Chapter 17

???/Train/Morning/27 Days Until Festival/0 Days Until Departure

"...Wake up!" Morgana shout-whispered to Sean which prompted him to lift his eyelids.

"...Lastation: Southern District.... Lastation: Southern District...." The train was relaying what stop it was which awoke Sean even further as he calmly left his seat and grabbed his bag then proceeded to exit the train.

'We're back.' He smiled lightly – noticing all the cards that littered the street were cleansed from the vicinity – as he then wandered the streets. 'Guess I thought of this place more of a home than I thought.'

A nostalgic feeling assaulted his heart like a rising sun...

...Which was instantly blotted out by the night sky and moon as reality began to set in again.

Still no place he can truly call home.

'Anyway, enough sentimentalities.' He shrugged 'What should I do first?'

He could pay Chian a visit, he could pay Ryza a visit, he could even pay a discrete visit to the CPU.

Or he could leave straight away to Leanbox for the Chimera Gem.

'Nah.' He shook his head 'I could even spend some bro time with Jack, afterall I have very few acquaintances that are dudes... and I definitely need some bros to hang out with on occasion because I doubt I'd meet Ranpo anytime soon.'

He lifted his chin with his thumb and index finger.

"Guess I'll go meet Chian, she's the closest anyway."

Lastation/Southern (Housing) District/Passe/Morning/27 Days Until Festival

Morgana fell asleep in his bag, how cute. Yes he's a guy, yes he finds cats cute. No, he is not gay. Yes guys can like cats too. Shocking, I know.

Sean was currently outside Chian's shop but...

"The fuck?"

--It looked really different. It looked like a full on factory and the cafeteria was nowhere in sight.

'What the fuck happened?!' He was honestly baffled 'I wasn't even gone for that long?! How is this even possible in the time frame that I was gone? Did I take a wrong turn? Is this the work of an enemy stand? Did Chian's shop get bought?' His glasses glistened as his thoughts were stupidly chaotic.

'Trickster, deep breath.' Messiah Picaro advised as Arsène was also noticeable discomforted, afterall if shit like this happened when he was alive then he would 10/10 just be a normal thief instead of the lord of them.

Luckily, he chose to pay heed to that advice and gained his calm.

'Probably took a wrong turn.' He decided as he walked away with his palms in his jeans.

He turned around and took the 'correct' route but somehow ended up in the same place.

'Lets do this from the start then.' He sighed as he walked to his Hotel and took his steps to Chian's factory slowly.

'Why do I keeping arriving here?' He couldn't help wonder, did someone drug him when he wasn't looking?

As he was pondering on unlikely possibilities a door opened and what exited was Chian in all her blue-haired glory, whom promptly bumped into Sean.

"Ugh, sorr—Sean?" She stopped midway as she recognised our protagonist.

Now when you are surprised and someone suddenly calls out your name, many do unlikely things.

"Yes, it is I, Sean!" Sean then proceeded to tuck his thighs inward as his calves were extended then he held his left arm outwards as he had his right palm extended in front of his face.

Yes, he did a Jojo pose the likes of which Joseph Joester himself would nod at.

Surprisingly, both Succubus and Arsène did the same thing. What the fuck does this say about his personality when even his personas are doing Jojo poses. ...What has Jojo done to him?

And then came in the silence.

"..."

"..."

Sean coughed as his posture became normal "Ahem, nice to meet you again Chian, how's your day?" His face was as straight as it possibly could become.

She also coughed, if only to save him the dignity "Ahem! Uh, good. You didn't message me that you were going to visit me."

"Yeah I wanted to surprise you, though I got lost." He nodded at her "Anyway, where is your workshop? I guess I kinda forgot."

She raised an eyebrow.

"Its here though." She deadpanned, that's weird.

"I... don't see it though." He murmured.

"You're literally standing right in front of it." Her golden eyes looked puzzled at Sean.

"...Did you get brainwashed?" Sean wondered aloud as he pointed at the bigass factory "That doesn't look like your factory."

"Yeah, I renovated it." Her golden eyes widened in realisation.

"...How?" He wondered "I wasn't even gone for that long."

"Oh, the renovations were given by Lady Noire and they were supported by Mr Avenir." She replied as Sean raised any eyebrow.

"Avenir?"

"Ah, yeah him. Me and Singe went to school together, and he practically begged me to hire him after he had nowhere to go and I couldn't really let an acquaintance of mine – even if he didn't make the right decisions – suffer his whole life since that would be cruel." She responded as she chipped in "Especially with the debt."

Sean nodded, whilst Singe did increase pollution in Lastation by a wide margin, no one actually died and the CPU – according to the internet – is developing ways to stop and get rid of carbon emissions. Hell, Sean can tell that's true because he didn't even notice the lack of carbon emissions since leaving Planeptune although Sean is sure that Planeptune still has fresher air.

Although, he is quite surprised that Avenir was only fined a stupid amount of money, after all he had seen countless cases of tax evasions and Sean was pretty sure he saw a few assassination requests sent out by a subsidiary named "Ganache" although said subsidiary was sentenced to prison, well according to the media, as well as violating a law which connotes proper working conditions which had a 'maximum amount of hours allowed to work' clause for people of certain ages.

I mean sure he did overwork people, but a lot of other companies do that and it's more of a mindset than anything else so it wouldn't make much sense to blame him for that when they are in a society which expect their workers to overwork just because of something like 'pride', so it was most likely that he was fined for the lack of care for Lastation's environment as well as tax evasion. What a self-serving Goddess.

Although, that could just be Sean's forgiving side and slightly blasphemous side trying to shift the blame on some 'higher being' who 'should' have the power that he was raised to believe that gods posses.

Who knows? He could be incorrect and she's actually a benevolent one.

"Okay, but make sure he doesn't take advantage of you." Sean accepted her reason as he slightly glanced at a window of the refurbished factory, there was a middle-aged chubby guy in a suit observing both him and her.

'Pretty sure that's Singe, although I could be wrong.' Sean wasn't really focused on him during the heist but he is pretty sure he saw him either online or during the heist. 'Though, he is ominously watching us from a window whilst talking to someone on a mic attached to his ear. I'll have to look out for him.'

"Don't worry, I have everything under control~." Her carefree tone really annoyed Sean "And who are you, my dad?"

Sean's glasses glistened.

'No, I'm your son.' Messiah Picaro chipped in.

'Yes, though I would prefer the term "papa", darling.' Arsène smirked.

'I could be if you want.' Succubus smiled mischievously.

'Hoe~!' The Jacks wanted to insult her for shits and giggles.

'I'm your mother.' Lilith smirked.

Sean had all these wonderful options that popped up in his mind, so many to choose from but so little time.

Sean smirked "Yes, though I would prefer the term 'Papa', darling."

She instantly flushed.

"W-wha-what the—Y-yeah I'm- I'm gonna ignore that." Her face was still flushed but less so.

"Are you sure?"

"Y-Yes, I'm damn sure!" She stuttered. What.

She coughed to regain the situation. "Anyway, what do you plan on doing?"

"I was planning to hang out with you, but I guess you're busy." Sean replied as she shook her head.

"Ah, don't worry! I was gonna go to a private return party that Lady Noire set up for the workers and we were supposed to bring one person, although it originally looked like I was going to go alone since I'm not familiar enough with anyone outside work – and I'm pretty sure people aren't happy with Singe so I'm not gonna bring him." She informed as she extended her palm "So do you want to come?"

'Oh well, I was planning to meet Ryza and Noire somehow anyway.' Sean took her palm "Sure, why not?"

"Great."

Planeptune/City Central/Basilicom/Morning/27 Days Until Festival

The Basilicom was – in very simple terms – a large rectangular prism that looked both futuristic – with all the shaded and probably reinforced – windows as well as contained the 'black regality' theme that Lastation seemed to uphold.

Sean could see lots of people going in and out of the building as he followed behind Chian. He even saw Ryza with a small brunette that looked oddly cuddlable, although she dressed in blue winter clothes.

"Hello, how may I help you?" The receptionist asked as Chian asked for the directions.

"I'm Chian Passe of Passe, I'm here because I was invited for an event. I also chose to bring along a friend." She replied as the receptionist went on button-spree.

'Will the computer be okay?' He couldn't help but ask.

Once she was done practically killing an inanimate object, she turned to our duo.

"Chian Passe of Passe and Sean Lupin of the Adventurers Guild, correct?" She asked for confirmation as the duo nodded "Good, you may go in."

As they walked past her Sean heard the word "Heretic." Being thrown in a manner of disgust.

'Heretic, huh.' Sean was aware that in the past Guild Adventurers were often discriminated against for tending to not support a Goddess – hell, they treated supporters of opposing goddesses with more respect than they did 'heretics' – but nowadays there should be little to no discrimination since the goddesses outlawed discrimination for Atheists and apparently have an iron claw for it.

'What does this say about Black Heart?' He neutrally wondered as he followed behind Chian and entered a room packed with people. Kind of looked like those bigass halls in rich parties or aristocratic houses, though it still kept the 'black regality' theme.

"So what should we do?" Sean asked Chian who shrugged.

"I don't know, have fun?" Although her eyes glistened in realisation "Wait, I could use this to build connections." She then turned to Sean and bowed "Sorry, gotta go."

And then she left our protagonist behind all by himself.

"What should I do?" He wondered as there were groups of people talking. If he talked to group A he was sure his Guts would increase with all the important-looking people, Group B would increase his Courage with all the scary looking people, Group C has Ryza in it and he can tell it would increase his Charm, Group D is full of kids probably brought by workers who felt embarrassed at not bringing anyone and he's pretty sure his Kindness would increase from them, Group E is full of a bunch of – in simple terms – nerds who are tinkering even while in this social gathering which means his Understanding would probably increase, Group F are reading books (Proficiency), Group G are playing with runic cubes (Diligence), Group H are a bunch of people in some sort of social gathering (Expression) and Group I are playing a bunch of word games with each other which would definitely increase his Knowledge.

"Hmm... What to do?" He muttered as then decided 'Group E, I need an increase in Understanding.'

Sean walked up to them and saw... a spiky-brown haired individual in a navy long-sleeved shirt and labcoat.

"Hey, you mind I join in?" Sean asked as the boy apathetically nodded.

'Oh well.' Sean shrugged and went to a machine that looked like a motorcycle except it had a curve in the back, kind of like the motorcycles in Yu-Gi-Oh 5Ds.

"You're not gonna ask me for anything?" The labcoat asked after a few hours of work.

"No reason to." Sean shrugged as he inwardly thought 'Is it common to ask invasive questions or something?'

After he finished tinkering he decided to go back and search for the next objective in the crowd. It was nice being thanked by a fellow introvert, even if Sean may not look like it since he can easily switch between extroverted and introverted with each mask.

"I felt my Understanding increase..." He roamed around the area in which a bunch of food was left on some tables 'Guess I'll eat something.'

Sean grabbed a couple of deserts and took a bite out of a chocolate cake sprinkled with dusted sugar and chocolate bits.

'Awww yeahhhhh~' Succubus relieved herself.

'Dance baby, dance baby, 'cause I'm here for you baby!' Arsène was... singing?

'I SWEAR FATHER I DID NOT SIN! IM JUST INDULGING IN LUXURIES WHILE DEAD!' Messiah Picaro was... is he repenting?

"Ho~ Ho~" Jack Frost was dancing.

"He~ He~" And so was Jack O' Lantern.

'My, this is quite the delectable desert.' Lilith put a metaphorical palm on her cheek like a graceful woman.

An involuntary smile erupted on his face. Quite the delicious cake, he'd have to search up what it is later.

"Nom, nom, nom..." Sean could hear someone say the word 'nom' as he looked around for the voice and then he saw it. It was the kid that came with Ryza.

'Pretty sure saying "nom" doesn't actually do anything.'

The kid had brown hair and eyes, a large white bunny hat, large gloves, a blue coat over a frilly dress – seeing as said dress is sticking out – and she had a belt around her neck for fashion along with a napkin on the inside of her neck range. Also to note, she had a small pocket on her coat with a bunch of potions and wore brown shoes that looked a little big for her.

'Kinda looks like Ryza except her hair in medium in length with bangs just above her eyes whilst Ryza has an actual need to tie it up under an alchemist beret.' Sean shrugged as he looked at the kid finish all the deserts near her section.

"Hup! Hup! Hup!" The small little kid couldn't reach anything anymore since the table was a little too large for her, and she's clearly aiming for a vanilla sundae.

'Whatever.' Sean shrugged as he picked up the vanilla sundae and...

DIE

Oh fuck was that killing intent? From this little blue ball? Good thing he didn't plan to keep it.

"Here." He handed it to her as she took it and nibbled on it like a mouse to cheese.

"Thanks." She bowed when she was finished.

"No problem." Sean shook his head.

"My name is Gasuto Stout, though people just call me Gust." She held her palm out. "You get one free coupon, I'll remember you."

Sean shrugged.

"Names Sean Lupin and thanks... I guess." He replied as he shook her hand and walked off "See ya later kid."

Now that he was done being hungry... What to do?

'I just talked to Ryza's sister, might as well actually talk to her too.' He decided as he walked off to her group.

"Yo, Ryza." Sean waved which garnered her attention.

"Oh, Sean! Didn't know you were back, are you okay?" She asked with quite the caring eyes.

"As you can see," Sean patted himself "I'm 'A' okay."

She sighed "Phew...That's a relief."

A giggle resounded near Ryza by an emerald-eyed lady with long blond hair in a purple dress and high heels.

"Classic Ryza... Always worried about someone else." She gracefully smiled "Oh, where are my manners? My name is Klaudia, although I'd like to keep my second name a secret." She winked.

Sean had no qualms about that, everyone has a right to their own privacy "Sure, name's Sean Lupin."

"Oh the all so mysterious Sean Lupin, hmm?" She hummed as Ryza was noticeably confused.

"Uhh, Klaudia, there's no need to act so fancy." Ryza was being overwhelmed by the 'rich-lady' aura projecting off of the blond.

"Oh is that so? In that case..." She coughed "It's nice to meet you, Sean." Her tone changed from a charismatic lady into a reserved young lady.

"Well, can't say I've ever seen someone switch Masks so blatantly like that... but I like the freshness and rarity of it." They shook hands as Sean turned to the other two alchemists that Ryza was talking to.

"I'm Meruru, and I'd also like to keep it a secret! Nice to meet you." The strawberry-blonde winked one of her blue eyes, she's in a yellow adventuristic dress with a red ribbon which seemed to be noticeably tailored with exquisite fabric.

"I'm Roronoa. It's a pleasure to be of your acquaintance." A pink-haired and blue-eyed – somewhat reserved teenager – in an adventuristic white top and brown skirt also seemed to be hiding her second name also.

Sean nodded "You probably already know my name, but regardless... It's a pleasure to meet you."

"By the way, what did you come here for?" Ryza asked as he tilted an eyebrow.

"I came to see how the 'normal' alchemist was doing." Sean teased somewhat.

"Mu~" She pouted "Anyway, now that you're here I wanna ask something..."

Sean interrupted, "Lemme guess..."

'A date?' Arsène asked.

'Marriage?' Messiah Picaro raised an eyebrow.

'When are we gonna have kids?' Lilith chipped in.

'The ruins?' Succubus gave the only sensible question.

Hah, what a dweeb.

'Though, I don't wanna embarrass her in front of her associates.' He relented from all the fun options "The ruins?"

"Oh, is Ryza exploring more ruins now?" Klaudia wryly smiled.

Ryza nodded to Claudia but then turned to Sean "No, I actually wanted to ask when do you wanna take your alchemy lessons you asked for."

A faint memory passed his eyes "How about tomorrow?"

She nodded "I'm free tomorrow, so why not?"

"Oh~ is Ryza going on a date?" Meruru teased and they embraced into a gossip.

'Yeah... I'm gonna stay outta this.' Sean shrugged "Anyway, I'll be off. See ya." He waved as they all waved back.

...

"I felt my Charm increase..." He muttered "Now... what's next?"

He thought for a moment, the party is probably gonna end soon so he might as well map out the Basilicom and meet (read: stalk) Black Heart for a bit.

He walked into a corridor and he vanished from everyone's sight.

†

'Phantom thief style it is.' Joker decided as he tugged on his red gloves, morbidly noticing her was back in his black attire and domino-esque mask.

"Focus..." His eyes glowed red and he followed the footsteps left behind by Black Heart – ignoring the view of any detective systems or people – and soon he arrived at a door. His Third Eye detected someone – most likely Black Heart – sleeping.

Now then...

'What to do?' He asked, it would be pretty creepy if he just stared at a girl sleeping.

But in the end...

'Whatever, she has a computer in her room I can research her stuff on it.' Joker shrugged as he entered – avoiding the heat sensors in her room – and he went to the computer and turned it on.

Luckily no sound was made as Joker had already turned off the sound, but first he need a password. There were a bunch of buttons that glowed in his Third Eye and some were highlighted more than the other; the highlighted ones are the most recent and the less highlighted ones are the less recent.

Joker had three tries, the first try he got wrong but the second try he got right since it seems like he only needed to switch the 2 buttons which were highlighted in the same volume. Her password was childishly enough: Nep3unePraisesSupoire, and her user was Lady Black Heart.

Once he entered the desktop he saw a bunch of files that seemed to be... about cosplay.

'Well...' Joker muttered.

'I did not expect this.' Arsène raised an eyebrow too.

'She's... A bit too fanatical about cosplaying...' Joker sweatdropped, she had like 10 different essays on why she should cosplay 'Though, that's not all... she seems interested in singing too.'

Then Joker found a certain plan.

'Scrapped Idol Plan: Magical Lyrical Girl Noirina♡.' Joker really regretted seeing this, his eyes really need bleach. He half wanted to laugh his head off and half wanted to cry that his expectations for a god was way off.

'Guess they're more human than I originally thought.' Joker inwardly noticed. 'Guess I should lighten my expectations of them.'

Then after a few more clicks he found something called "Regain Faith Plan" which basically depicted in raising morale and helping with the citizens problems and diplomacy for foreign nations out of the 4 in the CPU continent.

'Well, at least she doesn't plan on neglecting her duties and according to Megadimension Neptunia she was a workaholic. Though, I am worried that if she coddles them too much they'll refuse to progress.' Joker shrugged as he left a message on her Noirina plan.

'No offense, but those song lyrics sucks ass. You really need help with lyrics and if your lyrics are this bad, I'm pretty sure your vocals need work too. – Sincerely, Phantom Thief Of Gems. PS: You should sleep in some pyjamas because your bed gets dirty if you sleep with clothes that have been used too much.' Hey, Joker is always honest.

'Time to go...' Joker muttered inwardly as he deactivated the computer and exited her room..

Well, not before resetting her alarm to wake her up in a few minutes.

'Okay, now you're just being cruel.' Messiah Picaro berated.

'But it's for fun~' Both Joker and Arsène parroted the other.

'No one likes bullies Ho~' Oh god even Jack Frost agrees.

He really is cruel.

†

After slipping back into the party as Sean Lupin, he noticed that there were only half an hour left of the party and half the people had already left. Ryza and her group was gone and that boy that Sean briefly helped out was gone as well. Chian was relaxing after seemingly exhausted.

"What's up Champ." He greeted Chian who was consuming cakes on the chair, blatantly exhausted.

"Hey." She waved as she went back to eating.

"How've you been?" He asked as she deadpanned.

"I never thought trying to build connections was this hard..." She commented as Sean shrugged.

"A new experience for a better tomorrow."

Then he walked off to do something else. Sean looked around briefly, and he thought he saw... Nonaka with a silver-haired male for a moment as they passed the entrance.

'Oh well.' He shrugged 'They can handle themselves.' Then he continued searching.

"Cah, Cah!" A loud coughing resounded and Sean turned his eyes to see where the source was coming from.

It was a short-haired platinum-blond with a black ribbon and golden eyes dressed in a pink kimono as well as armguards and leather boots. She also noticeably had a katana attached to her velvet pink obi. The katana attached was in a red sheathed with a golden tip and the katana's guard was golden with the handle being red with golden diamond patterns.

"Are you okay?" Sean startled the goldenette as he looked at the blood at her palm.

She wryly smiled, "Its nothing, don't worry about it."

Sean raised an eyebrow as he looked at her palm which was coated in red "If you say so."

She then began coughing the next moment.

'Hmm... Do I have anything to help her?' He wondered.

'We don't have anything in particular but the medium stamina and health pills should at least help her somewhat.' Messiah Picaro informed.

"U-um... Is there anything else you would like?" Her golden eyes seemed as if she was ashamed of being sick.

"Yeah," Sean brought the two pills from his inventory "The one on the right is a stamina pill and the one on the left is a health pill, I may not know the affliction you have right now but I'm pretty sure it should help at least marginally."

She took it with a somewhat graceful – and mildly pained – smile "Thank you, Mr...?"

She seemed like she wanted his name "Sean Lupin, though I'd prefer it if you call me Sean since I'm only 19 and I'm too young to be called 'Mr'."

"Then, Lupin-san, thank you." She bowed as Sean raised an eyebrow.

"Isn't that the same thing but in Japanese?" Now Sean just felt morbidly offended, just because he doesn't like it one way doesn't mean he'll like it in the other.

She blushed in embarrassment "S-sorry! Sean-san." She bowed again and Sean nodded in affirmation "I wasn't aware you knew of Japanese."

"Both my parents are halfies, don't worry about it." Sean shrugged "Anyway, I don't think you gave me your name."

"O-oh, Kaneyoshi Okita." She replied as she rubbed the back of her head "Nice to meet you."

"Should I refer to you with Kaneyoshi or Okita?" Sean asked as she shrugged.

"I don't mind both."

After that they conserved about swords for a bit and decided to part ways.

He met up with Chian and they parted ways.

Lastation/Hotel Room/Evening/27(now 26) Days Until Festival

"I'm back." Sean smiled slightly as he stared at his door, room 8/2 or the eight floor and the second door.

Clink

The door next to Sean opened. Room 8/3 and someone his age but with glasses and medium-length dark brown hair that seemed to be tied up on both sides with a white hairband.

She kinda looked like a female Sean if he was more Japanese.

"Oh..." She muttered.

"Uh, hello." He replied back as she nodded as well and walked to the elevator.

"Oh well..." Sean muttered as he entered the room to get a good rest.

When he entered Morgana was already sleeping in the bed. Looks like she snuck away to go home.

"Night."