*In the Meeting Room*

Right after I screamed in futile resistance, Neptune began laughing maniacally.

"Muahahaha!" She took a villainous pose "Tell us all your secrets!"

Noire rested her chin in her hand and elegantly ignored my boisterous sister.

"So? Tell us about how you got together!" Ughhhh.

I'll just get it over with! It's embarrassing though! I can feel my face heating up already!

I look down at my hands and start fidgeting with them to distract myself before I start.

"Uhh, umm, so, the f-first time I realized I liked him was after my physical therapy finished."

The girls were all looking at me with twinkles in their eyes.

"He, um, asked me what my plan was and I told him I had no plan. So, he offered to pay my way through school on the condition that I live with him." The way he said it was so nonchalant about it made me doubt what I heard.

"Woaaaaah! That's bold!" My sister exclaims with a smooth whistle.

"I thought so too at first. I was very flustered when he said that, and within a few seconds of thinking about life together…I realized I liked the idea…a lot." Even though it's been like 4 years that we've lived together, my heart still races whenever I wake up and realize he's there.

Blanc's face seems to be holding back something as she writes down in her notebook. "So it was a sudden realization?"

"Well, yeah, I guess. We had spent every day together at that point, but I didn't really have the luxury to think about it." I was barely out of therapy after all.

"The thing is," I continued. "He didn't mean it in any romantic sense, or maybe he did but didn't realize it. He told me that he found that I motivated him to some extent and 'kept his interest'. Too late for me to not realize my feelings and begin to plot our future together though." I giggled as I remember how my mind was racing and barely listening to him.

Neptune gave me an eyebrow raise and questioned me. "Let me get this straight. You just realized that you had feelings for him, and immediately began planning for the future? Didn't you think that maybe he would refuse at some point?"

It does seem silly, and it was! I gave her a mischievous smile as I explained my thought process.

"To me, it wasn't a matter of if I could get him or not. It was just a question of when."

Hmm, they're all looking at me like they don't get it.

"Alright, so I knew that he at least found me attractive based on our interactions before we moved in together. He had told me before he thought I was 'pleasing to look at, kind of like a flower'. Which is a little bit like nitpicking but it was enough for me all the same. From there, I just had to slowly change the degree at which he found me attractive. Since we were living together it wouldn't be hard to do it slowly day by d-...What is it?"

Noire shook her head with a hard to describe look on her face. "Absolutely nothing."

"Okay? Anyway, I looked into many ways at slowly chipping away at his defenses until he caved. It wasn't too hard really. Even with someone as dense and aloof as Lan, he wouldn't be able to resist forever. After a few weeks I told him how I felt, and he rejected me."

"Whaaaat!? Then how did you even end up together?" Excellent question sister!

I puffed my chest out with pride. "I just kept poking until he said yes!"

I recalled all the small things I did day after day to catch his attention. "Seriously, it was hard! It was hard to tell if I was actually doing anything at the start…" I shook my head and smiled. "In the end, it wasn't even the ways I tried to charm him that worked. He told me it was watching me scramble to win him over that ultimately made him change his mind. Honestly, what a jerk." I giggled thinking about the time he told me that.

"So, that's how we got together. I feel like we'll grow old together and turn to dust together. I'm looking forward to it." Most people might feel scared to get old or whatever, but as long as I have Lan I feel it'll be alright.

All the girls look at me quietly and seem a little conflicted. "What's wrong? D-did I rant too long? I'm sorry, I got a little excited, haha." Aw man, they think I'm creepy or something I bet.

"Uhh, Nepgear? About that…" Neptune gets cut off by Noire.

"Nepgear, we have to talk about what will be happening next now that you're back." Now that I'm back?

"Isn't there something a bit more pressing about what she said just now!?" My sister says slightly annoyed.

"We'll get to that but, we don't have all day." She sighs while Vert and Blanc both seem uncomfortable.

"...I wish we had started with this instead of listening to your story." I don't like how the atmosphere suddenly changed.

"Neptune, you remember what Histoire told you to tell her?" Vert speaks up while my sister seems to slowly piece things together.

"Oh…yeah, I almost forgot. Haha…" Blanc puts her notebook down and shakes her head at Neptune.

"I knew she seemed a little too chipper coming in here." I think I might hear something I might not like.

Neptune scratches her head, and sighs. "Nepgear, tomorrow we're planning on reintroducing you to the public." Tomorrow?

"Iffy, Histy, and I have been working out all the paperwork to get you your old authority and all that stuff back to how it was." The paperwork IF was talking about was about that!?

"Soooo, sorry to spring it on you so suddenly but you're a citizen of Planeptune again!" She gives me a V with her fingers and gives me a large smile.

"There, uh, is a bit of a downside though…" Her tone shifts pretty quickly to what sounds a little guilty.

"I don't, well, maybe, Histy says that…a candidate in a public relationship wouldn't be, um, good for shares." Ahhhh, now I get what Lan was trying to say about their duty or whatever it was.

"Histy wanted you guys to straight up separate, but I managed to convince her to just keeping it a secret! But, he will have to go back to your town…alone. Plus…you can't really go see him too often." I appreciate her trying.

So that was the whole purpose of the meeting then. To gauge how I felt about the whole ordeal, Neptune forgot to tell me it seems. Well, guess I don't really have a choice then do I?

I took a deep breath and said…"No."

"Um, I know it isn't exactly fair. I also think it's pretty dumb but-"

"I understand what you're saying. I get why it's important. I know that you all are trying to balance this country and my own interests. I get all of it." Neptune smiles. I think she still misunderstood.

"Even so, no." I'm not angry. I know that they think the country needs me now that I'm back. It's their duty to protect and work in their own country's best interest.

"I…am not Nepgear anymore. It's fine to call me that, since that is who I was. Now, I am Lily. I have my own life, my own goals. I have a job that I love. I have the perfect husband. Soon, I might have my own family." I had to take a breath and look around the room to gauge their reactions.

They seem…surprised? Did they think I would just give up and go along with it?

"I'm going home tomorrow. Lan and I both have work the day after that. It was always the plan." The more I think about it, it starts to make me angry.

"How can you just make all these plans without asking me? When did I ever say I was planning on staying? How could you assume that I would just drop everything I worked so hard for just to satisfy you!?" At this point I was screaming at Neptune, even though I know it isn't her fault. I just… can't control myself.

Noire slapped her palms against the table as she stood up to reprimand me.

"You're a CPU Candidate! You can't just run-off with some random guy we barely know and expect us to be okay with that! Something like this could affect all of our nations!"

Neptune gets up and tries to calm us all down. "Hey now girls, let's not get too excited here…"

"Sorry, Neptune. We're past that. I'll go to whatever you have planned tomorrow, but after that I'm going home. WITH my husband." After saying that I was getting ready to leave when a loud crashing sound stopped me.

"...That sounded like it came from my room." Worried that the elevator would take too long, we took the stairs. It seems these restricted areas are all connected luckily.

We all made it to my sister's room… Please, be okay Lan!

Upon opening the door we were greeted with Histoire making strange sounds, and… my husband deeply embedded into the wall.

"Oh my god! Lan! Are you alright!?" I rush over to him, but I'm a little hesitant to touch him.

"Oh, hey there wifey. Well, I am certainly not 'alright'. Certainly have been worse though." He smiles and laughs a little awkwardly.

At this point everyone was in the room, and Neptune was the first to react. "Woah! You're in quite the spot there huh?"

"I messaged IF and Compa to get here ASAP." Noire puts her phone away after that. Why IF? Who's Compa?

Neptune seemed to notice my confusion as she tried to reassure me. "Don't worry kiddo! Compa is a..bit odd…but she's good at taking care of people! Sort of!" That doesn't give me much comfort.

"That's great and all, but can we get me out of the wall? My arms are starting to cramp."

"Right! Sorry, Lan! Can you guys help me?" Vert and Noire both help, and with a little oomph, we're able to get Lan pried loose.

"How the hell did you end up in the wall anyway? It doesn't seem like there's any damage anywhere else in the room." Blanc makes a good point.

"Another thing, how are you still standing? A hit like that would normally cause some broken bones or serious bleeding. But, it seems like you only got away with some scratches." Huh, another excellent point. He doesn't usually go on quests with me whenever I would do them back home, so I've never seen him hurt more than a cut or two.

"Hm? Oh, I have broken bones all over actually." At this point, we've taken him down and laid him down on the sofa.

Neptune seems a little skeptical. "Really? Sure seems like you're barely injured to me."

"How could that be possible? I was punched into a wall by Uni, so there was some considerable strength in it." It took everyone a while to process what he had said.

During that moment, Lan sat up and showed us his right arm. "See? It's super broken, not a big deal though!" With that, he 'simply' messed around with his arm, cracking it and breaking it until it looked normal again.

"There! No need to worry! The nurse is still welcome though." …Huh. No wonder he could get through those woods all by himself.

At this point we were slowly realizing everything that was happening in front of us. It was Noire who started questioning first.

"Uni!? As in, MY Uni? What could she gain by doing something like that!? If you don't give me a good answer I'll put you right back into that wall!"

"Hold on! Hold on! I'll get to it okay!? First off, I have to apologize to you Lily. I tried to be more amicable to Uni like you asked, but I got her pissed off instead." He lowered his head and genuinely looked upset.

"Haah, what am I going to do with you? It's okay, we can work on it together next time, alright?" I can't be mad at him when he makes a face like that.

He looked up and smiled warmly. "Next, it was my fault that it happened. Thinking about it now, I might have really offended her. Hope it doesn't make it hard to be friends now…" He really is trying, in his own way.

"Hmph, I won't apologize for her then. Seems you deserved it." Noire says with a huff.

"Putting aside the temperament of the Lastation sisters for a moment…" Vert begins to say before Noire gets in a quick 'Hey!' "Lan, we have serious concerns about you." They're gonna bring this up right now!?

"Woaaahh there sister, he just got out of a wall. Give him a sec." Surprisingly, Neptune seems to have the most sense right now.

"Normally, I would agree. However, he isn't very 'normal', are you Lan?" Vert brings up what we were all thinking. I knew he wasn't normal. What I didn't know was the extent to which it was. I mean, being able to withstand the punch of a literal goddess with only minor injuries is…well, impressive. Even if she was holding back.

Lan looked a little confused by what she was getting at. "What's so concerning? I'm a pretty average guy. I work at a school, I have pretty normal friends, I don't do anything dangerous, and I have an exceptional wife." He looks at me and winks. Now isn't the time to be so deliciously adorable!

Vert crosses her arms and sighs in her seat at the other sofa. "Nepgear told us all of that already, what we want to know is who you were."

"You mean, before I met Lily? Uhh, that's kind of.." He makes a sharp inhale with his teeth and seems uncomfortable. Lan has told me about his upbringing. Not a lot, but some. I have to say…it wasn't very ordinary.

"Lan, you don't have to tell them if you don't want to. We are leaving tomorrow, so there's no reason." It would make me sad to depart from my sister forever but…Lan is more important to me.

He contemplates before nodding. "It's okay. It's a boring story and I don't even remember all of it. But, if it will help you stay connected to your family, I don't mind!" He gives me a thumbs up.

Hnnnnghhhhh, I love this man! I am going to give him the world later!

"...While the casual flirting between you annoys me…As long as we get the answers we need it's fine." Vert says annoyed.

So began the story of our little Lan.

Yayyyyy! I'm back! Sorry about the wait gaymers. I had a bunch of stuff to do in the 'Real World'. Very much stuffs. I have returned! With it, I plan on writing at least two chapters! Let's hope I can actually do that! Anyway, Lily and Lan are in quite the situation here. The CPU's won't let them go home for whatever reason. Lily just wants to live her life in peace with Lan! Is that too much to ask for? I've thought about where I'm going to take the story from here, and hopefully I don't botch anything up! Hope you guys like it. Peace out dawg.