"Honestly, Honoka, I can't believe that you would get so caught up with your bread that you'd come late to practice! So late that you almost missed it all!"
Honoka rolled her eyes, not entirely listening as her best friend and fellow school idol Umi continued to chew her ear off. She did this rather often, but today it just wasn't something that the other girl wanted to deal with today. She hadn't meant to be late at all. It had been completely out of her control, all because the vending machine wouldn't work and give her the bread she'd been trying to buy in the first place. The two of them walked out of the school gates, and even then, Umi continued to strut only a few steps behind the second-year, chastising her in between every breath. Honoka winced.
"Honestly, Honoka, I...I'm not trying to be mean, I swear, but I need to know why you keep doing these things! You were the one who started this whole thing to begin with! Don't you want to be a school idol? Don't you WANT to save the school?"
Honoka sighed heavily. "I'm sorry, Umi."
"Please, Honoka, I just wish I could understand you better, but...it's so hard..."
Honoka and Umi sat down together at one of the benches they came across. They didn't say anything to one another for a few moments. Honoka couldn't bring herself to look over at the cerulean-haired girl, she was genuinely upset with her for once. With absolutely no tact for understanding the atmosphere, Umi immediately launched into another tirade of complaints. It was very clear that her frustration with Honoka had reached a boiling point, likely building up over time during the past week or so. Honoka could have apologized over and over to try and make things right between them again, but she didn't think it would do any good, not until Umi finally spoken every single word she wanted to say.
"Honoka, I know you're capable of putting your mind to things when you want to, you've proven that...but...but you need to be able to focus on things that are actually important too! Not just the things YOU want to do!"
Honoka tried to come up with some possible way to calm Umi down. She thought back to her fellow muses, and how they helped one another in times of stress or frustration. She knew that Nozomi liked to 'washi washi' whenever someone was getting rowdy, but Honoka didn't exactly have the sort of bravado required to go and grope one of her best friends in broad daylight, without warning, like that. Nico's little 'Nico Nico Nii' idol show hardly did anything either. She remembered seeing what Rin did to cheer Hanayo up when she'd started to cry over scraping her knee. While Kotori ran off to fetch a first-aid kit, Rin had done something rather unexpected, but it had managed to put a smile on Hanayo's face, at least long enough for Kotori to return again. Honoka wondered if it would work here.
"Honoka, are you listening to me-"
Honoka reached over and grabbed Umi's uniform, pulling it and the undershirt both up high enough to reveal the other girl's bare, flat stomach.
"Eh...?" Umi's face went instantly pale.
Puckering her lips together, Honoka leaned down and pressed the whole of her face against Umi's belly.
"Honoka, what are you argharghglkhf!" Umi completely lost the ability to even form words upon feeling Honoka's cold mouth on her dry skin.
Honoka blew a wet, long and loud raspberry into the bluenette's belly-button. Umi sat there, speechless, as the girl pulled away and straightened herself again.
"So, how was that, Umi? Funny, huh?" Honoka asked her.
Umi stared at Honoka with wide, dinner plate-sized eyes. She was completely still for about three seconds. Then, she broke out into a violent trembling fit, as the heat building up in her face steadily began to move across her cheeks and over her ears. She still couldn't bring herself to so much as move her mouth, still hanging agape, to form a single letter. Tears were building in large bulbs on the corners of her eyes. Then, Umi started to hyperventilate. She grabbed hold of her knees and squeezed them so tightly, her fingernails were digging into the skin. Still, she said nothing, and her head was glowing a brighter shade of red than Maki's own luxurious crimson locks.
Honoka grimaced; she'd gotten Umi to stop gabbing, but this was definitely not the reaction she was hoping to get from her.
In hindsight, Honoka had realized that it was probably a bad idea to blow a raspberry on someone's belly if you weren't dating them, and Rin and Hanayo had been a couple for over a month if not longer already. Honoka and Umi weren't dating. In fact, Umi was dating Kotori. That night, Honoka had BOTH of her best friends very upset with her.