The hug was brief, but it left a little nagging thought at the back of my head. She didn't look like she had aged a day. Neither had I, though that made sense. Being ageless and functionally immortal was a benefit, after all.

Kind of hurt any dating prospects though. I shook off the thoughts, smiling.

"It's good to see you again!" I said. And a pleasant surprise to boot. I didn't think I'd see a familiar face from Planeptune.

"It's good to see you in person too," Nepgear grinned ear to ear, though she started to shrink backward. "Sorry, I haven't been able to make any progress on that thing you wanted."

"That's hardly a problem. You've had bigger fish to fry, I suspect," while the news was a bit annoying, it was also very understandable. Frankly, I didn't have a whole lot of interest in the device at the moment, outside of it being a civilian escape route encase things were well and truly FUBAR'd.

"Thank you for being understanding," Nepgear stammered. I took the brief lull in the conversation to look at her other companions. 5pb I had missed on my first glance. I swear, she had a split personality. Get her up on stage, and she was one of the best idols in the country. Off stage, and she somehow was able to pull off Clark Kenting without changing a single piece of clothing.

Or a lot of people just chose to go along with it. I liked my version more. She was a good person, and her company was pleasant. I didn't know she had friends outside of Leanbox.

Then came the children, in nearly matching outfits. One baby blue, the other pink. Boy and girl? Of course, the one in pink and longer hair stood between me and her sibling, who was shyer. Then there was a girl about Nepgear's age, maybe a year or so younger, wearing mostly black with her hair done up in twin tails. She seemed a bit annoyed, tapping her foot impatiently.

Rounding out the group were two other women. One wore a long blue jacket that went all the way down her arms, with brown hair. She gave off an almost tomboy vibe, contrasting with the other, who wore a red skirt, and for some reason, a sweater. A sweater that for some reason, had sleeves that didn't fully attach to the rest of the sweater.

A perplexing fashion choice, but I never understood things like that.

"Nepgear, how exactly do you know this person?" The black-haired girl crossed her arms. Was she trying to? I don't think so, but if she is, that is honestly adorable.

"Vert needed help trying to get Hinum back home," Nepgear stammered as I nodded.

"It's a bit of a complicated situation at the moment, that can be resolved once the current crisis has passed," I said. I'd rather not have the announcement of being from another world out in public.

"But it's nice to meet your friends," I tried cautiously. They were friends, right? You didn't travel together unless you all had a shared goal or friends, right?

Further question, what was Nepgear even doing here? Why was she with five other people? The oldest two didn't take offense to my statement, while the other three looked odd. I couldn't understand their expressions.

"If there is anything I can do for you all, please let me know," I kept my gaze on them. "I may be busy, but I won't forget basic hospitality."

"They did run into someone," 5pb spoke softly, having gotten closer to me. "Someone on one of the wanted posters."

She then whispered something in my ear as they were talking.

"They also want to meet the CPU Candidate," her words were covered by the talking. But I heard them. And it almost sent a chill up my spine. It was a brief twinge of paranoia, but outside of my Goddess form, it had served me reasonably well.

How much did they know? Did that mean?

No, best to find out later. In private.

"I'm going to have to prepare for my concert tonight!" 5pb smiled, waving her hand.

"I'll try to stop by if I can!" I waved back. What? She was a talented singer. It was the least I could do to support her.

"Sorry, I was a bit distracted. You ran into one of the unsavory types, yes? Is there anything I can do to help?" I offered. In part because I needed something to release my stress.

"Yeah, it was this rat thing. Calls itself Warechu. We've run into him a few times before," the tomboyish girl said as if it were no big deal. "We were able to send him packing with 5pb's help."

"Warechu?" That slippery rat? He wasn't exactly the highest threat among ASIC's agents, but the bugger was nearly impossible to keep captured. "I've heard of him. He's not exactly high up on the ASIC wanted list, but the fact he's here means there's trouble. Thank you for letting me know."

"Uh, I do have a favor to ask of you," Nepgear said, stammering slightly. "Would you be able to take us to see Green Sister, please? It's really important."

Externally, I kept a fairly neutral expression. Internally, I was screaming "finally" at the top of my internal lungs.

"She's pretty busy," I said simply. "If what I heard last time I was near her office was correct, she was being buried under a pile of paperwork, quite literally."

"What?" the black-haired girl summarized my thoughts nicely on what I had experienced.

"So frankly, I think she would be delighted to meet you all," I grinned. "What are your names? Outside of Nepgear, I've never met any of you before."

"I'm Compa," the girl in the sweater beamed, waving her hand back and forth.

"IF," came from the tomboy. Now that I thought about it, her voice seemed vaguely familiar, though I couldn't place where I had heard it before.

"I'm Ram!" the energetic girl in pink partially shouted. "And this is my sister, Rom!"

The girl in blue continued to hide behind her sister. I sent the pair a welcoming smile their way. I didn't get to deal with kids all that often. It was nice when they weren't being hellions.

"Uni," the girl with black twin tails said. "It's nice to meet you, I guess."

'I guess', I forced down the urge to make my eyebrows twitch. So she was one of those people? I've never met a real live Tsundere before. So today was going to be a learning experience as well.

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

The look on Chika's face, as I rushed half a dozen people through the door and onto the elevator, was something I would cherish forever. Oh, I was certainly going to get an earful for it down the line, but in that moment, it was worth it. I wish I had a camera, for posterity, of course. Though I doubted that would be the only expression I would want to save for future generations to see.

"And we're here," I announce, as everyone else filed in behind me, filling out the spacious office. Though with six additional people, it was a little bit less spacious.

"But there's nobody here," Uni said, giving me a pointed look. "You said the Candidate was here!"

I bit my tongue, letting the snide comment die in my throat. There was no time for stuff like that. If I wanted to mess with her, something that seemed painfully easy to do, I'd have to do so later. This was not the time to set bridges on fire. Not when I was so close!

"I would like to humbly apologize for the deception on my end," I resisted the urge to cross my arms. "Green Sister, at your service."

I winced as all of them shouted in surprise, hurting my eardrums. What? Was it really that strange?

"But, Hinum, aren't you from another world?" Nepgear looked at me in utter bewilderment, there was just enough time for me to cover my ears.

"WHAT!" Five people shouted in unison, as I let out a hiss of pain. My ears were not built for this type of abuse.

"Please, no more shouting," I groaned out, removing my hands from my ears. "And as for how that works, I don't know. It was a complete surprise for us back then."

"But, alternate dimensions, how would that result in a," Uni said, looking as if she was about to clutch her head in pain.

"Look, can we just, drop the whole, I'm from another universe thing already? Given our current situation, it's not particularly relevant right now," I rubbed my temple. I didn't fault Nepgear for this. I should have expected that to come up the moment I told her that I was Green Sister. Even if not her, it was likely going to come up at some point.

Sure, only Chika, Vert, and I knew that secret, but it wasn't going to be a secret. The cat was going to have to come out of the bag at some point. Just didn't like it being now, even if it was just expanding the circle.

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Because I knew how secrets worked. The more people that knew, the more likely it was to not be a secret. Making the ideal size somewhere between zero and one.

"But how is it not? How do you know anything about what's going on? And even if you were, what or why do you remember?" I kept my eyes on the speaker.

"Uni, are you okay?" Nepgear looked at her, friend? Travel companion? Fellow diplomat?

"I'm fine!" She huffed, brushing off Nepgear's concern. "But you, it doesn't make any sense! Is that what allowed you to cheat this whole time?"

"Cheat?" I could feel myself bristle, despite myself. That was one hell of an accusation. Cheat how, exactly? Why? Uni was taking this rather personally. Almost as if she was mad at me. But for what? I'd never met her before in my life.

Almost as if.

"I think it would be very beneficial if we hash out many Candidates are in this room right now," I said, doing my best to keep an even keel. "Because Uni, you are taking this a bit too personally not to be one, and I'd rather have this squared away without a guessing game."

Uni let out an indigent squawk of what could only be outrage, and if looks could kill, I'd have been shot.

"We're White Sister," Ram raised her and her sister's hand, as Rom nodded shyly. Twins? Was that allowed?

"I'm Purple Sister," Nepgear spoke next, looking down at her feet. Okay. That made some sense. It would explain why I hadn't heard from her at all in years.

I felt a heat rise in my face. Damnit, Vert, you went out and got in touch with a fellow Goddess over me, and then got her sister to work on a science project to get me home.

I was going to need, like, cards, or thank you flowers or something. That, or several weeks of needed R&R. Because she would probably need that too when everything is said and done.

Though I could sort most of that out later. The order of the day, as it always was, where the pressing matters. If Rom and Ram were White Sister, and Nepgear Purple Sister, that left Uni as Black Sister. Unless the universe was going to throw me a curveball, and Black Sister be Compa or something.

"And what is it worth to you?" Yep, it was Uni. Part of me was already getting the urge to smack her upside the head. Because she was being a brat. Instead, I took a deep breath.

"Cutting through the tripe so we can try to rescue our sisters would be a good place to start," I crossed my arms, as Uni's mouth clicked shut. "Sorry if I'm sounding harsh, but frankly, I'm very much past the point of ready when it comes to moving onto that part of the plan."

"You knew?" Rom gave me a confused look, as Nepgear appeared equally puzzled.

"I mean, I hope that's what you're here for," I said carefully. "Rather than shares or other such nonsense."

"How did you know that? Spys or something?" Uni huffed, clearly falling back into form.

"By talking. I've been touching base with Histoire since very early on in this crisis to make sure there was a plan. And that plan is to get the four Goddesses out of captivity so we can finally stop the bleeding," I gave all of them but Nepgear a look. "Something you would have known about if you bothered to return my calls!"

I took a deep breath, trying to keep my anger under control.

"What bleeding! You're doing just fine here! No need for any of our help!" Uni snapped back as Nepgear looked back and forth between us, as if unsure what to do. I, for my part, stood there, flabbergasted. She. Thought this?

I started laughing. I couldn't help myself. I just laughed and laughed and laughed. Because if I wasn't laughing, I'd either be shouting, or crying.

Uni didn't expect that, based on the shocked expression on her face. She probably expected me to shout back, or cause a fight.

"You. Think. This is fine?" I got out between breaths, trying to calm myself down. "This isn't fine. This isn't fine at all."

"This? This is me managing to put a nice-looking bandage on the wound. But the wound is still bleeding. Leanbox is still bleeding out. Yes, it's a lot slower now, hell, in some places, it looks like there might be a recovery, but there isn't. Unless the hole is plugged properly, it's going to keep bleeding out," I scowled. "I'm flying by the seat of my pants here, and I'm going to run out of bandages at some point. Just because my ship looks nicer, doesn't mean it doesn't have the same rot and decay eating away at its foundations."

"But didn't you say during your first interview in front of Leanbox that you would only send aid if it could be spared?" Uni tried to counter my words.

"And what exactly did you say when asked the same question?" I pointed out. "That was part of the reason I was trying to make contact. To let you know the aid was there if you needed it."

"Couldn't you have just forced the issue? You are the strongest Candidate when it comes to shares, after all," it was IF that spoke from the back, and I looked at her as if she was insane.

"Are you mad? What does that even solve? Kicking down someone's front door just because they don't want help isn't going to fix anything! Hell, making them look weak in front of their nation does nothing to help me! It just helps the ASIC!" I snapped, fuming.

"Wait. You never did anything with us, because you wanted us to come to you?" Rom gave me a puzzled look, as Uni stood there, flabbergasted.

What were they thinking I was doing? Seriously? What did they think I was getting up to this whole time? Trying to take over their nations for more shares? Because infighting was not going to help. Unless.

"Please don't tell me you've had to fight this out," I groaned, nearly feeling physical pain.

"We won't," came a softer voice from behind Rom, as Nepgear looked rather sheepish herself. I swear if kicking people in the face was part of the solution.

No, by this point, I was already screaming internally. Deep breath in, deep breath out. Deep breath in, deep breath out.

"Hinum, are you okay?" Nepgear asked.

"No!" I beamed, positively radiant.

"But I should be fine until I can get to a safe enough location to vent my frustration. Such as the highest peak in the nation," I paused for a moment. "Or the moon."

I just need to find out where the Mascot was, and we'd be good to go.

Only for a loud knocking to come from my door, before the thing nearly came off its hinges.

My first warning I was not getting good news was Cave being the one nearly breaking down the damn door. The second was that she looked worried.

"Hinum, we have a problem," Cave said. "5pb is missing. I took some officers over to her house. It looks like it was ransacked."

"I just saw her less than an hour ago," I said, as my brain tried to process the information given to me. That should be impossible.

But the replicates! Crap! 5pb never used the trigger phrase with me! Shit! How could I forget something like that? I put that system in place for a reason, damnit! I'd completely forgotten about it in my nervousness. Shit!

"Any idea which of their wilderness camps they could have taken her to?" I scowled. This was the exact type of shit we didn't need right now. However, I wasn't going to let her be used as a hostage any longer than I had to.

"They seem to be gearing up for a fight at one of their larger ones," Cave said. "I suspect a trap of some kind."

Unfortunately, I had to agree. The largest camp was too obvious a place to keep her, and very likely to be a baited trap ready to close.

"Though one of our agents did report seeing someone that looked a lot like 5pb at one of their camps. That could be a good place to start, while I prepare to siege the larger one, on the off chance that she might be there after all," Cave spoke firmly, as I nodded.

"I'll provide support once I'm done, talking, with the impostor," my voice was as sharp as a knife.

"But what about the Mascot? They have to be looking for that right now as well," Uni said.

"The ASIC is having just as much luck as I am when it comes to finding that thing, and I've had no luck so far," I scowled, shooting her a look. "Who knows, maybe they have a few pieces of information that I don't know that we can pilfer. Now are you coming or what? The ASIC isn't going to kick their own ass, after all."