Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Nep-Nep!” Compa yelled out to her best buddy as she was sent flying by one of Arfoire’s many manic swipes, crashing thirty feet from the initial blow and skidding a few extra. “Neptune! Hold still okay? We got you!” Rom called out to the seemingly unconscious CPU of Planeptune. “You’re still in it, don’t worry!” The two especially proficient healers fell back and began tending to Nep’s wounds. Blanc, hearing all the commotion after watching her friend get battered and ragdolled across the battlefield, took a brief look back after hearing Rom’s voice, which flared her anger past the boiling point. Knowing Arfoire’s blind swipes have left her open and on the defensive Noire, Lastation’s CPU ordered Vert and Blanc to press on the offensive and push this manic, power-hungry anti-goddess to the brink of the island to ensure she had nowhere to escape to, however Blanc’s rage had reached the peak and she no longer wanted to or could hear the others as she switched into high gear and began using her command skills on the beast blindly, leaving a solid breach in their offensive trap.

”Screw you bitch! I’m done with you and your annoying schemes!” Blanc screamed out while hacking and slashing rapidly in her HDD form. Arfoire realized too late how much of a threat Blanc was and in her monstrous form she failed to pivot to brace for her attacks accordingly. Abandoning the ground entirely and taking flight, albeit erratically, Blanc flew straight past Arfoire’s defenses and slammed into her backside, dealing a grievous blow into the side of her hip. Arfoire twinged in pain and bellowed in agony, trying her hardest to keep up her stance, but after another collision from Blanc’s Hero’s Hammer into her hip the imitation goddess fumbled and was forced to fold her left hand inward, while continuously exhausting her energy by swiping blindly with her right to keep Noire and Vert away. Blanc however kept letting loose her ice-imbued physical barrage into Arfoire’s left leg, stancing herself accordingly to continually drive the blunt weapon into the backside of Arfoire’s knee to break in her stance once and for all. Unconcerned with elegance and grace in the moment, she would thrust outwards and to the right of her and use her gargantuan strength to flick the hammer upwards and have it crash down upon her defenseless opponent. One, two, four, ten, the hits racked up until Arfoire looked as if she was down for the count.

“Blanc, get a hold of yourself!” Vert shouted out at the rampaging goddess. Before she could say much else Arfoire roared out in immense pain once more before making a final swipe in front of her to keep Vert and Noire back; a fruitless endeavour however as Blanc took to the air and front-flipped into the beast goddess’ left leg this time. With this Arfoire collapsed to the ground and her form began to flicker in and out between her normal self and the beast she was trying so desperately to maintain.

“That takes care of her I guess.” Noire sighed, finally dropping her sword hand in front of Arfoire, who now was left in her base form.

“Blanc, she’s down. What should we do?” Vert asked the goddess of Lowee, who was still violently heaving and trying to catch her breath.
“Isn’t it obvious? We’ve got to put her down. If we leave her alive, she’ll just come back again to start shit again.” Blanc spat over her shoulder, still staring down their staggered foe.

Vert nodded after a moment of brief consideration. “I happen to agree in this case. For the good of Gamindustri.”

“Let’s make it quick then.” Noire added, rubbing her sore sword arm with a free hand.

Blanc raised her weapon, her eyes examining Arfoire like a predator. Arfoire chuckled weakly, “Oh? Are the heroic goddesses really going to kill me?”

“Try me, bitch.” Blanc hissed, raising her axe to her shoulder as she took a step forward in preparation to execute her enemy.

“Are you sure this is what Neptune would want?”

This caused Blanc to hesitate a moment to her own shock. “What do you mean? Of course she’d want you to be put down!”

That brief hesitation was still a moment too long as Arfoire quickly muttered an incantation under her breath, a purple sigil appearing beneath Blanc’s feet.

“I may not be victorious here today, but I’m going to take one of you little girls with me. Ciao, pipsqueak.”

“What are you-” Blanc demanded before stepping forward, a portal of gray energy forming in front of her and sucking her in before she could offer any more resistance than a scream. The goddess of Lowee was gone.

Chapter Text

“What did you do with Big Sis!?” Rom cried out in terror.

“WHERE DID YOU SEND MY SISTER?!” Ram screamed out in panic.

“Gahahaha, foolish little goddesses of Lowee, your sister gone, erased from this world, no more!” Arfoire cackled out in triumph. Her laughter was cut short however, both by her wounds across her body and Vert cutting her off, slamming her spear into the ground to intimidate the wounded copycat goddess.

“Explain yourself! What did you do with Blanc?!” Repositioning herself so that she can readily stand should she need to fight once more, Arfoire offered no verbal response; she simply grinned wickedly and raised her hand to the tip of her hat.

“What’s that grin for?” Noire called out. “It’s not like you can win in your current state, you’d be better off trying again some other time.”

“Gahahaha, oh Noire, you air-headed, silly, pathetic excuse of a goddess, you just get me so well.” Mustering most of her remaining power she spent gathering on the ground, she simply teleported away, leaving an unconscious Nep and the rest of the gang wondering where Blanc could be.

“Iffy, can you sense her anywhere?” Compa asked. When she received no immediate response, she called out IF’s name once more. “Iffy…?” Still no response. Vert turned toward IF to see she was deep in concentration.

“Iffy, won’t you please answer me then?” Vert asked while walking toward her.

“Lady Vert, I’m trying to sense Blanc, but I can’t find any lingering traces of her anywhere. MAGES. How about you?”

“Even if I had the power to feel the energy through all the different dimensions I’ve been to in search of Doc P, I doubt I could find her. By all accounts it seems like she was erased from this world, just as Arfoire said.” MAGES. shifted uncomfortably on the spot, realizing Rom and Ram were both looking towards her with tears beginning to form in their eyes. “I- I… I’m not sure how to mince this, so I’ll say it plainly. Your sister is not here. Loathe as I am to say it, I suggest we take Arfoire at her word…”

The group fell silent, and for the first time in their lives, Rom and Ram didn’t know what to do, or how to feel. Sure, they could fend for themselves without their big sister, but that wasn’t their issue. Even with their immense faith in Blanc, they were worried about how they would maintain Lowee’s image without the people being able to see or hear their goddess. Above all else, with a quick look into the other’s eyes, they could feel their thoughts on one subject resonate with the other. Neither would wish to take up the mantle of being the goddess of Lowee. Doing so felt like a betrayal of their belief in their older sister, and for the time being, it was all they had left.

“Well, uh… don’t torture yourself too much with it, girls…” Noire attempted to comfort and console the twin Lowee candidates by breaking the silence plaguing the group. “I’ll do the best I can to ensure Lowee receives all of Lastation’s support. …Behind the scenes that is.”

“Yes, I will do all I can to help out as well.” Vert chimed in.

“I’m sure Nep-Nep will do her best too!” Compa added in an effort to lighten the mood.

“Don’t forget about us as well!” Tekken proudly chimed in, pumping her fist in the air in support of the twin goddesses.

“Hey Compa?” IF called, concern layered in her voice. “How is Nep holding up?” Compa finished applying some bandages to Nep’s forehead and cheek area before responding.

“Nep-Nep will be just fine, I have faith in her too!”

Uni, who stayed quiet through the entire ordeal, bent down and put a hand on Rom’s shoulder, displaying a beautiful smile, and the best she could muster before choosing her words very carefully.

“You two are super strong, you know? You’ll be able to take on any challenge, and I know it. You’re both a lot like your sister, and in the best of ways, which is why I have no doubt that Blanc is safe and will return to us. She’s smart, resourceful, crafty, there’s no situation she couldn’t handle, this one included.” With these words, Rom and Ram decided to forego their own doubts and hesitations and fully believe that their beloved older sister could overcome all odds and come back for them.

“Hey, why don’t you two prepare a nice meal for her when she comes back. Before you know it, she’ll be ready to chow down into a great meal. You wouldn’t want to leave her hanging after all she’s been through, right? Besides, your cooking together will warm her heart more than anything we could attempt to do, not that we won’t try.” Nepgear added on while picking up Ram with the most confident look in her eyes.

“You two had best prepare for her grand entrance. We all know how Blanc likes to write her stories, make her feel like a princess when she arrives back in Lowee.” Vert cheered on.

“Yeah, we’ll believe in Big Sis no matter what!” Ram giggled with a bright, hopeful smile.

“We won’t let her down!” Rom added.

“We know you won’t!” Noire responded, further validating their delighted moods and noting to herself how great it is they were able to turn the situation around from gloomy at best to a can-do-attitude all around. “Don’t forget that you have all of Lastation’s support too!”

“Leanbox and I’m sure Planeptune as well.” Vert confidently remarked.

“We’ll all believe in your big sister.” Nepgear finished, taking Rom’s hand in her left, and Ram’s hand in her right hand and leading them back to the bridge that connected Gamindustri and Celestia. “Let’s go home and get things situated in the meantime.”

“Yeah, I’ll have to update my blog to ensure my people Blanc is just fine, and is resting after the battle!” Noire chimed in one last time as the group, all exhausted and worn out, headed for the bridge, all happily choosing to believe in Blanc with all of their hearts.

Blanc meanwhile found herself in an unfamiliar place. She looked around and realized that she was in some sort of apartment. It wasn’t too big, in this room there was a TV, a game system and a couch. She picked herself up off the carpet and made sure she was relatively unscathed. She had some bruises and cuts, but nothing that would kill her.

“Who’s there?!” A strange voice called out. A young man with dark hair crept out to the room Blanc had appeared in, his eyes meeting hers as they both yelped and darted backwards.

“W-Who are you?!” Blanc demanded, her eyes frantically darting around the room for some sort of weapon.

“I’m Ren Kitagawa, I live here. Who the hell are you?”

“...Blanc.” She replied cautiously, her mind still in a combat state as she leered down the newcomer.

“Relax, I’m not gonna hurt you or anything. I just heard a loud crash and came to check it out. I… don’t think you broke in here at least. So what are you doing here?”

“I just… well I just appeared here. Where am I even?”

“This is Shibuya. You know, part of Tokyo? City in Japan?”

“Japan? What’s a Japan?”

“What’s a- What do you mean what’s Japan? Where are you from then?”

“Lowee, a country in Gamindustri.”

“Lowee?” Ren studied her expression. “My God, you’re serious. Well never mind that for now, you look pretty roughed up. I can help clean and bandage those cuts.”

On cue, her cuts and scrapes indeed began to sting. She remembered Compa telling her that wounds could get infected without them being cleaned. “Fine. Um, thank you.”

Blanc was sat down on the couch by Ren, who offered her a washcloth and bandages to help treat her wounds. “Sorry. For crashing here in the middle of the night that is.”

“Nah, it’s not a big deal. If you came in here banged up like that though, you may as well get some rest. You can sleep on the couch if you want, I’ll get you a blanket. We’ll figure out exactly who you are and where you’re from tomorrow morning.”

The young man went over to a closet and pulled out a fleece blanket, tossing it to Blanc, who accepted it warily. “Well, good night then, Blanc. If you need anything just wake me up again and let me know.”

“Good…night.” Blanc replied awkwardly. She did feel absolutely exhausted, but her mind was too filled with fear and anxiety given her current situation. She was in a strange place, she had no idea where this place was in relation to Gamindustri. She had no idea if her sisters or even the other goddesses who were fighting were okay, nor did she have any idea of what happened to Arfoire. Instead she delegated her time to taking peeks around her room, and then staring outside through the window. There wasn’t much to look at though, just a few brick buildings, an alley dividing the buildings and a green roofed shop. Beyond the closed shop however, she couldn’t see anything else important from her angle though. It was dull, it was a bit boring, but it still intrigued Blanc to some extent. She knew it was killing her to stay still, and as tired as she was she was still ready to jump up at a moment’s notice and explore the area but multiple problems permitted her from doing so. She didn’t know the area, she didn’t want to endanger or scare Ren by leaving the door unlocked, and she wasn’t even entirely sure where she should start looking to get back home. Blanc assumed Arfoire sent her here knowing where she would end up, but the spell didn’t seem to send her into some hellish environment as far as she was currently aware of, so she had to wonder if even that old, detestable goddess knew what she was firing off. Arfoire may have sounded certain, but she’s also been able to bluff the goddesses before into believing her at her word so it wasn’t out of the equation to just lie her way through it.

Running in circles, doing all sorts of tricks and completing multiple marathons inside her head were proving to get her nowhere in the end though, and she grew tired of this fruitless endeavour to think of some way out of this situation. She was exhausted, becoming depressed, worried for her sisters, and just wanted to return home. Sleepy but too wary to fall asleep, Blanc decided it was best for her to close her eyes and just rest for the night. Hours, or what felt like hours passed by and the sunlight began to shine through the alley leading up to her window, causing her bloodshot eyes to recoil at first to the warm embrace of the light. Tired as she was, she made it a point to stand up and stretch herself out. It was clear she was still sore in multiple areas, and especially more so now that she was in this mysterious place, world, whatever it was, but it was even more obvious how weak she felt here. It was as if she was cut off from her shares and Gamindustri as a whole. She didn’t want to believe it, but her marathons in her mind immediately told her otherwise, refusing to let her blind herself from the truth of the matter. In this world it wasn’t just that she couldn’t HDD or summon her weapons, gear or element-infused attacks, it seems the pains she normally would shrug off were worse here. Whatever this world was, she wasn’t taking kindly to it, and it reciprocated it back at her.

Dissatisfied with her stretch and seemingly forever occupied mentally, in an attempt to rid her mind of the worst it could conjure she stepped outside of the room she was in to enter a short hallway. Not much of it was decorated, which was not at all like Lowee and where she used to stay. In fact, the entire apartment so far was pretty bland and lackluster, but it’s not like she could complain and go back home. The couch was comfortable at least, and that she was grateful for. Perhaps she was spoiled from being able to reside in the Lowee Basilicom but she really wasn’t used to this cramped atmosphere. It was almost claustrophobic how little room there was to move between one room and the hallway connecting it, but the space improved when she approached the intersection of where Ren stumbled off to for the night, a washroom and the kitchen, which was notably the largest part of the apartment. Looking into Ren’s cupboards and fridge she noticed there wasn’t much to eat, not that she would have done so, as it’s quite rude to take someone else’s stuff without asking. She didn’t know anything about this Ren, and she wasn’t eager to throw her free guide of this world down the drain over a bite of food, so begrudgingly she went back into the living room and sat upright on the couch.

Blanc forgot there was a TV here, and the remote was left on the coffee table so she decided to flick it on, only to find there were now channels or programs she knew here. “Wow…” Blanc thought to herself. “There really isn’t anything similar to Gamindustri here…” Blanc felt a bit dejected, and very homesick already, but she had to make the most of her situation, so she decided not to go complaining too much in her own head. “Come on Blanc, you know this, The greatest enemy in trying times is yourself. Don’t get into your own head, stay vigilant and never stop trying.” In truth this was all just a front to hide how terrified she really was. She desperately wanted to hug her twin sisters Rom and Ram, or argue a bit with Vert, or even just write her worries away. If she could find a pen and paper she would gladly do so, since nothing on the television caught her interest right away, she didn’t know what she was looking at, or if there was some unknown context she was missing to understand these shows. Knowing nothing about this world infuriated her, in a motivating way, but she treated it as a puzzle, and she found she was always very good at puzzles. “Creative minds go a long way in an otherwise dull environment.” Blanc told herself, just trying to enforce some positive attitude to her many problems at hand.

In the midst of thinking to herself and looking around the living room for a few pieces of paper she heard a bunch of creaking from Ren’s room, followed by a few steps and the opening of his door. Frazzled and a bit startled by him waking up and leaving his room as fast as he did, Blanc instinctively dove back for the couch, narrowly landing on top of the blanket he gave her, and looking a fool in the process.

"Couldn't sleep well?" Ren asked, yawning immediately afterwards and stretching as high as he could without punching the ceiling. Blanc peered up past the blanket she was burying her face in to look at Ren. Realizing the ridiculousness of her position and actions she quickly sat up, brushed her hair away from her face to not eat it as she spoke and adjusted her hat so it sat in its usual spot atop her head before responding. "No, I couldn't at all."

Ren walked over to the couch and asked if he could sit down on the other side, to which Blanc nodded and moved over from the middle to the opposite end. After sitting down and getting somewhat comfortable, Ren turned to Blanc with a couple of questions on his mind. Realizing how fidgety she seemed to be at the moment, he decided to make small talk first and open into the big ones later.

"So how are the injuries? Feeling any better?"

Blanc felt around a bit, being careful not to press too hard so she wouldn't trigger any pain caused by her being sore all over. After a brief zing from a few cuts across her right arm she responded.

"Still quite sore, and a few cuts still sting. Now that I think about it my movements are just a little stiff, but I think that's because I strained myself before coming here."

"Well I'm glad it wasn't the pain that kept you up at least. What in the world were you doing that had you end up like this Blanc?"

At the mention of her name, she immediately took her eyes off of her twiddling thumbs and up to meet Ren's lips. Upon weighing in the gravity of the situation however, her eyes darted back to her lap and she began to rub her hands together a bit, whether for comfort or to keep her focused, she could not tell. After a few seconds of debating whether or not she should tell him, she settled on doing so. She couldn't refuse to be truthful to her only aide around this place, especially after he treated her to her wounds without hesitation last night.

"I was fighting someone… Someone who had threatened and injured my friends countless times. Someone I couldn't afford to lose against… but I did."

Blanc's mind felt near hollow uttering the last words. It echoed around the walls of her brain, settling in rent free. It hurt to admit, but had she not hesitated she might have been fine, and Arfoire wouldn't have continued to cause grief and destruction everywhere she went. She didn't even know if Arfoire hurt any of the others afterwards, and what she didn't know always worried her the most. Deciding it was all too much to keep thinking about, Blanc decided to believe in Noire, Vert, her sisters and everyone else back home in Gamindustri who would continue fighting for her and in her name.

"I'm sorry… I know words aren't enough given I don't know the situation, but they're all I can offer at the moment. You sound like you've been through a lot… More than anyone should have gone through reasonably." Ren considered himself a people person, and pretty good at being there for whoever needed him, but given the gravity of the situation he knew this situation was well out of his hands. Still, he wasn't one to send this poor girl off to the authorities. After all, he was certain they couldn't do anything more than he could, and they would only serve to complicate things further by all accounts. Lowee, Gamindustri, a fight against someone she couldn't lose against? None of this sounded like anything or any place he had ever heard of. How could she not know of Japan while being in the heart of it? He decided to ask the big question; he needed to know more.

"So Blanc, do you… do you perhaps know how you got here?"

Blanc shifted uncomfortably upon hearing this question and began to twiddle her thumbs again. She truly didn't know, and was hoping maybe he would have an answer. No matter how hard she tried to think it through and retrace her steps earlier there wasn't much to retrace. She couldn't have any idea of how she came here of all places, she still didn't know where here was, and she was completely disconnected from her powers as goddess of Lowee.

"I… I don't know… I don't think I could ever know…"

Ren thought as much, but hoped otherwise. He half thought it was all a dream last night he managed to conjure up and when he woke up she would be nothing more than a figment of his imagination, but he was wrong, and that meant she was genuinely stuck here, which likely scared them both. The last thought reminded him of how much they startled each other last night.

"Hey, about last night, I'm sorry for frightening you. It must have been doubly as scary for you as it was me."

"I'm sorry too. I was worried you were going to attack me or something."

"Haha, yeah I was pretty worried for myself as well. I felt like I was two seconds and a blunder of my words away from being beaten to a pulp. You have quite the fight response in you."

"Fight response? It's pretty natural to me. I've had to fight a lot recently."

"Is that so?" Ren didn't like how casually Blanc had mentioned that. Whatever world she came from, it seemed too harsh on her. "Well please, I know it's hard to do, but feel at ease here. I swear to everything I own and everyone I love that I won't harm you."

The sincerity in Ren's voice did give Blanc a sense of comfort. Not all of her worries would fade away, and nor would she let them that easily, but a good chunk of them regarding her ability to survive in this unknown world were repressed knowing she at least had a person to confide in and hopefully a place to stay. In turn, for the first time Blanc smiled back at him.

"Thanks for your help." The former goddess replied. "It means a lot, and it helped me kill some of my stress."

"I'm glad to help you then, Blanc." In the spirit of both keeping things light-hearted and continuing the conversation Ren asked if she saw anything on his TV she recognized, to which she responded "No, I don't recognize anything here."

"Wow, you really aren't from here then." Ren muttered to himself, not expecting her to hear him, however she did.

"You don't know Lowee, then? Gamindustri?" Blanc asked.

Without hesitation Ren replied "No, I've never heard of those places. Game industry? That's an interesting name for a place. Here we have a game industry, but it's not any place you can live, much less house countries, here it's everything… well everything to do with games."

"Games, huh? Like what Vert plays?" Blanc seemed to slip up a bit, as she forgot who she was talking to for a second.

"Vert? Is that a friend of yours?" Ren asked, interested in hearing more about her place.

"She's a friend of mine, and she's powerful like me. She likes video games and being online."

"So there's a game industry in Gamindustri huh? Your friend sounds fun to be around. I don't know what you have, but we have games like these here." Ren pointed to the wii console underneath the stand the TV sat on and grabbed a case titled "Super Smash Bros 4". Blanc picked it up, instantly enamored in the bright colours strewn all throughout the case, and the amount of detail in the characters on the screen.

"These look like fun characters. I can tell they would be fun to write about." Blanc said with a hint of amazement in her voice. She felt a weird sense of connection to the characters and the game as a whole despite playing it, and she wasn't sure why but didn't necessarily stop to question it either.

"Oh, you write? These characters aren't all from the same game. This game brings them all together to fight." Ren remarked.

"So they came from different worlds to meet each other? That sounds like what just happened to me…"

"Yeah, it does actually." Ren hadn't even made that connection. Blanc was smart, he noted. Even if she was mostly worried and uncomfortable, she still had her wits.

"Maybe I could get some ideas to help return if I played." Blanc mused out loud.

"I doubt it, but I'm not one to refute a suggestion like that without trying first. You might learn more about combat though." Ren responded.

"Can we play it now?!” Blanc asked excitedly. Ren noted her extreme enthusiasm to play Smash of all things. This hope, or innocence maybe? It was infectious, and made him feel strangely giddy.

"I'd love to play Smash with you some time later maybe, but I just woke up. I have to go shopping for the day, and definitely need my morning coffee." Ren responded, though the pain of seeing such an excited face contorting into sadness and acceptance dug into him too. Deciding to change the subject and not ruin the conversation with her, he asked Blanc if she had any coffee before.

"Coffee? Yeah I've had it. It keeps me up when I write a lot, which I happen to do a lot. It's alright, I'm used to the bitterness by now."

"You really like writing, don't you?" Ren commented, remembering her mentioning the hobby before already. "How about we get you some writing supplies while we're out, as well as a coffee on the go?"

"That'd be great. I need to know as much of your world as I can in order to get back to mine anyways."

Ren heard her determination, and admired how she could be so hopeful in what would seem to be a hopeless situation. "Alright then Blanc, let me get my shoes on and we'll be off!"

Chapter Text

“You ready?” Ren called out, before noticing Blanc was already behind him, seemingly eager to leave the apartment and take on the real world.

“Yep, let’s get going.” As Ren unlocked the door a brief bit of wind circulating through the vents above flew past them. Blanc noted it was musty, or maybe stale, either way it didn’t feel great and left a bad taste in her mouth. Recoiling at the air around her she made a slight groan, causing Ren to take notice, nailing the issue right away.

“Oh, this building isn’t exactly the greatest on air quality.” Ren commented. “I promise the whole world isn’t like that.

“Thank Blanc.” The relieved goddess muttered out without really thinking.

“I’m lost… What did you say?” Ren responded quizzically. He wasn’t sure if he heard her right. “Thank… Blanc?”

“I… Uhh…” Blanc tried to get a hold of herself for a moment, realizing what she had said to him as well. “It’s just a funny phrase I used to say. I’m actually a goddess of the world I come from: Gamindustri. I govern Lowee.”

“Wait, wait wait… you’re a goddess?!” Ren stuttered over his words like a fool in disbelief, mostly because he was. “You… That’s… Wow.”

“Yeah… so you understand why I have to get back. I can’t be away from them for too long. Let’s get going.”

Ren, still at a loss for words and not able to get over how casually she could just make such a claim fumbled his keys a bit until he managed to insert the right key into the door and lock up. “Right, then what should I call you?” The bewildered young man asked.

“Haha, what? Blanc’s fine. I’m no goddess here anyways, I don’t even have my powers.” At the mention of her lost powers, try as she might her face came down with a sullen expression. She paused before adding one final bit. “I can’t even feel my connection to there anymore…”

“Oh, I’m sorry Blanc. That was careless of me.” Ren quickly switched up his demeanor to apologize, remembering she was essentially relying on him for the time being. “I promise we’ll get you back to Lowee, it was? I’ll help you find your way back and won’t stop searching.” Blanc appreciated his words, however she couldn’t shake her spirit feeling a little dampened. Ren gestured to the end of the hallway to leave the building, and let her walk onwards. “Please though, do take care of yourself while you’re here.” They continued walking until the end of the hallway and proceeded to call the elevator. There were seven floors in this building, so thankfully the elevator usually wouldn’t take too long, but it was still a little boring without making conversation. Recognizing this, Ren asked her a question. “Hey Blanc, is it dangerous over in your world?”

“It’s…” Blanc thought about it for a second. Sure Gamindustri was currently a mess teetering on the verge of collapsing thanks to Arfoire, and there were monsters roaming around everywhere, but the game discs used to create the monsters were destroyed for the most part, and with Arfoire out of the way, she would imagine the world of Gamindustri would return to being somewhat peaceful again. “Well not at the moment, but myself and a good few others were working on returning to simpler, more peaceful times.”

“I see. It’s just I was worried for you. You came here flat on your face, slumped on the ground at first, cut, scraped, bruised and in general kind of looking disheveled. It’s just been on my mind.”

The elevator dinged and the doors slid open to reveal a sort of small elevator for the size of the building. Not too cramped for the two of them, but still leaving much to be desired. Blanc had half a mind to reassure Ren that she was fine, but she decided not to bring further attention to it as she was curious about the world outside. Gamindustri has been very, well advanced for a while now, she thought, but over here in Ren’s world, she didn’t see any fancy paving so far, or the futuristic, I guess she would call it, views she was accustomed to, particularly in Planeptune. Blanc preferred this sort of look and feel however. It felt more genuine, and less focused on being innovative. Lowee was much like this in a way. Not super advanced, nor trying to be. It was just a nice home for all who wanted to stay, and as goddess she made sure she listened to her citizens on how they wanted to live.

Blanc’s musings made her feel slightly closer to home from here, and took her mind away from the elevator door being opened until Ren asked if she was alright, which snapped her back into focus.

“Hey, just through these doors and we’re outside. Sorry if the air quality is making you dizzy and all.”

“Huh, oh it’s alright. I was thinking of something.”

Deciding not to pry, Ren grabbed the door for his new acquaintance and let her see the glorious, boring to him, sights of the back alleys of Shibuya. Despite him not seeing anything special, watching Blanc stare out and around was quite amusing to him, but it made him wonder how Blanc’s world looked like. Letting her take in the sights, he made a mental note to ask her later, once he had gotten his morning coffee.

“So, what do you think?” Ren probed. “Boring, right?”

“The opposite actually.” Blanc responded. “It reminds me a bit of home, but it doesn’t look at all the same necessarily.”

“Why’s that?” Ren asked, intrigued to know further.

“It’s lively. It’s maybe nothing special to you at first, but to every person here, this is definitively home.” Blanc mused, her mind traveling off for a bit. “You do whatever it is you do out in the world, but these people, this scenery, it gives me a sense of security, tranquility, and community that reminds me of Lowee.”

“Tranquility, huh?” Ren was astonished that this newcomer to his world took so much interest in the everyday streets of his world. After all, she hasn’t even seen the main part of Shibuya, or anything large in Tokyo. “You know, you seem to put a lot of thought into the world around you.”

“Sorry, author’s brain, but this is a nice place.” Blanc had to admit that the area around her was a bit dull, but it felt like a good place. Maybe she could let her guard down here after all. “Shall we get going? I need some coffee.”

“That makes two of us.” Ren agreed. “Bear with me, it gets busy a bit past here. I’d normally go to a different store, one more personal, but we still need to get you some writing supplies so we’ll be heading into the city a bit more.”

“Alright, I’m looking forward to seeing more of your world anyways.”

Weaving their way through the alleyways wasn’t too hard, but Blanc had the feeling that should she go alone, she would very easily become lost, at least for now. They passed a few shops and multiple buildings along the way. Not too many as large as Ren’s though. The alleyways continued to be a bit bumpy and weathered, but this just made Blanc feel more at home temporarily. However, this feeling of understanding his world was obliterated completely when they finally did approach the larger, more grand area of the city. The buildings were massive, the streets had opened up ten times larger than the alleyway they had just crawled out of, it was flashy, colourful, and completely overwhelming at first.

“The sights… it’s large, that’s for sure. Wow.” Blanc, in love with the grand sights she didn’t know this world was capable of, spun around slowly on the spot taking in the sights of the whole block. “This is awesome!”

Ren understood her sentiments here for sure. Even being born here, looking up at these structures as a kid, it always felt like the world was so much larger than him, and this wasn’t even a quarter of what the city had to offer. It was only one or two blocks depending on how you look at it. He suddenly felt himself wanting to show Blanc around more in the future. Her amazement was infectious, as it made him grin from ear to ear. At the very least he had to show her around some of the other districts eventually. Let’s start small for now, he told himself, trying not to get carried away. “It’s beautiful, and feels almost impossible, right?” Ren posed.

“Yeah, I’m blown away.”

“I feel that way too, despite being born here. It’s all just so large. It boggles my mind to know there’s another world out there though, I’d love to see your world too.”

“It’s great, and very lively like this at times, but not all of it is. Lowee is a great home for all though, if you don’t mind the snow.”

“Snow? It doesn’t snow too much here, but when it does it’s beautiful, albeit a tad cold.”

“This feels a bit warm in comparison, I’ll admit that.”

“Let’s get a move on though, alright. Stick close to me, I don’t want to lose you if we bump into a big crowd.” Ren advised her.

“Gotcha.”

Taking in the sights proved to be very taxing for Blanc. There was so much to look at, and not enough time to study them. Almost none of this would help her get home, but truth be told, she wasn’t really looking into any of that at the moment; the sights were too mesmerizing to think of anything else. Even this though proved to be too much for her right now, as she kept finding herself slowly split off from Ren. who had now told her three times to try and stick with him. The poor guy had his head on a swivel every few seconds to make sure she was keeping pace and not falling into the sea of the crowd so she decided to come back and take a look at the rest of these places another time and just keep pace with Ren.

After a solid ten minutes of walking down the same pathway they made it to what Ren called Station Square. He noted this was where the majority of the crowd were headed and that there were trains that would take them to where they needed to go. Finally being free of the crowd, Ren and Blanc were able to travel and feel more freed to do so. Blanc took in some more sights, and Ren pointed out a few with a bit of history of the buildings. There was a bench where he remembered having to tie his shoe once when he was much younger, a specific spot where he remembered losing his basketball, which rolled into traffic, never to be seen again, and the corner of a street near the Square where he had found ten thousand yen before, although he had to explain what yen was to Blanc, and that ten thousand is a lot for a young teen here. Blanc asked if they had heard of credits or would accept them, as she had a ton back home from fighting off monsters, to which, as confused as he was by this statement, replied the only credits this world accepted were loans you had to be smart with and pay back eventually. Blanc noted this, but suddenly realized she had no currency they could accept off of her, feeling a bit dejected.

Blanc enjoyed Ren’s memories, even if they were just minor things. It really colourized his world and confirmed her suspicions of it being similar to hers. She thought for the first time that she should at least be grateful that she landed in a place where she could communicate with people, or at least one person and they looked similar to her so she felt more comfortable with them. She shuddered to let her imagination trail off and pull up many other hypothetical worlds and situations she could have ended up in. All in all she was grateful Ren was so accommodating and understanding, but she hoped she wouldn’t have to bother him too long with her staying here.

“Here.” Ren spoke, now standing still, unaware he broke off her train of thoughts once again. “This is the place.”

It didn’t look particularly grand on the outside, but the inside looked clean, so Blanc was eager to go inside. It had a green awning and a couple of chairs and tables outside with a bit of a fence gate around it. Blanc noted she couldn’t see the name of the place as they were too close, but remembering she was about to get some coffee in her body to warm her up and stimulate her, she walked into the door with a minor curiosity and larger smile on her face. The place was almost entirely empty, and only a few seats were taken, mostly by a couple of elderly people. The inside had a marble tile layout, and the chairs and tables were a green-ish black painted metal with black cushioning. They looked comfortable, but like they might hurt if you sat there for longer than an hour, not that she would take an hour to drink coffee unless she was in a comfortable environment and with a pen and paper in her hand anyways.

The cashier greeted the two of them with a “Hello there, welcome!” which Blanc respected. “Hello!” she replied, happy that this person could also understand her. There were a couple of people speaking in a language she did not understand back on the crowded streets. She was only able to catch bits and pieces of the conversations, but what she did hear didn’t sound like anything she had heard before. Ren guided her over to the menu pamphlets next to the counter and mentioned to the cashier that Blanc was new to the area and they’d be taking a couple minutes to look over the menu to which the cashier nodded and said “By all means, it’s quiet here this time of day anyways.” People must be busy all the time, Blanc thought, as it felt like mid-day to her at least.

Looking over the menu there were some nice powdery baked bread that Ren mentioned were beignets, and that these were chocolate filled ones, some strawberry filled pastries, various teas and coffees, some cold drinks such as lemonade, a strawberry version of it, and some other sweet snacks like brownies and cookies. Blanc was curious about these beignets so she asked if she could try them with a coffee. Ren nodded and walked up to place his order. “Just a minute sir.” the cashier replied before walking to the back and saying something Blanc couldn’t quite make out from the seat she was in to someone behind the walls. After sitting back down, Ren asked what she had thought of the place so far.

“It’s nice to be able to sit, and in a lot less of a crowded place.” Blanc remarked.

“Yeah, it’s very very busy in the city, and compared to that the backstreets of Shibuya feel almost saintly in comparison.”

“I definitely agree. There’s so much to see, and explore, but it’s good that I got to take a break for a bit. It was starting to blow my mind a little bit too much.”

“I could only imagine. If I saw your world, I’d likely feel the same.”

“The air’s better here.” Blanc noted, slightly poking fun at her new acquaintance.

“Haha, yeah at least it doesn’t smell musty, right? This place is pretty alright. I’ve only been here a few times though.”

“Oh? When did you discover it?”

“A few years ago. I don’t pass by this area too often anymore, now that I’ve been living on my own, but one day it began to rain and I needed a place to duck into. That was this place. I kinda forgot where I dove into, but I recognized this shop, or restaurant I guess, from my walks along this area with my family over a decade ago.”

“You have a family?” Blanc probed, curious as to why he had left them.

“Yeah, my mother and grandfather now are all I have left, they’re good people, but I don’t get to see them that often anymore, now that I’m on my own and working and still trying to figure out what it is I want to go into as a career.”

“Why did you leave them?” Blanc asked, a bit puzzled at what Ren had just said. Leaving her family, well it made her ache now that she was separated for the time being, and it was almost too much to comprehend, so she couldn’t understand why someone who loved their family would split off from them.

“Why did I leave?” Ren, taken aback by her question, repeated slowly. “Well, family can’t support us forever here, and sooner or later it’s customary to move somewhere else on our own and take care of ourselves.”

“Oh, I see.” Blanc responded. In hindsight people do this in Gamindustri too, but it’s not too common to not see them often. Being without her sisters, albeit not being with them for too long was already painful enough. She was mostly always on her own anyways, so having that company and leaving it, it felt like a foreign concept to her.

“Do they not do that where you come from?” Ren asked, trying to tread carefully around the subject.

“Yes, but not for too long typically. Most family and friends. They always stay in contact with each other. We don’t split up too often there. There’s seemingly no reason to do so unless you really don’t get along.”

“Ah, that sounds nice.” Ren responded.

It was then the cashier brought over both of their coffees and Blanc’s beignets to them.

“Enjoy your food and coffee, and welcome to Shibuya.” The cashier directed the last part to Blanc, who thanked him in return before he went back to his position.

Eager to try these flaky treats, Blanc opened the bag and got a hot whiff of chocolatey steam wafting up at her which made her feel oddly enough at peace.

“Good, isn’t it?” Ren commented, seeing her face light up and relax just a bit.

“Yeah, and I haven’t even tasted it yet.” Blanc replied.

“I haven’t had them too often, but I would be lying if I said they weren’t delicious.” Ren remarked. “Mind if I also grab one after you?”

“Of course!” Taking the beignet out of the bag and handing it over to Ren. It made him chuckle a bit hearing that. Blanc was extremely smart, and paid attention to every little detail. She was much more alert than he was, that was for sure, but even she can make her blunders. There was no mistaking that she did in fact not mind, but at least she felt more human now to him. He grabbed the bag and pulled out a steamy beignet, the powder melting on his fingertips and he blew on it, Blanc doing the same, and taking their first bites together. Watching the other’s face light up was cute. The beignets were to die for Blanc thought. Before she knew it they had finished them all, taking turns plucking one from the bag. At this point the coffee had cooled down considerably, and it didn’t burn Blanc at all to drink from it. After the first initial sip, which she loved the extra creaminess to it, she proceeded to gulp it down, which was very unlike her. The warmth felt good, and the taste wasn’t as bitter as she was used to, but this didn’t bother her. Ren on the other hand was only sipping occasionally, and had over half of his coffee left by the time Blanc had finished. Blanc was about to say something when she heard a couple of children screaming with joy, or so she assumed, which caught her attention. The screaming and amount of children grew louder, as well as some high pitch jingle that she eventually saw was a brightly coloured truck the kids seemed to be following. By the time it passed the cafe it was starting to slow down. She hadn’t seen anything like this before in Gamindustri, so she went to ask Ren about it.

“That’s called an ice cream truck.” Ren chuckled seeing Blanc’s very focused, serious face about the topic. “It’s a delicacy of sorts, and here we have an absolute ton of flavours I hear aren’t really anywhere else.”

Blanc had heard of ice cream before, but never a truck that came delivering it. She liked ice cream a lot, and thought of Rom and Ram when she first showed them the tasty treat, but she was curious about these tons of flavours Ren mentioned. Seeing her face glow up and taking the hint, Ren told her to go on ahead, throw the coffee cup into the trash and he’d be right behind her. He couldn’t say no, and he secretly wanted to watch her face light up again. He never knew showing someone this earnest and eager around the city would be so fun and rewarding for him as well.

(Play song now, loop until turning it off): https://youtu.be/wuJIqmha2Hk

Leaving the store, but not forgetting to yell a quick “Thanks for your hospitality.” Ren took after Blanc, who was already in line behind 4 or so children. It seemed she was reading the flavours on the back of the truck. When Ren arrived next to her in the line, she had asked him about some of them. She had never heard of a lot of these, not even as dishes. Miso, Hojicha, Lavender, the list could go on.

“What’s wasabi?” Blanc asked Ren, who immediately warned her of the dish.

“It’s extremely spicy, and not for the faint of heart. I wouldn’t recommend it as an ice cream flavour, that’s for sure. At least not for your first time.”

Blanc recoiled at this. “Spicy?!” she shouted in bewilderment. “Why would you do that to ice cream?”

“That’s a good question. We kind of… innovate in a sense.” Ren replied. “Sometimes you end up with things like these on the menu. It’s questionable at best, but some people clearly order it. Whether for the thrill, or out of curiosity.” Noticing Blanc feeling weirded out by this response, he decided to ask her what she preferred in an ice cream.

“Sweet, creamy, rich. I’m not sure what else, I’ve never seen most of these popular flavours before.”

“Yeah, I’m the same way. I’m a big fan of the kinpaku flavoured ice cream.” Ren agreed.

“Kinpaku?” Blanc asked curiously.

“It’s known as the golden ice cream.” Ren responded. “Kinpaku is gold, or gold flakes. It’s pretty rich, and it makes you feel very special. When putting that on an ice cream, it gives it a sweet, pretty and rich feel to it that I find can’t be matched.”

“You eat gold?” Blanc asked, slightly judging Ren on his eating habits.

“Flakes, yeah.” Ren responded. “Usually it’s kind of expensive, but not for ice cream. We can’t eat a whole gold bar, that’s for sure.”

“Right. I’ll try one then, per your suggestion.” Blanc decided.

It soon came to their turn in the line and Ren bought two kinpaku ice creams. The cost, as Ren mentioned, wasn’t as high as Blanc thought it would be. When the vendor gave both of them to Ren, Blanc saw the wonder of the ice cream. True to his word, it was pretty; she almost didn’t want to eat it.

“Here Blanc, you can choose yours, let’s just move out of the way for a second so other people can order.” Ren and Blanc stepped away from the truck and made their way across the street where Blanc took the right ice cream. The choice didn’t matter to her, as they were both absolutely stunning, but she was grateful for the option nonetheless. Taking a bite out of the top revealed a very sweet, creamy, and a bit frosty taste. The cone might not have been worth much, but it sure did make her feel like she was the richest person in this world while she ate it. Once they had both eaten a bit off the top, Ren being much slower with his bites, he suggested they cut through a park to get back home as it was not only faster, but also a beautiful sight.

Heading over to the park with Ren and Blanc walking side by side this time, the two enjoyed the fall breeze. Not too cold, not too warm, it was Ren’s favourite time of the year. He told Blanc that the park would look especially lovely at this time of the year with the leaves being golden brown and orange mostly and that this would hold true for where they were going. Ren had not let Blanc astray at all so far, so she trusted him on this as well. Along the way, some kids ran by and brushed into Blanc on the street, startling her and causing her to jump off away from them, crashing into Ren. The two didn’t fall, but poor Ren ended up wearing his kinpaku ice cream.

Realizing what had happened and seeing Ren’s nose and shirt covered in his afternoon dessert Blanc immediately apologized and looked around, trying to find something that could help him clean up the mess.

“Don’t worry about it, Blanc. I have a few napkins here that can help clean this up.” Ren smiled back at her, trying not to upset her.

“I’m still sorry.”

“You’re fine Blanc. Let’s go find a bench to sit down at. We’re practically here in the park anyways and I’ll need one with a garbage bin so I can toss the mess afterwards.”

The two wandered through the park, the beautiful leaves scattered along the pathway, although Blanc was focused more on the bench she spotted meeting Ren’s requirements to notice the beautiful landscape at the moment.

“There!” Blanc exclaimed, pointing to the bench.

“Perfect! Nice spot Blanc.” Ren responded, praising her eyesight and alertness.

The two made for the bench, Blanc at a quickened pace with Ren sauntering behind her. After sitting down, Ren tossed out the bunch of napkins he used to wipe his shirt clean into the garbage bin.

“Well I have to thank you for making sure I ate most of the ice cream.” Ren teased.

“H-Hey! That wasn’t my intention.” Blanc retorted.

Ren just laughed, a genuine happiness on his face, which in turn infected Blanc as well. For the first time in this world, she felt truly happy, if only for a few moments. After the two calmed down a bit, Ren asked Blanc something that’s been on his mind the whole day.

“Watching you go about this world with true shock, awe, and interest… It’s refreshing, insanely so, so I have to ask. What’s your world like that you’re so interested in what I’d consider mundane details?”

“My world…” Blanc thought for a moment before coming up with an answer. “There are four main countries in Gamindustri. Lowee, Leanbox, Planeptune and Lastation. Lowee is my homeland, and I miss it a ton right now. It’s quite similar to the backstreets of Shibuya here in that it’s civil, somewhat quiet, and feels like a good community, but the houses are more wooden and concrete.”

“We have buildings like it in other places in this vast world. Not so much here though.” Ren commented.

“It’s very community based, and we all mostly work as one. I enjoy spending time out in the areas of Lowee talking with the children when I’m not indoors writing or battling to keep my country safe.” Blanc kept talking, pride in her voice.

“It sounds like such a lovely place to live in, Blanc. I’m sorry you ended up so far from it.” Ren remarked almost apologetically.

“It is, and I pray she’s still standing. I have good folk there that can manage most of my duties while I’m gone, but it won’t change my feeling of being extremely worried being here. You’re doing a great job at keeping me relaxed, so thank you for that.” Blanc smiled as she said this. She really was grateful for his help. Regardless of the world, I bet it would be a massive burden to drop everything and cater to someone who randomly showed up in their house with no knowledge of the world around them.

A nice autumn breeze blew over the pathway, causing the beautiful leaves to take flight as Blanc continued briefly describing the other nations to Ren.

“Leanbox is sort of like Lowee, except it’s more nature oriented, and less advanced than Lowee in terms of everyday life. It mostly serves as a great place to settle down or to travel to and take in all the pretty sights.”

“I think I’d love Leanbox.” Ren chimed in. “A lot of people here wish for a peaceful life of zen, and it sounds very close to it, at least as far as I’ve heard.”

“Lastation is always competing with Planeptune in terms of energy and advancement, but as much as they’re trying to keep pace with their rival nation, I have to say it’s not very close. As a result it’s kind of polluted due to recent fights for management of their country and it’s very industrial. Not the prettiest of places to stay, but the people there are still alright. They work possibly the hardest out of all of us.”

“Wow, so there are factories in your world too, hm?” Ren commented. “It doesn’t sound too bad, but I don’t think I’d like to live there at all. Leanbox and Lowee are the best places in my opinion so far. What’s Planeptune like then?”

“Super advanced, and a lot like Shibuya, just if you can believe it, a lot more colourful and in your face. It’s super high tech, and the number one spot to do any sort of shopping, as they have it all.” Blanc explained.

“That’s the hardest thing to digest for me, honestly.” Ren admitted, unable to fathom a place brighter and larger than Tokyo itself. “That’s insane.”

“It really is, and it’s all run by a dork.”

“Dork?” Ren asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Sorry, I couldn’t resist.” Blanc chuckled to herself. “How large is this world?”

“Oh… now that’s a question I couldn’t properly answer. There’s an exact answer, or rather a few different exact answers, but I’d chalk it up to much larger than the average person could ever hope to travel.”

“Really? Surely not.” Blanc said, not having a grip on how large it really was with his answer. Ren noticed this and pulled out his phone. Interested to see what Ren was doing, Blanc leaned over and saw him open something called Google. “Apparently there are 195 countries on Earth.” Ren told Blanc. Truth be told, he didn’t exactly know how many there were, and he thought there were only 130 or so.

“Earth? Is that what this world is called?”

“Yeah, just like your Gamindustri, we live in a world called Earth.”

“Earth is so big…” Blanc near whispered, completely mystified that there could exist anything that large.

“Haha, wait until you learn how large space is.”

“Space?” Blanc inquired.

“It’s a topic for another day. I don’t want to accidentally give you a heart attack.”

“I’ll have you know I have quite the strong heart, but I’ll relent for now.”

(Stop song.)

“Haha, alrighty. Shall we get going?” Ren asked.

“Yeah, we still have to go get some writing supplies.” Blanc stated, not having forgotten about Ren’s promise.

“Let’s go then. It’s not too far away, and I’m eager to show you more of my world.” Ren stood up and offered his hand to Blanc as she got up.

“Yeah, let’s.”

Chapter Text

Leaving the park area, Ren mentioned to Blanc that to get to the bookstore that housed a lot of writing supplies, they would have to board a train to a place called Jinbocho. Jinbocho was known as the book district, where many bookstores collectively gathered as well as libraries and anything creative writing. This interested Blanc heavily, as she was not only a lover of books, but also got to see more of Ren’s world. The thought of traveling around purely to look for avenues that could help her get back home had faded completely at this point with Blanc noting it would be best to grow accustomed to the world she was in now in case there was no easy way back. Besides, she thought, there was no way she could just find a random portal back to her world lying around in the streets of Shibuya.

Along the way, Blanc and Ren passed by a second hand store, housing various materials, items, but most importantly, two old DS lites. Although she wasn’t particularly looking at them in the window, Blanc did feel some sort of connection with them, and she wasn’t sure why. Taking a closer look at them, she realized one was a pinkish red colour, it looked faded, and the other was a nice blue. Stopping in her tracks, she stared at them with her face nearly pressed up against the glass. Ren realized she wasn’t by his side anymore and turned around to see Blanc with her hands on the glass, which worried him a bit.

“Hey, be careful not to break the glass.” Ren advised the wide eyed Blanc.

Ren was right, she didn’t even realize she was doing so, but she took her hands off of the glass. It was a bit dirty, not that she noticed before.

“What are you looking at there Blanc?” Ren asked, wondering what had gotten her so interested that she would hunker down and stare for a long time. Blanc pointed to the twin DS lites and asked what they were.”

“Those are Nintendo consoles, like the Wii I was showing you earlier. It’s an older console than the Wii I have, but they’re easier to take with you.” Ren responded.

“I feel a connection to them.” Blanc told Ren. “I don’t know what it is, but I really like them.”

“Unfortunately I don’t have any DS games for them, but we can go inside if you’d like.” Ren suggested, unable to believe he was going to drop even more money for this girl who he had known for half a day. It’s not like she wasn’t rewarding him with such enthusiasm and interest in everyday things though, and he wasn’t one to turn someone down. As they were just about to open the door, someone had done it for them on the other side, who seemed to be leaving.

“Hello young ones.” The elderly man said. “I’m the shopkeeper.”

“Oh, nice to meet you sir.” Ren replied. “Could we have a moment of your time?”

“Certainly. I was just about to ask you the same thing.”

Ren got a bit nervous at that. He wasn’t sure what the shopkeeper would want with them, but he hoped it wasn’t because they were standing outside of his shop for too long. He didn’t want to cause a misunderstanding. Noticing Ren feeling nervous the shopkeeper went on to talk to the both of them.

“Don’t worry, you’re not in trouble.” The old man explained. “I saw your friend staring at the DS lites and saw such wonder and amazement in her eyes. Those were my grandkids’ DS lites, and they no longer use them as they’ve grown out of them. The young girl here has such love in her eyes for the consoles, and I’ve never seen anyone feel that way at her age before. If you two are looking to buy them, I would love to give you a massive discount on the condition they get some good use, as that’s what my grandkids would want. Say, 75% off?”

Ren, surprised at the old man’s offer, and relieved they were not going to be chewed out, asked how much he would charge for them.

“Well they were going to be sold for 3000 yen each given their really good condition and them being moderately rare now, but since I promised the discount it’ll be 1500 yen for the both of them. They both have their stylus’ and games can be played on them. I can even throw in a game or two in with it, as they’re the only two DS consoles I have left here at the shop. What do you say?”

“Ren looked at Blanc, who was practically pleading with him with puppy dog eyes to buy them, and chuckled a bit before responding with “You’ve got a deal!”

“Hold on one second, let me find some games to take with you and I’ll package them for you.” The shopkeeper went inside and Ren pulled out the required yen to pay for the items. A minute or two later the old man came back with the two consoles and three games: Nintendogs, Pokemon Soul Silver, and Legend of Zelda Four Swords.

“These were my grandchildren’s favourites, please do take care of them.” The old man urged Blanc.

“I promise I will, thanks a bunch sir!” Blanc nodded, understanding the old man’s request and smiling back at him for his help. She realized she was being a bit hard on Ren in terms of money however.

“I didn’t catch your names yet.” The old man mentioned. “Sorry, I jumped the gun there.”

“I’m Blanc. New around here.”

“I’m Ren Kitagawa, nice to meet you.”

“I see. Are you a tourist then Blanc.”

“Of sorts.” Blanc responded, not knowing what else she’d be.

“Well then welcome Blanc, and nice to meet you.” The old man concluded. “I’ve got to close up the shop for an hour to eat, so I’ll be on my way.”

“Nice to meet you too.” Blanc responded as the shopkeeper walked past them and headed where they just came from.

“That was a pretty nice guy.” Ren commented. “He gave us three games, even though he said he’d do two, and the discount as well. I’m glad it worked out so well for you Blanc.”

“Yeah, I am too. He was very kind.”

“You want to hold onto this bag then?” Ren asked.

“Sure, I can.”

Ren passed the bag off to Blanc and after she transferred it into her right hand the two made their way back to Station Square, where it was surprisingly less crowded.

“I guess the people have cleared out now.” Blanc noted.

“Yeah, before we were in peak transit hours.” Ren pointed out. “Have you ever ridden a train?”

“I know Planeptune has a train that uses a rail system, but I’ve never used it. It’s pretty fast there, but being goddesses we have no real reason to use the trains.” Blanc looked a bit excited about this new experience.

“The trains here unfortunately aren’t much to ride home about. No pun intended.”

“What? Why’s that?” Blanc inquired.

“They’re often very packed, and this might be one of the only small periods of each day where they’re not.”

“It couldn’t be that bad, right?” Blanc asked before remembering the amount of people there must be to live in one country here.

“Well you’re likely to not get a seat already unless you’re at the front of the line as this is pretty much the central gathering point for the train systems.” Ren pointed out. “If we can find you a seat I’ll definitely let you have it. It takes a lot of effort to remain standing on a train or bus, not that you couldn’t get the hang of it. It’s just this is your first experience and all.”

“You just want to see my face light up again, don’t you?” Blanc stared back at him, as if to interrogate the happy go lucky Ren.

“Maybe.” Ren replied, chuckling to himself. “Regardless, let’s go get in line for the train to Jinbocho.”

After waiting for a few minutes it became apparent to Ren that Blanc didn’t have a pass for the train fares, and she was definitely going to need one if she was going to be here for an indeterminate amount of time. He guided her out of the line, the pair excusing themselves as they had to push through the people behind them and they talked to the ticketmaster. Realizing Blanc had no identification that could serve to let her buy her card, Ren used his info and mentioned she was his sister. The ticketmaster had half a mind to question this, but since Blanc did look quite young, he got to work on making her a pass.

“Sister, huh?” Blanc commented, unprepared for having her spirits dampened. She was a bit afraid Ren would catch on, but he was a bit distracted checking his phone.

“It seems the train will arrive in four minutes, so I hope this won’t take too long.” Ren pointed out. “Oh, yeah I had to pass it off as you were my sister. I’m sorry about that. You don’t really have any identification for this world, and you are rather petite, I guess I would say. Uh… not that it’s a bad thing anyways.” Ren stumbled over himself uttering the last words. He didn’t want to offend her or anything. Blanc wasn’t miffed by it though, she more so wanted to keep herself occupied so her mind wouldn’t continue to wander like that. At least not with Ren nearby.

“It’s okay, you did what you had to do.” Blanc nearly mumbled.

It was then the ticketmaster came back with a pass and asked for Blanc’s name so he could register it. After doing so, he handed the pass to Ren, imploring him to take care of it for her just in case Blanc loses it.

Ren thanked the man and they briskly walked back into line. Ren gave Blanc her pass, and she stored it in her pocket after swiping it through, watching Ren do it first before she tried. It worked just as intended, and not a minute later she could hear the roaring of the subway coming on down the line. Blanc had seen how these worked in Planeptune, and knew to stay behind certain lines, or at least far away from the edge of the platform. As it came to a stop and the doors opened, Blanc noticed it was mostly just silver, inside and out. She and Ren quickly moved to take their seats, and for about a minute afterwards the doors stayed open, allowing any other passengers the time to come on if they so desired. As the doors came to a shut, Ren advised Blanc to make sure to hold on and brace herself. The train wasn’t extremely fast, but as it was her first time on one, he cautioned her regardless.

The tunnels were pretty dark, black almost, and thanks to the lights on the side at least she could see that they were made of concrete, and not tiled like they were at the station and her stop. The experience was exhilarating though. Her heart was racing slightly. Blanc made a mental note to try the one in Planeptune when she managed to get back to Gamindustri, but the one there was significantly faster. Perhaps she needed to have a talk with Neptune about making sure the passengers didn’t feel sick. The train came to a halt much sooner than she had expected however. Ren was correct once again, it really wasn’t that far on the train.

Coming off of the train took slightly longer as there were others who needed to board off first, but they made it out with a good amount of time to spare. The station didn’t look too different if she was being honest. Same tiles, same kind of layout, just the stairs seemed a bit closer to the ticket line.

“So this is Jinbocho?” Blanc asked, well aware the stop was called on the train multiple times.

“This is the train station still, but Jinbocho should be to your liking with you being a bookworm and all.” Ren replied. “What kinds of books do you read?”

“Well mostly anything, but I prefer romance and action.” Blanc responded. “I like writing romance and action too, I find it quite easy. My friends all thought I was a nerd for doing so when they found out one time though.”

“A nerd, hm?” Ren mused. “Being nerdy is a good thing though. If you’re having fun, have your fun.”

“That’s what I was saying!” Blanc borderline shouted. “You understand me!”

“Well fear not, books might be different here, but we can find something for you here, along with your writing supplies.”

The two set off to see the sights of Jinbocho, with Blanc noting it seemed very old, or at least full of history that wasn’t because of the books. They had beautiful lit, red lanterns strung across the tops of the shops. There weren’t many buildings where people seemed to live, and Ren noted that this was purely a reading district. There were some libraries the two passed but Ren mentioned having to take the train to return a book is both tedious and costly. As Blanc didn’t really have any sort of income, Ren suggested they go find a book or two. After touring a bit of the district Ren pointed out an especially old building with an extremely faded sign.

“This place will not only have your writing essentials, but it also has a decent line up of books. Many many genres to choose from and for all audiences.” Ren pointed out, as if trying to pitch a sale to Blanc. “Also I know the owners as their son used to go to the same school as I did. Lovely couple.”

“Oh, then you should definitely say hello. I just need a few pens, pencils, a stack or two of papers and some highlighters.”

“Highlighters?” Ren asked.

“I used them to connect charts, plot points, characters, all things storyline.” Blanc went on.

“I see. That’s a different way than I would have done it, but if it helps you out, we can get some.” Ren concluded before opening the door and letting Blanc enter first. “The supplies are to the right.”

The inside of the store looked moderately dusty, and the lights were dim and few and far between. The older woman looked up at the two as the door ringer chimed and noticed Ren as he walked in.

“How are you doing dear?” The old lady called, shifting herself so she was standing up to properly greet them.

“Busy as ever, but I brought a friend this time Mrs. Kino.” Ren responded, pointing with both hands to Blanc, who was already in the middle of walking over to the supplies.

“Well she’s certainly focused.” Mrs. Kino commented, admiring the curious young girl’s interest. “What’s her name?”

“Oh sorry.” Blanc chimed in. “My name’s Blanc and I came looking for some specific writing supplies. I went to check the right of the entrance because Ren told me they would be there.”

“Now Ren, it’s not very kind to send a lady off into an unknown store before introducing her to me specifically.” The old lady cackled. “Don’t worry dear, the supplies are still on the right. Papers, writing material, back to school stuff and all that would be there.”

“Thank you.” Blanc replied as she went off to pick up some lined paper and pens.

“So Ren.” The old lady started. “Still working?”

“You know it.” Ren replied, a bit of a sigh coming forth. “Still working. Same old same old.”

“You know you work too much dear.” The old woman chastised, concerned for his mental health. “You really shouldn’t push yourself so hard.” The old lady let out a sigh in return. “I guess you don’t have much of a choice though these days, what with how demanding life tends to be.”

“Yeah, can’t do too much without the coin, right?” Ren smirked, though feeling a bit downtrodden. “Can’t live without it, can’t live because of it.”

“You brought a new face around though this time. What’s the occasion?” Mrs. Kino pried.

“She’s new in town, and sort of didn’t have any place to stay. It’s oddly specific and complicated, but I decided to take her out on a day touring the city.” Ren explained, not exactly sure how to word someone coming from another world and being teleported into your home in the dead of night politely or without sounding like a crazy person.

“That’s quite odd, especially for a tourist. Did she not come prepared? And how did you two meet?” Mrs. Kino asked, trying to extract a bit more info for her own indulgence.

Ren, feeling hard pressed for a suitable answer that wouldn’t get him into trouble and would satisfy the prying old woman, was saved by Blanc coming back to the two with way too many supplies in her hands. Ren rushed over to help her carry some of the pens and pencils that were slowly slipping from her arms.

“That’s quite a lot you’ve got there sweetie.” The old woman said, a little shocked at how much she brought with her to the counter, completely taking her focus off of Ren and in turn relieving him of feeling so pressured.

“I didn’t know what exactly I wanted for some of the pens, and the coloured paper looked cool so I grabbed a few different kinds.” Blanc said, trying to catch her breath now that the abundance of supplies were safely on the desk. “Sorry if I grabbed too much, I didn’t intend to buy it, I just wanted to show how cool it was.”

“Well how enthusiastic of you. You write I assume?” Mrs. Kino inquired.

“Yeah, I like to write a ton. Others I know use blogs but it just doesn’t have the same feel as writing it down for me. I need something to hold on to.”

Ren took a look at some of the price tags on the items Blanc brought forth and was surprised that most of it was relatively cheap. Then again, he supposed it ought to be for back to school supplies. Totaling it all up in his head he came to the assumption it would only be 3500 yen or so. It was on the high side for the amount he ever wanted to spend today total, but he let it slide this one time. If it kept this bright young woman entertained while she was here and her mind off of the doom and gloom for now while they worked out her situation, the price was worth it. After it totaled Ren realized he wasn’t far off. 3650 was the total, which he forked over. The old lady bagged up some of the stuff and Ren and Blanc took the other smaller items such as the highlighters and pencils and bagged them as well to speed up the process.

“Take care now Ren, and nice meeting you Blanc.” Mrs. Kino wished as they made their way out of the door.

“Until next time Mrs. Kino.” Ren wished back.

“Nice to meet you Mrs.” Blanc yelled as the old woman was almost out of earshot.

“Oh those kids.” Mrs. Kino mumbled to herself. “They seem like a good fit for each other.”

Now that they were outside and with all the supplies they had set out to grab, Ren proposed they return home, with Blanc adding that it was definitely a successful mission, both in acquiring what she needed, and also knowing this world, though larger than her own, had good citizens who helped out each other. She was especially glad she wasn’t trapped in some outlandish nightmare of a planet. The two made their way back to the station, all in all happy, if not a bit cold as the air was starting to feel a bit brisk.

Chapter Text

The train ride back wasn’t too bad, though there were more people on the train this time. Blanc took a seat after an elderly lady got off the bus and Ren stood over her, instinctively going to protect her. His parents used to do the same for him, so it was instilled into him to do so for another who needed it. On the way back the wind started to pick up even more. Ren was very glad to be back in the alleyways Blanc had come to love as it sheltered the two from the colder winds.

“Is it always like this?” Blanc asked.

“Hm?” Ren responded immediately.

“The weather.” Blanc clarified. “You seem pretty cold.”

“Ah, well in Japan the seasons change, and it can get rather cold, and will get colder from here on out for a while.” Ren explained. “You don’t feel cold?”

“I live in a massive icy country. It’s snowing all day every day. Boots are customary and the lakes are usually icy.” Blanc responded, nearly snorting in laughter. “I think I’ll be fine for now.”

“Fair enough. I couldn’t imagine how cold it is there.”

“Probably pretty cold for you, yeah. I wear this a lot in the streets of Lowee though. I’ve been used to it for years. Something, something, immune system.” Blanc poked at Ren, who was genuinely impressed, but also slightly terrified of this woman.

“You know, you could get sick or something.” Ren insisted.

“Well in my world, you don’t get sick often. There is this affliction that makes us goddesses not transform though called Virus. That’s about it. It doesn’t sicken us, just impairs our powerful forms temporarily.”

“What do you mean transform?” Ren asked, curious, and sort of imagining gundams and internally smirking at the comparison.

“Oh, we gain immense strength and can take more blows in combat. Our weapons transform, and we sort of have attachments to us.”

“That’s… that’s out of this world.” Ren couldn’t really see it. “Oh, well of course it would be. I’d have to see it to believe it, then again it’s clear you’re new around here anyways.”

The two walked for a bit, turning on to another alley which Blanc actually recognized as they passed by some nice wall art and a couple of posters. They were almost home when Ren had a thought.

“All that talk of combat and transforming. Remember the game I showed you when I mentioned the Wii?” Ren asked.

“Yeah, Smash Bros or something.” Blanc replied.

“Yeah, want to play it a bit after dinner?”

“Sure. It’s a fighting game, right?” Blanc asked, a bit of a flare in her eyes now, thinking about the glory of battle.

“Yeah, with a bunch of characters from different worlds and different stages.” Ren explained. “You can spend time looking it over and giving yourself some practice while I work on making dinner if you want.”

“I think I will then.” Blanc concluded, happy with the surprise outcome. She vowed then and there to beat him, even just once.

The two arrived back at Ren’s apartment building, the air quality as stale as ever. Taking the elevator up to the fourth floor and walking down to the hallway, Blanc started to memorize the floor and apartment numbers so she could accurately find her way around this building and back home should she need to in the future. It was better to learn early than not look at all she thought.

“Alrighty, we’re back!” Ren exclaimed, genuinely happy he could at least sit down comfortably and put his feet up for a few minutes before starting dinner. He didn’t realize how hungry he was until he stepped in the door. He checked his phone to see the time, and it was well past 6 pm. It was no wonder he was hungry. What he had hoped would be a three hour adventure has turned into a bit over 7. Blanc asked where she could put her stuff and he said the living room was all hers to use as she saw fit while she was here so while Ren sat down Blanc had grabbed the coffee table and started separating her work off to the side of where he was sitting. Writing supplies came first for Blanc as she was not a messy writer and took great care of the things she loved so she separated the papers from the pencils, the pencils from the pens and so forth. A few minutes passed and as Ren promised, both to his stomach and to Blanc, he got started on dinner. Only he didn’t quite know where to start. He asked if Blanc liked pasta, to which she replied she loved it, and especially loved the sauce and meat on top with it. Ren told her the ground beef wasn’t unthawed so he couldn’t do any sort of meat, but he could add tomatoes to it still. Blanc settled for this, though it wasn’t like she had much of a choice.

Ren pulled out the rigatoni and filled up his pot with water. As he went to set it on the burner and turn it on he reminded Blanc about Smash Bros. He showed her how to launch the game and how to pick characters. After a few minutes of looking, Blanc asked if there were any characters that wielded an axe. To Blanc’s disappointment, Ren told her there were none. She then chose Bowser, but after a warm up match against a level 6 CPU she complained he was too big and still slow, but she did like how hard he hit. The name CPU made her chuckle a bit internally. Ren suggested she try Captain Falcon, but after a few rounds, Blanc felt like he just didn’t resonate with her. She needed someone with a weapon. Navigating through various characters, Blanc kept trying until she found a character that met all of her needs and wishes: Ike. He flew through the air similar to Captain Falcon, had a weapon, hit hard, was still pretty fast and all of his moves felt satisfying to land. It was official. Ike was her main character.

Meanwhile Ren had already poured in the pasta and was stirring it. He had to admit though, watching Blanc choose different characters was very satisfying for him. In truth, he hadn’t played Smash Bros in a while, now that his friends had all moved on and were constantly working or furthering their education. Seeing someone so enthralled to play and eager to learn brought such joy to his heart. He was glad people like Blanc kept his beloved Wii console alive. A few minutes of looking over his shoulder to see a very satisfied Blanc learn the ways of Smash later and the food had finished boiling. Ren did one final taste test to make sure they were to his liking and then went on to strain the pasta. After a few minutes of prepping on his end, while Blanc was learning to ledge trap, Ren announced that the dinner was ready. He said he would prepare her a bowl, but if she wanted to add cheese, pepper, salt or anything else she was welcome to and opened the cupboard with the spices he owned, albeit not housing too many spices.

The food was pretty good, Blanc only added cheese and pepper to her sauce but the sauce was tasteful, giving the pasta some great substance and depth of flavour. She wasn’t aware of how hungry she was until she gobbled the entire bowlful in a few minutes. Ren washed their dishes while Blanc got one final Smash run in. After he washed his hands and wrung out the cloth, he declared it Smash time. Picking up his controller, Ren immediately went to pick Marth, a very technical character. The first round was on, and Blanc quickly found herself outmatched, even though she held her determination for the rest of the game. Each loss she got closer to understanding his patterns, and it only motivated her to keep trying. After 10 consecutive losses however, Blanc and Ren decided to call it a night for the games, both being quite tired.

As Ren swapped over the television to the news forecast so he could check what the next week would be like when he had to work. Blanc finally started to unpack her writing materials. At least the pens and pencils She was determined to write something that had come to her mind. A short story she might update depending on the time spent here. The story would be about a person who ended up in her circumstance, lost in a new world, until she bumped into a friendly stranger who helped show her around. She figured it would help her get past some of the emotions she was feeling if she wrote them down. She decided to call her character Periwinkle, and she also hailed from an unknown world full of beautiful scenery and challenging battles. Periwinkle first felt scared, and did not know where she was. Brave enough however to start exploring this new world. The world wasn’t too scary, but it was quite crowded. She wasn’t looking where she was going and bumped into another person, who was knocked to the ground. They both apologized and the man seemed nice enough so Periwinkle asked him for help. At first he couldn’t believe what he was hearing, but after constantly pleading for his help he relented and offered her a room in his place. The rooms were cramped but it felt cozy. Still on edge as she tried to sleep, she kept pacing back and forth and looking out at the sky. It was dark and cloudy, and the sun had gone down. Her home sky was green, so this was a unique experience for her. Instead of trying and likely failing to sleep, Periwinkle stayed up glancing at the night sky and its shades of blue and gray until the sun started to peek out once more.

Blanc saved writing this story further for another time as she wasn’t sure where to go from here. As this was partially her feelings, she would have to wait to see how it developed before writing. Ren had gone off to his room a while ago and wished her a good night’s sleep, but instead of sleeping she stayed up to check out her two DS lites. She didn’t have a favourite as she saw them as both equally special. Scrolling through the apps, she started to ponder why she was so drawn towards the consoles. She wasn’t sure, although it sort of felt familiar to her. She didn’t realize how late it was as she kept trying out different apps, but the sky outside was pitch black and she could see a few stars in the sky. She got an idea as she was about to shut the blue DS lite and turn in for the night which kept her up much later than she had intended to.

It was about 1 am and Ren had been woken up by an especially cold breeze and was unable to fall back asleep due to needing to use the restroom. As he got up to cross the hallway he could hear sounds coming from the living room. He thought it odd for Blanc to be up this late after the long day they both had yesterday. As he walked into the hallway he heard sounds he vaguely remembered as Pictochat, an app on the DS that allowed for communication. What was Blanc doing on Pictochat, he wondered. He decided not to bother her and use the restroom anyways, but it still piqued his curiosity. After using the washroom and flushing the toilet he noticed the noise of the Pictochat stopped. Was she trying to hide something? He decided it really wasn’t right to pry. Besides, she didn’t even have any wifi, and the odds of her knowing how it worked and how to contact other people without it were stacked against her, as smart as she was. Putting the thought behind him, Ren clambered onto his bed, pulled the blanket over his face and went back to sleep.

Blanc however, still feeling defeated from the 10 rounds of Smash, turned the Wii back on and began studying the CPUs by watching them battle. By doing so, she thought she could read his movements better, although sometimes the CPUs were more advanced than Ren himself. Regardless of her opponent, she decided to watch the 4 Marth CPUs go at it. It was free entertainment to her, like an endless action. She imagined this is what it must be like when her and the other goddesses would fight to protect their people, which gave flashbacks to Arfoire, and how she got caught in her spell. She had never seen that spell before, and couldn’t identify its elemental effect. Could it have been elementless? By all defining features, Rom and Ram being her study partners who knew much more than Blanc did about spellcasting, would tell Blanc that magic has to have an element to be considered as such. So what in the world could Arfoire have casted? Knowing Arfoire copied powers to grow stronger, she still couldn’t imagine an enemy able to cast that. If it did, how did Arfoire survive it?

Watching the CPUs for a while was fun, but she still needed the experience. Knowing when a CPU should use a move wouldn’t help much against Ren, but she did remember she kept getting caught in Marth’s juggling a lot, so she practiced with Ike on how to get around that. She found spacing was incredibly important, and that you don’t have to input a direction when dodging, and could just dodge on the spot. After that she realized shields weren’t meant to be spammed if a grab can go through it. With this info, Blanc tested and tested, continuing to put her knowledge to the test. Her results became fruitful after a few hours. The sun still wasn’t peeking out from the darkness, so she then jumped into countless matches against not only Marth CPUs, but other fast CPUs, regardless of their moveset or playstyle. Ike’s agility wasn’t the worst and his sword reach was long enough to catch people off guard. If you timed it right, you could stop small, non-explosive projectiles, though she wasn’t quite good at doing so and preferred to jump over. She realized Ike was better at combos in the air, although he wasn’t too much of a combo heavy character. A few more hours went by, and Ren’s alarm went off, playing some bird chirping and wind chime sounds. Ren slept better today than he did yesterday, but it still felt odd to hear noises in the middle of the night, now that he’s been on his own for a few years.

Getting up and dressing warm, Ren looked at the clock to find out it was 8 am. When he opened the door, he immediately recognized Smash Bros sounds, mostly hitting and Ike’s “AETHER!” as Blanc was recovering. He stretched before turning the corner, and to his surprise he noticed the CPU wasn’t doing much damage to her. It was two stocks down of four and near losing its third, while Blanc had only taken 50% of damage on her first stock. “What in the world…?” Ren mouthed. “How could she have gotten so much better in such a short time?”

“Hey Blanc, did you not sleep much last night?” Ren asked, startling the very focused otherworld goddess.

“When did you get up?!” Blanc asked, a little worried he caught her so off guard.

“Just now. You’ve gotten pretty good it seems.” Ren said, smirking in praise of the sheer determination of the girl before him in getting good at a silly party game.

“Want to play?” Blanc asked.

“I’m a bit tired still, and I should probably get a drink of water first, but sure, but not for too long.” Ren replied, half feeling as though he was about to yawn.

“One game! It’ll be all I’ll need to crush you!” Blanc said, a fierce, passionate fire burning in her eyes as Ren made his way to the sink and ran the water.

“Are you sure?” Ren asked, not wanting to count himself out yet.

“This will be for all the marbles! I can’t lose!” Blanc excitedly called out to him. She unpaused her match with the CPU Link and jumped back into the groove. She easily swept his last stock, catching him in the corner of the stage and pressuring him with some pretty good edge guards until he couldn’t recover.

Ren made his way over to the couch and sat down, just in time to see the results page. She had only taken 54% and she beat the CPU Link’s 4 stocks with only 290% damage dealt. Ren couldn’t believe what he was seeing. He thought maybe she was fighting a lower level CPU, but as she backed out to the character select screen, it revealed a level 9 CPU, the highest level, which practically played smarter than a professional human could.

“I was hoping to not have to show my progress until we fought, but I guess it can’t be helped.” Blanc remarked, passing him a Wii remote. “Ready to do this?”

“Uhh, yeah.” Ren responded, a bit in a daze from seeing her progress. “I’ll stick with Marth, he’s my best option.”

Just as Blanc had hoped for. Starting off the game, Blanc let Ren make the first move, which she predicted correctly, as Ren had a habit of trying to catch people immediately in Marth’s fast and far reaching Dancing Blade combo. Jumping over it and landing a combo starting blow on the way down. Ren immediately recoiled in his spot as he was stuck in a combo and instantly at a huge disadvantage. It all went downhill from there, with him only managing to take one stock. He was nervous, sure, but he wasn’t going to use that as an excuse to downplay her talent. He stood up and bowed graciously.

“Thank you for the match. You’ve gotten insanely good. What did you do?”

Blanc recounted her intense Shibuya CPU watching and learning what was safe to do and what shouldn’t be spammed out. Ren was coloured impressed, he had never seen anyone catch on and master the game that quickly, even if they had prior fighting game experience or studied the game before playing, and then this girl from another world came in and in 8 hours kicked his ass without a problem.

“You’ve got a real talent, you know. Maybe an otherwise useless one outside of having fun, but that’s incredible!” Ren exclaimed. “I wish I had picked up half as fast instead of getting whooped by my old friends until I got better.”

“Haha, I know a gamer friend back home in Gamindustri who loves all sorts of games. Maybe she rubbed off on me.” Blanc said, a bit flushed.

“You know, your place is called Gamindustri, right? Maybe you guys are all just so much better than me.” Ren mused. “What a peculiar name for a world.”

“Is it? It’s quite normal to me. I’ve never heard of the words Japan or Shibuya though, nor Earth.” Blanc commented. “What does Earth mean, anyways.” Ren was stumped on this question, but countered with his own question, rather than look up an answer on Google.

“What does Gamindustri mean in your world then?” He asked.

“I’m… I’m not sure.” Blanc responded. “Maybe it was a weird question to ask then.”

“No, I’m sure there’s an answer, or maybe multiple again.” Ren reassured. “I was just curious, because of what the words game industry mean here.” Ren put his controller down and Blanc followed his example. Quitting out of the super addicting game and turning off the Wii altogether. Showing off her super cramped, red but pale white and borderline callused fingers, Ren was shocked once more at how dedicated this girl was to Smash Bros of all things. Highly competitive too.

“Take a rest if you need to Blanc, you’ve more than earned it.”

Chapter Text

Blanc came up from her nap to hear Ren singing a song. She wasn't sure what it was about, it just seemed pretty catchy to her. To her surprise, it was a song she could understand the words to. Ren had never spoken Japanese in front of her, but she was aware that this place had a language other than English that a lot of people seemed to use. Ren continued humming to himself during what Blanc could imagine were instruments. Ren hadn't noticed Blanc was up yet so he just kept singing and humming to himself quietly while looking in his cupboards to see what he wanted to snack on. When Ren stopped singing Blanc sat up and asked him what the song was about.

"Oh, you're up. Sorry, I can't sing well, I hope I didn't wake you up, I did try to be quiet." Ren scratched his head and sort of smiled. "It's one of my favourite songs from a place far from here. It's called Saturday In The Park."

"What an odd name, but it sounded so peaceful." Blanc responded, noting the peculiar name in her head.

"You think so too? I haven't given the name much thought in a long time. My mother used to sing it to me when she played it. It just reminds me of simpler times when I could just go ahead and run around carefree."

"Oh, yeah I guess that's the same here too." Blanc added. "My home place is very good to our young ones, but as they grow up they of course have to look out for themselves more and more so they can be there for the next generation."

"It sounds very peaceful, and respect-oriented. I'd very much love to go somewhere with that kind of mindset, though I've heard there are places in our world like that too." Ren mused out loud, sort of in a wistful way. It did sound better than his current dilemma. Well, actually Blanc was a blessing so far, but the state of his own life was far from it. He just had to do the best he could for himself and hoped it would all work out. Blanc, although she won't be staying forever, did give him a sense of hope every day though, and there was no disputing that.

"Could you play the song for me?" Blanc asked. "I'm not young like you were, but it sounds wonderful."

"Sure. I actually bought a CD for it a long time ago. It's got a bunch of good songs." Ren happily recanted.

Ren booted up Saturday In The Park by Chicago and the two of them listened, Ren humming along, a little self-conscious about singing now that Blanc had commented on it.

[Play song once, stop afterwards: https://youtu.be/PLiMy4NaSKc]

While listening to it, Blanc did feel a sense of peace and tranquility floating over her. It was a beautiful song, and as she suspected, a catchy one too. Ren couldn't help himself. Though he was self-conscious at first, once that familiar chorus hit he began singing like there was no tomorrow. Blanc thought it heightened the experience so by the last chorus she gave it a shot singing with him, which made Ren blush and grin wider than a comic book villain. When the song ended, they both felt so cheerful.

"What a good song, Ren. It had a great message that you helped impart to me!" Blanc exclaimed.

"I wasn't aware that you spoke so properly when excited too." Ren laughed a bit. "I'm glad you liked it. Maybe you can tell your people about it. If it helps children feel the way I do when I hear it, then it did its job."

Blanc kept this in mind, feeling positive and ready to take on whatever it was they had to do today. Her goal shifted slightly however. While she may be stuck here for the time being, she wanted to take back good memories and mementos like this song when she did return to her world.

"Oh!" Ren shouted, unaware of him doing so. "I just realized you don't have any clothes to wear other than the ones you've got on now. I imagine you would have changed them by now if you did."

"No, I don't…" Admittedly Blanc hadn't thought of that either until now.

"Remember that older man who ran the shop where we got our DS Lites from?" Ren asked.

"Yeah, he was a good man. I really am thankful to him." Blanc answered.

"He's got some good clothes there that should fit you. Did you want to take a look?" Ren continued to ask.

"Yeah, let's go!" Blanc responded excitedly.

The two made their way back to the old man's thrift store, though the streets were busier than ever today. Must have been because it was mid afternoon on a Saturday.

"There's a lot of people doing their own thing, going their own places, and it blows my mind." Blanc commented.

The trains were just as packed as well, with the two not being able to sit at all this time. Blanc didn't have a hard time balancing though, as it kind of felt like flying in CPU mode but with pivoting her support in her feet and legs instead. It seemed more people piled on with every stop, and eventually it felt almost claustrophobic. Weaseling their way off of the train proved to be harder than they thought, even with Ren telling her to get moving to the door a stop before, but at least the doors stayed open for a minute before they closed back up again.

"You weren't joking when you said it gets busy sometimes. Just how many people live in Japan?" Blanc asked, not expecting an actual answer.

"Over 125 million." Ren responded.

"H-How…?" Blanc spluttered, slack-jawed and dumbfounded. "I-I don't even think there are ten million in Gamindustri as a whole!"

"Really?" Ren questioned. He had no knowledge of this place, so he couldn't exactly be surprised, but if every one of them were as talented and interesting as Blanc, just ten would make him feel out of his depth, though in the best way. Even as she was mostly trying to get back home, he couldn't deny that her fighting spirit, natural curiosity, want to make dreams a reality and creativity were far more in tune than he was altogether. In a way, he felt he was learning just as much as she was, and he wasn't even in another world.

As they approached the old man’s shop, they noticed the sign outside the shop said they were closed. The lights were on however, which was strange.

“This presents a problem…” Ren muttered just loud enough for Blanc to catch wind. “I don’t think I see him inside.” Ren kept looking, checking all different angles as there were clothes racks that prevented him from seeing too far for the most part, until he caught a glimpse of a shadow. He decided to ring the bell on the door, but nobody came to answer right away. Getting a little worried, Ren decided to try the door itself, and to his surprise it opened. Blanc understood this was very unusual, and her fight mode kicked in, quickly following Ren inside.

“Hello?” Ren called out. “Sorry for barging in.”

The door to the back, which Ren assumed was the old man’s parcel deliveries and stocking section was open a bit, which was even more odd. He didn’t like the implications. Old horror movies flickered through his mind one after another as he kept imagining all the worst situations and hoping they weren’t going to ring true today.

“...Hello?” Someone responded. They sounded as if they were in pain. The voice came from the back of the store. Ren and Blanc moved towards the door, still a little cautious. It did sound like the old man’s voice at least. As the two pried back the door the old man called again.

“Please, help me.”

“Hold on sir, we’re coming.” Ren responded and began to quicken his pace. Turning the corner revealed the old man laying on his back, sort of crumpled in position, with a phone near his right arm, just out of reach and a cardboard box half on top of his right leg. Blanc immediately rushed to take the box off of the old man, which thankfully didn’t seem too heavy. Ren on the other hand came to comfort the old man, handing him back his cellphone.

“Ahh..” The old man sighed in relief. “Thank goodness you came.”

“What happened here?” Ren asked.

“I was moving this box when suddenly my back gave out. You know how strained a back can be, and this box wasn’t particularly heavy, it just seemed to give way.” The old man recounted. “Suddenly I fell backwards, with the box landing on my right knee. When I fell, my back experienced a really sharp, recurring pain and next thing I know I’m reaching for my phone, desperately trying to call an ambulance, or really anyone. Problem was my phone jumped out of my pocket and was too far to reach. With nothing left to do but wallow in my pain, I had half resigned myself to just resting for a bit until I heard some activity in my store. That’s when I heard you call out, so I yelled back.”

“Jesus!” Ren exclaimed, feeling a bit of phantom pains in his lower back as he listened. “Was there anyone here before? The door was open even though the sign said closed. I thought it was a weird time to close so I randomly tried the handle.”

“The sign said closed?” The old man asked.

“Yes!” Ren responded. “That’s why I came in to investigate. I figured something awful must have happened, like someone breaking in, or doing you harm.”

“No, no, nothing like that.” The old man cleared up. “Still… I must have forgotten to flip the sign over. To think nobody would have found me if it wasn’t for you two… God bless you, young ones.”

“Can you stand?” Ren gently asked while reaching out his arm.

“I can try, but I might need to sit first.” The old man responded. Blanc went to fetch something to sit on, leaving the room temporarily to find the chair behind the counter and dragged it back to him. Ren lifted the old man up and guided him to the chair. When he finally clambered on to the chair Ren held his hand out in case he couldn’t support himself. This gladly turned out to not be the case. Repositioning into a comfortable position, the old man sat up as best as he could before speaking.

“My name is Kazuha. Michibiku Kazuha.” The old man stated. “Thank you for helping me.”

“Nice to meet you, Kazuha.” Blanc smiled as she said so. “I’m glad you’re okay now.”

“Yes, nice to meet you, I’m Ren.” Ren chimed in.

“You two mentioned you were here for something, right? What was it?” Kazuha asked.

“Some clothes that Blanc here could wear.” Ren responded.

“Well go ahead, let me not stop you. Pick what you want.” Kazuha declared. “I’ll be here when you decide on what you want to wear.”

The two looked at each other and after a brief meet of their eyes, Blanc walked off excitedly to look for some comfortable clothes to find, while Ren stayed with Kazuha and chatted a bit. Blanc kept an ear out for what they were talking about out of curiosity, but after coming to the conclusion that Ren was just keeping the old man comfortable and she wouldn’t be able to focus on finding some comfy clothes to write in, she realized it was pointless to continue listening in. After perusing the racks a bit, she found a sweater that seemed to fit her. It was maroon coloured, and the label read “Sisters’ High”. The name reminded her of Rom and Ram, and looked for other sizes. This would be hard to explain to Ren, but she figured she’d tell him it’s just a gift for a couple of people back in her world for when she comes back. Satisfied with her purchases and unwilling to make Ren spend any more than he already is, Blanc returned to Kazuha and Ren, showing off the three outfits with a beaming smile on her face.

“I like these sweaters, and the smaller two reminded me of people I know!”

Ren really couldn’t say no to that smile, even if his wallet was about to suffer just a bit more because of it. Sooner or later he felt he was going to have to get another part time job of sorts.

“They’re great and comfortable sweaters.” Kazuha exclaimed, taking note of Blanc’s enthusiasm while holding the sweaters he was all too familiar with. “The smaller two I bought a while ago for my children, who have since then grown out of it and long past the school. I hope whoever you’re buying them enjoys them!”

“Oh, speaking of payment.” Ren started. “How much would it cost, Kazuha sir?”

“Don’t worry about that, payment is not important right now. I know you’ll take care of them, and you’ve helped me greatly today. I don’t require any form of payment.”

“But sir.” Ren started. “These are still your products, and clothing so close to you. I couldn’t possibly-”

“Oh hush now.” Kazuha interjected. “Youngsters are so stubborn. Accept them as a token of my gratitude, that is all you need to do. I know the young lady will get great use out of hers after all.”

“Thank you.” Blanc finalized, gratefully accepting the offer. She knew how much the effect of money spending seemed to have on Ren, and it was written all over his face earlier, as much as they try to hide it. Before Ren could refute such a kind gift, she dragged him closer to the door before realizing this old man might still need their help.

“You’re okay now, right?”

“Yes. I’m going to rest here a little while longer. When you get to the front of the door, don’t worry about flipping the sign over, I’ll get it later.”

“Oh, okay then. Take care of yourself Kazuha.” Blanc cheered as they began to walk to the exit, bringing Ren in tow.

“Yes, and you two take care as well. Come back again sometime Blanc, Ren.”

When the two exited the store, the now somewhat brisk breeze washed over them, reminding Ren he was allowed to breathe; something he forgot to do for who knows how long. Ren shivered a bit, but Blanc seemed almost entirely unfazed. Ren recalled her home place was a winter-like snowscape for the most part, but it was still weird to him seeing her dressed a lot less than he was and shrugging off some of the coldest temperatures of the year here so far so easily.

“Hey Blanc?” Ren starts to ask, starting to feel the chill of the cold run down his spine. “Would you like to check out a local cafe on the way back? It’s very close to home, but I could go for nice coffee right about now.” He began to realize even he hadn’t dressed up enough for this bitter chill..

“Yeah, sure. I can tell you’re cold by just looking at you.” Blanc admitted rather bluntly. “Let’s go check it out.”

The two made their way to the usual alley that lead them back to what Ren explained was called Yongen Jaya. The route they took was the exact same as they usually took for getting back home, but this time, two turns away from his building Ren guided Blanc to the right instead of the left. They passed a medical clinic, a mini market, an old man’s shop similar to Kazuha’s and a community laundromat before stopping and turning to the left. This was the place. It had a red and white striped awning and the bricks looked rather old, but the inside seemed rather comfy. Ren and Blanc entered the store and were greeted by the owner, who looked somewhat surprised when he saw them walk in.

“Welcome.” The owner responded. He had a deeper, gruff voice, but Blanc couldn’t sense any ill will in it. She sort of felt comforted between his voice and the atmosphere. The news seemed to be playing in the background, and the only customer seemed to be in his mid thirties enjoying a coffee and reading the newspaper.

“What can I get for you?” The man asked as the two were walking up to the counter.

“Just a coffee for me.” Ren responded. “Anything for you?” Ren turned to Blanc, who still seemed to be looking at the menu. She had never heard of curry before, so she was interested in it, but decided to just stick with a coffee as well for her first visit.

“That’ll be 400 yen.” The shopkeeper replied to which Ren handed him the money. While waiting for the coffee Blanc decided to make small talk with the owner, despite getting the feeling he wasn’t initially open to talking. She felt somehow that this man liked people who took initiative, so she decided to jump out on a whim.

“So do you run this place alone?” Blanc asked.

“Ah. Yeah, that’s right.” The owner responded.

“Does nobody ever offer to help out?”

“Not exactly. I don’t take well with part timers. They usually just leave you high and dry anyways. Most of them are students and just don’t understand the atmosphere.”

“This place does seem more relaxed.” Blanc commented. “It doesn’t seem like students would fit in here, or rather they’d likely feel the urge to slack off, or disrespect the work.”

“Hmm… You’re surprisingly astute for someone so young. Why’s that?” The owner said, caught off guard by the young woman in front of him.

“I just use my ears, eyes, and mind before me. I wouldn’t let anyone tell me how to think or act. Isn’t that what everyone should do?” Blanc responded, asking a rhetorical question.

“Well I would hope.” The owner concluded. “What’s your name, young lady?”

“Blanc.”

“Hmm, you’re an interesting one, Blanc. I’m Okurimono, welcome to Cafe Branco and enjoy your stay.” Okurimono went on to ask what Ren’s name was and the small talk from there continued until they had both finished their coffee. An unknown amount of time passed by and the two realized it was late for them. Ren needed to get up before he wouldn’t want to leave, and Blanc felt like they had talked so much they ran out of similarities and events for the time being. Before his body betrayed him, Ren stood up and bid farewell to Okurimono, Blanc followed suit and thanked him for the coffee and talk. The two made their way out of the cafe and walked back to their apartment satisfied with their day. Blanc did have one thing on her mind still however, and made sure not to forget for now.

Chapter Text

After making their way back through the winding alleyways and into their apartment, Blanc, who was still a bit invigorated from all the learning and sightseeing, asked Ren if he was in the mood to play a few more matches of Smash Bros before he settled in in his room. The fire in her eyes coupled with the burning desire to ‘own some noobs’ as Vert would say, had grown into a near unquenchable thirst that could only be satiated by Aether ledge trapping some poor soul. Ren, sad as he was to disappoint her however, was more than beat for the day. He may not have done as much as yesterday but in the last few days he’d run himself into the ground and then some both physically and mentally. It may have been little more than a standard shopping trip like he used to have with his mother years ago but truthfully on his days off, he did little more than take a quick walk around the alleys and make himself one of a few quick dishes for food. His body felt like it was being starved for oxygen at times and the call to rest had already washed over him at Okurimono’s coffee shop. Besides, he needed to rest and reset his body for his work tomorrow. Smash was not in the cards for him tonight.

“Sorry Blanc, but I’m way too drained today to put up a fight, even if I’d just get juggled and ragdolled by you most of the time. I need to rest now, unless there’s something you need?”

“Oh. Alright. I don’t need anything right now. It’s still earlier than when you went to sleep the last couple days though. Why’s that?”

Ren shifted his weight off his tired left foot before remembering he never told Blanc he had a job, much less where he worked. What a blunder on his part. It’s only natural to tell someone you have plans with your working schedule after all, not that any of these past days have been in the realm of natural for him.

“I’ve got to head to sleep early for my work tomorrow Blanc. Thankfully I’m so exhausted there’s no chance of me losing sleep as soon as my head hits the pillow.”

Blanc, not too surprised with Ren having a job, was curious where he worked. In Gamindustri the world often revolved around credits, which, in any way obtained, would always have to be worked for. Killing monsters, doing tasks, working somewhere, it all boiled down to credits. By the way Ren was using this unfamiliar currency, Blanc could ascertain this world, or at least Shibuya ran on a similar system.

“What kind of job do you work, Ren?” The curious ex-goddess inquired.

“Oh, it’s nothing too special. I work at a market here. Do you have markets in Gamindustri?” Ren responded, realizing he has little to no grasp on how Blanc’s world works.

“It’s just a gathering of stalls where people sell wares to others, no?”

“Basically. I work at a produce stand in the market in what we call the Shibuya Underground Plaza. I mostly tend to the stock and help out the stall owner when it comes to making sales. The stall owner, my boss, isn’t too good with English from time to time, particularly when it comes to conversing in it. A large chunk of our customers are curious foreigners hopping from place to place, looking for goods and souvenirs to take back to their homes so it’s handy to have someone who can fluently speak English.”

It had just occurred to Blanc that in this world there must be many languages, especially since there were well over 100 countries. If they were anywhere close to how diverse the four in Gamindustri were, she could imagine the complications travelling could impose. She considered herself fortunate for ending up stranded in a place where someone could understand her. Ren on the other hand, just realized Blanc was communicating this entire time in English, which just about blew what was left of his barely intact mind for the day. Deciding not to question it for now, he made sure to give Blanc the details of his address and how she could get there if she needed to. He walked back to the entrance of his apartment and on the right side of the door to leave he rummaged through a mounted multi-layered display holder until he found a map copy of Shibuya with the surrounding alleyways and a second map detailing all of the transit lines out to different areas in case she ever needed to travel without him. Coming to think of it, expecting someone like Blanc, a curious goddess from another world, to stay home and wait around for him whenever she needed anything was quite foolish. In truth, Ren had just left most of the maps and pamphlets to collect dust in that rack as he never really used them. He was just too lazy to toss them out before.

Refusing to sit down in fear of falling asleep mid explanation, he and Blanc stood over the maps as Ren showed her how to navigate them and where most of the landmarks they had already come across in their brief travels were so she could at least find shelter if she got lost. Blanc found it simple enough to understand, especially since most of the complicated paths and transitways were colour coded in a way that made it easy to track. She took one of her highlighters, making sure it wouldn’t clash with any part of the colourful map, and circled around the important areas to ensure she wouldn’t forget. She drew Rom and Ram’s faces by memory over Ren’s residence to indicate home for now, even though her sketching abilities were subpar at best and folded the maps away into one of her pockets, leaving the both of them satisfied.

Past his limit, Ren began to yawn uncontrollably. His body had had enough. Still, before he headed back to his room to sleep, he made sure Blanc knew where the utensils, silverware and cups were if she needed to eat or drink anything. He didn’t mind her searching around for them if she needed but figured it’d be best to just show her and save her time.

“Take anything you need Blanc. Wake me up if anything bad is happening. Good night.”

“Good night Ren.” Blanc replied before making sure he had gotten into bed without falling over. She didn’t know if there were any major differences between Ren and her but in this world her aches, pains, cuts and scrapes all hurt much worse than they did in Gamindustri, so she was mildly concerned her caretaker would fall over in exhaustion before he got into his bed. With there being no issues in that regard, the ex-goddess decided to play a bit more Smash Bros with the volume turned down before boredom kicked in and tuckered her out. Something about that game and the Wii felt familiar and relaxing to her. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it. Before Blanc set up her couch and sleeping area she decided it would be a good idea to update her story from yesterday.

Periwinkle had accidentally woken up the man taking care of her by searching for some food to eat. She had no idea if most of it was safe for her to consume so she was wary and accidentally spilled some of the cold contents of the fridge onto the ground. She assumed this was a deal breaker and expected to be chewed out by the man, losing her one guide to this odd place, but much to her surprise the guy was very accommodating and understanding. It flustered her a bit, and also made her consider this as a potential weakness, noting his willingness to help and forgive as something that could be exploited if it came down to it, but when he started taste testing the foods to show her they were safe to eat she quickly dismissed the thoughts of warfare. She was still wildly on edge given her scenario but it was clear enough to her that this man was not a threat. She still knew next to nothing of this world so she asked him to explain what this place was, and if she would be able to get home from here. Emotions welled up inside her when she realized he did not know anything about her homeland or how to get back, but given her already wary state, she managed to fight them back with stoicism. Deep down she was terrified and only wanted to hide away and spend time thinking about it but she knew she needed answers so after talking it out with the man he agreed to help show her around his community. To her shock it seemed like a relatively nice place and it somewhat reminded her of the country she governed back home. All the searching was exhausting though so when she got back home she immediately knocked out, finally getting her first rest in this unfamiliar world of hers.

Blanc debated whether she should write a bit more when a loud noise came from Ren’s room, distracting her from her musings. Listening a bit closer, she realized he was snoring really loud. Satisfied with both him being so deeply asleep and her story’s progress, a wave of tiredness came over her, causing her to yawn as well. Packing away her supplies for the night, she remembered her two DS lite consoles. As she laid in bed expecting sleep she opened them one at a time and began to use the Pictochat feature once again before closing them and finally drifting off to sleep.

Blanc had had a bizarre dream that night where Vert, Neptune and Noire had all ended up in Ren’s apartment with her and instead of focusing on finding a way back Blanc took them shopping all over Shibuya with this world’s currency. In their shopping spree Neptune felt the most at home with the bright, night time city lights whereas Vert had only wanted to check out this Wii that Blanc had mentioned back in the apartment. The dream felt short but when Blanc awoke she missed her friends all over again. Even Nep, whose goofiness Blanc hoped would be used to cheer up Rom and Ram right about now. The sun was already peaking through the living room window and Ren seemed to have already left for his job. Stretching her arms and waking up her body, Blanc remembered that it had only been three or so days in this world. She wondered how much time had passed in Gamindustri and if Lowee was going to be alright without her. She had faith in her younger twin sisters but governing a whole nation asking for answers about a missing goddess would be way too much to handle, even for herself. Wanting not to dwell on it and dampen her mood, Blanc placed her hopes in her sisters, assuming the rest of the goddesses would be lending a hand for anything they couldn’t handle. They must be. She had to hope they were..

One of the papers she had bought with Ren had made their way to the kitchen table with a pen over top of it. Upon opening it all that was written was the time Ren was working until with a reminder of the map should she need to use it. Taped to the note however, was a total of ten thousand yen in case the young goddess needed anything while he was away. Underneath the note was a set of two keys which she recognized as the building’s lobby door key and Ren’s apartment key. On the back of the letter the words read “These are my spare keys from when I moved in. Please lock the apartment door when you leave if you need to. You’re a smart woman so I know you’ll be able to find your way back when you need to. Also note to self: Investing in a flip phone for Blanc is a good idea. Oh, maybe I should have written this on a different paper for myself. Sorry Blanc.” That last part put a smile on her face as she quickly pocketed the keys. As it turned out, Ren was quite the clever cookie as well. Blanc had wanted to head out today and this was everything she needed to do so safely.

Gathering her wits about her and zipping up the pocket containing the keys and money she prepared herself for the trip she was about to make, consciously fixing her hair into place from her tossing and turning last night. Taking a look in the mirror to confirm her hair’s acceptable placement she made a mental note to borrow Ren’s comb if needed next time, despite not wanting to do so today. Blanc stepped outside, still grimacing from the poor, musty air quality, and then locked the apartment door, checking the handle to make sure she had locked it correctly. “Time for a stroll to Okurimono’s cafe. No pressure.” she thought to herself. She wasn’t one to get nervous often but trying to apply for a job wasn’t something she was used to, considering it was often her who was employing and checking in on her people back home. “The old man seemed kind enough and he did say he needed help. I hope it works out.”

Before leaving the lobby she held the door open from closing while checking to make sure the second key she was given could unlock the door properly. Not wanting to get stuck outside was a valid concern after all. “Success” she exclaimed in her head when the lock clicked in properly. The thoughtful ex-goddess would have had to chew her caretaker out if he gave her the wrong key, and now she knew exactly where to meet him to do so as well. Taking her mental chastising of Ren as a cue, Blanc retrieved her map of the Shibuya alleyways to make sure she was heading the right way to Okurimono’s cafe. The goal would eventually be to navigate this whole area without the map but she wasn’t planning on getting lost on her first day out alone. Thankfully it was just a few turns away from the apartment complex and a lot less convoluted as it seemed coming back from Shibuya’s Central Street yesterday. The red door’s sign was flipped to open so she gathered her confidence, clenched her fists momentarily and steeled her resolve to ask the old man for a job before walking in the cafe.

Before she could walk over to the bar area Okurimono turned his head to notice Blanc. “Welcome. By yourself this time?”

“Yeah, I wanted to check out the shop in the morning instead of at night.” Blanc responded, walking her way over to the seats across from the owner. The light filtering through the windows and blinds lit the cafe up just enough to not feel gloomy but otherwise the homely, older feel of the place hadn’t changed, which was fine by her.

“Well I rarely have a customer come back the next day and I’m not expecting many others to drop by for a while as I just opened up shop so pick a coffee blend, this one’s on the house.” Okurimono smirked, glad to have made such an impression on a younger girl. Thinking back to most of the other young people that come into the shop, he noted Blanc didn’t feel like she was worlds apart in maturity or interests to him, which was somewhat of a rare occurrence in itself.

“I’m not sure what I’d want to try if I’m being honest. Most of these drinks I’ve never heard of. I’ll just let you choose.”

This took Okurimono aback. Not knowing of something as commonplace as a cappuccino or espresso nowadays felt akin to living under a rock, even though Blanc lived under a completely different rock than he did.

“Well how about we try a caramel cappuccino then?”

Blanc didn’t object, but she did have a question before the shop owner began making her drink. “I’d like to learn how to make it if you don’t mind.”

“Oh?” The ever puzzled Okurimono replied. “You don’t even know if you like the drink yet. Aren’t you a bit worried you’ll learn something you’ll never use?” The shopkeeper turned back to face Blanc with his full attention.

“Maybe, but there’s no harm in trying something new, especially when it won’t cause me any life threatening injuries, and I’ve taken on plenty of the latter problems before.”

Blanc’s nonchalant tone while talking about injuries sent a chill down the owner’s spine as he could feel she meant it somehow. He knew better than to pry but was satisfied with her resolve. “Sure, I’ll show you the ropes.”

After a couple attempts at memorizing the order of making the drink and taste-testing them Blanc had found a new favourite drink in this world. Sensing her delight, Mr. Okurimono asked her why she had come back so soon, especially if she hadn’t come with a particular drink or dish in mind to try. He had never met someone who seemed so clueless of ordinary dishes and traditions and yet was so serious and determined to learn about them. Even some of the tourists, obnoxious as they could be sometimes with their blatant disrespect for the culture and rules, usually knew ten times as much about the area through travel guides than the young woman sitting before him did. Knowing she came in here with another young man who seemed to know his way around, he figured she really was just a clueless tourist. “But would a casual tourist have enough time on their vacation to come back to a back alley, unknown cafe like this twice? Without her guide no less?”

“Well the drink, cappuccino you called it, was delicious and yesterday the atmosphere of the place felt so relaxing and calming. I wanted to come back again.” Blanc explained. “I don’t know much about the area here,” she had stopped herself from saying she didn’t know much about the world, chiding herself on coming close to such a critical blunder, “and I’ll be staying here for a while with Ren, but I also don’t have any way to support him while I’m here so I wanted to look for a place to work.”

“Work, eh?” The shopkeeper’s eyebrow raised at the word.

“I’m aware you don’t have a good history with young workers but I like the shop here and just want to help pay Ren back for housing me.” Blanc, trying not to let herself get discouraged by Okurimono’s remark, continued. “I really don’t know much of the business or foods here but I did nail a drink I’ve never had or made before in only a few attempts. I’m not the most knowledgeable but my determination and perseverance is top notch. I’d get back up and attack an imitation spirit a million times if I needed to to get the job done!”

“Imitation spirit? You mean like a Tanuki? I’m not sure what would fuel you to fight one of those but I hear your enthusiasm loud and clear and you did prove yourself a bit.” Okurimono mulled the idea of Blanc helping him out around the store and the thought of teaching someone his craft at his current age was admittedly becoming increasingly more appealing than it was years ago. “Do you have any worker’s identification or banking info on you?”

Blanc knew enough from her homeland to get the jist of what he was looking for, but she couldn’t produce anything of the sort. She shook her head no and the owner grimaced, putting his fingers to his chin in thought. After a few long seconds of silence and concentration the owner, feeling courteous enough, agreed to still take her in under his wing to learn the meticulous and well respected craft of coffee brewing as long as she promised she would give it a hundred percent. He needed to be sure his protege had what it took to inherit his life’s passion after all. Blanc readily agreed and Okurimono asked her to wait there as he pulled out one of his spare, clean aprons to wear.

“It’s a great fit.” The owner remarked. “Before we get started, make sure to finish your drink. I couldn’t stand to see you drink it cold after seeing how much you enjoyed it.”

While Blanc sipped her cappuccino she made various small talk with the owner. “How long have you been running this shop?” “Do you have any family?” “What’s your favourite drink?” “Do you enjoy working here?” “Where are all the customers?” Besides that last question stinging a little, the two seemed to get along much better than they initially thought they would. Okurimono found himself smiling a bit more than he thought he would. He took it as a sign that so far he had made the right choice.

“All right, now that you’re finished, we should get down to business.” Okurimono’s eyes narrowed a bit more, focusing on his pupil’s expressions for his next questions. “What do you think is the most important part of a business?”

“The customers, I’d imagine.” Blanc responded, slightly unsure of her answer.

“Well they’re a major part of what we do, yes, but to me I’d say it’s the craft.” Okurimono replied. “Customers are here and there, but what needs to be more reliable is what we sell, and how much we pour into each cup, both in effort and determination. If our quality dips or becomes inconsistent not only will we drive away some customers, but we’ll have lost a grip on the part of ourselves that once strove for better. We can’t ever settle for less of ourselves. Plus, who would want to drink a bad blend?”

The owner’s lecture was stiff but he was right. Blanc made sure to mentally note this down. What he was saying could be attributed to life as well. Blanc wanted to help Ren and learn more of this world but staying true to herself was the goal, and that self should be at home, governing Lowee. Gathering her determination and lifting her spirits up, she began to take well to the job as Okurimono began instructing her on the various blends of coffees and introducing her to his wall which housed hundreds of different bean jars. Before the two knew it, it was already past 4:30 in the afternoon. They had been working for over six and a half hours, and the shop only had a few hours left before it would close for the night. There weren’t many customers during their day so Blanc had gotten an ample amount of time to practice on grinding the beans and blending them to make most of the standard drinks. She wasn’t too confident in remembering all of these mixtures so she began writing them all down with the help of the boss giving her a pencil and paper to do so.

“Oh, Ren would have finished his work almost an hour ago now.” Blanc noted as she looked up at the store’s clock.

“Is that so?” Okurimono replied. “Well we have been here for almost eight hours in total. You’ve learned a lot, and it seems you weren’t lying about your determination. I don’t think I saw you distracted once this whole time. It’s my fault though. You should have had more time to take a break and digest everything you’ve learned. I guess we’re just both too passionate about our beans, eh?” The shopkeeper laughed, but Blanc could detect his sincerity through it. Being truthful, it hadn’t felt like such a long time for her either and her body wasn’t aching or anything as this world seemed to cause so she didn’t mind as much about not having a break this time. The tons of bean information on the other hand was a bit much to digest all at once.

“You’re an incredible helper, you know.” Okurimono said with a smirk on his weathered face. “It makes me wonder how many other hard working, passionate youngsters I’ve turned down over the years that I simply could have misjudged.” Okurimono mused for a second before concluding. “Well I could count the amount of youngsters interested in my cafe on one hand in the last decade so it’s not like I have much to regret. So Blanc, how would coming in every other day sound to you for the next week? I don’t have much of a schedule for you but I don’t want to overload you with too much too fast and I bet that Ren fellow would be pretty worried about you if you haven’t updated him yet.”

Blanc suddenly realized that she hadn’t let Ren know where she was. The fear of being away from her siblings and country without knowing how everything is going over in Gamindustri is more enough to make her stomach churn, so putting Ren through that wasn’t something she was proud of. The former goddess began to chew herself out for getting so carried away and causing him such grief.

The owner, reading Blanc’s disgruntled expressions, understood and handed her 9000 yen for the day’s work. “Go on now, you should definitely get back to him while you can. I appreciate the help Blanc. You’re one hell of a worker. I’ll see you again in two day’s time.”

“Thank you. I’ll be back. I promise.” Blanc gathered her composure, pulled out the map once more and began to analyze it while heading out the door.

“Hey, be careful reading the map while walking down the alleyway. Try not to get hurt or bump into anything.” The shopkeeper called after her just in time.

“I will. Thank you again.” Blanc yelled back just as the door shut.

“Heh. She’s one smart, earnest girl.” Okurimono thought to himself while stifling a chuckle. “What a curious student I’ve taken in.”

Navigating her way back to Ren’s apartment complex was about as simple as it was she was leaving to head to the coffee shop earlier so Blanc was able to put the map back in her pocket midway through her journey. As she began fumbling with her lobby key however, she was so focused that she missed Ren standing on the inside until he opened the door for her.

“Blanc! Where have you been?” Ren asked immediately, trying to keep his composure. “I was just about to go ahead and search for you in the alleyways.”

“Ren! Sorry, I forgot to tell you where I was going and I didn’t expect to be gone too long. I went to Cafe Blanco again to talk with the owner from last night.” Blanc shifted a bit nervously from being startled but tried to play it off by shaking her right leg. She wasn’t doing a good job of hiding her stress. Thankfully Ren wasn’t angry, just concerned.

“Cafe Blanco?! Well I’m glad I sent you with money then. I’m glad you’re alright Blanc.”

“Oh, speaking of money.” Blanc started while counting through her newly made earnings. “1500 yen on a discount for the two DS lites and 3650 for the craft and writing supplies. An extra 1000 as I imagine the clothes would have been at least double this if we didn’t end up getting them for free and another 200 for interest. Add another 150 as a token of my gratitude for keeping me safe so far. That’s 6500 for you Ren.” Blanc carefully counted the coins that were so new to her and forked them over to Ren, who had his mouth slightly agape, dumbfounded on where she had gotten all this yen.

“Blanc, can you summon yen from the sky?”

Blanc furrowed her eyebrows in response. “What kind of dumb question is that?” She retorted quizzically.

“I don’t know.” Ren admitted. “I just thought for a second I had hit my lucky break. You did say you were a goddess after all.”

“I’m a goddess, not a miracle worker.” Blanc replied with a bit of a playful laugh. “I started working for Mr. Okurimono today.”

“Really? I thought the old man said he didn’t get along well with young people.”

“Well thankfully he’s taken an interest in me.”

“Don’t tell me he’s a pervert…” Ren muttered, just loud enough for Blanc to hear.

“If he was he wouldn’t be breathing.”

“Woah woah. Blanc you can’t go around murdering people!” After seeing Blanc’s seriousness on the matter, Ren, while slightly concerned, decided to change the subject. “We should head back into the apartment anyway. Tell me all about your day.”

“Not before you tell me about yours.”

Chapter Text

After a short recap of Blanc’s day Ren was thoroughly impressed, both at her ability to adjust to something she’s never done before and in how persistent she can be if she sets her eyes on a goal. He also breathed a sigh of relief as this meant as long as Blanc and the old man got along well enough while working, he wouldn’t have to always be worried about her. Heading to work in the morning and leaving her alone to fend for herself was a mite nerve wracking, even knowing how capable she appeared to be.

“So you picked up this job because you felt bad for me spending my money on you?” Ren noted.

“I hate that my credits are useless here compared to your currency but I didn’t only talk to the boss to save you money, even with me feeling guilty about it.” Blanc responded. The determined goddess of Lowee narrowed her eyes in a dead serious manner, staring into Ren’s soul. “Neptune would never let me live it down if I didn’t come back with souvenirs. Plus I can’t just steal anything I want.”

Ren stared back blankly at her, unsure whether the goddess before him was trying to joke around.

“So murder is perfectly acceptable but stealing souvenirs is where you draw the line?” Ren asked quizzically, recalling Blanc’s cold expression an hour ago when she said she’d kill any perverts.

“Oh. It appears I have to work on my joke telling abilities.” Blanc noted, not too surprised at the result. “I’ve never been good at them.”

Trying to find the positive in what felt like an awkward situation, Ren replied “I think it’s more like I’m not used to you yet.” He didn’t want to sour her mood after such an insanely productive day. “So, what should we make for dinner?”

Blanc, still not fully aware of all the food this world had to offer, shrugged indifferently. “I’m not sure what most of the food is, so I’m okay with trying anything. I just hope I like it.”

Ren, equally as tired from his job today as he was yesterday evening, asked Blanc if she was okay with just snacking and trying a few things rather than making a whole meal. He figured it would be a good opportunity for her to get a feel for what she liked and disliked and in truth he just wasn’t up to cooking. Blanc figured it was a reasonable choice to munch various foods and followed Ren to the kitchen area where he began to sift through various snackable items in his pantry. Among the foods they tried Blanc liked the vegetable thins the most, followed by the graham wafers and bacon dippers, with her noting the bacon dippers were something that would probably blow Rom and Ram’s minds back home. “I mean, who had the idea of adding bacon as a flavour to a chip anyways?” She wondered. “Probably the same person who wanted to make ice cream spicy.”

“By the way, Blanc, I’m glad you liked some of these as they’re very expensive and hard to find in Japan.” Ren explained. “Remember how I said there were a ton of different countries here on Earth? Well these are some of my favourite snacks I’ve tried so far from the international markets. They’re made in other parts of the world.”

“They’re a rarity here? That’s unfortunate.” Blanc said, still trying to grasp the vastness of the world she was now stuck in. “They must be really far from you if they’re so scarce in such a large city like this.”

“I think it’s high time we raid the fridge.” Ren concluded. “How do you feel about cheese?”

“I like most of the regular ones back in Lowee.” Blanc replied. “Blue cheese, five year aged, tangerine infused cheese, cherry tomato jack. There are a few more.”

“T-That’s regular to you?” Ren stuttered in disbelief. “It sounds heavenly but that is far from average cheese here. Sorry to disappoint.” Ren was about to show her his sorry cheese picks of cheddar, swiss, havarti and colby when he remembered a flavour Blanc mentioned that made her whole face light up. “What’s tangerine infused cheese?”

“You don’t know it?!” Blanc almost yelled in response. “Well I suppose I did have people on payroll back home to find a way to fuse them together.”

“You paid people… to create tangerine cheese?”

“It’s delicious! Tangerines are the absolute best food in existence!” Blanc, the most giddy she had been since she arrived in his apartment, pointed at a confused Ren as if she was about to interrogate him. “This must mean you’re familiar with tangerines. You must have them in your world!”

“Uhh, yeah.” Ren replied, unsure of what to do with this compact, tangerine-hungry ball of excitement before him. He remembered he had actually bought a few a couple dats before she arrived. “There’s some in the produce shelf at the bottom.”

Blanc turned to Ren with a twinkle of plea in her eyes as if she was requesting permission to devour his tangerines. Normally Ren would feel backed into a corner, not wanting to disappoint the cute goddess in front of him, but this time he also didn’t want to find out what would happen if he denied her. There was no way he, an average middling twenties man, was going to be able to fend off a hungry goddess from another world, even if she was only about 4’11. “I can buy more tomorrow since I’ll be working with them anyways. I’ll grab a few extra for you so they’ll be fresh. Have at the ones in the fridge.” Ren found her extreme, almost manic-like enthusiasm for tangerines adorable and downright hilarious. It was nice to see her in high spirits considering most of the time he couldn’t tell what she was thinking, especially with her often being so indifferent and monotone. For the first time in a long while, Ren felt a friendship growing. Most of his friends had moved away to study in other areas, and some in a completely different country with a scholarship. He’s always been happy for them but he did feel he was missing that spark again, until this tangerine-loving gremlin magically showed up in his house unannounced. He wondered if someone could even be charged for just… Entering in such a way.

Ren and Blanc conversed more about their earlier lives while snacking, with brief pauses every now and then to eat. The night became a lot more lively than either of them were expecting, especially after Blanc tried gulping a tangerine whole. Ren had to frantically explain that in his world there was no magical spell he could cast to keep her from choking. Laughing away the overwhelming tiredness Ren was fighting just minutes ago, the two threw on some more of Ren’s music collection while Blanc told him more about the intricacies of Lowee. She went over most the broad subjects from as boring as governing over minute tasks to eagerly presenting her writings to the Lowee annual book fair event she often funded herself. It felt nice to hear her open up a bit more about her country and world, even if it came at the cost of being a bit painful to recount. Their worlds weren’t too different for living in when it came down to it, which was kind of relieving for Ren, who didn’t know what to make of it besides knowing some tidbits about the four countries after Blanc made him wear his favourite ice cream.

Although Ren wanted to help get Blanc home safely as fast as he could, he was glad to see she was finally taking a bit of a liking to the world around her, and with this positive feeling in the air, time trickled onward through the next two months. Blanc and Ren continued working their jobs, and would still have many days together where they could tour various districts outside Shibuya, watching the leaves change colour while Blanc ate any tangerines she could get her hands on until they unfortunately went out of season and not even the largest of markets were selling them anymore. Blanc’s relationship with her boss Okurimono stayed healthy and although she was eyeing some gifts and souvenirs for her friends and family back home, staying ever vigilant for any information she could gleam about finding a way back to Gamindustri, she found herself pocketing a good portion of her savings for a rainy day or in case Ren needed any financial help. The air grew colder week by week and although Blanc didn’t seem to mind it at all, still opting to wear her casual clothes she arrived here in, Ren began bundling up in warmer pants and heavier jackets until finally he had to pull out his brown coat for the year.

December arrived, which signaled the end of the year and Blanc noticed that although most people were around her, including her customers were wearing gloves and coats now, she suspected something she wasn’t aware of was brightening their spirits as most of them became more chatty and lively. She made a mental note to ask Okurimono about this infectious happiness that was spreading around. This morning was the same as most, with her not seeing anything out of the ordinary. The streets and alleys were safe to walk and the sky was overcast. The chilly breeze made Blanc feel closer to her home in Lowee and as she entered the old man’s cafe she was greeted warmly by the boss, who seemed not to have any customers. A pretty standard day so far. Certainly nothing she saw as special, even with the cold winds for her to reminisce in. Settling in and donning her barista’s apron she made her way to the back of the bean wall, making sure everything the boss would need for curry was washed out or ready to be.

“You’ve certainly gotten into the swing of things now, Blanc.” Mr. Okurimono said, a hint of praise in his tone. He usually wasn’t as direct with his compliments. “You’re a wonderful student. You’ve been a real help around the store, especially with handling the hard to reach items.” The boss chuckled a bit while subconsciously rubbing his back. It was rare to see the boss anywhere close to donning a beaming smile, which further reinforced Blanc’s interest in this almost whimsical happiness floating around.

“Mr. Okurimono, everywhere I look people seem much happier, more kind and excited. Is something happening soon?”

After all this time working with each other, Okurimono thought he’d have gotten used to Blanc’s seemingly impossible lack of everyday knowledge of Japan but she kept on surprising him. He wasn’t sure if he was impressed or a little freaked out by how little she seemed to know. “Blanc, have you heard of Christmas? Perhaps the New Year?” Blanc nodded, although she didn’t seem to think they were important to her. She was aware Rom and Ram had made a big fuss over the idea of it back home because of the gift giving aspect for Christmas but other than trying to find a suitable gift for each of them, Blanc hadn’t cared much about the holiday. She didn’t even know how it came to be in Gamindustri, let alone in Earth. As for the New Year, she felt more than indifferent to it. Everyone always celebrated the hardest around the new year, but her birthday was on New Year’s Day, and sadly Japan didn’t seem to have a different date for their New Year either. Most of her friends got to have exclusive dats on their birthday where they could all hang out or do what they wanted without having their thunder stolen or the streets they walked on being crowded. Blanc didn’t envy their exclusive birthdays much either but at least her whole nation wasn’t sending her a ton of requests, invites and overall partying loud with their celebrations like they would for New Years. At home Neptune always seemed to be the most envious of Blanc’s unfortunate birthday date, claiming she “hit the jackpot” because no other nation partied as hard as Lowee when it came to their double celebrations, even in Planeptune. Snapping out of her musings, Blanc asked the boss why they were so important here and despite her slight interest piquing her curiousity, his answer was largely the same for Japan as it was in Lowee.

“Not much of a Christmas fan?” The chief asked.

“Well it’s less that I’m not a fan and more that I’ve always been busy through it all and I’m not much of a people person.” Blanc clarified.

“Ah. Ever the busybody, hm? Well I understand. I used to feel the same way after all, but growing older I learned to appreciate the little things a bit more. I’m just glad the customers are a bit more generous around this time. That’s at least something to smile about.” Okurimono shifted. “Well there are no customers yet, so feel free to enjoy a coffee. It’s on the house. Supposedly today’s gonna be the first snowfall of the year after all.”

“Snow?” Blanc’s eyes perked up a bit at the mention of it. “I’ve missed it ever since I moved here.” Blanc had gotten near perfect with pretending she had just moved in temporarily and no longer feared slipping up anymore. The chief wasn’t likely to do anything rash even if she did but Blanc wouldn’t even let the situation get that bad.

“The snow is always a nice touch to the overcast days we have this time of the year.” Okurimono replied. “I’d take it over rain any day personally.”

Just as Blanc was about to bask in her nostalgia, the doorbell to the shop rang as a middle aged man walked in, his arms folded in a confrontational position. He took a look around at Blanc, noticing her apron and then at the old man before narrowing his eyes. With a pompous air around him, he spoke directly to Okurimono in a smug tone. “Well well, you can finally afford a part timer. I hope you’re not lowballing her with payment.”

“Why are you here?” Okurimono retorted. His relaxed voice from earlier turned gruff and sharp in contrast. Blanc immediately glared at this new man. She wasn’t liking his attitude and it didn’t matter who he was, she wasn’t going to let anyone disrespect her boss and friend out of nowhere.

“Oh I’m sure you could take a guess, Chadokami.” The middle aged man snarled, happy with his use of Okurimono’s first name. “It’s been quite a while since you and I have been in the business together. Around 12 years now, is it? Your arrogance and short temper on our last case cost me my dream promotion. I’m forever marred by your disgrace, even if you quit on the spot after your outburst! All you had to do was keep your mouth shut back then and we would both be rich! Filthy rich! You may be fine with wasting away the rest of your days in a shitty, back alley cafe nobody bothers to visit but you owe me. You know damn well I came demanding more money!” The aggressive man flicked his eyes in Blanc’s direction. “It seems you have enough money to fund a poor foreigner. You can scrape together a mere five million yen, can’t you?” Aware of his impossible demand, the man waited for his old partner to try and haggle or squirm his way out of this scenario. Unfortunately for him, he underestimated Blanc and received a rude awakening.

“If you’re done now, you can leave the store.” Blanc said, trying to be as neutral and emotionless as possible. “This café doesn’t open its doors for violent customers.”

Taken aback by this small girl’s cold comments, the middle aged man tried formulating an equally bitter response. He felt he couldn’t let this sassy child order him around. “Just who are you? You’d work for this man for scraps knowing what he does to his work partners? You better check your allegiances, kid. You’re a fool to want to cross me.”

“You’re the fool. I know next to nothing about you and I couldn’t care any less to know anything else.” Blanc snarled in response. The atmosphere in the room became palpable with how sour the conversation had gotten. The goddess of Lowee wasn’t able to call on her superhuman strength, battle hammer or HDD form but somehow just her sheer aggression alone seemed to electrify the air around her. “I don’t care what position you hold, what title you don, who you’ve hurt, how rich you are or how gold you seem to think your toilet is. You’re a foolish bitch if you dare think you can speak to me or the chief here in any tone other than respectfully. I’d happily kick your ass here and now. Clearly life has already done so. Before you go trying to nickel and dime another person, remember that if you come here with that energy again I’ll boot your broke ass to the moon and back. Now GET OUT!”

The man recoiled in fear, not daring to question how this small woman was able to intimidate him so badly. His legs had temporarily started shaking so Blanc, whose eyes you’d swear shone a tinge of red, pushed him out the door like an unwanted stray and walked him down off the premises before shutting the door, making sure he wouldn’t come back inside. More than annoyed but trying to calm down, the infuriated Blanc let out a few forceful sighs as she too began to cross her arms defiantly. She figured she had just blown her chance at working and that the chief would chastise her by telling her she can’t be fighting the customers but instead, Okurimono wiped some sweat off of his forehead and simply muttered “Hoo boy…” before grinning, impressed and appreciative of Blanc’s performance.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Okurimono.” Blanc said while starting to untie her apron. “I’m sure you don’t want me working here anymore with my temper being too volatile sometimes. I just wanted him to stop ruining your good spirits and yelling about like he owned the cafe.”

The old man roared with laughter, which caught Blanc by surprise. He was practically wheezing for a whole minute, clutching his stomach to brace himself as he did. “Don’t apologize, girl. You did amazing.”

“What?” Blanc asked, still a little stunned.

“You ripped that man a new one!” Okurimono shouted while in the midst of trying to catch his breath. “I knew there was a passionate fire inside of you waiting to explode but wow. What a display of youth. You name a drink. Hell, name twenty and they’re all on me.”

“Wait…” Blanc started, her brain finally catching on to the fact that she wasn’t in trouble. “Do you still want to keep me around?”

“Keep you?!” The old man replied. “If I could pay you triple for the rest of your time here I’d do it in a heartbeat.”

“I don’t understand though. I broke one of the most important rules of the cafe.”

“Blanc…” The owner began to explain, finally catching his breath and sitting down next to her. “You’re right. You should never be rude or yell at a customer in this cafe, but sometimes before the rules of this cafe come your own rules. Your own principles. You had every right to yell down that man. In fact, I’ve not seen such a fiery conviction in someone since the day I quit my old job with that guy. Colour me thoroughly impressed. You did the right thing. You may have taken it a bit far and it definitely was explosive, but that doesn’t matter to me. All that matters is that you did the right thing and stayed true to yourself.”

“True to myself…” Blanc pondered the weight of his words, happy that the chief was such an understanding man. “Wait, what did you do all those years ago? Where did you work?”

Okurimono shifted his left leg so that it crossed over his right and began to tell his story. “I suppose if anyone has a right to know now, it’s you Blanc. Twenty five long years ago I joined a detective agency that mostly deal with investigating higher up criminals for large scale organizations. I was a hotshot rookie but my conviction and passion led me far, solving case after case, including a few that stumped most of the experienced detectives in my field for years. There was another who I eventually got placed with to work as a duo on what would have been one of the largest scandals in Japan’s last twenty years, and that was the man before you, Yurio Oshimizu. Him and I, we saw our work differently. I loved my line of work and he was in it for the money. He owed someone a great deal of yen and when it came to busting this crime syndicate, the ringleader offered Oshimizu and I a ton of money, aware of his debts. He wanted to take it and I told him I’d condemn him for it for the rest of his days. Only later after the police busted him and raided his complex did I find out that our commanding officer was in on it and had some choice words for me about how I was just a young guy who didn’t understand the world. Well I sold them out and told them to go fuck themselves. I quit on the spot and our commanding officer was arrested. Oshimizu got away unscathed but was barred from ever advancing in the detective’s agency. They couldn’t find anything other than word of mouth to link him to the bribe. He’s hated me ever since, and I, him. I kept my name out of the papers so I could live a quiet life to myself and honestly, I haven’t felt like myself since.”

The chief’s story weighed heavily in Blanc’s mind. His ideals when it came down to it weren’t too different from hers. Blanc wasn’t the type of person to express them unless she needed to, and there weren’t many times where she felt she needed to, but the principle was the same. Nobody would be allowed to wrong her or anyone she cared about, much less expect to get away unscathed if they tried to. The goddess knew she wasn’t always right, as painful as it was to admit to herself at times, but she always stood up for what she believed in. In that sense, she felt a kindred connection to Okurimono’s drive.

“You did the right thing.” Blanc emphasized. “We did the right thing and stood up for what we believed in.”

“That’s the spirit, Blanc.” The chief said in confirmation. “Don’t lose that fire of yours.”

“Thank you chief.”

The rest of the shift began flying by, with Blanc and Okurimono greeting a few more customers throughout the day than usual. The wind picked up a bit more as the day went on. Every time a customer would come in or leave Blanc would be hit with a blast of cold air which only served to rejuvenate her mood. Without realizing what time it was, the door opened once more and as she turned around to greet them she found none other than Ren in his brown coat with his hood on, fighting off the snow squalls that dared try entering the cafe. Seeing the snow blowing around made her heart flutter a bit. It wasn’t unlike Lowee’s snow after all.

“Hey Blanc. I came to pick you up from work today.” Ren stated, with a smile on his face. He began to brush some of the lingering snowflakes off of his coat at the entrance so it wouldn’t melt all over the cafe’s floors as he continued inwards.

“Oh yeah, it’s about that time, isn’t it?” The owner remarked. “Well it’s been one hell of a day both in the store and outside. I completely lost track of time for a bit.”

“Is there anything else you needed me to do, Mr. Okurimono?” Blanc asked, unable to fully hold back her eagerness to be out in the snow.

The owner chuckled and just beckoned her over to Ren’s side. “You’ve done more than enough today. Go on. Enjoy what’s left of the day. Oh, and here’s your pay today.” The old man handed her an envelope with the loose money inside of it, which was different from how she usually received it, but she wasn’t complaining as it made it easier to fold away in one of her pockets.

“Have a good close, Mr. Okurimono. Thanks for your advice today.” Blanc called as she folded her apron neatly in the back and ran to take off with Ren, who was curious about the advice she had mentioned, just not enough to pry while the owner was right there.

“Thanks for taking care of her, chief.” Ren said with his hand on his heart before making sure Blanc didn’t run off too far.

Instead of heading home, Blanc insisted that the two of them spend time out in the snow, maybe visiting the park she grew fond of from back when they first met. Instead however, Ren asked Blanc if she had ever been ice skating, to which she shook her head no. She had never heard of ice skating, but it wasn’t hard to imagine what it was. Nobody in Lowee dared to do such a thing. They usually avoided transporting their goods in the icy fields outside their towns if possible. The thought of zooming around on the ice sounded exhilarating, but also painful if she did it wrong. Her curiousity was piqued however so she asked him to take her to a place where she could watch everyone in the act.

The two set off enjoying the sights with Ren noting it would be a good forty minutes to one of his favourite free entry skating rinks in Tokyo. The wind around them finally started to die down mid-way through, which greatly benefited Ren, who was already debating whether he should stop by somewhere to get out of the cold and enjoy a warm drink. The sun began to set as they made their way through the last few streets of Tokyo’s Midtown and the bright city signs began to flicker on one by one in response. There weren’t too many people bustling about on their way to the rink but as soon as they got into the clearing Blanc saw something that for the first time in this world, truly amazed her. Her eyes widened in wonder. In the middle of the square plaza area was a smooth, shining white ice sheet where people really were skating. Ren wasn’t lying. It was stunning. People of all ages, shapes and sizes attempted to glide along the ice. Some of them were even twirling in the air while doing so. It did look painful to fall down on but it wasn’t as bad as she had pictured in her head.

“This way to the booth since we’re going to have to borrow skates and register.” Ren said as he offered his hand to a still starstruck Blanc, who accepted and followed, eyes still glued to the people in the rink. They waited in line to where they had to sign up. There were only four people ahead of them so it wasn’t a long wait, not that Blanc even noticed with her so mesmerized by the beauty of the rink. It occurred to Ren that he didn’t know Blanc’s shoe size, but when the teller asked, Blanc told her she fits a size 5 women’s. Ren had no idea her feet were that small but thankfully there were a few spare shoes in her size. They then signed off on the shoes and provided the teller with their phone numbers in case they didn’t return them within the time limit and then made their way over to the rink. With every step they took closer Blanc could feel her heart skip a beat. She was nervous but so excited. It had been a long time since she had discovered anything that had made her feel this way, even back in Gamindustri. The ever-ready goddess turned to Ren, who was already sliding his skates on confidently.

“Have you ever done this before?” Blanc asked, beginning to follow his lead.

“Ice skating?” Ren replied. “My mother used to take me all the time. She said my grandmother was basically a professional when she was a kid. Apparently my mother’s love for ice skating watching my grandma never faded into adulthood, so when I came along she hoped I’d inherit her same passion.”

“Was your mom a professional as well?” Blanc asked, wide eyed and paying attention to his every detail.

“Well she’s always wanted to be, but my grandparents fell on hard times around the time my mother was considering colleges. She had gotten a scholarship for it but my grandmother fell ill and a few years later she passed away.” Ren explained.

“I’m sorry Ren. The pain of loss stings unlike any frostbite could.” Blanc sullenly said, unaware of the sensitive topic she had brought up.

“No Blanc, it’s fine. My mother still loves skating but it took a financial toll on her for a while when taking care of my grandma. She wasn’t able to pursue it the way she wanted to and neither will I but I can confidently say I’m decent at best.” Ren finished, half chuckling, half pensive.

Sensing his mood shift, Blanc finished tying and strapping the skates to her feet and pulled herself up using a guard rail spanning the entire length of the rink’s entrance point. “I bet you’re amazing, Ren. Would you mind helping me learn the basics?”

Ren pulled himself out of his somewhat dour feelings and stood up to face her. He extended his left hand gently and she grasped it tighter than she ever had before. He felt her courage and concentration as he began to guide her onto the ice. “Slow and steady Blanc. We’re gonna be moving a bit when you get the hang of how to balance yourself but for now we’ll stick to one hand so we don’t both go tumbling down and you can learn to balance largely on your own weight.” Blanc, in full concentration, nodded her head, letting him know she understood while trying to focus on not falling in an awful way. One foot successfully on the ice and balancing, she mentally sighed in relief, now bracing herself for when she felt she would inevitably fall sliding with both feet on the rink. On their brief walk to the teller’s booth she saw a couple children fall while trying to skate with what looked to be their father but they didn’t seem to cry or get hurt too badly so she was hoping any falls she endured would be similar. Hesitating just a second before sliding her second foot on the rink, Blanc placed all of her trust in Ren to help her if she falls, not trusting her ability to get up on her own. Thankfully the ring’s entrance wasn’t being blocked or used by most of the faster skaters so she wouldn’t have to worry about people accidentally crashing into her as she tried to stand back up. “Okay Blanc,” the goddess told herself mentally, giving herself one last pep talk. “People have fallen before. You’ve been hurt way worse before. You’ve fought so many battles before. You can do this. Just treat it like you would any enemy when you’re scared. Just attack it head on and it won’t feel as scary anymore. You got this. I got this.”

Fighting her instincts to start trembling, the young goddess of Lowee wasn’t even aware she had already successfully balanced on the ice, with a bit of support from Ren. She only lifted her head up after Ren congratulated her.

“I got you Blanc, don’t worry. You’re already on the ice.”

“No way…” Blanc replied, still in disbelief. “She opened her eyes and saw that her feet were fully balanced on the ice. She couldn’t stop her eyes from tearing up in the corners after seeing the view around her. At this point the sun had fully set, leaving only the night sky behind. She had no idea what time it was and didn’t really care at the moment. All the lights were beaming, reflecting on the ice rink and the light breeze blowing their hair around felt like life itself was being injected into her veins. This was true dopamine. The skaters were all drifting around and a bystander sipping their coffee cheered Blanc on for balancing on the ice properly. It seemed they could tell it was her first time. Blanc wasn’t even aware she was smiling when looking back at Ren. Her own breath caught her eye as the white vapour flew upwards into the sky, where a few stars were peeking out from now. The feeling was exhilarating.

“You did amazing Blanc. I’m proud of you so far.” Ren said, commending her on her determination. “You know, when I was a kid, my first times on the ice were mostly me falling over again and again but before I could even stand on the ice it took me a solid few months to work up the courage to try without my mom. She was patient, but I made her wait quite a while.”

“I didn’t think I’d make it this far on the first attempt, honestly.”

“To be honest, neither did I but you’re a pretty quick learner.” Ren responded. “Or maybe I’m just a great guide.”

Blanc chuckled, not really knowing who put in more effort. “Let’s just say it was both of us and equal parts beginner’s luck.”

“Are you ready for the real test now?” Ren asked with a faint twinkle of mischief in his eye to match his toothy grin.

“What are you suggesting?” Blanc said, not looking to be toyed with while she was in such a precarious position.

“Shall we go for a lap around the rink?” Ren’s hand tightened a bit on Blanc’s, trying to instill a confidence in him helping her around the square. “I’ve got you.”

“Alright. Just promise me you won’t leave me if I fall.” Blanc responded, serious as could be.

“I hope you know I wouldn’t do that.” Ren started to skate in front of her, making sure he was moving slow enough for Blanc to readjust her balance. His grip was firm and she could tell he was an experienced skater because his movements were intentional, aiding her posture and balance rather than pulling her along with the risk of her falling. Blanc was still a little nervous but Ren kept reminding her that he’s acting as her anchor.

“Hey Blanc, keep your head up.” Ren shouted without looking back at her. “Take in all the sights as we glide around the rink. It’ll be over before you know it. I’ve got you.”

The two slowly slid around the edges of the skating rink. Gradually, Blanc began to focus more on what was ahead of her than at her feet. She was nowhere near confident enough to expect to be able to glide like this on her own but her faith in Ren’s ability allowed her to take in all the sights. As they went around the third corner, Blanc realized her leg movements weren’t as stiff anymore. In fact, they began to keep pace all on their own without her being fully aware of them. An elderly couple passed by moving faster than they were in the opposite direction and the man told her they were doing great. On the final turn two children fell while trying to support each other. Thankfully they were close enough to the entrance to get out. One of the young girls called it quits but the other one still wanted to skate a bit more and get better. Blanc and Ren noticed them heading off the ice just as they were finishing their lap. To Blanc, this night so far was hands down the most magical time she had experienced in this world since her arrival. There was beauty in the simple things that couldn’t be overlooked, but the experience she just had far outstripped anything she had done so far. It wasn’t even close. Seeing Blanc’s expression signalling her needing a break to process how awesome that was, Ren asked if Blanc minded him offering to skate with the little girl who wanted to try again. He could tell they were beginners and he didn’t want their night to end unsatisfied.

“Sure Ren, of course.” Blanc responded, still wistfully thinking of her near indescribable experience. “I want to try balancing and skating a bit on my own when you’re done though.”

“I admire your confidence.” Ren said gently. “If only kid me had a fraction of it back when he was starting.”

Ren made his way over to the two girls and what seemed to be their caretaker. Doing his best to seem friendly he addressed the adult and asked if it was alright to take the one child back out on the rink as he overheard them not wanting to be done yet. The woman sized him up and concluded he didn’t seem like he had bad intentions and agreed.

“Maila, you wanted to go out one more time. This gentleman is offering to take you skating for a lap or two. We’ve got to head back home soon so if you don’t want to we can leave now.”

The little girl named Maila perked up and beamed at Ren similar to how Blanc looked when he offered to help her on to the rink. “Thank you Mister!” she exclaimed. “Sorry, I’m not good yet.”

“Hahah, that’s quite alright.” Ren responded cheerily. “I was about your age when I started to learn and I was pretty bad back then. Do you like skating?”

“Oh! Um… I like it but I don’t get to go often.”

“Then I’ll make sure to try and teach you the basics in the time we have.”

The caretaker, realizing she hadn’t gotten Ren’s name, asked him. She introduced herself as Kobaya, Aiko.The two shook hands with Ren apologizing for forgetting his formalities.

“We’ll only be a few minutes Miss Kobaya.”

With that they took off onto the rink with Ren having to bend down a lot lower than he did for Blanc. The infectiously happy goddess leaned over the railing while watching them take off. Ren was so considerate. Blanc made a mental note to not take his help in this world for granted. Deeply watching them, Blanc was unaware of Miss Kobaya walking up to her until she spoke, which startled her. She wasn’t used to letting her guard down. Normally she would chastise herself for letting someone get that close but with everything she just did, she didn’t see the merit in ruining the mood she was in.

“Sorry darling,” Miss Kobaya started. “I didn’t catch your name but I knew you were with that fellow Ren there.”

“Blanc. Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too Blanc. Not too often you hear a name like that around here. Are you a tourist?”

“Oh, no. I’m living here with Ren over there for a while. It was my first time skating. I insisted he take me here when he told me about the sport.”

“Yeah I could tell you were new from the moment you stepped on the ice.”

“That obvious, huh?” Blanc asked.

“It’s obvious for everyone’s first time.” Kobaya replied. “That man Ren seems like a good guy. I’d imagine you’d know better than me.”

“He’s done me many solids already.” Blanc confirmed, watching the two skaters pass by on their second lap with Maila grinning from ear to ear as she passed by. “I honestly don’t know why. I don’t think he’s capable of hurting a fly. Me on the other hand…” Blanc wondered if she was too much of a burden for Ren sometimes. It would be hard to imagine someone coming from another world, cut and bruised, confused and aggressive showing up in the Lowee Basilicom. The goddess couldn’t even try to argue in favour of her being a good samaritan and hearing them out. She had to wonder if she was even worthy of her goddesshood.

“You seem like a smart young woman.” Miss Kobaya commented before Blanc had a chance to dog herself. “If you’re aware enough to admit your problems, you’re aware enough to consider yourself a good enough person in my books.”

This put Blanc’s mind at ease, partially aided by Maila and Ren’s goofy smiles as they were turning around the last bend.

“I bet you two get along well with each other. You’ll be fine.” Blanc didn’t even get to say thank you before Maila took off her roller skates and barrelled it down the way yelling in happiness.

“MISS KOBAYA! MISS KOBAYA IT WAS SO MUCH FUN!!! REN IS SUPER GOOD AT SKATING!”

“Maila! It looked so fun out there on the ice.” Kobaya said, hugging Maila. “I’m glad you had fun.” Maila, catching her breath, realized she had dropped one of her skating shoes while running over to them, but Ren joined the cast with the shoe in tow.

“Who’s this lady?” Maila asked, pointing to Blanc.

The two exchanged greetings and the second child decided to speak for the first time with them.

“My name’s Emi.”

“Nice to meet you Emi.” Blanc and Ren said, near in unison. They shook her hand to make sure she wasn’t feeling left out. Blanc could tell Emi was a good bit more shy and timid than Maila was. Ren noticed that neither of the girls referred to Kobaya as their mother so as Blanc was gearing up to give the rink a shot on her own, Ren whispered into Kobaya’s ear and asked her if the two girls had a family. It wasn’t normal for children to not address their caretakers and family members without using the standard honourifics. Even though Ren wasn’t privy to this information, Miss Kobaya whispered back, letting him know she was one of a few workers who took care of the children housed in their orphanage. The workers never asked the children there to call them anything other than their names as some of the kids had gone through events that gave them trust issues and they didn’t feel it was right to force the honourifics on them.

Meanwhile Blanc had successfully managed to balance properly on the ice rink again. It took her a few tries of letting go of the railing to learn to balance on her own but now that she was successfully standing, she realized she didn’t know how to take off and advance forward without Ren’s help. Nervously looking back at Ren before saying a prayer to herself, she pushed off forward and then immediately slipped, falling onto her butt. Thankfully it wasn’t a hard drop and nothing felt sore. She did feel a bit embarrassed though. She pulled herself back up again and managed to re-center her core and legs faster than she did the first few times, and after making sure Ren wasn’t laughing at her, she tried again, this time allowing her leg to slide forward after the initial push. She managed to start skating but quickly realized she was applying too much force and slid forward, this time tumbling and rolling onto her side. The fall knocked the wind out of her sails a bit but otherwise she was alright. “Okay, attacking the rink like I would an enemy is not a good idea.” Blanc concluded in her head.

“Hey Blanc, you alright?!” Ren yelled out from the sidelines.

“I’m fine. I just don’t get this!” She yelled back.

“I can tell you’re focusing way too hard. It almost looks like you’re ready to stab the ice with the skates and not slide on it.”

He was right. Blanc’s movements were forceful and as an experienced skater, he could tell her nerves were getting the best of her. Blanc thought back to just a few moments ago when he was guiding her and then little Maila, and one thing that was consistent when she was watching him lead was his almost effortless grace. She knew it had to require effort but his eyes were always focused on the rink ahead, careful not to smash into other skaters. His feet seemed free of nerves, almost as natural looking as a swan treading water in a lake. Instead of powering through it, it’s as if he worked together with the terrain and the wind to guide himself along the track. With this in mind, Blanc got up for a second time and braced herself once more, breathing both in and out heavily until she stabilized herself. Arching her shoulders up and staring out at the open track ahead, she began to lift her right foot into the air, trying her hardest not to think about failing. As she was about to take off she could hear little Maila in the distance yelling as loud as she could “YOU GOT THIS BLANNY! DON’T FALL!” The child’s encouragement was adorable and almost made her laugh. Blanny was a cute nickname. She hadn’t heard that one before, even with Rom and Ram’s silly nicknaming shenanigans. As it tuned out, Maila’s encouragement was all she needed to loosen up her stiff joints and bracing herself for impact, she realized after a couple seconds that she wasn’t flat on the ground. She was gliding on her own. Taking note of her success she wobbled a bit in excitement before remembering she had to calm herself more so she could focus. Her mind was racing, almost manically firing off a bunch of observations. “I did it! I really did it! I’m gliding! I’m soaring! Thank you Maila! Thank you Ren! This is incredible. Holy crap, I really did it! I can’t believe it! Is Ren watching? Is he proud?” Her mind wouldn’t allow her to breathe with how fast it was racing until she realized her body was on auto-pilot mode and she was already half ways around the rink. Feeling confident, Blanc turned her head to the left to see Maila enthusiastically jumping and holding onto Ren’s hand while he, Miss Kobaya and Emi both waved in her direction, Ren with a full smile on his face. Turning around the third corner, Blanc took a look up above her, watching the store signs and street lamps pass her by. The sky was clearer than she noticed before and the stars in the sky nearly quadrupled. She felt amazing. Wonderful. Free for the first time in literal years. She made a mental note to not always hole herself up in her room writing and playing games for when she got back to the Lowee Basilicom. Blanc, deep in thought and wonder, almost missed her stop at the entrance but thankfully some quick thinking on Ren’s part had him reach out and guide Blanc’s hand, pulling her into a hug to minimize her impact. Without even stopping to catch her breath or bearings Blanc just started laughing uncontrollably for a solid thirty seconds. All the nerves, worry and embarrassment she had escaped her through laughter as Ren patt d her on the back in congratulations. Little Maila ran up towards Blanc and hugger her left upper thigh.

“YOU DID SO GOOD BLANNY!” she repeated over and over.

“Maila it’s all because of you that I could glide the way I did.” Blanc yelled out mid chuckling. “Your faith in me gave me the courage to trust in you and Ren.”

“YOU’RE SO COOL! YOU HAVE TO TEACH ME SOME TIME!”

“You did catch on pretty quick.” Ren added, patting her hat as he couldn’t ruffle Blanc’s hair.

Miss Kobaya and Emi finally caught up with the ever-energetic Maila, congratulating Blanc on her first joyride through the skating rink.

“Thank you everyone. That was so much fun!” Blanc exclaimed. “Maybe the most fun I’ve had in years!”

“Wow, look at you go!” Miss Kobaya chaffed jokingly. “In a few year we might have a pro skater on our hands.”

“Only if I get to do this every day.” Blanc replied, still beaming from ear to ear.

“Remember us when you become world famous.” Kobaya replied. “I’m not joking around this time either. I don’t often see someone figure out how to skate within the first thirty minutes of them trying, let alone do an entire lap around the rink. You’ve got one hell of a talent.”

“Miss Blanny! If you get famous and tour the world while skating can you send us photos?” Maila asked eagerly. “I haven’t been outside of Shibuya yet but one day I will.”

Blanc didn’t want to make any promises as her main goal has always been to get back home to his sisters and country but she also didn’t want to disappoint what seemed to be this world’s biggest fan of hers. “I’ll send you a letter one day from a place far away from here. My home country. I promise.”

“Really?! YAYYYYY!”

With Miss Kobaya suddenly realizing how late it was, she hurriedly moved the two girls along while walking with Ren and Blanc who all signed off on their ice skates and turned them back in.

“Ren, Blanc, it’s been a real pleasure meeting you, and I can’t thank you both enough for cheering up Maila and even getting Emi comfortable enough to introduce herself to you but it’s 8:30 and their curfew is at 9. We definitely stayed a bit longer than we should have.”

“Aww!” Emi sullenly muttered.

“Do we have to go already?!” Maila pouted.

Ren leaned over and patted Maila on the head, and then Emi. “We’ll talk again soon and we’ll take you both skating again when we do. We won’t keep you waiting.”

“Wow! Thanks Mister Ren!” Maila exclaimed, brightening her spirits back up as fast as they fell. Emi smiled and shook his index finger, which seemed enough for him. Miss Kobaya reached into her left jeans pocket and pulled out a card which she handed to Ren. It had her name, contact information and the address of the orphanage on it.

“Thank you.” Ren commented.

“Drop by if you have the chance soon. I can tell you’re a natural with the children.” As the three started to head back towards their home, Miss Kobaya called out “Girls say goodbye!”

“BYEEEEEE! Bye Ren and Blanny!” Emi, to everyone’s surprise, yelled the loudest, sporting a toothy grin when Blanc’s mouth opened up in response. They all waved goodbye and as they slowly walked off into the distance Ren turned to face Blanc, who had never looked happier.

“I think it’s time for us to head back too, don’t you think?”

Blanc nodded in agreement but noticed Ren clutching the card Miss Kobaya gave him to hold onto.

“What’s the card she gave you?” Blanc inquired.

Ren had almost forgotten that Blanc was already heading toward the skating rink’s entrance when Miss Kobaya told him about her orphanage so Ren filled Blanc up to speed, who felt her heart ache for just a moment in response.

“Is there anything we can do for them?” Blanc asked, genuinely wanting to help in any way she could.

“Well being truthful, if you mean adoption or taking care of them, unfortunately we just wouldn’t be eligible with how small our apartment is.”

“Then maybe we can visit them!” Blanc practically pleaded, gauging Ren’s reaction.

“Haha, of course Blanc.” Ren reassured her. “They’re such good kids. Of course we’ll visit them.”

Blanc felt satisfied with his resolve to help take care of the two children. They loosely reminded her of her siblings back home.

With Christmas coming up, Ren remembered back in his teens there used to be a toy drive in his community, which led him to bring it up to Blanc, who’s interest spiked ten times higher as they began their 50 minutes walk back home. With their spirits high and happiness higher, the two cheerily traversed the streets back to Shibuya and before long arrived back at the entrance to Ren’s apartment. Once they settled in and relaxed for a while on the couch, Ren turned to face Blanc, who still seemed deep in thought. Unable to grasp what she might be thinking, he was ready to leave it be but Blanc caught his eyes and asked him if he was alright. Ren assured her that he was just fine and was wondering how she was feeling after the eventful day she just had. To his surprise, Blanc simply replied with “Well I’m not feeling too sore. Are you?”

Ren, feeling like she missed his point, mentioned he could feel his body’s exhaustion the longer he sat down. Not wanting to repeat history as he usually did after their adventures in the city, he bid Blanc good night and a farewell and began to head into his room for the night. Satisfied with her super long day, Blanc decided it would be best to do the same and turn in, but not before pulling up her twin DS lites, continuing to use the Pictochat feature while smiling, seemingly talking to nobody.

Chapter Text

The sun shone through the window, causing a slightly under-rested Blanc to squirm around on the couch, attempting to find a comfortable spot to continue laying down away from the sun’s near omnipotent gaze. The sleepy goddess was unsuccessful. Eventually, after what felt like half an hour, Blanc gave up and sat up, trying to brush the sleep from her eyes while shielding them from the sun’s wrath. As she was about to stretch her arms to the sky she spotted Ren, who was doing his best to keep quiet as he was getting ready for work. He hadn’t noticed her yet as he was deep in thought. He was trying to decide on a snack to bring and couldn’t choose so he decided to pack both the almond granola bar and banana in his container. Blanc, remembering Ren mentioning a toy drive yesterday and wanting to know more, walked up to the very focused Ren who was still looking into the fridge without him noticing her until she put her hand on him, causing shivers to spread down his spine and shoulders.

“Mind if I grab a tangerine?” Blanc asked, already taking the fridge door away from him to dig for some.

“Blanc! You startled me.” Ren exclaimed. “I didn’t even hear you. I thought you were still laying on the couch.”

“It wasn’t my intention to scare you.” Blanc replied, in the midst of peeling a tangerine. “I just wanted to keep you on guard.” Blanc’s icy tone told Ren all he needed to know. She really was indifferent to spooking him, however he could tell she cared and just didn’t feel like letting him know directly. Ren had gotten used to her dry humour at this point but her acting ability had certainly increased since she landed here. Seeing as Ren almost dropped his lunch box from Blanc’s stealth scare, he figured it would be smart of him to place it on the counter to avoid further risk of his food spilling.

“What a cruel goddess I take care of.” Ren sighed, dramatically flailing his arms over his head. “Woe is me. What deity did I anger for me to deserve such wrath?” Continuing the dramatics, Ren donned a pained expression while staring up to the ceiling with his right hand’s back side clung to his forehead.

Blanc, catching on to Ren’s catching on of her mischief, playfully punched his right shoulder. Mid-stuffing her face with half of her peeled tangerine she covered her mouth with her free hand and retorted “The deity is me, dummy.” Ren chuckled a bit, getting back to packaging his lunch properly. Before he broke eye contact, Blanc made an “Mmm!” noise and signalled Ren to stick near her. After swallowing her chewed tangerine she spoke up. “Ren, you mentioned a toy drive last night. I think I’ve done something similar before back in Lowee but I’m not sure if your world’s toy drives are what I’m thinking they are in my head. Care to elaborate?”

Ren, now finished with his lunch, turned to face Blanc directly, giving her his full attention. “A toy drive here is basically a fundraising done within a community for those less fortunate or in tough situations that could use a little joy in their lives, typically children. The funds, instead of money, are toys, though I imagine that’s pretty obvious.” Ren explained. “My community used to host one where everyone who could and wanted to participate would work together with the other members to make sure they all didn’t purchase the same toys. Then we’d give them to an agreed upon place or area where the less fortunate children could come and claim one. We’d usually bring snacks and drinks and spend the night entertaining the kids afterwards, showing them love and making the night about them. Our drive was annual and around Christmas time. I’ve not kept contact with many from my old community in my teens but I imagine the tradition is still well and alive. Thankfully you already have a Christmas in your home world, so that won’t require further explanation.”

“I’ve already talked with Mr. Okurimono about some of the upcoming holidays anyways, so even if I didn’t, I’d have a pretty good idea by now.” Blanc responded. “Do you know if there’s a toy drive around here that’s going on?”

Ren, keeping an eye on the time, began to bundle up and leave for his work. “In the few years I’ve lived here I’ve never seen a posting for a toy drive, nor anyone spreading the info via word of mouth.” Blanc pondered, wondering if Ren was just out of the loop She quickly dismissed that notion, as Ren has been working in this area for as long as he’s lived here. It would be pretty hard to miss an event such as a community toy drive three years in a row. Finishing off the rest of her tangerine, she noticed Ren about to grab his set of keys, ready to leave for his shift.

“Hey Ren, be safe on your way to work.” Blanc urged. “I know I don’t say it too often, but I’m thankful I have you in this world to help me.”

“Aww Blanc.” Ren started, trying to hide his happiness, to no avail. “I’ll be safe and sound. I know you’ve got to head to work as well soon, so I ask you to do the same, even if I know you’re more than capable of defending yourself.”

“Hah!” Blanc chortled. “You should see me in my true form with the strength to match. I’d pummel the hell out of any dumbass foolish enough to pick a fight with me!” Blanc, channeling the bravado of her otherworldly form, placed her arms on her hips and puffed out her chest, basking in her imaginary golden spotlight. Just the thought of being able to forehead flick some musty thieves across the length of Planeptune’s shopping district again satisfied her ego. Ren, although liking her newfound confidence, wasn’t fully on board with his friend fighting thieves and abusers to the death.

“Hey Blanc, maybe try not to fight the people in this world without a weapon.” Ren said, practically pleasing with the currently self-absorbed goddess. “You said it yourself a couple months ago. Your injuries hurt much more here, and there’s no mystical spell I can cast to make it all better in an instant.”

Blanc, now slightly saddened to be brought back to reality, or well, second reality, sighed in minor exasperation. “If I had my trusty hammer there’d be no foe I couldn’t crush.”

“Well I’d say a girl can dream, but in your peculiar case, it isn’t a dream. Even if I can’t fully wrap my head around it all.” Ren, now unlocking the door to leave, made one more attempt to dissuade Blanc from going on a rampage. “Please stay safe. I can’t be late to work and your shift is going to start in less than an hour as well. Lock up and don’t forget to bring emergency yen.”

Blanc followed him to the door, ready to lock it behind him. “Enjoy the shift. Try not to freeze.” She shut the door before Ren could respond to her light teasing again.

Unlike the girls she and Ren commonly saw on his television who dressed up and spent hours on their skin and makeup routines, Blanc was blessed with naturally smooth skin and a complete and utter lack of interest in most of the world’s cosmetics. As such, it didn’t take her long to get prepared for work. Spending a few minutes to stare out of the living room window and soak in what little heat the sun was giving off, Blanc felt her positivity recharge for the day. She could see some snow squalls fluttering on the wind as she brushed her hair into place and placed her signature cap back on her head. She was thankful the chief allowed her to wear her hat indoors. She didn’t think much of it ever, but Blanc realized she hadn’t even thought about whether she liked hats or if it was just this specific one that worked well with her outfit. Honestly, even the fact that it matched with her regular outfit didn’t matter much to her. When she picked it out years ago it was mostly to hide her true height so the other goddesses wouldn’t continue to make fun of her. It didn’t work whatsoever. In fact, she remembered one time where she was dragged to a party by the rest of them even though she refused their invites multiple times just for Neptune to yoink it off of her head and dance around with it while poorly singing about how short Blanc was. Thinking back on those older events, Blanc was glad she teamed up with the other goddesses to humble Neptune in a three versus one scenario. Purple Heart had only her growing arrogance to blame.

Before she knew it, she too had to head out for her work shift with Mr. Okurimono. It was only a short shift so Blanc had a feeling it would end up breezing by, but she was especially looking forward to having most of her afternoon left over. With ir without Ren, she was determined and absolutely stoked to head back to the Tokyo Middletown skating rink and practice her form again. Today’s goal: Fall a little less than yesterday. Arriving at the cafe, the young goddess peeked in through the glass to see that there was nobody in there except the old man. This was an expected outcome as most of the time the customers wouldn’t roll in until around 11 in the morning. She could see Mr. Okurimono cleaning some of his coffee mugs, whistling to some tune in his head. The doorbell rung, signalling her entry as she waved and gave her morning greetings to the owner, who responded in kind. As per the usual, Blanc headed over to the apron station and tied it across her waist, and then sauntered over to assist Okurimono with cleaning the glassware while there were no customers in the store waiting to be serviced.

As they were scrubbing through the plates, an idea crossed Blanc’s mind. If anyone would know more about a potential toy drive around the area, it’d be the chief, even if his shop didn’t often attract many customers.

“A toy drive, eh?” The boss questioned, his hand stroking his chin beard in thought. “If anyone was hosting a toy drive I feel like I’d see posters on every pole in the alleys on my way to open up shop every day. No word of mouth either.”

Feeling a mite dejected, Blanc’s eyebrows furrowed in contemplation. Mr. Okurimono’s answer was practically matching word for word with Ren’s. The likelihood that both of them were completely oblivious to their community’s upcoming events seemed impossible at this point. She wanted to make little Maila and Emi’s dats, as well as surprise the other children at the orphanage Miss Kobaya talked about. She just wasn’t sure where to look or who to go to for help with her wishes. Other than Ren and the boss, she didn’t know too many people well and wouldn’t expect any help from them, whether she knew them or not. It’s true that ahe was warming up to the chief and would trust him with most of her problems at this point, but other than the two girls she wanted to bless, she wasn”t sure who to ask next.

“Wow, you’re deep in it.” The chief commented, becoming a bit concerned. Blanc wasn’t even aware she had spaced out for a whole three minutes. Mr. Okurimono put his right hand on Blanc’s left shoulder in a reassuring way. Interested in how focused she was, he asked her if there was someone on her mind recently that led to her bringing up a toy drive. Feeling the boss’ sincerity, she let him in on her plans to surprise all the children at Miss Kobaya’s orphanage and that Ren had mentioned his old community coming together every year around the holiday season to hang out with the kids and make their day. Unfortunately nothing she mentioned could change the chief’s recollection. There were no toy drives in the area. Still determined to bring joy to Maila and the others, the cafe shop owner could tell his star pupil wasn’t about to back down, so he simply asked if she knew of a place where she could buy her own toys to give away. This question brought back a memory from a couple months ago close to when she first arrived in Ren’s apartment. Old man Kazuha’s shop! How could she forget the man who sold her the pair of discounted DS lite consoles she cherished so dearly. Seeing her eyes flicker brightly again, Okurimono smiled, glad to see her back on track.

“I guess you’ve found your guy, eh?”

“I suppose I have.” Blanc responded.

“So all you need now is the money, right?”

“Hm… It would seem so.” Blanc concluded. “Do you need any other work done around the store, granps?”

“Gramps?!” The store owner said, shocked at her cold tone. “Since when am I old enough to be your grandfather?”

Blanc, upon seeing the owner take the bait, burst out laughing at him, doubly so after realizing he got tricked.

In an attempt to checkmate his witty student, stood his ground through his smile. “You know, if I were that much older than you mentally I wouldn’t have given your job offer the time of day.”

“Even the most of mature minds need to have a mix of humour and foolish positivity.” Blanc responded. “Just after I arrived in Tokyo I came to learn that the hard way.”

While Blanc didn’t bring down the mood, she did bring the air around them back to reality. Noting Blanc’s apparent financial problem, he asked her if she had opened his envelope from yesterday. Blanc admitted she hadn’t because she figured it was just the standard pay, aside from the fancy envelope he gave it to her in. “Well go on, open it.” The old man goaded, gesturing her to do so now since there still weren’t any customers they needed to serve. After fighting with the seal for a few seconds and opting to dig her finger into the top the envelope instead Blanc pulled out thirty-five thousand yen. Confused as to why the chief would make such a mistake, she immediately tried returning the extra change to him, worried that he couldn’t afford to make such a financial blunder with the lack of money coming in every day.

“No no Blanc, keep it. I gave it all to you intentionally.”

Persistent, Blanc tried handing it back to him again. “But your shop. I don’t want you to go out of business!”

“Haha, oh don’t worry about that. I’ve got it covered.” Mr. Okurimono replied. “Haven’t you ever wondered how I could keep this store afloat after all these years without any advertising or pandering to the customers’ interests?” Reading Blanc’s curiousity, he decided not give any more details for the day. “Just know I’ll be okay without a few extra days of work in my pocket.”

“Then why?” Blanc asked.

“Why did I give you a little over triple what you worked for yesterday?” Okurimono asked. “Well after you ripped that dirtbag Oshimizu a new one and stood your ground, I told you if I could I’d pay you triple. While in the long term I couldn’t afford to pay you out triple for the rest of my life, I could definitely make an exception for one day. Think of it as an early Christmas gift for being a one of a kind protege.”

Blanc didn’t know what to say. She wasn’t expecting such kindness from the chief, especially in such a direct way. With her words failing her, she settled for option two and gave him a great, big hug to express her gratitude, which seemed to fluster him a bit, clearly equally not used to such straightforward acts of gratitude from his student.

“Hey, hey.” The owner started, unsure what to do in this situation. “There could be customers any minute Blanc. We’ve got to maintain our professional standards.”

Blanc knew he cared and appreciated her sentiment so she let go of him, still confused as to why her mind immediately defaulted to hugging him, as in the past she likely would have given him a simple “Thanks” and left it at that, maybe adding a soft smile into the mix. The extra money the chief gave her opened up a lot more toy shopping possibilities, and with the extra money she was already pocketing over the course of the last two months she was confident she had everything she needed to brighten the children’s days in the next couple weeks. She still had seventeen days after all. For Blanc, who often had three days off from the cafe every week, it would be more than enough time to prepare. Reminding herself that she was still on the clock with her boss, Blanc focused herself back to her cleaning and prepping duties, hoping the rest of her short five hour shift would pass by quickly. This time, time wasn’t in her favour, as she found herself counting the minutes down often enough to feel bad for wanting to leave the shop so soon. There weren’t many customers she had to serve and none of them today were the regulars so she didn’t want to force a conversation and bother them in an attempt to speed up her concept of time, but eventually the shift came to an end. Sensing Blanc’s impatience, the old man thanked her for her continued work and offered to fold her apron back in her spot to save her every second he could, to which she happily obliged and thanked him back for being such a kind man, with or without the extra money he paid her. She waved goodbye as she opened the door and began to trek down the alleys with one goal in mind: Check out Kazuha’s shop.

Blanc’s idea of time’s flow had always been scuffed at best back in Gamindustri. Being a goddess whose aging process seemed minimal to non-existent and a professional recluse writer meant that while every day could feel long, she almost never even knew what month it was unless someone were to so rudely barge into her room with the sole purpose of reminding her of events she typically didn’t care much for. “Looking at you Nep” she mused, a flicker of annoyance flashed by her brain at the thought. Still, in this world, she was practically forced to engage with every aspect of the city around her and even though she was hesitant to admit it, watching the people she’s come to know age alarmed her. Still, it didn’t alarm her as much as it did not being able to watch them. She hadn’t visited old man Kazuha since she asked Ren to buy the two Sister’s High uniforms from him over two months ago. She had no idea if he was okay or even alive. After all, that last day the found him on the ground, unable to get a collapsed shelf off of his leg. She worried deeply about her homeland, her sisters and even the other goddesses as she wasn’t even sure they were able to defeat Arfoire. It terrified her to her core. In her first weeks of being trapped on Earth her nervousness and anxiety as Ren called it were so strong whenever she thought of her home that she practically felt like doubling over in pain and curling up in the fetal position. The only thing that changed between then and now was her ability to mask the feeling. Still, as much as she’d love to snap her fingers and be teleported back home, she had a feeling that after all this time stuck in this world and getting to know the few people she has that she’d feel a similar way, knowing she might not ever be able to see if they’re doing alright anymore.

All Blanc’s fears were dispelled after arriving at old man Kazuha’s quaint little shop. The store was open fkr another thirty minutes and Mr. Kazuha was standing behind his counter with a duster, sweeping the lint and dirt off of his knick-knacks, seemingly as healthy as he was two months ago. Blanc wondered if he would recognize her, but her question was answered as soon as she walked in the door. His bell chimed and alerted him to her presence. After squinting his eyes and cleaning his glasses, her image came into view and he greeted her warmly, walking out from behind his service desk tk personally shake and hold her hands. The old man’s palms were soft, a bit loose and cold, but otherwise he seemed alright.

“I remember you Blanc!” Kazuha shouted excitedly, largely unaware of his volume. “How are the DS lites holding up?”

“They’re great, Mr. Kazuha.” Blanc replied. “I give them the beat care I can. They mean so much to me. Thank you for giving me a discount back then.”

“Back then?” Kazuha repeated, chuckling before heading to his chair, as he was already out of breath. “You make it sound like I sold them to you twenty years ago! Ah, to be young again.” The shopkeeper mused, finally able to catch his breath. “I’m glad they’re in good condition, though seeing how my grand-daughters treated them growing up, I’d be surprised if you DID manage to break them.”

“How are your grand-daughters, Mr. Kazuha?” Blanc inquired.

“Oh, they’re hustling and bustling, much like you do. Healthy as a horse! I’ve always told them if there was one thing I wanted them to do for me, it was take care of themselves.”

“I’m glad to hear it then.” Blanc responded, now pulling up a chair beside the old man. “I kind of forgot what time your store closes at before coming here from work. My shift ended early today and I figured I could just rush over here to check on you and I’m glad I did. Any later and I would have walked over here for nothing.”

“The store hours are always posted on the door my dear, but I have a brochure my son printed off for me, a real smart businessman. He practically forced them onto me, saying they were good for the business.” Old man Kazuha explained. “He’s a good son. I just wish he’d pause life for a few minutes and talk with his old man. He never gives himself a break.” Noticing Blanc’s attentiveness, he continued. “He’s a good son, I just wish he’d come around often enough for me to tell him that to his face. Blanc, always remember that nothing in life is a waste unless you fail to appreciate it. Enjoy it, because it will pass you by, faster than you think. You’re never ready. You’re never prepared. You might think you are but life’s greatest blessing is its unpredictability. There’s no right time and there’s no sin unforgivable. Appreciate life for me darling. Enjoy the moments.”

“That’s the second time today I’ve been lost for words, Mr. Kazuha.” Blanc moved to hug the kind old man, being careful when patting his back to not exert too much force and wind him. For a goddess who often tried to appear apathetic and uncaring, she sure felt like a rookie at holding back her tears. One by one, they steadily began to flow. Blanc couldn’t describe it or even understand it. Was it regret? Sorrow? Weakness? Was this what it meant to be human? Gosh, she wasn’t sure what to think. Did this world have the power to amplify her emotions the same way it did her injuries? Unsure of what she was even feeling, she began to laugh and cry at the same time, the whole time while continuing to hug the old man. All she really knew was that she desperately missed her sisters. She missed her bed, she missed her old desk and each one of her pens. She missed Neptune’s bickering, Noire’s advice and although only a little, Vert flaunting her chest. She just missed home. Her world, and it was a pain she couldn’t share with anyone here. She couldn’t find anyone to blame and didn’t trust many people here to vent to. She wasn’t sure her heart could endure feeling this all over again for the people she would leave behind here. The scariest part was not knowing if she could ever leave everyone and go back home. She found herself just saying thank you over and over again while the old man embraced her back, brushing his fingers over her cheeks to stop the flow of tears dripping from her chin. The two stayed hugging each other for a few minutes as Blanc’s breathing eventually steadied and her chin’s trembling came to a halt. Not even the slightest concerned with her inability to hold back her emotions anymore she began wiping her tears herself, freeing Mr. Kazuha from her grip. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a couple of tissues, handing them to her.

“I always keep a few spare.”

Blanc readily accepted them and began to pad her face which was already beginning to house the drying tear residue.

“Feeling better, young one?” The old man asked.

After a few deep breaths, Blanc fixed her posture and pushed her hat back into place before speaking. “I’m not sure what I feel, but mentally, it’s like a heavy burden has been lifted off of me.” Blanc laughed instinctively, but this time it was out of relief.

“Deep breaths child.” Kazuha said gently. “I’m sure you came here for a reason.”

“You’re right.” Blanc affirmed, folding her tissue wad up and placing it in one of her pockets. “I came here to ask you if you had any other children’s toys to sell.”

“My children and their children rightfully wouldn’t put every gift of mine up for sale, but there are still plenty of toys here for you to browse through, child. Rest assured, they’re all for sale.”

Blanc took this opportunity to browse where she saw the most of them to be, in the back left corner, just behind where she originally found the two Sister’s High uniforms. There were all kinds of colourful toys. A bunch of figurines, some weird magnetic dragon balls called Bakugan, spinning metal death discs this world dubbed Beyblades, toy soldiers, dolls, something called an Etch-A-Sketch that Blanc kind of linked shaking. It made funny noises. She didn’t know what it did though. A bunch of bouncy balls that gave her Share War flashbacks to when Rom and Ram would break delicate hallway decorations with them. There were a lot of balls, they were just shaped and coloured differently. Blanc quickly realized that she wouldn’t be able to carry most of this back to Ren’s apartment in one go, let alone again when transporting them to the orphanage for their surprise visit so she asked if Mr. Kazuha could hold onto them here for the time being after she paid. The old shopkeeper was surprised she was buying all the toys and asked what she would be doing with them out of curiousity. Blanc explained how she met little Maila and that she and a bunch of other children were living in an orphanage. After hearing her plan Mr. Kazuha agreed it was plenty fine for her to leave them there for when her and Ren needed to pick them up. He also told her that at least his grand-daughters would be happy knowing their childhood memories would be passed down to other children and taken there by such a passionate and empathetic young woman around their age.

With everything settled Blanc paid the shopkeeper his total of 31000 yen and helped him bag all of the toys she had purchased. Two by two the bags were brought into the back room where they once found Mr. Kazuha trapped under the cabinet, which had already been moved to a different spot in the room. Ever-grateful and intent on expressing it, Blanc gave the old man one last hug and thanked him three times while heading out of the door. As she stepped out into the wind, she stopped to take the area in before her, the newfound appreciation she gained already beginning to deepen her vision’s saturation. Her mind had to be playing tricks on her, surely. The air she breathed felt more refreshing, but also heavier. The preciousness of life became palpable, and it’s extra weight wasn’t uncomfortable. With newfound determination, the goddess, feeling born anew, headed to the skating rink, determined to make the most of her day.

Upon arriving at the rink, Blanc took a scan around to check if Miss Kobaya or any of the children were there. Not tonight, it seemed. There were several others on the rink who she remembered seeing yesterday. The line to the teller was completely empty though, which was a nice boon. “Blanc, right?” The teller asked, clearly remembering her from last night.

“Yeah, that’s me.”

“You’d be hard to miss.” The teller continued, assumedly talking about her outfit. A hat as large as hers coupled with the lack of clothing layers made her stand out like a beautiful sore thumb. “Not with your friend today?”

“No, I’m just here to practice.” Blanc responded.

“Alright just sign here then. Good luck on the ice!” With her signature on the board, she received her pair of size five ice skates, which seemed like the same ones she wore yesterday. Slipping them on, she clambered to the railing, being careful not to scrape the heels on the concrete before she stepped onto the rink. In hindsight, she should have waited until she neared closer to the track, but the determined goddess wasn’t one to quit, especially if her predicament was entirely her fault. Foot by foot she steadily balanced over to the entrance, having plenty of time to mentally and physically prepare for the risk of falling. With no guide to keep her steady, she tried recalling her exact positioning when she managed to take off yesterday, but after trying various poses, it unfortunately wasn’t in the cards. Resigning herself to accept trial and error, she placed one foot on the rink, with minimal sliding and slowly guided her other one to match it. She began to wobble and slid a few times, zigging and zagging until eventually an older gentleman and passerby skater put his hand on her back, allowing her to regain her balance. “Careful out there.” The man warned in a friendly tone before carrying on with his next lap. “Thank you” Blanc called back before readjusting herself. Yesterday she remembered Ren telling her to keep her eyes facing forwards to the next part of the track, noting that she felt it helped with her balance and kept her from crashing with other skaters. It was easier said than done however. Repeating it again on her own proved to be more challenging than she thought it would be, even if she had already done it once before. After breathing in and out a few times to steady her nerves and calm her mind she began to lift her head upwards, taking in the sights, watching the others whiz by, with some laughing and twirling as they did. That was her goal. Blanc knew it would probably be a long time until she could enjoy the rink as carefree as they were but she wasn’t the type to back down from a goal she set either. With one final mental jog to ensure there were no doubts or worries clouding her brain, she pushed forwards and kicked off with her left foot, expecting to hit the ground skating. Although the take off wasn’t clean she found herself zooming. “Wow! I did it again!” Blanc was feeling pretty proud of herself but with how fast and uncertain her every move felt now she wasn’t able to give herself her due props. Thankfully just like yesterday, there weren’t many people, especially faster skaters, that stayed on the outskirts of the rink. Blanc figured it was some kind of skating etiquette that caught on. The thrill-filled goddess, now speeding up far past what she was skating yesterday, turned to look up at the sky, eyes full of stars that seemed to shine back at her in applause. At this moment, she felt the world was hers. Her heart fluttered non-stop, sometimes a bit too fast for her liking, but she felt alive in a way she had never remembered feeling before yesterday. Before she was forcefully sent to this world she wouldn’t have given half of the things she’s done a proper shot. She knew she would have opted to continue writing some light novels and poems, priding herself on being a recluse and chastising the others around her when they wound up hurt after attempting something dangerous. This world was changing her. Changing her views, her interests, her idea of fun, reshaping her reality and outlook on life, proving her wrong on topics she would so adamantly defend herself on only a year ago. Having to pay attention to the rink, she wasn’t able to give her transformation her full thought. On the rink she was well aware of always being a single misstep away from eating ice, without the gold flakes.

Successfully piloting her first lap, the somewhat conflicted goddess decided to push for round two while she continued to mull over her differences. Blanc never saw her emotions as a weakness, partly because her anger often fueled her attacks with a much stronger resolve, but mostly because she understood they were practically useful and without them humans and goddesses would be closer to the animals she saw around her on Earth. Lately, however, she began to see the benefits of opening up more and allowing herself to share her joys, happiness and even sorrow. Yesterday when she fell on the ice multiple times moments after seeing Ren’s graceful, elegant pose practically skipping on the ice, she doubted the power her rage and aggression gave to her, it was the first time she considered her outlook harmful. Even now, conflicted as she was, her head felt clearer and her body more fluid than she would have been in any prior fight she took in Gamindustri. The air of calm flooded over her, drenching her in the reality she refused to see for the longest time. She was changing and evolving. Relying on her hatred and anger to fuel her forward has been inconsistent and rocky at best this whole time, but she feared what she would lose, how she would be treated without it. As much as it helped bolster her offensive resolve, it took a toll on her mentally after every fight and petty argument. The mask she desperately clung to for safety now felt like a leech, sapping her independence and capability away in attempts to make her more reliant on it in the future. It was a prison of her own design and only now did she want to be let out of it.

Channelling her desire into her every kick forward, Blanc’s confidence dropped temporarily. The truth was, she was absolutely terrified of the unknown, and having to taste failure or her own shortcomings was a bitter pill she never wanted to swallow. This world, or maybe just ending up stranded in it forced her to, however. Here there was no Lowee Basilicom to hide away in. No magic castle to spend her days writing fantasies in. Instead of her confidence shining through in the characters she wrote and wished she could be, they had to come from within now. There was no place to hide and no time to cower. There was nothing she could beat up to distract herself from the pain of her hopelessness. She had no strength left to hide her grievances. Mentally, Blanc was far past checked out, especially after her crying earlier. She assumed this would reflect in her body’s ability but the more she analyzed the hard truths she once refused to look at, the more fluid her body’s movements were. She had absolutely zero confidence in herself right now. She hated her indecisiveness and more than that, her cowardness. She regretted every time she pushed away her siblings when they wanted to play. She regretted not giving them more attention. It wasn’t their fault for wanting to be dependent. She knew that nobody should have to deal with the loneliness and isolation she felt when she was governing over Lowee but whether it was due to her cowardice or growing spite, she rarely did anything to aid those around her and stop them from feeling the same as she did. She had to wonder if she was ever a good ruler.

Now flooded with self-loathing, the tormented goddess began to reach speeds she never thought she’d be capable of. She wasn’t even thinking about her movement anymore. The more she dove into her problems, the more graceful she seemed to become. It made no sense whatsoever, and yet after opening her eyes, many of her past actions fell into the same category. She wasn’t sure what to believe anymore. She wasn’t entirely sure she was a good person and she mentally winced at her old image. Without both the past to fall back on and anger acting as a crutch, Blanc had no choice but to look instead toward the future, which was also uncertain. She vowed to be a better sister, friend, goddess and ruler. She needed to make it home to make things right and apologize for her actions. The people deserved better. “They WILL have better.” Blanc told herself, gritting her teeth one last time before finally letting go of her years worth of anger, insecurity and resentment. She was no longer going to deny herself the freedoms she was given and no longer going to repress her feelings of joy. The last two days had shown her all she needed to see. Life is way better living in the moment, living for real.

Snapping back to reality, she realized she had subconsciously moved closer to the center of the rink at some point. Some of the skaters were staring at her with concerned expressions on their faces. Continuing to skate while looking for an escape back to the rink outskirts, the man from earlier who helped her regain her balance pulled up alongside her. “If what you just did was a part of an act or future performance, please promise me you’ll save me a ticket to your next performance.”

Blanc, now concerned for herself as well and a bit embarrassed, fought the urge to play it off and act as if whatever happened somehow wasn’t her doing. “What did I do?” Blanc asked. “What happened?”

The man busted out laughing before attempting to apologize between chuckling. “I’m sorry. Sorry. I truly am. I thought you were a real performer who was pulling my leg at first when I helped balance you out. For a solid five minutes or so you suddenly began constantly changing your approach to skating around. You looked so pained at times while flailing your arms around like a tortured soul. Your demeanor changed drastically from what looked like a deep irritation and unease to a serene-like confidence in a matter of seconds. It wasn’t a one off time either. You were rapidly switching between the two with so much emotion and what looked like intent. Some of us thought we were watching a master skater’s magnum opus. It was as if you were playing two different characters: A broken soul and another filled with the essence of life. It was truly mesmerizing so all of us skating in the middle moved out of your way and let you have the floor.”

With every new sentence that came out of this man’s mouth, Blanc felt the urge to curl up and hide away a bit more. “Surely he’s pulling my leg” she thought, trying and failing to cope with her actions. She looked out at everyone the man seemed to be talking about and sure enough they all began clapping for her and cheering her for her performance. They really thought she was some sort of performer. Even the people on the outside of the rink were whistling and clapping in approval. “Good Blanc, this can not be happening right now” she cried out in her mind.

“Your performance was so raw and unfiltered. I’ve never seen such pure emotion displayed like that.” The man skating alongside her continued. “The performance itself wasn’t the most technical I’ve seen but your level of intent and emotion you put into every micro-movement was jothing short of spectacular. I really haven’t ever seen anything like it, kid.” The man gazed upon her similar to how some of her most cherished admirers would do back in Lowee, except here she wasn’t a goddess and the faith he placed in her was for a completely accidental performance she wasn’t aware of that left her feeling nude to the world around her. It couldn’t be any more embarrassing. Starting to grasp the full picture, the man whispered in Blanc’s ear, telling her to follow his lead in an attempt to play it off. He took her hand and skated with her in circles so as to tour her around in celebration of her grand performance, bowing. In her best attempt at not falling over, Blanc bowed as well, thankful she didn’t lose her footing despite her legs trembling purely from nerves. The people on the ice and in the crowd all cheered even louder, which caught some of the random passersby’s attention. After seeing the performance was already over and not knowing Blanc or the man bowing in the middle they continued on their way to wherever they were headed. Multiple people held their hands out to shake Blanc’s hand as she exited the arena and Blanc accepted, still flustered and fighting off the after-effects of her panic attack. It seemed like it was working somehow. A few people farther down each side could be heard a bit clearer now that Blanc’s zooming thoughts had parked into the pit stops to recharge. “You were phenomenal!” “That was hands down the best performance I’ve ever seen!” “If you have time could I get your autograph? I’m sure my coach would know you.” “Will you be back again tomorrow?” Blanc, still on mental recharge, simply smiled and waved back at them, thanking them for their applause.

Eventually the crowd dissipated and carried on doing whatever it was they were doing beforehand, leaving Blanc and her rescuer to have a quick chat more privately.

“Kid, was that seriously not rehearsed?” The man asked, still in a state of disbelief. His eyes narrowed, giving Blanc a full body glance, sizing her up. “No, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you on the television before. I’d definitely remember you if you were outputting performances half as good as what happened just now, and your outfit, I could spot you if you were a needle in a middle of a haystack.”

Blanc maintained her position. It was her second time ever skating and she told him she honestly blanked out and didn’t know what came over her.

“Kid, you must have been blessed by the Holy Ghost or something. Hand on heart I don’t think I’ve ever seen a genius of this caliber before. I can’t believe you’re still not pulling my leg here.”

“I promise I’m not.” Blanc replied. Still feeling mentally drained with a lack of confidence in herself, she added. “I’m far from a genius. I can’t even say I’m smart.”

Realizing they both still didn’t introduce themselves, the man extended his hand again, this time only to shake hers as a greeting. “I’m Christopher Shinebaum. Nice to meet you.”

“Blanc. Nice to meet you too Mr. Shinebaum.” Blanc responded, forcing her uncooperative hand to tighten its grip to return the greeting.

“Oh, you can just call me Christopher or Chris.” The new acquaintance said. “I’m sure you can probably tell but I’m not from around here. At least I’m not born here anyways.” Now that her brain was finally recuperating from the meltdown she just displayed publicly, after taking a look at Chris’ appearance, one glance was all she needed to understand what he meant. His natural dirty blonde hair, larger nose, white complexion and rather tall figure didn’t exactly scream normal compared to everyone else. “I’ve only lived here for a few years. I skate for fun mostly but I used to take lessons here from a club about twenty minutes north of here. I know I’m rusty but you definitely fooled me.” Chris raised his elbow above his head, gently patting the back of his hair with a humoured expression on his face. “Some of your movements were a bit clunky but it looked like you were playing a character and embodying their struggles so I wrote it off as your skill at getting into character.”

“Yeah…” Blanc muttered just loud enough for Chris to hear. “I’m not that good.”

“Well maybe it was the world’s most mesmerizing act of beginner’s luck, but the skill you possess is undeniable. You may have blanked out for most of it but if you can harness that same energy on command and learn the various tricks, flips and twirls you could probably find yourself competing at a national level, possibly even winning some.” Chris put his right arm over Blanc’s shoulder, patting her firmly in reassurance. “You’ve got what it takes to go far, Blanc. You really do.”

Blanc was unsure of what to say. She wasn’t even sure of what she should do. She honestly just needed to rest for the night but she appreciated the amount of effort Chris was going through to cheer her up and encourage her. As if he knew she was thinking of him, Chris reached into his duster jacket and pulled a wallet, and from there he opened it up and slid out a contact card, handing it to Blanc.

“Here. Call or text me if you ever want to chat more about skating, but whatever you decide to do, please, don’t quit. You were born for this, I can just tell.” Chris stared deeply into her eyes and she took the card. His soft gaze instilled in Blanc a temporary confidence as she smiled and thanked him for cheering her up, with the two shortly after parting ways. Blanc hadn’t promised Chris verbally that she’d continue skating but somehow she got the feeling they both knew she had found her interest in the sport had only increased since they met. Beyond exhausted and feeling like a zombie, Blanc made her way back home where she wandered over to the couch and began to rest. Ren, who had waited for her to come back home before making dinner, watched as the sluggish goddess he’d come to know as calculated, decisive and full of vigor delicately pulled a blanket over herself and groaned loudly just before she knocked out cold. Not wanting to waste time, he began making himself food with a portion and a half extra to be stored away, knowing that Blanc would likely wake up more famished than he’d ever seen her before.

The sleep-deficient, severely exhausted goddess slept through the entire night and most of the way through the morning, with Ren falling asleep hours after her and waking up hours before her, glad that she wasn’t working today. He didn’t want to wake her up and be the bearer of bad news. He wasn’t aware people could sleep this long. “Maybe goddesses required more recharge time?” He thought while making himself some breakfast. A little past 11 am, Blanc finally cracked her eyes open and cleared the sleep from her eyes while yawning. After getting up off the couch, Blanc caught a highly invested Ren up to speed with what had happened last night, minus some of the self-loathing on the rink and her full ugly crying in old man Kazuha’s shop. Completely bewildered but not at all skeptical, Ren knew she was telling him the truth and he wasn’t aware of one time where Blanc tried to lie to him. He had a feeling that based on how she had historically tried to dodge his questions in the past, she wouldn’t be very good at it anyways.

“What a night you had…” Ren finally commented after spending a couple seconds in thought. “What I would give to witness your skating.” Ren whistled.

Blanc, now on the receiving end of the teasing, didn’t quite like it. Donning a pouting face and a grimace to match it, she poked Ren on the shoulder and said “Oh stop it! I bet that Chris guy was just embellishing it anyways.” Blanc knew Christopher was being sincere. She felt it when she grasped his hand after exchanging names. Still, she found it too early for such embarrassment. She hadn’t even had a cup of milk tea yet, which sounded very appealing to her right now.

The next twelve days passed her by quickly, with nothing too noteworthy happening to either of them. The days gradually grew colder and the wind seemed like it was here to stay for the whole month. Every day they spent outside became prettier than the last, with there being more decorations strewn around every time they left the apartment. The twenty-first of December arrived, marking the winter solstice and the official first day of the chilly season. After Blanc finished her shift with the chief today she and Ren had planned to take their toy haul over to the children’s orphanage and surprise them with a night the two hoped they would always remember.

Blanc practically skipped into work with a smile on her face today, anticipating great success in their mission tonight. As she spent a few of her last shifts with the chief explaining her plan, he was well aware what day it was.

“Hey Blanc.” He called. “Get enough sleep for your big night?”

Blanc, who was still positively beaming, simply grinned and replied “Yes sir. I’m sure it will all go well.”

The chief grinned back, unable to resist her infectious optimism. “I know it will.”

Blanc made her way to the usual spot, tied her apron on tight and began washing out the dishes. It wasn’t until she rinsed and placed the first cup back into the dishrack that she realized everything was already freshly hand-cleaned.

“Hahah.” Mr. Okurimono chuckled, placing a hand on Blanc’s arm.

“You always ask me to clean the dishes with you.” Blanc said with one eyebrow raised. “You cleaned them all by yourself before I even arrived.”

The boss simply shrugged flippantly and replied “Guilty as charged.”

Sensing that the chief was up to something, Blanc put on the pressure. “I never see you this nonchalant and ditsy, old man. You don’t suit it and we both know it.”

“Alright, alright. Sheesh. Say no more.” Mr. Okurimono admitted, not prepared for the quizzical zing Blanc sent his way. “I just wanted to ease your workload on your big day, that’s all.” Looking back at Blanc he was met with her smugly staring at him with one arm sassily balanced on her hip, beckoning him to continue. Being overwhelmed by the sass of the tiny, 4’11” otherworldly goddess before him, he complied after letting out another chuckle. “The last couple of weeks you’ve just been so cheery, lively. It’s like a switch flipped and you regained your childlike spirit. Every day you come in to work your eyes are lit up with anticipation and excitement. It’s like looking at a young puppy who knows they’re about to be picked up and offered treats. I just had to.”

Unsure of how to take that last part, Blanc settled on hearing the chief talk vulnerably about his fondness for Blanc’s newfound appreciation of life. The two went about their shift as usual, with only a few customers coming in, mostly to order some hot curry and keep from the cold. About three hours in to her five hour shift however the chief began answering calls on his flip phone. Blanc couldn’t quite make out what was being talked about all three times as she was busy tending to the few customers who had ordered some coffee, but on the fourth call, she could vaguely make out what sounded like a delivery transaction. She wondered what the chief had ordered but didn’t have to wonder for long as he turned toward Blanc, who thought she was caught in the act of staring, to tell her she could hang her apron back up. Utterly perplexed, Blanc reminded the chief that she still had just under two hours on the clock.

“I know, I scheduled you in a little longer as I wasn’t sure when it’d arrive.”

“What’s arriving?” Blanc asked.

“I’ll tell you while we carry these awkward bags.” Okurimono replied, waving for her to come with him up the stairs.

In her entire time working at the cafe, the chief had never asked her to head into the upstairs area. She had no idea what kind of things would be up here, or what she would be helping transport. As she climbed to the landing she noticed the area was in dire need of dusting, except for one corner, which was neatly swept spotless. Blanc assumed the bags Mr. Okurimono asked for help with just a moment ago were placed in the cleaned out area. The rest of the attic seemed to house various knick-knacks and collectibles, likely from Mr. Okurimono’s childhood. There were four massive black garbage bags total and although they weren’t heavy, the chief was right on the money when he called them awkward. The red plastic ties were practically useless as they extended too high for Blanc to carry without the bag dragging on the ground and she could get a better grip on the bag by just digging into them and clutching their sides. With the chief grabbing three of the four and Blanc following suit with the fourth, the pair ventured back down to the front of the cafe before Mr. Okurimono called someone very familiar to Blanc, asking for them to head over now. It was Ren. From what she could hear, she knew it couldn’t be anyone else. “When did Ren exchange numbers with the chief?” Blanc questioned in her head. Within a few moments Ren waved to them from outside the door, fully dressed and ready for the weather. It was almost like the two of them had had this planned out.

“Hey Blanc.” Ren waved. “How was the shift?”

“It was fine, honestly.” Blanc responded, not wanting to get into needless details and instead pivoting to focus on this secret plan him and the chief seemed to be excluding her from. “What’s going on? First the chief says he’s scheduled me later than I needed to be in for and now you show up to help with these bags Mr. Okurimono’s having me help carry like you both have this all planned.”

“About that.” Ren replied, already grabbing a couple of bags from the shopkeeper. “Are you ready to take these to the truck?”

Blanc decided to stop questioning what was going on as they were clearly intent on keeping it a secret and waited to see what their surprise was. As the three walked down the alleyways with Ren leading the charge, the practically giggly you man paid his thanks to the chief for arranging for one of his old friends to come and pick the two of them up with their four seater truck, noting that carrying all of this on top of everything Blanc ordered at Mr. Kazuha’s shop would be impossible, in one go and maybe even with three. Okurimono accepted his thanks and told him that it was no big deal since his old friend owed him a favour from years ago. He added that he wouldn’t be able to stay too long to chat as he still had a business to get back to but Ren made sure the owner knew his assistance was already more than enough. Blanc, continuing to be left out of the loop, was beginning to get a bit impatient with them purposefully dodging her questions. After taking one final turn into a narrow pathway that led into the wider roads connecting to Central Street, the three were met with a middle aged man, grinning while sitting in his old, beat up green truck that was already sputtering a thick gas. The driver and Mr. Okurimono caught up for a couple minutes as Blanc and Ren loaded the back of the truck up with the four bags the three carried over. By coincidence, the two were already saying their goodbyes as Ren and Blanc were coming back to join the conversation. The chief waved goodbye to his friend and then turned to Blanc and said “I hope the children enjoy my contribution this Christmas.” Not staying to answer any questions, Mr. Okurimono walked back off to his cafe, leaving the pair to talk with the driver, who introduced himself as Douglas. Hopping in from the passenger’s side door after Ren, Blanc demanded answers as she felt she had been blue-balled, as Ren had said once, long enough. First, however, Ren gave Douglas Mr. Kazuha’s address, who nodded and saluted him before setting off slowly, careful not to rough up the bags in the back.

“Mr. Okurimono had called me a few days ago saying he would need me to help carry all the toys he had gathered from his customers over the last two weeks. A good chunk of them were on board after he told them of your want to spread joy to the children in the orphanage nearby, donating what they could with their best wishes attached to their gifts so they could be read aloud later. He also knew of how much you had bought at Mr. Kazuha’s place since you told him earlier this week so he arranged for Douglas here, who owns the largest car among Okurimono’s friends to come and assist us in bringing all the toys to the orphanage in one trip. Mr. Douglas has already been paid by the old man so you don’t have to worry about paying any more than you already have at Mr. Kazuha’s store.”

Blanc, very gladdened by her boss’ willingness to help out a noble cause to such a degree, only had one question in return. “Why did he keep this a secret from me?”

Ren chuckled. “Yeah he knew you’d ask that, and he knew what you’d say with that stubborn tone you tend to take if he told you. Something along the lines of not being able to accept anything of that magnitude from complete strangers.” Ren paused before signalling the chief’s exact words in air quotations. “It’s a damn toy drive after all. There are supposed to be donations and kind sentiments. The poor girl’s enraptured with the idea of brightening these children’s day but buying out a whole store’s worth of used toys is too much for me to handle. I felt I wasn’t helpful enough.”

Chapter Text

Blanc and Ren rode in near silence while Douglas kept his focus on the roads in front of him, occasionally checking on the two from the mirror in the back, curious enough to want to know who they were to the chief but not nosey enough to poke the subject while Blanc seemed deep in thought. The young goddess was grateful beyond words to Mr. Okurimono for his contribution to this toy drive. Thanks to him, Blanc could now actually call it a toy drive instead of a mass one woman donation, not that she would have minded given how much she bought. “Gifts from his patrons and customers, huh?” Blanc mused in thought. “I always thought the chief hadn’t cared enough to make friends. Seems I was wrong about him.” Blanc found herself interested in her miscalculation of the old man as when she first visited his shop she felt a kindred connection to his indifference when it came to the area around him and everything that happened in it. It was possible she was so bad at reading conversations that she didn’t suspect his constant indifference and almost lackadaisical responses being a mask to hide how much he cared for the community around him. The goddess had noticed herself changing for a while now. Her interests in the unknown had been growing these last few months. Interests in people she’d likely never know, places she’d almost certainly pass by without a thought and in the overall exploration beyond her bedroom that could make it all happen. Blanc wasn’t sure why these feelings continued developing in her. She pondered over the probable causes such as regret, stress, survival, a feeling of necessity. While most of them likely played a part in her need to interact with this new world she had a feeling it wasn’t the driving force of her gradual transformation.

Not only did Blanc’s curiousity feel like it was being given a boost, her compassion and empathy felt as if it were taking the elevator up to the highest malls in Planeptune’s main district with no signs of stopping any time soon. Previously, she used to have a solid degree of control over her emotions, holding them back in favour of productivity and impartiality. Blanc found it easier to assess any problems she had by being rational and less swayed by emotion. To an extent she still felt similarly. Having been trapped in this world away from everything she’s ever cherished, hated and found comfort in however, Blanc knew her old way of thinking wouldn’t help her survive, nor get her back to her home. Being stripped of her powers was the nail in the coffin as she couldn’t brute force her way through any situation she found too difficult to address through normal measures. As much as she loathed this feeling of weakness, she couldn’t shake her liking of feeling emotionally more vulnerable. It felt good to laugh with a real person rather than with her ideally written ink and paper creations she daydreamed about. It felt even better to have someone who you could rely on out of genuine trust rather than as a paid duty. The staff and helpers at her Basilicom were amazing at what they did but she didn’t feel much of a connection with them like she did with Ren, the chief and even old man Kazuha now.

“Well perhaps that’s my fault.” Blanc considered, still deep in her thoughts. “I’m the one who never talks to anyone. It’s no wonder they don’t know me well.” This level of internal debate was quite new to her. It usually only flared up when deciding where to take her storyline next or how she would next bolster Lowee’s shares. Come to think of it, Blanc struggled to remember some of her staff members’ names. “I wonder if they even like their jobs.” The staff members back in her Basilicom were paid well and given adequate break times, better than those in Lastation at least. Blanc knew more than most however that simply being offered the minimum for something you are practically forced to do wouldn’t feel satisfying at all on its own. Were her staff happy? “Am I satisfied with my job as the goddess of Lowee?” Asking herself the deep questions, the homesick absent goddess found she didn’t like her own answers. The constant desperation for increased shares made everyday life stressful enough as it was for her back in Gamindustri. The endless competition was almost draining, and yet she knew she couldn’t express her disdain for it until recently as one of the other goddesses would likely have used it against her in a fight. The constant battling she enriched herself in felt therapeutic in a way, but brought on its own share of complications down the line and her other regular duties as the nation’s leader were… alright. Sometimes she’d be invited to village feasts or help commemorate some of the city’s achievements. Some of her other duties had just felt tedious and boring. She’d often be needed to give speeches to her people that just as easily could have been delivered by one of the other officials on her behalf and even worse than that, she’d be stuck listening to a circle of the nation's most influential people discuss trivial matters and almost completely insignificant policies for hours on end, usually with nothing changing afterwards. Blanc loved her community and nation with all her heart, but her many sleepless nights weren’t solely caused by that indomitable author’s spirit she prided herself on, most of them came from having to sign off on new bills, approving funding and permits and writing speeches she knew she’d have to deliver the next day. Blanc hadn’t ever considered fun and happiness as a part of her governing over Lowee. “Perhaps I should find a way to change that.”

“Alright you two, we’ve arrived.” Douglas announced, startling Blanc out of her deep musings. “This is the place, yeah?”

“Uhh, yeah.” Blanc replied before she even checked their surroundings. It seemed Douglas really did snap her back to reality. Taking a quick scan out of her side’s window revealed that Douglas had gotten the right address. “Thanks, um…” Blanc had spaced out so much she forgot poor Douglas’ name. “Visible confusion began to scrawl over her face for a few seconds before she hesitantly said “Douglas? Thank you, and sorry Douglas.”

Ren, finding the situation a bit awkward, placed his hand on Blanc’s left shoulder and patted it twice before opening his side door, apologizing to Douglas as well on the way out, who just chuckled and waved his hand in a dismissive way so as to tell them to forget about it, that it was no big deal.

“You’re waiting for us here, right Douglas?” Ren asked.

“You got it, son. I can help with the bags if you really need an extra hand.” Douglas replied.

“Oh, I think we’ll be good.” Ren replied, feeling rather confident in his bag carrying abilities. “I think we’ll be alright.”

Blanc, who had just now joined Rej at the entrance to Kazuha’s shop, chimed in. “I don’t know about you Blanc, but I don’t like my odds of carrying all that. I bought an entire section of the store out.”

“Hahah!” Douglas chortled, liking Blanc’s deadpan delivery of her flex. “Well you just holler if you need anything. I’ll come running.”

With a quick thumbs up from over Ren’s shoulder, the two entered Kazuha’s shop, who was wondering what all the commotion was about outside of his store. Glad to see there wasn’t a problem when Ren and Blanc walked in side by side, he positively beamed and began clambering out of his seat behind the register to greet them.

“Blanc! You’re here a bit earlier than expected!” The old man exclaimed with enough volume to shake the old wooden floorboards. Awfully excited, he quickened his pace as fast as he could within reason and hugged Blanc, placing his left arm around her back and patting her a bit like a comforting parent. Blanc smiled back at the old man and reciprocated the hug and back pat, careful not to put too much force into it and hurt him. After a few seconds of embracing each other Kazuha let go and turned to face Ren, who clearly felt he was out of the loop. The shopkeeper, still with a grin on his face, extended his left arm to Ren, ready to shake his hand. Ren accepted and returned a warm, moderately firm handshake. Getting the idea that Ren was largely unaware he and Blanc had a heart to heart a bit ago, the old man clarified their situation in a way that left out the particularly vulnerable sobbing details to save Blanc. Finally catching up to speed, Ren shook Kazuha’s hand once more to show his appreciation. The thankful young man felt a sense of pride in Blanc for finding another soul she could trust and care for in this world. He wasn’t sure what kind of person she was before she arrived in his apartment back almost three months ago but he was legitimately worried about her constant guarded state for a while. He could only imagine what it would be like to be in her position and definitely couldn’t fault her for being so wary and reserved most of the time, but whatever she claimed to be, goddess, human or anything in between, she seemed to function similarly to him and everyone else. He knew it would be best for her to find people to trust in. He had a pretty good idea of how she ended up so exhausted that day two weeks ago now.

“Are you going to take the bags to the orphanage now?” Kazuha asked, wanting to know if he should help bring them to his store’s entrance, to which Blanc nodded and Ren confirmed verbally.

“I took good care of them, and even bought some fancy Christmas cardboard bags to hold anything that wasn’t too heavy.” Kazuha informed them, satisfied enough with his packaging skills. “They’re in the back still, just about where we left them last time.”

The two followed the storekeeper through to where they saw them, mostly in stapled, multi-coloured gift bags, some with sequins and others with glitter spread about. Blanc could feel the owner’s thoughtfulness through the way the bags were meticulously chosen and presented. Nothing was stacked on top of another. The handles were reinforced with coloured tape to match each bag so they wouldn’t dig into the carrier’s hands and to top it off, with it being Blanc’s personal favourite touch, the bags all had a large, floppy bow glued dead center to them.

“Thanks a bunch for pre-packaging them.” Blanc said in earnest commendation of his efforts. “I genuinely didn’t expect this. The children are going to love it.”

“Ohoho, why thank you my dear Blanc.” Mr. Kazuha replied, glad to have helped in such a positive way. “You’re awfully confident. What makes you so sure the kids will love my work?”

“I’ve worked with youth enough to know they’ll be overjoyed with your efforts and our gifts, no matter how dour their mood may be.” Blanc explained, thinking back to the many village celebratory feasts she was invited to over the course of Lowee’s holidays. The children there always had their eyes light up, and even if they didn’t say or show much to their happiness, to someone as observant as she, the children’s facades would melt away like a small sugar cube in an especially hot milk tea. “I promise that all the toys your children and grandchildren have given up to sell will be put to good use, as you already suspected.”

“Oh don’t worry about making that promise, Blanc. Even if they’re not going to be treated with the utmost care and love as my kin did, I know they’re better served in the hands of a curious little child than they would be sitting atop one of my many dusty old shelves.”

With that affirmation Blanc picked up two bags in each hand, leaving another dozen and a half to be picked up. Ren followed suit and grabbed another six total and Mr. Kazuha grabbed another two, leaving the rest for a second trip. Making their way through the shop and back out of the doors they greeted Douglas verbally as they couldn’t wave to him. Assuming they wanted his help, he left his driver’s side door and relieved Kazuha of his bags, adding them to the back as neatly as he could, careful not to squish anything together.

“Douglas.” He said, extending a hand to the old man, who readily shook it. “You can call me Doug if you want.”

“Kazuha.” The store owner responded. “Nice to meet you Doug.”

“Got any more you need help with?” Doug asked.

“There are, in the back of the store.” Ren responded, loading his bags into the back of the truck. “They’re all similarly coloured gift bags.”

“I’m on it.”

Doug and Mr. Kazuha made their way back into the shop to grab the last bags while Blanc, with Ren’s help, settled the bags down next to the others Doug and Ren placed. Ren found it a bit amusing that the so called goddess from another world was too short to properly place bags in the back of a truck, but knew better than to point it out, not wanting to get ripped into before the gifts would be just a bit later. The two follwed Doug and Mr. Kazuha back into the store to help with the remaining bags but to their surprise Doug was already holding all remaining 18 bags with ease. The man slipped most of them up his arm and carried the other 8 in his hands which he had curled upwards to stop the ones on his arm from slipping down. Somehow he had managed to keep the bags from harm. Ren just now noticed how much of a giant Douglas was. Renwas already fairly tall himself by Japanese standards, coming in at 5’10”, but the goliath before him was at least 6’4” with the bulk to match his stature. “Blanc must feel like a toddler compared to him.”

Doug asked Mr. Kazuha if he wanted to come along to the orphanage but the old man politely declined, admitting that although he hadn’t expected many, if any customers in his last hour open, he didn’t want to leave his shop unattended or close up for the night. Respecting the old timer’s decision Doug said his farewells while carrying the bags out effortlessly, leaving Blanc and Ren to thank Mr. Kazuha once more for all the extra help in offering to house the purchased toys and later packaging them. As they too said their goodbyes, Mr. Kazuha called out to the two just before walking out the door.

“Always remember to cherish life. Don’t let it pass you by!”

Blanc had a feeling those last wise words were directed at her. She hadn’t forgotten his similar sentiments a couple weeks ago and she didn’t intend to any time soon. Taking one last look at the old man’s shop with a feeling of contempt washing over her, Blanc smiled softly and then boarded through Ren’s side door, scooching her way over so that Ren could head in after her and close the door. With that, Doug carefully pulled out into the street and began to make his way to the orphanage, whose address was revealed to him from the card Miss Kobaya gave Ren at the rink. Blanc had never been to the Hiroo district before, but the buildings around the area didn’t seem to be that different as they were passing by. The roads toward the orphanage were practically empty, which turned their already short trip into a seven minute cruise to the building, which was much larger than Blanc was expecting. The massive white building took up at least 6 houses worth of space. She wasn’t sure why, but the quaint, tight-knit, feeling Miss Kobaya and the two girls gave off made her think that the orphanage would just be a small shack in the middle of other houses in a side street somewhere. Douglas pulled up to the front entrance where he could read a sign detailing the business hours. The orphanage wasn’t going to close for another few hours. Parking the car, he turned to the two young adults he’d been ferrying to ask them if they wanted help bringing the gift bags in. Blanc and Ren graciously accepted his help and they began to offload the bags, bringing them to the door to the lobby, which couldn’t be opened without someone’s approval from inside. While Doug and Ren walked back to the truck for the rest of the bags Blanc stayed to watch over the bags, eyeing the speaker she assumed would allow her to talk to whoever could approve her entry. After Ren and Doug came back bags in tow Ren approached the speaker interface and pressed the button. After a couple of rings they heard a woman pick up, speaking in a dulcet tone. “Red Cross Orphanage. May I have your name?”

“Ren Kitagawa. Blanc and Douglas.” Ren replied, realizing he didn’t know either of their last names. “We received a business card from Miss Kobaya about two weeks back with your address on it.”

“Miss Kobaya? What an honour.” The woman said. “She’s not usually so impressionable. Ren Kitagawa you said? Please hold while I confirm your claims with Miss Kobaya.”

While the three waited for a response Blanc asked Douglas if he had been to this orphanage before. He hadn’t as he was originally from a different country and moved to Japan in his twenties, having no reason to enter an orphanage. A couple moments passed with Blanc and Ren starting to feel giddy again before the woman spoke through the intercom again, confirming their entry. This time she sounded a bit more excited. The buzzer rang, followed by a clicking sound which unlocked the lobby door. Blanc held the door open so Ren and Douglas could carry the bags in once more. She hated to admit it but without her super strength and HDD form she knew carrying the bags in would only take longer if one of the other two were holding the door. As the three looked around, bags successfully landed in the lobby, they noticed a woman on the right side of the room behind a desk, who was now calling them over. Blanc recognized the voice as the woman who just let them through.

“You’ve got quite a lot of bags with you.” The receptionist noted. “I could see them taking up the entire waiting area from the cameras above where you were. They’re so neatly wrapped as well.”

“Blanc here came up with the brilliant idea to source a toy drive for the children of this orphanage after a chance meeting on the rink with Miss Kobaya, Emi and Maila, two of your children.” Ren explained. “She bought out an entire toy section in an old man’s store back near Shibuya station and it wasn’t until the last few days that a mutual friend of ours brought his customers in the area together to help brighten some kids’ days here.”

“Oh!” The receptionist exclaimed, her cheeks blushing a bright red. “You’re THAT Blanc!”

Blanc, now confused, responded “I’m what Blanc?”

The receptionist, still mildly flustered, stammered a bit while carrying on. “The children have all been talking about you. They’re gonna be so happy that you’re visiting them today. Maila especially is going to be over the moon. I can take you to them now if you wish and help you with the bags.”

Unsure of what to make of the receptionist's remarks, Blanc took her up on her offer and the four of them set off to the stairs to their right, climbing up to the third floor area’s playing room. The walls looked like they were attacked by a frantic painter gone wild. Many different colours were strewn over each other in incomprehensible patterns and spots on the white walls were still untouched. There was a red and white coloured carpet in the middle of the room with a funky looking light blue table sitting on top of it. There were many other chairs and tables around the walls where children and a few supervisors sat. Some seemed to be doodling, others playing with what Blanc recognized as a deck of cards. Two young boys holding paper airplanes ran around the blue table making engine noises while trying to poke each other with the planes, simulating some sort of air fight. There were a few children sitting on another black carpet with their legs crossed watching the television and in the corner there was another young boy with his arms crossed, pouting while staring at the wall. Blanc wasn’t sure what the kid was doing or why he seemed so upset but before she had a chance to consider talking to him a young girl’s voice shouted “BLANNY!” Everyone turned around to look at the four who were still holding all the gift bags and Blanc had just enough time to recognize the girl’s voice as Maila’s before the energetic ice skating fan tackled her right thigh, causing her to take a step back, not expecting to be jumped, especially with such force. Little Maila packed a punch the startled goddess wasn’t expecting. Every now and then Blanc would get a firm reminder that in this world she didn’t have her extra resistance. This was one such time.

“Blanc!” “It’s really Blanc!” “Wow she’s so pretty!” Various children yelled after seeing Maila tackle her leg. Children that Blanc was positive she had never met before. They all began to run over to her as she awkwardly began to rub Maila’s head. Despite the children all coming to rush up to Blanc, Maila didn’t budge from Blanc’s left leg. Sensing the swarmed goddess would be stuck in the entrance for a bit, Douglas and Ren brought their bags over to Miss Kobaya, who Ren spotted waving them over from the hallway attached to the right of the play area. The receptionist followed after taking Blanc’s bags, who shot her a thankful smile before returning to the children, who were currently trying to teach her their names.

Miss Kobaya thanked the receptionist, who she called Miss Fukura for bringing her guests up and then led them all to a room on the side of the hallway with a cleared table, improvising a spot for the many gift bags to be placed. She shook hands with Ren and Douglas and then asked about the gift bags. She had already caught on to the idea of them being presents for the children but wanted to know what compelled the three of them to do this. Ren explained the whole story again and Douglas minimized his contributions, asserting he was only a friend of the owner who helped gather some toys for Blanc and Ren’s mission and that he was only driving them here. Still, Miss Kobaya thanked him again and as Douglas was about to excuse himself and say goodbye to the three others Miss Kobaya asked if he wanted to stay a while for some food and drink. She eventually swayed him over by telling him the cooks were preparing some onigiri to go with the tonkatsu she promised would be delicious. Onigiri was Douglas’ favourite snack. With Douglas agreeing to stat a bit longer as a guest out of the way, Miss Kobaya turned to Ren and shook his hand once more.

“You’re one heck of a teacher.” She said praisingly. “You must have been hiding your true abilities on the rink when we met that night.”

Ren raised one eyebrow, unsure what she was getting at. He admitted he was holding back but assumed it was quite obvious as with both Blanc and Maila his main focus was guiding them; letting them have their moment on the ice and keeping them from falling.

“Oh don’t play silly with me!” Miss Kobaya replied. “That woman Blanc, she must have learned to deceive people from you.” Miss Maila laughed at Ren’s response, which only served to further confuse him.

“Uhh…” Ren mumbled, scratching the back of his head, truly confused at what she could be referring to. “I really don’t think I’m that good. My mother used to be awesome at the sport and my grandmother used to compete but I’m a far ways away from them when it comes to the skill and grace in the rink.”

“You’re quite modest for your talent, but I suppose I won’t pry any further for now.” Miss Kobaya concluded, sensing his unrest. “Now then! Thank you for coming to visit the children. It means a lot to them, especially Maila and Emi, whom you two have been a topic of great interest to them over the last couple of weeks.”

“We made that much of an impression on them?” Ren asked, unsure of whether he should feel pride in his contribution or be saddened that the children haven’t had many other fun times to discuss recently.

“You really don’t know, huh?” Miss Kobaya muttered, loud enough for Ren to hear before clearing her throat and perking up a bit more. “Well I’m sure your friend Blanc’s feeling the love right now.” Kobaya chuckled, turning her ear toward the commotion the children were making, reminding Ren that he left Blanc to fend for herself against the horde of children that practically dogpiled her with adoration. He was a bit worried for the goddess, given he wasn’t sure how well she fared with children, especially of this magnitude.

Taking the rise in commotion and cheering as his cue to head back, Ren and Miss Kobaya left the gift room and peeked around the corner to find Blanc fully flustered and seemingly embarrassed. It appeared Ren’s suspicions of Blanc not being good with children was true. She was practically being clambered over like the childrens’ personal jungle gym and the young goddess was too absorbed in her own head about something to ask for her space. Looking closer in, he realized Blanc had almost completely shut down from embarrassment, her rosy cheeks turning shades of red he had hardly ever seen before. It was definitely new to Blanc’s face anyway. Wondering what could have left her so flustered by children, the curious Ren walked up to Blanc while Miss Kobaya behind him couldn’t help busting out laughing given the scene before her.

“Having a hard time there Blanc?” Ren asked, barely holding a chuckle back himself. Blanc was too focused on the children and whatever seemed to be plaguing her to notice Ren’s presence. The children’s requests and attempts to converse with Blanc were also falling on deaf ears as all she could muster was a shaky smile that was being threatened by her inner panic.

“Blanc?” Ren asked again, walking toward the pile of children, who then started to notice him. A few of them ran up to him asking him if he was the guy that took Maila out on the ice rink a couple weeks ago. He admitted he was and the three boys’ eyes lit up.

“Can I be next?!” One of them asked, practically bouncing up and down on the spot in his eagerness.

“No way Rei! Me first!” A second boy shouted back, raising his hand and waving it frantically as if Ren was a teacher about to approve his need to use the washroom.

“I asked first, Keisuke!” The boy named Rei rebutted, throwing a quick glare at Keisuke for his audacity. “You know the rules. You can’t butt in line!”

The other children turned to look at the two boys, taking an interest in Ren. Another five headed his way as he chuckled, greeting them all. Three more came running his way to see what the crowd was about. This thankfully left Blanc with only a couple of children left with her who were happy they didn’t have to shout anymore to ask their questions. Blanc began to shake off her feeling of embarrassment after realizing Ren and Miss Kobaya were back in the room, nervously laughing as Ren slowly became the dogpiled one.

“You finally came to!” Ren addressed Blanc, having to shout to be heard over the children’s excitement.

“Uhh, yeah! Sorry.” Blanc replied with a twinge of self-consciousness, aware she had zoned out for a bit.

“Not too good with children?” Ren asked. “Overwhelming?”

“N-No, nothing like that.” Blanc clarified. “I’m a star now… I’m not sure how to process it.”

“A star?” Ren repeated, uncertain of what she meant. “I could see that with how you were swarmed earlier. What do you mean though? Apparently I am as well.”

Blanc shifted a bit nervously, still partially in shock from what the children showed her, before pointing towards the television, where a YouTube video was paused. Squinting his eyes a bit to see, Ren could make out a figure that looked similar to Blanc in the middle of a skating rink who seemed half way through a performance. Little Maila, who was still tapping Blanc’s lower left thigh, followed Blanc’s pointed finger and perked up again, rushing to the remote to rewind the video while yelling “BLANNY’S A STAR! BLANNY’S A STAR!”

As she rewinded the video to the beginning some of the children left Ren to sit and watch with them, trying to snag the best viewing spots on the carpet. The video seemed to be recorded on someone’s phone and as Ren watched the video progress he knew he wasn’t mistaken from earlier. The woman skating on film really was Blanc. He watched in pure wonderment as the Blanc on video skated with an emotion unlike anyone he’d seen before. Her rapid switching from what seemed to his eyes as an anguished, despairing character to a serene and content character at peace with herself looked like something he imagined he’d see in a Disney movie growing up. He couldn’t believe this was the same Blanc who he taught balancing on the ice to just a couple weeks ago but he knew there was likely no other soul in Japan who would dare to wear such an outfit in the wintery days. As her masterful performance concluded Ren watched as the people around and on the rink all began to clap and cheer for her and couldn’t help but bow towards the Blanc standing before him. In all his years on this planet he had never seen such an inconceivable display of genius. Utterly bewildered, he stammered while addressing the still embarrassed goddess.

“B-Blanc… You’re absolutely i-incredible…”

Blanc thought she had put that moment behind her and was sure she would never hear of it again unless she ran into Chris. She wasn’t expecting to be posted on some online forum thingamajig by a random user, although it seemed not many people had watched this user’s upload yet, which was Blanc’s one saving grace. In truth, after watching the video these two times Blanc had to admit the whole act was amazing. She had definitely never seen anything like what past Blanc was doing. It was mesmerizing and incredible. However what everyone else seemed not to know was that her ‘act’ was actually just a five minute, fully detailed depiction of her mental breakdown. Sure, it looked gracious and so, so very beautiful, but she had to make sure nobody ever found out the true origins behind her skating video. Perhaps more worrying to the flustered goddess however, was how effortless and majestic that performance looked. She finally understood Christopher’s dumbfoundedness after the performance, current Blanc felt the same way. “How am I supposed to recreate something like this? I don’t think I can do half of this with a full year’s training.” Blanc, who was previously mortified that her skating rink performance was posted for the world to see, now shifted focus to investigating her every move, wanting to try and recreate it the next time she went skating. Knowing she wasn’t able to watch the video back right now, the formerly-terrified but now intrigued young goddess began to make a mental note of the video’s title and the name of the person who posted it. As someone who took great pride in her adoration from fans of her blogs and stories back in Lowee, memorizing a post on a website was practically childs play. She could probably do so in her sleep.

Ren, who was more than ready to announce the gifts they were about to give to the children, waved his hand in front of Blanc’s vision to get a hold of her. “Helloooooo? Earth to Blanc? Come in, Blanny. Blanny Blanny, are you there?” It seemed there was no way of breaking her intense concentration, until Maila took notice of the situation and hugged Blanc’s leg again yelling “BLANNY! BLANNY! EARTH TO BLANNY!” while earnestly giggling. That seemed to do the trick as Blanc snapped back to what she’d call second reality to pat little Maila’s head. “Earth to Blanny?” The goddess repeated. She assumed this was another one of this world’s parallels to her common phrases.

“YEAH! It means something like…” Maila paused to think, never really stopping to understand the meaning before. “Umm… it’s like… hey I’m over here. Uhh, no… like I’m trying to get your attention…”

Blanc could see little Maila’s visible train of thought start to doubt herself again, but as Blanc had gotten the gist of the expression already she simply combed some of the child’s unruly hair back into place, sliding her fingers gently through her part while thanking her for the explanation.

“Oh! Did I do good?” The curious child asked. “Did I get it?”

“I understand you little Maila.” Blanc confirmed.

“I’m not that little anymore.” Maila commented. “I’m a little more than half as tall as you.”

“Well you’re going to have to eat healthy if you want to be a good skater in the future, isn’t that right Ren?”

Ren was enjoying the two girls’ conversation until Blanc brought him into it. “That’s right Maila. You’re going to need to eat as healthily as you can if you want to grow up to be the world’s best ice skater.”

“Alright, I’ll eat a lot of meat and stop eating candy!” Maila exclaimed, putting her hands on her hips and tilting her head back slightly. “I’m gonna be Super Maila and beat up any bullies who pick on my friend Emi. Then I’m going to beat Riku at ice skating in front of the whole world!” Maila pointed to an older boy with shaggy black hair who Blanc and Ren assumed was Riku.

Looking around to see why he heard his name, Riku found himself on the receiving end of Maila’s narrowed eyes and smug smile. “Umm what are you doing?” Riku asked.

“Typical Riku. Not paying attention to me.” Maila said snappily, her smile forming into a pout. “I’m gonna beat you at ice skating!”

“Uhh, okay. Good luck.” Riku replied nonchalantly.

“Ugh. You just wait and see!” Maila retorted, crossing her arms into a fold. “You better keep training or I’m gonna beat you in no time!”

Sensing Maila’s attitude shifting into a more competitive position, Blanc and Ren looked into each other’s eyes with an expression that confirmed they were on rhe same page. It was gift giving time.

“Okay okay everyone.” Ren began. “I’m glad you all were happy meeting Blanc but we actually came with a surprise for all of you!”

The children all eagerly turned towards him, eyes filled with a various mix of curiousity, wonder and expectation. After all, every kid knew what a surprise meant. Some of them started murmuring to each other trying to guess the surprise. One kid asked Ren if the bags he saw earlier were the surprises and all the children started to catch on, now getting really excited. Thankfully Blanc had enough sense not to keep the children waiting. She began to head toward the hallway where she saw everyone walking with the gifts earlier, leaving Ren to entertain the children’s hype for a few moments but as she turned into the hallway to start checking rooms for the bags she saw Douglas and Miss Fukura who had already set up all of the gift bags to be taken out on cue.

“So that’s where you guys were.” Blanc near whispered, not wanting to draw any of the children’s attention and ruin the surprise.

Douglas responded, nodding his head before turning to look at Miss Furuka. “It was all her idea since we got so carried away talking to each other.”

“Yeah well you did most of the heavy lifting.” Miss Furuka responded. “Anyways, we should definitely do gift time now as the food will be ready to serve in about fifteen minutes.”

“Alright, then help me bring them out.” Blanc said while grabbing four bags to walk out. She didn’t look behind her to check if they were following as she knew at least Douglas would be right behind her with most of them anyways. As the excited goddess walked back into the room she made a mental note that Ren was scarily good at captivating children’s attention, similar to how he made such a great impression on Maila before in the Middletown ice rink. Raising her hands up to her shoulders to show off the gift bags, Blanc called out “Guess what I’ve got!” The children who were previously waiting to reveal his surprise turned toward Blanc who dashed toward them and quickly placed the bags in front of the children at her feet. Some of the kids started to get antsy and a few others started to raise their hand as if to ask if they can look in the bag but all of them remained in their spots. They had all been living in the orphanage for a good amount of time now and before their every meal they were taught to wait patiently for their servings.

“Well as I’m sure you know Christmas is in just four days…” Blanc continued before being cut off by a bunch of cheering from the invested children. “It sounds like we’ve got a happy crowd here. I take it we all love Christmas?” Again the children cheered with Maila yelling the loudest before flashing Blanc a toothy grin. Blanc chuckled at the kids’ loud and clear enthusiasm “So I decided to put together a toy drive for everybody here.” Blanc concluded. “Everyone will have the chance to choose a bag and any leftovers can be earned through some riveting games of Rock Paper Scissors.” Blanc knew the simple hand game Ren showed her would be easy enough for the children to play. For the first time she began to count the amount of kids in attendance. “One, two, three,” she began to count internally. “Twelve, thirteen and fourteen.” Rubbing her hands together, the goddess shouted “Alright since there are fourteen of you we’ll have all of you come up starting with the children closest to me. Please stay where you are. You’ll all have your chance to choose.”

Blanc began calling the children up once Douglas and Miss Furuka had placed the rest of the sixteen bags in front of the goddess as she intended. The first boy who she remembered talking with Ren came up to choose. Blanc recalled him saying his name was Rei.

“Can I open the bags and look inside?” Rei asked with a mischievous gleam in his eyes.

“Sorry Rei, but they’re still supposed to be surprises. You can’t look inside all of them, only the one you choose after you get back to your spot.” Blanc clarified.

“Okay Miss Blanc.” Rei said, still having another idea in his head. The boy began picking up each stapled bag, lifting it up to feel its weight. After he checked the first seven, the kid who he had been competing with over Ren’s help earlier, Keisuke, claimed what Rei was doing was cheating.

“No it’s not!” Rei replied. “Miss Blanc didn’t say anything about feeling the bag’s weight. She only mentioned not looking into them.”

Before Keisuke could yell at Rei and call him a jerk, Blanc spoke up again and confirmed that Rei was allowed to do so, calling him crafty before reminding everyone that Christmas gifts were nothing to fight over as everyone should be focused on being happy and having fun. Rei finally picked up the twentieth bag before deciding to grab the seventeenth one. Feeling proud of himself, Rei practically bounded back to his spot, careful not to catch the bag on the ground while doing so. The next child came forth and immediately picked bag number fourteen. The next few children all walked over to a specific bag and happily grabbed them without checking the others. Then it was Emi’s turn to select one. Emi placed her hands directly over the remaining bags one by one for a few seconds each, feeling the air around it. Rei, who thought Emi had a trick up her sleeve to find the best one, asked what she was doing. Emi replied that she was feeling for the bag that had the most warm air around it and that she was sure it would have what she was looking for in it. Rei, who couldn’t believe what he was hearing, called Emi weird in response, which triggered Maila’s anger.

“Shut it Rei! Emi’s not weird! You just don’t get it, is all.”

“Now now.” Blanc interjected. “No fighting or name calling in the middle of gift giving.” The two children who were about to yell at each other turned to face Blanc apologetically, with Maila apologizing three times over. As Blanc looked back she saw that Emi had chosen her bag, number seven, and was walking back to her seat. The rest of the kids then all got their turn, with Maila claiming hold of bag number two citing it being her lucky number, while Riku opted to choose last, more curious to see what the other kids would choose first. Eventually everyone had chosen and gone back to their spots. They were all waiting to open their gifts but as Blanc was about to give the go ahead to do so a man’s booming voice called out “Dinner’s ready children! Everyone take a seat!”

It couldn’t be helped. Every kid knew that dinner time was the best time. Instead of walking to their seats however, they all turned expectantly to Blanc and asked where they should put their gift bags. After Douglas, Ren and Blanc cleared out a space near the television for each kid’s bag the children gathered around the tables for food, and not a moment too soon as the man who shouted from earlier came in with a large cart filled with foods and healthy snacks that made the children’s eyes light up. Blanc noted that the smell was almost mouthwatering, getting the itch to try some herself. As if sensing her wants Miss Kobaya reassured Ren, Blanc and Douglas that they would have a share in a few minutes after the chef who Kobaya called Botan finished serving the children their shares. A few minutes assed and soon every kid had food on the table and a fork in their hand.

“What do we say, everyone?” Miss Kobaya called out.

“Thank you Chef Botan!” The children all cried out in response.

“That’s right.” Miss Kobaya affirmed. “Thank you Mister Botan.”

“Happy to serve as always, Miss Kobaya.” The smiling chef responded while starting to wheel his cart back.

“Thank you Mister Botan.” Blanc and Ren both said, with Douglas and Miss Furuka soon after chiming in.

The kids began eating, some of them a bit too fast. Thankfully Miss Furuka was one the case, sitting down with each of them and reminding them that they could choke. With the children occupied for the time being, Blanc set her sights on the food Chef Botan was wheeling over. This cart contained tonkatsu, onigiri, sushi, some grilled steak, pork ramen, beetroot, bananas and strawberry yogurt.

“Thank you honoured guests.” Chef Botan announced, docking the cart next to the table for staff. “It means a lot to me that someone would come over to give such wonderful presents to the children! There are so many bags too!” He further exclaimed. “I don’t think I’ve seen this gracious of a gift in a little over half a year. Thank you, sincerely.” Chef Botan placed a hand over his heart and bowed once before continuing. “Please, eat as much as you’d like from the cart. There are some extra servings of pork ramen and onigiri as well. I can still wheel out should you want more. You can find me in the room to the right at rhe very end of this hallway. Bless your souls.”

With those final words the chef made his way back down the hall, leaving the five adults left to take a seat and begin serving themselves. Blanc loaded up on the grilled steak and pork ramen servings, deciding to wash it down with some yogurt and water. Ren reached for the onigiri as Douglas happily did the same. Eventually everyone picked out their fair share of food and while continuing to monitor the children for any misbehaviour or questions they may have, they began to dig in. Blanc was really impressed with the pork ramen. She hadn’t tasted food this flavourful in a while. The foods she’d had during her time here were almost wholly unique, but few compared to the complexity of this dish. The pork was tender, the noodles seemed to wrap around her spoon forever and the spice level wasn’t too high that she couldn’t enjoy it.

About half way through her first plate, Blanc peeked over Miss Kobaya’s shoulder, who sat opposite to her, and noticed Maila cheerily feeding Emi her food, who seemed kind of embarrassed but accepted it. When scooping up more of the ramen to feed Emi she accidentally spilled a drop and cried out “Oops. Sorry Emi. I’ve got a cloth right here to wipe it up.” “It’s alright. I’ll be fine.” Emi replied, not wanting to make a big fuss about it. Blanc, who felt she was continuously enraptured with the two children, asked Miss Kobaya how little Maila first met Emi.

“It’s a long story.” Miss Kobaya replied before covering her mouth with one hand and raising her a finger on her other hand to signal Blanc to wait a moment while she swallowed her food. After swallowing properly, she continued. “I can shorten it though. Basically Maila has been here all her life. We received a call from her mother one day out of the blue, who was crying non-stop asking her to take Maila in as a baby. She explained that she didn’t have much time as she had given birth to Maila while dying of a disease here we call leukemia. No matter what the doctors did, the and Maila’s mother Sherie knew she wasn’t going to make it. They gave her an estimate of a year to live after Maila was born. Sadly she only lasted nine months.”

“That’s… awful.” Blanc responded, feeling the urge to tear up.

“It truly is.” Miss Kobaya replied as Ren wiped his mouth with a cloth and placed one hand on Blanc’s. “Maila doesn’t remember much about her mother but Sherie’s wish for us with Maila was to always remind her to be as happy as she could. That’s where Maila’s infectious positivity comes from. The will of her mother burns brightly, even if she only knows her through photographs and short videos we have of her. Emi showed up three years after Maila was given to us as a baby and she’s actually older than Maila by a year and a half. She came from an abusive household and thankfully was never harmed but as a result of the parents’ domestic abuse charges the court had them both sentenced to jail and deemed unfit to parent Emi. Emi’s grandparents on the father’s side couldn’t house her and nurture her like they wanted to given their old age and her mother never had much of a family so we took her in. Maila’s six years old as of this month and Emi’s almost 8. Emi’s been under our care for three years and although we suspect she’s gotten more confident with speaking and more trusting with us over time, the only one she truly opens up to is Maila, even if it doesn’t look like it.”

“Wow…” Blanc said, almost at a loss for words and letting out a heavy sigh. “No, I really wouldn’t have guessed.”

“Oh you should have seen Emi when we first took her in. It took us a few months to get her to speak, and it wasn’t even us who did. It was Maila.” Miss Kobaya recounted. “She kept trying to make Emi laugh by goofing around with dolls and cracking jokes. It took her a few months but eventually cheerful Maila did manage to get a chuckle out of her. Emi tried to play it off like it didn’t happen but Maila was persistent, determined to get her to laugh. It’s much better to laugh than pout she’d always tell Emi. After a few more weeks Emi finally told Maila her name and asked to play with the dolls she always had on her. The two had been best friends ever since then and Maila’s always protecting and defending Emi before we can when some of the other kids make some remarks about her being odd or too quiet.”

As sad as the story between the two young girls was, Blanc couldn’t help feeling a kindred spirit in their relationship that reminded her of her twin sisters Rom and Ram. Staring out at the girls once more she found a bit of solace knowing that the bonds her sisters shared could be felt similarly on Earth as well, though it also made her heart ache on the subject of the girls’ hard times doubly so. “Miss Kobaya. I’m glad I got to talk to you, Maila and Emi back two weeks ago.” Blanc said.

“Oh you sweet young woman, I’m glad as well.” Miss Kobaya responded. “You’ve such a good heart. I know Maila and Emi agree. You need only ask them, even though it shows through their actions alone.”

“They’re such good children.” Blanc said as tears began to well up. “They’re so much like my sisters.” In a moment of weakness and heartbreak, Blanc accidentally revealed she had sisters, which she had only mentioned to Ren once before.

“You have sisters of your own, Blanc?” Miss Kobaya asked.

Not wanting to hide it any more, Blanc nodded her head while wiping the tears from the corners of her eyes. “They’re twin sisters and I very badly miss them. I moved away from my family earlier this year and sometimes I just find it so hard to adjust to being alone even though I have Ren.” Blanc had to lie a bit to cover her tracks, which she didn’t like doing one bit. “It was my decision to move away but it’s only temporary for my studies. I can’t wait until I can eventually move back with them.”

“Oh. That sounds like a very rough but mature decision you made Blanc.” Miss Kobaya responded, joining Ren in placing a hand over the sobbing goddess’. “I can tell you’re a caring soul though. I’m sure they’re going to be so happy when you can finally return to them.”

“I will be too.” Blanc said through watery eyes. Her tears were too persistent for her liking. “I know I could have been a better sister. I wasn’t always great. Probably far from the role model they deserved but I so badly miss them.” Blanc closed her eyes rather forcefully in an attempt to keep the tears from flowing further before bringing the conversation back to Maila and Emi. “Those two girls over there, they remind me so much of my twin sisters Rom and Ram. They’re such good children. I know they are.”

Blanc managed to fight back the rest of the tears while the rest of the group took turns sharing stories of their family to cheer her up. Before they knew it an hour and a half had passed and the children were all finished eating with their plates tidied away. Chef Botan came by and gathered all of the remnants of the food and thanked Blanc, Ren and Douglas once more before heading back to rinse the dishes off. Blanc asked Ren if he could take over and have the children do a Rock Paper Scissors tournament for the rest of the gift bags to which he happily agreed and after ten minutes of trying to round the kids up and quell their bickering with each other he successfully started the games. After some mild complaining from some children who were eliminated the last six bags were distributed to the winners, who gleefully accepted their prizes and put them next to their other bags.

The children were in very high spirits overall and thought that was the end of the Christmas surprises but Douglas and Ren hauled out the other four large toy bags Mr. Okurimono had rounded up from his customers’ contributions and this time each child was allowed to take one toy every time they were called up in an order. Blanc was thoroughly surprised to see how much Mr. Okurimono’s customers managed to accrue in such a short time. Every child ended up claiming seven toys each. The remaining seven Ren gave to Miss Kobaya and Miss Furuka to hand out as future rewards when they deemed fit. Ren, with Miss Kobaya’s permission, announced that the children could finally open their other surprise bags and play with the toys as the orphanage was only open to the public for another ten minutes, which sadly meant that Ren, Blanc and Douglas were going to have to leave in a few minutes. Little Maila and Emi however chose not to open their bags and instead came to chat with Blanc and Ren, thanking them for remembering them and coming back with a ton of gifts. Maila called both Blanc and Ren real life Santa Claus’.

“Miss Blanc, can you promise to teach Emi here how to ice skate like you do?” Little Maila asked with her hands clasped together in a praying position. “She wanted me to ask you.”

Blanc, unsure of how she was going to recreate one tenth of the skill she displayed in the YouTube video the children watched, decided to agree and figure it all out later. “Of course I would, Emi.” She bent down to face Emi directly and hugged her, which caught her off guard in a nice way. Although the shy girl hadn’t said anything she reached for Blanc’s back with both hands and hugged her back in affirmation and gratitude.

“Mister Ren!” Maila called out excitedly, turning to address him. “Would you promise to teach me how to skate and do some of the trucks you taught Blanc?”

Ren, now also in an awkward spot for not having actually taught Blanc anything she displayed, still agreed readily as he was sure with his ability he could at least impart all of the basics and then the more advanced lessons such as twirling, balancing while skating on one foot and some standard flips which would be more than enough time to learn anything else he wasn’t confident in doing for the young girl.

“YAYYYY!” Maila practically screamed while jogging on the spot. “Thank you so much Mister Ren!”

Ren asked Miss Kobaya if she had a paper and pen or a phone to document his phone number should they or the girls ever want to reach out to talk or request to do something with them, stating it was also okay if the girls wanted to talk about nothing in particular. Miss Kobaya pulled out her phone and entered his information so as to seal the deal on his promise before thanking Ren, Blanc and Douglas once more for everything they’ve done so far, truly appreciative of the joy they managed to bring to the childrens’ lives as well as hers. As Ren took a final look at his phone he realized it was already only a few minutes before 8 pm, which was closing time for guests.

Ren took one more look around the room where all the children were energetically playing with their toys. Some were chasing each other around. Others were drawing by themselves and a few bots were even teaming up against other children in what seemed to be an action figure doll all out brawl. It was at times like these that he felt most positive in life. Even though he usually worked to live and lived alone, the last three months with Blanc and the sany adventures they embarked upon in this world have been some of the most lively days he had ever lived through. Sure, he was almost always doubly as exhausted on their exploration days and there were some near sleepless nights he had where he stressed about trying to miraculously discover a way to get Blanc back home but by the dawn of the next day he always found himself cherishing her arrival a little more than the last, even if he felt guilty for taking pleasure in her presence when she herself had lost everything she cared about in her world.

“Alright Miss Furuka, Miss Kobaya. We really must be going.” Ren began, looking at Blanc, who seemed to be staring out at the children as well before facing him with a shade of sadness in her eyes knowing this was goodbye for now. “I think I can speak for Blanc and even Douglas when I say we really enjoyed this day and the hospitality you showed us in return even though we showed up completely out of the blue. Please give our greatest thanks and well wishes to Chef Botan, who definitely spoiled us rotten without hesitation.”

“We were so glad to have you as guests.” Miss Furuka replied, thankful that the hours she had spent up here with everyone hadn’t been interrupted by needing to man the reception desk. It was a quiet afternoon for visitors compared to usual but this was one of the only days where she was glad there was nothing to do as she got to enjoy her shift playing with the children, helping prepare a Christmas surprise even if in only a miniscule way, and meeting new, delightful guests. “Should you find yourselves back here at any time and I’m the one on the clock at the intercom I’ll be glad to welcome you back with open arms, as will the children I’m sure.”

“No way!” Maila said in a dejected tone. “It’s time already?” The usually happy girl recognized that visiting hours were about to end already but was still saddened to see such a great day come to an end so soon now that it was coming to pass.

Emi, who had always been quiet, shy, distant and fragile in appearance suddenly bolted down the hallway Chef Botan had walked through earlier, covering ground faster than Blanc imagined she could given her petite body, not that the goddesses back home would let her get away with such a remark without teasing Blanc for being similar. She took a turn down the left end of the hallway instead which left everyone, staff and even little Maila confused. It was safe to say this wasn’t a normal occurrence. Moments later the young girl came jogging back down the hallway with her hands behind her back while panting and nearly out of breath.

“Emi!” Maila cried out, seeing her best friend trying to catch her breath. “Pace yourself!”

“I’m… okay Maila…” Emi responded while trying to catch her breath, glad that the guests hadn’t left yet. Now walking, Emi walked up to Blanc, revealing a doll wearing a powder blue dress and crystal coloured high heels. As she raised her hands up to hand it to Blanc, Maila’s eyes widened in shock. “This is for you, Blanc. Merry Christmas.”

“Woah Emi!” Maila interjected. “That’s one of your favourite dolls. Are you sure you want to just hand it away?”

“I am.” Emi responded, urging Blanc to take it as there was only a minute left before visiting hours would come to an end. “I heard you at dinner. I’ve never had a sister but I imagine it’s similar to what I have with Maila.”

Blanc took hold of the doll, smiling while once again trying to hold back tears. “Thank you, Emi. This means a lot to me. I’ll think of home when I see this doll and cherish it.”

“I hope you get to see your sisters soon.” Emi spoke, sounding rather optimistic for the first time since the two met her.

“I will, eventually.” Blanc promised, both to her new friend and herself. “I’m not from around here but if it helps, I think I’ve learned more about what it means to be a good sister from watching you and little Maila. I’d be honoured to be your big sister while I’m here.”

“You can do that?!” Little Maila chimed in.

Blanc stifled a chuckle while responding to the little girl’s inquiry. “I’d assume it’s no different than how you and Emi already view each other.

“I’d like that, big sis.” Emi said as the intercom overhead began to ding in a soothing musical pattern.

“Attention visitors. The Red Cross Early Years Orphanage is now closing for today. Please make your way down to your closest entrance and a receptionist will be there to assist you as you leave. Our visiting hours for tomorrow will start at 10 am and end at 8 pm, the same time as today. Attention visitors. The Red Cross Early…”

As the person overhead began to repeat the message a couple more times Blanc bent down to hug both Emi and Maila, who happily hugged her back, once more thanking her for the gifts and being kind.

“I’ll be back soon, Emi and Maila.” Blanc promised, gripping them a little tighter before standing back up and pocketing Emi’s doll safely in one of her shawl’s pockets.

“Take care big sis!” Maila called out as the three guests began to make their way to the entrance alongside Miss Furuka. “Thank you for everything!”

“Thanks big sis Blanc and big brother Ren.” Emi added, the loudest she had ever been so far.

“Take care of yourselves and stay safe!” Maila continued, now with the other children’s attention, watching the guests who made their day with awesome gifts open the door to the stairwell, exiting the room. “Oh, and Merry Christmas.”

“Thank you so much!” The children cried out. “Merry Christmas.”

As the door shut and their footsteps could be heard walking down the stairs Maila remembered Blanc and Ren’s promises. Shouting at the top of her lungs she practically yelled “DON’T FORGET YOU PROMISED TO TEACH US TO ICE SKATE!!!”

A quiet chuckle could be heard from Blanc as Ren yelled back up saying “CALL US AND WE CAN MAKE A TIME!”

Maila grinned ear to ear, almost ready to jump for joy despite it being only an hour before her bed time, holding hands with Emi, who returned back to her reserved self. As they both celebrated in their own ways, Miss Furuka and the three guests finally made their way to the lobby’s entrance, where they all bid their farewells and warmest wishes for the holiday season. After such a long day Blanc couldn’t help but stretch her arms up to the sky, more than satisfied with their visit. Although Blanc thought she’d be the one giving everything to the kids and making their days for the upcoming holiday season she found herself feeling like she had gained more than she had gifted. Those two little girls had made Blanc feel a bond she had been yearning for all this time, and although they could never replace Rom and Ram, she found solace in the connections she forged today. Those girls were so sweet, honestly a little easier to handle than her own true sisters, even with Maila’s constant bursts of energy included.

Now out in the open, Blanc felt a light evening breeze lightly flutter by her, gently blowing her hair and rejuvenating her soul a bit. The air was crisp but very welcomed. These past few weeks with the weather growing colder, the snow lightly falling and meeting new people, acting within the community had reminded the homesick goddess so much of Lowee. This time of year there would be festivals announced left and right, community gatherings she’d be invited to and feasts she felt she could still taste. She missed her home dearly.

“So…” Doug spoke, cutting Blanc’s reminiscing short. “It would seem you two could use another lift back home.”

“That we could.” Ren responded.

“Hop on in. I’ll drop you two off where I picked you up earlier today. It’s the furthest inward I can go.”

The two happily accepted his offer, glad to finally sit down and unwind their previously overstimulated minds as Doug started up the old truck. After a few revs of the ignition it seemed his truck found the encouragement it needed to set off rolling. The moon shone brightly in the pitch black sky and the stars could be seen clearly, though Blanc wasn’t looking today. She felt so exhausted. She honestly wondered why this tiredness was so common here as she rarely felt so weak and weary back in Gamindustri. There was practically no traffic on the way back to Shibuya and the winding roads of Hiroo offered the travellers a smooth drive through what seemed like a quiet, peaceful area at this time of night. In what only felt like a few minutes, Douglas announced that they were back where they first met, signalling the end of their ride.

“Thank you, Douglas.” Ren said earnestly. “You really saved our hides with your truck and help.”

“Don’t mention it kiddo.” Douglas replied. “You youngsters have heart. Chadokami was right. Your friend there really does have the passion he once let burn brightly. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen that spark in the old man but she managed to bring it back. I could see it when I spoke to him earlier. For that alone I was happy to help you both out. Maybe it should be me thanking you two.”

“Ah, I appreciate it.” Blanc responded, trying not to yawn through her words. “You helped us out a ton today, especially with the ride home.”

The two unfastened their seatbelts and popped open their respective doors, exiting the truck, that looked especially worse for wear under the moonlight’s faint gaze. Closing up his door, Ren tapped the side of Doug’s car, letting him know they were clear of his way as he began to pull out.

“Stay safe on these roads, will ya?” Ren beckoned, waving to Douglas who was watching his left rear view mirror for pedestrians.

“Always and forever, boss.” Doug replied. “If you guys ever need a ride scheduled in advance feel free to hassle the chief into calling on my behalf. I feel he’s gotten too complacent over the years. Be sure to ruffle his feathers and boggle his brain a bit. It isn’t good to rest for too long.”

“Take care Douglas!” Blanc called out, waving alongside Ren. “I’ll bug the chief for you.”

“That’s what I like to hear!” He shouted back, beginning to take off. “Oh! Just call me Doug. It’s easier that way!”

Doug’s old truck kicked further into gear as he drove off into the night, presumably back to where he lived, leaving a tired Blanc and Ren to enjoy the night’s walk back home, glad that they’d be able to rest soon. Eventually they arrived home and with a click of Ren’s key the two entered in for the night. Blanc could almost feel her spirit relax as if her weight for the day had been lifted off her shoulders.

Completely beat and just wanting to sit down, Blanc made her way to the couch before remembering she was carrying Emi’s well dressed doll, noting it deserved a special spot in her living space. Blanc began searching around the dimly lit room after flicking on a lamp, hoping to find a great spot that stuck out to her but after a couple minutes of searching there wasn’t any grand place to set the doll down. Ren noticed Blanc’s wandering and gathered she was trying to place the doll somewhere special so he chimed in after changing into his plaid pajama bottoms, deciding to throw on a comfy shirt after.

“Looking for a good spot?” He asked, sauntering slowly over to the mildly blued goddess.

“There isn’t one.” Blanc remarked, shifting her gaze slightly towards the corner of the right corner next to the window-focused wall. Pointing to it, Blanc further commented. “If we installed a shelf there it would be perfect. That or moved a new dresser in that space to fill the excess space to the left of the television section.”

Ren, only now realizing that Blanc had basically no space in his apartment to herself, made sure to mentally remind himself to help change that. As he well knew when first moving into his apartment, having the essentials and not wanting to decorate worked from an economical standpoint but depending on his mood and the events taking place in his life, having a near empty, monotone room could feel more lonely and isolating than not. Even though most of the additions in people’s homes could be seen as trivial and a luxury to some, the mental impact an item has for the person who cherishes it couldn’t be understated. “Well Blanc, we can definitely get that sorted for you tomorrow. Does that sound good?”

Blanc nodded, liking this initiative. Now having Ren’s permission to remodel the area, she began to look at the walls of the living room, imagining some of the decorations she had available to her in the Basilicom strewn around on shelves. To Blanc, Ren’s apartment had always appeared unassuming, to put it politely. There really wasn’t much going on in the living area at least. “Thanks for your sanction, Ren. I’ll settle for keeping the doll away from lint and dust by placing her in the drawer with my DS lites and games.”

“Sounds like a solid plan.” Ren remarked before yawning, as if their agreeing was his body’s cue to start drifting off to sleep. “Gosh, I don’t think I’m going to end up staying awake much longer tonight. I know I don’t work tomorrow but I’m going to turn in for the night anyway, just as soon as I swap my shirt.” Ren walked away, covering his mouth as he felt another tawn coming along, leaving Blanc to carefully lay the doll down in a way that kept all of its dress neat and unwrinkled. The equally tired goddess began to yawn after Ren did, cursing the act of yawning as it was so contagious for her. Satisfied with the dolls placement, Blanc realized she forgot to ask Emi if her doll had a name. She didn’t know what to call her. She wasn’t sure if she should make up a new name or wait until the next time she got the chance to talk to her to find out so for the time being she decided to call her Diamond Heart as a placeholder. Blanc figured the name fit well enough given its platinum blonde hair and near diamond blue coloured dress and shoes. She made a mental note to ask Emi what her name for the doll was as it would be a better homage to her and Maila.

With her slight conundrum solved, she began to pick up her twin DS consoles, still being as delicate as she could while transporting them to the couch. Enraptured by their models, Blanc opened up and powered on both consoles at the same time, yawning a bit while doing so. In her near three months of being stranded here she had mentally gotten used to her before bed routine. After she’d finish with her Pictochat Blanc would always turn in for sleep, so she found herself barely hanging on while opening the app. She began her nightly doodles on both consoles.

The people around her may believe she’s a genius when it comes to ice skating but one thing she was definitely not proficient in was drawing. Trying to recreate what she had already drawn sloppily on the other console frame for frame was impossible, but Blanc found a great sense of comfort every night when drawing out her favourite scenes of that day. Today’s wacky doodle was a rather large one so she skimped a bit on the details of the room in her depiction. It featured stick figure Ren and Douglas holding bags in their hands while Blanc was surrounded by children with a shocked look on her face. On the 2D drawn television was a version of her that was meant to look identical. This was past Blanc on the rink. Turning her stylus back onto the crowd of children she gave one dark hair to represent Riku, she added a bear in the arms of the one girl closest to the kid hugging her thigh and dubbed her Emi and then added a bow on the top of the girl hugging Blanc, which completed her depiction of little Maila. Then before copying what she had drawn onto the second DS she paid homage to the chief by adding his face in the bottom left corner of the digital paper with a fedora on his head and some large bags next to him.

Taking a bit longer than usual to recreate her mess-terpiece of a doodle, Blanc began to yawn once more before realizing Ren had forgotten to say good night along with his usual string of sentiments. As she finished the doodle, she wiped her forehead, which was still kind of sweaty from her long day out. Feeling gross and honestly exhausted, she got up to grab a drink of water from the kitchen sink, stretching one final time just after downing the refreshingly cold glass. The sleepy goddess then walked back to her two DS lites and began to talk to them.

Ren, who had woken up a few minutes ago from being too hot with the blanket over him, heard the water being run by Blanc and decided to get a glass. There was one problem with that though, he was so tired that he didn’t want to roll out of bed or stand up, and he could already hear Blanc’s footsteps headed back towards her couch-bed. He didn’t want to disturb her if she was heading off to sleep. Feeling indecisive, Ren rolled back over, content with trying to tough out the heat by removing the blanket. Just as he was about to close his eyes however, he began to hear what sounded like Blanc speaking, which sounded muffled as she was talking softly and he was in the next room over. Finally curious, Ren rolled out of bed quietly to listen in on what she was saying. He knew he shouldn’t pry and felt a little guilty for doing so but as far as he was aware Blanc hadn’t owned a cell phone and Ren had his by his bedside. He wasn’t quite sure what she was using to talk through or who she would be talking to at this late hour. Blanc’s boss, Mr. Okurimono would definitely be asleep by now, as would the two girls Maila and Emi. Ren didn’t even have Doug’s number and he felt Mr. Kazuha fell into the same boat as the chief did. Creeping quietly to take a listen and thankful that his door was already open, Ren could finally make out what Blanc was saying.

[Play song on loop until the scene ends: https://youtu.be/b4ptv2HRNNo?si=kBfTg9D8uNsACLCf]

“…It was such a great experience. I decided to name the doll Diamond Heart as I didn’t get the chance to ask Emi what she called the doll. I had a feeling you’d approve of it Rom. I obviously couldn’t choose between the both of you so I figured since diamonds are usually depicted as white and can also be blue-ish and pink-ish in hue, the name would fit all of us as a family. I wish you both could have met Maila and Emi. They remind me a lot of you two, but they could never replace you. You girls mean so much to me. I miss you more than words could convey. I love you two with all my heart and each night as you know I pray you stay safe, which I’m sure sounds a bit foolish coming from your big sis, the goddess of our home, but I honestly don’t know what to do anymore. Praying is the only thing I can find comfort in for you two and everyone living in uncertainty. It’s ironic, but I’m afraid it’s all I have now.”

Now peeking around the corner briefly, Ren saw Blanc cross-legged on the couch with the two DS lites turned on, one held in each hand. It seemed she was sending a message.

“This world has taught me a lot about the bonds we have with others and I just wanted to say that your big sis is so sorry. All those times I spent holed up in my room instead of checking in on you two. Every time I told you I’d play with you next time only for that time to never come. I’m sorry. I’m sorry for being so harsh on you two during our training sessions. I know you two are some of the best healers and mages around and the world of Gamindustri rely so heavy on you, but I was too stubborn to admit that you two might honestly be more helpful than me when it came to nationwide crises. I arrogantly thought there wouldn’t be a need to save anyone if I could just take out the threats before us with raw strength and senselessly tried forcing the path of the brute onto you two as well… As if that would solve anything… What kind of big sister would put her siblings on the front lines… Gosh I’m such an idiot… I’m sorry for once getting so annoyed with you two having fun after breaking something in the Basilicom that I thought to myself that we weren’t siblings. I’m sorry I wasn’t always there to comfort you as a big sister should when you both were going through problems. I told myself I just wasn’t good at helping people emotionally when the truth was I was too scared of showing my emotions which I viewed as a weakness and didn’t want to risk letting you two in by lending you an ear. I’m so, so, so sorry.”

Ren, who was still watching Blanc sending her message, felt extremely uncomfortable for her. It hurt to hear Blanc talk about such topics and not be able to get any reconciliation. He wanted to approach but also didn’t want to interrupt her message, so against his better judgment he stayed still and continued to listen as Blanc seemed to dig herself further into hopelessness.

“All the days I spent writing about a fantasy world that I used as an escape from the perfectly good life I so foolishly took for granted… I thought I’d be happier… I’m not happier. I got my wish after all. I got what I thought I wanted. I so badly wanted out of this role, to not have to be needed as goddess all the time. I thought human emotions were detrimental but wanted to desperately escape my life governing the nation and protecting it from harm. The constant worrying about shares and forced hatred I clung to in attempts to deceive the other goddesses into thinking my nation was strong. It all just weighed on me so much that I lost sight of what truly mattered in my life and thought I’d be so much happier away from everything. Well, here I am, Rom, Ram. I’m trapped in this world called Earth. I have no way of knowing if I can make it back home. I don’t know where to start. I don’t know what to do. I’m stuck here powerless where everything seems to hurt and ache so much more. I can’t even watch you from a distance to know you two are okay. You’re both so resourceful and kind but governing an entire nation and taking a stand against Arfoire… To be honest, even I felt like it was overwhelming at times. I can only hope the goddesses treat you well as I know they and I didn’t always get along. Please be safe… Stay safe. I wish I could start over and tell you this face to face but I don’t think I’d have the courage to if I did get the chance. I’m just a failure…”

Ren couldn’t take it anymore. This level of self-loathing… He couldn’t bear to hear it any longer. If there was a god or deity in charge of this world, they were being too cruel to Blanc. Without thinking he rushed into the room and hugged her, causing her to jump from her seat, shocked, startled and still unable to stop sobbing as her stream of tears began to pool on his shirt instead of hers. Blanc wasn’t sure if she was supposed to hug him back, yell at him for interrupting or just continue to sob hopelessly in his embrace. She couldn’t even think straight, let alone muster a word anymore. The hysterical goddess just stared at him while continuing to sob, unable to focus on anything she was looking at through her teary-eyed vision.

“Blanc!” Ren cried out, holding her tightly as she continued to sob. Her whole body was shivering from her breakdown and her temperature, which always seemed to remain near icy cold, was suddenly boiling from her panicked state. “I couldn’t just let you flog yourself like that anymore. I won’t.”

Blanc stared blankly at Ren’s concerned face through her constantly flowing tears, trying her hardest to take a proper deep breath and failing repeatedly. She tried making a sound and her jaw trembled so badly it almost hurt with how jerky the movement was. She couldn’t move. She couldn’t speak. She couldn’t think straight. She couldn’t stop crying…

Having his heart break even more watching her try so hard and get nowhere, Ren swept the messy hair of hers back to the side as it belonged and cut the flow of her tears a few times over to stop the stream from falling further. The more he tried however, the more futile it felt as Blanc’s tears continued to well up in the outer corners of her eyes, her pupils now dilated to almost twice their size. “I… I don’t know what to do…” Ren stuttered, feeling more useless than he ever had in his entire life. Trying to be her anchor in such a situation felt impossible given the magnitude of what she was always going through but he just couldn’t leave her to suffer through this alone. “I’m here, Blanc. I’m here.”

Blanc tried speaking, but her jaw silenced her yet again, betraying her in her time of need. Instead she could only muster her heavy breathing, which had barely stabilized. Attempting once more to get her limbs back into gear she tried placing down the twin DS lites gently. Her arms too wouldn’t listen to reason, as when she tried to loosen her grip on the consoles she was met with resistance. Her nerves began trembling so hard she almost lost her grip immediately while her elbows spazzed out, near throwing the consoles into the air. Noticing Blanc’s attempts, Ren let go of hugging her temporarily to gently grab the DS’ from her, who could only look at him with her widened eyes.

“Don’t worry Blanc, I’ll take good care of them.” Ren said reassuringly. “I’m just going to put them back in their drawer next to Diamond Heart.”

Ren did as he said, slowly and carefully placing them in the drawer, making sure not to place them too close to each other and then closed the drawer, heading back to the vulnerable goddess, who could barely muster a shaky smile for a second in an attempt to show Ren he did a great job before her lip muscles quivered out of control again. Coming back to assist Blanc further, he noticed she was stuck half laying down in an awkward position with no lower back support from the pillows she used to sleep on. After asking if she was okay with him helping her sit up and Blanc nodding in response he lifted her up with one hand bracing the middle of her back and the other under her knees, moving her into an upright position.

“Th-th-thhh…” Blanc stuttered, concentrating her hardest on stabilizing her chills in order to speak. “Thh-th… Tha-nk y-you, R-Ren…” The exhausted goddess let out a sigh that turned into a shaky yawn, finally starting to gain control over her facial muscles.

“Blanc, I’m here for you, okay. I’m here.” Ren placed a hand on Blanc’s left hand, which was now slumped and resting on the side of the couch. Her hand was still trembling but nowhere close to how badly it was a moment ago. “I’m definitely not Rom or Ram, who I can clearly see you love in the deepest part of your core. I’m not even from your world so I can’t possibly know what you’re missing or hurting over, nor can I provide you with memories or descriptions to make you feel like you have someone truly in your corner. Well… in fact I’m kind of a nobody… I’m here for you though.”

Blanc, whose tears finally stopped flowing for a bit, caught a hold of her jaw finally and focused on breathing properly for a few seconds, her mind completely numb. Exhaling harshly, she spoke once more, this time with much more control and a lot less stuttering. “It’s not your fault… Y-You can’t know w-what my world is like, b-but you’re doing g-good by j-just staying with me.” Blanc had to pause herself as she could barely catch her breath through the stutters. “I w-would be so much more sc-scared without you.” Finally finished, she sighed and brought her right hand up to her forehead, clutching it with her head tilted towards the ground in what Ren could vaguely make out as a wince. It seemed she was developing a headache, and quite a strong one at that. Unfortunately headaches were par the course when breaking down and emotionally panicking that much. Ren let go of her left hand, thinking she might want to use it to further clutch her head and attempt to soothe the throbbing she was feeling, to which she immediately took advantage of.

“Why?” Blanc asked rhetorically, pausing again briefly before continuing. “Why does everything hurt here?”

Ren, unsure of what she meant, asked her for further clarification.

“Everything aches more on Earth. I feel so weak and helpless, and my head feels like it’s being hammered in constantly. It’s so hard to think.” Blanc responded, taking another breath. “There are times where I mentally blank out and barely remember what I did during it. When it comes to feeling my emotions they swing so far outside of what I’m used to and I don’t know how to control them sometimes…” Blanc removed her hands from her head and began to prop the pillows up to support her still pained head. “And just now I got scared and had absolutely no control over my body… I’m weak. I’d die immediately with this kind of problem in battle back home. I can’t fix this. I don’t know how to.”

“Back home?” Ren asked, remembering something the goddess has mentioned closer to when they first met. “You said you constantly ended up with worse pains once in your fights back in your world. Does your world require you to always be fighting?”

“Yes. I do so to keep my nation safe and to generate something called shares, which is basically people’s belief here.” Blanc confirmed, sullen at the mention of her homeland but no longer seeing a reason to hide it from Ren. “In my world shares are what help a nation grow, and every nation has a goddess that gains power from the shares their nation, and others, have for them. We four goddesses used to fight over them until a new enemy came along who could imitate and siphon our powers, using them to create heartless creatures that preyed upon the townsfolk. Her name was Arfoire, and recognizing the threat she posed, eventually all four of us banded together to help end her strings of terror… But… Well…”

“But… what?” Ren asked, hesitant in doing so, not wanting to push Blanc back into an awkward spot and lose the trust she just started to place in him.

“But I failed… I messed everything up.” Blanc finished, wincing once again, this time over her disgust with herself before she cleared her mind of the negative thoughts, having had more than enough pain for today. “I rushed in after Arfoire dealt a particularly nasty blow to another goddess I’ve mentioned a couple times before named Neptune. Honestly, I didn’t even like her. Neptune was arrogant and too prideful before she lost her memories, always treating the rest of us like we were inferior to her. After I saw she had her memories lost and was trying desperately to save the world by having us work together, I caved. Mainly because Arfoire was terrorizing my nation at the time and imitated me, and also partially because the other two goddesses, Vert and Noire, had already signed up to help out at some point. I didn’t want to be the one who turned them away and let her nation suffer for it. Either way, I carelessly charged after Arfoire seeing red, bashing my hammer into her repeatedly and doing amazing damage, finally pushing her back to the brink of death, but when the other two goddesses urged me to join in and finish everything with them together I refused, rushing in to try and finish the imitation goddess off alone. She managed to make me hesitate for a moment and in that time she used a weird spell at my feet I couldn’t escape from in time that led to me crashing into your apartment.”

Ren, trying to wrap his head around everything Blanc was saying, took a few seconds to digest the info she just fed him, placing his right hand on her right knee to still show his support. “This is a lot…” Ren muttered, coming to the conclusion that it was never going to make sense. “This spell… Do you know how to recreate it?”

Blanc shook her head no, pausing to think about the element it could have been made from. “I’ve never seen it before… It’s possible Arfoire didn’t even know what it did.” Blanc said despondently. “If she did I doubt she would have waited until she was about to die to use it.”

Ren, still trying to find a way to give her a glimmer of hope, kept trying to think of other ways he could help.

“You mentioned your sisters were great mages earlier. I’m not sure what counts as a mage in your world but they’re a fantasy here and they can often conjure and create new spells. Could they be able to analyze it and create one to get you back to them?”

Blanc shook her head again, not out of doubt for her sisters, but from low spirits. “I love my sisters, and if anyone could do it, it’d be them, but that spell… it looked otherworldly. I don’t even know what element it was and they were tending to Neptune so they weren’t able to get a good glimpse at it when Arfoire used it on me.” Blanc paused, thinking a bit more about the battle. “Maybe if the other goddesses could describe it to them…” Blanc stopped, dismissing the idea. “No, it wouldn’t work. My sisters are some of the smartest people I know. Certainly smarter than me at least. I don’t think they’d be able to conjure something that powerful and specific off of second hand speculation, especially from others less proficient in the art of spellcrafting and casting.”

“I’m sorry, Blanc.” Ren responded, running out of ideas. “I’m just an average young guy. I don’t have any powers and I’ve never been to your world so I don’t know what else I could suggest…”

“You’ve done fine Ren. Don’t beat yourself up like I did.” Blanc said, trying her best to reassure him while still not feeling sure of herself. “Thanks to you I’ve learned a whole lot more about myself and the connections I have with people and right now you’ve proven how valuable they can be.” Blanc was going to continue talking a bit more but the headache flared back up again, causing her to instinctively clutch her head once more, gritting her teeth a bit. Now that her hysteria had worn off she suddenly felt five times heavier and more exhausted, and now her back began aching as well, likely from her bad posture earlier

“Ugh!” Blanc groaned. “I hate this. I feel so weak and yet somehow I feel closer to being alive than I think I’ve ever been right now. Why does this keep happening?”

“Maybe it’s a part of being human.” Ren suggested. “We on Earth sometimes characterize being alive with living through struggles and feeling anything, including pain and happiness.”

“The human affliction…” Blanc muttered before yawning. “I love it. I hate it. Somehow that makes me human by your standards. I can’t think straight. I just want to sleep.”

“Are you going to be alright on your own for tonight, Blanc?” Ren asked, still worried given her pained disposition.

“Maybe can you stay with me tonight?” Blanc asked, catching him off guard with her request. “I don’t want to feel alone right now.”

“Then you won’t be.”

Chapter Text

For Ren, the night dragged by, slowly scraping his mind through the dredges while it was at it. He wanted to fall asleep but was never too good at sleeping while sitting up and he didn’t have the heart to leave Blanc alone after everything she told him before she fell asleep. On top of that he wasn’t one to break promises. Ren promised the distraught goddess that he’d stay by her side for the night and he also promised her multiple times that he would help her get home to her world, even though he wasn’t sure if he could. There were a number of problems with trying to get her home and the biggest one Ren found himself dwelling on is how he could find anything to generate a portal back to her world. Eager child Ren would have been spewing out a bunch of fantasy suggestions with his colourful imagination but pragmatic adult Ren knew better. He was just an average guy, maybe a bit worse off and even the most successful people on Earth weren’t able to generate an opening in the fabric of space and time to some world they would never have guessed existed. To tell the truth, he also feared that the two of them wouldn’t ever find Blanc a way back home but he couldn’t ever voice his worries. Blanc trusted him, which was something he never would have expected to happen back when they first met. The Blanc he knew then was cold, standoffish, calculated and almost aggressive in tone. Judging from by he could piece together from Blanc’s rant earlier, he completely understood why she had acted the way she did then. He had always assumed it was just skepticism and worry from being stuck away from home but there was so much more riding on the little goddess’ shoulders than he was ever aware of.

Ren, unable to fall asleep and completely overstimulated from trying to help get a game plan rolling, kept yawning and wiping the tears from his face. He wasn’t much of a pacer but couldn’t help himself from walking back and forth, occasionally eyeing the drawer where he placed Blanc’s twin DS’ and the curtained windows to check on the sky outside. As much as he wanted to help, Ren just couldn’t imagine a way to. There was so much he could barely understand from Blanc’s explanation as is and the whole concept of there being goddesses at war in another world with magic and monsters he’d only heard about in mythology was too much to grasp. The time ticked by slowly and eventually dawn came, the sun’s arrival sparing no weary soul from its presence, including the now mentally overclocked Ren who resigned himself to reclining his head back over the top of his sofa, which he was glad he invested in years ago. He yawned again, almost in sync with the sun’s greeting and began closing his pained eyes to combat its piercing gaze. Ren wkndered how long Blanc would end up sleeping this time. The last time he saw her anywhere near this exhausted she ended up sleeping almost all the way through morning. The worn out goddess slept for fourteen hours straight before waking up and quietly sauntering over to him, scaring the pants off of him while mooching for tangerines.

Time passed again and eventually Ren’s fatigue faded for a while, giving him what he’s heard others call before a ‘second wind.’ Realizing he had left his flip phone charging overnight he decided to unplug it and finally make the push he needed to snack on something. He didn’t care much about what he ate, his stomach just needed to fill the ever-growing void he felt creeping up on him so after he ate a mix of crackers and cookies Ren checked the time on his phone, which read 9:47 am. “Ugh.” Ren thought to himself in response. “I haven’t pulled an all-nighter in years. My sleep schedule is going to be ruined for this.” He heard a slurred groan come from Blanc as he saw her roll onto her left, still asleep. It seemed like the sleepyhead goddess was still in a bit of pain from her bad posture last night but he couldn’t be sure so just in case he rinsed off an ice pack that was previously used and set it to the side before tossing it into his freezer door in preparation. Eventually a few hours later, Ren watched as the very sleepy Blanc slowly clambered out of her painful resting position and yawned before brushing the eye's sleep clean.

Blanc stretched her arms up to the sky as best as she could before opening her eyes, which were met by the sun’s glaring beams peeking through the curtain’s cracks. As she instinctively winced and turned away from its cruel greeting she noticed Ren, whose eyes were red and hair was out of place. Recognizing this unusual appearance, Blanc asked him if he had gotten any sleep last night. Ren explained that he hadn’t since he promised to stay next to her before she fell asleep but to his surprise, Blanc seemed to forget asking him to do such a thing. He guessed the experience was so traumatic or exhausting that her body and mind shut down in her sleep, causing her to blank it out so he asked her what she remembered from last night, aware he was putting her on the spot after just waking up.

Blanc shifted her body, aiming to find a better spot for her sore lower back before recanting what she could from the day before. “I remember Douglas dropping us off at the entrance of the Yongen alleyways and us entering the apartment safely. Then I spent some time looking for the perfect spot for Diamond Heart. You agreed I could do some shopping for a couple mountable shelves in the living room and then shortly after I thought you had fallen asleep so I went on to inform Rom and Ram of my day on Earth which eventually led me to rather ungraciously cry my heart out while wishing I was a better sister…” Blanc paused a bit, her eyebrows furrowing in discomfort with her verbally mentioning her deepest fear and insecurities. She never expected it to be easier to admit no matter how many times she’d think of herself that way and it may be more accurate to say she wouldn’t let herself forget it as she bowed not to be complacent in her problems going forward but the bitterness of her own feeling said aloud left a nasty aftertaste in her mouth she had hoped not to experience again so soon. Trying to gather her composure again, she straightened herself up a bit more and forced herself to keep eye contact with Ren, who was now equally feeling as awkward with her awkwardness before continuing. “Well I didn’t know you were listening at all. I was careless and drowning in my self-loathing, I let my guard down, which isn’t something I do often. Then you tried to comfort me… Well, you know the rest…” Blanc, not wanting to elaborate any further and marinate in her weakness, shifted her eyes downward and away from Ren just long enough for him to notice before looking back into his eyes, giving off a pleading feel.

Ren took the hint and began to respond, his mind drifting toward something she had mentioned earlier. “You said you wrote and talked to your sisters to update them every day.” Ren repeated. “I was wondering what you were doing on Pictochat when we first got the twin DS’. Were you drawing for them back then as well?”

“Yes.” Blanc replied, her tone rather dejected. “I don’t know why I find such comfort in the DS consoles but to me they vaguely remind me of home. I can’t quite place my finger on it. There are two of them so they reminded me a bit of my sisters, and with the chat features they have that could be saved and kept private, it felt like the only connection I had back to my world was in these consoles that I’ve wished so badly could convey my messages out home this whole time.”

“Wow, all the way back then too, eh?” Ren remarked. “I’m sorry you can’t get any response. I can’t even pretend to know what that feeling is like.” It was true. Ren knew all too well the pain of losing a family member. Especially a close one. After all, he had lost his dad to a tragic car jacking incident when he was younger. He was only 6 years old then. Even thinking about it extensively now still caused him great grief. It was like a great big void had opened up inside of him that day that bever fully managed to heal over the years. The older he grew, the more the pain ached as he began to see what life was like for other children around him without a father. Ren knew well that no amount of wishing could bring his father back but missing out on what his father could have been doing with him as the years went on was something he dwelled on a lot as a young teenager. His father would never see him graduate or get his first job. Never meet his first crush and wasn’t there to give advice to him when it failed. He didn’t hold it against his dad, and how could he? However there were a few times where he thought it might have been better if his dad had died earlier in life so he wouldn’t remember too much and hopefully feel a little less sorrow and emptiness. Looking back at his old self’s thought process when lige got rough, the current Ren still couldn’t shake his annoyance towards him. It was a foolish crutch he tried to clamber onto haphazardly and it was a disgrace to everything his father did in his lifetime for him. Through his distaste for his past self’s inconsiderateness though, he still felt sympathetic, and that wasn’t something he was sure Blanc could feel towards herself any time soon. Losing a loved one can make your home feel like a nightmare and Ren knew how hard it was to come to terms with losing one’s entire home and country despite them still being alive somewhere… He doubted many people on Earth would know that pain as bitterly as Blanc.

“I’m not sure I’ll find anyone who knows how I feel and I can’t say I’m okay with feeling this isolated but the longer I dwell on it the longer I’ll end up staying stuck here.” Blanc said. “Not that what I’ve seen of Earth is terrible or anything. I feel it’s taught me a lot and opened my eyes and interests a bit more.”

Hearing this, Ren took the opportunity to perk back up and pivot the conversation to a bit of a more hopeful tone. “So some of my magical charm has rubbed off on you after all.” Ren commented smugly, popping a one sided grin.

“You already said this world doesn’t have any magic.” Blanc replied coldly, rejecting his playful attempt to cheer her up and waiting for his grin to waver for a moment before further speaking. “I’d like to think I worked my magic on you instead, brooding boy.” Blanc’s falsely impassive demeanor falling away to reveal a smirk of her own.

Ren got the feeling he was being challenged, which felt shocking but also made him feel proud at seeing Blanc’s conversational skills improving alongside her already razor sharp wit. Still though, he wasn’t going to lose this war of banter without displaying a decent fight. “This world may not have the advanced magic you have in yours but I still had to teach you how to use our not-so-magical maps.”

Blanc was starting to get fired up. The energy she at one time would have channelled into aggression was now being called for the spirit of friendly competition. This newfound way of summoning her spirit felt lighter than before and she was eager to take it out for a test drive. “If you had such magical charms you would have saved your kinpaku ice cream from ending up all over your clothes back when we went walking through the park.”

“Weren’t you saying earlier that you’re a physical combatant in your world who prided themselves on not ever having to resort to magic?” Ren retorted quizzically. “Or are you just not that magical?”

“I’m magical enough to kick your ass in Smash Bros after just six hours of practice.” Blanc replied, her hands now firmly planted on her hips, her aloof, faux arrogance on full display.

“You were pretty magical when you fell on your butt after you got teleported into my room.”

“I managed to brighten up your dreary lifestyle and pull your spark back from the void and that’s beyond magic. I’m a miracle worker and you know it.” Blanc narrowed her eyes, willing to drive the win home.

“A goddess from another world who has had years of high level combat experience needed my help to stand properly on some city-approved non-hazardous ice.” Ren shot back, raising his hands up to his shoulders in a shrugging motion. “Truly, you are one scary being.”

“That same goddess mastered the ice rink just a few days later and it’s on video, you dork.” Blanc chided, aware she was losing ground in this battle of wit.

“The video that your heightened battle senses couldn’t pick up when it was being filmed. The same video of your ice skating mastery that was really capturing your mental anguish.” Ren reminded her.

“I bet you couldn’t wield magic if my sisters managed to teach you, providing you got the chance.” Blanc responded.

“Well I doubt we’ll ever know but you wouldn’t have the patience required to find out anyways.”

“Speak for yourself.” Blanc interjected. “I’ve grown a lot over the last few months being here with you.”

“You’ve grown?” Ren asked while raising one eyebrow in doubt of her claim. “You’re still 4’11.”

“I’m taller in HDD mode!” Blanc exclaimed, knowing she lost this battle. She felt as if her pride had taken a bit of a hit but it also felt nice to let loose and knew it was all in jest. Ren put up way more of a fight than she had expected. She thought flustering him would be as easy as it would be for Neptune to fluster Noire but she now had something to look forward to for the next time. The tiny goddess vowed she’d win the next test of wit; her fiery, passionate eyes still burning as bright as ever.

“HDD mode ?” Ren asked, actually curious this time. “Is that some special suit of armour you have or..?” Genuinely confused with no info to go off of, he waited for Blanc’s response, who gladly took the opportunity to lecture him about her greatness.

“It’s my true form.” Blanc explained. “In it I become way stronger and a bit taller as well.”

“True form…” Ren repeated before thinking aloud. “You did mention you had lost powers of some sort when you arrived here. Could it be that you lost your height as well?”

“No…” Blanc clarified. “I’m the same height as I usually am here as far as I can tell. I can’t access my heightened abilities or my goddess’ belief mode. We call it HDD back in Gamindustri.”

“What does HDD stand for?” Ren continued, trying to guess randomly. “Heroic Deadly Doomfist? Harmless Doodle Device?”

“I’m never letting you name anything.” Blanc remarked, unamused by his foolish musings. “It stands for Hard Drive Divinity. It’s the source of my goddesshood and the vessel of the people’s belief in me. It converts their hopes, dreams, aspirations and adoration into my superhuman abilities. It’s very powerful but almost wholly dependent on the shares of the people. The less shares you have, the weaker my divinity is.”

“Weaker?” Ren questioned, foregoing his earlier imposh remarks. There was so much he wanted to ask about. So much that didn’t make sense to him but yet some of what she was saying could be understood. Hard Drives… Belief… Goddesshood and transformations… Hell, the place she hails from is called Gamindustri. This whole speech would be enough to land someone in the loony bin. At least he was glad for once that he was so gullible and soft of heart. He couldn’t imagine Blanc’s search being anywhere near as fruitful had she met anyone else. The woman phased into his living room in the middle of the night for goodness’ sake. There wouldn’t be many people willing to hear her out without clenching some type of weapon and that would be before she spoke about a bunch of nonsense. “So your powers depend on your peoples’ belief in you and they translate directly into combat abilities. Also you mentioned hard drives. In my world hard drives can store and retrieve data in whatever digital component it’s connected to. I guess the concept of hard drives doesn’t have to be limited to the cyber and digital space. Your transformation… Is it a physical one? Maybe one that can be imbued with the thoughts of the people around you?”

“That’s practically what I mentioned earlier, but yes.” Blanc affirmed. “My whole body undergoes a transformation. My hair, eyes and even clothes transform. I can enter HDD mode whenever I want and there’s no delay in transforming either.”

“To be able to instantly swap on outfits…” Ren contemplated dreamily. “If only I could possess such a power.”

“Ahem.” Blanc cleared her throat loudly to gain his attention once more. “To answer your question, these hard drives you speak of in this world, from your description they may be more of a one to one when it comes to my hard drive functionality than you think. I’m going to have to look into them a bit more. This Wii we play on. It sounds like it would have a hard drive in it. I guess I’ll start there.”

Ren, after taking a couple of seconds to register what Blanc was implying, quickly dashed in front of her with his arms spread wide open to bar the curious goddess from touching his sacred console. “Blanc! You can’t just take apart my console! It doesn't work like that!”

“Well it has to work somehow.” Blanc replied.

“Well…” Ren started, unsure if Blanc was serious or trying to one up him for his witty victory earlier. “Yes, it works, but if you take it apart you’ll probably break it.”

“Hm. Devices that are sold to people with no way to put them back together if they break…” Blanc stared at the Wii from behind Ren’s widely spread arms before turning away and heading back to the couch. “Quite foolish in design. Oh well. I’ll go find one myself.”

Ren audibly sighed, thankful that Blanc spared his old console. It wasn’t exactly hard to replace but it had a ton of special memories attached to it and clips to match them from before all his friends moved away. “Anyways Blanc, I take it you’re alright now, besides the back pain you seem to have incurred.”

“I’m fine. Achy but otherwise okay.” Blanc responded, taking the time to stretch once more and loosen up her joints. “You mentioned decoration last night and how I was allowed to personalize my living space a bit. I still know little of this world around me. Where’s a good place to look?”

Ren paused a bit in thought, trying to think of an area that Blanc would find easy enough to get to and also wouldn’t be too far away from home or a transit line in the event she would end up carrying too much. After some time he concluded that the underground mall where he conveniently worked would be the best spot for assorted needs nearby and offered to show Blanc around before his body finally won the war of attrition and knocked him out for a lengthy, long overdue sleep. To his surprise, Blanc declined and pulled out her map detailing the Shibuya area to bolster his faith in her navigation skills. It seemed there was a hint of softness under her exterior that Ren hadn’t seen too often before. It was as if she felt guilty for being the cause of his lack of energy and sleep last night. It seemed there was some good out of last night after all. He wasn’t sure if Blanc was aware but other than her finally opening up to him about some of her worries she was also exposing a vulnerability of hers to him that he otherwise wouldn’t see. Ren trusted Blanc, especially after she began to trace back the lines through to Shibuya and asked for him to confirm the entrance into the Underground Plaza. His body began to finally relax, knowing he wouldn’t have to worry about his dear friend anymore.

“I’ll be heading out then Ren.” Blanc finalized, folding the map away and throwing on a pair of boots she had purchased once after work. “Is there anything you need?”

“Nothing I need, no.” Ren replied, already feeling the effects of his much prolonged sleep creeping in again. His head felt like it was being pulled underwater and his eyes started to burn again. As he was about to give in to the culling of his mind’s hypnagogic lullaby he snapped himself back to consciousness briefly to warn Blanc of something he just remembered. “Blanc!”

The young goddess turned toward him before he could say anymore. “Yes Ren?”

“It’s only a few days before Christmas. There’s going to be a ton of people shopping. Please be careful.”

“I will.” Blanc replied, reassuring her sleepy companion so he would fall asleep as soon as possible. “Since you’re on the couch already, feel free to use my blankets and pillows. I don’t think you’re in much of a position to argue, brooding boy.”

Blanc gently crooned that last part, convinced Ren wouldn’t fight it. She surmised correctly as the last thing she saw before turning to head out of the front door was a soft smile on his face. Satisfied with her mini victory, she quietly opened the door and entered the still musty smelling hallway before locking the door and trying the handle to confirm it was locked properly. With her victory hanging high in her mind she made her way down to the entrance and walked out into the sunny but partially overcast day. It appeared the darker clouds were usurping the sun and bringing a rather frigid breeze through the winding alleyways. While Blanc personally felt more at home in the weather, she knew Ren would be rushing to wrap a scarf around his neck right now. As she began to navigate the pathway out into Shibuya’s Central street she recalled her first time trying to navigate the alley to get to the old man’s cafe. It wasn’t that hard to move through but she was conflicted on whether she should be happy she’s learned so much or saddened by the amount of time she’s been away from her homeland and sisters. In the spirit of the infectious holiday season, Blanc decided to focus on the real reason she wanted to go shopping. It was the perfect time to sneak a gift in for Ren, knowing she hit the equivalent of an annual Lowee Luck of the Draw Lottery with him being her guide in this world. That lottery was something she had a notorious streak of losing to. On one hand she was okay with losing as she didn’t want her citizens to think it was all rigged but it also felt awkward to lose every draw in history. With her luck here so far, she was willing to accept never winning the Lowee lottery in her lifetime. Getting permission to customize a living space a random human let her crash in after she spontaneously phased into jis apartment with no warning or notice had to be up there with the luckiest things that has happened to anyone in the whole of Gamindustri.

Deep in her contemplation over Ren’s interests, Blanc found herself at the entrance to Central street much faster than she thought she would. In response to the bustling city streets and increase of conversations, Blanc lifted her head back up from her rumination to address the area before her, making sure she stayed vigilant. Ren was right. Along the streets, although it sounded busy, there were so many more people speeding along to various destinations than she had seen before. Most weren’t talking or walking with anyone but still seemed in a rush. Blanc assumed this was the result of the Christmas rush she had been hearing about both from Ren and the various customers she serviced alongside Mr. Okurimono in his cafe. The clouds overhead that were gradually taking over the sun’s presence seemed to win the battle and the sun that earlier blinded her as she woke up was now hidden from her gaze and in its place was an amalgamation of dark clouds blotting out the light and casting its heavy net over the area before her. Feeling the air turn a tinge colder, Blanc decided it would be best to stop marvelling at the crowds in front of her and begin joining them to her destination before it began to snow.

The crowd proved more difficult than she initially thought it’d be to walk through as everyone was walking at different speeds around her, causing Blanc to feel a bit claustrophobic. Eventually though she managed to break free of the bustling crowd as she entered Station Square, where everyone began breaking up to find their respective trains. Blanc thought back to when she first rode the trains of this world. Ren had warned her that they could get quite crowded, and even after boarding at a less busy time back then the trains were still packed. Seeing how many people were filing through the hate lines and scanning their fares made Blanc visibly shudder and not from the freezing wind blowing by. She was glad she didn’t have to suffer standing in the cramped train today. Making her way through the square and navigating to the stairways leading down to one of the underground market’s entrance, Blanc thought about stopping by Ren’s work before realizing the shop was likely closed since he wasn’t in today. She wondered what kinds of flowers Japan had that could survive the winter. There definitely weren’t many in Lowee.

Finally in the shopping area, Blanc found that the market stalls and vendors were all in close quarters with each other. There was little room to walk more than single file up and down the areas so she began to follow line walking further into the market, thankful most people seemed to be slow in their searching so she could also take her time. The first stall she saw was selling some sort of antique knick-knacks. She recognized some of the old trinkets as she had them in her world as well. Trinkets like pocket watches, compasses, skeleton keys and a sundial. It seemed that here on Earth these items were also largely outdated. There were a few other items in the stall that she wasn’t as familiar with but as far as gifting went, none of them would interest the people she wished to gift so she decided she’d come by another time for her own browsing desires. The next stall seemed to be selling some Christmas themed sweets, with gingerbread houses front row and center. Some cinnamon and mint candy canes donning the sugar frosted lawn and a brown sugar formed fence guarding against the sugar ball snowmen on the sidewalk. The house was gorgeously decorated but as much of a sweets fan as Blanc was, there would be no way her and Ren alone would finish it in one go and it would hurt her soul a bit to eat such a beautiful creation. She also wasn’t too fond of hot cinnamon. Other treats included gingerbread cookies, gingersnaps, Christmas related objects turned into more cookies, sugar coated gumdrops, mini cartons of eggnog, wagashi, a matcha tiramisu and a triple layered kurisumasu keki with the option to only buy slices of it for a cheaper price. Blanc asked the shopkeeper how long his stall would be selling the Christmas snacks. She was looking for something closer to a souvenir for Ren and her sisters wouldn’t be able to eat a slice of cake any time soon so it’d spoil in the fridge but Blanc really wanted to try the cake at some point. The shopkeeper informed her that after Christmas Day passed he would be baking until January 2nd, a week after the holidays ended. He pointed out that he wanted the people of Japan to get the chance to enjoy one last taste during Hat-sumode, where they would pray for health, happiness and fortune throughout the new year. Blanc wasn’t entirely sure what Hat-sumode was so she made a mental note to ask Ren about it when it was closer to happening and thanked the vendor, bowing slightly with her hand over her heart for his response.

Blanc walked up to the next stall, which sold a bunch of tools and parts for appliances. From what she knew of Ren she figured he wouldn’t have too much of a use for most of these items. Blanc had already noticed he had the basic tools before during one night where she got exceptionally hungry and checked the wrong drawer at night. Screws, a hammer, many different nails varying in length, a screwdriver, allen keys, an adjustable wrench amongst many other bits and bobs. Blanc continued down the path checking out everything the market had to offer. The stands were so versatile. She really could find all she needed here, but a good chunk of the stalls didn’t have anything too special in her eyes. At least, not for Christmas gifts. She eventually found herself in the opposite line of people, and a stall up ahead caught her immediate interest. They were selling books and even some plushies. Immediately, Blanc thought about Rom and Ram and how they’d love looking around the shop. As she approached the stall enough to get a proper look into their stock, her eyes latched onto a large fluffy white polar bear stuffie wearing a green scarf and holding a red present. Blanc asked the lady who was running the stall how much the bear was and she replied telling her it was discounted currently and cost 4200 yen. Blanc’s eyes lit up at her response, already deciding to make the purchase. The bear was massive. Almost half as tall as her. The goddess forked over the required yen in exchange for the bear and thanked the cashier, ready to head out until her eyes happened to flicker in the direction of a book called Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. The cover displayed a younger boy wielding a wand and casting spells. She wasn’t sure what the novel was about but Blanc recalled Ren mentioning that this world didn’t have real magic, it only had interpretations of what it would look like from various mythologies. The book piqued her interest. She had to know how similar the people’s concept of magic was here to the actual magic her sisters could use back in Lowee. Blanc wagered it’d interest Ram as well, who always loved magic more than anything. Blanc shuffled back over to the cashier and apologized to the people behind her for holding up the line and then purchased the book to go along with her massive polar bear plush before quickly walking back into the moving line ahead of her.

The bear was extremely awkward for her to carry and she needed to find a place to sit down without placing her items down on the nasty ground. She refused to dirty the gifts she bought for her sisters. She began looking around for a bench to take a break and reset her grip on the massive bear and spotted one ahead near the stairway she entered from earlier. The problem was the line was moving so slowly that she wasn’t sure she could carry everything long enough to reach it. Desperately trying to get a better grip on the bear, Blanc tried throwing it up in the air a bit to get a more solid grasp on the middle section of the bear with her left arm, which was unsuccessful. The gift the bear was holding proved to be too difficult to get past with just one arm. Against the warnings in her mind, Blanc tried to throw it up again and she regretted it almost immediately as this time her arm only bounced off of the plush, causing it to juggle in the air. Blanc, who realized what she needed to do but didn’t have the physical ability to do so, watched helplessly as the bear tumbled onto the ground. She closed her eyes instinctively and flinched, scolding herself mentally for ruining Rom’s grand gift when a familiar voice called out to her.

“Seems like you needed some help.”

Blanc opened her eyes cautiously, hoping not to see the bear dirtied on the ground. Instead, she was greeted by an extremely tall man in a long fur overcoat. His pale white skin, tall figure and blonde hair made him stand out like a sore thumb amongst the rest of the passersby. She recognized him almost immediately. It was Chris, who she met back during that embarrassing skating session she had a couple weeks ago.

“That was a close one, right Blanc?” Chris gestured, lifting the bear up to show her that no harm had become of it.

“Thanks Chris!” Blanc practically cried out, garnering a bit of attention from the various people around them. It was only for a second and they went back to their activities as fast as they were interrupted from them but Blanc took their glances as a sign the two of them should exit the lines so she asked if Chris could carry the bear down to the bench she was eating earlier which she was thankful nobody had taken yet to which Chris agreed.

The ease Chris had while underhanding the two foot bear made Blanc a little jealous. It was as if he was carrying a small chocolate bar. Blanc had always been self-conscious about her height back in Gamindustri but thankfully Chris and the other passersby weren’t likely to tease her for it, unlike a certain purple haired, nosey goddess back home. The two managed to secure the bench and Chris offered to help carry the bear with him for the rest of their journey if nobody else would be coming to help. Blanc was grateful for his continued kindness but also felt guilty at how they met again. Christopher handed her a card and told her to contact him if she wanted to pursue any extra skating lessons and even called her a prodigy on a level he never thought he’d see in his life and yet she honestly forgot about his card in the back of her bag. Blanc doubted she would have called any time soon and here he was, showing up out of the blue in time to save her gift from suffering the worst fate of all, muddy fur. Instead of dwelling on her inaction and forgetfulness, Blanc struck up a conversation, gathering her composure and settling into a better position for her still aching back.

“So Chris, what were you planning to do in the underground plaza?”

“Ah, just a bit of last minute shopping.” Chris answered, settling into his seat in response to Blanc’s leaning back. “I’ve already got the gifts I wanted for everyone this Christmas but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to look around on my day off.”

“Just browsing then.” Blanc replied, thinking about how late she was doing her shopping. “I’m sure you already have a good idea of what I’m up to.”

“Just a guess.” Chris responded modestly, chuckling while looking at the massive bear he was now holding tightly. “I don’t suppose you were going to grab some more today, were you?”

Chris got the answer he was looking for without Blanc saying anything. Her cheeks tinged a little red and it wasn’t from the cold drafting down the stairwell beside them. She averted her eyes before admitting defeat to a battle she participated in alone. “I still need a gift for someone.” Blanc muttered.

“Say no more.” Chris said unhesitantly. “Do you already know where you need to head to buy it?”

“I’m actually not sure what to get them still…” Blanc admitted. “I’ve never been too good at gifting others. I was hoping I’d find the perfect gift while walking through the underground plaza here.”

“Ah, we can carry on then.” Chris affirmed, repositioning the big bear in a way where he wouldn’t be blocking any other passerby, “We can just transfer into the line you were just in.”

“Are you sure?” Blanc asked. With just one glance at the two lines she could tell it was busier than before. “Where are we going to transition? It’s completely swamped. Everyone is practically a finger’s length away from the other person on both sides.”

“Here, just follow my lead.” Chris replied as he joined the line both he and Blanc were in when they first entered the plaza. As the two walked past the first four stalls Chris found an opportunity and slipped a hand into his left jean pocket and pulled out a couple of yen coins. Without any warning to Blanc, he dropped a couple in the direction of the other line, allowing them to roll for a second until one ended up close to where he had seen Blanc earlier before commenting. “Oh! My yen!” Chris’ loud voice caught the attention of a few people near the coins in the other line, who began eyeing the money on the ground by their feet. “I’m terribly sorry. Excuse me. I just need to get by.” Chris exclaimed as he slipped his way into the line. Blanc, unsure of what she was supposed to do in this situation, was saved by Chris’ quick wit. “Excuse me Miss.” Chris said while gesturing to Blanc. “I can’t pick all this up when I’m holding your bear. Do you think you could help me grab this and slip it back into my pocket?” Blanc should have never doubted his plan. She slipped into the crowd alongside him and began grabbing the coins as the people who they snuck next to began to walk around them, not wanting to be seen next to this incident. They scrunched up their faces and muttered some things Blanc couldn’t understand but got the gist of. They thought Chris’ inconvenience was annoying and didn’t want to help. Chris, who could actually understand them still, didn’t seem to be bothered by their remarks. Instead, he turned to Blanc and winked as she slid the two coins back into his pocket.

“See?” Chris said with a smirk on his face. “I knew it would work out.”

“It did, but I don’t think it was subtle enough to pass the intention.” Blanc pointed out, referring to everyone else behind them trying not to look at them.

“Oh, that’s the point.” Chris replied. “I take it you can’t actually understand Japanese.” It was true. Blanc didn’t know what most of the people around her were saying. Usually she had Ren or the chief translate it and sometimes she could understand a simple phrase or a few words without grasping the context but that was just due to hearing it enough times and asking someone she was with what it meant. Beyond that extremely limited knowledge, Blanc didn’t know anything of the Japanese language. She was just incredibly grateful that most of the people she ended up talking with extensively, Chris included, knew how to communicate in English as well.

“No, I don’t.” Blanc answered. “They didn’t look happy though.”

“Have you ever gotten the impression that some people here are less tolerant of you?” Chris asked. “Or maybe that they’re less likely to interact with you at least?”

“I’ve never had the former.” Blanc responded. “I don’t know if I’ve paid attention to the latter as I’ve not always been the most social myself.”

“Ah, then you’ve been pretty blessed so far.” Chris concluded. “That’s great honestly. I’m glad for you. I’ve not been so lucky. I tend to stick out a lot over here. I’m sure you’ve noticed.”

“You definitely stand out. You’re at least half a foot taller than almost everyone else in this line and you’ve got blonde hair and I don’t often see that among the people in Shibuya either.”

“Right. I’ve already told you I’m not originally from Japan and that I moved here years ago.” Chris firmed. “In my experience, people tend to lump me in with some of the rowdy foreigners and vacationers from other countries and sometimes those people can leave a bad impression on the everyday people here. Because of that some people are often less tolerant of me or assume I’m going to be ignorant and not respectful of their culture and boundaries.”

“So in pulling your little stunt, you’ve just made everyone else around us dislike us.” Blanc finished. “I’m not sure how much of a good thing that is.”

“It’s not a good idea to pull stunts like these all the time but by tomorrow they'll forget all about us and we didn’t cause anyone actual harm.” Chris responded incisively. “I wouldn’t do such a thing in most cases but with it being so packed in here it probably would have taken us another twenty-five minutes to get back to this spot.” Chris began to walk ahead once more, not wanting to cause any more discontent in the public around them. “Speaking of which, we should probably move along with the line if you’re not interested in anything this vendor has to offer.”

Blanc took a look at the wares, a bunch of pottery and vases, and shook her head. She began to walk behind Chris and they both integrated back into the line. One seemingly annoyed woman behind them made a clicking sound with her tongue and turned toward the vendor they were just in front of to place an order. As she looked out at the upcoming stalls Blanc continued their conversation.

“What were the people saying earlier?”

“Oh, a few things. None of them were particularly nice.” Chris replied before raising his pitch a bit higher and speaking in a nasally tone, imitating how he imagined them to sound while nitpicking his stunt. “It’s always the foreigners with no respect.” “Ugh. Have some decency, will you?” “Rushing to pick up those cheap coins? They must be tourists.” “I can’t see over your big head.”

Chris’ delivery along with his especially comical facial expressions on that last line made Blanc snort reflexively, laughing at the relatability she felt. Chris was about a foot and a half taller than her. She couldn’t even see over his shoulders.

“You too, eh kid?” Chris said, trying to stifle a laugh and bring more attention to them than he already had.

“When you skate you must be all limbs.” Blanc remarked, still chuckling at that passerby’s comment.

“Well the only time you would have seen me, you were ten feet deep in your own performance and too busy showing up the rest of us,” Chris shot back in a caring way. “You still don’t believe me? You’re a genius. A true maestro on the ice.”

“Somehow I think you’d still be taller than that.” Blanc added.

“Than ten feet? You jest too much.”

“I’m also not that gifted.” Blanc said, gently reminding him of her circumstances.

“Well I don’t suppose you’d want to give a demonstration once more, would you?” Chris asked, genuinely interested in her talent. “I don’t want to make any promises, but I truly believe you have what it takes to be one of the best alive, with a flair the world may never see again.”

“We’ll see.” Blanc replied. “First off, I have to secure this gift for Ren.”

“Ren?” Chris repeated, turning his head and tilting his gaze downwards to meet her eyes in interest.

Blanc hadn’t made the connection before. Chris met Blanc back when she was skating on her own. He had never met her helpful companion. “Oh, yeah he’s my companion during my stay in Japan.”

“Companion?” Chris continued to probe. “I wasn’t aware you weren’t staying too long here. I figured you had already stayed longer than the average tourist or vacation-goer could afford.”

“I’ll be here for the foreseeable future. Eventually I’ll be leaving though.” Blanc stated. “Ren’s my guide to Japan. The culture, the cuisine, the society and people’s interests, mine included.”

“Are you a student then?” Chris asked.

“No, not a student.” Blanc responded. “I’m just here visiting and seeing the seasons. I’m thankful Ren offered me a place to stay during all of this.”

“He just offered you a place?” Chris asked. He felt like he was stuck on repeat, constantly asking more questions but he was genuinely confused. Somehow the more he learned, the more confused he became regarding Blanc’s circumstances. “You never knew him before your visit?”

“I’m rooming with him, although his apartment is pretty small.”

“You called him a companion before. Are you sure he’s just a guide to you?”

“Huh?!” Blanc nearly yelped. “Of course he is. He showed me around the city and continues to do so. I wouldn’t be as informed about the city as I am now without him.”

“I see…” Chris replied, not entirely believing the now considerably flustered Blanc’s story.

“Why do I get the feeling you and I are seeing something different?” Blanc asked him quizzically. She narrowed her eyes to concentrate more on his response, forgetting temporarily that that wasn’t how squinting worked.

Chris just shrugged, insouciant in his gestures and response. “The beauty of eyes subsides in their seemingly flawless perception of truth to the beholder, even if another person can see their blind spots for what they are.”

“Enough of your cryptic lunacy.” Blanc retorted with a faux coldness in her tone, unable to hide her embarrassment. “You’re the one who has blind spots here!”

“I’d argue my statement made perfect sense, but you mentioned getting this Ren a gift earlier.” Chris relented, holding back his smirk. “Have you seen anything that stands out to you for him yet?”

“N-No.” Blanc stammered, trying her best not to let Chris' incessant pestering get to her anymore. “I don’t really know what he likes…”

“You’ve been living with the dude for months and you don’t even know what he likes?” Chris repeated, half stunned at her declaration. “Yeesh. Poor guy.”

“I can definitely find him something!” The ever-flustered goddess replied, unaware she was raising her voice. “Look, there’s a figure stall coming up. I’m sure I’ll find something there for him.”

Respecting her wishes to not be teased any further, Chris and Blanc walked in silence until they were in front of the stall Blanc had mentioned just a moment ago. With the figures not clearly in view and in full display, Blanc had a plethora of colourful, beautiful and even some terrifying figurines to look through. There were some monster looking figurines Blanc asked Chris about. He clarified that they were called kaiju here, massive sized monstrosities that were often depicted destroying civilization in movies and games in Japanese culture. There were some spirits she recognized from some of the chief’s wild stories in between serving customers. The old man was an avid folklore buff. Some of the spirit figures she could make out were bake-danuki, oni, kitsune, nekomata and shinigami. Then came what really caught Blanc’s attention. There were some figures of what looked to be well proportioned women with sometimes regal or badass attire, usually brightly coloured hair and various weapon attachments. Chris noticed her intrigue and told her most of the section she was eyeing belonged to what she remembered hearing from Ren as anime. She wasn’t quite sure of what Ren liked in anime so although she was sure he’d appreciate one of these figures, she didn’t want to accidentally get him something she wasn’t sure he’d recognize.

Her eyes then panned over to the gaming section of the figurines, where she quickly spotted some girls that looked shockingly similar to her and her friends. These figures didn’t seem to have a name or box associated with them as when Blanc asked about their condition, the stall-keeper informed her that these particular figures among a few others from different games were donated by someone who was clearing out their apartment a while back and thus didn’t have the proper packaging. Blanc took a closer look at the one that seemed to resemble her and although the figure wasn’t wearing an outfit she’d typically wear, its appearance did look a ton like her, just with a lot less detail. She wasn’t sure what game this odd girl was based on but Blanc thought it’d be humorous at least to give him a figure of someone she hoped would remind him of her. The contemplative goddess wondered if her gifting Ren something that reminded her of herself was being a little too vainglorious but in the end she settled for her rather funny, personalized gift and paid for the figure, which the cashier happily placed into some bubble wrap, and then into a plastic bag. Emi’s prized doll somewhat resembled a her and her sisters and she named it Diamond Heart so Blanc didn’t see the harm in her gift for Ren, especially since she wasn’t going to be around in his apartment forever. Eventually she’d return back to Lowee, leaving him behind. He needed something to remember her by.

“Got everything you wanted now Blanc?” Chris asked, breaking her from her contemplation once more.

“Yeah. I’m pretty sure I do.” Blanc replied. “You mentioned the rink. You wanted to see if my oh so beautiful performance was a one off.”

“That I did.” Chris confirmed.

“Well I’m not too confident in my ability to recreate a quarter of what I did last time, but in the spirit of my near indomitable competitive nature, I’m not going to back down from the challenge.”

“I like that fire you’ve got kid.” Chris practically sang. “You’ve got the drive, the form and the elegance, mark my words. Don’t worry if it doesn’t come to you all at once. It’s already nothing short of a miracle that it happened once. Don’t be disheartened, be glad it happened and take pride in the knowledge that you can make it happen again.”

“You’re right Chris. Thanks for the encouragement.”

The two held their heads high as they continued walking down what felt like the world’s longest conga line, hopeful for Blanc’s return to the rink. Chris reached the stairwell first, the polar bear still well in his grip but when he turned around to see if Blanc was behind him, she pleaded with him to wait a second.

“What’s up, Blanc?” Chris inquired. “Did you forget something?”

“Yeah!” Blanc replied, “I told Ren I was going to shop here for a shelf I was looking for to personalize my living space back at the apartment, and I got so caught up in buying gifts for those I care about that I forgot I was supposed to be undercover. I still need a shelf that would fit nicely with Ren’s bland walls.”

“I guess you’re in luck, kid.” Chris replied while pointing to the shop directly to Blanc’s right that seemed to house shelves, drawers and dressers. Some mirrors and paintings as well. Since the line out of the plaza didn’t wrap around to the shop and there weren’t any customers there Blanc practically skipped over to the cashier, whose eyes practically twinkled in response to her enthusiasm. Chris made his way over, bear still in tow, now in his other arm so he wouldn’t sweat on the poor gift and joined Blanc in her browsing. It seemed she had already settled on a nice dark oak multi layer shelf rack and was ready to fork over the funds for it but Chris quickly stopped her from doing so, pulling out his wallet with his free hand and locking eyes with the cashier.

“How much is it, good sir?” Chris asked, catching Blanc off guard.

“3700 yen, sir.” The cashier replied. Chris happily pulled out his debit card and paid for the shelf, while Blanc whisper yelled at him, asking why he was paying for her when she already had more than enough.

“Would you like your receipt with that?” The cashier said, holding it out for Chris to take.

“Thanks, friend.” Chris responded, pocketing the receipt and grabbing the bag with the shelf inside of it. “I’ll see you again shortly.”

“Thank you for your patronage.” The worker called out to Chris as he began walking toward the stairway again.

Chris looked back at Blanc before tilting his head in the direction of the stairs, gesturing to her to follow suit.

“Why did you do that?” Blanc repeated, insistent on getting an answer from him while jogging up behind him. “I had that.”

“I know you did, and I did too.” Chris replied nonchalantly. “Just think of it as an investment I’ve placed in your skating future. Just make sure to skate at least once biweekly.”

“You think you’re so slick…” Blanc said, reluctant to thank the smugly smiling giant before her. “You paid out money unnecessarily towards a passion I was always going to fulfill.”

“Heh, you say that now Blanc and I believe you.” Chris said, acknowledging her passion. “I just needed a little insurance for myself. Let’s say I had a moment of weakness. My faith clouded for a mite.”

“You fool…” Blanc said, giving in to his witty response, wholly thankful for his help. “Thank you. I appreciate your help today.”

“I’m glad you do. I’ve been holding this bear for so long I think I’m getting attached to it.” Chris replied. “Odds on me naming it?”

“Okay, now you’re pushing it.” Blanc replied, straight-faced and devoid of the happiness she was just exuding.

“Man, you are scary good at that.” Chris commented as a chill ran down his spine. “I’ll put the bear down when we get back to my car. I’ll drive you home after we hit the rink. Sound good?”

“Sounds great.” Blanc concurred. “Let me know when the trunk’s open.”

The two made their way across Shibuya Station Square and Chris pointed out a seemingly unassuming silver car parked just ahead of them. He pulled out his car keys and pressed the button on his fob, triggering the car’s chirp-like response.

“We’re good to go.” Chris said, turning his head to check in on Blanc, who was diligently following behind him. “I’ll let you know when the trunk’s unlocked. Do me a favour and lift it up, will ya?” Chris called out.

“Blanc gave him a thumbs up in response and walked to the back of the trunk, ready to lift on Chris’ mark.

“You’re good to go!” Chris shouted a few seconds later with his head in the car. He seemed to be fiddling with the seatbelt but Blanc couldn’t quite make out what he was doing. Regardless, Blanc lifted the trunk, pushing hard while standing on her tippy toes. She placed her copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone in the trunk, followed by the figurine she bought Ren and just as she was about to ask what Chris was doing he showed up behind her, placing her shelf neatly in the back of his trunk, smiling broadly again, a clear sign of some mischief Blanc picked up on right away.

“Where’s the bear?” Blanc asked, feigning her unamused expression, her hands repositioned on her hips in a scolding nature.

“Well if you’d follow me…” Chris started, dramatically waving his right hand outward in some grand gesture. They both headed toward the front seats where Chris raised an eyebrow, awaiting her response while continuing his speech. “Meet the new and upgraded Sir Polarbearington! Now living it up larger than ever in the front seat, riding in style!”

Blanc, while appreciative of the fact Chris strapped the polar bear down in a seatbelt, questioned the sanity of her driver, who waved around his hands eccentrically, still waiting for her reply..

“Have you ever been bullied before?” Blanc asked dryly.

Chris gulped, taking the hint while full well knowing this was just Blanc’s humour at work again. “Let’s not start today.”

The two buckled up and got comfy before Chris put his foot to the accelerator in sync with the snow that began to fall down from the dark, heavy clouds above them. “Onwards to the skating rink, Miss Blanc!”

The drive in Chris’ car was quite comfortable. The seats were cozier than the ones Blanc and Ren were on in Douglas’ beat up old truck at least. Blanc could finally feel her achy back getting the comfort it needed to rest off the last of its fleeting pains. The snow began to fall a bit harder towards the end of their journey and instead of the usual conversation Blanc expected out of Chris, he just kept whistling a tune she didn’t know while checking on the road’s status ahead, making sure they wouldn’t end up spinning out over the fresh blanket of snow. Blanc spent her time staring out of the windows, which she rolled down to get a clearer view of the falling snowflakes. It was no secret Blanc’s favourite season so far on Earth was the winter time. The seconds merged into minutes in her mind as she lost track of the time and her aches by being too immersed in the dreamy snowscape around her.

Before she knew it, Chris announced the two of them had arrived at the ice rink, which seemed to not house as many people as it usually did. Chris parked his car off to the side of the street nearest the entrance to the rink and unbuckled his seatbelt, prompting Blanc to come to and follow suit. Glancing at the line, she saw there was nobody waiting to be fitted with rental shoes. Seeing as it was her time to strike, Blanc wasted no tome exiting Chris’s back door, barely giving time for it to shut as she beckoned her giant personal driver friend to join her. Blanc, who had now felt much better physically and was no longer plagued by back pains, made a mad dash to the rink, trying to rid herself of the performance anxiety eating at her confidence.

“Woah-ho, girlie!” Chris called out, trying to catch his breath, failing to keep up with his excited skater friend. “I’ll be right there.” He yelled out before slowing down to catch his breath.

Blanc, who had heard Chris but hadn’t responded, instead greeted the rink attendant behind the booth. The woman was the same person who had given her the skates the last time she showed up. Recognizing her instantly, she perked up, a spark igniting in her eyes as she responded.

“Blanc, right?!” The woman asked excitedly. “I love your work. I’m so glad your last performance was recorded.”

“So, you knew about that as well, Miss…” Blanc stopped, waiting for the lady to address herself.

“Saya!” The lady responded, shrugging in response to her mental reminder not to forget her pleasantries and manners. “Saya Kimimaro. I know the man who uploaded the video. I didn’t think I’d get a good angle of your performance until I saw a mini crowd gathered around the man to watch the video back. The views from this booth aren’t exactly the greatest.” She continued, chuckling as her awkwardness became more apparent.

“No, the windows aren’t exactly the largest.” Blanc responded while taking a look around the booth. It was honestly kind of cramped. Too cramped to work in for her at least. “A size five pair of adult skates, please.” Not wanting to drag out the conversation and listen to too much praise she didn’t quite consider herself worthy of yet, Blanc picked up one of the pens in the holster next to the sheet everyone used to clock in with, the signed her name, the date and time she was borrowing the shoes for, capping her enjoyment at an hour this time. She had to mentally check herself so Ren wouldn’t be too worried. The skating trip was all improvised and as far as he was aware, she had only gone to the underground mall for a shelf. She was worried he’d assume she got lost even with the map and her earlier confidence in navigating Shibuya.

“Yeah, right here.” Saya replied, pulling a box aside with the exact skates Blanc wore the other times she’d been on the rink. There must not have been many people skating her shoe size for them to be wrapped in their own box the way she had left them last. Just then Chris caught up, now able to breathe normally

“You know, appearances really are deceiving…” Chris said while walking up next to Blanc. “For such a short woman you possess the speed of a cheetah.”

“A cheetah?” Blanc asked, unsure what Chris was referring to.

“Oh, uhh… it’s a really fast animal. Some say the fastest with legs.” Chris replied, more surprised at Blanc’s lack of animal knowledge despite also being a foreigner than her speed at this point.

The attendant tilted her head up to meet Chris’ eyes before greeting him in a similar manner to how she had with Blanc. “Mister Shinebaum! I can never get over how tall you are.”

“Afternoon, Miss Kimimaro.” Chris replied, bowing lightly in response. “How’s the job today?”

“Oh, kind of boring if I’m being honest.” Saya responded before working herself back up into a fluster. The young girl seemed to not be too controlled in her conversational skills, which Blanc could heavily relate to. Sata waved her hands in front of each other rather erratically before raising her voice unintentionally. “Not that I don’t like my job! It’s just been a pretty slow day and if I’m honest I’d like to go shopping before I miss my chance and everything’s gone from the Christmas rush.”

“I know the feeling.” Chris glanced at Blanc, who was now strapping the skates to her feet before talking further. “We just came from doing some shopping ourselves. The whole city’s packed and everyone seems like they’re scrambling for some last minute gifts.”

“Ah, you came together then.” Miss Kimimaro deduced while fetching Chris’ size thirteen skates from the back, which were similarly never worn aside from him. “Getting a lesson from Blanc?” The attendant asked, blushing a bit, half jealous.

“Hahah!” Chris bellowed, taking hold of his skates. “No, not quite. I’d say I’m the one coaching her this time.”

“Really?!” Miss Kimimaro raised her voice in a questioning tone, shocked by his answer. “You’re one of the best I’ve ever seen on the ice, but I would have guessed Blanc here is multiple times your senior in the art.”

“Well she’s one hell of a performer but she tends to get some creeping performance anxiety “ Chris explained while trying to keep Blanc’s true novice state a secret. “She tends to tense up a lot when it comes to actually performing and she’s not too confident in the flips and twirls so she’s asked for my help in mentoring her a bit.”

“Ah, I see.” Miss Kimimaro seemed to eat up Chris’s half-lie, halting any further questioning as Blanc now looked at Chris pleadingly, trying to get them both out of this awkward situation by feigning an unquenchable desire to take to the ice with him. “I guess even masters of the art seek out other masters sometimes to improve. She had a good eye for teachers, that’s for sure.”

“Nah, I’m not too special.” Chris replied, downplaying his actual abilities. “I’m just a student who had larger ambitions than he could make come true in the end now living vicariously through this true genius of the craft here, honoured to help in any way I can.”

Blanc tugged his left trench coat sleeve harder, practically dragging him along with her as Chris quickly signed off on his pair of skates as well.

“Alright, we should go use the time we have left to skate.” Chris followed Blanc towards the entrance while waving to Saya, who couldn’t help giggling at Blanc’s expressions.

“I’ll be watching when I can, you two!” Saya yelled back at them, who had already made it onto the ice thanks to Blanc’s persistent efforts to drag Chris along. “I’ll see you in an hour!”

It wasn’t just Saya who had their eyes on the two of them. Blanc caught several other skaters and even some people watching around the edge of the rink staring at them. “Just how many people saw my video from last time…” The now mildly worried goddess pouted. “Now I’m too embarrassed to mess up.”

“You won’t mess up.” Chris affirmed, taking her right hand in his left as he pushed off, taking the initiative so she wouldn’t have time to stew in her own panic. “You’ll do fine, I know so.”

“How are you so sure?” Blanc asked through her intense concentration to make sure she was gliding properly, concerned with falling so soon.

“When you were on the ice the last time, you had no idea what you were doing, but you also had no idea that the world around you was still moving.” Chris pointed out, starting to pick up the pace a bit, fully trusting in Blanc’s ability to keep up with him. “That level of inattentiveness is a pretty bad thing, all things considered. Someone could have gotten hurt. Maybe you and a few others from your neglect, but that dreaminess, that level of deep concentration, conflict and zoning out ended in you displaying potential beyond your wildest dreams of yourself. I used to wish so badly that my conviction would result in a performance half as beautiful as yours was.”

Blanc, who was now easily matching pace with Chris, took a few seconds to reflect Chris’ words of wisdom. Without thinking too hard about her skating performance. She began to relax a bit more onto the ice, even though it was still subconsciously driven. Chris sensed the tension of her palm clinging onto his subside a bit and in response he took advantage of her now loosened movements to begin kicking off and skating wider, in an almost dashing state. Every few seconds he’d turn his head slightly behind him to make sure Blanc was keeping up and as he suspected, her movements were as fluid as his. It almost reminded him of how he felt skating with his old mentor back in his home country after a few years of his improving thanks to his lessons. She moved near effortlessly in tandem with him, replicating his movements as if on pure instinct.

As they turned the corner, now a solid four times faster than they had started, Blanc asked Chris about something he mentioned earlier to Saya. “That praise about you saying I was a genius and truly skilled at the craft… Did you mean it?”

“Every. Single. Word.” Chris responded, not a hint of wavering to his voice. “If I didn’t believe in you this much I don’t think I’d be here skating with you right now.”

Without a moment to register what she saw next, Chris let go of her hand and dashed even faster forward before spinning on one foot with his hands stretched outward. Blanc counted the spins. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven. He was so graceful it was almost like she was watching a scene out of a movie Ren would watch. It was in between his rapid spins where Blanc’s heart began to race and yet keep a steady pace. Her breathing accelerated and yet it felt more full than it had before today. Time seemed to slow down and thanks to her years of battle prowess and on the spot analysis, she was able to read every movement, pose and breath from the magnificent skater in front of her without any struggle. She was no Arfoire at imitation but his near effortless appearance while twirling didn’t seem too hard to copy.

With her mind’s worries now echoing so faintly in the back of her head, Blanc decided to just go for it. No longer worried about the crowd, falling or the embarrassment that came with it, she rushed forward and lifted her right foot up, arching it outward to create a triangular shape with unparalleled precision and speed. Placing her balance in the front of her feet and spinning on her heel, she finally let go of the already near silent nagging and spun with all of her might, gathering her strength in her core and pushing outward with her arms and previously pointed leg with such force Chris could feel the air around him brush by him as he ended his spin. He turned around in time to watch Blanc begin to mirror his spin with her own flair to it. She exuded a much more powerful aura in her spins, generating much more propulsion than he had while staying stiffer in her rotations.With his highly skilled eyes, he could tell Blanc’s stiffness wasn’t a result of her panicking or losing control of her muscles. Her rigidity was an act of sorts, as she wouldn’t be able to maintain her form otherwise. She spun around and around, barely losing any speed with each new rotation. The leg she kept pointed outwards began to shift upwards as Chris counted the spins in awe, still flabbergasted at Blanc’s transformation. Five, six, seven, eight, nine. On the tenth spin her leg raised above her shoulder at an almost perfect 45° angle while her torso and up leaned the opposite direction, her hands clasping each other with her arms stretched out past her head 135° counter-clockwise from her leg. While her raised leg’s movement still remained stiff, her torso and arms loosened again, blowing Chris’ mind. Now watching her with his jaw agape, Chris began to count once more as she spun in her new pose. One, two, three, four, five. Every single spin she made felt like he was watching two grandmaster ice skaters with completely different routines and styles in one body. Her lower half, as solid and rooted as could be. Her upper half, more fluid and flowing than the crystal clear mountain lakes in his homeland. There was no mistaking it anymore. The talent she possessed in skating was simply inhuman. There wasn’t a single person he could think of from the roster of skaters he looked up to as a teen who could dream of pulling something like this off with no prior experience. Once and it was already an insane fluke, twice? No, there was just no way. He couldn’t believe he wasn’t dreaming, yet even in his dreams there was a level of unrealism he couldn’t hope to break free of to think up such an act.

On Blanc’s side, she truly wasn’t thinking anymore. A privilege she had scarcely been awarded in her life. The difference this time was she could see and comprehend her moves. She wasn’t sure what she was doing or how she looked doing it but in her mind she painted a clear mini-movie of what she wanted to try and she just hoped she could follow through and live up to her mental picture of herself. The scenery around her blurred as a result of her speed and body movements. All she could see was a mix of grey and white falling through her view with varied neon colours and shaky, faceless bodies clapping and cheering for her. As someone who had often preferred soaking in the moment and taking in every detail, Blanc found more solace in the blinding lights and blurry scenery rushing by than she expected to. Her brain was rushing at top speeds with pure dopamine as she ended her second loop of spins, slowly bringing her upper half back upright in conjunction with her leg lowering. As her pace slowed down she began to worry she’d fall over. Holding this pose wasn’t almost impossible without an extreme amount of pace. She hadn’t accounted for this. Thankfully Chris already caught on and strode over to her, his left hand cupping the lower side of her ribs, giving her the chance to rebalance while being lifted back up.

As the crowd roared and cheered louder than Blanc had heard so far, despite there being less members in the audience, Blanc mouthed her thanks to Chris, who just nodded as if to say “Don’t mention it.” Before he could compliment her on that world-stunning performance, Blanc removed his hand from the left side of her rib cage and tapped her fingers against his before taking off and yelling “Keep up if you can!” The usual light glint of her eyes Chris swore had formed into yellowish diamonds, shining brighter than the moon’s reflection in the skies at night, her wide, innocent smile stretched to the far corners of her face as she looked back at him, hypnotizing him into joining along with her.

“Is this a victory lap?!” Chris yelled out to his starry-eyed skating companion who continued to pull away from him, prompting him to try harder to keep pace, which he was successful in.

Without answering directly, Blanc simply yelled back. “It’s your turn to follow me!” just as she leaped into the air, pulling off a 360 before landing a little shakily. Chris took note of her slight balance problem but thought nothing of it as he copied her move, landing it more stable than she had and gaining on her. Blanc didn’t let up, too enamoured with the winds whipping by her face and enraptured by this now twice in her lifetime feeling of pure ecstasy on the rink. She heel-spun to face Chris before jumping in the air again, this time executing a 540 and landing way better, her arms spread out before her like a plane. Chris again copied her movements and like the professional he was, landed it perfectly. Trying to ramp up the intensity one final time, Blanc raised the same leg she had earlier and spun twice clockwise before dipping her upper body down and to the right on a 45° angle and swapping feet on a dime, completely reversing her direction for another spin. She kept this up another three times, spinning once or twice and then shifting her balance and spinning the opposite way with so much delicacy and speed that Chris couldn’t hope to copy. This young woman continued to completely shatter every boundary his brain had once placed on him. In an act of admitting defeat as they turned the second to last corner of the rink he kicked off of his less dominant foot and backflipped twice before spinning on his dominant heel and kicking forward with so much force he caught up to Blanc and clasped her left hand in his right, stretching both of their arms into the sky and placing his other hand on his chest as the crowd all roared in approval. Blanc waved out at the crowd, slowly lowering her speed as they bounded around the final turn. She had never felt such elation constantly coursing through her body before. She doubted the other goddesses back home had either. If they had, Blanc assumed they would have stopped fighting each other a long time ago. Some of the members in the crowd rushed to dish out compliments to the two at the rink’s entrance while others stayed standing where they were around the rink, avidly recording the entire encounter.

The two were immediately bombarded with compliments and questions, overloading what was left of Chris’ hard working brain cells. He opted to just reply with his thanks with his hand earnestly resting on his heart. Blanc meanwhile didn’t really have explanations for how she did what she did and just recounted the intensity of the scenery and her feelings while she was channeling her skating prowess. For the most part, her description seemed to tide over the curious crowd, which then began to ask for photoshoots and autographs. Chris wasn’t spared from their requests, but as overstimulated as he already was, he didn’t dare deny the love the crowd was showing him. The two posed for photos and signed their initials with Blanc settling on BWH, the W and H standing for White Heart. The weirdest request she got was to sign a guy’s arm with a Sharpie he happened to have in his backpack. The kid looked no older than seventeen so she assumed he was a student, especially with his clothes closely resembling a uniform she’d seen around a few times that other kids his age seemed to wear. After a while, the crowd they had gathered began to dissipate and head their own ways, with many of them thanking them multiple times, bowing and curtsying before waving goodbye.

Blanc wasn’t aware of the time as she had no way of checking but Chris, who checked his wristwatch to make sure it didn’t suffer any damage during his wild flips and spins, did. Not at all surprised, partially due to the mental fatigue creeping up on him, he saw that an hour and ten minutes passed so he urged Blanc to head with him back to the stall where Miss Kimimaro was waiting to hand over their skates. Blanc was a tad worried that Saya wouldn’t be happy with them returning the ice skates on time but her worry proved unfounded as fast as they developed. Saya began shouting and cheering at the top of her lungs, actually jumping for joy the closer they approached, not at all phased or thinking about their late delivery.

“WOOHOOOOOO!!!! HOLY SHIT YOU GUYS ARE AMAZING!!!” Saya screamed, not at all caring about swearing this once. She knew if anyone complained to her boss, after she showed him the video of what just happened he would be swearing along with her. “OH MY GODS YOU TWO ARE STUNNING!!”

Chris, now too fatigued to entertain her ear-piercing volume, politely gestured for her to lower her voice a bit, fighting off his instinct to wince at the noise. “Thank you, it was a fun exercise.”

“That was an exercise?!” Saya said in disbelief, now bringing her voice to an acceptable volume out of respect for the two performers. “Most people couldn’t dream of doing what you did in front of me today Chris. You don’t get to say your performance was light work!” Saya then turned her eyes to Blanc, who had just taken off her skates and placed them on the counter, waiting for her original shoes back. “And you Blanc! Holy hell! I still can’t believe anything you do is humanly possible. I wish I had even one percent of your talents on the ice. Phenomenal as always! Please promise me you’ll save me a ticket at whatever next performance you do if you’re in competitions. I know the venue would sell fast if more people saw your performances here.” Saya stopped for a second to repackage Blanc and Chris’ skates, handing them back their own shoes.

Upon slipping hers on, Blanc replied. “At this point I don’t think it will be long before what we just did gets posted on that YouTube account again.”

“Oh, that man. Yes he was in the crowd again today.” Saya confirmed, still positively beaming. “I’ll have to point him out to you next time if you wish.”

Blanc, not exactly sure who this man was, wasn’t sure how to reply this time. She settled on letting Saya know she would ask her when she wanted to, if she wanted to.

“In any case, Blanc, Chris. I’m sure your names will be the talk of the area in a few days, maybe after Christmas.” Saya concluded. “Is there anything else i can do for you?”

“Did you want an autograph or photo as well?” Chris asked, still fighting off his exhaustion.

“Oh!” Saya exclaimed, not expecting his response but fully ready to take him up on the offer. The only thing barring her desires being Chris’ tiredness. She didn’t want to impose her wishes onto him. “Um… maybe next time. You seem a little worn out today.”

If you were to do the same with Blanc, you’d surely be as fatigued as me.” Chris replied before pulling his fractured mind back together for a moment to honour Miss Kimimaro’s fervent desire this once. “For you, I can make an exception and get this worn down body into gear. Come out from the booth. We can do a group photo or two.

Jumping at the opportunity after his approval, Miss Kimimaro rushed out with her phone in hand, ready to get into position between her two newest idols. Unable to say no to her infectious enthusiasm, Chris and Blanc ended up taking eleven different photos, some sporting silly photos, some more wholesome. All of the extra photos pushed Saya over the moon, her own mind now joining the others’ as she began to lose her ability to think straight, a warm fuzzy wave of soft static washing over her. After a few more minutes of chatting, Chris waved goodbye to the ecstatic stall attendant and both he and Blanc made their way back to his silver Hyundai where the polar bear he had jokingly nicknamed Sir Polarbearington sat politely, diligently awaiting their return.

“Ready to head home, Blanc?” Chris asked, his eyes now feeling the weight of his exhaustion.

“Yeah, I should get back as fast as I can so Ren isn’t too worried.” Blanc replied, entering the car’s back left door and beginning to buckle her seatbelt.

“Great. I don’t think I’d be a good fit for driving in these conditions if I waited another hour.”

“Don’t you dare crash.” Blanc warned him sternly.

“I won’t, I won’t.” Chris promised the deadly serious goddess. “Where are we headed, exactly?”

Again, Blanc forgot Chris didn’t know where she lived or where to drop her off. She pulled out her map for reference and pointed around the entrance to where Douglas had dropped them off beforehand, not knowing the name of the alley and only sure it was on the right side of central street.

“Ah, that’s not terribly far.” Chris reversed from the spot he was in and began to turn out and away from the rink, heading back the way they had come an hour and a half ago, asserting the drive would only be another twelve or so minutes.

Blanc wasn’t sure whether it was because she was so exhausted as well or if she was just still riding high on that feeling of near enlightenment earlier but the drive back felt like seconds. It was as if she blinked and they teleported at the entrance to the alley back home.

“This is it.” Chris announced, mustering the energy he had left to grin widely at Blanc. “I don’t think I can get Sir Polarbearington any further via car and I don’t really like the idea of leaving my car running unsupervised so I’ve got a funky solution. In the trunk I don’t know if you saw, but I have a few spare boxes and some leftover tape to match them. I can’t even remember why it’s in there anymore. We can package the gifts in the box so it’s easier for you to carry. What do you say?”

Blanc undid her seatbelt and exited the door at the same time Chris did, liking his suggestion. “It’ll work perfectly. I need a way to hide the gifts from Ren as well so I could use the disguise. I can’t believe I hadn’t thought about this before.”

“Well it’s a good thing your pal Chris has you covered yet again.” He replied, literally patting himself on the back twice.

Blanc, not heartless enough to chastise his goofiness when they were so tired just sighed quietly and agreed, thanking him for everything he’d done today. The two got to work packaging the three gifts properly into the larger box, with Sir Polarbearington just barely fitting inside. It really was Blanc’s lucky break. As Blanc cut the tape and smoothed it over the folded cardboard flaps to seal the presents, Chris pulled out his car keys once more, getting ready to leave.

“Hey Blanc, do you still have my business card?” He asked over his shoulder before she picked up the box.

“Yeah, of course.” Blanc replied. “It’s kept snugly in one of my pockets here.” Blanc fished the card out for a second to flash it to him as proof. Satisfied with how well she had taken care of it, Chris saluted her with his right hand.

“Don’t be a stranger, alright?” Chris urged. “Remember that shelf? I’ll see you in two weeks’ time.”

“I remember.” Blanc confirmed, jumping up to close his car’s trunk, the box now placed under a store’s awning next to her to keep the bottom from getting wet. “I’ll call you. Get home safe.”

“I will.” Chris replied, waving to her with his hand out of the driver’s side window that he rolled down to keep himself awake. “Do you not have faith in my abilities?”

“You’re such a beg.” Blanc said, finally breaking her facade of indifference and chuckling. “If your driving’s half as good as your skating I imagine the snow will be the one fearing you.”

“That’s what I like to see!” Chris shouted before starting his engine. “On behalf of Ren, you look so much more picturesque when you’re smiling. Seeya!”

Before Blanc could raise an objection to his last statement, Chris drove off, careful to navigate the streets ahead of him as the city still hadn’t had enough time to begin shoveling it for safety. “Ugh, that guy.”

Not wanting to stand around anymore in the cold with this awkward gift box, Blanc mustered her remaining spirit and began what felt like a much longer than usual trudge back to Ren’s building, her hands still tingling from the rush she felt on the rink earlier.

The relief Blanc felt as she finally pulled the key free of the lock on Ren’s door was strong. Stronger than most days so far. As she bent down to pick up her box of gifts, she looked up and saw Ren already holding the door open for her, looking much better than she had last left him. The redness in his eyes had subsided and it seemed he had already taken a shower since he smelled like pine, the scent of his favourite body wash.

“Need help with the box?” Ren asked, curious how she ended up buying so much she stored it in an almost two and a half foot long box.

“Ah, no I’ll be fine.” Blanc replied, finally getting her fingers and knuckles under it, successfully lifting it up off the ground and walking inside. “Sleep well?”

Falling for Blanc’s subject redirection, Ren closed the door and locked it behind him before following Blanc to the living room. “Yeah. As good as I could have for sleeping at almost noon. I only got three and a half hours of sleep so I’m probably going to want to crash again after I eat but I wanted to wait for you to get home before I made anything.”

“I’m famished.” Blanc replied, her stomach growling at the very mention of food. “At this point I could eat anything.”

“Anything, hm?” Ren remarked, taking the cue from her loudly rumbling stomach and walking over to the kitchen. “I hope you keep that energy come Christmas Day.”

Blanc managed to lay the box flat under where she wanted to install the triple layer shelf she just bought. Upon her success she walked up to the kitchen area and sat down in her usual chair. “What’s for dinner on Christmas?” She asked, unsure if she should be concerned or delighted. “Are you making some unusual dish for the celebration?”

“Oh, no it’s just a Christmas ham, but it’s a whole ham.” Ren clarified. “I figured you’d appreciate there being massive proportions as I’ve found out you can eat way more than I would have gave you credit for by looking at you.”

“What, are 9 full plates of proteins and tangerines too much for you?” Blanc responded slyly, poking fun she knew she likely couldn’t finish at the moment due to her extreme fatigue.

“9 plates?!” Ren shouted, unaware of how loud he was. “Yeah you’re definitely not from this world with that type of metabolism, that’s for sure. I’m sooooo glad you have a job. I wouldn’t be able to afford all the groceries you’d buy if you had the space for them.”

“Blanc one. Ren zerooooo.” The smug goddess concluded, slowly dragging out her speech to savour the victory while raising and lowering her eyebrow in rapid succession. “Sorry for your loss, brooding boy.”

“You’re not making that stick.” Ren said, the most deadpan in expression he could be.

“Oh I am.” Blanc retorted. “You may not be making a sadder face right now but it’s still not a smile.”

“Alright, I’ll concede.” Ren finalized, directing his focus back to the kitchen. “So what is it you want today?”

“Hm…” Blanc said, trying to piece her brain back together and remember what they had to make. “What about some ramen? Make at least five large bowls for me, will you?”

“Do you know how long that’s going to take in prep time?” Ren practically whined. “You’re gonna kill me here.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll help however I can.” Blanc said, aiming to reassure him as she got up from her chair. “Now what do you need me to cut?”

“Let's start with the green onions.” Ren responded, thankful that ge at least had a bit of help during the cooking.

The two enjoyed each other’s company as the cooked and ate, and sure as Ren said earlier, the large bowl of ramen he ate began to work its magic immediately and put the sleeper on him. As he yawned, so did Blanc, who once again muttered under her breath about yawns being contagious before yawning again. Accepting that neither of them were going to catch a break from their sleepiness, they decided to call it a night early at only 8 pm and Ren walked back to his room to sleep. Not forgetting her routine, Blanc sleepily walked over to her twin DS’ and began her nightly ritual, drawing a funny photo of her failing to carry the polar bear gift she got for Rom and she then drew Chris on a separate panel carrying the bear for her with a few coins on the ground at some faceless people’s feet. Blanc wished the two a good night and great rest and even though she couldn’t promise to be back with them any time soon, her message was much more hopeful than it was yesterday. “If they can hear this, I’m sure they’ll be happy that their big sis has regained her confidence.” Blanc thought out loud before gently shutting the consoles and placing them back in the drawer. Relieved that she could finally sleep once again, Blanc tucked herself in and got into a comfy position, this time more aware of how she was laying down to not incur the wrath of her back in the morning. As soon as she closed her eyes, she drifted off to sleep, resting for another ten hours.

For the next two days Ren and Blanc enjoyed each other's’ company around the house, not wanting to go back outside and face the hell that was Christmas rush for simple supplies they could hold off on grabbing for a few days and so came the big day. Christmas Day. The massive holiday she was told was celebrated all across the world.

“Rise and shine, sleepyhead.” Ren crooned, a smile stretched wide across his face being the first thing Blanc saw as she opened her eyes. “Merry Christmas, Blanc.”

“Merry Christmas to you too, Ren.” Blanc replied soft and sleepily as she brushed the crusted mucus out of her eyes. She didn’t exactly want to get up yet but she also didn’t want to fall asleep again accidentally and miss some of the big day. Conflicted in her options, before her mind could choose sleep Blanc began to sit up, with Ren’s still looming presence being the deciding factor. “Ugh, I could have honestly gone for a couple more hours of sleep.” Blanc whined, holding back the beginnings of a groan for the sake of the occasion.

“Yeah, well it’s always two hours.” Ren commented, sitting down on the couch with her now that there was room to do so. “Then you get the two hours and you find yourself asking for two more.”

“You sound quite experienced in sleep wrestling.” Blanc remarked, now finished with brushing out the remaining bits of mucus. Stifling a yawn, Blanc wiped the tears that followed from her eyes. “So, what do we do for Christmas again?”

“Did you forget already?” Ren questioned, genuinely confused. “I thought we went over the origins of Christmas and the current popular traditions associated with it just yesterday.”

“Oh, we did.” Blanc reassured. “I can’t believe the bait worked.”

“Baited in the first moment of the day.” Ren muttered, sighing at his lack of vigilance. With Blanc becoming more adept at conversation also came her favoured dry humour and lighthearted trolling. Ren wanted to scold himself for falling for her mind games that easily but as he was about to, Blanc got up and made her way over to the box she had placed down on the other side of the living room a couple days ago and pulled a pair of scissors out from the drawer where she kept her art and writing supplies, conveniently settled right next to the box, pulling apart the scissors’ blades and making one clean slice through the tape.

“Oh yeah, you never told me what you had in the box.” Ren said. He didn’t get a response this time either, but Blanc had already opened the cardboard flaps and picked up an item she then held behind her back. As she walked back to him, she told him to close his eyes for a second. He did, even going as far as to cover them with his hands. Ren felt Blanc sit back down on the couch before she tapped him on his right shoulder with her right hand and asked him to open them again. As he did, he was greeted with a highly detailed figurine of a girl with brown hair in a similar style to Blanc’s donning a big fluffy white hat and wearing something akin to a light white cardigan with a brown fur lining the top of the outfit.

“Merry Christmas!” Blanc said once more, this time a lot more cheerily.

“Thank you, Blanc!” Ren replied, hugging her lightly in response. His sudden hig caught her off guard which made her blush a little bit uncontrollably.

“What are you doing?” Blanc asked. Ordinarily Blanc would get defensive and show her annoyance at being grabbed unannounced, recalling how some of the other goddesses back home practically made it their favourite pastime when visiting Lowee’s Basilicom but given the occasion and her recent emotional growth, Blanc was just taken aback.

“Oh, I’m sorry.” Ren said, worried he’d messed up the vibe. “When my mom and I used to exchange gifts with the rest of my family, we’d hug the person after every gift as a way to show our deep appreciation for their thoughtfulness.”

“No, I’m sorry.” Blanc countered softly. “It’s a bad habit I have, being resistant to physical displays of affection. It felt nice when you hugged me. Back at home the goddesses I was once at war with often teased me and would poke, grab or grasp me randomly and I found it pretty annoying. It was just reflex.”

“I was going to say some friends you have there but if I remember correctly, you said you all had only made up recently due to the imposing threat the woman you called Arfoire brought to your respective nations, right?”

“Well it’s more accurate to say we never made up, we simply banded together since we knew nobody would prosper under a world Arfoire was trying to bring about.” Blanc clarified. “An enemy of your enemy makes you friends, or something like that.”

“Over here it’s ‘an enemy of my enemy is a friend’ but maybe it’s different in your world.” Ren responded. “Anyways, I really do appreciate the gift today Blanc. It looks a ton like you.”

“It did, but it lacks sufficient detail to be me.” Blanc said. “Still, I figured it would remind you of me after I get back to my own world.”

Ren held the figurine up closer to Blanc to get a better one to one comparison. He didn’t quite understand the ‘less detailed’ part Blanc was referring to. To him it was practically a copy of her in figurine form. He didn’t know where the figurine he was holding was from but as far as he could tell, this could have been her twin if she had one. “No, this is basically you.”

“There’s no way. I wear a similar outfit but nobody would make a figurine of me, I’m not even known in this world. I also found this at a stall in Shibuya’s underground plaza three days ago and the owner said they were dropped off used and without a case months ago, before I even arrived here.” Blanc retorted.

“Blanc, I know you’re not a liar, and the two times you actually tried to bluff me you proved to be horrendous at it, thanks to me knowing you for a while. With that being said, are you sure you didn’t get a portrait done with the intent of gifting me a custom figurine of yourself?”

“You wish.” Blanc replied, her tongue pressed firmly against her left cheek in a pouting expression as her response to being interrogated. “No, I didn’t. I don’t know where it’s from. It was in the game section of the figurine stall but the other ones the previous owner donated with this figurine also had no box or name. They were all sealed in a plastic bag that the stallkeeper happily freed this doppelganger of mine from when I bought it.”

“Sorry for being such a skeptic on you Blanc.” Ren said apologetically. “It wasn’t my intention. I genuinely thought you might have been pulling a fast one on me. Thank you again for your gift. I’ve got a perfect spot for it in my room. I’ll definitely be thinking of you when I see this figurine on days where I eventually wake up without you here anymore.”

“I’m glad then. I wasn’t sure what else to get you from the figurine shops. You’ve periodically mentioned anime and some games you and your friends used to play but I didn’t know much beyond the minor details I got from you. Certainly not enough to guess who you knew from a couple of figures without your guidance. I hope you take as good of care with that figurine as you do me. I’m seriously very appreciative of everything you do for me. I’ve said it before but I really don’t know how well I’d be doing right now without you. Thank you Ren.”

“I still can’t believe sometimes that the way we met three months ago actually happened. It feels like a very long, mind-numbingly convoluted fever dream when I think of these last months compared to the rest of my life. As much as this world has shaped and made an impact on you, I think you might have unwittingly changed me as well, Blanc. I feel guilty saying this because I know when the time comes I’m going to be so very happy for you to leave, but I almost dread it in a sense. It’s selfish, but you’ve brought joy, chaos, happiness and your own flair of depression into my life in a way I’ve never felt before. It’s like the life I live now is painted with a colour palette I never knew existed. I hope you don’t take it the wrong way.”

“I don’t.” Blanc replied, reassuring Ren, whose hands had gotten a bit shaky in the last couple of sentences. “I know exactly what you mean. I can barely grasp my isolation from the world I’ve spent all my time in until now, even at this very moment when I think of it. That pain is immense. More than I think I could ever describe. When I finally get the chance to head back, I think it’ll be bittersweet. The same way I feel now about the loss of the very world I hold dear is probably going to be similar to how I’ll feel leaving this world behind again. I’ll miss you, Mr. Okurimono, Mr. Kazuha, Chris, Little Emi and Maila, Saya, Miss Kobaya and Miss Furuka, even the customers I help serve at Okurimono’s cafe. Knowing I’ll probably never be able to head back… The same way I have to keep living without Gamindustri, holding onto the belief that my sisters and nation are okay, I’ll have to just hope you and everyone else I care about will be okay.”

Ren and Blanc shared a moment of silence after that, both unsure of what to say next. They thought to themselves for a bit until Ren wanted to break the solemn feeling that permeated the air around them.

“Wait here for a sec, Blanc.” Ren said, his words sounding crispier than anything a few minutes ago. “It’s my turn.”

Blanc did as she was told, seeing as Rej extended the same courtesy to her when she was presenting her gift. Ren took the figurine she gave him with him into his room, presumably to place it in the spot he mentioned he wanted to put it in and in under a minute he came back with a black box with a red bow attached on top. The box read “Samsung Galaxy 21.”

“Here you go Blanc. Merry Christmas. I hope you like it.” He handed it to Blanc, who took the bow off of the box first, flipping it upside down and placing it on the coffee table. As she took off the box and uncovered the items inside, Blanc realized what Ren had gifted her. A whole phone with a glassy white backing she could see her reflection clearly in. Blanc placed the phone back in the box it came in and then set the box on the coffee table next to the bow before practically jumping into his arms to return the hug he gave her earlier. Ren, who now found himself in Blanc’s position from his hug, definitely didn’t expect it. He found himself repeating Blanc’s initial shock and blushed instinctively as well. Ren hugged her back, happy as could be. Blanc never showed this much affection to anyone, so Ren treated this moment like gold, knowing that without Blanc needing to utter a word, she was truly grateful for his gift.

“Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you Ren.” Blanc gushed, still gripping Ren’s back tightly. “I was tempted to buy a simple phone myself, but for you to get me one of the latest phones I’ve been hearing some people talk about… That must have cost you a small fortune. I know saving that wasn’t easy. I know gifts aren’t about the money and are more about the intent and thought behind it but I couldn’t not say anything about how much you must have worked to make this happen. I’m just so glad I can finally call people, or check the time when I need to, even though I should have bought myself a watch before now. I can take photos to show my sisters when I get back home.”

Blanc didn’t give any signs to Ren that she wanted to let go of him any time soon and truth be told, Ren didn’t want to stop hugging her either. For the first time since she had crashed into his apartment months ago, Ren noticed how much he’d grown to like Blanc. He had never considered the idea that he might actually like her. Even now he wanted to push that idea out of his head as he knew Blanc’s main concern would always be finding her way home, as it should be. She didn’t have time for relationships, and Ren didn’t want to have his heart broken knowing she would eventually leave his life. It could be any moment as far as he knew. He could wake up tomorrow and she might be gone as fast as she appeared in the middle of the nigbt back in September and he wouldn’t know. As much as his mind forbade him from further mulling over his feelings in the matter, Ren dismissed it’s worries for now, wanting to bask in their passionate hug for now.

Eventually after what felt like only ten seconds, Blanc detached herself, thanking him once again for his precious gift before she began to unravel the cords for the charging block to make sure the phone worked. The two chatted for a while about the festivities people were likely up to around the city with Ren suggesting to Blanc that she should message the others she knew the number of to wish them well. Blanc liked this idea, having remembered Mr. Okurimono’s number off by heart due to the amount of calls he’d get randomly during store hours on his personal phone. She messaged him first, then pulled out Chris’ card that she kept safe in her pocket to wish him well next. Having trouble remembering Miss Kobaya’s number last, Blanc asked Ren to give her Kobaya’s number from when they exchanged their contact info a few days ago. After saving it to her contacts list as well she sent a long worded list of greetings and warmest wishes to her, Miss Furuka, Little Maila, Emi and even Chef Botan.

While Blanc was making her holiday rounds, Ren sent his messages of seasons greetings and weekly check-ins to his mother, grandfather and the few old friends he still talked to. Having finished before Blanc, he began to fire up the stove, pulling out the massive crock-pan hybrid to place the ham in which he had already left to be rinsed with semi-cold water that helped defrost it healthily. He knew it would take around four hours to finally finish and he woke Blanc up late out of care for her beauty sleep so it was already almost noon, even if it didn’t feel like it to him. While he waited for the oven to beep, Ren and Blanc made some more small-talk about Blanc’s nation, and how they handled festivities this time of year. Ren recalled her mentioning Christmas being a celebrated holiday even in her world so he was curious what the differences were. As they were diving further into the policies and groups of power in Lowee, the beeping of the oven signalled to Ren the preheating phase was over so he tended to the ham and placed it carefully on the middle rack to sit and be monitored for the next near four hours. Blanc continued explaining the mental relief she felt celebrating Christmas here as opposed to back in her homeland since Ren asked why she would be so stressed around the holiday season before. Blanc answered as Ren checked to make sure his timer for the ham was active on his phone. Blanc had always found stuck with a pile of paperwork she had to read through and approve for miscellaneous events people wanted to host, forms the public filled out to acquire funding and permissions to occupy public spaces. She often had to tackle at least a hundred and twenty a day for the month leading up to Christmas Day.

“That sounds awful.” Ren remarked, putting his hand on her shoulder. “Nobody should have to be stuck working that much alone during a festive occasion everyone should be enjoying.”

Ren turned the television on and switched it to a radio channel playing Christmas music to invoke the festive feeling and the two spent the next four hours talking, while taking various breaks in between. Ren showed Blanc how to operate a few features of her new phone. Blanc told Ren all about her favourite pastimes back home, in particular, her penmanship and fondness for training her strength. Ren recounted funny memories he had with his old friend group growing up and even some customer mishaps he experienced over the years working his last few jobs. Near the end of the timer Blanc heard her phone’s notification system chime. Realizing she had left it charging for the last two hours she unplugged the cord and checked on the notification, only to find she had a series of messages from all the people she had contacted earlier.

From ‘Chief’: Woah. Got yourself a phone now, high roller? Moving up in the world. I just hope you know how to operate it. I had to double check the message you sent me because at first I thought it was spam. Merry Christmas to you too, and pass along the same message to Ren, will you? You know it’s hard to believe you’ve only been working with me for just under three months. I still remember you asking me what a cappuccino was. Hah, you had me absolutely befuddled. You picked up the coffee grinder and espresso machine pretty quickly so I’m sure you’ll get the hang of the phone. I’ll be visiting some old friends later, Douglas included, so I'll just tell him you wished him a Merry Christmas as well if you don’t mind. I’ve got to get ready now so I’m gonna cut this message short. These old bones don’t work as well as they used to. Stay safe out there kid. I’ll see you in two days. Don’t party too hard. Or do. Just do it responsibly.

From ‘Skating Jester’: Woah! Upgrades already, huh? Now you REALLY don’t have any excuses for ghosting. Merry Christmas to you, your “friend” and the bear. Hey, have you heard any commotion recently from some of the folk in your area? That same guy who posted your first video online posted the second one of us a few days ago. That one seemed to be a huge hit and some of my relatives have seen it as well, though that’s majorly because the man listed my old stage name in the title of the video. That dude definitely did his research. Anyways, I take it I’ll be hearing from you sometime soon after the New Year? Don’t worry if you forget, now I have the power! I’ll text you if you don’t. Seeya later, aliiskater!

From ‘Earth Vert’: Merry Christmas and Season's Greetings Blanc! Wow! Maila and Emi haven’t stopped talking about you, and yes, Emi’s been talking. A ton actually. It seems you’ve sparked a fire in her we haven’t seen in a long time. It’s still pretty limited to a few topics but progress is progress. Maila wanted me to tell you your skating performance from a few days ago was totally awesome. Her exact words. Emi said she can’t wait to talk to her big sis later. You’ve made one hell of an impression. It’s not just the girls though. You’ve got admirers amongst the children after your gift-giving who wanted to wish you well until they see you again when Maila yelled out about you having a phone now. Now that I have your number, would it be alright if I talk with you later to set up a facetime event? Maila and Emi won’t stop asking about it. I can walk you through it if you need help. Chef Botan wanted to tell you that the next meal’s on him and he’s taking requests as long as you let him know a couple days in advance. Oh, I almost forgot my message. I don’t know the pain of having to leave your family behind but you just let me know if there’s anything I can do to help. I actually used to want to be a therapist before the children here at the Red Cross Early Years Orphanage swayed my heart. I can’t promise you I’ll be able to help but I can promise to try. I could sense your parting wasn’t too great. I’ve got to get back to the children now so forgive me for cutting this short. We’ll be in touch soon. Warmest regards and well wishes. - Miss Kobaya, Miss Furuka, Emi, Maila, Chef Botan, and the rest of the children.

Blanc couldn’t stop herself from grinning at their messages. They had warmed her heart at least five times over. The more she thought about how much she cared for everyone here though, the more she also realized that the holes in her heart from the loss of her sisters, friends, country, and even the other rival CPU’s couldn’t be filled up, not that she wanted them to be. This Christmas had been much more enjoyable than the last few she had been through but Blanc couldn’t help feeling a bit guilty that her siblings weren’t here with her right now. Her mental sulking was unwittingly interrupted by Ren, who walked up to the table beside her carrying a bowl of leftover ramen in one hand and two plates in the other, barely able to hold them both. One plate had half a baguette and some mini butter containers. The other was stacked to the brim with glazed honey ham and a few yuzu, which Blanc had never tried before. The smell of everything had blended into what Blanc imagined Celestia would have smelled like before she ventured up to the top the first time back in Gamindustri: pure heaven.

“Dinner is almost served.” Ren announced, setting all of the dishes down in front of her. “Give me a second to get my portion and then I’ll be back with utensils, napkins and drinks.” Ren walked fast back to the counter and grabbed his share, which was considerably smaller than Blanc’s portions. The now starving goddess remembered Ren mentioning just a bit ago that she could eat him under the table but she didn’t think he’d grab this little food for the first plate.

“That’s all you’re eating for your first plate?” Blanc asked.

“You say that like I’ll be having a second plate.” Ren responded, chuckling at her question. “If anything I might just dunk a bit more baguette into my ramen broth. I already grabbed myself a cranberry sparkling water to help with my digestion, which I’m going to grab now. Don’t worry, I made something special for you.”

Blanc watched with intrigue as Ren brought over his drink and along with it, the utensils and napkins he said he would earlier, giving one set to Blanc. He walked back over to the kitchen for the fourth time and picked up a large cup, almost comically large that seemed to be filled with a hot drink. As he walked closer Blanc could see the drink was topped with whipped cream, sliced banana and a tangerine which was split into six different wedges and placed onto the sides of the cup. She noticed the tangerine slices had a piece carved out of them in the center which was how Ren managed to place them on the cup’s rim so neatly. As he set the drink down rather carefully Blanc saw the milky white and brown appearance underneath the whipped cream and immediately realized this was a milk tea, her absolute favourite drink. She had never had a milk tea quite like this before, especially with the add-ons Ren had topped it with but in her current line of work she learned a lot more about this world’s blends and toppings when it came to hot drinks so instead of being shocked and confused, she looked down at the drink eagerly, wanting to give it a try immediately. Staying respectful however, Blanc played to the table etiquette she had learned a long time ago and had become accustomed to during her many, many business related meetings and waited for Blanc to sit down.

“Where did you get this idea from?” Blanc asked Ren, gesturing to the tangerine slices on the edge of the massive cup. “I’ve not seen this combo before.”

“Oh, a friend I know who loves tangerines and various citrus fruits recommended this combo when I messaged him earlier. I had everything I needed to make it so I hope it’s to your liking. If not I’ll grill him on your behalf. Kenzo’s an odd guy, at least by Japanese standards. He’s always trying various dishes and drinks from around the world. Growing up, he always preferred the imitation foods in the convenience stores that came pre-packaged than the regular foods we usually eat here. He’s obsessed with creating the ultimate foreign drinks and foods so he’s in culinary school. Half the foods and snacks I have that aren’t from Japan have been gifts from him or something I would have never known about because of him.” Ren explained.

“Hm… I can’t wait to try it.” Blanc replied.

“Then let’s quickly tell each other the things we’re thankful for and start off our meal with a toast.” Ren smiled, clearing his throat before speaking again. “This Christmas I’m thankful for the wonderful woman sitting across from me. I’m thankful for the joy she brought me, and even the sorrow. This year I’ve felt more alive than any of the last five. I’m thankful my new job has proved fruitful and that my boss is a kind, caring soul. I’m grateful for my ice skating passion being revitalized. I’m also thankful that my mother’s been in higher spirits as of late and I promise I’ll make a trip to see her again soon.” Ren finished and the room fell silent again. He took a deep breath and then smiled at Blanc, keeping eye contact while extending his right hand toward her in a gesture that told her it was her turn.

Blanc also took a deep breath and thought for a couple seconds before speaking. “I’m thankful for Ren and everything he’s done for me so far. Taking me in, checking in on me when I need it, showing me an almost unprecedented level of kindness, teaching me the ways of this world and helping me relieve some of my deepest worries, shouldering the burden when I need to let go of it temporarily. It’s not the time to voice my grievances now but I just hope my sisters and country are faring as well as I am now. May they enjoy a Christmas dinner as personalized and full of care as I’m about to.”

“Beautifully said, Blanc.” Ren replied before lifting his drink into the air. “Let’s toast to everyone back in your world. May they be safe in their times of hardship and be able to enjoy a nice meal like us.”

Blanc went to raise her massive mug but needed two hands to not spill it. Concerned with her being able to clink her drink together, Ren urged her to place it back down on the table, insisting an air clink was good enough. Okay with his suggestion, Blanc watched as Ren took the first sip before bringing the still steaming cup of milk tea to her lips, the whipped cream now mostly melted into the drink. As she sipped it carefully she was met with an additional dash of flavour she hadn’t expected. The vanilla added a splash of joy on top of her enjoyment for the drink, almost making her want to run around the room in excitement. The best part perhaps was how the tangerine juices that slid down into the drink added just enough of a fruity taste to make the drink feel more refreshing than she had ever had it be before. If Blanc had access to her blog site she’d have definitely given Ren’s drink a 20 out of 10. This was without a doubt her favourite drink so far. Even greater than the one time she ordered a ‘Quattro Venti Extra Coffee Vanilla Caramel Hazelnut Almond Super Extra Whipped Cream With Chocolate Sauce With Caramel Sauce Apple Crumble Frappe and she rated that a 17 out of 10 beforehand. Her scaling system was a little broken now and she knew she was biased towards tangerines but at this moment she wasn’t going to change her mind. This was definitely the best drink she had had in her many years as Lowee’s CPU.

“This is magnificent. Delicious. Scrumptious. Out of this world!” Blanc praised, happy to live long enough to enjoy such a marvelous drink.

“Well I guess that makes two things in this room then. Miss Goddess of Lowee.” Ren remarked, his mouth open while chuckling at Blanc’s adorable expressions. “I take it Kenzo hit the jackpot again?”

This Kenzo person. If his other creations are also like this then he should open a restaurant!” Blanc continued excitedly, going back to sip from the tea again. She had to stop herself from devouring the entire drink so she plucked two of the tangerine slices from the rim and ate them before looking down at her massive pile of honey ham.

“That’s actually his dream, you know.” Ren replied. “I’ll make sure he hears your praise. The guy could use all the encouragement he gets. He’s always so indecisive when it comes to making career commitments but the world would lose a wonderful chef if he lived his life without fulfilling his desires to open up a restaurant.”

“Then be sure he follows it.” Blanc assented. “There’s precious little more important at the end of the day than one’s aspirations. Tell him to not let them become regrets.”

The two then focused on their meals, with Blanc carving through the pile of ham faster than Ren had ever seen anyone eat. He wondered if her stomach really was a bottomless void. She didn’t show any signs of slowing down for the entire plate and barely took a breath before taking to the ramen the same way. Her tangerine infused vanilla banana milk tea suffered the worst, as she gulped the rest of the drink down in just three seconds before dual fisting the last four slices of tangerine, swallowing them without taking a single bite. Eventually the sun had started to set. The piercing dusk light forced its way through Ren’s blinds as the two chatted a bit longer and soon after the sun finally set. The pair finally finished their portions. Blanc could have gone for a third plate of ham but with how slow Ren was eating his share between talking the rest of the ham waiting to be served grew cold. Instead they walked back to the kitchen together and Blanc helped wash the used dishes as Ren wrapped up the remains of the ham in aluminum foil and tossed it into the fridge for tomorrow’s leftovers.

With both of their stomach’s feeling content, they made their way to Blanc’s bed-couch and sat down with Blanc moving her blankets to her side of the couch so Ren wouldn’t end up sitting on them. Ren stretched his arms out along the top of the couch and laid back, happy with the event so far. They didn’t do anything too grand together but he still enjoyed every second. It beat dining alone as he had the previous year. Checking in on Blanc, he turned his head and saw her practically stretching her arms out the same. Blanc took a look at her phone to see if any more messages had come in from her friends. It seemed they were all still off celebrating the holiday as she had no reply. It made her think of her sisters and nation again. It was hard not to, given Lowee’s enthusiasm for the Christmas season. Blanc furrowed her eyebrows, trying not to feel worried but unbeknownst to her Ren was still watching her. Noticing her concern for the second time today he decided to ask what was on her mind. He had a feeling he knew what she was thinking about. It was hard for him to not worry as well.

“Got something on your mind?” Ren asked cautiously, his tone light and respectful.

“I guess I’m not as good at holding back my emotions anymore, am I?” Blanc said, trying to play it lightheartedly. “I should really get back on top of it.”

“Working through emotions is one of the most important pieces to recovery.” Ren advised. “I know it hurts, but talking about it can sometimes be better than you think.”

“Okay…” Blanc said, mustering her spirits through heavy breathing. She took a moment to pause, remembering what old man Kazuha told her a while ago. Emotions were the best part of being human, or so he said. That she shouldn’t always hold them in and should enjoy life as it happens, not after it’s gone. “It’s Lowee…” Blanc stated. “It’s the most festive country in Gamindustri. I believe I’ve told you something like this once before. I don’t even know if my country’s celebrating right now. I don’t even know if they’re okay…”

“You don’t.” Ren affirmed. “None of us do. Despair is a powerful force. It’s easy to fall victim to it, but just as dark cannot exist without light, despair cannot be a path you walk down without hope being next to it.”

“I’m not there…” Blanc continued, listening to Ren’s advice but also not feeling up to take it. A nation without its goddess? Shares… I don’t even think the people would know the truth. What would the others even say? Did they even survive the encounter? I don’t know… Rom… Ram…” Blanc let her head hang down in the palms of her hands, feeling deflated.

Ren, not willing to give in yet, placed his right hand on her back and rubbed it in circles, something his mother often did to help console him when he was younger. “Have faith, Blanc. I know you so desperately want to. This holiday here is all about having faith. If there’s any day that can inspire hope all across the world and even to you, it’s today.” Ren got up and walked towards Blanc’s safekeeping drawer to grab her two DS lites, again carefully carrying them over to Blanc and setting them on the coffee table in front of her. “Maybe for today you should send a message early. It might help you get back into better spirits.”

Blanc lifted her head from her hands, some light tear residue clinging to her cheeks and the middle of her palms. “I suppose it couldn’t hurt.” Using the backs of her hands she wiped the last slow rolling tears from her cheek bones and walked over to grab the tissue box on the end table next to the couch. “I miss my sisters so much…”

As she sat back down to open the first of the two DS lites, Blanc noticed she had forgotten to turn the console off last night. Mentally flogging herself for being so careless, she opened the second one to find she had done the same with the other as well. They both greeted her with the main menu, the icons hovering over the pictochat app, which she also forgot to close. As she was about to scold herself further the two DS’ buzzed loudly without stopping. Both Blanc and Ren cocked their heads in confusion, not sure why they would be making a noise like that. Ren had never heard of any such case happening. He knew the consoles had survived almost a couple of decades but had no idea the sound systems were going. They never showed any sign of damage before. The sound grew louder and it almost resembled the screeching feedback he used to hate when the principal of his high-school would address them in their auditorium. The sound was grainy but over the next few seconds it grew a lot clearer, no longer sounding like a television gone rogue.

“What the hell…?” Blanc started before being cut off by a voice not even a million years could make her forget.

(Play song on loop until scene ends: https://youtu.be/zAYUlm7Jbo0?si=ZIxStf5xpRxmwICl)

“Sis?! Is it really you?!” The voice was a little crackly but clear enough to hear what they were saying.

“Ram?!” Blanc cried out, grabbing hold of the DS with an iron grip. She wasn’t sure if she was hallucinating but she didn’t care whether this moment was real or not. She was too overjoyed to question anything. “Ram, Rom can you hear me?!” She continued to yell.

“Big sis?!” Rom’s voice called out after her. “We’re right here big sis!” She exclaimed.

“Where are you?!” Ram asked, her speech beginning to quicken. “Oh my god, you’re alive! You’re really alive!”

“Rom, Ram. Listen to me!” Blanc shouted, nearly choking up. “I’m okay. I’m not hurt. I’m stuck in this place called Earth! A completely different world. Can you get me out?!”

“Big sis… We don’t know how…” Rom replied, beginning to cry. “We don’t know what to fo to get you back…”

“We followed this signal we’ve been tracking for the last few weeks.” Ram explained, trying to steel herself in Rom’s stead. “It keeps cutting out and it only lasts for maybe ten minutes at a time. Last night we tracked it down to where we are now because it’s been active the whole time.”

“A signal?!” Blanc repeated, trying to understand the situation, her big sisterly instincts taking over. “What’s it like now?”

“Blanc! Can you hear us?!” Vert’s voice asked.

“Vert?!” Blanc cried out once more, now sobbing uncontrollably, barely able to evade coughing on her own streaming tears. “Where are you all?”

“Blanc we’re inside Lowee’s territory, just far, far outside the reaches of civilization.” Noire’s voice pierced through, a little more grainy. “We’re in the middle of nowhere. The air next to us is almost glitching. We can stick our hands into it and we’re just fine. We can walk through it but can’t interact with it.”

“Noire, get ready to transform. We’re going into overdrive!” Vert’s voice yelled.

“What for?!” Noire called back. “We don’t know what will happen if we do!”

“It’s a portal of sorts. A rip in the fabric. I’ve seen this in many games.” Vert explained. “It’s different from how I imagined it’d be but it’s responding to a fluctuation of CPU input.”

“Do you mean Blanc still has her power here?” Rom asked.

“Stand back Ram.” Noire advised. “You’re too close if anything goes wrong. Vert, let’s do this!”

Blanc could make out what she instantly recognized as the activation of someone’s HDD form coming through the speakers of the DS in her hands. The console began to heat up at insane speeds, almost burning Blanc’s hand. The dual screens then started to emanate a piercing bright blue light which reflected all over Ren’s apartment, causing him to shield his eyes temporarily in shock. Blanc dropped the DS in response to it shocking her hands and it landed on the carpet at her feet. A second sound could then be heard followed by Vert’s grunting and then a bright blue beam shot upwards from the DS on the ground which settled into a seemingly unstable portal that began to make Blanc’s skin tingle due to its electric charge. She could tell it wasn’t stable but now she could see what looked like the icy hills of Lowee in the background, a little grainy but still pretty visible.

“Did it work?” Rom asked before stepping into view from her side of the portal. Ram joined her, trying to reach out to Blanc through the portal but all Blanc could see was Ram’s arm slowly disappearing before her eyes as her bold little sister’s hand went straight through the image the portal was projecting, having no luck.

“Still no substance.” Vert recorded, the two goddesses now coming into frame as well in their HDD form.

“RAM! ROM!” Blanc yelled, also trying to reach out to the watery live feed of them. The same thing happened to her arms. She tried to hug Ram, who was closest to her but she swiped the air and tripped due to the amount of force she put into her leap. Not even taking a second to register the pain of falling on her knees, she got back up and tried reaching for Rom’s hand, gritting her teeth together hard and as she was unsuccessful again, she choked up one more time, her facial expression of distraught so stretched on her face it almost didn’t look real. Her eyes turned a tinge red from the stress but even at the risk of bursting blood vessels, she didn’t care. She clawed at the portal again and again but every time she did she got the same result. A faint buzz of static softly dancing on her arms as the image of the four goddesses before her distorted a bit, much like a reflection would in water after a stone skipped by.

“PLEASE!” Blanc screamed, shaking her head back and forth rather violently. Her usually well groomed hair was now a mess and her precious puffy hat flew onto the floor beside Ren’s feet, who couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

“BIG SIS!” Rom yelled back again, their voices now a bit clearer. The two sisters began crying hysterically as well, with Rom dropping her staff into the snow to clutch her heart. Her breathing grew erratic and sharp.

“ROM! BREATHE!” Ram yelled, taking notice of her sister’s early hyperventilation. She rushed over to her timid sister and held her with one hand behind the middle of her back and the other buckling her knees from behind to get her to kneel. Rom fell with a thud, her eyes so filled with tears she couldn’t see three feet in front of her. Ram’s yelling grew distant for a second until she felt her sister’s hand embrace as she knelt next to her, their legs now growing a bit cold from the snow. Thankfully this seemed to snap her back to reality, causing her to jumpstart her breathing again and slowly take control of her shaky breathing.

Watching this unfold before her, Blanc’s lungs now began to burn as well. She felt knees give out for the first time in her life and she fell to the ground, screaming at the top of her lungs with no regard for her vocal cords. It sounded maniacal, hysterical. Primal. Her guttural screams filled to the brim with so much raw emotion even Ren couldn’t help but cry as he knelt down to try and comfort Blanc, rubbing his hands vigorously up and down the sides of her arms which now weighed her down like a ball and chain would a drowning man on the seabed floor. She couldn’t move her body anymore and for the second time on Earth she felt true fear.

“Blanc! Listen to us!” Noire roared in order to be heard over Rom’s panicking. “This portal’s unstable! I don’t think we can hold it much longer!”

Blanc’s eyes widened in response and her sheer will kicked into gear from the pit of her stomach, overriding her brain’s state of paralysis and giving her control back enough to speak through her trembling lips. “Take care of my sisters!” Blanc cried out, her tears still streaming violently down her cheeks as she shook her head a bit more, trying to shake them off her face. “Just make sure they’re okay!”

“We’re already helping them.” Vert replied in a reassuring tone. “We’ll keep doing so.”

“Big sis, the citizens all think you’re recovering from intense wounds in your quarters back at the Basilicom.” Ram yelled out, finally getting Rom’s fit of panic under control. “The shares are still tied to you. That’s how we knew you must be alive. The people are growing worried and skeptical though. Some people are starting to think you’ve died in battle.”

“No! No, I’m right here!” Blanc yelled back fiercely, not angry at anyone, just losing grip of her emotions. The mental limiter she usually put in place for them, now torn asunder. “They can’t lose hope yet! They can’t lose faith in me. If that happens…” Blanc couldn’t finish her sentence as what she wanted to say was too heavy for her to think about. Her twin sisters already knew what she meant however. It seemed to be their main cause for concern.

“If they lose all hope in you, we die.” Rom finished. “Our CPU forms are weakened but we’re still a long way away from losing them and even if we do we’ll still be kept alive as long as at least one percent of Gamindustri believes in us.”

“Don’t worry too much Blanc!” Noire interjected, now beginning to show signs of physical exhaustion at powering the portal between worlds. “We’ve got it covered. We’re all reporting similar things to keep the people’s belief alive in you. I wrote how I visited you recently and you were able to stand again.”

“I wrote on my blog that I helped you write a chapter of your next book because you couldn’t move your arms too well yet but that you were still slowly recovering.” Vert chimed in, trying to ease her fellow goddess’ pain. “I even made Neptune write a bunch of positive interactions with you over the last month. Even though I did have to help her with the prompts a bit.”

“Vert, I don’t think I can keep this up much longer.” Noire said through gritted teeth. “I feel like this portal’s sapping my energy away!”

“Blanc, we don’t have much time.” Vert warned. “We’ll keep monitoring this spot. Something you did in your world triggered this glitch in our world. Whatever caused it might be able to amplify its effects. I don’t know how it happened but enough of whatever it is you have might help us get you back. Ugh!” Vert groaned again, temporarily losing balance in her HDD form which caused the portal on both sides to flicker a bit and destabilize. The image everyone saw began to appear grainy again.

“Rom! Ram! I’m gonna be okay!” Blanc yelled, her vocal cords now putting up resistance to her constant abuse. “This man with me is helping me find my way back to you. This world isn’t too bad. I don’t have any of my former strength or form changing abilities but there are no monsters here to hurt me. Listen to me! Stay safe! Learn to smile again! I know it’s hard… I know… Your big sis will be back with you before you know it!

“I love you Blanc!” Rom shouted out, trying to rush into the portal as Blanc and Ram had before her, still not having any luck.

“I love you big sis!” Ram cried. “I’ve always loved you!”

“I’ve always loved you too Ram, Rom.” Blanc yelled back, now willing the strength back into her numb legs and arms enough to stand with Ren’s help. “I’m sorry I was such a bad sister all the time. I’m so sorry!”

“Stop it Blanc!” Ram yelled, cutting her off from speaking further. “You can make it up to us when you’re finally back with us!”

Choking up for the millionth time, Blanc’s mind kept racing a thousand miles a minute, causing her head to hurt. All she could think about was how good it would feel to hold them in her arms once more. “I’ll see you all soon.”

“This is it, Vert!” Noire yelled, her voice being cut at the end of her sentences from the weakening of her CPU state. “I can’t hold it any longer.” Noire’s HDD form flickered in and out a few times before finally cutting out, causing the portal to flicker rapidly once again and shrink to the size of a dinner plate. Blanc could now only see Rom and Ram’s face and them her’s.

“No! No, no, no, no, NO!!!” Blanc screamed furiously, now thrusting her hands wildly into the screen in a desperate but futile attempt to touch their cheeks, anything. “I can’t lose you again! Not again!”

“Big sis…” Rom said dejectedly, her voice growing quieter again, similar to how it was when Blanc first heard them.

“Don’t cry, big sis.” Ram spoke, trying to soothe her inconsolable sister. “I’ll see you again soon.”

“I’m sorry Blanc.” Vert weakly spoke. “We’ll take good care of your-“

The portal closed, causing the DS screen that powered it to turn off automatically.

“WAIT!” Blanc screamed while trying to reach her hand out once more. “WAIT NO!” Looking down at her feet, she practically threw herself to the ground to grasp the DS, scrambling to turn the power on. Her knees and feet ached from falling to the floor so many times but it was the least of her concerns now. The DS turned on for a few seconds before displaying the low power visual and turned off again. No matter how many times Blanc screamed or put the console speakers to her ears there was no trace of her sisters, Vert, Noire or any noise from her world anymore. She sobbed once more, not caring about getting up off the floor. Ren didn’t know what to do so he knelt down with her and hugged her tightly, which didn’t seem to stop her rough breathing patterns anymore. She sobbed and sobbed and no matter what he tried to say, she wouldn’t even respond to him.

A solid few hours past and Blanc was as immovable as the grand canyon. Not wanting to leave her alone, Ren just kept telling her he wouldn’t let it end like this. He felt like a broken record, unsure of whether this was even helping but he didn’t want to stop trying to reassure her. His knees grew heavy and numb so he switched to sitting with his legs crossed and continued to hug her, her head now leaning on his shoulder. Her eyes looked devoid of emotion with the only light they held being reflected from the overhead light above them. As they stared up around the light Ren prayed in his head that sleep would cure Blanc’s emotional numbness as she still refused to say anything. Slowly, her eyes began to glaze over and them close, with Ren monitoring her before she fell into a deep slumber, the colour still drained from her face as he propped her up and began lifting her onto the couch where she could be comfortable. Surprisingly she didn’t wake up once from him carrying her to tucking her in. Still not wanting to leave her side but way more tired than the last time he sat up next to her, Ren’s eyes began to betray his concerned mind. The last thing he saw before falling asleep was his hand gently holding hers. The two were out cold.