Christmas in Planeptune
1
been a while since i actually posted any writing here. it's a fanfiction though.
so anyone who weren't familiar with the universe may find it to be rather baffling, especially with the in-game references i made.
anyways, for you who're interested, feel free to check this out.
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Christmas in Planeptune (Hyperdimension Neptunia)
Genre : Humor / Drama
Synopsis : A story about the Planeptune gang during Christmas Eve. Everyone seems to be busy with their own antics, it would be nice if they can get together like family.
Christmas Eve – at Planeptune's Guild.
Regardless of it being the holiday season, the guild was filled with dozens of typing sounds, the scribbling noises of pen, the punching of stamps, not to mention the lights coming out of the scanners. A lone copy machine left unused in the corner of the building's second floor, which was mostly unoccupied lest for a select few. Outside the window, a mild snowfall occurred. Even with the heater just at the half-output, the temperature was still bearable.
A lone teenage girl with lengthy brown hair, wearing a leaf-shaped ribbon sighed as she stretched her hands back. Faint puffs of white smoke escaped her mouth. The lightning was rather dim. She reached towards one of the pockets on her lengthy jacket. Seemingly wanting to check the time: It was about four o' clock in the evening. As she carefully checked out the special paperwork and stamped the things she provided about, she piled the finished documents on the other desk, where it would be carried into the first floor, where most of the noise was about.
The documents contained the details of various quests posted in Planeptune's guild. Quite a lot of people beside the agents and the CPUs reporting in. They mostly in it for the nifty sum of reward. Not now though, since most of the agents kinda took a paid vacation and the CPUs were having a vacation at Lowee, where the pure white snow glimmer beautifully in the open fields. During this time when everyone else was out doing some action, the agents were mostly doing desk jobs—which wasn't exactly the most exciting thing to do.
A lot of them were rather stressed out, but as for this certain girl, she figured it would be a nice change of pace after adventuring a lot with the CPU Party. She was one of the top agents, a bright and hard-working one on top of that—her name was IF. That to be said, as soon as she picked up the job, she kinda regretted it soon after. Quite a long while not doing desk jobs, her mind went sluggish and unable to be as meticulous as she used to be.
It's been three days and there's no sign of work ceasing. IF felt like she's about to cry, especially when she had to miss the party with CPUs, mainly Neptune and Nepgear. Those two were like a family to her.
"Please don't tell Nep, Histy. Just tell her I'd catch up to them surely. They'd be staying 'til the new years, right? I'll handle all the work. Regardless of her not caring about the world, she could be very meddlesome when she wants to, that can be really annoying."
"The CPUs were mostly busy year round, and they didn't have that much chance to meet, but I can go and visit her whenever I'm done with work, so please let her have this kind of experience."
Hearing IF's inquiry, Histoire, the Planeptune's oracle and also the guild's leader, got even more concerned with IF.
"Think about it, IF. Those two, Nepgear and Neptune, they will always be the same, no matter how many years had passed. The same with the other CPUs. But you and Compa. It won't be that long of year when you can still celebrate holidays together as young girls (-_-)b"
Even as for this day, she still continued to watch IF from behind with a concerned look, sitting on the lap of her floating book. Her tiny stature looms over IF's back, most of time trying her best to assist whenever she could.
From a distance, a yawning voice could be heard. It came from a pink-haired girl with a voluptuous figure. She wore a thick sweater and clutched a fluffy backpack with the shape of miniaturized Neptune wearing her usual hoodie shirt.
"Compa, she always visit you despite being busy at the clinic ._." muttered Historie, occasionally glancing at the documents in order to double-check things.
"I kept telling her I'm alright but she's just so stubborn, honestly..." IF let out a sigh once again. She never sighed so much before—she wondered if this kind of desk job wasn't actually fitting for her, at least in this season.
"In any case, I think you actually did far more work than adequate ^_^. Our shares should be good for the remainder of year. It may be rare for me to say this to anyone but, would you like to take some rest, IF? (^-^) You can just go and catch up with them at Lowee... ('_')/"
"I can't abandon my duties midway. I want to settle this once and for all before I could finally wrap this year up. I need to be useful to Nep and the others..."
"No need to worry about it one bit. If I were to reprimand someone for not being useful, it's most likely obvious who's who (-_-)"
"True that, ahahaha. She never changes."
Near the sofa in which Compa was napping, there was a lantern in which emited a tangerine light. The luminous spectacle enveloped her body with a mild warmth.
"Nep Nep...pudding."
"I guess her sleep-talking also didn't change." IF smirked.
"Did you watch her sleeping that often, IF? :3"
"W-what are you assuming? O-of course not! I, I was just happen to notice because she slept earlier than me even though I was the one doing physical stuff."
"So you two slept together in the same bed? (＾▽＾) "
"Ah..."
There was a pause. This awkward inquiry made Iffy (IF) slipped her pen on a clean request paper, in which she used it as an excuse to dodge the question. She reached for some white-out and pretended that question never existed in the first place.
In Compa's bag, there was a pair of matching lunch boxes, on a shape of a pink dogoo—a monster which resembled a combination between a slime and a doggy. Famously known to be Planeptune's mascot, and really friendly to people when domesticated. A lot of them often found causing trouble in the wilds though. The meal was Compa's home cooking-they were already eaten during last lunchtime.
In the bag, there was still quite a bunch of pudding, came in a set of five. It was placed neatly in a compact ice-box.
It was meant to be eaten together with the Planeptune family. Though yeah, the CPUs were off somewhere else, or did they? Speaking of which...
"...ahnn...Iffy...don't rub me in weird places, please stop, it's so ticklish..."
Amidst the chill winter day, something in IF's face heated up, which caused her cheeks to be flushed red and her expressions be as clear as broad day.
"I wonder what Compa was dreaming about.^_^)9" Histoire kept pressing on the question out of her curiosity, putting on emphasis on certain words to make IF flinch due to pressure and spill out everything.
"Enough of it, enough already! Aren't we supposed to finish all of this work before the year ends?"
"Well, seeing as you got distracted so easily, isn't it about time to call it quits, IF? We can continue in about three days. （￣□￣；） "
Three days, pretty much like Histoire, IF thought. Still, what amazes her the most was, that the supposedly serious tone had been completely ruined, even without the presence of a certain Nep.
"Let's just say, she actually have a bit of good influence in her. If only she was half as hardworking as you guys, we won't have to worry about shares anymore. -_-"
"Hahaha..."
"Would you like to spend the night together at the Basilicom? It's rather lonely out there with those two out. ( '_' ) "
"We'll be glad to Histy, after all, you've been such a great help. It's quite a sheme to abandon the rest of the work though."
IF started to sort out the finished documents and put it in a certain file, meanwhile the remainder of the unfinished ones, still piled a lot, were sent to a certain kind of box.
"Not to worry, when those slacker of agents came by, I'm going to work them to the bone（￣ー￣）. Not like it's the job for you alone in the first place. ^o^"
"I kept forgetting that. Does that mean I'll get something for going the extra mile?"
"That goes without saying. （・∀・）"
"Not that I'm expecting something special though. Oh well, Compa, let's go. We've just about done here."
Deep in her mind IF was expecting something though, but she shrugged the thought soon after.
IF and Histoire went to where Compa's napping—she slowly opened her eyelids at the call.
"...Iffy?"
"Come on."
IF extended her hands to Compa, in which met by a rather sluggish grip.
"You sure had lot going on at the clinic, huh?"
"Yes, we got quite a number of dead people in here."
"Eh..."
It's best to pretend I didn't hear that line, thought IF.
After tidying things up, three of them went to the Basilicom.
Actually, on the way to the Basilicom, Compa want to go shopping for groceries. She mentioned about making a Christmas Cake to eat with everyone, and also a feast when they finally arrived.
The supermarket was quite bustling with people of varying ages. From lone youngsters who would hoard a number of instant meals to families with children around and even elderly couples thinking about the meal tonight.
"When it comes to treats, expect it to be gone within seconds with Nep around. She would ate all except eggplants."
Iffy was pushing around the shopping cart filled with various cooking ingredients. Be it meat, fishes, fruits and vegetables. There were also a bit of boxed snacks, and most importantly, the stuff for making cakes. Compa was at the vegetable section, browsing some good eggplants on sale.
"...but eggplants are good for your health. That's why Nep Nep has so little energy that she lazes around all day."
"Compa, I think that has something more to do than just having little energy."
Iffy told her that it's a bad idea to make something with eggplants, no matter what. Having been traumatized with similar things in the past.
"You're right. To think about it, we need something that makes Nep Nep and Ge-Ge happy."
They went into the dairy section, with various foods showcased in a cooler. The thing which got Compa's interest in particular was a pack of gelatinous treat, neatly lined on display: all jiggly and chill.
"Shopping for pudding again? Didn't we already have a full set on your bag?"
"One is not enough for Nep Nep."
"Yes I know, but if it's Nep, ain't she like the ones you made best?"
"We might not have enough time to make everything."
"Frankly speaking, it's still evening out. Still,yeah, who knows if we'll make it. Shall we get going then?"
They paid for the groceries with the Credits they got from Histoire. There were still quite a bit left from all the shopping. Since Compa was already hungry, they ordered two portions of hotcake in the supermarket; ate it on the way back to Basilicom.
The shopping bags were heavy, but since they grinded enough level with Neptune and co, it felt rather light as a feather. So much that IF started to swing it around, before Compa warned her the contents might accidentally fell out and be scattered all around the snow.
Since Compa felt a bit exhausted from all the walking, they stopped on a certain seating where it's canopied from the snow. A pretty wide bench made out of stainless metal, with quite comfy cushion, not to mention, a stray newspaper left alone at the sides.
The surroundings were adorned by festive decorations, all lighted up with assorted vibrant colors. In front of the shops, various people were dressing up in variety of mascot characters, giving out coupons, leaflets and stuff like that.
IF and Compa dropped the hotcake litter at the nearby bin and came to sit out together. Quite a lot of people still passing here and by during this hour—it's the shopping district after all. It might be fortunate, their seating was empty aside from them during the moment, due to stuff Compa brought out of blue:
"Iffy, do you think we'll be as close to Nep Nep and Ge Ge when we get older?"
"Beats me. It's not the thing I'd like to think about."
"I don't want Nep Nep and Ge Ge to leave me because I'm an old lady. I want them to still go and play with me, always. I'm scared, I don't want to get old so fast and die."
"I feel pretty much the same way. Though, it might be even harder for them to live on, interacting with us humans who will eventually grow old and disappear."
"...wait a minute, Iffy. Don't you remember Falcom who came to our dimension when we were kids?"
"We do get help from her when we're running errands for Nep, ah, come to think of it."
"It's been 10 years and more, and she still looks about our age when we grew up, the same with the others too...when we attended that barbecue party."
"Iffy, was it because of our special abilities even though we're just normal humans? I mean, we can use magic and stuff like the CPUs. Does that mean we also stopped aging at certain point?"
"...I don't know, maybe it's because they're being a part of DLC which ain't really directly related to the main story."
"If I remember correctly, we're also included in the DLC as party, Iffy.
We're also there in the main story albeit not fighting. The DLC practically made us a party member."
"I guess it's really the power of DLC which made us stop aging."
"On a second thought, Iffy, what is DLC?"
"It's downloadable content, right? Nep often talked about that while she's with her handheld, on how she couldn't buy the appropriate DLC since her game was region locked. Are you saying that we lived inside a video game?"
"Maybe yes. How about we try waving at the player and say hello while we're at it?"
Imagining someone was looking at them directly from a screen, they put on a smile and waved their hands. As a result, some of the passerby gave them a concerned look, though some others actually went along and waved to the 'player'.
"Hello to you playing this game, we beli-hey, why are we goofing around like this instead of going back to Basilicom?"
"I think it's Nep Nep's influence, ahahaha."
"Seriously, Compa. Nep can be such a bad influence."
"Achoo! Damn, why does it feel someone's talking about me?"
"It's just your imagination, sis."
"If you're going back in advance, you two should've informed me earlier. I almost got a heart attack there. （ ﾟ Дﾟ）"
"Ahaha, sorry Histy." said Nepgear with a blush.
Back in Basilicom, the Nep sisters had went back ahead of schedule. Neptune was busy munching up the leftover custard pudding from the fridge and Nepgear brought a few buckets of fried chicken on the way back.
There was a fast food joint near the Basilicom and since they got no time to prepare for Christmas, they thought it's the least they can do.
"Gee, what a bummer. Blanc's in a terribly bad mood as she remember her novel's deadline. Instead of partying, Noire and the others had to help out too."
"What about you, Neptune? ( '_' )"
"We, uh, snuck out in time. Thanks to my awesome Ninja Nep skills."
"I got a feeling that we might make Blanc really furious by tomorrow. Be sure to apologize next okay?"
"Can I just email her?"
"We better apologize in person by tomorrow. That won't do, big sis."
"...now that you mention it. We did play around a lot and ate quite a portion at Blanc's place."
Though as Neptune ate a spoonful of pudding, her thoughts went to someplace else, "Eyy Nep Jr, can I have that bucket of chicken?"
"Didn't we agree to eat it together with everyone? I mean, IF and Compa are coming too. They will bring lots of delicious snacks so please bear with it, okay?"
"...pwetty please? Ah, my stomach is churning and I can't hold on another second...ahh...I need fried chicken...I want it...please Nep Jr.."
Neptune started to pose in a cutesy and seductive manner, slowly unbuttoning her shirt and revealed her petite, slim shoulder to Nepgear.
"Uh, if my big sister really want it then..."
"Will you two cut it out? I'm still here you know. _" Histy was rather annoyed by the antics of the sisters.
"Does that mean we could screw up when you're not around?" Neptune punched in at an awkward time, causing more of Histy's veins to bulge.
"...Nep-tune... (*ï¿£mï¿£) "
Just when Histore's anger was about to burst, the bell came in and up those two dropped by.
"Sorry for intruding by, oh it's just Nep and Gear. You guys have a good time at Lowee?"
"Nep Nep, Ge Ge. I totally miss you..."
Nepgear let out a sigh of relief.
"Ah...we're saved."
Meanwhile Neptune already had three chicken drumsticks in her mouth. When being reprimanded again, she merely said:
"Ish okway ewvan z here (it's okay, everyone's already here)."
"But you promised to eat only after we all started together, big sis."
Iffy went in and pulled a punchline, "More importantly, shouldn't you remind her not to talk with her mouth full first?"
Meanwhile, Compa sat on the table where the chicken bucket's at. She began to unload packs of pudding for everyone.
"Nep Nep, please don't eat both pudding and chicken at the same time." said Compa, reaching her hand out to Neptue when she's about to take the pudding even while still munching the crispy tender drumstick.
"Hwngwy..."
"No means no!"
"Ah, big sis. Eating pudding and chicken together might spoil the taste. The contents might mix up in your mouth and turn it into an eggplant monster."
"Silly Gear, there's no way anyone's going to believe that stuff—no way, it worked?" Iffy was rather bewildered when Neptune actually stopped reaching for the pudding.
"That's our Iffy!" Compa let out a smile of innocence, in which made Iffy blush when she stared at her.
In the meantime, Neptune already finished her drumsticks and drowned the entire contents with the bottled water Compa brought. As usual, she went for Compa's ice-box pudding first.
"Oh well, since our Neptune is hungry, let's just eat shall we? By the way IF, Compa—feel free to rest up here if you want. We'll have a sleepover ( ・ω・). "
"Whoa! That's our Histy!" Neptune felt overjoyed due to the announcement that she stopped eating pudding for a while.
"Calm down big sis, restrain your excitement, the night's still young you know.."
Not sure if Nepgear meant anything suggestive by that though.
"..and before it's even midnight, Nep is usually the ones to collapse first. Ain't it right, Compa?"
"Nep Nep is just like a growing kid!"
"Umm...everyone, since the story probably would drag too long if this keeps on. Let us go skip the entire dialogue, shall we?"
It's Nepgear who had broke the fourth wall. Quite weird how Neptune hasn't broke it yet-
"Nep Jr, do you mean we're actually inside the story, and that someone's actually stalking our very lives at this moment. Oh no, I will never be able to get married!"
Ah, there she goes.
IF plainly smirked.
"Eh, don't be ridiculous, who wants to marry y-"
"Don't worry, Nep Nep, I will marry you even if no one else would!"
"That's not fair Compa, I want to be big sis' bride too!"
"Y-you guys.."
Even with her sigh, deep down Iffy also wanted to be someone special to Neptune. That's how she worked hard for the nation, even with her just being a guild agent. She often thought, on how she wasn't honest about her feelings at all. She wanted to open up to Neptune, but she didn't really believe Neptune would understand something serious like that.
Iffy thought, that would just so out of character for her. That would just made a fool out of her in front of Neptune.
The drumstick was hot and ready. Iffy didn't feel eating all that much. It wasn't because of the hotcake earlier, but something else that's been clouding her mind lately. Thing she repressed a lot, and it came back to haunt her.
"Umm...you folks just go ahead and eat, I'll go grab some fresh air."
It was quite an awkward exit to the balcony. She left a chill in the table, and no one had a feel to eat after seeing what happened.
Even Neptune.
"Iffy..." Compa was concerned about her childhood friend, though she seen no way to butt in for the moment.
She knew, it was the thing concerning a bond between certain two. A different one between her and IF. Thinking about that, she felt a little jealous, but she couldn't help it, since she understood what it's like to feel something similar.
The snow was cold out; IF pondered about things out alone without a care of her surroundings. She thought about how Neptune really was to her, to make her feel so attached. Neptune was more than just a friend.
She was...
"Did Histoire asked you to come here?"
Even for just a faint footstep, she knew it was her.
"Uh...Iffy? I don't know what's going on but, how about we eat together-"
"Nep, I'm asking you whether Histoire sent you here or not."
"...I'm not telling."
Both of them stood in the snow-laden balcony. It was mild earlier, but the snowfall kinda accelerated as night came. It might be a show-off to see the one who's more stubborn.
"It's been a while since we're together alone like this. At first, it was just me, Compa and you."
"Yup."
"I noticed that as the time goes, I was mostly just getting in the way. You know, even though I'm in the scenes, it's mostly just you CPUs fighting."
"...and we actually finished the boss by just spamming EXE attacks, eh."
"Such an anti-climatic battle, but you guys do have a share of cool lines too."
"Iffy."
"What now?"
"I've got a disc chip. If you keep giving me the cold shoulder, how about we go to dungeon and raise our lily ranks?"
IF began to slowly tear up, thinking: Nep, you're really terrible at reading the mood.
"Nep, what I'm saying is. I really hate how I can't be a lot stronger than my current self. I wish to be a lot more useful in battle, you know."
"...uh, but you're actually the second fan favorite after Blanc. The fans also liked your appearances in the story a lot. A lot of people enjoy this game because of the story you know."
"...but...I..."
"If you want to complain about being rather underpowered, you can blame the developers for kept buffing the goddess and nerfing the humans with the new EXE system and that chip exploit, which practically made the non-CPUs unable to spam their EXE's over and over, unlike the CPUs."
"My gears and stats were also kinda bad, until I got the final one . I also didn't get a lot of useful combos to build my SP. In the previous games I was the main precursor for early game grinding since I could just one-shot those mobs with AOE and get that SP back from leveling up."
Nep nodded in affirmation.
"Thankfully I heard from the developers that they will buff you in the next game, and they'll bring back the old EXE system too. Rejoice, Iffy! It's super rejoicing!"
"Damn, stop it Nep. You sound like some creepy old man from that certain anime in which my voice actor was starring. Anyways, glad to hear that."
Actually, Neptune haven't watched the anime yet. She just browsed for the memes and got rather hyped.
"Speaking of which, upsy daisy...I got thingies for you."
Neptune pulled out some small object with straps and stuff. It was a cellpone strap of her wearing a hoodie shirt.
"Nep, it looks cute and stuff, but it's kinda narcissist when you give it yourself to me..."
"Whatever, just please accept it!" Neptune got really excited when Iffy called the strap cute, "It will increase all your stats to 9999 and greatly boost your max HP. It also cuts all your SP usage to zero!"
"Eh..."
Iffy thought, if only Neptune didn't go with the game stats thing, it would be far more convincing. She accepted it anyway and immediately strapped it into one of her most used phones. There was already a Compa strap in here though.
"Well then, Merry Christmas, Iffy."
Neptune clasped her hands together as if forming a prayer, even though she's the actual one people had been praying to. She closed her eyes shut—her stature so solemn, just like an actual goddess.
"Nep, hate to break it out to you, but now's still Christmas Eve."
"Now, now. Don't sweat the small stuff, shall we? Let's go back and eat."
"Oh well, alright then."
Both of them went back without any signs of frostbite, oblivious to the rapid snowfall in the balcony. In the end, things went rather well, much more than expected.
Xxx†‹
Back in Lowee, Blanc was sitting down at her desk, typing up the finishing touches of her novel. The little sisters beside Nepgear were busy playing games at the living room. Meanwhile, Noire and Vert played a detective game next door, it was the newly released one for the Lowee console. It was around dinner time but they've already finished so soon.
"It's not that fun eating together without Neptune around." thought Blanc, "You actually did care a lot about that girl. Can't blame you. It's also nice for me to see this side of you after so long. Because of you, I finally got the inspiration on how to wrap up the entire story."
After a while of typing, editing and doing backups to her story, Blanc finally finished her work.
"Now let's go out and have some fun." she skipped to where the little sisters were at and watched them play games. She smiled in satisfaction, not merely just for meeting the deadline, but more of able to write something which satisfied her.
Back in the document, the ending text went like this:
Author's note : the universe setting was kind of a mix up between the three Re;Birth games and also the anime. I was planning to add Plutia and Peashy too, but thinking about it again, I want to focus on the relationships between IF, Compa and Neptune--the way it was in Re;Birth 1.
At first I was hoping for a teary and heartwarming ending, but those kind of things, I couldn't really get some ideas on how to execute it well enough. I also wanted to put on a backstory on how Christmas was celebrated in Gamindustri, told by Histoire, though I felt it might ruin the focus of the story, so I scrapped the idea.
This story contains the things I love from Neptunia series. The characters, their goofy interactions and also their complete disregard for the fourth wall. Since I was just starting out writing an actual story, things might not turn out that well, but I hope I can learn much more in the future.
Thank you so much for reading, and see you guys again on my future works.
so anyone who weren't familiar with the universe may find it to be rather baffling, especially with the in-game references i made.
anyways, for you who're interested, feel free to check this out.
===
Christmas in Planeptune (Hyperdimension Neptunia)
Genre : Humor / Drama
Synopsis : A story about the Planeptune gang during Christmas Eve. Everyone seems to be busy with their own antics, it would be nice if they can get together like family.
Spoiler:
Christmas Eve – at Planeptune's Guild.
Regardless of it being the holiday season, the guild was filled with dozens of typing sounds, the scribbling noises of pen, the punching of stamps, not to mention the lights coming out of the scanners. A lone copy machine left unused in the corner of the building's second floor, which was mostly unoccupied lest for a select few. Outside the window, a mild snowfall occurred. Even with the heater just at the half-output, the temperature was still bearable.
A lone teenage girl with lengthy brown hair, wearing a leaf-shaped ribbon sighed as she stretched her hands back. Faint puffs of white smoke escaped her mouth. The lightning was rather dim. She reached towards one of the pockets on her lengthy jacket. Seemingly wanting to check the time: It was about four o' clock in the evening. As she carefully checked out the special paperwork and stamped the things she provided about, she piled the finished documents on the other desk, where it would be carried into the first floor, where most of the noise was about.
The documents contained the details of various quests posted in Planeptune's guild. Quite a lot of people beside the agents and the CPUs reporting in. They mostly in it for the nifty sum of reward. Not now though, since most of the agents kinda took a paid vacation and the CPUs were having a vacation at Lowee, where the pure white snow glimmer beautifully in the open fields. During this time when everyone else was out doing some action, the agents were mostly doing desk jobs—which wasn't exactly the most exciting thing to do.
A lot of them were rather stressed out, but as for this certain girl, she figured it would be a nice change of pace after adventuring a lot with the CPU Party. She was one of the top agents, a bright and hard-working one on top of that—her name was IF. That to be said, as soon as she picked up the job, she kinda regretted it soon after. Quite a long while not doing desk jobs, her mind went sluggish and unable to be as meticulous as she used to be.
It's been three days and there's no sign of work ceasing. IF felt like she's about to cry, especially when she had to miss the party with CPUs, mainly Neptune and Nepgear. Those two were like a family to her.
"Please don't tell Nep, Histy. Just tell her I'd catch up to them surely. They'd be staying 'til the new years, right? I'll handle all the work. Regardless of her not caring about the world, she could be very meddlesome when she wants to, that can be really annoying."
"The CPUs were mostly busy year round, and they didn't have that much chance to meet, but I can go and visit her whenever I'm done with work, so please let her have this kind of experience."
Hearing IF's inquiry, Histoire, the Planeptune's oracle and also the guild's leader, got even more concerned with IF.
"Think about it, IF. Those two, Nepgear and Neptune, they will always be the same, no matter how many years had passed. The same with the other CPUs. But you and Compa. It won't be that long of year when you can still celebrate holidays together as young girls (-_-)b"
Even as for this day, she still continued to watch IF from behind with a concerned look, sitting on the lap of her floating book. Her tiny stature looms over IF's back, most of time trying her best to assist whenever she could.
From a distance, a yawning voice could be heard. It came from a pink-haired girl with a voluptuous figure. She wore a thick sweater and clutched a fluffy backpack with the shape of miniaturized Neptune wearing her usual hoodie shirt.
"Compa, she always visit you despite being busy at the clinic ._." muttered Historie, occasionally glancing at the documents in order to double-check things.
"I kept telling her I'm alright but she's just so stubborn, honestly..." IF let out a sigh once again. She never sighed so much before—she wondered if this kind of desk job wasn't actually fitting for her, at least in this season.
"In any case, I think you actually did far more work than adequate ^_^. Our shares should be good for the remainder of year. It may be rare for me to say this to anyone but, would you like to take some rest, IF? (^-^) You can just go and catch up with them at Lowee... ('_')/"
"I can't abandon my duties midway. I want to settle this once and for all before I could finally wrap this year up. I need to be useful to Nep and the others..."
"No need to worry about it one bit. If I were to reprimand someone for not being useful, it's most likely obvious who's who (-_-)"
"True that, ahahaha. She never changes."
Near the sofa in which Compa was napping, there was a lantern in which emited a tangerine light. The luminous spectacle enveloped her body with a mild warmth.
"Nep Nep...pudding."
"I guess her sleep-talking also didn't change." IF smirked.
"Did you watch her sleeping that often, IF? :3"
"W-what are you assuming? O-of course not! I, I was just happen to notice because she slept earlier than me even though I was the one doing physical stuff."
"So you two slept together in the same bed? (＾▽＾) "
"Ah..."
There was a pause. This awkward inquiry made Iffy (IF) slipped her pen on a clean request paper, in which she used it as an excuse to dodge the question. She reached for some white-out and pretended that question never existed in the first place.
In Compa's bag, there was a pair of matching lunch boxes, on a shape of a pink dogoo—a monster which resembled a combination between a slime and a doggy. Famously known to be Planeptune's mascot, and really friendly to people when domesticated. A lot of them often found causing trouble in the wilds though. The meal was Compa's home cooking-they were already eaten during last lunchtime.
In the bag, there was still quite a bunch of pudding, came in a set of five. It was placed neatly in a compact ice-box.
It was meant to be eaten together with the Planeptune family. Though yeah, the CPUs were off somewhere else, or did they? Speaking of which...
"...ahnn...Iffy...don't rub me in weird places, please stop, it's so ticklish..."
Amidst the chill winter day, something in IF's face heated up, which caused her cheeks to be flushed red and her expressions be as clear as broad day.
"I wonder what Compa was dreaming about.^_^)9" Histoire kept pressing on the question out of her curiosity, putting on emphasis on certain words to make IF flinch due to pressure and spill out everything.
"Enough of it, enough already! Aren't we supposed to finish all of this work before the year ends?"
"Well, seeing as you got distracted so easily, isn't it about time to call it quits, IF? We can continue in about three days. （￣□￣；） "
Three days, pretty much like Histoire, IF thought. Still, what amazes her the most was, that the supposedly serious tone had been completely ruined, even without the presence of a certain Nep.
"Let's just say, she actually have a bit of good influence in her. If only she was half as hardworking as you guys, we won't have to worry about shares anymore. -_-"
"Hahaha..."
"Would you like to spend the night together at the Basilicom? It's rather lonely out there with those two out. ( '_' ) "
"We'll be glad to Histy, after all, you've been such a great help. It's quite a sheme to abandon the rest of the work though."
IF started to sort out the finished documents and put it in a certain file, meanwhile the remainder of the unfinished ones, still piled a lot, were sent to a certain kind of box.
"Not to worry, when those slacker of agents came by, I'm going to work them to the bone（￣ー￣）. Not like it's the job for you alone in the first place. ^o^"
"I kept forgetting that. Does that mean I'll get something for going the extra mile?"
"That goes without saying. （・∀・）"
"Not that I'm expecting something special though. Oh well, Compa, let's go. We've just about done here."
Deep in her mind IF was expecting something though, but she shrugged the thought soon after.
IF and Histoire went to where Compa's napping—she slowly opened her eyelids at the call.
"...Iffy?"
"Come on."
IF extended her hands to Compa, in which met by a rather sluggish grip.
"You sure had lot going on at the clinic, huh?"
"Yes, we got quite a number of dead people in here."
"Eh..."
It's best to pretend I didn't hear that line, thought IF.
After tidying things up, three of them went to the Basilicom.
Xxx†‹
Actually, on the way to the Basilicom, Compa want to go shopping for groceries. She mentioned about making a Christmas Cake to eat with everyone, and also a feast when they finally arrived.
The supermarket was quite bustling with people of varying ages. From lone youngsters who would hoard a number of instant meals to families with children around and even elderly couples thinking about the meal tonight.
"When it comes to treats, expect it to be gone within seconds with Nep around. She would ate all except eggplants."
Iffy was pushing around the shopping cart filled with various cooking ingredients. Be it meat, fishes, fruits and vegetables. There were also a bit of boxed snacks, and most importantly, the stuff for making cakes. Compa was at the vegetable section, browsing some good eggplants on sale.
"...but eggplants are good for your health. That's why Nep Nep has so little energy that she lazes around all day."
"Compa, I think that has something more to do than just having little energy."
Iffy told her that it's a bad idea to make something with eggplants, no matter what. Having been traumatized with similar things in the past.
"You're right. To think about it, we need something that makes Nep Nep and Ge-Ge happy."
They went into the dairy section, with various foods showcased in a cooler. The thing which got Compa's interest in particular was a pack of gelatinous treat, neatly lined on display: all jiggly and chill.
"Shopping for pudding again? Didn't we already have a full set on your bag?"
"One is not enough for Nep Nep."
"Yes I know, but if it's Nep, ain't she like the ones you made best?"
"We might not have enough time to make everything."
"Frankly speaking, it's still evening out. Still,yeah, who knows if we'll make it. Shall we get going then?"
They paid for the groceries with the Credits they got from Histoire. There were still quite a bit left from all the shopping. Since Compa was already hungry, they ordered two portions of hotcake in the supermarket; ate it on the way back to Basilicom.
The shopping bags were heavy, but since they grinded enough level with Neptune and co, it felt rather light as a feather. So much that IF started to swing it around, before Compa warned her the contents might accidentally fell out and be scattered all around the snow.
Since Compa felt a bit exhausted from all the walking, they stopped on a certain seating where it's canopied from the snow. A pretty wide bench made out of stainless metal, with quite comfy cushion, not to mention, a stray newspaper left alone at the sides.
The surroundings were adorned by festive decorations, all lighted up with assorted vibrant colors. In front of the shops, various people were dressing up in variety of mascot characters, giving out coupons, leaflets and stuff like that.
IF and Compa dropped the hotcake litter at the nearby bin and came to sit out together. Quite a lot of people still passing here and by during this hour—it's the shopping district after all. It might be fortunate, their seating was empty aside from them during the moment, due to stuff Compa brought out of blue:
"Iffy, do you think we'll be as close to Nep Nep and Ge Ge when we get older?"
"Beats me. It's not the thing I'd like to think about."
"I don't want Nep Nep and Ge Ge to leave me because I'm an old lady. I want them to still go and play with me, always. I'm scared, I don't want to get old so fast and die."
"I feel pretty much the same way. Though, it might be even harder for them to live on, interacting with us humans who will eventually grow old and disappear."
"...wait a minute, Iffy. Don't you remember Falcom who came to our dimension when we were kids?"
"We do get help from her when we're running errands for Nep, ah, come to think of it."
"It's been 10 years and more, and she still looks about our age when we grew up, the same with the others too...when we attended that barbecue party."
"Iffy, was it because of our special abilities even though we're just normal humans? I mean, we can use magic and stuff like the CPUs. Does that mean we also stopped aging at certain point?"
"...I don't know, maybe it's because they're being a part of DLC which ain't really directly related to the main story."
"If I remember correctly, we're also included in the DLC as party, Iffy.
We're also there in the main story albeit not fighting. The DLC practically made us a party member."
"I guess it's really the power of DLC which made us stop aging."
"On a second thought, Iffy, what is DLC?"
"It's downloadable content, right? Nep often talked about that while she's with her handheld, on how she couldn't buy the appropriate DLC since her game was region locked. Are you saying that we lived inside a video game?"
"Maybe yes. How about we try waving at the player and say hello while we're at it?"
Imagining someone was looking at them directly from a screen, they put on a smile and waved their hands. As a result, some of the passerby gave them a concerned look, though some others actually went along and waved to the 'player'.
"Hello to you playing this game, we beli-hey, why are we goofing around like this instead of going back to Basilicom?"
"I think it's Nep Nep's influence, ahahaha."
"Seriously, Compa. Nep can be such a bad influence."
Xxx†‹
"Achoo! Damn, why does it feel someone's talking about me?"
"It's just your imagination, sis."
"If you're going back in advance, you two should've informed me earlier. I almost got a heart attack there. （ ﾟ Дﾟ）"
"Ahaha, sorry Histy." said Nepgear with a blush.
Back in Basilicom, the Nep sisters had went back ahead of schedule. Neptune was busy munching up the leftover custard pudding from the fridge and Nepgear brought a few buckets of fried chicken on the way back.
There was a fast food joint near the Basilicom and since they got no time to prepare for Christmas, they thought it's the least they can do.
"Gee, what a bummer. Blanc's in a terribly bad mood as she remember her novel's deadline. Instead of partying, Noire and the others had to help out too."
"What about you, Neptune? ( '_' )"
"We, uh, snuck out in time. Thanks to my awesome Ninja Nep skills."
"I got a feeling that we might make Blanc really furious by tomorrow. Be sure to apologize next okay?"
"Can I just email her?"
"We better apologize in person by tomorrow. That won't do, big sis."
"...now that you mention it. We did play around a lot and ate quite a portion at Blanc's place."
Though as Neptune ate a spoonful of pudding, her thoughts went to someplace else, "Eyy Nep Jr, can I have that bucket of chicken?"
"Didn't we agree to eat it together with everyone? I mean, IF and Compa are coming too. They will bring lots of delicious snacks so please bear with it, okay?"
"...pwetty please? Ah, my stomach is churning and I can't hold on another second...ahh...I need fried chicken...I want it...please Nep Jr.."
Neptune started to pose in a cutesy and seductive manner, slowly unbuttoning her shirt and revealed her petite, slim shoulder to Nepgear.
"Uh, if my big sister really want it then..."
"Will you two cut it out? I'm still here you know. _" Histy was rather annoyed by the antics of the sisters.
"Does that mean we could screw up when you're not around?" Neptune punched in at an awkward time, causing more of Histy's veins to bulge.
"...Nep-tune... (*ï¿£mï¿£) "
Just when Histore's anger was about to burst, the bell came in and up those two dropped by.
"Sorry for intruding by, oh it's just Nep and Gear. You guys have a good time at Lowee?"
"Nep Nep, Ge Ge. I totally miss you..."
Nepgear let out a sigh of relief.
"Ah...we're saved."
Meanwhile Neptune already had three chicken drumsticks in her mouth. When being reprimanded again, she merely said:
"Ish okway ewvan z here (it's okay, everyone's already here)."
"But you promised to eat only after we all started together, big sis."
Iffy went in and pulled a punchline, "More importantly, shouldn't you remind her not to talk with her mouth full first?"
Meanwhile, Compa sat on the table where the chicken bucket's at. She began to unload packs of pudding for everyone.
"Nep Nep, please don't eat both pudding and chicken at the same time." said Compa, reaching her hand out to Neptue when she's about to take the pudding even while still munching the crispy tender drumstick.
"Hwngwy..."
"No means no!"
"Ah, big sis. Eating pudding and chicken together might spoil the taste. The contents might mix up in your mouth and turn it into an eggplant monster."
"Silly Gear, there's no way anyone's going to believe that stuff—no way, it worked?" Iffy was rather bewildered when Neptune actually stopped reaching for the pudding.
"That's our Iffy!" Compa let out a smile of innocence, in which made Iffy blush when she stared at her.
In the meantime, Neptune already finished her drumsticks and drowned the entire contents with the bottled water Compa brought. As usual, she went for Compa's ice-box pudding first.
"Oh well, since our Neptune is hungry, let's just eat shall we? By the way IF, Compa—feel free to rest up here if you want. We'll have a sleepover ( ・ω・). "
"Whoa! That's our Histy!" Neptune felt overjoyed due to the announcement that she stopped eating pudding for a while.
"Calm down big sis, restrain your excitement, the night's still young you know.."
Not sure if Nepgear meant anything suggestive by that though.
"..and before it's even midnight, Nep is usually the ones to collapse first. Ain't it right, Compa?"
"Nep Nep is just like a growing kid!"
"Umm...everyone, since the story probably would drag too long if this keeps on. Let us go skip the entire dialogue, shall we?"
It's Nepgear who had broke the fourth wall. Quite weird how Neptune hasn't broke it yet-
"Nep Jr, do you mean we're actually inside the story, and that someone's actually stalking our very lives at this moment. Oh no, I will never be able to get married!"
Ah, there she goes.
IF plainly smirked.
"Eh, don't be ridiculous, who wants to marry y-"
"Don't worry, Nep Nep, I will marry you even if no one else would!"
"That's not fair Compa, I want to be big sis' bride too!"
"Y-you guys.."
Even with her sigh, deep down Iffy also wanted to be someone special to Neptune. That's how she worked hard for the nation, even with her just being a guild agent. She often thought, on how she wasn't honest about her feelings at all. She wanted to open up to Neptune, but she didn't really believe Neptune would understand something serious like that.
Iffy thought, that would just so out of character for her. That would just made a fool out of her in front of Neptune.
The drumstick was hot and ready. Iffy didn't feel eating all that much. It wasn't because of the hotcake earlier, but something else that's been clouding her mind lately. Thing she repressed a lot, and it came back to haunt her.
"Umm...you folks just go ahead and eat, I'll go grab some fresh air."
It was quite an awkward exit to the balcony. She left a chill in the table, and no one had a feel to eat after seeing what happened.
Even Neptune.
"Iffy..." Compa was concerned about her childhood friend, though she seen no way to butt in for the moment.
She knew, it was the thing concerning a bond between certain two. A different one between her and IF. Thinking about that, she felt a little jealous, but she couldn't help it, since she understood what it's like to feel something similar.
The snow was cold out; IF pondered about things out alone without a care of her surroundings. She thought about how Neptune really was to her, to make her feel so attached. Neptune was more than just a friend.
She was...
"Did Histoire asked you to come here?"
Even for just a faint footstep, she knew it was her.
"Uh...Iffy? I don't know what's going on but, how about we eat together-"
"Nep, I'm asking you whether Histoire sent you here or not."
"...I'm not telling."
Both of them stood in the snow-laden balcony. It was mild earlier, but the snowfall kinda accelerated as night came. It might be a show-off to see the one who's more stubborn.
"It's been a while since we're together alone like this. At first, it was just me, Compa and you."
"Yup."
"I noticed that as the time goes, I was mostly just getting in the way. You know, even though I'm in the scenes, it's mostly just you CPUs fighting."
"...and we actually finished the boss by just spamming EXE attacks, eh."
"Such an anti-climatic battle, but you guys do have a share of cool lines too."
"Iffy."
"What now?"
"I've got a disc chip. If you keep giving me the cold shoulder, how about we go to dungeon and raise our lily ranks?"
IF began to slowly tear up, thinking: Nep, you're really terrible at reading the mood.
"Nep, what I'm saying is. I really hate how I can't be a lot stronger than my current self. I wish to be a lot more useful in battle, you know."
"...uh, but you're actually the second fan favorite after Blanc. The fans also liked your appearances in the story a lot. A lot of people enjoy this game because of the story you know."
"...but...I..."
"If you want to complain about being rather underpowered, you can blame the developers for kept buffing the goddess and nerfing the humans with the new EXE system and that chip exploit, which practically made the non-CPUs unable to spam their EXE's over and over, unlike the CPUs."
"My gears and stats were also kinda bad, until I got the final one . I also didn't get a lot of useful combos to build my SP. In the previous games I was the main precursor for early game grinding since I could just one-shot those mobs with AOE and get that SP back from leveling up."
Nep nodded in affirmation.
"Thankfully I heard from the developers that they will buff you in the next game, and they'll bring back the old EXE system too. Rejoice, Iffy! It's super rejoicing!"
"Damn, stop it Nep. You sound like some creepy old man from that certain anime in which my voice actor was starring. Anyways, glad to hear that."
Actually, Neptune haven't watched the anime yet. She just browsed for the memes and got rather hyped.
"Speaking of which, upsy daisy...I got thingies for you."
Neptune pulled out some small object with straps and stuff. It was a cellpone strap of her wearing a hoodie shirt.
"Nep, it looks cute and stuff, but it's kinda narcissist when you give it yourself to me..."
"Whatever, just please accept it!" Neptune got really excited when Iffy called the strap cute, "It will increase all your stats to 9999 and greatly boost your max HP. It also cuts all your SP usage to zero!"
"Eh..."
Iffy thought, if only Neptune didn't go with the game stats thing, it would be far more convincing. She accepted it anyway and immediately strapped it into one of her most used phones. There was already a Compa strap in here though.
"Well then, Merry Christmas, Iffy."
Neptune clasped her hands together as if forming a prayer, even though she's the actual one people had been praying to. She closed her eyes shut—her stature so solemn, just like an actual goddess.
"Nep, hate to break it out to you, but now's still Christmas Eve."
"Now, now. Don't sweat the small stuff, shall we? Let's go back and eat."
"Oh well, alright then."
Both of them went back without any signs of frostbite, oblivious to the rapid snowfall in the balcony. In the end, things went rather well, much more than expected.
Xxx†‹
Back in Lowee, Blanc was sitting down at her desk, typing up the finishing touches of her novel. The little sisters beside Nepgear were busy playing games at the living room. Meanwhile, Noire and Vert played a detective game next door, it was the newly released one for the Lowee console. It was around dinner time but they've already finished so soon.
"It's not that fun eating together without Neptune around." thought Blanc, "You actually did care a lot about that girl. Can't blame you. It's also nice for me to see this side of you after so long. Because of you, I finally got the inspiration on how to wrap up the entire story."
After a while of typing, editing and doing backups to her story, Blanc finally finished her work.
"Now let's go out and have some fun." she skipped to where the little sisters were at and watched them play games. She smiled in satisfaction, not merely just for meeting the deadline, but more of able to write something which satisfied her.
Back in the document, the ending text went like this:
Christmas in Planeptune - Fin†‹
Author's note : the universe setting was kind of a mix up between the three Re;Birth games and also the anime. I was planning to add Plutia and Peashy too, but thinking about it again, I want to focus on the relationships between IF, Compa and Neptune--the way it was in Re;Birth 1.
At first I was hoping for a teary and heartwarming ending, but those kind of things, I couldn't really get some ideas on how to execute it well enough. I also wanted to put on a backstory on how Christmas was celebrated in Gamindustri, told by Histoire, though I felt it might ruin the focus of the story, so I scrapped the idea.
This story contains the things I love from Neptunia series. The characters, their goofy interactions and also their complete disregard for the fourth wall. Since I was just starting out writing an actual story, things might not turn out that well, but I hope I can learn much more in the future.
Thank you so much for reading, and see you guys again on my future works.