"I'm home!"

Maki stood awkwardly in the doorway as the smaller girl slipped off her shoes and ran deeper into the confines of the small home. Maki followed suit, taking a slower pace than would be considered normal. Once her own shoes had been removed, she lingered in the entranceway, hesitant and unsure if she should actually proceed.

On their way there, Nico had made it clear that Maki's presence would come as a surprise to the rest of the member's of the household. The smaller girl had failed to mention the possibility of Maki's assistance to the rest of her family. Normally, that wouldn't pose much of a problem, but considering the fragility of Nico's family at the moment, she would have preferred to avoid any unnecessary surprises.

"Hey, are you coming in or not?" Nico's head poked out of a doorway farther down the hall.

Maki took a hesitant step towards Nico, "Are you sure it's okay that I'm here? I don't want to intrude."

"I told you it's fine." Nico rolled her eyes. "You worry too much. If it was going to be a problem, I wouldn't have asked you over. Plus, you said you wanted to talk to me about something, right?"

Maki nodded. She had intended to talk it over with Nico as they were walking, but the older girl had gushed nonstop about the interview that they had participated in that day. Nico's happiness meant a lot to Maki, so she hadn't been willing to interrupt Nico's exuberance.

"If you're that nervous, you can hold my hand while I walk you in." Nico's lips formed a teasing smile. "My younger siblings do that all the time."

Maki felt her cheeks heat up, "Don't be ridiculous!" She marched down the hallway, sharply turning into the doorway Nico was standing in. Without a glance, Maki walked past Nico into a small living room. She could hear the smaller girl snicker behind her.

Maki immediately spotted Nico's younger siblings. The two sisters, Kokoa and Kokoro, were sitting at the table in the living room, each busy with what looked like schoolwork. Nico's younger brother, Kotarou, sat on the ground, his small hands rolling a variety of toy cars across the carpeted floor.

"Where's Mama?" Nico walked up to the table. She looked at Kokoro, waiting for a response. The other girl merely shrugged, not tearing her eyes away from a textbook that laid in front of her. The awkward feeling from moments before resurfaced. Maki shuffled her feet, her gaze darting around the room.

"Kokoro, don't ignore me." Nico sounded exasperated, as if this wasn't the first time she'd been greeted by unresponsiveness.

"She's in her room." The young girl's tone was monotonous, uncaring. It contrasted heavily with the friendly demeanor Maki had witness upon their first meeting.

"I see."

Kokoa turned to Nico, looking up at her with a wide smile and glittering eyes, "When I talked to Mama, she said she was tired and wanted to be by herself. She told me to watch over everyone till you got home!"

Nico patted the younger girl's head, "Good job." The brown haired girl laughed gleefully and returned her attention to her work in front of her.

"I'll get started on dinner," Nico announced to everyone in the room. "I brought my friend Maki. You remember her right? She'll be helping me out tonight, so if you need anything, don't be afraid to go to her if I'm too busy to help."

Friend. She remembered that Nico hadn't mentioned their relationship to her family yet. Maki made a mental note to be careful in this environment. If Nico hadn't told her family, there was probably a good reason.

Maki felt Nico tug at her arm. The older girl gestured towards the kitchen before taking off in that direction. Maki smiled at Nico's siblings, who watched her with curious eyes, before following her girlfriend into the other room.

Nico's kitchen was surprisingly well stocked. Cabinets filled with a variety of different cooking materials lined the walls of the room. Several nice-looking pots and pans sat on the counter, waiting for the daily cooking routine. A rather large refrigerator was in the corner of the room, undoubtedly well stocked as well.

"Papa really liked to cook," Nico spoke up. Maki assumed Nico had seen her looking around "Our kitchen always took priority when he was alive. I used to watch him cook from time to time, though I never helped. When he died, the responsibility fell to me. I managed to pick up a few skills just by observing, so it wasn't too hard to get used to it. We sort of kept up the tradition of keeping the kitchen nice after I took charge."

"It's a beautiful kitchen." Maki smiled at Nico. "You must really like working in it."

Nico nodded, "I do. Even though it's hard work, it makes me really happy to make something good for my family. It puts everyone in high spirits during dinner time. Well, usually. We have to cut back a lot now, so things probably won't be as nice for a while" Nico cast her eyes down to the floor. Her mouth tightened into a grimace.

"How should I help? What do you need me to do?" Maki asked, desperately attempting to pull Nico's attention away from her unfortunate situation. "I'm not much of a cook, but I'll try my best. You might need to teach me a few things." Maki knew how much Nico liked to be depended on, so she hoped her request would alleviate some of Nico's more negative emotions.

Nico chuckled nervously, bringing her hand up to rub at the back of her neck, "Yeah, about that... I was planning on making curry tonight. I prepared a lot of stuff beforehand, so it'll be easy. I don't actually need you to help me all that much."

Maki sighed and closed her eyes, taking a few moments to make sure she kept her composure, "Why did you invite me then?"

Nico twiddled her fingers, "Well, everything's been really depressing here lately, and I got kind of sick of it. I didn't want to have to sit through another silent dinner with my family, so I invited you over. I thought your presence might lighten things up a bit."

Maki's expression softened, "You could have just told me the real reason. I would have come anyway. You know that."

"Sorry."

Maki hesitated before speaking again, "It's that bad?"

Nico sighed, "Yeah. Mama goes straight to her room every day after she comes home from work. She barely speaks to any us. It's hard to blame her, though. She's really stressed. But Kokoro's not happy about this. She's really mad at Mama for closing herself off, and she's mad at me for not stopping her. It's a mess."

"Ah, that makes sense." That explained the younger girl's unresponsiveness before. Maki understood Nico's earlier exasperation with her sister. If she'd been getting that all this time, it must have started to wear on her.

"It's in hard times like these that Mama really remembers that Papa is gone for good. It's always been hard without him, but when we hit speed bumps like this, it really hits her hard. She gets into a slump. This is the worst I've seen her, but she'll get out of it again and work hard as she always does."

"If your drive and ambition was inherited from her, I'm sure you're right." Maki admired Nico's ability to continue to work hard and keep up her energy even when faced with a bad situation. She wasn't sure how Nico pulled it off.

"Thankfully, Kokoa and Kotarou are too young to understand what's going on," Nico continued, "They're as normal as ever. Two less people to worry about, I suppose. I keep trying to convince Mama and Kokoro that my idol work will help us, but I don't think they believe me. That's why I need to work hard so I can prove it to them." Nico's eyes lit up with a familiar, fiery determination.

Maki nodded, "You'll get there." As much as she didn't want to bring it up, especially in a tense environment, Maki needed to discuss what she saw earlier. The sooner they figured all that out, the sooner she would feel comfortable. Nico wouldn't be able to work properly if there was some underlying issue they weren't being made aware of.

"But enough about that. Now's a good time to talk to me about what's on your mind." Nico spoke as though she had read Maki's thoughts. "You can talk while I fix dinner."

Maki shook her head, "It's important, so maybe we should discuss it over dinner when you'll be less distracted. Plus, I fully intend to help out, even if you don't need me to. I won't take advantage of your hospitality by sitting around doing nothing."

"Geez, you're making it sound so ominous," Nico eyed Maki suspiciously. "Should I be worried?"

"No. It's work related."

"Alright..." Nico sounded unconvinced. Nico shuffled in place, her jaw clenched tight. Maki glanced around before walking up to Nico, pulling the older girl into a hug.

"It's just about BiBi. I didn't mean for it to sound ominous, I promise. You're fine. Everything's going to be fine. I just want to talk about something I found out about the group. No big deal." Maki felt Nico nod. It was a bigger deal than Maki made it out to be, but there was no reason to freak Nico out about it. Maki wanted to use this time to enjoy each other's presence.

Nico pushed away, "I'm going to stop this here before this gets emotional. If I don't start dinner now, my siblings will start complaining, and trust me, you don't want that. Since you're so adamant on helping me, go get me the carrots and onions from the fridge."

Maki nodded. She walked over and opened the refrigerator door. Maki's eyes scanned the contents of the fridge, quickly grabbing the requested items once she spotted them. As she went to close the door, she saw a bag labeled "curry" out of the corner of her eye. It was filled with cut up pieces of meat, likely prepared by Nico earlier that day. Maki grabbed it off the shelf and shut the door.

"Oh good," Nico said once she saw the objects in Maki's arms. "I'm glad you brought out the meat. I forgot to ask you to grab that as well. Just put those things on the counter for me."

Maki did as instructed. She noticed that Nico had donned a pink apron while she was looking through the fridge. The older girl scurried around the kitchen, opening cabinets and drawers to retrieve any necessary tools. Maki smiled. The determined way Nico went about that routine made her seem surprisingly motherly. And Maki had to admit, the apron looked cute on her too.

"Alright," Nico's voice interrupted Maki's thoughts. "Can you do me a favor and grab some salt? It's by the spice cabinet, I think. I need you to lightly salt the meat so it won't taste bland. Here, just put all the meat on this before you do that." Nico handed Maki a large plate.

"Are you sure I should be touching the food?" Maki was hesitant to do much more that fetch items for her girlfriend. She had little to no experience with cooking, and even the smallest job seemed intimidating when it came to handling food.

"Oh, right. You have your fancy cooks do everything for you," Nico turned to face Maki, a teasing glint in her eyes. "But it's just a little salt. You're so talented at everything else, so this shouldn't be an issue, right? But if you don't think you can handle it, I'll take care of it for you."

Maki's eyes narrowed at Nico's playful, sarcastic tone. She grabbed the bag and marched over to the cabinets. She wouldn't let Nico's teasing hold any weight. She could do salt. No big deal. The cabinet was filled with a variety of different spices. Maki ignored anything that wasn't white. Near the back of the cabinet, Maki found a jar filled with what looked like salt. She didn't see anything else that resembled salt, so this had to be it.

Maki pulled the jar out of the cabinet and placed it on the counter. She emptied the contents of the bag onto the plate. The jar looked too big to pour the salt directly from it. Nico said to "lightly" salt it, after all. Maki unscrewed the cap of the jar. She took a pinch of the salt and brought her hand over the plate. Was this good enough?

"Oh god." Maki heard Nico gasp. "Don't move." Maki's body tensed. Was there something on her?

"What? What's wrong?" Maki found it difficult to keep her rising panic from showing in her voice. Her arm, still extended over the plate of meat, started to shake lightly.

Nico walked up to Maki, pointing at Maki's pinched fingers, "Did you take that out of the jar?" Maki nodded. Was there something wrong with the salt in the jar?

"Put it back," Nico commanded. Maki did what she was told, dumping the small pinch of what was apparently not the correct salt back into the jar.

Maki cocked her head to the side, "Didn't you say you wanted the meat salted?"

"Yeah. With salt. That is sugar." Nico pinched the bridge of her nose. "I was just messing with you before, but you really can't handle this, can you?" Maki looked at the jar and then back at Nico.

Realizing her incredibly amateurish error, Maki's face turned bright red, "How was I supposed to know? You said to get it out of the cabinet, and that was the only salt-like substance in there! You should have been more specific!" Maki was sure she had never felt this embarrassed before.

"I said BY the cabinet! Look!" Nico pointed to salt and pepper shakers, both red and shaped like strawberries, placed near the wall on the counter. If Maki's face could get redder, she was sure that it did.

Maki pouted and crossed her arms, "If you had been more specific, this wouldn't have happened." Nico rolled her eyes and returned her attention to the various different jobs she needed to accomplish.

"You're such a-" Nico cut off, focusing intently as she swiftly chopped up one of the carrots into small medallion shapes. "Just leave the meat. I'll take care of it. Can you go peel some potatoes? They're right next to me. The peeler is right there with them."

Maki had never peeled a potato before. Was that easy? She hoped so. Maki desperately needed to prove herself. She walked over to potatoes and picked up a thin object that laid beside them. Its black handle fit comfortably in her hand. A thin piece of metal protruded from the top of the handle. There were two thin openings down the middle of the piece of metal.

Maki tentatively grabbed one of the potatoes. How was she supposed to do this? Maki tried scraping the surface of the potato with the side of the metal piece. It did nothing. Upon further inspection of the tool, Maki noticed thin blades in the opening in the middle. That was probably the right place.

Maki lightly placed the metal on the potato, moving it across the surface. Only a small part of the peel came off. It wasn't enough to make a difference. Maki's brows furrowed. She pressed down harder, sliding the tool across the potato for a second time. A large, uneven chunk came off. That didn't look right either.

"Oh my god. Why?" Maki's blood turned to ice as she heard Nico's exasperated voice. She froze in place, not willing to turn her head to face the older girl.

"I'm sorry. I've never done this before," Maki's voice barely rose above a whisper.

"That's okay." Maki could have sworn she heard the faintest hint of laughter coming from Nico. "I don't have time to teach you right now, so just put it down for now. Just take the meat and the carrots, put them in a pot with some water, put a lid on the pot, and let it simmer."

Maki looked at Nico, her next thought vocalized before she even realized it, "Simmer?" Nico stared back at Maki, her eyes narrowing slightly.

"You are a human disaster." Nico's expression was stern, but the corners of her lips twitched slightly, fighting down a smile. "Just go sit at the kitchen table. I think I'll be faster by myself at this point." Maki pouted but complied. She moved towards a small table near the doorway and sat down.

For an hour, Maki watched Nico dart around the kitchen, undertaking several different tasks at once. Maki had to admit that it was impressive. The way the smaller girl moved so easily between her stations made her seem almost professional. She was surprised by how fascinating the whole process was. She never gave Nico's cooking prowess the credit it deserved.

The time spent preparing dinner had made her forget about everything outside of that kitchen. She had forgotten about the events from earlier and how she urgently needed to speak to Nico about them. She forgot about the tense atmosphere of the Yazawa residence when she first arrived. It was nice to forget, even for only a little while.

The smell of curry wafted through the air, growing stronger as time went by. Maki brought her arms around her stomach as it emitted a low grumble. Maki felt excitement bubble within her at the thought of finally being able to eat Nico's cooking.

Maki was surprised by how that excitement heightened once Nico finally placed a plate of curry down on the table in front of her. It both looked and smelled like something one would get at a good restaurant, and Maki had to fight the urge to wolf it down right away.

"Stay there." Nico held two other plates, a third resting on her arm. "Just let me serve my siblings really quick. We'll eat in here so we can talk." Maki nodded her approval, not taking her eyes off of the meal in front of her. Nico hurried into the other room. Maki could hear the delighted shouts of Kokoa and Kotarou.

Maki heard Nico speak, "Kokoro, there's another plate in the kitchen. Bring that to Mama, okay?"

"You do it."

"That wasn't a request, Kokoro. Do you want me to tell Mama that you've been misbehaving?"

"Okay. It's not like she'll care anyway. She doesn't talk to us anymore."

Maki flinched. She felt like she shouldn't have heard that. Her appetite diminished surprisingly fast, and she pushed the full plate of food away from her, the smell suddenly becoming too strong. The moments peace brought by the preparation of dinner was gone.

Nico's younger sister burst into the kitchen, her hands balled at her sides. Nico followed behind her, moving out of the way as Kokoro stomped back out, a plate of food in her hand. Nico moved to sit across from Maki.

Nico let out a heavy sigh, "Sorry about that. They shouldn't bother us during dinner, so you're free to talk now."

"You okay?" Maki asked, hesitant to bring up anything that might upset her further.

"I'm fine. I just need to talk about anything that isn't about my family, so go ahead." Nico dug into her own plate of food.

"Okay, if that's what you want," Maki started. "Well, earlier today I overheard something in the dance studio. I wasn't entirely sure what to make of it, so I wanted your opinion. Plus, I think you should know, since it does involve us."

"What exactly did you overhear?"

"Remember when I said that I got pulled away by the crowd and that's why I got separated from you two? Well, I actually went off on my own because I saw Hikari arguing with our manager," Maki explained. "I've never seen her that upset before. She was mad because they were holding us back for something "baseless"."

Nico kept eating as she listened. "Are you sure they were talking about us?" Nico's mouth was half full when she spoke.

Maki nodded, "I'm almost positive. They mentioned us being "children", and I'm rather certain that our group contains the company's youngest idols. Plus, that conversation we had with Hikari before the interview proved that they were holding us back for some reason. They were definitely talking about us."

"Hmm." Nico brought a hand up to her chin. "I don't see the issue so far. It just sounds like Hikari was standing up for us. I suppose we can thank her later." Nico shrugged and resumed eating. Nico gestured at the only untouched plate, giving Maki a questioning look. Maki pulled the plate back towards her and took a bite.

"I wasn't finished," Maki continued, once she had swallowed her food. "They also brought up something about past group mistakes. Kimura talked about not letting negative images of their groups circulate. He seemed pretty desperate to avert some kind of disaster. But I don't think we've done anything that would warrant such worry. That's why I'm bringing it up to you. This whole thing makes me feel uncomfortable. I feel like they know something we don't."

Nico stopped chewing, her eyes widening. Her expressions changed faster than Maki could read them. Nico brought a hand up to her head, fiddling with one of the ribbons that held her hair up.

"Do you think they know?" Nico asked, looking directly at Maki.

"What? Know what?"

Nico leaned back in her chair, ignoring Maki's question, "That is so sneaky. How did they find out? I bet they weaseled it out of one of our friends. Those- "

"What are you talking about?" Maki interrupted.

"Us! Our relationship!" Nico answered. "It has to be that, right? Hikari talked about a relationship scandal in one of their other groups. If that has them freaked out, then they would totally freak out if they found out about us. It's the only thing that makes sense!"

Maki's heart dropped, "Oh yeah, you're definitely right. That does make sense." Maki cursed herself for not realizing sooner. Now that Nico pointed it out, it seemed so obvious. Maki felt the beginnings of a headache.

"But how'd they find out? We haven't even told our friends. Eli only knows because she caught us, and anyone else just figured it out. But there's no way the manager would figure it out in the short time he's known us." Nico's brow furrowed in frustration.

Maki's mind flashed back to the day in the conference room. That was they only time they had showed romantic affection for each other. They had held hands briefly in the dance studio, but it wasn't unknown for friends to do that. It had to be the kiss. They knew about that somehow.

"We did kiss," Maki murmured. "Do you think they had cameras in that room? Maybe that's how they found out."

"I didn't see anything that looked like a camera. But then again, I wasn't really looking for one. Geez, this sucks. If we get in trouble for this, it'll harm the whole group, and then no one will be able to achieve anything." Nico rubbed at her temples.

This wasn't the best situation to be in. This could really set them back ,and knowing how important it was for Nico to succeed, they needed to do something quickly before it got too out of hand. Maki wasn't sure what they could do. Everything they had said was purely based on speculation. It all made sense, but how could they know for sure? What if they were wrong? There had to be another way to get around this.

"I think we should assume that they don't know anything about us, Maki said, ignoring the baffled look she got from Nico. "If we do something like try to talk to them about this and they don't actually know, we'll have dug our own grave. Let's be subtle about this." She had an idea. It wasn't preferable, but it could work.

Nico nodded, "Subtle sounds good. What are you suggesting?"

Maki took a deep breath. She wasn't sure how much Nico would approve of this, but it seemed like the only solution, "I think we should keep any unprofessional contact to a minimum; that includes "friendly" touching like linking arms. That way we won't have to worry about everything we do being perceived as romantic. We'll need to give off a professional vibe, at least until it feels like there aren't any issues regarding our group."

Nico stared at Maki without answering. Her expression was neutral, making it impossible for Maki to tell what Nico was feeling. Maki felt her heart thump in anticipation. The longer the silence persisted, the more she doubted that that was the right thing to say. Was that really something Nico needed to hear? Especially since she had already been going through a rough time before this came up.

"I think it's a good idea," Nico finally spoke up, her words surprising Maki. "I can't think of any other way right now. But before we decide anything, I want to make sure it's okay with you."

Maki blinked, "I brought it up. Why wouldn't it be okay with me?"

"I have something I really need to achieve," Nico explained. "I think it's a large enough goal to distract me from missing my normal contact with you. At least, I think it'll hold me over until this whole thing simmers down. You don't have a goal like that to distract you, as far as I know, so I just don't want this negatively affect you in any way."

Nico was right about one thing: she didn't have a goal in mind for herself. She followed μ's into the professional idol world for the chance to continue to be with all of them. But Maki didn't think that mattered. She could focus her efforts on her work even without a clear goal. She wouldn't let this cripple her.

"I'll be fine, Nico," Maki affirmed, smiling at the girl in front of her. "I care about you, but I think I can live without your affection for a while."

"I-I didn't mean it like that!"

"I know. I was teasing." Maki chuckled at Nico's dumbfounded expression.

"Sometimes I can't tell with you," Nico pouted. "You're so serious and somber all the time that it's still surprising when you turn playful. Give me a couple more years to get used to it." Maki felt her eye twitch. She wasn't somber.

"In all seriousness, you don't have to worry. I really will be fine. We'll also have time to be together outside of work, so this shouldn't be too bad."

"Yeah, it's a good idea," Nico agreed, nodding her head. "It'll probably give Eli some peace of mind too. I think she almost collapsed when I asked you to come over."

Maki smiled, "I don't think she'll get over walking in on us anytime soon."

Maki glanced past Nico at a clock on the wall. It was getting late. "I'm glad we had the chance to talk about this before it got too late. It's good that we're on the same page."

Nico turned around to look at the clock, "Oh yeah, it is getting pretty late. Come on, I'll walk you to the door." Nico stood up, holding her hand out to Maki. Maki hesitated, not sure if holding her hand in front of her family was a good idea. Figuring that Nico wouldn't have offered if it would be a problem, Maki took Nico's hand with her own.

Maki allowed Nico to lead her back through the living room, Nico's younger siblings not paying them any attention, and into the hallway that led to the entrance. Maki moved to retrieve her shoes as they reached the entranceway, but felt a sharp tug at her arm that brought her back towards Nico.

She spun around to face the other girl, who wrapped her arms around Maki's neck. Before she could register the situation, Maki felt warm lips press against her own. The spark that coursed through her body was a welcoming feeling of familiarity, and Maki wrapped her arms around the smaller girl in an effort to bring her closer. Much to her displeasure, the kiss ended as quickly as it began.

"Sorry." Nico looked up at Maki with half lidded eyes. "We're going to be really busy from now on, so I wasn't sure when I'd be able to do that again. I had to do it before you left."

"Geez, you're making this sound like we're departing forever. We're going to see each other again tomorrow, you know." Maki smiled down at Nico. As silly as it seemed, Nico's melodrama was charming at times.

"Shhh." Nico put a finger up to Maki's lips. "You're ruining my heartfelt moment."

Maki laughed, swatting Nico's hand away, "Right, right. Of course. I suppose I'll take my leave then. I don't want to soil your moment any more than I have." Maki turned back towards the door. She slipped on her shoes, and with one last lingering glance at Nico, she headed out the door.

Maki walked slowly, enjoying the evening breeze. Today had been eventful, to say the least. She was glad it was over. That last kiss left her feeling better than she had all day. Tomorrow would undoubtedly bring back worry, spending an extended amount of time with the manager was unavoidable at this point, but she wouldn't let it get to her tonight. Maki allowed herself to savor the feelings she felt during the last few moments in Nico's house.

In that moment, it felt as though everything was going to be fine. They had a plan, and Maki saw no reason why it would fail them. They'd get through this just fine. Maki repeated that thought, cherishing the sense of security she got from it. She was going to be just fine.