""I need your help." You bow down towards Nozomi and Eli a full 90 degrees.
"My my, what a sight." Nozomi smiled with an amused look, quickly pulling out her camcorder out of her desk. "Quick, Elicchi take a picture before she stands back up."
"STOP. THAT." You glare at Nozomi, who's already turning on the power button, ready to record everything you say.
You take the camcorder and turn it off while sighing loudly, hoping Nozomi could get the message that you weren't some clown ready to entertain her.
"Anyways, help me get Nico-chan back." You look at the two third-years pleadingly.
"So BiBi could be a gay mess again?" Eli mumbled under her breath, shuddering at the thoughts of more third-wheeling within sub-unit meetings.
"What?" You whip your head at Eli.
"Nothing."
Nozomi flashes her tarot cards out of her boob and brings them up to her face, staring intensely at them. After a few minutes, she shoots a pleased look at them. "I have good news Maki-chan."
"What is it?" You try to hide the excited tone in your voice. Nozomi's cards were always accurate, no matter how much you would never admit it to the older girl.
"Elicchi and I will have a magnificent weekend together." Nozomi winked at Eli, whose face is already turning bright red.
"N-Nozomi!" Eli slammed her hands on the desk.
"You guys really aren't any help. I don't get you." You groan, making your way out of the room.
"Maki-chan!" You blink for one second and see Nozomi standing right in front of you, her hands outstretched, preventing you from leaving. She leans closely into your ear and whispers, "Pursue, that's what the cards told me. Don't be afraid to show off your charm."
"What are these?" Nico glances at you suspiciously as you stick your hand out, with two tickets in your hand. You hold your breath, hoping she would say yes.
"Tickets." You say bluntly.
"Well obviously. I mean what's it for..."
"There's this new exhibit opening up, do you wanna go with me?"
"Erm... I'm busy on Saturday." Nico waves at you funnily as she rejects your offer.
"Is that so..." You smile awkwardly.
The clubroom door opens and Kotori and Umi walk in.
"Nico-chan, my boss said she'll let me off on Saturday, looks like we can go." Kotori beams at Nico whom the latter looks excited for whatever is happening on Saturday. You notice Umi looking off to the side, with a disgruntled look on her face. Could she be in the same position you're in? It was a possibility, which meant that you and her had much more in common that you thought.
Once Nico and Kotori are fully engaged in their conversation, you send a signal to Umi to come over to your side so you wouldn't seem suspicious. She walks over and greets you.
"Yes Maki?" Umi asks you while still keeping a close eye on Kotori.
"Are you doing anything this Saturday?"
"Not that I know of."
"Should we follow them." Your voice lowers, in both sound and tone, making sure that only Umi could hear your voice.
She snaps her head at you and her brow furrows.
"You understand that you're invading their privacy, Maki." Umi reprimands you in a quiet tone.
"But part of you wants to see what they're up to, am I right?"
"What?"
"Don't you want to make sure they aren't doing anything..." You gulp, hating to use this against Umi. "Impure?"
Umi splutters, her face begins to redden. "D-Don't say that! Kotori would n-never do something like that, let alone with Nico, who is a responsible elder sister of 3 children and our club president."
You realize Umi's stiff as a board and denser than a rock and trying to get your message across at the moment would take ages and divert unnecessary attention to you. You motion her to go outside, making sure Nico and Kotori don't notice anything, which luckily they don't since they're still heavily engaged in their conversation.
"You're in love with Kotori, aren't you?" You say once you two reach the music room.
Umi is stunned, unable to say anything to deny it or accept it. She simply stares at you, with her mouth wide open. You nod at her, smiling compassionately.
"Hey, if you help me, there's a good possibility that you'll be alone with Kotori. And I'll be alone with Nico. Then there's that. Everyone will be happy." You place a hand on Umi's shoulder. "If you really don't want to do it, I won't force you."
Umi simply gulps. After a minute of silence, she looks at your eyes with determination. "Okay. I'll help you, only because it benefits me as well."
It's 8:00AM, you're awakened by Umi's repetitive calling, eventually causing you to answer the phone and get out of bed.
"Get up, I'm outside your house." Umi swiftly says.
"Eeehhhhh?!" You hang up suddenly, taking a quick look at your window, only to see Umi outside with a backpack that seemed completely filled with stuff, sitting by your gate, legs crossed, blocking the pathway. The maids are seen circling your gates, trying to shoo Umi away who doesn't move an inch. You take a look at this sight and sigh heavily, knowing that it was going to be a long day for you.
"So where are we headed?" 9:10AM. You look up from your watch and watch Umi who seems to be trekked towards a certain destination which she won't tell you. "Hello?"
"To the bird's nest." Umi replies promptly.
"What?" You look at Umi strangely. She doesn't reply.
The two of you stop at a house. Umi pulls you to the side of the house, awaiting something that she won't tell you. A voice from the inside of the house alarms you. It's high-pitched and sweet sounding. You recognize this voice but are unable to identify it's owner.
The front door opens, and you peek behind the corner and see a medium-sized ash hared girl step out. She's wearing a sundress that compliments her hair, and is carrying a mint green purse along. You glance at Umi, whose eyes are drooping out of her face, with a puppy-like expression on her face.
"Wake up, are we going to follow her or what." You shake her out of her trance and for a second you regret ever bringing her along, wishing you had brought along Eli, or Hanayo. She wakes up and begins to drag you along to trail Kotori.
You and Umi are mediocre at hiding yourselves from Kotori. In fact, you were just fine. Umi on the other hand seemed to be lagging behind and was bumping into a few people on the streets because she was too focused on Kotori to pay attention to her surroundings. Kotori seemed to sense that something was off, by the way she kept looking back and quickening her pace.
"Why are you being so obvious." You bluntly state.
"I'm not?"
"Yes you are, you keep drawing attention to us by literally running into people and creepily trailing her."
"M-Maki. That's not-" Umi was about to finish her sentence when she had tripped on a rock, causing her to gasp loudly and fall on a sidewalk.
Kotori quickly turned around, noticing you and Umi following her. She paused and looked at this situation funnily.
"Umm..."
"I'M FINE, I'M NOT INJURED, KEEP GOING YOUR WAY." Umi shouted, lying on the floor as she tried hiding her face behind her hands.
"Umi-chan... Maki-chan... what's the meaning of this?" Kotori walked towards you and Umi, suspicious of the situation. "... Oh no... please don't tell me all of μ's is following me again..." She shivered, widening her eyes as she tried not to remember the time μ's stalked her when she had her part-time job as a maid.
"Don't worry, it's just the two of us." You say to her, noticing that she seemed to have calmed down a bit.
"I see. Well, why exactly are you following me then?" Kotori looked at Umi, then at you, then back at Umi.
"Well..." You look at Umi, hoping she could snap out of her trance and find something logical to say. Umi only looks up at the sky, as if she were waiting for some answer from the birds above. "Hurry up, say something." You hiss at Umi.
"Maki, this was your idea anyways. I don't even know why we're here."
You blush out of embarrassment. Umi had called you out on the spot. Kotori looks at you, with a glint in her eye that says that she knows what this is all about.
"Umi is here because she wants to tell you something." You blurt out.
No one says anything for five seconds. Yet you can already feel fumes coming out of an enraged Umi and your face heating up, making the air much hotter than it already was. You look at Kotori, the glint in her eyes dirop and her face is taken back in confusion.
"What." Both Umi and Kotori turn to you.
"Kotori! There you are. I was wondering why you weren't responding to my texts and I saw you from a distance so I decided to come over to spare you the walk." Nico runs up to Kotori and embraces her with a hug. You look at Nico, and avert your eyes out of jealousy.
Nico notices that you and Umi are present. "What are they doing here?" Nico directs at Kotori.
"I honestly... don't know myself." Kotori scratches her head questionably. "I guess... let's bring them along with us?"
"Uh-huh..." Nico replies, looking at you and Umi without a word.
Somehow, the four of you ended up at a fast food restaurant. You and Umi seated at one side, and Nico and Kotori seated at the other. The two are off talking about their lives while you and Umi just sit there, eating your meals, looking at them, hoping you could get their attention.
"Be right back, washroom." Kotori stands up and makes her way to the washroom.
Once Kotori isn't seen anymore, Nico locks eyes with you and Umi.
"So I wonder what brings you two here..." Nico facepalms.
"We were simply just hanging out." Umi reaffirms Nico, whom the latter quickly dismisses Umi by turning to you.
"Yup... Maki. What a coincidence. Looks like I'll be seeing you 6 times a week now huh." She sarcastically comments, then turning to Umi. "Umi. Hopefully you're not so dense that you realize that Kotori had to use the washroom for a reason."
"What?"
"Go." Nico glares at Umi, massaging her temples. Umi stands up and heads towards where Kotori had gone, leaving you alone with Nico.
"You know, there's no need for you to be jealous. And there's really no need for you to be following me around the city. Kotori's not some assassin out to murder me."
"I know! I just..." Your words trail off, hoping she'd get the message.
"Huh?"
"You know." You look off to the side at a picture of a tomato hanging on the wall.
Nico looks at you, and smiles mischieviously. "I dooooon't know what you're talking about Maaakkii. If you won't be honest, I won't know what you want."
"I wanted to spend time with you, that's all." You exhale, breathing in and out as if you gave your last breath away.
"You really know how to overcomplicate things." Nico chuckles. "But since you were honest with your feelings, I guess I'll applaud you."
You were about to say something back, but you see Kotori heading back to your table, with Umi slowly trailing behind her. You notice Umi looking a bit flustered, while Kotori has an energized look on her face.
"Sorry Nico-chan, I have to do something with Umi-chan..." Kotori forced a smile while side-eyeing Umi who gave a nervous gulp. "I hope you understand."
Nico nodded at Kotori with a smile plastered on her face. You could see the veins popping out of both Nico and Kotori's heads.
As Kotori and Umi left the restaurant, Nico turns to you and glowers. "YOU. You owe me a date with Kotori."
"Heh? I.. It's not like I had this in mind. Don't blame it on me now. It was Umi's idea." You weren't exactly lying, Umi did have some part of this.
"Of course... NOT. Now you better make this date up to me or else you'll regret crashing super idol Nico-nii's date."
"Idiot. Why wouldn't I?" You gave a heartfelt smile, taking Nico's hand and leading her out into the streets of Akiba, ready to give her the time of her life.
Hello! Author here. Next chapter will be the last. Sorry for the delay, I've been having difficulties thinking about how to continue this story without dragging it or making it seem rushed. As well, I've been busy with school and work. So here's a vanilla/comedy-filled filler chapter. Maybe I'll post a side chapter about what went down with Kotori and Umi in this chapter if I have time or if many people request it, I'll see. Thanks for reading!