Chapter 1:

"*Yaaaaaaaaawn*… Mmm, taking a nap in the warmth of the Planeptune sun is the best!"

"Good morning to you too" I greeted.

"Jared! Good morning!" acting like she hadn't expected me, she gives me a hug and smothers her face on my chest. I also return the same hug, rubbing her back and burying my nose on her hair.

It's the season of spring again in this futuristic-country called Planeptune. The cherry park, which is filled to the brim with cherry trees has its petals dancing in the air as it rides on the spring wind. There is a nice view of the mountain in the background too. The slight green and pink background-foreground gives off an amazing piece of artwork. There are people here too, kids playing, men drinking, women gossiping, everyone enjoying the astonishing view that nature offers. Some come and go passing by from our spot. They take a peek and quickly shrug it off once they know that it was just us two.

Neptune and I are staying here at the park taking a break from all of our hard work for the past week or so. It's been quite hectic lately, papers after papers all piling on top of one another. And after going through all that, we decided to take a breather. After we had our usual date, our last stop is here, rejuvenating our energy.

"Had a nice sleep?"

"Mhm! Your lap's pretty comfy too, huh? It's like a pillow"

"I'm not all muscle, you know. I do literally have some spots here and there"

"Like your stomach right?"

"That's rich coming from you. Based on your record before the New Year's you gained 1 kilo"

"Hm hmm! You won't be able to say that after I do my secret technique" she smiles mischievously. Oh, is she now considering to exercise?

"And I can do it without doing your mambo jumbo!" she says so proudly.

"Um, what? Laying on your stomach?"

"*GEEEEH!* That's wrong!" she imitates a buzzer.

"I don't think there's a buzzer that says 'GEEEEEH!'" I imitate her.

"No one says 'GEEEEH!' these days, so I kinda want to revive it…" the horrors of anything mainstream is that they lose popularity as quickly as they rise.

"Oh? What do people say now?"

"'Kyaaa!' or 'Doryaaa!' or 'Zeeyaaa!' or 'Muda Muda!'" what's with the random Japanese?

"Don't they geeeh when they eat something disgusting?"

"They 'GWEEEH!' not 'GEEEH!'" she points out the difference.

"Hmm… Now that you point it out…" they do make a "GWEEEEH!" sound rather than "GEEEH!"

"And sometimes they say 'BLRRRRG!'"

"That's the sound of them trying to hold their vomit"

"And then they go 'GUAAAAAAAAH!'"

"Wow, that would be a mess"

"The hardships of starting a trend again…"

"It's a long road ahead. Good luck lonely soldier"

"Aye, aye. Matey, my Captainey!" she salutes sloppily, which is cute.

"Ahahahaha!"

"Ahahahaha!"

We both laugh. We laugh at the ridiculous exchange that we just had. What were we talking about again? About GEEH and GWAAAH! And the road of starting a trend again? Aha. We really are saying some pretty random things.

"Anyways… since we're both rested and all that…" I stand up and fluff of some leaves on my pants.

"Wanna go home?" I extend my hand to her…

"Mhm! Let's!" and she takes it with glee.

It's been 2 years since our marriage. So far, our relationship is as random, fun, and colorful, just as always. Apart from a few stuff, there hasn't been anything major that has happened to us. Most of the time, the only major thing that had ever happen are Neptune's crazy ideas of fun. Even I am baffled with how much stuff she can uniquely think of just to add spices in our relationship. Talk about a diligent wife.

I've been living with Neptune on the top floor of the Planeptower, a.k.a. the Basilicom. And I also have a job. Having been tired of my life as freeloader, I managed to get Histy into hiring me as her personal assistant, granted my pay isn't as great as hers but seeing as how little I have in terms of monthly dues; electricity is paid off by tax, our food is being managed by Histy, water is tax, internet, yes we also have to pay for the internet, it's on Nepgear's, my phone is being paid off by Iffy, and I don't particularly need insurances, I see why not.

As we walk, we pass by some families having fun with their kids. One of those kids looks at our direction and pointed out that it's the "CPU of Planeptune that I always see on TV! Mama! Mama! Look!". Of course the kid has no tact that the person she's pointing to is spending a day with her husband. Neptune, having the innate talent of being good with kids, waves her hand towards the kid as the kid does the same.

"…" Neptune's hand holds tight on mine. I return it by playing with her fingers.

We exit the park and enter the busy streets of the city itself. We only have one place to go after all and it's the one building that sticks out like a sore thumb. The quickest way to get there is through those blue-tube-transport thingies-that-almost-replaces-side-walks. But before we do so…

"Let's go to the nearest vending machine first, I'm kinda parched…" I was hoping that we could pass a vendor or something before we make it out of the park.

"Sure!"

We cross the busy street as the light on the other side goes green. It's the afternoon, about 2 o'clock and it's not that surprising that there's a lot of people outside today. Ranging from students going home from school to business men and women rushing towards their next task. There's also some housewives carrying a bag heading towards the shopping mall prepping for their dinner.

After crossing the street we head forward towards one of the tube-thingies about 20 meters away from us. If memory serves me right, there's a vending machine along this street by the alley though for the life of me I can't remember which alley it was. As we walk, I take some peeks at the first alley that came up. None. Finding some hope for the second alley that is coming. My hopes were not dashed away and found a vending machine full of drinks; ready to serve my parched stomach at the behest of a few silvers.

We make our detour to the vending machine…

"And so, here we find our heroine in a spooky back alley, shrouded in darkness in the middle of the afternoon..."

"Are you actually thinking that something might happen?"

"Yup! Like that one shady dude that calls us 'stranger' and opens his jacket to sell his stuff to us"

"I do wonder how he can fit an RPG there"

"Nepu? What ya mean?"

"RPG's are long boom-sticks so it's hard to hide it inside a jacket. I can't even do that..."

"Ooh. So even you can't do something, huh. I mean, I've seen people do stuff like that normally hiding big things inside their pockets" normally? So you're telling me that Compa's bag, that is able to hide the entire universe in it is a 'common' skill? I might be more primitive than I thought.

"In any case, what do you want? I'm going for some iced coffee" I asked as we reach the vending machine.

"Pudding drink please!"

"Should have known" putting some spare change in the coin hole of the vending machine, the on the individual buttons light up. I press the button right below a can of Ice Coffee and the button of a can of Pudding Juice. Yup, Planeptune has a popular drink made from pudding. Though our hospitals suggest we take it in light moderation as it can shoot up our sugar levels.

The machine begins working its magic by buzzing for a bit.

"-Someone, save me..."

"Nepu!? Is that a voice?" yes it is.

"Might be our stranger guy..." I said as I pick up our drinks from the pocket of the vending machine.

"-Someone, anyone… Save me… Save… the Zero Dimension..." it speaks again. This time a tad louder.

"Hellooooo? Someone there? C'mon, answer me!" Neptune shouts at no one in particular in the alley as she follows the source of the voice; unknowingly heading towards a corner filled with garbage.

"Find anything?" I have my instincts scanning the area, but it's not picking up on anything strange. Or stranger.

"...That's so weird. I could've sworn I heard it coming from around here" beside that garbage dump is a door leading to the inside of the building. She must have thought that someone might be behind it is started speaking.

*TICK!*

"...Hm?" kicking something she looks down at her feet.

"Wait. What's this on the ground?" she picks up the strange, a small white object with four ports at the front. 2 buttons on the top from one corner to the other corner. And a stylized disk cover with a swirl and some fingers on it.

"It almost looks like a… game console…?" Neptune examines the object.

"But who even makes this? It's got a white body, a swirl mark- even a sophisticated games sommelier like myself has never seen anything like this. What you think Jared?"

"Maybe it's someone's prototype or something" maybe it's one of Planeptune's early prototype console or something that didn't get approved.

"Hm… Well, seeing as there is no one around here…. I guess I'll just-!"

"Hold your pudding drink woman" I put the cold pudding drink on her neck.

"Nepu! That's cold!" I retreat her drink immediately as she turns around and complains.

"Are you serious? Someone might come back for it"

"But it's in the garbage so surely someone doesn't want it anymore"

"Well, yeah. I get your point… fine… let's 'deposit' it" now I look silly just by stopping her. She is more and more getting sharper by the day so that fills my chest with pride.

"Yup, let's deposit this at the Basilicom for safekeeping! Yeah!" finally figuring out her legal words. She leads the march towards the end of the alley.

"Never a dull moment..." miraculously opening a can of iced coffee with one hand, I begin drinking as she leads me to another day with fun events, quiet past times, and just plain randomness; just like it has always been for 2 years since our marriage. Maybe right now, she might be thinking of ways to make things interesting with her new discovery. I mean, the gleam in her eyes is really bright.

"...I'm getting soft..." there hasn't been any incidents since that time. And all I've been doing to keep my physique up is some exercise and some giant monster hunting whenever I get the chance. It's no surprise that whenever there's no 'need' for a certain something we tend to forget or lose it.

"But that's for another time..." for now, let's see how this day goes.

Although strangely, that voice that we both heard sounded like someone's particular familial voice. It must by my imagination but strangely my instincts said it's not.

'I hope it's just my imagination, really...'

A/N: Hooray! I've got Rom's Love Story the doujin work posted on both Patre-on and at Facebook. Check it out over there! (both links at the top of my profile).