Disclaimer: I don't own Love Live!

"is it really too late to get her back?" Maki thought out loud .

After having witnessed the hug between Nico and Umi he stayed behind and watched them leave. He sat under a tree and remembered about all the moments he shared with her and he cursed himself for not have realized his feelings for her sooner.

"maybe if I had listened to her , she would be hugging me and not him...maybe if had pushed Nozomi away sooner she would be right here next to me...ahgg I'm an idiot!" He let out a big sigh as he rested his back against the tree.

He saw a shadow approaching him but he didn't move nor say anything.

"what's wrong , Maki-kun?"

The red haired, recognizing the voice, let out another sigh.

Hearing no response from the latter she decided to sit next to him.

"Ma~ki~kun~ if you don't speak I'm gonna have to forced the words out of you" she said with a mischievous voice.

"you're one of the least persons I wish to talk to right now" He said still looking down.

"that hurts, Maki-kun. Y'know I'm just trying to help you" She responded feeling a bit offended

"You!..." he raised his head and glared at her "You've done enough" He got up and not looking back at her, he started to walk. Before he could leave she grabbed his wrist making him stop.

"Nozomi...just ...just leave me alone" He said annoyed

"y'know, if you just hold it all in you're hurting yourself."

"..." he didn't respond. Inside he knew she was right.

"if what you want is to talk to her, then I can help you" The purpled haired said making Maki turn to see her

"Even though Nico-chan is my brother's fiancé. That day at the beach I could tell how hurt she was from seeing you."

"then why ar-"

"and although I really shouldn't help you because I'm betraying my brother. I hate seeing Nico-chan like that." she said cutting the red haired off

"She's a precious friend to me after all. That's why I think this can only be resolved if you two talk it over"

Seeing Nozomi's sincere intention he agreed to talk to her.

"so how exactly are you gonna help me?" the red haired asked curiously

"the cards will help us" Nozomi said holding her tarot cards in her hand

"the cards...?" Maki asked confused

"yes, the cards" she responded with a nod.

"Seriously, if that's the kind of help you're offering me then-"

"Maki-kun, as far I know. I'm the only one willing to help you win her back. Are you really going to refuse the help of, possibly, the only friend of hers that could help you get her back?" Nozomi said a bit annoyed cutting him off.

Maki got up and swept the dust off his pants. "you're telling me I have to believe in them" he said pointing at the cards " to get her back?."

Nozomi looked up and nodded.

He let out a big sigh and offered her a hand. Nozomi looked at his hand surprised and then back at him. " Let's talk while we go home. It's getting dark" She smiled and accepted the hand up.

"Maki-kun, you're surprisingly a gentleman. No wonder Nico-chi fell for you"

A small blush appeared on his cheeks but he didn't respond to her comment. Nozomi noticed it and chuckled inside.

" Before you help me out with this, there's something I want to ask"

"yes, of course" Nozomi responded

" why are they engaged?" Maki stopped, and looked at her straight in the eyes

" well" Nozomi started

"well...?" he asked

" Dad proposed the idea to Nico-chi's dad when they were very little, and her father agreed. That's all I know"

" but that doesn't make sense." he said " Usually, don't people engage their kids expecting something in return, like, isn't it for a financial benefit?"

"I thought so too, but our family business and the Yazawa's have nothing in common. To be honest with you I don't understand dad's need to engage those two." She finished and kept on walking. Maki, feeling left behind, quickly caught up to her.

" They won't get married " Nozomi said making Maki confused.

"What do you mea-"

" they won't get married if there's no love."

"so you're saying..."

Nozomi smiled and nodded. " if they were to be in love with someone else the engagement becomes invalid, so Maki-kun ganbare!" She said with a smile.

Maki felt some sort of hope and returned the smile.

" I'll do my best"

"I guess at the end we didn't talk much, huh?" the blue haired said as he parked the car in front of Nico's dorm.

"I'm sure there'll be another opportunity for us to talk" She replied with a smile. Umi nodded and smiled as well.

A moment of silence filled the car. Umi unbuttoned his seatbelt, got out of the car and walked to the other side to open the door for Nico.

"t-thank you, that wasn't necessary" she said with a small blush. Umi shook his head and smiled.

"There's something I want to tell you before you go" Nico said timidly looking down.

"I'm all ears" Umi responded

"well...you see...hmm..." Nico started feeling nervous, she couldn't properly form a sentence and felt really embarrassed by it. Still she wanted to tell the blue haired about her relationship with the blond.

Umi softly grabbed her arms and smile. Nico was taken aback ,and a small blush formed in her cheeks "Don't force yourself, you can tell me another time."

She nodded feeling embarrassed. "t-thank you" she managed to say before bowing and saying goodbye.

She hurried back to her dorm, but before entering she looked back and waved to him" Umi smiled widely and waved back. Cute he thought as the latter entered her dorm.

The blue haired close his eyes as he leaned his back against the car. Kotori... Why is he back...why now...what about...-

"why are you here?" a certain blond said as he stood in front of the blue haired

could this day get any better Umi thought sarcastically as he let out a sigh

"My fiancé lives here" he responded nonchalantly.

Eli felt annoyed but decided to remain calm.

"Do you remember what we agreed on back on the beach house?" Eli asked

Umi smirked and nodded. So that's what she wanted to tell me

"Ayase-san, it's not who she's dating but who she's in love with. Until I can see with my own eyes that she loves you, I won't step back" the blue haired said firmly. Eli clench his fist but remained calm.

"Do you even love her?" the blond asked annoyed.

"Is it love? I'm not sure but I certainly have feelings for her." the blue haired responded making Eli more annoyed

"You don't know her at all."

" and that's why I'm trying to spend more time with her."

"you... you..." Eli didn't know what to say. He was loss for words.

The blue haired smirked and looked away. "Good night, Ayase-san."

Umi turned around and headed for the driver's side. He got in and started the car leaving the blond behind.

Why is he always acting so well-mannered ...pisses me off. The blond let out a big sigh and looked up to where Nico's dorm was. Nico-chan ...

Morning after, Eli woke up early and prepared for the day. He didn't have classes that day and he knew Nico didn't either. She'll probably go to the company

He took his phone and wallet and headed towards Nico's dorm. As he arrived he noticed the small black haired girl exiting the dorm. He wanted to surprised her and walked behind her. He covered her eyes making Nico stop walking.

" guess who" he said with a loving voice

Nico touched the hands that were covering her eyes and smiled "Eli"

Eli took his hands off her eyes and back hugged her causing Nico to blush. "Good morning" He said sweetly

"G-good morning, Eli" she said embarrassed.

Truth be told Eli had always been kind and nice to Nico but since they started dating he was more sweet and tender. No that Nico minded, in fact she really like romantic guys but she never imagined Eli to be that type of guy.

Eli loosen up the hug and put an arm around her. Nico really liked it when he did this but she would never admitted out loud.

"You're going to the company, right?"

Nico nodded " dad's already assigned me to a project and well I want to work on it as much as I can"

"Mind if I walk you there?"

"be my guest" she replied with a smile.

As they headed towards the company they talked about how school was going for both of them and about the project Nico was in charge of, as well as random stuff.

The company was about a 2 hr walk from the school but none of them felt the time, in fact Eli felt that time passed by very quickly as they reached the door of the company.

"I guess this is where we part ways..." Eli said with a notorious frown. Nico noticed it and chuckle inside.

"wanna see how the project is going?"

Eli's face magically lit up and a grin formed in his face. Nico chuckle and smiled.

He opened the door for her and they headed towards the elevator. He could feel people whispering stuff but he paid no attention.

"is he a model?"

"woah he's really handsome and tall!"

Nico heard the comments and proudly smile inside. That's right my boyfriend is that good looking

They got in the elevator and reached the 10th floor, where the project was taking place at.

"Minami-san, Good morning" Nico said as they entered the room with Eli by her side.

"oh Good morning, Yazawa-san" The ash haired turned to see her and smiled "and umm..."

"I'm Ayase Eli. Nico-chan's boyfriend. Please to meet you" Eli said bowing to the ash haired.

Kotori looked over to Nico confused as if he was looking for an explanation. He saw a blush on her cheeks and so he decided to not mention anything about Umi.

"likewise, Ayase-san. I'm Minami Kotori, the designer who will be working with Yazawa-san in this project" the ash haired responded bowing as well.

The project involved designing new uniforms for a private school that was about to open. It felt like a big project to Eli but in reality he knew that the company would take on much bigger projects and that this was considered small and that's why Nico was in charge of it.

There wasn't really much that Eli could do or say. He didn't know anything about fashion and felt uneasy not being able to help his girlfriend. He decided to sat down on the couch and watched them work.

Eli was amazed to see Nico working this hard. He remembered their high school days where he often scold her and help her study to pass her exams. He chuckled inside and somehow felt proud. He reminisced about the old days and lost track of time.

"all done" the ash haired said happily

done? that was fast... Eli thought as he came back to reality, he looked at his watch and realized that it was actually almost night.

"well with the design haha..."

Eli looked over to Nico and saw how tired she looked.

"Now we'll just have to look for the fabric and make the uniforms" Nico said as she rested her back against the chair she was sitting on.

"Yes. We'll also need to look for models to present the uniforms." the ash haired said as he gather his papers together. "We can work on that next week" he finished as he put the papers inside his folder.

Nico nodded and smiled.

"Well, I'll be heading home now. It was a nice to meet you Ayase-san." Kotori said as he looked over to where Eli was sitting. Eli nodded and smiled.

"Thanks for your hard work, I'll see you again next weekend, Minami-san" Nico said. Kotori looked at her and bowed before exiting the room.

" He looks like a nice guy" Eli commented as he got up, stretching his body. Nico hummed responding to his comment as she continue to sit on the chair. Eli chuckled and walked over to her. He placed his hands on her shoulders and gave her a massage.

"wh-what are you doing?!" Nico said jumping from her seat in surprise.

"relax" Eli said as he softly guided her to sit down again. "this is a reward for working hard today" he said as he continued massaging her shoulders. Nico stood silent for a few minutes enjoying the massage he was giving to her. "I'll have you know, I work hard every day"

"oh really?" he said with a mischievous voice " if I remember correctly you'd ask me to help you study because you'll always forgot because you'd spent too much time looking at idol magazines and concerts."

"that was when I was in high school!" she argued back "it's different now..."

"yes, yes , of course. Great Yazawa Nico is a hard worker now."

Nico puffed her cheeks and got up. She walked over to the desk and grabbed her phone.

Eli thought it was cute when she'd puff her cheeks. He walked towards her and back hugged her. Nico could feel her body gaining temperature and gained a blush on her cheeks.

"Eli, it's late we should head back" she said in an attempt to break free but this fail as he didn't stop hugging her.

"just a little more" he said almost in a whisper. Eli remembered about the conversation he had with the blue haired the night before and decided to ask Nico what she felt for him.

"Nico..." Nico felt her body shivered. She slowly turned to face him and looked at him.

"do you love me?" Nico gulped and stared at blue eyes. "ah...umm.." she didn't know what to respond. Did she love him? It hasn't been that long since they started dating but she knew she strongly cared for him and wanted to be by his side.

He cupped her face and slowly got close to her making the gap between them shorter. "it's ok if you're not sure, I'll make sure you are one day." Being only a few centimeters away he softly caressed her cheek. Nico closed her eyes and Eli took it as a sign to close the gap between their lips.

She could feel her heartbeat racing and getting louder. Since when did this start to happen? As far as she knew this only happened when Maki was close to her. However the red haired was not in her mind right now.

Maybe she does love him.

A.N.

Sorry I took long to update ^^'

Anyways, thanks for reading and staying with me.

Be well my people.