Ch 23: The Player

"...and the head of the Leanbox Department of Immigration has been calling us all morning to get in contact with you."

"Lady Vert, our online servers have just been overloaded by all the fan e-mails asking for Master Sync to marry them!"

"Emergency contact from our Basilicom Defense Force! Two of the fangirls have slipped through the outer perimeter and are heading towards- wait, hold on... Uh huh... Roger. Looks like our sniper team just managed to tranquilize them. The situation is all clear."

"Lady Vert! We just got another call from the Leanbox News Network asking for a personal statement regarding these recent developments!"

"(´・ω・｀) Ran Ran just saw another one of the staff members using the inter-dimensional toaster in the kitchen despite the warning sign Ran Ran put up. Can Ran Ran get a few days off to go out and rescue him?"

It was the morning after the ceremony and Vert found herself stuck behind her office desk as she listened to the torrent of reports being rained down upon her. Well, listening being a rather subjective term as the goddess was currently lying face-down over her desk while holding a large ice pack over her still-aching head.

So far, the only piece of news that had not added to her growing headache had been finding out that none of her citizens had noticed her rather embarrassing fainting spell the other day. Ironically enough, Sync had been the only one to spare her any attention as he had discretely warped her away to her room as soon as she had collapsed. According to her workers, the boy had then wrapped up the ceremony by himself without any further incidents... minus the massive wave of fangirls that had tried to swarm him when he tried to leave. Luckily, Vert's seemingly over-excessive security detail had ended up saving the day as her numerous battalions of soldiers managed to hold back the overeager fangirls as well as creating a solid defensive perimeter around the Basilicom afterwards.

At the sound of another crowd of workers urgently rushing towards her office, Vert let out a loud groan as she reluctantly put aside her ice pack and raised her head.

"Cancel all scheduled appointments and tell everyone that I won't be available for any sort of meeting or interview today," she grumbled out to her workers, both the ones already in her office and the ones that had just entered. "As for the server issue and any other problems we may have, you have my permission to hire the appropriate specialists to deal with them."

As the crowd of workers all nodded and exited the room, she shifted her weary eyes to her soldiers and Basilicom guards. "Continue holding perimeter around the Basilicom for the next couple of days. Contact the local law enforcement and have them send over a few men to supplement our current forces if needed."

The defense force members quickly acknowledged their orders and left as well.

"(´・ω・｀) What about me, Lady Vert?" the lone Ran Ran left in the room asked.

"You can take as much time as you need to go rescue the lost staff member. Just make sure to bring him back alive, preferably with all his limbs still attached."

The Ran Ran gave a nod and was just about to leave when Vert spoke up again with a large sigh.

"Speaking of the toaster, why didn't you just remove it from the kitchen instead of putting up a warning sign?"

Ran Ran gave a slight shrug. "(´・ω・｀) Sync told Ran Ran that unplugging the toaster might cause its reactor to unstabilize and blow up the entire space-time continuum. Ran Ran thinks we'll need to call over a tech expert like Miss Nepgear to take it apart safely."

Vert let out a groan as she decided she would need to have a word with the boy about his reckless experimenting. Dropping her head onto the desk with a loud thud, she motioned for the Ran Ran to take her leave. The pig-mask-wearing girl seemed to accept this dismissal as the sound of her retreating footsteps and the office door being closed was heard a few seconds later.

"That boy is going to be the end of me," Vert muttered aloud once she was finally alone.

"Nah, you're more likely to be done in by a heart attack considering your lifestyle and eating habits."

It was a good indication of just how done with life Vert was when she could not even muster the energy to be surprised at Sync's sudden interjection.

"What do you want?" she grumbled out instead, not even bothering to raise her head to look at him.

Sync was heard giving a laugh as he seemed to plop down onto the sofa. "You're really out of it, aren't you?"

Vert's only answer was to let out a disgruntled grumble as she adjusted her ice pack.

"Anyways, I just thought I'd see how you were doing after yesterday," Sync went on, a hint of mischievousness entering his voice. "After all, unlike some people, I actually care enough to personally check up on my sibling after they faint."

Vert gave a guilty grimace at this before reluctantly lifting her head.

"I told you already. I was busy dealing with important business after the Lastation incident," she countered weakly. As she did, she noted that Sync was back in his usual outfit and was currently leaning back on the sofa with a knowing smirk.

"Bzzt. Wrong answer." The boy cleared his throat and continued on in a high-pitched voice that was most likely meant to imitate Histoire. "As an older sister, it is your responsibility to put the safety and well-being of your younger sibling above all else! The fact that you ignored your younger brother and instead locked yourself in your room to play video games is absolutely unforgivable! As punishment, you'll receive a three day lecture on how to properly behave as an older sister!"

Vert was not sure what was more unsettling: the implication that the boy thought she did not seriously care about him (which would definitely lead to a premature Game Over for her) or the frighteningly accurate imitation of what Histoire would say to her if she ever found out about this.

Seeing her nervous reaction, Sync gave another laugh.

"Ah, I'm just messing with you, sis," he waved off. "I know you actually care about me, as misguided as it might be. And you don't have to worry about me telling any of this to Histoire. While I am a tad bit curious to see her actually kill someone by scolding them, I'm not quite that eager to become the CPU of Leanbox just yet."

Vert felt there was something off about what he just said but he quickly interrupted her thoughts by clapping his hands together with a wide smile.

"Enough about that though. As mini-Nep would point out, we've had enough interrogation chapters in this office already. Instead, why don't we talk about how we're going to capitalize on all the public buzz surrounding my big debut?"

"Ugh. If you want me to head out with you for a live interview right now, you can forget it," she groaned. She paused to shift her ice pack before adding on, "And I'm certainly not going to allow you to appear on public television again without any supervision."

"Aw, come on sis. That was only-"

A loud knock suddenly came from the office door cutting Sync off.

"What is it?" Vert called out automatically.

"Um... pardon me." The door was nervously opened up by one of the younger Basilicom workers as she meekly stepped inside with a small stack of papers in one hand. "Lady Vert. These are all the forms that need to be approved by... meep!"

The worker's face immediately turned beet red as she took notice of Sync's presence.

"M... Master Sync! I... I didn't see you there!"

"Oh, don't mind me," he casually waved off with a roguish grin. "Carry on as if I'm not here."

The flustered girl barely managed a nod before quickly rushing over and dropping down the stack of papers on Vert's desk. With a hurried bow to her boss, she rushed back over towards the door. As she opened it though, she looked back over at Sync while nervously fiddling with her robe's head piece with her free hand.

"Um... Master Sync? M... My coworkers and I were thinking of throwing you a little party t... to celebrate your successful public debut. We... We didn't know what your s... schedule was though so..."

Vert's face scrunched up into a look of distaste as she stared at Sync brushing aside his bangs in an overemphasized manner.

"Tomorrow afternoon will be fine," he answered smoothly. "I'll even duct tape- er... I mean, I'll send Chika out on an errand so you won't have to worry about dealing with her." He quickly covered up for his verbal blunder by sending the worker a wink.

The poor girl seemed just about ready to faint as she gave a faint squeak and nod before hightailing it out of there.

A lengthy silence filled the room until Vert finally decided to speak up.

"What... was that?"

"What was what?" Sync asked with a smirk, the charismatic demeanor he had put on quickly fading away into his usual annoying attitude.

"You know what I mean," she growled out, not in the mood for his games.

Sync seemed to catch onto this as well as he skipped over his usual trolling and explained.

"I was just maintaining my public image."

"What public image?"

Sync gave a sheepish laugh as he rubbed the back of his head. "Well, after seeing how yesterday's event turned out, I figured I'd be able gather a lot more shares if I... um... catered to the female demographic a bit more."

Vert quickly picked up what he was implying as she gave him a look dry enough to evaporate an entire ocean.

"Are you serious? Out of all the angles you could have gone with, you decided to portray yourself as some sort of... skirt-chaser?!"

"I prefer the term 'Casanova' if you don't mind," Sync countered, dramatically flicking aside his hair once more.

Vert felt her eye starting to twitch but managed to (mostly) restrain herself. "Stop doing that! And I absolutely do not approve of this! I will not have you tarnishing Leanbox's reputation by going around pretending to be some sort of womanizer!"

"Pretending? Who said anything about pretending?" Sync deftly dodged the ice pack Vert threw at him. "Kidding! Just kidding! Ahem. Besides, I wouldn't say I'm tarnishing the nation's reputation. If anything, I'd say I'm boosting it. Just check the amount of shares we have right now if you don't believe me."

Vert shot the boy a glare before reluctantly tapping into her connection with the share crystal. A moment later, she found herself letting out a gasp of surprise.

"W...What? How... How is...?"

"I checked in with our analyst team before I came here and they said our shares have gone up by eighty-five percent overnight." Sync gave a satisfied smirk as he took in her stunned expression. "Apparently, I'm a big hit with housewives and teenage girls from all over the world. Lastation in particular seems to be supporting me quite a bit, though that probably has more to do with the after-effects of Ram and Rom's brainwashing. Speaking of which, if those two call, tell them I'm... um... out inspecting one of our factories. For an entire year."

Vert failed to respond to this as she found herself completely speechless. While she had noticed the increase in shares upon waking up, she had failed to realize exactly how much the boy had actually gathered. Clearly she had underestimated just how massive the demand for a male CPU Candidate had been. With how vocal the male supporters (fanboys) of the goddesses were, it was sometimes easy to forget the large number of straight women that lived in Gamindustri as well. And judging from what was happening now, it was clear all of them were more than ecstatic about this unexpected turn of events.

'You know, this massive support for the boy makes it increasingly likely that he really is the CPU Candidate of Leanbox," her logical side pointed out. 'If this many people were actually wishing for a male Candidate then-'

Vert quickly slammed her head down onto the desk to shut her up.

No, there was absolutely no chance the boy was actually her real sibling. He was some sort of prince from an alternate dimension and that was what she was sticking with. Once she finally beat this ridiculous game of keeping him alive for some undetermined set of time, he would finally reveal his true identity to her and then maybe she would be rewarded with an actual younger-

"Um... sis? You still alive? Cause if you're not, I'm gonna go contact that shrine maiden from the next dimension over. I don't want your angry spirit haunting me and I saw an ad saying that exorcisms are half-off this week."

Vert simply let out a long, suffering groan as she wished she could rest in peace right then and there.

"Huh. Looks like you turned into a zombie instead. Well, that's fine too. The ad said the shrine maiden also deals with jiangshi and I'm pretty sure those are a type of zombie."

There was no response from Vert this time as she decided it was not worth the effort to rise to his bait.

"Heh heh. Alright, I'll show you some mercy for today. Anymore and you'll probably end up crashing again." There was a light thud next to her as he apparently returned her ice pack with his teleportation powers.

"In regards to my public image, don't worry about it too much," he continued. "It's just some harmless flirting. Honestly, it's practically the same thing you and the other CPUs do every year at the annual idol competition. And don't try to deny it. I've seen the recordings in the library."

Before Vert could say anything against him, his footsteps were heard approaching her before the sound of a paper being pulled from his inventory was heard.

"One thing before I go though. I was thinking of adding in a few more... options to our staff members' uniform. All I need is your signature and we can have it officially implemented by tomorrow."

Vert slowly peeked her head up to see the boy holding out an official-looking document with an oddly hesitant look on his face. With more than a fair bit of suspicion, she cautiously grabbed the paper before looking it over.

"New uniforms? What's wrong with our current- WHAT?! Maid uniforms for the female staff members?!"

"Optional maid uniforms!" Sync quickly corrected, actually looking a bit flustered for once. "I'm not gonna force anyone to wear them if they don't want to! ...well, maybe asides from Chika, Noire, and mini-Nep but they're special cases."

Something sparked in Vert's memory as she suddenly realized something. "Wait, is that the reason why all those female workers were calling you 'Master'?!"

Sync gave an embarrassed cough as he looked away. "Ah... um... well... I might have suggested that I prefer that title to a few people..." He slowly backed away as Vert began to visibly shake. "Oh, um... would you look at the time? Ha ha. I think Chika might be done sharpening her knives by now. I should probably head out now or I'll be late for our daily murder rendezvous. Er... see ya later sis!"

With a quick wave, he hastily beat a retreat as he teleported away.

"SYNC! COME BACK HERE YOU LITTLE-"

Vert was just about to rip apart the document in her hands and chase after him when something on the paper caught her eye. Putting her rampage on hold for a moment, she brought the document back down to take a closer look.

"...optional butler uniforms for the male staff members?"

Vert cleared her throat as she gracefully settled back down into her chair. Well... perhaps it would not hurt to at least consider the boy's proposition.

"Let me go C-Sha! I'm gonna go kill that stupid man-whore!"

"Ram! Language! And where did you even learn that sort of word anyways?"

"Hmph. In one of Blanc's books. The guy in that story kept cheating on his master like a big stupid-head too."

"...I really need to have a word with Blanny about keeping her books better hidden. Anyways, why don't we forget about all that and go to your room to play some- Rom! Where do you think you're going with that katana?!"

In a darkened office of the Lowee Basilicom, the ominously shadowed figure of Blanc let out a low growl as she listened to the commotion taking place outside.

While C-Sha had convinced/guilt-tripped her into waiting a full day before confronting Vert (the fact that the Leanbox CPU had fainted onstage was a fairly good indication that she needed some time to recover), Blanc felt her patience rapidly dwindling away. Thunder-Tits, and more importantly, her idiot brother had a lot to answer for; not the least of which was making the world think he was currently engaged to both Ram and Rom. And yes, she knew that the twins were technically the ones who had made this ridiculous notion public with their brainwashing of Lastation but the boy had not done anything to stop them or made any public denials so he was firmly the one to blame (at least in her mind).

With a glower that could have melted solid steel, the avatar of Wrath reached into her inventory and pulled out her phone.

We need to talk. Get your ass over to my Basilicom. Bring the brat.

Blanc briefly debated whether or not to include a death threat at the end before deciding against it. If Thunder-Tits refused to reply, then she could simply use it as an excuse to fly over herself and beat the living shit out of the blonde morons.

"Financier! Grab the net! Rom's making a break for the window!"

Assuming the twins did not fly over to castrate the boy first.

As Blanc sent her message, the chamberlain was heard giving off a panicked yell before a large explosion rocked the entire building.

...Hopefully the Basilicom would still be standing by the time her 'guests' decided to arrive.