“Just a few hours. But this is nothing for me; I can keep going if I want.” And thus she does. Though, she only had a few papers left in her workload.

“We're not going to need that sword anymore, Nepgear-chan. You know that the Deity of Sin is gone now. . .and without the IS Crystal, ASIC can't revive it anymore.”

“That's not true! Even if something were to happen to Maho, it wouldn't be like what Gray Sister said would happen!”

Uni tried to snap her back into reality by flicking her forehead. “Snap out of it, won't you?! ASIC can't do anything right now! They're in the past; they're nothing to us! They're too small to even do anything at the moment!”

“Then stop being so pessimistic! Where's the confident Nepgear that I knew throughout that course of events from start to finish? Where's the Nepgear that's always looking forward and never letting things drag her down?”

“Well, tell her that break time is over, damn it. You know just as much as I do that she needs to step up to the plate again.”

Hearing Nepgear raise her voice shocked Uni, shaking her to her core for a brief second. “. . .I get it. . .” The hug tightens as a tense and gripping silence falls upon them.

“Nono. . .I get it. I know how it feels. . .” She's done a similar thing, after all. And she's sure that Noire still feels rather guilty about it all this time later.

“It'll be okay. . .you have me. But more importantly, you have Neptune-san. She's done everything she can to protect you. . .and she still will.”

Polishing the stock of her rifle.

Uni hasn't even made an attempt to go and speak to Ori after hearing about it firsthand from Noire. She's severely disappointed.

Uni's not the kind of person to do that. She might give a lecture to her about battling Noire in the first place, knowing that it was a bad idea, but otherwise, no. At most, she might get extremely angry and hit her once or twice. But that's it.

She just scoffs, continuing to polish the stock. ‘Why did Onee-chan even let her walk? She's just going to go back to her usual routine of deception.’

She's tried to speak to Neptune about it, seeing how she and Ori are more close together, but she hasn't gotten a response. “. . .so. . .y'feeling any better about yourself now?”

“I was just asking a question.” After putting down the cloth, Uni turns on some water and washes her hands, cleansing herself of the liquid. “Besides, you're just going to sit there without saying anything to me anyways.”

“Alright, if you say so.” Drying off her hands and picking up her rifle once more, Uni walked out of the room, closing the door behind her and walking down the hall to her room.

Ah—. She didn't expect Peashy to come to Lastation. . .

Well, Uni wouldn't mind providing a lap pillow. All she's doing is reading a manga at the moment.

The Lastation Candidate holds the manga open with her hand down the middle of the book, using her other to gently stroke Peashy's hair.

Sigh. . .what's even been going on?