A/N: Hey, back again! I suppose quite a few of you could guess the AnR one but no one got the Trinity Seven one? And I realised my tumblr ask wasn't working so if anyone tried to send any messages, sorry! Yeah, the chapters will be shorter but I'll update faster this way! Okay, here we go! It's all NicoMaki in this one!
Disclaimer: I do not own Love Live! or its characters.
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Scene 6: Trapped!
The trio made their way around the studio, until they reached a large door that had an obnoxiously big gold star pasted on it. And in gold coloured letters, it said "Dressing room", under it, haphazardly scribbled were their names.
Nico pointed at it in awe, "That's us, right?"
Eli nodded, feeling a little stunned.
"Let's go in then." Maki decided, twisting the doorknob and entering, not bothering to wait for the duo.
The interior of the room was huge, with many mirrors, dressing tables and the smell of perfume hung heavily in the air. There was also a sofa and a small round table at the side, probably for the actresses and actors to rest.
"Wow, this is all for us..." Nico's eyes gleamed like a child's eyes when receiving presents on christmas morning. Maki rolled her eyes in annoyance but was actually quite interested herself, it was her first big movie role. Eli merely glanced around, uninterested.
"Hey, I'll wait for you two outside, okay?" she said, with a small smile. The only response she received were silent nods. She walked out and the door behind her closed with a small 'click'.
After about five minutes, Maki decided to leave as well, watching with a small sigh as the black haired actress practically scanned each and every spot. "I'm going out first." she said, and reached for the doorknob.
However, as she attempted to turn it and pull the door open, she couldn't. Deciding to try harder and ignore the creeping feeling of panic at the back of her mind. "Nico-chan, we might have a problem." she mumbled, unsure of how the black haired singer might react.
Nico spotted the red head fumbling with the doorknob and decided to ask, "Maki-chan, what are you doing?"
"Trying to open the door."
"And the problem is...?"
"It won't open." she grunted in frustration, still twisting the doorknob and attempting to open the door.
"What." Nico rushed to Maki's side and pushed the girl aside, trying to open the door herself. "Why won't it open?" she grumbled.
"You didn't have to shove me aside." Maki sighed, inspecting the door. "Maybe it only opens from the outside?" she suggested.
Hearing that, Nico banged her fist against the door, "Eli! Open the door!" she shouted.
"Nico, what? Are you two okay?" came Eli's somewhat muffled reply.
"We're fine, can you try to open the door?" Maki asked.
"Okay."
A brief pause.
"It won't open. I think it's locked?" Eli said, feeling worried.
"But we didn't lock the door!" Nico shouted, frustrated.
"I'll go get Nozomi, the both of you just... keep on trying to open the door!" The blonde suggested, already running back to Honoka's office.
"Thanks for the advice, it's not like we can do anything else!" Nico yelled, venting out her frustration. Thankfully, Eli was too far off to hear that.
Maki sighed, twirling a lock of her hair, opting to seat down on the sofa as they waited.
Nico turned to face her, "Giving up already? "
"I'm not giving up, I decided not to waste my effort, Nozomi and Eli will be back soon anyway." she calmly replied.
Indeed, a few seconds after she said that, they could hear hurried footsteps. "Nicochi, Maki-chan! Are you okay?" Nozomi called out, panting.
"We're fine, just get us out of here!" Nico replied, tugging the doorknob.
They could hear a key being slotted into the lock and jiggled but the lock wouldn't budge.
"Uhm, about that..." an uneasy voice added, one they both recognized as Honoka's.
"What's wrong, don't you guys have the key?" Nico asked, an odd feeling of fear settled in her stomach.
A gulp was heard, "We do but, the lock appears to be jammed." Eli replied.
"You have got to be kidding me." the black haired singer grumbled, pressing her forehead against the door.
"Don't worry, we're gonna get a locksmith and get you guys out in a jiffy!" Honoka shouted, a little too cheerfully for this situation.
"Nicochi, Maki-chan, just be patient okay? Elichi and I are gonna see if we can get anymore help. Call us if you need anything." Nozomi intructed calmly.
Nico groaned, slumping against the door.
...
After about 10 minutes of silence, Nico felt like she was going insane. How could she stand being in the same room as her sort of crush? Besides, why was Maki being so quiet anyway?
She glanced at the red head, only to find her squirming in her seat. "Maki-chan, are you okay?"
The singer abruptly straighten her back, startled by Nico's voice. "Y-Yeah, I'm fine."
"Then why are you moving around so much in your seat?" she asked, skeptical.
"I j-just feel fidgety, that's all." Maki replied in a shaky voice.
"Hmmm..." Nico continued to stare at her, till realization dawned on her.
Her expression went dark and a new sense of panic washed over her, "Please don't tell me you have to go to the bathroom..."
At this, Maki shook her head vigorously. An obvious lie.
Nico face palmed, "Oh great." She fished her phone out of her pocket and dialled Nozomi's number.
"Hello? Is everything alright, Nicochi?"
"No, everything is not alright! Maki needs to use the bathroom!" She shouted over the phone.
"Hey, you don't have to tell Nozomi!" Maki protested.
"Just keep talking to her, distract her! The locksmith will be here in about 20 minutes! I gotta go now, bye!"
"Wait! What do you mean distract her-" the line went dead. "Ugh, fine then." Nico grumbled.
"What did she say?" Maki asked, still looking uncomfortable.
"Nothing much, the locksmith should be here in 20 minutes or so."
"20 minutes!" Maki said in disbelief, feeling panic surge through her body.
I need to distract her. "Hey Maki-chan, what's your favorite colour?" she asked, unable to think of anything else.
Maki held back the urge to roll her eyes at such a typical question and briefly answers, "Red."
She couldn't bear the uncomfortable urge in the pit of her stomach, the fact that Nozomi was unable to do much despite being her current manager and Nico asking her an irrelevant question made her lose hold of her emotions.
She blurted out, "If only Umi was here..."
"What could she do?" Nico responded, sitting on the floor with her back pressed against the door.
"She's my manager. She would have done something!" Maki griped.
"Well, Nozomi has done something! She got a locksmith and she's trying to get more help now! What do you want her to do? Break down the door?" Nico lashed out, in her friend's defence.
Maki shot her a glare, "I didn't say she didn't do anything! It's just... Umi would have done more. She... she would have gotten me out of here in under a few minutes."
Nico was infuriated, upset at Maki for not being grateful to Nozomi for all she had done. "But she isn't here!" she carelessly snapped. "Nozomi, Eli and I are."
Maki froze, astonished by the actress's words. "She isn't..."
Sadness and hurt now masked the singer's face. Nico noticed the change in Maki's demeanour, worried that she had gone too far, quickly asked, "You alright? I didn't mean to put it so harshly. It's just-" her sentence was cut off by one word from the red head.
"Why." Maki stared down at her lap, her fist clutching the edge of her dress. "Huh?" Nico blinked, confused.
Before she had the chance to continue, Maki spoke. "Why did she have to leave me alone?" She mumbled.
"Well, Nozomi is busy-" Nico tried to explain, still not getting the situation. "Why did Umi just leave like that!" Maki snapped, visibly upset.
"She didn't even explain anything. Just handed me off to Nozomi and she hasn't contacted me once since then." The red head clenched her fist, "Did I... did I do something wrong?"
Nico had never seen Maki like this before, she looked so sad, hurt and most of all, vulnerable. She wasn't aware that they shared such a close bond of friendship. "You guys are pretty close?" she asked, in hopes that Maki would calm down a little.
Her emotions and thoughts had been let loose, so she figured that there was no point trying to hold back and it wouldn't hurt to tell Nico. "When I first started to produce music, I wasn't very popular. Then I was introduced to Umi, who at that time was still a newbie at managing, she was awkward and stiff, I found it hard to talk to her at all, everything just seemed so forced." Maki let out a sigh. "But, one day I just couldn't take it anymore, I shouted at her and she revealed to me that she got anxious around new people and I thought it was ridiculous that she became a manager, but she promised me she'd do her best to overcome her anxiety and she did."
The singer smiled, "She got better at talking to people and I became more dependent on her, that was when our friendship took off, I wasn't good at making friends but since we spent so much time together, I opened up to her I guess. I was her first successful client and she was my manager. We did bond, to the point where I guess I would consider her one of my closest friends." the red head paused, "B-But don't tell her that, alright?" she blushed, a little flustered. Nico chuckled and nodded her head.
Her smile faded, "That's why, I don't understand why she left, I must have done something wrong." She glanced down at her lap in exasperation.
"Hey." Maki looked up only to meet with shining ruby eyes. "Nico Nico Nii! Umi-chan has her reasons so stop being so upset okay?" Nico shot her a big smile along with her signature pose.
Maki couldn't suppress the small laugh she let out, seeing Nico like this, attempting to cheer her up despite all she had said in the past, made her smile.
"Besides, what are you? A little kid? She said she would only be gone for a little while!" Nico teased.
Hearing that, Maki snapped, "You ruined it! And n-no, I'm not a kid anymore."
Nico sat down next to Maki, leaning against the comfy sofa, stretching her arms. "Then just deal with it, it's not like you're alone. Besides, Umi seems like the type of person to confront the problem, so if it was a problem with you, she would have said something already."
"That's... actually pretty smart coming from you."
"Thanks, I know- wait, what did you say? Hey! It's Nico-nii you're talking to! The one who brings smiles to everyone and the number one actress and singer in the universe "Nico growled.
"I'm not the one who called Eli a tsundere for no reason." Maki smirked, already feeling a little better.
"It's because you tricked me!" The black haired actress grumbled.
"As if." The singer dismissed, "Why do you have to be Nico-nii anyway if you're this 'great'?"
Nico blinked, stunned by Maki's abrupt question, she couldn't tell if it was sarcasm or not so she answered normally. "Oh, that's because of my siblings."
"You have siblings?" Maki looked surprised.
"Yeah, they're much younger than me and for as long as I could remember, I've been their number one idol. So now that I'm actually famous, I have to keep it up, I have to make them smile." Nico explained, a genuine smile on her face.
Maki was even more surprised, so she has a reason for acting like that.
"Enough about me," Nico said and continued to speak as she turned towards Maki, "Do you have any-" she stopped.
Sparkling crimson met enchanting violet.
Their faces were suddenly so close, a mere breath away.
They stared into each other's eyes, stuck in a hypnotic trance, as they moved closer, their eyes closed and finally, their lips collided.
It was a soft, gentle kiss, just lips brushing against each other's. But Nico and Maki both felt the opposite, it was like the rest of their bodies were on fire.
They pulled away, breathless and faced the other direction. Reality seemed to catch up with them. Before either of them could say anything, they heard a loud commotion outside the door.
"It's this door, the lock is jammed! Please hurry!" Nozomi instructed.
"Okay, I'll get right on it." A rather masculine voice replied.
Maki then remembered the problem, an uneasy feeling settled in her stomach again. Noticing this, Nico got up and shouted, "You guys need to hurry! Maki-chan kind of has a situation..."
"S-Shut up, you don't need to tell them!"
"What? Is Maki okay?" A rather familiar voice shouted.
"Please hurry!" Eli rushed the locksmith.
"I'm trying to do it as quick as possible!" The locksmith replied.
"This is taking too long, Maki is in trouble!" The familiar voice shouted.
"W-Wait, ma'am, please calm down."
"Maki." The door shook. "Is." The door shook again. "In." The door shook once again. "Trouble." The lock rattled as it shook with the door frame. "I have to help her!" Another forceful kick was delivered to the door and it burst open.
Nico and Maki stared at the figure.
Behind the kicks and the broken door lock was none other than Umi. She panted, lowering her leg to the ground. She let out a breath of relief at the sight of Maki and rushed to the girl, grasping her shoulders she hurriedly asked, "Are you okay? Hurt anywhere? Mentally sane?"
Maki let out a relieved chuckle, used to Umi's antics, she smiled. "Yeah, I'm fine. I just.. really need to use the bathroom. So if you'll excuse me." She got out of Umi's hold but before she rushed to the bathroom, she looked at the bluenette and sternly said, "You.. You better not go anywhere. I'll be right back." And she was off.
Umi felt quite confused, but over the past years, she realized that she would never really understand Maki.
She noticed everyone's eyes on her. "What is it?" She asked, feeling uncomfortable under everyone's stares.
Nico pointed a shaky finger at her, "What are you?!" Umi noticed her look of shock and disbelief and turning her head, realised that everyone else spotted the same expression. She could only let out a nervous laugh.
...
A/N: And that's it! More of the NicoMaki kiss will be explained in the next chapter. I just wanted to get this out as soon as possible so I cut out a part! I hope you guys didn't mind the MakiUmi interaction, I just think that the both of them could have had a really great friendship but nothing much was shown in the anime. (not sure about the manga)
Also, my tumblr (greyclouds-xo) is open to writing prompts/asks/ requests.
…
Omake
While Nico and Maki were trapped in the room, Eli and Nozomi wandered the studio, hoping to find more help as they waited for the locksmith to arrive.
Eli remembered the question she wanted to ask Nozomi.
"Hey, Nozomi?"
"Yeah, Elichi?" Nozomi replied, still looking straight ahead as they brisk-walked.
"… Am I a tsundere?"
Honestly, Eli wasn't even sure what a tsundere was, she only knew that Maki was referred to as one and Nico had accused her of being one.
Nozomi stopped, dead in her tracks. "What did you say?" she turned to Eli in disbelief.
Eli, fearing that she might have said something wrong, quickly shook her head. "It's n-nothing! Forget I said anything." She nervously laughed off and walked ahead of best friend, wanting to avoid any questions.
Why would Elichi? Nozomi wondered, deciding that Nico probably blabbered something again, she followed the blonde, certain she would question Nico about it.
...
A/N: I wanted to put this in the story, but it didn't really fit. Oh and Rin will appear in the next chapter! Have a nice day and please review!
