Two sources somewhat inspire this fic. First, the doujin "Mask of Smiles," is one of the most heartbreaking things I have seen/watched, especially since it involves one of my favourite girls in Muse. The other inspiration is "Broken Hearts New Found Love" by ALargeBear. You can find that one here! This is one of my favourite fics that I have read, since it has so much emotion that can bring me tears. If you want, read those two stories for some good tear-jerkers.


Tojo Nozomi was a complicated girl. She was known by her idol friends as mischievous, but motherly. She believed in her tarot cards for the future. No one could deny it whenever Nozomi said something that related to her cards, it was always true. With her Washi Washi technique, the girls feared if they got on Nozomi's "bad" side. She didn't really have a "bad" side because she was always caring to her teammates. When things got out of line however, she didn't hold back. However, when it came to one thing she was simple minded.

Nozomi loved Ayase Eli.

When the blonde came into her class, she immediately fell for her. Her beautiful blonde hair, fantastic figure, and extremely pretty face captivated the young Nozomi. She must have been lucky that she and Eli actually talked to each other. And became best friends. Nozomi knew her new friend better than anyone, besides her family, could. She could only hope that this blooming friendship could turn into something more.

Yet, nothing happened.


"Elichi! You should hurry! I might leave!" Nozomi teased the girl.

"Nozomi," she laughed. "I know you wouldn't. We're going for parfaits today!"

'Well, I wouldn't have left anyways. I couldn't leave a girl like her.' Nozomi thought this, but only giggled at her friend's comment.

As they headed to the parfait place, they talked about everything. From school, to Muse, to the love life of their own friends. Everyone knew that Honoka and Kotori were dating, along with Rin and Hanayo. Both pairs were childhood friends, so it's not too surprising that they got together.

They saw how much Nico and Maki fought with each other and laughed about their relationship.

"Don't people say something like 'A person that teases you actually likes you?'" Eli told the purple-haired girl.

She giggled. "Yeah, that sounds right. If Maki-chan and Nicochi argue this much, I wouldn't be surprised if they were married," Nozomi replied. This caused the two to laugh as they approached the shop.

They took a seat, and ordered their parfaits. Nozomi kept the conversation of love going. "That just leaves three people, right? You, me, and Umi-chan." Nozomi was getting a bit excited from this. She may be able to know Eli's feelings towards her.

The parfaits came out quickly, and Eli sighed at hearing Nozomi. "Yeah, just us three. Hopeless romantics?" Eli laughed, but quickly got to eating her parfait.

Nozomi didn't let that go unnoticed, but decided to eat her parfait as well. 'Maybe she wants to talk about her love life. Maybe, she'll see me! Not as just a best friend…as a new love!' Nozomi was getting excited, but knew she had to keep her emotions in check. She did notice something on Eli's face.

A strong red blush.

Eli kept eating her parfait, which Nozomi found amusing. 'Maybe she notices her cute blush. Trying to cool it off? Is she blushing about love?'

"Elichi, you can't hide something from me. That parfait won't help your blush…unless you put it on your face." Nozomi giggled at Eli's response, which had shock and embarrassment.

"Well, it's not my fault. All of this love talk has gotten me a bit mixed up." Eli told her best friend.

"So you found someone, huh?" Nozomi suggested as she moved her eyebrows. 'I can't believe it!' Nozomi was getting excited. She gets to hear a confession from the girl she loves.

"Quiet!" Eli told the love-struck girl. "Yes, there is one." Once she said this, Eli's face blushed harder. And Nozomi was almost leaping out of her seat to hear those three words.

"Who, Eli?"

"I love Umi."

And everything started crumbling in Nozomi's mind. "O-oh. Umi-chan i-is pretty cool." Nozomi was heartbroken. She could barely say that sentence without breaking down. However, she knew she had to keep her cool. Even if Eli didn't…love her.

"Yeah, she's really great." Nozomi didn't know how much of this gushing she could take. She heard Eli say Umi was great and felt a sharp pain in her heart. "She's super pretty."

'Am I not pretty enough?'

"Umi is super smart for someone of her age."

'I'm in your grade, and I'm pretty smart too.'

"She does archery, so she looks super fit."

'I may not do much, but is my body not nice enough?'

"She is also super reliable. She knows how to keep Honoka in check, and can easily lead practice." Eli laughed, which didn't bring Nozomi comfort. Anymore.

'I'm your best friend! I'm the vice president with you! Am I not reliable to you?'

"Sorry, Eli. She sounds great. But, I just need to go to the bathroom quickly." Nozomi told the blonde. She was trembling, but Eli didn't seem to notice.

"Oh, no problem!" The girl was awestruck. She kept gushing about Umi, and this didn't settle well with the purple-haired girl. As Nozomi left the table, she saw that Eli was blushing and had a huge smile on her face. And…it hurt to look at. Knowing that her one love…loved another.

She was thankful that the bathroom could only hold one person. And it was as far away from her table as possible. Because, she broke down. She cried her heart out, knowing that Eli didn't love her.

And she knew Eli didn't see much between the two past being best friends. At least, she knew now. To Nozomi, Eli came first. Then her friends. And finally, to her. She would do anything for the blonde girl. And Nozomi knew that she had to keep her thinking like this. So that Eli and her wouldn't drift apart.

And she didn't want them to drift away. Nozomi still loved Eli as her best friend. She was going to support the girl in anything she put her mind to. But it hurt.

It hurt her that she could have been a love for Eli. It hurt that Eli saw someone else in this way.

Was she a coward? She didn't put her emotions out there, so Eli wouldn't have been able to see the feelings Nozomi had. So yes, maybe she was.

But was she not forward enough? She thought that Eli would have been able to see the girl as something more. She did a lot for Eli, but did it really not do anything? She probably saw it as them two being best friends. And Nozomi cried harder at realizing that. Her subtle advances never reached Eli, and thus Eli never advanced on her feelings. But why didn't she push harder?

Because she was scared. She didn't want to put so much trust into someone. She couldn't. She only had these eight girls as true friends in her life, and she never wanted them to go away. So maybe, her heart wasn't in the right place. Was it just friendship?

No, she knew that she loved the girl. And she was too scared to put all of her trust into this one girl. But she knew. She knew that she should have put her trust into Eli. Because she was the only girl Nozomi trusted in the most.

Knock. She heard the knock and picked herself up. She cleaned herself up as best as she could. Her eyes were really red, but she knew that Eli would ask. She wiped the tears from her eyes, and put up her smile. Her supportive smile. The smile that gave her love comfort.

But the smile only gave Nozomi more pain.

"Sorry." Nozomi apologized to the person waiting and returned to her seat.

"Jeez Nozomi, what took so long?" Eli teased the girl.

Her fake smile almost broke from hearing Eli. But she stayed strong.

"Now, now Elichi. No need to get into girl's private life. Well, except for Umi-chan's." It took a lot out of Nozomi to make that joke. She wished that she said her name instead of Umi's.

"N-Nozomi!" Eli blushed at Nozomi's joke, however she did notice something. "Nozomi? Why are your eyes red?"

'Almost immediately, huh?' "Oh, I was just getting tired. So much work to do! And, now I have to keep your love life in check." Every joke that Nozomi made about Eli and Umi hurt. But she knew she had to keep making them. To still be Nozomi to her Eli. Her best friend, Eli.

"Sheesh, I'm going to faint if you keep making jokes like that. So…what should I do?" The blonde finished her parfait when Nozomi was in the bathroom. Nozomi just finished her parfait as they kept talking.

'What you should do is something I should have done a long time ago.' Nozomi painfully thought this in her mind. And she knew that she was right. Maybe Eli would have listened to her if she just took her own advice. But, it was too late now. "Tell her, Elichi. You never know, Umi-chan may like you back."

The problem, at least for Nozomi, was that she knew Umi liked Eli. Loved her. Honoka and Kotori, being Umi's best friends, understood her and knew her quirks. And when the couple pointed it out to everyone, it became blatantly obvious. Everything that Eli said about liking Umi was exactly what Umi showed. Always trying to show off when Eli watched her. Going to Eli and Nozomi for exercises. It was getting too obvious. But, this just made Eli like Umi more.

Umi didn't do these things on purpose either. She looked up to the two girls, but especially looked up to Eli. Eli was everything that Umi aspired to be, according to Kotori and Honoka.

So, why didn't Nozomi do anything? 'That's a good question. Why didn't I say anything? I could have told Eli my feelings, and maybe we could have been happy forever. But I didn't. Maybe I'm too motherly. I guess I wished for everyone else's happiness before my own. And now…I guess I'm paying for it.'

"Nozomi! You seem out of it today. I'll pay for this, let's head home." Nozomi snapped back and assumed that Eli was calling her for a while.

"Sorry, Elichi. I did say I was tired. Thanks." Nozomi felt too drained to do anything, but she pushed herself to get up and head home.

The walk to their places was silent. Nozomi saw how flustered Eli was from hearing Nozomi's advice, so she kept silent. She kept tearing up, but when Eli asked she just said that she was getting tired.

As they got to Nozomi's place, the two girls exchange their goodbyes. Eli speaks up and tells Nozomi something that isn't a goodbye. It's something much worse.

"Thanks, Nozomi. I wouldn't have done anything if you didn't push me. Like you always do." Eli giggled. All Nozomi could do was look at her. She almost broke on the spot.

"No problem, Elichi. Anything to help my best friend." She put her arms out for a hug, which Eli thankfully accepted. Nozomi almost cried at that last part she said. However, she knew that hugging Eli would let her cry anyways. She felt the body that she was holding, and how she knew that it wouldn't be hers. Anything that belonged to Eli would only be something that Nozomi didn't allow herself to have. It was all going to be Umi's when the next day came. All she could call Eli now was her best friend. And nothing else.

All she could hope was that Umi didn't accept Eli's feelings. However, that was being optimistic. She knew that Umi would, and she knows how happy Eli will be. And she cried just a bit harder.

Eli comforted the purple-haired girl (not enough for Nozomi), and left.

This gave Nozomi some comfort, but that feeling went away. The sadness that was building up in her was unleashed, and she slowly went to her bed. She didn't care about eating dinner or getting ready for bed. All she did was lie down on her somewhat comforting bed and cried. Cried until she fell asleep. Before she fell into her slumber, she had two things on her mind.

'I wish that Eli was mine. I should have said something, and now I'm going to be lonely.'

'How is school going to be tomorrow?'


A/N: Hello! This is the second School Idol Project fic I wrote. To be honest, I feel much better about this one than the other one (hence, why I put it on hiatus).

Going to keep writing, don't want to let the ideas flow out and leave me. Kinda like what's happening with the other fics I'm writing. I will finish those, but this one seems so in my mind that I want to get a lot further with this.

Anyways, if you liked this please leave reviews. I love to hear feedback because I'm still developing as a writer.

Next Chapter: The day after the confession.

Thanks for reading!

(Probably going to have another chapter or two finished, so I'll think about uploading it on the same day. Probably not, though.)