Neptunia: Merc's Involvement

Chapter 8: Leanbox - The Concert

'That certainly is quite the excuse.' Thought Alex, commending Chika for the effort.

"Don't worry there's some medicine in the drawers over there. I'm sure they'll help with your flu." Said Vert with a completely calm tone while pointing at some drawers on the other side of the room.

Turned out Vert already knew that Chika was faking an illness as this wasn't the first time she's done this to get Vert's attention.

'I-I'm not giving up so easily!' Thought Chika with more determination.

"I-I also have some very bad coughing." She said.

At this point, the oracle began getting desperate and coughed as hard as she could, but she ended up pushing hit a bit more than she should have and began feeling lightheaded.

'Ugh…I-I think that was a bad idea…' Thought Chika as she then began coughing once again, but it was for real this time which both Alex and Vert noticed.

"Chika, are you okay!?"

"M-Ms. Chika!"

While Alex got up from the couch and Vert approached her, the Oracle tried to keep them from worrying about her.

"D-Don't worry, I just overdid it a bit." She said.

"Try taking a seat for now, okay?" Said Vert while leading Chika and sitting her down on the couch.

"Thank you…" Replied the oracle before suddenly raising her head to look at her "Wait...you could tell I wasn't faking it?"

"Of course I can tell. You're my precious Oracle after all" Answered Vert kindly while beaming at her.

Chika couldn't help but blush with a shy smile after being called precious by the person she adored the most.

"Big Sister Vert."

While Alex watched the oracle and the goddess have some sisterly bonding, he felt like the extra person in the picture and decided to give them some privacy by walking out of the room.

Before he fully stepped out, his attention was called out by Vert.

"Hey Alex?" She asked.

Alex turned back to face her.

"Yeah Vert?" He said.

"You, haven't been overworking yourself have you? I've been noticing that you've been coming back more and more exhausted each day. If you need a break then you can tell me." Said Vert as Alex just shrugged her off.

"Don't worry Vert it's okay. Remember I'm here to help. Everyone's been doing their best so I gotta keep up and do the same. Seriously, don't worry about me okay?" He said as he waved her goodbye before leaving the room.

With no more monsters to take care of at the moment and no desire to laze around the mansion either, the young boy decided to go out and take a walk around town.

As he went out for his walk, he was greeted by numerous Leanbox citizens commending him for all contributions to the Viral Monsters outbreak which Alex greatly appreciated as he was just doing his job.

During his walk, Alex's attention would be caught by a familiar voice.

"Oh Alex. How unusual to see you around town by yourself."

The young boy turned around to see Cave standing behind him.

"I just felt like going for a walk that's all. What're you doing here?" He asked.

"I was heading to the Basilicom to request for some extra reinforcements for tonight's concert." She replied.

"Concert? You mean 5pb's concert?"