Nico and the girl stared at each other for several seconds before she slowly took the spoon out of her mouth. Nico's eyes followed the spoon as it was lowered, eyes going back up when the girl let out an embarrassed cough.
"Want some?"
Nico's jaw dropped at the question. Who did this girl think she was to take Nico's ice-cream and then ask if she wanted any?
"Excuse me, I don't think we properly introduced ourselves," Nico said. "I'm Nico Yazawa, and this is my house, and my ice-cream that you're eating."
The girl's eyes widened in surprise at Nico's statement. She seemed to contemplate this new information, before shrugging her shoulders and digging the spoon back into the ice-cream.
"What part of my ice-cream wasn't understood?" Nico exclaimed.
"I understood it, I just don't care," The girl said while shrugging, before stuffing the spoon back into her mouth.
Nico's eye twitched at the girl's attitude. Letting out an annoyed sigh, Nico marched over and wrenched the spoon out of the girls' mouth, earning a cry from her.
"That's it, no more ice-cream, no more talking! Get out of my house!"
"Fine, I know when I'm not wanted," The girl grumbled, dragging herself off the couch.
Another wave of annoyance hit Nico as she stared at the spot the redhead had been sitting.
"Do you normally come to random people's houses and bleed all over their couches after stealing from them?"
The girl flushed red and started stammering out an excuse.
"Speak up, I don't have all day here," Nico huffed.
"I didn't know I was bleeding…" The girl trailed off.
"How could you not know if you got injured?" Nico asked incredulously.
At this, the girl looked down at Nico's feet. "This isn't the first time this has happened…"
"What do you mean this isn't the first time?"
The girl's face turned even redder than Nico thought possible. "It happens about once a month I think…"
"Once a…"
Oh
Nico did not want to deal with this
Nico gave out a heavy sigh, dragging her hand over her face. "What's your name?"
"M-Maki Nishikino"
"Would I be safe in assuming you know why you're bleeding?"
Maki continued to look at Nico's feet.
Nico groaned in frustration. "Alright, follow me."
Nico led Maki to her bathroom, opening the drawer under the sink. In it was everything Maki was going to need.
"There are pads here, feel free to choose your favourite. I'll need to wash your clothes first though, so you may as well take a bath."
"T-Thanks," Maki whispered.
"Don't thank me, I'm just doing what anyone should do," Nico sighed.
Maki quickly stripped down to her underwear, hesitating slightly before taking it off as well.
Nico gave a quick nod before collecting Maki's clothes and walking out of the bathroom.
"They should be cleaned and dried in about two hours or so, just wrap a towel around yourself when you're done."
Nico missed what Maki said, but she assumed it to be some form of thanks. Shaking her head, she walked to the laundry basket and dumped the clothes in before picking it up. Bringing the basket to the laundry machine, she proceeded to stuff everything in.
"Alright," Nico said when it started spinning, "That should run for about an hour before I have to switch it to the dryer."
Now, why do I feel like I'm forgetting something? Nico thought to herself. Probably nothing.
With Maki in the bath and her clothes getting washed, Nico set about cleaning the blood on the couch. Luckily for Nico, she was experienced at getting bloodstains out of things, so it was relatively easy for her to clean the couch.
Once the couch was mostly blood free, Nico went to check how much ice-cream was left after Maki's hormone infused massacre of it.
"Oh… she owes me another tub of this stuff…" Nico said to herself, distraught at the sight of the half empty container. "Seriously, how did she eat all that in one go?"
Nico shook her head and sat down on the freshly cleaned couch. She took a quick look at the spoon before shrugging her shoulders and grabbing it. "A few bites won't hurt anyone…"
"Nico?"
"Huh?" Nico exclaimed, whipping her head to face Maki.
"You have ice-cream all over your face you know, right?" Maki said disbelievingly.
"Like you were any better," Nico responded, dropping the spoon and crossing her arms over her chest.
"Anyways, what do I do about the pads?"
"I said choose your favourite, don't tell me you don't know how to use them?" Nico asked sarcastically.
"Well, my underwear is being washed…" Maki trailed off.
Right, that's what Nico forgot about.
"Ah well, give me a few minutes. I'll figure something out."
"If you say so…"
Nico pushed herself off the couch and walked over to the laundry room, switching everything into the dryer. Once it was running, Nico ran her hand through her hair.
What am I going to do, I don't want her bleeding all over my stuff again.
A sudden thought occurred to Nico, causing her to rush to the front door. Quickly pulling her shoes on, she left the house and jogged over to the neighbouring one. Kicking the door open, Nico walked in.
"Ah, this will do," Nico said before grabbing one of the couch cushions. Nico carried it back to her house, closing the door with her foot.
"Grab a chair from the table please, my hands are full!" Nico called.
Upon entering the room, Nico was pleased that Maki listened to her.
"Good girl, now sit on this," Nico said while placing the cushion on the chair.
Maki raised her eyebrows at this, but nonetheless did as Nico asked.
"Alright, I guess we just wait until your stuff is done and you can wear that. Do you not have anything else to wear though?"
"No, not really."
"Don't you have a house or something with some clothes?" Nico asked in disbelief.
"Well, yes, but I haven't been there in a while."
"Why not?"
"I have my reasons, and as long as reason number one is still around, I refuse to go back," Maki replied.
"If you say so," Nico said unconvinced.
Both of them sat next to each other in an uncomfortable silence. After a few minutes of this, Nico decided to say something.
"So, do you usually steal other people's ice-cream?"
"Sorry," Maki said as she turned her head to look at Nico's feet. "I didn't know it was yours, and I just wanted something sweet. The door was unlocked when I tried it, so I went in assuming nobody lived here. When I found ice-cream, I just kind of…ate it."
"Well, you're sure lucky that Nico is so forgiving. If you agree to get three more of those, I can forgive you."
"Never mind, I take it back. I'm not sorry," Maki deadpanned.
"This is my house, I can still kick you out of it," Nico responded.
Both of them stared at each other for a bit before bursting out giggling.
"Alright, how about we start over?" Nico suggested.
"Sure, I'm Maki Nishikino."
"Nice to meet you, I'm Nico Yazawa," Nico said politely.
"This is stupid, we somewhat know who each other are already, do we really have to go from the very beginning."
"Party pooper," Nico huffed.
Maki stuck her tongue out at Nico, resulting in them both collapsing in a fit of giggles again.
"Wow, this is the first time I've laughed this hard in a long time," Nico said.
"Same here."
"Although, we're really going to need to get you some clothes if you're not going back to your house."
"Kind of pointless if I have nowhere to put them though," Maki said.
"You can stay here. Honestly, this house is too big for one person anyways. Besides, it would be nice to have someone to talk to."
"You'd really do that?" Maki asked.
"Sure, why not."
"Thanks," Maki said with a large smile.
"Although," Nico began, "You'll need to follow some house rules, including putting on lots of perfume. I can't stand the smell of dead things."
"Is that why everything smells like strawberries?" Maki asked. "Also, technically, we're undead."
"Whatever, same thing," Nico said while waving off Maki's remark.
"Not really."
"I'm smarter than all the other zombies by virtue of being able to talk and think. Although, I guess so are you."
"Is that your way of changing the subject?" Maki asked
"Anyways," Nico interrupted, "once your clothes are done you need to get changed so we can set up your room."
"Sure."
Satisfied, Nico got up and grabbed some books for them to read. They sat in a comfortable silence for a while, commenting on random things every now and then until Nico heard the dryer beeping.
"Ah, your stuff is done. I'll be right back," Nico said. Not giving Maki a chance to reply, she shot out of her chair and ran over to the dryer. After grabbing Maki's stuff, she ran back and threw it at Maki before running back to take her laundry to put away.
Once Nico folded and put everything away, she went to find Maki.
"Ah, there you are. There's a spare room this way."
Maki nodded her head in acknowledgement and followed Nico as she was led to her room.
"Here's the room. I've kept the whole house clean so there's no dust anywhere. I put all the pillows and blankets away though, so we'll have to dig them out of the closet."
Nico walked to the closet and opened it up, revealing the items in question. They both went to work making the bed and putting the pillows back in the pillowcases. Once they finished, Nico inspected their work.
"I think everything looks nice. Are you okay sleeping here?"
"Yeah, it's fine. Thanks again for letting me stay," Maki said.
"No problem. Feel free to move things around while I make dinner. Is there anything specific you want?" Nico asked.
"Anything with tomatoes is fine."
"Figures with that ridiculous hair colour of yours," Nico snickered.
"At least I know how to be polite."
"At least I know not to steal ice-cream from others," Nico said while sticking her tongue out.
"Are you really going to hold that against me still? I already apologised."
"Holding it against you is too much fun. Anyways, I'm off to make dinner, see you in a bit."
Nico skipped out of the room and went to the kitchen. Tomato soup was the obvious choice as it required little work and contained what was apparently Maki's favourite food. Maybe the tomatoes were responsible for Maki's hair colour?
It didn't take long to make the dinner and call Maki down. To Nico's relief, Maki liked the food, which meant she had one thing she could make that required little work. After putting everything away, Nico bid Maki goodnight and went to bed early, exhausted from her eventful day. Closing her eyes, Nico slowly drifted to sleep.
Nico's eyes suddenly fluttered open. Something seemed off. Nico sat up and looked around. Everything seemed normal, except for a bad smell. It almost smelled like something burning Nico thought.
Getting out of bed, Nico made her way to the door and opened it. Something was definitely burning. With this in mind, Nico ran down the stairs and into the kitchen where the smell was strongest. The sight of Maki running around opening windows with smoke coming out of a frying pan greeted her.
"What happened?"
Maki's head whipped around to face Nico, and in the process, she tripped and fell flat on her face, which got a snicker from Nico.
"I was trying to make eggs for breakfast as thanks, but then they started burning!" Maki exclaimed while pushing herself off the ground.
Nico raised her eyebrows as she looked towards the stove, the temperature clearly too high for making eggs.
"First of all, what temperature do you think is required to scramble some eggs. Second of all, the first thing you should have done is take the pan off the stove element when it started burning."
Maki's face turned bright red at this before she ran and pulled the pan off the element.
"On second thought, let me help out before you start causing permanent damage to my kitchen."
"I can cook, I just messed it up a little bit," Maki whispered embarrassedly.
Nico decided not to say anything and ruin Maki's dignity any further. Instead, Nico set about airing the room out and cleaning everything, including scraping the horribly burnt eggs into the sink.
Note to self, never let her cook unsupervised, Nico thought.
Once the kitchen was cleaned, Nico sent Maki to sit at the table while she made something edible. Taking pity on Maki, Nico cut some tomatoes and served them with scrambled eggs, apparently something that even Maki could mess up.
"So," Nico began while finishing chewing. "I was thinking we can go to the mall and get some shopping done today. Is that fine with you?"
Maki nodded her head in response, still too embarrassed by her kitchen mishap.
"Hey, it happens to the best of us," Nico reassured Maki. "Maybe we can start with something easy, like cereal."
"There's no cooking involved in cereal," Maki rebutted while glaring at Nico.
"True, but I also want to keep my kitchen in one piece."
"Why did I ever get it into my head that you would attempt to cheer me up?"
"Because I bring smiles to everyone's faces?"
"And you do that by making fun of me?"
"Well, it sure brought a smile to my face," Nico replied cheekily, earning another glare from Maki.
"Alright I get it. Why don't you put the stuff in the dishwasher then? I'm sure you can accomplish that."
Maki grumbled something unintelligible under her breath, causing Nico to let out another snicker. After they finished eating, Maki put everything in the dishwasher, delighting Nico to know she wasn't completely incompetent.
After a few minutes of getting ready, they both set off for the mall. This time, Nico made sure to lock the door and double check it was locked. After ten minutes of walking Maki started talking.
"Did you lock the door this time?"
"Yes?" Nico said confused. "You saw me lock it, I even asked you to confirm I locked it."
"Did you now? I don't remember," Maki said while grinning.
Nico felt annoyance bubbling in her. Was Maki trying to make her second guess herself? If so it wasn't working.
At least, that's what Nico told herself as she had them turn around so she could check the door, causing Maki to burst out laughing when Nico confirmed the door was in fact locked.
"You know, I really hate you right now," Nico huffed.
"I know, and it was completely worth it. That's what happens when you make fun of me."
"Remind me to drop an ice-cube down your shirt when we get home," Nico grumbled.
They continued walking to the mall in peace, occasionally bickering about random things. Nico was pretty sure Maki was trying to annoy her, all the more infuriating because she was successful. Although, Nico recognised the hypocrisy in complaining as she was doing the same to Maki. Even so, Nico felt happy to have someone to talk to.
Upon entering the mall, Nico grabbed Maki's hand and started pulling her. There were several stores she wanted to bring Maki to, all of which contained multiple things Nico wanted Maki to try. What was the point in getting clothes if they didn't look good?
"Here, this store will work. I know it has some cute clothes that I think would look good on you."
"Why do I get the feeling you're just going to make me play dress up?" Maki questioned.
"Don't worry about it," Nico laughed. "It will be fun, trust me. I mean, look at that dress! Isn't it so cute?"
"I'm not trying that on."
"What?" Nico said appalled. "Why not?"
"That's way to pink. It also has far too many frills."
"Party pooper."
Maki stuck her tongue out at Nico, causing her to shake her head in mock disappointment. While doing this Nico noticed someone at the store entrance. A closer look revealed it to be that same ashen haired girl from before.
"Hello?" Nico asked confused.
The girl looked at Nico confused, then caught sight of Maki and started smiling.
"Maki! I haven't seen you in a while, I see you've made a new friend?"
"I suppose," Maki said while twirling her hair. "Her name's Nico. She's letting me stay at her house."
"Oh, that's wonderful," the girl said while clasping her hands together. "Nice to meet you Nico, thanks for helping Maki out. My name's Kotori."
"Nice to meet you. We're currently clothes shopping for Maki, but she's being a bit stubborn."
Kotori's eyes started sparkling at this.
"Mind if I help?" Kotori asked hopefully.
A quick look behind her revealed Maki's face going pale at this. Nico felt a smirk form on her face.
"Sure, but we have to get her into the frilliest of dresses.
"Sure, I can't wait to see her try them on. I can even make some clothes for both of you, you'll both look so cute!" Kotori said delighted.
While Kotori and Nico started talking about clothes, Maki's face went white as she realised what she had gotten herself into.
Author's Note: Chapter 2 is finally posted, thank-you to Super Idol Nico Yazawa for editing everything! Also, there will be no "angst/tragedy twist" (unless you count a crazy Kotori), so it will be all good.