"...Onegai. We need her. Muse will be nothing without her." Umi bowed deeply, taers falling from her cheeks. The blue hair used all her will and hopes, to beg a certain one.

"Please Papa." As feeling overwhelm her mind, the usual stiff and solid Maki had also broken down her own barriers. She waz crying, and kneel down next to her father "I want to be a school idol."

The atmostphere suddenly became heavier. The other member silently gulp, didn't dare to move even their own bodies. Much to their surprise, Maki's father let out a small sigh, before turning to his daughter

"Fairly well, I will allow you to become a school idol." He finished with a small smile, eyed both girls with a little being defeated

"Eh, hontou? Arigatou...Uwah.." Umi lifted her head up immidiately, only to meet a smiling Nishikino-san, and a tight embrace from his daughter.

"Arigatou Umi..." Maki said while still crying. Umi found it weird at first when Maki snuggle further into her body. Searching for a rescure, the blue hair shot her gaze to her friends. And she regretted it immidiately. Well, Honoka and Kotori were looking at them with joy, Rin was as usual, Hanayo wiped away her tears. Eli gave Umi a thumb up, well, Nico too. And Nozomi was...etou, being her. The purple hair fake out a sad smile, while wiping away a tear drop, before look at them with a "I am so proud my kids had grown up" look. Umi knew it too well, they were in the same unit after all.

Knowing that her friends were helpless at these kinds of situation, Umi decided to deal with the crying red hair alone. Slightly stroking Maki's hair, the red hair softly said

"You are important to me.." Realizing what she said, Umi quickly covered "You are important to us."

"Um."

Huh...

"Maki,.." "Maki-chan.."

As a voice calling her name, Maki lazily rubbed her eyes, woke up from a small rest. When light stopped annoying her vision, she quickly realized it was her mother who called her.

"Mama...Where are we?" The red hair yawn, acted as if she was a little child who just woke up. Her mother didn't seem to care about it. Instead, she found it pretty amusing.

"You are going out with your friends today? Remember?" Well, it was suppose to be Maki alone. But her mother insisted to drive the car for the red hair. And basically, she couldn't deny it. As she have a very trussful driver, Maki decided to take a short nap. Or more like her body decided on its own.

"You didn't take any sleep last night ei. Got bags under your eyes there." Nishikino-san teased her daughter "...Perharps you stayed awake thinking about..."

"Mama, we had agreed not to talk about that."

"Ahh, gomen neh Maki-chan,.." Nishikino-san suddenly gasped as if she realized something. "By the way, we are here. Your friends are over there."

"Hai, I knew it. Bye mama." Maki grabbed her sunglasses, not forget to say goodbye to her mother before coming out of the car. As the car went away, a cool sensation was the first thing Maki could sense.

"Sõda neh. It's autumn..." The red hair mumbled to herself. And she soon smiled at that thought. Autumn had always reminded her of Hanayo. It was the season of new rice after all (according to their rice lover). She didn't expect to meet her again so early tho.

"Ahh, it's Maki-chan."

"Huh..." Maki tuned her head to where the voice came from, only to find a familiar face. Of course, it had to be Hanayo, behind her was Rin. The red hair knew it without looking.

"Long time no see, Hanayo, Rin." Maki took out her glasses, her lips curved into a smile as she greeted the two. And much to her surprise, Rin had jumped to her place and hugged her tightly.

"Maki-chan, you know I miss you soooooo much..." Rin rubbed her face to the side of Maki, like a real cat "...You have always ignored me. Hidoi nya~"

"Ehh, no, I don't do things like that." While Maki was struggling to free herself from Rin's hug, Hanayo just looked at them wigh a knowing smile.

"Rin-chan, you know Maki-chan isn't that kind of person." Hanayo quickly pulled Rin away from the red hair, and Maki deeply thanked her for that.

"So where are the others?" The red hair cleared her throat,

"We are here, Maki-chan." Nozomi decided to join in.

Great, speak of the devil

"Uwahh, long time no see Maki-chan." Honoka excitedly greeted the red hair, while Kotori and Eli just stood from far away and waved their hands to Maki.

"You must have such honor to be a friend with the No.1...Arghh..." Nico brought out her usual smug face again, and Nozomi quickly chopped her head "It hurts you know."

"I know, that is why I hit you." Nozomi put a finger under her chin,

"Ughh, omae..." Nico grifted her teeth, but she knew she couldn't do anything else, so the shorter girl just huff "Huh. Whatever."

"Okay, mina-san, where do we go now?" Honoka clapped her hands together, only to receive a blank stare from the other.

"I can go anywhere nya~"

"Hah? You called us out, and now you asking us?"

"Eh hehe..." The orange hair scratched her cheeks, rolled her eyes to avoid all those answer "..You guys know me."

"Hphm, where to go now?" Nozomi landed her gaze on Maki "Maki-chan, any ideas?"

"Uehh, why me?" Seven pairs of eyes quickly turned to her "Ughh, so how about go to where all you guys wanna go?"

It was an old idea, but the others soon followed it. As the day passed by, the girls had made their way to many different places. White rice restaurant for Hanayo, appearantly. Shrine for Nozomi. Idol shops for Nico, and Hanayo too. Kotori, etou, they learnt a lesson that day: never let her wander alone in a shopping mall. Honoka and Eli, they just wanted to play, so it was obvious that they chose game center.

"Maki-chan, where do you want to go?"

Maki couldn't catch her breath at all. Being dragged to many places in just a day, was not her thing.

"Just anywhere I can rest...It's getting dark you know."

Realized that the red hair was on the edge of being totally exhausted, Eli immidiately decided.

"Okay, we'll go to a coffee then."

The others excitedly responsed, but Maki was still tired.

"Yeah yeah, whatever.." The red hair was a bit grumpy, and Nozomi noticed it right away. As the others walked in front her, the purple hair girl grabbed Eli by her sleeves, before whispered.

"Elichi, Maki-chan didn't seem to enjoy today."

"Sõda neh." Nozomi wasn't the only one who thinked like that, "We can't blame her. It was just too hard for her to get through."

Eli's voice was mixed between sad and sorrow. The two girls just sighed, before catching up with the others.

Maki-chan, I know that feeling..

A/N:

This story will probably shorter than I expect it to be.

I really like writing one shots you know. Maybe I should write a collection after this. Hehe.

Welp, you can search for UmiMaki in SID. Kimino-sensei is both awsome and not awsome at the same time. Sure, she is awsome, but what pissed me off (still) is the fact that Umi didn't get her own espisode. Ughh

Okay okay, enough with me. See ya around.