《Verdant Green (Neptunia SI)》


 Chapter 1

    Light tried to worm its way through my closed eyelids, almost as if it were assaulting me. If the alarm clock hasn''t gone off yet, then it isn''t time to wake up. My body knew this, of course, but didn''t stop screaming that it was time to get up and move. Finally relenting, I opened my eyes. I wanted to sleep in during the weekend and.


    This wasn''t my apartment. My brain, which had been struggling to get back to sleep, lept into high gear. Instead of my room, my bed, and my computer, I was instead met with trees and grass.


    What. The. Hell. I bolted upright, looking around wildly for any sign of anyone, anything. Seriously, who just kidnaps someone to only leave them stranded in the wilderness? How did I not notice it until now!


    But there was nobody in sight. At least, as far as I could tell. Just trees and grass. A whole lot of green and a backpack!


    I rushed over to it. Was it a trap? And if it was, did it matter? Food, bottled water, literally anything that could be useful right now.


    Please be something good. Please be something good.


    It. Okay, it wasn''t bad per se, but it certainly wasn''t useful. Still, I pulled up the plush dinosaur to my chest, giving it a tight squeeze.


    Huh. That felt different from usual. That. Okay, what! Just what! Why? How? This is bull! Bull!


    I let myself sit down, taking a look at my hands. They''d never been big, to begin with, but they seemed even smaller now. Dainty. I ran them up my arms, feeling a lack of hair. The same for my legs.


    I didn''t check my chest, in part to the two larger issues that were dominant on that front.


    Alright, being taken out of my house by some type of nutcase and stranded in the woods wasn''t exactly reasonable, but certainly within the world of extreme improbability. Being turned into a girl as part of the process?


    That feel from the land of improbable into the land of pure fantasy.


    Okay, screw this. This had to be a dream, and I''m waking myself up, now!


    "Ow!" I shouted as I slapped myself across the face. Okay, I had to wake up now. Right. Right? Right!


    Nope. If this is a dream, then that didn''t wake me up, and I wasn''t going to try and hit myself harder.


    I spread out my arms, going for sitting to laying down on the grass, doing everything in my power to stop myself from crying. No phone. No food. No map. I was who knows where, and it would honestly take days for anyone to notice I was gone. It was a Saturday morning, meaning I wasn''t going to be noticed until at least Monday, and even then, I doubt a search party would be sent out for me. I lived by myself, so my parents might not notice my absence for a while.


    Meaning nobody would know I''d been, well, kidnapped for at least a few days. Then there was the whole mess of my body. Even if someone started searching for me, I had no real way to prove that I was me. My hands were different, my arms were different, my legs were different, and even my chest was different.


    There was no doubt in my mind that my face was different too. I''d felt it. There was no stubble, my checks felt rounder. Then was my hair. I reached out to hold it in front of my face. Long and blonde. Now several shades lighter than it had been, and worst of all?


    The curly hair I prided myself on having?


    Gone. Vanished. I get turned into a girl and I don''t even get to keep my hair as a consolation prize. Good job, universe. Go find a cactus and spin.


    I''m, really trying to distract myself if my hair is what I''m whining about, aren''t I?


    I already miss my family.


    But missing them wasn''t going to get me home any faster. If I wanted to even have a shot at fixing this, I was going to need to start moving. The trees would provide me with much-needed shade. But, where was I going to go? Those very same trees that were giving me shade had no branches close to the ground, no easy route up to scout out the area.


    Scowling, I put Fuzzy back in the backpack. Was I just going to pick a direction and hope for the best? No, that was, stupid. I didn''t know much about survival in the wilderness, but picking a direction and praying did not sound like an effective solution.


    Plus, it was, midday? So I couldn''t just use the sun to orient myself. I could wait, but that was wasting time I didn''t have a lot of. There had to be something nearby that I could use. In the silence, something faint reached my ears. It sounded like, water?


    If it was water, then!


    I began to hurry to the source of the noise, finding a small stream, water rolling over the small rocks deposited there.


    Water was perfect. Just what I needed, even if I avoided looking into it. I wasn''t ready for that. I didn''t want to see my new face. I, don''t think I''d be able to handle it.


    But where water was, civilization would be attached to it. While this was closer to a backwater brook, it had to go somewhere. A pond, a river, or even a lake. The larger the body of water, the more people would be drawn to it. I would just need to follow the stream until I found someone.


    I just hoped whoever that someone was isn''t a murderer or something.


    And it was strange, how the animals were so quiet around here. Not even crickets or any of the other noisy animals were around. That alone gave the forest an eerie feeling. Didn''t animals only act like this when there was a big scary predator in the area?


    I shuttered. Hopefully, I was wrong.


    Yeah, sure, if that''s how the world worked, I would have woken up in my bed!


    I scowled, pushing the thoughts back. Those weren''t helping!


    x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x


    Okay, something was screwy here. Rivers, creeks, streams? Hydrogeology and sedimentology weren''t my strongest points, but even I could tell this wasn''t obeying the normal rules that waterways tended to.


    It was going in a straight line, cutting through the landscape like a person who did worldbuilding but had no idea how a river worked. Rivers, while typically going in one direction, were far from static features. They cut through the landscape, constrained by it, but at the same time, shaping it.


    A river on this type of terrain would meander back and forth, like a snake. As sediment was transported, it would cut into the outer bank, as the speed, and energy, were greater, leaving the inner bank slower, and with less energy, leading to deposition. Eventually, as erosion continued over the years, two out banks would meet, pinching out a part of the loop, with the river taking the path of least resistance.


    But a river was even in that situation, was not straight, even along a portion of it.


    Nor did it drastically widen with time after a few hours of walking. At first, I could tell myself I was just imagining things. But now? It was undeniable. It had widened considerably over the past few hours that I walked, the channel filling even more with water. It was far from a raging torrent, but if continued to grow, I might find myself before a lake or an ocean before I knew it.


    Nor had I run into a single animal by this point. While the banks of the river were steep, at the same time, it was still water. Animals needed water, just like literally everything else alive. And rivers could prove to be a good, though sometimes risky, source of it.


    So for me to run into nothing, was odd. I wasn''t a wildlife expert by any means, and many animals had a healthy and rightful fear of humans, but I''d at least expect to see bugs, birds, or maybe the occasional rabbit or similar animal.


    The only real improvement over the last few hours was that I now knew what direction I was headed. My march was taking me on a mostly easterly track. Sure, it wasn''t immediately helpful, as I had no idea where I was, or what I was moving towards. But at the same time, it was, comforting? I at least had a direction now, or at least, the knowledge of a direction. And that, helped, I guess?


    Maybe it was just my brain feeling weird.


    I felt my stomach make an angry groan of protest. Right. No breakfast, or lunch. So it probably wasn''t my brain that was the problem.


    Swinging my backpack off my shoulder, I sat down next to one of the trees, before taking out Fuzzy and gently placing him on one of the exposed roots. There had to be something else in here! Something I overlooked.


    There had to be something to eat! I wasn''t coming across any animals, and even if I had, it wasn''t like I knew the first thing about hunting. Or knew how to make weapons for hunting out of nothing more than sticks and rocks. Sure, a caveman could do it.


    But a caveman knew how to do it, and spent a portion of his life learning how to do it. This was knowledge I completely lacked.


    I mean, if things truly started to look desperate, I might be able to figure it out. But with the suspicious lack of wildlife, I wasn''t going to spend time and energy on the matter.


    And, of course, there was nothing. No note, no food. Just an empty bag of that might have well been a middle finger pointed right at my face. I gripped the bag, tempted yeet it into the river, stream, whatever that thing decided it was. But that wasn''t going to address the issue, either.


    Plus, it was a nice enough backpack. Pitching it just out of spite would be wasteful. Feel nice? Yes. Be smart? No.


    I could probably sell it if worse came to worst.


    You know, provided I even made it to that point. Which was by no means guaranteed. I still had no damn clue where I was, and knowing the direction I was going in helped. But without landmarks, I was well and truly screwed if this went on for longer than a day or two at most.


    I was going to have to eat eventually and dirt wasn''t particularly known for its nutritional value. Unless the river had fish, I''d need a spear of some kind, or a fishing rod. Neither of which seemed particularly effective. I had no bait and no hook for the rod. And as far as I knew, spearfishing was extremely hit or miss.


    Mostly miss.


    Survival was so much easier when it played by Minecraft rules. Punch a tree to get wood. Punch grass to get wheat seeds. How I missed such simplicity from my childhood.


    Nope. I smacked myself across the face. Now was not the time to ruminate on the past. I needed to focus on the here and now. Not on Minecraft.


    If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    I began to push myself up, ready to get on the move again. But there was something that made me move even faster. A low rumbling growl snapped me from my malaise, sending me stumbling backward in a panic, as a creature stepped into my line of sight.


    It didn''t look like any animal I''d seen before. A wolf or other type of canine would be my first guess. Wolves were blue, however, nor did they have bushy purple tails, or horns like that of a rhino.


    I took an uneasy step back, knuckles going white as I gripped my backpack. I had no idea what it was, but it was a predator. It could be little else.


    Where all the other animals were had become apparent.


    It took a step towards me as I took two steps back once again. There was no chance in hell I could outrun this thing. And without some type of weapon, it wasn''t like I really could outfight it, either. Sure, I had martial arts training. I knew how to throw a punch.


    But trying to martial art a wolf into submission was a tall task. At best, I might be able to convince the thing I wasn''t worth the effort. It wouldn''t cause any damage, but maybe clubbing it with the backpack would convince it to back off? I would just need to zip it up again to make sure Fuzzy didn''t.


    Wait? Where was? NO! I''d left him on the ground!


    No. No more. I''d lost my house. My bed. My computer. My family. All. In. A. Single. Day.


    I wasn''t going to lose anything else!


    "ARRRARRRRRARRRRA!" I pulled myself to my full height and screamed at the top of my lungs. The rhino wolf thing, jolted backward as if it was surprised by my sudden change in demeanor. Stepping forward, I took in another breath, before continuing to bellow at the top of my lungs.


    It let out a yip, before turning around, bolting back in the direction I had come from. I continued to scream, acting as if I was trying to chase it down before it finally bolted deeper into the woods. Slowly, I headed back over to Fuzzy, picking him up off the ground, gently placing him into the backpack, giving his nose a few scratches for good luck, making sure it was zipped up nice and tight as I slipped it onto my shoulders.


    Now, let''s get the hell out of here before whatever that thing was rediscovers its balls and comes back for a round two.


    x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x


    It was nearing sundown, the sky a vibrant shade of red. I was exhausted. My shoes, or what could be passed off as shoes, had fallen apart. I''d had to tear off part of my clothes to wrap up my feet, as rocks kept digging into them, making them bleed. Of course, my clothes weren''t in much better shape. Parts were torn by branches from trees and bushes alike. That''s where it wasn''t covered in mud, as I misjudged a step and nearly stumbled into the river. It took several minutes for me to climb out of the channel, caking me with even more dirt and mud.


    But, as dusk approached, my salvation arrived. I broke through the treeline, exiting it for a vast, green, plain. The grass rustled in the wind, swaying back and forth. The river continued to cut through the area, however, I no longer required its services. In the distance, I could see it. A massive city, skyscrapers glistening in the evening light.


    Civilization! At last!


    Though I still had little idea where it was on a map. There didn''t appear to be much if any, urban sprawl. There didn''t appear to be a highway, or any structure like that, either, or at least, nothing I recognized as such. Which was, strange.


    Still, it was better than nothing, and I was certainly going to take it.


    Getting there was going to take a hot minute though. It would be dark soon, which could prove to be a bit of a problem. Wandering around in the dark wasn''t the brightest of ideas. But did I have a choice in the matter?


    I may have been out of the woods, but that probably meant jack shit when it came to being safe. There was nothing to stop that wolf, rhino, thing from just following me, especially if I decided to camp out for the night. I hadn''t seen anything of it since I scared it off the first time, but I hadn''t seen it until it wanted me to the first time, either. Not a gamble I was willing to take twice. Which meant covering the entire distance tonight. And it wasn''t like waiting around would make me look anything less like a dirty homeless girl.


    Ignoring as my legs screamed at me to stop, I pushed onwards, the grass running up against my skin. Ticks were something I was going to have to check for by the time this was over, wasn''t it?


    I shuddered at the prospect. Normally, I wouldn''t have any issue with that. But right now? With me being stuck in what was the body of a girl of unknown age? It needed to be done, whether I liked it or not, but.


    I didn''t like the prospect of checking a body that wasn''t mine for things like that.


    That, however, was a problem for future me, who had much bigger issues to deal with at the moment.


    But I had to admit, that the city did look beautiful from a distance. Between the water, and all the abnormal architecture, it almost looked completely futuristic, an amped-up City of Tomorrow.


    Hopefully, the similarity was at the surface level, rather than going any deeper. I knew some of the messed-up things Walt had planned, and I rather not have anything to do with that.


    I shifted a bit as a felt something wet bump against my left leg, thinking nothing of it. Then I felt something wet bump into it again. Okay, what? Oh, it was probably nothing. I hadn''t eaten all day, so it was probably the hunger was starting to get to me. All the more reason to get to the city sooner or later. I needed food, and I might have to dumpster dive to get it.


    After the third time, it was no longer something I could just simply ignore. Looking down at the source, I stopped midstep. Was that a flower? With legs?


    Okay, what the hell? Full stop. First the blue wolf, and now this? How was this a thing? Did someone slip me some drugs at some point? I couldn''t think of anyone I knew of who could get into my apartment and just spike something I''d drink with drugs. Who does that? Drugs were expensive!


    Either way, at that point, it''s time to throw in the towel and just make a run for it. I had nothing in the gas tank besides pure concentrated nope, and honestly? That was probably all I was ever going to need to fuel the old Jostar family trick.


    Run away!


    I blitzed towards the city, which was still some distance away, ignoring every scream of protest my body sent my way. I''d rather listen to you whine, body, than deal with the fact there are walking flowers! Looking back only brought more concern, as not only were the first of these demented little bastards keeping pace with me but more and more of these things were uprooting themselves, taking a few seconds before falling behind the lead plant.


    It would almost look comical from an outside perspective, one person being chased by what had to look like a veritable tide of angry flora. Thankfully, they didn''t look like they were gaining on me. Unfortunately, I wasn''t increasing the distance, either. Meaning I was probably going to lead a horde of angry demented plants right into the center of town. Not exactly the best first impression, but I wasn''t going to find out if these things had any bite to their bark. Even if they individually didn''t, there had to be a tidal wave''s worth at this point!


    But if this was in their backyard, then surely the people would have the means to deal with this type of problem, right? Right?


    I felt something. It was a rock or a root. Could have been either one, but the effect was the same, sending me tumbling down into the dirt. No! I didn''t have time!


    Already, my legs and arms burned, screaming at me as I pushed my body to stand back up. To listen to me, as a matter of survival!


    But it couldn''t. It wouldn''t.


    No matter how much I tried, my body refused to move fast enough. No! I didn''t want to die here! Not to become some fertilizer! I needed to stand! Now!


    But it wasn''t. Not fast enough to matter.


    "Rainy Ratnapura!" a voice shouted from above, as the dirt behind me exploded upwards.


    I looked up as a shadow passed over my head. To look at the thing who had been my savor.


    I regretted it immediately, my face flushing bright red. I''m pretty sure the armor, that covered her arms and legs provided the most protection compared to everywhere else. I''d compare the rest to a bikini, but even that seemed like pushing it. Her hair was a color that only could have existed if it were dyed that way.


    "Is something wrong?" the lady touched down before me, and my intention to look anywhere else but her underclothed frame drew my eyes to the massive white and green spear she held in her hand, alongside the six purple wings the came off her back.


    "Oh, I see. You haven''t seen a mature woman before?" her voice was teasing, but I was thankful my gaze was still elsewhere. If I had looked, I''d probably get a nosebleed or some other dumb anime trope.


    And why did I feel like it''d be really weird if I did get one?


    "No!" I stammered, looking up towards her eyes, only to stop. She had purple eyes, with no pupils. They looked almost alien. Inhuman. No. Something, more, than human.


    I tried to stand back up. Even if I would still be shorter, I should at least get back on my own two feet. Instead of staying on the ground like some type of insect.


    "You should know that traveling without a weapon is extremely dangerous," she chided me, offering her hand to me all the same.


    "I didn''t. And even if I had, I don''t think it would have done me any good," I groaned out as she helped pull me up to my feet. Looking back behind me, I saw a scene of destruction. Dirt was scattered everywhere, with the flowers scattered along with them. Just who was this woman?


    "Really?" She raised an eyebrow. "Do you have a name by which I can call you? And where exactly are you from?"


    Name? Oh, crap. My old name wasn''t going to work. At least, it shouldn''t. Crap. I needed to come up with a new one! One that wouldn''t be suspicious. But I needed to come up with it fast!


    "Hinum," I said the word the moment it sprang into my mind, my body teetering, my exhaustion now hitting me like a sledgehammer. "I''m from."


    I don''t think I got to finish before the darkness took me.

 Chapter 2

    Alright, I''ve gotten this question from a lot of different reviewers/commenters, so I''m going to explain the naming choice here. I decided on the name Hinum because I will be based on the Microsoft Snapdragon in this fic, and since I''m the protagonist of my own story, I''ve decided to go with Main Character naming conventions (unlike types memory, like the rest of the little sisters aside from Nepgear). Going along that line of thought, I decided to incorporate part of my origins in our world, and since the scientific name of a snapdragon plant is Antirrhinum Majus, I decided on Hinum as a name, even if it sounds weird.


    x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x


    "I''m not sure this is a good idea," Chika crossed her arms. "We have no idea where she''s from, or if she''s with the ASIC, or some other group."


    Chika''s point was fair, in all consideration. But the girl had pretty much passed out in Vert''s arms. And it wasn''t like she could just leave her there. Or drop her off somewhere. Not without knowing more.


    Most people know not to wander without a weapon, and she didn''t have one. There was the stuffed animal in her backpack, but its lack of use either meant she panicked, or it wasn''t a weapon.


    "I know. Which is why we should try keeping her close until we know for certain what''s going on," Vert shook her head. "I think the best way to do that, at least, is by helping her."


    Chika sighed, relenting to Vert''s point. It was far more likely that the girl was either from some distant nation or an immigrant who was either unlucky or foolish.


    But the back of her mind whispered that there was something more.


    Just a few days ago, the sharcite crystal had begun to go wild, as shares had begun to spike drastically. Chika wasn''t sure of the cause, but she had heard of similar events through the other Oracles.


    A sister. Something that filled Chika''s heart with equal parts warmth, and dread.


    Out of all the things Vert wanted, a little sister was at the top of the list. She was jealous of most of the other Goddess''s that had their own. Blanc even had two.


    Vert getting a sister would fulfill her wildest dreams.


    But for Chika, it would mean she could spend less time with her darling Vert.


    She hadn''t been certain though. So she waited and observed. After all, letting Vert get her hopes up, only to have them cruelly dashed, was the last thing anyone in Leanbox needed right now.


    However, it looked like that had been the case. One day, it looked a crystal of some sort had formed, but the next day, it was gone. Shares had dropped down to more normal levels afterward, so Chika thought nothing of it.


    Until today, when Green Heart carried in a girl that she claimed to have found outside the city. That was something Chika had no problem believing, as she looked like a complete mess. The name Hinum was a bit odd, but that was almost normal compared to everything else.


    Her nightgown had been torn, and several scratches had to be cleaned before they got infected. Water revealed it to be green. In Leanbox, such a color was fairly common, but it wasn''t until Chika finished cleaning the girl''s hair that the whispers returned.


    Blonde hair. That trait wasn''t uncommon in Leanbox, either. But in association with green?


    The similarities only added up from there. Chika didn''t check the girl''s eyes, but it wouldn''t surprise her if they ended up being blue. But if this strange girl didn''t simply look like a younger version of Vert, Chika was willing to eat a hat.


    It could have just been her mind imagining things, and yet.


    Something told her it wasn''t. Any number of things could be at work. If she was working for the ASIC, then keeping her close, as much as a double-edged sword as it could be, could work out in their favor. But what happened if she wasn''t?


    Unless she had a family to return to, Vert would be more than willing to let the girl stay, at least for a time. Chika hoped the girl did have somewhere to return to. To be lost in uncertain times was not pleasant.


    x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x


    I stirred, rays of light shining into my face. Grumbling, I turned my head away, taking the blanket with me as I went.


    Wait. Blanket?


    I bolted upright. Had it all been a bad dream? Was I still at home, safe and sound?


    The answer to the first two was a responding no. The room was this light green, and looked impeccably clean, even more so than my standards. There was a desk with a computer, which wouldn''t have been out of place in my room. Baring simply how impressive the PC tower looked.


    But the TV would have been a sign, even if the room''s color and the balcony outside hadn''t. I didn''t keep a TV in my room, much less had several counsels for that TV.


    So, I was in a completely strange place. It was better than a field. Maybe. The fact I wasn''t chained up in a dungeon was probably a good sign, but that didn''t exactly stop the possibility of this being some type of gilded cage.


    I shook my head, trying to piece together the last thing I remembered. I was being chased by those walking, plant, things.


    Okay, I still wasn''t uncertain about whether or not I had been on drugs. That was not normal. At all. Neither was the flying lady.


    I couldn''t stop the resurgent blush at the memory. I had no problem with her having her tastes and all, but. That was a bit excessive.


    Was she the one that brought me here? I assumed so.


    Wherever this was here.


    God, where even was here? With everything that had happened, everything I had seen, it was safe to say I wasn''t in Kansas anymore. I guess Fuzzy was playing the role of Toto in this messed-up rendition of Wizard of Oz.


    I gave the stuffed animal a tight squeeze, as it had found its way into bed with me. Slowly, over the protests of my body, I pushed myself up. The nightgown I had worn yesterday had been replaced by one that hadn''t been torn to rags.


    That certainly made sense, and I was thankful for no longer look like I''d been kidnapped, but.


    I''m not sure how comfortable I am with a total stranger changing me. Hell, even I wasn''t that familiar with this body.


    This body. This body.


    This wasn''t mine. I clutched Fuzzy against my chest. This couldn''t be my body. It had to be someone else''s. I shouldn''t have the body of some teenage girl.


    I shouldn''t belong here, in this body, in this skin that wasn''t mine. I was in the body of the opposite sex. I should feel wrong.


    So why didn''t I?


    I shook my head, scattering the thoughts from my head. I was a long way from home, and if I was going to find a way back, I was going to need to focus.


    For the moment, that meant finding out where there was. I gazed out the window. From my vantage point, the city sprawled out below, a combination of brilliant whites and vibrant greens. It looked unlike any sort of city I''d ever been to in my life. It looked like one of those cities of the future.


    But it was time to start looking for some answers. I quickly double-checked the room for any spare clothes. I''d hoped for something or another, even a t-shirt, no matter how baggy, and even maybe sweat or pajama pants. But I had no such luck. It wasn''t like the nightgown was that bad, honestly. Going all the way down to my knees, and coming up up to my neck.


    It was modest enough, by my measure. But actual clothes would be nice because I had no idea what to do. Was I supposed to find someone? Or was I supposed to wait?


    A rumble came from my stomach, ending that dilemma. I needed food and needed it yesterday.


    The only problem was, that I had no idea where to go to solve it. I was in someone''s apartment, at the very least. Raiding their pantry without permission was a fast way to get myself kicked out onto the street. So I wasn''t looking for the kitchen.


    But that probably wouldn''t be the worst place to start, depending on what time of day it is.


    x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x


    This place was massive. Was this even an apartment, or were these things so big that each floor was its own apartment space? I refused to believe whoever it was that saved me owned a whole tower, just waiting to be used.


    Then again, something, something, gilded cage.


    Wasn''t Repunsal a blonde, or was that just a Disney invention?


    "Do you think I should get her up?" A voice came from down the hall, fairly faint, but still loud enough for me to hear the speaker. It sounded strange, familiar, for a lack of a better way to describe it. Though for the life of me, I couldn''t remember exactly where. That wasn''t exactly odd for me, however.


    "She''s been through a lot, Vert. She''ll be up when she''s ready to be," a second voice came from the same direction. This time, the voice was louder, likely because I was following the sound of the two voices.


    This one didn''t sound familiar. While the first seemed almost, excited, like a child about to open their presents on Christmas day. Something I didn''t exactly feel comfortable with, as I was likely the present in that analogy, but that she, at least, the voice sounded like a she, sounded the like the older of the pair.


    The younger one is the voice of reason?


    That wasn''t exactly bad but at the same time?


    Maybe I was just being paranoid about this?


    Honestly, I had no idea what time it was. The first voice simply could have been concerned about how long I''d been out. I didn''t even know if I had been out for the night, or possibly longer.


    It didn''t take me long to find where the voices had come from. While they had stopped talking, food lingered in the air, and the clang of utensils against dishware found its way to my ears.


    I paused at the door. What do I do? What should I say?


    How exactly do I approach this? I mean, I''m literally in the house of two people I didn''t even know. Now that I think about it, why didn''t they take me to a hospital or something? Wouldn''t that make a whole lot more sense than picking up a girl you found in a field and carrying them to your apartement? Who were these people, anyway?


    Great. Now I''ve made myself even more paranoid.


    But the prospect of a fresh meal swiftly overwhelmed such concerns. I was, so damn hungry at this point. I just needed to get something, anything in my stomach.


    I knocked lightly on the door, the noises stopping for a brief moment. After nothing happened, I slowly peeked my head through the door, taking care to move as little as possible.


    "Hello?"


    I looked into the kitchen slash dining area. Or, more specifically, the two young women sitting at the table. One had light green hair, almost like neon, but even a few shades lighter. It ran down her back, practically reaching her hips despite the black bow perched atop her head. She wore a neckless, maybe a choker around her neck. The symbol was suspiciously familiar, a green X, placed in the center of a pair of circles. An out white one, and an inner black one. Her dress was black. It showed most of her stomach.


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    I turned towards the blonde, hoping that what I had seen was part of her dress, rather than anything else.


    Speaking of her, the girl with blonde hair seemed like the oldest of the two. Her hair was just as long as her counterpart''s, something I was almost jealous of.


    Her outfit seemed like the most modest of the two as well, with a green top, along with a thin layer of lace reaching up to a green and white cloth loop around her neck. Off it hung a gold brooch with two red ribbons hanging off it and blue gemstone of some kind laided in it. The lower half of her outfit was white and peach colors, with gold trimming found throughout. Her eyes were blue, seeming to glisten.


    The next thing I knew, she was on me, in a literal blink and you miss it movement. She pulled me into a very unwanted and even more uncomfortable hug.


    "You''re awake! Thank goodness! I was worried you weren''t going to wake up," she said, clearly not noticing how she was going to make sure I wasn''t waking up again if she kept it up for much longer as I uselessly flailed about.


    "Vert, I understand your excitement, darling, but she does need to breathe," the other woman spoke, having yet to get out of her seat.


    "Sorry, sorry," the taller woman, who was named Vert if what the other said was anything to go by, apologized as she let me go, no longer choking me out. "You must be Hinum, right?"


    Hinum? I.


    I had called myself that, hadn''t I? I don''t know why, but I had.


    "Yes," I said softly, winging internally. "Sorry, I''m still a bit out of it."


    A gurgling noise came from my stomach, causing me to blush. Vert let out a soft laugh, as even the other lady who seemed more busy poking at her omelet cracked a brief smile.


    "Out of it and hungry," I amended, shuffling my bare feet against the cool tile floor.


    "Then, by all means, feel free to help yourself. We can talk once you''ve gotten your fill," Vert gestured over towards the kitchen, which was stocked full of various breakfast foodstuffs.


    My stomach let out another rumble, as I opened my mouth to say something about how I didn''t need this much food.


    Okay, I probably needed a bit more food than I thought I did.


    x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x


    My meal was, well, just about everything. Eggs, pancakes, bacon, the whole deal. I even snagged something that looked like a waffle to make sure I was topped off.


    "Thank you," I wiped my face with a napkin, hoping to retain some measure of dignity and civility. "That was a very good meal."


    "I can see that," the green-hair girl muttered, and I couldn''t tell if she was being snarky with me, or she was in shock about the amount of food I had put away.


    "Sorry, but I haven''t eaten since before yesterday, so," I blushed, rubbing the back of my head, doing my best to avoid giving away how dejected I was to no longer have curls.


    "Really? At all?" Vert asked as I shook my head. "Did you simply, run out of supplies?"


    "I didn''t even have any. I went to sleep in my apartment, then I woke up in a forest," I said, shuttering at the thought.


    "You just, appeared, in a forest?" the green-haired girl gave me a look. "I''m sorry, but that sounds hard to believe."


    "Sadly, reality is stranger than fiction," I shook my head. "I completely get it. It sounds impossible, but it''s what happened."


    "After briefly freaking out, because I had no idea where I was, how I''d gotten there, what had," I paused for a moment, no, no, this is already crazy enough. They don''t need that piece of information. "If I had been kidnapped or not, I decided to use what survival skills I had, and followed the river I woke up near."


    I noticed the two of them share a look as if wondering what exactly the river had to do with it.


    "Water leads to civilization, as it''s pretty much a necessary part of life," I waved my hand in a circle. "Moving on, it behaved, strangely."


    That caused the two of them to give themselves another glance.


    "But I stopped about, midday, I think, and rested in some shade. Then I came across this weird, wolf, I think?" I still had no idea what that animal even was, but given how walking plants were a thing, a wolf equivalent, was the most likely. But the ecology here was, probably, all sorts of messed up, at least compared to what it was like at.


    Home.


    "Weird how?" Vert looked as if she had jumped out of her seat, or just about near it, leaning partially over the table. Even her roommate seemed a bit concerned with her eyebrow raised.


    "Well, it was blue, it had a horn on its head, its tail had a lot more fur on it than it should have," I shuttered, the full weight finally beginning to sink in. "It could have killed me."


    I slumped forward, letting my head rest on my arms, doing my best to fight back tears. I nearly died yesterday! I nearly died twice! I was so close to having my body used as a chew toy, and literally, nobody would have known that I was dead.


    A warm hand found its way to my shoulder. Probably Vert''s.


    "I''m, okay," I pushed myself back up, wiping away tears from my eyes. It was, Vert''s hand, with the other girl, while not moving, gave me a soft look.


    "If you need a moment, it''s fine," Vert said, seemingly trying to restrain herself from giving me another massive hug.


    "Though, if you can, a drawing would be appreciated," the other woman said, pushing a piece of paper and a pin towards me.


    "Chika!" Vert gave the now identified girl a stern look as if trying to displace the green-haired woman. "I don''t think that''s necessary!"


    "It''s fine. Drawing it out might help, anyway," I grabbed the pen and paper. "But I''m warning you, I''m a fourth of good of an artist as I am a writer, and I''m only a decent writer."


    I began drawing the creature from my memories. Not that my drawing was anywhere close to good, but I was able to get all the things critical in the thought process of ''wolf, but weird''.


    "It was blue, but that isn''t going to convey well," I offered, showing them the finished product. They both stared at each other, confused.


    "That''s, just a normal wolf enemy type," Chika said, giving me a strange look, but seemingly a bit calmer. "Well, it''s good news that it doesn''t have a virus."


    "Normal?" It was now my turn to get out of my seat.


    "A normal wolf is grey, and doesn''t have a horn," I said, etching out another poor picture. "Something more like this, not, that."


    "That looks more like a Fafnir cub than anything else," Vert said, stretching her chin as if lost in thought. "However, I think I might have an explanation for what''s happening here, so please, continue."


    I raised an eyebrow. She already had an answer? This should be good.


    "Well, after I scared it off by yelling at it, I continued to double-time it along the riverbank until I got to the edge of the forest in the evening. From there I tried to make my way towards the city, which, I must say, is quite beautiful. Never seen any like it," I said, Vert growing a very satisfied grin on her face. "That''s when I ran into and started running from those walking flowers, got rescued by that flying woman, and then, I''m here."


    Okay, what exactly had happened to that woman? I hadn''t seen her yet, and by this point, I''d expected to have seen her. This was her apartment, I assumed. So I thought she''d be there when I woke up.


    Maybe she''s out saving more people from monsters? Like a superhero of some sort.


    That would almost explain the clothes, actually.


    "And where exactly did you say you came from?" Vert was tapping her finger against her chin.


    "Kansas?" I honestly didn''t realize it''s finished my sentence, wait a minute. No, that couldn''t be the case. There was no way Vert and the mystery woman were the same person. One was taller, with green hair. Maybe she just told Vert or something.


    Yeah, that made more sense.


    "Correct. A place I''ve never heard of," Vert nodded her head. "Have you ever heard of Leanbox?"


    "No, I can''t say that I have," I suppressed my initial reaction of what type of place would be called Leanbox. Seriously, what type of name was that?


    "Well, I have two pieces of bad news, and two pieces of good news," Vert was thankfully being honest. "Which do you want to hear about first?"


    "Bad news, I guess," I shifted my feet. Generally, hearing bad news first made the good news sound better, but would that be the case this time?


    "Well, the first piece of bad news, is that I think you''re in an alternate dimension," Vert said with a degree of normality, it came across like she was reading the weather. I wanted to call bullshit, I really did. But.


    How could I? I ended up in a forest without any rhyme or reason, swapped genders, weird river physics, flying women, wolf-rhinos, walking plants, and just. Everything. I was either still having a fever dream, or alternate dimensional travel actually made the most sense.


    "The second piece of bad news is, the possible solution is in another nation."


    "I''m sorry. What?" There was a possible solution? What tech level were these people on?


    "Right, should have started with that," Vert rubbed her head sheepishly. "But there is someone working on the matter, even if I understand things, they haven''t gotten too far along. Even though there is peace right now, I''ll probably have to pull some diplomatic strings."


    I stood there, completely flabbergasted. There, might already be a solution? Even if it wasn''t far along, and in another nation, that''s, good. Really, really good.


    "Thank you!" This time, I was the one giving the hug, giving Vert a tight hug out of gratitude.


    Vert let out a noise of surprise, taken off guard by my sudden display.


    "Don''t thank me quite yet. I don''t think there will be any issues, but given the situation, it still might take some time," Vert''s face looked a bit flushed as I let her go. Had I been squeezing too hard by mistake? "In the meantime, Chika, do you think you can help Hinum get some clothes, and maybe take her down to the guild headquarters? I''d do it myself, but you know how Neptune can be sometimes."


    I turned to face Chika, unable to read the expression on her face.


    "Of course darling, I''m happy to help."

 Chapter 3

    As it turned out, finding clothes was going to be, difficult. Not at the store. That would probably be easy. Painful, but easy. No, it was getting me presentable enough to even take the store that was the issue.


    Hypothetically, this wouldn''t have been too big of an issue. I was about Chika''s height, a bit taller, but that would normally not be a major issue.


    If we were men.


    Given how I was not in my original body, that meant other things had to be accounted for.


    And given how even Chika''s casual clothing ware didn''t get easier going than dresses? Safe to say, there were some issues.


    "These are going to pop out of the dress," I shifted uncomfortably. The dress felt tight around my chest, and it looked tight, too. I was probably one upward motion away from an escape attempt. "Are you sure you don''t just have an oversized shirt of some kind?"


    Or just a shirt.


    "It wouldn''t look good on you, though," Chika echoed the same excuse again. "Try this."


    I looked at the article on clothing. It looked a bit more sensible.


    "Chika, I''m not going to look good in dresses made for you," I bit back at what I wanted to say. I seriously was getting annoyed by this. Was she doing this on purpose? Because the sooner we left, the sooner we''d be able to get back.


    Sure, she was trying her best, and I doubted Vert''s clothes would serve any better. We''d be running into the exact opposite problem.


    But one of them at least had to have had something, even if that thing was simply an oversized shirt.


    I was getting pretty good at worming my way into these, though. Hopefully, they had a little thing called pants once we got to the store. It wouldn''t be the end of the world, but.


    Still wouldn''t like it coming to that, though.


    I shifted, finally adjusting the last bit of the dress.


    It still felt tight, but not as tight as all the previous dresses had been. It covered most of my skin, leaving my arms exposed with two straps over the shoulders. The dress itself went to just below the knee. I took a look in the mirror, gazing at the green and black dress. A combination of lighter shades compliments the outer layer of dark green with a few black bands that ran in intricate patterns across the fabric. Then there was the fact it allowed me to see that the feeling of a breeze on my naval hadn''t been my imagination after all. There was a cutout portion centered right on it, in the shape of a diamond, a band of black fabric outlining the feature.


    Turning around, just to double check, I found that more of my back was revealed, exposing my shoulder blades, but nothing that would make me turn aside the clothing out of hand.


    It wasn''t perfect, but it didn''t have any risk of malfunction or indecent exposure.


    I turned back around, looking a bit more closely. Honestly, this seemed a bit fancier, but I''d take it at this point. Wait. Is that.


    I gently felt my skin through the cloth.


    Did? Did I have abs?


    How?


    Shaking my head, I opened the door. Chika stood nearby, two piles of dresses surrounding her.


    "It looks good. How does it feel?" She said, looking me up and down.


    "Still a bit tight around the chest," I watched her make a face. Whether it was jealousy or something else I couldn''t tell. "But it doesn''t feel like I''m going to have a prison break in this."


    "Prison? Break?" Chika gave me an odd look, as I gestured towards the pile of dresses I already tried on.


    "I don''t have to worry about my chest jumping over the fence," she looked down at the pile of dresses I was pointing towards. Her eyes seemed to widen briefly.


    "Sorry, I didn''t notice," she rubbed her head awkwardly, seeming to apologize.


    But was she?


    Unlike Vert, Chika seemed a bit more distant. Cold? Cold was a better word for it. Like I was stepping on her toes somehow.


    Were Vert and her in a relationship of some kind? She had called Vert darling, after all. Maybe I was reading a bit too into it. Chika did make it sound like they had different rooms as well, which sounded like a hard no, but maybe they liked having their own private rooms?


    It would explain why Chika was so cold. I was taking away time Vert''s attention was on her. And she was jealous because of that?


    But I could just as easily be reading more into the situation than I should be. I could ask for clarification, but that might come across as rude, and if I was wrong, I might just make the situation worse.


    Plus, it hadn''t hurt anything, in the long run.


    "It''s fine," I shrugged, grabbing one of the piles of clothes on the floor. Chika gave me a bit of an odd look. "What? It''s not like we can just leave them here, and me helping speeds things along."


    "Alright, but don''t go into my room without permission, alright?" I nodded at the request. It wasn''t like I was going to violate her privacy for no reason.


    "I haven''t cleaned it up in a bit," I once again nodded at her explanation.


    x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x


    The elevator was a smooth ride. I hadn''t even noticed we had been going down floors if I hadn''t been keeping an eye on the light screen.


    But nothing, and I do mean, nothing, could have prepared me for what I saw when I came out of the elevator. People. Lots of people. This wasn''t some type of apartment building, but rather one with drastically more importance. Numerous people ran around, with phones and briefcases in their hands, some others with large stacks of paper.


    Then there were the guards. Several of them.


    How did I know they were guards?


    Well, it''s hard to imagine what armed people in uniform would otherwise be. Soldiers also came to mind, but maybe? Given the monsters that lived not too far from the city, either could be just as valid of an answer as the other.


    This, wasn''t an apartment, was it? This was something, more. You didn''t have this many people here, didn''t post this many guards at a place, unless either everything went to pot, or my original assumptions about this place were way off.


    Go figure.


    I did my best to stick close to Chika, not wanting to get lost in the crowd of people. We didn''t have any other ways to communicate with one another, and I refused to partake in the ''lost child routine'' as a matter of principle. I may not have fully grown anymore, but that didn''t matter.


    "Oracle Chika?" I turned my head to the sound of those words. Oracle? What type of title was that?


    Oh, I hoped that wasn''t the same level of title as the Oracle of Delphi or anything similar.


    Two figures were approaching. A woman in the same uniform as many of the other guards and a, maid?


    I blinked, thinking that maybe my sleep hadn''t been good, but no, there was an honest-to-goodness maid here. It was possible that she might not be, her outfit didn''t exactly look the part, beyond the little bonnet perched atop her red hair. Of course, given the outfit Chika seemed to wear on the regular, I might just have to recalibrate what passed off as professional clothes.


    I decided to keep my eyes elsewhere, for the time being. Her outfit, well, it didn''t leave much in the way of guesswork, I suppose you could say. She was attractive, but then again, it wasn''t like Chika wasn''t, either.


    Everyone I''d met so far had been conventionally attractive. I mean, maybe not the guard, but having at least half their face covered prevented that from being a fair comparison.


    Wait a minute. I scanned the room again, something finally clicking into place. Most of the people here were women. Sure, there was the occasional bit of stubble off the chin of a guard or one of the many passers-by, and there were probably a few feminine guys as well, but even factoring in the latter group?


    Looking at a five-to-one ratio. At least. Now that was hardly a bad thing, but statistically? Definitely abnormal by Earth standards, but I wasn''t on Earth anymore, was I?


    "Cave, I''m assuming you have news?" Chika asked, reaching a level of surreal when it wasn''t the guard who answered, but rather the presumed maid.


    "We intercepted another ASIC shipment earlier today," Cave''s voice was completely flat, surprising me. I''d stop questioning the names of people already. By this point, I shouldn''t be surprised. "Outside of the usual counterfeit, we found something interesting."


    "How interesting?" Chika''s voice was lower, likely to disguise it from unwanted eavesdropping. I took a few steps back, hoping not to hear anything more. This was military, police, foreign government stuff where my nose had no business being anywhere near.


    I wasn''t close enough to make out Cave''s response, but Chika pinching her brow was not a good sign.


    "Okay, I''ll set you up, but it might take a while. Vert''s busy trying to iron out her situation, which should just be more paperwork and review time for it than much else," Chika shook her head. I mean, Bureaucracy was a pain, but it often proved to be a necessary one.


    "Understandable. Planeptune''s Oracle is known for being meticulous even in the best of times," Cave simply nodded. "Given the strangeness of this case, I''d imagine she''d be especially thorough."


    Chills went up and down my spine as Cave turned her gaze towards me. I didn''t want to look away as if it would confirm some hidden suspicion. But her gaze made me feel as if I was being dipped into an ice bath and being put into a hot shower.


    At the same time.


    A few seconds went by, even if they felt as if it was a few minutes, before Cave turned away, heading towards the elevator.


    My breath exited my throat in an uneasy rattle.


    Chika let out a bit of a snicker.


    "Sorry about Cave. She''s, we''ve been under a lot of stress as of late," she managed, straightening her face back up.


    Something to do with the ASIC I would imagine. It sounded like some type of smuggling organization. Criminal at least. Crime existing even in a nation that appeared this advanced shouldn''t be a surprise.


    But they had to be pretty large to cause this much of a fuss.


    "I can tell," I muttered, still working out the chills from my spine.


    "Well then, shall we be off?"


    x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x


    "You aren''t a fan of dresses, are you?" Chika gazed at me as I exited the changing room.


    "My fashion sense has always been the first pair of pants and shirt that matches the weather," I said, not exaggerating one bit.


    Clothing was hard. Looking fancy was hard. Shirt and jeans? Piece of cake.


    Though they didn''t have much in the way of jeans, they did have a few things like jeans. Which was good enough for me.


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    Most of the clothes were a combination of green, black, and white. Sometimes a simple solid coloring, or a mixture in several different ways. The letter X was the most common symbol of the lot.


    Which was esthetically pleasing, the colors did tend to work well in tandem with one another. But the X tickled at the back of my mind. It seemed familiar, but I couldn''t quite place the iconography.


    I''d still like something with a bit of blue. It was my favorite color, a nice, cool, calming color.


    But I was still pleased with what I''d collected.


    "Fair, I suppose," Chika shrugged. "Though this is significantly less painful than the fitting."


    "I thought we swore to never talk about that," I blushed at the memory.


    "You swore to never talk about it again. I took no such oath," Chika had a smug expression on her face, as I scowled slightly. I just wanted to put that embarrassing moment behind me. It had been far from my finest moment.


    It was necessary, and it felt much more comfortable than leaving things as they were, but I still hadn''t mentally prepared myself for, well, that.


    "Regardless, if you don''t want to talk about it," Chika hummed, looking at the small collection of clothes. It would be enough to last me a week, which was good enough by my standards. "But are you sure that''s all you want?"


    "I can just wash them every week," I shrugged. "I''m your guest for the time being. I''m certainly not trying to break the bank or anything."


    Chika gave me a look as if to imply my statement was beyond stupid. If my developing understanding of the situation was correct, she probably made more in a month than I did in a year. And that was likely on the lower end of things.


    But the point remained. Just because she had money to burn, didn''t mean it was an invitation. That would be rude. Not to mention, she probably had her hobbies to spend money on.


    "Alright, if that''s what you''re happy with," Chika shook her head. "I should introduce you to IF if you''re around for long enough. You''d probably get along with her pretty well."


    If? There was a person who was named If? Or was it IF?


    What difference would the second caps even make? Or how was I even able to tell that from just spoken word?


    "That would be nice," I offered, having no idea what else to say.


    "We should be able to stop by the Guild headquarters after this," Chika nodded as I made my way to the cart. "Get that nipped in the bud while we''re out and about."


    "The guild?" I heard it mentioned by Vert beforehand. But I still had no idea what exactly it was. It sounded like something out of an RPG game.


    "Right, you probably don''t have something like that in your world," Chika said which was essentially becoming the most common thing I''d probably hear for the next while now.


    "It''s effectively a job board of sorts, where people can post jobs, either killing monsters or finding and collecting items," Chika continued as we made our way through the store.


    "So it''s like a quest board from an RPG game," I nodded. It was nice for that to be a bit more straightforward.


    "Some games were inspired by the system, yes," Chika hummed. Then she paused. "Of course, the same isn''t true in your world."


    "I can see conveince in-game mechanics being reflected when put in a real-life scenario," I shrugged. Centralization and order were fairly important, so having everything, or a lot of something in one place could be a good thing.


    But I couldn''t help the shutter going down my spine. Sure, I didn''t want to freeload, far from it. But going out again? Where the monsters were?


    "Don''t worry about it. If you go out, you''ll have Vert or me to help you if you go out to hunt monsters," Chika picked up on my fears. "This is more to get you at least some form of identification than anything else. Though you do get a free weapon if you don''t already have one."


    I was following her words right up until the last sentence. Like, she was still speaking the same language, but the words might as well be gibberish.


    "What?" I barely managed to get out, almost coming to a stop. Did I process that correctly? Was there a process I was just getting speedrun through because it was the most convenient? Because that sounded like it''d start getting messy pretty quickly otherwise.


    "I mean, unless that stuffed animal of yours is it, but I kind of doubt it," Chika continued.


    "Fuzzy?" I still wasn''t processing the situation completely. "I''ve had him since I could barely walk upright by myself."


    "Really? He''s in pretty good shape to have been in your possession for that long."


    Chika, you had no idea.


    x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x


    Neither had I. I stared down at the card in my hand glumly. Most people would consider de-aging a near decade a blessing of the highest order.


    I was not one of them. The fact the card spat out the age of sixteen rankled. Sure, I looked the part, but, still bitter. It''s not every day you get knocked down from having adult-level freedom to having close to adult-level independence.


    That''s what annoyed me most of all. It was near an adult. If I had been knocked back in age to that of a child, I wouldn''t be so bitter.


    Okay, I probably would still be bitter, but for different reasons.


    Still, it was strange, looking at my new face. I was considered E-rank, and a level one, to boot. Not like that was a surprise, but when I tapped it, I got a full-on stat sheet.


    A stat sheet! What type of RPG ass was this?


    That alone compelled me to want to look at it in depth. I mean, how could I not? As weird as it was, I had to be curious about the whole thing.


    "This is the training area!" Chika threw the doors wide open. Numerous targets filled the room. Not the standard training dummies made of straw, or the targets. They had teched this place out!


    It looked like they had holograms!


    "Feel free to try your hand with whatever you want," Chika gestured towards the numerous weapons lining the walls.


    It was a whole armory''s worth of equipment. But strangely, most of it didn''t look modern. The number of firearms was quite small.


    Why? If they had put most of their civilization points into things like social programs over weapons technology? But if that was the case, why did the firearms look more advanced?


    Well, looks may have been the answer, as I swung the first weapon I had gotten my hands on, a simple wooden sword. It looked like it was metal, but that wasn''t the case.


    Though I doubted these were simply painted muskets.


    I gave it a few overhand swings, roughly remembering the practice I used to have back when I did martial arts. The movements were familiar to me, but they just didn''t feel, right.


    I put the weapon back on the rack, before pulling up the stat sheet again. Strength was self-explanatory, as was intelligence. But what was agility? Was it like in D&D or Dark Souls, just that it''s being used as a replacement for dexterity? Or did it mean something else?


    It had to be some type of range damage scaling stat, right?


    Well, given how agility was one of my lowest stats, ranged combat wasn''t in my future, one way or another.


    So what was left? Well, just about everything else. Strength may have been my strongest stat, but intelligence, which had to be the magic stat, was hypothetically respectable. Keyword hypothetically. I really had no idea what constituted a good stat or not. I merely had my stats to go off of.


    Plus, the feeling I got from the staff was like I was stepping on someone''s toes. I may have had the capacity for magic, and as cool as that was, I had not a single clue on how that worked.


    Wait? Magic? This place had sci-fi tech and magic?


    That''s just not fair.


    Axe''s felt fine, and so did hammers, but they didn''t give me a sense of, well, being right. Honestly, I had no idea what I was looking for at this point. I could have just grabbed any weapon laying around, and called it a day.


    But I hadn''t.


    The spear felt simple, it was a decent weapon after all. But it felt too light in my hands, and it wasn''t like I could simply find a bigger one. Halberds were more or less the same, even if the bulky feeling was about as close to right as I had gotten thus far. So, where big chunky weapons on the ticket?


    As it turned out no. Greatswords were a bust, as was just about everything else. Chika started to get worried as I continued to try weapons, only to put them back in place after a few swings. Nothing was feeling right.


    Why? Why was nothing feeling right?


    Then I spotted something in the corner. It looked like a bow, which should have been something that scaled with one of my worst stats.


    But I''d tried just about damn near everything else, so I had to do something!


    Gripping the top, I pulled it out of the pile of what had to be discarded or simply other people being sloppy, yanking it free.


    It was only then I realized how badly I misjudged the size of it. This wasn''t a bow, this was a great bow, one straight out of the Dark Souls line of games. Well, and Elden Ring, but still a Fromsoft title. Some genetic code is all up in there, but I don''t know if Siekro or Demon Souls'' had such weapons. The latter, maybe, but it would feel out of place in the former.


    "That''s, unique," Chika offered, as I managed to grab a small supply of test arrows.


    "It''s a great bow. Like those silver knight archers in Anor Londo, from Dark Souls," I offered, not caring how that statement explained literally nothing.


    Alright, if I remember these right, I let one end stay on the ground, as I load an arrow. Keep my hand steady, as I pulled back on the bowstring. My arm strained at the force necessary to pull the bowstring all the way back, but the arrow slide into position.


    Release.


    The bowstring cracked like thunder, sending the wooden arrow through the air, hurtling towards the target. The thunk the arrow made as it found it''s mark, not dead center, but still, a respectable shot was music to my ears.


    "I like this one," I said, as Chika nodded, pulling out a phone-like device. Taking the moment to further mess around before Chika finalized things, I pulled back on the bowstring once again, assuming a firing position.


    But before I decided to fire again, I paused, looking down.


    That was going to be a problem. I waited until she got off the phone.


    "I think we might have to stop by the store again," I said, turning around, but holding the pose. Chika opened her mouth as if to ask why, before noting how I was standing. Her eyes flickered from the bowstring to my chest, back to my bowstring.


    "That can be arranged."

 Chapter 4

    This chapter is brought to you in part by my new laptop.


    Because my old one''s screen started freaking out, so I had to get a new one.


    x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x


    "You know this is going to make your chest look smaller, right?" I stared at the woman with an incredulous look on my face.


    "Isn''t that the point of a binder?" I couldn''t keep my sarcasm from coming through. Normally, I could keep a better hold of myself, but that was the whole point of binders. Sure, the reasons might vary, but it ultimately resulted in the same end. I figured it was better safe than sorry, just in case the leather chestguard I''d found proved insufficient protection.


    And let''s face it, that probably wouldn''t. The best it could offer is keeping my chest out of the way. I''d rather look flat than be painfully forced to be such.


    Plus, keeping them out of the way wouldn''t exactly be bad, either. They were, well, nowhere near Vert''s or anything, but then again, I doubted all but very few could reach the point where they could rival that. But they were still fairly big, and I''d like to cross my arms over my chest. Because right now, the only place I could put them was underneath, and that didn''t feel comfortable.


    Of course, that didn''t stop the odds looks I got when I asked for one. Was this just a cultural thing?


    Oh, whatever, it wasn''t going to affect me all that much. Plus it wasn''t like she knew I was making use of a giant bow. I wasn''t going to start waving that thing around just simply because a random person questioned my choices.


    x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x


    "Your boobs look smaller," Vert''s words made my eyebrow twitch. An actual twitch, probably complete with the vein running along my head. Really? Was that the first place people were going to go?


    "I decided to pick up a bow. It''s for my safety," I huffed, crossing my arms. Oh, it feels so nice to be able to do that without my chest getting in the way.


    "Really?" Vert looked over to Chika, who simply nodded. She''d grown a bit quieter since we arrived back at the Basilicom. Which was a shame. She hadn''t been all that talkative in the first place. Chika didn''t seem shy, so I don''t think that was the issue at play here.


    It had to be something else.


    "Can I see it?" Vert turned back towards me, her eyes wide, almost like she was begging.


    "Sure," I held out my hand, and focused, the weapon teleporting into my hand. Vert seemed surprised at the massive weapon, which was taller than even I was. It was taller than Vert, now that I think about it.


    "Interesting," Vert looked the weapon over. She gazed up and down, before taking a step back. "Very interesting. I''ve never seen a bow quite like that before. How exactly does it fire?"


    "It anchors into the ground. It helps hold the arrow steady," I said, even though I didn''t demonstrate. I didn''t want to put a hole in the floor for no reason. Repair work likely wasn''t cheap. Vert tilted her head to the side as if to imagine the process. Intense calculations seemed to flash behind her eyes as if calculating something about the weapon.


    "What about the arrows?" humoring her, I manifested the quiver that came with the weapon. Like the arrows themselves, it was massive, running across my back at a shallow angle. Not shallow enough that they''d fall out in a stiff breeze, but enough so I could pull one out without breaking it in half.


    "It''s pretty much the size of one beach umbrella," I joked, forgetting for a brief moment that the Pruld probably didn''t exist here, much less Dark Souls, meaning the joke probably flew past everyone''s heads. Better than taking off someone''s knee, and I''m still going along with the joke, damnit.


    "Or a spear," Vert seemed to say absentmindedly, inspecting the projectile for a brief moment, before her eyes widened. "I would highly request you don''t use any of my spears as projectiles. Or Chika''s for that matter."


    Part of me paused. She wasn''t wrong about a spear being about the same size but, no. Stop. That is a terrible idea, even without factoring in the destruction of property.


    "Using spears as arrows sounds like a bad idea. They aren''t built for it and the aerodynamics would probably be messed up anyway," I said. Sure, I was certainly no engineer, but firing a weapon that wasn''t made for it didn''t seem wise or effective. "Plus I''m not Emiya, so I doubt that would work anyway."


    "Who is that?" Chika spoke up, entering the conversation a last.


    "He''s a fictional character. He can duplicate and modify weapons he''s seen before," I shrugged. "He did have a unique trick where he copied a magical sword, turned it into an arrow, and fired it from a bow."


    Technically, that was Archer, but honestly, Nasuverse lore was a long, convoluted mess that probably requires a Ph.D. and a recreational drug habit to comprehend. And something that shouldn''t be attempted to explain to people who had absolutely no idea who Nasu even was.


    "I see," Chika scratched her chin. "I thought someone like that would be some type of hero or something."


    Right, I''d explained the generalities of the situation at hand, but I didn''t say much about what home was actually, like.


    "Earth doesn''t have things like this," I gestured. "We don''t have monsters, well, ones that aren''t wearing human skins, at any rate."


    That got me a few odd looks.


    "What about that thing you called a wolf?" Vert asked. "You seemed very concerned about that."


    "It''s a wild animal. Yes, a lot of people did think wolves were some type of monster. There''s a whole horror genre monster that''s the whole thing is that it''s a human that turns into a wolf," I shrugged. "Sure, one or several can mess you up, but a lot of wild animals can do that. Most wolves are quiet frankly, scared of people, and for good reason."


    "If there are no monsters, then what roles do the Goddesses serve?" Chika''s question brought me off guard.


    I paused. Religion on Earth is, complicated. Understatement of the millennium, certainly, but I don''t think we have a polite term for it in the English language besides complicated. Even among the same faiths, you have numerous different subsects and factions. And that was just in monotheistic faiths. Though my knowledge was even scanter on resurgent polytheism, where numerous gods and goddesses were worshiped as part of the same general pantheon.


    And that''s not touching on all the other complicated matters.


    "Faith on Earth is complicated," I shrugged, at last, trying to figure out how to put it in a way that didn''t sound offensive to anyway. "There''s a whole lot of faiths, and within those faiths, a whole lot of different denominations. And they''re all insisting they''re the ones that a right, sometimes coming to blows over the matter, even when they worship the same person. Plus, if they exist, which some people say yes, others say no, they seem to all, not be particularly hands-on. Though I''m guessing it''s not the same here?"


    Chika sent Vert a look as if she wanted her to tell me something. Vert, however, was hiding her mouth behind her hand. I''m not sure what that was all about. Was it a laugh, or a grin? Or was she frowning?


    "I suppose you could say that," Vert finally spoke, a faint twitch on her lips. "You''ve met her before, believe it or not."


    I had? Who exactly would that be? Cave? No, who exactly would put a divine figure on the front lines? She was the only person besides Chika and Vert I''d met who worked at the Basilicom, which was a government building. And as amusing as a goddess working at a clothing store or as a guild agent would be, I doubted that was the case.


    Chika was out. Oracle, while a title with divine associations back on Earth, wasn''t a divine being themselves. Though that was working under the assumption that Oracle held even a similar meeting. But Vert seemed to be higher up on the chain than Chika was, so there was that to consider. You don''t exactly have a Goddess go shopping with a total stranger. Especially without a guard, but there could have been I wouldn''t have been any wiser.


    Vert was, somewhere on the chain, above Chika most likely, but that''s all I really could gleam. But if I''d already met her.


    "She''s the lady with the green hair?" I asked. Flight, some type of power armor, as scantly applied as it was, used a spear, the same weapon that Chika and Vert used. Protected people from monsters?


    I didn''t exactly have all the pieces, but I had enough to make a decent outline.


    "Lady Green Heart, yes," Vert nodded, a slight grin on her face. An interesting title, but she saved my life, so she could call herself whatever she wanted.


    Plus she''s a goddess, my input probably doesn''t matter a whole lot.


    "Please pass along a thank you then," I said. Vert, once again, for a brief moment, covered her mouth.


    "I''ll be sure to pass that along," she stopped only a few seconds later, her lips still twitching. "Now, I''m sure you''ve both had a long day, so I''ve decided to make you a surprise."


    Chika seemed to perk up almost immediately at Vert''s words.


    "Thank you," I nodded. "But if you don''t mind, I''d like to put away my clothes first."


    "Of course, of course," Vert smiled back. "We''ll be waiting for you in the dining room!"


    x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x


    "Vert, darling, I don''t think this constitutes a healthy meal," I didn''t want to say it, as that would be rude, but Chika was right on the money. Everything smelled good and looked like it tasted even better. But.


    It was all sweets. All of it. Sugar and chocolate, frosting, and treats. Not a single part of a well-balanced meal. I''m not even sure how Vert had the time to make some of this stuff unless she was far less busy than I originally had been led to believe.


    If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    Or just really good at multitasking.


    Either way, Vert pouted, an adorable expression, but it did little to change that this was an unhealthy meal.


    "We could snack on it over time," I offered, though looking at the veritable mountain, it would take a while to chew our way through all of it. Even I, for all my sweet tooth, would end up getting sick of it at some point, and that is not something I would say lightly.


    Chika sighed, shaking her head.


    "I''ll see if I can make something real quick," Chika stood up, heading towards the cabinets, likely to see if there was anything left over from Vert''s baking rampage. How much sugar and flour had been needed to make all this?


    "Is there anything I can do to help?" I offered, getting up out of my seat as well. Sure, I wasn''t exactly an expert, but it wasn''t like I wasn''t going to try and help, either. Chika had been on her feet all day, and she had been so because she was helping me out. The least I could do was return the favor.


    "I," Chika seemed to be taken by surprise at my offer. "If you could check the fridge, that would be nice."


    I hurried my way over to the fridge, and opened the door, before wincing. That was, not great. Flour and sugar I had expected to be devastated, but I forgot just how important eggs were as a cooking ingredient, as well as butter. Both were pretty much gone. That already left my recipe knowledge on a much more limited basis, and even that wasn''t broad, to begin with.


    Otherwise, there was a smattering of food items scattered about. Not much in the way of fruits and vegetables, either. I wasn''t a big health nut, but apples, carrots, and raisins made for good earnings as a snack. Especially if popcorn wasn''t on the table.


    Hoping for a miracle, I pulled open the fridge. That was a sizable amount of ice cream. Do people just not need to watch what they eat here? Sure I could make a few milkshakes, several, actually, but that did nothing to address the sweets problem. Honestly, it''d just make it worse.


    Again, words I never thought I''d have to say.


    There had to be something here for us to use.


    x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x


    "So, how did it go?" Vert sat across from Chika. Hinum had gone to bed by this point, and as far as either of them could tell, was already asleep. It was nice of her to help Chika with dinner, but Vert could tell the girl was still tired.


    "Well, I don''t think she''s a plant or anything, like I initially feared," Chika admitted. "She''s too ignorant of how Gamindustri works to be one of those, and I don''t think she''s a particularly good liar."


    Her story did seem crazy, and yet, Vert didn''t think she was lying, either. For a good cover story, she would expect something rational out of Hinum. Like how she had come from another country. That would be the story of a good, professional plant.


    Which Hinum didn''t do. Instead, she painted a picture of a world with no Goddesses, at least, not as she was, and one that completely lacked monsters. There was no doubt in Vert''s mind she wasn''t telling the full story, but then again, a whole world would have a lot of information that would be difficult to explain, but wouldn''t exactly be needed.


    "I still think she''s omitting things, though," Chika admitted.


    "About her home?" Vert asked, unsure of what Chika was getting at.


    "About herself," Chika''s statement made her raise an eyebrow. "It''s just a feeling. She''s reluctant to talk about herself. She acts like she doesn''t care about her image a whole lot, before turning around and trying to make sure she fits an image of herself inside her head. I don''t even think she mentioned her age until we had the ID card made for her at the guild. She''s nice otherwise. She tries to stay out of the way, and offers to help when she thinks she can help."


    Vert nodded. She hadn''t been around Hinum for most of the day, so she would have to take Chika''s word. Hinum did come across as, shy? No, that wasn''t wholly it. Uncertain? Perhaps even, uncomfortable? It could simply be the stress of ending up in another world without warning.


    She hoped it was the latter. It would be the most understanding, and would hopefully pass with time. Though Hinum would likely start getting homesick at some point.


    "Do you think you can help her out with hunting monsters, show her the ropes a little tomorrow?" Vert asked. Today seemed to have made good progress on her plan. A solid sign.


    "Well, someone is going to have to run out and get more food anyway," Chika sent her a pointed look as Vert rubbed the back of her head. She hadn''t intended for things to get as out of hand as they did. She could probably pass along some of the more durable and longer-lasting sweets as donations to local charities and orphanages if it came down to it.


    "It''d be better to pick everything up after such an excursion," Chika paused for a moment, and Vert wondered if Chika had figured out her plan. "Are you sure you''re able to handle everything by yourself for two days in a row, darling?"


    Vert bite back a sigh of relief, dodging that minor problem. Now if the rest of them were so easy to avoid.


    "I can manage," Vert nodded. Chika raised an eyebrow, as if not entirely believing her, but still, she stood up.


    "Then I will go to bed early as well. It sounds like everyone is going to have another long day ahead of them," Chika turned to leave, then stopped, as if remembering something. "I remember meeting Cave down at the lobby before Hinum and I left. She was on her way to meet you about something. Can I ask what she wanted to talk to you about?"


    "ASIC movements. I''m working on collaborating reports with the other nations, but even I can tell they''re gearing up for something," Vert scowled. Things were starting to get concerning. All nations were slowly bleeding shares now, and if something wasn''t done, the situation would only get worse. Worst of all, they still didn''t have a centralized command structure to hit, at least, not yet. Not that they knew of, anyway.


    Though Vert had a feeling that wouldn''t be the case much longer.


    "Any idea what, darling?" Chika asked, tilting her head to the side.


    "Some of the shipments that Cave intercepted weren''t just pirated contraband. They were monsters," Vert let her words speak for them. Chika''s face had the same expression Vert knew she had when Cave told her the news.


    Vert felt bad that Hinum had to arrive at such a chaotic time. Normally, Leanbox and the rest of the Gameindustria were quite pleasant.


    x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x


    "That''s quite a distance," Chika stood off to the side. Her spear was in hand, but her grip was loose. She was mostly there to keep me from getting in over my head. Which was appreciated, as I had no idea what I would do if I ran into a veritable tide of flowers. Again.


    "It''s a bow," I pointed out. What was I going to do? Bonk it over the head? Then again, given its size, mass, and metal composition, that might work, provided I didn''t make it a habit. I pulled the arrow back, watching as the monster appeared to be unaware of my presence, pacing back and forth.


    It stopped for a moment, and I took that opportunity to fire. Releasing the bowstring sounded like a whip combined with thunder. Dirt erupted from the impact, and when it finally settled the monster was no longer there.


    Did these things know dig, or had I just killed it already?


    "Not bad," Chika complimented. "Though a flower isn''t worth a whole lot of experience."


    I pulled up my stat sheet again, noticing the tiny increase in EXP down toward the bottom. Alright, level grinding was going to stink. Maybe guild missions also rewarded EXP as quests did?


    It better, or attempting to level up was going to be a long and painful experience.


    "Try using your skills next, if you already haven''t," Chika said, looking amused. Skills? There were skills? That just, poofed into existence?


    Great, I should probably look those over before I get into a fight. Let''s see, where even was that list? There had to be a way to check, right?


    Okay, under abilities, and there it is. Alright, they were divided between Rush and Power skills.


    Wait, this is a great bow. How is this thing capable of doing any Rush attacks? These were not built with speed in mind!


    I looked at the list, surprised to find one, but two skills under that tab. Rapid shot and Multishot? Oh, this I had to see. I had no clue how you fired multiple arrows at once from a bow this size. I mean, there were instances, but in all of those, blatant magic was involved.


    So, for Multishot, I''d have to load multiple arrows into the bow at once. I grabbed two, which was an awkward fit as I pulled the string back. Both arrows flew forward as I released them, the monstrous flower looking up only to notice the twin arrows that slammed into the thing. This time, the arrows hit behind it, allowing me to see the monster fade away in a shower of digital-looking sparks.


    I took another quick look at my stats, ignoring the EXP for the time being. What did I have for Power skills? It didn''t surprise me that Rush appeared a bit low. It was more of a surprise that I had any of those at all. Power attacks were more great bow''s thing.


    Oh, oh wow. I had five? Power Shot, Piercing Shot, and Heavy Shot all seemed like standard, high-damage attacks. But the other two were the most interesting. Flaming Strike and Earthshaker? Those sounded dope!


    The latter even sounded like that one weapon art from Dark Souls Three, from the first DLC. The one that caused arrows to explode, and was really good a knocking people off cliffs?


    I was going to have to experiment with this.

 Chapter 5

    "Have a good day!" I waved back to the receptionist, guild agent, behind the counter. I couldn''t stop myself from using the phrase. In part because it was polite, and the correct thing to do, but also because it was what I''d used for five soul-draining years as part of the customer service industry.


    Sure, I didn''t have to pay rent or anything, but I wanted to. Vert and Chika were taking care of me out of the kindness of their hearts, putting a roof over my head, keeping me fed, and trying to find me a way back home. I wanted to pay them back for that. Doing otherwise just felt as if I was taking advantage of their generosity. However, I was very strongly outvoted, and forcing the issue was rude. So I figured I would just, leave the money when I got sent back home. It''s not like I was going to be able to use it on Earth, anyway.


    But having a little extra pocket change for myself wasn''t exactly bad either. I was able to buy my food, and as such, prepare my meals. That helped avoid the feeling of being in some sort of debt trap, at least.


    That wasn''t the only reason I''d thrown myself into guild work. There was no other way to beat around the bush. It kept me, distracted. It kept me not thinking about, well, the whole state my body was in. Probably wasn''t the most healthy coping mechanism in the world, but frankly, I had no idea what else to do. It was. I don''t know how to describe it. I should be feeling something wrong. I was a twenty-something-year-old man, trapped in the body of a teenage girl. I should be feeling wrong. I was in a body that wasn''t mine. I was in a girl''s body. I should be experiencing dysmorphia right now.


    But I wasn''t. I should be, but I wasn''t.


    And that scared me.


    What exactly did that mean? Was it just due to how I ended up in this body? Or was there something more? Would going back home fix this? Or was I now stuck in this body forever?


    I shook my head, trying to get the thoughts out of my head. No, no. Today was supposed to be a good day. A step in the right direction. Vert had finally managed to get me a way to speak with the person in charge of the project. Now, it wasn''t like I was going to go in person to meet them. It would take time to get to Planeptune, after all, and with the ASIC being the usual pains that they were, security would be tight in the first place.


    So it was going to be a video chat. Which was fair enough. I at least got to talk with the person who was working on the project. I had no idea what they were even like, but the fact Planeptune was at least looking into that sort of thing was impressive. The technology, which already looked advanced enough, to create a place like this, to accomplish such a feat is beyond impressive. Staggering, really.


    But it had cut the time I could spend distracting myself short. But that was sadly the way of things. It wasn''t like I''d have a conversation to keep my mind off things soon enough.


    x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x


    "You''re back!" With time, I''d gotten better at avoiding Vert''s clingy grasps. Sadly, this had the unintended consequence of her just trying harder.


    At least I wasn''t being smothered, but it was a close thing.


    "I wasn''t planning on missing the meeting," I squirmed in her grasp, trying to wiggle myself free. I didn''t mind hugs from people I was close to, like family. But Vert wasn''t at that point.


    "I knew you wouldn''t!" She grinned, cheerfully. "I already got everything set up for you!"


    "Thank you," I nodded as she released me. Having the computer turned on and ready to go was nice. Even if it meant Vert was messing around in the guest room. It was hers, and it wasn''t like I had anything to hide. But privacy was kind of a big deal.


    I closed the door, making sure it would stay that way, before making my way over to the computer. It looked like a powerful system, but I never really had much use for it or any other games. Probably should try some. If nothing else, they could prove to make for a good distraction.


    Staring at the screen, I blinked. Had Vert gotten all the programs, as well as the video chat set up? I really would have liked to get that done myself, as I was more than capable of doing so, but I was thankful to not run the risk of simply messing up.


    Strange, was it? Suddenly, the screen flickered. Well, the program did, anyway, bring up a live feed of what I could only describe as some type of lab. A particularly, messy, lab. Gears, springs, wires, and many other things lay across every available surface as if someone didn''t have time to organize in months, possibly longer.


    Or their organizational system was chaos. Which I completely understood.


    There was a brief muttering, as a hand suddenly reached out and grabbed the camera, adjusting it, bringing a face into view.


    The first thing that stood out to me is that the girl looked young. Very young. I''d lost a decade and still looked like I was older than she was. Then again, I probably looked at least a bit older than I actually was in this body. Next was her hair. Chika was up there when it came to abnormal hair colors, but this girl had Chika beat, with light pink hair. Her eyes were a shade I could best describe as violet, maybe even purple.


    Was this the expert Vert was talking about? But she looked so, young. Maybe she was the daughter of the person in charge?


    Possible? Yes. But I wasn''t in a rush to stick my foot in my mouth. If she was in charge then there was nothing gained by making an ass of myself. If she wasn''t, well, I''d still be making an ass of myself. Hence, nothing being gained.


    "Sorry about that," her voice revealed her to be at least somewhere in the puberty range. Maybe fourteen, fifteen at most. "Am I late?"


    "Nope, I think we''re both early," my eyes flickered toward the clock, though I didn''t check. We arrived too close together for that to matter.


    She let out a sigh of relief, placing her hand over her chest as if to steady herself. "I''m Nepgear."


    "Nice to meet you," I said, doing my best to keep my eyebrow from raising too much. What a strange name. "My name is Hinum."


    "It''s nice to meet you," she looked a bit shy. "Even if your name is a bit strange".


    "Yours isn''t much better," I countered, doing my best to keep a teasing tone. I didn''t want to scare the girl off or make her angry with me.


    "It shares part of my sister''s name," she huffed, her cheeks showing a faint shade of red.


    "You have a sister? I asked, curious. She was helping me. The least I could do was get to know her a little.


    "I do!" She beamed, as I almost had to squint to keep the light out of my eyes. "Neptune is my older sister! I like her a lot, even if she''s a bit, much. Vert was the one that reached out to her about this meeting!"


    That I could believe. So, her sister was the equivalent in Planeptune what Vert was to Leanbox? And she had a sister in charge of such a project?


    "I can understand what you mean by siblings being a bit, much," I rubbed the back of my head, chuckling awkwardly.


    "That''s because you''re staying with Vert, right?" Nepgear gave me a weird look.


    "No," sure, Vert wasn''t helping matters. She could get very clingy, for lack of a better term. "I have a younger brother back home, and well, he used to be a bit of a hellion when he was younger."


    I was underselling things, but she didn''t need to worry about those details. Nepgear''s eyes widened.


    "Sorry! I completely forgot all about it," she bowed her head deeply.


    "It''s fine, it''s fine," I chuckled. I wasn''t expecting speed or anything like that. Vert had made it sound like the technology was still in its infancy, at best. "What can I do to help?"


    "Well, it might help to know what I was aiming for, at least so I recognize it from broad traits. What do land masses look like, nations, water, those sorts of things," Nepgear said, pulling a notebook from an unseen place.


    "Well."


    x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x


    It took two notebooks and a few pieces of scratch paper for me to give everything she needed, on top of a rough outline of the continents.


    Probably a bit excessive, but I''d make more of a case for through. Better for her to have too much information, than too little. Then again, it''d be hard to not notice the chaos that seemed to define Earth.


    "It seems scary," Nepgear said. It wasn''t like she was wrong. Sure, Earth didn''t have monsters to deal with or Goddesses. But we had plenty of chaos and strife for, well, the whole of our written existence. And given how we existed before writing, safe to assume the pattern only held before that point in history.


    "It most certainly is," I chuckled. "But it''s home. Sometimes you have to take it, no matter how many warts are on it."


    I nodded slightly. That did sound very sage to me.


    "What''s a wart?" Only for words of wisdom to be undercut completely.


    "It''s a phrase," I tried waving it off. "It''s, that home is home, even with the imperfections."


    "That makes sense," the girl nodded, though still appearing to be puzzled about what a wart was. "It''s still going to take a lot of time to get ready. It''s still in the development phase, and we wouldn''t want to send you through until we know it''s safe."


    That was perfectly reasonable. Having a portal home didn''t mean much if I just ended up dying. I wanted home, but not as some type of pancake.


    "How long do you think it''ll take?" I asked. "Just an estimate?"


    Nepgear''s face twisted as if doing advanced calculations inside her head.


    "It''d probably take a year or two, even without the ASIC," she eventually said.


    I''d like to say I could keep my face straight after being given such news. But I also didn''t want to lie to myself. I didn''t even need to look at Nepgear''s face to know I was failing.


    "Sorry," I apologized, "That''s unfair to you."


    And that''s just the thing. It was unfair. The fact I''d even have a way back home at all was, miraculous. Out of all the places I ended up, I ended up in a place, where u could at least, get back home.


    But one to two years? That was a none insignificant amount of time. And that was without ASIC making a mess, so given the situation, it''d take longer.


    That was two years gone by. Not only that, I had no way of knowing what was happening. At best, time stopped, and once I returned, I could get on with my life, but what were the odds of that? Had time slowed down, or had it sped up? Was I going to spend two years just missing? Just pop back into reality? Or was my original body in some type of coma? What was my family doing? Were they mourning me, or did they even know I was gone?


    I clamped down on my emotions like a vice, attempting to keep them smothered and suppressed. I had a way home. It just wasn''t ready. Yet. It would just need time. I could deal with everything else, later. When I got back.


    "Sorry I''m not able to help more," Nepgear shifted in her chair, sliding back and forth.


    "It''s fine," I lied. "You''re doing the best you can. That''s all anyone can ask of you."


    The last bit was true, but I was, without a doubt, not fine. Trapped in another world for a few years was, well. How do you deal with, no, stop. I needed to stop thinking about, this. Later. Later. I could deal with this later. Just, not right now.


    x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x


    "I''m guessing it didn''t go as well as Hinum hoped?" Chika asked. The girl in question had long since gone to bed, several days after the call. Hinum hadn''t said anything to that effect, but given the gloom that followed the girl for the past few days, it wasn''t hard to figure that Nepgear had delivered suboptimal news.


    Of course, it hadn''t hurt that Vert had checked in the aftermath. Nepgear did say that Hinum had handled the news gracefully, but she was devastated by how long the process would take, no matter how much she understood why. It might have been somewhat worse, in truth. If Nepgear had told her that the technology was impossible, then sure, Hinum would be hurt, but it would be a clear-cut answer. But instead, a way home was being dangled in front of her face, and she was just going to have to sit there and wait. Like holding a bottle of water in front of a person dying of thrist.


    "Nepgear thinks she can get Hinum back home, but it''s just going to take a while," Vert said, mentally cursing the ASIC all the while. They were making the problem worse, but that seemed to be a specialty of theirs.


    "That''s a good thing, isn''t it?" Chika gave her a confused look. "She gets to go home again, once Nepgear has finished."


    "It''s not that straightforward. It''s going to take a few years of work for Nepgear to get to a point where things can be transported safely. And we have no way of knowing how time works between worlds. A year in our world might be a day in Hinum''s world, or it might be the exact opposite," Vert''s words caused Chika''s face to pale slightly. "Or it could be a one-to-one ratio, but even that results in her losing years of her life there, falling behind in education, and her friends, and not being able to tell her family that she''s okay. Not only that, because she knows she''s going back home, she might not want to make friends here either, as she knows she''s leaving, and might not want that painful goodbye, which could end up leaving her isolated in Leanbox. Which won''t help her, either."


    "That is a problem," Chika nodded. What other way was there to put it? Call it a problem undersold the issue, but even tragedy didn''t seem to carry enough weight, at least on a personal level. "But she seems to be handling things well so far."


    Very much hoped that was the case. She still wasn''t wholly sure what to make of the girl. Hinum was compassionate, and willing to lend a hand, but at the same time, tended to be shy and reserved. The type of person that would prefer to sit down and read a good book, or enjoy a game, rather than socialize.


    It reminded Vert of Blanc, if Blanc didn''t have a hair-trigger temper nor was as easy, or as fun, to annoy. Hopefully, with time, Hinum would come further out of her shell. It was just a shame Vert had no way of making sure Hinum kept up on her studies.


    x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x


    "Are you okay?" Chika gave me a look, very much seeming to imply I was very much not okay.


    "I haven''t gotten a good night''s sleep the past few days," I said, and I wasn''t lying. It''s that not having a good night''s sleep was a symptom, not the root problem. However, Chika bought the answer, returning to our shopping. I didn''t like hiding the whole of it, but I also didn''t want to lay personal issues at her feet. Verts either, for that matter.


    The Basilicom was becoming increasingly chaotic, as ASIC continued to work its criminal ways. Tensions were running high, and I''d even heard rumors that the Goddesses themselves were likely to try to deal with the root of the problem, cutting the head off the snake, as it were. Which, as far as strategy went, was a pretty smart idea


    I did wish there was something I could do, but tackling an international criminal organization was a bit out of my weight class. And this wasn''t a world where I had a lot of super destructive animals to back me up. It was yet another event outside of my ability to control. Yet another bitter pill the universe had forced down my throat.


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    It wasn''t fair.


    What was even more unfair was the sudden blaring of a siren. At its sound, people began to panic, surging like a tide. Even Chika dropped her bag, which had been carrying all the food we were purchasing for the week.


    "What does that mean?" Back in Kansas, we had Tornado sirens, which served as a warning against the natural disaster. This had to have served a similar sort of purpose, right?


    "It means that a monster got into the city," Chika''s voice was harsh, her spear flashing into existence. A monster? Who would?


    No, only one type of idiot would do something like that. ASIC had to be the responsible party in all this. My bow flashed into existence, alongside its ammunition, thoughts of groceries firmly out of my head.


    We broke out onto the streets, pinpointing the cause of the sirens, but the noise of its destruction could be heard already.


    Down the street, was a massive, hulking beast. "That''s a Fenrir."


    Normally, I''d accuse something named after one of the Great wolves of Norse mythology as trying too hard, but this fit the bill. Colossal, covered in a coat of Grey fur, teeth that easily reached the size of my arm, and claws even larger than that?


    I didn''t need to bring up any scans on the thing for me to realize its level was higher than mine, and that under any other circumstance, I was not to fight such a beast. But these were not traditional circumstances. Someone had released such an animal into the city. And if they released one, then what were the odds they had more?


    "What''s the plan?" I asked, preparing to plunge my bow into the concrete to act as an anchor. The firing line was excellent from my current position, and while it would probably be safer to get to an elevated firing position, we didn''t exactly have a lot of time.


    "Kill it, if we can. If not, hold its attention long enough for Green Heart to get here," Chika brandished her weapon. "Which shouldn''t take long, unless."


    "There''s more than one," I finished for her, anchoring my bow with a crack, and placing an arrow on the string. Chika simply nodded, before blitzing towards the Fenrir, spear flashing in her hands, easily landing a dozen hits in rapid succession, before leaping over its swiping claws.


    It attempted to pursue her, only for my flame-wreathed arrow to explode as it connected with the side of its head. It failed to make it through its hide but its fur still smoldered. My follow-up shot only served to annoy it, my arrow bouncing off its skin.


    I grimaced as it snarled, preparing to withdraw my bow and move to a different position. What level of defense did this thing have? I expected to be nothing but a distraction, but it didn''t even have the manners to even take chip damage.


    However, Chika struck, spear cutting into the Fenrir''s flesh, pulling its attention away from me, snarling and snapping as Chika nimbly danced out of reprisal range. Even though Chika was doing solid damage, it was still proving to be a problem.


    I took a moment to look through my skill list. I had to have something to up my damage output. At least, some type of skill to ignore defense. Of course, no such luck. Because that would require good fortune, and I just wasn''t going to get that.


    Another crack from my bow sent another arrow down range, hitting the Fenrir''s flank. This time, it stuck, piercing into its flesh. Its eyes turned towards me, glistening with hate, even though the arrow did less damage than a bee sting, despite its massive size.


    It charged towards me, only for Chika to be at its heels, redirecting its attention towards her.


    I fired another arrow, grimacing all the while. Mobs were, well, a lot like video game mobs. In this strange world, they would disappear when killed and even dropped loot. They were weirdly code-like, and would attack any human they came across.


    But they weren''t stupid. Sure, the majority of them you could kill before they ever had a chance to adapt. But this was not going to be the case.


    "Rain," I said softly, before firing an arrow as high into the air as I could, letting the skill take over. The arrow split as it came down, showering the Fenrir in arrows, which made up for their lack of mass through sheer volume.


    It snapped and bit, trying to dislodge the hail of needles that buried into its skin. It growled, advancing towards me as I notched another arrow. Chika was right behind it, closing the distance.


    But then the Fenrir spun, swiping with its paw. Chika brought up her spear to block the attack but was still sent flying backward from the blow. I fired another arrow, slamming into its leg, but the Fenrir continued to advance on Chika.


    I put arrow after arrow into its hide, only for it to continue its advance. No. No! I refuse! I wasn''t going to let it!


    There was a tingle, running its way through my body. It felt. It felt like when I had scared off the wolf in the forest. But, more. More of everything. More strength. More power.


    All I had to do was let it in, and I flung open the door willingly. There was a brilliant light that consumed my vision, as I felt my body begin to change. My height increased, and muscle mass grew to match, even as I felt my binder loosen as if my chest was becoming compact. Then the feeling was gone, my clothes replaced with a layer of white armor, one that was skin tight, leaving my arms and legs exposed, until the boots and gloves took shape. The gloves were fingerless but otherwise covered my whole hand, going nearly up to my elbows. The boots went nearly up to my knee but calling them boots was overselling what had to be a mixture of armored, knee length sock and high heel. My ponytail crumbled, leaving me with incredibly short hair, as my fingers clasped my bow. While its size didn''t seem to change, it was now made of a similar, likely the same, material that now covered my body.


    And I was flying? I barely had enough time to realize that yes, I was, in fact, airborne, as the Fenrir lept at me, jaws snapping. I dodged, somehow moving under my power. Taking advantage of its state, I fired my bow at it. Usually, it took most of my strength to even fire the thing, such as its size. But now? I hardly felt a thing. Until the arrow hit, sounding more like a thunderclap, sending the Fenrir rocketing down into the street.


    I grinned, aiming down toward the cloud of dust. Have a taste of target saturation and aerial superiority, you overly fluffy turd! I almost laughed as the thing yelped, being peppered with a barrage of arrows.


    It leaped through the dust and debris, bringing its fangs to bear. I danced out of the way, avoiding its flailing claws, before sending it back down again. But despite that, and the collateral damage, it was still ready to fight.


    I readied another arrow as it emerged from the dust cloud, but a spear beat me to the punch. The Fenrir let out a howl of pain before the noise was cut off by a second impact.


    Was it dead? That was the first thing that went through my mind. I hadn''t launched an attack capable of doing that, and Chika.


    Chika! I rushed down toward the ground, doing my best to keep my flight path stable. I managed to make my way to the ground, without crashing, making my way over to where I last saw Chika.


    "Chika! Are you okay?" I shouted, my voice sounding different now. Slightly older, more mature. Or maybe it was my panic that made things sound so different.


    "Here!" Chika coughed, limping her way through the smoke, using her spear to support herself. Then she looked up, pausing, as if not believing what she was seeing. "Hinum, is that you?"


    "Yes, it is," I nodded. Now that I had time to breathe, I realized my outfit was similar to that of Green Hearts. In terms of color, with the white and green color combination, anyway. It was far less risqu¨¦ in comparison to that of the older woman, being more of a tank top and short shorts combination that showed off part of my abs, on top of the long gloves and boots. "It''s a bit of a change, I will admit."


    My eyes widened, remembering what I planned on doing. I scrambled through my inventory, pulling out a potion. "Please, take this. You need it right now."


    Chika seemed like she was about to protest, as a light dusting of pink was on her face, before taking it out of my hand.


    "Is it dead?" She asked, looking towards where the Fenrir once was.


    "It should be," I said, matching her gaze, even if I had zero clue what managed to kill such a monster.


    The dust began to settle, filtering out of the air, revealing exactly who. Green Heart. Who, despite her appearing serene, wore an expression of pure anger written on her face. The woman, no, Goddess, was livid and was not attempting to hide her fury.


    Slowly, her expression softened, surveying the damage done to her city. A mournful look, even though the damage could be repaired. Then her eyes fell upon us.


    What exactly was the protocol here? Did we kneel, did we bow? Was there something we should be doing?


    Green Heart''s face went through about a dozen expressions in the extent of a moment. Surprise, shock, and then.


    I heard the gasp at the same moment I felt the impact, which could only be described as being hit by a bullet train. My breath felt as if it was hammered out of my lungs, further exasperated by the fact Green Heart was holding me in a manner not very conducive for breathing.


    I was able to catch snippets of what she was saying though. It was mostly just sister, over and over again.


    "I''m sorry, what!" I managed to get out, despite the lack of air.


    x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x


    There had been a bit of a media meeting after the attack. Who is responsible, and naturally, what would be done. Green Heart, despite the fact she had spent several minutes fixated on me, perilously, was handling herself well.


    But that didn''t stop a lot of attention from being aimed my way, especially in my transformed state. There is a literal Goddess just a few feet away, you didn''t have to focus on me!


    But the similarities, same hair color, presumably the same eye color, and similar white armor, lead to the sister word being thrown around a lot. Each time, I had to pray I''d locked down my body enough to stop the incoming flinch or expression of disgust.


    Thankfully, Chika was there to wave away any of the people trying to personally pester me. Pointing out that the focus should be on the victims of the tragedy and those responsible for it, rather than on me. After all, using the tragedy to try and get a scoop on the goddess''s little sister would be extremely disrespectful to the victims. That had been enough for them to get the message, but I still felt their stares. Their gazes.


    The event didn''t last too long, mercifully. With us taking off towards the Basilicom. Chika was being carried by Green Heart, blushing all the while. Not exactly going to blame her for that, but I was focused on my thoughts.


    I felt. Tired. Not just physically, or mentally, though to be fair, I was most certainly both. But it was as if throwing open the door sapped me, somehow. Like I was handling something I wasn''t quite sure how to.


    What was happening to me? This wasn''t a normal person thing here, not even by a long shot. Chika hadn''t done anything like this, ever. Vert hadn''t, either. This was important enough for me to be considered the sister of a Goddess. What the hell was that even supposed to mean? How was that even a thing? I had a younger brother! Parents! Not a single sister, younger or older!


    Had I just imagined it? Drawn memories out of the aether, just to fill in the blanks?


    No, that couldn''t be right. Fuzzy alone proved that those memories are real!


    By the time we arrived at the Basilicom, the weight on my shoulders only increased. The deck, which I initially questioned, now suddenly made a lot more sense. I let myself down in the center, and focused, trying to clamp down on the power surging within me. There was a moment of resistance before the door closed, but it did.


    My body returned to what it once was, but it scarcely made me feel any better. I feel weaker now. Even though I knew I couldn''t maintain such a state full-time. Something just told me it''d be a really bad idea.


    I looked up, hoping to finally get some answers out of Green Heart, but next to Chika stood Vert, rather than the Goddess. I paused, my brain slowly picking up the pieces. No, that wasn''t exactly right. Because Vert was Green Heart, wasn''t she? Unless Vert could teleport, there was no other explanation.


    "You!" I started, pointing at her. I wasn''t sure how Vert was able to wear an expression between gleeful and sheepish, but she did so masterfully. At least Chika had the bravery to wear an expression along the lines of ''this was going to bite us''. "I need answers from you!"


    "Of course sister," Vert sounded as if she was on a blissful high. In public, I had no problem putting on a cooperative face. The last thing Leanbox needed was a publicly aired shouting match. But this wasn''t in public anymore.


    "Starting with that! I snapped. "Why are you calling me your sister! I''ve never had a sister in my life! I was born on Earth! Not here!"


    "You can transform. That means you''re connected to Leanbox''s shares. That makes you my sister," Vert smiled as if that answered anything. "Though it is a bit strange. Most little sisters are born within the Basilicom itself. Maybe your memories played a role in displacing you?"


    Displacing? Memories? Did she think those memories weren''t real? No! I refuse to even consider it.


    "I know what I remember! It''s real!" I shouted back, Vert finally stopping her advance.


    "I didn''t say it wasn''t," she gave me a confused look. "You can come from another world, and still be my sister. They aren''t mutually exclusive things. An odd occurrence, perhaps, but a good one."


    "You think kidnapping me away from my family is a good thing!" My face contorted in anger, as Vert stepped back as if she''d been struck.


    "That is not what I meant," she said, taking another step back. "It really isn''t."


    "Really? Because it seems to be the only thing you''ve carried about this whole predicament is how my existence here allows you to fulfill your fantasies!" I snarled, anger digging its way further and further into me. "I thank you for your hospitality, but I''m leaving. Tonight. I''ll keep in touch with Nepgear. Once she can get me home, I''m gone."


    "You might not be able to. Not without hurting yourself," Chika''s voice cut in, soft where mine had been loud. "You''re bound to the Sharicite crystal. It feeds you shares. If a Goddess or a Goddess Candidate doesn''t get enough shares, they start to weaken and get sick. They can even die if they don''t get enough."


    No. No! Nonononononononono!


    "Arrrah!"


    Crash.

 Chapter 6

    A silence hung in the air, almost as oppressive as it was damning. In a normal circumstance, someone might say ''that could have gone better''. They were right, of course.


    Because it was hard to imagine things going worse.


    Hinum had been carried to her room after her body had dropped like a puppet with cut strings. Neither Vert nor Chika had any idea why. Was it simply due to stress? Or was there something more serious going on? It wasn''t like they''d missed much about their strange guest. It wasn''t like they had noticed Hinum growing increasingly frayed. The girl was throwing herself into monster hunting with full zeel and was trying to distract herself.


    The why was now obvious, with hindsight.


    Vert rubbed the tears from her eyes. She easily could have handled the situation better. She tried to pay attention to Hinum''s emotional needs, but let her own get in the way at the absolute worst moment possible. She should have realized that Hinum wasn''t going to see her as a sister. Not so quickly. Calling Hinum her sister was just going to hurt her. Remind her of what she left behind. Unwillingly left behind, at that.


    Chika looked down at the table, lost in her thoughts. The words she had said to Hinum, right before the girl passed out. They weren''t wrong, but. She had just learned not long ago she might get to go back home. Maybe there had been a better time to tell her, but to let Hinum keep a flicker of false hope? Perhaps it was better to rip the bandage off then and there. Maybe get her to stop focusing on Vert. It had worked, in all the ways she didn''t want.


    Nobody was at fault, despite Hinum''s accusations. Part of Chika roiled in anger. Nobody was at fault. Maybe besides the universe itself. But at the same time, Hinum was hurting. She felt wronged and was lashing out. That didn''t make what she said okay. Merely, understandable.


    Then again, Chika felt like she should have seen Hinum being Vert''s sister coming. She''d seen the spike in shares. Enough that the shares were beginning to crystalize, an event that resulted in her turning Leanbox''s archives upside down, in a mad search for answers. Only to find a single, if well-hidden explanation. Vert would be getting a sister. This was something that terrified Chika. She was supposed to be Vert''s sister. For her to get one, was.


    Well, she played things close to her chest. It wasn''t likely she was wrong, but if she was, Chika would rather keep a secret than let Vert''s hopes and dreams get brutally crushed. So she was thankful for her choice when the crystal vanished without a trace, nor did a CPU Candidate appear.


    Chika had thought that would be the end of it, only for Vert to return home a few days later, carrying a girl in her arms. She was covered in mud, dirt, and grass, and generally, looked like a complete mess. It wasn''t until she was clean that Chika''s heart lodged itself in her throat. She was a near-perfect image of Vert. Yes, shorter, with a figure of an older teenager that several grown women would still kill for, but the blonde hair, and later revealed, blue eyes, sealed the resemblance in Chika''s eyes.


    Of course, she couldn''t be sure. Not without her transforming. Blonde hair and blue eyes, while a bit rare, weren''t unheard of in Leanbox, as far as traits go. That was her mistake. If she had told Vert about her suspicions early, maybe this could have been avoided. It would have spared them a lot of pain, possibly, but there weren''t a whole lot of ways to check. Usually, such things were obvious. A Candidate was supposed to appear in the Basilicom, after all. At least, that''s what happened with all the others, as far as Chika could gather.


    And there was the chance the Hinum would lash out anyway. If they addressed things early enough, then maybe? It wouldn''t be pleasant, even in the best-case scenario, but it had to be better than this. She had been stewing, even Chika realized that much. Hinum was letting her emotions boil, and this was just the release. What that now meant, Chika didn''t know. Would she make good on her threat?


    Chika wasn''t sure how well that would work. It wasn''t like monster hunting was an untenable profession, not by any stretch. Especially for a Candidate. But right now, they were the closest thing to a support network Hinum had. Admittedly, that support network just had its legs swept out from under it, but it was more than nothing.


    Even if she didn''t, the damage was done. Yes, it could be fixed, but that would take time. A lot of time. And with the ACIS breathing down their necks, time was not something they had a lot of. If things went well and started to return to normal? Then they would have time. But after the attack in the marketplace, an incredibly brazen act, Chika felt that things were going to get worse before they got better.


    Maybe that was why a CPU Candidate had appeared like this? Is someone or something trying to prepare Leanbox, in the event something happens to Vert?


    Chika shook her head. No, no, she couldn''t be thinking like that. Not right now. That was the last thing Vert needed right now, on top of everything else.


    "But is she right?" Vert''s word''s cut through Chika''s thoughts like a knife. "I''ve always wanted a sister. It seems impossible, but maybe the share''s responded to that?"


    Chika put her hand over Vert''s and squeezed tightly.


    "If it worked like that, then you would have had a sister a long time ago," Chika said, trying to break Vert out of her thoughts. "It''s an unfortunate accident. Nobody has control over Hinum being brought here. Don''t blame yourself for this."


    As much as Chika knew it wasn''t pleasant to admit, in reality, there was nobody to blame. Instead, for whatever reason, the Universe itself, for reasons unknown, chose to rip Hinum from her family and bring her to Leanbox. Which was the root of the cruelty of it all. You can''t just blame happenstance and impossible bad luck.


    Sure one could try, but what good would it do? One could get payback just as easily as someone could bat away the tide. In other words, completely impossible.


    "I know. It''s just, I wanted a sister," Vert seemed to be on the verge of tearing up again. "I just didn''t think that would hurt someone so much."


    x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x


    Stupid. Stupid. Stupid! STUPID!


    I wanted to pull my hair out! I wanted to scream! Stupid! How could I be so stupid!


    But I didn''t have enough energy to muster up even that. Merely punch at my pillow meekly. A nearly full day of sleep after I had passed out, so I should have had the energy. Well, I did.


    Straight into just how hard I managed to screw the pooch.


    "Idiot," I muttered into the bedsheets. Sleep helped. It made things click. Helped things make sense.


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    I screwed up. I screwed up big time. Words could not do justice to just how badly I messed up.


    If only I had passed out moments earlier and didn''t make an utter bastard of myself. Or was it bitch now? I scowled, forcing down the thought. Now was not the time for that type of debate. Not that it mattered. The damage was done. And there would be damage.


    Was Vert my sister? I didn''t see it that way. But what I had said? That was, too far. I could tell she wanted one, the way she tried to coddle me. And in my anger, I went for the throat. It wasn''t a sick fantasy to want a sibling. I had a younger brother, and even if he had his moments of being a brat, I still cared about him. Yes, if you tried to force someone to play that role, that''d be messed up. But would she?


    That, I couldn''t be entirely sure. She was friendly, and a think she is a good person. Not the type to kidnap someone across dimensions. Not like I accused her of.


    I gripped the pillow, wanting to rip it apart, but still not having the strength to do so. Me and my mouth. My stupid, stupid mouth. I should be better than that. I should have better control over my emotions than that. Looking back, why would I even think that? How would I even come to that type of twisted conclusion?


    Had the stress been getting to me more than I thought? My nerves? The adrenaline? Or was it that transformation?


    I scowled. That was not a normal thing. Vert could do it. I could do it. But Chika didn''t. Did Vert say something about shares? And Chika, some type of crystal?


    I shook off the rest of the memory. The first part, I, I could deal with that later. Work out, something. But it was powered by, worship? Green Heart was worshiped as a Goddess. But Vert was Green Heart. And I was drawing power from the same thing?


    Did that make me some sort of Goddess as well? I shook my head, trying to shred that thought with mental teeth. I was, not in a good headspace. Yesterday made that very, very clear. I did not need to add a God complex on top of that. That sounded like a terrible thing to have. But was I?


    When I transformed, I felt, stronger. A lot stronger. How had I done that? Vert seemed to be able to do it on a dime. A flip of the switch.


    But it had taken me getting angry for me to be able to do so once. Could I do it again? Did I even want to?


    This was yet another reason why I was a complete and utter idiot. So many new questions and I had just set the best bridge I had of getting any answers on fire. Not just on fire. Rigged it with explosives, before setting what remained of the structure into an oil-covered blaze. Truly, a magnificent display of self-destructiveness. I couldn''t have done better, even if I tried. Except, oh wait, I had tried.


    My and my fat mouth. I reached over to Fuzzy, giving the dinosaur a soft squeeze. They probably hated me now for that little stunt. Probably?


    No, that was grossly underselling things. They certainly hated my guts for that now. How could they not? They would want me gone. I''d even said I would go.


    Stupid. How was I so stupid!


    There was a brief flash of light that consumed my vision. I looked down at myself, wanting to recoil. No. No! Nonononononono! NO!


    I was off the bed now. How? Why? I''d transformed? No! I don''t want to be like this! Change me back! Nothing.


    "Change me back!" I shouted, stomping my foot, part-way to tears. Another flicker, and my body, wasn''t back to normal, but it was better. It wasn''t covered in weird armor or had wings, or.


    What was happening to me? How was this happening? Why was it happening? Oh, god, this might be worse than puberty. Wait? Was I stuck in puberty for the rest of my life? I groaned, slumping down against the bed, face down in the sheets. If I was, then I was in hell. Actual hell.


    "Hinum?" I nearly jolted away from the door as a light knocking came from the other side. Vert''s voice came from the other side, soft and faint. "Can I come in?"


    How high off the ground were we? I could just, try to fly away? No, that wouldn''t work. People would notice that type of thing.


    "I guess," laid down, looking away from the door. I didn''t want to deal with this. At all. But I was going to have to. The door slowly creaked open, Vert sliding in, closing the door faintly. The soft rustle of the carpet was the only indication of her presence. Her feet fell silent, only for the mattress to contort as she sat down.


    "I know you''re awake," Vert''s voice was soft, sounding like it was in pain. I. What did I want to say? What could I say? I, didn''t know what to do. What could I even say? I should have just pretended to be asleep. It wouldn''t have worked, but I could have tried. I wanted to curl up into a ball and just.


    "Just kick me out already," I mumble, doing my best not to look at her. She probably hated me.


    "I''m not going to kick you out. You don''t have to leave if you don''t want to," Vert said, placing her hand on my shoulder, her words echoing in my ears. Why? She should hate me for what I said.


    "Why?" I found my body bolting upright, practically against my will. "I hurt you. You should."


    I clutched Fuzzy against my chest, trying to keep myself calm. Why? Why was she not kicking me out?


    "You''re hurting. And, I was at fault for part of that," Vert had an odd look on her face. "Even though I didn''t mean to. And I don''t think you meant to hurt me, either. Or, at the very least, it was in the heat of the moment."


    "But it doesn''t matter that it was in the heat of the moment!" I nearly shouted. "I hurt you, just simply because I was hurting! There''s no excuse or justification for something like that!"


    "You''ve put a roof over my head. Gave me a bed. Put food in my mouth. There is no reason for me to have said those awful things to you. Ever," I shrunk into myself, trying to hide from Vert''s eyes, only for her to pull me into a warm gentle hug.


    "You miss your home and your family. Me trying to claim you as my sister, it," Vert seemed to pause for a moment, stuttering over her thoughts. "The exact details don''t matter. All that matters is that I hurt you, in my excitement. You say your harsh words toward me are inexcusable, but so were my words toward you. I should have known better."


    Vert''s words reverberated throughout my mind, but even with them in my head, I still heard the crack. The crumbling. If last night had been the dam of my anger shattering, this was the dam holding back everything else. My body quaked, shaking as the flood of repressed emotions poured forth.


    "I miss them so much," I clung to Vert''s body as a drowning man clings to a log. "I try not to think about it, but it''s only making it worse! They, probably think I''m dead, or something!"


    Vert held me as I continued to sob, tears streaming down my face.

 Chapter 7

    "Are you okay?" Vert glanced at me. Today was the day. The big day. It was something already in the works before I arrived. The ACIS had been causing no end of trouble, from general street crime to pirating. I hadn''t had any interaction with such criminal elements, besides the Fenrir attack, with the ACIS being the major suspect for such a move. Releasing such a mob into the city had turned public opinion against them, for the time being. But it had hurt the shares as well. Which was important in its own right.


    Vert had given me enough of a crash course on the matter. Shares were the belief that a nation''s people felt in their Goddess. It was fuel for our transformations. The more faith we had, the stronger we became. Sounded simple, but there were three other nations, each with its own Goddess to counterbalance.


    It sounded like a setup built to ensure some degree of rivalry, if not outright aggression. After all, if the Goddess with the most shares was the strongest, why share? But there was peace between the four nations. It apparently, worked better this way. Competition without domination. If that''s how things were I saw little reason to stir the pot.


    Part of that advantage was being able to call on the other three to deal with problems one might not be able to deal with on their own. Or in other words, the ACIS. Which, granted, had picked a fight with all four at once.


    But they were getting backing from something else. So Vert and the other three Goddesses were going into the Gamindustri Graveyard to remove the head of the snake at its source.


    I had my concerns. What if it wasn''t a snake, but a hydra? Cut off one head, and two more take its place. Kill one problem, and create a bigger one.


    Of course, the current situation couldn''t continue as is. The ACIS was getting power, and at a pretty decent rate at that. Something had to be done.


    "I," wasn''t sure what to say. Things were still tense. Of course. They were never going to go back to the way they once were. Sure, we talked and tried to be more open about our thoughts.


    But it was still like repairing a burned-out bridge. Even the foundations couldn''t be potentially safe.


    But this could be the last time I''d see her. Probably a few days. Quite possibly, a few weeks, depending on how strong this enemy was. Did I want the last words during that time to be me choking on my tongue?


    I reached out with my arms, pulling Vert into a hug. "Please come back safe, okay?" I said just loud enough to be heard. Vert was taken by surprise, as her body briefly stiffened in my grasp, before reaching up and ruffling my head.


    "Of course, I will," I looked up at Vert''s face, her eyes firm, but still holding a pleasant warmth to them. "I''ll be back before you have time to miss me."


    x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x


    "You are going to put a hole in the floor," Chika was far from wrong in her assessment. If this kept up, I would be putting a hole in the floor.


    Several holes. It was a miracle I hadn''t broken the bed yet, but I was also incredibly stressed, so sleep did not come easy. My nerves were flayed, practically shot, and feeding a giant, gapping pit in my stomach. I hated the feeling, from the bottom of my soul. It felt insatiable, never content, always hungry.


    It makes me feel, no it was, exhausting. Frankly, the only reason I was still moving was, well, movement. The nervous tapping of my foot, the pacing, the tapping of my fingers.


    I was perpetually full of energy, and at the same time, I was running on a near-empty tank. And it had only been a day. Not even a full twenty-four hour timespan. It, ideally, wasn''t going to take that long to clean up whatever was in charge of the ACIS. The key word is ideally.


    Plans never did tend to survive contact with an enemy. Especially ones focused on the best case scenario. Hope for it, maybe, but never plan around it. So it not being a swift cleanup was in a way, unexpected.


    But telling myself that didn''t make my nerves any better.


    "Sorry," I plopped down into a nearby seat, my foot tapping against the floor to compensate for my lack of movement. "I''m just, nervous, that''s all."


    Nervous was underselling it, but. Chika gazed at my foot, as it attempted to bore its way through the floor.


    "Vert is fine. You don''t need to worry," Chika said coldly. There was a nip in the air, almost as if the room''s temperature had dropped by a few degrees.


    I wanted to call her out for lying. She was just as anxious as I was. I could see the bags under her eyes. Chika had gotten less sleep than I had!


    But it wouldn''t be worth the effort. I could call her out on her own nerves, but what purpose would it serve?


    Chika wasn''t like Vert. Vert was willing to give me a second chance. But any bridge I had with Chika felt as if it had been ground into dust. Before the land where the foundation stood and was salted. At last degrading into a rancid, stagnant swamp.


    No, not a swamp. A gross, unmoving, filthy, pond. One in the process of turning over, all the rancid things that should be on the bottom and remain there coming up to the surface.


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    Safe to say, that bridge wasn''t coming back anytime soon. Sure, the hatchet might well be buried, but that didn''t mean the damage hadn''t been done.


    I scowled, clutching my knee, trying to make it stop. It wasn''t like it would but I wanted to keep up appearances.


    It was stress relief. No, not fully accurate. It was stress release. About the only damn way, I could get my anxiousness out of my system. Especially as it seemed like the only thing I could do was sit around with my thumb up my ass.


    I wanted to stand up again, and start pacing. Quite frankly, I knew in a fight, I was a determent. My level and it was weird hearing that thought with anything resembling a straight face, was far too low for me to be anything but a hindrance in a fight like that. So I stayed put. I didn''t like it, but I stayed put. I knew it was stupid, I knew this was, at the end of the day, the safest and smartest play to make. But that did nothing to ease my tight nerves.


    Ignorance is bliss. I couldn''t think of a more blatant lie at this very moment. I would take knowing what was going on over any day of the week. At least I wouldn''t be driving myself ill with worry! Because that''s what I was doing.


    It didn''t help matter that I was, by all rights, the insurance policy. Sure, nobody put it that way, least of all Vert, but it was clear. If something were to happen to Vert, then I was in charge, more or less.


    Which freaked me out even more!


    Sure, I could delegate things off the Chika, as she likely had more experience with governing stuff, but seriously! That''s a lot of responsibility to dump on one guy, one girl? Anyway, irrelevant, as it''s a lot of responsibility! Especially from someone like me, who grew up in a completely different system! And it wasn''t like Leanbox and the other nations had a bad system, either. With three other nations to move to, and shares as well, it made it very hard for a Goddess to end up acting like a petty tyrant or despot. Not without consequences. That meant a Goddess was, ironically, operating under a public mandate of the will of the people, in a sense.


    But that was my outsider''s perspective. Which left me drawing a blank on everything else. There was more to this sort of thing than, keeping people happy. That meant jobs, leisure, things to spend money on, goods, food, and a whole laundry list of things that needed to be open to the overwhelming majority of society, if not everyone.


    I literally had no idea how to govern! That was never my wheelhouse! Sure, road construction, I could, actually, probably not. Most of Leanbox''s roads weren''t on the ground, making any skills I had on even that matter fairly useless. Sure, I understood how a Democracy worked, but Leanbox wasn''t a Democracy! And just trying to create one wasn''t exactly going to work. I''ve seen how that goes.


    It doesn''t work. At all. Especially if the place doesn''t have much if any history with such systems. If any nation in Gamindustri did, I''d eat a hat.


    So if something happened, I''d have no idea what to do. It was another layer of crap on an already messed-up situation. I didn''t want any of this. I didn''t ask to come here and get embroiled in some weird conspiracy. I missed home. Sure, it felt like it was only a few years away at best before everything was going to fall apart, but it was home.


    I pulled my legs against my chest, tightly. Then came a flicker.


    NO! Stop!


    The light died before I could transform, as I shoved it down. How did this damn thing even work! I could get it to work on command, but more often than not, I would just, transform! For no rhyme or reason.


    No, there was a reason. I just didn''t want to think about it.


    Was I this much of a train wreck? I pulled my knees up to my nose. It wasn''t that. I think I was still working my way through my emotions. They hadn''t yet cooled down for my eruption. They were still, volatile, and messy. Bottling things up was never good for anyone. You put things in a bottle, and it''s just going to build up until things reach a peak point. Then they have nowhere to go but out. And they aren''t exactly going to go out easily. It''ll be painful and messy.


    Something I should already know.


    "Histoire?" Chika''s voice broke me out of my thoughts, as Chika looked down at a small device sitting on her wrist. Histoire? Who was that? I''d never met anyone by that name. Maybe someone from one of the other nations? "Is there something wrong?"


    I peeked my head up from behind my knees. I couldn''t hear what was being said on the other end. But I didn''t need too, either. Chika''s face twisted, as if someone punched her square in the gut, tears already beginning to form on her face. No. No. No! This can''t be happening! What went wrong? What happened?


    Did that even matter?


    I felt my body move, pulling Chika into a hug. A hug she returned, as my own face was wet with tears. It would be a while before either of us moved from our spots, clinging to one another like a drowning man clinging to a raft.


    Vert, why did you have to lie to us?

 Chapter 8

    <div>


    <div>


    The Basillicom made those descriptions inadequate. A mad cyclone of officials carrying reports, and paperwork, and it was taking all I had to remain the eye of the storm. The calm at the center of the storm.


    "I want a report on how the ASIC has affected corporate profits. If we''re lucky, it could make them easier to negotiate with," a few people ran off, as that would be no small task. Especially now, as the ASIC was building up more power with each passing day. With Vert gone, it felt as if the floodgates has opened, as the ASIC was celebrating their victory. And make no mistake, it was a victory. Vert was gone, and Chika was, not taking it well. In one move, Leanbox''s most experienced rulers were out of the picture.


    Leaving me to pick up the slack. Which was technically my job as the CPU candidate in the first place, but I''d had minimal experience. Making this a true trial by fire. I flipped through a report, full of various distributing locations of pirated software that the ASIC sold, scowling. While having information on where these were distributed was nice, these were really just a smaller problem. When hit, the ASIC would take a loss, yes, but ultimately, they had more than plenty of fresh recruits, and with their production facilities intact, it would be a minor inconvenience.


    As I closed it, another report slide over it. I looked up to find Cave, standing regal and proper, report in hand.


    "Is this?" I asked, opening it and looking over the findings.


    "We''ve managed to locate several production facilities, Ma''am," Cave said, looking down at me. "It might not be all of them, but we do believe we have all of their monster chip production sites as well."


    "That is very good news," my smile had far too many teeth, but I was past the point of caring about such things. The ability to prove that the ASIC could transport monsters into the city, making them the party responsible for the Fenrir attack? That was the gold mine I''d been waiting for. And it couldn''t have been better timed.


    "I have officers ready to move in to arrest and break up the machinery as soon as you give the order," Cave said. It was a tempting offer. To go into tomorrow with a win under my belt. So, so tempting. But, I already had my win. The monster summoning tech was that win.


    "Wait until tomorrow," I said, nodding.


    "Tomorrow? Tomorrow morning? That''s just a few hours away," Cave gave me a confused look.


    "Tomorrow evening," I took special note of the locations where these types of chips were produced. "Did anyone get ahold of a specimen? Ideally unused? Or was it deemed too risky?"


    "No, we did not," Cave said. "But tomorrow evening, Ma''am? Isn''t that when your interview is?"


    So I was going to have to do some work myself. "That''s exactly why I want to wait. Striking during the interview, ideally, probably ten minutes afterward, would be best. Our agents will have a distraction, and one way or another, the media will have something good to talk about."


    I wasn''t planning on flubbing the interview. Far from it. Ideally, this would be a reinforcement of what I planned to do, backing my words with actions. But it was nice to have an insurance policy. But Cave getting this to me today simplified things. The fact that nobody outside of Vert and Chika, well, had seen my face and would be able to connect it to Green ''Sister'' was a blessing. But given the state of affairs, anonymity had its fair share of disadvantages. Mostly in the fact that Leanbox didn''t know me. Not like they knew Vert or Chika.


    Yes, that gave me an advantage against the ASIC, as they had no idea what I would do or respond, but neither did the people of Leanbox. And that was the far bigger problem. The longer I kept up this unseen but heard act, the less faith people would have in my giving them a straight answer to start with. And right now, I simply couldn''t afford to keep up the act. The costs were outweighing the benefits. I was going to have to address the nation.


    But thanks to Cave? My anonymity would have some use after all. Green Sister was a decently known face by this point. But Hinum? A few people knew me, but not a whole lot. I certainly wouldn''t be on any ASIC watch lists, either.


    x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x


    "Who was that, Linda?" Linda sighed, taking a puff from her cigarette.


    "Just some chick who wanted to mess stuff up. Wanted the really good, high-end stuff," she said, turning around to not let her boss see her rolling her eyes.


    "Damnit, Linda! The tools have been snooping around as of late! We don''t need to have our cover blown now!" Her boss snapped, clearly annoyed.


    "And her messing around throws them off our scent. Besides, we got the Goddess already. What''s the newly minted Candidate going to do? Cry about it?" Linda scowled, taking another puff of her cigarette. She''d heard the news at the same time everyone else did. With all four Goddesses gone, the ASIC had pretty much won already. Now was only a matter of wiping out the few candidates that remained. And she had the benefit of being in Leanbox. Which, up until recently, didn''t have a CPU Candidate to take Green Hearts'' place.


    A complication to be sure, but she hadn''t been seen in public since the Fenrir stunt. So clearly, she wasn''t anything to worry about either. Given how Green Heart would have announced a sister for all the world to hear, this had to be recent.


    A Candidate that was practically a newborn against the ASIC? Linda almost felt bad for them.


    Almost.


    "If this ends up biting us in the ass, I''ll make sure to demote you," Linda''s boss threatened, before leaving her to smoke in peace.


    "Yeah right. As if that would ever happen."


    x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x


    "That is, risky," Cave said, looking down at the disk in my hand. "Incredibly risky."


    The thing is, she wasn''t exactly wrong. Quite frankly, the move was bold and aggressive. A bit too aggressive, some might argue. But I needed something to put the ASIC on the back foot. Something to throw them off their balance while they were too busy celebrating their victory. The celebrations would distract them for a time, but that time was limited, and sooner rather than later, they would begin to push their advantage.


    Quite frankly, if they hadn''t committed the Fenrir attack, then I would be in a considerably worse position, as much as it pained me to say it. People were scared, as a monster of considerable strength had managed to be transported into the city itself. And quite frankly, I was going to do something disgusting. I was going to prey on that fear. The ASIC was the most likely party to be responsible, as they were the ones in possession of technology that could sneak monsters into Leanbox. And even if they weren''t? A statement hadn''t been made, one way or another. They had the tech, I had the proof they could make it.


    People were afraid of another attack, and I was going to use that fear to tar and feather the ASIC. Was it gross, to make use of people''s fear to manipulate them? Yes, yes it was. But tis hat fear, or more accurately, a solution to assuage those fears? I was going to capitalize on that. I needed people to be against the ASIC. Fear, alongside providing a solution to that problem.


    Admittedly, this was a temporary solution to the problem at hand. Ruling through fear was far from ideal. I wanted the people of Leanbox to be safe, and happy, but to do that, I needed to cut the ASIC off at the knees. Cut off their recruitment, and cut off their support. An organization that orchestrated such an attack against Leanbox and her people would have a harder time getting support if such information came to light.


    "I know. People are going to be scared, and I''m going to be playing off that fear," I scowled. "I''m going to have to talk a tightrope of getting people worked up, but not to the point where they panic."


    "That, and you don''t have the time to include such a radical change in your planned responses," Cave said, standing still. "Not to mention how much it would derail the plans of your address itself. It''s far too late to edit and practice with a new script now."


    "The script is an outline," I said. "It''s there to keep me on track, and remind me of the points I want to talk about and cover."


    That was how I preferred to give speeches, anyway. But tonight was the night that I''d be putting that particular set of skills to the test.


    "Very well," Cave said, before pausing for a moment. "What monster did you put in that thing, anyway?"


    "A flower, why?" Cave gave me a look I was more than willing to return. "What? I''m trying to show off that they''re capable of using this tech to transport monsters into the city, not cause a panic."


    "That is fair," Cave shook her head. "I still disagree with this grandstanding plan of yours. I think we should hit these facilities before your speech. It would give you a leg up going in. Especially now that you have your evidence."


    That was a fair point. The only reason I didn''t want a hit last night was because I wanted this demonstration. Sure, it was one thing to hear about such technology on the news, hear about it through reports. But to see its use in person? Live? That would have a considerably different impact. One harsher, and more visceral.


    "How long would it take to get the police and guards back into position, then?" I asked. There wasn''t any reason I could have my cake and eat it at this junction. Hell, I could even partake, if there was enough time to do so. Being willing to work directly with Leanbox''s law enforcement could prove to be a boast as well.


    "The soonest we can have enough people to hit all the locations would be about five o''clock, Ma''am," Cave said, as I looked towards the clock hanging off the wall. The interview was at seven. Two hours would normally be what I would consider a considerable amount of wiggle room, especially with the ability to fly. But the problem was I''d be dressing up. Something I normally wouldn''t consider, but naturally, the skintight body armor wasn''t exactly, ideal, for a formal address.


    Which meant I had to wear a dress. Which wasn''t ideal for me, as I''d never worn one before. A suit, yes, a few times. But dresses were foreign to me.


    It was similar to one of the many dresses Vert owned, specifically, for Green Heart. The majority was white, a color easy to stain, but matched my armor. Unlike Verts, it had straps going over my shoulders, helping hold up the article of clothing. The lower half of the dress was a sold dark emerald, while a bow of lighter green contrasted it on my hips. A pair of light green ribbons rested further up. It came down to just above my ankles.


    Which made it fairly conservative by Gamindustri standards, but given some of the outfits Vert had, I''d rather preserve my modesty. Especially given how the proportions between me and Green ''Sister'' were considerably different. At least Vert had the advantage of having somewhat similar ones to Green Heart.


    "What exactly are the odds of me being able to join the assault, even if temporarily?" I asked, curious.


    "I suspect you will be busy making preparations. And I imagine having Green Sister retreat for those preparations would ultimately make for suboptimal optics," Cave said, as I let out a hiss. That was a fair point. I missed a perfectly good PR opportunity there, hadn''t I? It was a mistake I could live with for the time being, but that was still a misstep I didn''t want to make again. I could claim I wanted to use the interview as a distraction if asked about the matter.


    Sure, I could afford the slip-up. Possibly. For the time being. But I wasn''t going to be able to rely on the ASIC being overconfident forever. Or even much longer, at that. One way or another that would be ending tonight. Just had to make sure this punch counted for everything it was worth.


    x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x


    "Welcoming, Green Sister!" a cue if there ever was one. A deep breath in, and I stepped out into the light of the set. My hair, though not put up, was nicely combed. When transformed, it was far too short to do much else with it, to be frank. My dress was immaculate, wrapped tightly around my frame. Even my eyes held a faint flicker of power.


    The audience, if it could be considered that, muttered amongst themselves. I saw a few camera flashes as well, though not as many as I thought, joined by those with notepads. Most seemed largely uninterested, a few seemed outright concerned. That wasn''t promising, but for the moment, there was little I could do on the matter.


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    Smiling and waving almost felt appropriate, but waving would be out of place, and wouldn''t play off the crowd. But I did smile a slight bit, mostly towards the host.


    "Thank you for having me," I said firmly, as took the seat offered to me. I tried to keep my posture firm, lacking slouching or fidgeting, but still imperfect. I wanted to create an image of someone strong, but still human and approachable.


    "I''m a bit surprised that you haven''t shown yourself sooner. You haven''t been seen publicly since the Fenrir attack," she said, a clear opening to make an initial statement.


    "Green Heart and I felt it would be best to let the situation settle before I revealed myself further. The Fenrir attack was a tragedy, one that does not deserve to be overshadowed by my arrival," I said, keeping my eyes firmly on her, but speaking to the audience. This was about Leanbox, and I wanted to make that clear. That the people were my primary concern in these matters, rather than myself.


    Part of me wanted to tip my hand as well, right here, and right now. However, that would largely undercut the point I was trying to make. There would be time to circle back around, with a different angle.


    "And I imagine present events have kept you quiet, indisposed," she said, a slight smile on her face. It took all the restraint I had to keep my eyes from narrowing. Just a quirk? Or was there something more going on here?


    "Indeed. There has been no small bit of chaos as a result of Green Heart''s, capture, on top of me assuming her regular duties," I said calmly. While I didn''t like admitting it, the cat was out of the bag by this point, and everyone knew it. My being here was proof enough of that.


    One of the few things I had going back and forth was what word I should use to describe the situation. Words had power, after all, and what words being used could have implications. Kidnapping is a word I would want to use, as the negative connotations suggested negative things about the ASIC. But at the same time, referring to Green Heart as a kid would also imply it was easy. And if she was easy to capture, what chance did her little sister have?


    Thus, capture was ultimately decided upon. It had negative connotations and implied a type of struggle. A fight, at the very least.


    "It must be a challenge, stepping in like that," she said, nodding slightly, as if expecting me to go on. "With you being so young and all."


    "It can be a challenge," I said, ignoring the jab thrown my way. "However, challenges are meant to be overcome. It is part of what Leanbox requires of me, and I will carry such duties to the best of my ability."


    "Right, of course," the woman seemed surprised by my answer, as a few heads in the crowd seemed more interested than they had been before. "I''m sure you don''t mind me asking, as I don''t think I''m the only one asking, when will retaliation against the ASIC start?"


    Interesting. That was a bold question to ask. It was always going to be one that would be asked, but I figured they would wait longer before dropping that in my lap. I figured some more mundane questions would be asked. What my plans were to keep businesses afloat. Or how I would address the other nations. It hadn''t been that long since my opening remarks.


    But was I going to get a better opportunity to turn the hot potato into a live grenade?


    "Retaliation for the capture of my sister, or the Fenrir attack?" At the end of my question, you could almost hear a pin drop. I had to try hard not to look smug. The expression on that woman''s face was a thing of pure shock. "An operation to destroy the machines capable of making the devices that can transport monsters started about an hour ago. As well as the locations they''re being stored in."


    "That is quite the accusation," the woman said, eyes narrowing. "It seems convenient that the ASIC just so happens to have a device that can transport monsters that you are attempting to destroy."


    "There is no attempt. We either succeed in destroying a weapon that can be used to do nothing but harm to Leanbox''s Citizens, or we fail," I said bluntly. "And as for it being quite the accusation, I agree completely. Accusations such as the one I level can only be backed up by evidence, after all. Evidence I brought with me."


    If her expression was telling before, it was even worse now. The blood drained from her face the moment I pulled out the disk, with the letters ASIC written across the back in dark bold colors.


    The crowd of reporters was on the edge of their seats, but there was an air of unease about them. This was likely the first time they would have seen a monster in any serious capacity. In-person anyway.


    "If this is insufficient proof, I''m more than willing to show what''s trapped inside. I''ll be able to deal with it rather easily," for the first time, I looked directly at the crowd, gagging their reaction. It was a simple flower. I could one-shot the thing at first level, not that they needed to know that tidbit of information.


    However, out of the corner of my eye, I kept watch on the woman. She was moving her wrist as if she was trying to signal something. The one filming maybe? My eyes briefly flicked over to the person behind the camera. They were shaking their head at the woman. A clear answer.


    No.


    I suppose I would be owing Cave an apology. It seems she wasn''t so paranoid after all. Which was strange. Didn''t we vet her already, and she was at her absolute worst neutral position?


    "Can you deal with it?" Someone in the crowd asked. "It might be best to have such a thing recorded. Unless it''s too dangerous to be let out?"


    Was it a challenge? An attempt to get me to make a misstep? If the one doing the interview was sympathetic to the ASIC, could there be more like-minded individuals in the crowd? A few people began nodding their agreement.


    "It''s not that impressive. As I''d rather not have a repeat of what happened the last time something dangerous got into the city," I said, my statement eliciting a few nervous chuckles.


    With the single press of a button, the storage device began to break down, the physical material used to reconstruct the monster''s body from something of pure code. The monster shaped like a flower blinked as if confused about where it was, and how it got there. Then it saw the crowd of people, opening its mouth to let out a screech.


    That was as far as I let it get, however. An arrow formed in my hands, one I used to quickly skewer the monster. Its racket fell silent as its body dissolved into translucent sparkles. I dismissed the arrow returning to my seat, sitting prim and proper as if I hadn''t turned the flower into a kabob.


    "As I just demonstrated, this technology is dangerous, and we are presently dealing with all the production facilities within Leanbox, as well as any distribution centers," I said firmly.


    "Yes, quiet," the woman pushed up her glasses, trying to get control of the situation. "Though why haven''t there been any moves of this nature up until now?"


    "Because up until now, we were unsure where the facilities producing this technology were located. Hitting one would simply lead to the ASIC realizing they have been compromised, and moving the surviving equipment to new locations, meaning any leads we may have had to their whereabouts become useless. This is much the same for simple distribution centers, except with even less payoff," I said. "It''s worth more to make sure we hit everything at once, or, at least, as much as we possibly can, to remove such assets from the ASIC''s hands."


    In a sense, a decapitating strike. Though in truth, I doubt we got everything. The ASIC had a lot of hands in a lot of pies and had a fair share of tricks up its sleeve. And even if we did, there were three other nations for them to set up shop, meaning they could import more from their foreign branches. But I was already bouncing ideas off advisors on how to stop them from being able to do so, at least as much as Leanbox could.


    "How exactly are you going to solve the ASIC problem!" I heard one of the reporters shout.


    "The ASIC is not a simple problem to solve. There is no one easy fix that will deal with them. They will require multiple solutions working in tandem to address the originization as a whole, and it will take time as well," I answered honestly. "After all, the ASIC is one part criminal enterprise and one part cult. Both halves need to be addressed for there to be a solution, and both are very different problems to solve. Sorry if my answer is a bit vague, but that example is a single piece of the puzzle. It''ll take a lot of hard work from everyone for the ASIC to be defeated."


    "What about the other nations? Do you plan on helping them?" Another asked, the lady running the interview being drowned out by others. If she was an ASIC sympathizer, then good. Hopefully, the fact she messed up and couldn''t hold the reins anymore would reflect badly on her and the rest of the ASIC. Still, that was not a question I was going to like answering. Oh, it was one I and my advisors had expected to come up, but the answer was not in my nature. But the answer, at least from an internal PR perspective, painted a damning picture.


    I''d love to help the other nations of Gamindustri in their time of need. Frankly, we were stronger together than we would be apart. But the problem was, what did I have to spare? Our plate was full of problems, and as much as I''d love to directly help, that was something that would not play well internally.


    "I''ll give the same answer I expect the other Candidates will when asked the same question," I said, hoping to put things as diplomatically as possible. "We will give aid to other nations, if we can spare it."


    I didn''t like that answer, but sadly, Leanbox had too much on its plate. If we could get the situation under control, then I absolutely would love to try to help them fight off the ASIC as well. And while I would prefer that aid sent would result in aid returned in favor, there were no guarantees that would be the case. Which made the subject of aid at Leanbox''s expense an even greater political landmine than it already was.


    Aid didn''t need to be returned exactly, as this was an all-hands-on-deck, the world might end situation, so I was going to have to do everything in my power to make sure my public answer didn''t ruffle too many feathers abroad. We could scarcely afford it at the moment. But we also couldn''t afford further internal issues, either.


    "Why didn''t you join the raid today, instead of coming here?" Another lady asked, further towards the back, raising her hand.


    "I will not deny I was tempted to do just that," I started. "However, the raid is in more than capable hands, and while additional firepower I would be able to provide would be beneficial, it would likely prove unneeded. Given the closeness, after the information was revealed, I could only choose one, or the other. And while I would prefer action on a personal level, addressing the people in Leanbox in person is an overdue event. Ruling from behind papers and orders was only beginning to build up desiccant. After all, how could the people be sure I was who I claimed to be? I have heard your voice, and agree with the assessment made. It has been time for me to step forward and address Leanbox and her people in person."


    "Is it possible that the ASIC will retaliate for tonight''s raid?" Another reporter asked.


    "It certainly is possible, yes. That is one of the many on the list of reasons we waited to make sure we could take out every production facility we could," I said honestly. "The ASIC used the Fenrir attack as a means of stoking fear among the population. Fear is a powerful tool in their arsenal, one that can be incredibly devastating. But it is one that can be limited. Using fear as a weapon only is effective so long as people remain afraid. Once they are not, it becomes clear that the only thing to fear, is fear itself."


    </article>


    <div>


    </aside>

 Chapter 9

    That interview could have gone so much worse. Returning to the Basilicom nearly had my stomach give out on me due to stress. Between it and the raid, I nearly was sick with worry. But the interview could have gone worse, and the after-action reports of the raid painted a promising picture. A considerable amount of ASIC''s production capacity in both pirated software and their monster disks had been wiped out, as were a considerable amount of finished products were destroyed. We''d caught them with their pants down, thankfully enough. There were in truth, more arrests and destruction of ASIC criminal assets, than a whole lot of fighting.


    A good job that deserved a proper reward, giving those who partook the rest of the night off, and those I couldn''t afford to, as we needed to be ready for ASIC''s retaliation, vacation time to compensate, and I was thinking of other measures, too, but I was going to have swing things by finance before I said anything publicly on the matter.


    But tonight''s events sadly revealed some disturbing information. Possibly. I might be paranoid, but it might not hurt to be prepared, and start putting countermeasures in place. But the ASIC sympathizer was a curveball I had not expected by any stretch of my imagination. This meant a few things. Either she was somehow replaced by someone more willing to toe the ASIC line, and I did mean ''replaced'' quite literally. Which was its own extremely concerning issue in its own damn right. The ASIC being able to body snatch people was positively nightmarish. Just in general. Invasion of the Bodysnatchers was creepy as hell, and this would just cause a panic and be an Intel disaster.


    The other option being, we had a mole. One way or another. And that was really, really bad. The interview was set up by PR, meaning at the very least, they were infiltrated. And where you found one rat, that was usually a sign you had a few dozen of the things. Ideally, it would be contained to Public Relations, but it would be prudent to assume that wasn''t the case. Given the lack of tips for tonight''s raid, it was clear that the military, police, Basilicom guard, and Guild connections weren''t compromised.


    For now.


    But if there was a mole, something needed to be done. Intel was important in any conflict, and keeping our stuff out of ASIC hands was important. However, I couldn''t just swing a hammer around and hope I got lucky. Purges of leadership, unless those people were incompetent, sabotaging, or simply corrupt, were not a good thing during a time of crisis. I''d just managed to get a good win under my belt, and while cleaning house was important, I had little idea how far things went. I could just end up undoing all the goodwill I managed to gain.


    ASIC may have had its people on the inside, but that was something that went both ways. Even before Vert was captured, there were people on the inside, and I had access to the same network. Part of the reason we''d been able to find everything. And the chaos of the raid had given us a fairly unique opportunity to sneak in more informants that were ''lucky enough to flee from the raids''. Could I use them to help sniff out who was feeding the ASIC information in our camps?


    I was going to have to bounce some ideas off advisors. Op-spec was important, and I''d prefer that there weren''t any major leaks. And if there were, I''d prefer we''d be able to use them to our advantage. I''d read The Art of War, though it had been a few years since I had an opportunity to read it through, and sadly, it wasn''t like there were any copies here. Disappointing, as it would be a book I desperately wanted to review, but sadly, that wasn''t going to be the case for some time. I could check with Nepgear, but I was already too busy for something like that, and I felt the workload was only going to increase from here on out.


    Please, given how Nepgear was in Planeptune, she likely had much, much larger fish to fry than an interdimensional portal. It''d come to my attention that both the CPU and CPU candidate of Planeptune went into the graveyard. That was going to prove to be a nightmare in it''s own right, I felt. Whatever could be said about the other nations and their respective candidates, those nations at least had a secondary leader to call on in a crisis. With both gone, that had to have just left the Oracle. Hopefully, Planeptune had a good one, because otherwise?


    Oh, who am I kidding, there was no otherwise. Planeptune was out of the fight at best, and practically an ASIC base at worst. And a nation where the ASIC could pretty much do whatever it wanted this early was already far from ideal. I''d like to help to prevent that from happening, but sadly, like I had said during the interview, did we have the resources to spare? I''d love to help, and frankly, would prefer it, as having our neighbor nations in order would help keep our situation in order, but alas, that didn''t seem to be the case, for the time being.


    Hopefully, things turned out okay for Nepgear in the meantime. But I had to focus on the numerous problems on hand. And unfortunately, I wasn''t going to be able to replicate Vert being running the nation on nothing but coffee. I didn''t like the drink in the first place, and letting my tired mind run wild was not something anyone wanted in a crisis, least of all myself. No, I was going to have to sleep, no matter how much the thought made me want to vomit. Though that could be the post-speech anxiety talking. But regardless, I was going to need sleep.


    Hopefully, nothing major would happen in the meantime.


    x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x


    Thankfully, nothing of critical importance happened when I slept. ASIC had been driven to ground, at least for now, but they would be back in time. There was no way it would be that easy. Of course, it wasn''t like criminals also had to sleep. Sleep may have been a refuge, but it was a temporary one. Which meant it was back to the disaster, no, literal national crisis by the time breakfast was over.


    Good news? The operation had been a resounding success, in every sense of the word. Combined with the interview, there seemed to be an upswing in support, and not a small one, either. Though what parts of it where my reveal about what the ASIC had done, or the speech I chose to give were up for debate. Truthfully, I found it mattered little, as it accomplished what it set out to do, but finding out how people responded to what parts were, if nothing else, useful data. Hell, it even seemed to cause the slip in the economy to at least stabilize.


    The bad news? That stabilization was only temporary, and it wouldn''t take long for things to resume their downward trend. Even with most of their manufacturing and stores of pirated games being captured or destroyed, the ASIC did have foreign assets to call upon, and there was no doubt we''d missed something or another that they could make use of. Which meant that if I had to bet, smuggling operations, if they weren''t already underway, would soon be starting. Something I was going to have to nip in the bud.


    Those sources would have to be dealt with as well. So long as the ASIC existed in other nations, they would be able to get their claws into Leanbox as well, if simply by it being the only place they could grow into. Though I couldn''t just go into a foreign country and smash stuff up. Even if it was the most straightforward solution, it would also be a gross violation of sovereignty. It would make the Candidate of the respective nation look weak, something they couldn''t exactly afford.


    Coordination would be key. This is why I needed to make sure my statements last night didn''t ruffle any feathers, and if they did, do my best to smooth them over.


    However, that was a problem that I had to push to the side. The larger and more pressing issue was how to keep the economy from exploding. Or, at least, minimize the damage of it going off. Because it very likely would explode.


    Had to hand it to the ASIC, they knew how to do damage. Gamindustri, as its name implied, had a strong focus on games, and their development, to the point it was easily the most common hobby on the continent. With the more untamed areas prone to spawning all sorts of deadly monsters, people turned to the virtual world. Making video games a considerable portion of the economic engine, employing developers, coders, beta testers, and countless other jobs. Gaming as a whole was a considerable part of the economy.


    One that the ASIC undercut. Hard. While Earth left me with my personal feelings about large corporations, that didn''t change the fact that the current situation was bad. Really bad. Games sold for a lot of money. The ASIC "made" the same games at a considerably cheaper rate, which meant they could sell them for cheaper. When you have the same good, but you can buy it cheaper, well, a lot of people would go for the cheaper option. It saved them money. Of course, there were nuances there. A lot of people weren''t going to break the law. Not unless they didn''t have any other choice but to do so to make ends meet.


    However, that meant companies weren''t making as much money, meaning they had to lay people off, which created more desperate people trying to make ends meet, which turned them to cheaper alternatives, which undercut profits, which undercut pay, creating a vicious cycle. I didn''t need advisors to have that picture painted for me.


    It wasn''t like there weren''t solutions I could play.


    "How much money do corporate heads make in relation to their workers?" I knew this was not a line of thinking that they were going to particularly like. The ASIC was a growing power, and I had little doubt that they had feelers within such organizations. Sure, the ASIC was undercutting their profits, but there was the logic that if you can''t beat them, join them. It wouldn''t surprise me if some already were working with the crime group, in an attempt to preserve their profits. Those would have to be rooted out.


    But I had my combination of carrots and sticks. Businesses loved stability. A stable environment was the best place to make profits, after all. Yes, the ASIC was stirring things up, and some would defect to them out of greed, or at least, a mistaken sense of it. But the public was swinging hard against the ASIC, if the rumblings were true. I''d watched a few different stations, and I was frankly surprised.


    Either things had gone even better than I imagined, or the PR department had taken initiative and deserved, all the gift baskets. They deserved gift baskets anyway, but even I was impressed by what channels I''d watched.


    And frankly, a bit frightened. They broke out a word I hadn''t expected to hear in that particular tone again.


    Terrorist.


    Given the Fenrir attack was, well, an attack meant to terrorize and create fear, it wasn''t an unearned label. But at the same time, I''d seen what happened when that type of talk reached its final form. Part of my plan was to cut off lower-ranking recruitment among criminals, to isolate the more radical leadership from disposable manpower. I mean, the plan still could work, as being part of a group your family and friends considered a terrorist group was effective, and could cut down on new criminals joining the organization.


    But all seriousness aside, I might have to try and dial things back. I wanted people to be against the ASIC, but I had no interest in creating a tiger. The ASIC was a monster, yes, but I did not need to raise one of my own to match it. Riding tigers always ended up with the person on it''s back devoured, even if they were the tiger''s last meal. I would have to keep an eye on things, in case of further developments.


    "A, considerable amount more. But not enough to wholly make up the difference," that wasn''t exactly the news I wanted to hear, but I accepted it anyway. It wasn''t like payment standards were bad by any stretch of the imagination, either. In need of Ford using his head, realizing that making his goods so that his workers could afford them improved his own profits, Leanbox was not.


    Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.


    No, it was clear Businesses were not entirely like the ones back home. Pirating had to be made, uneconomical, as well as programs to support those who were losing their jobs in the first place. Security would have to be amped up along the border, to help prevent external supply from making its way in. And that wasn''t the only thing I had in mind.


    Some games, if I recalled correctly, had ways of making themselves unplayable, if they were pirated. Hell, some of them acted as if they worked, before they started to brick-like crazy. I''d heard of a lot of practical jokes game developers had gotten out of doing things like that. It could be possible to get a similar system going. How to get the coding to work, I wasn''t exactly sure. But I knew it was a security feature some games possessed, even if such knowledge was purely secondhand. Something to bring up during discussions.


    And sadly, Leanbox didn''t have infinitely deep coffers.


    "Unemployment benefits for those who have lost their jobs need to be implemented," it was a stopgap measure, but it needed to be implemented. "And an expansion of the agencies that handle unemployment cases."


    Such jobs were unlikely to pay as well as their old ones, but it would be better than nothing.


    "That might take a bit of time, Ma''am," as a folder slipped my way. I began reading through its contents, only to become more and more aghast as I went.


    "When exactly was the last time there was a major recession?" I found myself asking aloud, as I continued to read. The system existed, but largely on paper. Most of it had atrophied away over the years, more likely decades. It had started to be rebuilt recently, but it hadn''t recovered to the extent needed to take on such a workload. Which was, went without saying, not good.


    I was thankful that I hadn''t drunk any water either when I got the answer. More than a century ago? Sure, that didn''t sound long, but during a century, the United States had the Great Depression in the twenties, which lasted for a considerable length of time, the stagflation of the 70''s, the early 80''s recession, the economic hiccups that ultimately resulted in the Great Recession, and lastly the pandemic.


    So, yeah, it didn''t sound like a whole lot, but that was a considerable length of economic stability. That may just be because of an immortal being in charge might lead to at least a degree of long-term planning. But at least it made sense why such programs had been downsized. Home didn''t have that type of excuse though.


    "Well, work on building up operations and expansion. I unfortunately expect the program to be inundated, in spite of our best efforts," I said. It was annoying, to have a lynchpin program be more underdeveloped than I originally thought, but hindsight was 20-20. And trying to blame the people doing their best in the here and now isn''t going to undo the mistake.


    "Any further advice before any meetings with executives?" I asked. Public speaking may have been something I was surprisingly good at, but not all those skills carried over. With public speaking, you were playing to a crowd. A group of people.


    Not a person. That was, at the end of the day, a different barrel of fish, requiring a different set of skills. Skills I certainly didn''t have as many of.


    Thankfully, I was getting more used to my transformed state. How it felt. How it made me feel. It was tied to my emotions. Quite strongly, frankly. When transformed, I felt more confident. Stronger. Not overbearingly so, but I had more control over myself. I think. Maybe it just, exaggerated what I was feeling. Right now, I wanted confidence to back up my spite towards the ASIC, thus, I got it, but for the first time.


    Hell, maybe what I thought was the first time.


    Regardless, I could use the transformation as a crutch. I didn''t exactly like that I had to, but those were the tools I had, and I would make the most of them. But it was a useful one all the same.


    Vert, as far as I knew, had used her guise as a Goddess, and outside of the Basilicom staff, nobody knew her face. On that front, I was unsure, but at the same time, it felt like an embarrassing question to ask, fitter for Chika''s ears than anyone else. But as far as I knew, I was doing the correct thing when it came to using the form. The combat boosts were important, sure, that went without saying. But right now, if I was going to get more out of it by using it for utility purposes, then I was going to make the most of that option.


    "They''ll most likely want two things. Stability, and money. You could lean into the current change in narrative against the ASIC, as their flipping would cause greater harm to their profits if such information came to light at the moment," one of the advisors spoke. "The former is hard, but the latter?"


    "Would pitching it as short-term pains for long-term gains work?" I asked. Selling it as taking pains to guarantee that you get a bigger piece of a larger pie later down the line could work, but that would require the economy to cooperate with me on that front, which was not how the economy worked. My control wasn''t anything like I could just fudge the numbers and make everything seem like it was fine. And that was just papering over the cracks and only served to make things worse and worse over time.


    "That could work. The problem comes from being able to deliver on such claims," that was the crux of the problem. How long would this crisis last? Banking on having long-term profits banked on there being a long term. If there wasn''t a long term, what did those profits matter?


    Did I like large businesses? No, but I needed them right now, to at least help keep things stable. That meant there was going to have to be some form of trust between us. I might, keyword, might be able to get away with lying to them once. But doing so would burn a considerable amount of capital I had, as well as any trust they had in me. For one crisis, I might be able to do without during the aftermath. But if there were other crises, and I proved my word was less than dirt? That was going to be incredibly damaging. Ideally, there would be decades of calm, possibly long enough for those scars to be forgotten over time.


    Of course, time didn''t heal all wounds, and trust was particularly hard to re-earn, once it had been lost. It would be better to prepare for the worst and not bank on immortality to be the solution to my problem in this case. Provided I was unaging in the first place.


    Frankly, I hoped to get more use out of soft power on this one. How did the saying go? Speak softly, and carry a big stick?


    x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x


    "This is, an interesting security proposal. I will have to run it by several people to make sure something like that could work, but," the man rubbed his chin, lost in thought. "This combined with your paperwork and anti-smuggling operations, would certainly hurt the ASIC''s ability to make a profit."


    "And reinforce the industries'' ability to turn a profit at the same time," I offered, a slight smile on my empowered face. "I would suggest that let the developers have fun with the anti-pirating systems. An interesting experience could help boost sales for the legitimate game."


    "Indeed. I''m a bit surprised by the developments of the past few days. First the interview, and now this," he hummed, still scratching his beard. I kept my expression blank, so as not to show any sign for him to interpret. "I haven''t met any of the other candidates, but I have heard about them. Even their sisters kept them sheltered, but word does slip out. They were like children, as I recall. Almost a blank slate."


    "Then there is you. You make an appearance on the national stage, almost by pure luck and happenstance, before going to ground up until after your sister''s kidnapping. Nobody expects anything from you until you come out swinging out of nowhere. As if you expected that nobody expected anything from you, and you wanted to use that to your advantage," he paused for a moment. "A blunt maneuver, but it changes the situation, at least for now, overnight. Now the ASIC is being portrayed as the enemy, one that needs to be fought. Almost all the ASIC infiltration efforts are either undone in a single night, or simply drowned out. I''m forced to ask myself, how much of it is your doing?"


    "That would be telling," my eyes narrowed slightly. This man was smart. Smarter than a few of the business leaders I''d met so far.


    "Would it also be telling to ask what you plan to do once this crisis has been resolved?" he asked, returning my gaze. Was he, implying something here? He had to be.


    "Hand everything back to my sister when she is rescued," I said honestly. Or at least, somewhat honestly. I fully intended to hand Leanbox back to Vert the moment I could, and that''s what mattered as far as I was concerned. He paused for a moment.


    "I don''t think you''re lying, but there are some who are concerned," I didn''t grace the comment with a change of expression. Of course, there would be people who thought I was planning some sort of coup.


    "My goals are to keep the people of Leanbox safe in her stead," I answered calmly. "She built this nation, and I don''t want it to fall over because of some lunatic cultists and criminals."


    He nodded for a brief moment, taking in my words. "And punishing the ASIC is just a bit of icing on the cake, is it not?"


    "Dealing with the ASIC means keeping the people of Leanbox safe," I said firmly. "Which will require everyone lending a hand against them."


    "Yes, they are bad for our long-term profits," for a moment, the man suddenly felt as if he were decades older. "Though, it does feel like both you and the ASIC are trying to use me for your ends."


    He wasn''t exactly wrong in that statement. Sure, I intended to help Leanbox, but I was trying to convince him to see things in a way that at least aligned with my goals.


    "And which do you think is more open to manipulation in turn?" I asked, cautiously. "The one approaching you with a closed fist, or the person willing to negotiate?"


    "That is a peculiar outlook," he said, after some thought.


    "Side effects of compromise. But that does not mean our goals are mutually exclusive," I paused for a moment. "I want to keep the economy steady. You want to make money. To keep the economy stable, you and your company need to continue to turn a profit. A stable economy helps you get a better return on said investment. Our end goal intersects, it simply starts at two different places."


    "True, but it will still have a cost," the man sat down. "You offer me a carrot. That I recognize. But you wield the ASIC as your stick."


    "However, from what I''ve seen, they only have a stick. And their stick hurts more, something you have capitalized on," he let out a sigh. It sounded like there was a but there.


    "And?" I prompted, trying to get him to continue. He gave me a silent look. "Look, I''m aware of the dangers of riding on the back of tigers. Nasty business, that is."


    The man raised his eyebrow in response but said nothing.


    "As you said, I''m blunt. But right now, that bluntness is one of the few tools I have. Subtly requires enough soft power and systems in place that are only now being constructed," I continued. "And frankly, soft power is better. The pen is mightier than the sword, after all."


    "And of hammers?"


    "If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. Which is why I''m investing in projects beyond the hammer," I said simply. "The ASIC isn''t something that can simply be punched out of existence. To deal with it, one needs both the pen, and the sword, to deal with it in calculated measures."


    "I see. I do think such an arrangement will prove beneficial for the time being, so long as you know when to use a carrot, and when to use a stick," he extended his hand. "I believe the terms of the deal are most acceptable."


    "Thank you for your cooperation," I grasped his hand. "Your knowledge will be most appreciated."

 Chapter 10

    The days were slowly grinding on and on. Things were a madhouse, to put it mildly, but I was managing to keep the ship afloat. Sure, the economy was on a gradual downward tilt, but we''d managed to counterbalance things enough that the impact would, if not a graceful landing, would be considerably softer than it could have been. Frankly, a lot of the worst impact was coming from the external market, for numerous reasons.


    Part of it was out of my hands. The other three nations were getting hit hard economically, and that was always going to have some degree of blowback, no matter how one spun it. The rest was me leveraging bureaucracy as much as I could, no small task given the circumstances. We''d managed a decapitating blow, or damn near close enough to one, against the ASIC in Leanbox, cutting their production. So they were trying to compensate for the lack of goods by bringing them in from other countries.


    There was always going to be a demand for such goods, no matter how much I liked it, but I could cut both pirated games, and those transporting them, at the border. I wasn''t able to catch everything or everyone, but the outright flood had been slowed considerably.


    I''d love nothing more than to help the other nations, but things were complicated. Black Sister didn''t return my calls in the slightest, but then again, she seemed to be actively trying to handle the situation herself. Part of the problem was that Lastation''s businesses were generally fairly corrupt. Black Heart had been able to keep things in line, but without her, they were falling back into old habits, and that included several siding with the ASIC, even if they didn''t do so publicly.


    While I knew Leanbox''s businesses weren''t exactly squeaky clean, either, and a few where working with the ASIC from the shadows, there were enough that were reasonably loyal to their profits that they were at least willing to not sign up with the ASIC. Some seek opportunities to demolish and consume their rivals, to actual genuine loyalty of sorts. The ASIC hurt a lot of companies and their bottom line, so why not back the least harmful option?


    I was planning ways to clean the house myself and maneuver things in such a way that it''d be an easy win in the court of public opinion. Better yet, make it so I wouldn''t need to fire a single shot.


    The White Sisters, and yes, they were apparently twins, weren''t having as much luck, but once again, weren''t returning any attempt at contacting them either.


    It hadn''t been until I got in touch with Planeptune''s Oracle, Histoire, that I actually got any insight into this behavior.


    x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x


    "It''s not that I don''t think your intentions aren''t benign or, at the very least, mutually beneficial. It''s just that in the current situation, the Candidates feel like they have to solve these problems themselves, to prove themselves to their people. A failure to do so, and having to lean on others, might cost them shares. Especially since they suspect the one offering them a hand might be seeking them out as a means to bolster their shares," I watched the small, fairy-like girl as she sat on a book. What looked like a book, anyway. That alone was enough to throw me for a bit of a loop.


    It would have been nice to have that piece of information beforehand. But I had not, thus, I had to make the most of all I got. Not that Histoire was trying to take advantage of that surprise. She was just being, helpful. No strings attached. Which was, nice.


    "But that''s, counterproductive," I could see the angle. Everyone was losing shares. Even I was. Shares were a Goddess''s power. So if we were losing shares, then we were losing power. That power would typically be going towards other nations, but now the ASIC was at the table, and it was getting its slice of the pie. And it wanted more and more. Shares were a finite resource. There was only so much of it to go around. That was a double edge sword, as while nations competed against one another, shares were in a healthy state of flux. The ASIC changed how things worked, as it was a ravenous eater.


    With shares dropping, there were two ways to get more. To bolster one''s strength. Fight the ASIC for them, which was what I was doing. Not exactly the most straightforward, as they weren''t exactly just a punchable problem. That combined with my lower level made that something I was going to have to address, no matter how much I would prefer not to.


    The second way was to take them from another Goddess or Candidate. I wasn''t exactly sure how difficult this might be, but I didn''t think it was a good idea. Yes, adding to one''s strength was something I could see the appeal of, don''t get me wrong, but was it the smart thing?


    I''d played more than a fair share of grand strategy games. While map painting could be quite fun and entertaining, going it by yourself wasn''t always the smartest idea. It was usually better to have allies at your side that you could rely upon. So you could spend your strength against actual threats instead of petty squabbles. Frankly, a unified front would have served us better long term.


    "I do not disagree with such an assessment," Histoire said. "I don''t think you''re trying to take any of Planeptune, or any other nation''s shares, for that matter. If simply due to your sense of pragmatism. However, that may very well be a consequence of your actions, even if it is not your intention. Plus, for the other Candidates, it is also a matter of pride. If your nation was doing worse compared to another, how would you feel that another had to solve your problems for you?"


    I scowled at her point. I wanted to refute her, saying that I''d be able to swallow my pride and ask for help if it was needed. But would I really? Or would I take the offer of help as an insult and stubbornly double down? I had no problem asking for help if I thought it was needed, but that was internal. Kept inside Leanbox itself, using the advice I had available to me.


    But an external one? As far as I was concerned, the well-being of Leanbox''s people should come first and foremost. But there was a difference between saying that from my present position, and doing so. Especially as Histoire had a good point. Even if it wasn''t my intention, it could still happen anyway. Leaks did happen, and while I had no problem letting the Candidate in question take the credit, the truth could be revealed, either just by accident or by the ASIC. And nobody wanted to be losing shares right now.


    "I would hope. But I can understand at least part of the reason," I didn''t like it, but I did understand it. They couldn''t afford to lose shares to anyone, ASIC, or even other Candidates. So they would naturally try to keep ahold of what they had, over anything else.


    "I do thank you for that," Histoire nodded. "I know more about your present state thanks to Chika."


    I couldn''t stop myself from wincing at the mention of her name.


    "I take it Chika has not been taking things well?" Histoire picked up on my reaction instantly, a slight frown of worry on her face.


    "That would be an understatement," my frown matching hers. Chika had taken Vert''s capture about as well as a drunk skunk flying a passenger aircraft. In short?


    Not great.


    I''d tried to help, I really did, but I was reaching my wits end on the matter. I tried to get her to talk, made sure she was eating alright and made sure her room didn''t become an unhealthy mess. More unhealthy than Chika''s mental health already was.


    But Chika didn''t want help. She wanted Vert back. And at the moment it was sadly the one thing I wouldn''t be able to get her.


    "She''s still pretty much locked up in her room," I admitted. "And I''m trying to help, but at this point, I don''t know what to do."


    One could almost consider the position of Oracle as a much more powerful secretary, in a way. They helped with several important duties, helped keep things running smoothly, and ultimately acted as a plan C when it came to leadership.


    And Chika was very good at her job, despite, or maybe in spite of, her eccentricities. Chika had done a lot of the Heavy lifting that was now being done by me.


    Yes, me. There weren''t a whole lot of options. Cave was already overworked, and even if she could fill in the postion. She could leave her old job to take the position, but she''d have to be quite good at her current job. Losing that experience and skill to a desk job would be a disaster of its own.


    I could temporarily fill the position if I asked someone to. But everyone else was just as busy as I was. No, most of the bureaucrats were also working overtime. And frankly, nobody knew more about the position than Chika did. She was, by all rights, the expert. Right now? Such experts were desperately needed. But until she was healthy enough to take on such a workload, I had to carry on in her place.


    But the work was adding up. All of it was, and there were only so many hours in the day, and I wasn''t willing to cut any more sleep out of my schedule. Having a good night''s rest allowed me to do more work, and prevented me from developing a coffee addiction which wouldn''t help matters.


    I needed to delegate, to clear a bit more time for other things. But to do that effectively, I needed Chika, and well, as much as I tried, there weren''t enough hours in the day. I tried to help, but there wasn''t a whole lot in which I could do. Between the literal mountains of paperwork, press meetings, planning operations of various sorts, to meeting with business leaders. I was, swamped, practically drowning in work.


    Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.


    I needed Chika''s help, but Chika shouldn''t be helping me until she was well enough to help me.


    I just didn''t know how to make her feel better. Well, there was one way. It was just, impossible, right now. Returning Vert was simply beyond my abilities. It was a recipe for getting captured myself, and that wouldn''t do Leanbox or Chika any good.


    "I''m sorry to hear that," Histoire spoke mournfully. "I knew she wouldn''t take Vert''s capture well, even more so than the other Oracles with their respective Goddesses, but I did not expect her to be this despondent."


    She paused for a moment, seemingly conflicted.


    "I think I might have a way to help," Histoire said. "Though I must request that you keep this between yourself and Chika. I''m not sure how likely it is to work, and it will take a few years to implement regardless."


    I raised my eyebrow. That was, promising. Histoire had some type of plan in the works? One that could break Chika out of her funk? What exactly? No, that was a dumb question. What else could it be?


    "You''re working on a way to free the Goddesses?" I asked it anyway, but it was the most logical solution. A freed Vert would be the only way to cheer Chika up. The problem is, Histoire said this would take a few years. Why? Did it take some type of item? Or was she building up a charge for something?


    "That is correct. I can''t go into details, on the off chance that communications aren''t as secure as we think they are, and on the off chance it doesn''t work, I wouldn''t want to get your hopes up," Histoire brought up a few fairly valid points for her secrecy, even if I didn''t like it.


    "I don''t exactly disagree. But I think having more information would if nothing else, make it easier to talk with Chika," I said. I didn''t want to push matters. But on the other hand, how much choice did I have? "Otherwise, she might take what I''m saying as nothing more than vague promises she doesn''t have to listen to."


    Satisfying my curiosity about what Histoire had up her sleeve was, admittedly, a solid side benefit. It wouldn''t exactly surprise me if Histoire was the only Oracle that could pull something like whatever she was planning off, either. Unless that was what Chika was working on in her room. But I doubt it.


    "Very well. Though I request that what information I am about to give you stays between yourself and Chika," a simple request, and it was one I had no problem following. A move that would free Vert and the others is worth keeping concealed until the moment it was sprung.


    "My lips are sealed," I nodded in agreement, making a gesture of a zipper along my mouth.


    "I''m currently working on making a Sharicite crystal. This process will take time, however. Once it is complete, I will send two trusted agents into the Gamindustri Graveyard. With the Sharicite crystal, they should be able to awaken all four Goddesses, and Purple Sister, before making their escape so we can plan our next move from there," Histoire spoke, giving me far more detail than I expected.


    The plan seemed fairly sound. Sneak in, awaken, and free everyone, then get the hell out of Dodge before anyone knows you''re there. Of course, plans tended to only last a few seconds of contact with the enemy before they exploded. I''d been lucky thus far to have so little go wrong with mine.


    "I''m guessing this process requires shares?" That seemed like a question with an obvious answer, but it would be best to double-check.


    "Indeed it does," Histoire confirmed, nodding her head. A crease grew on my face. That made sense. That wasn''t what I was frowning about. Why exactly was the nation that was the worst off creating such a thing? I had far more shares to spare on such a project. I''d lost about six to seven percent of my shares thus far, and the bleeding had stopped by now. Planeptune, meanwhile, had lost close to twelve percent and was still crawling lower.


    "Are you sure? Planeptune needs as many shares as possible right now," I said, voicing my concern. This didn''t sound like a good idea.


    "Frankly, it doesn''t. Not as much as you think. Planeptune doesn''t have a Goddess,or a Candidate to empower at the moment. There is very little else we can use share power for at the moment. It isn''t worth the risks of leaving a Candidate temporarily depowered. Not at the moment," Histoire''s words sunk in. Depowered? It took that much share energy to make one of these crystals?


    "I see. Regardless, please let me know if you need any amount of assistance in the future. I''ll do everything in my power to help you if it is needed," I offered.


    "I will try to keep in touch, as well," Histoire responded in kind. "I wish you the best of luck with Chika. Hopefully, she takes the news of the plan well."


    The program closed, leaving me staring at a blank screen. I hope I had good luck too.


    x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x


    It had taken more time than I''d care to admit before I could finally have a free hour. And it took a lot of work to even get to that point, too. Delegation was a skill I needed to learn a bit more about. Old habits from college weren''t exactly easy to break.


    But if there was a time, it was now. I felt my power well up inside me before I pushed it back down. I''d, been using that power to cheat enough in such matters. I didn''t need to become reliant on Green Sister and the confidence the form gave me to solve all of my issues. This was something I needed to do as myself.


    I knocked softly at the door, opening it, when I heard a soft confirmation from Chika.


    The room was dark, and a mess. Despite my best efforts to at least keep it somewhat clean for Chika, various food wrappers and soft drink cans littered the room. It wasn''t healthy for her to live like this, but at least it hadn''t gotten to the point where insects were being attracted. That would probably be the moment I''d be forced to put my foot down on the matter. Hopefully, it wouldn''t come to that.


    I, was never the best at this sort of thing. I''d tried talking with her before, but Chika didn''t listen to what I had to say. I tried to be there for her, when she was good and ready. But at this point, would taking the bandage off be the better option?


    I sat down next to her, where she was still curled up on the bed.


    "I talked with Histoire today," I lead with, a somewhat neutral topic. All I got was a grunt, clearly uninterested in such matters. "She has a plan to get Vert back."


    That got a reaction. Chika bolted upright, nearly rocketing out of her bed.


    "She wants to make a Sharicite crystal, and sneak it into the graveyard," I continued.


    "A, Sharicite cyrstal? Chika''s voice was faint, as if I were speaking to a ghost. "That would take too long." I resisted the urge to scowl. Vert was tough. I knew she was. She could last the few years it would take for Histoire''s plan to bear fruit.


    We just needed to hold out that long here.


    "Chika, Vert''s strong. Histoire''s plan will work. We just need to hold out until then," I said, but I could already tell I was losing her interest. "I need your help to hold out that long."


    Chika let out a soft gasp.


    "But, you''ve been doing fine. Cave says you''re doing a good job," so Cave has been by to talk with her. That''s good, at the very least. It was good for Chika to have someone else to talk too.


    "I think I''m doing, okay," I admitted, and that kind of scared me. I didn''t have any leadership experience in the real world. Not like this. I was flying by the seat of my pants, more or less, and a lot of my plans were mostly combinations of advice and stuff from world history. "But I think I could be doing better, too. I''m getting overworked. There is too much to do, and not enough hours in the day to do it in. I''m overstretching myself, and its only going to get worse as time goes on."


    "Then just replace me. A fat lot of good I was able to do," I pulled Chika into a hug before she could say anything else.


    "Chika, you are the person with the most experience with the job. You know more about being an Oracle than anyone in Leanbox. You are in every sense of the term, irreplaceable," I said. That was scarcely the only reason. Replacing an Oracle during a time of crisis wouldn''t be a good look, either, nor would having someone completely lacking experience in the position be good during a time of crisis.


    Chika was the only option on the table. And I needed her. I needed her to know that.


    "Chika, I don''t think I can do this without your help," I said, holding her tightly. "We need to hold Leanbox together. So Vert has a nation to come back to."


    Chika''s body quaked, as she began to sob in my arms. I clung to her tightly, as hard as I could, until her crying slowly began to stop.


    "Okay. I, can do that," Chika''s words were still soft, but they felt like they had strength behind them, for the first time in a long time. I squeezed her even harder, a weight lifting off my shoulders. A burden was still there, but it was, less, than what it had once been.


    We could do this.

 Chapter 11

    *Three years later*


    "What do you mean, he isn''t moving?" I growled out, keeping my eyes on the horizon, frustration building. Not at the people at the other end of the call, no. They had nothing to do with that. Instead, it was at the person who had decided now, of all times, to deviate from his schedule. The giant axe-wielding lunatic attacked Leanbox like clockwork or tried to, anyway. After the first time, I tended to do everything in my power to intercept him before he got into Leanbox''s airspace.


    Sadly, despite his slavish devotion to attacking on a schedule, there was hardly any real way to exploit it. Managing to hit him hard enough to get him to retreat typically took a whole lot out of me, and chasing him back into the graveyard even without that fact was foolish. Not until now, anyway.


    The plan was simple. Wait for Judge to leave as he usually did, put on a little song and dance, smoke and mirrors, give enough time for Histiore''s agents to get the sharecite to the Goddesses, wake them up, then evac. I''d drop the biggest rock I could find on Judge''s head, have him come home to the fact his prisoners were no longer prisoners, and I get to go home and take a long nap. Ideally after a significant amount of hugs.


    But the one time I wanted Judge to do something was the one time he chose not to. The bugger tried to kick down my front door at least once a month, forcing me to do my best impersonation of a surface-to-air missile launch system to slap the flying chunk of metal out of the sky. Either something suspicious was going on, or he was for some reason on very different marching orders. Had there been a leak of some sort? That was unlikely. Chika and I were the only people in Leanbox who knew of this plan, while the only ones in Planeptune were Histoire and the assigned agents, who were supposedly close friends of Purple Heart herself.


    "That''s what I said. He''s still here, and he doesn''t seem to be intent on going anywhere anytime soon," one of the voices spoke softly as if to keep her voice hidden. "Is there anything you can do from here to get him to move? To provoke him, or something?"


    I scowled. I wasn''t exactly going to show up in the graveyard myself. I''d rather not challenge Judge when he had the home-turf advantage, after all. As much as that stunk, I knew I wouldn''t be able to match him, especially if I ended up provoking other things lurking in the graveyard. But Judge was able to match me while I was in Leanbox. Two regular people, even high-level people, would never be able to activate the crystal in enough time.


    "How close is he to Vert and the others?" I asked, pulling back on my bow. It would be a long shot, but I had the strength for it. I just needed a target. I needed to know exactly where Judge was, so if I didn''t hit him, it would be close enough to get his attention.


    And not catch anything or anyone else in the blast range.


    Poking the bear from this range probably wasn''t the best idea, but unless we had anything else, there wasn''t a whole lot I could do to get his rear in gear, and there was no way we were restarting the whole operation, given how much planning it took to even get those agents into the Graveyard in the first place.


    Yeah, it wasn''t according to plan. But what was the saying? No plan lasts more than five seconds of contact with the enemy? Unfortunately, it seems as if that time was now upon us.


    I grinned as I received the rough coordinates, fire wrapping around my arrow. Sure, it wasn''t going to be my little ace in the hole, no need to start off with something like that, but I was certainly going to do a fair bit more than just tweak his cheek. The name of the skill was technically Heavy Flaming Explosive Snipe, but I had something else I liked to call it.


    Caladbolg. That''s what it basically was, after all. I released the arrow, the shockwaves echoing through the air as the arrow took off like an intercontinental ballistic missile.


    "Parry that, you filthy-!"


    x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x


    "What is she saying?" Compa whispers, looking towards IF.


    "Something about parrying this," IF whispered back, but keeping her eyes on their current obstacle, CFW Judge. Green Sister was weird, but at the same time, she was more than willing to offer help to such a risky mission. She hadn''t gone to Leanbox ever since the crisis, so what she had heard was largely secondhand. The picture painted by her contacts was a confusing mess. If for no other reason that everything she heard was often times contradicted by another piece of information from a completely different source.


    Suddenly, Judge looked up, IF did her best to follow his gaze. Had he noticed something she hadn''t? There was a flash of green, then Judge vanished in a fiery explosion. IF''s eyes widened. That had to have been one of Green Sister''s attacks! There was nothing else it could have been! A single attack? That had, no, that wouldn''t be enough. It looked like it was enough, and it might have been enough. If that was enough to destroy Judge, then Green Sister would have tried to liberate the Goddesses themselves a long time ago, even just her sister alone.


    As if to prove her fears, booming laughter came from the cloud of smoke kicked up by the strike. Dust and smoke began to dissipate, Judge not even looking slightly worse for wear.


    "Finally! You finally developed the courage to strike at me here!" Judge howled, launching himself up into the sky.


    "That was our signal?" Compa asked as IF nodded. There wasn''t anything else it could be.


    x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x


    "I''m guessing the operation was a success?" Chika beamed at me.


    "Better than we feared, worse than we hoped," I groaned out. Even leaving my HDD state did nothing for my soreness. Tangling with Judge was never fun, even on a good day. And me lobbing a shot into the graveyard made the bloodthirsty brute even more crazy than usual.


    "I heard the explosion," was the understatement of the century. Leanbox heard the explosion, and I was a bit ashamed that the population knew it was coming on the 15th of every month.


    As tough as Judge was, it was enough to get him to back off. Which I wasn''t going to complain about.


    "I''m sure a decent part of Lastation heard it," I said, crossing my arms. Was that why Black Sister still hadn''t returned any of my calls?


    I wanted a bath, something nice and warm to soothe my muscles. There wouldn''t be one until later tonight, sadly, as even after all that, there was still paperwork to be done.


    I figured that defeating crime would prove to be an administrative process, rather than one that involved punching people in the face, but I couldn''t get in on the few times face-punching became necessary. Cave had that form of stress relief dialed in, unless things got really, really bad.This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    And it was my job to prevent things from getting that bad in the first place. Which required a lot of paperwork. If it wasn''t for the fact I no longer aged, which was a blursed concept even on a good day, my carpal tunnel would have carpal tunnel. Yes, the amount of paperwork I had to fill out was that bad. It would be a miracle if I got out of this without being buried in papers at least once.


    "I''m guessing things didn''t entirely go according to plan?" Chika gave me a nervous look.


    "No. Out of all the times we needed Judge to be predictable was the one time he didn''t, while there was a secondary complication with the away team," I pushed myself up, grabbing a map from the desk, alongside a few figures. Three white, alongside two of black, green, and purple. The larger figures I place at the graveyard, as Chika winced.


    However, I moved the figure representing Purple Sister to Planeptune. Sadly, they had only been able to free one of the prisoners. But, that had its symbolism. Even if we didn''t save all of them, the fact that Planeptune had a place on the board was, promising. A win was a win, and the nations did have more strength united than we did individually. Shame most of my peers didn''t seem convinced, but maybe Purple Sister would have success.


    The four nations, working together, had faced great threats in the past, and had won. I had no doubts that they could do so again. But with Purple Sister in play, there was a balance, in a sense. The ASIC had been undercut as well, as a raid, even if partially successful, had shown that with proper planning and coordination, they could be beaten.


    "So, only Purple Sister was freed. That''s disappointing," while I didn''t wholly agree with Chika''s sentiment, given our hopes, it seemed like a paltry victory at best. Part of the reason the mission was known to Chika, Histoire, her two agents, and myself. While a flawless success would be a massive victory, there is no doubt the ASIC would have heard of such plans if we announced something like that, and it would make even a minor victory seem like a crushing defeat.


    "It disrupts the ASIC''s plans, and could help Planeptune get back on its feet, which should cost the ASIC some of its shares," I said, scratching my chin. "And I have no doubt Histoire has plan b''s and plan c''s waiting in the wings."


    x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x


    And the next few weeks hadn''t proved me wrong. Histoire did have a backup plan, and Purple Sister had already done a lot of disruption, mostly by not taking no for an answer. After I''d managed to get Leanbox secure, I''d mostly been forced to sit back and be defensive. Between making sure the economy didn''t collapse, deals with industry that made Leanbox only nation where most businesses could still make a profit, and keeping a good standard of living by aggressively reforming criminal elements as well as undercutting conditions for crime to spread, the ASIC was forced into more and more drastic actions that continued to put the Public Relationship ball right in my court.


    But I hoped that the other Candidates would come to me once I extended the offer, something that they never did. It grated my gears, but at the same time, I didn''t want to step on their toes. Purple Sister was willing to, however, but in a surprisingly good way.


    Of course, Histoire informed me of the next stage of the plan in advance. The Mascot Characters. I''d never heard of them before, but with a world like this, they were hardly outrageous. Histoire believed that they could be used to restore the Goddess''s power, or in our case, empower us. Each nation had one, and only one, and they were old as well.


    Chika had not exactly been forthcoming with the information of where the one in Leanbox was located, other than a vague description of "it''s too dangerous there, even for you". Which, while obscure, is not exactly a particularly long list of areas. I was pulling a reasonably decent level by this point, so there weren''t a whole lot of places left in Leanbox that could be considered ''dangerous'' to me anymore.


    The plan was to see if I could find the location, work with Purple Sister and whoever else it was that showed up and grab the mascot with the power of teamwork. Because if it was really beyond me, then combining our efforts would certainly pay off.


    Of course, like everything I''ve found over the past several years, it was easier said, than done. I already had plenty of respect for what most people considered paper-pushing bureaucrats. Without plenty of people helping move said paper around, I would have ended up swamped long ago. Chika helped too, in an overall manager role, but that still left me with precious little free time.


    Free time that was now mostly being spent on this project, to not a whole lot of results. I needed sleep too, and I managed to resist the siren song of caffeine thus far. No reason to give up now. Numerous maps, old tomes full of myths, and even just pictures and snippets of anything that looked abnormal, so I could pin down a location for the mascot.


    That project was starting to look like one of those conspiracy boards, the ones with all the thumbtacks and the strings. Unfortunately, it was the only way I could organize my thoughts on the matter. It also meant whenever I looked up from other paperwork, I was met with my mad writing and chicken scratchings. I might have to ask others for help with the project, given the circumstances. But Chika was the one who likely had the most information. And the big book of Leanbox myths I had wasn''t proving any use, either.


    Maybe it was a more local tale, rather than some sort of grand, nation-scale epic? I wouldn''t want such important history to become so lost. However, there was security to be found in obscurity, as much as it made my job harder. And if it was making my job harder, then the ASIC was likely also not having a good time of it. What holdouts remained, anyway.


    Though there was reported suspicious activity near the border, and not one of the usual border runs, either. No games, no pirated disks, and no lost or left supplies. A single-person infiltration. Who were they, and under whose orders? There had also been a few pings of a particular wanted individual within the city itself. Which was odd, to say the least. She went to ground about a good two years ago, if I remember correctly.


    Could she be the one that returned? If she was, then I almost felt bad for her. Almost. She joined the ASIC of her own volition, and I tried to offer her a way out. She ultimately chose to double down. I''d been nothing but honest and forthcoming with her from the moment we met. I told her I was planning on messing things up, after all. I never mentioned who it was or what I was planning on messing up.


    That was provided it was her, after all. There had been false positives, and my agents in the ASIC camp had not mentioned anything. Then again, it wasn''t like she was high enough rank to be worth mentioning in the first place.


    Of course, it wasn''t like she had forgotten me one bit. My existence as Green Sister, or at least, my human guise, was still not public knowledge. And I preferred it that way. It gave me the ability to operate on my own if I felt the situation deserved it. But she? She very much remembered my face, and drew enough dots, as if my cover job didn''t make that clear to any member of the ASIC after that.


    Sure, it could cause problems, it wasn''t like I was that hard to track if you were a person who knew the secret, and Chika had her methods, but there were sometimes I just, preferred to see things firsthand. Get a feel for what exactly was going on by interacting with Leanbox''s citizens myself. Even if they didn''t know I was the one in charge. It felt good doing that.


    Letting out a sigh, I moved the signed paperwork from one pile to another. I wasn''t sure what went wrong, but there was a shift. A tweak. One that set off an almost comical rumbling sound.


    "Don''t you dare!" I said, but it was too late, the stack of papers washing over me like a tidal wave, covering me in a massive pile of documents.


    Maybe it was time for me to take a brief break. Surely, there had to be something going on to serve as a brief distraction.


    x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x


    And there wasn''t, at least, nothing that I could tell. The streets were clean, and the city was as bustling, with nearly as many people out and about as there were during my first time visiting. I hadn''t done a perfect job, but at the same time, I''d kept crime to a minimum and tried my best to give everyone a good standard of living.


    Still, I was thankful that poster was going down. I understood the need for propaganda, but that one in particular never made me feel, comfortable. There were plenty of ways to convey strength, actual strength, then just beating like an authoritarian. Maybe it was just how Gamindustri in general was.


    Getting out like this helped clear my head, but it was time to start heading back. Paperwork wasn''t going to fill itself out. I wish that were true, and there was probably a way to make it so, but I wanted to at least try and double-check to make sure everything that made it up to me was in order. That was part of my responsibility, after all.


    I turned around, preparing to go back to the Basilicom, only for my eyes to widen in surprise.


    "Nepgear?"


    "Hinum?"

 Chapter 12

    The hug was brief, but it left a little nagging thought at the back of my head. She didn''t look like she had aged a day. Neither had I, though that made sense. Being ageless and functionally immortal was a benefit, after all.


    Kind of hurt any dating prospects though. I shook off the thoughts, smiling.


    "It''s good to see you again!" I said. And a pleasant surprise to boot. I didn''t think I''d see a familiar face from Planeptune.


    "It''s good to see you in person too," Nepgear grinned ear to ear, though she started to shrink backward. "Sorry, I haven''t been able to make any progress on that thing you wanted."


    "That''s hardly a problem. You''ve had bigger fish to fry, I suspect," while the news was a bit annoying, it was also very understandable. Frankly, I didn''t have a whole lot of interest in the device at the moment, outside of it being a civilian escape route encase things were well and truly FUBAR''d.


    "Thank you for being understanding," Nepgear stammered. I took the brief lull in the conversation to look at her other companions. 5pb I had missed on my first glance. I swear, she had a split personality. Get her up on stage, and she was one of the best idols in the country. Off stage, and she somehow was able to pull off Clark Kenting without changing a single piece of clothing.


    Or a lot of people just chose to go along with it. I liked my version more. She was a good person, and her company was pleasant. I didn''t know she had friends outside of Leanbox.


    Then came the children, in nearly matching outfits. One baby blue, the other pink. Boy and girl? Of course, the one in pink and longer hair stood between me and her sibling, who was shyer. Then there was a girl about Nepgear''s age, maybe a year or so younger, wearing mostly black with her hair done up in twin tails. She seemed a bit annoyed, tapping her foot impatiently.


    Rounding out the group were two other women. One wore a long blue jacket that went all the way down her arms, with brown hair. She gave off an almost tomboy vibe, contrasting with the other, who wore a red skirt, and for some reason, a sweater. A sweater that for some reason, had sleeves that didn''t fully attach to the rest of the sweater.


    A perplexing fashion choice, but I never understood things like that.


    "Nepgear, how exactly do you know this person?" The black-haired girl crossed her arms. Was she trying to? I don''t think so, but if she is, that is honestly adorable.


    "Vert needed help trying to get Hinum back home," Nepgear stammered as I nodded.


    "It''s a bit of a complicated situation at the moment, that can be resolved once the current crisis has passed," I said. I''d rather not have the announcement of being from another world out in public.


    "But it''s nice to meet your friends," I tried cautiously. They were friends, right? You didn''t travel together unless you all had a shared goal or friends, right?


    Further question, what was Nepgear even doing here? Why was she with five other people? The oldest two didn''t take offense to my statement, while the other three looked odd. I couldn''t understand their expressions.


    "If there is anything I can do for you all, please let me know," I kept my gaze on them. "I may be busy, but I won''t forget basic hospitality."


    "They did run into someone," 5pb spoke softly, having gotten closer to me. "Someone on one of the wanted posters."


    She then whispered something in my ear as they were talking.


    "They also want to meet the CPU Candidate," her words were covered by the talking. But I heard them. And it almost sent a chill up my spine. It was a brief twinge of paranoia, but outside of my Goddess form, it had served me reasonably well.


    How much did they know? Did that mean?


    No, best to find out later. In private.


    "I''m going to have to prepare for my concert tonight!" 5pb smiled, waving her hand.


    "I''ll try to stop by if I can!" I waved back. What? She was a talented singer. It was the least I could do to support her.


    "Sorry, I was a bit distracted. You ran into one of the unsavory types, yes? Is there anything I can do to help?" I offered. In part because I needed something to release my stress.


    "Yeah, it was this rat thing. Calls itself Warechu. We''ve run into him a few times before," the tomboyish girl said as if it were no big deal. "We were able to send him packing with 5pb''s help."


    "Warechu?" That slippery rat? He wasn''t exactly the highest threat among ASIC''s agents, but the bugger was nearly impossible to keep captured. "I''ve heard of him. He''s not exactly high up on the ASIC wanted list, but the fact he''s here means there''s trouble. Thank you for letting me know."


    "Uh, I do have a favor to ask of you," Nepgear said, stammering slightly. "Would you be able to take us to see Green Sister, please? It''s really important."


    Externally, I kept a fairly neutral expression. Internally, I was screaming "finally" at the top of my internal lungs.


    "She''s pretty busy," I said simply. "If what I heard last time I was near her office was correct, she was being buried under a pile of paperwork, quite literally."


    "What?" the black-haired girl summarized my thoughts nicely on what I had experienced.


    "So frankly, I think she would be delighted to meet you all," I grinned. "What are your names? Outside of Nepgear, I''ve never met any of you before."


    "I''m Compa," the girl in the sweater beamed, waving her hand back and forth.


    "IF," came from the tomboy. Now that I thought about it, her voice seemed vaguely familiar, though I couldn''t place where I had heard it before.


    "I''m Ram!" the energetic girl in pink partially shouted. "And this is my sister, Rom!"


    The girl in blue continued to hide behind her sister. I sent the pair a welcoming smile their way. I didn''t get to deal with kids all that often. It was nice when they weren''t being hellions.


    "Uni," the girl with black twin tails said. "It''s nice to meet you, I guess."


    ''I guess'', I forced down the urge to make my eyebrows twitch. So she was one of those people? I''ve never met a real live Tsundere before. So today was going to be a learning experience as well.


    x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x


    The look on Chika''s face, as I rushed half a dozen people through the door and onto the elevator, was something I would cherish forever. Oh, I was certainly going to get an earful for it down the line, but in that moment, it was worth it. I wish I had a camera, for posterity, of course. Though I doubted that would be the only expression I would want to save for future generations to see.


    "And we''re here," I announce, as everyone else filed in behind me, filling out the spacious office. Though with six additional people, it was a little bit less spacious.


    "But there''s nobody here," Uni said, giving me a pointed look. "You said the Candidate was here!"


    I bit my tongue, letting the snide comment die in my throat. There was no time for stuff like that. If I wanted to mess with her, something that seemed painfully easy to do, I''d have to do so later. This was not the time to set bridges on fire. Not when I was so close!


    "I would like to humbly apologize for the deception on my end," I resisted the urge to cross my arms. "Green Sister, at your service."


    I winced as all of them shouted in surprise, hurting my eardrums. What? Was it really that strange?


    "But, Hinum, aren''t you from another world?" Nepgear looked at me in utter bewilderment, there was just enough time for me to cover my ears.


    "WHAT!" Five people shouted in unison, as I let out a hiss of pain. My ears were not built for this type of abuse.


    "Please, no more shouting," I groaned out, removing my hands from my ears. "And as for how that works, I don''t know. It was a complete surprise for us back then."


    "But, alternate dimensions, how would that result in a," Uni said, looking as if she was about to clutch her head in pain.


    "Look, can we just, drop the whole, I''m from another universe thing already? Given our current situation, it''s not particularly relevant right now," I rubbed my temple. I didn''t fault Nepgear for this. I should have expected that to come up the moment I told her that I was Green Sister. Even if not her, it was likely going to come up at some point.


    Sure, only Chika, Vert, and I knew that secret, but it wasn''t going to be a secret. The cat was going to have to come out of the bag at some point. Just didn''t like it being now, even if it was just expanding the circle.


    Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    Because I knew how secrets worked. The more people that knew, the more likely it was to not be a secret. Making the ideal size somewhere between zero and one.


    "But how is it not? How do you know anything about what''s going on? And even if you were, what or why do you remember?" I kept my eyes on the speaker.


    "Uni, are you okay?" Nepgear looked at her, friend? Travel companion? Fellow diplomat?


    "I''m fine!" She huffed, brushing off Nepgear''s concern. "But you, it doesn''t make any sense! Is that what allowed you to cheat this whole time?"


    "Cheat?" I could feel myself bristle, despite myself. That was one hell of an accusation. Cheat how, exactly? Why? Uni was taking this rather personally. Almost as if she was mad at me. But for what? I''d never met her before in my life.


    Almost as if.


    "I think it would be very beneficial if we hash out many Candidates are in this room right now," I said, doing my best to keep an even keel. "Because Uni, you are taking this a bit too personally not to be one, and I''d rather have this squared away without a guessing game."


    Uni let out an indigent squawk of what could only be outrage, and if looks could kill, I''d have been shot.


    "We''re White Sister," Ram raised her and her sister''s hand, as Rom nodded shyly. Twins? Was that allowed?


    "I''m Purple Sister," Nepgear spoke next, looking down at her feet. Okay. That made some sense. It would explain why I hadn''t heard from her at all in years.


    I felt a heat rise in my face. Damnit, Vert, you went out and got in touch with a fellow Goddess over me, and then got her sister to work on a science project to get me home.


    I was going to need, like, cards, or thank you flowers or something. That, or several weeks of needed R&R. Because she would probably need that too when everything is said and done.


    Though I could sort most of that out later. The order of the day, as it always was, where the pressing matters. If Rom and Ram were White Sister, and Nepgear Purple Sister, that left Uni as Black Sister. Unless the universe was going to throw me a curveball, and Black Sister be Compa or something.


    "And what is it worth to you?" Yep, it was Uni. Part of me was already getting the urge to smack her upside the head. Because she was being a brat. Instead, I took a deep breath.


    "Cutting through the tripe so we can try to rescue our sisters would be a good place to start," I crossed my arms, as Uni''s mouth clicked shut. "Sorry if I''m sounding harsh, but frankly, I''m very much past the point of ready when it comes to moving onto that part of the plan."


    "You knew?" Rom gave me a confused look, as Nepgear appeared equally puzzled.


    "I mean, I hope that''s what you''re here for," I said carefully. "Rather than shares or other such nonsense."


    "How did you know that? Spys or something?" Uni huffed, clearly falling back into form.


    "By talking. I''ve been touching base with Histoire since very early on in this crisis to make sure there was a plan. And that plan is to get the four Goddesses out of captivity so we can finally stop the bleeding," I gave all of them but Nepgear a look. "Something you would have known about if you bothered to return my calls!"


    I took a deep breath, trying to keep my anger under control.


    "What bleeding! You''re doing just fine here! No need for any of our help!" Uni snapped back as Nepgear looked back and forth between us, as if unsure what to do. I, for my part, stood there, flabbergasted. She. Thought this?


    I started laughing. I couldn''t help myself. I just laughed and laughed and laughed. Because if I wasn''t laughing, I''d either be shouting, or crying.


    Uni didn''t expect that, based on the shocked expression on her face. She probably expected me to shout back, or cause a fight.


    "You. Think. This is fine?" I got out between breaths, trying to calm myself down. "This isn''t fine. This isn''t fine at all."


    "This? This is me managing to put a nice-looking bandage on the wound. But the wound is still bleeding. Leanbox is still bleeding out. Yes, it''s a lot slower now, hell, in some places, it looks like there might be a recovery, but there isn''t. Unless the hole is plugged properly, it''s going to keep bleeding out," I scowled. "I''m flying by the seat of my pants here, and I''m going to run out of bandages at some point. Just because my ship looks nicer, doesn''t mean it doesn''t have the same rot and decay eating away at its foundations."


    "But didn''t you say during your first interview in front of Leanbox that you would only send aid if it could be spared?" Uni tried to counter my words.


    "And what exactly did you say when asked the same question?" I pointed out. "That was part of the reason I was trying to make contact. To let you know the aid was there if you needed it."


    "Couldn''t you have just forced the issue? You are the strongest Candidate when it comes to shares, after all," it was IF that spoke from the back, and I looked at her as if she was insane.


    "Are you mad? What does that even solve? Kicking down someone''s front door just because they don''t want help isn''t going to fix anything! Hell, making them look weak in front of their nation does nothing to help me! It just helps the ASIC!" I snapped, fuming.


    "Wait. You never did anything with us, because you wanted us to come to you?" Rom gave me a puzzled look, as Uni stood there, flabbergasted.


    What were they thinking I was doing? Seriously? What did they think I was getting up to this whole time? Trying to take over their nations for more shares? Because infighting was not going to help. Unless.


    "Please don''t tell me you''ve had to fight this out," I groaned, nearly feeling physical pain.


    "We won''t," came a softer voice from behind Rom, as Nepgear looked rather sheepish herself. I swear if kicking people in the face was part of the solution.


    No, by this point, I was already screaming internally. Deep breath in, deep breath out. Deep breath in, deep breath out.


    "Hinum, are you okay?" Nepgear asked.


    "No!" I beamed, positively radiant.


    "But I should be fine until I can get to a safe enough location to vent my frustration. Such as the highest peak in the nation," I paused for a moment. "Or the moon."


    I just need to find out where the Mascot was, and we''d be good to go.


    Only for a loud knocking to come from my door, before the thing nearly came off its hinges.


    My first warning I was not getting good news was Cave being the one nearly breaking down the damn door. The second was that she looked worried.


    "Hinum, we have a problem," Cave said. "5pb is missing. I took some officers over to her house. It looks like it was ransacked."


    "I just saw her less than an hour ago," I said, as my brain tried to process the information given to me. That should be impossible.


    But the replicates! Crap! 5pb never used the trigger phrase with me! Shit! How could I forget something like that? I put that system in place for a reason, damnit! I''d completely forgotten about it in my nervousness. Shit!


    "Any idea which of their wilderness camps they could have taken her to?" I scowled. This was the exact type of shit we didn''t need right now. However, I wasn''t going to let her be used as a hostage any longer than I had to.


    "They seem to be gearing up for a fight at one of their larger ones," Cave said. "I suspect a trap of some kind."


    Unfortunately, I had to agree. The largest camp was too obvious a place to keep her, and very likely to be a baited trap ready to close.


    "Though one of our agents did report seeing someone that looked a lot like 5pb at one of their camps. That could be a good place to start, while I prepare to siege the larger one, on the off chance that she might be there after all," Cave spoke firmly, as I nodded.


    "I''ll provide support once I''m done, talking, with the impostor," my voice was as sharp as a knife.


    "But what about the Mascot? They have to be looking for that right now as well," Uni said.


    "The ASIC is having just as much luck as I am when it comes to finding that thing, and I''ve had no luck so far," I scowled, shooting her a look. "Who knows, maybe they have a few pieces of information that I don''t know that we can pilfer. Now are you coming or what? The ASIC isn''t going to kick their own ass, after all."

 Chapter 13

    "She''s nice," Nepear whispered as Uni gawked.


    "Nice? Nice? She''s scary is what she is," Uni whispered back. "I get it, you spent the last three years missing, but Green Sister is terrifying, and if Hinum is Green Sister."


    "Yeah, but she seems kind of, cool?" Ram whispered but grinned.


    "She''s like Blanc. Calm most of the time, until you make her angry," Rom whispered faintly. "And the ASIC has made her really angry."


    Angry was an understatement, Nepgear suspected. Hinum looked as if she were visibly fuming, almost letting off steam. Hinum hadn''t said much since they advanced on the ASIC field camp.


    "But I really don''t understand why you''re so afraid of her," Nepgear frowned, keeping her voice low. Uni continued to look at her, aghast.


    "Because a newborn CPU isn''t supposed to act like she does!" Uni''s voice was still quiet. "Yeah, she''s supposedly from another world or something, but do you think that Green Heart wouldn''t have announced her to the public the moment she existed? Instead, she just pops up one day, Green Heart gets captured while nobody sees anything from her up until a few days afterward as she''s supposed to address Leanbox, only for her to show up with an ASIC monster capture disk, announce to the entire world that they can bring monsters into any city they pleased, and then more or less told the ASIC that she was coming for them."


    "But, if she''s from another world, wouldn''t it makes sense that she wouldn''t be like us?" Nepgear''s question hung in the air, almost like a weight. That statement was a true one. "She had a life before this. One that she remembers. So of course she''s going to do things differently."


    "But how? Even if there were other worlds, and ways to move between them, how exactly would someone end up as a Candidate?" Uni''s voice was nearly a squeak, faint as a mouse''s footsteps. That was a question in and of itself. How did something like that happen?


    "Let me know when you find out. I''m curious about how that happened, too," Hinum''s voice cut through the silence like a foghorn from up ahead, nearly causing Uni to let out a shriek of surprise. "Apologies for eavesdropping, but we''re here."


    Nepgear looked out over the hill. They were close, as she could make out the camp nestled into a valley as Hinum raised binoculars to her face.


    "You know we''re still several miles away, right?" Uni crossed her arms.


    "There has never been anything wrong with a little bit of extra recon," Hinum said, though her voice sounded a bit distracted. "They''re ready for us, to an extent, but a lot of their bigger systems don''t seem to be armed."


    "And how exactly do you know that?" Hinum shook her head at Ram''s question, bending over slightly to put the binoculars on her face.


    "See that over there? They put up a lot of manned defenses, but at the moment, most of them don''t have people," Hinum said, scratching her chin with her free hand.


    "Are you thinking it''s a trap?" Nepgear found herself asking. Hinum slowly nodded.


    "Trap, counter-ambush, or have we caught them with their pants down, as it were," Hinum frowned. "Best case scenario, we do have them surprised. Worst case, they know we''re coming, and are acting in such a manner to get us to rush in."


    "That seems overly paranoid," Uni said, pulling out her pair of binoculars to gaze at the camp.


    "I prefer to hope for the best but prepare for the worst," Hinum spoke, keeping her eyes firm. "Besides, it''s not like the ASIC doesn''t play fair, either."


    That was very true. The ASIC didn''t play fair. Didn''t fight fair, either.


    "So I don''t exactly have a problem fighting just as unfair as they are," Hinum shrugged her shoulders. "I''m all for fair and friendly competition, but that is something the ASIC simply isn''t interested in."


    Nepear blinked, and she saw Uni do the same. She hadn''t expected anything like that. The first time she had met Hinum, the girl seemed like she was in a state, an abnormal mixture of angry and depressed. Meeting her again, Nepgear got the impression that she was stressed, tired, and reaching a point where she was exhausted. Possibly even beyond exhausted.


    But being out here seems to have relit a bit of a fire in her. Almost as if she needed to do something other than work on paperwork on a near-constant basis.


    "Guys?" Rom''s soft voice cut through the air, Ram helping her hold the binoculars to her head. "I found Underling."


    "Underling? There are quite a few Underlings under ASIC employ," Hinum sounded a bit confused.


    "They''re talking about our Underling," Uni scowled, pressing the binoculars back to her face. "And there she is. I''m not seeing 5pb, either."


    "I figured as much. Didn''t see her either. Told Cave that the princess was in a different castle," Hinum shook her head as if enjoying a joke only she understood. "Do you mind if I borrow that?"


    Rom slowly handed the binoculars back to Hinum, both girls somewhat slack-jawed.


    "So let''s see who your Underling is, shall we?" Hinum followed Uni''s gaze into the distance for a few moments, before she slapped her hand over her mouth, nearly doubling over.


    "Are you okay?" Nepgear asked somewhat panicked, before she realized Hinum wasn''t doubling over in pain. She was, laughing? Nepgear could scarcely believe what she was watching, as Hinum smothered what had to be howls of laughter with her hand.


    "I''m sorry, I''m sorry," Hinum rasped as she gained her composure. "It''s just, this has to be the smallest world possible. I mean, I knew the ASIC snuck someone over the border recently, but we never were certain as to who that someone was. I suspected it was her, but the fact you''ve run into her too?"


    Ran into her, too? Hinum knew her? That was odd. How had that happened? Hinum was used to fighting the ASIC. That was clear, but the odds of her knowing that one specific Underling? That wasn''t particularly high.


    "How is that even possible?" Uni asked as Hinum continued to snicker.


    "Because the universe can''t decide whether it hates my life or not," Hinum finally began to calm herself, even if she still had a slight grin on her face. "In all seriousness, this could be equally useful. She hates my guts."


    "I don''t there is anyone Underling, likes," Nepgear frowned. Hinum made Underling not liking her sound like it was a good thing.


    "True, she''s like, fifty percent spite by volume," Uni chimed in. "Not sure why you think that''s a good thing, either. Makes her a pain to deal with."


    "Because a person who''s angry is a person that is making mistakes," Hinum''s grin grew from mischievous to malicious. "I mean, she hates me. Announce my presence and she''ll be steaming in no time."


    "And how exactly do you intend to do that? Run into the center of camp and just shout out that you''re here?" Uni asked, crossing her arms.


    Hinum shook her head, a massive weapon flashing into existence. A bow, easily Hinum''s height, if not bigger, was now held in her hand, as she jammed one end, which was longer, into the ground.


    "Nah. I found that announcing one''s presence through stonks is more than effective," Hinum said as she drew back the massive bow. Nepgear blinked.


    "The what?" The four of them declared at the same time, as Hinum seemed to bask in the noise.


    "The reaction of people learning that is a word that has military applications is healing for my soul," Hinum hummed, before releasing the arrow. Nepgear heard a loud crack as the projectile shot into the distance until it faded from sight.


    "This should soften them up just a bit," Hinums voice was calm and focused. "Then we can move in and start making arrests."


    So this was why Uni thought Hinum was scary.


    x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x


    Everything was going well. 5pb was kidnapped and secured in their main compound. The trouble they''d been stirring up should leave the Candidate in an irate state, and the brats would ultimately take care of the rest, getting into a fight to help cover their tracks.


    Which was why Linda didn''t trust it. It was going too well. If there was one thing Linda learned, if it involved Green Sister and it looked like it was going just as planned?


    It wasn''t. Either Green Sister would flip over the table and start trying to beat them with it, or she was going to do something none of them considered, predicted, or prepared for. And Linda hated her for it. All the other brats were so predictable, but Green Sister? No, she couldn''t be just like the others.


    Maybe it was just because some weird thinker managed to get ahold of the Candidate''s ear, and things had just managed to work out so far. She''d buy that. Her agent, Hinum, was a very likely suspect.


    Linda''s teeth ground together. She wanted nothing more than to beat that woman with a crowbar! She came out of nowhere and then proceeded to ruin her life! It had been complete and utter chaos when Green Sister appeared on live TV and showed that thing for the entire nation to see. All four nations to see.


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    After the madness ended, it didn''t take too long to track things back to her. Hinum had played her for a complete idiot, and she was made the suffer the consequences!


    She was on the lookout for payback. But such proved illusive, as both Green Sister and Hinum were unpredictable. Green Sister was difficult to isolate. The only time she engaged solo was the rare time when Judge made his appearance, and they fought in a way that the rest of the ASIC couldn''t offered support. The best they could do was cause as much chaos as possible while Green Sister was recovering from the clash, but those always resulted in more and more arrests.


    Hinum herself would be easier, in theory, but she kept to either very public places, or kept her head down, making her hard to pinpoint. There were rumors that Hinum and 5pb were dating, but there was also no confirmation of whether or not such information was true or not. Though, if they were, then their kidnapping of her would just end up being another twist of the knife.


    Linda scowled. If it was, she hoped it hurt. And if it didn''t, it still didn''t stop this from being a trap. 5pb was elsewhere.


    Linda felt her ears twitch, a faint noise reaching her ears. One that grew louder and louder with each passing second.


    "Oh you!" She didn''t get a chance to finish, one of the turrets exploded. Followed by another defensive system being completely wiped out. Then another, and another. Linda raised the alarm, but it was already swiftly becoming much too late. A force field went up, but one final arrow slipped through, destroying the last defensive system, as three more connected with the shield, one after another.


    Linda looked at the arrows, finding a faint swirl of green energy around them.


    That wasn''t a good sign.


    x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x


    "Force field?" Uni looked out over the carnage. "Why didn''t they lead with that?"


    "Likely because they wanted to lure us in. Make it look like their defenses were down," Hinum stretched. "Clever, but at the same time, that does leave them exposed. Rushing in would have been a major mistake, it seems."


    Nepgear simply nodded. It wasn''t like Hinum was wrong, per say. But that wasn''t what was on Nepgears mind. Not really. Was nobody going to bring it up? Why Hinum suddenly transformed? Seemingly for no reason? Without even acknowledging it? She hadn''t seen anyone, transform back and forth that quickly before.


    "Are you okay?" She asked, hoping not to step on any eggshells.


    "By the standard measurement of okay, yeah. Why do you ask?" Hinum''s voice made her blink in surprise. Had Hinum not noticed? Or was that completely intentional? How was something like that intentional in the first place?


    "Well, you kind of did this thing where you briefly transformed, then went back. Figured it was intentional, to be honest," Uni commented.


    "So you did notice!" Nepgear said, giving Uni an accusatory glare.


    "I did?" Hinum gave them a confused look, as Rom and Ram nodded. A faint dusting of red appeared on her face, as she scowled slightly. "Damnit, that''s a sign that I''m more angry than I think I am. Thought I was over having to deal with it being erratic like that."


    "Wait, so that wasn''t intentional?" Uni had a bit of a smug look on her face, though Hinum gave her a look.


    "What makes you think that was intentional? Sure, hitting harder would be nice, but at that junction, pulling out the big stuff wasn''t exactly needed," Hinum crossed her arms over her chest.


    "So what you''re saying is you can''t control your transformations," Uni seemed to be enjoying this way too much, as Nepgear tried to wave her friend off.


    "If that''s what you want to call it. I don''t know what it''s like for you, but my HDD has always been closely tied to my emotions," Hinum gave Uni an abnormal look. "I mean, I wasn''t always a Candidate, after all. It''s not going to come as naturally for me as it does you."


    Did, Hinum just not care? No, that didn''t seem to be it.


    "Now come on. We''re burning daylight, and they already know we''re here. Even if 5pb isn''t here, dealing with the ASIC and its goons is still a good thing," Hinum said, squinting at the distance. "After that, I''ll help you find the Mascot. Hopefully, having multiple people should convenience Chika to cough up the information on that front."


    x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x


    The plan was by no means complicated. Rather, it was straightforward. Sure, my inner Tzech always loved it when a plan came together, but KISS was an acronym that existed for a reason. Plus, no real plan survived contact with the enemy. Best you could do was make sure the enemy plan was disrupted.


    Which meant having an angry opponent. Sure there were risks involved in pissing off your enemy, but an angry foe was not a foe that was thinking straight. And I was very good at stirring up the hornet''s nest. Linda had beef with me. That was never hard to figure out, as she made it abundantly clear just how much she hated my guts every time we ran into one another. She was very much someone motivated by spite and lots of it. Honestly, I could sympathize with her on that front. Spite was one of the things that kept me moving some days.


    But that also made her predictable, to an extent. Especially in a head-on confrontation such as this. Well, calling it a head-on confrontation was just a guess. I doubted it, though. Frankly, that was never really the ASIC''s thing. You only got those when you managed to pin down a cell, and even then, they had plenty of dirty tricks to buy time.


    This was a trap. It still was, frankly, even if we had already sprung it partially. There were more surprises up their sleeves. There simply had to be more than this.


    Which was where I came in. Bait was such an inelegant word for my part in things but at the same time? It was more than accurate to what I needed to do. Get Linda to bite at me, as it were, and spring the trap of our own. She had to expect something was up, when she saw my face. After all, in hindsight, it was pretty clear she wanted some type of fight between me and the other Candidates. It would be the best way to keep me from being informed of 5pb''s kidnapping, and probably weaken me, too. Weaken all of us.


    Nepgear seemed like the leader of their group, or at least their heart. I hadn''t expected her to be Purple Sister, and I was a bit surprised about that fact. She was able to put together a decent idea when I explained to her why Linda hated me so much. But I had not expected, well, the others.


    Uni had a problem with me. Why, I wasn''t sure. I''d never met the girl, so it couldn''t have been something I directly did to her. Sure, Lastation was a bit of a mess at the moment, but Planeptune and Lowee were frankly in rougher shape. As I understood the situation on the ground, the ASIC managed to get its claws deep into Lastation''s industry. Which made digging them out a difficult process at the best of times, as surprisingly entrenched as they managed to get in the upper crust. I''d managed to nip that problem in the bud, but then again, Earth had left me very jaded on such matters. However, despite that kneecapping a lot of Black Sister''s efforts, it was clear she was doing her best to fight back anyway. Which I couldn''t help but approve of.


    Rom and Ram, were. Children.


    Nepgear and Uni were teenagers. A good bit younger than me in physical appearance, and still having a lot of hypothetical growing to do? Yes, but that goes for everyone. But Rom and Ram were actual children. And not in the derogatory way where parents still tried to pretend their grown up kids had no idea what they were talking about, but real, genuine, children. And I wasn''t sure how to process that. Sure, it made the situation in Lowee suddenly make considerably more sense.


    But it also made me feel bad. I should have stepped in sooner. I knew things weren''t going well, in any of the nations. Uni did the best job she could, with the tools she had, but Planeptune, while capable hands, was without Goddess or Candidate. And Lowee, well, as stated, children.


    Unfortunately, hindsight was 20-20. There were a lot of things I could have done, and probably should have done, but if those things ultimately mattered, we''d all have a much better world to live in. But those didn''t affect the here and the now, no matter how much I wished they would.


    What mattered in the here and now was how I would mess with Linda.


    "You!" I heard her snarl, despite the force field, and the distance between us as I stepped into the clearing.


    "What?" I smirked. "Expecting someone else, Linda? Or are you just that happy to see me?"

 Chapter 14

    "You!" There was the snap I craved, with Linda wearing an ugly scowl.


    Me," I shrugged, keeping a smug look on my face, Linda''s fists tightening to the point where they looked completely white. "I mean, come on, Linda. Did you not see this coming? Did you not think we could find you?"


    "How are you supposed to be here? Shouldn''t you be trying to deal with that little problem with the brats?" Linda snapped, grounding out her teeth. "Not to mention your missing songstress."


    "You mean doing what Green Sister has been trying to do for years now? Talk with her fellow Candidates? Frankly, I should give you a medal," I taunted, grinning all the while. "As for 5pb? You don''t think Green Sister can''t multitask?"


    "There is no way you came out here on your own," Linda frowned, glaring at me in a manner that would have resulted in my spontaneous combustion.


    "Maybe I did, maybe I didn''t. You wouldn''t know either way, content on hiding behind that little shield of yours. Does your main base have one as well, or was this an attempt at bait?" I watched Linda''s teeth grind together with every word I said. I''m guessing the answer was no and yes, in that exact order.


    "Shut it!" Linda brandished her weapon.


    "How scary," I crossed my arms, looking as bored as humanly possible. "You''re aware that the forcefield is still up, right? You can''t fight me through a forcefield unless you want to make it a mime fight, or something."


    "I told you to shut up, you flat bitch!" Linda shouted, looking like she was about to pop a blood vessel.


    "You''re one to talk, Linda," I shook my head, still more amused than anything else. "And if we''re going to go to insults, at least try to keep it to true things. You know just as well as I do that I''m very, un-flat, while you''re very, great plains, as it were."


    I couldn''t tell if Linda''s face was red with embarrassment, or red with fury. Quite frankly, it was probably both. Morbid curiosity, but I was starting to wonder if it was possible to kill someone by pissing them off. Worst for her was that she knew I was right in my assessment.


    Seriously, why did people even act like that was such a big issue in the first place?


    Still, Linda looked like she wanted me dead. As in, Blood for the Blood God, Skulls for the Skull Throne, levels of pissed. Which was personally quite impressive.


    "I take it you still haven''t tried those breathing exercises I recommended to you," I continued. "Seriously, being perpetually angry isn''t good for your health. Trust me, I would know."


    It was a surprise that Linda hadn''t ground her teeth down into dust. If looks could kill, I''d be stone dead, but all Linda could do was sit and stew in her anger. And the angrier she got, the more likely she was to do something completely stupid.


    I didn''t like planning around my opponent making mistakes. Those types of plans never went well, in all honesty. It was impossible to plan for every single outcome, sure, and most plans had a tendency to shatter like glass when it came time for the enemy element, but baiting Linda into making a mistake was the best play. It wasn''t the first time I''d been able to do such a thing, either. No matter how much she didn''t like it, the two of us had our similarities. Which was what made it so easy to needle her.


    "You!" Linda ground out, quaking with rage. I kept the smug smirk on my face, a silent yet effective taunt. Seeing me like this was naturally going to piss her off. Especially if she thought I was looking down on her.


    "Yes, we''ve already established it''s me, Linda. What''s the matter, something got hold of your tongue?" I continued to gaze at her with an expression that combined both smugness and boredom in equal measure. "If you''re going to stay cooped up in the little safety cage of yours, I''m going to have to leave. I''m sure those currently taking your main encampment don''t need the reinforcements, but if you''re just going to cower here, then I see no reason that I can''t just leave and lend them a hand."


    That part was at least, a bluff. There was no way in hell I could make it to the location promptly. I wanted to get this finished, ideally, with Linda and her little cohort of fellow ASIC minions waiting out the rest of this war in either a jail cell or awaiting trial. Either worked for me, as they''d be out of the way and in a location where they couldn''t do any more damage, or even harm to themselves.


    "Bullshit. You aren''t just going to leave," Linda snarled, snapping at the bit.


    "And who''s going to stop me? You? Oh, Linda. From where I sit, you''re all bark and no bite. You''re sitting behind a force field, one I certainly can''t pierce. And frankly, even if there wasn''t, there isn''t a damn thing you can do to stop me, Linda," I smirked, sounding very proud of myself. "Face it. You''ve spent the last several years backing up a horse that never cared about you, who only viewed you as a sacrificial pawn. One they branded an ''Underling'' at the slightest screwup, in a situation where you simply got outplayed. Of course, every mistake after that?"


    Oh, the look on her face was perfect. She was pissed off as I did a merry little dance over all her buttons. Pointing out that her bark was worse than her bite, a firm reminder that she could never back up what she claimed with anything remotely substantial. Nor did she ever like me bringing up our first meeting, though, in her shoes, I wouldn''t blame her. But was I going to use that hate and rage to my advantage as much as possible? Yes, I absolutely would.


    One of the people standing next to her let out a squawk, as Linda''s fingers lashed out, grabbing hold of something. The field began to flicker, giving me just enough warning to raise the great bow to block an overhand swing. I grinned, despite the strain.


    "I''m going to kill you!" She bellowed, and it was clear that if I let her, she would more than make good on that promise.


    "You think you can, Linda? How quaint. We''ve been doing this dog and pony show for years," I gave her a smug look. "It''s time for you to give it up already."


    "Never!" Linda continued, swinging her weapon like a lunatic.


    x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x


    Hinum was holding herself. For now. The for now was clear, as Underling could prove to be trouble for all of them at times. But Hinum was also capable. Though to call what she was doing fighting may have been a stretch. Hinum hadn''t landed a single attack yet. Or, more accurately, she hadn''t once launched an attack. Even at this range, her bow could make for an impressive club.


    But her attacks so far, had been nothing but verbal. Which was working, focusing Underling''s attention on herself in a blind frenzy. Though why Hinum kept calling Underling by a name was confusing. Underling didn''t like being called that by anyone. But for some reason, Hinum using that name seemed to anger Underling more than being called Underling.


    Nepgear wasn''t sure why that was the case. It was clear that the two weren''t exactly on good terms. They were enemies, after all, but Underling''s grudge seemed to go beyond that. Yes, she was always angry at them, but never like this. Hinum had managed to worm under her skin in a way that seemed, bizarre, all the while still taunting and insulting.


    Hinum continued to prove she was a person of many faces. She had gone from barely restrained anger to jovial mocking insults in a short period. Or had she?


    Nepgear kept her eye on the fight, even as they slinked around to the side. Hinum seemed like she was completely and utterly carefree, Underling''s words sliding off her like water on a rock. But was she? Had Hinum already calmed down? She wasn''t sure. Either way, Underling was the worse off of the two, and it showed, as Hinum''s voice seemed to stick to her like a barb.


    Hopefully, everything will be okay. Right now, they just needed to disable the rest of the equipment while everyone was gawking at the fight in front of them, which, to be fair, was understandable, given what she was seeing. Hinum was putting on a good show for everyone to watch, as she weaved and blocked her way through Underling''s strikes. She was surprised Hinum was that nimble. Or was anger making Underling that sloppy?


    x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x


    The plan was working. For the time being. Frankly, the fact it lasted this long was, concerning. Plans that lasted a long time always made me uneasy. Sure, I liked my plans, but plans went wrong all the time. Once they did you wrong, one had to be ready to improv or otherwise hijink their way to a solution.


    I smirked, as a brief series of explosions happened behind us, Linda taking her eyes off the fight as parts of the camp went up in flames.


    "Them!" I waited for her to give a sign that she had caught sight of the others, before I shoulder-checked her, knocking Linda to the ground.


    "Come on, Linda, I tipped my hand at the start. You''re all that surprised?" Linda''s face was contorted with hate as she glared up at me. I softened my expression slightly. Doubtful that it would work, but it was worth a shot. "You lost, Linda. You and your fellows are under arrest."


    I didn''t expect her to take the offer, as I blocked Linda''s lunge, twisting around her. She practically snarled at me, but her stance was unsteady. Was it my words finally catching up to her, or her exhaustion? Or was it both?


    "Screw. You!" She ground out, glaring at me with murder in her eyes.


    "No thanks, Linda. You aren''t exactly my type in the first place," something that wasn''t an insult might take some of the wind out of her sails. Linda''s face blushed for a moment.


    "The fuck is wrong with you!" Linda shouted, stomping her foot.


    "You''re the one who offered, Linda," I shrugged. "But I''m not particularly interested."


    A beeping sound came off the device on my wrist. Taking care to make sure my attention didn''t leave Linda, I spared it a glance. They were making a good way in the compound assault, which was good.


    "But in all seriousness, please surrender. I''ve had a long enough week as is, and I''d rather get you processed and charged as soon as I can," I said, returning my full attention to Linda as she ground her teeth. "You''re badly outnumbered by this point."


    This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    "I can still handle you, even with the brats," Linda scowled, narrowing her eyes. "They''re busy finishing off the others. There''s still more time to deal with you."


    "And how long have you already spent trying to deal with me, Linda? Sure, I didn''t land a hit, mostly because I wasn''t trying in the first place. You don''t think I can play for more time waiting for you to finish?" I said, giving her a look. Linda was stubborn as an ox, and that annoyed me. Seriously, if she could use that spite for the betterment of others, she would be a potent force for good.


    "Because she isn''t alone!" The voice allowed me to dodge the attack, and it was my turn to scowl.


    "I see. So the rat makes his presence known," I knew Warechu was sneaking about in Leanbox as well, so this wasn''t much of a surprise. Not as much as he would like. If he wasn''t at the main compound, it makes sense that he would be here.


    Still, that was going to be a problem. I was able to keep Linda distracted by snarking and insulting her. A lot. Get under her skin and rile her up, as it were. With Warechu, that was simply a lot less effective for two reasons. One, I couldn''t do the same to him, as I simply knew less about him. He didn''t like being called rat, but when that was my only card to play, it became a whole lot less effective. And secondly, I couldn''t purely focus on Linda now.


    Then there was the matter of the fight, at least for now, being a two-on-one. Never exactly favorable, those were not, unless the balance of power was overwhelmingly on one side or another. And, unfortunately, it was not. If I could open the range, maybe, but that would require me to play cards that I wasn''t quite ready to play yet. Most of my range attacks were a bit too ranged to be all that effective this close, and those were the source of a lot of my damage output.


    This time, it looked like I was going to have to fight back. I couldn''t keep being passive at this point. I just had to wait for the other four to finish up and it would become a five to two fight, in our favor.


    The bow faded from my hands, replaced with an arrow. Not the best weapon, but I needed something nimbler than what amounted to a giant hunk of metal. An arrow made for a poor spear, but at the end of the day, I was going to use what I had. The upside was that the entire thing was made of metal, at least.


    "I''m not a rat!" The little rat-like sentient plush declared, huffing at my words.


    "Of course you are. If it skuries like a rat, and it squeaks like a rat, then it''s a rat," I took a fighting stance, keeping my guard up. I was still on the defensive here. But I needed them to come at me one at a time. They had the numbers advantage, and I need to stop them from pressing that.


    Not until back-up arrived, anyway.


    x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x


    "Guys? There might be a problem!" Ram shouted over the chaos. They had nearly dealt with everything else, so the fact there was a problem now was, concerning. But turning her attention over to what was going on made it clear why Ram said there was a problem.


    Someone had joined Hinum''s fight with Underling. And it was clear the older Candidate wasn''t doing as well as she had before. The bow was gone, while Hinum was striking back against her opponents. But the fact she needed to was a concerning change from before. She was still holding, even as the weapon in her hand danced erratically, but there was no telling how long that was going to last.


    "Do we have everyone?" Nepgear found herself asking. When Hinum said she wanted the ASIC members arrested, she wasn''t exactly kidding. Hinum had handed them a considerable number of handcuffs, which were now being distributed among several groaning human members.


    This had almost been too easy. Most of the time, they summoned monsters, but this time, they didn''t. Or maybe it was that they couldn''t. Hinum had shown the disks the ASIC used to capture and control monsters to the world, so maybe she had been particularly aggressive in getting rid of such constructs.


    "I think so," Uni frowned, her eyes gazing across the ASIC members. Everyone looked like they were properly bound up, and the rest of the defenses were down. She watched as Hinum threw her improvised weapon between Underling and Warechu, creating another out of thin air. Warechu recovered first, rushing down Hinum before she pivoted out of the way, grabbing Warechu out of the air by its tail, before throwing him in Underling''s face.


    It was funny to watch, until Linda returned the unorthodox projectile with intense accuracy, once more forcing Hinum to retreat. Why wasn''t she transforming? Uni knew that Hinum could do so, and the display of destructive power Green Sister could unleash was something she was more than familiar with, even if she only observed from a distance. So why hadn''t she? Green Sister, despite her popularity, was not exactly the most public figure. Even by Goddess standards, Green Sister could easily come across as isolated, or, quite frankly, alloof.


    But none of them had any problem transforming if the need arose. That was what it was there for. So why was Hinum not doing so? She could easily gain the range and strength necessary just by transforming. Even with the weird thing where she would unconsciously transform, it shouldn''t have chewed through that much juice.


    The answer was either that Hinum couldn''t transform, or because something else was preventing her. And it wouldn''t be a lack of shares slowing Hinum down, either. Was it, pride? The belief that it wasn''t needed?


    No, Hinum wasn''t like that, Uni would admit that much. Stubborn, maybe, but not prideful to the point where she''d be willing to lose a fight. Or, maybe Hinum was trying to keep her being Green Sister a secret? No, that couldn''t possibly be it. That was, stupid. Even if she was willing to keep it a secret, who would believe the words of two criminals, outside of their organization? Besides, Underling had seen them all transform anyway, and it wasn''t like the matter was at least somewhat of an open secret.


    So why go through all the effort? No, the matter had to be over something completely different.


    Was she, trying to make them seem helpful? Holding herself back so they could get some of the credit? What purpose would that serve? Why would that even help her? Was she just trying to be nice?


    Or was it something else?


    Ultimately, it was a question she would have to answer later, as she and the other Candidates attacked Underling and Warechu, creating enough of a distraction for Hinum to disengage, falling back, bow appearing in her hands once again.


    She watched, one eye on the battle and her shots, as Hinum launched arrows into the fray, this time seeking to keep Warechu and Underling boxed in. Dirt erupted with each strike, creating craters on the battlefield, helping to trip up the villainous due. Uni was nervous about the rat, as Warechu had managed to get an advantage during their recent fight, but this time, he was a lot more manageable.


    It took time, but eventually, Rom and Ram''s magic froze the two in place.


    "Thank you," Hinum sounded tired, breathing heavily, moments after the fight ended. "That was most appreciated. I''ll contact someone to pick us up."


    She took a brief moment to look down at her watch-like device, grinning. "They managed to get 5pb out as well." Hinum''s expression softened at her words as if she received news that lifted part of the world''s weight from her shoulders.


    x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x


    "You''re okay?" I asked, probably coming off more as a fretting girlfriend than I ever intended.


    "I''m a bit shaken up, but I''m otherwise okay," 5pb nodded her head, as I breathed a sigh of relief. At least that and the arrests had gone well. I hadn''t expected the ASIC to be so bold. They usually weren''t, not like this. There was going to have to be a security review over this, and frankly, the fact that it wasn''t a massive scandal in and of itself was a blessing. But repeat incidents would likely not result in the same, even if we arrested more members of the ASIC.


    On that front, the arrests were a good haul. Linda was, for the time, going to be out of our hair, as was Warechu, though, with a pair as stubborn as slippery as those two, I had doubts it would last.


    "If you need to take a breather, please let me know," I offered. After something like that, I couldn''t blame 5pb if she wanted some time off.


    "I, think I''d rather still perform. Will you still be there?" 5pb looked at me, eyes sparkling as I grinned.


    "Of course, I will," though I winced. "Though I''ll need four backstage passes last minute." That was going to be so expensive. My poor, poor wallet.


    "They''re the other Candidates, right?" 5pb asked me, looking over at the group of younger girls. "Didn''t they come here looking for something?"


    "Yeah, the mascots. Supposedly, every nation has one, and I haven''t had any luck digging up where one might be hiding," I stifled a yawn in my throat. "But given how today went, it''d be for the best if we put a pin in it for tomorrow."


    "A mascot? I think I remember hearing stories about a protector in my childhood, one that wasn''t one of the Goddesses," 5pb said. Stories? Myth and legend are more like it. But it wasn''t like I had any other leads. I hadn''t dismissed storybooks, but if this was more of an oral tradition, then it would have passed me by.


    "Well, any information you have would be great, as Chika is still tight-lipped on the matter," I sighed. This was fairly important, and I still couldn''t get any information out of her. It was annoying, to say the least.


    "I can tell you a bit more after the concert, but I do remember the stories mentioning a volcano, or just a lot of heat and fire," 5pb said as I processed the information. There were not a whole lot of areas in Leanbox that had that sort of description. That would narrow it down. "I''ll see you at the concert!"


    I waved at 5pb as she went, mind stewing. Part of me wanted to go over and try and find it right now, but I was sore, and I''d given my word. Frankly, it was time for a break.


    Now I needed to see if I could sell two teenagers and two kids on going to an idol concert. And that did not sound as hard as I''d probably want it to be.

 Chapter 15

    "Really?" Okay, maybe talking a group of teens and young girls into an idol concert wasn''t going to be difficult. Maybe I should have seen that coming. Frankly, I wasn''t exactly sure if idols had a big presence among younger girls or not. The idol industry in Japan, as I had learned, was, well, call it problematic for the sake of consistency. It wasn''t great. Gamindustria seemed considerably better, but the fan base still was largely male-dominated to my knowledge, just like back home.


    5pb didn''t seem to have any issues with crazy fans, so that was already a leg up by itself. The ASIC was enough trouble as was, and this whole fiasco only served to highlight why. I didn''t need more problems to worm their way out of the woodwork.


    "What about afterward?" Uni asked a very good question, though I already had an answer. It was going to be what I offered anyway, even if they didn''t want to come. Chika was still there, and I certainly would need to pay her overtime hours for something like that, as she''d be working overtime, and watching over children was not part of her job description anyway.


    "Spend the night at the Basilicom. It''s pretty late, at getting a hotel last minute could be a pain," I offered the group. Not to mention the ASIC and its international effects left the hotel industry in a tailspin that I never managed to fully stop, merely mitigate for a short while. Frankly, finding a hotel in any strip at the moment was easier said than done.


    Plus, what type of host would I be if I didn''t give my guests the best accommodations I could? Not a good one, that was for sure. Frankly, the big expense was going to be the tickets, and that was going to come out of my account too. Which stunk! Oh well, the price was one I was ultimately willing to pay, no matter how brutal the hit to my wallet was.


    "Plus, it allows us to get heading out right after breakfast if we get any information worthwhile," I offered, hoping to further entice her in with the promise of efficiency. Uni would be the most likely holdout, so trying to make this as smooth as possible made sense, at least as a bribery tactic.


    "That''s, acceptable," Uni said, to the cheers of the others, as I gently nodded.


    x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x


    "Excellent work as always," I grinned, shaking 5pb''s hand as she smiled.


    "Thank you!" She beamed back at me as if she hadn''t been singing and dancing on stage. I''d gain a considerable amount of respect for people who did this sort of thing because of 5pb alone. It was exhausting work, and the fact anyone had the endurance to do what was demanded of their job simply showed just how much effort and physical fitness went into such a job. "They do seem to be a bit out of it, though."


    They were Rom and Ram, and it was clear they were well past their bedtime.


    It was, surprising, just how young my fellow Candidates were. Teenagers and children. Not even as an exaggeration. Sure, I looked like a teenager now, granted, an older one, probably 16 at the youngest, and that was completely pushing it. I was the oldest, physically speaking without a doubt. Mentally? Most likely. Chronologically? That''s where it got tricky. I don''t think I''d aged a day since I''d arrived. Which likely meant, neither did they.


    And it also raised a concerning question. Rom and Ram were kids, with Nepgear and Uni falling somewhere into the teen to pre-teen range. Meanwhile, Vert? She looked like she was in her twenties. Granted, a bit in the younger twenties, but still, we were close enough in appearance that telling who was the older one was fairly trivial. But that also led to the thought of what the other Goddesses were like.


    If I was a few years behind Vert, then what? Uni''s sister couldn''t be much older in appearance than late teens, like myself. Nepgear''s, maybe a bit ahead of the two of us, but still not as old as Vert. That left with Rom and Ram''s sister.


    Why did I get a chill that went straight up my spine? Seriously, even entertaining the thought almost felt as if a tiger was walking over my grave.


    "They aren''t exactly the only ones," Uni and Nepgear didn''t exactly look like they were in great shape either, but then again, I don''t think any of us were, and I wasn''t going to pretend otherwise. "Myself included."


    "I can tell," 5pb nodded, before letting out a yawn. "I''m getting a bit tired myself."


    "If you need to take a rest, we can pick up tomorrow," I offered. If she was getting tired, then we didn''t exactly need to do this now. Putting it off until tomorrow wasn''t going to end the world. We were on a timetable, but not on THAT tight of a timetable.


    "No, it''s quite fine," 5pb smiled. "Though truthfully, there isn''t a whole lot to tell. Much of it is oral tradition."


    "If the lead proves wrong, no harm, no foul. We might find some clues to point us in the right direction, but at the moment, we''re kind of spinning our wheels here. Any information, even if it proves to be incorrect, would be useful," I said, and I didn''t think I was wrong. We had to do something to get on the move, and I had no information about what was going on in the first place. Any steps that put us closer to our goal were good ones, no matter how many more we''d have to go on.


    "Supposedly, as the legend goes, there was a powerful hero of Leanbox. One that worked with the Goddess Green Heart during the early days. And when their mission was done, they chose to rest, one day to return in Leanbox''s most dire hour," 5pb said, nodding sagely. "It is said they chose to rest in a volcanic cavern, to make sure their skills stayed sharp throughout time."


    So like a more aware and alert King Arthur, a mythical British King who was said to return to Britain during its darkest hour.


    Except this time, the legend was likely true.


    Still, the story was vague enough that there was some degree of security, even if the ASIC heard it. There was more than one volcano in the nation and fewer volcanic caverns. Frankly, the only one off the top of my head that could have been around for more than centuries was the underverse, a dungeon.


    Frankly, that shouldn''t have been much of a surprise. A dungeon was a good hiding spot, and the things were surprisingly stable, to boot. I''d long since given up on trying to figure out how those things even functioned. Frankly, if someone told me they functioned on the same principles that Lovecraft thought Euclidian geometry did, I''d believe them. I mean, the rest of the world at least tried to play by somewhat realistic rules, but not these places.


    But if there was something that would survive the test of time, this would be it. There would hardly be a much better place to hide below the radar, and frankly, that was a good thing. Outside of adventurers, there weren''t many who would consider braving a dungeon in the first place. And even those that would be willing to go to such a dangerous location? Weren''t willing to delve into a volcano to do so.


    It would also go quite a long way in explaining why Chika was so tight-lipped on the manner.


    However, by this point, I was willing to do what needed to be done. There were risks, yes, but the mascot''s aid was needed. With the other three collected, that meant Leanbox''s was required, without a shadow of a doubt. As much as I understood Chika''s hesitation, we needed to do this. With or without her permission.


    "Thank you for your information," I nodded. "Once the threat of the ASIC is over, I''d like to hear more stories like it."


    "Really?" 5pb''s eyes sparkled as I grinned sheepishly. What could I say, I was a bit of a nerd. Mythology was always a fun thing to learn, and it had been a shame I''d never had the time to do so.


    x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x


    "What are you doing?" I turned around from my work and watched as Uni stared at me.


    "Breakfast?" I offered, taking my eyes off her to return to the pancakes I was working on. Today was going to be a long day, so I was preparing accordingly. Massive meal, with lots of pancakes, eggs for protein, and the aroma of bacon to help get everyone up. I knew someone else would probably use coffee, but my goal was to get them moving, not load up two children on hype juice.


    Whoever thought of giving caffeine to children needed to be sent on a one-way expressed trip to hell. I don''t know who that asshole was, but one of these days, he was going to need to suffer.


    "Why?" Uni''s question nearly made me pause, as I flipped over a pancake on the skillet. That was a question. And I don''t think it was the one she wanted to be asking. At least, I don''t think she did.


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    "Because one tends to wake up hungry," I responded, keeping focus on making the meal. "And we''re going to need the energy for today."


    Yes, it was an answer to the question of why I was making breakfast. I was, technically, answering the question. Why was too broad of a question. I think I knew what she wanted to ask me, but I couldn''t be sure. I couldn''t make assumptions. Uni was going to have to ask exactly what she meant to ask me.


    "That''s not what I meant!" she snapped at me, as I rolled my eyes, thankfully, still facing away from her.


    "Then what exactly did you mean, Uni?" I asked in return, hoping to get a response out of her. "I''m not exactly a mind reader. I can make guesses, but at the end of the, I''d hope you''d know what they say about making assumptions."


    Uni''s mouth clacked shut as if she was trying to restrain herself and think about what she wanted to say. I let the silence hang in the air for a few seconds.


    "Why are you so, so, nice?" she finally asked as I raised my eyebrow.


    "Why wouldn''t I be?" I returned, flipping over the last of the pancakes, and stacking them up on a large plate. I turned around, preparing to place it down at the center of the table, only for the expression on Uni''s face to be one of utter shock. "Seriously. Cruelty is useless the majority of the time, and we''re on the same side even if it wasn''t. It''s the right thing to do anyway."


    "But, you''re not supposed to be."


    Aw. There it was. The root of this whole mess.


    "Really? While in hindsight, my face-offs with Judge would be scary to an outsider, given what it takes to drive the lunatic off," I scowled. I hadn''t realized myself just how big those explosions got, and how others might take them. I had nobody but myself to blame for that whole miscommunication. "We hadn''t met up until recently, so you wouldn''t have a whole lot to judge my character off of."


    "But you aren''t supposed to be like this! You''re the youngest of us! You shouldn''t," Uni''s shoulders slumped, seemingly exhausted. "You shouldn''t be doing better."


    I resisted the urge to bristle. This was not a competition. This was a crisis. This was an all hands on deck, everything was on fire and said fire was spreading to the nearby dumpster levels of awful. And frankly, while my boat looked prim and proper, while it still had fewer holes in it by this point, the keyword was fewer.


    "Considering the circumstances, I''d say you''re doing quite well. A few more stringent anti-corruption measures before this whole ASIC mess started, and you''d likely be in a different boat altogether if what I know is anything to go by," I offered.


    "And how would you know that?" Uni glared at me.


    "Because I''ve been trying to lay the groundwork for diplomacy for some time, now?" I offered, returning to the parts of the meal that still weren''t finished. Most just the bacon and eggs by this point. "I didn''t want to just, kick in the door, as that wouldn''t make for a good first impression, and trying to gang press everyone along wouldn''t be productive either. A meeting would have to be sold in a way that the appearance of mutual strength would be maintained."


    "Mutual strength? Gang press?" I could tell Uni was looking at me with a confused look on her face.


    "In short, it would have to be an alliance of equals, both in appearance that can be sold to the public, and in reality. If it were otherwise, then the ASIC could prey on cracks, both real and imagined," I continued, doing my best to explain. "The ASIC wants to divide and conquer. Individually, we can be picked off one at a time. But as a unified power block, the odds of us saving our, sisters, become considerably more likely than us running off on our lonesome."


    "How do you!" Uni seemed to bristle for a moment, as I turned around, her shoulders slumping over. "Right. You''re from another world."


    "History has numerous examples of playing your enemies off one another, even if for simple survival, at least back home anyway, and I''ll admit I''m a bit of a strategy game player, besides," I shrugged. "Up until the ASIC showed up, I imagine things were much calmer. There isn''t any fault in that."


    Maybe there was, but I wasn''t going to mention that. How long ago was the last crisis? Years? Decades? Centuries? Constant vigilance was humanly impossible, and despite her title as a Goddess, Vert was more than susceptible to things like lack of sleep.


    "Who exactly were you, back there?" Uni asked. I bit my lip. I didn''t like talking about it, still. I didn''t blame Nepgear, but the fact that returning home had been a possibility only for it to be stolen away by something I couldn''t control still hurt.


    "I was just the average Joe, working the standard eight to five, just making my way through life one step at a time," I admitted.


    "Average? Average!" Uni''s eyes widened. "What part of any of what you have done is average? Someone who is just average shouldn''t be able to do any of this!"


    "Partly because I pay some measure of attention to politics. And the nation I''m from is very much in the process of flipping its shit," I scowled, understating the absolute clown show the world was trying to devolve itself into. "Even with that, things are only just holding together as is."


    And that was the truth of the present situation. Things were holding together but there were cracks. Ones that could only be covered for so long. The situation was far from hopeless, but the sooner we could turn things around, the better.


    "But you''re doing better than everyone else!" Uni threw up her hands.


    "And doing better isn''t enough to beat the ASIC long-term," I said, letting the silence hang in the air. "It doesn''t matter how strong Leanbox is. It''s not going to be able to stand against the entire world. Nobody can. Not forever."


    "That''s why?" Uni gasped as if piecing everything together. "You don''t feel like your best is good enough?"


    "Because it isn''t. I can''t fault someone for doing their best, but it''s apparent that individually, our best best isn''t making much of a difference. Not enough to get our sisters free," I didn''t like it either. I had my criticisms, pointing out things they could have done better.


    But now that I had the context? That my fellow Candidates were at least in some form or fashion, teenagers or children. How could I brush off their struggles? They were doing their best, just like I was. To dismiss that effort and the sacrifices they made?


    No longer sat right next to me. Now was not the time for recriminations about what could or should have been done. The past wasn''t relevant, and what-ifs were a waste of time and effort. Now was the time for action, and planning for the future.


    "But if you had more Shares," Uni said, as I raised my eyebrow.


    "Shares do help make one stronger, yes," I nodded. "But I can imagine that there is a point of diminishing returns."


    "Diminishing returns?" Uni asked, giving me a look.


    "Maybe. I haven''t spent a whole lot of time trying to figure out the exact mechanics of how Shares work," I shrugged. "Plus, if more Shares are needed, the ASIC is sitting there like a well-gorged tick. No need for infighting when they''re right there!"


    Uni stared at me for a moment, slack-jawed at my statement. "You aren''t trying to hide anything. You''re just weird."


    I grinned, cackling despite myself. "Guilty as charged".


    Weird. Abnormal. Strange. Each word was one I would cop to. I wasn''t going to lie about it. Frankly, I''ve always enjoyed being called such things. While I was more than aware that such terms weren''t often used positively, I didn''t exactly care, either. I was comfortable enough with myself to admit I had quirks.


    Frankly, all of us did. Everyone had literally twists on their behavior that seemed abnormal to a whole lot of others. To not fit into an easy mold? Was part of what it meant to be human. And there was no other way I''d have it be.


    Uni just shook her head, a faint sound akin to laughter coming off her lips. I was about to open my mouth, to ask her if the hatchet was buried only for another noise to reach my eardrums.


    "Breakfast!" Like a stampede, Rom and Ram burst into the room, almost climbing over me as I laughed. Nepgear followed not long after, a much more restrained presence in comparison to the twins. I gave her a brief nod of thanks, returning to my work. There was no way such a thing was a coincidence, either.


    "Alright. Get yourselves seated and I''ll have this finished up in just a moment," I teased, the aroma of cooked bacon filling the air. Despite all the chaos that the ASIC had unleashed upon the world? This? This was bliss.

 Chapter 16

    "I would like to extend Leanbox''s gratitude for helping Cave during her mission," I gave my brief nod in thanks. However part of it was aimed at Chika and Cave, who very much gave me a way out of the massive social faux pas I had committed.


    IF largely looked annoyed, while Compa didn''t seem to mind. Much. There was just one little problem with that. Wasn''t there a third person among their number besides Nepgear? I could have sworn there was another person.


    "IF, do you know where RED is by chance?" Nepgear asked, looking around for someone. Honestly? The names were getting completely and utterly wild. By this point, it was well past the point where I needed to roll with this.


    "She''s around," IF shrugged nonchalantly, as Compa giggled. The problem was that Nepgear looked worried by such a declaration. More concerning was the fact Chika almost looked smug. She had something planned. That much was painfully clear. Likely involving this RED person. Most certainly some form of punishment for the social faux pas.


    And why exactly did I hear a noise in my ears? I paused, trying to pinpoint the source, only for it to be somewhere above me. It was a girl, doing an excellent impression of a shell flying through the air.


    "WWWWWWWIIIIIIIIIIIIFFFFFFFFFFFF," I decided to use the next few seconds to glare at Chika, hoping to convey that I was going to arrange a date between her Vert body pillow and an incinerator shortly, before I braced for impact.


    I barely managed to catch the speeding Red blur as she headbutted me square in the chest. Wind rushed out of my lungs from the impact, as I tried to bleed off her moment without clipping someone upside the head with her shoes. It probably wasn''t the most comfortable landing, either. Being in a dungeon meant there would be fighting, and I prepared accordingly. And not just wear baggy clothing, like I did the few days I wouldn''t do much.


    Of course, someone willing to do that to themselves probably didn''t have much of a brain to damage, so there was that upside. I managed to set her down, using my longer arms to at least place her at a greater distance than she could reach.


    "Dizzy!" The girl spun around, before flopping over into the nearest chair. I stared at her for a moment as she muttered to herself. That was something that happened.


    "Alright then," I muttered, mostly to myself. "Okay, once she recovers from that, we should be ready to go, right?"


    I got several nods and statements of confirmation. That was good. The sooner we got to the Mascot, the better. While a fair amount of the ASIC was currently in prison awaiting trial, that didn''t mean there were still issues scurrying about. Still, the losses would be a heavy blow to their capacities. The ASIC was not going to walk a blow like that off easily. But it was by no means a death blow, either. The organization had proven to have a considerable amount in common with a cockroach. It would take time to rebuild, however. I could settle for that much. They''d be on their knees for a while as well. Given that procuring that Mascot should take a week at absolute worst? I''d have plenty of time to take advantage of the situation.


    And I was going to need to. The last Mascot was the next stage of our plans. And I doubt the ASIC would be able to piece together that we were planning something big using the Mascots. Something they would seek to counter.


    We''d need to keep them off balance during the meantime, preventing them from marshaling their forces. Not an impossible task. But it was going to be a future one.


    x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x


    I wiped the sweat from my brow. I wasn''t surprised by the heat. Volcanos were known for their sweltering heat. Frankly, if this were back home, we wouldn''t be able to get even that close. But this world could only be described as built differently. How else could I describe a world where it was possible to dive into the vents of a volcano with a minor inconvenience?


    Of course, that didn''t exactly mean it was easy. This was a dungeon, after all, and a big one. Monsters were pretty much everywhere. Nor were they slouches when it came to combat. They were all fairly decently leveled to boot. Nothing was impossible for the number of people that made up our party, though.


    Which was seriously kind of stacked. Five Candidates was a strong enough team by its own merits. Several adventures as backup? Alongside an actual honest-to-good healer? That was a blessing in and of itself. I hadn''t adventured with a healer before now, as strange as that may sound. It didn''t make our journey a walk in the park by any stretch of the imagination.


    I think it was simply down to the fact that we were very range-heavy. Nepgear was the only one of us Candidates who could be considered a close-quarters specialist. Uni used a gun, which largely overlapped with my specialty when it came to distance-based combat. While Rom and Ram were spellcasters. As well as actual children. They weren''t going to do well in melee combat no matter what happened.


    This left Cave, IF, Nepgear, RED, and Compa as sort of pseudo-tanks. Roles that they weren''t exactly suited for. Well, RED was maybe suited for it, but there were more than a fair share of monsters for a single person to handle. But we were still making progress at a fairly swift clip.


    I did come prepared though. What? We were going to a volcano. If nothing else, I was going to be packing water, and lots of it. It wasn''t hot enough to start boiling over, but we still needed to stay hydrated. This place ran off its own weird rules a lot of the time, but this wasn''t one of them.


    "How close do you think we''re getting?" I heard Uni ask. The answer was honestly, I had no clue. This stuff went deep, and it wasn''t like I''d ever been here before. If volcanic vents were anything to go by in my world? This stuff went deep into the surface of the crust. Never mind the various twisting tunnels and offshoots. While the most likely place for a Mascot in hiding would te at the bottom, that wasn''t by any means a certainty. They could be hiding in any damn inch of this place.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    Then again, it wasn''t exactly playing by Earth rules. Volcanic vents tended to be disjointed, as the magma tried to find the path of least resistance. Instead, it was largely straightforward, burrowing into the earth like a serpent. There were very few veins that broke away, and they tended to be fairly shallow. It meant there was less chance of us getting lost on the way out, not that I already prepared countermeasures.


    Even if they didn''t look like they would be needed. Though it wasn''t as if every crisis one prepared for but ultimately didn''t need to, always felt like an overreaction.


    "Hopefully soon," I said, as a few nodded. We''d been down here for at least an hour or two. Three at most.


    After a brief moment, we set off. Still, this place was marvelous. There were an insane number of geologists who would kill to see the insides of a volcano like this. It was almost a shame that I was here as part of a job. I''d have to come back sometime in the future. When things were far less chaotic and I''d just be able to breathe. Get to explore this crazy world and all its wonders. Without having to worry about keeping a nation intact.


    But that wasn''t happening. Not today.


    In large part because the next room had a massive dragon within it. That wasn''t exactly unforeseen, but unpleasant all the same. The little Wyvern things were annoying. But full-on dragons? They were rat bastards. Tough as nails and they tended to give as good as they got.


    "Maybe we could sneak around it?" I offered, taking a light step forward. But the moment my foot touched the rocky surface in the room, the dragon''s eyes snapped open as if I''d stepped on a tripwire.


    "Son of a!" I started to get out as the dragon opened their mouth. "Move!"


    We managed to scatter in time as flame erupted forth from its maw. I slammed my bow into the ground at the end of my roll, firing off an arrow. It shot through the air, clipping the inside of its mouth. I almost winced as it let out a roar of pain. Thankfully, that was enough to get it to stop breathing fire as it reared up.


    And by that point, everyone else was taking potshots or closing the range. I pulled back with another arrow, letting the energy build up into a fine-tippedd point. It flew true, biting into the joint of the dragon''s wing, skewering into the limb.


    That should be enough to cripple its movement. Dragons were not monsters that one would want to leave with their freedom to fly around a place intact. They were dangerous enough without the mobility.


    As if to prove my point, the dragon brought its maw down, trying to bite at those who had already closed the distance. Thankfully, everyone had already begun to spread out, as to not be caught by wide-reaching attacks. The beast bellowed as it swiped and tore into the earth, sending igneous rock flying through the air. Despite the beast''s massive size, we had pure numbers. Which it really couldn''t counter. Sure, it could always do what dragons did best. Breath an insane variety of different things from out of their mouth, but it still had to aim. And it wasn''t going to be hitting any more than one, two of us, tops.


    It took longer than I''d care to admit to whittle away at the dragon, but eventually, the thing slumped over, scattering into particles. Thankfully, everyone looked like they hadn''t been too badly hurt.


    Looking around the room, I scowled. It looked like every single other room in this tunnel system. But with one, major, all too important, difference. There was nothing on the other end of the cavern. Which meant this was the final room of this stinking place. Unless there was some hidden passageway, there was no Mascot.


    Which meant we had come here for nothing. That was an annoyance. Sure, there was another target, even if we couldn''t hit it today. What would happen if that was also a failure? Leanbox only had so many volcanos, and while myths were going to be a good starting point, things changed. The odds of it being destroyed over the eons were unlikely. And frankly, if the ASIC had gotten here first, then they would be rubbing it in our faces. So either it was hidden.


    Or it wasn''t here in the first place.


    Neither was great, as it meant spending time combing the enter dungeon top to bottom for anything we may have missed the first time around. Something that could be time spent on nothing, if it was really in some other location. Damnit!


    "That was an impressive display. It''s been some time since so many have come into this place," a voice came, seemingly from nowhere, snapping me out of my thoughts. I looked around, head whipping wildly to confirm the source of the voice, only to find empty air. That was when the air began to flicker, as a small alcove appeared in one of the walls.


    "I''m a bit surprised to see this many Candidates in one place at the same time. This is truly a strange event," the voice continued. I tried to get a good look at, whatever it was making the noise. It was hard to describe it. At first glance, it almost looked like an ordinary, if green-colored, disk. But it seemed to flicker as if it were more than just simply a disk. As if it were there, but at the same time, not.


    "It''s a bit complicated. Right now, Leanbox, no, the world, really needs your help right now," I said, deciding to take point. After all, this was Leanbox''s Mascot.


    x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x


    Things hadn''t exactly gone as expected, but I wasn''t exactly going to complain by this point, either. Whoever got the power boost in the grand scheme was irrelevant. While I might have concerns about putting all your eggs into a single basket, but Nepgear had already collected something from each of the other Mascots.


    But that left us with the question of what now? I don''t think anyone had expected things to go that smoothly. Or at least, nobody was used to things going so well.


    I was going to have to set up some degree of protection detail for the Mascot. They were a national legend and deserved at least that much. I had no problem with them staying in retirement, but I wasn''t going to leave them unguarded, either. Especially now. There was little doubt in my mind that the ASIC would not take kindly to one of the Mascots being active.


    Given how they went after the others? Even if people really didn''t believe they existed anymore, they still had power. Something to look into, once everything was said and done. It had to be tied to Shares in some capacity.


    "We really should try to stay in contact with one another. At least help one another when it''s needed, if we can," I was at least giving us a place to start. Frankly, everything that had happened over the past two days spoke for itself when the topic of cooperation was concerned. I wasn''t expecting mountains would be moved. But getting us to at least keep in contact would be a major step up.


    "Of course!" Nepgear smiled as I grinned. Oh, there are very few things I wouldn''t give to have a at least friendly face from the start. Sure that could have caused problems, but it could prove to be a potent alliance that would have expanded much earlier.


    "You guys are cool, I guess," Uni frowned slightly, and I had to resist the urge to chuckle.


    "That would be great!" Ram jumped up into the air, startling her smaller sister who shyly nodded. Something to work on, I did suppose. But I was going to take it.


    After all. We all had people to rescue.

 Chapter 17

    "Sorry I wasn''t able to help with the ASIC," I rubbed the back of my head awkwardly. I did want to help, but.


    "Judge was launching an attack and you needed to deal with it," Nepgear shuttered, seemingly uneasy even thinking about the metal monstrosity. Not that I blamed her. Judge was a nightmare to fight even on a good day. Driving him off was the best I could do.


    The concerning part was the attack was very unseasonal, by his standards. Was this him going tit-for-tat for me smacking him first during the operation? Or was this the start of a new norm? One I could deal with, but if this was the start of a new norm then it was going to drastically cut into just how long I could leave Leanbox unattended. I could deal with that, but I wasn''t going to like it.


    "Still, it feels kinda bad to be the first one to extend a hand in cooperation, only to be the first to have to take a rain check," I offered. It was out of my hands no matter what I did, but at the same time, it felt hypocritical.


    Nepgear sighed, shaking her head. "Have you found any information about how Warechu and Underling managed to escape prison yet?"


    The question of how they even managed to get out of Leanbox in the first place went unasked.


    "Somehow, the ASIC managed to scrounge up enough explosives to stage a break-out," I scowled. It certainly hadn''t gone well for the group. We had more ASIC members in custody after the attempt than we had before. But those two managed to slip away in the chaos. "We arrested most of the attempted escapees and the majority of those trying to get in, but those two ended up getting away."


    "I''d kinda hoped we''d seen the last of them," Nepear said as I patted her on the shoulder. That was a feeling I was all too familiar with. But the pair lived a charmed life, no matter how you tried to spin it. If I didn''t know any better, Arfoire herself kept a personal eye on the little gremlins.


    "Oh, I wish that would be the case," as much fun as Linda was to mess around with, I''d rather not have to deal with her ever again until after this was all resolved. "Then again, given how this place almost runs on tropes."


    "Tropes?" Nepgear gave me a confused look. I flushed, realizing how that sounded. I must have been more tired than I thought.


    "They''re kinda storytelling motifs from back home, things used over and over again," I explained. "Like a recurring villain in a video game."


    "Oh," Nepgear rubbed the back of her head as I internally panicked. That was basically what Underling was. A recurring boss!


    My life made way too little sense.


    "I know you''ve told me a little about what your home was like, but could you tell me a bit more about it?" Nepgear asked. I resisted the urge to scowl. I really hadn''t tried thinking about it beyond what I could do to keep Leanbox from falling apart. It had been years, but I was still bitter about not being able to return home. "Or what you were like before you came here."


    "I admit, I''m a bit curious about that myself," IF said, giving me a look. Compa seemed like smiles as always, and I could tell RED wasn''t as asleep as she pretended she was.


    "Well," I started, forcing down my urge to bristle. Nepgear certainly didn''t mean anything by it. While IF certainly wanted information. "I worked for the Government, focusing on transportation. I lived by myself, and had some plants. Spent a fair bit of my time either writing or playing games."


    "Then I wake in a place I''m not familiar with in a body that''s about a decade younger than the one I used to have," I groaned into my hands, as everyone mostly winced. Though I spotted IF''s grin out of the corner of my eye.


    "A decade younger?" She looked at me inquisitively. "I guess that explains a few things."


    I frowned. This was bait, this was one hundred percent complete and utter bait. The smart part of me simply wanted to ignore the obvious trap. But the curious part of me?


    Wanted to see where this was going.


    "Explains what?" I prodded carefully as IF smirked.


    "Your interest in older women, of course," IF''s words sent a chill down my spine. How much did she know? Was that some sort of bluff? An attempt to get me to admit to something?


    Making things worse was that denying things would make me sound suspicious. The lady doth protest too much and all that.


    "What gives you that impression?" I respond, trying my best to play it cool. She could just be fishing for a reaction. I was stuck in a teenage body again. I knew for a fact I was feeling the effects, and poke that direction was a safe way to reveal something.


    "I don''t know how someone so good at playing off crowds is this dense," IF shook her head. "Everyone can tell how you look at Cave. You aren''t exactly subtle."


    The heat began to rise in my face before I could even attempt to stop it. A cue for everyone to notice just how on the head IF had just hit things. I would have tried to cover my face with my hands, but if anything, it would just draw more attention to myself. Thought it wasn''t like that was going to be an issue.


    "Cave? That sounds, cute," Nepgear was trying, bless her heart.


    "It isn''t though," I groaned, leaning back. "She looks a decade older than me, so that would make her look like a creep. Never mind the power imbalances involved."


    Never mind how someone closer to how I looked in age would make me feel like a creep because that would be creepy no matter how things got cut. By this point, I was about twenty-nine-year-old software running off of a sixteen-year-old''s hardware. Simply put, no matter how one tried to look at it, my dating life was dead on arrival.


    Beyond dead. Buried six feet under, then entombed in volcanic rock. Even without me being far, far too busy to consider dating most of the time.


    Okay, I''d admit, my workload was an excuse. An excuse to avoid a considerable number of issues. Of which not having a date possibly ever wasn''t even in the top five. Frankly, there was a whole lot right now I didn''t much care to think about. It was better for my mental health that way.


    Not really. But I had enough on my plate as was. I didn''t need anything else right now.


    "A fair few people wouldn''t even consider stuff like that," IF commented, something I was far too aware of. "It''s thoughtful that you consider her public image."


    "Plus it would only get worse as time went on," I grumbled. But that also went with, once again, everyone. Dating while being an immortal sucked, and it was never going to be worth the effort.


    "I''m sure you''ll find someone," Nepgear patted my head as I huffed, crossing my arms. I was adult enough to deal with the fact that sometimes I wasn''t going to be able to get nice things. And I certainly didn''t need head pats over it!


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    No, that was far too much teenage brain! I didn''t need to shower anyone around me in minor angst. Quick, I needed a distraction!


    "So, how exactly do those Mascot powers of yours work?" I asked. I was curious about how that type of thing even worked. It didn''t seem like something had changed with Nepgear, as far as I could tell. So I was kinda curious as to what exactly they did.


    Nepgear shifted her feet, clearly not exactly comfortable with my line of questioning.


    "I, don''t know," Nepgear said, frowning slightly. I paused at the admission. That was not the answer I''d been expecting. "They haven''t seemed to do a whole lot."


    I gave it a brief pause. Nepgear had the powers of the Mascot of each nation. However, outside of Planptune''s own, none of them had much of a reason to want their power to be used by someone outside of their nation. Which seemed counter-intuitive. Unless.


    Oh bloody hell, this works on the power of friendship, doesn''t it? Of course, there would probably be some restrictions, but dear lord, was that the best they could do? I was not in the mood for that sort of thing.


    "Maybe it''s an all your powers combined sort of deal? Like Captain Planet?" I was dating myself with that reference. These people didn''t even know what Captain Planet was, and they''d probably find the reference just as dated.


    "I''ve never heard of anything like that. Is it some show in Leanbox?" Compa gave me a confused look as I resisted the urge to rest my face in my hands.


    "It''s an old show from back before I was born," I said, trying to keep the embarrassment in my face down. "It was about this group of kids that discovered these magical rings that when used together could summon Captain Planet, who would go on to fight the show''s villains, which were generally industrialists and polluters."


    One of the more annoying parts was that it undersold just how craven and self-destructive such groups could end up being. It undersold that by quite a bit. Which wasn''t great by any stretch of the imagination.


    "You literally had an old show that was nothing more than an environmental PSA?" IF shook her head. "That''s a bit crazy."


    "It wasn''t the weirdest thing to come out of the eighties," I shuttered. That was a time of children''s entertainment. He-man and She-ra, Transformers, GI Joe, as well as a whole host of other shows. All of them were even more of a drug-fueled fever dream than the last. Even without getting anime involved in the whole mess.


    Wait, we''d end up getting away from the topic.


    "Bringing us back," I groaned. "It probably has something that the other Candidates might be needed for. You found the other Mascots in pretty rough shape, right?"


    "I did," Nepgear nodded, though she still seemed uncertain. "But that''s a bit of a weird way to look at things."


    I raised my eyebrow, curious as to where that was coming from.


    "It sounds like something Neptune might say," her expression looked downcast, and it wasn''t hard to figure out why. The naming scheme made who Neptune was abundantly clear. "Except you try to make it sound more rational, rather than just saying it."


    I paused for a moment. I was unsure how to process that. Well, I mean, there was one way to process that.


    Wrapping my arms around the shorter girl, I gave her a brief hug.


    "We''ll get them back," I said, hoping to give her some confidence back. It was still hard to fathom. It had been three years since the kidnapping. Three long years. But we were starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.


    I broke off the hug, as Nepgear had a faint dusting of pink on her face.


    "Is something wrong?" I asked.


    "You''re a bit, bigger than I thought you would be," the statement caused the blush to become contagious as I sputtered, IF laughing in the background.


    "I wear a binder a lot of the time!" I huffed in protest, trying to get the heat in my face under control. "It''s not my fault everyone is so weird about it! I use a bow, it''s not that big of a deal."


    Nepgear''s statement had done more than just rouse laughter from IF, as RED was no longer pretending to be asleep.


    "That''s why your-" my eyes narrowed to slits, with a glare so vicious I could punch a hole in a wall.


    "Not. A. Word." I hissed. I knew exactly where that was going, and wanted no part of that. Of course, IF still hadn''t stopped laughing. "What is her deal?"


    "I think she finds it funny we live in a world where a relative of Vert would willingly make their chest look smaller," Compa''s words made me blush again, groaning into my hands. The worst part of that statement was that I couldn''t raise a single word of protest. Because Vert was very willing to flaunt that part of herself. A lot.


    I, missed her. A lot. I still wasn''t sure what she actually was to me. Even if the odds of me ever getting home were slim to none, I still wasn''t able to let that go. I''d changed a lot. I knew my old family wouldn''t recognize me one bit. Without the obvious reason as to why. What I''d been through in this crazy world, it changed me. There was no way the stress of trying to lead a nation through a crisis wouldn''t.


    But I still cared for her. Things had been raw, it wasn''t like there was any way they wouldn''t be. Not after all that was said and done. It had been three years since then, and it still hurt. Without that closure, things kinda stung, like a digging feeling in a cut.


    But, what I told Nepgear was right. We were going to get them back. No matter what. Still, part of me was scared. How would she feel after all this time? Certainly not well. Whatever was happening there couldn''t be good. It had to hurt. Even if it was nothing, just, three years of that. To have nothing to stew with but your thoughts. I know she said she didn''t hold a grudge, but I hurt her a lot. My words hurt her a lot, and that''s what I intended them to do at the time.


    Left by yourself, and your thoughts, left to stew in bitterness? What would she be like after three years of that sort of hell? Would she still have that care that Vert once held? Or would she not?


    I shuttered, as I felt Nepgear pat my head again, as if she sensed my discomfort. I gave her a small smile in thanks. I didn''t like physical contact all that much, but Nepgear was a good person. And I really needed to stop spiraling. I, hadn''t had enough free time for even that, as of late.


    "We have arrived in Lowee. Please prepare for departure," a voice came over the intercom, a sign that we had arrived at our destination. I took a deep breath as I stood up, trying to calm myself. This was my first time out of Leanbox. Just stay calm. Nobody is going to suspect a thing.

 Chapter 18

    Cold. That was my first thought as the doors opened. That it was cold. Despite my preparations, the icy chill of Lowee cut me to the bone. I''d expected that Lowee, being the northernmost nation compared to Leanbox''s near-perpetual spring. Sure, I had prepared for the weather. But there was only so much I could do when I''d gotten acclimated to pleasant weather for several years.


    Yeah, safe to say, it was clear to anyone who paid half a bit of attention that I wasn''t native to the region.


    "You''re still cold under all that?" Nepgear gave me a look as I frowned.


    "I have forgotten what winter feels like," I grumbled into my scarf. My scarf! I was wearing a scarf! Say what you will about Kansas, but good lord! At least the weather had the common courtesy to try and keep you prepared for just about anything it decided to throw your way! But my stay in Leanbox had robbed me of such a valuable tool. Oh well, at least my chilblains were no longer an issue.


    x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x


    I wasn''t going to lie. I wasn''t fully aware of what to expect going into Lowee. I knew the nation would be cold. But in reality? I hadn''t expected the nation to be a full-blown winter wonderland. It was something I expected to see out of a child''s fantasy.


    Which, given Rom and Ram, almost made sense. Though it was likely their older sister to credit for the ascetic. Who probably wasn''t much older than the twins, if I had to make a guess. A thought that still sent a chill down my spine, but that was an issue for later. Still, the place looked fantastical. Very much a storybook world. The snow was falling, but it also glistened and sparkled, as if it were a rainbow. It was reflected off the rooftops too, further adding to the wondrous display.


    Frankly, it would be hard to tell that something was wrong. Lowee looked fantastical, and yet at the same time, natural. As if it just, existed like this. A fantasy land covered in ice and snow. My eyes flicked back and forth, absorbing as much information as I could. Lowee wasn''t as built up as Leanbox was. The skyline wasn''t filled with buildings and highways. It had a rural, almost rustic yet magical charm to it, instead of something almost science fiction in nature.


    It was almost a bit more, homie, in a way. A breeze caught me square in the chest, causing me to shutter. Homie, yes, but still more cold than I liked.


    The shops were small and quaint, too. Almost adorable, if a building could somehow manage to be such a thing. One in particular managed to catch my eye. A little game store. Closer inspection was swift to reveal that it had certainly seen better days. The wear and tear was clear. Chipped paint, dulled, damage to the door, small fractures in the glass, all signs of time without the funds to properly maintain things.


    Of course, there were still some games, though not as many as there otherwise should have been. A shame, but given the state of things, not unexpected. I did my best to take note of what was available. We couldn''t stay long. As a group, we had important business with Rom and Ram to attend to.


    But that hardly meant that I didn''t have things I''d like to do. It wouldn''t amount to much, but purchasing a game or two would be a nice sentiment if nothing else. One of the games did catch my eye. It looked, strangely, endearing. And familiar. Like something I had not seen for a long time. Something I knew, possibly well, yet, at the same time, so inexplicably foreign.


    I couldn''t tell if it was the title, the logo, the art, or any number of things that tickled something at the back of my brain. Something pushed aside for things of far greater importance. Or maybe it was simply the nature of Lowee itself, stirring up memories of a childhood that I had sadly long since left behind. Not abandoned by some want or need for maturity but by circumstance and distance.


    "Enjoying yourself?" Nepgear''s voice made me jump out of my skin, heat rising in my face as I had been taken completely by surprise.


    "Sorry, it''s just, that I''ve never been out of the country before," I took a deep breath, steadying my beating heart. "So this is all so new to me. And it''s making me feel nostalgic for when I was a child, too."


    I didn''t miss the slight frown that seemed to grow on Nepgear''s face when I mentioned the word child.


    "Right, you did used to have that," I heard her mutter.


    "Ah, I''m guessing you just," I frowned, looking for the right words. She would have been like me when I first woke up, wouldn''t she? Just, poof, into existence. Painless on behalf of whatever parent existed for these bodies. And yet. So, disconnected from what could be considered a universal human experience.


    "Just, started existing," Nepgear finished for me, clearly aware of my thoughts. "It''s a bit weird. Do you, remember anything about that experience?"


    "No. I think every human on the planet would be traumatized if we remembered something like that. Long-term memory takes a few years to fully develop," I shuttered at the thought. I didn''t know if Nepgear had any idea about how humans were made, but frankly, that was not a conversation I wanted to touch with a ten-foot pole in private, much less in public.


    Honestly, that was something I had no problem just throwing back to their older sisters to tell them that piece of information. You could not pay me enough to even begin to cover a topic like that if they didn''t already know it. I had no problem hucking the older sisters under that particular bus to save my sanity.


    That was provided that they knew. But they had to have at least that much information about things, right?


    "So, you just, do nothing for a while? That sounds kinda boring, to be honest," Nepgear looked up at me.


    "Probably part of why we don''t," okay, that wasn''t even close to correct. "Humans take time to grow up. Time to get the neurons in working order, all the connections. It takes a lot of, everything."


    I wasn''t exactly an expert on children, or mental development, for that matter. But it was far from something that just happened in the blind of an eye. Which was weird, given how that seemed to be the case for Goddesses.


    "I don''t remember anything like that," Nepgear shook her head. "It was just."


    I didn''t want to say that was weird, but it was. I hadn''t thought about that. I kinda figured that my experience with my, rebirth, as it was, had been unique. Just coming into reality hadn''t been, normal. Expected. Par for the course. Frankly, it was probably even stranger for them. I had the context of a previous life. And sure, that stunk, as it made some things a lot more painful.


    But to just come into the world? No growth? No memory? Nothing but a sister, no context for anything?


    "Sorry, but I can''t imagine that. Just, throwing a switch then you suddenly exist?" I frowned. "That doesn''t just phrase for me."


    "No, it''s weird that you think that''s weird. Isn''t that how it works?"


    "No, it''s a process! It takes time, slowly building until it just simply is."


    x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x


    "Are they spending time arguing about which is weirder?" IF gave Compa a confused look.


    "At least Nepgear is making new friends!" Compa beamed in response.


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    "Hinum! Nepgear!" The welcome we got was loud. Well, Ram was loud, as can be expected from the energetic young girl. Rom was a bit more mousey, but she was still welcoming us. I beamed at the two as I noticed another. She was most likely Lowee''s oracle. She was, short, something I was beginning to see as a pattern, with long, very long, light blue hair done up in a pair of twin tails.


    Her outfit was weird. Her red cap distinctly reminded me of one of those that could be seen at graduations, one I had worn myself on a few occasions. The rest of her outfit could pass off as an educator''s uniform. If one squinted very, very hard. The inner layer was a short white dress, complimented stockings that nearly reached the hem of her dress. What brought the look together was the red overcoat. That''s what gave me teacher vibes the most.


    Which was weird, given how it honestly looked a bit more like graduation robes. But that could have still been the hat messing with how I viewed her outfit.


    Her red heels gave her about an inch or so of height. Though that wasn''t saying much. She wasn''t the shortest person in the world. I think without the heels, she''d have an inch or two on IF.


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    "Rom! Ram! It''s good to see you again!" I responded, still smiling. "And am I to presume that this is your Oracle?"


    Every nation had one. If she was here with them as we were arriving? She would be a likely candidate for such a title. And given the age of the twins, she probably had more than that on her plate as well. If I was concerned, the moment this crisis was done and dusted, we really should make sure the Oracles got some desperately needed vacation time in.


    Yes, I would make Chika use her accumulated vacation hours. Especially on something that went beyond staring at Vert for a few days. Because that was weird and something Chika would count as vacation time if I let her.


    "Yes, I am," the woman said sternly, even if her voice was a bit on the softer side of things. "I''m just surprised that you all arrived so soon."


    Based on her tone, that might not have been the case. More accurately would have been, at all. Further evidence was the shifting look on the twin''s faces. At that age, you either had the poker face of a god, or an utter hack, and it was clear which of the two the twins ended up being. Well, if she didn''t know, then I certainly wasn''t going to tell.


    Of course, that was provided that she didn''t know. Which, for reference, I very much doubted. Odds were, she was more than perfectly aware of what had transpired. And even if she wasn''t currently, it shouldn''t take her too long to figure out why we had shown up without her knowing we were even coming.


    Either way, I certainly wasn''t going to tattle. Not on this one.


    "Really?" Nepgear seemed to be reaching a similar conclusion to what I had reached. Rom and Ram called us here for a reason. A reason they didn''t feel they could or even should share with their Oracle. Either because they didn''t think that doing so would be important. Or because for whatever reason they did not think their Oracle would want us to be there in the first place.


    It could be either or. Simply forgetting, or failing to mention it in a way excited children tended to do. Or they legitimately had concerns about her approval when it came to whatever it was they connected us about.


    "It''s about Underling and Trick," Rom spoke up suddenly, cutting to the chase with unexpected swiftness. Underling was a known quality. But Trick? The name tickled at the back of my mind.


    "He''s causing problems again?" IF frowned. So they''d run into him before. That was, good, I think.


    "He''s one of the ASIC commanders, right?" I asked, hoping to get clarification on why the name sounded so familiar.


    "He is, one of the high-ranking one''s like Judge," Nepgear answered. "He''s just, gross and weird compared to Judge being, scary. I''m surprised you haven''t run into him, given your luck."


    "I''ve mostly had to deal with Judge. I ran into Brave once," the memory came back to me as I rubbed the back of my head. "That wasn''t my finest moment, I''ll admit."


    "What did you do, insult his mom or something?" Ram asked, as if amused by the concept.


    "Several blows to the face, insulting his mother, insinuated several things about said mother and the family goat, and things only escalated from there," I huffed, crossing my arms. Like I had said, that had not been my finest or my most tactful moment.


    "Wait. You, the person who seems to have tried to use diplomacy to solve most of your problems, said something like that to someone?" Ram said, pointing out how weird it sounded to everyone else. Which it was. I really could have handled that situation better, and I damn well knew it.


    But it had not been a good time. I was still getting my feet underneath me with all the ongoing chaos. I was under a lot of stress, and then this dumbass popped his head out of the woodwork, claiming to be a high-ranking member of the ASIC, and said that he was doing what he was doing for the children.


    Safe to say, the mindset of working under a Goddess who wanted to end the world simply because he wanted kids to be able to afford to play games didn''t exactly phrase. It was like, actually worshiping Cthulhu because it promised that all children in the world got to eat free candy. That was the level of stupidity I was talking about. With my temper already wearing thin, it was safe to say that I was fuming by that point.


    Having someone unironically say that they were severing an evil for the sake of children? I''ll admit. I completely lost it. So many people in the world use children as an excuse for their awful behavior and terrible ideas. At the time, I had no doubts that this was yet another one of those dumbasses. Perfectly aware that they were doing monstrous things, hiding behind a smokescreen for the sake of having an excuse.


    As it turned out, that wasn''t the case. Brave actually believed what he was doing was for the children. He legitimately believed that.


    That? That was the nail in the coffin. The straw that broke the camel''s back. Frankly, it was one thing if he just thought he could use children as a convenient shield for his actions. But for him to actually believe the words that had come out of his mouth? For him to be that stupid? To think that some apocalypse Goddess was going to do a thing to help anyone, much less children?


    The fight didn''t last long, but Brave did leave after that. Haven''t seen him since. I wasn''t sure why he''d run off, either. It wasn''t like was particularly strong at that point, either.


    "That sounds, excessive," Nepgear put it gently, far more so than was needed. I knew I messed up on that front. But if he was that delusionally stupid, then I doubted he would listen to anything less than several hits to the face.


    "It was. I wasn''t exactly in the greatest of moods when the confrontation happened. It shouldn''t happen again," ideally, it wouldn''t. But it wasn''t like I could promise the world either. My temper always took time to build up, and being knocked back to puberty-based hardware wasn''t helping matters.


    I gazed across the room, with Rom and Ram giving me curious looks. I couldn''t place their expressions, but they seemed a bit surprised by my statement.


    Oh, it was probably nothing.


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    "Is this going to be like the time with big sister?"


    "Come on, Hinum''s too chill for something like that!"


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    Nepgear had learned that Hinum wasn''t always as calm or rational as she tried to make herself out to be. Usually, this was the case. Hinum could take a joke in stride and could handle being embarrassed. It was those she considered enemies that seemed to get the most of her anger. Even then there were those she considered a joke, like Underling. Not worth even that much effort.


    So she found herself seriously questioning how things reached this point. It wasn''t just Trick''s comment of Hinum being an old hag that set her off. No, she had laughed at first, brushing it off before her voice went flat. And now?


    "I''ll castrate you and make you watch, you pedophilic bastard!"


    That. That was the only word she could use to describe the sudden, boiled-over rage as Hinum aimed her bow at Trick. She was beyond furious, steam almost coming out of her ears, green lightning flickering. Lightning seemed to grow more and more as Trick''s mouth continued to move.


    Thankfully, everyone else in the room seemed to realize the danger of what was going on. Even Underling, who usually at least required fighting to get her to go away, looked as if she was looking for an exit. Even Rom and Ram, brainwashed by Trick, looked uneasy, about half ready to bolt and run as Hinum''s anger continued to build up in explosive fury.


    "Would you shut up already!" IF shouted from somewhere behind the cover. "Can''t you see that you''re only pissing her off!" That managed to get Trick''s attention, though not in a good way.


    "Why should I care about what the old hag thinks?"


    "Because I''m in a position where I have to take the FBI''s job into my own hands, you pedophilic shit fuck!" Hinum bellowed in rage as the room descended into utter chaos.


    How? How did things escalate like this? Oh, right, Nepgear knew exactly how. Even beyond Trick shoving his foot into his mouth and refusing to stop swallowing.

 Chapter 19

    *Earlier that day*


    "So this is where Trick is hiding out?" I looked up at the abandoned building. Calling it a building was a bit of an understatement. It had more in common with an abandoned industrial zone. It looked as if it had been left to rot for years, rust settling in deep into the structure''s walls, even as snow flittered in through the air.


    It certainly looked imposing no matter how you cut it. Of course, a metal building with busted windows and parts of the wall falling off wasn''t what I could consider to be the best place to set up shop. Even without Lowee''s cold, this place was far from ideal as a command center. Sure, nobody was going to come to bother you unless you knew they were there. But did you want your soldiers and equipment to be exposed to the elements that much?


    Unless they were in the basement, which still wasn''t going to be ideal when it came to a hiding spot.


    But it wasn''t as if they could just get a much better place to hide out within city limits, either. That was part of what made the ASIC so annoying to deal with. They preyed on vulnerable people, then skulked on the outskirts of society, inducing more decay and bringing more hardship onto areas already struggling from other issues. This area differently looked as if it had been abandoned wholesale.


    The isolation at least was good for our purposes. If we needed to break out the big guns, we''d be able to do so without much fear of collateral damage. Which had always been one of my bigger concerns about the ASIC. There was an ever-present chance of crossfire when it came to dealing with them, so I''d rather have that distance. Fewer people getting hurt that way.


    "Some people we had keeping an eye on the place have said so," Ram said, smiling. I chuckled slightly. The move was smart. Using law enforcement to scope out the area was always a smart idea, as was doing a stakeout. Intelligence was critical in conflicts like these, and the side with the most knowledge tended to be the side that won.


    "That''s, pretty clever, actually," I heard IF say. Rom and Ram grinned, smiling between themselves.


    "Very smart. Good idea, you two," I praised. A bit rudimentary, but there was something to be said about keeping a plan simple. Ideally, this would scratch one of the Lieutenants of the ASIC from the board. Sure, it wasn''t Judge, a thorn in my side I''d love nothing more than to pitch into a volcano.


    But it was a start. Even if Trick were the weakest of the bunch, arresting or defeating him would prove to be a solid swing in momentum, especially in Lowee, which has had many problems with the ASIC in the past. Removing one of the ASIC''s central leaders from the board was going to throw the local branch into chaos. Putting our enemy on the back foot was always an advantage for us.


    Stepping inside revealed one thing. Plenty of monsters. Well, if nothing else, that was to be expected.


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    "So the trap was a bit obvious in hindsight," IF muttered, ducking behind cover as a monster went flying.


    "MY LEG!"


    That hadn''t been Trick''s voice, though Nepgear wasn''t sure whose it was. It didn''t sound like anyone she was familiar with. Hinum on the other hand, seemed to be a few steps removed from frothing at the mouth.


    "WHARH!" CLANG! Now that was likely Trick. Hinum hitting his head, that was. Nepgear wasn''t sure if Hinum had run out of arrows, or was simply too angry to even attempt to use them, as weird as such a thought was.


    Then again, given how angry she was, clubbing everything that seemed to come into arms reach might have been a blessing in disguise.


    "What even is the FBI thing anyway?" Compa peaked over the rubble.


    "I''m guessing it has something to do with law enforcement from her world?" Nepgear guessed. Hinum made several remarks that led her to believe that.


    "At least if she thinks the whole Candidate thing is something that is supposed to be kept under wraps, she hasn''t revealed that yet!" IF shouted, and while the statement was true, it was also one that caused concern for Nepgear.


    Hinum had the idea that the two were separate, or at least, were meant to be. While this was true to an extent, Hinum took it to a completely different level. And from what she had seen, the cover should have broken from the start. Hinum had issues transforming, or, at the very least, remaining in control when her emotions were running high. They''d all seen it.


    This? This was a little more than just high emotions.


    Hinum was enraged. Not annoyed. Not even angry. She was clearly beyond that point. Nepgear peaked up at the sound of a loud crack, Trick''s round body crashing into one of the walls. He was nearly embedded into it as Hinum drove the weapon into his chin, greenish lightning crackling around her.


    Was she able to hold it off? Or was this something new?


    Trick''s tongue suddenly lashed out, wrapping its way around Hinum''s bow. With a roar, Hinum pulled, using the weapon to swing Trick into the air and through a piece of cover, shattering it completely.


    Still, that wasn''t what she was looking for. She was looking for Rom and Ram. Despite their brainwashed state, even they seemed to get out of there the moment Hinum started laying into Trick.


    Even despite Trick''s orders that they help him.


    In all honesty, that was yet another error on his part. Ordering children to act as his living shields? Hinum was already on the cusp of losing it. Giving that type of order? Even if Rom and Ram hadn''t been scared off, it wouldn''t have helped Trick much anyway. It wasn''t likely Hinum would have hurt the two. Even in a blind rage, that just wasn''t the type of person she was.


    Find a way to get them out of the fight? That was a different story.


    But if they could just break the brainwashing, then that would at least solve part of the problem. And maybe help Hinum calm down just a bit.


    Crash!


    The tiniest of bits. But it was a matter of finding the two in the den of utter chaos as Hinum''s rampage against Trick continued unabated.


    What was most alarming was the sudden loud thump right next to her. Nepgear turned her head, half-expecting some forlorn body part that had been divorced from its owner''s body.


    Instead, it was something considerably worse.


    "You!"


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    "You!"


    The desired effect of my words was for her to turn around and face us. Instead, Linda decided to bolt. I couldn''t exactly blame her, as she was seriously overmatched by a lot of people. It wasn''t like the monsters up top had done them much good anyway. They were hardly worth the warm-up, and that was me being nice about it.


    "After her!" Ram and RED shouted, taking off in impatient pursuit, a sentiment I mirrored. While by this point I figured Linda was too much of a problem to be easily contained, putting in the effort to make sure she was stalled for time was often worth it. Jail may not have been able to hold her, but it slowed her down, and that was more than enough for my needs.


    One of these days, I was going to have to find a way to make sure she stayed put after being arrested. But sadly, that was probably going to have to wait until after the ASIC was defeated for good. Without those resources, I''d imagine she''d have a lot harder a time.


    Or better yet, just give up the life of crime altogether. It did nothing but hurt herself long-term, and if she just gave it up, then it would take a load off my plate as well.


    But that was a pipe dream. I imagined that even if the ASIC was done and dusted, Linda would still find her way into trouble. If it didn''t exist, then maybe. But as things stand now? She was going to be a troublemaker. What she might do may be small without the ASIC backing her up, but I had a feeling she was never going to let that grudge go.


    But in the meantime, might as well incapacitate her. Linda could be tough and spiteful enough to be a problem. Against everyone, I wouldn''t consider it the biggest of problems. But if she combined her efforts with one of the ASIC''s heavy hitters? Then things could compound into something that resembled an issue. Combining their powers, even with us as we are right now, could be problematic.


    Plus, we were on their turf. Never discount home-field advantage. It could account for a lot. Might as well try to stack the deck as much in our favor as possible. The ASIC would certainly be doing the same. I''d be disappointed otherwise.


    x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x


    "You!"


    The hostility went both ways in this case. Nepgear''s finger pointed at none other than Underling herself, who seemed even less amused by the current turn of events.


    "What the hell is wrong with you!" Underling shouted. "Why did you bring that with you!"


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    "You''re the one working with the ASIC! And Trick!" Nepgear shouted back.


    "I have nothing to do with him shoving his foot in his mouth and continuing to swallow!" Underling responded. "I''m trying to survive here!"


    That was true. They were all trying to survive here. Hinum was not happy, even if she could probably tell friend from foe if pushed.


    "I want nothing to do with her when she''s pissed off like that!" Underling continued to complain, gesturing over to the chaos as Trick was once again sent flying with all the grace of a dogoo being used as a skipping stone. A groan of pain was only met with a primal scream as Hinum came down from above, driving her elbow into his stomach as deep as it could go.


    Given what Hinum was doing right now, that wasn''t the most unreasonable concern. But.


    "You''re working for the people who caused this in the first place!" IF shouted from the other end of the room. That. That more or less covered everything about why Underling was whining. Because she was hardly innocent in all this. Sure, she doubted anyone could have seen this one coming. Hinum could get angry, and even then, it seemed like it would take a lot of push for her. And she had gone well past that point by now.


    "How was I supposed to know it would result in this!" Underling snapped."I''ve been fighting her for years! She normally doesn''t act like this!"


    Which was obvious. Hinum treated Underling as a joke, and Judge with seemingly more seriousness. She had a run-in with Brave that didn''t go well, and this was the first time she had run into Trick.


    Which put things at someone Hinum didn''t consider enough of a problem, at least, to Underling''s face, to even get worked up over her in the first place.


    Still, so long as Underling was staying out of things and not trying to swing the fight in favor of her boss, then Nepgear certainly wasn''t going to encourage her to act differently. Maybe they could convince her to surrender peacefully after this. They needed to make sure Trick was defeated, certainly.


    But it needed to be isolated. Letting Hinum be seen like this? Wasn''t going to be good. Even without her transforming, which was still by no means certain, it could cause issues. At least, Nepgear was sure Hinum would think so if she was a bit more rational at the moment.


    She put a lot of care into maintaining an image. Or Hinum would be concerned about the political ramifications of all this. Especially if Rom or Ram got hurt. Or both. Hinum would not forgive herself for that and would be keenly aware that something like that would cause issues. Or if it got out that the ASIC managed to brainwash both, which was an alarming prospect by itself.


    Hinum would probably be very concerned about that once she snapped out of it.


    But they still needed to find Rom and Ram, if only to retreat with the two to a safer distance. That was the least she could do until Hinum started to run out of steam. If that was even possible by this point. It had to be. Someone couldn''t be angry forever, right?


    Hinum was more than making a case for that though. Something drew Nepgear''s eye from the corner of the corner of the room.


    Was that? Rom and Ram? What were they doing?


    x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x


    Being under mind control was a difficult thing to describe. Especially when one had to pretend to act as if they weren''t under another''s control. That was the most difficult part. So close to what you should be, and yet, far enough away that you can''t do anything. Even when you knew something is wrong.


    It was its form of madness, yet it was one they could do nothing to stop. Even as their friends went deeper and deeper into the trap. It wasn''t all according to plan. Hinum was very good at making sure there weren''t any monsters at their back. But it wasn''t going to matter once they got to Trick.


    That was what the twins had thought.


    "Too old? I''m a maiden in the springtime of my ¡­"


    The way her voice trailed off, her face frozen as if contemplating something horrible. There was a familiarity to it. One they had seen before. They would watch it in slow time. The tightening of muscles. The shift in expression went from disgust and terror, to complete and utter rage.


    They could tell, because they''d seen it before. So, so many times before. It was both comforting in its familiarity, but also terrifying. For the same reason.


    Then the storm broke, and the tempest began. A lot of things broke at that moment. The tension, the worry, a portion of Trick''s face. Their mind control was a big one, but that was only one thing of many.


    One must understand. For the pair of young girls, Hinum could be scary. She was the one who walked up on stage, throwing the ASIC''s methods out to where the public could see them. Seemingly uncaring about her losses or her lack of experience.


    But at the same time, she was also brave. Immediately picking a fight with the ASIC when so much was on the line. To come in swinging, instead of trying to get as much power as possible. It was strange to watch from a distance. Green Sister didn''t seem to play the game as their sister described it.


    She never tried to reach beyond her borders, seemingly to focus on dealing with the ASIC, instead of getting shares from the others. It didn''t make sense. And yet, it seemed to be working, as Leanbox managed to claw back Shares little by little.


    So scary, and cool. In what amounts tended to vary between the twins and the day. Hinum''s fights with Judge only cemented matters.


    Then Nepgear came along. They were mad, of course, but she wanted to speak with Green Sister as well. For Leanbox''s Mascot.


    They always meant to go to Leanbox. That was one of their earlier ideas, and they needed to be there before Uni got to the place first. Then Green Sister showed up. Sure, they''d heard about her in passing, but beyond that? Her showing herself took them by surprise.


    So they figured why not. They could lay low, and collect some shares while Nepgear found the Mascot.


    Then they met her. While Uni and Nepgear could tell she was putting on an act of sorts, Rom and Ram didn''t. While Hinum remained potentially scary, and she showed why that was the case, she was pretty nice. She seemed nice, if a bit shady and bossy.


    Seeing her again was nice. But for all the reasons they found Hinum scary, it was always the one that tickled at the back of their minds. A subtle familiarity that rested just below the surface. One not intentionally concealed. But a quirk of personality, one brought out in extreme moments. When one had been pushed to the end of their fuse.


    The twins were more than familiar with what happened when that fuse was gone.


    And the bomb had nothing left to do but explode.


    x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x


    "We have to do something," Rom whispered carefully, even if she didn''t need to. With all the noise, anything she said would be smothered by the violence.


    "I''m thinking!" Ram whisper shouted back, trying to come up with a plan. She wasn''t sure how they were free now, either Hinum was so scary it undid Trick''s control, or she had broken something important.


    The reason could go either way. But they needed to beat Trick. They needed to take advantage of this opportunity. Hinum might well do it herself, given the utter beating she was giving him. But Ram would rather do it herself. For several reasons. She wanted payback! If simply for the sake of getting back at the disgusting toad.


    And in that moment, an idea popped into her head. It wouldn''t work quite like that. But it would let them win all the same.


    "Okay, here''s what we need to do."


    x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x


    Nepgear watched Rom and Ram lift off the ground, magic building up in their staves. Trick and Hinum were far too busy to notice, as by this point Hinum was trying to beat his face in with whatever she could get her hands on. Mostly her fists, which were still surprisingly having an impact, if the numerous rents in Trick''s armor were anything to go by.


    A second later, Trick was blasted out of Hinum''s hands, skipping across the concrete basement like a rock on a lake. For a high ranking member of the ASIC, the blow would have been nowhere near enough on its own. But it had not been delivered on its own. Rather, it truncated a one-sided beat down, one that almost seemed to be focused more on being cruel than anything else.


    But that seemed to be enough. Trick being knocked aside by someone else, and no longer moving at that, seemed to be enough to bring Hinum to her senses. Her breathing was heavy as she came to a still, almost wincing for either pain, or exhaustion.


    "What the hell happened?"

 Chapter 20

    "Usually, it doesn''t get that bad," I rubbed the back of my head. And it was true, too. Brave pissed me off, but I still didn''t exactly do anything outside the ordinary besides fighting and using fifty words of insults when only five would be necessary. Even when I was pissed as hell at Vert, I still only used words. Never nasty and hard-hitting words, granted, but still, things never came to physical blows.


    The last time I''d used violence, it''d nearly been a decade ago. And by violence, I meant throwing a book at someone''s head. It wasn''t like they didn''t deserve it, either, given how many times they''d been told to knock off their shit. It didn''t hit them, either, though I also acknowledge I could have handled the situation better.


    But between the stress of, everything, me blowing my stop fully was only going to be a matter of time. This time, it was just, more than it usually was. Which was something of its damn can of worms. And it wasn''t going to be one I exactly liked. I wasn''t a stoic. Not really. Admittedly, I could play the part when I wanted to, but I usually wore my heart on my sleeve. Even if my heart was ambivalent disinterest.


    But I was going to need to keep an eye on this. Bottling things up was unhealthy, and with all the stress it was never going to help. Sure, the eruption had passed, for now. But I doubted my emotions were completely spent. I could easily still have enough temper built up for a follow-up. At least I aimed it at someone who deserved it.


    When I got to Leanbox, I was going to have to take some steps. Being a member of the ASIC was already illegal, but Trick? He was getting sent into, I don''t know, some type of hyper-illegal state, or something. I didn''t know, and I also didn''t exactly care. I didn''t want that slug anywhere near my country, or any of the people in it. Super Hell. I was going to find a way to send him to Super Hell. That would serve my purposes just fine.


    I took a deep breath in.


    "Are you sure? You still seem a bit," Nepgear looked unsure, though I doubt my clenched fists were doing much to convenience anyone that I had calmed down even the slightest amount. I mean, I had. I wasn''t frothing at the mouth anymore. But I was still steaming. Calmer, but not calm. Yet.


    "Angry? Yeah, it''s not every day you run into an avowed pedophile that needs to have their face vigorously kicked in," I said, trying to avoid putting too much inflection into my voice. Trick was sick. I doubted I was reading too hard into this. He''d been completely serious when he called me old. Which wasn''t a big deal. I felt old, and I wasn''t above joking about it, either. Sometimes, I''d just feel old. And that was something that went back to high school.


    I blame them for remaking many of the games I played during my childhood.


    But that was a simple fact of being confronted by decades of life. I knew I wasn''t old, but I could damn well take it as a joke because it somewhat reflected how I felt on the inside.


    "What''s a pedophile?" I was too close to my rage-breaking point to even go into full detail on how to answer that.


    "They''re terrible people who do horrible things to young children and those who look like young children," I ground out. "And they deserve as much suffering as possible."


    That seemed enough of an answer to placate the twins, though it wasn''t enough for everyone.


    "What exactly does it have to do with this Fi-Be-I?" IF asked, crossing her arms.


    "It''s, just the FBI. It stands for Federal Bureau of Investigations. It was made by the Federal government needing a way to investigate interstate crimes," I got several confused looks. "Which as a word salad means nothing to you as you know nothing about how the government back home works.*


    Which was something I never intended to cover. Shares worked in a way close enough to the consent of the governed, as one had to keep the will of the people in mind to maintain Shares. I didn''t want the chaos of talking about our system and somebody getting bit by the good idea fairy.


    "The short version is that they were founded as a way to deal with bootleggers," another word that would mean nothing to them. "Smuggling Alcohol during the Prohibition Era. Their powers have expanded considerably in the century since, as they''re also used to deal with crimes like human trafficking."


    "I see," IF looked somewhat uncomfortable at that.


    I push myself up. I guess we arrest whoever was left, or something? I looked around the room, observing the ruin.


    I did a number on this place.


    x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x


    "We''re fine, we''re fine!" Ram protested in Nina''s grip, trying to escape the young woman''s grasp.


    "Technically, you weren''t," I said, giving Mina a healthy distance, allowing her to cry it out, rather than deal with risking the consequences.


    "And wouldn''t have been if it weren''t for Ms. Temper Temper over there," IF jabbed her finger towards me.


    "Trick started it," I whined, a complaint that was a lot less imposing when coming from someone other than an Iowa class battleship.


    Nor did it do anything to help my case. My reputation. I was going to be known as the angry one rather than the mature one of the group, wasn''t I?


    I mean I did already have a bit of a reputation due to my fights with Judge. But that was more badass fights. I didn''t want to have the reputation of being a berserker. That wasn''t chill at all.


    But it was friendlyish ribbing. I could live with that. Friendlyish because I was unsure where IF and I stood. She seemed to be the brains of Nepgear''s group. At least, the most straight-laced member of the group. As much as people tended to be around here.


    "I think you came pretty close to killing him," Compa said, and I couldn''t quite exactly fully place her tone. I did my best to keep my expression blank, as Trick being six feet under sounded like the opposite of a bad thing. Even without the whole ASIC thing, Trick was what would be considered a problem on a good day, and that was me being generous.


    "He''s probably crawled back into some pit or another too," I paused, about to say lick but realizing that may just be not a particular word I want to use. "Recover." That was probably much better phrasing around the two kids other than saying lick his wounds. Sure, there was a chance he bled out, or whatever the ASIC commanders did that passed for bleeding out. If my bouts with Judge had taught me anything, it was that these things were far less human than I think even they realized.


    However, it was far more likely that they just didn''t care what happened to their bodies. The only one who might was probably Brave.


    "So we probably won''t have to worry about him for a while," I frown. Trying to take out an ASIC Commandment would be a goal to strive for. That was something they couldn''t simply replace by hacking together some version of an already existing game in the woods. Trick and his compatriots were something that should be almost irreplaceable to the ASIC. After that display, Trick just put himself at the top of the list, mostly because he was the weakest of the four. Judge was a unit, not impossible to beat, but certainly a challenge. It would take most of us to beat him.


    Brave was likely stronger than Trick, but if we could take Judge, we could take him, too. It was Magic that was going to be the biggest problem for us in a straight fight. But she was a problem for future us.


    "That was still really cool! She hit him like Pow!" So they moved on to telling Nina what happened. All the more reason to stay away from the woman for the next little bit. "She was a bit like big sis."


    This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    Thump.


    "Are you okay?" Nepgear looked down at me.


    "Please don''t tell me one of them just said that I was a bit like big sis," I groaned, rubbing my palms against my face. I was not ready for that type of responsibility, even by proxy.


    "Okay, we won''t," IF chuckled back, and I was so, so tempted to flip this woman off. But that would set a bad example for the kids. Nor if I was ''like their sister'', having the conversation of ''how do my sweet darling angels know how to flip someone the bird now'', was not in my interest. Even the slightest damned bit. I would never much not be enthused at best, to being outright pissed at worst.


    It probably didn''t help that I didn''t have an actual standing for them as a person. I highly doubt that Vert''s relationship with me was anywhere near standard for the others. There were a lot of different elements thrown into those gears from the get-go that just didn''t exist for them.


    I was going to have to address it at some point down the line. But at some point down the line was getting closer and closer with each passing day. We were going to rescue them. It was only a matter of time. I still had no clue what I wasn''t even going to say to Vert. Not even the slightest idea of what to say. Sorry was at the top of the list, but that was also about as far as things went.


    I shook my head, focusing my thoughts elsewhere.


    "Hopefully the good ways," I grumbled. Again, I had no idea what their older sister was even like. At this point, I was going to take what I could get after going on what amounted to a violent bender. The back-and-forth motion of IF''s hands and the somewhat wincing of Nepgear were not inspiring confidence on that front.


    "She''s usually really cool until you make her mad. Then she swears a lot and hits things!" Ram shouted as Rom nodded her head. "Usually when people make her angry, or when somebody calls her flat."


    "I, see," I said, unsure of how to process that. I tucked that away as information that might be important later. Also under the hypothesis that the ages we Candidates possessed reflected the appearance in age of that of our older siblings. Of course, Rom and Ram''s sister could easily be just, tall and flat at the same time. It wasn''t like, oh who am I kidding? There was hardly anyone with responsible proportions here. And I included myself in that statement. If she was reacting to something that juvenile, then probably wasn''t much older than her sisters.


    "She would like what you did to Trick though," Rom muttered, a slight smile on her face.


    "I approve of what I did to Trick," I crossed my arms, though I did appreciate the sentiment. More people really should approve of that. Trick more than deserved it by any metric possible. He was a damned monster, plain and simple. Sure, it''d cost me my reputation, and as much as I moaned and complained about it, I''d also do the same thing in a heartbeat.


    "Yeah, yeah, keep it calm there," IF teased, as I rolled my eyes.


    "But thanks anyway. Someone like that shouldn''t be around kids, period," I grinned slightly. I did need that, at the end of the day. Something that at least kept my reputation afloat a little bit, even if it was only with Rom and Ram.


    "Yeah, it was cool how you hit him with your bow, like Bam!" Ram swung her arms like she was holding a golf club. "Then you hit him with your elbow, like smash!"


    No, my reputation.


    x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x


    "That could have gone better."


    "Better! That scarcely could have gone worse!"


    "At least we got footage out of it, right?"


    "Well."


    "Are you shitting me!"


    "It wouldn''t have played well even if the cameras survived. If anything, it would have bolstered her reputation."


    "You have to be shitting me. All that effort, for nothing!"


    "I wouldn''t say nothing. We now know that aggressively beating up lolicons, how would they say it, plays well in the polls."


    "That''s a piece of shit! You''re saying we can''t beat her?"


    "Are you surprised that this wouldn''t be easy? She''s likely been playing this game longer than any of us had figured out it existed. Before we even considered it as an option. Of course, she will make use of a stacked deck when she knows all the cards."


    "If we could try and get her that angry again at something far less trivial, then it could have more of an impact."


    "But we''re running out of time!"


    "We''ve been running out of time before things come to a head, yes. But by my calculations, we ran out of time a while ago."


    "We have. The major players are taking their places on the board. This will be coming to a head. I doubt it''s the beginning of the end, and more of, the end of the beginning."


    "Fine, it''s not as if the ASIC is infinitely worse than the Goddesses and their kid sisters anyway."


    "Mostly because it allows us to live long enough to enact our aims."


    "This is true."


    "Good. Now that we have that agreed upon, who''s been keeping an eye on what''s happening in Lastation?"


    "What''s been happening in Lastation?"


    "The two of you, I swear."


    x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x


    "I suppose you have shown that you''re capable enough to keep them safe," I heard Mina say, as Rom and Ram dragged me around. I could have stopped them at any time if I wanted to. I was strong enough that grabbing the sisters and putting them on my shoulders would have been trivial. But they were having fun, and keeping their minds off things was the most important. And it wasn''t like the Lowee Basilicom was pretty damn cool in its own right. While Leanbox''s felt more like a modern information center, Lowee''s had a fantastical feel to it. Almost as if it were Disney World or something similar.


    "Really!" Ram let go of my hand, hurrying over to where Nepgear and Mina had been talking. Part of the reason I had taken up child wrangling duties. Give them time to talk things out, without, well, mostly Ram pestering them. Ram was a menace. Rom was a darling on her best behavior. I knew twins could be opposites, frankly, it was such a trope that I tended to expect it, even in real life. But Rom and Ram weren''t just contrasted by one another, but by their very hairstyles and colored outfits they wore. I calmly walked over with Rom, almost tempted to put her on my shoulders, maybe so Ram could understand that running off first wasn''t always the smart idea, but I decided against it.


    "Yes, really," Mina sighed, rubbing her forehead. "They have shown capable of keeping the two of you safe." I smile, despite myself. That was good news, and I wasn''t going to pretend it wasn''t. It put us one, two steps, really to freeing our sisters. We just needed one more person, and then we were good to go.


    We were down to just Uni, weren''t we? Still, that shouldn''t be too difficult. Yeah, she was stubborn, but by this point, we had the numbers. She wanted the same thing we wanted. So it was going to be a matter of just knocking on her door, maybe helping her with some stuff, then boom, time to raid the graveyard.


    "Well, we just need Uni, right?" I said with a smile. She could be a bit of a brat, but I''d started to warm up to her. "That should be" I slapped my hands over my mouth to stop me from finishing what I was about to say. For the love of all that is good in the world, do not tell me I just threw out a red flag in front of Murphy like that.


    Everyone stared at me, almost afraid to make a sound. The air was so still one could hear the drop of a pin.


    Then came a ringing, followed by a voice, slightly panicked.


    "Uni''s missing!"


    FUUU-


    x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x


    "She''s still mad, isn''t she?"


    "Yep."

 Chapter 21

    "Can''t you just use that thing you use on Judge?"


    "With you four in the splash zone? Not a chance in hell! Besides, we need to see if we can beat this guy without any tricks. Consider him a warm-up for when we face Judge, because I''m not popping that thing with our sister''s nearby, either."


    "Why are you the most reasonable person that I hate?"


    "Oh, put a sock in it!"


    x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x


    We should have stuck together from the start. Group up and beat Judge''s face in, grab our sisters, and the get out before anything else went wrong. But no, we had to split up again, even if we agreed to help each other out. And now, Uni was missing. And I didn''t need to explain why that was a bad thing. Sure, we''d smacked around one of their officers, badly enough that I doubt he would show his face again for a while. But frankly?


    We needed Uni far more than the ASIC needed Trick. And while I doubt it was retaliation for the embarrassing defeat he suffered, that was an exchange I was willing to make.


    "Stop brooding!" Ram grabbed hold of my shoulders, shaking me back and forth.


    "I. Am. Not. Brooding." I protested, careful not to bite my tongue as I spoke, despite the aggressive back and forth.


    "You kinda are, though," IF pointed out, as I slumped. I may have tried to protest, but I was being moody about the news. Not unjustifiably, given that this was yet another setback and a concerning one at that.


    "Uni should be fine," Nepgear tapped her hands against her leg. "She''s pretty strong. Maybe she went out to fight a monster and just hasn''t come back yet?"


    That, was the best-case scenario. Uni didn''t strike me as the time to forget such important information, though. Maybe if she was in a hurry to get a monster dead? Even then, as I understood it, Leanbox''s Oracle ran a tight ship at all times, even more so than Histoire, to a certain extent.


    I wasn''t going to say that was the best-case scenario, or hopefully. Not out loud. As much as I preferred to hope for the best and prepare for the worst, I could tell Nepgear was not taking the news particularly well, either. And while I tended to think out my issues, I didn''t think the same was the case for Nepgear.


    So I wasn''t exactly going to vocalize that thinking it would just work out was a bit naive, because that was the exact opposite of what she needed to hear. I''ve been there, I''ve done that. Worry incessantly was not good for one''s health, though it wasn''t as if of pot calling the kettle black. I did it a lot myself.


    But what did matter was that she was missing. Trouble or not, that was a problem. Hopefully, it would be one we could quickly fix without a lot of effort.


    And my brain was well, in short, a very hot mess, even on a good day. This was only making the brain bugs even more paranoid than they already were. And that was never a good thing for anyone. It didn''t help matters that I hadn''t fully cooled off yet. My temper was still a bit tweaked, no matter how much I didn''t like it.


    Still, Uni was ideally, alright. We weren''t exactly unstoppable by any metric, but even as Candidates, we were pretty strong on our own.


    x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x


    The mechanical beast exploded as Nepgear cut the creature in half, delivering the finishing blow on the monster.


    "I''m beginning to see why Uni might have had trouble with this," she panted as Compa began to work her healing abilities. That was a thing I started to notice. It wasn''t a big deal at the moment, as Compa was a blessing and IF was around to run interference, but aside of Nepgear, all of us Candidates fought at range. Rom and Ram used magic, Uni had her gun, and I used a bow and arrows.


    It wasn''t bad when it came to one versus many fights.


    But fights like this one? Once Compa was done with Nepgear, RED and IF, she moved over to me. The backline could quickly become compromised. Despite the trio''s best efforts. And this wasn''t exactly an easy dungeon, either, and the monsters mostly being machines, made it very clear on who it was that created this place.


    Or paranoid brain bugs were starting to get the better of me. Still, it felt like the monsters here were focusing on us Candidates rather than the human members of our party. Which may have been good in the case of our healer not coming under fire, but bad for us in the back. I could take a few hits, but Rom and Ram were considerably more brittle compared to me. They did not have the same hit-taking capacity that I did, but they were also children, so that went a long way to explain that.


    "We''re getting close to the end though, but at this rate, I''m starting to think that we''ll end up finding that Uni arrived at the Basilicom while we were out searching for her," IF frowned, as I stretched out my back.


    "I''d take that outcome, in all honesty," I shrugged. It was better than any of the alternatives by a considerable margin. Sure, Uni would probably tease us over it, but I could take that. "This gives us a chance to stretch our legs and grab some stuff."


    This place was giving us plenty of experience, and while we were probably strong enough to take a lot of things, it was hardly like gaining a few additional levels wouldn''t hurt. Better to be safe than sorry when it came down to such things. Better to have them and not need them rather than need them and not have them. Which I didn''t think needed explaining.


    Plus, the additional little bit of quest rewards we could turn in just from killing things should be more than enough to help bump us up over the edge. Or just the things we got as rewards.


    Plus, it still dealt with ASIC assets, if only a little bit. That by itself was worth it.


    There was a decent amount of wreckage already in the area. Uni had been here at some point recently. Someone with a fair bit of strength had been, anyway.


    "That''s a big one," I heard RED gaze behind us. I smile a bit. Which while familiar, almost seemed to twist as if it was glitching out. But there was only one.


    "I''ll protect you, wifies!" The eccentric woman declared, already closing the range with the monster.


    "She''s really just rushing in there?" IF frowned as I pulled back an arrow.


    "I''d be tempted to let her learn the lessons Leroy learned the hard way," I paused, RED and I''s strikes occurring moments after the other. But frankly, keeping the tank in tip-top condition was a bit more important than childing her for reckless pulling.


    We weren''t at the many whelps, handle it, point yet.


    Fire erupted from the twins'' staff, joining with my more exotic arrow skills, keeping the bombardment at range. I grin as several shots find gaps in its armor, ones left behind by some previous engagement.


    What Earthshaker''s I fired were aimed for these points, as I took careful aim, being sure one didn''t land those fighting in melee.


    Nobody liked it when one of those ended up in the thick of it. Not that I blamed them. They were great for creating space when on my own. Indiscriminate AOE in a team fight? Considerably less so.


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    Still, one managed to slip into a gap in armor, a hole that only began to crack and spread as the limb began to shake. It swiftly became useless, before a flash of Nepgear''s sword took it off completely. It stumbled from the sudden loss of balance, catching a fireball in the face for its efforts.


    IF leaped up, bringing her knives along what would have been eyes, causing it to scream in even more pain. Well, I presume. I had no idea if it felt any pain or not.


    It was wounded. Damaged before we had gotten here. Its body twitched as cables seemingly trying to reattach its severed arm before I put an arrow through several, pinning it to the ground. From there, it didn''t take long to finish it off, as I put an arrow into its chest, Rom and Ram froze its legs, and Nepgear took off part of its head.


    That was more than enough to put the nail in the coffin of the monster. Hell, I could see some weird microchip, embedded deep inside that did not look natural. As natural as such monsters could be, at any rate. I decided against messing with it. I had no idea what it actually did by any stretch of the imagination, and while I was willing to be curious, I wasn''t that dumb. Usually.


    But that was the boss of the area. And still no sign of Uni. That was a good sign? Maybe? She wasn''t here at the place she was supposed to be, which was hopefully a sign she had just gotten waylaid and we''d only missed her on the way in.


    And if it wasn''t? Then we were going to have a real issue. Because if she wasn''t here, and hadn''t gone back, then where the hell had she gone?


    "Over there!" I heard IF shout, her finger pointed to a nearby rock formation.


    Well. That wasn''t a good sign. We all rushed over, Compa reaching her first, fingers pressing against Uni''s wrist.


    "She''s stable," Compa''s words made us all breathe a sigh of relief. Still, that was all around what one would consider a very bad sign. It wasn''t a monster that did this. A monster wouldn''t leave someone unconscious most of the time. Someone or something else had been here.


    And the list of things that could go toe to toe with a Candidate that weren''t powerful monsters? It was a damn short list.


    We needed to get her back to the Basilicom. The faster the better.


    x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x


    I loved flying. I hated having to carry people when I flew. The human body plan was not made with ferrying other human beings through the sky in mind. But it was doable. Not expectly pleasant, given that Uni had to be carried herself, something that made things even more difficult, given how it meant Rom and Ram also had to carry someone. We had to fly pretty low too, just in case someone got dropped by accident. It was far less subtle, but we managed to go undetected until we arrived at the Basilicom, landing on the upper levels. It didn''t take long to alert Kei to our presence on the, leading to the Lastation Oracle making her way up to see us.


    Kei was tiny, and one of the few people I''d mistaken to be a man when I first met her. Which wasn''t exactly hard to do, and I doubted I was the only one. She didn''t give off tomboy energy, despite her preference for suits and short hair. Her short stature made it easy to underestimate her, as she looked far more like a child than the calculated businesswoman she very actively was.


    I knew the least about her otherwise. Frankly, I''d heard more about her from working with businesses than I had from Histoire. And most of what I''d heard from them was a mixture of being impressed by her skills, and utter terror. What I did know was that Uni was very lucky to have a woman like that at her back.


    Her eyes flickered between us, before her eyes fell on Uni, Kei''s expression softening slightly.


    "I guess that explains why she hadn''t returned," I detected a bit of edge under the woman''s voice as if she were about to find the responsible party and stab them. Not I could blame her for such an expression. Uni was still out cold. I didn''t doubt that she would wake up, but the situation was, not great. Thankfully, nobody saw us on the way in, so no diplomatic incidents. Yet.


    That always felt like a thing I had to say. Yet. No diplomatic issues yet.


    "I''m guessing you found her like this?" Kei curtly said, fingers tight against the palms of her hands.


    "I''m sorry, but we did. We don''t have any idea what happened," Nepgear nodded, who was still clearly concerned about her friend. All of us were. Uni wasn''t weak by any stretch of the imagination. So something that had been able to knock her out like this was a bit, concerning, to say the least. Monsters wouldn''t do this. They wouldn''t just knock someone out in the first place. Some smarter ones might, but there was nothing to show that was the case this time around.


    Compa continued to treat the multiple bruises on Uni''s body, focusing entirely on her work.


    "At least she''s safe now," Kei slumped slightly, rubbing her forehead.


    That was the upside to this whole mess. At least Uni was now safe from whatever it was that caused this.


    Of course, we had no idea what the hell was going on. And likely wouldn''t until Uni woke up. Speculation was likely not going to get us anywhere, though it wasn''t like I had a fairly short list of suspects.


    Come on. Who else would be involved in something like this? This had the ASIC written all over it. How much it involved our little adventure in Lowee was unknown. Given the close timing, probably not. Maybe we should have just stuck together at the very least. We couldn''t blitz the Graveyard, not yet, the Oracles were still working on the final things we needed to free our sisters. Sure, we needed to protect our nations, but splitting up had left us completely exposed to counterattack. Thankfully, I checked in with Chika, and everything was fairly calm. Slightly increased ASIC activity on the fringes, but I could deal with that when I returned.


    x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x


    "I have to admit, I''m almost impressed." There was a shattering of steel, chains breaking with almost a casual flick of the wrist. "Almost. I do not understand why you seek to waylay me on this matter."


    Or even how they thought they could be anything else than a nuisance, after all. Not even one worthy of his attention, either. They were slowing him down, yes, but only just. It wasn''t like they could do anything to him. Other than be a minor annoyance.


    "Objective, keep subject in Lastation for confrontational testing. All other objectives secondary."


    Confrontational testing? Surely, they had to know that he was strong if they had been able to pull something like this. They had to be watching for a while. Long enough that they should know he was strong enough to beat a Goddess on his own.


    "A pity." He smashed the drone to pieces, the last of the chains trying to hold him falling away like dust on the wind. They hadn''t even needed to take such a step in the first place. He wasn''t exactly planning on leaving Lastation in the first place. But still, if their goal was to keep him here, to test something in combat.


    Well, he wouldn''t be opposed to obliging just this once.

 Chapter 22

    Slowly. Slowly. She had enough time to fix this. Be out and back before anyone knew she was even gone. She had to do this. Her pride was on the line. She couldn''t have others fixing her mistakes. Losing was embarrassing enough. She couldn''t let someone else fix her problems. Let someone else fix her sister''s country.


    Still, she knew this place like the back of her hand. Far better than any of her guests. She could sneak out, easy-peasy. She just had to be sure to take things slowly. One step at a time. She just needed a few more before she got the window. Then she could get around to avenging herself after she lost, too!


    SQUEAK.


    Uni froze mid-motion as the floorboards let out a sound beneath her feet. She stood completely still, waiting to hear any other sound, any sign that she had woken the others up. Silence filled the air as Uni slowly lifted her foot back up, taking great care to put it down on a part of the floorboards that weren''t noisy.


    Of course, nobody heard. Everyone was fast asleep. There was nobody awake to hear her. She had absolutely nothing to worry about. She could be in and out before anyone knew she was gone.


    "Uni, what are you doing up?"


    Uni swore up and down that she, at that moment, did not scream like a small child.


    Everyone knew she was lying, though.


    x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x


    "Hold it right there you two," I do my best to whisper shout, keeping the two twins from rushing in. I would like to have my own words with Uni. Granted, harsh ones that she probably didn''t need to hear right now. Or ever. But I was willing to admit that she didn''t need to hear a single word out of my mouth on the matter. As much as I wanted to call her out for her recklessness, I wasn''t going to at this point.


    In part because Nepgear beat me to the punch. And seemingly knew how to pull such a punch so it wouldn''t emotionally shatter a person. That wasn''t something I was good at.


    I planned on ignoring things once I caught sight of what was going on. Nepgear seemed to have things well in hand. Nepgear was the one who convinced Uni that a united front had been needed against me in the first place. She had a far better pulse on Uni than I ever did. Plus, I kind of needed the sleep, to be honest. Sure, sleeping through, that, would be a stretch to sell. But I could be a pretty heavy sleeper.


    Of course, any thoughts of sleeping through died a quick death upon a single realization. I wasn''t the only one in earshot.


    Or the building, really, I wouldn''t be surprised if there was much, if any, difference. Sure, there was probably a contingent that would sleep through the noise, or likely come to the same conclusion as I did. Any guesses as to who wouldn''t be part of that group? If you guessed, a pair of twins hardly any mentally older than ten years old?


    Rom would try to be the voice of reason like she always was. But Ram would likely have none of it, and then we''d be off to the races. Not that I was still expecting anything bad to happen, but an ounce of prevention was worth a pound of cure. Until the group hugs became needed. And while I had no problem with group comfort hugs, which honestly, I expected that Uni would need.


    What? I could read between the lines. She probably would need a group hug by the end of this. And it wasn''t as if I couldn''t read between the lines, either. Sneaking out in the middle of the night like that? After we had just found her beaten up? I knew exactly where that was going. I didn''t think she''d do it, but here we were.


    She was going to head out and fight Brave again. Understandable, as the man needed to be fought, and he clearly was a threat. Doing it on your own after you lost the first round? Not so much. Okay, maybe less understandable, and more unintelligent.


    Then again, I think there was more to it than Uni simply wanting to avenge herself going on here. Uni was emotional, yes, but she wasn''t exactly what I would consider dumb. She should know that that was a bad idea. I paused for a moment as if lost in thought.


    Ah. It wasn''t that she was trying to avenge herself. Not directly. I wanted to smack myself for not realizing it sooner.


    I may have been a unique case, but if I wasn''t, our nations were about all we had left when it came to our sisters. A slight against a nation was a slight against our sisters. We wanted to take care of our nations as best as we could. What else did we have left to honor their memories? Sure, we all wanted our sisters back, but they were still absent from our lives. For me, I wasn''t ashamed to admit that there were mixed feelings. We''d only started to patch things up after I blew up in Vert''s face. But for them? They had their sisters for an entire lifetime. They knew nothing else, and to have their sisters stripped from them?


    Of course, they were going to defend what they had left. Even if it meant coming into conflict with those who would otherwise be their allies. In hindsight, it was pretty damn clear what was really going on.


    Her loss wasn''t about her losing, but what that loss meant as far as protecting the last precious thing she had to hold onto her sister. And if she could be beaten by a member of ASIC leadership?


    Yeah, I could see where that would be going. None of that was good. For any of us, really.


    x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x


    "Uni," Nepgear started, looking at her somewhat younger friend. For her part, Uni shifted her feet. She hadn''t expected to be caught during this, least of all by Nepgear, of all people. Hinum, yes, absolutely. She was the one Uni had been most concerned about. Hinum totally would be awake for unknown reasons in the middle of the night to hear someone step on floorboards. It''s what Uni would expect out of the younger Candidate. To be inexplicably ready for just about every situation no matter how unlikely it was to occur in the first place. Just get in, take names, kick face, and be done before sunset.


    Because that was just how Hinum did things. She was used to fighting Judge, on her own, without any help. For all Hinum''s waxing about teamwork and unity, she was the only one who didn''t need it. She was more than enough on her own to solve all of these different sorts of problems. She didn''t need that sort of help. She just did so without a second thought or care in the world.


    She knew Hinum had an unfair advantage, but that didn''t change anything. Uni knew she should be capable of much more. If a barely minted candidate could match the ASIC''s highest-ranked officers, so should she. Uni should be able to do at the least that much when it came to Lastation''s safety.


    Right?


    And yet. She lost to Brave, and it wasn''t even close. She lost by a mile, to someone that was, at the end of the day, a threat to her country. And she couldn''t do a single thing to stop him.


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    What were the odds Hinum would have been able to do without issue? Well, minimal issue. But that wasn''t the issue. A newly minted Goddess would have solved things quicker than she did. She''d been solving them faster. Solve them better. With less mess and less fuss she actually thought about bringing the businesses on board and focusing purely on the ASIC rather than wasting time fighting over nothing.


    "Uni?" This time, the touch on her shoulder was enough to snap her out of her thoughts, as Uni crossed her arms with a huff. She didn''t need comfort, she needed to fight Brave! She needed to prove that she could do this on her own! That she didn''t need anyone''s help defending Lastation, as a CPU Candidate should!


    "I don''t have time for this!" Unit turned around, preparing to step away only for a hand to wrap around her wrist, not letting her move an inch. Uni began to turn around, preparing to shout, only to stop because of the surprising firmness that made up Nepgear''s features. It wasn''t angry. In fact, Uni couldn''t place it, not easily. Her mouth was a thin line, instead of the nervous, or well, just smile that Uni had come to associate with Nepgear as a whole. The upbeat and positive look that seemed to be on Nepgear''s face most of the time had fallen away.


    "Please."


    It was one word. A single word. Something that at the end of the day, should have been meaningless. Not even worth noting. But, here and now? It was more than enough.


    "Please what!" Uni snapped, with a scowl.


    "Stop trying to solve every single problem by yourself!" Even though Nepgear''s voice wasn''t loud, it still had plenty of impact. Uni almost felt herself stagger from the verbal blow. "We''re all trying to get our sister''s back. We''re all trying to save Gamindustri. You don''t have to keep doing this on your own anymore! Please, just accept getting help! You have friends that want to help you, who want you to be safe."


    Uni stood there, completely taken off guard by the outburst. Nepgear considered them, friends? Of course she did, that was just how Nepgear was. But the others? There was no way they''d consider her a friend.


    Of course, the moment the thought crossed Uni''s mind, she felt not one, not two, but three separate impacts slam into her back, sending her tumbling to the ground. Uni groan, in part because one of those impacts was significantly larger than the others. Two pairs of arms wrapped around her waist, while a third, larger pair, gripped Uni''s shoulders.


    "Accept our friendship, you freaking tsundere!" A voice that could only belong to Hinum said, Uni getting the impression that the only reason the taller Candidate wasn''t vigorously shaking her shoulders was that doing so would result in Uni''s face hitting the floor.


    More. Hitting the floor more.


    Which meant the two smaller groups of hands had to belong to Rom and Ram, the two younger Candidates keeping a death grip on her waist, practically sitting on the backs of Uni''s knees.


    "Would you get off me!" Despite intending to sound angry, the cracking of her voice stopped Uni from mustering the voice to even approach sounding intimidating.


    Hinum, at the very least, repositioned herself as to not be laying on top of Uni''s body. Rom and Ram did not.


    "Not until you stop being stupid!" Ram said, even though without Hinum, there wasn''t much the two younger Candidates could do to stop Uni from standing up.


    "Excuse me?" Uni did her best to growl, trying to turn around to glare at the two limpets.


    "You tried to go off on your own like that. It isn''t exactly smart," Rom spoke next, her quiet voice doing more than the words of just about anyone else in the room. Rom, the same girl who couldn''t hurt a fly simply because she was too meek, had called her an idiot. Implied she was an idiot. Same difference.


    Hinum seemed just as surprised as anyone else by that, before the blonde shook her head as if loosening up the cobwebs in her head.


    "Rom''s right. Going off on your own to get revenge is, not the brightest move. I can understand why, don''t get me wrong, I really do. You''re a bright, if emotional, young lady, so you should know that, too," Hinum rubbed the back of her head. "But we need a united front at this point."


    "None of you have had it easy out here," Nepgear spoke next. "You''ve been fighting for years, trying to keep each of your respective nations safe. And you''ve all done everything you can. Even that was sometimes not enough. But we can do this."


    Uni blinked. Hinum was nodding along confidently, but there was a twinge of nervousness underneath Nepgear''s voice. As if her words were for just as much herself as it was for them.


    "Histoire thinks we''re ready. That we have enough shares to free our sisters. But it will require all of us to work together to do so. We have to work together, otherwise, all your effort will have been for nothing."


    "And yours," Hinum said, patting Nepgear on the back. "Don''t sell your efforts short. If it weren''t for you, we probably wouldn''t even have the opportunity to even try to rescue our sisters."


    Uni could feel a slight, if painful, twinge in Hinum''s voice at the mention of sister. What had gone on there to have that type of response? Whenever the topic was approached, everyone was ecstatic, if nervous. Hinum?


    Always gave off this air of melancholia, Uni wasn''t sure of what, exactly. It was certainly nervousness, but there was something compounding it. It went beyond just how her sister would react to how things were in Leanbox.


    "We should probably still fight Brave though," Uni''s head whipped around at Hinum''s words. "What? Leaving him in Lastation while we rescue our sisters isn''t smart, either. Plus, fighting him would make for a good warm-up for Judge."


    Uni nodded, despite herself. Brave was far from the worst of the ASIC generals. Frankly, he seemed like the most reasonable, to an extent. But she couldn''t just let him run freely right now, not when they were so close.


    Still, even she couldn''t stop and notice how Nepgear shuddered at the mention of Judge''s name.


    x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x


    He figured it would be only a matter of time. Green Sister had entered the country. It had always been a matter of time before she had rallied the other Candidates for combat. He would consider it predictable. She was so much more hot-blooded than most people believed she was.


    A three-on-one was not optimal. Green Sister, Purple Sister, and Black Sister, Uni, all working in tandem? That would be a difficult fight, not insurmountable, but challenging. At least, last he had heard, Trick was keeping the twins distracted.


    Slowly, Brave stood. There was still work to be done.

 Chapter 23

    Nepgear? You awake yet?" IF entered the floor where all the Candidates should have been sleeping. However, the sound of silence was the only thing that met her ears. Not the most alarming thing in the world, yet something felt off. Something felt, if not wrong, then to the very least, not right.


    Slowly, IF made her way to the room she knew Nepgear was staying and threw the door open. Only to find nothing. The bed was neatly made, impeccable, with no sign of a struggle. Uni''s was much the same, neat and tidy.


    The twins revealed nothing, their beds were a mess, however, sheets strewn about every which way without a care in the world. As if the two had left in a hurry.


    As for Hinum, it was much the same, blankets bundled up at the end of the bed, not even the slightest bit of effort put into making it back nice and proper, as if she had kicked off the sheets during the night and couldn''t be bothered.


    Two beds neatly made, as if they had expected to leave. Three beds looked as if their occupants had left in a complete hurry, as if they had much more important things to worry about than being tidy.


    IF frowned. There was no way that was not going to be a good thing. Not even close. Her first though was that Uni talked Nepgear into doing something stupid, and Hinum, Rom, and Ram later noticed and went after them. Without, for whatever reason, deciding to inform the rest of them about what was going on.


    Though with Hinum and the twins being able to fly, they certainly would be able to cover more ground on that front than any of the rest of them could. But still, it would be nice to be informed if something had gone wrong.


    IF enters the kitchen on the floor, before noticing something. Several somethings. First was the pile of dishes in the sink. Enough for around five people, give or take. The second was a note, sitting on the table.


    She picked it up, her eyes moving across the page as she went before her face became a scowl.


    She was going to kill her.


    x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x


    To whom it may concern,


    Which is probably IF. Sorry that we didn''t decide to grab the rest of you guys for this, but I think this is something better handled on our own at the moment. Well, for Uni, anyway. We''re going out Brave hunting. Yes, it''s dangerous, but there are also five of us, so we should be fine.


    We should be able to handle it. Uni didn''t want to leave anything, because she''s like that, but I figured it would be for the best to at least inform you of what we''re doing at any point in time, especially on a matter like this.


    I will do everything in my power to make sure that everything goes well and to make sure that every, if not satisfied, is at least mollified at the end of the day. Hopefully, we will have this wrapped up in time to be back for lunch.


    From,


    Hinum


    x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x


    She was absolutely going to kill her. Out of all the knuckle-brained, pear-headed schemes, she''d decided to go out again, despite the state they found Uni in last time.


    Instead of being the voice of reason, Hinum decided it was best to join them in what amounted to hunting down Brave and punching him in the face. There was no other way one could look at this. Again, they could fly, unlike the rest of them, but going off on their own was still completely reckless.


    But, of course, Hinum went along with it anyway. Sometimes, IF swore, the girl was nowhere near as clever or smart as she thought she was some days, and this was turning out to be very much one of them. Going off with them like that without waking anyone else up?


    Then again, Nepgear should have been the voice of reason even if Hinum wasn''t, and frankly, IF was very much not convinced Hinum was ever really that, despite her efforts to at least come across as such.


    So the fact the two of them went along with it wasn''t great. It was outright concerning. IF looked down at the letter again before she was about to crumple it in her hand.


    x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x


    PS: The only reason I or anyone else even considered this is because Uni tried to sneak out under the cover of darkness on her own once already. Likely to fight Brave. So it''s best to nip that in the bud as quickly as possible, before she does something to actually get herself hurt.


    Hurt more, at any rate. As I said, I''ll do my best to keep everyone, at worst, mollified.


    x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x


    One of these days, ideally someday very, very soon, I''d just, fly. Go out and explore. Have fun, touch the clouds, and see the world. Just, frolic, up where nobody could find me and nobody could see me. Do this for fun and leisure, rather than transportation or combat. Just, enjoy flying around, and having fun.


    It was a shame that I hadn''t been able to. I''d always wanted to just, fly. Under no power but my own, with no restrictions other than what I wished. Despite my fear of heights that was, by this point, long since gone, I''d always wanted something like this.


    However, it wasn''t as if I could just sit back and enjoy the moment, no matter how much I wanted too. This, just like every other time, was not one where I could relax. This was a combat mission. Or, at the very least, we were heading towards one, at any rate. So I couldn''t afford to let myself get too distracted right now.


    "Are we there yet?" The age-old question. One asked by just about every child on a trip that took longer than twenty minutes. Yes, I may be projecting just a bit, but in the end, the answer was the same as every time the question had ever been asked.


    "We''ll get there when we get there," I responded calmly but firmly, looking up toward the ground as I did so, before returning my body to a normal position as we flew.


    It was the first time I''d really seen the twins transformed, now that I thought about it. While their outfits were identical, Ram''s hair was almost neon pink, while Rom''s was practically neon blue. Each sported the opposite for their eyes, blue for Ram, and pink for Rom. It was almost like yin and yang, in a way.


    "But you said that the last time we asked!" I chuckled at the complaint. Honestly, it had been far from the worst thing I could have said to the two of them on that front. But this wasn''t the first time they asked that question, and I highly doubt it would be the last. Not until we managed to arrive.


    "Because asking the same question gets the same answer," I smile, even if I could at least understand the twins and their utter lack of patience. Kids. I was enjoying this. I used to be the older sibling, so this felt, natural, in a way. But I could understand why they were getting antsy. We''d been flying for a good long while now, and still had a ways to go. And while flying was certainly better than driving, it could get boring after a while if one couldn''t make their own entertainment.


    "You know, out of anyone, I wasn''t expecting it to be you the one who''s doing loop-DI-loops," Uni turned her head, her hair has gone from pitch black to snow-white.


    "What? I couldn''t fly until a few years ago, and I''ve been too busy to just cut loose with it," I counter with a slight shrug. I ducked below everyone else, only to slowly rise back up. My eyes were still scanning below us, and checking above as well, just to be on the safe side.


    What? I''d watched Avatar, I knew that there could be things flying above you that could be a problem. Unlikely to be one? Yes. But just because something was unlikely to happen, did not inherently mean that Murphy would not punish someone for showing hubris of any stripe.


    Because Murphy was an asshole.


    "Still, we should be getting close to the Endless Zone now," Nepgear looked down towards the ground, looking for the area Uni suspected Brave was. I was keeping an eye out for it as well, even if I had no idea what it looked like. We were flying decently high up, so things just somewhat blurred together, and I was never great at spitting things, much less with us being so far up.


    I lowered slightly, hoping to get a clearer picture, even if it didn''t particularly matter much. What were the odds of me seeing anything all that noteworthy up here? Certainly, not that quickly approaching dot.


    Wait. Approaching dot? My eyes flicker back to the sight below, narrowing as they did. Immediately, my bow formed in my hand, as I began to pull back an arrow. Only for the blow to smack straight into my body, launching me backward into the air. I managed to stop the spin, fist tightening around my bow as I glared.


    This time, I didn''t even bother with an arrow, raising my bow backward before swinging it down like a club, intercepting the weapon in a clash of sparks.


    "You," Brave ground out, his face full of contempt, a look I gave right back. Though I kept my mouth shut, several thoughts roared in my head. Hypocrite, fool, idiot, and more screamed in my head as I pushed back against the attack. However, Brave may have been many things, but weak was not one of them. Nor was unskilled.


    He pushed me back, preparing to press his attack.


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    "Fireball!"


    Only for an orb of orange flames to come barreling down on him from the side. Brave, to his credit, immediately pivoted to face the oncoming threat, weaving around it, leaving it to fly by and eventually petter out. While it was good to have the heat off me, it wasn''t like I could shift away completely, and start to open the range.


    Right now, that would leave Ram completely exposed. Even if I wasn''t as good in a melee fight, I had far better defenses than the twins.


    Frankly, that went compared to everyone else in the group. I could take a hit. Leaving a melee fighter in the middle of a range group was always going to be problematic.


    So I went in again, shouting as I brought the bow down. Brave blocked, of course, easily parrying the strike. However, before he could take advantage of his parry.


    "Ice Spike!"


    A lance of ice cleaved through the air, forcing him to block the attack before he could properly punish my own reckless one. I flitted out of his immediate range once again, still hovering close by, making my intentions clear. Looking down at Brave, I smirked slightly, which was enough to get his attention, the man surging forward towards me as I blocked another powerful strike, gritting my teeth from the strain.


    Yeah, he was strong all right. And surprisingly quick. He was absolutely angry at me. And unlike Underling, he was not the type to have anger make him sloppy. Which was the worst type of person to fight. Because they could take that anger and make sure you had a very, very bad day.


    And Brave was, without a doubt, one of those people. I should have taken a gentler hand from the start. Wrong time, wrong place, and at the end of the day, I couldn''t turn back that clock. Just live with the consequences of my actions.


    It was Nepgear''s appearance that allowed me to open the range properly, her sword swings taking up most of Brave''s attention, allowing me to get elevation. It wasn''t a sniper''s nest by any stretch of the term, but controlling the high ground was just as if not more important now than it was otherwise.


    Rom and Ram also opened the range, though they were still a bit closer to Brave than I was comfortable with. Still, from up here, I could screen for them.


    I draw back my bowstring, aiming downwards. This fight would be akin to a match of ping pong. Brave did not like me one bit, and it made sense that he would try to isolate and drop me first. Of course, Nepgear was a problem he couldn''t ignore. Even if he beat Uni on his own, we outnumbered him. That, even on a good day, could be enough to win a fight by itself.


    Especially as we weren''t exactly lining up here. Each one of us had our own firing arcs, giving us a clear shot with minimal chance of friendly fire. This was a textbook example of what you wanted to do when you had someone outnumbered. The only question is where Uni was.


    Nepgear and Brave reared back for another clash only for.


    "Stop!" Only for Uni to appear between the two. To their credit, both immediately did so. Nepgear in surprise and concern, while I couldn''t exactly get a bead on the expression on Braves face, she also seemed fairly surprised by Uni''s throwing herself between the two of them.


    I frowned slightly, though I returned the arrow in my bow to a more neutral position. Out of all the Commanders of the ASIC, Brave was the least of a monster. Trick was Trick and deserved nothing but being consigned to the lowest pit of hell, Judge was an angry brute that took a beating, while Magik? I had next to nothing on her, other than the fact she was the strongest of the lot.


    The thing was, nobody had really seen her either, something that I was both very grateful for and also concerned me greatly. What? When your opponent''s biggest gun is running around doing other things, that''s usually not a good sign. She was doing God knows what, who knows where. And the fact that she never sat right with me, especially as I lacked any real means to even attempt to contest whatever she was doing.


    But Brave? I did speak with the man. I understood, at least, that he was honest about his desire to protect children. But he was going about it in the stupidest way possible. The ASIC was not the organization it claimed to be. In Leanbox, I outright dragged that fact into the light, kicking and screaming. While I could sympathize with why someone who chose to commit piracy in limited circumstances back home, in Gameindustri, piracy had much more real, and concerning, power.


    Which I should have seen coming the moment Shares were mentioned for the first time. Piracy was its own force in the world, with its own power, with the ASIC being able to collect Shares of its own. And if Shares were the power of a Goddess, well, then it wasn''t much of a guess for what exactly the ASIC was doing with their own shares.


    That particular revelation did not leave me in a good mood. Of course, it would go into feeding some Goddess. It''s just that said Goddess quite literally was the end of the world.


    So when someone say they want to help the children, while serving something would kill all the children that they were trying to help? Recipe for quickly losing my temper. And that wasn''t accounting for the fact that "for the children" was already a term I associated with hypocrites of the highest order.


    Despite that, I was more than willing to give Uni a shot at resolving this, well, peacefully.


    I just doubted that she could.


    "Brave, please, stop! You know that supporting the ASIC is wrong!" Uni said, both shouting and pleading in equal measure. There were tears in her eyes, or close enough to it. Brave''s face, granted, seemed to soften for the slightest, tiniest of moments. Then his face hardened again.


    "And do you think the world as it is now is safe? That children can be free to play whatever games they want?" He snapped back. I wasn''t sure which could be heard more. My rising blood pressure or the grinding of my teeth. He was still seriously on that stuff? He believed that calling forth an actual apocalypse, the end of the world would give him what he wanted. Still? The ASIC was nothing more than a damned cult!


    He was mad. Simply mad. There was nothing that would be saving children as any part of a result with him.


    "The ASIC isn''t going to help any children, Brave," Uni''s response was factually correct.


    But it was one that Brave was never going to accept.


    He glared up at me as if I was the one responsible for people being able to see the obvious. That the ASIC would do children far more harm than it ever would good. I understood why. Games, especially a lot of the ones children liked, were games that weren''t exactly cheap. And for most of the population, money was a finite thing.


    But piracy wasn''t going to be the solution to that. Not even by a long shot.


    x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x


    "Can''t you just use that thing you use on Judge?"


    "With you four in the splash zone? Not a chance in hell! Besides, we need to see if we can beat this guy without any tricks. Consider him a warm-up for when we face Judge, because I''m not popping that thing with our sister''s nearby, either."


    "Why are you the most reasonable person that I hate?"


    "Oh, put a sock in it!"


    x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x


    Yeah, it was becoming apparent that Brave, for all his skill, was not expecting to take five Candidates at once in a fight. Once Uni began to join in? It wasn''t going to go well.


    Rom and Ram peppered Brave with spells, fire, and ice, lashing out against him. Nor could he pursue one or the other for long. Nepgear was quick to capitalize on any distractions, while Uni and I were also attacking at range. It was a withering crossfire.


    And I wasn''t exactly wrong about it being good practice. HDD gave us so much additional mobility, it was kinda of crazy. We would have never been able to do anything like this with two feet on the ground. Mobility was an advantage in a fight, and I fully intended to abuse it to the best of my abilities.


    Of course, Brave and Judge were completely different fighters, no matter how one tried to cut it. Judge may not give a damn about us trying to redirect attention away from one another. Then again, Judge was typically angry enough for a strategy like that to work.


    "I will admit, you''re stronger than I expected," Brave finally spoke, panting heavily. "Even without Trick''s failure, it would have been my loss."


    Despite his seeming exhaustion, he didn''t exactly seem all too worried. I scowled, readying another arrow. Then, the blade in Brave''s hand almost seemed to blur, wind screaming in a sudden cyclone. Nepgear was spent flying backward, spinning head over heels, while I immediately backed off, trying to spot Brave.


    But by the time the storm died down, Brave was gone. I tried to see if I could spot anything moving around, but I couldn''t find a damn thing.


    "Is he gone?" Rom asked, floating up closer to me. I turned around, scanning the skies behind us. But they were empty and blue, save for a few small clouds some distance away.


    Brave was gone.

 Chapter 24

    "So, this is what hell looks like."


    "One of these days, I''m going to be able to understand your sense of humor."


    "I wasn''t joking."


    x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x


    The good news was that the ASIC facility was ripe for the picking with Brave gone. It didn''t take us long to deal with the place, leaving it unable to aid the ASIC and its efforts. It''s a good thing, both short and long-term, given the size of the place. I hesitated to think of just how many resources that thing consumed as part of the ASIC''s efforts, and how much material it provided for them.


    Sadly, Lastation was likely dotted with the things. Even if not of a similar scale, the nation had issues with corruption, one of the many things I tried to come down on as hard as I could get away with. Corruption was a blight, a taint, and it was one that the ASIC used to spread its influence.


    With the rich choosing to help such projects? I didn''t like having to work with people who were so willing to sacrifice their long-term well-being to make a few quick bucks, but I''d at least gotten most of those in Leanbox on my side. Carrots and sticks were effective. Especially when I made it abundantly clear what the ASIC actually wanted. There were few bigger sticks than that group of crazies wants to end the world.


    Did it feel great to use? Not really. Did it get the job done? Not as effectively as one might hope, but I kinda expected that. Back where I was originally born, being willing to destroy a lot of things for short-term gains was an incredibly common practice. I was used to at least the feeling of disappointment.


    But the fly-back was where the real hard part began. Sorry, did I say begin? That wasn''t right. The storm for that had been brewing almost since the fight had ended.


    "What is a cult?" It was Rom who asked the question. I let out a sigh, halfway through a loop, righting myself. I wasn''t going to explain something like that while goofing off while flying. Everyone had seen me do it as is, but I wasn''t going to make things worse by trying to explain a topic as heavy-handed as cults while flying around like an utter maniac.


    "Cults," I start, pausing, trying to best figure out how to put things. "What you have to understand is back where I was originally from, religion works, a lot differently than it does here."


    That by itself was the understatement of the century. Faith here was tangible. What you prayed to in Gamindustri was real. An active force in the world. Something that one could interact with. Something that, at least, on the level of a pure number, was aware of that faith because that faith was their fuel source. Goddesses were real and could do real work. Back on Earth? Such things were hotly contested. Which faith had it right, and which interpretation had it right? Who at the end of the day, was correct? There wasn''t an answer, just a bunch of people screaming at one another that they were right, and the others were wrong. Yeah, sure, there were far more willing to at least try to coexist to some extent. But the loudest voices had the largest shits or something like that.


    "If there is anything like us back home, and that is very much an if, they don''t make their presence known," I let out a sigh. "You have a lot of different people, often in the same nation, believing different things, or even slightly different variations of the same thing. A lot of people have answers, or at least, pretend they do. And that''s just for organized religion. Cults?"


    I wasn''t going to lie, I had my beef on the matter.


    "They tell people they have all the answers, the ability to solve all their problems, and their leaders? Have the charisma to make people believe that they really can solve those problems, that they are the solution. And these sorts of things? They''re toxic. They want to spread, but they also want their followers to isolate themselves from their friends and family. To replace that family with a toxic, parasocial connection," I breathed. "The least offensive of these just grift, to fleace their followers for what they''re worth. Making money from their little group of followers."


    "And the worst?"


    "Monsters. They completely isolate their victims from their families, and turn them against the people who want to help them get better. They build up a fanatical devotion to the point that if the leader ordered them to do so, they would commit any crime. No matter how heinous, terrible, or monstrous. They would even be willing to take their own lives, long or short term," I paused for a moment. "They manipulate, control, deceive, and kill, and will continue to double down no matter how many times you point out to them that their leaders only see them as tools to use."


    "And where exactly are you going with this?" Uni snapped with a huff, crossing her arms.


    "I''m saying this is something that should be very familiar to everyone listening right now," I said bluntly.


    "You''re saying the ASIC is a cult. Or, at least, you view it like a cult from your old home?" Leave it to Nepgear to piece things together. Then again, Uni was not pleased about things, and Rom and Ram were children.


    "It''s closer to a crime organization that also is a cult," I shrugged. "But the difference is academical at best, and not particularly relevant."


    I certainly never treated them as much differently. Both could be stopped the same way, an ounce of prevention being worth a pound of cure. Cutting off the need to engage in criminal activities and preventing a cult from preying on desperate people? Those two things went hand in hand, after all. Desperate times made people turn to crime to make ends meet, and the ASIC offered a solution to that desperation. I would almost be impressed by the levels they were willing to go to and just how far ahead they had planned. They really were planning on being the poison while selling the "solution" to the poison. Another thing I wasn''t unused to thanks to Earth. So many people that hat trick it was almost refreshing to see it again. At least not as many people have their heads far enough up their asses that they would completely bury their heads in the sand.


    Any credit I could give them only went so far, as they were also trying to end the world as a mission statement. Most of the lower-ranking members didn''t, and outside of the most misanthropic, most wouldn''t approve, either. Of course, that was something kept under wraps. Even some of the higher-ups didn''t know. It even went far up as Brave, though I suspected at least a few below him on the totem pole would have known.


    Judge and Trick likely knew, but I highly doubted either of them particularly cared. Judge liked fighting far too much to give even the slightest of shits about what happened after he won, and Trick was a sick monster that would just be happy to continue his behavior without being touched until the world came to an end. Sick piece of crap that he was. And Magic?


    Again, had next to jack shit on her, but that was only a sign that she was likely more than willing to go through with it her violation. The end of the world. Full stop. Brave was the only member of the higher-ups not aware of what was going on behind the curtain. I would find it sad if it weren''t for the fact of his willingness not to see what he had gotten involved with ending the world.


    "And that has what to do with Brave, exactly?" Uni was still not getting it.


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    "The hardest part of getting someone out of a cult is just that. Getting them out of a cult. A cult is going to isolate someone from their emotional support network, cut them off from their friends and family, to make sure the only ''friends'' and ''family'' you have are part of the cult, completely and utterly," I pause. "Can you imagine, how difficult it is to pull someone out of that? To have them refuse to listen to what their ears and eyes tell them because they were simply told to ignore it? Or worse, told how to think their way through things so they don''t have to come to that realization? That they''re being lied to and manipulated. How do you keep doing your best to try and help them, but they keep choosing to double down, refusing to see what lies in front of their face? All because if they do so, the worldview they''ve built up for and around themselves starts to crumble away. Because if they were wrong about this person or group or people, then everything they''ve done is for nothing. The emotional stress, the self-inflicted losses, everything you''ve worked for is worth less than nothing. That is the position that Brave is in. If he admits he is wrong about the ASIC, even for the slightest moment, that means he''s wrong. He''s been wrong for who knows how long. How many people do you think there are that are willing to admit, even for the slightest of moments, that their entire worldview, and the actions they have taken, have all been built on a foundation of lies? The answer is, the overwhelming majority of people. Most people don''t want to ask themselves that question. Most don''t even consider it, even for the slightest of moments. That''s where Brave is right now."


    I let the silence hang in the air. I wasn''t even going to touch on how disingenuous ''for the children'' tended to be most of the time. Brave, at the very least, seemed to have his heart in the right place, but his mind and the organization he chose to serve? Yeah, no. I hoped that he would come to his senses at some point, but that wasn''t going to be happening anytime soon.


    "So, you''re just going to give up?" Uni glared at me.


    "No. I just realize that if Brave wants to unplug his head from his ass," Rom snickered at my words, but I moved on anyway. "It will be because he has chosen to do so of his own volition. None of us are going to be able to change his mind. None of us can do it for him. If he is going to do better, then it will be because he has chosen to do so. No more, no less."


    x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x


    Of course, just because we had arrived back at Lastation''s Basilicom, didn''t mean that was the end of it. Far from it. Well, it was the end of the fairly heavy topic of discussion on cults and an example of why Earth could sometimes go bite an ass, but that wasn''t the biggest deal in the world anymore.


    What was a much more pressing matter was the fact that IF was not exactly happy. She had her reasons, don''t get me wrong. But flying was the fastest route there, and well? Trying to carry everyone in the party was simply an impossible task. Well, not exactly, but it was problematic enough that I didn''t want to try it. If we had been attacked by Brave in transit, things would have gone a whole lot worse.


    And frankly, speed getting there was always going to be a factor. I had no clue how long Brave would be there for. While Uni was largely reckless, getting there as soon as possible was the smarter play long term. We drove him off.


    With Trick hiding who knows where, and Brave likely to be licking his wounds, that left Judge and Magic as the only two high-ranking members of the ASIC active. And given how Magic didn''t seem to exist most of the time, it was really just down to Judge.


    And we could take that. Not easily. Without me being able to drop my hardest-hitting attacks onto him, it was never going to be easy. But again, it was going to be a five-on-one, at minimum. That was an uphill battle, even for a brute like Judge. He certainly could take a beating, but we had numbers on our side.


    Still, the prospect made my heart thunder against my rib cage. Nerves ate away at the back of my neck, sending shutters down it. It wasn''t because of the fight, either. Or even the Graveyard, for that matter. Yeah, the Graveyard was going to be a problem, but it wasn''t what made me nervous. We were on the edge. Everyone was so close to getting their older sisters back. I was so close to getting Vert back.


    I wasn''t looking forward to that conversation. Yes, we had been on the mend, before Vert was captured by Magic and locked away in the Graveyard. But that was three years ago. Three years was a long time. A considerable amount of time. What would she think about things? How long it took for us to finally get around to rescuing her? And more importantly, would she approve?


    Would she approve of the changes I made to help fight the ASIC? Would she approve of the policies I came up with and implemented? Would she approve of how I chose to fight the ASIC to keep Leanbox safe?


    I didn''t know the answer to that question. I really didn''t. Chika would know, but at the same time, I was equally scared to ask. Chika knew Vert better than anyone else. Quite possibly, too well, one may argue. But I didn''t want to ask her because learning it from Chika may have just been worse than hearing it from Vert''s own mouth. Sure, I could trust Chika to tell me the truth, but the fact she might have been willing to go along with stuff that she knew Vert wouldn''t approve of?


    May just be enough to break my heart.


    I would rather hear Vert''s disapproval from her own mouth, rather than anyone else. I hoped she wouldn''t. I knew some of my measures could be somewhat heavy-handed, but with the ASIC being what it was, a damn cult, trying to do right by the people was the only solution I had. When we are powered by faith, my mind could have no other options. No other path. Trying to keep people happy and earn their loyalty, while being harsh to those who decided to abuse that good faith for their own purposes.


    If she disapproved, I wanted her to let me know. To tell me so. I hoped it wasn''t the case, but the amount of changes I''d had to make. It probably felt to an extent a different country now. At least behind the scenes. That was going to be a pain to even partially revert, but much of what I had done had been made necessary by the ASIC and the ASIC alone. With them gone, reverting them would be necessary. A pain, but a needed one.


    But that was my own thoughts. I couldn''t imagine that anyone else also had their doubts. Little insidious whispers tickled at the back of their minds. The torments of every mistake and screwup that was made over the last three years. Which were no doubt numerous for every party, including myself. Things we could have done better. Steps we could and should have taken.


    Not helped by IF being generally annoyed at us. I understood why she was annoyed, but Brave couldn''t match all five of us, and easily could have been gone if we didn''t arrive quick enough. I''d rather have him off the board for the time being, especially if we were going to make a move on the Graveyard soon. I would have suggested going after him anyway, even without the excuse of his conflict with Uni.


    Then came a flicker, which broke me out of my thoughts, as a hologram of Histoire appeared in the air. At that point, I didn''t need to hear anything else.


    It was time.

 Chapter 25

    Yeah, this place was creepier than I thought it would be. How did a place look so mechanical, yet so rotten at the same time? And the sky wasn''t helping either. I don''t even think I could consider it a sky. Just. Everything about this place was all sorts of wrong.


    "Betting you wished you tried to bombard the place while you had the chance," Uni was being snide, but I didn''t entirely disagree. This place was rapidly growing on the list of places I wanted to erase grid square by grid square. And while there was no doubt in my mind that such a move would bait away Judge, I doubted Magic wouldn''t have some type of contingency. Not after last time where Compa and IF were able to stroll into the place after I grabbed Judges attention.


    And I''d rather not find out what the contingency was until we were clear of this place, thank you very much. Judge at least was predictable. Magic I had next to nothing on, and Nepgear didn''t have much to say about her other than that she was overwhelmingly strong.


    "It would have its upsides," I admitted. "But our sisters are here." So no matter how much I wanted to see this place burned from orbit, it simply wasn''t going to be in the cards. Exterminatis wasn''t going to be the call until we got them back. After that? I''d feel perfectly fine throwing this place straight into hell.


    A difficult task, given that it was trying to be hell. That''s the feeling I got. As if someone was trying to make this place a legitimate hell. Just replace flames and torture with decay, rot, and burnt out electronics. Honestly, this was about as close to Phyrexia as I ever wanted to get, and this shit was straight up their alley.


    Yeah, when I was thinking about the oily shit stains from that one set of magic that I hated because the bad guy''s won so cleanly and utterly it was kinda sad to think about? That was a sign that this was getting under my skin. First moment I could, I swear I was going to put this creepy place to the torch.


    I felt Ram pull on my sleeve. "You don''t like this place, do you?"


    "Is it really that obvious?" I frowned slightly, but it probably was. This place gave me the creeps. It shouldn''t exist, period. The place felt, wrong. Completely devoid of not just life, but, anything, really. There was nothing here. I couldn''t even call it a graveyard. There were no markings, no tombstones. Just a mass of wires, cables, broken plastic, and other game-related debris.


    It wasn''t a graveyard. It was a mass, unmarked, open-air, grave. A grave of something that by my logic and reasoning, really didn''t live. Yes, games were important, a fair bit more than they were back home, but it just felt, wrong. This entire place was wrong. Thankfully, the Sharicite crystal carried by Nepgear repealed some of the feelings of utter wrongness.


    "We''re getting close," IF said, holding up a hand as we slunk through the area. There was no way that Judge wasn''t around here somewhere, either. Having eyes in the sky would be somewhat useful right now, but part of me was terrified by what I''d see. Just an endless expanse of cables, wires, and decay?


    The fact that IF could even tell where we were in this junkyard sea of scrap and trash was impressive in its own right. I had no idea how. Everything looked the same to me. If I wasn''t following IF right now, I''d have long since been lost. This place wasn''t just a maze, it was one that looked exactly the same.


    Then we saw it. We all saw it. It was hard to describe. Nepgear had given us a heads-up on what to expect. But there was a difference between being told what to expect and seeing it for yourself. My blood felt as if it went cold, yet hot at the same time. I balked at the sight, stepping back, but my eyes were burned with bubbling anger and disgust.


    This is what they were doing to them? To her? I felt me nails dig into my palms as my knuckles whitened. And yet, there was still no Judge. Had the really left our sisters unguarded? Again? Surely not. There had to be more protection than this. It couldn''t just be this straightforward. The ASIC had to have something planned in this little hellhole.


    THUM!


    Before we could get closer to our sisters, something hit the ground hard, sending up a plum of debris as what I could only hope was just plastic.


    But I don''t think anyone would be surprised by the fact that it wasn''t. The body that loomed out of the dust was more than familiar enough to me.


    "Judge," I let out a growl, my body coiling like a spring, ready to transform and release my power outwards.


    "I was starting to wonder when you insects would finally crawl back into my domain," he rumbled, glaring down at all of us with his armored frame. Judge was even more imposing up close, especially without any wounds from when I hit him from afar. "I will enjoy killing you all."


    He seemed to look at us with the same contempt as insects. But I wasn''t buying that expression. You didn''t enjoy killing an insect. It was just something that happened. Then again, Judge was a battle-hungry psychopath who would enjoy just being let off his chain and running completely wild.


    "You really think you can take us on!" Uni shouted though I could tell there was a slight waver in her voice. I''d told them about my encounters with Judge as well, letting them know what to expect. I''d driven him off a few times in the past, but I always weakened him first. Judge was a powerhouse, but by this point, we should be more than strong enough. I doubt it would be easy, but it was well within the realm of possibility.


    "You''re barely worth my time!" Judge''s voice boomed like thunder, swinging his axe above his head as we transformed and scattered.


    We had a plan, of course. There was no way I was doing this without some type of plan, even if the plan lasted all of three seconds because that''s how plans tended to work. Though, in truth, it was the same thing we did with Brave, just with more people. RED, IF, and Compa would break for cover, mostly to act as support.


    Judge and Brave were completely different combatants. Brave, while I would never call him soft or squishy by any stretch of the term, didn''t have Judge''s defenses. Brave had to make an effort to dodge or block attacks. Judge? Judge was like a freight train. A bull in a china shop. He was going to zero in on a target, and he wasn''t stopping for anything. He certainly didn''t in my fights with him.


    The difference is, Judge could absolutely take hits that I had no doubt Brave couldn''t. Including my opener. And that was the biggest problem. We couldn''t lead off with that. Hell, I couldn''t even make use of it. Meaning we had to break through his armor and whittle him down the hard way. The hard way.


    And that wasn''t going to be fun. I hoped to be able to confuse him, surround him, and act like an annoying swarm of flies to overwhelm him, as he tried to go from target to target in anger. Piss him off and prey on that anger. I even planned for him to hyperfocus, faking a worse hit and falling out of the air, right towards Compa, who would patch us up to good as new.


    The opening seconds were glorious. Arrow''s slammed into his armor, Uni''s rifle unleashed a barrage of lasers into him. Rom and Ram''s magic bathed Judge in sheets of ice and flame, steam erupting where the two met in a violent eruption. Judge''s body disappeared for a brief moment into the cloud of steam, as we continued to launch shot after shot into him.


    If he wasn''t dropping out of the sky, then he wasn''t unconscious. And if he wasn''t unconscious, then Judge could still fight.


    "Truly," Judge''s voice rumbled from the cloud of steam, an almost nondistinct blur as we continued to hammer into him. "Pathetic!"


    Shit! I forgot how fast he was when he wanted to be! I shot upward, opening the range as Judge surged forward, nearly on top of my position. I pulled back my bowstring, firing a few more shots into him in the time it took for him to stop. Thankfully, all that mass meant he couldn''t bank worth a damn. Another upside. Fly like a butterfly and sting like a bee, all that jazz.


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    Judge launched himself towards me again, forcing me to fly upwards, spiraling as I went as his axe missed me by mere inches. I launched a few more arrows at him as he came around again, continuing to force me to climb upwards. Uni, Ram, Rom, and Nepgear were all following behind him with their attacks landing, but it wasn''t doing much against him. I wanted to dive, to bring me closer and to get an interlocking field of fire going, but.


    I may have had speed, but Judge had mass. Judge had a lot of mass. Something like that in a dive was not a thing I wanted anything to do with. Gravity pulling him along on top of his usual force? No, thank you. I''d rather play chicken with a train doing a stop sign violation.


    "All you''ve been able to do is run away, fly!" Judge bellowed. "You''re nothing without that attack of yours!"


    It was bait, and it couldn''t even be more obvious if he tried. Then again, I highly doubt that Judge even had the slightest idea of what the word subtle meant. I didn''t respond verbally, or turn around to fire a few arrows into his face in retaliation. Not with him right on my six like that. Too risky. Too stupid.


    So I flipped him the bird instead. I didn''t know if he could see it, with us moving the way we were. But the bellow of anger seemed to confirm that he had seen the gesture. Or maybe one of the others managed to find purchase with their attacks. But at this point, I found the middle finger explanation far more likely.


    I weaved around him as he overshot me, as I scowled. I didn''t want to have to do this, but by this point, it was increasingly necessary. I needed to dive. I couldn''t keep increasing my altitude.


    I rocketed downwards, doing my best to keep myself from coming down at a straight angle. It was going to take a second or two for Judge to get himself turned around, that would give me just enough time to get back down to a reasonable level and try to regroup.


    Only for Judge to be there, like a rocket locked onto my hindquarters. Like a demented heat-seeking missile.


    I managed to spin around him, hitting the brakes as he passed me by, me taking the time to line up a few more arrows into him.


    "This isn''t working!" I heard Nepgear shout, a twinge of fear in her voice as Judge quickly charged me again, shouting angrily as he did so. I couldn''t catch the rest of the conversation, but Nepgear wasn''t exactly wrong here. This wasn''t working. It was taking way too long to chip through his armor like this. We had to come up with a different approach.


    I could try and open the range, to lure him away. Drop the hammer on him while nobody else would be affected by the fallout. But I never liked tanking my own fallout in the first place, the few times I''d had too.


    Then a shadow appeared above me, like a monster out of some myth.


    Oh, this was going to suck.


    "Hinum!"


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    She was going to get hurt. The way Judge was positioned, Hinum might even die.


    They''d done everything they could hit Judge with, and it hadn''t been enough. Nothing she had done had been enough. Still, it wasn''t enough. She''d gotten stronger, and yet she was still as useless as she was before. Why was her best still not enough? Nepgear watched in slow motion, Judge''s bellows as the weapon hands came down, Hinum trying to raise her guard.


    Nepgear knew that she wasn''t going to be able to get there in time. And even if she could, she wasn''t strong enough to stop him. But she had to try. She was stronger. She should be stronger. Hinum believed they could win. That they would win, no matter what.


    As Nepgear rushed forward, she felt a warmth inside her. They needed to win. She needed to win. No. She would win. Not because she needed too, but because she could.


    "At last, you understand. May the full strength of our power flow through you now," The black mascot disk said.


    "May you be successful, no matter what!" The green followed, as the heat in Nepgear''s chest only began to grow.


    "Take it. All of our power," the purple continued, as the heat bloomed in full, like a raging fire inside her. Then in a moment, she was there, between Judge and Hinum, swinging her sword. Judge let out a mighty yell. This time, it wasn''t out of anger.


    It was out of pain.


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    I, was not going to question that. I wasn''t going to question that in the slightest. I don''t know why Nepgear was suddenly wearing what amounted to a black two piece swimsuit. Or why she was suddenly a lot stronger than she was before. What I did know was that she saved my bacon, and that she managed to make Judge hurt.


    "Finally!" Judge roared. "A challenge!"


    His joyful shouting ceased the moment I took the time to put an arrow through the gash in his armor. I immediately began to create space, making sure to continue to put arrow after arrow into Judge''s new weak point. Not that I and everyone else needed to be picky. Even if Nepgear''s sword lacked the same impact of that initial swing, she was still doing a number on Judge''s armored plates.


    "You are rats!" He shouted, as Uni got a shot in with her rifle, quickly followed up by yet another blow from me.


    "Come on! Just die already!" I shout back, releasing more arrows of various potencies into him. We were hurting him now, but the man just, refused to die!


    "I''ll kill all you insects! Crush you beneath my heel!" Judge roared, as flames burrowed through the gaps in his armor.


    "You will do no such thing!" Nepgear shouted back, bringing her sword around, landing another massive gash along Judge''s frame.


    "No! I, cannot lose! It''s impossible!" Judge roared as his body underwent a massive detonation.


    We won. It was over. Holy crap, he, I underestimated him. Damn, he really have been pulling his punches that much?


    "We did it! We won!" Nepgear cheered, floating there in her new suit of armor. I now had time to wonder the origins of such a thing. But that wasn''t important right now.


    We had sisters to wake up.


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    My lips were creased in a thin line. Vert looked as if she was in pain. So much pain. I couldn''t believe it. She, didn''t deserve that. Nobody did. Now that I could see her, my blood boiled even more. How dare Magik do this to her. How dare Arfoire and the ASIC do this to her! The damage I was going to do to the ASIC in particular was going to make the lose of Judge look tame, mark my words.


    As the light began to glow from the Sharicite, the look of pain on their faces began to fade. Slowly, each began to stand up. Each sister faced their sister. I wasn''t sure what the others were saying. The blood pounding in my ears was deafening. My feet shifted against the ground, unaware that I''d let my CPU form drop in that moment.


    "Vert. I," fuck, what was I supposed to say? What had I planned to say? Three years I''d dreamed and feared this moment in equal measure. What to say, how to say it. To be convey my emotions too her. Just my, everything.


    But now? In the heat of the moment? My tongue was tied. Twisted. Bend around and unable to speak. I could do nothing but stammer, trying to put into words of how sorry I was.


    But whatever slights I had committed against her, Vert seemingly forgave a long time ago. Before I could get any further a pair of arms wrapped around my body, pulling me into an impossibly tight embrace.


    Part of me wanted to protest. That I didn''t deserve it. That I couldn''t. But my mouth didn''t want to move.


    So I cried instead. I cried in Vert''s arms as she held me close.