#LoveLiveSecretSanta2018

[galileosunshine]

Leah’s merry crisis

Rating: General Series: Love Live! Sunshine!! Pairings: RubyLeah Words: 3857

Summary:  Saint Snow and Aqours are holding a Christmas party at Chika's inn, but Leah can only think of one thing - kissing Ruby underneath the mistletoe. 

This is my gift to @dart-hfluffy as part of the Love Live Secret Santa 2018 exchange! @lovelivesecretsanta2018 Merry Christmas to you, I’m sorry this is so late. My life’s been so hectic ;A; but! I hope you enjoy this!!!

Read on AO3

It was Christmas time in Uchiura, and the city’s decorations reflected the season. Every house had lights hung, bathing them in swathes of red and green light. Wreaths were adorned on streetlights, ornamented Christmas trees were set in park corners, and festive music filled the air.

And for Kazuno Leah, there was one more thing that made the season all the livelier. She and her sister had come down from Hokkaido to spend Christmas Eve with the rest of Aqours… which meant she got to see Ruby. Leah didn’t want to just see Ruby, however. For this Christmas party, Leah had a very specific plan in mind.

She was going to kiss Ruby underneath the mistletoe.

Just thinking about it made her face flare up in red. Usually she’d never do something so bold, not to mention something so cheesy, but given the current status of their relationship Leah thought she had to take some drastic measures.

In the past year that they’ve been dating, Ruby never wanted to take their relationship any further. They had held hands, sure, and they had cuddled. They would spend the night in each other’s rooms anytime one of them visited the other on holidays.

Ruby even surprised Leah once with a peck on the cheek, when she felt especially emotional seeing Leah leave for her gate at the airport. But it was a quick, chaste kiss that passed so quickly, Leah barely had time to register that it happened before it was over.

And any other time Leah thought the mood was good, that the flow of the situation might lead to something… more, Ruby would suddenly back away, red dusting across her features. It would be maddeningly frustrating if she weren’t so cute.

Well, if Ruby was going to be all shy about this, then Leah was going to have to take matters into her own hands. Of course, there was no way could she could kiss Ruby on her own either, and in this respect she understood the girl. And so… the mistletoe plan was clearly the only option, right?

If it all seemed set up, then she didn’t have to be embarrassed about initiating a kiss… right?

Right…

And that’s how Leah found herself, gathered with the rest of Aqours, in Chika’s inn. Chika’s family allowed them to use a special large parlor room, so long as they didn’t make too much noise and bother the guests. Leah had already hung the mistletoe earlier.

There was really only one place to put it. The ceiling of the room was too high for her to reach on her own. And so, as she and her sister were coming in, Leah had walked just slightly behind everybody, and while no one was looking behind her, she slapped on the fake piece of leafage on the frame of the doorway. It wasn’t the most ideal position, but she knew going in that much of the plan would have to be extemporaneous, so she contented herself with that.

Now it was just a matter of trying to get Ruby underneath it.

Meanwhile, across the room, Chika was practically bouncing on her haunches as she talked with Sarah as they sat at a low table. “I’m so glad you two could make it!” she was saying.

“Yeah, us too,” Sarah answered. “It’s really been a while!”

“Hard to believe that it’s been a year since everyone was together like this,” Dia said next to her. “How’s college treating you by the way?”

Sarah laughed and scratched the back of her head. “Well, like I said, busy. But at the same time, compared to high school I feel like I’ve never had more free time in my life… if that makes sense.”

“I know what you mean! This year I…”

And so they went on.

In contrast, Leah remained quiet. She was content to let her older sister do the talking, while she tried to think of some way to have both her and Ruby end up underneath the mistletoe as naturally as possible.

Well, with everyone moving around, Ruby was sure to end up by the door at some point, right? So perhaps the easiest way was to just stand by the door and wait for Ruby to come to her. Yeah, that was as good a place to start as any. She just needed a decent excuse to stand by the door.

Leah stood up. “Excuse me, I have to… uh, use the bathroom!”

“Oh, but you just got here!” Chika said.

“… it was a long trip,” Leah fibbed.

“Well, okay! Do you remember where it is?”

“Yeah! I think remember from last time.” Before she lost her nerve, Leah quickly exited the room and made her way through the corridors to the restroom.

When she got there, she took the opportunity to wash her face with water. This was a lot more nerve-wracking then she thought it’d be. Or maybe it was just her own mind working against her. There was nothing weird about asking to use the bathroom right?

Oh well, it was no use worrying about it now…

Leah stayed in the bathroom for a minute or two, just for good measure, before heading back. When she reached the living room, instead of going to her previous spot at the table, she stayed by the entrance, right underneath where she hung the mistletoe.

She was in position. Now to wait for Ruby.

While she was away in the bathroom, Yoshiko had started some kind of mystical ritual, waving her hands over her pentagram tarp that had been spread across the table and chanting nonsensical words. Mari was encouraging her by filming it all on her smartphone and cheering along, and Riko was sighing all the while besides.

Kanan was also shaking her head at the two, but she was more focused on flipping through channels on the TV. Hanamaru sat a ways away, absorbed in her own book. Chika, You, and Dia were still talking with Sarah.

…where was Ruby? The whole plan hinged on her.

And that’s when the redhead decided to sneak up behind Leah and tap her on the shoulder.

“Hi Leah-chan! How are you?” Ruby said with an affectionate smile.

“Uwah!” Leah jumped in a very undignified way. She gathered herself together as quickly as she could. “I’m uh… I’m good!”

Leah blushed over how dumb and unrevealing the reply was. She wasn’t good with spontaneous conversation. Ruby, however, only giggled in that oh-so-cute and oh-so very Ruby way that set Leah’s heart aflutter.

“Good is good!” she said encouragingly.

Heck, I love you, Leah thought. And then, No wait! Focus!

The plan! Ruby was here now. She just had to point out the mistletoe above them.

Ah, but not right away. She had to make it seem like she didn’t know it was up there either, like she only just noticed. She had to keep the conversation going for a bit first…

“Uh, how are you, Ruby?” Leah said.

“I’m… good too,” Ruby answered, giggling again for repeating what Leah had said. “It’s nice to be with everyone after so long! Especially my big sister, I’ve missed her.” Ruby got this dreamy look in her eyes as she turned to look at Dia.

“That’s good,” Leah said. Sheesh, couldn’t she say anything else besides the word ‘good’?

“And…” Ruby continued. “I’m really happy to see you again, Leah-chan! I’ve missed you too!”

Leah gulped. “S-same here. I missed you too, Ruby.”

They really hadn’t been apart that long since they last saw each other. Ruby had visited her in Hakodate on Labor Thanksgiving Day*, which was only a month ago. But still, for the two long-distance lovers, any amount of time apart seemed like years. No amount of texting could beat seeing Ruby face to face.

Ruby also seemed to realize the implications of what she said, and a small tinge of pink began to bloom on her face.

Ah man, the mood is really good! Leah thought. Now was the perfect time to spring the mistletoe. Leah opened her mouth to speak–

“By the way!” Ruby cut her off. “Why are you just standing by the door Leah-chan?”

“Eh?” Leah stammered. “W-well, no reason really…”

“You should come join everyone!”

“No, I…”

“C’mon!” Ruby grabbed her hand, and started to lead her further inside the room…

…away from the mistletoe.

“No, Ruby, I’m…!” Leah resisted, and Ruby stopped in her tracks, looking back at Leah with a questioning look. Leah scrambled to find some excuse not to leave the spot, but her mind was coming up blank.

“Oh…are you feeling nervous?” Ruby said. “It has been a while since you last saw everyone.”

That was completely off the mark, but Leah couldn’t say that without revealing her intentions. Not to mention, Ruby was being so considerate. Maybe that was why Leah didn’t resist again when Ruby pulled on her hand the second time.

“It’s ok!” Ruby said with a small laugh. “I promise everyone’s still as nice as before!”

Leah’s heart melted, and she let herself be dragged into the room.

There goes her chance. Oh well, she’d just have to think of another plan. And besides, being able to hold Ruby’s hand wasn’t so bad either…

“Welcome back!” You welcomed Leah back with a little salute.

“Uh, yeah, I’m back,” Leah said.

“Leah-chan was feeling a little shy,” Ruby teased, and Leah wilted.

“Well, you’re just in time to see Yoshiko exorcise this mikan!”

Apparently, the orange had spontaneously rolled off the table and surprised Chika, and Yoshiko was convinced that it must’ve been possessed. The excising process now also involved candles, and Riko was quick to point out the fire hazard. Mari called her a party-pooper and continued filming, while Maru was fact-checking proper exorcism techniques on her own phone, and pointing out all the things Yoshiko was doing wrong.

Leah sighed and settled herself in for what might be a long night of this group’s antics.

After having chatted with the rest of Aqours for a while, and played some other party games, Leah thought it might be time to make another attempt at the mistletoe.

“Chika-san, I’m a bit thirsty. Mind if I get a drink?”

“Sure, no problem!” came Chika’s reply.

“Actually, I might as well get everyone drinks, while I’m at it. Ruby, wanna help me?”

“Of course!” Ruby said.

Leah cheered on the inside. A perfect set up! Knowing Ruby, Leah knew she’d agree to help. And that meant both of them would have to get up and go toward the door together. Which meant they would both end up underneath the mistletoe again. Leah gave herself a mental pat on the back and started getting up.

“Ahhh, wait!” Chika said, stumbling over herself to stop Leah. “Actually, you don’t have to go, I’ll go get the drinks!”

Oh great, another obstacle. And so soon…

“It’s ok Chika-san, I offered,” Leah said, putting on her best service smile. But Chika wasn’t having any of that.

“Uh-uh, I’m not gonna let my guests serve me drinks in my own inn! Mito-nee will kill me if she found out that happened!”

“But…”

“It’s sweet of you to want to help Leah,” her sister Sarah chimed in. “But think about if it was at our house. You wouldn’t want any of them serving you drinks either, right?”

Darn it, why did Sarah have to be so sensible? Well she was always sensible, and Leah loved that about her older sister… but why now?

“Fine…” Leah relented. There goes that plan, too.

The rest of the night was pretty much the same. Sometime later they started playing music from a set of home speakers, which eventually devolved into dancing along to some of the choreography they knew from other idol groups. With everyone up, Leah tried again to get Ruby and herself together, and then steer them toward the door, but as expected, with all the bustling about it was pretty much impossible.

And yet another time Leah tried to ask Ruby if she wanted to take a picture. She was getting pretty desperate with her ideas now. But again, when she tried to steer the two of them toward the door, Ruby said a picture that included all the going-on’s of the party would be more scenic. So that failed too.

Who knew getting two people in the same spot could be so darn difficult?

Her frustration was probably showing, because eventually, Ruby started picking up on something wrong too. Ruby snuck up to her, after some of the commotion had died down.

“Leah-chan, are you ok?” Ruby asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Why?”

“Well… you’re scowling.”

“Huh? No, I’m not!” Leah quickly wiped the scowl from her face.

“But you were…” Ruby said, but then let it drop. Arguing about whether she was or wasn’t wouldn’t get to the heart of the matter. “You’ve been acting strange all night, actually. Are you sure you’re ok?”

Leah sighed. “Ruby, I’m fine. You’re worrying for nothing.”

“Well I don’t know if it’s nothing,” Ruby said tentatively, not wanting to provoke. “It’s just… it seemed like you kept wanting to get away from everyone.”

Leah stiffened slightly. Her statement rang true. Or, partly true. Leah was trying to get them both away from everyone, so they’d be under the mistletoe together. But seriously, Ruby was blowing this way out of proportion.

“Ruby, I promise you, I’m ok.”

“I just wondered if… you weren’t having fun with everyone anymore…”

“No, it’s definitely not that.”

“Then what is it?” Ruby said with a force in her voice that made Leah take a mental step back in surprise. Oh gosh, the girl was really worried wasn’t she? For the first time that night, Leah wondered if all of this was really worth it. She really wanted that kiss, but she didn’t mean to make Ruby worry so much…

“Hey, you two,” Mari cooed from a short distance away. “Having a lover’s spat?”

Leah felt her blood rising into a blush.

“You should really take that kind of thing outside.”

“No, we’re not–!”

Ruby grabbed her hand, and she stopped. “Leah-chan, can we? Talk outside?”

Staring into Ruby’s eyes, Leah withered. As much as she wanted to deny Mari the pleasure of her teasing, she really needed to clear this misunderstanding up. And so she relented.

“Sure.”

The night air was cool and peaceful with no hint of a breeze, and shielded from the noise of the party behind them. The quietness made Leah feel exposed, like the air was empty and ready to accept all your secrets. And Leah had a lot to reveal.

“So what’s up?” Ruby said, turning to face her after having led them out into the night.

Leah let out a defeated sigh and tried to steel herself for the inevitable embarrassment that this was going to result in.

“Ok first of all,” Leah said, hoping to give herself a little buffer before divulging the rest. “It’s nothing to do with me, ok?” Ruby nodded her head, though Leah could tell that she was not completely convinced. “It’s about… us.”

Leah immediately regretted saying that when saw the shock and fear on Ruby’s face.

“Wait wait wait, that came out wrong!” Leah quickly tried to correct herself. “It’s just I feel like where we’re at right now isn’t the best, and I want us to be something more, and…”

Ruby wasn’t looking at her anymore. In fact, she looked like she was about to cry. Leah slapped her palm to her forehead. Why was she so bad at this? Ok, enough talking in circles then, she’d just have to say it.

“Ruby, look,” she said, and grabbed her by the shoulders, forcing Ruby to look at her. “I’m not breaking up with you, ok? I lo… I love you.” She tripped up a little on that last part, but that seemed to work.

Ruby’s shoulders visibly slackened, and a relieved smile returned to her.

“Just tell me what it is, then,” Ruby said softly, and placed her hands over Leah’s face. “I’m not going to judge.”

Leah sighed. “Alright, promise you won’t laugh.”

Ruby nodded. “I promise.”

Leah took a deep breath. “I was… trying to get us to kiss under the mistletoe…”

In the next few seconds, Ruby was silent, and now it was Leah who couldn’t bring herself to look at Ruby. She felt her face gradually grow warmer and warmer, until she was sure she was as red as the Christmas lights around her.

“What mistletoe?” Ruby finally said.

Leah blinked. “It was above the door frame. I put it there, because I wanted us to…. No wait, that’s what you’re wondering about!?”

“So that’s why you were always hanging out by the door…”

“Yeah…”

Ruby finally let out a little giggle, to which she quickly stopped and placed a hand over her mouth.

“Hey, you promised!” Leah whined. The redness on her face had probably reached her ears by now. She wanted to bury herself in some snow to cool off.

“Sorry, sorry!” Ruby said, smiling sheepishly. “It’s just… why did you think you have to go so far as using mistletoe?”

“Because every time I thought we were gonna kiss in the past, you always backed off!”

“Ohh…”

Suddenly Ruby was blushing, which confused Leah. What did she have to be embarrassed about? Ruby took a few more seconds to speak next, but when she did so, she sounded apologetic.

“Sorry, Leah-chan, I’ve always backed away because…. I wasn’t sure if you were ready.”

The world spun around Leah. The next few seconds were probably the most awkward moments in all the girl’s life, as she flashed back to each and every time she thought Ruby had been too shy to kiss her, when really it was the exact opposite – Ruby thought it was Leah who didn’t want to kiss. The misunderstanding went so much deeper than Leah thought.

Leah buried her face in her hands and groaned. “We’re a bunch of idiots aren’t we?”

Ruby couldn’t stop herself from laughing then. And although Leah felt the heat of embarrassment still warming her face, Ruby’s laughter was so sweet and irresistible that Leah found herself chuckling along.

All things considered, she was probably more of an idiot than Ruby was. After all, she was the one who came up with the dumb idea of using mistletoe. Part of her wondered why Ruby even bothered sticking around with her, but she could only hope that her clumsy attempts at romance were somehow endearing to the redheaded girl.

“So Leah-chan,” Ruby said, after they had finally calmed down from their laugher. “We’re clear now? You’re ok with us… kissing?”

“Y-yeah…”

“Ok, good!” Ruby’s eyes then took on an odd twinkle. “And just so you know, you don’t have to use mistletoe. You can kiss me anytime, ok?”

Leah smiled. “Yeah, ok.”

“Anytime.”

“Right…”

Why did Ruby repeat it? Did she think she didn’t hear? No, the night was too quiet for that. And then there were her eyes, who held Leah’s own and wouldn’t let her go, as though she waiting for her. Expecting her… to do what?

And then it hit her.

Leah, you’re more than an idiot, you’re a complete moron, she thought and gave herself a metaphorical slap in the face. She wants you to kiss her! Like, right now!

Was it to recompense her for all the failed attempts at a mistletoe kiss? It didn’t matter. They were both ready, and they both wanted it. They’d just said as much to each other – it was the whole point of them clearing up that misunderstanding.

So Leah swallowed, and stepped closer to Ruby. Their faces were only inches apart, and Leah could feel Ruby’s breath warm against the cool night air.

Ruby closed her eyes.

They were really going to do it, and the sudden acknowledgement made Leah’s heart pounded in her chest, reverberating all the way up to her skull. She almost backed out of the kiss. But the way Ruby was presenting herself, leaning slightly forward, her lips slightly apart… it was so enticing, and Leah knew she wanted this, more than anything.

She closed the gap between them.

The first thing she felt was the softness of Ruby’s lips, and then the warmth of her so close to her body, and then a tug on her shoulder, as Ruby pulled on her sleeve, and she sank deeper into the kiss. It was like she was melting, all her sensations and thoughts were blending together. To her surprise, Leah found herself letting out a small whimper. She’d be more embarrassed about it if she wasn’t feeling so desperate, so wanting of more. And Ruby obliged, wrapping her arms around Leah’s neck and pulling her closer.

Everything was Ruby. Her pillow-like lips between her own, her taste, slightly tangy but sweet nonetheless, her hair caught in her own hands, the warmth shared between them.

When they finally parted, they were both out of breath and glossy eyed. Leah didn’t know how much time had passed. It probably only lasted a minute at most, but it felt as though the moment had been stretched into a million and then into eternity.

All she knew was, it felt good.

“That was… nice,” Ruby whispered. They were still hugging each other by the waist, and her words did not need to be loud to reach Leah’s ears.

“Yeah,” Leah whispered back, dreamily, the high of the kiss still on the edges of her mind.

“Merry Christmas,” Ruby said with a grin.

“That was some Christmas gift,” Leah muttered, but she found herself smiling back.

And then they were both blushing, coming out of their stupor, the full realization of what they just did settling in.

“It was worth the wait.”

“Yeah?” Ruby said. And Leah nodded in affirmation. “Then… do you want to do it again?”

Breathless, Leah nodded, and they closed their eyes again, leaning in.

But just as they were about to kiss again, a piercing voice from behind them sounded, getting closer. “Hey, how long are you two gonna take out there? Oh…!”

It was Mari.

As soon as they heard, Leah and Ruby disentangled themselves from each other in a hurry. But it was too late. Mari had saw them leaning in, and the glint in her eyes danced with that secret knowledge.

“I’ll…just leave you be,” she said, unable to suppress a smirk from forming in the corner of her mouth. “Take as long as you want.” Mari waved her hands graciously as she turned to head back inside.

“No! We’re done here!” Leah quickly sputtered. She looked to her girlfriend for support. “Right, Ruby?”

Ruby’s face was as red as if she ate one of Yoshiko’s fallen angel tears, and she could only nod.

“Let’s go back inside!”

Taking Ruby’s hand, and faces burning, they both followed the snickering Mari back to the party.

[mackinmacki]

Mari comes back for the winter break with a surprise for Dia. The testing of Dia's patience is never a surprise, but she's actually gonna be shocked by what Mari's cooked up this time.

This is my secret santa for @dropsof_snow (on Twitter). Merry (late) Christmas! Hope you enjoy it!

[shroomystar]

Happy Holidays! This is my submission for @lovelivesecretsanta2018, it is dedicated to @/octo_egg on twitter (where it also will be posted)!

[sheenamuyrong]

Hey @fortressofdreams, I was your Secret Santa for @lovelivesecretsanta2018 Hope ya have a great holiday <3

[princessdaisy]

Merry Christmas @makinishikino I hope you have a wonderful day and enjoy your @lovelivesecretsanta2018 present :)

[crystal-spiral]

My Secret Santa gift for kokichisouma/lance over on twitter. I thought the new snow fairy/christmas 2018 cards were really pretty, so I decided to draw fanart of their best girls in these lovely outfits!

Merry Christmas!

@lovelivesecretsanta2018

[wrighten]

merry (late) christmas @chikayouriko!!! i was your secret santa for the @lovelivesecretsanta2018 :D i hope you like it!!!!!!

[nentofus]

here’s my piece for the love live secret santa organised by @lovelivesecretsanta2018~ my gift’s for @/manifestedreams on Twitter c:

[brie-chan-scribbly]

secret santa gift for @meinyy as part of @lovelivesecretsanta2018 I hope you like it

[jelloshards]

Merry Christmas @marchsage !!!! I was your santa for @lovelivesecretsanta2018 !!! 💖

[thiefofblood]

my @lovelivesecretsanta2018 for @oumiyuki! i’ve posted to twitter as well! i made two versions, one with canon colors and one with my headcanon you colors <3

[ranissupercool]

“Geez Mari, will you hurry up already?”

“It’s just the pocky game, Yoshiko! You don’t need to shut your eyes so tight... Heh, it looks more to me like you’re just waiting for a kiss...”

This might fit several other holidays more so than Christmas, but I think that’s fine. @lovelivesecretsanta2018 Secret Santa for @yohaneobsidian; I really hope you like it!

[whoneedsapublisher]

Christmas at Maki’s

Now for my half of @lovelivesecretsanta2018​! I got assigned @lonelypond​, a name I certainly recognise, and they wanted a Christmas fic! So here’s a NicoMaki Christmas (Eve) with a little bit of RinPana on the side to taste. It’s chaptered, but tumblr is annoying to do chapters with so it’s all in one post here.

Words: ~8500

Summary: It’s a μ’s reunion! Two years after the third years graduated, the whole group is reunited for Christmas. But one particular pair of members have more on their minds than holiday cheer.

Ao3 link

Chapter 1: Arrival

The train station was crowded. Clustered around the arrivals and departures board, people of all sorts were jammed together, peering up at the schedule before hurrying off in one direction or another, or slinking back to sit down and wait. Maki was in the latter category, checking for the tenth time in the last five minutes to see if Nico’s train had shown up yet.

She shouldn’t be nervous. She wasn’t nervous! She didn’t have any reason to be nervous! It was just Nico. She had been totally calm when she was waiting for the former members. Why should she be any more concerned with Nico, just because it had been a little longer since she’d seen her? So, clearly, she wasn’t nervous.

And yet, she couldn’t seem to stop fidgeting. She kept playing with her hair, or fiddling with her skirt, or tapping her fingers on the table. It didn’t make any sense. She didn’t understand why she couldn’t calm down. So what if she hadn’t seen Nico since she graduated? That was only like, two years ago! And they’d spoken on LINE and stuff, it wasn’t like she’d be cloistered away. She was just at university on the other side of Japan. She wasn’t even out of the country!

“Are you okay, Maki?”

Honoka’s question startled Maki out of her thoughts.

“O-Of course I am,” Maki said hurriedly. “I’m just getting impatient. How long is this train going to be delayed?”

“Uuggggghhh, right?!” Honoka said, flopping down on the table in front of her as Umi discreetly moved her plate out of the way. “What the heck is taking so long?”

“Well, she is coming from a little further away than the rest of us,” Nozomi said, taking a sip of her drink.

“But her train was supposed to be here twenty minutes ago, wasn’t it?” Eli said. “Did something happen to the line?”

“I hope nothing bad happened. We can’t miss out on Nico two years in a row, it wouldn’t be a real μ’s reunion!!” Rin insisted, and Hanayo nodded. Hanayo, Maki noticed, had stuck to Rin as soon as she arrived and showed no signs of letting go any time soon. Rin didn’t even seem to have noticed, taking it completely in stride. “It’s the holidays! We gotta celebrate!”

“Celebrate, is it?” Umi said, giving Rin a stern look. “So, how is studying for your exams going?”

Rin made a face and shrunk down in her seat.

“Come on, let’s not talk about that now, nya...” she pleaded.

“Hmmm…” Umi said, and then glanced over at Maki. “Well, at least I know you’ll be studying.”

“O-Of course,” Maki said. It wasn’t like she was lying. She had been studying! But… well, it was near Christmas. Now and again she lost focus, looking forward to the holiday and seeing Ni- seeing everyone again.

“Do you already have a first choice school picked?” Eli asked.

“Tokyo University, obviously,” Maki said primly.

Eli laughed. “I should have guessed,” she said. “What about you, Rin? Hanayo?”

“We’re gonna try for local places, y’know?” Rin said, grinning. “Whoever’ll take us, nyahaha!”

Eli sighed in exasperation. “Hanayo… if only for your own sake, please make sure Rin studies…”

“I will,” Hanayo said, tightening her grip on Rin’s arm. “I… want Rin to come to the same school as me.”

“Oh? So you have one you’re aiming for, Hanayo?” Kotori asked.

Maki zoned out of the conversation a little. She’d already talked to Hanayo about the university she wanted to go to. It wasn’t exactly top of line prestigious, but it was a surprisingly hard school to get into, considering that Hanayo was trying to bring Rin there with her. Still, if anyone could get Rin to study that hard, it was Hanayo.

It felt weird, having just the eight of them. It had felt weird last year, too. A creeping wrongness, a sort of missed half-step every few yards. There was just something missing, without Nico. Something intangible that made μ’s… μ’s. It was frustrating. Maki shouldn’t be missing Nico of all people. It was just because she was part of μ’s. She was sure she’d feel the same if anyone else had been missing. Probably more so, even.

“Oh, is that Nico’s train?”

At the mention of the train they were all waiting for, Maki glanced up at the board again. Sure enough, the dark red DELAYED status had finally vanished, replaced with the friendly green of ARRIVING. More importantly, if Nico was here, that meant Maki could finally stop overthinking things and worrying. She’d see Nico again, Nico would be annoying and bratty and childish like always, and Maki could relax and enjoy μ’s being back together without second guessing herself her own feelings.

So she was almost excited as Nozomi left to go collect Nico, leaving the others to watch the bags. Of course, after a couple of minutes of waiting for Nozomi to return, excitement turned once against into restless anticipation. Trying to calm herself, she picked up her cup of coffee and took a sip, closing her eyes and trying to savour the flavour. What little of it there was. Maki wouldn’t say she was a snob about coffee, but there was no mistaking this weak, thin mess for good coffee.

“I’m back!” Nozomi called, and Maki opened her eyes. “And I brought a Nico.”

Maki stared for a moment. Then she set her cup down, closed her eyes, and then reopened them, just to make sure she wasn’t seeing things.

As much as Maki was unimpressed by Nico’s rampant, egotistical insistence that she was cute, she’d always privately agreed. Well, under the right circumstances, anyway. When she was all dressed up for a performance and smiling with her sincere passion for being idol, she really was cute. But cute was all she was. Her claims of being beautiful were outright laughable. She was tiny, way shorter than Maki despite being years older, underdeveloped, and overall looked more like a middle schooler than someone in their last year of highschool.

Well, she didn’t look like a middle schooler now.

The first thing she noticed was the height, obviously. Whereas previously Nozomi had been at least a couple inches taller than Nico, now she was noticeably shorter. Nico didn’t exactly loom over Nozomi, but there was no mistaking she was the taller one.

Maki’s eyes darted down to Nico’s feet. Surely she was wearing platform shoes or something, right?

Flats.

As Maki looked back up, the second thing that she noticed was Nico’s figure. She was still thin, but Maki struggled to describe her as “scrawny” anymore. Her bust hadn’t exactly blossomed to Nozomi levels, and her hips hadn’t ballooned out or anything, but the tight skirt she was wearing showed off that her silhouette had become… significantly less childish. That impression was bolstered by the shocking absence of her signature twintails, letting her hair flow freely down her shoulders.

Her face was a little different too. It was still recognisably Nico’s face, the same face that had been forcing a smile as she tried not to cry when waving goodbye to μ’s two years ago, but it was a little longer now, the tiniest bit leaner.  Older looking, in other words. More mature.

All of these factors together pointed to a conclusion, but it was one that Maki flat out refused to come to. It couldn’t be true. She wouldn’t accept it.

There was no way that Nico could have ended up being hot.

“Nico!” Honoka yelled, tackling Nico and headbutting her right in the stomach. Nico let out an “oof” and staggered backwards as Honoka clung to her.

“B-Be careful with Nico, she’s fragile…” Nico managed, trying to catch her breath.

“It’s been so long!” Honoka said, ignoring her. “Welcome back, Nico!”

“Yeah, welcome back,” Eli said, smiling.

“Yes, yes, I’m sure you all missed me terribly,” Nico said airly, trying to draw herself up but still being pulled down a little by Honoka clinging to her. “But don’t worry! This year, Nico managed to drag herself away from her legions of adoring fans to come visit.”

“And I’m sure we’ll all very grateful,” Nozomi said slyly. “Right, Maki?”

“Ueh?” Maki said, startled. “H-Hmph. Welcome back, I guess.”

Maki turned away huffily, trying to hide her growing blush. She was not going to let Nico see that she’d caught her off guard.

“Jeez, you haven’t changed,” Nico said sardonically.

“You have, though,” Maki muttered under her breath as the rest of μ’s closed in on Nico to welcome her, exchanging hugs and pats on the back.

Maki hung back, trying to compose herself.

How could two years change so much? How could such a short period of time turn Nico from a bratty child into a grown woman? And why was it flustering her so much? It wasn’t like Nico was any different on the inside. Her obnoxious preening at the others admiring her new look made that more than obvious. She was still the same arrogant, transparent, self-centered idiot she’d been the last time Maki had seen her. But before, the odd feelings Nico had stirred in her only happened every once in a while. Infrequently enough that Maki could push it away, pretend it was just a coincidence. But now, just looking at Nico made her heart beat faster in her chest.

Great. She’d been looking forward to Nico getting there so that she could stop having weird distracting feelings about her. Leave it to Nico to manage to make everything worse.

“So, should we head back to the house?” Nozomi said.

“Yeah! Let’s go!” Rin said. “To Maki’s fancy house, on the double nya!”

Ah, yes. Maki’s house. Where they were all staying for a few days.

It had seemed like a such good idea at the time. Why have all the people coming out of town stay at hotels, when they could just all stay at Maki’s house?

It seemed like a significantly less good idea now, as she realized with a dawning horror that she’d just condemned herself for more than two full days in close proximity with Nico.

This was going to be a very stressful Christmas.

The trip back to her home was blessedly uneventful. Nozomi had rented a car, and all of them had packed into it. To Maki’s immense relief, Nico’s unnaturally good luck had let her beat Eli in rock paper scissors for the front seat, and so while seven of them were jammed together in the back, Maki was saved the potential heart attack of being sandwiched against Nico. Instead she just had to deal with Nico smugly glancing over at the cramped back seat as she exaggeratedly stretched out in her own seat.

By the time they got to the house, Maki was starting to get herself back under control. Alright, fine, so Nico was… more attractive now. It wasn’t that big of a deal. She’d just been a little surprised, was all. And of course she had been- who wouldn’t be surprised by such a drastic transformation? That’s all it had been: surprise. It wasn’t anything any deeper than that. Nico was still her same irritating self, and the only feelings Maki had for her was begrudging friendship and a lot of annoyance.

She’d almost managed to convince herself of that by the time they got to her house. But once again, Nico had to step in and ruin everything.

The most infuriating thing was, it wasn’t even something she’d done on purpose. At least then Maki would have maintained some semblance of dignity. At least if Nico was trying to seduce her, she could have accepted that. But it wasn’t anything as grand as that.

It was a nothing gesture. Maki would be surprised if Nico was even conscious of doing it. As Nico talked to Umi while Maki was showing people to their rooms, she lifted up a hand to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. It was just a moment, but that moment froze in Maki’s mind. The picture of Nico in profile, a glimpse of her neck visible with her hair lifted aside, her nails trimmed short but immaculately painted, her eyes sparkling with amusement, and a teasing little smile on her face. In that frozen moment, the last of her feeble denials crumbled and reality crashed down on her.

And then the moment was over. Time unfroze. Nico lowered her hand and her hair fell back into place. Umi shot back some retort that went in one of Maki’s ears and out the other. Honoka shouted something. Kotori said something as well, and then there was a pause.

“Uh, Maki? You alive in there?” Nico said, waving her hand in front of her face.

“What? W-What is it?” Maki snapped, flushing and slapping Nico’s hand away. Only now did she realize she’d been staring at dumbly at Nico this whole time.

“I was just wondering if you had a spare toothbrush if Honoka forgot hers,” Kotori said.

“And I said I definitely didn’t forget mine!”

“Of course I do,” Maki said.

“See, Honoka? It’ll be fine.”

“I said I didn’t forget!”

As the three of them headed back to Honoka’s room discussing whether or not Honoka had brought everything she needed, Maki noticed with a start that Eli and Nozomi had left while she was distracted. Rin and Hanayo too, for that matter.

“Well then, I’ll just go get changed and then you can show me where the kitchen is,” Nico said.

“The kitchen? What for?” Maki asked.

“So I can cook dinner, of course!” Nico said, winking. “You’re lucky enough to receive Nico’s home cooking, you should be grateful. Go on, say ‘thank you, Miss Nico’, Maki!”

“Who asked you to cook?” Maki crossed her arms.

“You would have if you had any sense,” Nico said. “But if you really don’t want any pasta with tomato sauce…”

Maki frowned. “...Thank you,” she said reluctantly.

“Thank you what?” Nico prompted.

“Don’t push your luck,” Maki said, turning and walking into her room. As much as she hated to admit it, Nico’s cooking was good. She hadn’t thought it was appropriate to ask a guest to cook, but if Nico was offering, well… she didn’t really have any reason to turn her down, did she? She might as well take her up on her offer.

Closing the door behind her and flicking the lock shut, Maki walked over to her bed and collapsed backwards onto it. As soon as she closed her eyes, the image of Nico tucking the hair behind her ear appeared as if it had been burned into her retinas.

It really had only taken a second. That one little moment was the wedge her mind had needed. A foot in the door she’d been desperately trying to keep closed. And now that she couldn’t keep it shut anymore, the torrent from within had blown it wide open. She didn’t just miss Nico because she was part of μ’s. She hadn’t been anxious about her showing up because she was impatient about how long it taken. And it wasn’t surprise that had thrown her so off balance when she saw Nico’s new look.

Maki was in love with Nico.

She picked up her pillow and buried her face in it to stifle her noise of frustration.

She had hoped that she could talk herself out of it. Just deny it until it went away. If she didn’t ever let herself fall in love with Nico, she couldn’t have her heart broken. Nico might be studying now, but she still wanted to be an idol. And everyone knew that idols couldn’t have affairs. Nico would never be interested in a relationship. She’d put her career over Maki in a heartbeat.

Honestly, it was something Maki admired about her. Nico was truly serious about being an idol, in a way that maybe no one else in μ’s was. Sure, they’d all worked hard, and tried their best, but at the end of the day they’d still held back some part of themselves. Kotori was still interested in fashion as much as being an idol. Honoka probably would have disbanded the group on the spot if it would have saved the school. Eli still cared about the dancing most of all. And Maki was still wanted to be a doctor more than anything. They were all just lucky enough to be naturally talented.

But Nico put her all into being an idol. There was no other goal taking up space in her heart. Nico wanted to be an idol, and that was it. The only other thing in her life was her family. Frankly, Nico didn’t have that much talent as an idol naturally, despite all her boasting and attempts to claim the role of center. And yet, despite that, she never fell behind. Even though she was kind of weak physically, and not a great natural singer, and too self absorbed to be part of a group, she worked herself into the ground and was just as good as any of them. Maybe that was why afterwards, Nico was the only one of them who might still make it as an idol.

It was probably also why she did so awful in school, come to think of it.

Either way, though, her determination was sincere. There was no way she’d risk violating the love ban. So even hoping for some kind of romance was a lost cause. That was why Maki had tried so hard to stop herself from admitting her feelings. Because now that she knew, all that was waiting for her was disappointment.

Merry Christmas, Maki.

Chapter 2: Planning

Nico sighed, looking at herself in the mirror. She was totally a catch, right? Yeah, she was definitely pretty. Still cute, but no longer “so cute!”.

“So cute!”. That was a phrase she’d had mixed feelings about for a while. Sure, for a school idol, eliciting that kind of reaction was good, but it was somehow unsatisfying. It was the kind of thing people said about a baby, or a dog. The tone of it wasn’t the kind of compliment that lead to a romance. And when Maki called her cute, it almost felt like an insult. “Oh, you’re so cute, Nico”. Nico could hear the sneer in it. The haughty sense of superiority from someone who’s stopped being called “cute” years ago and graduated to “beautiful”. Well the joke was on her now, because even if it took a couple of years longer than some people, Nico had crossed that line too. Now she could turn people’s heads.

Just apparently not Maki’s, given how cold her reception had been.

She sighed again and flopped down on the bed, pouting a little. Maybe she was stupid to even get her hopes up. Maki seemed like the kind of girl to be straight, anyway. She was so prim and proper and high society, she probably already had a plan for what kind of husband she was going to acquire, like a trapping of wealth to show off at parties. The notion of marrying a woman, from a poor family, for love, must seem so utterly plebian to her.

Nico clicked her tongue in annoyance. The hell with her. There were plenty of girls in Tokyo, right? Maki was still in highschool, and she looked it. Well, sort of. If she dressed up nicely she’d probably- well, whatever, it wasn’t important! Nico could find someone her own age who was way sexier! Probably someone more agreeable, too.

The problem was... she didn’t want to.

It was dumb. Who fell in love with someone two years younger them in highschool, honestly? It was supposed to go the other way! Innocent little juniors getting sparkly eyes over their cute upperclassman Nico, putting love letters in her locker and peeking around corners at her. It wasn’t like no one in μ’s got love letters, so obviously Nico should get them too!

Ugh, she was so glad that no one knew about her feelings back then. Just the thought of someone mistaking her for Maki’s junior and thinking Nico was the one with a crush on her upperclassman made her blood boil. Thank god she a little was taller now, at least. She still wasn’t entirely sure that people would be able to tell which one of them was older, but at least they’d be less likely to assume Nico was younger.

But Maki didn’t really seem to care about Nico’s new look. If anything, she was more prickly than Nico remembered.

Ahhh! Whatever! She was just going to stop thinking about it! A frown wasn’t the right expression for an idol! Nico Ni should smile and enjoy herself! Nico swung out her arms and rolled back up to a sitting position and chased the pout off her face. It wasn’t like she’d made the trip back to Tokyo just for Maki, after all. She really did want to see μ’s again, and a Christmas party sounded like a good way to relax after struggling through her classes all semester. And if Nozomi was to be trusted, it was going to be a pretty good party. She’d told Nico all about the party she’d missed last year, in enough detail that Nico suspected she was rubbing in the fact that Nico couldn’t make it. Or maybe just prodding her to make sure she came this year.

Well, either way, her objective was clear: stop worrying about Maki and have a good Christmas!

Yeah, right. As if that was going to happen.

Her smile faltering again, she slumped down to the floor, leaning her back against the bed. That had been her thought when she’d left Tokyo, right? That distance would change things. That she could just put Maki out of her head and move on. It hadn’t worked then, so why would she be able to just ignore it now?

Fine then, she decided. She wasn’t going to ignore it. She wasn’t going to get over it. So there was only one thing to do: she had to fulfill it.

She was Nico Yazawa! Any girl in the country, no, the world would be lucky to date her! She just had to make Maki realize that there was no one on the face of the planet who would make a better trophy than her, and she’d be able to snag her for sure!

Filled with determination, she stood up and strode over to the door. She had a goal, and now all she needed was a plan. And step one was obvious. Everyone knew the way to a girl’s heart was through her stomach.

“Aww! You’re totally cheating, NozomI!” Honoka whined.

“I don’t think you even can cheat in this game,” Eli said, chuckling. “Perhaps you shouldn’t go at full speed around corners.”

“It’s a race, Eli! How is slowing down going to help me win?!”

“Come on, Maki, join in, nya!” Rin insisted.

“I-I’ve never played anything like this before,” Maki protested.

“It’s easy! You just press this button to speed up, and this to brake, and this to use items.”

“Items?”

“You’ll figure it out!”

Nico rolled her eyes. From the living room she could hear the sound of video games and Maki making startled and confused noises. Honestly, how had she managed to get her age without even hearing of Mario Kart? She had such bizarre little gaps in her knowledge sometimes. It was one of her charm points, though. Like how she was clueless about cooking at first, or how she still believed in Santa until she was… wait. Nico paused for a moment, half way through stirring.

Did Maki still think Santa was real?

She racked her brains trying to think of Nozomi had said anything about it. Had she mentioned anything about it last year? She’d believed in him two years ago… was it that unlikely that she could still believe now? It’s not like anyone in μ’s would have told her, after all. Would her parents have told her yet? Maybe, but maybe not… they were out of town, but they could have left a present hidden somewhere and planned to call her and tell her where “Santa” had left her gift. What if Maki really did still think Saint Nick was going to come down her chimney? She was eighteen, for goodness sake. She’d be an adult in only a couple of years.

She was getting sidetracked. Shaking the thought of her head, she returned to the pan of sizzling garlic. Forget Santa. She could find out about that later. For now, she had to focus on cooking. Maki’s kitchen was as ridiculously well stocked as Nico had imagined, and she’d immediately set to work cooking a dinner that would knock Maki dead.

It took a little while to get everything prepared, but as she slid the last tray out of the oven, Nico was confident that her dinner was going to knock Maki dead.

Oh, and the others could eat it too, she supposed. They were lucky to even get any, really. It wasn’t like any of them were giving Nico a place to stay. Which was her ingenious excuse for why she was cooking for Maki, of course. Just repaying her debt! That was all! No seduction plans involved here!

Ahh, she could just imagine it. The two of them, sitting side by side at the table. She’d gracefully pick up a forkful of the food.

“Say ahhh, Maki.”

“Jeez, Nico, that’s so embarassing!”

“It’s okay, Maki. Say ahhhh~”

“A-Ahhh…”

“There you go. Isn’t it delicious?”

“I-It is…”

“You know, I could cook for you like this every night…”

“Oh, Nico…”

“Oh, Maki…”

“OH COME ON!”

Honoka’s voice shattered Nico’s pleasant dream, rudely and suddenly bringing her back to reality.

“I was so clooooose…” Honoka groaned.

“Looks like you win again, Maki,” Eli said, with a tinge of amusement in her voice.

“Beginner’s luck!” Honoka insisted.

Nico frowned. Stupid Honoka, interrupting Nico Ni’s completely accurate portent of the future! Well, except that they wouldn’t be alone, so she probably wasn’t going to get the chance to do any real seducing. But that was minor detail. Maki was still going to love her cooking, and fall madly in love with her and propose to her!

Nico strode out of the kitchen and into the living room to see Maki focusing intently on the television, gripping her controller tightly. Whenever she went around a corner on screen, Nico noticed with a barely suppressed laugh that she was leaning in the direction of the turn. And she was so into the game that she hadn’t even noticed Nico leave the kitchen.

Well, there was an opportunity if she’d ever seen one.

Sneaking up behind her, Nico leaned over and blew on Maki’s ear.

“Uwah!” Maki shrieked, jumping like she’d been bitten and letting go of the controller, which bounced off her foot and landed in the carpet. Her character skidded off the track into a pit of lava. “Nico!” Maki snapped furiously as she was quickly passed by the rest of the racers. “I was about to win!”

“Oh? I wasn’t aware you were so invested,” Nico said, grinning.

Maki flushed and glared at her. “I-It’s not like it’s that important or anything,” she grumbled, handing her controller to Hanayo. “Anyway, I thought you were cooking.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, I forgot you’re not used to servants not staying in the kitchen,” Nico said sarcastically.

Maki glared at her. “Believe me, I’ve never mistaken you for someone who serves anyone but herself,” she shot back.

“My, my,” Nozomi said. “I see you and Maki are the same as ever.”

“Two years and they’re already at each other’s throats again,” Eli said.

“Like cats in a sack, nya,” Rin injected, popping up from behind Hanayo.

“I’m the one who’s like a cat?” Nico asked incredulously.

“Would you prefer rats in a sack?” Kotori asked cheerfully. “The rats you can get as pets are super cute, you know. Just like you!”

“Just because you said I’m cute doesn’t mean I’m going to be happy with that, you know,” Nico said, turning away and crossing her arms. “...Well, maybe a little.”

“Nico’s so easy…” Rin said, holding her hand up to her mouth and smiling slyly. Nico decided to be generous and ignore that comment.

“Anyway,” Nico said. “Nico Ni’s high quality special made idol-style home made dinner is ready! So set the table while I bring it out, okay?”

Hmph. At least they appreciated Nico’s brilliance at times like these. As soon as Nico mentioned food, Honoka turned off the game and all of them started moving over to the table, Maki and Umi heading over the nearby cabinet to get dishes. Nico went back into the kitchen and started transferring the food out of the cooking trays. Jeez, all these fancy platters and dishes… was Maki’s family running a restaurant in here or something? Was this what rich people were like? Well, fine. This kind of grand presentation was only appropriate for Nico’s masterpiece.

Placing on the covers and shifting the dishes to a nearby cart- this really was like a restaurant- Nico wheeled the food out into the other room.

Geh, Maki had set all the plates with fine china and actual silver… no, no, it was fine! It was just what Nico’s cooking deserved, right? RIght?! She wasn’t going lose to Maki’s money!

Firming her resolve, Nico picked up the main dish with a flourish and pulled off the cover.

“Eat voirlar!” she said confidently. “Ratatouille!”

“I think you mean ‘et voila’, Nico.”

“That doesn’t even make sense, Maki. I thought you were supposed to be good at English. The word is ‘eat’, not ‘et’.”

“It’s French, not English.”

“They’re all basically the same,” Nico said dismissively. “Anyway, stop complaining and start eating!”

Maki grumbled, but Nico noticed with satisfaction that she did start serving herself a generous portion as Nico unveiled and added the rest of the side dishes to the table before taking a seat opposite Maki.

“Wow, Nico, this is so good!” Honoka said excitedly.

“Of course it is!” Nico said, puffing herself up. Wait, no! She couldn’t afford to get distracted by compliments! She hadn’t made this killer dinner just to get compliments from Honoka. No, this menu was carefully constructed specifically to fit Maki’s tastes. Tons of tomatoes, obviously, but that was obvious. Garlic, something Nico had learned that Maki had a weakness for. Nothing too sweet, or anything too tough. Lots of crisp foods, and fresh tastes like cold salad. It was, in short, perfect. Maki was due to fall in love with her at any moment!

Nico watched Maki carefully out of the corner of her eye as she pretending to be focusing on her food, gauging her reaction. At first, she’d cautiously taken a bite, as if suspicious of it, but when she took that first bite, her face lit up like a child getting a present. It was way too cute. After the first bite, she moved on to her second bite eagerly and went in for a third before she paused and glanced around. Seemingly remembering that she wasn't alone, she visibly restrained herself, taking her third bite daintily before setting down her fork and dabbing at her lips. Nico’s gaze lingered for a moment on those lips. Jeez, had they always been that soft looking?

Damnit, no! Focus, Nico! She was seducing Maki, not the other way around!

“So, how is it, Maki?” Nico asked, and Maki glanced up at her.

“...It’s good,” she admitted.

“Rub a dub dub, thanks for the grub, nya!” Rin interjected.

“It is quite good,” Umi added. “It feels odd to thank someone other than the host, but thanks for cooking, Nico.”

“Where did you learn how to make all this Western food anyway?” Kotori asked. “Is this stuff popular in Hokkaido?”

“Not really, I just taught myself from recipes.”

“Eh? You can do that?” Hanayo asked, startled.

Nico smiled confidently, puffing herself up a little. “Of course. Once you know enough about cooking, you can pretty much make anything as simple as this just by grabbing some online recipes and experimenting a little.”

“Oh? So we’re you’re guinea pigs, Nico?” Nozomi asked.

“No, I already did the experimenting,” Nico said. “Well, I’ve only made it a couple times before, but-”

“Ehhh? No way, this was only your third time making this stuff?”

As Nico gathered up the dishes and platters onto the trolley and moved them back to the kitchen, she was feeling very good about herself. The discussion at dinner hadn’t been entirely about her cooking, but it had certainly been a major topic of conversation. And, of course, it had been all complimentary. That just made sense, though. It was Nico’s cooking. It made sense that everyone would love it! Even Maki had-

Wait, Maki.

Suddenly Nico remembered with a start why she’d cooked dinner.

Auuugh, she’d gotten totally distracted from her goal! She’d been so busy talking with everyone that she’d completely forgotten to actually try any of her lines on Maki! Hell, she’d been so preoccupied that she couldn’t even remember if she’d seen Maki’s reaction to anything except the ratatouille! Aw man, she’d really screwed it up this time...

No, no. It was fine. Okay, so she hadn’t really managed to lay on the Nico charm, but Maki had still enjoyed the food, right? Right now, she was doubtless out there sitting in her seat thinking to herself “I wish Nico could cook for me every day. But how could I make that happen?” All Nico needed to do was remind her that she could just marry Nico, and then she’d get her cooking whenever she wanted it!

Everything was still going fine. She just needed to move on to phase two.

Also, she needed to figure out what phase two was.

Nico still hadn’t figured it out by the time she woke up the next day. And that… was a problem. None of them had that much time to play around, so they’d arrived on the 23rd and were going to be leaving the evening of Christmas Day. Which meant that she only had today and tomorrow with Maki. Plus it was Christmas Eve. With someone who loved Christmas as much as Maki, Christmas Eve was the best day of the year to seduce her, even better than Valentine’s Day.

What all that meant was she really only had- she glanced at her phone- sixteen hours to make Maki fall madly in love with her.

It was a good thing she was super charming, super talented, super loveable idol, or else she might really be in trouble.

Chapter 3: In Trouble

Well, Nico had officially failed.

Sure, there was technically time left in the day, but not much. Nico had been having so much fun just spending time with μ’s that she’d completely forgotten that she was supposed to finding a way to get Maki to fall in love with her. And now here was was, sitting in the living room in her pyjamas, alone with her thoughts. Maki was probably already asleep, dreaming of Christmas presents from Santa. Actually, come to think of it, Nico hadn’t ever asked if she still believed in Santa. Another thing she’d forgotten.

Maybe she should just stop worrying about it. She was enjoying what they had now, wasn’t she? It wasn’t as if it was unbearable to go on with her feelings the way they were. It was disappointing and unsatisfying, but, well, she’d deal with that before. Her heart had been broken before, and she’d moved on. She’d managed to find her smile again even after she’d failed at being an idol so many times. Even after her father had died.

Jeez, talk about an un-Christmas-y thing to remember.

Nico let out a sigh and leaned back in her chair, looking over at the huge tree Maki had, covered in lights and little baubles of glass and tinsel. The lights blinked in out and in a jaunty rhythm as Nico watched them, taking a sip of hot chocolate. Western traditions were weird, but she had to admit that the decorated tree thing looked nice.

Setting down the hot chocolate, she looked at the small wrapped box in her hands. It had been a stupid impulse. She was out doing some shopping. Nozomi had just let her know about the Christmas plans, so the party was on her mind. Seeing Maki was on her mind. And when she’d passed by the little earrings in a shop window, and seen that they were actually something she could afford, and how perfect they were for Maki, she’d blown some of her precious surplus cash to get them.

What the hell had she been thinking? When was she going to be able to give this to Maki, anyway? She hadn’t gotten the rest of μ’s anything. How was she supposed to explain that?

“Nico…?”

Nico glanced up to see Maki standing in the doorway, and quickly shoved the box behind her under a pillow.

“Maki? What are you doing here?”

“It’s my house,” Maki said, rolling her eyes. “What are you doing still up?” she asked, walking into the living room and sitting on a couch across from Nico. She was holding a mug of something as well, and was wearing her pyjamas as well, almost comically fluffy and pink with little bunny designs on them. So childish. Still, Nico had to admit they were cute.

“I could ask you the same thing,” Nico asked. “Shouldn’t good little girls be in bed waiting for Santa to come by now?”

Maki flushed red.

“I-I don’t still believe in Santa, you know!” she said defensively.

“Oh?” Nico asked. “When did you find out?”

“That’s not important,” Maki said, crossing her arms and looking away. “What are you acting all high and mighty about, anyway? When did you find out Santa wasn’t real?”

Nico tensed up for a moment. “...The year my father died,” she said quietly.

Maki fell silent. After a moment, Nico spoke up again. “Cotaro had only just been born. Mama was so busy, trying to take care of all of us while trying to take as little time off work as possible so she could still provide for us. I was doing my best to help but… I was still a kid. I couldn’t take care of a baby.”

She sighed again. “Mama made sure to tell me well before Christmas, instead of waiting for the last minute. She didn’t want to ruin Christmas for me by revealing it on the day, but she knew she wouldn’t be able to get us any gifts that year. I couldn’t accept that, though. Not because of my gift. I knew mama couldn’t afford to get me anything, and I could accept that. I think it made me feel grown up to accept bad things without crying. But Cocoro and Cocoa were old enough to know about Santa. Only barely, but they would have noticed if he didn’t get them anything. So I saved up my pocket money for months so that I could buy a couple little toys for them. It wasn’t much, but when they woke up on Christmas day, there were wrapped gifts from Santa for them. So they got to keep believing for a little while longer.”

There was a short pause again. The ever-changing pattern of the lights on the tree illuminated Maki’s face dimly as she smiled gently.

“You really are a good big sister,” she said.

“Hmph. Of course,” Nico said haughtily.

“It’s something I admire about you,” Maki said quietly.

Nico raised an eyebrow.

“When I first met you, I thought you were completely self centered.”

“Excuse me? I-” Nico snapped, sitting up straight, but Maki held up a hand.

“Let me finish,” she said, and Nico collapsed back into the chair, scowling and crossing her arms.

“I thought you were the most selfish person I’d ever met,” Maki said, as Nico silently fumed. “I couldn’t believe that someone like you was going to be in a group with someone like Honoka, who was so friendly and tried to help people.”

Nico glared at her. Maki ignored her and continued.

“But then I saw you at your home for the first time.”

Nico froze. That… had not been her proudest moment. When she’d been cornered and forced to admit that she’d been lying to her family about her success, and claiming that μ’s were her backup dancers, she felt like she could die of shame. Luckily, Nozomi had managed to smooth things over somehow, and in the end, she’d been able to save face with her siblings, but that moment of being pinned down and caught out was a humiliating and painful one.

“I was… shocked, really. Not at you lying, or making up some stupid aggrandizing story where we were all just your lackies. That was pretty much expected.”

Why did she love Maki again? Was she completely sure she didn’t actually hate Maki? Because right now that seemed more likely.

“What surprised me, though, was how caring you were with your family.”

Nico raised an eyebrow.

“Your siblings really loved you, and it was obvious that you were doing a lot to take care of them. They almost treated you like a second mother, in a way, and you kind of acted like that with them. It surprised me that you could be so caring and loving.”

Maki fidgeted a little.

“I never had any siblings,” she said. It was a little hard to see her eyes in the dim light of the tree, but Nico thought she could see a slightly wistful look on her face. “So I don’t really know what it’s like to have a sister. But I’ve known people with siblings. Some of them fight a lot, others are close friends or partners in crime, but I’ve never seen anyone that takes care of their siblings as much as you. Even the overprotective ones.”

Maki finally met Nico’s eyes again. “I lo-” she stopped and cleared her through. “I really like that about you.”

Nico met her gaze. The lights changed again, blinking in and out, and shadows and reflections danced across the room.

“I kinda didn’t like you that much at first either, honestly,” Nico said. She wasn’t really sure why she was saying it, but… after what Maki said, she felt like she wanted to be a little honest as well.

“I would have never guessed,” Maki said sarcastically. Nico rolled her eyes.

“Okay, beyond not liking any of you for trying to steal my club.”

“We weren’t trying to steal your club.”

“Really, Maki?! Because I’m pretty sure that there was already an idol club at our school, and instead of just joining it you tried to star-” Nico stopped and shook her head. “Nevermind, it’s not important. Anyway, once that whole-”

“Misunderstanding?”

“-attempted coup,” Nico continued. “Was resolved, I kind of… still didn’t like you.”

“What?” Maki asked. She seemed a little surprised, strangely. Nico had thought it was pretty obvious.

“I didn’t start wanting to be an idol in highschool,” Nico said. “I wanted to ever since I was a kid.”

Maki opened her mouth, probably to ask what this had to do with anything, but Nico continued before Maki could interrupt.

“I did training whenever I could, and while mama couldn’t afford to enroll me in lessons or anything, I joined free classes and after school groups whenever I could. I even auditioned once or twice for things.”

Nico’s expression darkened a little. “Over and over, I ran into people who thought they could just buy their way through everything. They had special private tutors. Tailored uniforms made by professional adults. Voice coaching. They’d come to classes or events and turn their nose up at everyone trying, laughing behind their hands at the idea of getting sweaty and tired actually putting in effort to be good at being an idol.”

Nico could practically still see their sneering faces. Hear their ever-so-refined tittering as they watched her struggling to learn the steps.

“When I saw you, I could tell right away that you were rich, and probably from an important family. And I thought you’d be just like all the other little rich girls I’d ever seen. Not really caring about working to be an idol, just wanting another achievement, another trophy to throw on the pile.”

There’d never been a second of doubt in Nico’s mind that Maki was rich. It oozed from her, her haughty mannerisms and above-it-all attitude. She’d seen it all before, and Maki being dressed in a uniform instead of fancy casual clothes didn’t do a thing to conceal it.

“So I didn’t like you, and I didn’t trust you. I was expecting you to leave at the first sign of hard work, or complain constantly and not put in any effort.”

Nico remembered watching Maki closely the first couple practices, waiting for her to give up or refuse or turn up her nose, for her to flounce around and whine about how this wasn’t glamorous and how dare they make someone like her do these exercises.

“But you didn’t,” Nico said. “I mean, you complained, certainly, but not about having to put work into being idol. You didn’t run away or slack off or anything. And…” Nico caught Maki’s eye again. “You never looked down on me.”

She paused for a second, and then scowled. “Well you never looked down on me specifically for being poor anyway,” she clarified. “You certainly looked down on me for other reasons.”

“I did not,” Maki protested.

“You’re a liar,” Nico said. “Anyway, you never seemed to think you were better than the rest of us just because you were born into a rich family. Rather than acting like being born into a rich family made you better than everyone and meant didn’t have you try, you seemed to think of it as a responsibility, and worked hard to live up to your name.”

Nico smiled a little herself. “I respect that. I respect you.”

“I respect you too,” Maki said quietly. “Even when you had so much else to worry about, like your family, or exams, you’d always give it your all in practice, and then study and practice and make costumes on top of that.”

“Well, you don’t become the world’s greatest idol by slacking off, right?”

Maki smiled. “No, I guess not,” she said. Her smile was so much warmer than it usually was. There wasn’t any smirk in it, or any false cheer. She was just genuinely looking at Nico with something… almost like fondness.

She wasn’t going to get a better chance than this, right?

“I got you something,” Nico said, reaching behind her and taking out the box. “For Christmas.”

“For me? Really?” Maki asked, taken aback.

“Yeah,” Nico said, standing up and walking over to the couch, taking a seat next to Maki. “Here.”

Maki took the box and looked at it curiously.

“You can go ahead and open it, it’s pretty much Christmas already.”

Maki frowned a little at the idea of opening a gift early, but after a moment’s hesitation, curiosity beat out reluctance and she carefully unwrapped the box.

Taking the earrings out of the box, she stared at them, dumbfounded.

“I thought, you know, they might look good on you,” Nico said, awkwardly. Ah man, this whole thing had been such a dumb idea. Maki was rich, she probably had a million pairs of nicer earrings.

“They’re beautiful,” Maki said quietly, meeting her eyes again. “Thank you, Nico. I love them.”

There was something in the air. Not a tension, exactly, but a pause that was somehow comfortable and yet filled with anticipation. A spark in the atmosphere. As Nico gazed back into Maki’s eyes, she remembered everything about why she loved her. Her stubborn pride. Her pure, caring nature under the layers of sarcasm and defensiveness. Her sharp mind and equally sharp tongue. And sitting there, illuminated in brilliant colours and holding the box close to her, she looked as beautiful as Nico could ever remember.

“I love you.”

Nico only realized she was saying it as the words came to her lips. For a split second, she dropped her guard, and let her mind fill with the feeling, and all the defenses and safeguards she’d carefully constructed washed away with the tide.

Maki’s eyes widened.

“What?”

Nico could still take it back. She could claim to have misspoken, or pretend that Maki had misheard her, or anything. One little sentence could be erased in any number of ways. One wrong word could be brushed aside.

Oh, the hell with it. If Maki wasn’t interested, then it wasn’t like Nico was going to be sticking around for long. She might as well just go for it. She could just get an early train back and skip the party tomorrow.

“I love you,” she said again. “As in, I’m in love with you.”

Maki stared at her, completely speechless.

“You can’t be serious,” she said, finally. That was about what Nico expected, but what she hadn’t expected were the tears welling up in Maki’s eyes. Uh oh. Was she that upset about it? Nico had figured she’d just roll her eyes or be contemptuous, not cry over it. Just as she was weighing whether or not she should try to backpedal, Maki spoke up again.

“I thought… I thought, since you were going to be an idol, you… you wouldn’t want… that I didn’t…” Maki suddenly lunged forward and clung to Nico. “I love you too,” she whispered, hugging her tightly.

“What?” Nico said, taken aback. “You sure didn’t show it, jeez.”

“Neither did you, you jerk,” Maki mumbled into her shoulder.

Nico sighed and wrapped her arms around Maki as well. So much for all her planning and scheming. Here she was trying to make Maki fall in love with her, and it turned out the entire time Maki was already in love with her. What a ridiculous situation. What would have happened if Maki didn’t happen to wander into the living room? Would they have just quietly kept their feelings to themselves? Pretended not to care as they were separated again for a year or more? Would they ever have said anything?

And yet, Nico had said something. Events had lined up just the way they needed to, and something had pushed Nico into speaking up.

The grandfather clock in the hall started to toll, the muffled sound of its chimes echoing through the quiet room.

Nico pulled back from the hug and met Maki’s eyes again. “Merry Christmas, Maki,” she said softly.

“Merry Christmas, Nico,” Maki replied, smiling and wiping the tears away from her eyes.

Nico was too old to believe in Santa. She didn’t think there was a magical old man who rode a sleigh around dropping wrapped boxes into fireplaces. But as she leaned in closer to kiss Maki, she decided that she just might believe a little in the magic of Christmas.

[mag--pie]

Hi @uncle-riko​ ! I’m your secret santa for the @lovelivesecretsanta2018​ :^D I wrote a little yohariko (something I havent dont in such a long time so I’m sorry if its kinda wack ^^’) but I hope you like it!

[rubestie]

my Secret Santa gift for @ayarifc !! I had so much fun drawing them together-- especially since Circus Ruby is one of my favorite cards~

Thank you for @lovelivesecretsanta2018 for setting up this event!!

(Image on Twitter)

[eserenityyyy]

LL Secret Santa ‘18 Present

Merriest Christmas @mackinmacki!! I’m your secret santa for @lovelivesecretsanta2018!!

I wrote you a fanfiction ft. NozoMaki :)) I hope you’d enjoy!

May you be blessed this Christmas and the coming year. Take care always! :>

You can also read it at ao3 here~

A SPECIAL BOND

A year had passed since the formation of the legendary school idol group Muse. The nine young women who were part of the said group had experienced many changes since they decided to end all their activities. The then third years especially, who were now on the path of finding themselves and pursuing their future, were adjusting to their college lives.

Still, they all remained close to each other and would get together from time to time. Their friendships were as tight as ever, but some even became closer than before.

Maki, for example, found herself seeking for Nozomi’s advice more often than she’d imagined.

She didn’t really know when she became this close to the older girl. It was surprising, at least to her, that Nozomi would be the one she would come to when she had problems. It wasn’t that she disliked her though. And she knew that Nozomi was great in listening to other people’s problems. But she thought their differences in attitude and interests would give them a hard time in dealing with each other.

Once, Maki was troubled about Rin and Hanayo.

She noticed that her two friends were spending more time with just each other than all three of them. She felt left out. Although she couldn’t really blame them since she knew that they were childhood best friends. It’s just that, with Honoka, Umi, and Kotori busy with student council matters, she had been left lonely without those two. And she was not the best in socializing.

As always, she found it hard to talk and open up her problem. She couldn’t just go and tell them “I’m lonely without you,” could she? She felt like she would just bother them with her childish attitude.

She told herself it would be alright eventually. She’d been more or less alone in her entire life after all. What’s new? And it’s not like they’d completely abandoned her too. There wasn’t even an argument or the sort.

At the very least, she told herself she should be happy since her days had been quieter and nicer without the constant energy around her that was Rin.

But then, when all nine of them met for a little gathering at her place, Nozomi noticed.

Maki was alone at her veranda, gazing at the stars shining above her. It was fun to be with all of them, and it had been a while. But she was somewhat overwhelmed with everything and she needed some time to breathe.

Then suddenly, she heard Nozomi’s voice ask her. “Care for some company?”

Maki looked at the older girl and the latter gave a waiting look. She considered refusing but she didn’t want to be disrespectful and turn out as cold or unwelcoming. Nozomi wasn’t that noisy if she chose not to be too. So she nodded and said, “sure.”

For a while they just minded their own businesses. They both enjoyed the night breeze and its calming aura. Then Nozomi casually asked, “what’s wrong, Maki-chan?” She continued to watch the sky instead of Maki.

Taken aback, Maki turned to Nozomi incredulously. “N-Nothing.” She started twirling her hair with her fingers as she looked away.

“Has it got something to do with Rin-chan and Hanayo-chan?” Nozomi asked again.

Maki’s eyes widened as she looked at Nozomi again. “Wha-? How did you-?”

Nozomi giggled. “I was just guessing. But it turns out I’m right!”

“I didn’t say it was them-” then Maki saw Nozomi’s victorious playful smirk. She sighed, “fine.”

“So what’s going on with them?” Nozomi asked, although she might already have an idea why. “Did you have a fight?”

Maki paused before answering, “not really. It’s just...”

“Hm? Just what?” Nozomi urged.

“I... feel like they’re avoiding me?” said Maki. She too was unsure of the ideas she jumped onto.

“How can you say so?” Nozomi asked.

“Well,” Maki said, “they just greet me in the morning when they come to class and then in the afternoon before going home. Sometimes at lunch they disappear immediately. They used to stick with me and nag me all the time.” Even Maki herself was surprised at how much she was saying.

“Oh?” Nozomi said with a teasing smile. “I thought you don’t like noisy people who’s all over you all the time?”

Maki opened her mouth to retort but she was left speechless as heat crept up her face in embarrassment.

Nozomi let out a small laugh. “I’m just joking,” she said, “tell me more about it?”

And so Maki told Nozomi the details of her trouble. It was surprisingly easy to talk about it with the older girl. Although she was often teased by her, the embarrassment soon lifted off and she was able to talk smoothly. Maki realized she was enjoying the evening with Nozomi. They were just there together, talking about how to resolve Maki’s problem, all night until Honoka decided they should play some games.

A week passed by and Maki knew why she was being avoided.

It was her birthday and the girls all planned a surprise for her. There were tomato soup, cake, juice, and some of her other favorite food. It was held at the music room of their school and Nozomi, Eli, and Nico all came over. They all played games, sang, and danced together.

Rin and Hanayo were the ones in charge of arranging things, that’s why they were so busy and ended up seeming like they’re avoiding her. When Maki found that out, she turned to Nozomi who gave her a knowing grin before she hugged her two best friends.

Rin was so delighted with the redhead’s unusual action so she reciprocated so tightly and excitedly. “Maki-chan hugged us nyaaa! Happy birthday Maki-chan!”

Hanayo prayed she wouldn’t faint from suffocation. “Someone save meee!”

--

Weeks passed by and Maki found herself consulting Nozomi about her problems. It’s not that she had something against Rin nor Hanayo though. It was just so easy to talk to Nozomi. It’s like she could be all whiny and complain a lot and Nozomi wouldn’t mind listening at all. Nozomi’s teases and laughter comforted her too, for a reason she didn’t know. Maki’s secrets were securely safe with the older girl and she knew that.

They spent a lot of time together when Nozomi was free from university. Sometimes, they would go out to the park and stargaze. Oftentimes, they were just at Nozomi’s apartment or at a cafe. Maki was truly happy being with the older girl. She often found herself giving in to the prankster’s antics. Nozomi even convinced her to call her “Non-chan,” albeit it took a lot of pleads and washi washi threats.

It’s like they formed a special bond of their own, different from the rest of their friends.

Rin questioned it once, “why do you talk about Nozomi-chan a lot these days nya?” There wasn’t really anything wrong with what she asked. Even with them, it was unusual for Maki to talk a lot and about someone who wasn’t even there anymore for the past months.

At first, Hanayo thought nothing much about it since Nozomi was one of their closest friends. But then, sometimes, Maki would mention the older girl out of nowhere; so she became curious as well. She and Rin looked at the redhead expectantly.

“Eh?” Maki froze. Then she twirled her hair. “N-No reason! Nothing! She’s our f-friend, isn’t she? Isn’t it fine to talk about her?” She looked away, avoiding their sights.

Rin leaned closer to Maki. “Is that so nya?”

Maki nodded. “You talk about Non-cha-” She coughed. “I mean, N-Nozomi too, don’t you? And Eli, and Nico-chan, and Hono--”

“Non-chan!?” Hanayo exclaimed with eagerness.

“Oh! Maki-chan’s got a nickname for Nozomi-chan nya!” Rin followed up.

“Bueghh! Wh-What’s wrong with that?” Maki’s face reddened with embarrassment.

“Nothing nya!” Rin answered, imitating Maki.

“What’s that? I don’t get it at all!”

--

December was approaching and Maki was troubled yet again. And as usual, her feet brought her outside of Nozomi’s apartment door. Her breathing was ragged because of her rush. She knocked at the door and Nozomi came short after.

When Nozomi opened the door, a worried expression flashed on her face. “Maki-chan?”

Maki was looking down and didn’t respond. She continued breathing rapidly. She was frowning.

“Maki-chan, come in! It’s cold out here!” Nozomi ushered the younger girl into her apartment. “Are you alright?”

There was still no answer from Maki. She took off her shoes and stood in front of Nozomi.

“Maki-chan, what’s wrong?” Nozomi asked, worried about the redhead’s uneasiness and obvious... sadness. Was she pouting?

“Non-chan,” Maki finally said, looking at Nozomi’s eyes like a lost little puppy. “Tell me, is it true that Santa-san is not real?” she asked with tainted innocence. She looked so... heartbroken.

Nozomi paused and stared at her, a little surprised at the question. Then she held Maki’s hand. “Maki-chan, dear, who told you that?” She gave her a smile that she hoped could warm her up.

“Th-That’s not important,” said Maki, “just tell me if it’s true or not.” There was a hint of desperation in her voice. Her brows furrowed as if saying, ‘please tell me it’s not.’

Nozomi gave yet another smile. She squeezed Maki’s hand and said, “it is true...” She figured beating around the bush wouldn’t be effective in handling Maki and it might just worsen the situation.

The look of realization and sorrow that Maki wore broke Nozomi’s heart too. It hurt to see the sweet innocence of the younger girl being crushed. It made Nozomi want to take back her words, but that just wouldn’t do any good.

Tears threatened to burst out of Maki’s eyes as she looked down. “Oh,” was all she could utter.

“But it’s alright, isn’t it?” Nozomi suddenly asked. Maki brought her attention back to the older girl with confused eyes. Nozomi smiled and continued, “it means that someone really loves and cares for you that they’d give you a gift every year. Even though they write Santa-san’s name instead of theirs. In your case, it’s your parents who stand up as Santa-san. They love you so much.”

“But why did they lie to me?” Maki asked with a little irritation.

Nozomi paused to think of the right answer. “You see, Maki-chan,” she started, “it’s not that they really wanted to lie to you. They just didn’t want to hurt you. They knew that if you find out the truth about him, then you would be hurt so much. Just like now. They didn’t want your hopes to be crushed.”

“Didn’t they think I would realize it someday...” Maki uttered. She knew that maybe she was being immature and childish, but who could blame her? For 16 years she believed that every year someone besides her parents cared for her. Santa-san was her first friend. Even though she never really met him, she always appreciated the gifts she received and the letters that came with them. “Now I’m looking stupid, believing that some old man comes through our chimney every year.” Her voice was starting to waver. She pulled her hand from Nozomi’s as she looked away with sadness and pain.

“Hey, it’s alright,” Nozomi assured, “you’re not stupid.” She watched as Maki stomped off to sit on the couch of her living room. She followed after and sat beside her, making sure to keep a certain distance so as not to startle the younger girl. “Maki-chan,” she called. But Maki refused to even look at her. “Maki-chan?” Nozomi repeated.

“...ven you...” Maki eventually whispered. She bit her lip to contain her emotions. She was still staring down, not meeting Nozomi’s eyes.

But Nozomi didn’t hear what she said clearly so she asked, “hm? what is it?” She kept her voice soft and gentle, hoping that Maki would open up to her more.

There was a short silence as Maki contemplated whether to talk or not. Then she said, “I said, even you girls lied to me.” She clenched her skirt, bottling her feelings.

“What?” Nozomi asked, confused. “When?”

“Last year,” Maki answered, “on our Christmas party. You gave me another gift and said it was from... Santa-san.” Her voice cracked and a tear trickled down her face. “I’m sure Nico-chan and Rin, heck even Honoka, were making fun of me for believing such a stupid thing.”

Nozomi frowned. “That’s not true,” she replied. “Sure, Nicochi let out a laugh,” she admitted. No use lying now, right? “But that’s just because she found your innocence cute.” She giggled. “Those three were even the most excited ones when we made your present!”

Maki’s eyebrows raised in shock. “R-Really?” Ever the tsundere, she tried not to show the delight in her eyes.

Nozomi nodded with a smile. “Yup! So don’t ever think that we see you as dumb, or stupid, or an idiot, okay? We love you the way you are. Your innocence despite you being smart is one of your charms!” She gave a grin that was so genuine and full of love.

“O-Of course I’m not stupid!” Maki looked away while twirling her hair with her fingers. And her cheeks were painted red. Now there’s the Maki Nozomi knew.

Nozomi chuckled and wrapped her arms around Maki. “Yup!”

Now all that’s left was for Nozomi to find out who told Maki the sacred truth and give that person a washi washi of a lifetime.