A/N:

About my other Love Live fanfic "The Past's Sorrow Catching up", I...decided to drop it.

...

JUST KIDDING

Of course I still continue it, it's just that I am really, really slow andIloveprocrastinating-I mean, ahem, so please be patient about that one. I am very easily distracted kinda writer _(:3

Every step I walk, curses after curses escaped my small lips. My eyebrows were knitted together, and I was gritting my teeth. I scratched my head, feeling my messy black hair on my fingertips. Realizing how different it felt than usual, I cursed again. My crimson eyes felt hot, I could feel it began to water, I blinked a couple of time so none fell out from it.

At that moment I felt like the entire universe were laughing at me. Your jokes were not funny, universe.

The first joke that the universe threw at me was the fact that I almost couldn't get into college due to financial problem, and now I'm stranded somewhere far from the rest of µ's to get into a really cheap college. At first they were able to visit me, and vice versa, but later on, we found ourselves too busy with college stuffs. I could no longer visit them, and they could no longer visit me because of how far away I live now. We didn't lose contact, but it has been six months since the last time we really hang out.

The second joke was when I tried to auditioned again, I wanted to be able to really reach my dream to become the world's number one idol. At first, I noted that the judges favored me due to my reputation as a µ's member. But at the next day, when they announced who passed, they spoke of a name that was foreign to my ear-means that it was not mine-and when I saw that girl came up front, I was shocked. I've never seen her at all! I've never even saw her at the audition!

Then I heard whispers and rumors, it turned out that the girl was someone seriously rich and her parents had...a certain influence in the showbiz world.

I lost to a random girl.

The third joke, my apartment was pretty small, but it was very comfy, bright, and the sun was able to touch most corners of my room, making it felt fresh everyday. BUT, I have the worst neighbor, ever.

No, it was not that they were mean or anything, I just hope that they could turn it down a little bit at night. I mean, every single night? So loud? How was I supposed to sleep? Worse, the couple next door was two girls, two, girls.

What seriously bad was the fact that I wasn't straight. So there wasn't one, but a couple of reasons why I wasn't able to sleep. Not cool Nico, not cool.

Fourth joke was that, I realized that I wasn't straight, in fact, I was head over heels towards a certain scarlet princess, my own friend of µ's, Nishikino Maki. I realized it when it was way too late. Now I couldn't even meet her. I realized how much I was a sucker for her sarcastic voice and frowning expression right when we were all too busy to meet each other.

Worse, Maki was perfect, and I was the exact opposite of her. Heck, maybe she was already taken at the moment with some random perfect, handsome, and rich guy.

Fifth joke, my hair.

I stopped on my track and stared at a store window to look at my own reflection. My eyes twitched when it caught my hideous hair. It was short, and messy, just like guy's. My bangs fell messily upon my face, and many strands of my hair were dancing along with the wind because there was nothing to constraint them anymore.

I definitely looked like a dude in a skirt.

My cute appearances turned into an abomination, thanks to the damn hairstylist that slipped when she was cutting my hair. I asked for a trim, not a whole cut that was so short that I couldn't even tied my hair anymore.

Well at least she apologized and asked me not to pay them a cent because of this mistake. It might be free, but still.

Now what should I do with my appearances? I definitely won't be able to wear my cute clothes for awhile, it won't match my hair at all.

While I was grumbling to myself, my eyes caught a sign in that same store. It said '70% off'. I snapped my head up to stare at the store's name. When I realized that it was men clothes' store, I had the weirdest idea.

...Better than looking like a dude in a skirt.

I took out my wallet to check if I had enough money, and luckily, I have, thanks to the free hair cutting.

"Until my hair grows back." I whispered to myself before I ran into the store, unable to see myself in a hideous appearances any longer.

"I wonder...if this looks good." I looked down, to see myself in a guy's clothes-this made me twitched-and stared at the couple of bags in my hands that were filled with guy's clothes.

I hate myself now.

Seriously, why did something like this could happen to the number one idol Yazawa Nico!? I no longer look cute like I always was, and I'm no longer able to become the cute idol Nico for a while. Again I cursed under my breath, hating the entire universe for throwing many sick jokes at me.

My hair might take one whole year to grow back to the way it used to be, one whole freaking year.

I couldn't even face my friends with this look, no, not ever, they mustn't see. Especially Maki, I couldn't let her see me like this. But then, a whole year? I haven't been able to see everyone in six months, but now I have to hide for a year?

I didn't know if my heart could take it or not, I really missed that fiery haired girl.

I felt myself tearing up, but I try to held it in because I didn't want to cry in public, it would be embarrassing and I didn't want my image to be ruined. Though I guess it was already ruined the moment I had this hair.

I brought my feet as fast as I could, towards my apartment that was pretty close by.

When I got there, I immediately lock the door behind me. I sighed in relief when I thought that I was finally safe, safe from the stares of people. Maybe it was just me being paranoid, but on my way home, I felt many stares bore into me.

I threw the bags of clothes on the table and I made a beeline towards my bedroom and let my body fall freely on my bed. I felt so tired, emotionally and physically. Before I went to the salon, I was working part-time as a clerk in a convenient store, it didn't make much, but enough for some pocket money, plus I still got money from µ's CDs and DVDs.

We still make a couple of songs when we meet up, but we rarely did any live performance anymore. We still did PVs though, so people could still see us dance, through a monitor.

But since it was getting harder and harder for the nine of us to be together at the same time, we sort of split into our sub units, since it was easier to manage. But it didn't mean µ's split up, µ's still exist, but our sub units became our priority at the moment, until we weren't as busy.

But now even my sub unit might won't be able to do anything for a while. Since I decided to be missing for a year, thanks to my hair.

I buried my face to my soft pillow, and grumbled into it, feeling very depressed and lost. But my negative thoughts came to a halt when I felt my phone buzzed in my pocket. Lazily, I took it out of my pocket and brought it to my ear without looking at the caller's ID.

"Nico-chan."

I shook and sat up straight on my bed when I heard that familiar melodic voice. My lips trembled and I felt my face burning up.

"M-Maki-chan...? It's late you know!" I spoke with my usual tone, trying to hide the overwhelming excitement that I was feeling. I kept pinching myself so that I would stay calm and my feelings wouldn't show in my voice.

"W-Well I've been calling you for a couple of times already but you didn't pick it up!"

"I was at work, duh!"

She was silent for a couple of seconds before she spoke again, "...W-Whatever, anyways, are you free tomorrow?"

I raised an eyebrow, "What?"

"I mean...do you have any work tomorrow?"

"Uhm...no, I don't have a shift tomorrow, why-" I heard a beep, signifying that the other person had hang up the phone call, my eyebrows twitched in response.

"...What the hell?"

Feeling too tired to think anymore, I just sighed and threw my phone on the bed and laid down flat on the mattress. I closed my eyes and let the darkness engulfed me, taking me to a ride towards my dreamland.

Seconds before my consciousness fade completely, I heard a very familiar noises from my neighbor, fortunately I was too tired to care.

My hand slapped the button of my alarm clock. I groaned in annoyance and sat up on my bed slowly. With half-lidded eyes I glanced at the clock, I clicked my tongue when I realized that it was time to get up and get ready for class.

I stood up, then walked to my bathroom with a heavy, and tired footsteps. Inside the bathroom, I went to the sink and washed my face. Without even looking I grabbed the small towel next to me. I dried my face, then stared at my reflection in the mirror.

High-pitched voice escaped me.

That was when everything came back to me, what happened yesterday, and why I was wearing male clothing at that moment. And it finally dawned upon me that I had class, and I had to go to campus looking like this.

"M...My idol life..." I muttered under my breath, then I took off my clothes and took a shower in defeat, realizing that I had no choice.

Afterward, still clad in a towel and was holding my underwear in hand, I walked towards the living room, to the table where I put the bags of clothes that I bought yesterday.

Hesitantly, I took out a set of clothes, squinting my eyes at the unfamiliar style. I took out another set and tried to find a good style for me. Even though I didn't like wearing men's clothing, but I had to look the best in appearance, gotta go all the way so that I would still look good with this hideous hair of mine.

But of course, I didn't want to look over the top manly. So I decided to wear pink polo t-shirt, black-men's-long sleeved cardigan, and dark grey jeans. Afterward, I rummaged through the bag to find a black rimmed fake glasses, I intended to wear this so that nobody could recognize me, I'd rather be killed than be caught with this look.

"I hope everything will turn out okay..." I muttered under my breath as I frowned.

Something was weird.

Really weird.

I gulped and glanced around anxiously. It definitely wasn't just my feelings, these female students around me were definitely staring hard at me. I hung my head low, as if doing that would make me become incognito.

I was already famous before due to my identity as an idol, but before it was the male students who always stared at me, male, now it's the female. Did I look weird? Was my style weird? I had no idea at all.

I kept staring back and forth between the hallway in front of me and myself, still trying to figure out why the girls were staring hard at me.

When I entered the class, I felt many stares bore into me. I kept my head low and just took a sit somewhere in the corner, far from everyone else to avoid them. I was getting really uneasy, and I couldn't help but kept cursing under my breath, blaming the hairstylist from yesterday. Thanks to her, My messed up life became even more messed up.

But then not long after, I finally found out why the girls were staring. When I sat in a corner, all alone, I realized that many girls changed their seat, closer to mine, and they kept staring. And now that I could see their expression from up close, I shuddered.

Dreamy looks?

Something clicked in my mind, was this the charm of crossdressing?

I knew that there are many idols out there that sometimes crossdress just to flip the fangirls. I got to admit that there was this odd charm to them when they crossdress, because it was an unusual look, plus, most of the time it actually matched their looks.

I also heard of a certain female idol group, that wasn't selling, despite filled with gravure idols. But when they changed their concept into crossdressing female idol group, their fans multiplied, and now they had become famous. Something danjuku, I forgot their group's name.

So crossdressing really had this overwhelming charm in real life.

I smirked a little.

Not bad.

When all the class had ended, depression sunk in once again. I love the stares, I love the attention, but I realized that nobody even suspect who I was. They really thought that I was a new student who turned out to be pretty handsome.

Nobody saw me as Yazawa Nico.

It was what I wanted, but it kinda hurt to know that nobody was close enough to me to be able to recognize me, it made me realized how alone I was. But at least they didn't know that the cute Yazawa Nico became...this.

I couldn't let anything ruin my cute image, hence, I should kept this up and kept hiding.

Oh god, but what to do with my group?

"Aaarrgh I don't know!" I screamed in frustration to basically no one. Thankfully, no one was left in the classroom to see me getting frustrated.

I stood up from my seat, and walked out of the class with a dark expression. I only wanted to just go home, rest, forget about everything for awhile, hoped for the best and I bet everything will turned out to be okay.

When I arrived at the campus' gate, I felt my phone vibrating in my pocket, I took it out and stared at the caller's ID.

Maki.

With my heart started beating fast and face flushed, I pick it up without hesitation, wanting to hear her voice again so badly. I just wanted to hear her clear, melodic voice so that I could actually calm down and washed away every stress I bear.

"Nico-chan, where are you?"

...Wait, that was odd, why was her voice sounded like she was really next to me? Am I starting to imagining things because of my desperation towards her?

"Nico-chan? I'm at the gate of your campus."

What?

I turned my head very slowly to the side, and then bam, there was this very beautiful red headed girl standing with her phone on her ear. My mouth fell slightly and I stared in disbelief, then I hang up the phone unconsciously, still staring like an idiot.

"What the hell? Why did she hang up?" I heard her muttered with her usual irritated expression. She glared at her phone hardly, as if wanting to send her irritation through the phone and on to me, it kinda worked, in a way.

Crap, crap what do I do? I can't let her see me like this!

When I felt my phone vibrating again, I turned it into silent mode in panic, then put in in my pocket. I felt like running away from my position so she wouldn't see me, but I haven't see her in a long time, I missed her, I wanted to talk to her, but I know I couldn't! Mustn't!

I looked hideous, I seriously didn't want to meet her looking like this.

And then I saw Maki turned her head at me, crap! Should I run?

My heart was ready to bolt anytime, but my body wasn't, it couldn't move, I just stood there frozen in place. My body just wasn't ready for this kinda surprise, mixed feelings were overwhelming me.

"Uhm...excuse me." I heard her spoke to me.

Great now I couldn't run, I just had to accept my fate.

"Uhm...do you know Yazawa Nico?" She asked shyly.

See, I'm fuc-wait, she didn't recognize me?

I watched Maki tilted her head in question, waiting for my respond. She really didn't recognize me, should I be sad or happy?

I cleared my throat, "Y-Yeah, I know her." I spoke while lowering my voice, hopefully she still didn't realize it was me.

"Great! Do you happen to see her today? Oh by the way, my name is Maki, Nishikino Maki, her friend."

"I know who you are," I mentally slapped myself for slipping that out, "I-I mean I'm a f-fan of µ's! Yeah!" I said whatever I had in mind.

"Ueeh? N-Nice to meet you, uhm...?"

"Nico-uhh...Nikolas!" I was ready to stab myself for being an idiot, "M-My name is...Nikolas!"

She widen her eyes, looking amused for a second. "I see...so Nikolas-san, have you seen Nico-chan today?"

I averted my eyes, "Y-yeah, I saw her, she looked very, very busy, probably working on an assignment?" I lied through my teeth, making up my own situation. I could feel my heart rate started climbing fast.

Maki glanced at the campus, then she frowned and mumbling something under her breath, she looked like she was thinking of something. Then she stared at her watch and sighed, her face showed a disappointment. I wondered why she looked disappointed.

"Well, I guess I should try to wait for her, uhm, Nikolas-san, do you know any cafe close by?"

"Huh? Oh, uhh, yeah of course."

"Uhm...could you show me the way? I am very unfamiliar with this neighborhood."

I was agape, but then I shook my head and just followed the nice flow we had, I must kept this Nikolas mask of mine. Mission "Nikolas the closet number one idol" starts, now! I must go through this flawlessly like the usual amazing number one idol, Yazawa Nico! I just had to put up an Oscar worthy act, piece of cake.

"Sure, Nishikino-san."

I was surprised though, I remember that Maki used to be bad with strangers and tend to shut herself away from others, but now she acted...normal, I guess? She was pretty good around strangers, despite looking so shy. And it made her looked cuter, dammit.

She fell silent when I was leading her to this cafe that was very close to my campus, I noted that she took a couple step back, away from me. Probably because I announced that I was a fan of µ's, and so she made a gap between us as we walked.

After a couple of minutes walking, we finally arrived at a cafe. When she was about to enter, I stopped her.

"Uhm...Nishikino-san, is...is it okay to wait for Yazawa-san together with you? I...I have to give her note back." That sounded like a lame excuse, but I just had to make up an excuse so that I could stay with her for awhile longer, I wanted to spend more time with Maki.

"U-Ueeh? S-Sure...?" She stared at me cautiously, she probably think I was weird. I laughed nervously. At least she didn't say no I could still stay to stare at every corner of her figure and appreciate the perfect beauty she had.

Then we sat at a table, she was sitting in front of me. Right after we sat down, we ordered some drinks, and then she took out her cellphone and tapped her fingers on its screen. Not long after I felt my cellphone buzzed, I deduced that she was messaging me, probably telling me where she was at.

After that, she put her cellphone back in her pocket, sighing.

My eyes locked on to her face, scanning it ever so carefully to get every inch and corner of it burned in my memory. She looked beautiful, as always. Her skin looked very soft, her lips looked plump and very kissable, oh how much I wanted to kiss that adorable lips of hers.

No, Nico, hold your horses.

I decided to avert my gaze, not wanting to get my mind dirtier because of Maki's perfect looks.

Perfect, huh?

Yeah, she was perfect, way too perfect for someone like me. She was way out of my league, and on top of it all she was a girl. There was a slim chance for someone as perfect as her to be gay, right? She could have any man she wanted with a flick of her finger, I didn't have a chance with her.

Maybe it was best to keep things this way, just friends, colleague. It was better than trying, but then lost her completely instead. I wanted to be by her side, I didn't want to lose her, I wanted to be able to keep stealing glances at her without any problem.

I frowned, I'm starting to think negatively towards this matter again. Then, I watched the waiter put the drinks we ordered on the table, I huffed and took a couple sips of my tea. I sighed in content when I could feel the warm sweet liquid lubricated my dry throat.

"Ni...Nikolas-san."

I flinched, almost spilling my tea when she suddenly called me. I put the cup of tea down and glanced at her in question. She looked like there was something she wanted to ask, but she looked hesitant.

"What's up?" I asked softly, not forgetting to lowered my voice, intending to make her chill a little more around me. Maki blinked her eyes a couple of times, her face soften. It seemed that she was starting to feel less tense.

She took a sip of her tea, "I've been wondering...your name sounded like foreigner, so...are you?"

"A-Ahh..." I started to panic, but I let my instinct to take over for me, "I'm quarter Russian! M-My grandma is Russian."

No, crap, what the hell did I just say. Bad instinct! I shouldn't have trusted you!

She raised an eyebrow, "Huh, you're just like Eli..."

Because that was where my inspiration came from for the crappy background story of Nikolas. I should've learn how to smooth talk so that I could lie better. God I wanted to bury myself six feet under because of all the stupidity I said.

Then she fell silent, I raised an eyebrow when she kept glancing at me up and down, she looked like she was curious about something. And then she grabbed her cellphone from her pocket, and again tapped her fingers a couple of time on it before I felt my cellphone buzzed in my pocket.

This time I took out my cellphone secretly so that she couldn't see what I was doing. With unfathomable skill I read the message she sent and wrote a short reply quickly. I sent her 'sry, really busy atm, contact me l8r' hoping that she'll stopped sending messages.

Unfortunately, she sent another.

'It's urgent, come here now!'

So I replied, 'I rly can't be disturbed!'

And then I heard a groan, I immediately put my phone back, glancing around at the cafe's simple yet soothing interior and pretend like I didn't do anything. I was so sneaky it was scary, I guess that's what you expect from me!

"That idiot..."

Ouch.

I glanced at her, "You...sounded like you don't like Yazawa-san...that much..." I asked lowly, starting to feel a little down because of her reaction just now.

Maki snapped her head at me, her eyes were wide, "W-What? No!"

This caught my attention, I raised an eyebrow and decided to ask further, "Oh so you like her a lot?" I gulped, anxious about what would her answer be, of course I was hoping something good.

Maki's cheeks reddened, she just looked away and twirled her hair. I widen my eyes at this. I never see Maki acted this way when my name was mentioned, usually she just acted 'meh' or something along the line.

"She...makes me feel frustrated, I guess." She mumbled lowly, her face kept getting redder and redder, and she sounded pretty shaky.

What...what just happened?

"So you like her." I intended to make that a question, but seeing her reaction pretty much gave away the answer. I could feel my cheeks also starting to feel hot, I didn't expect her to react that way.

She just scoffed, looked away and twirled her hair, her face was still red like an apple. She didn't answer but I wasn't an idiot, I didn't know how much she liked me or if she liked me that way, but this was enough to make me scream internally.

Maki likes me.

Maki likes me.

I might look calm outside, but inside I was like screaming as loud as I can atop a mountain. Maybe I had a chance after all, maybe I should really try, yeah, I should. She showed signs, good signs, that was enough to drive up my courage.

I felt the corners of my lips turned upward, feeling unbelievably happy.

But I wanted to know more, so I fished her for more answers, "Don't worry, I support you both!" Yes, try to act like some fans supporting a NicoMaki pair so I could know what kind of reaction she would give. This was where I will know whether I really should just try for her or just stay passive like usual.

Maki was taken aback, she stared at me with a really wide eyes. She was about to say something but she kept stuttering and kept opening and closing her mouth, she didn't look like she wanted to deny it at all.

"That's not...I...Wh...Whatever." She finally said, with a very shaky voice.

With my hand, I covered lips and tried hard not to let any weird sound or a blinding bright smile escaped. And I should calm my feet down because it had been shaking in excitement for awhile now.

My whole body felt like a rocket that was about to launch into the vast sea of love space. Aaand I'm starting to not make any sense, I seriously need to calm the heck down.

My eyes caught Maki bit her lower lips, her shoulders shaking. She was still trying to not be obvious about it, but Yazawa Nico is a genius and she knows all!

"Well, she's very cute, and many fans also like her, right?" I grinned, I couldn't hold back anymore. I was being evil, playing her like this, but I couldn't help it, her reaction was very cute. And I wanted to keep hearing how she felt about me.

Maki locked her eyes to the floor and again twirled a strand of her hair. She looked flustered and embarrassed, I knew she wanted to deny it so bad, but she just couldn't, maybe it kinda hit her in the bullseye.

I've decided that I will confront her after this, maybe not in person since I still look like this, but I could go forward without feeling afraid now. I felt like I was basked in bliss.

This made my day, this made me forget about all those sick jokes the universe threw at me. This time, I wanted to thank the universe for giving me the answer to my biggest question of all time; Maki's feelings.

Maki huffed then looked at her watch, she gasped a little and stood up abruptly.

"U-Uhm...Nikolas-san, I-I have to go now, I have other business to attend to." She put some money on the table and she looked a little panic. I felt sad to know she was about to go, I wanted to be with her more, I couldn't get enough of her.

Also, there was one thing that bugs me.

"A-Ah before that, Nishikino-san!" I cleared my throat, "Why...do you let me wait with you? I'm a random fan." Which could be potentially dangerous, I added in my mind. Since there were good fans, and also bad fans. I thought that I've had teach everyone of µ's about this. I was happy that she let me wait with her, but at the same time, it made me worried. What if it wasn't me? What if it was a real fan and a bad one?

"Well...you're her friend, a-and..." She glanced at me up and down, "You...really looked like Nico-chan, somehow, and it makes me...trust you I guess."

I blushed, so she kinda recognized me despite my looks. Well, she didn't really recognize me, but at least she knew that I sort of looked like...me. Oh what the hell was I thinking, my mind was a mess ever since I found out about her feelings.

"Nikolas-san...when you see her, tell her to contact me immediately!" And then she left the cafe in a rush, before she was out of sight, my eyes caught on how red her ears were.

My whole body was shaking, my blood was rushing, my mind was swirling.

"YEEEEESSSSS!" I stood up, shot both my arms high up in the air and screamed loudly.

I regretted it seconds later when I realized many eyes were on me because of the sudden loud voice. With an embarrassed face I immediately pay the bill and rush out of the cafe, to my apartment. I ran with a big smile on my face, I still couldn't believe I really had a chance with her.

Back at my apartment, I threw my shoes and my bag at a random direction and I started to dance and sing, feeling that happiness had overwhelmed my whole being. Despite all the bad lucks and failures, at least one thing worked out, and that one thing was one of the best thing in my life. Something that I thought was impossible and out of reach, something that I thought will gloom my life.

"Aishiteru banzaaaii~" I sang one of µ's song loudly, without a care that someone might heard me. The overwhelming happiness I felt created this massive flood of energy that made me wanted to dance and sing as much as I can, to vent it, otherwise I would keep feeling my body was about to blow into million pieces of bright stars.

But when I was still in the middle of my victory performance, I heard the doorbell rang. Still feeling overly happy, I skipped my way towards it and I didn't even try to think who might be at the door, maybe it was just the neighbor who was jealous of my overly awesome victory performance.

So with a really big smile on my lips, I opened the door.

"Surprise, Nico-wait, who are you?"

My face flattened at once when I saw a tall, blonde haired girl with a pair of sky blue gems which gave of a strong vibe, stood proudly in front of me with a confused face. It took me a couple of seconds to register who it was.

Eli?

I widen my eyes in shock and fear, then I glanced around to find more girls standing there, staring at me with a confused look, there were eight of them in total. These eight girls looked scarily familiar...with my group's members, well, because they were.

Oh no.

"Wait, I thought Nicocchi lives here."

"The sign definitely says Yazawa Nico nyaa."

"...Nikolas?"

All head turned to a shaky voice, finding a red headed girl staring at me with a really wide eye and she was pointing accusingly at me, she looked completely horrified. Don't say...did she thought I was...my own boyfriend?

This was going to be really messy.

Nope!

I quickly push the door to close it, but then I felt something was pushing it back, making me unable to close the door completely. I was shaking a lot, but I used every power I had to try to close the door. If I could run, I would, but I knew I had nowhere to run. Jumping out from the window was out of the question, because my apartment was at the second floor.

This was bad, everyone saw me, at my own home. Worse, I think Maki had a really bad misunderstanding, judging from her terrified, and feeling betrayed face just now. Pushing this door and closing it completely was my one and only objective, and I had to fulfill it no matter what.

"Nikolas-san...! What...are you doing here!?" I heard her asked with a groan, obviously sounded anxious and pretty angry, it seemed that she was the one who was pushing the door back.

"Help Maki-chan!" I heard that airheaded Honoka spoke, I paled at it. Oh please no! Honoka, why were you being so helpful now!

Soon enough, their push overpowering mine, and the door swung wide open, right onto my face, it made me yelped in pain. Due to the impact, I was pushed back and I fell to the ground with a thud.

With the door wide open, Maki came barging in.

"Nico-chan! Nico-chan!" She called my name loudly, probably wanting me to come out and explain why in the world a guy was inside my apartment, she really had no idea that the Nico-chan she kept calling was already there this whole time.

I rubbed my throbbing face, "She's...not here..." a groan of agony escaped my lips, I really hoped that hit wouldn't leave a bruise or any mark on my face at all, but I knew it will, because it felt hurt like hell.

I gasped in surprise and snapped my head at her when I felt a pair of hand clutched the collar of my polo t-shirt. Then I could only cower in fear when I saw a pair of amethyst glaring daggers to me.

"Then, where is she?" She asked with a dangerous tone, I gulped at it.

"Whoa-whoa, calm down Maki!" Eli grabbed Maki by the shoulders and pulled her away from me, "What's his fault? What's going on here?"

"He...I...even though he said he supported...it, he..." She glanced at me, with full hatred.

It was already messy, but I wanted to keep my Nikolas persona, "Uhm...Nishikino-san, I-I think you're misunderstanding something here...I'm not-"

"You're here, while she's not here, then explain it to me why you're able to get in here?"

I mentally kicked myself when I realized I just dug my own grave. I watched her stepping closer to me, but then Eli grabbed her again and held her back, maybe afraid that she might kill me, because Maki looked like she would love to do so.

Eli widen her eyes, realizing something, "Wait, wait, Maki, are you saying he's...Nico's...?"

Seven pairs of eyes stared at me in question, while the other one glared at me. I could guess that Maki felt betrayed, because the 'guy' she just poured her heart to turned out to be...her crush's boyfriend.

Oh god this is getting really, really messy.

Maki squinted her eyes at me, "Nikolas-san-"

That was it, I had no other choice. There was no other way out of this, lying would just messed everything up even more and that might agitated Maki more. And to be honest, Maki was way, way too scary when she was seriously mad-or jealous.

"Aaah! Geez I give up!" I spoke, no longer lowering my voice and use my usual tone, while putting my hands up in defeat.

I could see Maki widen her eyes, "Wait, why do you sound like Nico-"

"Because I am." I said curtly as I took off the fake glasses that I was wearing.

Maki stepped closer and stared at my face intently, "...Stop joking."

I strike up my usual pose, "Nico Nico Nii!" Then I stared at her with an embarrassed look, "How's that, Maki-chan?"

Maki brought her face a bit closer, "But...But your hair..."

My eyes twitched, "There was an accident at the hair salon I went."

"Your clothes..."

"I don't want to look like a dude in a skirt."

"Then...at the cafe..." She pointed at me with a shaky finger, I could only pout in embarrassment, and nodded hesitantly as I felt my cheeks heating up. Realizing that she practically confessed to me, she gasped and brought her hands up to cover her lips, she stared at me in disbelief, and her face slowly turned into a tomato.

At that reaction, I could only soften my eyes and tried to tell her with my expression that I felt the same. At this point Maki looked like she was about to cry due to the sudden wave of embarassment. I think she got my message and she was having a hard time to register all of it.

We didn't spoke a word after that, only stealing glances after glances at each other shyly, still unable to say or did anything because we both felt lost.

"Uhh...okay, so, why were Maki mad at this 'Nikolas' again?" Came a voice, which was Eli's. Both Maki and I could only cover our face in a complete embarassment, unable to answer her question at all. I mean, how should we answer? 'She unknowingly confessed to me thinking I was just a random guy, but then this random guy turned out to be her crush's boyfriend'? Like hell I'd say something as embarassing as that, I didn't want everyone here to know that kind of matter, it was private!

After a long while of silence, I could see from the corner of my eyes that everyone just stared at us with a questioning look, anxious to know the answer. Then, I saw Eli's lips moved, about to ask another question, but she was cut off completely when there were these sudden obscene noises came from next door, obviously came from a certain neighbor that I really love.

We all turned our heads towards the wall where the noises originated.

I slapped my forehead as everyone's face reddened, finally realizing what made those noises.

Great, just great.

My day couldn't get any better than that. Thanks for the another joke, universe.

My eyes averted to the fiery haired girl, then she glanced at me and caught my stare. I gave her a really shy smile and I scratched my head, I was still not used to how my hair felt, but I tried to ignore that at the moment. Maki responded to my smile with a really red face and a trembling lips, then she huffed and looked away, completely flustered.

But at least the universe gave me some answers that'd help me moving forward, all these jokes or unfortunate chain of events also led to something good after all.

THE END

Omake

"...And this hair is why I tried to...hide from you all."

"What, that's all? You shouldn't do that Nico." Umi frowned at me.

I scoffed, "But I can't let the world see me like this! It's embarassing!"

"I don't understand the problem Nico-chan." Honoka blinked in confusion, she tilted her head, could not comprehend my reasoning at all.

"Like I said, I look like a dude in a skirt this way!"

Honoka scratched her head, "...So?"

I stared at her in disbelief "Don't just 'So' me! Do you not understand how much of a dire situation this is? Urgh, I can't believe you Honoka!"

"Nicocchi, maybe you should just keep crossdressing while performing." Nozomi stiffled a laugh.

"Isn't there this idol group that consists of crossdressing girls? Should we do that too?" Hanayo suggested with a low voice, unsure if what she said was a good idea.

Kotori raised her hand excitedly, "Yes, yes I can make the costume!"

I groaned and buried my face in my hands, "Oh...my head hurts..."

"I don't understand the fuss you made, why not just wear a wig?" Honoka spoke as-a-matter-of-factly.

This made us all fell silent and we stared at Honoka in utter disbelief. Honoka could come up with such a genius idea like that?

"Mm...Ahh~" Suddenly came another muffled noise that came from the other side of the wall.

"ARGH DAMMIT WHY EVERY NIGHT YOU STUPID NEIGHBOR!" I throw the closest thing next to me which was the TV remote to the wall that directly connected to the room next door. Then I watched everyone fell silent and had their faces reddened again.

A/N:

I know, it's random as hell.

At first it was just something like, "I wonder what happened if Nico crossdress and people thought she was a guy?", but then it turned out into...this.

I'm sorry if it was way too weird.

See ya in my next Love Live fanfiction!