Chapter 1:
"Mina"
"Kei"
"How is she? Chika, I mean"
"She's sleeping, right now. Though her arm and leg are…"
"Even with our advancements in medicine, we can't even put a limb back together?"
"…"
They both stare at the city night side by side. The city is dyed in array of colors from green to blue to white mixing and fighting and ultimately merging, they're contrasted by the red glow of cell towers and helipads that blinks in slow fades. The wind is strong, strong enough that its almost audible accompanied by the various sounds of night life below.
"So, everything has been what she predicted huh…" Kei sighed. Loud enough to almost silence the blowing wind.
"It seems so"
"And with each one, it makes her offer more and more compelling"
"It seems so"
Mina stands a few paces behind Kei, her back turned as she looks at the city. Kei's white hair flows with the strong wind, as well as the tails of her coat. She fixes her hair, turns towards Mina and with firmness in her strides, walks past her.
"What should we do now?"
"…" Kei walks.
"Are we going to trust, her?"
"…" and then stops.
"You know me, I don't act before I thought it through"
"Then?"
"We're doing it, Mina"
Kei starts her walk again. Her heart steeled, her eyes determined, her soul almost offering. Heat from her core spreads through her, burning away all the doubts she has 2 seconds ago. With the heat radiating through, she is almost surprised that how smoothly the next words came out of her.
"We're reviving the CPUs"
"Ugh… finally!" I collapse on the sofa after taking a hot shower and fully clothed.
"Good work out there" Nepgear handed me a glass of orange juice.
"Thanks" I take it and drink it like I haven't drank water in days.
No matter what anyone says, doing construction work all on your own is tough. Sure, it takes a lot out of me to break a sweat, but since I've been doing this for past 4 weeks or so, from the moment I wake up upto the moment the the sun goes down, plus no air conditioning, even I'm going to get tired.
"Ugh I feel like I've been cooked" I let out a small complaint as my body eases into the sofa.
"How's the construction going?"
"I got the walls plastered so far, since Neptune hasn't decided on the floor plan yet, I've done jack on the floor, except for getting the pipes and wiring ready"
Oh, and when I mean floor, I didn't mean the floor, I mean THE floor. Like, the entire section of a building.
"How long would it take now?"
"A month or so… If Neptune can't decide on the floor plan, then I'll have to go with my floor plan instead" or my suffering will never end.
"Ahahaha… Sis does take her time"
For a bit of backstory, Neptune commissioned me to build a large bathroom. And when I mean large, I really mean an entire floor's worth. Now, something like this can be done with a team of construction guys working in reasonable pace. But Neptune being unreasonable as she is, insisted that I should do it alone or I won't get my daily fix of sleeping with her, or because she'll insult me that I'm not a man enough. Yeah, definitely that.
As a needy man, and wanting to look cool in front of my wife, I, against my better judgement, started the project on my own full steam ahead like a chicken running around without its head.
And now my body is punishing me for it.
"You really should ask for help now Big Brother. Even Histy is on the verge of calling a construction company" Nepgear says her concern.
"I can still handle it… Plus, I've been doing it at a reasonable pace"
Reasonable is a bit stretch, I've been going at it like a monkey on steroids. My brain is about to fry from being overclocked all time trying to maintain the speed of 10 men and the quality control of a stringent engineering student about taking on his board exam to get is license.
"I don't think anyone constructing a giant bath house alone is reasonable"
"I think anyone that knows what they're doing can do it"
"What about making an entire floor alone?"
"Hrmmmm…" damn, she's right.
I had to construct an entire floor by myself. That's why it's taking so damn long to finish this grand bath. I had to, by myself, make a ramp to the 3rd floor, because I'm just extending the ramp from the first floor to the second. Make scaffolds on the 3rd floor, bring up all the materials that I overestimated, because overestimating is better than underestimating, from Planeptower's entrance ALL the way up here. Then sledgehammer the roof, because it's made of concrete, raise the walls, then pour concrete on the freaking nest of steel for the new roof.
And since outside wall is susceptible to the elements, I had to plaster, and paint the outside walls before before it will come tumbling on me. Yes, I could've not painted it left it like so. But I was tired, I was on a roll, and I don't want to deal with the sun anymore.
"In any case, where is she anyway?" I know Neptune said earlier she was going somewhere, but I was busy slapping concrete on the walls that it slipped out of my mind at some point.
"Histy and Sis are going to Lastation for some work" pretty sure Histy just dragged Neptune by the ear.
"Ah, that healthcare project that Noire's been bugging me about"
"Mhm. Apparently, she wants Planeptune to vet on it"
"Are they gonna come home for dinner?" I ask as I take a look at the clock. It's about 7pm already. Only a few more minutes before Nepgear prepares dinner.
"Well… Histy said that it might take 3 days" huh...
"So it'll just be the 2 of us for the time being huh. Ain't this exciting" my mind instantly thought up ways to tease my little sister.
"Please go easy on me…" she dryly laughs as she reads my mind.
"Do you want another juice? I need to get back stirring the pot" judging from the smell that's been wafting in the air for a while now seems she's making curry today.
"No thank you. The juice was great" I hand her the empty glass.
As she goes back to the kitchen, I try to think on what to do next. I was thinking of watching some TV, but my body decided against it. Taking my phone to play some games also gave me a hard rejection from my body. Instead, I just cross my arms, lean back on the sofa, and loose the knots in my body, as it starts to relax.
Before long, sleep crawls up to me. I let my body relax even further as I drift off into sleep.
Its like someone is pressing up against me. A warm feeling enveloped me as my mind thinks of nothing and my body goes numb. Weight becomes weightless, the sound of cooking and boiling becomes muffled. I let sleep and relaxation take ov-!
"Huh?"
My eyes suddenly shot open.
Instincts tell me that something went wrong, and forces me to look.
My eyes see nothing. No. It's a wall. Wood? Cement. I can't tell. My brain is too fuzzy. I can hear loud thumping noises from afar. I can smell gunpowder in the air, my back feels cold. My hands aren't crossed anymore, they're on my sides. The lingering taste of juice is nowhere in my mouth anymore.
The moment my brain finally clears, the first thought that comes to mind is.
"What the hell?"