"Is this good? This looks good, right?"
From the driver's seat, Nico risked a glance over at Maki, who was fussing with the gift for what seemed to be the hundredth time that day. "Yes, it looks good! Just like the last nine times you asked!"
Maki seemed undeterred by the sarcasm. "I just want to make sure I wrapped it nicely," she said, apparently not getting the point. She tugged at the ribbon a little.
"Don't people usually fuss over their outfits on days like this?" Nico asked, having decided that slamming her face into the steering wheel would ruin her makeup and as such she should avoid it and just keep talking.
The redhead blinked like it had just occurred to her that her outfit mattered at all. Nico felt a wave of regret wash over her. What did she just do? "Oh, shit, you're right, I should go-"
"We're already almost there, Maki." She reminded her in a huff. "And besides, you look super fucking hot in that, if you should worry about anything, it's seducing the brides."
"Thanks, you always know just what to say." Maki said flatly, sarcasm dripping in her voice.
Nico shrugged. "What can I say? I'm just thoughtful like that." They hit a red light and she turned a little. "Really, though, why all the nervousness? It's just our friends and a few of their relatives. You're usually a lot more...I dunno, cool about things?"
"You're right, it's really nothing to be so worried about." She offered the older girl a quick smile. "I guess I just keep forgetting that I'm not going to some sort of business party - I have to go to those now and then and it's a little nerve wracking knowing everything I say reflects on my parents and their work, you know? If it's just our friends there, I should be fine."
"Good, now you can stop flipping turds over the fact that that ribbon isn't completely symmetrical."
"It's not?!" Maki yelped, immediately reaching to fiddle with it again.
Nico laughed. "It is, I just wanted to see you flinch."
Maki gaped for a second, then gave her an irritated stare. "It'd be a shame if I were to give Nozomi some choice pictures of you." She said, tonelessly.
She opened her mouth to make some sort of retort, but then she saw Maki's grin. "Kidding, obviously. You might want to look at the road again, though."
She cursed just as the car behind them honked.
They got to the wedding exactly on time, partially thanks to Maki insisting they leave much earlier than Nico thought they'd have to and partially because they stopped for breakfast halfway there anyways.
At the same time they arrived, Nico noticed two other guests arriving; she was pretty sure she met them on that day Eli had come to her house. Maki followed her on the approach. "Hey, Umi and Kotori, right?"
The brown haired girl nudged the other one, who was focused on something else. "Yes, that's us! You're Nico, right? It's been a while. Isn't this exciting? I'm really looking forward to seeing them in their dresses."
"Really? Have you seen them?" Nico asked curiously.
Kotori giggled, and Umi ended up answering for her. "Kotori made their dresses, so yes, she's quite familiar with them. We've yet to see either of the brides, though, so seeing them fill it out...well, it is something to be excited about."
"We'll be looking forward to it too, then." Maki replied casually. There was a crashing noise from inside the building; Umi abruptly snapped to look in that direction. Kotori seemed torn between the two newcomers and the noise.
She gave them an apologetic smile. "Sorry, that's our cue!"
"HONOKA! WHATEVER YOU'RE DOING STOP IT THIS INSTANT!"
Nico gave a low whistle as the duo made their way into the restaurant….reception…thing. Loudly. "I hope Honoka runs as fast as she talks."
"No kidding." Maki agreed sagely. "…want to go look for one of the brides?"
She shrugged. "Well, there's really only two places to look. One is inside and the other is in the garden, if neither, they're in their car having pre-honeymoon sex. Simple science."
"Eww." The redhead made a face before shaking her head. "Let's check the garden."
"And I'll check the car when neither is there!" Nico replied in a singsong voice. Maki made another disgusted noise and kept walking.
They found Eli in the garden having a cheerful conversation with a woman about three times her age; Nico quickly made the accurate assumption that it was her grandmother and wondered briefly if she was intruding. Other members of Eli's family were hanging around the tables, including Alisa, who was babbling about something or other to her sister while she tried to braid her hair.
Before Nico could think to back off, though, the youngest Ayase caught sight of her.
Any hopes of subtlety were pretty much over from there.
"Nico!" She latched onto the older girl, who was resigned to her position. Maki seemed startled by the speed at which Alisa managed to clear the garden, raising her eyebrow at her.
Alisa managed to ignore the look she was getting. "Nico! It's been forever! I missed you, where have you been, did you do anything fun lately I heard there was this super cool new karaoke bar in Akihabara and Eli said she went with you and I'm super jealous because I bet everyone had a lot of fun and-"
"Let's calm down a little there," she said, embarrassed. "It hasn't been that long, right? We can't catch up later when your sister isn't about to get married?"
The blonde shot her some criminally good puppy eyes, puffing her cheeks out in a pout. "She's basically been married for ages! Let me talk to yooooouuuuuu...!"
Maki had to look away, coughing into her fist to try and make it look like she wasn't laughing at Nico's situation. Alisa turned to her, head cocked to the side. "Oh! Are you Nico's girlfriend? Eli told me about you! She said you and Nico are cute together."
The redhead looked like she was going to give a straightforward response, but Nico wanted to have some more fun with this, so, as long as the 'fanclub' was around….
Nico grinned, slinging an arm around Maki's shoulder and making it a point to make the action as exaggerated as possible. "Sure are! Sweet little Maki here is desperately in love with me, so I had no choice but to accept her confession...I couldn't break an innocent girl's heart!" She sighed dramatically, and Maki looked to be waiting for Alisa to laugh, but she never did.
Again, Nico grinned. Just as she expected, the blonde believed it…Maki looked somewhere between shocked and offended, as well as torn between glaring at Nico and trying to correct whatever impressions Alisa was drawing up of her.
Instead she did nothing and just looked mildly constipated just before a very excited Alisa nearly bowled her over in her haste to get up in her face about it.
"Woahhh...that's so cute! You're such a kind person, Nico! And she must really like you, look how much she's blushing!" Alisa gushed. She gave Maki a criminally endearing smile and went in for the hug. "It's okay miss Nico's-girlfriend! I'm happy for you two!"
Nico was enjoying every second of watching Maki scramble to respond properly. "I-i.. i.."
It was only at this point that someone cared to intervene. Giggling, Eli approached the group, braid neatly tied off. "Alisa, cut it out, poor Maki looks like she's going to die of embarrassment."
"She s-said it so loudly...in public...all your relatives..." Nico winked at her and squeezed her hand, Maki attempted to pull away once before giving up and letting it happen.
"Most of our relatives are rusty in Japanese at best," Eli replied casually. "The only one at any risk of hearing and understanding that was my grandmother; A few people here like my aunt and uncle don't even speak any at all. You're fine."
Maki let out a sigh of relief, but looked up just in time to see Eli's very elderly grandmother wink at her. Even Nico snorted when she noticed it. Maki had a very different reaction. "That's it. I'm going home I can never show my face in public again-"
"Aw, get over it, you big baby! You should be proud to have a great girlfriend like me!" She kissed her on the cheek, Maki blushed harder.
"L-lets just go inside..."
Eli perked up. "Tell Nozomi I'm excited!"
"Hang out with me after the ceremony!" Alisa chirruped, seeing that Nico was preparing to follow Maki. Nico winked. Alisa winked back.
Eli's grandmother also winked. Nico wasn't even sure if that ruined the moment or made it better.
In any case, as soon as they got inside, Maki found her way to some seats and stayed there firmly. Very, very firmly. After a moment's hesitation, Nico plopped right down next to her, all sunshine. "It's going to start soon!" She enthused. Alisa was slightly infectious. Maki seemed to think otherwise, but after a moment or two of lingering embarrassment, she shook her head and responded normally.
"Yes, it is. I think we just missed Nozomi….." Maki said, looking over to a side room that Honoka was disappearing into. "…weren't you supposed to be her best girl?"
She nodded. "Yup! I didn't want to leave you alone too long before the ceremony, though. I should go check with her now, but are you…?" She trailed off, gesturing to the seats. "Is here good?"
"Yeah, I'll be fine. Rin and Hanayo are over there, and I'm sure as soon as you leave, Rin will be right over here asking me about the gift...tell Nozomi that I said hi, okay?"
"Got it." Nico got up and made a beeline for the room Honoka had just gone into, waving to Maki on her way out.
The back room was full of crates and a few tables that looked ready to be pulled out in case of a slightly bigger turnout. Nozomi was sitting on top of one, with an oddly thoughtful expression. If Nico didn't recognize the look, she might've thought she was trying to go to sleep.
She did, though, so she hopped up onto a table across from it and took a second to bask as well, hands curled around the edge of the table while she leaned back as far as she could. Honoka, sensing that they were about to talk, sheepishly let herself out to go see when they were supposed to start.
"Great day for a wedding, hm, Nicocchi?" Nozomi said finally, breaking the silence.
"Perfect." She sighed as she said it, sitting up straighter to cross her arms. "Is everything like you wanted it to be?"
The bride-to-be giggled. "No, not really. I think it's different in a good way, though." Nico nodded, and Nozomi looked up, as if she were trying to remember something. "Oh! That reminds me, have you seen Eli yet? What is her dress like?"
Nico raised an eyebrow. "You don't already know? Didn't you get them at the same time?"
Nozomi shook her head. "We just got them here. I trust Kotori enough to know that anything she made would be good….and look, I was right! What do you think, Nicocchi? Does it suit me?" She slid off the table, brushing the bottom of it off and then standing alert, like she was waiting for an assessment. Nico hummed appreciatively.
"Yeah, it looks great. Kotori really knows what she's doing!" And she meant that, too. Nozomi's dress was much the same as Eli's; strapless with a flower pattern around the top and then again at the waist. The dress part of it all seemed to flow from a couple fabric flowers at the right hip – Eli's at the left – and smoothly onto the floor. There was a slight purple tinge in the flowers and the bottom folds of the dress; Eli's differed again here in that it had been blue.
She grinned, wondering what her friend would think of the fact that they matched almost perfectly. She probably would think it was cute. Might as well save that surprise for the altar. "I think you'll have to wait and see Eli's, though."
The taller girl let out a disappointed sounding huff.
Nico snickered, enjoying the feeling of being the one to tease Nozomi instead of the other way around. There was a slight pause after that though, and she ran her hand through her hair, seeing Nozomi fiddling with her braids. "So, uh….."
"Something on your mind?" Nozomi asked, wiggling an eyebrow. "Don't tell me you're going to be a runaway bride!" She mock-gasped.
"I'm not even the one getting married!" She yelped defensively, even though there was no real reason to be defensive. Nico huffed, arms crossed. "That's not even close, anyways. I was just going to say….." A moment's hesitation. "Thanks. For, y'know, inviting me and stuff. It's been nice catching up with you and Eli, and I feel kinda bad for not contacting you all that time after high school."
"Oh, don't feel bad about that!" Nozomi replied breezily, leaning back against the wall. "Fate has it's own way of working things out. I think things turned out just fine anyway, don't you?"
Nico shrugged. "I'm still sorry."
The purple haired girl again attempted to wave it off. "Don't be, if anything, I should be apologizing for accidentally hitting you with my car a while back."
"You what?!" Hold the fucking phone.
Nozomi laughed nervously just in time for Honoka to pop her head in. "Guys! Nozomi needs to get to her place!" The bride's awkward laughter quickly turned mischievous; no doubt she was glad for the chance to leave Nico hanging like that.
Nico couldn't do anything but fume silently and do her best to put on a smile as they walked outside to where the officiator was standing. Of course that was the reason Nozomi had shown up at the hospital. That sneaky little…well, she supposed she did apologize…and drive her home…..but still, seriously?!
Oh, the ceremony had started. Nico quickly straightened herself out, trying to appear serious enough for the rest of it. Eli would be up there any minute…..Honoka at least seemed to be taking her duties as a bridesmaid seriously as well, which was an interesting state to see her in.
To her ever increasing relief, nobody did anything weird during the ceremony. Umi and Kotori walked Eli in, stood there quietly, and Honoka continued to act seriously. Alisa was the ring bearer, and nobody objected, so, despite the long, loooooong speech the officiator guy was giving, it was a smooth transition from wedding to reception.
Minus, perhaps, the part where Nozomi got a little too into their kiss and made a regrettable noise.
Honoka managed to cover it with a very loud and totally not awkward cough, though, so at least she didn't get caught for it. Everyone swarmed the brides right away after that, of course, so Nico took the time to pull away and Honoka joined her, goofy grin still intact. "Don't you just love love? I can't wait to go to the baby shower in the future!"
"Honoka….I really doubt either of them is ever going to be pregnant." She said flatly. "Doesn't that kind of make a baby shower useless?"
"Oh." She took a moment to consider that. "Maybe we can have a really, reeeeaaaally late one if they ever adopt?" Honoka shook her head quickly. "Whatever! They got married today, it's too early to be talking about stuff like that, Nico!"
She tactfully ignored the fact that Honoka was the one to bring it up and instead rolled her eyes. "Think maybe we should regroup? I'm sure Maki is wondering what's taking me so long to get down to our seats."
Honoka nodded. "Oh, right! I should probably go see what Tsubasa is up to, I don't think she knows anyone else here very well. Tell Maki I said hi!" She spun around to take off, but then, as an afterthought, added, "Can't wait to hear your speech later!"
"My…oh, fuck!"
She didn't write the speech. Fuck fuck fuck –
"So, where do you think Nico is?" Rin asked curiously, green eyes darting around the room. "It's been a half an hour?" It sounded like a question.
Maki shrugged. "Probably doing something stupid. Maybe she got held up by Alisa…? That girl can talk. I really wonder how anyone can like Nico that much…."
"Maki, you're dating her." Rin pointed out, looking puzzled.
"S-so? That's different!" She retorted, though she was, in retrospect, really embarrassed by what she'd said. Yes, she was dating her, which meant she liked her, so that joke just made her look dumb! What was she trying to prove? Maki ran a hand through her hair, annoyed.
"I think you're embarrassed by how much you like Nico, so you try to act like it's not a big deal."
She nearly spit out her drink. Hanayo, as always, quickly apologized. "Where did you come from?"
"I went to go get some food, and came back and you were talking and I forgot which parts were out loud and which parts weren't and so –" She made a few inarticulate noises and gestured with her hands. "Sorry, I've been trying to keep a lid on it all day but it's hard! We should go hang out by Eli's family."
Rin immediately perked up. "Did Kayo-chin make a friend?"
The brunette laughed awkwardly. "Ahah, no, I just find it easier standing near them. Most of them know Russian as a first language, so, I can't accidentally…..blurt anything out….because I don't know what they're thinking…"
"Sounds convenient," Maki agreed easily. "Maybe we should look for Nozomi first, though. Nico was on her side of the ceremony, so maybe she's still around her?"
"Wow, Maki really has a one-track mind!" Rin giggled. Maki flushed and hurried off without her, but naturally the orange haired girl caught up quickly, dragging Hanayo along for the ride.
Really, though, they were only looking for one moderately short woman in a pretty small wedding. How hard could it be?
…Apparently, really damn hard.
After about ten minutes and nothing to show for it, they sat down at one of the tables outside, Rin cheerfully munching on some of the appetizers while Hanayo continued to look around. "Where the hell did she get off to…?" Maki grumbled.
"Is something wrong?" It wasn't Nico, but it was someone they'd been looking for: Alisa gave the searching trio a curious look. "You look kinda bummed out. Yukiho and I can probably help!"
"...Yukiho?" Maki was drawing blanks. It sounded kind of familiar…
A redhead coughed from behind Alisa, getting her attention. "We haven't met. I'm Honoka's younger sister."
Maki nodded. "Oh, sorry. Nice to meet you. I'm Maki." With that out of the way, they had a moderately awkward silence. Maki was going to say something, but then it looked like Rin was going to talk, and they both noticed the other and stopped.
Thankfully Alisa solved the dilemma for them. "Have any of you guys seen Nico?"
She shook her head. "Actually, it's the opposite. We can't seem to find her. I was hoping you might know where she is."
"Oh, that sucks! I bet I can help you find her, though! Come on, it won't take me very long!" She said it like an invitation, but it didn't seem like Maki had much choice in the matter, because the younger girl grabbed her hand and merrily took off in a seemingly completely random direction.
"Have fun! I'll stay here and watch the food for you!" Rin called after them. Maki wasn't even sure she could blame her for flaking – those were really good appetizers.
They walked through the garden and back into the venue, Alisa deftly leading the two redheads through a couple crowds of relatives and friends. Yukiho silently picked up a handful of chocolates from a nearby table while they were on the move and popped one in her mouth, grinning when she heard someone complain that it wasn't time for desserts yet.
Alisa continued to lead them through rooms, occasionally pausing and taking a deep breath, eyes closed.
"Is that some kind of focusing trick..?" Maki asked Yukiho around the third or fourth time, though she quickly moved into gear when Alisa started moving again and made a quick turn towards the door to one of the restaurant rooms.
"I'm not going to be the one to answer that." The redhead replied nonchalantly, rolling her shoulders in a shrug. "Still, wouldn't you of all people recognize stuff like this….?"
"What does that mean?"
"There she is!" Alisa said excitedly, and then made short work of leaving the other two behind. Maki and Yukiho exchanged a look before eventually following, but, just as promised, they found Alisa in front of Nico at the bar section, next to Tsubasa. "Nico! Your girlfriend was looking for you!"
"Can't you just say Maki?" The girlfriend in question cut in tiredly.
The blonde shrugged and offered her a sheepish grin. "Sorry."
"You were looking for me?" Nico asked, glancing up from what appeared to be a napkin she was scribbling on. She barely looked up even then though, quickly returning to writing. Tsubasa looked on in mild amusement.
Maki nodded. "Yeah, I was looking for you after the ceremony and I couldn't find you anywhere. What are you doing?"
Nico let out a long, dramatic sigh. "I totally forgot that I would have to write a speech, so I'm doing it at the last minute, as per fucking usual."
"Uh…..I thought Umi was the one giving the speech?" Alisa asked, head cocked to one side. The black haired girl latched onto the sentence immediately, expression dropping from resigned-but-angry to what in the blink of an eye. The blonde laughed nervously. "Uh, just because, Umi is my big sister's best woman…..and she offered to write it right from the start…..so….." She coughed awkwardly, seeing as Nico's what look hadn't faltered in the slightest.
There was a very, very long pause. Nico put the pencil down. Looked at her speech for a while. Then up to Alisa.
"Oh thank god." She breathed at last, looking relieved. "Because this is garbage."
"I concur." Tsubasa said, agreeably. Nico looked like she wanted to be offended, but couldn't. Alisa looked even more relieved than Nico appeared to be.
"Oh, I'm sure it's not that bad! Anything Nico writes is sure to be wonderful!" Maki snorted and Tsubasa slid the napkin over to the youngest Ayase, ignoring the protest from the writer of the speech on it. Alisa cheerfully looked it over, but went from cheery, to confused, to embarrassed in very little time. She covered her mouth after giving the entire thing a read.
Yukiho looked over her shoulder curiously, leaning up on her toes to get a better look. "So? What's the verdict?"
Alisa handed it over wordlessly. After skimming it, Yukiho burst out laughing. "Oh, man, this is terrible! I kinda want to get it framed. Come on, you can't try to defend this, can you?"
"H-hey! I'm sitting right here, you know! Can't you at least try to act like you aren't making fun of me to my face?!" Nico fumed, getting up to snatch the napkin back. Yukiho held it out of her reach and laughed harder. Ever the dutiful friend, Alisa looked like she was trying very hard not to laugh and help Nico reclaim her speech, but she likewise couldn't reach it.
Meanwhile, Maki was somewhere else entirely. "…Hm. She's leaving…"
While everyone else was running around, Tsubasa had excused herself and was making for the front of the venue. Maybe she was looking for Honoka?
….She'd had just about enough of all this sneaky behavior.
Sighing, Maki made up her mind to follow and slipped around the girls that were goofing off. She followed from a good few feet away, unsure if Tsubasa knew she was following her and not really caring, either. Worst case scenario, she asked her what she was doing and Maki made some bullshit excuse about wanting to get to know her better.
At one of the planter boxes in front of the place, the brunette pulled out a phone, dialing. Maki mirrored the action and leaned up against the wall, trying to make it appear as though she were texting. It was kind of rude to eavesdrop, but surely…
"Hello? …Yes, I'm at the wedding….no, not ye-"
"Tsubasa! There you are!"
Damn Honoka's timing. Tsubasa apologized and hung up, turning to greet Honoka with a smile and a peck on the cheek, and Maki tried not to look too annoyed and slipped her phone back into her pocket, trying to get back in the building before – "Oh, hi Maki! Come for some fresh air?"
She sucked a breath in through her teeth and turned around, smiling. "Oh, I was just texting a friend. I was going to head back inside, since I think they're about to have the food…"
Honoka nodded eagerly. "Yup! I came out here to get Tsubasa so we could grab some seats. You want to eat with us?"
Well, even if she'd given up on spying, since karma came back for her as soon as she'd gotten the urge to snoop, it would still work out to eat around Honoka – she was talkative and it meant Maki didn't have to do much of the grunt work when it came to getting to know people. She nodded, offering a small smile. "Sure, I'll go get Nico." And then, after a moment, "So, did either of you get a chance to talk to Eli or Nozomi? I haven't been able to catch them since after the ceremony…."
"Oh, I think they're taking pictures still. Nozomi's family has a bunch of photographers, so all of them are trying to get the 'best shot'. It's actually kind of funny," Honoka snickered. "I wasn't watching the whole time, but Eli was starting to look like she wanted to cry by the time I found them. Every time she was ready to walk away and say something, someone else would run up and go, 'wait! I have the best picture idea!' and drag them right back into position."
"That sounds….really boring," Really, really boring. "I feel bad for her. What was Nozomi doing?"
"Laughing at Eli." Came the blunt, amused response.
It really wasn't hard to imagine. Maki stifled a laugh of her own and headed back inside. "Well, the food's not going to stay warm for us, so…."
"Well said." Tsubasa agreed. "Come on, Honoka, or someone else is going to eat all the bread."
The orange haired girl was in a considerable hurry after that. Maki just hoped she could find Nico before she got trampled.
Thankfully, she did. Nico was hanging around Hanayo and Rin with half of a napkin in her hand. Maki came up from behind and plucked it out of her hands, casually tossing it into the trash before taking a seat between Hanayo and Nico. Rin was already sitting across from Hanayo, and Honoka and Tsubasa took the other seats across from them. "Did I miss anything interesting?" She whispered, ignoring the scathing look from Nico.
"Nope! Umi started giving her speech a little bit ago but I kind of zoned out? I'm not sure if she's done talking yet, actually." Rin mused, then angled her head a little bit to see up to the front of the room. Umi was still standing. "Is it rude to talk while someone is giving a speech? Oh, do you think she hears-"
Umi coughed into her hand loudly. "Yes, Rin, I can hear you."
"Oh. Sorry Umi!"
The girl in question just sighed and tried to get back on track with the speech. Maki quickly understood why and how Rin had zoned out earlier – she knew next to none of the things Umi was talking about. Fair enough, since she was really only at the wedding as Nico's guest, but….hey, Nico was zoning out too! If she had to listen to this, Nico did too!
Maki elbowed her and irritably gestured towards Umi with her head.
Nico scowled. "What, it's not a crime to get bored, is it?" She whispered irritably.
"You're at a wedding! Show some respect!"
"Pfft, she doesn't know I'm zoning out. Look, she's almost done, anyways" Maki elbowed her again. "Heyy, cut it out!" She whined. "I'm already paying attention, okay? God, chill for five seconds, would you?"
She didn't bother to answer that, but she did sneak some food off Nico's plate while she was staring grumpily in the other direction.
Hey, she was just a tag along here. She didn't have to pay attention.
Probably.
As soon as everyone was able to talk again, Honoka and Rin made it a point to pretend to fall over in their chairs and be 'dead' from boredom, except Honoka let herself fall too fast and slammed her face into the table.
Maki snorted and had to look away while a few of the others expressed concern. "Honoka! Don't actually die!" Rin shook the other orange haired girl.
"I'm okay! Just bumped my nose." Honoka said, popping back up and giggling.
"What a way to get an injury….Here, let me see. Nothing too bad, right?" Reaching up to angle Honoka's face toward herself, Tsubasa inspected the damage. "Hm. I think you broke it."
She sat bolt upright. "Seriously?!"
Tsubasa hummed in response, appearing entirely nonchalant. "It seems so. Thankfully, I know how to fix it…." Was this going where Maki thought it was going?
Honoka seemed to catch on as well, because she looked a lot less distressed and a lot more eager. "What's that?"
"I'll be forced to kiss it better, of course."
They both laughed a little and had their fun, and Maki turned to face Nico when she was tapped on the shoulder. "Why can't we flirt like that?" She whispered, eyes still on the other couple. Then she looked to their right and frowned even deeper. "Or like that! Rin and Hanayo look like they're in a whole 'nother world! Why are we the unromantic ones here?!"
"Umm…sorry. I'm no good at flirting. But I don't think it's a problem." She concluded, crossing her arms. "We're romantic enough, aren't we?"
"Hardly." The shorter girl sighed. Kind of loudly. When Maki didn't do anything she sighed again, slightly louder.
"….do you need something?"
Nico facepalmed.
Across the table, Tsubasa laughed. "Maybe you need to be a bit clearer with your signals?"
"Hey, butt out, would you?"
"Sorry. Still, I was actually hoping to talk to you earlier….." She trailed off, and, seeing the blank look from Nico, clarified. "You were in the middle of writing a speech and asked me to wait a while. Then dinner started, and I had to take a call….you see where I'm going with this. Do you have a moment?"
"Oh." Nico looked a bit embarrassed, and scratched at the back of her head sheepishly. "Sorry. What did you want to talk about?"
"Nothing so serious, don't get embarrassed. I was just thinking we might hang out." She suggested amiably, leaning back in her own chair. "I've gotten to know most of Honoka's other friends, so I just thought it'd be something to throw out there. I'm still relatively new to town, too, so I was hoping for an excuse to visit some places."
Maki set her elbows on the table and kept eating her food, but her attention was a lot more focused on the conversation at hand now. It was none of her business, so really…. She tried to resist the urge to snoop further. "Rin, have you seen Nozomi or Eli? I haven't gotten a chance to congratulate them yet."
She broke out of her little daze with Hanayo and nodded quickly. "Oh, of course, nya! They're right over there, in one of the tables by the garden. Take Kayo-chin, too! I think she's too shy to do it on her own."
"O…kay?" Odd, considering Hanayo and Rin were supposedly already good friends with the two, but…well, whatever worked, worked. Hanayo looked embarrassed when she got up to follow.
Halfway to the table, she stopped. Maki curiously did the same and turned around. "You alright?"
"I think Tsubasa and Nico have a misunderstanding, or something?" She said haltingly, looking flustered. "Rin, uh, said I should say something. I've already said hi to Nozomi and Eli…."
"A misunderstanding? How so?" Was it something to be worried about?
Hanayo looked uncomfortable for a bit. "Oh, just, Tsubasa seems kind of confused about Nico? Um, she seems to be mistaking her for someone else she knows, and I'm pretty sure Nico doesn't know that. So, it'd be awkward, if they hung out and Tsubasa said something…..but I can't say anything to her directly because, uh, you know…."
"Then she'd know you were reading her mind." Maki concluded. Oh, man, this explained a lot of her behavior. Guess it was harmless, after all. No snooping required! Feeling suddenly cheerful, she gave the brunette a quick grin. "Well, thanks for that! Don't worry, I'll tell Nico later. Mind going with me to say hello to the brides again, anyway? I don't really care to wander all over the garden looking for them by myself…"
"Okay. They're over here." Hanayo looked kind of relieved too.
As expected, the duo was already talking to someone when Maki and Hanayo found them, but she didn't have a problem waiting. Eli offered a quick smile. "Hello."
"You two have had to do a lot of talking today, huh? Sorry, you're probably hoping to get a break."
"It's okay!" Nozomi replied for her, looking a touch too cheerful. "I think it's for the best we aren't left alone until later tonight. I like it when Eli is tense; then she's more fun to tease later. If anyone at all followed my last suggestion on the registry, then we should have plenty of new things to try out, besides th-"
Hanayo nearly fainted. Seeing this, Maki took the opportunity and bailed as well, citing the brunette as her reason to very, very quickly return to her seat. While she was walking away, though, she caught the tail end of their conversation.
"Nozomi, did you really have to shoo them off with that kind of teasing?"
"Who said I was joking?" A pause, then Nozomi's laughter.
Well, at least Maki would have someone to point to when Nico complained about being the 'least romantic' couple now. Nothing the purple haired girl had just said was romantic in the slightest.
Before they made it back to the table, Nico approached, looking annoyed. "Hey, Maki, do you still want a ride home? I have to leave; Cotarou put Cocoa's toy in the sink and ruined it and she's having a fit. I have to leave early and help Cocoro."
"Oh, uh –" Well, it probably couldn't be helped. She'd had her fill of socializing too, so... "I'm okay with leaving now." Nico nodded, and Maki gave an apologetic look to Hanayo. "Tell the others I said bye."
"Okay. Have fun?" Hanayo shook her head. "Or, get home safe, I mean! I'll tell Rin you said bye."
Maki nodded and followed Nico out, insisting they didn't need to go tell the brides bye personally (her face still flushed when she thought about Nozomi's scatter tactic) and ending off with a more or less pleasant car ride home.
"So, did you have a good time at the wedding..?" She asked, gesturing vaguely in the direction of the event in question. Nico paused to think about it, but then nodded, giving the redhead a near-blinding smile.
"It was really satisfying to see them finally tie the knot. And I had fun socializing, too. It sucks that I couldn't stay long enough for them to bust the drinks out, though…." She said, throwing in a low sigh.
"Yeah. What a shame." Maki replied dryly. "I guess I enjoyed myself too. I'm kind of curious, though…you looked kind of irritated for a bit when you were first up by Nozomi? You know, just as they were all getting in order for the actual ceremony. What was that about?"
Nico cocked her head to the side. "I was? Why would I be –" There was an abrupt gasp and Nico slammed on the brakes, halting their progress out of the parking lot. "Nozomi ran me over! I can't believe I fucking forgot that she hit me with her car! That sneaky little….." She went on to grumble some choice things about the purple haired woman.
Maki decided she really didn't want to know anymore.
AN: procrastination is evil and i have no excuses tbh holy SHIT i'm so sorry i left you hanging for so long! I won't let it happen again with this story. Mostly because it's so short from this point forward but hey! This is actually my longest chapter yet for ygtbk or anything, really. it's like 6,000 something words. Not a good enough compensation for leaving you hanging for 2-3 months, but it's. something, i guess, haha.
Also! ! I'm never writing! ! !another damn wedding! EVER AGAIN! ! ! ! it was a Mistake that i will not repeat and honestly i only wanted to do it for fun and also so that i could have the scenes with Eli's family and the scene with the big reveal: who actually hit Nico waaayyy back in chapter one. Nozomi is such a shitlord like geez just tell her next time you accidentally run her over, god
at least she had the sense to delay the call-in though becaus this story could've gone differently if some random stranger had hit her and instead of a hospital she woke up in like. science jail or some other bs sci-fi movie plot
Anyways! I don't want to delay posting this any further, but I'll probably realize there's errors and then come back and edit some stuff haha. Thank you so much for being patient with me and for reading! Hopefully this was decent or at least on par with the rest of the story after such a long break, haha. See you soon, hopefully!