"Maki-chan, do you like chocolate?"

"Who doesn't like chocolate?"

"Answer my question!"

"If you're going to be demanding about it then no, I will not answer your question."

"Answer...my...question..." Nico looked terrifying.

"Yeah, sure, I like chocolate. Why do you care?"

In an instant Nico's expression changed drastically into delight and she clapped her hands together.

"Good, then you won't have a problem with me coming over right now."

"I never said that! What does me liking chocolate have to do with you coming to my house Nico-chan?"

"That's simple; it's because I like chocolate too."

"That's fine and dandy but I still don't understand what that has to do with my house."

"Your house is bigger than mine."

"Well yeah, you don't even live in a house."

"That's right, I live in an apartment which, as a whole, is bigger than your house."

"If you put it that way I guess you're right...Wait, why are we comparing our living quarters!?"

"Because I'm trying to make a point."

"Go buy a pencil sharpener or something because your point isn't coming across very clearly."

"Maki-chan, calm down."

"I am calm!" Maki was not calm.

"No you're not. If you were you wouldn't be making puns like that."

"What are you, a psychologist?"

"No way, I'm Nico Yazawa, the number one idol in the universe!"

"Okay, 'number one idol in the universe', tell me what you're getting at."

"Alright, chill out. What I'm getting at is that I'm going to your house right now."

"I know that, but why!?"

"That's a secret." Nico gave Maki her (in)famous "Nico-Nico-Ni" gang sign and ran off.

"Hold on, don't go inviting yourself over to other people's houses!"


"I'm home!", greeted Nico inside of Maki's front doorway.

"That's my line and this isn't your house!"

"Oh Maki-chan, if you only knew how much you wished you could come home to a lovely lady like me after a hard day's work."

"That's what mamas are for."

"Incest!? Woah, didn't see that one coming! I guess it's over for us then. I hope she can make you as happy as I did.", said Nico who put on a fake dramatic act.

"Don't be stupid.", was all Maki put effort into saying.

Suddenly, Maki's mom appeared from around the corner.

Maki thought to herself, "I hope she didn't hear any of that."

"Why, hello there Nico-chan! What brings you here today?", inquired Maki's mother who was quite fond of Nico.

"Nothing much, I was just wondering if Maki-chan and I could borrow your kitchen for a little while. We were gonna make some chocolate."

"That's perfectly fine with me. Teach that girl a thing or two while you're at it. She's hopeless when it comes to cooking."

"Sure thing Ma'am. Trust me, she'll learn plently." Nico shifted her eyes towards Maki seductively and gave her a little wink.

Maki blushed from Nico's suggestive actions.

"Great! You two have fun and don't worry about making a mess. Our maids will clean everything up."

"Thank you so much Mrs. Nishikino!"

"No problem hun. You're welcome here anytime."

"Mama, stop being so nice to her."

"Maki-chan, you have a wonderful friend. You should treat her better."

"But-"

Before Maki could complete her phrase her mother walked back into the other room.

"I'll be in here if you need me.", informed Maki's mom as she sat down on an expensive looking sofa, put on some reading glasses, and opened a thick, hard-covered book.

"Why you little..." Maki gritted her teeth in anger as she faced her intruder.

Nico put a hand on Maki's shoulder. "Shh, you heard what your mom said; you should be more kind to me. You're not going to go against your mother's word now are you?"

Maki just frowned.

"I didn't think so. Now, let's get cooking!...Where's the kitchen again?"

"You've been here this many times yet you still don't know where the kitchen is?"

"Don't blame me. This house is huge so it's really easy to get lost."

"It's down the hallway. I'll take you there this time but make sure you remember where we're going."

"So I can find it the next time I come over?", asked Nico.

"So you know the way to get out.", answered Maki and while grabbing Nico's hand to drag her to their destination.

After about a mile long journey they reached Maki's kitchen. (It was actually just a few yards but it felt like a mile to Nico.)

"Nico-chan, why are we making chocolate?"

"Valentine's day is coming up soon so I thought it would be nice if we could make something sweet for the people we love."

"That's not sweet at all."

"Huh, how can you say that!? Could it be that you've never eaten chocolate Maki-chan? You poor thing...You need to eat some right now!" Nico dug through her bag and located a large bar of chocolate. She broke off a corner of it and shoved it into Maki's mouth.

Maki spit out the chocolate almost instantaneously because it was so bitter. The saliva coated confection hit Nico right in the eye and then landed on the floor.

"Ow, ow, ow! What the hell Maki-chan!?"

"Ew, what did you just feed me?"

"Baking chocolate. It has a very high concentration of cocoa. I gave it to you over regular milk chocolate to make up for all of the time you missed.", said Nico with one eye closed due to acute trauma.

"I didn't miss anything!"

"Yeah, you didn't miss my face, that's for sure."

"Quit complaining, you deserved it. Anyway, if you remember correctly, I said that I liked chocolate so obviously I've eaten it before."

"Then why would you say it wasn't sweet to give it to other people?"

"I would never give anyone what you just gave me. That was cruel Nico-chan. Most chocolate is sweet but the nutritional value of it isn't. What better way to tell someone you love them than by handing them a box of fat and sugar?"

"Are you always this negative Maki-chan?"

"Yes she is!", yelled Maki's mom from across the house.

"Wow, how did she hear that!?", thought Nico and Maki simultaneously.

"So, how are we going to make something edible out of...this?" Maki grabbed the bar of chocolate out of Nico's hand and slammed it on the counter top as she said "this".

"Now that I thought things over I think it might not be such a good idea to make chocolates with you..."

"Why would you even say that after all the trouble you put me through to come here and ask to use my kitchen? If you don't want to cook with me then go home and do it yourself."

"I want to cook with you Maki-chan but it seems that you don't really love anyone so it would be pointless for you to make chocolate, unless you made some for yourself but even then you probably don't love yourself that much since you're so miserable all the time."

Maki silently shed a few tears. Nico's words gave her a realization of her current standing with herself.

"You're right, I don't love myself at all. How could I? I'm a mean and cold-hearted person but you know that already. What you said about me not loving anyone isn't true though because I love you...and Mama, and Papa, and everyone in Muse, and even Santa."

"You love a mythical person more than you love yourself? That's not good Maki-chan."

"Mythical person? Who's the mythical person?"

"Oh...um...nobody."

Nico almost ruined Maki's only ounce of innocence she had left. She had already claimed the majority of it when they first started dating (if you know what I mean).

To ease some of the emotional tension in the room Nico gave Maki a big bear hug which eventually turned off Maki's waterworks.

During the hug Nico told Maki this, "From what you just said, I can tell that you do love yourself at least a little bit. If you didn't then you wouldn't be able to love me or anyone else the way you do. Even though you can be kinda rude sometimes I know that you truly care about me and that means a lot to me."

"Really?"

Nico kissed a stray tear off of Maki's cheek, "Really."

"Um Nico-chan, can you show me how to use the stove and stuff? I've never even been in the kitchen except to grab a snack out of the fridge once in a while."

"Certainly, Nico-sensei will teach you all there is to know about the art of desserting."

"The art of deserting? Isn't deserting like leaving-" as Maki was talking Nico started walking out of the room.

"Get back here!" Maki grabbed the collar of Nico's shirt and pulled it so that Nico was positioned right up against her.

Nico took advantage of this and proceeded to steal a kiss from Maki.

"H-hey this is a 'kitch-en' not a 'kiss-en'."

"Haha, Maki-chan is so funny!"

"Yeah yeah, whatever, let's start making that chocolate already."

"Okay, but first we need to get these clothes off of you." Nico began unbuttoning Maki's blouse from the top down.

"Stop it!", shouted Maki as she pushed Nico away and buttoned her shirt back up. "Where did you get that logic from?"

"I wanted us to try wearing just aprons without anything on underneath them. You know, like they do in anime and manga."

"I don't care what you do as long as you don't get me involved."

"Hmm, does this mean that you want to see me naked Maki-chan?"

"Not really...Besides, I've already seen you naked plenty of times. It's nothing noteworthy."

"Don't degrade my body like that!"

"I didn't degrade it, I just said it wasn't anything special, visually I mean."

"Gee thanks Maki-chan, I'll remember that the next time you want-"

"Girls, I can hear you in there! Please keep things PG-13. Thank you!", interrupted Maki's mom.

"Let's get cooking...", said Nico shyly.

Let's.", agreed Maki.

Over the course of an hour or two the once sparkly clean Nishikino kitchen turned into a chocolate-mud bath courtesy of Maki who failed at using a mixer. Maki failed at many other things as well which caused Nico to get impatient which led to her throwing the contents of a bowl of liquid chocolate at her girlfriend. This was a declaration of war. Countless cocoa beans were sacrificed in this "soldier game" but the real heroes of this battle were the maids who had to clean up the mess.


"How did this even happen?"

"It's because you suck at using kitchen appliances Maki-chan."

"You're gonna blame it all on me huh?"

"That is correct."

"Real classy Nico-chan."

"Hey, I never said I was classy. I'm lower-middle class at best but you're like upper-class ritzy ditzy."

"What are you rambling about?"

"Never mind, go check the oven. I think the chocolates are done."

"How do I know if they're done or not?"

"You just know. It's not that hard Maki-chan."

"So if they're hard it means I baked them too long?"

"No, you're almost on the same stupidity level as Honoka right now! Get outta my way! I'll take a look at them."

Nico approached the chrome oven which had chocolate splattered over the window so she had to actually open the oven to see inside.

"Nah, they need more time. Their love hasn't fully developed yet."

"Since when could chocolates form relationships with each other?"

"Since I imagined they could Maki-chan. A good imagination is a very important personality aspect to consider when choosing a partner after all."

"Well, I wasn't imagining anything when I chose you Nico-chan. Were you?"

"Of course, I imagined that you were a hot guy with six pack abs."

"Seriously?"

"You believed me?"

"Yeah, because your thoughts are really unpredictable. Do you even like boys Nico-chan?"

"I dunno. I've only ever liked you. I guess I'm 'Maki-sexual'. What about you?"

"I've never thought about it to be honest."

"Really, never?"

"I'm not obsessed with romance like you are Nico-chan. Only you would ship chocolates together."

"Oh, you'd be surprised at the amount of weird fanfics there are out there. My chocolate shipping is nothing compared to those. There are even some about us. Can you believe it?"

"I can believe it. It's sort of flattering in a very messed up way... Speaking of messed up things, I think we messed up the chocolate. I smell something burning."

Nico slipped on a pair of oven mitts and rushed to attend to the burning bon-bons but it was futile. The chocolates were charred.

"Ah! Damn it! This is all your fault Maki-chan!"

"Huh!? How is it my fault?"

"You started chit-chatting with me and it got me distracted."

"Then it's your fault for getting distracted."

"It is not!"

"Is too!"

"Is not!"

"Is too!"

In the middle of their petty fight Maki's mom came to the kitchen because she smelled something odd. She didn't expect to see her daughter and her daughter's girlfriend bickering in a chocolate painted room.

"Um, children...what happened in here?"

Both culprits shut their traps and slowly turned their heads to face Maki's mom with the best poker faces they could manage. Unlike the rest of the day, this is the only time Maki outshined Nico in doing something right.

After an awkward silence Nico picked up the tray of chocolates and said, "We made chocolate! Do you want some Ma'am? They're roasted marshmallow flavored."
They were supposed to be caramel truffles.

Maki stifled a laugh at Nico's crazy comeback comment.

Her mom just gave the chocolate a slight look of disgust and said, "No thank you dear. I appreciate the offer though." Then she walked out of the room as quickly as she appeared.

Maki called out to her mother, "Mama, you aren't mad at us are you?"

"No, I'm just a bit shocked that two young ladies can create such a catastrophe in that short amount of time. Yes, it's quite amazing indeed."

Maki's mom went to some other part of the mansion and Maki returned to the kitchen where her girlfriend was waiting. Nico had a goofy grin on her face.

"This isn't funny at all!"

Nico responded to that by quoting Maki's mom, "Indeed, this is quite a catastrophe."

Maki burst into a giggle fit and Nico joined in as well. Now both girls were literally rolling on the floor laughing, staining their clothes with chocolate all the while.

Once they got ahold of themselves it finally hit them that they were covered in sugary sweet goodness.

"Hey Maki-chan?"

"What?"

"Did you know that we just bathed ourselves in chocolate?"

"Yeah."

"Okay then...can I lick it off of you?"

"Wouldn't that be too much sugar to ingest?"

"I can handle it. You're sweet as it is so a little bit of chocolate isn't gonna scare me away."

"Alright, I guess that's settled then."

"Sweet! Itadakimasu!"

As Nico lapped up chocolate from every inch of Maki's body, Maki's mom made her way back to the kitchen again since she heard the girls' previous conversation and it sparked her attention.

"Nn, Nico-chan d-don't..."

"Don't what Maki-chan?"

Maki wondered why Nico's voice sounded different but then she realized that the voice she heard wasn't Nico's but her mother's.

The couple split themselves up as quickly as possible but they weren't fooling anyone, especially because Maki's clothes were partly scattered on the floor except for her shirt which she used to cover herself up with.

"Didn't I tell you two to keep things inexplicit?"

Maki's Mom looked at her daughter straight into the eyes and said, "Maki-chan go take a bath, you're filthy. Nico-chan can take one after you. I need to have a talk with her first."

"Y-yes Mama." Pulling her shirt down as far as it would go, Maki ran out of the room to do what her mother had ordered.

Nico was scared to death. She was worried that Maki's mom would ban her from seeing Maki after this.

Once Maki was out of sight Nico apologized, "I'm really sorry Ma'am! I'll never do anything like that again! Please forgive me!"

"It's alright Nico-chan. I'm glad you care about Maki-chan so much and I know from experience how hard it is for teenagers in love to keep their hands off each other but please do something like this when nobody else is around and in a place where food isn't prepared since that's unsanitary."

"You're still gonna let me be with Maki-chan!?" She couldn't fathom how understanding this woman was.

"Why wouldn't I? You make Maki-chan so happy. She might not show it in front of you but at home she talks about you all the time and I see her smiling whenever she's on the phone with you."

Nico just blushed at how cute Maki was even when she wasn't around.

"Here, I'll let you in on a secret. Don't tell your mother or Maki-chan that I told you this but back in the day, I had something going on with your mom. In the end it didn't work out because she cheated on me and got pregnant with you but we had our fair share of embarrassing moments together so don't feel so bad about me walking in on you."

Thinking about her own mother dating her girlfriend's mom was kind of disturbing to Nico and it made her a little sad since she felt like she was the cause of Maki's mother's heartbreak (even though it was entirely her mom's fault for being promiscuous) but it did make her a bit less uncomfortable about this whole "getting caught" situation.

"If you'd like I could tell you some stories about Maki-chan when she was little until she's done with her bath."

"Um, sure."

What Nico really felt like saying was, "Oh my god, yes! This has got to be good; so much potential blackmail material!"

Several childhood memories later, the main character of the stories herself came back wearing a lily white robe (not the idol group, the color) and fuzzy purple slippers.

"You weren't too harsh on her were you Mama?", asked a concerned Maki who was also squeaky clean.

"I gave her a good scolding.", lied Maki's mom who started laughing which got Nico going too. Maki was really confused.

"Aw, Maki-chan is so cute!", declared Nico as skipped up to her girlfriend to give her a hug but before she could do that she slid on a puddle of chocolate and rammed into Maki. The force of impact knocked both of them down into another puddle of chocolate. The chocolate on Nico's clothes would have made Maki dirty again anyway if Nico hugged her but not as much as it did from them falling.

"Ugh, come on! Get off of me!" Maki pushed Nico away from her but that still didn't stop her from getting chocolate all over herself again.

"Thanks Nico-chan, now I have to take another bath!"

"Sorry Maki-chan.", said Nico who wasn't sorry at all.

"Well I suppose it can't be helped. Both of you can take a bath together this time but no physical contact while you're in the bathroom, understood?"

"Okay Mama/Mrs. Nishikino.", said Maki and Nico at the same time with the respecting honorifics.

"Tonight I'm taking my husband out to dinner for Valentine's day so feel free to do whatever you want to while we're gone, just no more of this chocolate business."

"Seriously Mama? You're not upset at all?"

"Nope, but it makes me sad that my baby girl is all grown up now."

"Yeah, from the stories your mom told me you must have been an adorable little kid."

"You told her stories about me!?"

"Is that a problem Maki-chan? Isn't it fair for your significant other to know everything about you?", said Maki's mother.

"You've got a point there but you probably offered to tell her them and I bet they were the really embarrassing ones too."

"Bingo! She even showed me some pictures."

"I can't believe you Mama! That was mean of you to do without my permission."

"Relax and go take another bath Maki-chan. You're going to accompany her too right Nico-chan?"

"Yup, I'll follow your lead Maki-chan."

"Whatever, let's make this quick."

Maki grabbed Nico's hand again and brought her to the bathroom. On the way there Nico commented, "Your mom is pretty cool. You didn't take after her at all."

"What's that suppose to mean Nico-chan?"

"It means what it means. Also, is it true that you found a box of her tampons and said, 'Mama, why are there dynamites in the cabinet under the sink?'"

"I figured she told you that one...You have similar stories from your childhood too right Nico-chan?"

"No, I wasn't that innocent."

"Liar! Next time I go to your place I'll ask your mother about you when you were young but I won't ask to look at pictures because you'd look the same way in them as you do now."

"That was really rude!"

"It may be rude but it's true."

"It is not!"

"Is too!"

"Is not!"

"Is too!"

"Hurry up and take your bath!", yelled Maki's mother.

"Yes Ma'am!"