#AN: Sometimes, usually on the cusp of sleep, I'll get an idea in my head that I can't help writing down. Despite the unbelievably nerdy title and summary, expect this to be sporadically-updated (probably) pure fluff about less-common trios. It will not include Aqours because I don't know them. If and when that statement is invalidated, the formation of nodes may or may not remain disjoint, at my discretion.

A touch.

A sigh.

A gentle caress.

A poke in that one spot that-

"Oy. Are you trying to start something?"

"Start something? Hmm..." Nozomi pretended to consider for a moment. "Well, Maki-Chan, I could ask you the same thing, no? After all, you're the one on top of me." Ah, there it was, the perfect blush. Point for me!

"Ah! Bwuh! Nozomiiii!" she whined, but did not deny. After all, Nozomi really was underneath her, her head partially buried in Nozomi's ample bosom, her arms wrapped around the older girl. "Besides, Honoka is the one on top of both of us."

And she wasn't kidding. Honoka had been sitting on the far end of the couch researching new venues on her mobile when she had rather unceremoniously fallen asleep, phone falling from her hand to get lost in the cushions as she slumped over pinning her companions in place.

"The way she's using your perfect ass as a pillow, I wonder if she planned it this way?" Nozomi taunted, bringing the furiously blushing Maki closer to an emulation of her favourite food. "But if she did, I don't mind so much, being so close to our Maki-tan like this," she added tenderly, smiling a little as she gently threaded her fingers through Maki's hair. "Truly, we are blessed under The Sun. Say, does her head being there mean it's a total eclipse of the butt?" Maki rolled her eyes.

"Nozomi, your taste in music kind of sucks, doesn't it. And I'm saying this as someone who writes peppy, saccharine pop." Nozomi snorted but said nothing, simply relishing in the feeling of Maki's heart beating in time with her own.

"Hey, Nozomi... why do you invoke 'the cards' so much?"

"Because they're right."

"Eh? Isn't that just because their meanings are generic enough that they can apply to almost anyone?"

"You know, Maki, if our orientation was right, you'd be getting a serious groping for doubting me."

"Why, Nozomi, are you saying we're not gay anymore!?" Maki asked in feigned shock. She shook her head a little to dislodge the thought and nestle a little deeper in Nozomi's chest with a contented sigh.

"Hehe, I remember a time when you couldn't possibly have even considered saying that, much less using it as a joke. You were so cute back then... ah, not that you're not cute now, too! Maki-chan is always cute."

"Ka ki ku ke ko, motherfucker," Maki replied with a devious smirk. Nozomi, caught off guard, started shaking as she giggled for a solid minute, hoping the vibrations wouldn't wake up the overworked Honoka.

"I always knew Nicocchi was a bad influence on our cute little Maki-tan," she wheezed.

"Anyway, back to the question. How can you put so much of your trust in the cards when they're designed to be generic and vague?" At this, Nozomi sighed a little.

"I always thought your card was The Fool, but maybe you're The Hermit instead," she mused. "Maki, can you actually explain why an astral projection of your childhood self led us on a merry chase when we went up to your coastal house to record the video for Music S.T.A.R.T?"

"Huh...?" It took her a few moments to realise what Nozomi was talking about. "Eh!? I thought that was a dream!"

"No, no, that was all very real. I don't know why it happened and I encourage you to consider it yourself, but the point is, while I admire your dedication to study and self-betterment, not everything in this world is explained in books." Her tone caused Maki look up from her place in Nozomi's bosom and their eyes met. Should I just show her? Show them? Maki didn't blink as Nozomi searched for the answer in her gaze. "The cards, huh?" she relented, taking a deep breath, and a moment to be happy that Maki rose and fell with it, that they could be this close, acutely aware that she was risking that happiness by- Stalling. You're stalling and dissembling, Nozomi. Trust the ones you love. "Say, Maki, let me show you a trick."

"Nozomi..." Maki trailed off, as she produced her well-worn deck.

"Here, take a look at the top card and put it back. You don't have to tell me what it is." It was awkward, and Maki was apparently really comfortable, but she reluctantly managed to liberate one of her hands from underneath her lover and peek at what was probably the nine or ten of swords.

"Now, let's consider one of the others. Nicocchi, perhaps? Yes, she'll be a perfect demonstration. Fixing on the idea of Nico..." Snaking her other hand over so she could do it in full view of her audience, she pulled that same top card and showed it to the now-gaping Maki. "I've always thought The Chariot suited her very well."

"What."

"This has been her card for as long as I've known her. That girl doesn't have any clue when to give up," she related fondly.

"But-"

"The cards are right, Maki," she explained with a little more force than intended, and she winced as Maki flinched. Another deep breath. "Sorry, I'm not angry. Just... I've never really shown this to anyone. I believe in us, in μ's, but even then... I suppose I still have a bit of a scaredy cat nature."

"Nozomi, I'd still love you even if you were a professional charlatan, but this makes me feel... weirded out, but also better."

And there she is with this matter-of-fact wisdom.

"I never thought I'd say 'Umi is a bad influence on you', but here we are..."

"Still," she mused, "I thought for sure once I finally got you in the sack I'd have plumbed the depths of how astounding you are and laid all your secrets bare. How silly of me."

"Oh ho? Do you need to try laying me bare and plumbing my depths again? Maybe you missed a spot."

"Pervert."

"It's your tongue." Nozomi was grinning with a mix of mirth and lechery now.

"That is all your fault, you know," Maki grumbled. Then she stiffened suddenly. "Wait. Waiiiiiit. Okay, okay, hold up." She looked... pensive? Worried? "Nozomi, how much of... of all this, all of us... how much did you plan? Instigate?"

"In what way?"

"Was μ's something you intended to happen? Our relationship?"

"Oh dear, you've uncovered my secret plot to fall in love by joining an idol group! But it's too late to stop me now! Mwahaha," she joked before turning serious, lifting Maki's hand to her face for a kiss on each knuckle.

"Maki, there is no such thing as fate." Absently, she twined their fingers together. "My cards don't steal your free will any more than every other divination by every other astrologer in the world. Mine may be much more... targeted... but the principle remains that reading one's fate is to change it. There would be no point otherwise."

"The Observer Effect? Huh, never bet against Einstein, even in mysticism," she mused. "Thanks, Nozomi. I'd hate to think..." Maki's hand escaped her grasp to caress her cheek and she nuzzled into the warmth.

"It's fine, my dear, it is wise to be wary even when you know there are higher forces at work."

So mercurial! Our Maki is growing too, I suppose.

"You know what, I'd like to do a full reading for you, Maki."

"Oh, oh, me too!"

"Honoka!"

"Yuuuuup!"

"How long were you listening?"

"Ehehe, around the time Nozomi said, 'Maki-chan is always cute!'" She had rolled herself half over so she could hug both of her girls, happily resting her chin in the small of Maki's back. "Nozomi, you're so amazing! I love it! I love you!" Nozomi looked over Maki to meet Honoka's eyes that were incapable of guile and felt a metaphorical weight lift from her soul. The unbridled joy at discovering something new was one of the things that made Honoka so irresistible.

"Oh no," Maki's voice carried a note of long suffering, "so you heard everything. Including the part where I..."

"Ka ki ku ke ko, motherfucker!" she chorused with Honoka, falling back into a renewed giggling fit as Maki groaned and buried her face in her boobs, blushing all the way to her ears.

"You guys!" she whined. "That's not fair!"

"Maki-chan is too cute for us to play fair, though!" Honoka pointed out, "So Nozomi and I have to work together."

"Hmph! Teasing me like that is still unfair."

"Maaaaki," Nozomi, with a husky voice, went for the kill, "be a good sport and we'll work together later, too." Honoka hummed her agreement and Maki shuddered but didn't say anything for while.

"... you mean it?" she asked shyly, her quiet voice still muffled by where she'd buried her face. Nozomi had the clamp down on the urge to squeal and coo and eat her up on the spot. No, that would send the wrong message. Meeting Honoka's eyes, she smiled.

"Everything I am, to you," Nozomi started.

"My Diamond Princess," Honoka finished. They then both took one of Maki's hands and kissed it reverently as she shivered at the conviction in their oath.