The Lone Planeptune
*Nep* *Nep* *Nep*
A yawn escapes my mouth as the alarm clock sounds next to my ear. Attempting to return to my dream world, I throw my covers over my head and crawl up into a ball. However, the alarm keeps going, stopping me from enjoying sleep anymore.
*Nep* *Nep* *Nep*
Groaning, I sit up and scratch the top of my head. Before I throw my blanket off, I stretch my arms and legs, letting the drowsy feeling slowly flow out of my limbs. I yawn once more before beginning my morning routine.
*Nep* *Nep* *Nep*
First, I do what most people normally do. Turn off the alarm clock. After that, I grab my school bag from under my messy desk… I need to clean this thing later when I get home. I really hope I don't forget, again. Mom would scold me so bad if she was here. Fixing my bed, I take my school uniform and drop it on the mattress. I also grab some boxer shorts and a wife beater- why they're called this, I have no idea- and set an alarm on my phone. Taking my phone into the bathroom, I set on a paper towel on the counter and wrap it up, so that the moisture from my shower doesn't get on my phone, Iffy would get annoyed.
I turned on the shower head and- SUDDENLY COLD WATER! Gah! I turned the cold water tab. Off. Off. OFF! Phew, that was stupid of me. Turning on the warm water tab, I heard the water running and felt the warm liquid run down my semi-toned and semi-flabby body. I didn't go to any clubs because I had to take care of the house, but the chores give me some form of exercise. So that's nice.
Hearing the alarm, I finished showering and dried myself up. I unwrapped the phone and went back into my bedroom, getting dressed without rush nor slack. After that, I walked into my mothers' room… And to no surprise they weren't here. Although I already know she's not here either, but might as well check, right? I left my mothers' room that was at the end of the hallway and passed by my room that was across the bathroom into my little sister's room… Yeah, not there. Both my mom's and sister's beds were a neat and clean as I had left them last night, just like every night actually. Walking into my room, I looked at the mirror, just to make sure that my uniform was alright.
I wore a white collared shirt, buttoned all the way up and around the collar was a purple tie with white diagonal stripes. Underneath this shirt was my white wifebeater- I hate calling it that, but I don't wanna say no-sleeved undershirt every time I have to talk about it. I wore navy blue slacks, as per the school's uniform. My lavender hair was sort of ruffled after I dried my hair with a towel, so I used my hands to pat it down a bit. What? Reaching for a comb would take too much time.
Alright, I'm think I'm set. Grabbing my bag, I walked downstairs to get breakfast. Well, not get breakfast, more like make.
I let out a sigh. Once I entered the ground floor of my house, the only thing I could hear was my own footsteps. Of course, Mom, Mother and little sis aren't here. They haven't been home in months. But hey, it's not bad to hope, right?
I entered the kitchen. Then I left my bag on the counter and grabbed some bread out of the bread box and popped them into the toaster. Grabbing jelly out of the cabinet above the bread box, I placed on the counter next to a plate where I'd put the bread later. As I waited for the bread to finish toasting, I walked over to the T.V. and turned it on. Might as well let something make this house feel alive, right? I didn't really watch T.V. down here, since I have one in my own room, so I left it on the channel it was last left on.
The channel happened to be left on a talk show and the host happened to be starting an interview.
"Hello, and welcome to Basiliview. I am your host, I don't like talking about my name so I'm titled the Announcer."
Letting the sounds of the broadcast-guy-whatever-he's called fill the house, I walked over to the fridge. Searching through the fridge, I took out my already set up bento box and placed it on the table. Closing the giant food storage, I crouched to open one of cabinets to grab the cover of my bento box.
"Alright it's time to start our next segment, The Aspiring Idol Interview!"
Ah. There it is. I closed my eyes and clicked my tongue, pausing in grabbing the box cover. If there's one thing that was different in my world, it was who the people worshipped. It wasn't a goddess or some sort of divine deity. Well, some people believe in religion. But that's beside the point. What the people love, what everyone admires, what everyone looks up to are idols.
The toaster dinged, signalling that the toast was ready. Grabbing the bento box cover, I stood up and closed the cabinet with my foot. Covering my lunch and wrapping it in a handkerchief, I left my bento box on the counter and picked up my toast, quickly dropping the slices onto the plate. Picking up the plate and the jelly, I took them to the dining room table.
As soon as I had placed the objects in my hand onto the table, the doorbell rung. Huh, it is that time alread- Ah. I forgot to put on my watch. Meh. I walked over to the front door and looked outside.
"Alright, let's begin with the-"
"Ah! It's Nep-Nep!" My peach haired friend waved at me from the front gate and next to her was my long brown haired friend next to her, one of her many phones in her hand.
"Mornin' Nep. If you had taken a second longer, I would have sent you a text." I rolled my eyes and walked over to the gate, opening it.
"Hey Iffy, Compa. I was making some toast, want some?" IF looked at her phone and shrugged.
"We do have at least an hour until school starts." I raised my eyebrow.
"What? You girls coming over to a guys house so early in the morning, people are gonna start rumors~." IF stared at me with blank eyes and Compa tilted her head.
"But Nep-Nep, we've been doing this since we found out you walked alone." I sighed and stood aside.
"Compa, it was joke." As I let them in, I noticed that they were one person short. "Where's Blanc?" Blanc's been my friend ever since I was in diapers, we're best friends that know everything about each other.
"Blanc's got morning duties." Oh yeah, I forgot. Welp, so much for knowing everything about Blanc.
"Well, come on in." The two walked inside and I closed the gate. When I entered the house, Compa was in the kitchen, making tea and popping bread into the toaster like this her own home. IF sat at the table, slathering jelly onto the toast that I had made so far.
"Nep, why'd you only make two slices? Being stingy all of a sudden?" I rolled my eyes once again.
"Iffy, I had just made those slices when you two showed up." Compa walked over to IF, humming a little tune while carrying cups of tea and placing one in front of IF.
"Don't worry, Nep-Nep. I'll take over breky-time~." I nodded to the girl and pointed to my stairs.
"Thanks, Compa. Anyways, I forgot my watch so gimme a sec to get it real quick." The two made an synchronized "Kay~" and I went back into my room.
My watch was on my desk, it was a regular black digital watch I received from my… other mother. Yeah, I have two moms. Deal with it. I put on the watch, happy now that I could feel the familiar leather on my wrist.
"Nep, hurry up! We're gonna eat all of your food." I called out to the girl, saying that I was on my way down and promptly walked downstairs.
"Okay, that's enough for the CPUs!"
I sat down on the table, grabbing a slice of toast and used the knife that Compa brought to the table and covered the slice in jelly.
"Now it's time for the new aspiring idol group, the Candidates!"
When the announcer named the next group of idols for the interview, I stopped in my tracks. That's the group that…
"That's Ge-Ge's group right?" I slowly nodded.
"Thank you Mr. Announcer. It's an honor to be here this morning."
That's her voice, my little sister's voice. IF leaned over her chair and craned her neck to look at the television.
"Wow, the first time Gear had an interview. She couldn't get through a single word without stuttering."
"Yeah…" Compa and IF turned to look me, worried. I had stopped eating and was staring at my slice of toast. Biting my toast absentmindedly, I stood up and walked over to the flat screen T.V.
Nepgear was sitting aside the rest of her group: Uni, Rom and Ram. I kinda know Rom and Ram since they're Blanc's sisters, but I only met Uni once. Nepgear was answering questions for the interview, allowing the other three to answer when it was their turn or when she couldn't answer a question.
"So, what is your biggest inspiration for becoming an idol? Your mother?"
I can't deny that. My mother, Histoire, worked as an idol manager. My other mom, Arfoire, was also an idol manager and had wanted me to be born a girl so that she could have me be an idol. That didn't work, since I was obviously a guy. However, her wish was fulfilled when Nep. Jr was born. So they would leave for months at a time, looking over her idol career together… leaving me behind at home.
"No."
What?
Then, then why does she work so hard as an idol?
Why does she put her everything in her job?
Why did she not say no to mom when she asked?
Why did-
"Actually, I wanted to be an idol because of my brother."
My eyes widened and my breakfast nearly falling out of my mouth.
"Whoa, what is this?"
I stopped my slice of toast from falling onto the ground.
"Yes, my brother is the kind of person, who no matter the consequence, helped every person he met. He's my inspiration. Although I may not be taking the risks he is, I want to help people by becoming an inspiration to as many people as possible."
The announcer made a laugh filled with admiration.
"Isn't that a heart-warming reason! Here, live on Basiliview, Candidate Nepgear speaks of her origins!"
I grab the remote and turn off the T.V., returning to my friends. IF and Compa look at each other and then at me.
"Nep-Nep, are you alright?" I grin at the girl.
"Better than normal." After that, we finished our breakfast and got ready to leave for school. I grabbed my phone, which I had left on the counter next to my bag and opened the music app on my phone. Opening my bag, I took out my custom d-pad headphones and put them on, my bento box taking it's place. I closed my bag and slung it over my shoulder.
As I walked to the front door, I took one last look at the T.V.
"Thanks, Nep. Jr."
I closed and locked the door, turning around to see my friends already waiting outside the gate. After closing the gate, we began walking down the path that would lead to our school.
"Iffy, how much time do we have left?" IF flipped open her phone and checked the time.
"We have about ten minutes left." That's fine. School is five minutes away from my place anyways. Compa and IF began to have conversation that was too girly for me to follow, so I hit the 'play' button on my phone's music app, letting the music surround my world.
A couple seconds later, I felt someone pull my right headphone out of my ear. I looked to see IF placing my headphone into her ear.
"What is it Iffy?"
"I just wanted to know if you were listening the new album that Gear's group had put out recently." Oh, she was talking about Leave Peace&Love!. Unfortunately, Mom had left me copy as soon as they finished the album. Unlike everyone else, I shoved it and every other album that they made in a drawer that was hidden by a backlog of unplayed videogames.
"Obviously not. Now can you give me my headphone please?" IF raised one of her eyebrows and put the missing headphone into my open hand, which I promptly shoved back into my ear.
When we entered school, some people were already here. Compa and IF are in Class 3-B while Blanc and I are in 3-A. So the three of us split up at my class and I went inside my classroom, some of my classmates were inside, specifically one short… I mean, she hasn't had a growth spurt yet. Yeah. No spurt, not yet. I sat in my chair, which happened to be in front of hers. Luckily we didn't have to move that far
"Ey." I turned to see my childhood friend, Blanc, reading a thick novel. "Hey, Earth to Blanc~." Blanc turned a page, still not hearing me. I poked her in the head and she still hadn't noticed me. Eventually, I put my hand on the book, covering the words and tilting the book downwards. I could practically see a vein bulge as she looked up to me.
"What, in the hell, do you freakin' want, Neptune?" I grinned at my friend. Raising my hands in order to show my innocence and in defence as well.
"What? I can't say hi to my bestest friend in the world?" Blanc's eye twitched and looked back at her book, closing it roughly so that I would retract my hand. "Ow!" Blanc smirked at my discomfort but then dropped back into her blank facade.
"So. What's with you?" I stared at her, not sure what she meant. "You're upset." I sighed. She saw through so easily. I chuckled and looked out the window, despite it being on the other side of the classroom.
"I saw our sisters in an interview this morning." Blanc huffed. She understood what I was going through, since her twin baby sisters were recruited by my parents, but she at least had her mom to look after her.
"I see." I leaned onto my chair.
"Nep Jr. said I was her inspiration." Blanc blinked.
"Why wouldn't you be?" Now, I was confused. She realized that I didn't get her so she continued talking. "Neptune, remember when we were kids?" I shook my head. My memory is really bad. I mean, really bad. Blanc sighed and looked at her book.
"Since you don't remember…" Blanc looked at me straight in the eyes. "Aunty Arfoire wanted you to be an idol remember?" Of course, she spoke of it whenever she saw me.
"What's your point?" Blanc scratched her head, trying to find the words she needed to make her point.
"Well after you realized that you couldn't be an idol, you decided to be a hero." I stared at the girl, confused.
"I said that? What kind idiot was I?" Blanc grinned at my reaction.
"A big one. Whenever someone was in trouble, you'd leap at the opportunity to help them, no matter how small nor how big the challenge was. Eventually you gave up in helping people because you had decided to grow up. However, you efforts weren't lost on Nepgear."
"Which means?"
"What do kids do when they look up to heroes?" That's an easy one.
"They copy them!" Blanc stared at me and sighed.
"No th-" Our homeroom teacher, Mrs. Jinguji, walked up to us.
"I'm sorry to interrupt your conversation, but Nishizawa." Blanc turned to Mrs. Jinguji. "Can you bring these documents to Ms. Magic in the library?" Since she had duty today, Blanc couldn't say no. She took the documents from Ms. Jinguji and left the room. After that, my teacher turned to look at me.
"Yes, Ms. Jinguji?" Surprisingly, my teacher smiled at me and placed her hand on my shoulder.
"It's okay, Planeptune. If it's any consolation, I was watching my daughters in the interview this morning as well and that I share your sentiment of loneliness." Oh, that's right. Uni has the same last name as Mrs. Jinguj- Wait, daughters?
"Daughters? What are you tal-" Mrs. Jinguji shook her head.
"There is no need to speak of our personal lives, Planeptune." As she stopped talking, the bell that signified the beginning class rang. Mrs. Jinguji bade me a farewell and I sat in seat, taking out notebook and penci- Crap, it's not sharpened. Good thing I hav- my sharpener's not in my pencil case...nor is it in my desk. Damn it!
Luckily, Blanc had a sharpener so class proceeded smoothly. School's boring so there's no need to talk about it. Lunch didn't have anything special either. Well, I didn't care about what people were talking about. Meh. Blanc's rubbing off on me.
When school ended, I had to walk home alone since Blanc had duty and Compa and IF had their clubs. Walking down street that led to my house, I failed to notice that there was a car in the front the building. Instead, I unlocked the gate and walked inside the house.
I didn't even notice the chatter and walked upstairs. Going inside my room, I dropped my stuff onto my desk and opened my bag, starting my homework.
"Neptune!" I looked up from my textbook, turning left and right. Dismissing the sound, I diverted my attention to my homework. My name was called again, but this time it was more timid and...closer. I turned to my door to see.
"Hey…" She looked exactly like she did in the interview. Her long light purple hair and her purple eyes shining upon making eye contact with me.
"Hi, Neptune." Nepgear smiled at me, as if she had always been home, as if she wasn't an idol, as if- "Dinner's ready." Snapping out of my stupor, I nodded and stood up.
"Y-Yeah, I'm coming down." I followed Nepgear to the dining table. Well, I'm an idiot. Sitting at the table were my parents. Mom, with her long silver hair and her black not-suit-thing and Mother, with her purple dress, white hat-thing and her thick book of something.
"Neptune." Mother stood looking at me straight in the eye. Although her anger was erased by her surprise. "Oh my, look at you!" The last time I saw Mother, I was at her shoulders, but now I at least three heads taller than her. "You've grown so much!" Her eyes shined as she looked at me. Mom sighed.
"Histy. Neptune's a growing boy." Mom grinned at me. "Hey, kid. How ya doing?"
"I'm...doing fine." This wasn't real right? I mean, they're not home. I'm asleep on my desk. Yeah, asleep. I should just pinch myself an-
OW! Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Not asleep. Then…
"Mom… Mother… You're home?" Mother crossed her arms.
"What do you think kid? Use your brain." I rubbed my eyes, blinking at least three times.
"You're home. You're home. You're home!" I could help myself. I can't stop myself from smiling. My parents were home. They're home! Wait, then that means… "Nepgear!"
"Y-Yes!" I turned to look at my sister and promptly hugged. "Goodness!"
"You're home!" I hugged Nepgear tightly and she slowly, happily hugged me back.
"Yes, I'm home Neptune." As I hugged my baby sister, I heard a cough. The two of us turned to see three guests that have been sitting and watching the whole thing. Sitting across from Mother was Uni, who I waved to and next to her was…
"Mrs. Jinguji! When did you get here!?" My homeroom teacher blinked.
"We've been here since you arrived." Oh. Well. Okay then. I turned my head to see… to see…
"Who the heck are you?" The girl who looked like an older Uni with twintails looked at me, aghast.
"You don't know me! Noire! Of the CPUs!" I blinked as the girl stood and crossed her arms. I held Nepgear protectively.
"Never heard of you." The girl's eye twitched.
"Wha-Wha-" Mom cleared her throat stopping this chick from yelling at me.
"Neptune. Your mother and I aren't staying, but Nepgear is." Aww. Mom chuckled as my reaction showed through my face. "Don't be like that, you should be used to this by now. However, Mrs. Jinguji has asked us a favor." My teacher stood up and looked at me.
"Neptune Planeptune, the Jinguji residence is being renovated at this moment, so I'd ask that you'd let my daughters," She motioned to Uni and Noire. "live here for at least three months."
I blinked.
And again.
Once more for good measure.
"WHAT!?" Mother sighed, apparently expecting with my reaction.
"Neptune, I know this will be tough for you, but you're a man now. So I expect you to get through this." I let go of Nepgear and turned to look at my new housemates. Uni bashfully smiled at me and Noire looked away with a scoff. I put my hand on my forehead.
"Oh...Goddesses, help me…"
This was my first night, living with some form of family. Me, my little sister, her friend Uni, and a chick didn't like me. This is gonna take some time to get used to. Trust me.
