When Noire had heard that Neptune had somehow ended up in a different dimension, she didn't think much of it

Knowing Neptune, she would protagonist her way out of whatever situation she would find herself in

And then, a couple days later she hears that Nepgear had fallen into the portal Histoire had made to bring Neptune back because someone was too busy writing her stories to keep track of, look after and discipline her youngest sister

Normally Noire wouldn't be this annoyed or agitated

But she was actually planning to ask the Planeptunian candidate out on an actual date which was scheduled for the next day

It was nothing grandiose, just catching a movie at the cinema (specifically a mecha anime movie with a love story subplot) followed by dinner at a diner close by

She was definitely going to have words with Blanc later, right now, she's going to go take some quests and let out some misplaced aggression on some monsters that very much didn't deserve to be on the receiving end off

It would be 5 days later that she would get any news from Histoire about both of the Planeptunian goddesses

Neptune in a very Neptune fashion was lazing about like normal and apparently she got a girlfriend in that dimension's Vert (good for her, she supposed)

Nepgear had all the work dumped onto her, again, hearing this made Noire bristle (not so unlike a certain gearhead from a few chapters ago)

There was also three children that the Basilicom had adopted after they were essentially dumped on their front door, children that, through Neptune's actions, were also Nepgear's responsibility

According to Histoire the call happened because Nepgear intended to officially adopt the children as her own after a kidnapping incident

And a second call was made not that long after due to one of the girls had unintentionally used the class up item in that dimension that allows a person to become a CPU

It was really late when Histoire had given her a heads up when she received the call from Nepgear when the Lilac Haired CPU candidate when she was ready to open the portal

Seeing Nepgear was… Horrifying and heartbreaking

From the dark circles under her eyes to the aura of pure exhaustion radiating off of her

Noire, even at the peak of her overworking herself looked significantly better than how absolutely defeated the Lilac haired girl looked right this moment

From the looks of it, it took a moment for Nepgear's tired mind to register the fact that she's here, but once it did Nepgear ran into her arms and broke down crying

It's probably not the time to notice, but Nepgear is definitely a little taller than she was before she ended up in the other dimension

…and her breasts felt bigger pressed against her

Oh no, nows definitely not the time to be noticing these things

After Nepgear cried herself to sleep in her arms, she had carried Nepgear to her room

Where Histoire is running a diagnostic spell on the candidate due to the fact that the lilac haired girl is physically older than she was supposed to be

While Histoire is doing that Noire had turned her attention to the trio of teens that had come with Nepgear that are worriedly looking over her

It's not hard to put 2 and 2 together to realize that these 3 girls are the children that Nepgear adopted as her own

What did take her by surprise was the fact that she recognised 2 of the 3 teens

Sure they're younger than the ones that she's familiar with but without a doubt 2 of them were IF and Compa, which leaves the blond as the only one that she really needs to be introduced to

Once the Diagnostics was done Histoire said that Nepgear messed up slightly when she did the ritual to seal away the blond teen's (Peashy, as she had learnt her name was) CPU prowers

Meaning that Nepgear herself was aging along with the children (so Noire wasn't imagining things, Nepgear did get bigger)

Noire didn't intend on spending the night when she arrived, but clearly Nepgear needed it, probably way more than the lilac haired girl would admit

Besides, Nepgear would do the same for her like she had done so that day

And it seems like the teens had the same thought because it was a tight squeeze between the four of them with Nepgear in the middle (5 in total for anyone wondering)

Noire had expected to wake up to a similar scene as the night before but she didn't

Turns out that Nepgear had woken up fairly early and had taken the teens to enroll them into highschool

She knows this because the lilac haired girl had left her a note saying sorry and explaining herself (as thoughtful as the lilac haired girl is, Noire cant help but feel worried)

As such she went and spoke with Histoire

She needed to know when the school semester will start (she had a distinct feeling that Nepgear wouldn't go on a vacation no matter how well deserved it may be if the teens cant join)

And to see if she can get Histoire to agree let Nepgear take a vacation for however long that may be, for the Lilacette's physical and mental health (it helps that Histoire will be able to get the rooms ready for the teens during the vacation without having to rush things)

As it turns out the semester will start in 4 and a half weeks and Histoire was all too ready to give Nepgear a much deserved break (honestly she looked like she was about to drop dead and it's horrifying)

With Nepgear's bags packed and the girls' bags not unpacked, the group went to Lastation where they will spend the next 2 weeks

To say Uni was horrified upon seeing Nepgear's condition would be a massive understatement

Noire and Uni had made quick work of getting their guests accommodated in the guest rooms (Noire was half tempted to make sure Nepgear would stay in her room rather than a guest room but now wasn't the time for intrusive thoughts like that)

And Nepgear had fallen asleep the moment her head touched the pillow when she lied down to test the bed, the poor girl was so exhausted that she was staying awake through sheer willpower (she didn't know whether to be impressed or horrified… both, she felt both but it leans closer towards horrified)

That was how the first week and a half went really, Nepgear would sleep, wake up, eat and go back to sleep

Noire spent the entire time tending to Nepgear when she wasn't doing paperwork

Which meant that Uni would have to do more quests than she normally would do to cover for her quest wise

Thankfully it came with a brightside which was that the teens were all too willing to help them out

Teen IF and Peashy would go with Uni to do quests while Teen Compa would stay with her at the basilicon tending to Nepgear whenever the lilac haired girl was awake and helping Noire out by bringing paperwork to her and taking completed paperwork to the Basilicom workers

The Congo Pink haired teen also helped her out in the kitchen when she was cooking for all of them

The week following was much better

Nepgear was up and about more, but even then she was still tired

Not the ready to faint from exhaustion levels of tired that Nepgear was when she first arrived where she could be found having an "impromptu naptime" in the most random places (leaning against a cabinet in the hallway, at the dining table and the bathtub to name a few)

Now she has enough energy that she can stay awake for the day, but with nothing to do (Noire put her foot down and forbade Nepgear from doing quests or going to train "whatever progress you've lost you can get back, your health is more important than your stats!" Noire had said that day and Nepgear was pouting) she would end up playing games and take naps when she starts to feel too tired

Noire did get a call from Histoire checking on how Nepgear was doing and to inform her of a situation happening in Planeptune currently

She also told her that due to the fact that this is happening in Planeptune proper, the start of the semester has been delayed by 2 weeks (essentially telling her that Nepgear can stay with her for the duration of that time)

Histoire ended the call by telling her that she will give them a call later if their (Noire, Uni and Nepgear) help becomes necessary

That was… nice, not what was happening in Planeptune, no that was, in fact, not nice, what was nice was Histoire letting Nepgear stay for longer than they initially agreed to

With Histoire

After finishing her call to Noire she made the call to her dimensional counterpart in order to get Neptune to return and deal with this Rei Ryghts situation where the woman that was once a normal human that "lead" a "citizen group movement" against the CPUs

There was nothing bad that came from her "group", especially considering that the group that she leads only has her as its member

Of course the woman had disappeared around the same time that Neptune had ended up in the other dimension and she appeared a few days after Nepgear had returned

But the woman was different, the meek and kind woman has basically turned into a cruel and uncaring one who for some reason now has CPU powers and doesn't care about who gets hurt from her misuse of them

There was also a tome similar to herself seen with the woman which in and of itself is concerning

Histoire didn't expect to see utter chaos when her counterpart picked up the call

The Center of the Chaos is Neptune herself, who has now realized that Nepgear and the teens aren't there anymore

she specifically realized that the teens were missing and went to find Nepgear to see if the candidate knew where they were only to learn that Nepgear herself is missing

"It took the collective of you this long to realize that their not there" Histoire couldn't keep the disappointment and exasperation out of her voice "Nepgear returned home 10 days ago, now if you're done running around in circles Planeptune need you to return"

Neptune looked like she was about to say something

"And Nepgear is incapacitated because someone was too busy lazing about to do any work" Histoire said before Neptune could get a word out and cut the call before the CPU gave her confirmation

Things went about as well as Histoire expected

Rei Ryghts was subdued and the woman was being kept in Basilicom's Infirmary for the time being (guarded by security that will inform her immediately when the woman wakes up)

Right now Neptune is hiding behind the other Dimensions CPU of Planeptune because Histoire said that she has to work

"Now Girls, kindly move away from Neptune otherwise i will cut you off from your shares PERMANENTLY"

Histoire will pretend to have not heard the other dimension's Noire and Blanc whispering about how she is where Nepgear got her scary side from (she does wonder about what they mean by "Neogear's scary side", just what did her younger charge do to make them feel fear towards her)

Back to Noire

While Histoire was handling Neptune being Neptune, Noire had a reserved private corner table for two at a regularly booked fairly simple diner near the Basilicom

A simple dinner date between her and the Lilac haired girl

Admittedly, this plan wasn't made by her, if anything it was dumped on her by Uni and the teens

Apparently, Uni got tired giving her a "just kiss her already" look when the pair of them are together in the same room and decided that they needed help hooking up (part of her is certain that the look was given to Nepgear by the teens as much as it was given to her by Uni but she can't really be sure)

Regardless of the reason why she's going on a date with Nepgear, she does want to try to confess her feelings to the Lilac haired girl

Why was it so awkward between them?

It was never awkward between them during their training sessions

Or was that the reason?

They were both normally focused on the training session that they didn't notice how awkward things really got or could get?

…

"Noire, is something wrong?", Noire was broken out of her thoughts by Nepgear's soft voice with a slight concerned look on her face

Or maybe it was just her that was feeling awkward, since the pair of them rarely spend time together without some type of excuse

Looking at her now, Nepgear has matured quite a lot during her time in the other dimension

"It's nothing," Noire said as she felt her lips tug upwards as a soft smile graced her face, "if you're up for it, could you tell me about the other dimension and the girls you adopted?"

The look on Nepgear's face was enough to know that she didn't in fact want to talk about the other dimension, on the other hand, with how her face lit up at the mention of her children, Noir has a feeling that Nepgear could go on for hours about them

Noire was right, Nepgear really could go on for hours about the girls, if Noire wasn't as interested as she was she would have gotten annoyed about how much Nepgear was gushing over the girls

In a way she was disappointed when Nepgear realized how much she was gushing when the food arrived

On the plus side Nepgear did get this cute embarrassed blush on her face

She really couldn't help the giggle that escaped her lips

Their meal continued in a comfortable silence

Later that night, the pair of them are standing in front of Nepgear's room before they both turn in for the night

The pair of them are facing one another, their fingers interlaced and their foreheads pressed against one another

Noire didn't know if it was because it was what her heart wanted or if it was the intimacy of the moment that led to it

But without much thought to it Noire pressed her lips against Nepgear's for a short kiss between them

As she pulled away, Nepgear captured her lips for another, much longer, kiss

Nepgear's arms wrapped around her neck as her own hands went around Nepgear's waist

The pair of them found themselves in Nore's room

Cuddled together in Noire's bed

"Does this mean that we're dating?" Nepgear asks as she slowly drifts off to sleep

"Yeah, i'd like to think so" Noire said softly as she too was drifting off to sleep

AN: there was supposed to be a training session in here somewhere
idk where it went