After 6 brutal hours of watching Leanbox soap operas, we finally arrived at Planeptune International Airport.
"Ohhhh, Lily! My love! Must we go our separate ways here?" He gets on one knee lifting his hand up to me.
"My darling! I must go! If we are seen together, the constable will have my head!" I spin around and make a dramatically
exasperated face.
"Don't worry about him! Just five more minutes together is all that my heart desires!" He pleads.
"You live so dangerously! It's why I-" I stop and start to notice the other people watching us. I am going to scream.
"A-ahem, well I'll uhh go see the Guild agent and get the details of the meeting we're supposed to have."
"Hmm, there are a lot more people here huh?" Glad I'm not the only one embarrassed.
"Alright, I'll get our luggage to the hotel. Are you sure you don't want to rest first? We've been flying for a while."
Hmm, that's true now that he mentions it. I don't feel tired at all though. I feel like I might even be used to it?
"I'm fine, Lan. I feel pretty good honestly!" I demonstrate by pumping my fist in the air.
"Ahaha, you always have so much energy when you get excited" He pats me on the head gently.
"Okay, then I'll see you at 7pm? I am gonna go to the hotel and pass out." He stretches and yawns. That's a big one.
…It must be done. I stick my finger in his mouth and…
"Blechk!?" He takes it out and coughs. "Ewww, that's grossssssss!" His face contorts in half-disgust and half-confusion.
"Hehehe, Ahahahaha!" I burst out laughing at his reaction. He makes the best faces.
"That's revenge for teasing me earlier!" I point at him and give him my best sly smile.
"That was like 8 hours ago!"
"Was it? It feels like it was only 5 minutes ago to me…"
"Your sense of time worries me, Beloved. Maybe I need to look into taking you back to the hospital." He gives me an 'oh dear' kind of face.
"Time is an illusion and I am not bound by its rules!" I say with the power of a true believer.
"Well, you better hope the agent feels the same way because you're going to be late." He shows me his phone screen.
Aww, that's such a cute picture of us! His background is the two of us after I won the Amateur Robotics competition at the university I attended.
"Uhh, Babe?"
"Hm?"
"The time." He points again to the clock on his phone. It says 4:30!?
"AAAHHH!?" I'm gonna be late!
"Okay! I'm gonna run there! I hope I can find the place in time!" I give him a quick peck on the cheek, grab my backpack and start moving.
"Alright!" He yells as he waves to me. "Let me know what happens!"
I dash out of the airport and head out onto the streets.
I'm met with a sudden assault of bright colors as I make it outside. I don't think I've ever seen so many high rises in my life! Well, that I remember anyway. Did I really used to live here? I honestly don't believe it.
In any case, I'm sure I will find out everything soon. Now, the meeting place is supposed to be at some cafe nearby. Hmm, according to the GPS it's about 10 minutes by car. Ugh, but there are way too many cars in the street. Even if I got a taxi, it would take forever. I can probably just run alongside the buildings, that'd be much faster.
I jump off the sidewalk onto the nearest building and run on the side of it. Luckily, I decided to wear pants today. Not too many people look up anyway, so I'm sure it'll be fine. As I'm running, I realize just how big the city actually is. It stretches as far as the eye can see, and it all has the same futuristic bright look to it.
"Wow, I should try and climb that huge spire looking building with Lan later." I think it's the tallest building around. It has to have the best view for sure. He'll love it! Maybe I'll love how much he doesn't love how tall it is. I giggle to myself.
Oh, looks like the cafe is just across the street below. I jump down into an alleyway and make my way over to the cafe after making sure no one sees me.
I enter the outside area of the cafe and look for the agent. The cafe area was fenced in with a white fence with a few tables spread around. Doesn't look like anybody is here though. Now that I think about it, I have no idea what they look like. I hope it's not some big mean guy. I take a seat at the corner most table and wait for them to arrive.
Hm? Someone from one of the other tables starts slowly approaching me. She's a not too tall girl with long light brown hair with a leafy looking ribbon in her hair. She was wearing some kind of blue jacket that looked way too big for her. Actually, a lot of the people in this city had a very…odd taste in fashion that I saw. Oh no! Will they think I look like some kind of country bumpkin when they see me!? I had jeans on with a white pullover hoodie that had a pink hood. I figured I'd end up running knowing my luck, so I had sneakers on. Ughhh, Lan said that I look great in this, but now I'm all self-conscious. Oh, she's here.
"No way…" ? She looks really shocked? ! I knew it! She's appalled that I even went out in this outfit!
I start panicking and wave my hands around trying to explain. "Uh, um, listen… I don't usually dress like this! I'm usually more-"
Before I could even finish my sentence, she grasped my hands and sat down.
"I can't believe it… you're alive…" She was looking me dead in the eyes with tears welling up in her eyes.
"Uh-wha? I have no idea what's going on?
So…she thought I was dead? What? …
I'll worry about that later, this is a little more important right now.
Oh jeez, here take this." I hand her a handkerchief and she wipes her face.
"S-sorry, I just got a little overwhelmed." She's still wiping her face a little here and there.
After she took a minute to calm down, she began to explain.
"Well, we all thought you were dead Nepgear." Huh? Who is that?
"Wait, is that my name? I leaned in a little over the table.
She blinks for a few seconds, before slowly nodding looking more than a little confused.
"What do you mean? Of course it is?" She tilts her head to the side as if thinking.
"Wait, don't tell me…" She looks a little skeptical.
"Yeah, I don't remember anything from before five years ago." I say while shrugging.
"Amnesia, grrreatt." She slowly places her head in her hands.
"And you don't remember anything at all from before you went missing?" Why does she look a little exasperated?
"Well, no? All I know is that I was found in a forest bleeding and near death. It was a pretty close call from what the doctors told me."
"What!? You were attacked by someone!?" She looks really worried, I guess she really did know me huh?
"Yeah, but physically I've completely recovered. Apparently my body is pretty sturdy." I lift up my arm and make as if I'm flexing.
"Hmm, I see" she closes her eyes and puts her hand to her chin thinking.
Just at that moment the waiter notices us and asks for our order.
"Order what you like, it's on the Guild's credits" she says waving around a black card.
"You must be pretty important Miss!" I can feel my eyes shining with respect. How cool!
She gives me a small chuckle "Nah, it's only because of the mission this time."
The mission? Meeting me she means?
I order a hot chocolate and she gets a dark roast coffee.
"Oh, I never introduced myself huh." She finally realized.
"Sorry, I kind of forgot since I wasn't expecting Amnesia" she clears her throat.
"I am IF, I work for the Planeptune guild and information gathering is my specialty."
Oh my gosh! She's like a spy! That's so cool!
"Nice to meet you IF! I'm Lily! Or uhh…Nepgear?" Hmm.
"Lily…that's a cute name." She looks a little sad though.
"I don't mind if you call me Nepgear, or if anyone does for that matter." I mean, it bothers me a little bit. I've lived with this name my whole 'life'. But, the idea of it being a special name for Lan and I sounds pretty good too.
"You don't mind?"
"No, I think it'd be easier for everyone if that was the case."
"Haaahh, still the same as ever." She gives me a sigh and a small smile.
"You still put others before yourself. Glad to see some things haven't changed."
Haven't changed? I haven't?
At this point the waiter returned and we continued talking while enjoying our drinks.
"So then you knew me before then right?" Finally I can get some answers!
"That's right, I've been friends with you and your sister for wayyyy too long" She looks off into the distance looking somewhat nostalgically annoyed? That's a look you can make?
"We've all been on some crazy adventures together, hell, we've even saved the world a few times."
Pppfflijldknjngotokrglkwha? *hack* *cough* "Wait, you've saved the world!?" Taken completely by surprise while I'm drinking my hot chocolate, I end up spewing all over the table. Smooooth…
"Take it easy, Nepgear." She sighs and starts cleaning the table with some napkins while I'm still coughing.
Wait… So… I've saved the world before!? I guess that would explain why I'm so strong. I thought it was weird, but I didn't want to lose the strength in case I needed it someday. So I've always had Lan come up with new ways to train. He's very imaginative about the weirdest things.
"So," I start while trying to swallow all the information I've learned. "I'm some kind of warrior or something? Maybe a guild agent like you are?" Makes sense if you think about it.
"No, it's definitely not that." She sighs and looks down at her now empty drink. "I shouldn't be the one to tell you everything. Your sister wouldn't like it if I stole her thunder."
I have a sister! She said that earlier but I was (and still am) a little distracted by the whole world saving comment.
"I'm not an only child then! What about my parents!? Are they still around?" I have a whole family! With siblings, parents, probably cousins and stuff too! I'm so excited to introduce them to Lan! I'm sure they-
"It's just you and her." She interrupts my thoughts before I get too carried away.
"Oh, I see." Well, there goes that idea. I'm a little sad I didn't get to meet them before they passed.
"It's hard to explain, okay? Once we meet Neptune it'll all make more sense." I guess it was obvious from my face.
"Alright, when can I meet her? Actually, why didn't she just come meet me now?" Now that I think about it, why did a guild agent come to meet me first?
"We had to make sure you were the real deal and not some impostor or something."
"An impostor? Even after all the exchanges we've had? We had been in contact with the guild for a few weeks now.
"There are a few people who can copy a person's appearance. You can't be too careful." Her tone was very serious. She really isn't joking. Then how important is my sister then?
"Are you convinced I'm the real deal yet?" What if I'm really not her? What if this is some sort of mistaken identity?
"Yeah" She gives me a friendly smile "your memories may be gone, but you're still the same as ever. Welcome back Nepgear!"
When she says that I feel relief wash over me.
"Heyyyy, save those tears for when you meet your sister again!" She says as she gets up and pats me on the shoulder.
Tears? What tears? I touch my face and sure enough, it's wet. I can feel my eyes watering too. Why am I crying?
*sniff* *hic* " t-thanks" *sniff* oh god I can't stop.
"Yup, still the same as ever." She bends down and gives me a hug, and I sit there and think I'm finally home.
Hello fellow gaymers! Welcome to the very first thing I have ever created and not destroyed immediately! If you're reading this, it means I actually decided to release something! This idea has been burning in the back of my head for close to a year now and I finally decided to do something about it. This is my very first time writing anything not a research paper, so I'm sure it can be improved. If you feel something is a little janky, don't hesitate to let me know! I want to improve and find more ways to convey my ideas into a written form. I have quite a few things written for this so I'll post it all in one go and then read what you all think about it. As for why this wasn't in chapter 1, it's because I just learned how to do this. Oops.