Balloon

After her idol group ended, Nico had stopped, not only practicing, but exercising. In fact, she'd spent the time she told her family she was practicing sitting in a chair in dim light in front of a computer screen. Then when she got home, she had no other outlets for her creativity than improving her cooking skills, including lots of tasting. The upshot was a somewhat heftier, and definitely flabbier, Nico-nii. She had gotten a handle on it in second year, but she couldn't find enough enthusiasm inside to get back in shape, so she settled for firm dieting. She wasn't anorexic, or anything, but barely on the healthy side of light, going forward. Unconsciously, she regarded 50kg the way other, larger girls would have regarded 100 kilos - something unimaginable you'd never even get close to. Her mental limit was 45 kilos and even there she usually wasn't even close.

Once the µ's practices had started up, Nico'd regained muscle mass, which tended to increase her weight, and she'd unconsciously reduced her fat to where it was barely healthy, to stay under 40 kg. Probably, only Maki knew all this. She'd drawn some of it out of Nico over the course of months when the two girls who came early were all alone in the club room, and nominally, Maki was reading and Nico was browsing the web. The rest came out after they started dating, as Maki noticed Nico wasn't eating much. Even her well-known love of sweets, it turned out, was indulged only once a week at most. It worried Maki a little, but she had to admit Nico looked healthy most of the time. At least Maki got Niko to go home earlier when she didn't need to be at school, so she was finally getting enough sleep. Still, Maki worried about how she'd take care of herself once she went away from Maki's watchful eye.

When Nico left to go to a performance arts college on a scholarship, their parting had been tearful, but she'd noticed Nico's determined attitude when they met for Christmas this year, when Nico said they'd "talk" over summer break. On an impulse, Maki had given Nico her "lucky" heavy steel mechanical pencil, the one she'd never failed to get an "A" with on tests. Only Nico understood the significance of that, and she'd hugged Maki even harder.

Nico had done much better than anyone expected. She was acing all her classes and had gotten a dozen performances in. At least two agencies had sent her offers serious enough that Nico was trying them both out. Just as importantly, she'd made some money doing commercials, enough that she could buy necessities and still give her family some help.

Maki wasn't sure she was looking forward to the meet-up. Everyone else in µ's was buzzing with information about Nico they were obviously sworn to secrecy on when it came to Maki. Rin and Honoka were doing a poor job containing their excitement, as usual, but everyone was obviously psyched up. She just hoped Nico didn't do anything too embarrassing.

Nico had wanted to meet her in a beautiful location with a wide clearing near a scenic vista overlooking Hatonosu Gorge. Maki got a little more nervous. It looked suspiciously like something a boy would do if he was going to propose. But she was only seventeen, and while girls in Tokyo could get certificates, they couldn't get married. Well, that wouldn't stop Nico, would it? Reality had been fighting a losing battle with Nico her whole life, after all. Reluctantly, she realized she was smiling as she thought that.

She'd noticed a truck she associated with festivals parked nearby, but fortunately, saw no signs of one going on in the area. But near the truck was Nozomi with a video camera, and the rest of µ's wasn't far away, except for Nico. The girl she at first took for Nico was actually Cocoro, and she noticed Nico's family, including her mom, were there.

She then noticed a blob of red coming over the edge of the hillside. As it drew closer, she noticed it was a bunch of heart-shaped helium balloons, a little over a meter across. Each one had hiragana on them, and the top balloons had ... well ... "NISHIKINO MAKI" spelled out as you read them going across ... She smiled ... then she noticed that more and more balloons were appearing, and still no person. Her heart started to clench. Even Nico, she assured herself, wouldn't be quite so reckless as to ...

But sure enough, skipping and floating along came her girlfriend, with a band around her waist attached to what looked like almost forty giant heart-shaped balloons, spelling out "Nishikino Maki, I love you, please marry me and make Nico the happiest girl on Earth."

As she drew closer to the gorge, Maki's worst fears were realized. A sudden gust of wind sprang up, and so did Nico. Up, and up, and up she went, a look of wide-eyed terror on her face. Her heart in her mouth, Maki broke and ran towards her. They were near the gorge, after all. Admittedly, Nico might drift down safely, but there were downdrafts, cross-winds jagged rocks, and the Otama river in that gorge.

Maki yelled one word out. Not "Nico!" but "Pencil!" She heard that some of the µ's girls, probably Rin, Umi and Eli, were catching up to her from behind, but paid that no mind. Nico wiggled around fumbling with something at her waist. Maki had noticed she couldn't untie or pull apart the strong twine holding her to the balloons, so she crossed her fingers. Suddenly, one of the balloons deflated. Then another. Then another.

"Faster, Nico-chan!" Maki yelled. She ran towards the gorge, under Nico. "I'll catch you, Nico! Please, I love you, hurry!"

More than half of the balloons had deflated and Nico's descent increased. Maki leaped and grabbed Nico, tripping over her feet but not letting go of Nico's legs. Although Maki's fall made Nico bump the ground, apparently she didn't lose her grip on the pencil. By the time Nico's momentum and the remaining balloons had dragged them to the edge of the gorge, only the balloons spelling out Maki's name were left. Meanwhile, Eli and Umi had grabbed Maki's legs and they came to a halt.

Maki was shaking. She wasn't sure how much was blind terror and how much was rage, but both were there, in spades. "Against all my better judgment ..." she began.

Nico, Rin, Umi and Eli held their breath. Nozomi had just arrived, and was filming away. She could always erase it if things went wrong. "I am still inclined to say yes, only because it would prey on my conscience if such a stupid, idiotic, reckless, self-destructive, idiotic, careless, stupid, idiotic, reckless ..." okay she was just repeating herself ... "CHILD were allowed outside without a keeper and died playing in traffic or something." Nico had taken off the belt, and Maki noticed her name tangentially, floating out over the gorge.

She felt herself being enveloped in small, shaking arms and reflexively she returned the hug. Tears were spilling down her front, but she ignored them. Much to her surprise, Nozomi interrupted their reunion.

"Maki-chan, congratulations. There is a bright side to this whole thing, you know."

Both Nico and Maki turned to stare at Nozomi, appalled. But she shrugged off their disbelieving looks. "First of all, Nicocchi knows that Maki-chan will save her at need. But most importantly, Nicocchi has a tendency to get full of herself, and if that creates friction, Maki-chan ... well, from now on, you just have to say one word and she'll settle down."

Nico started to protest furiously, but Nozomi just looked at her and said "Balloon!" with a wink. Maki noted for future use how immediately it shut Nico's sputtering down. She would make sure Nozomi sent her all the video footage, and she'd keep it in a safe place.

Maybe this marriage thing would end up working out, after all.