Disclaimer : I do not own Love Live!
"YOU GOT A SMARTPHONE?!"
"Yes Nico. And could you please stop shouting in my ears?" Umi sighed for she doesn't know how many times. She slowly unwrap the lunch box that her mother made for her.
"But, it's Sonoda Umi we're talking about! The Yamato Nadeshiko; Sonoda Umi!" raven-haired girl said in a really high spirit, making her hair that tied in a twin tail bounced in the air.
"It's not a big deal isn't it?" said another voice coming from behind. "Umi is a teenager after all." A blonde walked to their direction while holding her own lunch box.
"You're too extravagating Nico-chan." A red-haired girl who had been sitting in silent finally spoke, still didn't avert her eyes from the book in her hand.
"But...!"
"No more buts." The blonde sat beside Umi and began to open her lunch. "It's lunch time. Let's just eat our lunch instead of arguing over a silly thing. Okay Nico?"
The raven haired girl finally gave up and nodded.
Umi observed the interaction exchange between her friends and she couldn't help but curled her lips up into a smile. Her group of friend consist a member of four. Two third years which are Yazawa Nico and Ayase Eli, a first year Nishikino Maki and herself Sonoda Umi.
Sonoda Umi was indeed known as the school Yamato Nadeshiko. When she was enrolled to senior high two years ago, she decided that she would join the archery club which she didn't know would bring a great popularity for her. Not only she's great in archery, she really great at other like kendo, calligraphy, tea ceremony, she can do it all. Even in her second year, her popularity was on par with the student council president who is also her best friend Ayase Eli. Not only her talent in archery, her looks and traits were also a part of her popularity. Long silky blue hair, sparkling brown eyes combined with her reserved yet shy personality has proven to make the girls fall for her. Despite being an all girl school, Umi already received a countless letter of confession and chocolate every time valentine days is coming.
Umi never really considering the need for her to bought a smartphone. If someone has a business with her, they could just contact her via her house phone or talk to her directly. It was not until yesterday night that her mother decided to give one for her. She said that so it could be easier for her to contact Umi wherever she is.
"So.." Nico finished chewing her meal and swallowed it, reaching for her drink. "Have you made a Twitter account yet?"
Umi who has just finished drinking wiped her mouth with a tissue and looked at Nico with a little confusion. "Twitter? What is that?"
Nico's jaw dropped open. She looked at her friend in disbelief. "For God sake Umi, it's 2015 and you don't even know what Twitter is?!"
Eli chuckled beside her. She thought that it was only natural for Umi to not known what Twitter is. "Twitter is a social networking. It is mainly used for people to share about their interest and other stuff." Eli explained it for her in the simplest way.
"I see." While holding her chin, Umi nodded several times.
Nico let out a sigh and leaned on her chair. "Give me your phone. I'll make an account for you."
Umi hesitanly answered. "But I don't find the need for me to have it."
"Come on Umi, even the Tsundere Maki-chan have one!"
"And what's that suppose to mean?" Maki glared at the smaller girl beside her.
"I mean what I said." Nico turned her head to look at the red-head direction and glared back. Maki let out a sigh. She decided to let it off before it grew into useless argument.
Before handed her phone to Nico, Umi turned to ask Eli. "Do you have a Twitter account too Eli?"
"Yes I do. Sometimes it's easier for me to make an announcement via Twitter." said Eli.
Umi turned her head to her other friend. "And what about you, Maki?"
"Just as Nico-chan said, I have one. Though I don't use it very often." Didn't averted her eyes from her book, Maki answered.
"See? Everyone already had an account. Now it's time for you to have one yourself." Nico smiled triumphantly.
Umi sighed in defeat. She had no excuses to refuse Nico. She took her phone off from her skirt's pocket and gave it to Nico. After taking Umi's phone, Nico immediately tapped her finger on Umi's phone screen. Since it was really fast, Umi had no idea what Nico was doing right now.
"Okay, let's begin. Full name is... Sonoda... Umi." Nico typed Umi's name while letting her voice out so that Umi would know what she was doing. After finished typing, Nico looked at Umi and asked her a question. "You have an email don't you?"
Umi nodded in return.
"Then type it here." Nico gave Umi's phone back to her. Umi did as Nico said and hand her phone back to Nico.
"Okay and now type your password here. Remember to memorized it." they repeated what they did before.
"Is it okay if I make your username to 'sonodaumi'?" Nico asked the bluenette without looking at her.
Again, Umi nodded.
After several minutes typing on Umi's phone, finally Nico smiling in satisfied.
"Here." Nico hand back the phone in her hand to its rightful owner. "I've set a profile pictures and the header for you and had you followed me, Maki-chan and Eli. I didn't write anything on your bio, but I did put a location." Nico explain about everything she did.
Umi looked at her phone. She could see 'Nagoya' was written beneath her profile picture.
"Thank you, Nico." Umi observe her phone for a while. "So, how do I make a call?"
Nico groaned in frustration. "Umi, we can't make a call with Twitter!" Nico get up from her seat and took another sit beside Umi. She explained everything about Twitter and its function until the bell rang.
"A 124 FOLLOWERS IN ONE NIGHT?!" the raven-haired girl shouted.
As usual when lunch break comes, Umi would gather with her friends in the garden behind the school building. It was always been their favorite spot to meet.
"Is that weird?" Umi tilted her head.
"It is! You even beaten Nico-nii's record!" feeling beaten, Nico pouted while sipping the juice in her hand.
"Umi always beat you." Maki looked at the smaller girl chest, and then at the bluenette, after that back to Nico's chest. "In all respects."
Nico looked at where Maki's eyes directed and she suddenly got up from her seat. "Hey! Is that supposed to be an insult?!"
"Come on, stop it you two!" Eli tried to stop them before their arguments gotten bigger. "I know Umi was popular but getting 124 in one night?" Eli shifted her eyes to the bluenette beside her and looked at her in awe.
"You don't look to happy about it?" Maki asked her.
Umi let out a sigh. "Every time a person followed me, I feel bad if I didn't visit their profile and said thank you. Because of that I didn't get a proper night sleep."
"You said thank you to every person who followed you?! Seriously?!" as always Nico asked while shouting.
"Can I borrow your phone?" Eli asked Umi for permission.
"Sure." Umi handed her phone to Eli. Nico and Maki shifted their seat so that they could see the content in Umi's phone too.
'Thank you for following me.'
'Thank you for following me.'
'Thank you for following me.'
'Thank you for following me.'
Eli keep sliding Umi's phone screen down. The three of them exchange glances at each other and said in unison. "Don't tell me..."
"Is there something wrong?" Umi frowned.
Without answering Umi's question, Maki, Nico and Eli burst out laughing.
"Umi...you forget to...mention them...!" trying her best to talk between her laugh, Eli held her stomach.
"On top of that..." Nico wiped the tears in her eyes. "You didn't even follow them back!" She burst out another laugh.
"I can't believe all the 124 tweets you made everything was 'thank you for following me'." Maki covered her mouth, trying to stop her laughter.
"I-it's because Nico didn't explain it properly to me!" Umi tried to defend herself, but her friends keep laughing and so she sighed in defeat.
"God, that was a really good laugh." Nico took a deep breath.
"Who would've thought that the charming Sonoda Umi could make this kind of mistake." smiling, Maki opened the water bottle in her hand and took a sip from it.
"That's Sonoda Umi for you." Before handed back Umi's phone, Eli move closer to where Umi is at. "See Umi, if you want to say thank you, you have to mention that person or else they wouldn't notice it."
This time, it was Eli's turn to explain how Twitter's work to Umi and Umi sure she would like it better than Nico's.
Later that night, Umi found that her phone was still buzzing nonstop just like yesterday. After finished studying, she took her phone from her desk and lay herself down on her bed while playing with her phone. She opened the Twitter application Nico had installed and then beginning to read her notification. Like yesterday, almost her notification was telling her that she got a new follower. When she was just about to visit every new follower she gain, her phone was buzzing.
It was a mention from Eli.
'Don't tell me you're going to say thank you again sonodaumi'
Umi touch the reply button and started tapping.
' ayaseeli I'm about to do that. Is that something wrong?'
Not long after sending her tweet, her phone buzzed again.
' sonodaumi ayaseeli wroooooong! You don't usually say thank you to every people that followed you. Right nishikinomaki?'
' yazawanico sonodaumi ayaseeli Nico-chan is right, Umi.'
Umi frowned.
' nishikinomaki yazawanico ayaseeli but, isn't that kind of rude?'
' sonodaumi nishikinomaki ayaseeli no it's not. Beside you don't have any obligation to say thank you to them.'
' yazawanico sonodaumi nishikinomaki Nico is right Umi. Just follow back the people you know. No need to thank them.'
After thinking about what they said for awhile, Umi finally agree with them.
' ayaseeli yazawanico nishikinomaki I guess you're right.'
Umi started picking the people she knew from her followers and followed them back. As well as the people she thought she knew from the suggestion friend. She then composed a new tweet.
'It was really tiring...'
Right after sending her last tweet, her phone buzzed again. Indicating another notification has come. She opened her notification tab to found out that she got a new follower.
"Minami...Kotori?" Umi muttered the name displayed on her phone screen.
As long as she could remember, she doesn't have any friends named Minami Kotori especially when she knew that Minami Kotori lives in Tokyo. As usual, Umi opened her new follower profile like she always did if she had a new follower. There's a small display on her phone saying that she had one follower in common named Tojo Nozomi. Umi frowned. She didn't remember, following an account named Tojo Nozomi. The bluenette decide to pay Tojo Nozomi's profile a visit. When she saw that their common followers is Ayase Eli, she realized that she followed Tojo Nozomi's account that pop out in the suggestion account.
Umi tapped the back button that brought her back to Minami Kotori's profile. She looked at her new follower's profile carefully. Minami Kotori had 3.964 tweets, 538 followers and following 289 people including Umi. The bluenette tapped her new follower's avatar.
Minami Kotori's profile picture looks like a candid photo taken by her friend. In that photo she was happily smiling at something. Minami Kotori has a grayish-brown hair with a really weird hairstyle, a beautiful amber eyes and a smile Umi had never saw before. Judging from her face, she probably was a high scholar just like Umi.
Without hesitation Umi tapped the follow button and immediately composed a new tweet.
' minamikotori thank you for following me.'
After sending her tweet, she then realized something. Just a second ago, she agreed with her friends that there's no need for her to say thank you to every people that followed her. But here she is, saying thank you for her new follower. There's just something different about Minami Kotori that made the bluenette wanted to know more about her new follower.
Umi locked her phone and put it beside her pillow. She kept looking at her phone. When usually she wanted her phone to stop buzzing, oddly this time she was waiting for her phone to buzz. After several minutes waiting, finally her phone let out a notification tone which immediately Umi took to her hand. She opened her notification and just like she thought, Minami Kotori replied her mention.
' sonodaumi you're welcome~ nice to meet you, Sonoda Umi-san (^-^)'
Reading Kotori's tweet over and over again, Umi smiled. When she accidentally looked at the time it was already decided that she would stopped after replying to Minami Kotori's tweet since she still have school tomorrow. She tapped the reply button and started to compose her tweet.
' minamikotori nice to meet you too, Minami-san.'
After sending her last tweet, Umi turned off her phone and put it back to her drawer. Before going to sleep, Umi stared at her ceiling. She put her hand on her chest and she could feel that her heartbeat starting to increase. For the first time, she made an acquaintance in Twitter. Now her eyes wide open and she couldn't sleep.
If I tell Nico, Maki and Eli about this I bet they'll laugh at me again tomorrow...
Two weeks has passed since Minami Kotori followed Umi on Twitter. From their conversation on Twitter, she learned that Minami Kotori attended an all girl school in Tokyo and just like her, she was a second year. Her mother was the chairman of the school. She was really good in sewing and designing an outfit. She's the same height as Umi. She likes cheesecake, dislike garlic and she loves making sweets. Umi didn't know since when that it become a habit for her to check her Twitter before she go to sleep.
' minamikotori so, you're a member of a choir club? That's kind of amazing.'
' sonodaumi actually I'm not a member I just often help them because my best friend is the president of that club.'
' minamikotori but I'd still like to hear you sing someday...'
' sonodaumi well then someday I'll sing for you (^-^)'
' minamikotori what if I asked you to do a cover for me right now?'
' sonodaumi eeeeh?! Right now?!'
' minamikotori I can't?'
' sonodaumi it's not that you can't, I'm just embarrassed...but if you're willing to wait for a second, I'll give you one.'
' minamikotori of course I'll gladly wait.'
Smiling, Umi put her phone down, waiting for Kotori to finish. It was the first time she acted like this. Usually she would never chat with a stranger she hasn't meet before, but it was different with Kotori. By only two weeks, she already felt like she has known Kotori for a long time. Kotori succeed on making her feel comfortable. Not any person could do that. In fact, Umi only know three persons who can make her feel like that. Nico, Maki and Eli. Lost in her thought, she didn't realize that thirteen minutes have passed. The one thing that brought her back to reality was the buzz from her phone.
' sonodaumi I'm done! Sorry for the long wait~'
At the end of her tweet, Kotori inserted a link. Umi opened the link and being directed into a page where Kotori uploaded her cover. Umi clicked the play button. She never heard the song before but one thing she knew for sure is that, she's in love with Kotori's voice. Her voice is high pitched but is really soft at the same time. Umi closed her eyes to get a better feel. After she finished listening to the song, she realized her eyes were wet. She's crying.
' minamikotori Minami-san, your voice is really beautiful...'
' sonodaumi thank you, Sonoda-san, that's very kind of you '
That night, Umi keep repeating Kotori's cover song until she fell asleep.
"Since when did you're into alpaca, Umi?" Nico looked at the alpaca plushie in front of her while frowning.
It's Sunday and Umi had called the three of them to accompany her for shopping. Since they wanted to go shopping themselves, they agreed with Umi's request.
"It's not for me. It's for a friend." Feeling satisfied by the alpaca plushie she chose earlier. She smiled widely.
"Is something good happened, Umi?" Eli was the first one to ask.
"You know, you've been grinning stupidly for awhile now and it's kinda creep me out." Nico added.
"Is that so?" Umi shifted her eyes from the alpaca to her friend.
"You seem to have taken a liking to your new friend on Twitter." Maki looked at her own phone, realized that Umi keep mentioning her new friend on Twitter. "Minami-san isn't it?" the red-head asked.
"It's not something like that. It's just that I found her very comfortable to chat with. Beside this alpaca is a compensation for the cover song she gave me before." Umi replied, voicing what she really felt.
Maki, Nico and Eli exchange glances. It was the first time they see Umi acting like this.
"Speaking of which, Eli you're know one of Minami-san's friend right? If I'm not mistaking, her name is Tojo Nozomi." Umi asked the blonde.
Taken by surprise, Eli who just finished her drink choked and started to cough. The other three looked at her direction in confusion.
"Are you okay?" Maki who sat beside her started to rub Eli's back.
"I'm okay." Eli let another cough and smiled awkwardly. "No-Nozomi is, she is a friend of mine." Eli tried to explain without causing any suspicion.
"Nozomi? A Friend? In Tokyo?" Nico raised her eyebrow, doubting Eli's explanation.
"Yes. We met in a forum three months ago." Eli trying to claimed back her composure.
"I see." unlike Nico, Umi accept Eli's explanation without any protest. Umi stopped for awhile before opened her mouth again. "Say, next week is Golden Week isn't it?"
"It is." Maki answered.
"Do you have any plans?" Umi asked her friends
"Not particularly. I guess I'll just gonna spend it with my family." Nico answered first.
"Me too. I think I'll just use the holiday to practice piano." Maki seconded.
"For me, maybe I'm going to finish some unfinished matter in the student council." Eli was the last one answered. "Is there something wrong?"
Umi looked at her friends. Her expression got serious all of sudden.
"If by any chance, can I have you guys accompanied me to Tokyo?"
A/N : Hello, been a long time! Finally I decided to make another KotoUmi story. Thank you for reading and sorry for the mistakes. As for you who was wondering why Twitter? Let's say that it's because personal experience ;) about my other story, of course I will not abandon it. It's just that I haven't been able to finish it though I already know how the ending will be. I planned to finish us after my exam next week. That's all from me. Once again thank you for reading and see you next chapter~