on Mina's lap." Nodding, Neptune walked over towards the already crowded picnic blanket. "By the way, drinks are at Mom's table!" Oh, this meat is sooo goood~. I should get a drink to go with this, maybe some tea or juice. No alcohol. I have a feeling that Mother's going to drink quite a lot today, so I need to be sober. I don't have to worry about Neptune since he hasn't touch a drop of drinkable alcohol in his life. Vert has a high tolerance for alcohol, which she got from Mina surprisingly. Anyways, I'm thirsty.
"Ah, Noire~. Over here!" Arfoire waved to me, holding up a can of beer. Oh right… Arfoire likes to drink too. "Heeeeeeey, kiddo~!" Arfoire slumped against the table, her drink held upright by Histoire's reaction speed. "Come on, have a drink!" Mother chuckled at Arfoire's current state.
"Work must be hard for you. I'm sorry that you have to manage my daughter all this time." Hey! What does that mean!?
"Doooooon't worryyyyyy! Nowa's suuuper cute, so it's fine!" Histoire rubbed Arfoire's back, handing her a glass of water. Wai- Why are there twelve cans of beer next to Histoire!? Did Arfoire drink all of that! No, there are three cans on Arfoire's side of the table. Does that mean… Histoire drank those! But, she looks fine! And I thought Vert had high tolerance for alcohol! Histoire giggled as I continued to stare at the cans.
"Arfoire loves to drink because I'm a heavy drinker, but sometimes she has trouble holding down a sip. I'm actually amazed she was able to drink three." Histoire continued to pat her wife on the back, causing Arfoire to mumble happily. Mother chugged a glass of wine before reaching for the bottle.
"Noire doesn't drink. There's soda, water and juice in the cooler." Mother pointed to the light blue cooler at the other end of the table.
Placing my food at the table, I opened the cooler to find: Krystal Lake water bottles, a couple of Shinny B orange juice bottles, some Maintain Droplets cans… probably for Vert, some Coco-Kola cans, aaaaand more beer. Geez, how much beer are they gonna drink? There's children here.
"Oho! Young madam, if I may, may I induldge in that beverage to your right?" That sounds like…
Turning around, I found an elderly man that exhibited Compa's gentle aura with extended wisdom. Wait…
"Compa's Grandfather!" The man chuckled before reaching down into the cooler, grabbing a bottle of water and a can of beer.
"Please, we're all family here! I've told you to call me 'Gramps' like everyone else!"
"Geez, I didn't recognize you!" Probably because I always see you in your doctor's coat but I really didn't! "I thought you were some dude pretending to be some one from the medieval times while trying to hit on me!" Gramps laughed, clutching his stomach.
"Ah… that's a good one, Noire dear. If I did try to hit on a young lady such as yourself at my age… Why, Compa might just enroll in me in a mental hospital!" The both of us grinned at Gramps's joke.
"Compa wouldn't do that. She loves you too much. In fact, I bet she'd try to take care of you myself." Gramps chuckled.
"I bet she would…" Gramps looked left, then to the right before blocking the side of his face with his hand. "Just between you and me, I hope she learns how to wrap gauze properly." What!? I thought she has a nursing degree!
"Didn't she already learn that?" Gramps nodded.
"Somehow, she forgot how to do it completely and went back to the way she was." How does… Nevermind.
"A-Anyways, thank you for the water." I stood up and walked over to where Neptune and Plutia were.
"Of course, remember to stay healthy!" Ah, now I see the doctor in him. "Arfoire, you know it's not good to drink to much."
"Buuuut, Hissty drinks a lot! So why can't IIIIII!?" I see a whole lot now. And… Histy?
"Yes, but your wife has a stong liver… and you can barely hold your liquor as is."
"Aaaaaah! Hissssyyyy, the oldies beeing a jerkface!" …I think this is a good time to go.
Ah, better not forget my food~.
"Ma~!" Plutia had woken up and was sitting on Neptune's lap, playing with cherry blossom petal that had floated onto her nose. The petal was floating out of her grasp with each swipe, catching her interest until I ended in her peripheral vision. Now, Plutia was ignoring the petal, which floated over and landed on top of Neptune's head, and reaching towards me, bouncing in her lap seat.
"H-Hey, sugar cup… Calm down." Neptune put down his food and picked up Plutia. "Oh, Noire! Come sit here." My husband scooted to the side, making room for me on the blanket. As he moved, Plutia let her legs sway with Neptune's movements, looking around with confused joy in her eyes. Aw, Plutia. Please never change.
"Thank you, Neptune." Sitting down, I immediately began to dig into my food. As I was eating, Neptune placed Plutia back onto his lap, but our daughter crawled from his lap to my lap.
"Ma~!" Plutia crawled up my stomach and pressed her face against my chest.
"Why, hello there." I patted Plutia on the head, causing the girl to nuzzle against my head. "What are you doing here?"
"Ma!" A bunch of "Aw"s erupted around me.
"That's adorable!" Neptuna glomped Neptune on the back while Nowa, Beru and Bura sat behind him. Neptune hunched over as Neptuna pressed all her weight against her counterpart. Luckily, Neptune had put down his soda earlier and finished his food. Closing one eye, Neptune tried to sit up straight while Neptuna wrapped her arms around his neck.
"He-Hey! Get off!" Neptune reached up for Neptuna's face, but the girl ducked down and turned to Bura.
"Naaaaah… Blanc!"
"Hm?" Neptuna held up four fingers. The smaller Blanc nodded and looked to Nowa and Beru, who nodded too. "Operation: Glomp." Beru smiled mischievously while Nowa sighed. "Is a go!"
"Wha- Hey!" Neptuna pulled Neptune to the ground with relative ease while the other three piled on top of him. "What are you doing!?" Neptuna nuzzled her head against Neptune's face.
"Show appreciation to Daddy Nep!" Almost immediately, Gii and Tee ran over to the pile of people, adding themselves to pile.
"Yaaaay~!"
"Yippe~." Neptune was able to pull an arm out of the group, only for Plutia to climb on it and nuzzle her head into the palm of his hand.
"A dog pile?" Yuni sat down next to the pile, leaning against Tee. Ge-Ge dropped everything that she was doing and threw herself onto the pile, feeling left out. I could hear Neptune's muffled groan.
"No fair!" All eyes turned to Compa, who had taken off her apron and was staring at the pile with trembling lip. "I wanna hug Nep-Nep too!" Compa rushed towards the group… This isn't good.
"Oh Nep! Disperse!" All the goddesses pulled themselves off of Neptune as Compa hopped into the air, arms eagle spread. Neptune clutched his chest, breathing heavily. Upon seeing Compa falling towards him, he thrusted his arm to me, pushing Plutia into my hands.
"Nep-Neeeeeeep!" I covered Plutia's ears.
…Ugh, that was the most painful scream I've ever heard from Neptune.
"Meh, I've heard worse." What. I looked to my left to see Blanc drinking sake. Did we have that here? "Seven point eight out of ten… too much scream."
"What do you mean?"
"Have I told you how we met IF and Compa?" I shook my head. Compa lifted herself off of Neptune, his eyes replaced with two swirls.
"Did Compa do that to him, before?" Blanc shook his head.
"It was IF." IF helped Neptune up, frowning at Blanc.
"I said I was sorry, okay?" Blanc gave her a thumbs up.
"Ten out of ten, perfect apology." Neptune slowly looked at Blanc.
"Can you stop?" Blanc stared at him with her signature blank eyes.
"Zero out of ten, No." Sighing, Neptune hung his head. They're so close. Plutia crawled out of my hands and over to Neptune, grasping onto his shirt and smiling.
"...Thanks my little pudding cup." Hehehe… I love my family- Ah! What is that!?
A burst of pink light erupted in front of us, swirling and sucking in loose cherry blossom petals into the light. Histoire, carrying a drunk Arfoire, Gramps and my somewhat inebriated Mother ran to our sides while the goddesses stood up, as if used to this.
The light died down, revealing a small figure. Once the light completely vanished, a small girl roughly about Plutia's size, sitting on an open book, floated in the air. Wait… I've seen her before. That's-
"Hisssy?" Arfoire shook her head as she struggled to her feet. "Why are you sho shmaaaall?" The tinier Histoire blinked her eyes in confusion. Meanwhile, Histoire looked on with wide eyes.
"E-Excuse me?" Histoire regained her composure and moved Arfoire aside.
"I'll take care of her, and…" Histoire extended a hand to Tiny Histoire. "I am Histoire Planeptune, this drunk's wife. The smaller Histoire took her hand and shook it, smiling.
"I'm nah drant….!" Neptuna waved at Tiny Histoire, who floated to them.
"Heya, Histy! Here to snack on some muchies too?" The smaller Histoire shook her head.
"I'd love to Neptune." Wow, despite her small size, she sounds exactly like our Histoire. "However, I have more pressing matters to attend to." Ge-Ge stepped closer.
"What busines do you have to attend to, Histoire?" Tiny Histoire sighed before looking at both Neptune and me. W-What?
"Noire Planeptune. Neptune Planeptune. And…" Plutia reached out to the smaller, floating version of her grandmother, amazed at what she was seeing. Tiny Histoire held Plutia's hand for a second. "Plutia Planeptune." Letting go of Plutia, Histoire floated backwards. "Thank you so much for taking care of these girls, but I'm afraid that I have to return them to our dimension."
I felt a sudden weight land on my shoulders, along with my heart freezing in place.
No… They're leaving!
"Wait, as in right now!?" Tiny Histoire nodded.
"I'm afraid so. I cannot allow them to stay here any longer, or else their Shares will plummet from them not being around their people."
"Wait, there's so many questions floating in our heads right now." Neptune placed a firm hand on my shoulder. I wasn't sure if he was trying to keep me from falling over or keeping himself stable.
Suddenly, Neptuna walked up to Histoire, her arms behind her head.
"Aw, man. Do we gotta go?" An anger vein popped up over Tiny Histoire's head.
"If you do not go now, I will release all the pent up stress I've built up from running four countries at once." Immediately, all the goddesses ran over to the small girl's side. Sighing in relief, Tiny Histoire bowed to us. "I'm sorry. But we must go."
"Wai-" A flash of light, blinding everyone. Once the light was gone, the spot where all the goddesses were was empty.
"Ma?" I patted Plutia as my arms trembled. Blanc shook her head while Vert hung her head in sadness. Histoire looked down while Arfoire sobered up, looking at us with worry. Nepgear and Uni comforted us. Mina and Chika were upset with not spending as much time with their goddess children as much as they wanted. Compa held back her tears as IF looked away, rubbing her eyes. Compa's grandfather sighed in sadness. Mother looked to the sky, where the goddesses were.
"Noire…" I felt Neptune's hand on my shoulder.
"They didn't even say goodbye…" Neptune wrapped his arms around my shoulders as tears ran down my cheeks.
Neptuna… I didn't get to tell you to watch what you eat.
Nowa… that you should be more honest.
Ge-Ge… that you should keep trying your hardest.
Yuni… that you should do what you want more.
Bura… that you have to keep practice your writing.
Beru… that your hobbies should be taken care of after your necessities.
Gii… that your cute drawings should be shown to everyone you meet.
Tee… to never let your adorable energetic personality fade.
And…
And…
And…
"Ma?" And…
You didn't let Plutia say Thank you…