I just wanna say I changed my username to match with my tumblr's own so it's easier. And speaking of tumblr, I'm finishing my first one-shot so I believe I should be posting it tomorrow so be ready for that!
Again, I appreciate the reviews; they seriously help me figure out how I should keep going with this story.
Note: this chapter was inspired from the song Beloved by Yiruma.
See you guys next update!
"The user you are trying to call is unavailable at – "
Nico hung up the phone before the voicemail ended; this was probably the 100th time she's heard it and she didn't want to be reminded again. It's been five days since Maki left without a word and Nico hasn't been able to find her since then.
It took Nico an hour to notice the redhead didn't return to her seat and had ended her meeting with Tsubasa early – much to her displeasure. But after searching the streets of Akiba for a while and with Maki not answering any of her calls, the third-year didn't know if she was more angry or worried.
Nico stared up at the ceiling, her homework lying out on the floor next to her, not one of them completed. She groaned out of frustration as she clutched her phone tightly, wishing Maki would just stop avoiding her. Nico figured out pretty quickly how stubborn her partner could be, but it wasn't helpful that she won't communicate with her. She just wanted to know why the first-year left so suddenly when she was the one who wanted to go in the first place or why she seemed so choleric that day.
"Maki-chan is stupid!" the third-year exclaimed despite it being late on a Thursday night, which meant her siblings should be asleep. But when a knock on the door reached Nico's ears, she quickly sat up to find Cocoro at the entrance, dressed in her pajamas with a worried look on her face.
"Is there something wrong, Onee-sama?"
Nico smiled weakly at her sister before saying, "It's nothing. Now go back to bed."
Cocoro stood there for a couple of more minutes before deciding to walk in. The little girl slowly made her way towards her sister and sat down in front of her.
They sat down in silence until Cocoro asked, "Did you and Maki-chan fight?"
"Bwagh!"
"So you did have a fight," she repeated.
"I…actually don't know," the third-year replied honestly, not wanting to cause any trouble for her little sister. She wasn't quite sure she could call it a fight, but something was definitely wrong by the way things have been going lately.
Cocoro hummed in thought before saying, "So, why are you calling Maki-chan dumb?"
Nico chuckled nervously. "You heard that?" The younger girl nodded, the same worried look still on her face as Nico sighed. "Don't worry about it, Cocoro; it's big kid stuff."
"I may not understand, Onee-sama," Cocoro started, standing up to walk towards the door, her older sister watching her. "But whatever it is, I'm sure you two can solve it. I know you like Maki-chan so you can find a way to fix the problem."
Nico stared at her sister's retreating figure in utter shock at how much she understood at such a young age. Maybe she's not such a little kid anymore; Nico would've cried tears of happiness if it weren't for the fact that she was more worried about the problem at hand.
"Don't stay up too late, Onee-sama," the little girl added as she opened the bedroom door to walk out. "You have other things to think about too. Good night." Cocoro smiled before closing the door, leaving Nico to be alone in her room again.
The third-year laid back to think about what her younger sister just said. She grabbed her phone to check if Maki replied back to anything, but it was full of messages that Nico had sent.
Closing her messages to open her email, she scrolled down until she reached the email she received from Tsubasa not long ago. Nico read it over and over again, her heart beating faster as she read every line twice until she had reached the end of the message. After finishing, she set her phone down and exhaled to get calm her nerves. She closed her tired eyes and slowly drifted off into sleep, leaving her phone to stay on the last line of Tsubasa's email.
'Let me know your answer as soon as possible.'
Maki started walking out the classroom door as soon as the bell rang, her two friends watching the darting girl without saying a word. They've noticed the redhead always leaving in a hurry the whole week, but Maki didn't want to talk about it. They knew it had something to do with Nico only because Rin made the mistake of mentioning her, resulting in Maki punching the top of her desk in frustration at the sound of Nico's name.
"What should we do, Kayochin, nya?" Rin asked as Maki slid the door closed.
"We shouldn't put ourselves into their problem," Hanayo replied, slowly putting the stuff she needed into her school bag before slinging it onto her shoulder.
Rin groaned in sadness as she got up from her seat to follow her childhood friend out the classroom door. "But Maki-chan looks so…angry. I'm worried it will give her wrinkles."
Hanayo giggled at the weird concern before saying, "I'm sure Maki-chan will be fine. It's just a small bump."
As the two girls made a turn towards their shoe locker, they found the redhead standing in front of the entrance-way, frozen from whatever she was looking at. Curiously, they both made their way to the still figure.
"Maki-chan…" Rin said, startling Maki who was not expecting her two friends to come out so soon. "What's wrong, nya?"
Maki didn't reply, staring out in both anxiety and fury. The redhead had been avoiding the third-year as much as she could; ignoring phone calls, skimming passed messages, and leaving school as early as she could before Nico could even get out of her class. But today, the raven-haired girl was one step ahead of her.
Nico was standing at the gateway, watching students slowly pass by to make sure Maki doesn't try to sneak passed her. Her arms were across her chest, one foot tapping the ground in impatience. Maki was glad that she was far enough that she couldn't see the first-year standing right outside, but Maki had no other way to exit which meant she had to face Nico – something she definitely wasn't ready for.
"Maki-chan, maybe you should just talk to her," Hanayo suggested uneasily, knowing if the taller girl thought it was a bad idea, she'd bluntly reject it. But Maki didn't say anything, worrying the other two first-years.
"Maki-chan, nya…"
The redhead put a hand up to stop Rin from saying anymore. She already knew what she had to do and it was bound to happen anyway. She wasn't going to waste anymore time standing there; she needed to get to the studio and if Nico was going to be an obstacle today, then she was going to get through her.
Maki made her way to the gate, Rin and Hanayo watching her. The first-year took a deep breath, as she got closer to where Nico stood, the smaller girl still looking around that she didn't notice the redhead coming closer until she was about to pass the exit.
"Maki-chan!" she quickly called, stopping the girl from walking any further.
The first-year turned to face Nico as she approached the taller girl; Maki felt she had to take a few deep breaths or her heart might've popped out of her chest from suspense.
As soon as Nico stood in front of Maki, the first-year's heavy breathing hitched; the smell of strawberries filled her nose and she knew it came from Nico because the third-year always somehow smelled like strawberries. Maki had gotten used to her scent, but being away from it for almost a week had the aroma surrounding her.
"Maki-chan," Nico repeated, a look of worry on her face that the redhead almost felt bad until she remembered why she had been evading her in the first place. "I need to talk to you."
"Whatever you have to say can wait," Maki said harshly that she saw Nico's eyebrow twitch.
"No, we're talking about this now," the third-year replied in a senior-like tone as she placed her hands on her hips.
"There's nothing to talk about," Maki said, starting to walk towards the cross-walk as it turned green to give pedestrians the right of way; she was glad for the perfect timing, but annoyed when she realized Nico was following her. Maki had almost forgotten how persistent she was. "Why are you following me?"
"Because we need to talk," Nico repeated irritably.
Maki stopped walking and turned around to look at Nico with an exasperated expression. "I said there is nothing to talk about. Now leave me alone; I have to get to the studio."
Before she could fully turn to leave, Nico had firmly grasped Maki's wrist to stop her from going anywhere. "Then why have you been avoiding me?"
"I have not," Maki lied, trying not to stutter through her nervousness as Nico glared into her eyes.
"Stop lying to me, Maki," the raven-haired warned, gripping the younger girl's wrist tighter out of irritation. "Just tell me why you're acting this way?"
Maki furiously swiped her wrist out of Nico's grip, scaring the older girl with how violent the redhead was being. "I'm not acting like anything. I'm too busy right now so just….hang out with someone else," she said, the ending of her sentence coming out more like scornful order.
"What? I'm trying to talk to you," Nico argued back, her eyebrows scrunched up in fury.
"I don't want to talk," Maki replied, trying to keep her calm.
Nico clenched her teeth, her patience warring thin while Maki simply twirled her hair as if she didn't care about the situation at hand. The younger girl has been clearly making sure not to have any contact with the third-year and she wanted to know why. Nico finally had the redhead in front of her and she was determined to find an answer; the problem has been avoided long enough.
The third-year stared intensely at Maki while she looked anywhere else, but her partner. The apathetic look on her face started to piss Nico off that the words quickly slipped out of her mouth.
"You cut my meeting with Tsubasa short."
Maki jolted at the statement; her hair twirling abruptly stopped as her aloof expression quickly turned into one of anger. Nico immediately regretted saying it, not like she meant to in the first place; she knew how wrong it was to blame Maki when something was obviously bothering her.
"Maki-chan, I didn't…"
The first-year's face started to turn red with anger as she turned to look at Nico, who was trying to find a way to apologize.
"I'm sorry I ruined your precious date," Maki hissed, that Nico was taken aback.
"I didn't – "
"Don't even say you didn't mean it because we both know the truth!" Maki replied belligerently, glaring at the third-year with rage-filled eyes. "If that's what you wanted to tell me, then you've said it. Our talk is over. Now leave me alone!"
The redhead turned away from the stunned Nico and stomped the rest of the way to the station. Nico watched her partner leave, knowing she messed up her chance at fixing the problem. Despite Maki's outraged intensity, Nico could've sworn she saw hurt in the younger girl's eyes and it made the third-year's heart sting.
Maki had stormed into the building full of rage that no one dared talk to her as she passed by, leaving a trail of fire behind her. She didn't say anything as Aoi greeted her and she didn't acknowledge old Mori-sensei as she walked into his studio. She forcible sat on the piano bench that Mori-sensei was sure it would've broke in two if it wasn't for the fact that it was new.
Without saying a word (Mori-sensei knowing not to talk if something was on her mind), she had started to practice. At first, it sounded as if she had never played in her life, her fingers pressing the wrong keys that she had slammed on the keyboard out of frustration. She quickly re-did her warm-ups and found her rhythm as the redhead played the notes she wrote on the music sheet in front of her.
She had finished the piece she was planning to play at the regional competition: the piece that the Yazawas inspired. But as the first-year was nearing the end of her song, her mind wandered back to Nico's star-strucked face.
"Maki-chan, you stopped," she heard Mori-sensei say.
Maki snapped back to reality, realizing she had indeed stopped playing, her fingers hovering over the keyboard. Mori-sensei was standing next to her, looking at his student with a concern as Maki squeezed her hands shut to let her irritation slowly flow out of her since it was affecting her practice time.
The old man sat down next to the redhead as she let out a long sigh. "Is there something bothering you?"
"No, it's nothing," she replied, not wanting to waste any time talking about a problem she didn't want to mention.
Mori-sensei didn't say anything as he placed his hands over the keyboard, Maki watching him with interest. He slowly pressed down on a key and followed it with another note. Soon, he started playing a song Maki didn't recognize and the redhead listened to all of her teacher's performances when he was still a professional. The old man's fingers elegantly made music, filling the room with what the first-year would call magic. It was light-hearted, yet it spoke a thousand words.
As soon as he ended his piece, Maki looked at the old man's face with wonder. For such a beautiful song, why did he never play it in front of his fans? He kept the piece for himself, not once attempting to make it known for the world to hear it.
"Maki-chan," he started, looking happily at the keyboard in front of him. "Do you know why I never played that in front of a crowd?"
The redhead silently shook her head, too amazed to form any words. Mori-sensei chuckled at his calm student when just a while ago, she was practically breaking down walls.
"I wrote that piece back when I was still in high school," Mori-sensei told her. "I wrote it when I met my wife." Maki stared at her teacher as he gave her a warm smile, waiting for him to continue.
"I was 16 when I received my letter; I was in the same position you were in: trying to get ready for nationals when I had met her. We were completely different people; she was into all things athletics while I was too focused on music playing. We didn't understand each other at first: conversations were awkward, our ideas of a good time never matched up, and our goals didn't coincide."
Mori-sensei laughed at the first-year's puzzled expression before continuing, "It happened one day, we were trying as much as we could to make our relationship work. She had fallen into the river when a little boy on a bike was speeding down the sidewalk. She didn't know how to swim, her excuse being that she did 'land sports'. Without thinking, I dove in after her." He chuckled at the memory of it.
"And you knew how to swim?"
"Oh no," he admitted, taking Maki aback. "That was the funny part. We both ended up flailing in the river until someone had swum in to fish us out. That was probably the scariest ordeal I ever had to go through."
Maki scrunched her eyebrows in confusion. "So what was the reason you told me this?"
The old man took a deep breath. "That was the day I realized she was the one. At that moment, I just knew that we were going to get passed the cumbersome situation. It did take a few more weeks, actually, maybe even months, before we started to fit the pieces together. I wrote that song for her. It was inspired by her; all the things we went through at such a young age."
"Why haven't you played it in front of anyone then?" the redhead asked.
"Because I love my wife."
"Huh?" the first-year was getting confused by the second; she knew her teacher was old, but it's not like he ever showed his age.
"I wrote this piece when I realized I was in love with her," Mori-sensei admitted, standing up to make his way back to the computer. "The feelings I put into it shouldn't be first felt in a song."
Maki quietly watched the old man plop back down in front of the computer screen, grinning at the high schooler. She didn't know how to reply, mostly because she was still a little confused what Mori-sensei was trying to teach her. But it was obvious that he wasn't going to say anymore, he was going to make Maki figure it out on her own just like he always did.
The redhead turned to face the silent piano in front of her, not knowing if she should continue practicing in the state she's in. The image of Nico irritated her more than anything, but she couldn't stop thinking about her. Maki knew the older girl always admired idols, but with how much Nico talked about Tsubasa and how great she is, the redhead had to wonder how she could compare to such a modest and charming super idol.
Maki looked out the glass window, only to jump out of the piano bench with panic. "I'm sorry, Mori-sensei, but I have to go."
The first-year grabbed the music sheet and her school bag before half jogging out the door, not waiting for her teacher to say anything. She sped down the hallway and into the lobby where Aoi was sitting behind the reception desk.
"Oh, Maki-chan, are you leaving already?" she asked as she watched Maki make her way towards the elevators and slap the down button.
"Huh? Yeah, I…uh, have to get home," the redhead replied hastily as the elevators doors opened and she stepped in, rapidly pressing the buttons to hurry the process.
The doors closed, the last thing Maki seeing was the perplexed face of Aoi. She had no time to explain, all she wanted to do was get home as fast as she could before the gray clouds that had slowly started to fill the sky got any darker.
"Nicocchi, it's rude to lay your head on the table."
Nico groaned in response, not moving an inch to remove herself from the cold restaurant table, her head faced down as both Eli and Nozomi stared at their depressed friend.
After Maki had left the awe-stricken third-year in front of the gate, she had walked all the way home, trying to think of some way to fix the situation. She had stared at her bedroom ceiling for an hour with no clear idea (her best plan being to follow the younger girl around until she agreed to talk). Nico called Eli for help, not wanting Nozomi to know since she felt the taller girl would just mock her, but Eli had brought her partner anyways.
"I said I was sorry," Eli said.
"Hmm."
"I won't mock you, Nicocchi," Nozomi tried to assure her.
"Hmm."
"Nico, it's no big deal."
The shorter girl popped her head up as she jumped out of her seat, her exasperated face looking at both of her friends while their expressions were filled with surprise. "It is a big deal! How am I ever going to talk to her again?"
"I think she moved on to another problem," Eli whispered to Nozomi.
Nozomi nodded before replying to Nico, "What are you talking about, Nicocchi?"
The raven-haired sat back down, crossing her arms in frustration. "It's about Maki-chan…she's been avoiding me and I have no idea how to fix the problem."
"What did you do?" Nozomi quickly asked.
"What makes you think I did something?!" Nico replied angrily at the assumption. Both Eli and Nozomi stared at the smaller girl with a deadpanned expression; they all knew the answer to that question.
"You didn't need to assume," the raven-haired girl grumbled under her breath. "To be honest, even if I did something, I don't know what it is I did. Maki-chan won't talk to me and I'm pretty sure I've made it worse."
Eli and Nozomi glanced at each other as if they were telepathically communicating. Nico wouldn't be surprised if their relationship has gotten that far; she wished she could know what Maki was thinking since the younger girl never showed much emotion except for her two favorites: boredom and annoyance.
"When did you notice something was wrong?" Eli asked.
Nico hummed in thought, remembering all the events (or lack of) through the passed week. "Well, she's been declining all my calls and ignoring my messages since she came with me to that meeting I had with Kira Tsubasa."
The other two third-years stayed quiet, staring at the confused Nico who had no idea what their silence meant.
"She went…with you?" Nozomi clarified, uncertainty in her voice.
"Uh huh."
"And she saw you interacting with Kira Tsubasa?" Eli added, also sounding a bit apprehensive.
"Yeah?" Nico didn't know where the constant questioning was going anymore.
"Did Maki-chan, I don't know…say anything?" the blonde asked her.
"I think that's the problem here," Nico deadpanned, her eyes narrowing in annoyance.
The partners looked at each other again without saying anything. It was starting to irritate the raven-haired since she knew they were communicating somehow. The problem wasn't going to solve itself if they weren't going to put her into their conversations.
Nico sighed while slumping in her chair as if she was defeated. She was afraid things with her partner were going to start going downhill if she didn't fix the situation soon. The third-year had a feeling the problem was with her; now she had to figure out what it was which is why she called Eli (and Nozomi since they obviously came in a package). But now she felt there was no hope if the two people she trusted could help her were just going to keep having silent talks.
"Nicocchi…" Nozomi called, grabbing the tired third-year's attention. "I think you should talk to Maki-chan."
The smaller girl groaned. "Isn't that why I asked you two to come here; she won't talk to me. I tried that earlier…after school, and she shouted at me."
"No, Nico," Eli said seriously that it made Nico sit up straight. "We mean that you need to really talk to her."
"What does that mean?"
"Now that's something you'll have to figure out on your own," the purple-haired girl replied with a smile.
This is going nowhere.
Nico groaned for the how-many-th time as she looked out the window, both Eli and Nozomi talking to each other about another subject. The third-year watched as an older couple came out of a store together, holding a few shopping bags and laughing as they talked. The woman pointed to the sky in alarm, the man looking up as well to see what she was talking about. The third-year watched as he took out…an umbrella?
Huh? What do you need –
Nico looked up, her eyes widening in uneasiness as she abruptly stood up from her seat, frightening Eli and Nozomi. The shorter girl quickly slid out of the booth and ran towards the exit, both of her friends watching her.
As soon as she stepped onto the sidewalk, Nico flipped up the hood of her jacket and calculated the fastest way to get to the station. The third-year ran across the pedestrian walkway as she heard Eli call out to her, probably worried as to why her friend had suddenly up and left. But she had no time to explain to them right now. She had to find her before the dark clouds did.
Maki had just made it into her room before the darkness had taken over the sky. She had closed all the curtains, only for the first sound of thunder to crash down. She had ended up at the foot of her bed, her hands over her ears, her head tugged into her knees, shivering in fear and too scared to move. And what made it worse was that she had forgotten to turn on her lights as well as play music loud enough to drown down the sound of hard rain hitting her windowpane and thunder filling the streets. So she sat in the dark, listening to her fear take over her room.
The first time the redhead had ever heard the sound of thunder, she was only six and it was late at night. She had screamed in terror, only for her mother to find the crying girl and hold her until she felt safe again. But as she got older, and her parents became busier, Maki had found a way to soothe herself through a thunderstorm. However, the first-year was alone and she had been too busy thinking about other problems that she didn't remember about the thunder warning.
She just wanted someone to save her from the terror that kept crashing down from the sky. No, she didn't want just anyone; she wanted a certain someone to save her, to find her and make her body stop shaking, for her to tell her that everything will be fine. She wanted…
"Maki-chan!"
The redhead popped her head out from her knees from the sound of her name resonating the empty house. She could've sworn the voice sounded like…
"Maki-chan! Are you in here?!"
Maki wanted to call out, but as the thunder struck down again, the first-year stayed silent, curling into a ball to protect herself.
"Maki-chan! Where are you?!" The voice was starting to sound more panicked as Maki heard the person rummaging through the dark. She hoped they wouldn't think she wasn't here and leave. It was assuring enough for Maki to know that she wasn't alone in the dark mansion. But then silence quickly came and the redhead felt alone again, tensing up from the anticipation of another roll of thunder.
As water started to pool in the redhead's eyes, silence was suddenly taken over by some sort of pop song as someone had placed her headphones over her ears. In surprise, Maki looked up to find the one person she never expected.
Nico was crouched in front of her with a huge smile on her face. Her clothes were soaked and her hair was down as her pigtails had come undone.
Maki didn't know what to do, but stare at the third-year. She had so many questions: how did she know where she lived? How did she get into the house? And why did she come looking for her? But in utter shock, all that came out was "Nico-chan?"
From the way the raven-haired girl flinched, Maki could only guess that she had shouted her sentence since the song was practically blasting in her ears to keep the redhead from hearing what was happening outside.
Nico started talking only to realize halfway through that Maki didn't hear a single word she said by the way her eyebrow rose in confusion. The third-year quickly grabbed a notebook and pen close by and started to write, the younger girl watching patiently.
'I knew you lived somewhere around here.'
'So I just looked around.'
'And you left your front door unlocked.' Maki felt chagrined by the way Nico was looking at her with disappointment at her clumsy mistake.
'Cocoro told me about your fear.'
'So I've come to play hero.'
Nico only meant for her last sentence to be a joke in order to cheer up the first-year. But Maki felt her heart slowly beat faster as she read the sentence over and over again, tears falling from her eyes in relief. Nico jumped at the unexpected reaction, throwing the notebook and pen in a panic as she started to quickly wipe the falling tears from the redhead's face. Maki felt embarrassed at the fact that her partner had to see her so helpless, but the way Nico was gently trying to keep the tears from rolling down made Maki's heart clench.
Nico wiped the first-year's eyes and tucked her hair behind her ears to keep it from sticking to her face. Maki may have thought she looked uncool, but Nico thought differently: she thought she looked more like the girl Maki always hid from everyone else and that she was probably one of the few people who actually got to see a side of her partner not a lot of people knew about. It made her feel needed; it made her feel happy.
Maki didn't know how to calm her heart down and it wasn't helping that Nico had put her face only inches away from hers, her small hands lingering on her cheek as she held such a charming smile. Maki didn't know what to do so she did the first thing that took over her thoughts.
The redhead had closed the gap between her and her partner, her lips roughly taking Nico's. It wasn't the ideal first kiss, as both of them didn't know what to do and Nico being way too surprised to react. The third-year stared wide-eyed at the younger girl; Maki's eyes tightly shut and her hands gripping Nico's shoulders to keep her steady.
As soon as they had separated, Nico stayed frozen in place, Maki looking at her in embarrassment, her mind filling up with doubt and regret at her action. But then Nico fell onto her back, scaring the first-year.
"Nico-chan?" Maki pulled down the headphones and stared at Nico who was looking up at the ceiling.
"I'm sorry," Nico finally said. "I just wasn't expecting that."
Before the redhead could reply, thunder had struck down, frightening her. Unconsciously, Maki had jumped on to the smaller girl, her head tucked into the nook of Nico's neck. Nico wrapped her arms around her shivering partner to keep her calm.
They stayed quiet for a few minutes, listening to the sound of rain, until Nico said, "Maki-chan, I'm sorry." The redhead stopped trembling, bringing her face up to look at the raven-haired girl. "I know I've hurt you, but even if I didn't mean to, I should remember that what I do doesn't just affect me anymore; it affects you too. You're my partner and you always will be. So from now on, I'm putting you first."
Maki stared in astonishment at the older girl who gave her a small grin. Butterflies were dancing in her stomach as Nico started to caress her cheek. The redhead leaned down to place her lips on Nico's again, but this time, it was soft, sweet, and breath taking. The third-year wrapped her arms around the younger girl's neck to bring her in closer, their hearts beating against each other.
It felt as if they couldn't be broken apart. They were sure nothing could. Not even the clash of thunder.
"Maki-chan," Nico breathed against the redhead's lips.
"What?" Maki asked, a little annoyed that Nico suddenly stopped.
"Can I ask you a question?" she replied. Maki nodded, wanting for the conversation to end already. "What did you think of A-Rise's new song that just played?"
Almost immediately, Maki pinched Nico's nose, the third-year flailing from her airway being closed. "Maki-chan…I can't…breathe."
"Good, so maybe you can stop talking," the redhead replied sternly.
Well, at least for the moment.
