Note: Pics of the outfits in this fic are on my dropbox. Just head to my profile to find the link, then go to the folder with this fic's title.
Disclaimer: I do NOT own Love Live!
It was the end of classes for the day at Otonokizaka High School. Around now is when clubs meet for their daily activities. Today wasn't that day for Muse, as it was a rest day, at least for most of the members. For two members however, there was scouting to be done for the Love Live competition.
In the mean time, a certain orange-haired, yellow-green eyed girl was a little less than happy that her best friend was busy. She was quite bored, and it was starting to get on the nerves of Muse's red-haired composer. A sigh escaped her lips.
"Explain to me again, why I have to come with you?" Maki asked.
"Because," Rin said, "Kayo-chin is busy helping Nico-chan, and I need someone to go eat ramen with me!"
"But, why me? Why couldn't you get Honoka or someone else?"
"Everyone else is busy..." Rin's mood dropped rather quickly.
"A-alright alright, I get it," Maki said quickly. "So.. how much further?"
Rin perked up a little more. "It's right over there!"
Following where Rin pointed, Maki looked down the street and spotted the Ramen shop. Though, it was more of a stand than anything else. Visiting ramen shops wasn't something Maki is quite familiar with, but she didn't really feel comfortable by the looks of this.
"Are you sure this is okay, Rin?"
"Of course! I eat here all the time. Their ramen is the best!" Rin said with an enthusiastic grin.
"That's not what I mean.."
"Don't worry! Nothing will go wrong!"
Rin grabbed hold of Maki's hand and started pulling her along.
"W-wait a minute!"
To Maki's slight surprise, and annoyance, Rin's grip was quite firm, and she couldn't get herself free. Together like this, they walked in and sat down at two of the seats. Rin handled the orders, and after a few minutes, their ramen came.
"Ahh, isn't this wonderful?" Rin said as she finished a mouthful of ramen, a big smile on her face.
"You really like ramen, don't you?" Maki asked, eyeing Rin as she watched her fellow classmate eating enthusiastically. Maki herself was eating rather slowly.
"Yup! I love ramen. What about you, Maki-chan?"
"Mm.. it's not bad."
"Eh? Ah, that's right. You haven't eaten ramen before."
"No, I haven't." Maki took another bite. "Because we have a personal chef, I've always had prepared meals. They were always these extravagant courses. Yet, we never had something simple like this before."
Rin stopped eating to glance at Maki. "And did you like that?"
"Well.. I didn't hate it. I just never thought I'd have a simpler looking meal after all that."
"Sometimes simple things can be better in the end."
Maki glanced over as Rin went back to eating, not expecting something like that to come out of her. The rest of the time was fairly quiet while they finished their food and Maki thought over Rin's words.
Muse met in their clubroom as usual the next day. Nico and Hanayo told the others what they found out yesterday, before returning to the computer to do more research for the competition.
"The rest of you can take it easy for now," Eri said to the other members. "There shouldn't be anything to do until dance practice tomorrow."
"Great," Honoka said. "Can we go home early again today?"
"The others can, but we need you to come with us," Nozomi said.
"Eh?"
"What do you need with Honoka-chan?" Kotori asked.
"It's just some things for the student council," Eli said. Then she turned to Nozomi. "And stop trying scaring her."
"You're no fun, Eli-chi," Nozomi said playfully.
"Whatever you say." Eli stood up, looking to Honoka. "Come on, let's get going."
"A-alright.." Honoka was a little confused, but she got up and followed Eli.
"Don't have too much fun while we're gone," Nozomi said with a grin as she left the room to follow the other two.
The four watched after Nozomi left the room.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Umi asked what they were all thinking.
"Who knows..." Kotori said.
The was a silence over the four of them, as none of them knew what they should do. Maki quickly grew sick of the awkward atmosphere. She pulled out a book and started reading, trying to distract herself. Rin, Umi, and Kotori exchanged glances before they pulled something out to occupy themselves as well. Umi pulled out a textbook to review, Kotori took out a notebook and started sketching, and Rin grabbed a magazine to look at.
Nico and Hanayo hadn't noticed what's happening, as they were using earphones to listen to another idol unit's preliminary song.
A few minutes of silence passed. Maki started to get into her reading, but was soon interrupted.
"Maki-chan," Rin whispered.
Maki ignored Rin, trying to focus on her book.
"Maki-chan."
Rin latched herself onto Maki's arm, startling her. With a sigh, Maki turned to Rin.
"What is it?"
"Let's go somewhere."
"Again? Rin why-"
"Please?"
Maki was starting to get uncomfortable. Partly because of how close Rin was getting, and partly because of the face Rin was making as she tried to plead with Maki. She turned away, trying to keep herself from falling victim to Rin's look. But it wasn't working.
"Alright, alright," Maki said finally. "I'll go with you again today."
Rin smiled, then pulled Maki up from her seat.
"Great, let's go."
Rin got up and grabbed her bag. Maki put her book away and followed Rin to the door. As she was about to step out, she looked back, looking at the remaining second years. Kotori was quite close to Umi. She saw her whisper something to Umi. The last thing Maki saw before Rin pulled her out of the clubroom was Umi's face light up a bright shade of red.
The pair left the school building and stepped passed the front gates. They started walking in the opposite direction than they went yesterday. After they walked down a few streets, Maki recognized the path as the path to Rin's house.
Rin was talking about her classes today, or at least what she could remember when she wasn't staring out the window. Maki silently listened for the most part. Occasionally she would tell Rin that she should pay more attention in class or comment on her study habits, to which Rin brushed off with a little laugh or calling Maki mean.
"Ah, we're here," Rin said in the middle of her sentence about her nap in math class.
"..Here?" Maki looked at where they arrived.
She was expecting them to go to Rin's house, given the direction they walked in. But they instead had arrived at a playground. It was a fairly small area, looking around. Otherwise, it seemed like a normal playground.
"Is this your old playground, Rin?"
Rin nodded. "Yup. Kayo-chin and I used to play here together all the time."
She started walking around, and Maki followed behind her. Maki could tell that Rin was remembering things from her childhood, probably playing her with Hanayo, as she walked slowly by different parts of the playground. Rin took an especially long time passing by a lone tree. As she got closer, she could see what Rin had been looking at. Rin and Hanayo's names were carved at the button of the tree. There was also a message underneath, but it seems that it was chipped away at, so Maki couldn't read what it said.
By the time Maki was done staring at the writing, she looked up and saw Rin sitting at the swings. Maki walked over to join Rin. For the first time she could remember, she saw Rin with a somewhat blank stare.
"Rin?" she called out a few times, until Rin snapped out of her thoughts.
"Ah, yes Maki-chan?"
"Are you alright?"
"Yeah.. being here just reminds me of so many things."
"Do you miss those times?"
"...Sometimes. Kayo-chin and I were really close back then. But lately it's been like she has less time to hang out."
"I see..."
"Yeah... But I'll be fine." Rin tried to smile, but Maki could tell it wasn't Rin's usual, energetic smile.
Maki sighed to herself, realizing what she should do.
"Look.. If you want Rin.. I can spend time with you in Hanayo's place."
"You mean it?"
Maki nodded. When Rin realized that Maki was serious, she leapt off the swing and hugged Maki.
"Aww, thanks Maki-chan!"
"Y-yeah, no problem."
"Then, are you free tomorrow? Can hang out together?"
The excitement in Rin's voice and the smile on her face told Maki that she was back to her old self again. The red head smiled as she thought about what she just got herself into.
"Sure."
The next few days were a little more interesting than Maki was used to. When they were done with Muse for the day, Rin spent the rest of the day with her. The day after the playground, Rin had Maki over at her house, though it was to help with homework. One day Rin helped Maki with practicing some dance moves. Yesterday they went to the park, where they played a little, and after they walked around and talked.
Since it was a Saturday, Maki was expecting Hanayo to be free at least today. But according to Rin, she had other plans already. So, Maki now gets to spend her Saturday with Rin. Not that she minds though.
Maki looked in the mirror again. She played with her hair a little. Though that didn't change anything, she was finally satisfied with how she looked. Just then, she heard the doorbell ring. After one last glance in the mirror, she walked to the front door.
"Ah, Maki-chan," Rin said as Maki walked out. "Wow, you look amazing."
"T-thanks," Maki blushed slightly. "Let's go?"
"Mhm!"
Together they left Maki's house and started walking. Unlike the first time they spent time together, which Rin was pretty much the only one talking, Maki was able to speak comfortably with Rin this time. They were talking the entire time as they walked.
Eventually, they arrived at the mall. Maki took a look around. There weren't as many people as she thought would be here, since it was the weekend. Still, it was a little reassuring for that there were less people around.
"Right then.." Rin said, looking around hesitantly.
Maki smiled. "Come on, it's this way."
She grabbed hold of Rin's hand and started walking. She led her surprised friend through the mall until they reached the store she wanted. They stopped right out front of a clothing store.
"You're sure about this?" Maki asked.
Rin nodded. "I'm sure. Let's go."
With that, they walked in. As they made their way through, Maki felt Rin tighten her grip on Maki's hand slightly.
"Don't worry Rin, everyone else is busy right? No one will see."
Soon enough, they reached the section Maki wanted. She went around looking, picking out a few things and handing them to Rin to hold. The entire time, their hands never separated.
Yesterday, while they were talking at the park, Maki found out that Rin was still a little insecure about her femininity. Even though the fashion event helped, Rin was still a little bit hesitant. So, Maki decided to take Rin to the mall today and try on outfits.
Rin was excited by the idea yesterday. But the way her hand felt, Maki could tell she was a bit nervous still. She picked up one last dress and then led Rin to the dressing rooms. She gave a few encouraging words before finally letting go of Rin's hand so she could go in to change.
Maki waited for a couple of minutes, just looking around. She heard Rin step out and turned back to look. The first outfit Rin chose was a yellow top with orange flowers, and a pink skirt. Rin herself had an adorable little blush on her face.
"W-well?"
"Great choice," Maki said, smiling. She brought her phone up with one hand and snapped a picture.
"M-Maki-chan?!" Rin asked in surprise.
"Relax. They're just so you can see how you look."
"Oh.. alright.." Rin took a breath to calm herself down again.
"Now go, you've got a few more to try."
With that, Rin went back and forth as she tried on the other outfits Maki picked out. Of the others, one Maki particularly liked on Rin. It was a white dress, but had many red ribbons. Rin even wore the hair band with a ribbon on it.
"So, how are you feeling so far. Is it getting any easier?" Maki asked.
"A little.." Rin said. "Are you sure I look okay in these?"
"Yes, you're very cute in these outfits. See?" Maki held the phone to Rin.
Rin blushed slightly as she looked at the phone. Though, she wasn't interested in her pictures at the moment.
"Well, you got one more dress to try on."
"Yeah. Be right back!"
Rin left for the dressing room again. As she waited, Maki looked through the pictures again. Maybe she wouldn't say so, but she was a little upset that they were almost done here.
Maki sighed. "At least I have the pictures..."
"What did you say?"
"Wha-?" Maki looked up in surprise. "Nothing! Nothing..."
Maki stared, completely forgetting the surprise she just felt. The last dress Rin tried on was an elegant red dress with black lace ends. To match the dress, she was wearing red gloves, choker, hat, and hair ribbon.
"Maki-chan? Are you okay?"
"Y-yeah.." She tried to compose herself and took another picture.
"Well? What do you think?"
"It's... amazing..."
"Y-you think so?" Rin was starting to blush again. She did a little twirl, if only so Maki couldn't see her face.
"Yeah..."
Silence passed between them, neither knew what to do or say. Eventually, Maki broke the silence.
"H-how about you change back into your regular clothes? We can go have lunch after."
"R-right.. But Maki-chan? Is it alright if we buy some of these?"
"Sure.. whatever you want."
"Thanks.."
Rin quickly retreated back into the dressing room to change. Maki was left where she was standing. She looked at her phone again, at the picture she just took, until Rin had finished changing. Once Rin had reemerged, Maki had quickly put her phone away. Together they walked to the front to pay for a few of the clothes, and left the store. Maki walked slightly ahead as she led them to a cafe.
From the store until they got to the cafe, neither of them had said anything. Compared to earlier, it was completely quiet between them. Eventually, they both got quite uncomfortable with the silence as they sat at a table in the cafe waiting for their orders.
"M-Maki-chan?" Rin started.
"Yes..?"
"Thanks for taking me here today."
"Ah.. No problem.."
Another few moments of silence.
"Did.. today help at all?" Maki asked.
"Yeah.. I think it helped with a lot of things."
"Hm? What do yo-"
Before Maki could ask, their orders had come. They had both ordered what Maki got, since Rin wasn't used to eating at cafes. They started on their food before Rin started a conversation again.
"Are you excited for tomorrow?" she asked.
"Oh right. There's a festival at the shrine Nozomi helps out at, right?"
"Yeah! I can't wait to go with everyone!"
"Yeah.."
"Are you not excited, Maki-chan?"
"It's not that.. it's just... ah nevermind."
Rin gave Maki a confused look, but she didn't try asking anymore. They continued eating in silence for a few minutes.
"Maybe... tomorrow does sound kind of fun," Maki finally admitted.
Rin smiled. "Right? I hope there will be fireworks. That'll make things perfect."
"Why's that?"
Rin put a finger to her lips. "Secret."
Muse had agreed to meet in front of the school the night of the festival. Nozomi wouldn't meet them, as she was helping with the shrine, so it was just the other eight members. Once they were all met up at school, they walked together to the shrine.
"Ah, look at everything!" Honoka said as they reached the shrine.
"Yeah, they did a nice job as always," Eri said as she looked around.
"Everything looks so fun!" Rin said. "What should we go to first?"
"Actually," Nico said. "There's something Hanayo and I were going to check out by ourselves."
The other six turned to look at Nico, then to Hanayo.
"Y-yeah," Hanayo said quietly. "We think it will help us for the competition."
"Well, why don't we all go then?" Maki suggested.
"N-no there's no need," Nico declined very quickly. "It'll be better if we went ourselves. We'll catch up later."
Before anyone could say anything else, Nico and Hanayo both quickly walked off. Just before they disappeared out of sight, Maki could have sworn she saw Nico grab hold of Hanayo's hand.
"What was that all about?" Eri asked
"No idea.." Honoka said.
"Uhm, if it's alright... there's some place Umi-chan and I want to see ourselves," Kotori said a little awkwardly.
"K-kotori-chan?" Umi was surprised to hear that herself.
"Eh? You two are leaving also?" Honoka asked.
Kotori nodded. "If that's okay."
"But-"
Eri quickly covered Honoka's mouth, "That's fine. We can all meet up later, right?" she asked Rin and Maki.
Maki turned to Rin for her answer. She was expecting Rin to be a little upset, but instead Rin gave a quick answer.
"That's fine with me. I have somewhere I want to see, anyway."
"Thanks everyone." Kotori smiled, then grabbed Umi's hand and led her away.
Eri waited a little until Umi and Kotori were gone before she let go of Honoka.
"That was mean.." Honoka said, pouting.
"Sorry Honoka." Eri smiled sweetly. Then turned to Rin and Maki. "Do you two mind if we leave you alone until later?"
"It's fine with me," Rin answered first, then turned to Maki.
"I don't mind, go ahead."
"Thanks. Come on Honoka, let's go find Nozomi."
With Eri and Honoka now leaving, that just left Rin and Maki. Maki looked over to Rin.
"Well, should we have some fun?" Maki asked
Rin smiled. "Mhm!"
Rin led Maki and together they wandered around the shrine, visiting the different stalls and trying out different food. A little to their surprise, they didn't actually run into any of the other members of Muse during their time alone.
After some time, Rin pulled Maki away from the shrine. They started walking on a forest path that Nozomi had shown them during one of their exercise runs. It lead to a little clearing up top where they could look back at the shrine and see the rest of the town.
The walk had been quiet between them, but soon enough they had reached the end. They looked down at the shrine, seeing the festival activities still going on. Though they could hear the sounds from below, it was still quiet between them. At least until Rin finally spoke.
"Maki-chan."
"Yes?"
"I'm really glad that I got to be alone with you all night."
"..Rin?" Hearing that from Rin surprised Maki.
"You know, Kayo-chin and Nico-chan were planning to be alone all along."
"What do you mean?"
Rin looked out to the shrine, as if looking for her best friend. "They're together, you know."
"T-together?"
"Mhm.. Kayo-chin told me the other day. It sort of happened since they were working together a lot the last few weeks."
"I... suppose that makes sense. Are you okay with this, though?"
"Yeah.. Actually, when she told me about her and Nico-chan, it made me realize something myself."
"Oh? And what would that be?"
"Well, I did feel a bit lonely before. But then, we got to spend time together. Even if it felt like I was dragging you around, you still agreed to come. You even took me shopping! And it was a lot of fun."
Rin looked away from the shrine, and turned to face Maki.
" You know, I don't have a problem with my femininity anymore. And I wasn't nervous about going shopping yesterday. I was actually really excited."
Maki gave a confused look. "What?"
"I was excited that I was going to be able to try on outfits, only for you to see. It's also why I was happy we were alone tonight. Because, I like being alone with you. It feels different than with Kayo-chin. But.. It was a good kind of different. I really like it. And after hearing Kayo-chin tell me about Nico-chan, it made me realize that, it's because I like you Maki-chan. No, it's because I love you. I'm happy spending time with you because I love you."
"Rin..."
Rin's confession caught Maki off guard. Though, it made her start thinking about what's happened recently. It made sense now that she heard it. And Maki had been feeling different herself throughout her time with Rin. She wasn't sure why before, but now she knew.
Maki slowly walked up to RIn, and wrapped her arms her in a tight hug. Rin was surprised at first, but she hugged Maki back.
"You know.." Maki said. "I've been feeling a lot of strange things recently, and I couldn't figure out what they were at all."
She loosened her hug so she could look at Rin. "I have you to thank for that. Because of you, I had more fun this week than I'm used to. Because of you, I got to enjoy life like a normal girl, without any pressure from my family."
Maki smiled. "Because of you, I think I know now what it's like to be in love."
"Maki-chan..."
Just then, there was a loud sound and flashes of light. They both looked back toward the shrine. There were fireworks being launched. The two stood there in each other's arms as they watched the fireworks.
"Rin." Maki said after a few minutes.
"Yes?" Rin looked back to Maki
"I may be inexperienced in these things, but..." She turned back to face Rin. "If you would have me, I would love to go out with you."
Rin smiled. "I told you that I love you, didn't I?"
Maki closed her eyes, leaned in, and they shared a kiss as another firework went off. They stayed together for a few moments, letting the kiss last. Eventually their lips parted.
"I don't know very much about these things either," Rin confessed. "But I'll do my best for you."
Maki smiled. "I'd love that very much."
As they fireworks were coming to an end, they shared another kiss with each other. Unknown to them, the other seven members of Muse were also sharing moments with each other.
Some secrets were never meant to be kept between Muse. Only a few days after that night, it got out that everyone had special moments at the festival, and now Muse was made up of three couples, and a trio of lovers.
Muse's day of break from club activities was even more anticipated now, as everyone got to spend quality time with their partners. For today, Rin and Maki decided to revisit a certain playground.
"And.. done."
Rin stood back up to admire her handiwork. Maki walked to Rin's side to join her.
"I think it's lovely."
After hearing what the message said, Maki had suggested that Rin carve the message onto the tree again. Rin didn't really mind, so today she came here with Maki.
"Thanks. Come on, let's go."
They turned around and walked out of the park, hand in hand. Even if she didn't come back, she would always remember what was said on that tree.
"We will be best friends forever, even if we aren't together."
-Koizumi Hanayo -Hoshizora Rin
Hey guys, nobodD here!
Thanks for reading. I hope you liked this story! Let me know your thoughts, please :D
This pairing was requested by a friend of mine, as well as Arrahal92. But this is quite late. I was working on this for almost two weeks now. It's changed quite a lot, but I finally got something down that I'm okay with x.x
I have a handful of requests that I'll be slowly working on, in addition to my newest story "True Feelings." Hope you stick around for some of those.
OT: Season 2 of the anime has been soo amazing. And pretty emotional. I can't believe it's ending this week. :X The last few eps were exceptionally cute and emotional and I luvv it soo much :') Okay, I'm done fanboying for now X3
That's it from me. See you around~