Histoire - Chapter 2

"Histoire, is this something to be approved or denied?"

"Could you give me a rundown on what it says?"

"It's about the Planeptune allowance allocation increase... for ... Neptune."

"That girl, even now still... No! Deny that!"

Histoire continues to float around the room, dusting off the shelves, and guiding you with your administrative duties of Planeptune. It's the 3rd day since you've started tackling the paperwork, and the piles of papers have finally begun to disappear. Most paperwork is about the infrastructure of Planeptune; either it being about the construction or deconstruction of buildings for new businesses. It's only a miracle that Planeptune has somehow survived.

"Histoire, you weren't kidding when you said she wasn't doing her job. Some of these documents are really dated."

"Only when this country is near its boiling point does that girl work... and even then it's not even good work!"

"So she works, but only when things are already set on fire."

"Yes, so again I thank you for taking the job."

Finishing another small stack of documents, you look out the window and see that the sun is beating down on the office. You feel your exhaustion creep up on you as your stomach lightly rumbles. Looking at Histoire, it seems she's tired as well. You begin to start on another set of documents as Histoire addresses you.

"It's almost time for lunch, I'll go check to see if Compa and IF have already left."

"Thanks Histoire. I'll check on the monitoring system as well, might save you a trip."

"Ah yes, that slipped my mind. Go ahead and check."

Flicking through the different channels on your monitoring system, you see IF and Compa in the living room area with Neptune and Nepgear. It seems they're making idle talk while Neptune is playing a game with Nepgear.

"Would you mind if we listen in? Maybe they'll be leaving soon."

"Alright, turn on the sounds."

You switch off the mute on your monitor and adjust the volume. The sounds of their conversations start to play on the monitor.

"--i Nep!"

"Huh? What is it Iffy?"

"I just noticed now but, I haven't seen Histoire in a while. Where is she?"

"Uh, how do I say this..."

"Don't tell me she ---"

You hear Histoire suddenly speak up. "I believe I should go make an appearance, before they start making false assumptions."

"I'll keep watching and reading some of these documents then."

Opening the door for her, she gives you a smile as she floats towards the living room area. You return to your desk to read through some documents and listen in. Sitting in your chair, you see in the corner of your eye Histoire making an appearance, surprising everyone in the room. You hear IF speak up first.

"H-Histoire! We were just talking about how we haven't seen you in a while, where have you been?"

"Thank you for the concern IF, but don't worry I'm fine."

"I see that now, actually you look even better than usual, what have you been doing?"

"Just stress relief, IF. I t-tried out some meditation techniques to relieve some of my stress."

"I thought that Nep skipping all of her work has finally gotten to you."

"D-don't worry, IF, I'm more well built than that."

"Alright, we were about to take our leave anyway, glad to see you're fine. Let's go Compa."

IF and Compa wave their goodbyes to Histoire, Neptune and Nepgear, you see them step into the elevator, and just like that they're gone. A few moments after they leave, you hear Histoire breath a loud sigh of relief.

"That was a bit too close for comfort... anyway, Nepgear, would you please prepare some food for us?"

"Sure, does he want anything in particular?"

"I'm sure anything you cook would be good, he seems to like most of what you're cooking."

"Okay, I'll just bring it to the office then?"

"Yes, please."

You turn off the monitor and begin focusing on the document in hand. Shortly after,  you hear a knock on the door. Standing up, you stretch a bit along the way to the door to open it. Opening the door, Histoire enters along with Nepgear and a tray of food. She places the tray full of food on one of the side tables, and starts to leave. You ruffle her hair as you give her your thanks.

"Thanks as usual Nepgear."

"Ehehe, it's not a problem," she smiles in contentment as you ruffle her hair.

You notice in the corner of your eye that Histoire seems to be looking at this with some jealousy. Letting Nepgear go, you close the door and begin to give Histoire the same treatment.

"You as well Histoire, thanks for your guidance and giving me this opportunity."

"Ah, i-it's nothing! I should be the one thanking you," as she blushes and holds her face with both hands.

You continue ruffling her hair for while longer, enjoying her blushing little face and small mewls of joy. Eventually stopping, you speak to Histoire.

"Let's have some lunch then?"

"Ah.. yes." Her face still slightly flushed.

Sitting down on the side table, Histoire floats opposite of you. You both begin to eat the meal in front of you. The meal is as delicious as ever. You make small talk with Histoire as you both eat.

"Nepgear cooks really well. It's quite a treat each day."

"I-is that so?"

"Yeah. I used to make my own meals, and they can't even compare."

"D-do you think I could cook like Nepgear?"

"Of course. Wait, where did this come from?"

"N-n-nothing! Please don't mind me, I was just thinking out loud."

"Alright, if you say so."

You finish your meal shortly afterwards and notice that Histoire hasn't yet, and looks like she's staring deep into the food. Waving your hand in front of her produces no results. She seems to be quite deep in thought.

"Histoire? Are you alright there?"

You see her shake her head and bow. "I-I'm sorry! I was just lost in thought."

"Are you sure? Maybe we should call it for the day? We've done plenty today, and work isn't piling up ... relatively speaking."

"I-I guess we can. Perhaps you're right, I do just need a rest, we have been working tirelessly for the past few days."

"Okay, let me just clean up here a bit and I'll help you to your room, okay? You're looking a bit flushed."

"N-n-no, no! I'm fine I can get to my room fine."

"I insist Histoire, I don't want to see you suddenly zoning out somewhere."

She blushes and nods as she lowers her head. "Okay, I'll wait for you here."

"Stay put, I'll just put the plates in the sink and clean up."

Collecting the plates, you open the door, and quickly walk to the kitchen to clean up the plates. You lather, rinse, and wipe down the plates and place them in the proper cupboards. Walking back, you pass by Neptune who calls out your name.

"Hey! What's the rush?"

"It's Histoire, I think she's a bit unwell."

She starts to walk with you on the way to the office.

"Why do you say that Histy's unwell?"

"Well we've been working tirelessly for a while, and when we were having lunch today, she just zoned out. Also it seems her face seems a bit flushed, could be a fever."

"Hm, maybe she has a manual somewhere..."

"Excuse me?"

"Oh! Yeah, I'm sure she does, let me try and find it."

"Alright..."

Arriving at the office door, Neptune waves goodbye and runs the opposite direction, as you open the door to pick up Histoire. Opening the door, you hear slight sobbing. You look around for the source of the sobbing, and it's coming from Histoire. You move slowly towards her as you call out to her.

"Histoire? Are you alright?"

"Uuuuuuu~ you're back." You hear her say between sobs.

"What happened? Are your hurt somewhere?"

"I-I-I thought you wouldn't come back. Uuuuuuuuuu~"

"Is that why you were crying because you thought I left you?"

She nods as she wipes her tears away. "Y-yes."

"Let me check if you have a fever..."

Using your hand to move her hair away, you press your forehead on hers. You see her turn a deep red as you do, and you feel intense heat on your forehead.

"Histoire, you definitely have a fever. This won't do."

"A-am I going to be okay?"

Giving her a reassuring smile, you nod. "Don't worry, I'll take care of you."

Cradling her in your arms, she falls asleep as you walk towards her room, passing by Neptune along the way. She shows you a book, with an image of a fairy on the cover.

"I found her manual!" Neptune quietly says to you.

"Alright, hand it over to me in Histoire's room, my hands are kind of full right now."

"Okay, I'll just follow along then."

Arriving at Histoire's room, you open her door and see a small room, relative to you. It seems everything in her room is for someone of her size. It would be difficult to take care of Histoire in here.

"This... isn't gonna work. I'll just take her to my room."

"Okay, make sure to read the manual, I'm sure that's the right one, it mentioned Histoire."

"Thanks again for looking for it Neptune."

Entering your room, you carefully place the sleeping Histoire on your bed. You see her tear up slightly as she felt your presence disappear from her. Caressing her face and wiping away her tears, you see her calm down and sleep soundly again. Trying to remember the what to do with a fever, you look for a small cloth to dampen with warm water and a small dipper. Opening a drawer, you find a handkerchief, and you head to the bathroom to get a small dipper and fill it with lukewarm water. You prepare the damp cloth and carefully place it on Histoire's forehead. Seeing her continue to sleep soundly, you take a seat by the bedside and begin reading the manual, looking at the table of contents for any troubleshooting topics. You find the page number you need and flip towards it.

"Hello! If you're reading this, then it means your Histoire is malfunctioning. Please read the flowchart troubleshooting guide in the next page for more information. Also, please note, Histoire is a living, breathing, person, so please be careful in handling her."

On the next page you see a list of various symptoms and page numbers next to them. You read through some of her symptoms such as high temperatures, emotional instability and focus problems. There is also a list of possible causes for the symptoms to cross reference with such as food poisoning, overexposure to water, stress and more. You spend the next hour diagnosing Histoire, all the while constantly changing the cloth on her forehead.

Reading through the symptoms, it seems her emotional instability is a part of the fever, making her lose restraint on negative emotions, such as the time she started crying. Her lack of focus is most likely caused by stress from overworking. The treatment for her fever is, thankfully, normal, just bed rest, plenty of water and good food, and if followed properly she should get well by the next day.

Knowing what to do now, you check up on Histoire, making sure her cloth is freshly placed before leaving your room to look for Nepgear. Silently closing the door, you walk to the sisters' bedroom door and knock. You hear the shuffling of feet as the door opens shortly after with Nepgear greeting you.

"Hello! Do you need something?"

"I'm not sure if Neptune told you or not, but Histoire's currently sick and I hate to ask this but can you cook her some food? Something easy to eat, like soup, so she can get her strength back."

"Oh no! Histoire's sick? Don't worry, I know something that Compa taught me to make when Neptune was sick."

"That sounds great. Could you take it to my room when you're done cooking it though? Histoire might start sobbing again if she notices me gone."

"She's crying? I can't say I've ever seen her crying when she's sick."

"I've never seen a faerie before this so I'm not sure what I should be surprised at anymore."

"Okay, I'll go cook the food now, take care of Histoire, alright?"

"Thanks Nepgear, I appreciate it."

Seeing her leave her room, she closes the door and heads to the kitchen. You return back to your room, with Histoire still sleeping but with her face starting to cry. Quickly wiping her tears away, you caress her face once more and speak reassuring words, calming her down.

"It's alright, I'm here Histoire."

You begin to hum a lullaby to Histoire and you see her begin to smile as she sleeps. Sitting by the bedside, you see her trying to reach for the air, you offer her your hand, at which point she holds it dearly. You try to pull your hand away but she doesn't budge. Resigning your hand to her, you try to get comfortable and read through Histoire's manual once more.

A small thought enters your head as you leaf through the manual, not really taking anything in, if reading this manual would be an invasion of privacy. As you read through the first few pages, as if almost answering your questions, a passage reads:

"Your Histoire is unique, and this manual can only be used for general questions, and troubleshooting. No personal details are listed in this manual."

Chuckling to yourself, you close the manual after re-reading the symptoms page once more. Looking at Histoire sleeping soundly with her arms tightly wrapped around your hand, you check her temperature with your free hand, noticing that it's lower than before. You smile with relief looking at Histoire, as you hear a few knocks on your door and the door opening shortly afterwards. It's Nepgear carrying a bowl of soup for Histoire. She walks closer to you and sees your hand being embraced by Histoire.

"Goodness, I've never seen Histoire act like this before, anyway I have the soup," you see her raise her eyebrows, "but how will you feed her like this?"

"I'll wake her up shortly, don't worry, just place the soup down and I'll handle the rest."

"Okay," you see her place the soup down nearby, "I hope Histoire gets better soon."

"Same here, thanks again Nepgear."

She bows and walks out of your room, quietly closing the door on her way out. You look at Histoire still snuggling your arm, as you try to wake her. Removing the cloth from her forehead, you start calling out to her.

"Histoire, wake up. It's time to eat."

Her face starts to wake up, but quickly goes back to sleeping. You try once more, but to no avail. Trying a different approach, you whisper into her ear.

"Histoire, we're about to go, wake up or I'm leaving without you."

Immediately you see her eyes open wide and her grip on your hand tighten.

"Nooooo! Don't leave me!" You hear her shout out as she sits up.

"Well, that woke her up," you say to yourself.

You see her look around her surroundings, ending with her eyes on you. "W-why am I in your room?"

"Your room was a bit too small for me to be able to nurse you back to health properly. Anyway, are you feeling a bit better now?"

Not noticing she's still hugging your hand, she nods. "Y-yes I'm feeling a lot better."

"You can let go of my hand now, Nepgear prepared you some soup to eat, don't worry save your strength I'll feed you."

"O-oh! Sorry," she let's go of your hand as she continues, "w-wait, feed me?"

"Don't worry, it's no problem, it's only right to help out," you grab the bowl of soup and spoon Nepgear left and began checking if the temperature is right.

"I guess I'm under your care now..."

You began to feed Histoire the soup, making small talk as well.

"Is the soup good?"

"Y-yes," as she takes another spoonful of soup, "t-this isn't even part of your job description... I don't know what to say..."

"Don't worry Histoire, anyone would do the same in taking care of you."

"O-oh," her eyes go down as she hears you say that, "y-yes, of course."

"Is anything wrong?"

"It's nothing, don't worry."

"Are you sure? Well, I won't pry if you don't feel comfortable talking about it."

"N-no, it's just that I have these weird emotions inside of me when I look at you. I can't say I've felt anything like this before."

"Is it mistrust?"

"No, goodness, no, if it was I wouldn't even have sent that message in the first place."

You give her a sheepish smile. "I suppose that's true, could you describe the feeling, if you don't mind?"

"Erm, it's embarrassing, and when I look at you, I get, how do you say, I feel some excitement yet nervousness at the same time."

"I'd hazard a guess and say that's almost like the feeling of being in love."

"L-l-love?!"

"I can't say I'm right, but I can't say I'm wrong, you're the only one who could say, but that could just be a byproduct of the fever."

"Y-yes, the fever..."

"Your manual said your emotional state might be a bit muddled during your fever, so that might just be it."

You see her try to process what you just said as you continue.

"Besides I've only been here for a week at most, though most of that time we did spend together training and working."

"Y-yes, it might just have been the fever talking."

"Anyway, I think it would be better for you to stay here for the night, just in case your fever returns."

"A-alright."

"Do you need to go to the bathroom for anything?"

"N-no, I'm fine. Thank you for asking and thank you for feeding me."

"You're welcome, I'll just put this bowl in the sink, and while I do that go ahead and choose what side of the bed you prefer. It's getting pretty late, so we should turn in."

"Okay, I'll just take the right side of the bed."

"Don't cry while I'm gone now," you say to her with a smirk.

"P-please don't tease me..."

Exiting your room, you take one last look at Histoire, fixing the blanket on her side of the bed. You close the door slowly, and walk towards the sink in the kitchen area. Alone with your thoughts during this short walk, you think about if it really was just the fever talking. Thinking about your own feelings towards Histoire, you definitely find her cute, hardworking, and generally a pleasant person to be with, if anything, your only concern would be the size difference and position of power. Histoire's still your boss, and if asking her about what she thinks of you turns out to be platonic, it might cause problems during work. Although, if for some reason, she decides to bring up the topic again, you can safely ask her during that time.

Cleaning the bowl, and putting it back into the cupboards, you head back to your room. Arriving at your door, you open the door to Histoire sitting up in bed, waiting for you. She coughs and calls out your name. You see her face turn slightly red and she looks away as she speaks.

"I'd like to talk to you about something, if you please..."