Chapter 3: Bento Woes

Maki clutched her head in her hands in a rare sign of distress, rubbing away at the dull throbbing ache in her temples. It was only the second day of the week, and it had already taken a turn for the worse. And looking at how it was right now, it didn't look like it was about to get better.

Or could it? What was this strange feeling in her heart? Was she... nervous?

"Come on, Maki-chan, it's really important nya! Please~"

How was it that one girl alone could manage to wreak so much havoc within her mind?


Maki had greeted that morning in a foul mood, drowsy from lack of sleep and annoyed at the birds that refused to stop chirping despite how early it was. When she had rolled onto her side to blearily glance at her clock with an amethyst glare, it had informed her that it was still a good half hour before her alarm was due to go off. Maki had spent the remaining time futilely trying to return to sleep, desperately trying to regain a hold upon the warmth within her dreams.

Not that she would ever admit what she dreamed to herself, of course. It was bad enough that the issue had kept her up all night as it was.

So Maki had descended the stairs an hour and half afterwards once she had washed up, and entered the dining room to the sight of her breakfast sitting alongside her lunch box for the day... or rather, two lunch boxes wrapped in the same cloth. Furrowing her brow in confusion, she turned to her mother who was sitting across the table.

"Mama, this is mine right? Why are there two bentos?"

"Hmm? I had the chef make an extra one for your friend. Rin-chan, was it? She's a delightful girl, you should invite her over more often." With a sip of her coffee, her mother turned her attention back to reading the paper as if the issue was as simple as that.

She- she's still totally misunderstanding what happened yesterday! "... But that doesn't mean we should go to the extent of making a bento for her!"

"The chef didn't find it troublesome at all, since it's all the same ingredients anyway. You know he dotes on you too, Maki, he was all too happy to make one for Rin-chan as well."

Maki felt herself quickly losing ground, unable to find the right words to express herself. "That's not the problem here!"

"... Hmm, I see. So that's how it is..."

"Mama..." A wave of relief sunk over Maki. At least the misunderstanding would be cleared now.

"You wanted to make it for her yourself, isn't it?"

"Noooo!"


And so she had ended up at lunch time with one extra bento than she should have. The trio of first-years were surprisingly alone on the rooftop, despite the cool winds and fluffy clouds that blocked out most of summer's dazzling rays and brought it to a comfortable level. It was a good day to bask outside, rare in the impending stifling heat waves and insane temperature levels that made up most of summer. A familiar shout of "Come back here Honoka!" echoing all the way from the courtyard below (which they ignored since it was business as usual) let them know they weren't the only ones with that idea.

As Hanayo opened up her own bento, rice balls as always, Maki mentally ran through a hundred scenarios and a thousand different lines on how to present her second bento. As expected, Rin who was sitting in the centre had brought her own lunch of sandwiches, which made Maki's extra bento all the more awkward.

Staring at the two bentos still wrapped in the napkin, the composer found herself freezing up with a complex look and a blush on her face. How on earth had she gotten herself stuck in this situation?!

"Hmm? Maki-chan isn't eating?" Hanayo's words were muffled through a full mouthful of rice, which she managed to swallow without any difficulty.

"I... "

"Maki-chan's bento looks bigger than usual nya! Aren't you hungry just looking at it?"

Maki's stomach chose that very instant to punctuate Rin's statement with a growl, leaving the redhead (and now red-faced) no choice but to go ahead with it lest she be stuck without food the entire lunch. Gritting her teeth, Maki unwrapped the napkin and picked up the upper bento, shoving it in Rin's direction.

"Eh? Maki-chan?"

"Here you go just take it already the chef made too much and Mama asked me to bring the extras to school to share with you since you came over yesterday and it definitely wasn't because they made a bento specially for you so don't get the wrong idea okay?"

Maki's face was now a deep shade of crimson, both from embarrassment and lack of oxygen. Everything had come out in a whole rush of words so fast even she had no idea what she herself said. Frankly speaking if not for her singing practice, she doubted she could've said that much in one go.

At least Rin seemed to have gotten the message, her eyes lighting up as she took hold of the bento and placed it on top of her lap, a smile of pure innocent joy spreading across her face.

"Free food nya! Let's all share it together!"

Okay, so maybe she didn't get all of it, but at least the important part got through if she didn't think it was personal enough that she had to eat it by herself.

Turning her attention back to her own bento, Maki took off the cover partially only to slam it back down before the other two could see what was inside. What- what did I just see? Opening the lid once more experimentally, she confirmed her worst fears before sealing it as tight as she could. It was over. There went her lunch, forever lost with no hope of being eaten. Not in front of the other two anyway.

It was almost pretty standard fare from her chef. Hot dogs cut in the shape of an octopus, sweet egg rolls, potato croquettes and fresh lettuce... Just because their family was decently well off didn't mean they ate extravagantly for normal meals. No, what was wrong with it was the fried rice that had replaced the normal white rice she was used to seeing.

Or specifically, the large heart drawn upon it in ketchup.

Her face paling as white as her song sheets, the composer turned to Rin who was still happily reaching out to open the gifted bento, humming some upbeat tune to herself. With the speed of lightning brought about by desperation, Maki's hand snatched the bento away before her classmate could do so.

"Eh?.. What was that for, Maki-chan?"

"I... changed my mind. I'm quite hungry so I think I'll eat it myself. Afterwards."

Way to go, Nishikino Maki. Totally top-notch acting there. I'm sure your best friends would buy it without hesitation, the sarcastic part of her mind snarked without relent despite the gravity of the situation.

"If you're hungry you should eat it now nya! After this you won't get to eat till after school! And so that if you can't finish it Rin will help you!"

"No, I..." Maki took a deep breath to calm herself, her mind racing through every plausible excuse before deciding on the most well-reasoned one. She would have to deliver this with the utmost conviction. "I'm sorry Rin, I just realised the chef mixed fish into the rice. I know you hate fish the most so it'll probably smell pretty bad to you, I just didn't want to put you off your appetite."

The orange-haired girl seemed taken aback by the explanation, momentarily speechless. "Rin uhh... Thanks Maki-chan," she muttered awkwardly while scratching her head. "But you don't have to force yourself, especially since it's your lunch. Rin doesn't want Maki-chan to go hungry either."

"It's okay. I'll just... find somewhere to dispose of this." Rising up to leave, Maki froze when a hand shot out to grab her arm.

"No! Maki-chan should eat with us! Rin doesn't care if it's fish or anything!"

"I can't possibly- let me go!"

"Rin wants Maki-chan to stay nya!"

"Just let me go already!"

Surprisingly, the one who put an end to the argument was Hanayo. Rising up from her seat with a strangely annoyed face, she snatched one of the bentos from Maki and popped it open while holding the lid carefully to block it from Rin's sight. Given that her childhood friend was still sitting down anyway, it wasn't a particularly hard task.

Maki gulped as Hanayo stared at the bento between them for a few long seconds, expression unreadable. This was it. Her life was over. Hanayo was going to get the wrong idea and Rin would most probably be way too confused and there would be a whole slew of awkward questions and their friendship would never be the same again. Not for the first time that day, Maki wished she could just dig a hole into the ground and bury herself within it.

After a while more of nerve-wrecking tension, Hanayo finally moved to retrieve a pair of chopsticks while carefully keeping the bento's contents out of Rin's sight. With much vigorous stirring of the rice, she lifted a clump up and smelled it before placing it in her mouth.

"I don't think there's fish inside, Maki-chan. Were you mistaken? Here you go, Rin-chan."

"Thank you nya!" Accepting the proffered bento, Rin stared at it in delight. "It looks delicious! Thank you too Maki-chan!"

"Uhh... it's nothing." Maki found herself too stunned by the sudden turn of events to respond properly.

"Let me check that other bento too, Maki-chan," the brunette offered as she took the second bento and mixed the rice well without a single comment before tasting it. "Nope, this one tastes and smells fine too."

"I... Thanks, Hanayo." In the end, her stubborn personality couldn't come up with the right words to thank her classmate for her life-saving actions.

"It's nothing. Don't go stressing out and thinking you have to do everything by yourself, Maki-chan. You might just make mistakes like just now."

The redhead paused uncertainly, not sure what to make of her classmate's words. "I'm... not sure what you mean, Hanayo."

"You're not alone, Maki-chan! If there's something you need help with, you can always count on me!"

"And Rin too nya! Though Rin doesn't really understand what we're talking about..."

Is Hanayo... trying to support me? But wait, that means she's got the wrong idea too!

Despite that though, it still felt comforting. Somehow knowing that Hanayo would support her if she liked Rin (hypothetically, of course) in that way, and the obvious implication that Hanayo did not think of Rin as a potential romantic partner at all, lifted quite a weight off Maki's heart. A weight she didn't even know had been there, and still couldn't explain to herself anyway.

"Thanks..."

"Think nothing of it! We're friends, you know?"

Maki let out a short chuckle, finding the words oddly familiar enough that her tsundere side didn't leap up at the closeness. "I guess we are."

...

"Hanayo."

"Hmm?"

"Can I have my bento back?"

Hanayo finally looked down at the bento she had been digging into with gusto, only to realise that was not her lunch. With a sheepish grin, she handed it back to its rightful owner.

When Maki finally settled down to lunch again, most of her rice had already been devoured by the well-intentioned yet absent-minded brunette, the spare bento had been shortly polished off by Rin with cries of "Delicious!", and only a few of Rin's remaining sandwiches had saved her from starving.

So much for having brought too much food.


And back to the present, it was currently in the afternoon after lessons had ended. Hanayo had left hastily with only a wave at her best friends, and a secret gesture of a fist pump towards Maki behind Rin's back, telling her to fight hard. Which of course resulted in the redhead introducing her palm to her face.

Unsurprisingly, Rin had bounced her way over to Maki's table with the one demand she had been expecting with absolutely certainty. Ever since yesterday, Maki knew the possibility of it happening were even more sure than the fact that Hanayo would be having rice balls again for lunch, or that the sun would rise from the east.

"Maki-chan, let's play at your house again today nya!"

"I must refuse." Her reply was smooth, formal, and well-practised. After all, she's had plenty of opportunities to use that phrase ever since she was dragged into this whole school idol thing.

"Ehh?! That's boring nya! Rin wants to play with Maki-chan!"

"I refuse. Go home, Rin. I'm going home too."

"Rin doesn't want to! Rin... Rin has something important to discuss with Maki-chan!"

The redhead was taken aback by Rin's sudden change of tone to something sombre and serious. "Something... important?.."

"Mm! Something very important to Rin and Maki-chan. But Rin can't discuss it here in school..."

"I... you... what do you mean something important to us..." Oh dear. Maki was starting to feel her brain overheat again, thoughts endlessly colliding and mixing into one another till they made absolutely no sense.

"Rin doesn't want to talk about it in school! Come on, Maki-chan, it's really important nya! Please~" Crouching by the side of Maki's table, the catlike girl had her hands together in a pleading gesture.

"There- there's any number of other places we can talk about it in that case! Like the park or a cafe or..."

"It should be somewhere private nya! That's why Rin wants to go to Maki-chan's house!"

"Somewhere... private..." That was the final blow. Maki had definitely lost all capability of coherent thought.

"Come on, Maki-chan, let's go already!"

Head still in a whirl and affected by the cat's beseeching eyes and cute upturned mouth, there was only one possible conclusion to this scenario.


Author's Note: Thanks for all the reviews, readers! I'm really glad you all still like where I'm going with this story. I've actually taken some liberties with Maki's character in making her a little more snarky and sarcastic in her mind. Somehow to me, it feels like she would be intelligent and quick-thinking enough to possess those traits, yet be unable to express them because of how socially-awkward she is. Which leaves her alone in her mind beating herself up half the time. Actually now that I think about it, that seems really kind of sad. ;_;

Meanwhile, Rin still being adorable Rin and getting her way just by being Rin. I don't have any other adjectives. Just too much Rin for Maki to handle.

Last few days before the release of the 4th live BDs and the NicoMaki duet. *hype hype hype*