Chapter 3: Tourist in Planeptune
It was morning in Planeptower and almost everything that happened yesterday was almost a bit of blur for Nepgear. It was when this blue-haired girl named Sapphire was dropped into this dimension from somewhere, to Histoire's knowledge, was practically unknown to all of them.
So…
–
Yesterday…
"Am I staying here for now?" Sapphire asked as she blinked twice, looking as if she needed to hear Histoire again. Her, Nepgear, and Histoire were in the living room area around nighttime while Neptune was seemingly in her own office, probably forced to do work.
"Yes. Until we figure out where you came from, you'll be living here for a little bit…" Histoire said as she then turned to Nepgear. "Could you show her to the guest room she will be using?" She asked.
"Okay, Histoire." Nepgear said with a small smile as she then turned to the girl. "Let me show you to your room, okay?" She then walked away, with Sapphire following behind her.
They walked to where the elevators were as Nepgear pushed a button to go down. After a few seconds, the elevator doors opened as she and Sapphire stepped inside of it. They went down a floor before the doors reopened and they stepped right out to an open area. They then walked down a hall before they stood in front of a door.
"Um… This is your room. It should have all the essentials you need." Nepgear said, to which Sapphire nodded before she then narrowed her eyes. "Is there something wrong?" She asked the girl.
Sapphire just shook her head as she then grinned. "It's nothing! It's nothing!" She said as she waved her arms. "It's just that… you look older than that Neptune kid…" She pointed out, to which Nepgear giggled under her breath. "Did I say something wrong?"
"I get that a lot from other people, so you're not the first who said that to me." Nepgear said, giving her a small smile. "I remember telling you something like that… if I remember correctly…"
"Oh… yeah… The CPU Candidate of Planeptune, Nepgear, right?" Sapphire said as she laughed awkwardly as she scratched the back of her head. "Oops! Totally slipped my mind back then! Big clumsy old me!" She said as she lightly hit herself on her head and stuck out her tongue.
"Ahaha…" Nepgear just laughed awkwardly as she gave her a small smile. "Um… Let me know if you need anything else…" She said before she gave a small wave. "See you in the morning." She then walked away from her.
–
'I wonder how she's doing…? I hope she's not too confused…' Nepgear thought before suddenly, Neptune lightly tapped her on her shoulder. "Ah! Neptune…! I…" She said, seeing her older sister grinning at her.
They were planning to meet up with the new guest in the morning, which was why Neptune and Nepgear were standing in front of the room that Sapphire is now living in for a while, even though it took a long while for Neptune to wake up.
"Come on! Wipe that worried look! She's probably fine!" Neptune told her with reassurance before she boldly walked up to the door. "Mhm! If I'm correct about this, a knock on the door would do the trick!" She then knocks on the door. Immediately afterwards, they both heard what seemed to be someone tumbling off of something before there was a loud crash immediately afterwards. They then looked at each other before Neptune spoke up. "Uh… Did we just hear…?" She asked, to which Nepgear nodded slowly.
Nepgear went up to the door and knocked on it a few times. "Sapphire? Is everything alright?" She asked as she then tried to listen in for the girl's answer.
"I-I'm alright…! O-Ow…" Sapphire answered through the door though afterwards it sounded like she was whimpering a little. "I just bumped my head…" She said, seemingly trying to mitigate the situation.
"Are you sure it's just a head bump~?" Neptune asked all of a sudden, sounding like she was feigning a bit of her suspicions about what the girl said. "Because we just heard something crash… Did you break something?"
'N-No…! I didn't…! Please don't come in…!" She exclaimed, sounding like she's panicking over something which seemed to confuse both Neptune and Nepgear.
Neptune seemed to just shrug it off. "Yeah yeah… I'm coming in anyways…!" She exclaimed as Nepgear was about to stop her, she opened the door. "Yoohoo~! It's the Nep here…! Coming here with the… HOLY FANSERVICE NEPGEAR!" She exclaimed as she pointed at Sapphire.
They both saw Sapphire blushing as tried to cover her black sports bra with one white line going across and black panties. She was standing over something that shattered on the floor, and seeing the empty stand other than the wire that was connected to whatever that was shattered, it was probably a lamp she must have accidently knocked over.
"U-Um… U-Um…" Sapphire looked like she was about to faint right there and was trembling as she frantically looked between Neptune and Nepgear. She was uncharacteristically shy from yesterday. But strangely, she looked like she was trying to cover something that was slightly above the chest area.
"Oh uh… Sorry, Sapphire~!" Neptune exclaimed as she chuckled awkwardly. "Didn't know you were um…" She then scratched the back of her head.
"Neptune…!" Nepgear whined as she stared at her sister almost like she was scolding. "You shouldn't have done that…!" She exclaimed.
"I mean… Yeah? But how should I know she was gonna look like that in the morning?" Neptune asked as she frowned a little. "So yeah… haha…" She then laughed awkwardly
"Neptune…" Nepgear then turned to the almost frightened girl. "Again… We're sorry for barging in like that." She told the girl before she tugged Neptune away. "We'll give you some privacy, if that's what you want." She then heard Sapphire giggled a little. "Um… is there something wrong?"
"Y-You're way too nice…" Sapphire said, giving her a nervous smile. And even though she wasn't trembling anymore, she was still blushing very hard. "I-I'm just gonna…" She then waddled to her hoodie that was on the ground and immediately turned around and put it on. There was a very long and awkward silence before she quickly turned around and grinned at them. "There we go! Now that's better!" She exclaimed, returning to her attitude from yesterday.
This obviously caught Nepgear off guard by the sudden change of personality, but it even caught Neptune off guard. "Uhhh… Are you alright in the head…?" Neptune asked, to which the girl just tilted her head.
"N-Neptune…!" Nepgear scolded her immediately before she turned to Sapphire. "Just forget about what happened earlier… Okay?" She said, to which the girl nodded in agreement.
"So… What do we do about that?" The blue-haired girl asked as she pointed at the broken lamp as she looked at Nepgear.
"I'm gonna tell Histoire about it…" Nepgear said with a frown as she looked at the broken shards. "Don't need to worry about it, she's not going to get mad because you just broke something. It was just an honest accident."
"Mhm…! So don't worry about anything!" Neptune said as she reassured her as she put her hands on both sides of her hips. "I'm sure that everything will be fine if we just explain it to her!" She added, to which Sapphire just giggled at her before she nodded.
"But could you keep what happened earlier a secret? I don't want her to get mad at you…" Sapphire asked, to which they both immediately nodded in agreement. "Okay! Then let's go!" She exclaimed.
–
"Ah… I see…" Histoire muttered as she rubbed her chin, frowning at this. "I'm going to have some guards to clean it up, so don't worry about that." She assures the blue-haired girl.
They were standing around in the living area where Sapphire kept bowing over and over as Neptune and Nepgear were watching from the sidelines. "Again…! I'm really, REALLY sorry about that!" She exclaimed. "I was surprised and all, so I kind of accidentally knocked over the lamp and… yeah…" Her voice then trailed off as she scratched her head.
"Again… You don't have to apologize… It was a genuine accident… There was no way of avoiding that…" Histoire said as she reassured the girl. "Just make sure to be careful next time." She told her as she gave her a kind smile.
"Oh. Okay!" Sapphire exclaimed before she jumped around and did a little spin. "So? So? What's for breakfast?" She asked with starry eyes. "Pancakes? Waffles? Eggs? Bacon? Ooh! Ooh! How about–?"
"Woah woah! One at a time, buddy!" Neptune said as she waved her down. "How about some pudding to start off the day?" She exclaimed as she pumped her fists.
Sapphire just narrowed her eyes before they then sparkled with glee. "Okay! Let's get some pudding~!" She exclaimed as she too pumped her fist, to which Histoire just sighed under her breath, knowing scolding them won't stop Neptune.
"Ahaha…" Nepgear laughed a bit awkwardly before she then smiled at her sister and the new guest. "Okay…! I'll get you guys some…" She said as she walked away to where the kitchen is.
When she reached there, Nepgear opened the refrigerator and searched for some pudding. She grabbed a pudding with 'Nep' written on it and grabbed another that had nothing written on it. When she stood up and turned around, she saw Sapphire staring back at her. "Woah! What the…?" She exclaimed as she nearly dropped what she was holding.
"Woah…! So this is your guy's kitchen…?" Sapphire exclaimed as she looked, enamored by the look of the kitchen, even though it's pretty normal by everyone's standards. "Wowie! So cool!" She exclaimed.
"Ah… y-yeah… Um… Thanks…?" Nepgear said with a rather confused look on her face. And immediately after she said that, the blue-haired girl moved past her and looked at what was inside the fridge.
"Hm… Interesting… Interesting…" Sapphire muttered before she turned around and stared at the pudding in Nepgear's hand. "Ooh~! So this is the pudding of your dimension…!" She said as she eyed the pudding from the sides.
Nepgear stared at her for a little while before her eyes blinked twice. "Oh. Yeah. Here you go." She said as she gave her the pudding that didn't have 'Nep' written on it.
"Thank you~!" Sapphire exclaimed as she grabbed the pudding from Nepgear before she stared at it for a while. Seeing that she doesn't have a spoon, Nepgear walked away from her for a little bit, grabbed a spoon from a cupboard, and then walked back to give it to her. "Thank you again~!" She exclaimed as she tore off the lid and started to dig into it happily.
Nepgear just giggled again since the way she acts is almost like her sister, though she felt there were some strange differences. Like just this morning, she acted very shy when that had happened, to which Nepgear shook off that scene out of her head, and that she has that strange air around her. Though the cheerful attitude is something that she can compare to Neptune.
But then those thoughts were immediately interrupted. "Hey…" Sapphire spoke up, to which Nepgear looked up and immediately got caught off guard by her expression. It was soft, yet distant at the same time, looking almost tired. "Can I ask you something?" She asked in a rather calm tone.
"Um… Sure?" Nepgear said as she tilted her head to the side, almost bewildered by the sudden change of attitude. It wasn't that shy expression this morning where she was shy, but more of something else. Like she had been around for far too long.
"Why are you so nice to me…?" She asked, sounding like she didn't understand Nepgear at all. "I mean… The other two CPUs seemed suspicious of me…" She said before her voice slowly trailed off.
"Well… I don't think you're going to hurt anyone… and to be honest…" Nepgear took a deep breath before giving Sapphire a small smile. "I'm glad we didn't have to fight each other." She said as she clasped her hands together. "At least, after thinking about it for a little bit." She told the girl, who closed her eyes in thought.
"Hmm… I see…" Sapphire hummed a little before she opened her eyes which immediately gleamed. "Okay! Thanks for telling me that!" She said, returning to her cheerful attitude from before. "How about you go back to Neptune and give that pudding you're holding? It might be getting warm…" She said with a small frown.
Nepgear then looked at the other pudding in her hand. "Oh yeah! You're right! Stay here! I'll be right back!" She exclaimed as she grabbed another spoon from the cupboard and rushed back to wherever Neptune was.
When she did find Neptune, which she was in the same place from earlier, the girl seemed a bit impatient. "Geez… Does it take you that long for a pudding?" She asked in a sort of joking way.
"Sorry, Neptune… Me and Sapphire were talking about something earlier…" Nepgear said before she gave Neptune the spoon and pudding. "Here you go."
"Thank you~!" She exclaimed as she peeled off the lid and dug into the pudding. "Mmh~! So good~! I'll never get tired of this~!" She said as she ate some more, to which Nepgear giggled.
Meanwhile Histoire just sighed before she shook her head as she looked at Neptune and Nepgear. "Neptune, Nepgear… Could you two do something for me?" She asked, to which Neptune immediately groaned.
"Is it more work again?" Neptune asked in a mostly tired tone as she yawned. "Because waay too tired right now…" She said in an almost exaggerated way, to which Histoire shook her head.
"Not exactly… I want you two to show Sapphire around Planeptune…" She told them, to which Neptune made a little 'Ah' at that. "Actually, she suggested that to be, saying that she doesn't want to be cooped in this tower…"
"Ahh… A girl after my own heart…" Neptune said in a very joking way. "Yeah! I'll go! What about you, Nepgear?" She asked as she turned to her sister.
Nepgear nodded, understanding that it was because their guest probably wants to see what their Planeptune is like compared to hers. "Sure! I'll go get her." Nepgear answered as she rushed back to where Sapphire was.
"Hey~! Wait for me~!" Neptune exclaimed as she hurriedly followed Nepgear as they went back to the kitchen.
When they got there, they saw that she was making some food by herself. She looked rather focused on what she was making, which seemed like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. She also had some apple slices with a rabbit-look to it. And from what it looks like she was just finishing skinning off the outer layer of the sandwich with a knife in her hand. "And now for the finishing touches…" She then placed it on a plate that was in front of her and cut the sandwich diagonally before licking her lips. "Now it's time to…!" She then looked to where Nepgear and Neptune were standing. "Uh… This is…" She then cleared her throat. "Woah! What are you doing here?"
"Well~! We came to pick you up so that we can show you around Planeptune~!" Neptune exclaimed as she pointed at her, to which she tilted her head. "I heard from a three-foot tall fairy that you want to explore our nation and that you don't want to get lost! But don't you worry! I know this place blindfolded!" She said as she puffed up her chest.
Sapphire just giggled at that before giving a smile. "Is that so…? Because that sounds so cool!" She exclaimed with very sparkly eyes. "I can't even do that with my own nation!" She added, to which Nepgear sweatdropped.
Shaking her head before a question immediately popped into her head. "Actually, what is your dimension's Planeptune like since you're the one that is ruling over it?" Nepgear asked, which Sapphire slightly tilted her head at that question.
"Well…" She then thought about it for a while as Neptune and Nepgear walked to where she was standing. "It's mostly white and blue… It's pretty during the night and um…" Sapphire just shook her head before giving Nepgear an apologetic frown. "Sorry… It has been a while since I went out to my Planeptune… I was mostly busy with work and stuff like that…" She said, to which Neptune let out a small gasp.
"You…? Doing work…? Who even are you!?" Neptune exclaimed, pointing at the girl with a shocked look on her face. Meanwhile, the said girl looked very confused at what she just said.
"I'm Sapphire?" She replied, as she tilted her head in confusion. This obviously made Neptune and Nepgear sweatdropped at that very simple reply.
'That joke went right over her head… Didn't it…?" Nepgear asked herself, even though it was pretty obvious what that answer was.
"Either way! After I'm done eating, let's go…" Sapphire's voice then trailed off as she looked at both Neptune and Nepgear. "Actually… You guys haven't eaten yet… Let me make you something before we go!" She said as she quickly ate her sandwich and immediately went to the fridge and looked for some stuff.
"Sapphire, you really don't have to–!" Nepgear was about to say until Sapphire brought out some eggs Compa bought from the store.
"Hey… Do you have any leftover rice?" She asked, before thinking for a while. She spoke up again, interrupting Nepgear. "Actually, let's do this…!" She exclaimed as she closed the fridge and opened the freezer and pulled out some bacon before also closing that.
And after she got a pan, a pot, a bowl, and some bread out, she immediately started to cook. She was cracking eggs and mixing them, toasting some bread on a pan, and cooking some bacon, all of the while Neptune and Nepgear stared at her in amazement. After she was done cooking, she plated the food and served it to them.
"All done~!" Sapphire exclaimed before looking bewildered as she saw Neptune and Nepgear's shocked face. "What? Is there something wrong?" She asked as she tilted her head.
"Woah… What the goodness…" Nepgear said as she looked at the food with amazement. "Your cooking looks really good!" She exclaimed, making Sapphire jump in surprise.
"Yeah…! It looks like the Ultimate Lifeform made this…!" Neptune said with a surprised and starry look in her eyes, meanwhile Sapphire chuckles awkwardly as she looks off to the side.
"Oh come on! My cooking doesn't look that great!" Sapphire said as she waved her hands. "It just looks average by comparison." She added as she scratched her head.
Neptune just gave her a weird look as she then picked up the sandwich. "Come on, kid…! Give yourself some credit. Because…" She said before she took a bite out of it. "Woah…! It also tastes really good!" She exclaimed before taking another bite of it, while Nepgear did the same, giving the same results as her older sister.
Sapphire chuckled a little before giving them a grin. "If you have time to compliment me, you use it to eat your food." She said before grabbing the small plate of apple slices and taking a bite out of one of them. "I really want to go after you're done eating, okay?" She said, sounding like she's in a rush.
Neptune seemed to notice this, so she gave her a small wave. "Oh don't worry about us, kiddo!" She said, giving her a grin. "Let's just take our time! We still have a full day to show you around, right?" She bites her sandwich before giving her a thumbs up.
"Huh… I see…" Sapphire muttered as she frowned a little bit, before shrugging it off.
"Yeah… In the meantime, could you tell us a bit about yourself?" Nepgear asked, to which Sapphire looked at her, blinking her eyes a bit of confusion before slowly understanding what she probably meant by that.
"Oh. Okay! Well… Other than working… I usually finish the backlog of games I have and sometimes visit the other CPUs to help around for a bit." Sapphire answered before giving some thought. "And I have a um… friend… that I REALLY want to hang out with but um…" She blushed a little before looking off to the side.
"Ooh~! Who is this friend~?" Neptune asked, seeing the blue-haired girl blush even more when she asked that.
"Well… um… she's… pretty friendly… nice… and um…" Sapphire immediately shook her head as she closed her eyes. Actually! Never mind! I really don't want to talk about her!" She exclaimed.
"Aw… Why not~?" Neptune asked before she then looked at her with a very smug look and wiggling eyebrows. "Ooh~! I didn't know you swing that way…" She said, to which Sapphire narrowed her eyes before they widened as she realized what Neptune meant by that.
"No! It's not like that! We just have… a lot of problems…! Yeah! Just a lot of problems surrounding us! Nothing more!" Sapphire exclaimed while shaking her head over and over. "Can we please just stop talking about my friend and eat your food? I want to see your Planeptune now!" She whined before then pouting like a kid, looking like she's a bit upset.
"Neptune…" Nepgear muttered as she frowned at her older sister, not wanting this conversation to go any further than it needed to begin with.
This made Neptune laugh rather awkwardly. "Okay okay! Jeez! I was just teasing you!" She exclaimed as she waved her hands as she grinned very widely.
Sapphire just narrows her eyes before shrugging it off. "Well… Whatever!" She said, sounding very uncaring. "Either way, I'll just keep these apples while you finish your food, okay? After that, we'll go!" She exclaimed as she walked away with the plate of apples, looking rather anxious.
Neptune and Nepgear looked at each other before shrugging it off before finishing up their food. After that, Sapphire gathered up the plates and moved to the sink where she quickly washed them. After she was done, she then turned to the two girls with a wide grin.
"Come on! Let's go! Our journey awaits!" She exclaimed as she pumped her fist up, which Neptune copied her as well while Nepgear just sweatdropped.
Neptune and Nepgear, with Sapphire in tow, walked to the elevator while bidding Histoire good-bye. They went to the first floor where they guided the blue-haired girl outside of the Basilicom.
Planeptune is a very large nation where there were multiple train rails across the sky, and very large purplish buildings. As they walked around, Sapphire went ahead of them as she seemed amazed by this. "Wow~! So cool! So cool!" The girl exclaimed as she looked around, seeing this dimension's Planeptune for the first time. "What's that!?" She pointed at a random building. But before Nepgear even spoke up, she then pointed at another random building. "Ooh~! Ooh~! What's that over there!?" She asked as she turned to Nepgear expectantly.
"Woah there buddy! Slow down, will ya?" Neptune said, trying to calm down the really excited girl in question. "We'll answer your questions one at a time." She told her, to which she slowly nodded. "Now let's show her, shall we Nepgear?" She asked, turning to her younger sister, who then nodded as a reply.
So then Neptune and Nepgear started to show her around, telling her bits and bits of their Planeptune like what they have in general. But that slowly turned to Sapphire wanting to buy stuff from the stores they showed, mostly ones from each candy store.
"Hehe~!" Sapphire giggled as she picked up a chocolate bar as she turned to Neptune and Nepgear with a huge, dorky smile on her face. "Neptune! Nepgear! Let's buy this!" She exclaimed, to which Nepgear just giggled.
After paying for a few of them and going from a store, Nepgear had to stop Sapphire from going overboard with their credits since it would just make Neptune depressed over the fact that she was wasting all of her hard-earn credits; the blue-haired girl asked a very peculiar question.
"Is there a store that has some really old things? Like a retro store or the sorts?" She asked, looking at her with a curious glint in her eyes. "Because I really want to see what they have."
"Ooh~! So you're now going retro, are we? I think we might know a place, right Nepgear?" Neptune asked with a grin as she put her hand on her hips.
"Nepgear nodded, knowing what Neptune was talking about. "Yeah, I think I know which store you're talking about. It's a store that our friend is working at." She said, giving a kind smile.
"A friend…?" Sapphire then tilted her head to the side, seemingly more interested about that part than what the store they were proposing. She then blinked her eyes twice before giving them a smile. "Okay! Let's go there now!" She exclaimed loudly.
This made Nepgear giggled, seeing how really childish this girl is and it really reminds her of her sister that was right next to her. Shaking those thoughts off, they guided her to where this retro store was, which was nearby despite how large the nation is. It was a store called Chuko's Shop, which Sapphire seemed a bit skeptical about as she raised her eyebrows.
"Don't try sussing this place out yet!" Neptune exclaimed, seeing Sapphire looking at it rather skeptically. "We're good friends with the owner and…" Neptune then stopped herself as the said girl giggling out of nowhere, before going into a full on laughter. "Wait… What?" She then looked at her with utter disbelief and confusion.
"Ah… Sorry… It's that…" Sapphire said in between giggles as she covered her mouth. "That word you said… 'Sussing…' 'Sus…' Where I come from… It's a meme… about a game… And it's…" She then starts bursting out with laughter, making Nepgear and Neptune really confused about what she's talking about. "I can't… get it… out of… my head…" She said, trying very hard to stop herself from laughing.
"Uh… Nepgear…? Was there any memes related to a game as of recently?" Neptune asked, to which her younger sister seemed to be thinking for a little bit before shaking her head. "Yeah… Don't know what you're laughing about, kid…" She muttered, not really sure what she's talking about. "And I know my references, this ain't coming to me."
"Eh? You don't know?" Sapphire looked rather confused, to which Neptune and Nepgear looked at each other before shaking their heads. "Hmm… Maybe it's not popular yet…?" She then looked rather in thought for a while before shaking her head. "Either way, don't think too much about it, okay?" She told them, giving them a smile. "It's just a weird meme that I just caught wind of by a friend of mine that really likes referencing that." She then looked at Neptune, with a small frown. "Actually, she reminds me of you." She added with a tone that seemed rather cold-natured.
"Wai… wha–?" Neptune was about to ask before Sapphire turned away as she walked towards the automatic doors, which obviously opened for her, and walked in. "Uhhh… Is it just me or does it feel like she was insulting me for some reason?" She asked herself, before shrugging it off. "Probably just my imagination." She exclaimed as she followed after the blue-haired girl before noticing Nepgear frowning to where Sapphire went inside. "Nepgear, is there something wrong?" She asked, turning to her sister.
Nepgear immediately shook her head. "N-No! It's nothing!" She said as she waved her arms. 'It's that same expression from earlier… But something about it feels more… intense for some reason…' She thought to herself. 'I'm not sure why she sometimes acts this way, but I…' She frowned again.
"Yeah… You noticed that expression as well." Neptune spoke up, catching her attention. "But there has to be an explanation as to why! I'm not gonna suspect her just because she's acting weird and besides…!" She put her hands on her hips and grinned. "She doesn't seem that bad, right?"
"R-Right…" Nepgear muttered as she then frowned at this. "It's not that I don't suspect her, it's that she seems to be hiding something and…" She closed her eyes, thinking how she acted from that small glimpse from this morning.
But before she spoke again, Sapphire popped her head out of the store with a rather huge smile. "Hey guys! Why are you waiting outside!?" She exclaimed, seemingly excited over what was inside of the store. "Come on! Hurry up!" She then immediately went back inside, not letting both of them say anything back.
They looked at each other before Nepgear spoke up. "W-We should probably go…" She said, to which Neptune nodded in agreement, before they followed in after her. 'I don't know… Something about her seemed very off… But I'm not actually sure whether it's a good thing or a bad one…' Nepgear thought with a small frown.
As they went in, they immediately saw Sapphire bouncing all over the place while checking each and every item there. "Oooh~! What's this~? What's that~? Oooh~! What's that over there~?" She asked in rapid succession, confusing a white cartoon mouse with an apron, who was the owner of this store, Chuko.
Meanwhile, B-Sha, the blonde girl with hair tied into pigtails and an orange and red dress, was watching all of this from the counter as she was just as confused as Chuko before noticing Neptune and Nepgear were there. "Hey Nep-Nep! We have this rather strange customer that just came in and…" She then noticed that both of them had this look that they knew this would happen. "Oh. So… you already knew this girl?" She asked.
"Yeah… She's our guest until she gets back home… y'know… dimension traveling stuff…" Neptune told her, to which B-Sha went 'Ah' as soon as she heard that. "It was kind of unexpected… Like a gopher popping out a hole or something like that." She said in a rather joking way.
"Y-Yeah… I can see that…" B-Sha said as she sweatdropped a little. "She's really exuding a lot of energy like you, Nep-Nep…" She said before she then grinned. "But I'm not too worried right now, she seems nice. Doesn't mean I will give her a discount, yeah? Only for today."
"R-Right…" Nepgear said as she laughed nervously, knowing how much B-Sha likes money and how much she charges for services.
"Either way, what's going on in this fine establishment? Anything new going on? Any games you guys got?" Neptune asked, to which B-Sha thought for a while.
"Hmm… Not that much has happened recently. We're still getting customers, but it still feels really slow right now…" B-Sha answered while thinking about it for a while. "We might have some games in the 'New' section of the store." She said as she pointed to the section on the left.
"Ooh~! Thanks B-Sha!" Neptune exclaimed before she rushes off to where B-Sha pointed at, while Nepgear chuckles awkwardly at the fact that they were being a guide before that turned to just shopping for stuff.
"Nepgear!" She heard Sapphire exclaim as she rushed towards her with at least three games in her hand. "This place is so amazing! It's like a collector's dream or something like that! And the store owner is really nice, despite being a mouse…" She said, muttering that last part. "And she picked out these great games! How cool is that!" She then looked at the games she had, front and back with sparkling eyes. "Either way, I'm gonna look for more! Be right back!" She exclaimed before rushing back to look for more.
As she rushed back, a rather disgruntled man walked into the store and it seemed that B-Sha already knew who this person was from the way she laughed awkwardly. The man then stomped up to the counter to where B-Sha was with a rather fierce glare.
"Look… I said this before and I will say it again. We can't sell these games at a lower price. Whatever price we put is what you need to pay" B-Sha immediately said as she put her hands on her hips.
The disgruntled man slammed his hands on the counter, making B-Sha jump before immediately starting to go off the girl. Most of it was a jumbled mess, but some of them were complaining about the prices for some games. Nepgear was about to step in, but was pushed back by the man, who didn't look at her. As it started to become heated, it caused Neptune to immediately rush back, helping her sister up, who fell down from that sudden push, as she and Nepgear were about to stop this from going further. However…
"Poing!"
Sapphire softly karate chopped the man's head with a rather neutral stare. This made the man turn to her in befuddlement, to which she immediately karate chopped his head again while saying the word, "Poing" like she's not taking this seriously.
"What the hell…?" The man then turned to the girl who stared back, to which her neutral stare turned to a cold glare.
"You should stop while you still can. If you know what's best for you." Sapphire spoke up immediately in an almost cold and menacing way. Even Neptune and Nepgear felt a chill from those words.
"Huh…!? What the hell do you mean by that…!?" The man exclaimed, looking at her rather furiously. "E-Either way, I have the right to complain about this." He said, to which she just closed her eyes and crossed her arms as she stayed uncharacteristically silent. "Hey! Say something, why don't ya!?" He then grabbed her shoulder.
However, when she opened her eyes, her glare became fiercer. "Shut it… human…" She said, making the man actually shocked by her cold tone. Her glare seemed like she was pinning him down without her moving a finger. "Do you ask the bear why it's attacking you, even when you clearly disturb it… No… You would have just run away, regretting those actions you took up to that point, right?" She asked, even though he was stunned into silence. "At least… that's how I see this situation…" She said as she slightly tilted her head.
'Is this…? Is this the same Sapphire…?' Nepgear asked herself while staring at her. 'This is very different from how she was acting… Is she like…?'
"Don't get the wrong idea… human… I am only telling you this because I would rather not do anything rash today…" Sapphire said as she then narrowed her eyes. "However, if you do decide to continue… I'll…"
"Woah woah! Hang on buddy! No need to go all scary on this guy!" Neptune exclaimed, cutting the tension, as Sapphire turned to her with the same cold expression in her eyes. "Why don't you stand back and let me handle this, okay?" But when she was still staring, being all quiet with some sort of doubt in her eyes, Neptune then awkwardly laughed. "Like y'know… finding a better solution that everyone can be happy with." She told her.
Sapphire, still with those cold eyes, smiled like the one she had when she was acting like the cheerful girl from earlier. However, that smile was different in a way as her eyes were staring Neptune down like a hawk. It was like she was analyzing Neptune from top to bottom before she just looked at her with a disapproving frown. "Stupid… That's just stupid…" She muttered under her breath.
"What the what…?" Neptune said, looking at her with confusion and a small hint of surprise. "Why do you think that?" She asked with a frown because to her, it helped fix most problems in her nation, if not all of their problems.
"It's… because… nothing… Never mind… Do what you want…" Sapphire muttered before shrugging off the man's hand and walked off, like she just gave up immediately. But then she turned back to Neptune as she walked. "But don't blame me when it doesn't wor…" Before she tripped over a leg of a stand and fell flat on her face.
Nepgear, who was watching all of this happening, blinked at the fact that Sapphire fell down. Not that she could have stopped her from falling from how she was acting earlier.
"Owie…" Sapphire muttered as she rubbed her head as she looked around in almost confusion before she then looked towards the people who were staring at her. "Eh? Eh? Why are you looking at me like that?" She asked as she tilted her head.
"Do you… not remember…?"Nepgear asked, to which the said girl looked at her in confusion, which had her caught off guard.
"What do you mean by that…? Hm…?" Sapphire then stared at the man, who seemed frozen all of sudden by fear. "Oh! Hello! My name is…!" She exclaimed as she reached her hand out. However, the man, without a word, ran off out of fear. "Hm? What was that for?" She asked herself.
Neptune, who had at least seen some of it, seemed almost bewildered. "Uh… Sapphire…? Do you not remember the fact you went full on horror game on the guy?" She said, to which the blue-haired girl tilted her head to the side. "Like nothing at all?" She asked, to which the girl frowned at her.
"What are you talking about, Neptune?" She asked, seeming very confused at the moment. "Did I wear a horror game on my head or something?" She asked before she shook her head. "Oh well… Whatevs! Let's just pay for these games and look for more stuff! Okay!" She exclaimed as she waved the games in her hand.
Neptune, Nepgear, B-Sha, and Chuko all looked at each, seemingly having a hard time to get that scene out of their head. But after a little bit of thought, they decided to let it off for now, since they seemingly handed this situation off to Neptune and Nepgear, who the latter internally wants to watch her for a little while. They paid for the games they picked out and went out.
'Just who is Sapphire…?' Nepgear asked herself as she watched the said girl from behind. 'I… better watch her for a while… I just hope I'm not wrong about this…'
That's all for now! Not much I want to talk about! Hope you enjoy Chapter 3 and Please Review and Stay Safe!