Disclaimer: Love Live not mine ^_^
"Do we really need to enter this thing? I mean, Eli can just book us somewhere else where we don't need to write a new song," Maki complained as we were walking home from school after a quick µ's meeting. I just shrugged nonchalantly.
"She did say it's supposed to be a favor for someone she knows. And, also, Arisa begged her to do it. You know that Eli can't really say no to her sister." Maki just rolled her eyes.
"Figures. On the bright side, we can add another song to our repertoire. Downside is, why does it have to be a love song?!" I sighed heavily at that.
"I know. Just thinking about it gives me a headache already. Composing the music's tough enough, but I am nowhere near experienced enough to express such things. Nozomi even said that the feel of it should be different from 'Snow Halation.'" Maki patted my arm sympathetically.
"We still have three weeks. I'm sure that's plenty of time for us to finish and practice the song." I nodded my head, looking thoughtful.
"Want to meet me at the library tomorrow during lunch? We can start throwing ideas then," I asked as Maki silently gestured for me to follow her inside a bakery.
"That's fine by me. I'll just skip practice with Nico-chan, Rin, and Hanayo. They'll only just hound me about this, anyway," she grumbled as she deposited her choice of pastries on a tray. I reached out and took her tongs for a bit to get pastries for myself and smoothly placed them beside hers before handing the tool back to her. I just smiled sweetly at her as she rolled her eyes playfully at me before moving on.
"I know what you mean. If only they can contribute as much as they fool around, maybe we'll actually get somewhere in less time." Before Maki could grab her purse to pay for the bread, I quickly handed the cashier enough money for the lot, and lightly slapped Maki's hand before she could pay me back. She pouted at me as she handed me my purchase, and I just chuckled lightly as I ushered her out of the store to head home. We arrived at the intersection where we're going to part, and Maki turned to face me, a small smile on her face.
"Thanks for the bread. I'll see you tomorrow then. Don't be late!" She shouted as her light turned green. I just nodded and waved goodbye.
It's been a week since Maki and I attempted to compose a love song for an upcoming event that Eli booked for µ's. She didn't give us the specifics for the said event, and I found it rather curious how much Nozomi kept repeating that we should just concentrate on writing the song and leave the minor details up to them. I decided to let them be for now as Maki and I couldn't even get this song started, and that was the bigger problem.
"This is crazy! We only have two weeks left and can't even put together one simple song. We've made harder songs than this!" Maki exclaimed as she slumped on the floor of my room. Her parents were having a gathering over at her place, so we decided she could spend the weekend here at mine so we could properly work on the song without too much distractions. Rushing it would be more fitting of a description, though.
I watched her defeated figure then picked myself up just to fall heavily on my bed, the both of us sighing laboriously. Actually, it was Eli and Nozomi who suggested that Maki stay here. I didn't really mind, the change of environment might give us a few ideas. But so far, nothing's working out.
I heard Maki shift from the floor, and, as I turned my head to look at her, she was already crawling towards my direction, her gaze seemingly on something I couldn't see.
"Hey, Umi. What's this box under your bed?" I gave her a puzzled look, then groaned as I sat up abruptly just as Maki pulled the box out. I scrambled out of bed and hurriedly took the box from her hands and hugged it to me tightly, my face flushed in embarrassment. Maki just raised her eyebrow at me, a smirk on her face as she waited for an explanation. I looked at her for several seconds pleading silently for her to drop this, but seeing that she wouldn't relent, I heaved a sigh and placed the box down between us, still holding the lid down tightly as we continued to stare at each other.
"I-I just want you to know that I kept these, not because I l-like them or anything, but because I respect the people who went out of their way to give them to me. And don't you dare laugh!" I warned her as I shakily opened the box. Maki quickly dove in before I could change my mind.
"Wait. Are these love letters?!" she asked loudly as she took some out and waved them at me, and I hurriedly clamped her mouth shut with my hand to shut her up.
"Maki, quiet down! Someone might hear you! These walls aren't exactly sound proof, you know!" I hissed at her. I removed my hand as she nodded, her eyes twinkling.
"I always knew you were very popular, Umi, but I never expected you to gain this much attention. Are these even from our school?" she asked as she thumbed through dozens of envelopes, majority unopened. I blushed harder as I played with my fingers.
"W-well, some were from neighboring schools from when I participated in Kyudo matches, some from my mother's dance classes, father's Kendo classes, and even from several upperclassmen." As I enumerated my so-called admirers to Maki, my voice grew quieter as my face grew hotter. I heard her giggling at my expense.
"Don't be embarrassed, Umi. I have eyes, too, you know, so I can't really blame them for admiring you. I mean, you're quite the catch," she teased then seductively winked at me, so I reached for the nearest pillow I could get my hands on and flung it towards her. Naturally, she just laughed harder.
"Mou! I told you not to laugh!" I shouted as I buried my red face in between my knees.
"Don't worry, Umi. I won't tell anyone. And besides, you're really adorable when you're like this!" Maki said as she patted my head. I just shook her hand off, wallowing in my self-shame. I heard Maki shuffle next to me and nuzzled her head on mine, I guess as a form of apology. I slowly lifted my head up and gave her a small smile.
"Ne, do you mind if I read some of them? I promise I won't laugh this time," she asked hopefully, and I just groaned at her but nodded anyway. She took a random letter and flipped it open.
"Dearest Umi-sempai. From the very first moment I saw you, I knew you were special. You may not remember me, but without you, I wouldn't have had the courage to go through with Kyudo. With your beautiful figure, your immaculate hair, your serene face, you greatly inspired me to be a better person. It would be a great honor if we could get to know each other better in the near future. Sincerely yours, Ichida Rui (Class 1-2, Saga High School)."
I watched as Maki tried really hard to stifle her laughter, which earned her a light slap to the arm from me.
"You said you won't laugh," I reminded her. She just grinned.
"I know, I know. But seriously, immaculate? Never thought I'd hear someone describe a person that. Ever," she giggled, and I couldn't help smiling at that. It was pretty amusing to hear.
"You're simply awful, Maki. They took their time to write these, the least I could do was not throw them away and respect their thoughts," I weakly defended.
"You say that, yet more than half of these aren't even opened," she stated. I just looked down again.
"You know that I'm never really good at receiving too much attention, especially if it's unwanted. I'm not comfortable in reading what they think about me, especially since majority of them embodies me as someone I care not to admit. The admiration I can somewhat accept. I try my best to set good examples to others. But idolizing someone they barely know, and, for what, in hopes that their feelings be reciprocated? It tends to be stressful, and it puts me in a situation that I don't know how to handle well." I stretched out on the floor and looked at the ceiling.
"To be honest, the first few dozen letters I had the chance to reply to because I didn't know any better. And that turned out to be disastrous! You wouldn't believe how utterly mortified I was when the letter senders all came here demanding to know who I loved the most!" At that, Maki laughed so loud that I wouldn't be surprised if the helpers and my parents heard her. And it earned her another slap from me, only harder.
"I'm glad you find my misfortunes entertaining, Nishikino-san. If it wasn't for Honoka and Kotori doing damage control, those stalkers wouldn't have left me alone! After that incident, I never answered another letter again. For good measure, I just leave them unopened. I personally think I'm being rude, but Honoka and Kotori said it's for the best. They do not know that I'm getting letters still, so I trust you to not divulge that fact so as not to worry them," I said with finality. Maki just raised her hands in acknowledgment.
"Okay, okay. Your secret is safe with me, Sonoda-san," she winked. I just rolled my eyes and started gathering the letters as my junior read more. I looked over at Maki after a few minutes and saw her reading another letter silently, her face scrunched up in concentration. I recognized the letter as one I never opened, so I sidled up to her, curious as to the content of it for Maki to look so serious. It seemed a bit lengthy, but I didn't get the chance to read it in full because Maki suddenly looked at me.
"Maki, anything wrong?" She just continued to look at me intently until she finally smiled at me sweetly.
"I'm sorry. I just got curious because this one was thicker compared to the rest. This person must've really liked you a lot." She handed me the letter and I quickly read through it, a faint blush adorning my face as I got to the ending.
"…I love you, sempai," I murmured the last part. At that point I was fanning my face, the room hotter all of a sudden. Then, as if being dumped with cold water, Maki and I looked at each other, eyes wide. Huge smiles could be seen on our faces as we looked back down to the letter then back to each other, a realization dawning on us.
"That's it!"
I was beyond pissed. I was practically fuming as Hanayo and Kotori restrained me from strangling Nozomi.
"What do you mean a duet?!" Maki yelled, Rin holding her back. Eli looked at Nozomi worriedly, the latter grinning in return. Apparently, Maki and I wasn't informed earlier that there had been a few changes in regards to the event. In reality, it looked like we were deliberately left out.
"Uhh, Umi-chan, Maki-chan. We're really sorry for not explaining right away, but we didn't want you to get distracted while writing the song, and that it just slipped our minds altogether," Honoka tried to explain.
"How can something as big as a duet slip your mind?" I ground out, my steps halted by Hanayo and Kotori.
"We honestly thought you guys won't mind," Nico said defensively, then quickly shuffled behind Eli to avoid my glare.
"What the hell's wrong with you?! Of course we'll mind! This isn't just about us singing a duet. You're asking us to sing a love song, by ourselves, in front of a huge audience, and the fact that you purposefully kept this from us from the start is what pisses me off! And why does it need to be us who'll sing it?" Maki demanded as she crossed her arms and gave everyone, but me, a good stare down.
"Because, dear Maki-chan, you two know the song better than the rest of us. You created it together. You spent countless days working on it. This is different from any of our other songs with how much effort you've invested in it, so it makes perfect sense for you to sing it live," Nozomi said, her grin not letting up. Maki and I gritted our teeth, both our faces as red as her hair. While it's true that the following days finishing the song after our burst of inspiration felt like a blur, Maki and I spent all our energy and free time into perfecting it. We've been at each other's houses a lot for the past two weeks that it felt like I already live there and vice versa. That was the longest time we'd spent on making one song, and we're very proud of the outcome. Not to mention that I got to know Maki in a much deeper level, and that she now knew things about me I never cared to share with just anybody. I could never see anyone else become someone as special as Maki was to me. Not even Honoka and Kotori.
"Please, guys. The event's in two days. It's too late to back out now, and Arisa is really looking forward to watching you perform. To be really, really honest with you, she and Yukiho were the ones who volunteered you, two. We just seconded the motion because we believe you're perfect for this," Eli implored. Maki and I stared at each other for a while. It's obvious that we were both still very upset, but, in the long run, we knew that we could never disagree with them, no matter how moronic their arguments were.
"You okay?" I sighed as I continued to press random keys on the piano, scooting over so Maki could sit beside me.
"I feel betrayed. And used. And manipulated," I grumbled out. Maki leaned on me, our shoulders touching. I leaned back. Having her with me comforted me greatly. We stayed like that for a few more minutes, neither saying anything, before deciding to just be productive and practice our duet. We both knew it by heart now, and luckily we finished recording the full arrangement already. We needed to tweak a few things because it was supposed to be sung by nine people, but overall, the song's ready. It's a ballad, and, personally, having only two people sing it to each other would make it more intimate. As shameless as it might sound, I'm very happy that I got to sing it with Maki and no one else. Out of everybody in µ's, singing with Maki's like second nature to me, maybe because we had been composing and recording our songs for a while now, just the two of us, before presenting it to everybody. It's embarrassing, but I got used to it. This would be the first time that we'd be doing a duet live, though.
We continued practice for another hour or so until we heard knocking coming from outside the music room. We paused and looked towards the door just as the other members walked in, guilty and sheepish looks on their faces. Maki and I just raised our eyebrows and stared at them, waiting for someone to talk first. Honoka cleared her throat and stepped forward.
"Umi-chan, Maki-chan. We're really sorry for this situation we placed you in and for sidestepping your decisions. We honestly believe that if anybody can pull this off, it'll be you, two, since we know how comfortable you are with each other while you sing."
"We really didn't mean to do any sort of damage, intentionally or not, and please know there's really no ulterior motive by you doing this," Eli added. Nozomi coughed loudly but was elbowed by Nico.
"We're really grateful to you for agreeing to this even though we sort of forced it on you, and that we're looking forward to your spark when you sing on stage," Kotori said, sparkles in her eyes. I looked at her funny as Nico face palmed and Nozomi grinned. Before I could analyze what she meant, Hanayo tried to remedy the situation by wishing us luck with our practice and ushered everybody out. They most likely headed back to the roof to do a bit of practicing on their own.
"That was weird." I chuckled at that as Maki sat back down and started to play the intro of the song.
"And funny. It's really entertaining watching them squirm," I said. Maki shrugged and continued playing as I started singing the first verse. We'd pay them back after everything with this event's over.
"It just has to be a valentine's event. Of course," I said to nobody in particular as I crossed my arms and stared at the venue where the event would take place. Red and pink hearts and other decorations signifying the theme of the event adorned the lobby, staff in red outfits handing out pamphlets and ushering people inside the hall loitered about. The program would be starting in an hour or so.
"Well, this is awkward," Maki mumbled beside me. I smirked.
"Umi-chan! Maki-chan! Over here!" We looked over at Kotori who was waving at us from one of the side entrances to where, I assumed, the dressing rooms were. We made our way towards her then she led us to our designated room, the other girls already inside milling about and doing whatever to pass the time. I raised my eyebrow at Eli and jerked my thumb towards the event poster on the wall of the room. She just sweat dropped and raised her hands in mock surrender as I shook my head at her. It was pointless to complain in that moment anyway, so Maki and I just let them tend to us as we watched the emcee start her greetings and introductions via the TV inside the room. We were going to perform last so there was no pressure to prepare in a hurry.
Maki and I were silent as we waited for our turn to be called. We were never really talkative before doing lives to begin with, so the others let us be. I could already feel the nerves kicking in, so I excused myself to go to the comfort room and try to keep an ounce of my sanity intact. Good thing the room's empty when I entered, so I tried to drown out the pounding in my chest by pacing about. The door opened suddenly, and I turned around to face Eli and Rin, both looking at me worriedly. I tried to smile, but I was already shaking from nervousness that I most likely grimaced at them instead.
Rin came up to me and gave me a hug. I tensed for a few seconds before hugging her back which made me feel a bit better. I took a deep breath and looked at Eli smiling at me reassuringly as she waited for me to say something first. I hugged Rin tighter as I took comfort from my junior's warmth.
"I know we're prepared, and I'm happy to have our song be heard for the first time live. But this feels different somehow. I'm not going to be singing with all of you. Heck, the song won't be sung for just anybody's benefit either. This is a love song, made to be sung to someone special. I know I'm going to be singing with Maki, but as soon as I realized that I want to sing this song TO her, everything seems to change. The more I sing, the more confused I become. Maki has been nothing short of perfect during practices, and the longer we spend time with each other, the more I feel that she's more than just a friend to me. Am I even making sense?" I started to shake again but calmed down a bit when a warm hand patted me on the head with Rin squeezing me encouragingly.
"Trust what you feel, Umi. You may not understand it now, but try not to overthink things and sooner or later you'll come to realize what your true feelings are. Trust in Maki. You need to talk to each other to get through this."
"You may not have noticed it before – nya, but your relationship with Maki-chan is special. Rin will continue cheering for you, Umi-chan!" I smiled down at the smaller girl in front of me and clasped hands with Eli, savoring their comfort. The door to the comfort room opened again and a timid Hanayo peaked her head in and smiled.
"Umi-chan? It's time."
I took a deep breath, my hands on my chest as I tried to contain my beating heart, while I stood on the side of the stage waiting for the cue to enter. I looked over at Maki beside me, amazed that she could be so calm and collected, which was something I greatly admire about her. She turned her gaze to me and offered me a warm smile. She held out her hand and I took it without hesitation.
"You'll do great. You trust me, right?" she whispered as she gently squeezed my hand, not letting go. I squeezed back and hoped that my eyes conveyed how grateful I was that she's with me.
"Always," I whispered back just as our names were called. We shared one last comforting look before stepping out into the spotlight, hands still clasped, heads held high.
By chance,
The first moment I saw you,
It was fate
I could feel it
I can't speak first of love's start
Hours of waiting,
Loneliness
I've known them first
I'm afraid,
If we put love far behind us,
We won't be able to see it again
I can't stand it
Calling it friendship
While at your side
I'm so deep in love,
What should I do?
Our meetings
And even a sad farewell that came
I can accept them now
Even in those moments where you briefly forget me
I'll remember and live
I love you
Only you, forever
With just a smile
You captured me
I can't believe we're together
Until whenever,
Living and wanting you
I hope you remember
For me, the only one for you
Even though I want everything
I promise to be someone who can give it all
My first impression with you
I love you
(Remember forever)
I will love you, forever
I didn't even process the thundering applause of the audience, my focus solely on Maki. We were breathing heavily, our eyes never wavered from each other, and I finally realized that this song was for her. She raised her hand towards me again and I reached for it eagerly. We both had tears in our eyes, but our smiles were more than enough to express our feelings towards each other as we finally faced the audience and bowed.
"Congratulations, you, two! That was some serious chemistry out there," the emcee said as she greeted us from the door of our dressing room as we were packing up. I stood up and bowed at her.
"Thank you very much! Second place is still a big deal, and I'm glad lots of people liked our song enough to vote for us."
"You were awesome! I'm sure your song reached the right person. The best of luck to the both of you! Bye!" She winked at us then left, her parting words effectively had us blushing mad. The other members were waiting for Maki and me outside, probably to give us some time to get our heads on straight before talking to anyone else.
"Ne, Umi." I looked over at Maki, her back towards me as she fixed her hair. I could see her reflection in the mirror and I tried to gauge what she's thinking as of the moment, her eyes trying hard not to meet mine.
"This changes everything, doesn't it?" I continued to stare at her until, at last, she turned around and looked at me. I understood her apprehension, but I could see in her eyes that there's no doubt of her true feelings. Overwhelmed couldn't even begin to describe how I was feeling, but I knew that after today, I couldn't be "just friends" with Maki anymore, and I could sense that she felt the same way. I walked over to her and cupped her cheek gently. Skinship between us wasn't new, but as days passed and I saw her in a brand new light, I could finally feel the sparks Kotori was talking about. I smiled at her reassuringly.
"We'll take things slowly, Maki. We don't need to rush anything. Right now, I'm just happy that you haven't left me hanging yet," I joked, and she lightly flicked my forehead in response.
"I guess those love letters of yours came in handy, huh? Who would've thought we'd make a song out of them. My song to you. Beats any old love letter any day, right? I guess we need to thank the others for this." I rolled my eyes then threaded her hand in mine.
"We'll make them sweat it out a for a while. They owe us at least two weeks from group activities for what they put us through. Or I can just up their training a bit." We giggled at that as we made our way out of the building. Things would become more interesting now, and I'd be looking forward to it. Before letting go, Maki pulled me to her and whispered something before dropping my hand and running towards the others. I just squeaked in response and mumbled something unintelligible as I quickly followed her, my face burning.
"PS, I love you…"
A/N: I have been studying for my licensure exams since the start of the year so forgive me for putting my stories on hold for now. I can't move on from studying until I finish this because it's been circling my head for a while. It's a bit rough around the edges and it's not exactly my best work (in my opinion), but the lack of UmiMaki fics these days is really disheartening (to me, at least), so I decided to add another one to the pile. This story is based on one of my favorite Korean songs sung by Lena Park of the same title.
Again, for those still continuing to read my stories, thank you so much! Please bear with me a bit more if you're waiting for updates. After my exams, I'll be free again to write as much as I want. ^_^