Chapter 1: She Will Not Know
"Nozomi, are you ready?" Eli's voice called in a delighted tone, grabbing the last bit of paperwork and placing them into her bag.
Nozomi gathered the last few of her tarot cards in her hands. "I'm ready now, Elicchi." The violet haired girl walked over to the blonde's side with a soft smile.
Elicchi looked directly into Nozomi's teal/green eyes. To her surprise she didn't see the happy light she usually saw. Nozomi's eyes seemed more distant and lonelier than usual. Eli looked at her friend concerned. "Is everything alright Nozomi?"
"Huh? Everything is fine, Elicchi. Why would you ask?" Nozomi pushed all her feelings to the pit of her stomach to not reveal anything.
Eli smiled and shrugged her shoulder. "I thought I would just ask." She glanced down at the cards in Nozomi's hand. "What did the cards tell you today?"
Nozomi followed Eli's eyes down to her hands. Nozomi grinned back at Eli. "They said Elicchi will be wearing a sexy dress very soon."
Eli's face grew red and flustered. "Eh? N-No-Nozomi?"
Nozomi leaned closer to Eli's ear and whispered. "I'm just kidding. Today is a secret." Nozomi giggled running past Eli and out of the Student Council Office.
Eli stood there frozen trying to recall all Nozomi just told her until she realized. "N-Nozomi!" Eli sprinted out the room, chasing her giggling friend's echo.
Eli raced through the hall finally catching up to Nozomi who was waiting for her by the lockers. "Geez Nozomi. You can't just tease me and run away like that."
Nozomi giggled putting her cards away into her bag. She tilted her head to the side. "Oh? I can't do that?" Nozomi gave the out of breath Eli an innocent look. "Does that mean Elicchi wants to punish me now?"
Eli's face turned red as a tomato. "What?! N-Nozomi!"
"Hai, hai, Gomen. Elicchi~ " Nozomi laughed walking over to her designated locker besides Eli. The two girl changed from their school shoes, closing the lockers behind them.
The way Nozomi said her name at that moment made Eli's heart pound in an uneven pace. Her lips planted on her face with a huge smile.
They walked quietly exchanging glances on occasion. Nozomi kept a smile on her face as they approached the corner where they will take their leave separately as usual. Eli was the first to stop at the corner followed by Nozomi.
"I'll see you at school tomorrow. Good night Nozomi." Eli gave her friend another look before turning her back to her.
"Goodbye Elicchi." Nozomi waved in her usual manner. She noticed for the first time ever Eli stopped to look back at her.
Once Eli was far enough away Nozomi made her journey home. "Goodbye Elicchi~" she whispered to herself gazing up at the night sky.
"Good morning, Eli-chan!" The group of idol girls shouted in unison from the top of the shrine stairs. Eli smiled and waved back at the seven girls. Eli placed her belongings in her usual spot.
"Okay now that we are all here we can begin morning practice." Umi began pulling out her stop watch from her pocket.
"Hold on. What about Nozomi? She's not here yet." Eli interrupt, taking her place beside Umi to check which girl made it up faster.
Kotori looked over at Eli. "Nozomi called late last night saying she wasn't going to come to practice today. I guess she had things to attend to this morning."
Eli exchanged confused looks with different members of the group. "Hmm...she didn't say anything to me yesterday. Well then let's begin practice."
"Practice nya~" Rin cheered racing her way down the stairs.
After practice the girls went their separate ways to their classes so they weren't late. Eli reached her classroom with two minutes to spare. She approached her assigned desk and glanced at the desk behind her which is usually occupied with Nozomi but today it was empty. "I wonder if she's alright..." Eli quickly took her seat when the teacher began class. Through the day Eli found herself constantly thinking about Nozomi. She never had a day where Nozomi wasn't with her and this day made Eli feel terrible but why? 'Elicchi~' Eli looked frantically around the classroom for the voice of her friend but there was nothing there of Nozomi's presence.
The bell rang bring Eli back from her distraction. "It's lunch already?" She grabbed her belongings and her lunch. She went outside to meet with the others who were already at their usual table. "Hey everyone." Eli smiled taking her seat.
"Nozomi didn't come to school today nya?" Rin looked over at Eli, taking a bite of her apple.
"No, I wonder if she's okay." Eli opened her bag taking out her bag. "I'm sure she is though since she never missed school before."
"I texted her earlier and she said she was fine but it's not like her to miss school." Umi responded taking out her phone.
Eli sat up taking her phone out of her school bag. "I don't know why I didn't think of that." Looking down at her phone searching for Nozomi's name. She paused for a moment to admire the cute contact photo she had of Nozomi remembering the day she captured that photo. Eli sent a message to Nozomi 'Nozomi are you alright? Is it okay for me to come visit you after school?'.
"Yeah!" Nico responded looking at her phone receiving a message from Nozomi. "I'm going to miss practice today. I'm going to give Nozomi-chan the school work she missed for today."
"Huh?" Eli looked back at her empty message box on her phone. 'Why would she ask Nico and not me?' She thought to herself.
Everyone looked at Eli then back at Nico. "Since when did you two become good friends?" Maki teased out of her comfort zone since Nozomi was not there to do it herself.
"Shut up!" Nico shouted with a sandwich hanging down her mouth. "I don't know she just asked me for it. She should have asked Eli-chan since they are in the same classroom but whatever. Everyone wants help from the best idol in the world Nico!"
Umi watched Eli from a distance not engaging herself in conversation with the others. She noticed a look she's only seen a few times before when Umi and her friends were fighting to become an idol group. Eli stayed this way for most of the lunch period, staring down at her phone. Everyone gathered their belongings with lunch almost coming to an end. The girls raced to their next class together but Umi decided to stay behind with Eli who was walking slowly to class. "Hey are you okay, Eli-chan?"
"Huh? Yes I'm fine. Why would you ask?" Eli didn't make any eye contact with Umi, she just stared off into the distance.
"Are you and Nozomi alright? You kept looking at your phone all day in lunch." Umi placed a hand on Eli's shoulder to stop her from continuing her walk to class.
"Nozomi and I have never had a fight and I don't think we would ever fight. I think we're fine maybe she just didn't get my message." Eli kindly jerked her shoulder away from Umi's grip. "Thank you for walking with me Umi-chan. I'll see you at after school practice." Eli left Umi behind walking into her classroom.
Eli sat back down in her seat and looked back at the empty desk behind her and smiled. "There's nothing wrong. She would tell me if there was." She flipped her phone open to check her messages again before class but it was all still the same. "Blank."