Chapter 3

"So, have you two finished writing the songs?"

It was a week since they had decided to split up, and they were back together in the clubroom. Printemps was already practising their song on the rooftop; it seemed like they had barely encountered any difficulties writing their lyrics at all. According to what Honoka had mentioned offhand during a conversation earlier, Hanayo had written a song within a day and Kotori followed up the next upon reading hers.

Nico's eyebrow twitched when she thought of all the work she had put into her song. Despite deciding upon her theme, it had still taken her almost the whole week to nail down the lyrics. Are those girls monsters or something?

Even now she still wasn't happy with her work. But it wasn't her fault, it was the music Maki had given her! Really, how on earth was she supposed to fit anything coherent within that tune?!

"Here," Maki shrugged as she handed a sheet of paper to Eli nonchalantly. As if it had barely taken her any effort at all.

The twin-tailed girl let loose a soft growl, handing over her lyrics as well. Come to think of it if Maki had been the one making the music, surely she would've known which piece was the harder one. So that was why she was fine with taking the first song!

Scanning rapidly through Maki's lyrics, Eli frowned. "This song looks about right. Though the message is a bit confusing."

The redhead composer only remained silent, twirling her hair again. And so Nico grabbed the sheet of paper from Eli, reading intensely only to blink in surprise. The Diamond Princess's Melancholy. And these lyrics... they're just like what I thought about her the other day. Does Maki view herself the same way? Is this song a message for me?

With her typical smirk to hide her thoughts, Nico began her teasing. "Oh? Maki-chan fancies herself as a princess~ I know it's in your name and all but you shouldn't make it so obvious or the fans will think you're being haughty, you know~"

Her teasing was met only with silence as Maki tossed her head the other way, ignoring the black-haired girl. The sight made the small girl falter slightly: it was unusual for the other to not respond to her teasing. Was what happened a few days ago still on her mind?

Moving onto the next sheet of paper with Nico's song, Eli's eyebrow twitched. "Just get together already you two," she muttered under her breath.

"What was that?"

"I said, as expected of Nico," Eli let loose an amused sigh, the smile on her face lighting up the room. "I think these look fine, why don't we try singing to see how it works out?"

After a run-through of the two songs, the trio sat down once again, frowns present on their faces. Silence reigned in the room for a short while as the last vestiges of the music continued ringing in their minds, each one of them assessing just what was wrong. Even during the songs they had already felt each other's growing unease.

"Something's missing," the composer mused.

"I knew it, Maki-chan's song was lacking after all! It's my victory!"

"Speak for yourself! Your song had even more empty gaps than mine!"

"Calm down, you two. Maki's song felt like it was missing something during the verses, but Nico's song also felt like it was missing impact during the choruses..."

With a scowl, Nico grabbed one of the sheets of lyrics from Eli and began scribbling away.

"Wha- what are you doing?! That's my song!"

"Keep quiet! Let Nico show you her prowess and fix your song for you!"

Maki was taken aback for a short while, the glower on her face growing stronger before she grabbed the other sheet from Eli and began scribbling away herself.

Caught in between the two again, Eli could only sigh once more. At this rate her hair was going to turn white prematurely.

"Done!" the raven-haired girl declared triumphantly as she slid the sheet of paper back to the centre.

"Mou... fine, that should do it," Maki passed her sheet back to Eli too.

"Nico, when did you learn to actually use English?.."

"You... I do study from time to time, okay?!" the diminutive girl waved her arms wildly in indignation.

"Maybe not enough," Maki's lip curled while she tried to suppress a smile, looking at the lyrics over Eli's shoulder.

"Grr... It was the best I could do! And what's with these lyrics? It's like you just threw in random words in the middle of the chorus!"

The redhead shrugged, fiddling with her hair. "I was just trying to imagine what sort of lyrics you would write. It sounds very much like you to me."

"You-..."

"Stoooop!" Eli raised a hand to her temples, rubbing away at the growing ache. Though there was a surprising utter lack of tension between the two despite their seemingly-heated argument, it still irked her to be in the middle. "Let's just give it a try and see how it works out, okay?"

And so BiBi gave their songs another shot, the clubroom echoing with their voices.

"That... went surprisingly well," Maki murmured in a disbelieving tone.

"Ufufu, now you realise the extent of Nico's genius. There's nothing Nico can't do, you know~" Though Nico's voice was confident in her teasing, she was just as startled inwardly by how right the songs had sounded. I guess... we really complete each other, huh?

"Maki really fixed your song for you too though," the blonde was quick to point out. "It sounded a lot cuter than it was previously, it now really suits the image you were going for."

Nico's smirk slipped off her face at the reminder of her own failure. "Hmph. I could've fixed it myself if we had tried it out and I had more time to work on it."

"We need to work out who's singing which part though," Eli began marking on the sheet for The Diamond Princess's Melancholy. "Since someone here doesn't seem quite able to carry the solo English lines."

"... Oh shut up, you. It's not like I'll be needing to speak it in society anyway! What's the point!"

Eli laughed as she carefully put away the lyrics and picked up her bag. "I'll work on these at home and we can begin practice proper the next time we meet. Thanks for the hard work today."

A tense silence hung over the room once it was just the two of them left.

I haven't been alone with her since that day... What's with this uncomfortable atmosphere? Nico fidgeted on her seat while she struggled to figure out something to do. "Not going to the music room today?"

Silence.

Nico couldn't take it any longer. Springing out of her seat, she slammed her hands on the table. "What is it with-"

"Nico-chan."

Just one word. Maki locked eyes with the third-year, and just like that her angry tirade was cut off even before it began. Nico found herself mesmerized by the younger girl's eyes, lost in their amethyst depths even as the other girl finished what she was saying.

"Let's go on a date."

Judging by the heat she felt at that moment, Nico knew that her face was every bit as red as the composer's.

This has to be a dream. But if it is, please don't wake me up for just a little while longer.

The hours following that fateful sentence had passed in a blur, no matter how hard Nico had tried to engrave them in her memories. It had been so unbelievable, so inconceivable, that it seemed to blur together with her daydreams. And yet she knew that no matter how close to her fantasies it had been, the real deal was so much better.

After they left the school they had each gone home to change, with Nico tearing through her wardrobe like a hurricane. Since it still wasn't that cold out yet she had put together a simple outfit of a black top and white frilly skirt, along with a set of black heels to make up for the height difference between the two.

The two had met again wordlessly. Though Nico was a little bit disappointed by the simplistic blue sweater the first-year had thrown on, she was also too busy ogling her sleek long legs under those red shorts to care.

Dinner had tasted somewhat bland to Nico - or rather, by now she had almost forgotten just what it was she ate at that family restaurant. Amusingly enough, it was still silence that dominated most of their conversation, but it no longer held the same oppressive quality it did earlier. It was a comfortable silence that stretched between the two, interspersed with bits of conversation from Nico about the costumes she was working on with Kotori, or the newest songs Maki was creating.

In between those short lines both girls were clearly looking at each other, though they continued to narrowly avoid eye contact. Neither of them mentioned it, nor even made any outward sign of it such as awkward smiles or forced small talk. It was almost as if it was the way it was supposed to be.

The walk along the streets afterwards, Nico couldn't really have cared less where they were going. It wasn't their first time walking along by themselves (there were plenty of times Nico had... coincidentally ended up going home the same time as Maki), but having had it termed as a date... Should she try to hold the redhead's hand? Nico found herself feeling almost dizzy at the prospect.

In the end, the twin-tailed girl never quite found the courage.

It was already rather late at night when they found themselves by the river, the sun having set hours ago. Despite the amount of traffic clogging up the roads, they were sufficiently far enough from it all to have some relative quiet in their deserted walkway. Nico stopped alongside a wooden billboard displaying a map of the area and its significance. This was as good a place as any.

With a sigh, Maki leaned against the railing with a pensive expression on her face.

Now. Now was the time. Nico took a deep breath as she stood in front of the first-year, asking the question that had been on her mind all night long.

"Maki, what's up with you?"

Silence was her only answer yet again. Except Maki at least averted her gaze downwards this time round, which was a new sign Nico hadn't quite seen before in her extensive private dictionary of 'Maki's actions and what they mean'.

The raven-haired girl bit her lip as she pondered her options. After all this time watching Maki, she knew the other girl would never bow to force.

"I won't make fun of you, you know."

Nothing.

"Come on, Maki, you can tell Nico all your troubles~"

Drop.

Nico blinked in surprise as Maki finally looked up with trails of tears streaming down her face, yet her expression was horribly blank. With her fists clenched, nails digging into her skin, the redhead advanced slowly on Nico.

"Maki?.." Nico couldn't help but back away from the other girl, but soon found herself trapped against a lamppost. Maki on the other hand continued closing in, until their faces were mere centimetres apart.

In the distance, a series of warning chimes sounded as a railway crossing lowered its barriers. Almost like a siren, an ominous premonition of what was about to rip through Nico's heart.

"I just wanted to say thank you."

Their lips met in a gentle kiss, warm and slightly moist from where Maki's tears lingered. But Nico could feel nothing but sadness from the act, a seeping despair that paralysed her mind.

"Thank you... and goodbye."

Backing away, the composer broke and ran, wiping furiously at her eyes.

Nico raised a hand after her but somehow couldn't find her voice. This was wrong. This wasn't the way it was supposed to be.

Falling upon her knees, Nico began weeping her own tears of sorrow.

The beautiful girls that you see in your dreams
May very well only exist in movies
But no one knows for sure
I won't say "I'll protect you..." or anything as I disappear
Instead I'll burn hotter than those brittle and fragile ones
I'm challenging you, you know?

Author's Note: Regarding the first half, for those who are unaware, the characters for Maki's given name translate literally into "True Princess". Also, no offence to Soramaru orz it's just Nico I'm poking fun at for the English part, I swear. =X
Anyway from the concerts, Maki is indeed the centre for Diamond Princess's Melancholy, and Nico the centre for Love Novels, which is why the songs suit them so much.
Love Novels is one of my all-time favourites. I joined LLSIF last year when a Love Novels event was ongoing, it's stuck with me ever since.

Second half, S2 EP1 dating clothes and spot muahaha. FYI in real life that place is like, right next to the main road if I'm not wrong. Totally not a good dating spot at all.
Writing that last section was every bit as painful for me as it was for you to read it, I swear.