She walked sulkily toward the familiar door, the bounce in her steps gone as she couldn't find the willpower to do so. Her hand, already balled into a small fist, knocked on the apartment door. Perhaps all she needed was some time alone, or perhaps all she needed was to take her mind off things. But one thing she felt like she truly wanted was the comfort of her closest friends.

The door slowly creaked open as the owner of the apartment's emerald orbs bored into hers, quietly observing the shorter girl in front of her.

"What's with the pout, Nico-chi?"

"Please, just let me in," she replied, her tone flat.

Nozomi nodded curtly as she sensed that she was currently amidst a serious thought.

Walking into the living room, Nico was welcomed by Eli who was huddle on the couch with her laptop right beside her. Not caring, Nico let herself sit down beside Eli and huffed out a fake fatigued breath.

"So… are you still not going to tell me about what happened during Hinamatsuri, or are you going to continue sulking here? We know that something definitely happened, seeing that you're in one of those moods again." Eli said knowingly.

"Hey! I am not in any mood! I… I just…" Nico trailed off, not knowing how to explain herself.

The two girls nodded, as if they completely understood her non-existent reasoning.

"Well…" Nico brought a pillow close to herself as she began. "Everything was going well, until the end…" With that, the smaller girl of the three told what had happened with Maki, with Anju, with everything that happened that night. She didn't know why, but for some reason she remembered what occurred all in great detail, all down to the way Maki's face showed signs of flushing scarlet as she turned away from her.

When Nico had finished telling the other two girls about the events of the festival, she felt as if the weight on her chest was lifted a bit, albeit not as much as she hoped it would. There was still this nagging feeling that welled inside of her, and she had no idea how to get rid of it.

"Well, Nico-chi…" Nozomi said. "The real question is what are you going to do now?"

"I… I don't know..." she hesitantly answered.

"Well, there's a few solutions to your problem, believe it or not," Nozomi added in afterwards. "You could, well you know, forget about this crush on Maki-chan, or you could confess to her. It's simple really, but it's all up to you."

"H-How will I even confess… There are just too many things that I have to consider. What if she isn't interested in girls? I mean, even if she was, there's no way she can like me," she thought of Anju as she said that.

"Don't doubt yourself, Nico. Where did that foolhardy, stubborn girl go?" Eli joked, hoping to cheer the shorter girl up. "Didn't you always metaphorically fight for the things you wanted? Your motivation was the reason as to why you've obtained that scholarship."

"Nico-chi, whatever you decide to do, we're with you one hundred percent of the way."

"…Thank you. But I need some time to think about this."

The girls had stayed in a silence that loomed over them.

"But… what if she says no?"

"Thinking like that is no good, Nico," Eli said back disapprovingly to her friend.

"And even if she said no," Nozomi added, "You know that you tried, at least, right?"

Nico nodded slowly, comprehending her best friends' logic.

"If confessing will affect our friendship… I-I don't think I can do that," Nico said shortly afterwards. "I'd rather just be friends with her than telling her my feelings."

Nozomi smiled softly.

"You're a terrible liar, Nico-chi. It's written all over your face."

Nozomi shifted closer to Nico.

"How about this," she began. "I'll draw out a tarot card and it'll determine your fate."

Nico's eyebrow arched as she felt skeptical.

"Now how do I know you're not going to rig this thing?"

The violet haired girl tutted as she waved a finger around.

"Fate can't be rigged. I'm going to let you pick out a card from the deck."

Nico nodded again, before she was faced with a deck of tarot cards that were slightly worn after years of use. Her fingers slid to the card at the top. Pulling it out, she revealed it to everyone in the room.

"The Star, I see. Good luck." Nozomi mumbled to herself.

She looked up at the sky and was welcomed with a familiar sight of rain. The sky was gray, and she swore it got darker than before and made her even more miserable on this Monday evening at the café. She sighed as she returned to the counter. The week before last had been a wild one, with Nico at her highest, and just recently, at her lowest. She honestly didn't know what to do anymore.

For the past week or two, she had been constantly avoiding the redhead every time she invited her to somewhere. Nico had come up with from reasonable excuses to silly ones just to avoid her. There was also this one time where Nico had basically ignored Maki when she came into the café just at the end of her shift. Honestly, she just didn't know how to act around her anymore.

"I know what Maki is like. So please understand when I say that she'll never love someone like you."

Her chest tightened at the words that echoed in the back of her mind. Those words had always come up whenever the two had interacted after that night's events.

She figured that she had been in too deep in her thoughts as she accidentally let a mug that she was washing slip out of her grasp and into the sink. It made a loud clatter that invaded the quiet atmosphere, causing Honoka to whip her head towards the twin-tailed girl.

"You okay, Nico-chan? You've been like this for a good while now."

Nico narrowed her eyes.

"What are you talking about? This is how I normally am."

"No, you see, you've been kinda moody lately!"

"Me?" Nico inquired her, just to make sure that she was talking about her. "Moody? But I'm always like this, believe it or not…"

"No, no, Nico-chan! That's where you're wrong. Y'see, you're much nicer when you're normal and you talk to me a lot during work!"

Nico could only scowl at the second year. Even though she had been denying it for so long, it was certain; she was definitely affected by what happened during the festival night. She liked to believe that no she wasn't affected, that she was a mentally strong person who wouldn't let a few petty words get in the way of what she wanted, but apparently this wasn't the case in this situation. It had really broken something inside of Nico, and it was the cause of the decline in her normally high spirits and motivation.

She recalled something of her earlier childhood, something related to her siblings. What was the phrase that her mother had told her every time someone said something mean to her?

"Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never harm me," she remembered her mother saying that to her when she was a little child.

She laughed bitterly at those nostalgic words that were archived in the depths of her mind. Funny how she ended but getting hurt over what someone said to her recently.

She didn't have enough time to ponder deeper into her thoughts, as she had finished cleaning the coffee mugs. Her eyes made their way to the clock hung on the wall and she noticed it was time to go home as another one of her long shifts ended. Thankfully. She didn't want to do anything for a while, a very long while.

A cloudy gray sky yet again welcomed her presence by producing a loud rumble and then, rain. Great. As if her day wasn't getting any worse. There had to be rain as she walked to the nearby bus stop. She continued her walk whilst holding an umbrella over her head.

With the bone-chilling wind that blew in her face, she tried her best to cup her hands in front of her face to warm herself up, only for it to work temporarily. Now practically shivering, she was so grateful for the bus that happened to be arriving a few minutes earlier. She gladly got herself onto the bus and took a seat nearest to the back.

The bus' tires had screeched to a halt, signifying for Nico to get off. She hopped off as she prepared to retrieve her key from inside her bag. Although her fingers were slightly numbed from the cold, she managed to find the key in no time. With the key now in hand, she took her time walking up the staircase, her footsteps reverberated back with every step she took.

She felt a familiar stinging in her eyes as she pouted; the telltale signs of crying. She prided herself on looking like a mature and responsible adult, making her resist crying until she at least made it to her apartment door.

She turned around the corner whilst pushing back a few loose strands that were in front of her face. Looking at her apartment door, she noticed there was a girl that was leaning beside it. Crimson hair… lavender eyes… oh no. Before she could stop herself, she let out an audible gasp that alerted Maki of her presence.

"N-Nico-chan! Wait right there!"

Nope. She certainly didn't want to see her out of all the possible days, especially today. She realized that a few tears had spilled out and she quickly wiped them with the sleeves of her coat, praying that the redhead wouldn't notice.

"Nico-chan… a-are you crying?"

"No!"

Nico decided to walk away and began her descent down the stairs. There was no way that she wanted to be seen crying in front of Maki. She had no idea where she would go, but she just needed to get away from her. Swiftly leaving the complex entrance, she was beginning to get soaked from the oncoming rain. She just had to drop her umbrella when she saw Maki.

Behind her, she could hear footsteps that were much louder than hers. This only made her want to walk away faster from the source, because she knew who it was and she knew that she couldn't face her today. It just wasn't a good day. She had to admit, none of these previous days were what someone could consider 'good'.

"What are you crying about?"

"Why does it concern you?"

"Nico-chan, I just want to talk… Why have you been avoiding me for so long? Why aren't you talking to me anymore?" Maki asked as she hugged herself.

Nico stopped in her tracks as she stood outside the apartment complex. She no longer cared about the raindrops that landed onto her skin, the cool liquid running down the tips of her hair.

"Please. Just… just tell me what's going on. What is your problem with me?" the redhead impatiently asked.

"My problem with you?" Nico repeated hotly after the younger girl's question. She walked back in order to face Maki, practically stomping on the ground with every step she took forward.

"My problem with you is that I love you, okay!" she cried out in frustration. Before she knew it, Nico grabbed her by the collar angrily with her own two fists.

"W-Wha–" Maki stuttered as a blush invaded her entire face, her sentence only to be silenced by a pair of lips.

Nico averted her gaze, her temper still burning hot, but not as hot as Maki's face. "I love you… okay!"

Maki brushed her fingertips over her mouth as she looked at Nico in shock.

"You… love me?"

"Do I have to repeat it again?" she retorted back, beginning to feel irritated. She could feel it now, she could feel the rejection coming and washing over her with disappointment.

What she didn't expect was the younger girl in front of her to begin laughing. Now holding onto the sides of her stomach, Maki bent down slightly.

"Why are you laughing!" Nico said with annoyance growing in her voice.

After a few moments, she finally maintained her composure and stood straight again.

"It's funny," Maki said. "I-It's funny because I like you too…"

Nico's eyes widened in surprise. She couldn't believe what she heard from the girl that stood in front of her. The very same girl that Nico had wanted to be with, longed to be with. This couldn't be some sort of sick dream, would it?

"…S-Say it again," Nico said, shocked.

"N-No! That's embarrassing," the younger girl stated as she fiddled the strands of her hair nervously.

"Say it again, please."

Ruby eyes met lavender when Nico looked from the ground to Maki. She could see how nervous she actually was, with one of her hands awkwardly covering her flushed cheeks and the other doing her typical habit with her hair.

"I… I l-like you…"

Nico had drifted towards Maki, closing the small gap between them. Again, she leaned against her, breath tickling her skin as she closed her eyes. Nico had thought about doing this for so long; kissing the girl that she was so fond of. She thought that something like this would ever happen, only in the occasional dreams that she had revolving around the redhead.

When they had parted, Nico had actually wished that it would last a bit longer.

The two stood awkwardly now.

"U-Um!" they had both called out in unison.

"Y-You go first," Nico hastily said.

"Okay…" Maki exhaled shakily. "I want you… t-to go out with me."

No reply.

"Nico-chan?"

"No fair! I wanted to ask you out first!"

Maki looked surprised as she couldn't figure out what to say. A few seconds later, they both ended up laughing, even with their hearts thumping so hardly against their chests.

"…S-So that's a yes," Maki tried her best to lock eye contact, but found it difficult. Instead, she resorted to staring at the strand of hair that stuck up above Nico's forehead. "…Right?"

"Yes."

They walked back to her apartment. Although they were wet from the rain, they kept each other warm from the heat that emanated from their interlocked hands.

A/N: I hoped you liked this! I had planned the confession ever since the beginning of this fanfic. Thank you for reading this. Does this mean it's the end of the fanfic now that they're together? Nope! There's plenty more to come... Or so I think, anyways. I had tried to upload this quicker, I had hoped to update 6 days after my last, but alas, school. I'm having some trouble writing and balancing that with schoolwork. Sorry about that.

I'll see you in my next update then, goodbye!