NextDimension Sapphire ReBirth

by SilentHeroX

As the world of Gamindustri kept on going, the CPU of Planeptune did not. After that rainy day, Sapphire still couldn't move on. But after many centuries, a single day started to change her perspective on things. All it took was one miracle. [SYOC-filled]

13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13: Snow Fairy

GemHero: Hey~!

SnowFairy: Hello.

GemHero: What's up?

SnowFairy: Nothing much.

GemHero: So I have something for that composition you've asked me for…

SnowFairy: Oh, really? Could you send it?

GemHero: Sure!

GemHero uploaded a file.

GemHero: This is just a sample right now, but you could give it a listen.

SnowFairy: Sure. Let me listen to it for a bit.

Few minutes later.

SnowFairy: Wow! This is really good!

GemHero: R-Really… I don't think it's that good though…

SnowFairy: It's fine. Really.

GemHero: Oh. Um. Thank you.

SnowFairy: By the way, when are we going over there?

SnowFairy: I know you don't want to bring RL stuff into here, but I just want to make sure.

GemHero: It's okay. I don't mind.

GemHero: It's the day after tomorrow, if you're wondering.

SnowFairy: Thanks. Also, can I ask you something?

GemHero: Sure.

SnowFairy: Can I visit your place tomorrow?

GemHero: Huh!? Wait, why!?

GemHero: Don't you have some important stuff to do!?

SnowFairy: I do, but I finished with most of them and I can let them deal with the rest.

SnowFairy: Everything seems to have calmed down for now.

SnowFairy: And she's been begging me to visit your sister ever since last time.

SnowFairy: But I mean, if it's not okay with you, then I won't force you.

GemHero is typing…

GemHero: It's fine. But make sure you finish with everything.

GemHero: I don't want to hold you back.

SnowFairy: Okay, I will.

SnowFairy: I guess I'll see you again.

GemHero: Okay, bye!

SnowFairy logged off.

I leaned back from my computer and let out a sigh. 'I can't believe that she's going to visit after so long…' I thought to myself as I looked up at the ceiling. 'Wonder what she's going to think about this place now…' I then stretched out with a yawn. 'Either way, let's go to sleep…' I thought before standing up and walking out of my workshop. 'As long as she doesn't see my room, I'm good.' I thought as I closed the door behind me.

—

"Oi! Sapphire! Venus! Wake up!"

I heard someone say, shaking me and Venus awake. I slowly opened my eyes to see Filyn overlooking me. I groaned a little while blinking my eyes multiple times. Meanwhile, Venus also woke up as she stood up from the bed and rubbed her eyes.

"Mmhm… Filyn? What's wrong?" I said very sleepily as I stood up as I tilted my head, trying to figure out her face. But I couldn't since I was way too sleepy.

"Morning, Sappy." I heard a rather familiar voice. I narrowed towards my door, where the voice was coming from. It was Shift, giving me a rather kind smile. "I hope I'm not intruding…"

"Oh no. It's fine… um…" I then blinked my eyes twice as my drowsiness faded away before my eyes widened with shock. "W-W-What are you doing in my room…!?" I exclaimed as I immediately scrambled off my bed, tripping on something before falling flat on my face.

"Sappy! Are you alright!?" Shift exclaimed as she ran over to me as she helped me up.

"Y-Yeah… I'm alright…" I told her as I stood up while rubbing my nose before I frowned at her. "Wait…! Why are you in my room!? Who even let you into my room!?" I immediately asked her again.

"Oh. Filyn let me in." Shift told me before she looked around in my room. "And your room is… quite interesting…" She said in a bit of an awkward tone before she looked at Venus, who was just waking up. "Oh. Is Venus…?"

"Okay! That's enough of a room tour! You two out!" I exclaimed in a panic as I grabbed both Shift and Filyn by the arm and forcefully pulled them out of my room before closing the door on them. I then turned to Venus. "Hehe… Well that was quite the morning, wasn't it?" I asked her, to which she quietly nodded in response.

As I calmed down from what just happened, I realized that I shouldn't keep both of our visitors waiting. I didn't bother trying to change my clothes since it's already morning and didn't want to put in the effort. So me and Venus just walked out of my room before seeing Shift and Filyn waiting right next to my door. They looked at each other before looking back at me.

"Sorry about that, Sapphire." Filyn spoke to me, giving an apologetic grin. "Didn't think you would get embarrassed by your own room like that…" She said, to which I immediately glared at her. "I mean…! I knew… but… y'know… hehe… you weren't waking up when I called you earlier…" She then scratched the back of her head.

"Yeah… I'm sorry for barging in, Sappy." Shift told me with an apologetic smile. "But at least for one, I didn't know you're the type that collects stuff…" She added.

"Collects stuff? What do you…?" I then thought about that comment before I realized what that meant. "Oh. You mean my display case?" I asked her, to which she nodded. "Y-Yeah… I collect stuff…" I muttered, blushing. "They're mostly old stuff though…" I added.

"As well as very cute and cool-looking stuff…!" Filyn exclaimed before I immediately karate chopped her on the head. "Ow~!" She then rubbed the top of her head.

I glared at her for a little while before I looked back at Shift. "So what do you want to do, now that you're here?" I asked her, a bit curious. "I only got that you want to visit on Nightcord, but that's all."

"Oh. Um… I want to know a few rules before I leave Lite here." Shift told me, putting her hands together. "Since I don't want her to do anything bad…" She added before looking down a little. "I probably should have left her in my Basilicom, but I don't want her to be overwhelmed by people she doesn't know or trust." She then looked up and smiled a little. "And she seemed to be fond of Venus…"

"Yeah… I noticed…" I said, wondering why that was the case but shrugged it off since I don't know much about Lite. "And Venus, you don't know why that is the case, right?" I asked her, to which she nodded.

"Mmhm! But I don't mind it, of course." Venus told me with a small, but kind smile. "She seems pretty nice, despite it all." She added.

"Oh, really?" I said before immediately shrugging it. "Why don't you go play with Lite for a little bit? Since I think you brought her here, right Shift?" I then looked at the said girl, who nodded.

"Yeah. Filyn had her play some games on some of the consoles here." Shift told me with a smile before looking at Venus. "So why don't you join her?" She told my little sister.

"Okay, Sis! Miss Shift!" Venus exclaimed before running towards the living area, leaving just the three of us in the hallway.

I stared at both of them silently before letting out a sigh. "Um… A-A-Are you two hungry? I could um… cook you guys something…" I told Shift with a nervous smile. Even though I was embarrassed by my own cooking, I secretly want her to try some of mine.

"Oh. Sure. I don't mind." Shift told with a rather bright smile as she put her hand behind her back. "I mean… I just ate, but I don't mind eating a bit more." She added.

"A-A-Ah… Um… Okay. I'll make you guys something a bit small." I told her before I looked at both Shift and Filyn. "U-Um… Could you um… please wait in the living area until the food is ready, okay?" I asked to which they both nodded. "O-Okay… um… I'll just go…" I then immediately speed-walked away from them and went to the kitchen.

I decided on cooking some sausage and rice for today. So I decided on scooping out the little bit of leftover rice left in the rice cooker and putting it in a container. I then cleaned the rice cooker as quickly and as efficiently as I could. When it was fully clean, I wiped the inside of it before going to the cupboard where the pack of rice was and scooping some cups of rice into the rice cooker. Then I went to the sink and cleaned rice until it was fully clean, filled it with water, plugged it in, and set it up.

For the sausage, I decided to look at what we had in the freezer before grabbing a pack of them. I then grabbed a pot, filled it up with water, put it on the stove, and turned it on and let the water boil for a while. Once I saw that it started boiling, I opened the pack and put in as much as I could, possibly all of it. After all, there were more people than usual.

I watched it for a while before grabbing a fork and trying poking it to see if it was good enough. When it was, I immediately turned it off, took it off the stove, taking the water off before I put it back on the stove and turned it back on. I rolled the sausage back and forth until I saw it cooked. I turned it off before setting it on a different stove. I then quickly grabbed a large plate and took out the sausages from the pot and put it into the plate and let them sit near the stove. I then checked if the rice was, but it wasn't yet.

I sighed a little, having to wait for a little bit. 'I guess I have to wait for a little while… this one takes way too long, doesn't it…' I thought to myself as I frowned a little. 'But I would never replace this with one that instantly cooks rice…' I then added on to that thought. 'I like the old-fashioned way of this one…'

When I finally saw the rice wascooked, I immediately turned the rice cooker off and unplugged it. Then I took the rice cooker to the table and went back for the plate of sausages. I also set up the plates and silverware for each one of us here. I then noticed there weren't enough chairs, so I grabbed some extras that were situated elsewhere.

I smiled a little as I looked at the table before looking up. "Everyone! The food's ready!" I exclaimed, trying to catch everyone's attention. "But you have to serve yourself."

After I said that, each one of them came one after another and sat at the table. Filyn smiled a little for some reason while Venus grinned at the food. Both Lite and Shift seemed rather surprised by the food I cooked.

"Wow…" Shift said in awe as she looked at the food. "This looks simple… yet it looks pretty good." She told me, looking towards my direction with a small smile.

"Y-Yeah… I guess it looks okay…" Lite said, looking off to the side. I could tell that she was lying by how her lip quivered a little, but I just shrugged it off. I don't mind it when I know for sure she's gonna like it.

"Let's start eating then…" I said before I sat down in my chair. We helped ourselves to the food though Lite was very quick to grab the sausage, which I found a bit funny.

"Lite. Please don't take all of it." Shift told her little sister with a disapproving frown. "Even though there's enough for everyone, possibly even more, you should save some for the other people here."

Lite just frowned at Shift a little, but I just giggled a little. "It's fine! I can just make more, okay?" I told Shift with a kind smile. "So I don't mind it that much…" I added.

"Oh… I see…" Shift muttered in her breath as she looked down before she kept on eating for a little bit. She then looked at me. "Sappy? I've been meaning to ask when I came here, why didn't you change the layout for this place?" She asked.

"Well… I guess it's due to a lot of muscle memory…" I answered, giving a rather nervous smile. "When I'm way too tired after a long day of paperwork, I would unconsciously move to my room or the couch… well whichever was closer at the time…" I said with a chuckle.

"Yeah… though it was hard for me to get used to at first…" Filyn spoke up as she ate her own food. "But I got used to it pretty quickly since the layout was easier to understand." She added onto that.

Shift then hummed in agreement before she nodded. "Yeah. I can see that." She said with understanding, seemingly remembering what the place used to look like.

"I mean… I had to replace the furniture here and there… But the layout is still the same…" I told Shift before I frowned a little. "I mean… Nothing lasts forever…" I said a bit sadly, wishing that I had kept some of the stuff from before.

"Aah… I-I see…" She said, seemingly understanding a bit of what I have to say though it sounded like a ting of regret.

"But…! The stuff we have now is fine!" I said immediately waving my arms, trying to get her to forget about the earlier comment. "I don't mind it, really!" I added, to which Shift nodded in understanding.

"So um… Sis?" Venus suddenly spoke up, to which I turned to look at her. "Is there anything we're doing today…?" She asked, looking with curiosity.

"Yeah!" Lite exclaimed in agreement while happily munching on the food.

"Well… um… nothing much… um…" I thought for a while, thinking about what to do today. 'Was there anything else we were doing today?' I thought before I looked at Shift. "Um… Shift? Was there anything you wanted to do? I mean… after I tell you about the rules of this place?"

"Um… Yes…" Shift spoke as she ate her food. "I want to tour around Planeptune." She told me before she looked towards Lite. "Well… just to show Lite around." She added on to that comment.

"Ah. I see…" I frowned a little before letting out a sigh. "Okay then, how about me and Filyn guide guys for a bit. It may not look like it, but Planeptune had a bit of changes here that you may not have recognized yet when you came here." I said, giving her a smile. "Also, I want to have Venus see more of this nation than just the four places we visited." I added on before looking at the said girl. "If you don't mind, of course."

Venus shook her head. "No. I don't mind, Sis." She answered as she ate her food. "I actually want to see more stuff." She said as she gave a huge smile.

"Okay and…" I turned to Shift and gave her a smile. "What about you, Shift? Are you fine with tagging along?"

"I'm fine with that." Shift answered simply with a nod, looking like she already finished eating, before she looked at Lite, who seemed confused by why Shift was looking at her.

"What?" Lite said as she munched on the food. She doesn't even know why she was being looked at. "Want me to grab more?"

"No, Lite. I just want to ask if you're fine with them following along." She told her younger sister with a kind smile.

"Well… I guess it's fine…" Lite muttered as she chomped her food.

I just giggled at that. "Well… what about you, Filyn?" I said, looking at Filyn, who was eating her food. "Do you want to come along with us?" I asked to which the said girl just frowned.

"Well, I was already going, since I don't have anything to do at the moment." Filyn said before giving me a smile. "And besides, I did promise to stay by your side no matter what…"

"E-Eh…? W-Wha…!?" I looked off to the side with a blush. 'Don't say that all of the sudden! With that promise you made back then…' I screamed at her in my thoughts.

"Uh… Am I missing some context or…?" Shift asked, looking a bit confused and seemed a bit curious. "Because I just heard you say 'promise,' right?" She added as she looked at both me and Filyn.

"O-Oh… Um… Don't think too hard about it, okay?" I told her, trying to diffuse what Filyn just said. "It's just a promise that Filyn made herself… A bit one-sided… If I say so myself…" I said, before laughing it off awkwardly.

"What!? No way! I literally remember you saying, 'Sure. Go knock yourself out.' or something like that." Filyn said with a frown as she crossed her arms. "And besides, it's not like you tried to scare me off, right?"

"I-I mean… No…? I mean…" I said as I looked off to the side. 'I… honestly didn't mind your company that much…' I thought to myself while stealing glances towards Filyn, feeling very awkward. "I didn't think I could have tried… I mean… um… I… um…"

"Eh…? Um… Is there something going on with her?" Lite asked Venus as she pointed at me, to which the said girl just shrugged. "Um… Yeah… I don't understand…" She then turned to Shift. "Sis? Do you know what is going on?" She asked her older sister, to which she just shrugged. "Um… I don't even understand anymore…" She muttered under her breath.

Shift sighed a little before looking at me. "So, uh… Sappy? What are the rules for your place?" She spoke up, seemingly wanting to move along the conversation in a different direction.

"Oh. Uh… They're actually really simple." I told her as I crossed my arms while calming down. "Which is just don't go far from the living area and kitchen. And don't open any doors here or go into any rooms except the bathrooms." I told the two guests here. '…But there's a chance that a rule is gonna get broken sooner or later…' I thought with a frown before shaking the expression off. "I'll show you where the bathrooms are, when you're done."

"Okay." Shift responded before she seemed to think about it for a while. "Though I might know where the bathrooms are, if you haven't changed this place…" She added.

"Oh. I see." I said with a frown as I crossed my arms. "But could I just show it to you two anyways?" I asked, to which Shift nodded and Lite just shrugged. "Okay… um… let's um… go when you're done…" I answered in an awkward tone. "And um… Filyn? Venus? You two can hang out in the living area while I'm helping them around." I told them, which they nodded.

After I said that, the rest of us finished up with our food. Then I grabbed all their plates before taking them to the sink in the kitchen and started washing them. And while I was doing that, I felt like there was something that I wanted to show Shift as well as wanting to show them around. So when I was finished, I walked back to the living area to which Shift and Lite were waiting for me.

"So… um… are you two ready? I actually want to show you two around this place… so um… that you, Lite, won't get lost…" I told both of them, to which Shift slowly nodded and Lite went 'Hmph!' and looked away from me. "And um… Shift? I-I… um… want to show something… Just you…" I said as I looked off to the side, a bit embarrassed.

"Um… Sure, Sappy…?" Shift answered, looking a bit confused about how I'm reacting. Probably because I wasn't too specific on what I wanted to show her.

"Eh!? What is it!?" Lite exclaimed, pointing at me after hearing what I was saying. "Come on! Let me see! Come on!" She said as she was jumping up and down, begging me to show what I wanted to show Shift.

"Um… w-well… it's… um… a bit… um…" I looked down as I then blushed a little. "It's um… a… um… hobby… that I do in my spare time… and um… I… um…" I immediately look towards Shift for some help, hoping that she knows about this hobby that actually includes her too.

"Huh? Oh. Ohhhhh…!" Shift exclaimed before turning to her little sister. "Um… I don't think you should pry into Sappy's hobby too much, Lite." She told her while waving her hands as she looked between me and Lite. "So could you drop it, okay?" She asked in a very firm tone.

"Hrmmm… okay…" Lite sighed as she then frowned a little. "But I really wanted to see…" She muttered as she then pouted and crossed her arms. But it looked like she was still very curious about what I wanted to show Shift.

I stared at the young girl before I giggled a little. "…But if you're a really good girl, then I might show it in the near future. And that goes to Venus too." I said as I looked at where Venus was, who was playing some games with Filyn. 'I'm probably gonna tell Venus about that after Shift and Lite leaves…' I thought before I looked at Lite I gave her a smile.

"Really!? Yay!" Lite exclaimed as she pumped her fist. "I'll be good, okay? Okay?" She said to me as she gave me an excited look on her face. In contrast, Shift was looking at me with a very worried look on her face.

She then beckoned me to come closer, seemingly like she wanted me to lend an ear, to which I did. "Um… are you sure this is okay?" Shift asked in a very quiet, whispering tone. "Because um… you know… um…" She sounded very nervous all of the sudden, probably because she couldn't decide whether she wanted to tell her little sister about her secret.

"It's fine… and besides, I think it's fair to let your sister know about it…" I whispered to her back, while looking at Venus before I then looked back at Shift. "And I… kind of want to tell my little sister about my hobby too… It's a bit unfair for her to not know anything of the fun stuff about me… I think…" I said, remembering I have a lot of secrets I didn't want to tell her and still unsure if I should tell her or not, before I gave her a joking smirk. "But… I'm not sure if your little sister could do that… y'know? Neehee~!" I said very teasingly. "So don't take this the wrong way, okay?" I added as my joking smile changed into a rather kind smile.

"O-Okay…" Shift responded with a shy tone before giving a nervous smile. "O-Okay, then… let's get on with the tour…" She said before moving away from me.

I nodded and started to show them around the Basilicom. Of course, I only had to point to a few things like my office, my room, and Filyn's room, but there were some places we had to walk to like the bathroom and the metal door that was near my office. Lite wanted to walk down the hall, to which I pulled her away and told her not to go there because she might get lost, to which she pouted and looked rather annoyed by that. But then she asked me a rather weird question.

"Um… Who's room is that?" Lite asked me, pointing to the room right next to Filyn's room. The door had a rather small doorknob compared to the rest. It was something that I couldn't recognize at first, but then I remembered who used to live there.

"It's… someone else's room… Histoire's room…" I answered, giving a nostalgic smile. "Hehe… She always has a bit of trouble trying to open that door. I actually begged some of the workers to shrink the doorknob or something along those lines… Neehee… She got mad at first for changing the doorknob… But she didn't mind it afterwards…"

"Histoire? Who's that?" Lite asked me, looking at me with a rather confused look while Shift looked at me with rather raised eyebrows.

"Oh…? She's um… my Oracle…" I told the young girl before I crossed my arms and thought about a good way to explain to her. "She's someone I have a lot of respect for and… someone I'm waiting to return…" I said, muttering the last part as I remembered when she disappeared.

"So… She hasn't come back after that, right?" Shift spoke up with a frown. "I remember you telling me about it… but…" Her voice trailed off, looking down with down-trodden eyes.

"No… She has to come back… I've seen her in my dreams…" I immediately told her, remembering that I had these strange dreams about Histoire. "I can't remember those dreams… but… I know it's something and… I feel like they're telling me that I'm missing something… Hmm…" I tried to remember what happens in those dreams, but nothing came to mind.

"Oh… I see…" Shift kept frowning for a little bit before giving a sigh. "If your dreams are telling something, then there's a chance that something is going on with Histoire, right?" She added on to that.

"Mhm…" I nodded slowly before looking down to the floor. 'Histoire… Where are you…?" I thought. '…Just… tell me where you are and I'll come find you… Okay? So I can tell you all the things I did…' I then sigh a little before looking at the two guests. "Either way… I think that's it for the tour… And um…" I looked at Shift with a really big grin. "Let's go back to the living area, okay? So that we can drop Lite over…"

"I can get over there myself! Hmph!" Lite exclaimed as she looked away from me. And then she turned away to where the living area was and walked away.

'Sometimes I wonder if Shift's little sister is a bratty kid or a tsundere…' I thought to myself before looking at Shift and chuckling awkwardly. "So I guess I don't have to then… huh…" I said in a little bit of a joking fashion before I turned to Shift, who let out an exasperated sigh.

"Again… Sorry about her." Shift said with an awkward smile. "It's… something I have to figure out on my own…" She told me while looking down a little.

"No, it's alright… You sort of have to go with the flow with things like this…" I said, trying to reassure her. "Um… Either way, how about I just show something to you… You know…" My voice trailed off. "I mean…! I'll just show it to you… okay?" I said as I lent a hand to her.

Shift was a bit confused by it at first before deciding to take it. Then I led her back to the metal door I pointed at earlier, forcefully shoved the door open, and led her inside before closing it behind me. Of course, it was rather dark inside but I knew my way around my own workshop, which is not the thing I wanted to show to Shift. So I maneuvered around my dark workshop before finding another metal door, to which I shoved it open and we both went inside.

This time, when I closed the door behind us, I turned on the lights in an air-conditioned room. It lit up what looked like a small music studio. There was a keyboard somewhere to the side, a keytar stood right next to it, and a desk with a computer placed on top of it and plugged with the usual input devices you would see on a computer.

I let go of Shift's hand before walking in front of her, taking a deep breath and finally turning around with a nervous smile. "So um… what do you think…?" I asked, looking at her expectantly.

"It's a good setup, Sappy." Shift said as she walked around the room, looking around, pressing a few keys on my keyboard, making a sound.

"R-Really…? Like really…?" I asked her, wanting to make sure she's not just saying because she just wants to be considerate. I don't really know just from saying those simple words.

"Yes, really!" She told me with a kind smile. 'I like the keyboard and the keytar here and um…" She then looked at the computer then back to me. "And if I remember correctly, you told me that you sometimes use digital instruments in your music, correct?" She asked, to which I nodded slowly. "Yeah. The sound that you use is pretty unique in its own way." She told me.

"O-Oh… I… um…" I looked down, silently thinking about what Shift was telling me. 'I'm pretty sure that she's not saying that out of consideration… but am I really sure about that?' I thought as I looked at her, narrowing my eyes a little. 'She has to be, right? No… She's very kind… there is no way she would…' I then took a deep breath. "Um… Are you… sure you're not just saying that out of consideration… out of just being nice to me… right…?" I asked her again.

"No! I really do think that, Sappy!" Shift said, reassuring me again as she waved her hands. I then narrowed my eyes, trying to find any sort of faults in that expression, before I then sigh in relief.

"O-Okay… I'll believe you…" I muttered before I scratched the back of my head. "I… just want to see your reaction to this place… I was a bit worried that you won't like it…" I told her with an embarrassed look across my face.

"I can understand that… but still, I'm glad that you showed this to me…" Shift told me with a rather kind smile as she put her hand behind her back.

"R-Really…? Um…" I looked down with a slight blush and then smiled at her. "That's all I have to show you for now um…" I stopped myself for a little bit, trying to clear my thoughts. "We should go back to the living area, okay…?" I said to Shift, to which she nodded. "And um… I'm gonna change… so that we can follow you two…" I added in a rather shy tone.

So after that, I guided her back to the living area to which me, Venus and Filyn went to either the bathroom or in our rooms to start changing. When we're finished, I immediately ask Shift if she wants to take the stairs to go down or to transform to fly down there.

"Hmm… How about flying, okay? Shift suggested with a shrug. " I mean we did came here by flight, so we can just fly down." She added.

"Yeah… I know… but…" I just shook my head before laughing it off. "Actually! Nevermind that!" I then turned to Filyn, giving a smug look. "Guess you know what to do, right Filyn?" I asked her, seeing her sigh.

"Yeah… yeah… I have to climb down the stairs…" Filyn said as she rolled her single eye and groaned before she walked out the front door and closed it behind her. Shift, however, looked rather confused by what I told her as she looked between me and her.

But just when she was about to ask, I immediately waved my hand. "Ask that when we're flying, okay?" I told her, to which she looked at me with thought before nodding slowly.

Then we went to the balcony, transformed, picked up our sisters, before we flew into the sky. Of course, I have to force myself not to look at Shift, who is now Dual Heart, and not try to say anything that is remotely dirty or something that makes me sound like a weirdo.

After flying for a little bit, Dual Heart, of course, asked me that question. "So why did you have Filyn go down the stairs?" She looked at me with confusion.

"Well… one reason was to not have her be shown to the workers I hired… but that went kaput when literally almost everyone in Planeptune knows her as the 'CPU Assistant of Planeptune' or something like that…" I told her before looking off to the side. "Even though I sometimes forget about that…" I muttered to myself. "But I think the reason I have for that now is that I can't carry two people at the same time." I told her before I immediately grinned at her. "As well as the fact that it's our usual routine and stuff!" I added.

"CPU Assistant of Planeptune? So she's a CPU too?" Dual Heart asked me, looking at me with curiosity. "I mean… I feel like she is and…"

"That's the thing. I don't actually know if she is one or not." I immediately interrupted her, to which she just stared at me. "Oh. Um… Sorry… Um… Either way, remember when Filyn spilled out what she used to do?" I asked, to which she pondered a little before nodding. "Well… that's part of the reason I don't actually know who she really is. There's a lot of reasons like she can't even hold her transformation longer than ours and that she's very different from the usual rules for a CPU… Like the whole Share part." I told her before I looked down at my nation. "As well as stuff I can't exactly say with Lite listening to me."

"Oh. Really?" Dual Heart then pondered a little, tilting her head to her side. "So the idea of Shares doesn't apply to her… I see…" She muttered under her breath. "Like the idea of powering up yourself with Shares, using them to transform, and competing for them… Stuff like that, correct?"

"Yeah. But Filyn… doesn't age… which is something that is just like us…" I told her with a frown. "It's very hard to determine who she actually is. But I can feel some sort… aura about her… It feels different, but similar to us…? I can't tell…" I sighed a little. "Even when I tried to ask about this, she said that she doesn't remember from how much she knows about herself… Like literal amnesia… But! She doesn't even care about it." I added, making a rather upset expression.

"Oh. I see…" She said, seemingly understand Filyn's situation now. "But it looks to me that you really want to help her, right?" She then saw my head nodding. "Yeah. I can understand that. She seems like a nice person to me, so I'm not surprised that you want to help her in any way." She told me with a smile.

"Yeah… She really is…" I muttered under my breath before I immediately turned to Dual Heart. "Oh and don't you dare tell her that, okay!?" I exclaimed in a rather angry voice.

"Okay. I won't." Dual Heart said simply with a nod, still giving me a smile and an affirmation.

However, Lite said something completely different. "I don't understand what you said, but okay! I will!" She said, giving me a rather huge grin.

"NO! DO NOT TELL HER!" I immediately exclaimed angrily. "If you do, she's gonna hold that on me forever! Aah~! I can already hear her voice teasing me!" I said, trying to imagine the words Filyn might say.

"Come on, Lite. Don't do that to her…" Dual Heart told her little sister, to which she pouted and sighed. "Sappy can tell her when she's really ready." She added.

When I heard that, I smiled a little. "Hehe! Thanks, Shift!" I looked down, before realizing what we're supposed to do. "Oh! We should land pretty soon! Let's see here… Hm…" I then eye an alleyway. "Oh, yeah! Let's land there!" I exclaim, looking directly at it.

Dual Heart then nodded. "Okay, Sapphire. Lead the way." She answered before we started to fly down. We then landed in the alleyway and transformed back into human form

Lite then stretches out her arms like she's finally got out of bed or something. "Finally! Land!" She exclaimed out loud, almost loud enough for almost everyone nearby to hear. "I felt way too awkward not feeling nothing underneath my feet."

"Really?" Venus looked at Lite with a rather curious look on her face. "I thought it was really fun!" She said with a child-like grin.

"Eh? I don't understand…" Lite then tilt her head to the side, confused by what Venus just said. "Why was that fun?" She asked, trying to think it through before letting out a cry of frustration. "Is there something I'm missing!? Big Sis! Big Sis! What does she mean?" She asked, to which Shift probably had no explanation as to why.

"Okay… Okay… Calm down, Lite." I said, trying to calm her down until she was somewhat but was still confused. "So… now that we're here… um… Let me give you a tour of my nation… Okay?"

Shift then smiled before nodding "Okay…" Then her eyes widened with realization. "Wait… Shouldn't we wait for Filyn?" She asked, looking at me quizzically.

I narrowed my eyes a little, wanting to convince Shift to leave before I sighed to myself "Okay… Sure… She would sometimes call me whenever she couldn't find me anywhere and…" I then heard my own ringtone from my phone. "Oh. That's her right now." I said, before picking up the phone. "Hey, Filyn."

"Where are you?" Filyn immediately asked over the phone. "And please don't be vague, okay?" She added immediately afterwards, chuckling under my breath when I heard that.

"Okay… um…" I looked out into the streets, where there were shops like a coffee shop, a few restaurants, and other stuff before I then relayed what I saw to Filyn and told her that we were also in an alleyway.

"Oh… okay… I know where that is. Geez… Why are there so many alleyways…?" Filyn mused before sighing under her breath. "Either way, stay where you are, I'll come find you guys. And Sapphire, do not leave! I repeat! Do not leave!" She said, before hanging up immediately, not leaving any room for me to answer.

After she hung up, I told the others what she said earlier. So we decided to wait in the alleyway for a little while, though Lite was a bit impatient. And finally after a few minutes, Filyn was able to find us with a panting breath.

"Sapphire… I beg you… for the last time… If you want me to find you, make sure you meet at the same place… Okay?" Filyn said, in-between breaths as she held her knees. "I do not want to go and find you all over the nation."

"Meh. I couldn't remember which place, even if I tried…" I told her, frowning as I saw her sweating like mad. "Filyn… if you're getting hot, then you have taken your cloak off…" I said, to which she gave me a weird look. "And yes. I'm allowing you to take it off."

"Sure… Okay… Let me just remove it…" Filyn said before she took off her cloak before putting in her inventory, leaving her in her white sundress. "That feels so much better!" She exclaimed as she stretched out her arms.

"Uh… huh…" I stared at her for a while before shaking my head and turning around. "Either way… um… Shift? Lite? Let's um… walk around." I told them. "And if there are any places or stores you want to go in, just say the word, okay?" I added, to which they both nodded.

Then we started to walk around, pointing out the things that not Shift knew, but it was mostly Filyn who was pointing things out. Of course, Shift was surprised by some of the stuff she didn't remember being there like there were new stores or restaurants in place of the old one she remembers. While Lite wanted to go to so many different shops, so much so that we decided on picking a few stores to visit so as to not waste time.

But while we were walking, Shift asked me a sudden question. "Um… Sappy? Why do you look like you also don't recognize some of them as well?" She looked at me with a quizzical look.

"Huh!? Um… That's not—!" I almost denied that, before figuring it was probably useless. "Y-You can tell?" I asked her, giving her a rather nervous smile.

Shift then nodded. "Yeah. Whenever Filyn points out a place, you sometimes look like you don't recognize it." She told me. "Is there a reason why?"

"Oh. Um… it's because…" I looked off to the side, not wanting to admit that I don't know about most of my things in my nation.

"She doesn't go out a lot." Filyn said, making me sputter at that sudden answer. "Sapphire just stays in and does office work for almost all the time! And when she does, she just goes to the same exact pla…" I immediately cover Filyn's mouth with my hand to shut her up.

"T-That's not t-true!" I exclaimed panically, trying to think of something to disprove that. "Well… I-It's difficult to explain… um… It's… actually… um… I…" I then removed my hand from Filyn slowly and looked down.

"Don't worry about that, Sappy. I think I understand." Shift said, to which I sighed with relief. "It's probably hard for you to make time to go outside, right?" She added, to which I immediately chuckled under my breath.

"U-Um… Y-Yeah! You know me, I work all the time! I barely have any time to go out a lot! Gotta make an example as the CPU of Planeptune! Hahahahaha…" I laughed awkwardly, scratching the back of my head.

"Well, yeah… that is true, but there are very few cases where there is not much paperwork to be done." Filyn said before she smirked at me. "So when that happens, she's either in her room, in her workshop, or lying face first on the couch while groaning about how stiff her back feels." She then gave me a teasing grin. "But it's extremely rare. Though the Groaning Blue Blob of the Couch is pretty funny to see."

Sapphire: "H-Hey! M-My back really does get stiff!" I angrily said before to Shift. Um… Shift? Please don't think anything of this, okay?" I said very sheepishly, looking off to the side.

"Oh… Okay. I understand that as well." She answered, rubbing her back. "I kind of feel that too…" She added, chuckling awkwardly under her breath.

I sigh almost in annoyance as I shake my head. "I can't believe this…" I muttered before I immediately glared at Filyn. "Can you at least try to keep what I do a secret?" I asked her in a very angry tone as I crossed my arms.

"What~? That is basically who you are, right?" Filyn told me, as she then gave me a kind smile. "So no need to hide those small things from people who are close to you, kay? That also goes for me." She said, before patting my head.

I sighed before moving away from her hand. "Jeez… if you want to go that far, then…" I then gave a small smirk and then turned to Shift. "If you want to know more about Filyn… then I remembered that I gave her a small plush, she named the thing Poofy or something. It looked white and fluffy, had a tail and dragon wings." Then my smirk turned to a wide grin. "Actually, I know that she named the plushies I gave her. I think she sometimes sleep with on–" I immediately got hit on the head before seeing Filyn blushing. "What~!? I thought you said we're not supposed to hide those small things from others~!"

"Not that one!" Filyn exclaimed, giving me a pout. "It's just that… you know… um…" She then let out a frustrated groan. "Okay! That's enough sharing for today! Got it!" She said, giving a frown to me as I raised my hands up in defense.

"I… don't know what's going on anymore…" I heard Lite whispering to Venus though it wasn't whisper, but a slightly loud voice.

"Me too…" I heard Venus whisper back. "But… at least I know what my Sis and Filyn do sometimes, right?" She muttered as I saw her looking at me, to which I gave her a smile.

"Yeah… but please don't say this to anyone you don't know." I told them as I looked both of them in the eyes and crossed my arms. "Pretty much, don't talk to strangers. Okay?"

"Okay…" They both said in unison as Venus gave me a nervous smile and Lite looked indifferent.

I smiled back before turning back to Shift. "So… uh… Shift?" I then looked down a little with an awkward smile. "Did you um… like what you heard about both of us…? Even if it's just useless information…"

"I think you both are… um… very interesting…" Shift said very simply, also giving her an awkward smile as she put her hands in front of her. "I guess I'm learning more things about you than what I knew about you…" She added.

"Hehe… yeah… I don't really like telling too much stuff about me… since I didn't want to fill your head with useless stuff…" I muttered as I scratched my head. 'And I wanted you to be impressed by how much I've grown when we met up again after all of those years…' I thought, not saying it out loud as I shook my head. "So… um… either way, since we visit some shops, is there anything you want to go and eat?" I asked Shift. "If not, then I do want to try out a restaurant that seems very popular in Planeptune and I remember some people on forums recommending it as a place to hang out with friends and family. And the restaurant seemed one of the kind here…" I then looked off to the side. "I mean… that's what I heard… So if you don't want to go, then…"

Before Shift even opened her mouth, Lite spoke first. "Ooh~! Sounds interesting~!" Lite exclaimed. "Big Sis! We have to go! We have to go! I want to see more!" She then jumped up and down with loads of excitement.

"Okay, okay, Lite! We'll go there. And besides, it definitely sounds interesting." Shift said before looking at Filyn. "Did you go to this place that Sappy told us about just now?" She asked the redhead.

"Yeah. I have. I tried some of their food and I think it's good…" Filyn answered before she then pondered it for a while. "I mean… The only thing that kinda sucked was that I had to sit there alone while surrounded by people with friends, couples, and families… As well as people who just stare at me because of my identity and stuff…" She then glared at me. "I even asked you to come with me and you said you were busy…" She added, to which I chuckled, not being able to defend myself from that.

"Poor Filyn…" Venus said, looking at her with a sadden and pitied look in her eyes. "She has to sit there all by herself…" She then frowned a little. "That's so sad!"

Filyn then sighed to herself. "It's okay, Venus… I just happened to go there when everyone else was very busy at the time…" She told the young girl. "But now I have some people with me that won't leave me all my lonesome… Right~?" She then immediately looked in my direction.

'What if I just leave right now…? No… That's too mean… And beside…' I internally smiled before crossing my arms. 'I did want to go at some point…' I thought before looking at my friend and nodded. "Don't worry. I won't leave you…" I reassured her.

I then heard her sigh in relief. "That's good…" She said before putting her hands on her hips and gave a brilliant and excited smile. "Okie dokie! Let's go! Let's go!" She exclaimed.

Then we all followed the redhead since, while I had a vague idea where this restaurant was, Shift, Lite, and Venus didn't. We went through alleyways as shortcuts, walked across the street that could probably be considered as jaywalking (as much to the displeasure of Shift), and bumped into a few people on the way.

"Welp! This is the place." Filyn exclaimed, immediately having all of our attention. The restaurant looked more like what a family diner would look like, but with popping colors on the sign of red, yellow, and blue and saw some people waiting outside, probably because of reservation. The sign on the top of the large windows reads, "Angels' Coffee and Dine-in," with angels right at the end of the words.

"Angels…? Coffee…?" Lite looked at the sign, seemed really confused by the words. "Big Sis? What do they mean?" She asked her sister with peculiarity as she tilted her head to the side.

"Um… I think Angels was a term back when the term CPUs wasn't a thing… from what I remembered…" Shift answered, but looked rather unsure about that answer. "And coffee is a drink… that you shouldn't drink yet." She told the young girl simply.

"Haha… I agree with that last part…" I said before looking at Shift with confusion, hearing the first part quite odd. "Wait… What? Seriously? We were seriously called that back then…?"

Shift then nodded slowly. "I mean… Yeah? I mean… I've only vaguely heard about it somewhere back then." She said with slight confidence, but she was still pondering over that. "I'm… not so sure though…"

"Hmm… I see… Welp! If you're not sure, don't think about it. Okay?" I gave her a reassuring smile, to which Shift nodded. "Let's just go in and…" I then turned to Filyn, who had her eyes narrowed and seemed lost in thought. "Um… Filyn? You okay?" I asked her.

"Huh?" Filyn was immediately caught off before immediately shaking her head. "Yep! I'm fine! No need to worry!" She said, giving me a thumbs up and a smile.

"I see…" I then turned to Venus, giving her a smile. "Hey, Venus? Could you charge in her stomach to make sure she snaps out of it?" I asked in an almost joking way.

Venus giggled in response to this. "I don't think there's any need to do that." She told me rather simply.

"Aw…" I then made a fake pout before giving a small smile and then shrugged it off, already knowing that she wouldn't do it. "Either way! Um… Filyn? Could you make a reservation for us?" I asked.

"Sure!" Filyn said, sounding a bit excited as she rushed into the restaurant. And not even for a few seconds of waiting for her to come out, she came back. "They said to wait for about twenty to thirty minutes…" She told us when she came back. "Is that fine?" She asked when she looked towards me.

"Yeah. That's fine." I said as I crossed my arms. 'Man… Do I love it when it's a day-off!" I thought to myself. "I don't mind waiting. How about you guys?" I asked as I turned to the other three.

Shift nodded at this while Venus looked rather pouty before she eventually nodded as well. Lite was also very pouty, but she immediately stamped her foot. "Why do we have to wait!?" She exclaimed very angrily.

"Because there are other people waiting…" I told her immediately as I frowned at her and pointed at the other people who were also waiting. "So we're kind of stuck here for now."

"Boo… I'm hungry…" Lite muttered as she rubbed her stomach as she frowned for a little bit. "I wanna eat…" She grumbled as she crossed her arms.

'Should have brought some snacks…' I thought to myself with annoyance while shaking my head. 'That way… we can at least have her eat something while we wait…' I then looked at Lite. "Look… I…"

"Um… Lite… I know you're hungry, but we have to wait for a while." Shift spoke up, interrupting me. "In the meantime… let's try and do something else while we wait around here." She added.

"Okay…" Lite said, immediately backing off, probably didn't want to argue with her anymore. "But… What should we do?" She asked Shift.

"Hmm… How about this!" Shift then took out a Lowee Switch from her inventory. "Why don't we play some games while we wait?" She asked with a smile.

"Oh… You have your console on hand this time…" I said with slight interest before frowning a bit. "I wished we bought ours…" I added as I crossed my arms.

"You can just look at what we're playing, if that's okay with you." Shift answered as she turned on the game console while looking at me.

"No. It's alright." I immediately told her, waving that offer off. "I don't want to get in the way of you two playing your game." I said before scratching my head and giving a small smile.

"Um… Can I see?" Venus spoke up, having Shift's attention. "I want to see you play some games." She said, seemingly with interest.

"Sure! If your sister is okay with it." Shift then turned to me with expectancy for an answer. I then nodded and told Venus to go ahead. Then after giving her little sister the console and telling her not to break it, Lite and Venus went off to where they play, or watching Lite play in Venus's case, some games there.

As I saw them playing, I gave a sad smile to this scene of them just having fun. "You're smiling…" Filyn spoke up, to which I immediately turned to her in a bit of surprise. "Ah. Sorry. Just pointing it out."

"It's fine… It's just that…" I looked back at my sister with a similar sadness as my smile. "I always wanted to befriend someone when I was born… Unfortunately, I was met by… um…" I then looked at Shift, who seemed to notice me looking at her.

"Y-Yeah… I know." Shift spoke up as she nodded in understanding as she frowned a little and looked down. "You were probably scared of her too…" She added.

"Mm… It was scary…" I told her, recalling the memories of first meeting Shift's older sister. "But even if I was scared… there was another thought that crossed my mind…" I said, which had caught Shift's attention.

"And that was…?" Shift asked, looking at me with interest as she tilted her head to the side.

"Oh… Um…" I immediately looked off to the side. "I thought she was… lonely… I think…" I said, not sure what I said was what I thought at the time. "Sorry… I shouldn't speak about her that way…" I told her as I looked down to the ground.

However, Shift just stared at me like I just said something weird. "Lonely?" Shift looked at me quizzically before she thought about it for a while. "That… actually makes sense…" She muttered to herself.

I still felt guilty for telling her that, so I immediately bowed apologetically. "Sorry… I didn't want you to remind you of her…" I told her as I looked at her. "That's what I felt about her at the time… that's all!" I said with an awkward smile.

"I know… It's just that…" Shift looked longingly over at both Lite and Venus. "I never really thought about her that way…" She told me as she had a sad look on her face.

"S-Sorry…" I said as I looked down for a little bit before hearing Shift giggled. "W-What…?" I asked, looking at her with confusion.

"You're apologizing a lot." Shift said, pointing it out. "You really don't have to apologize about that though." She told me, giving me a reassuring smile.

"O-Okay… I'm sorry…" I said before realizing what I just said before blushing. "O-Oh…! Um… I'm s-sorr–! I mean! Um… O-Okay…" I tried to correct myself before looking down as my face was beet red.

"Jeez, Sapphire… When can you ever stop apologizing?" Filyn said teasingly as she grinned at me. "Sometimes I wonder if you stub your toe on a table, you would immediately apologize for getting in its–!" I immediately smacked her over and over on her back.

"S-Stop~! Filyn~!" I whined as I hit her over and over as I blushed beet red. "I wouldn't~! I wouldn't~!" I repeated it over and over.

"Okay! Okay!" Filyn said as she moved away before patting my head. "Hehe… So cute…" She said to which I immediately pouted.

This scene must have been funny to Shift, since I heard her giggled before it turned to a full-on laugh. To this, I also pouted at her as I squeezed my eyes closed in embarrassment. "Stop~! Muu~! This is not funny~!" I exclaimed.

"Sorry, Sappy. But it kind of is…" Shift said in-between giggles. "I've seen you act like this before, but I got a different feeling than before. It's very surprising." She told me with a smile.

"If that was surprising, then wait around for a while." Filyn said as she was patting my head. "She's very different from how she acts around others." She told the young-looking CPU. "Like for example… she…" I then immediately elbowed her in the stomach. "Ow~!"

"Okay… That's enough about me…" I said, slowly regaining my composure. Then I heard someone calling my name with the table for five. Realizing they were calling for us, this made me look at her in my 'Seriously' face. "Did you seriously use my name?" I asked Filyn.

"Haha… Yeah…" Filyn said as she scratched her head with an awkward smile. "Wanted to use yours for a change, okay?" She answered as she laughed it off in a clumsy tone. "Hope you're fine with that…"

"I would if you just told me…" I muttered to myself before shrugging it off. "Oh, well! Let's just go. Don't want to keep them waiting." I told the rest of us there.

Filyn and Shift nodded while Venus and Lite were a bit focused on their game, but they later nodded. Then we all went into the restaurant and followed busser to our table. "Lite. Please don't look at the console while we're walking." Shift told her, to which she nodded slowly before looking away from her game for a little bit.

We were shown to a table near the window, to which we all sat down; with me, Filyn, and Venus on one side and Shift and Lite on the other. Then they gave me and Filyn some menus. Shift was having a hard time trying to get them to give her one at the time because of her child-like appearance to the point I had to tell them that she's around my age, to which they complied and gave her one. I was looking through the menu and having Venus look at the menu with me, trying to figure out what I wanted to get. But…

"These choices sound way too good…" I said looking through all the menu items. "Like… sandwiches, coffee, and so much more!" I said in awe, seeing as this my first time here.

Venus nodded in agreement but narrowed her eyes at my menu. "Sis? I… don't know what some of these mean…" She said as she pointed at some of the items. "Could you help me understand what some of these are?"

"Uh… Sure!" I answered as I pointed at some of the items. "Usually, they have descriptions below the food items. Like this one… um…" I narrowed my eyes on one of the items. "This one! It said that 'this sandwich contains a secret sauce layered with bacon, lettuce, and tomato….' Understand?"

"I understand, Sis." Venus answered, but still had her eyes narrowed. "It's a bit hard to understand, but I think I can get some of it. Even if some words are a bit difficult…" She mused, looking like she didn't really understand.

"That's okay. I'll just have either me or Filyn to teach you later." I told her in reassurance before looking at the menu again. "Hmm… I might have just picked this one… sounds good…" I chose a BLT sandwich with fries. "And um… Venus?" I then looked at my younger sister.

"Can I get the same as yours?" Venus asked, to which I nodded. "Yay!" She cheered a little, which made me smile a little.

"And you?" I then looked at Shift and Lite who were both looking at the menu, though it was more she was also showing Lite the menu. "What are you two going to get?" I asked them.

"Don't know." Shift answered while still looking at the menu. "There's so many good choices… and neither me or Lite know what to pick." She told me as she frowned a little. "Hmm… I think I might get this one…" She then showed us what she wanted. It was the soup of the day with a salad on the side. "Oh. There's a kid's meal. I might just get that for Lite." She said, to which Lite cocked her head to the side but shrugged it off.

I giggled before looking at Filyn, who seemed to have already decided what she wanted to get. "Oh. You already chose?" I said before realizing it's a stupid question. "I mean… you've already been here, so it would make sense…"

"Mhm! Back then, they gave me some recommendations, so it was definitely an easy pick for me!" Filyn said as she pointed at a cheeseburger that said it has a secret sauce in it. "And now I get to enjoy this with all of you guys!"

"Oh. That's nice…" I muttered before seeing the waitress walking up to us. "Oh! They're here!" I exclaimed before fixing myself. The waitress puts down five glasses of water on our table before greeting us.

"Welcome to Angels' Coffee and Dine-in, how may I take your order?"

"Well… Um…" I then immediately froze up when meeting eye to eye with the waitress. "Um… I…" I then stared at Filyn for a bit, wanting help from her. This made her sigh before telling the waitress we want two BLTs and a cheeseburger.

The waitress wrote that down before she then turned to Shift with a smile. "And you, miss?" She asked.

"O-Oh! U-Um… I-I… um…" Shift looked down, looking all jittery and very bashful. This made Filyn also tell her that Shift wanted the soup of the day and Lite wanted a kid's meal. The waitress wrote all of that before leaving, to which I immediately flopped face first onto the table.

"Why…? I still can't speak to a single person…" I groaned, wanting to hit my head over and over but can't since I can't disturb the other customers. "I thought I could handle it like before… but…" I immediately groan again.

"Well… you're not gonna hit the mark every single time…" Filyn told me, trying to reassure me. "So don't really worry about it too much." She added.

"But… Urgh… never mind…" I then looked towards Shift apologetically. "Sorry, Shift… I got nervous in front of you when I should have given the orders…" I told her with a frown.

"I-It's alright… um…" Shift looked down, still feeling the after effects of what just happened. "I… um… actually wanted to speak up as well… but um… I couldn't…" She said with a frown.

"Shift… you really don't have to do that…" I told her as I fixed myself up before I rose myself up from having my face. "I know you're very shy too and I don't want you to force yourself to talk…" I added as I gave her a kind smile. "Just know that I am here… Okay?"

"Yeah, Big Sis!" Lite spoke up, seemingly agreeing with me "And if anyone tries to hurt you, then I'll beat them up!" She told her older sister while pretending to punch someone.

Shift then giggled a little. "Lite… I appreciate that… but please don't beat people up…" She told her younger sister before she then turned to me "And um… thank you, Sappy." She said with a small smile.

"Don't worry about it…" I told her, giving her a smile back. "Either way, we should just wait for the food to come…" I said before noticing Filyn was looking at me. "Um… yes? Is there something wrong?" I asked before the girl then wordlessly patted my head. "H-Hey! What are you…!?"

"You're so nice, Sapphire…" Filyn said while rubbing my head as I pouted at her. "What a good kid… Such a good kid–!" I then immediately hit her in the stomach.

I looked at her, sighed before looking back at the others here. "With that out of the way, let's wait for the food." I repeated again. "In the meantime, let's just… um… sit here and um… stare at the ceiling or somewhere…?"

"Boo…! That's lame!" Lite said as she frowned at me before she then took out that console. "I'm just gonna play this!" She exclaimed as she turned it back on and started playing her game. That made me laugh a bit awkwardly before shrugging it off and did exactly what I said I wanted to do to pass the time.

Of course, we did have much to talk about to pass the time other than some small talk about some latest trends or something that was on our minds. And finally, the waitress got back with our food and served it to us. We all looked at our food and saw how simple, yet elegant looking the plating was. The food itself looked like it was made professionally. Overall, it actually looked well done.

"Hm… The food here never ceases to surprise me… huh…" I heard Filyn mutter under her breath as she looked at the food in surprise. "Mhm! This is one of the best looking cheeseburgers I have ever seen."

"Yeah… I can see that…" I said as I looked at my own and Venus's food, which is the exact same thing. "Venus? Does it also look good for you?" I asked her as I looked at my younger sister, to which she didn't answer and started to wolf down the sandwich. "Heh. Hungry, aren't we?" I asked her as I patted her head, to which she pouted a little. "Understandable. We've been waiting for a while. So enjoy yourself, okay? In um… moderation…" I told her, to which she nodded and while still wolfing down the food. "Either way, Let's eat!"

With me saying that, the rest of us started to eat our food. Venus and Lite were wolfing down theirs, to which we had to later tell them to eat slower. Me, Filyn, and Shift were taking out time with our food, still doing some small talk while we ate. And when we were finally finished, the waitress came back and asked if we wanted to order anymore. Me and Shift refused since we were already full. Venus felt indifferent at first, before I told her that she can eat as much as she wants, to which she then ordered the same thing she just ate earlier. While Filyn and Lite immediately ordered seconds. The respective party just giggled at them as the waitress wrote it down and walked away.

'I guess you two aren't full yet…' I thought before shrugging to myself. 'Ah well… I guess I have to wait for a while…' I sighed before looking at Venus, who seemed to have enjoyed the food. 'At least she's enjoying it…' I smiled to myself.

And after they ate again, we were all getting full so we decided to leave it at that. I for– I mean… I politely asked Filyn to pay for us, to which she obliged and pay the bill for us. And after waiting for them to give us the change, we then headed out the restaurant.

"Man…! Wasn't that some good food…!" Filyn exclaimed as she stretched her arms before turning to us. "Right?" She asked with a huge smile.

I nodded while giving back a small smile. "Yeah. It was…" I told her, to which the others agreed with me. "I guess the best part was that we didn't get interru…" Then immediately as I said that, we all heard the sound of glass being smashed. "Oh. Uh…"

"Um… Should we check that out?" Shift asked as she turned to me with a quizzical look. "It might be something we can look into." She added before looking toward where we heard the sound in worry.

"Yeah. I'll go on ahead. You guys stay here." I said before immediately running towards the sound, not listening to Filyn telling me to wait.

I rushed to where some robbers were stealing some credits in some store I don't know while the employees were somewhere under the counters. 'Well… something you don't see everyday…' I thought sarcastically while looking around. 'Looks like the guards aren't here yet… Which is expected…' I shrugged it off. 'No matter… I wanted all the action anyways…' I then summoned out my gun before walking on the scene and pointing my gun onto them. "Hey! Hands up!" I exclaimed, making them all turn to me and then I smirked at them. "This is the Planeptune pol–!" I then gave them a grin. "Ah! Whatever! Police don't wear stuff like this!" I told them before shooting Paralyze Shots at them. Some of them hit, causing them to fall down. "So? Who's nex–?" I then noticed something immediately running past me. "Eh?"

"Justice Kick!"

I immediately turned to where I heard that shout and saw a blue-haired girl wearing what seemed to be a jumpsuit and a red scarf with a penguin-looking backpack on her back. I didn't know who she was, so I just shrugged it off and tried to make another shot, but that girl kept moving around and beating up the dudes in front of me. So I decided to keep my gun pointed at them and waited for a clear shot. I then smirked when I saw it and took another shot, shooting the robber that was about to attack that girl from behind. "You're welcome!" I told the girl before pointing my weapon.

This went on for like a few minutes until all the dudes were down, to which I sighed in relief before putting away my gun. The girl then walked up to me with a brilliant grin on her face. "Thanks for the help!" She told me as I immediately froze up, but seemed to not notice it. "And by the looks of it, you must be a heroine like me!"

'A… heroine…?' I thought, snapping out of it for a bit when I heard that word. 'Like… a hero?' I looked at her confused and almost in awe.

"Anyway, gotta go! Heroine away!" The girl then ran off somewhere in an alleyway and seemingly disappeared. I stared where she left while repeating the words 'heroine' under my breath, not being able to get that word out of my head.

"OI! SAPPHIRE!" I heard Filyn's voice from behind me, to which I paid no mind to. "Hey! Don't just run off like that!" She told me while I still ignored her. "Hey! Are you even listening?" She then turned me around and immediately noticed I was still in a daze. "Uh… Sapphire? You alright?"

"H-Huh…?" I blinked twice as I looked at Filyn, still processing who I just met a few seconds earlier. Then, as the others came back, I started to grin very widely with my eyes sparkling, while she seemed to realize what was happening. "I… met…! I met…! I met a heroine… and we fought them together… That was… That was…" I then leaned closer to hers with my eyes still sparkling. "THAT WAS SO AMAZING!" I exclaimed loudly, sounding very excited.

"Oh no…" Filyn muttered before stepping back from me with almost fear in her single eye. Opposing that, Shift and Lite just looked confused as to why she looked afraid all of the sudden. While Venus was a bit surprised that I was acting this way.

"Um… Filyn? Why do you look scared?" Shift asked first, who didn't really think this wasn't anything different from how I used to act around her.

"Uh… well…? You see…" Filyn's voice trailed off as she looked between me and Shift. "It's hard to explain…" She told the young girl.

"Eh? What's so hard to explain?" I asked her very quizzically while giving her wide grin. "I told you about this before, right? I love heroes! Hero~es!" I told her.

"Yeah… you told me… like more than once…" Filyn said as she looked off to the side dreading it, but she looked like she remembered all of our talks. "It's… um… very interesting… to say the least…"

"Yep yep!" I said before giggling to myself before immediately turning to Shift. "So? Do you think heroes are cool? Do you? Do you?" I asked her with an excited and expectant look in my eyes.

"O-Oh! Um… Yeah!" Shift immediately answered before she nodded. "I think they're cool! I told you this before, right?" She asked, to which I nodded

However, Lite stared at me with a confused look. "Not really?" She spoke up all of the sudden. "I mean… I don't really know what they actually are…" Her voice then trailed off. Then immediately afterwards, there was a crack as I slowly turned to her.

Filyn, looking rather panicked, turned to the girl who said such a careless thing to me. "Lite…! What have you done…!?" She exclaimed.

"I didn't do nothin'!" Lite answered back, unable to understand the situation she was in. "I just said…!"

She was then interrupted when I placed my hands on Lite's shoulder. "Oh~? You don't know what a hero is?" I asked as I felt my body tremble and smiled very widely. "Okay… Then I'll just have to tell you all about it!"

Venus, with zero understanding of what's going to happen, turned to Filyn. "Um… Filyn? Why Sis smiling very creepil–?" Then Filyn put her hand over Venus's ears, to which she looked very confused for a few minutes. "Eh…? Filyn? What are you…?"

"Sorry, Venus…" Filyn muttered under her breath. "I don't want to listen to this…" She told the young girl.

Lite still looked rather confused, so she turned to Shift to understand what's going on. But Shift just sighs as she looks at her. "Sorry, Lite. But I think you brought this upon yourself…" She told her simply.

"Eh…? Eeeh…? Eeeh?" Lite then looked back at me with wide-eye confusion.

"Okay…! So if you want to know what a hero is, then…" I then grinned at her, finally able to tell someone new about what a hero is. "So a hero is…"

–

"Hero… Hero… Hero…" Lite muttered under her breath as we were taking a walk around Planeptune. Shift was hugging her while looking at her with pity.

Venus also looked at Lite with a bit of pity before she then looked towards me. "Sis… Could you apologize to her…? I feel bad for whatever happened earlier." She told me, but looked like she was unsure what had actually happened.

"I'm sorry, Lite…" I told her apologetically as I gave her a small smile. "I guess I got a little excited… Neehee…" I then scratched the back of my head and laughed rather awkwardly.

"W-What…?" Lite looked up at me before she chuckled it off. "What do you mean by that?" She asked, like she somehow forgot what happened earlier.

Filyn then giggled a little. "I guess Lite couldn't handle your child-like excitement." She teased me with a smirk. "And I have to admit, you acting like that sort let's people see a new side to you…"

Shift nodded at that as she giggled a little, like she remembered something about me. " Mmhm! I remember the few times we met and she would be very excited about something." She said as she looked at me. "So she sometimes pulls me around when she's like that. It felt different from how she mostly acts when we meet, but I didn't mind it." She said in a nostalgic tone and smile.

"Nehehehe… Y-Yeah… I did do that…" I muttered to myself as I blushed to myself. "But… It was fun… I guess…" I then remembered something that I have to do. "Actually, now that you said that, could I pull you guys somewhere else?" I asked, looking at Shift.

"Sure. What do you have in mind?" Shift asked as she looked at me with interest. "Because it's always something random or something extraordinary." She commented on that while giving a small smile.

"Mhm! There is a place only in Planeptune where you can find something like that." I told her before looking at Filyn and giving her a wink. "You know the place I usually go to… The other place, I mean." I said, trying to remind Filyn of that place.

Filyn thought for a while before putting two and two together. "Ohhh! I know what you're talking about! Yeah! That place, right?" She said, to which Venus looked at both of us in confusion

"Are you talking about the big tree Sis went to?" Venus asked as she tilted her head to the side.

"Well… no…" I told her with a frown before giving her a big smile. "It's actually another place that I go to whenever I have time. It's one of the extraordinary places in the world!"

"E-Extraordinary…!?" Venus looked at me in disbelief and awe. "Wow~! I wanna see~! I wanna see~!" She repeated over and over as she looked at me with sparkling eyes.

"Hehe… Okay okay!" I waved both my hands to calm her down before running in front of everyone. "Come on! Let's go! Let's go!" I told them, beckoning them to follow me.

Filyn just smiled before nodding, so did Shift and Venus. Lite was the only one that was still a little bit dazed of what happened earlier, but sort of just shrugged it off. Then they all followed after me since I went fully ahead of them.

–

"Huh…?" Shift looked rather surprised at the place I showed them. "This is…?"

"This is the place…?" Venus asked, looking a bit awed at this place, which was a very large scrapyard. "Looks a bit… big and… messy…?" She then tilted her head to the side with a bit of confusion, not knowing what this place is.

"Hehe… Yeah… This is the place…" I told her, giving her a nervous smile. "This place is sort of a scrapyard I found a few years back, though I think this place has been around her for at least five." I told everyone here as I gave them a smile. "You can find some nifty stuff here, if you put in the hard work. Speaking of which…" I then ran towards a very small looking broken car, opening up the back door and taking out all the stuff that I found and taking them back to show the rest, mostly to Shift. "This is what I found. Pretty neat, right?"

"Y-Yeah…" Shift answered first, looking at all the stuff I'm showing. It ranges from small toys to weird looking masks to consoles. Most looked either broken or a bit worn down. "These look very… Hm?" She then noticed a console she was a bit familiar with. "Isn't that… a Lowee portable console…!? The one that came out around our time…!?" She exclaimed as she took it out from me and held it, looking at the console very closely, while Venus and Lite were also looking both confused and curious at what Shift was holding, which before her eyes widened. "IT IS! But… how did it…!?" She looked at both me and the console in her hands.

"That. I have no clue on." I told her while giving her a shrug. "I found that under all of this." I said as I pointed at all the scrap behind me. "It was very old; couldn't even turn it on." I explained, before giving her a frown. "I might find someone to repair it since I don't think I could do it myself, but the parts and getting it restored to its original look… might be a bit hard to come by…" I said, giving her a frown. "And finding said person might be a bit harder…" I then looked down a little.

"Yeah… I know… but…" Shift then give it back to me. "At least I was able to see something like this again… It feels… nostalgic…" She said, muttering the last words, to which I nodded back a bit sadly.

I then shook my head before giving her a smile. "Either way, I just came here to pack all of this stuff I showed you guys. I'll be right back. In the meantime… I'll give you all a small challenge…" I said before grinning at all of them. "If you guys are able to find anything good, I might give you guys a prize." I told them. "But no digging them out, okay?" I told them, to which Venus and Lite gave a wide smile and immediately tried to climb up the rubble. "Venus! Be careful! Some of them are unstable!" I told her, to which they both stopped. "Actually, split into two teams. Filyn and Venus is one and Shift and Lite is the other. Got it?" To which they all nodded and started to get to it by Filyn helping the others climbing up the rubble, while I just chuckled and went back packing up the stuff I want to bring back.

I did this by walking back to the rundown car, putting the stuff I was holding on the ground, taking out a huge plastic bag from the trunk that I pried open way back. I then carefully place the stuff in the bag before opening the backdoor to where I put the other stuff I found and place them in the same bag.

'Hmm… Maybe I should find some more… This load isn't enough…' I thought before giving myself a huge smile. 'Okie dokie! I'm just gonna find some while the others aren't looking… I think they went that way?' I then looked to where they went. 'Then I'll just go the other way… But first… let me grab my tools first…' I then tied the bag up before putting it in the back of the car. Then I grabbed my shovel and my hatchet and climbed up the other way. 'Maybe I should… transform… Actually nah… I like hard work anyways…'

I then carefully walked across the scrapheap, being careful of my footing, while looking out for anything that caught my interest. After searching the area and looking around, I noticed there was something shiny from where I was standing. "Ah! I found something!" I exclaimed, sounding rather triumphant. "I knew there was something interesting! Let's go and dig it out!" I then moved away a little bit, put down the hatchet, and started to carefully shovel some of the scrap out of the way. I also noticed there was some wood in the way, so I then placed the shovel down and picked up the hatchet and started chopping away the wood.

"This is good enough…" I then smiled before going down and reaching out whatever that was shining. "Almost there… I almost got it… GOT IT!" I exclaimed as I grabbed a hold of that shiny thing and immediately pulled it out. "Eh? What is this?" I then looked at the object. It was a bronze, diamond-shaped, with a small blue crystal in the middle. "Looks rather… ancient… Maybe I should get an expert on this and ask how much this is worth…" I then heard my name being called. "Oh. That's them… Welp… Gotta head back. They're probably worried…" I muttered as I pocketed the strange object and head back.

When I came back, I saw that both Venus and Shift looked around rather worried, the former was even more worried than Shift. Filyn seemed to be chilled about it and Lite just didn't really care. "Did you already came back before me?" I exclaimed, to which everyone turned to my attention as I climbed back down and walked towards them. "So? Did you guys find anything inter–?" I then got immediately hugged by Venus. "Woah! Uh… Venus? What are you doing?" I asked her.

"Sis… I was so worried…" Venus muttered as she buried her face into my shirt. "Where…? Where did you go?" She asked as she looked up at me.

"Uh… Could you at least let go of me so I can tell you?" I asked, to which Venus slowly and reluctantly let go of me. "Well…" I then pulled out what I just got earlier. "I found this when you were scavenging for stuff. Pretty interesting, right?"

To which Venus forgot about earlier and looked at the small trinket. "Woah! So pretty! What is it?" She asked as she looked at the diamond-shaped object.

"I have no clue. It's pretty shiny though…" I said as I then looked to Shift and waved the trinket at her. "Hey! Have you seen something like this before?" I asked.

Shift then narrowed her eyes and started at it for a little while before she shook her head. "No… I don't think I have seen anything like that…" She said with a frown.

"Oh…" I frowned as I looked at it before showing it to Filyn. "Have you seen something like this before in your um… old work?" I asked her, to which she immediately shook her head.

"Nope. But it's pretty shiny." Filyn commented as she looked at this as she tilted her head to the side. "Though… I wonder how long it's been here…" She said as she stared at it for a while. "Looks a bit… new… Like whoever threw this away didn't seem to care about the value…"

"Hmm…" I then looked at the thing very closely. There was something strange about it, almost magical. "Ah well! Guess we'll find out sooner or later… Now then…" I then gave everyone a smile. "What did you guys find? I hope that it's something that can catch my interest~!"

This made Venus perked up and grinned. "Okay!" She then grabbed my hand. "Come on, Sis!" She then pulled me to where she found whatever it was. But then Lite then grabbed my arm and started to pull.

"Wait! Let me show you what I found first!" Lite said as she frowned at me. "I also found something that was really cool." She told me before she then grinned. "Come on! Come on!" She said as she pulled in a similar, yet different direction.

"Eh? But–! I want Sis to see mines first!" Then Venus pulled me the other way. "Come on, Sis! Let's go! Let's go!" She exclaimed.

"Eh…? Eh…?" I looked between Venus and Lite. "Um… Could you guys do rock paper scissors? No need to play tug-of-war with me, okay?" I told both of them. "First to three wins?" I said to which they let go of my hands.

"Okay!" They both said before doing just that, to which I just smiled to myself as I looked at them playing that game.

'Thank goodness that Saki taught me that when me and Kuro wanted to do something different from each other…' I thought before smiling nostalgically. 'Actually… this reminds me of ourselves back then…'

"Yay! I won!" Lite exclaimed triumphantly as she cheered for herself while Venus looked downtrodden.

"Sis… I lost…" Venus said as she looked at me with tears in her eyes before she then looked down at the ground..

"Aw… It's okay, Venus…" I told her before patting her head. "You're getting graded from what you found. So it doesn't matter who goes first. As long as what you found looks cool, yeah?" I told as I gave her a reassuring smile.

"Mhm…" Venus nodded a bit sadly, but still smiled either way. "Okay…!" She said as she then gave me a brilliant smile.

"Yeah yeah…" Lite said before walking off somewhere, probably walking to where she found her trinket. "Come on! Come on! Let's go!"

"Okay okay! I'll be there!" I then smiled to myself. 'Gosh… I sounded like Saki back then…' I thought before frowning to myself. 'But I can never reach the heights that she has reached…" I then looked up to the sky. "Can I ever reach for those stars like Saki wanted me to? I muttered to myself, not wanting everyone to hear me.

But somehow, Filyn must have heard me say something. "Hm? Sapphire? You said something?" She asked, looking at me with a curious look in her eye.

"No! It's nothing!" I told her as I waved my hands before picking up my tools again. "Either way, let's see what you guys found, okay?" I then walked past Filyn. But as I walked past her, I heard something that I thought I heard from Filyn.

"Reach for the star… huh…"

---

And that's where I'm gonna end it there. Man! This chapter took a while to write. This is strangely the longest chapter I ever wrote (as of writing this one). I don't have much to say about this chapter, but I kind of want to build the character, Shift, for this chapter since I felt a bit rushed and couldn't get to her in the Lowee arc.

I'm also writing that prequel story along with this one, so I might put the original one on hiatus until either the prequel story ends (in which the prequel story would probably be a little shorter than this one), or if I reached the final nation I'll be exploring in this story.

The chapter after this is the Lastation arc, and I do have plans for that one as well and how I would build the character, Listoria. So Please Review and Stay Safe.