It was an excruciatingly hot autumn day in Tokyo. The cicadas that surrounded the area chirped non-stop, making any sort of tranquility impossible. Yet, even with the lack of silence, the atmosphere on the rooftop of Otonokizaka High School was undeniably tense.
"I like you!"
The words that came out of Yazawa Nico's mouth rang even louder than her racing heart. Her face was completely flushed, but surely that was not all due to the blazing sun's powerful rays.
The small girl's posture was erect and her sweaty trembling palms rested by her thighs. Her legs shook so violently that she was even having trouble keeping herself upright. The adrenaline rush that came from live performances was definitely unable to compete with the unnerving thrill of confessing to a loved one.
The recipient, who was none other than Nishikino Maki, simply stood still in one spot while playing around with the tips of her lush red hair with her fingers. Even though the songwriter was usually cool and composed, she found herself unable to look her upperclassman straight in the eye.
Maki heaved a heavy sigh. After a moment of contemplation, she mustered up the courage to lock eyes with her admirer before giving her response - that was the least she could do for her.
"I can't accept your feelings." Maki's words flowed smoothly one after the other. She had thrown out her rejection without even blinking an eye. As soon as the words processed in her head, Nico's shoulders fell and her determined facial expression disappeared.
"W-Why not?" Those were the only words that a dejected Nico could conjure up in her state. The color in her face started to drain itself out quickly and her legs seemed as if they were ready collapse at any minute. However, Maki took no mercy on the girl.
"Do you even have to think much about it? All we do is fight and it's not like you know a lot me anyway - at least, not enough for you to fall for me. You annoy me, I annoy you, but outside of that, we're just acquaintances."
Nico flinched. Although she wanted to retort, she wasn't exactly notorious for making up good excuses on the spot. However, amidst all of Maki's cold words, Nico's optimism allowed for her to pull out a sliver of hope from her explanation.
"Hehe," Nico giggled to herself. Maki arched her eyebrows, genuinely fearing that the shock had corrupted Nico's head. Nico flashed Maki a stupidly big grin that spread from ear to ear.
"That's one of the things I love about you, Maki-chan! You don't mind the fact that I'm a girl one bit~"
"W-Wha-" Maki searched for a counterargument, but to no avail. As the blood rushed to her face, she turned her head around. Immediately, the tension in the atmosphere was wiped away with the two's usual antics, which consisted of Nico's teasing and Maki's dishonest reactions.
"Don't worry, Maki-chan! I will make you fall for Nico Nii!"
"How can you be so confident?" Maki let out an unimpressed scoff.
"Fufu, isn't it obvious?" Nico's idiotic smile soon turned into a gentle gaze. "It's because I understand Maki-chan more than anyone else!"
"... W-What's with that? I don't get you!"
The two girls stared at each other for a good few minutes, but they couldn't help bursting into a fit of laughter. Even though Nico had just gotten rejected, she thought that maybe for now, just being idiots together was enough.
Thinking back on it now, Nico was highly embarrassed at her declaration. Just how was she supposed to get someone as stubborn as Maki to fall in love with her anyway?
The third year girl slumped against the long-table inside of the club room. She was the first to arrive, as usual, but it was odd that even after fifteen minutes, no one else bothered to stop by.
Well, it wasn't even that Nico cared about when Honoka, Kotori, Umi, Eri, Nozomi, Hanayo or Rin showed up. There was only one person who the amazingly talented Yazawa Nico waited for, and it wasn't just on this particular day either. It was just Nico's normal routine to get to the club room before everyone else so she could initiate a fight with Maki the moment she walked through the door.
But for today, Nico was alone. She didn't mind the solitude, but the peacefulness in the room made her head get lost in a train of thought. Of course, as of recent, the only person that Nico ever had on her mind at all times was Maki.
She couldn't exactly remember when the songwriter became such a meaningful existence in her life. It came as a huge surprise to Nico as well, and while she was stuck in denial for the longest time, she eventually came to accept it one day when her heart couldn't stop aching for the first year student.
It really did sting when Maki rejected the confession that Nico spent weeks just practicing how she should go about wording it. However, because Nico couldn't operate very well under pressure, the speech she had prepared went straight down the drain - not that she minded it now. It would have been ten times more embarrassing for Nico to have recited her romantic monologue only to get rejected in the end.
But that aside, Nico couldn't help but ponder at the reason why Maki rejected her. Surely she had more to say, but Maki was probably being as considerate as possible at the time.
"Outside of Muse, we're just acquaintances, huh..." Nico mumbled mindlessly to herself. In all honesty, Nico had considered the two to be close friends, but she chastised herself for not taking Maki's feelings into consideration. But even so, no matter how much she racked her brain around the problem, she still couldn't see why Maki only thought of them as mere acquaintances.
"I mean, the definition of an 'acquaintance' is someone who barely knows anything about someone else! I know lots about Maki already! ... I think." Nico pouted as she gave it more and more thought. It was true that Nico didn't ever think about how Maki would feel about suddenly getting confessed to, but Maki also never stopped to think of their relationship as 'two friends who get on each other's nerves' like Nico did - in other words, it was a one-sided friendship.
Amidst Nico's fussing came a click from the door. Although she had expected Maki to walk in, she was noticeably disappointed when it was Nozomi instead.
"Tch, it's just Nozomi." Nico found herself expressing her thoughts aloud.
"Hmm? Did you say something?" Nozomi asked with a menacing facial expression clearly indicating she heard Nico's words loud and clear. She stuck out her infamous 'predator hands' and started inching closer towards Nico.
"N-Nothing! I'm so happy to see you! B-By the way, have you seen anyone else? It's been pretty empty in here!" Nico attempted to cover up her mistake by changing the subject.
"Eh? Oh, Eri-chi took the new student council members to show them the ropes. I don't know where Rin-chan and Hanayo-chan are, but I saw Maki-chan earlier," Nozomi replied, taking the bait.
"I-Is that so..." Nico spoke halfheartedly. It took a moment for her to process what Nozomi had said, but when she did, she jumped out of her seat. "Wait, did you just say Maki?! You... you didn't talk to her, did you?"
Nozomi grinned. "Oh, I heard all about it, Nico-chi."
"Ugh, that Maki..." Nico cursed under her breath.
"... From my cards, though." Nozomi pulled out a tarot card from her sleeve to show Nico the proof. "In the end, you still got rejected, huh?"
"Guh... I-Isn't that normal? And besides, I haven't given up yet!"
"I didn't say anything~ If anything, I'm just waiting for it to happen."
"... What's that supposed to mean?"
"You'll have to find out for yourself!" Nozomi said with a wink. Nico felt her eyebrow twitching, unimpressed with Nozomi's answer, but before she could pry any further, Nozomi walked towards the door. "Anyway, I only dropped by to see how you were doing. It seems like you're fine, so I suppose there's no need to call Maki-chan in here-"
"WHAT?!" Nico sped towards the door at lightning speed. She peered outside the club room, and sure enough, there stood the ever-so-beautiful Maki, who was leaning against the wall and blushing like mad. "Nozomi!"
"Hehe, I'll leave the rest up to you two! It looks like Maki-chan has something to say to you, Nico-chi! With that said, I'm off to help Eri-chi again, so good luck~" Nozomi quickly fled the scene, leaving behind only Nico and Maki.
The atmosphere between the two soon turned tense. Not only were there loose ends that needed to be tied up, but Maki also wanted to chat with Nico for whatever reason.
"S-So..." Nico tried to break the silence. "Nice weather we're having today, right?" On the inside, Nico began to beat her inner self up. You couldn't have thought of anything else to say, huh... she thought to herself.
"Nico-chan," Maki spoke up, completely ignoring Nico's previous comment. "Let's... get to know each other better."
A/N: Sort of a cliffhanger ending - just to be a bum. I wrote the first half or so on my phone, and somehow, I find that descriptive writing is so much harder on my laptop. I wonder why that is (probably because I type really quickly so I don't spend much time reading over what I wrote when I'm on my computer... something like that anyway). I originally never intended to write this in hefty paragraphs (a.k.a. sort-of-novel-formatting) since I was aiming more for "cute & fluffy", but I guess I screwed up in a way.
I'll try to aim for that fluff in the next couple of chapters, but I also want to be a sadist and make all of my readers writhe in utter pain and agony (well, a little less painful than that), so expect some angst somewhere down the road.
Also, I have to say that I've read a lot of fics & doujin where Nico calls Maki, "Maki-chan", but I'm almost 101% positive that Nico just calls her "Maki" (please go watch / re-watch season 2 episode 2).