Finally... an update! Fun fact: I lost this chapter not once, not twice... but THREE TIMES! ... So frustrating! And three times I've meant to update only to lose it again. But here it is, finally! I honestly just wanted to post it, so i did not proof read it that much. Anyways, I hope 1) you had a great day. and 2) you enjoy the chapter.
Don't Worry.
"Maki..." Huh? I kept my eyes shut. "Maki, dear..." Ugh! What now?
"W-what's going on?" I asked, trying not to sound grumpy, as I scratched my eyes. It was my mother. She smiled at me.
"We have a visitor." I blinked in surprise. I glanced towards the window... it's still dark outside.
"Who is it?" I asked as I tried to wake myself up, I didn't had a good night sleep. i need to pull myself together, we need that song.
"One of your friends." I opened my eyes wide. "You should go down, I need to go already and I don't want to leave her alone..." She whispered as I jumped out of my bed. It is way too early! Who can it be? I proceeded to walk downstairs, right behind my mother. I see someone downstairs, standing still with a big smile.
"U-Umi...?" I voiced in a confusing tone, adjusting my eyes to the light. "W-what are you doing here?" Umi gave an even more confused look.
"I thought we will meet by your house..." I know that but... I looked towards the big clock we had. It's 5 am!
"It's 5 am, Umi! What the-" Why... why all my friends are insane?... "And who is behind you-wait." Is that… She has a backpack bigger than her! Where does she think we are going!?
"Exactly! We all need to get ready!" How can she be like this! I don't rub my temples often, but it was required this time.
"Dear, you should eat some breakfast... and call me when you get to the cabin, alright?" She kissed the top of my head. "It was a pleasure to meet you, Sonoda-san." My mother gave Umi a big smile.
"Thank you, Nishikino-san!" She said goodbye politely, and my mom left... I glanced towards Umi once again. "Isn't it exiting, Maki?" Her eyes were lighting up.
"Give me a break..." I mumbled to myself. "I definitely need food to get through this day." I heard a loud rumble sound... I furrow my eyebrow towards Umi, who was blushed. "You... forgot to eat? You have to be kidding me!"
"I-I did not forgot..." She looks away from me. "I just had too much stuff in my mind, so..." I snorted as I walked to the kitchen.
"Come on... the food is over here." Umi jumped with excitement. Is she a kid or something? She is acting like Honoka! We proceeded to eat food in silence, both of us were hungry after all. I gave another look to Umi's backpack... "And where-" The ring bell stopped my own words.
"Ah! Must be the others!" Didn't we agreed on getting here at 8am!? I sighed with frustration as I got to the door. They are going to give me a migraine one of these days... I thought as I opened the door. Huh? It was Eli... who had her hands on her knees, catching up her breath.
"Maki! I came here as fast as I could..." She straightened herself up. Okay… but why? "Why you didn't tell me that we were going out three hours earlier?" She suddenly blushed. "A-And why are you in your pajamas?" It was my turn to blush.
"Ugh! I am so going to kill her! Come on in!" I voiced to Eli, who seemed a bit confused. I walked to the kitchen, I gave Umi an unamused look as she kept eating. Eli peeked from behind me. Umi seemed to notice our presence so she turned around to face us.
"Ah, Eli! I knew at least one of you would be here early." Umi is not acting like herself at all! Am I dreaming or something?
"You told me everyone was here... I thought I got the time of the meeting wrong..." Eli seemed a bit confused. But I noticed she was looking at the food... Are you hungry too?
"Yeah, I called everyone telling them that. Just so they wouldn't be late." Eli and I exchanged some looks. It does makes sense but... I sighed loudly.
"Alright, let's just eat." I sat down, at least I am going to finish my food. So then I can have enough energy to kill Umi. I looked at Eli, she wasn't sitting down. I knew she was hungry, she was glancing around awkwardly. "Hey... you can eat too, you know?" Her face light up.
"R-really?" She sat down quickly. "T-thank you, Maki!" She took a bite of bread.
"See what you just did?" I asked Umi. "You made her go out of her house without eating..."
"Can you pass me the jam, Eli?" Umi just ignored what I said. She is not Umi, she is a child!
"S-sure..." The blonde just did what she was asked to.
"What are you? A seven year old or something?" I asked rather harshly to the second year.
"What a nice day!" Umi voiced happily as she ate. Nice?! I barely slept, how is it nice?!
"It's still dark out-" Eli hit me with her elbow and giggled to make me shut up. I guess she is finding Umi's actions amusing. I sighed as I leaned back on my seat. I finished my food. I glanced towards Eli... who had a nice outfit on her. If something looks nice today, that's Eli for sure.
"Huh?" Eli seemed to notice I was looking at her. "Want some?" She gave me a smile... I just blushed as hard as the strawberries we had in a bowl.
"N-no! Sheesh... You two are so troublesome! I am going to get changed!"
Eli's POV:
I had to blink twice at Maki's reaction. W-was she looking at me, or...
"Don't worry. She can't hide her excitement, we are having a trip after all." I had to giggle nervously at Umi... You call that excitement, Umi? It's funny you are the one saying that.
"I-I forgot my water..." I hear Maki's voice behind me. She stepped in, I saw her face as red as her hair. "W-what?" I quickly shook my head in response. She snorted before she left.
"Maki didn't sleep that good last night." Umi explained simply before she took a drink of her juice.
"H-how do you know?" A thought crossed my mind... "Did you slept here, or-"
"Ah, no, I got here at 4.30am." She said like that totally made sense.
"H-harasho..." That's all I could say as my eye twitched. I guess that's why we have Grumpy Maki today.
...
Maki's POV:
It was a long morning. Everyone got to my house at different times... Honoka and Kotori were the last ones. Umi called them a thousand times, at least. She thought Kotori had Honoka controlled but... it took the other girl a while to wake her up. I felt a little better when we stepped out of the train, I might had slept a bit... with that and the nice air, I was starting to feel refreshed. All the girls were happily chatting about the place.
"Stop showing off! Hmph!" Nico voices angrily.
"I-I am not trying to show off anything!" They were the ones who started randomly complimenting me!
"C-calm down, you two... we should just head to the cabin, right?" Eli asked happily, always trying to avoid a confrontation. Nico and I snorted at the same time.
"Umi-chan, what's with the bag?" Kotori finally asked what all of us wouldn't dare to.
"What's wrong with it? Is it a tarantula there?" Umi asked without the usual fear of someone who ask it there's a tarantula on her back.
"No, it's just… Isn't it… kind of big?" Eli pointed out. Its half her size...
"Big? This is called 'being prepared'. And, for the record, I don't think you all prepared enough." Umi answered matter of factly. I sigh, I'm sure Umi brought all kind of pesticides and survival tools… "Okay! Let's get going!" I just hope she did not bring that axe... I thought she was joking before. But now I'm not so sure. "The mountain is calling us!"
"C-could it be... that Umi is really into hiking?" Eli voiced softly.
"I just hope she is not as unreasonable as in our last trip..." Nico said with certain worry in her voice. Those 10km where stitched in the older girl memories.
"Alright, we will miss the bus if we don't get going." I told the rest of the girls, so we all marched on behind Umi. It is kind of… quiet here.
...
After we realized we accidentally left Honoka at the train – actually, she just fell asleep there - well, it took us a bit, but we finally arrived to the cabin. We stood in front of it... and I already expected the worst.
"Ahhh!" Everyone exclaimed, impressed.
"You never cease to amaze me, Maki." Eli voiced and I just kept glancing down.
I just ignored everyone's comments until we got inside the place.
"... A fireplace!" Honoka voiced with excitement. I furrowed my eyebrow. Everything but that!
"Amazing!" Rin follows Honoka's turmoil. "It's my first time seeing one! Can we light some-"
"We won't." I voice with pure seriousness to shut them off. The two of them gave me some puppy eyes, they know they won't work on me. "It's not that cold yet! Besides, I need to keep it clean as always, Papa told me it's hard for Santa-san to come if the fireplace is dirty." I cross my arms, making my point clear.
"Papa?" Honoka exclaims.
"Santa-san?" Rins follows once again, they exchange some looks.
"That's so cute!" Kotori voices softly, I'm not quite sure what she is talking about...
"Your father sounds nice, Maki-chan." I smile at Umi's words. He is.
"It's my job to keep the chimney clean, so Santa-san can come here every winter." I smile proudly. I take this cabin serious, it's an important place for me. I don't spend much time with my parents but when we are here... we are together all the time, this cabin just feels like family to me. And we often come here on the winter holidays. Huh? I notice Eli has her eyes wide open… is she blushed, too?
Eli's POV:
I-I... never expected this from Maki... this is too much for me... I look at the redhead and I can't help but smile. She is so cute, she has more than one sweet and innocent side... My heart hurts, Maki!
"Y-You are..." I could hear Nico suppressing her laughter. Oh, no. "Believing in-"
"Nico-chan!" Hanayo voices as we both jump to stop Nico, I grab the small girl by her shoulders.
"Nico, don't you dare..." I start shaking her up, hard, and giving her my deadliest stare. Over my dead body!
"Ow, what's your problem-"
"Don't. You. Dare." I repeat as sharply and intimidating as I can.
"It could change Maki's life, nya!" Rin whispers towards the dark haired girl.
"But it's Maki we are talk-"
"Ugh!" I grab Nico from behind, covering her mouth. Not on my watch!
"Huh? What's going on?" I hear Maki's voice, she seems confused.
Maki's POV:
"N-nothing!" Honoka exclaims nervously, waving her hands.
"Hmm..." They are definitely acting stranger than usual... I stare at the weird scene, Eli was still covering Nico's mouth and the others seemed petrified. It might just be the fresh air. I hope it won't last long, thought.
"O-okay! Everyone go get your bags and stuff ready, we don't have much time so we should practice soon." Eli said with her student president tone, she was still grabbing Nico. Until Nozomi took her from her arms, guiding her away from the room. Eli sighed in relief. I walked next to her, the rest of the girls hurried to choose a bedroom.
"Just when you thought they couldn't act weirder..." Eli glanced at me and we giggled.
"Ah! Thanks for reminding me..." Reminding you what exactly? She took her phone out... "Hello? Nishikino-san?" I opened my eyes wide. "Yes, we all arrived safely... I-It is a nice place indeed. We will make sure to leave it in perfect conditions." I gave Eli an angry look, she just averted her look from me. "Yes, of course..." She extended her phone towards me, she was blushed and even a bit scared. Don't give me that look! "It's your mom-"
"What?" I grabbed the phone quickly and I almost shouted. "Why are you-" 'I thought you might forget to call me, so I gave my number to Ayase-san. Everything alright?' I gave Eli another angry look, she just flushed and looked away, I could read the 'I'm sorry' in her eyes. "Yeah... whatever." 'Call me if anything happens, bye dear! Have fun.' "Bye..." I ended the call, giving Eli her phone back. "Why-"
"Your mom told me to call her when we got here, in case you forgot and... I didn't see you with your phone so I thought we should get it over with... s-sorry." The blonde said that quickly, so she had to take a deep breath when she finished the sentence. I look into her blue eyes, and I felt a bit bad...
"Y-you talk like I am a monster..." I flushed a bit and Eli just chuckled.
"No... I just didn't wanted you to be angry at me." Eli giggled nervously.
"Like I could be angry at you!-"
"That sounded very angry to me... Maybe you are indeed a little monster." Eli teased with a smirk and I just snorted. "Is that your piano?" She randomly asked as I noticed she was looking at the one we had here.
"Y-yeah... just one of them. I do love this one." It's my second favorite...
"I would love to hear you play..." I felt my cheeks go red.
"L-Let's get to work, we have so much to do..." It's not like she haven't heard me playing before... why make it such a big deal, Maki? I turned around, ready to look out for the others.
Shortly after we changed our clothes and all, we had a small meeting at the living room...
"Alright, then. Maki, Umi and Kotori need to start working on the music, lyrics and costume respectively. The rest of us, let's go practice outside!" Eli words were followed by some shouts of excitement. Working on the music... I had to gulp. I was nervous and It wasn't a good sight to begin with. Before they left, I grabbed Eli by her arm.
"Be careful with the-"
"Don't worry Maki, we will be alright!" She gives me a thumbs up and the widest smile she can manage. I smile back... she can be so enthusiastic sometimes. "And good luck, don't put so much pressure on yourself, alright?" She whispered that and I nodded shyly. I look at the piano, it was not that far away from us... "I'll leave you to it, then." I see her walking away... I sighed when she couldn't be seen.
"Okay... you two can follow me now." I take Umi and Kotori upstairs, we walk in awkward silence. "Well, I guess we need to start working on that song, right? Umi, you can use that room over there. There's lots of poetry, rhythm dictionaries and such." The blue haired girl nods, looking at the door I just pointed out. "Kotori, this one even has a sewing machine." I opened the door for her. The three of us just stood there nervously. "E-everything alright, then?" I couldn't even fake confidence.
"Yeah..." Umi did not sounded too convincing, and Kotori just nodded.
"I'll be at the piano..." I voiced simply before I left... I felt like someone dropped a bucket of cold water over me. I just kept walking... before I realized, I was in front of my piano. I shook my head, you can't be this lame, Maki! You have been composing for a long time now, the group needs you! I sat down... I started playing a few songs, just to warm up. Fine... now, what do we need to win this thing? Because we definitely NEED to win this... I can't slow down now, not when this will be our last chance together…
...
I wasn't sure if time had passed or not, a minute? An hour? I couldn't tell. I just was sure of one thing: I couldn't even play our current songs alright. Snap out of it, Maki! We can't get through this like this! I snorted with frustration before I placed my forehead into the keys, letting the awful noise sound loud... It's no use... I... I sighed, looking up to the roof. I wonder how the other girls are doing.
Rin's POV:
"SOMEONE HELPS UUUUS!" Nico-chan and I were half-falling, half-running down to a very huge and long hill...
"NYAAA!" I screamed in true horror. This is it… the end… Kayo-chin… I hope you don't forget me…
Maki's POV:
Ok... this is definitely not working. I say to myself after a couple tries on the piano. I-I wonder how are Umi and Kotori doing... I stood up. If I see them doing some progress, I'm sure that will motivate me! I almost ran upstairs, Kotori's door was closed so I decided to check on Umi first.
"Umi... how are you doing?" I peek inside, making the other girl flinch.
"M-Maki... I'm doing fine. Hehe." She laughs nervously, her answer sounds painfully fake. Okay... she has written a couple words, at least. I guess I'm not the only one having some troubles.
"Uhm... should we go check on Kotori?" I ask nervously, I am sure she is having a better time than us...
"Y-yeah!" Umi almost jumped outside, it's like she wanted to leave as soon as possible. Umi opens the door slowly... "K-Kotori?" There was no sight of her... I opened my eyes wide and I'm sure the other girl did the same as we read a 'HELP ME' in the wall, there's a rope made of clothes coming out of the window. Umi was panicking already.
"S-She ran away!" Genious! I thought as Umi ran to the window and sighs with relief. "She is right there..." Kotori was sitting next to a tree, just outside the cabin. "We... we could scape too." I look at Umi and we both laugh nervously... It doesn't takes long for us to go down the rope... We walk towards Kotori, she was hugging her knees. "Kotori... are you alright?" Umi asks softly as the girl hides her face between her knees.
"N-Not at all... I don't seem to be able to... w-wait..." She takes her face out of hiding. "You two are having troubles too?" Both of us look away embarrassed, until we gave up, sitting next to her. The three of us stay there, hugging our knees.
"I-I can't think of a single word..." Umi voiced worriedly.
"W-Well... I am not doing that good either..." I admit, looking away as Kotori sobs a little.
"If you two can't think of anything..." She cries again. "We are doomed!" We... are... so... doomed.
"B-But we could... work a bit more or..." It's not use, Umi... "We could really run away... escape together... I have enough food and tools to survive in the wild for two weeks at least! We can say we got lost!" She sounds insane but... I nod in agreement. Maybe that backpack of Umi will be helpful, after all.
"B-But we would... disappoint them..." Kotori's voice tone says it all. I don't want that to happen...
"I think we should listen to Umi's plan..." Escape. At this point, that's our only salvation.
...
Eli's POV:
"Sheesh... I was worried, you two." After we managed to catch up to Rin and Nico and rescue them, we took them to the cabin. I wanted to stop Nozomi and Honoka from lighting up Maki's chimney but the two girls were freezing... I sigh. What a mess... I look to the piano, there's no Maki there... Where is she? I hope she is alright... I had a bad feeling in my guts.
"Honoka, you should be worried about us!" Nico says after she sneezes. The second year laughs in response.
"S-sorry... it was so funny!" The rest of them giggle a bit too.
"We should be silent, the other girls are working..." Nozomi voices.
"Uhm... where's Maki-chan?" Honoka realizes too as Hanayo enters with some tea. "I'll go give some to the girls upstairs!" Honoka runs away quickly.
"Carefully, Honoka!" I exclaim as Honoka rushes upstairs. She is definitely going to spill it all over the floor... Hmm... I really wonder where is-
"Oh... AHHH!" I hear Honoka yelling from upstairs and I ran to the second floor in response.
"H-Honoka, what's wrong?" I try to catch my breath, she seems horrified, I follow her glance to… I-Is there a rope hanging out?! Honoka and I rush towards the window... we sigh in relief when we see the three girls sitting there, near some trees. "T-They seem fine..."
"I almost had a heart attack!" Honoka took a deep breath... Me too, Honoka. Me too.
...
Maki's POV:
Update: they found us. We weren't fast enough to hide in the mountains... Umi, Kotori and I are sitting on a couch inside the cabin, the other girls are around us, and they seem pretty worried... The three of us look down, avoiding their eyes...
"Y-You are in a slump?" Most of them ask in shock. Sheesh...
"M-Maybe we were pressing you too much?" Eli voices and I can tell she is worried... Great! Now all of them are going to be distressed too!
"I-It's just not been easy..." Umi admits.
"We want to do a good job, if we don't... we won't make it through the preliminaries..." Kotori voices and sighs... I felt like the rest of them wanted me to say something too.
"I-I wasn't doing that bad! I was making some progress... A-Almost." I avoid all of them, pretending to be interested in some lamp not far away from me.
"But your notebook is empty, nya-"
"W-Who said you could look?" I scold Rin, taking the booklet off her hands. Kotori sobs a little.
"W-We shouldn't leave everything to them this time..." I can hear Hanayo saying. They proceed to talk about a way to solve this, while Umi, Kotori and I just sat there, helplessly... We know we are screwed.
"Huh?" I exclaim when I notice Eli crouching in front of me. She looks directly into my eyes and smiles. How can you smile now? Like, how can your face manage to light up something this awful?
"Everything will be fine." I blink twice, those blue eyes can take every worry off me... almost. Maybe if we weren't in such a bad situation. "Okay?" She glances towards Umi and Kotori this time. She gives this vibe... like she can fix anything. And I'm sure she can, but... "I have an idea!" She voices with enthusiasm as she stands up, facing the others. I can't help but smile... This girl is something else... She tells us to wait outside for her to come back. Eli gets back to us shortly after... what does she have on her hands? Whatever she is planning... I'm not so sure if it'll work. If it wasn't Eli, I would be gone already.
"We still have time to escape..." I whisper to Umi, who is next to me. She seems up for it.
"I'll go get the tools... You distract them-"
"We will form three groups. Everyone will grab a colored stick..." Eli proceeded to walk around to make everyone take one. "No running away this time." The blonde voices to Umi and me. Nothing escapes her... I got yellow, while Umi got blue. "Here is the deal, the ones who got the same color as Kotori will help her with costume design, that's Hanayo and Honoka." The three girls smile happily. "Then we have Nozomi and Rin with Umi, working with the lyrics." So that means... "Nico and I will help Maki with the music." Eli finishes up with a smile. I had to smile too, she tries so hard.
"This is perfect! Now, let's get to it!" Honoka says with her usual excitement.
"Yeah!" All the girls yell happily, except Nico and me. I flinch.
"Y-Yeah!" I mutter, maybe a bit late… not because I think it will work, but because I don't want Eli's effort to go unnoticed. The blonde smiles at me as Nico just snorts in disagreement.
…
The three groups separated, we are camping in different places. Nico, Eli and I are building our tent next to the cabin... not without the raven haired girl and I fighting. Eventually, we finish it up... I guess it was a good distraction. We just sit down inside it... I hope this thing doesn't fall. There was an awkward silence and I could bet my life on who was going to break it.
"O-Okay... Maki, what can we do to help?" Eli, I can't... work with that smile. "Come on, you can do it!" I blush... she didn't seemed quite sure about what to do to help.
"I still don't get why we got separated, it's not a good idea-"
"Come on, Nico...-"
"I can't see how we can help!" Nico gives me an unamused look.
"I-I have an idea..." Eli was trying to ease the tension, like she always does. "Just try to brainstorm some stuff, Maki. Write whatever you want." I sigh loudly.
"Fine... I'll try." Just because I can't refuse to your ideas, Eli.
"You really think that's going to work?" Nico asks the blonde.
"Who knows? You need to be more positive, Nico." Eli whispers, like she is trying not to distract me.
"I'm being realistic here. You, for once, are not." Nico points out and I sigh, letting them argue. I just try to brainstorm... anything... anything is better than nothing, I guess. After a while, I seem to be making some progress, finally... Maybe this whole camping thing is working. I look up, Eli and Nico are playing... something? With the sticks. I giggle silently. Or maybe it's the company... not that I will ever admit that.
"I hope the other girls are doing fine..." Eli voices suddenly, not whispering this time.
"You just distracted Maki, Eli!" Eli flinches and I chuckle. They were definitely trying not to disturb me.
"It's fine..." I doodle around... I hope something good comes out of this.
"I still don't get why are we here when we could be at the mansion?" It's not a mansion, thought. I look at Eli, she seems pensive. "Besides, I am not sure this is helping..." Nico smirks at me. I-I got distracted.
"I-I'll go back to the piano when I finish here..." This time I keep on writing.
"Then... should we cook something? We should support Maki in any way we can." Eli gives me one of those tender smiles of her that makes my heart skip a beat. Y-You can't just say those things, Eli! I look away from her, my eyes on the notebook once again as I feel my cheeks grew hotter.
"Fine! I'll go get something to cook..." Nico stands up and leaves.
"I'll light up a small fire outside-"
"We are cooking outside!?" Nico shouts a bit, Eli just nods. "You are crazy!" I giggle a bit, kind of amused because Nico didn't actually refuse to do so.
"You good?" Eli asks me with another smile, just before she leaves the tent.
"Y-Yeah..." I voice, trying to keep on writing. Then, she leaves the tent.
After a while… I can finally tell I made some progress. I sigh with relief, I guess I was able to beat this messy head of mine, I thought as I looked the pages I wrote. I stretch my arms and I look outside the tent… Wow, is almost dark... I decide to go out, Eli and Nico are sitting around the fireplace, there seems to be some food getting cook.
"You finally leave that tent!" Nico exclaims when she notices me. Eli turns around to look at me.
"Come sit here with us." There was a sit between the two girls, so I obey. "So... Uhm..." I notice Eli is hesitating to ask.
"It's doing well, I guess... better than before, that is for sure." She smiles in response.
"That's great!" Eli exclaims happily.
"Yeah, yeah, amazing but... when is this going to be ready? I'm starving!" Nico voices with bitterness... I am actually hungry too...
"It won't take long, Nico." Eli reassures her... Then I notice the blonde looking up to the sky. "Hmm... it'll be completely dark when the fire extinguish, right?" Hmm... Why does she sounds so... worried?
"What about it?" I ask Eli with some confusion.
"Are... you afraid of the dark?" Nico laughs out loud, Eli just blushes. Oh... really, Eli? I chuckle silently.
"N-Not at all!" Eli 'Bad-liar' Ayase. She quickly stands up. "G-give me a minute..." And just like that, she enters the tent.
"Huh?" Nico exclaims... Eli just light up a little lantern inside the tent. I giggle... She is such a baby. "Who would have guessed it? Eli, afraid of the dark? This day is full of surprises." Nico laughs out loud again while I just smile... It's so adorable.
"But don't joke to her about it..." I don't want her to run away scared into the woods or something.
"But how is she still afraid of it, at her age! Awh!-" Nico screams because some fire ashes got to her. I just laugh.
"Sheesh, I can't believe I'm going crazy composing songs for third years like you two..." I sigh with a smile. Do they deserve it? Absolutely. Am I going to tell them that? Hell no.
"Huh? What did you just said?" I give Nico a confused look. "You said you are doing it for the third years?" She crosses her arms with evident disapproval.
"W-What about it?" I-It's not a lie..." She sighs with frustration.
"No wonder you were not making any progress before! 'I'll compose a good song for the third years, it's their last year, we should win for them' Bah!-"
"T-That's definitely not true!" I glance away from Nico.
"Songs should be for everyone... so everyone could enjoy them." She voices with sudden seriousness.
"N-Now you are telling me what to do?" But I guess she is right...
"Of course, I am the president after all! Job's done, time to eat... Here! It's a roasted sweet potato." She lends it to me...
"Huh?" I just grab it... "I-It's hot!" I blow it a bit as she laughs.
"And what did you expect? Ice cream?" I break the potato in two pieces.
"Here." I give it to Nico. She seems surprised. "W-What? I thought you were hungry!" I voice harshly as I blush.
"T-Thank you..." We proceed to eat... Wow... I was staving!
...
Eli's POV:
I sigh... I'm so glad I got this lamp... and the two other lanters, just in case. There could be a blackout out of nowhere. I glance to the two girls near the fire. T-They are... not fighting? I almost shed a tear... Progress! I smile as I get out of the tent.
"What's going on here?" I sit once again. They were bonding... That makes me so hap-
"Ha! You ate it! Now you have to give me the leading role for the next song!" W-What?
"Sheesh! That's not even my job... and you don't deserve any leading role!" I... I guess good things don't last, right?
"Ah!? Then give me my potato back!-"
"I already ate it!" I sigh, I guess is no use... "Eli." Huh? I look up. "Want some?" I see Maki's little smile as she lends me some potato. I nod in response, kind of getting lost in those violet eyes.
"Thank you, Maki." And just like that, the three of us continue eating. We just sat there, eating and chatting for a bit. Then, Maki continued working on the song... I was starting to feel eager to know how was going to turn out. I kept looking at the stars... they were so bring tonight.
"Ah..." I could hear Nico yawning. "Well, it's time for my beauty sleep. See ya tomorrow!" She enters the tent.
"D-Don't turn the lamp off, Nico!" Nico smirks and nods before she closes the tent, Maki just giggles. "W-What?" I blush...
Maki's POV:
"Nothing, nothing." I can't help but smile at her. "You two were helpful after all..." I voice, looking at my booklet. "B-But don't say that to anyone."
"Deal." She smiles wide. "I am glad we were able to... I was getting worried." She takes her attention to the sky once again. She is pensive, even more than usual. There's something definitely on her mind. "Not that we were that useful... we just kept doing silly things-"
"You two kept me company. That worked in the end." I gave her a smile, she flushed a bit. She looks up once again... Eli looks beautiful with the light of the fire... makes her shine.
"I hope the others are doing fine, though..."
"I am sure they are." I was sure of it. We exchanged some smiles before she looks up to the sky once again... I just kept looking at her, listening to the sounds of the fire... it's so relaxing and calming... I smile at certain someone in particular. I did not wanted to take my eyes away from her for some reason. "I-I should keep on writing..." I voice lowly, trying to focus on the task once again.
"Maki, look up." Huh? I look at Eli before I follow her instructions. So many stars... "They are shining bright tonight."
"Yeah..." I agree, peaking at Eli once again. Not sure about which one of these stars I prefer to look at.
"They are, technically, always the same but... depending on the situation, they look different." Her deep words took me by surprise but... I did understand what she meant.
"I guess it depends in what you are trying to find in them... today they seem brighter because, well... we did needed some brightness." Eli stretched her legs, resting her head under her palms.
"Yes, I guess you are right." I smiled at her. I like the way her mind works... In that moment, I realized how truly refreshed I felt. I also noticed how overwhelmed I felt this last couple of weeks. All I needed was some nature, fresh air, food, good friends... and... I kept my eyes on certain blonde.
"What?" She asks when she notices my eyes on her.
"N-Nothing, just... aren't you tired?" She seems to smile at me. "You should go to sleep-"
"You don't want me here?" She jokes, or at least I hope it is a joke.
"I do want you here..." I voiced that maybe way too sincerely. "B-But if you are tired-" She laughs.
"You are the one who seems tired... You slept all the time in the train." Eli smiles at me.
"I... I did not, did I?" I guess I did in the end.
"Just ask my shoulder." The blonde giggles and I open my eyes wide because of what she is implying. I was sitting next to Eli in the train... "D-Don't worry about it!" She realized I was too embarrassed to even speak.
"I-I don't believe you... Did I really?" I got all flustered. This is all Umi's fault.
"Don't be silly Maki, its fine." She shakes her hand, not wanting it to be a big deal. "Just keep at it until you are tired, I'll keep you company." How does she say these embarrassing things so easily?
"J-Just don't distract me..." Eli smiled and I tried to keep my focus, once again. Maybe I'm just losing my attention span? It can happen at my age. I think. I shook my head... the music we need, for everyone... I manage to get a solid idea of what I want to achieve with the song this time.
"I'm sorry, Maki." The words caught me off guard, Eli was looking down, playing with some grass.
"Sorry for what?-"
"I knew you weren't that... inspired-" Sheesh, you can call it a slump, Eli. "to compose lately and I still left you there to do it on your-"
"Enough." She stares at me, I guess because of how bluntly I interrupted her. "If someone was able to help me-o-or, us… it was you, Eli." I blushed so I had to look away. She feels responsible for everything, always. "Actually, I should be the one thanking you. For caring about me… everyone. So don't feel guilty for something you already fixed." I muttered, my face was red but I had to look at the blonde one last time. I wasn't sure what was on her mind, she seemed frozen. "I also care about you, so we are even, now cheer up and never apologize for something that ridiculous." I randomly pat her head like she was a little dog, not knowing what got into me. Then I just glanced towards my notebook and pretended to write something, when my mind was just a turmoil 'I also care about you'. What the actual-
"M-Maki-"
"D-Don't distract me." I lost count of how many times I've said that today but I had to cut her off, even though I felt bad for doing so. She somehow always makes my shields go down… What the hell was that, Maki? Since when you give such embarrassing speeches!? I must be sleep deprived… it's messing up with my mind! Not that I regret anything I just said, though… Eli seemed to understand, so she just stood there silently. Just giving me company, I guess.
After a long while, well, long enough for me to stop being flustered, I heard a yawn... coming from Eli, of course, even though she tried to hide it. "You are sleepy..." I point out, grinning at her. "You should go to bed or... to the tent, I guess." I giggle a bit, I don't know what time it is. But I'm sure it has to be late.
"I don't want to leave you here alone... at night, in the dark." I had to chuckle... "And the fire has almost extinguished..." I am not sure if she is worried about me, her or both.
"I'm fine, I'm feeling really inspired right now. I feel like something amazing might come out of this." I give her my best smile, but she doesn't seem convinced. "Trust me." My mind trails off to the 'I also care about you'. She sighs in defeat.
"Alright... Just let me give you one of my lanterns." She turns around to look for her bag, it wasn't that far away. I furrow my eyebrow.
"Just how many you have?" I notice her face getting red, making me smirk.
"Only... two." I giggle as she lights her lantern up, to test if it works before giving it to me. "Here..."
"Thank you." I kept looking at her, but she seemed unsure about leaving me here. "I'll be fine, have some rest, please!"
"Fine... Good luck, then." She stands up and pets my head kindly. "I can't be the only one who gets a pat on the head tonight." I blush at the memory, so this is why I get so embarrassing with her… it's because she can always be even more embarrassing than me! "Wake me up if something happens..." She winks at me and I look away.
"Yeah, yeah…" I had to grin at her worry.
"Sweet dreams." We exchange some smiles before she enters the tent... I glance down, still smiling. I don't think i'm sleeping anytime soon, though.
...
I peek into the tent after a couple minutes… Of course both are sleeping soundly. I smile at them, the fire has extinguished… I lower the light of the lamp a bit, but I let it on, just in case… Then I walk towards the cabin with enough confidence to face the piano this time. As soon as I sit there, I feel like myself once again... so I start playing. It doesn't take long for Umi and Kotori to join me.
...
Eli's POV:
I can feel the light of the day waking me up… I open my eyes. With Nico still sleeping next to me. I giggle, she actually had half of her weight on me. So I slept all night… I watch the lamp lighting up a bit and I smile. I try not to wake the other girl up as I walk out of the tent… No sign of Maki, I just hope she is resting a bit, at least. I proceed to wake Nico up… The rest of the girls get next to our tent as soon as Nico and I go out.
"Good morning." I say to them with a smile.
"Kotori-chan and Maki-chan are not here…" Hanayo voices, still half sleep.
"Neither is Umi, nya…" Rin exclaims this time.
"I can guess where they are…" Nozomi says looking at the cabin. All of us do the same before we start to walk in that direction… It was way too silent, so they must be sleeping... somewhere. And, of course, Maki is sleeping on the piano. I smile at her messy hair, resisting the urge to caress her hair. Kotori and Umi are at the sofa, the three of them are sleeping soundly.
"Sheesh, look at them." Nico says and Nozomi giggles. Even Nico is touched by the scene.
"We should let them sleep." Says Nozomi. I place my hand on Maki's head for a second, not knowing exactly why. Then I grab her music papers.
"Yeah, but we will have to practice as soon as they wake up." I voice softly to avoid waking any of the girls up. I look at Maki's writing and then I look at her sleeping. "I'll be strict." Hanayo covers Maki with a blanket and Rin does the same to Umi and Kotori. Honoka grabs Kotori's sketchbook and Umi's paper. We look at them and we smile. "What if we start the day with some dancing?"
"Yay!" Honoka and Rin say at the same time… Then we hear the sound of their stomach.
"Maybe we should eat breakfast first." Hanayo says and we giggle.
Maki's POV:
Umi woke me and Kotori up, then we saw the other girls practicing and we rushed there… They saved us some breakfast so we ate some, and then we spend the day practicing. We did a great job. At night, we all took a bath and had dinner together. After all the girls were sleeping, I decided to stand up and work in my mission… cleaning the chimney. I grab some tools and chalk. I sit down silently, not wanting to wake anyone up. Let's get to work! While I am at it…
"Boo!" I almost jump, looking over my shoulder. It's just Eli, I sigh with frustration. She giggles. "Sorry, I couldn't help it."
"Sheesh, are you crazy? You almost give me a heart attack…" I snort angrily, trying to hide my smile as she sat next to me.
"And I'm the one scared of dark…" She points out with a laugh. Ah! "Huh?" Eli seems to notice what she just said and blushes a lot, now I giggle. I could have laughed out loud but I had to keep it quiet. "I-I…"
"Like I didn't know already." I chuckle again, remembering the older girl worries of last night.
"Y-you noticed?" I look at Eli and she looks really embarrassed.
"Of course I did." It was adorable, she seemed like a little child now. Way too flustered about her own silly fear. "Now, I need to clean this thing…" I wanted to keep teasing her, but I didn't wanted to make such a big deal out of it… at least not now. One day I will.
"I-I'm glad you didn't mock me about it, then… I'll help you out!" She grabs a brush, she doesn't seem quite sure about what to do with it. I giggle a bit as I kept brushing away the stains, the blonde just follows my example.
"Sorry I had to light the fire up-"
"What did I told you about saying sorry for silly things?" I gave her a smile she reciprocated. "Don't worry, I'll just scare you in revenge." I looked sideways, she was terrified. I just laugh it off. "Besides, I like to clean this thing… it reminds me of the winter holidays." She smiles at nothing in particular.
"I can't wait for the snow to come." I look at her for a second. We kept cleaning until we were done… we had to laugh at our own messy Santa chalk drawing.
"Yours has a nose way too big." I point out with a chuckle.
"At least its ears have some proportion." We laughed together this time. Then we sat in silence… I didn't knew when we stopped watching our art and we switched our focus to each other's eyes. They are so blue… I could get lost in them.
Eli moved a bit, coming a bit closer to me. That's when I realized this… might look embarrassing, right? "W-what?" I asked her before I looked around, making sure no one saw us.
"N-Nothing…" Eli muttered, looking away and I noticed how red she was. "I-I guess we should go to sleep, hmm?"
"Not before we wash our hands." She giggles a bit before she nods, then we walk to the bathroom.
…
Eli's POV:
"Harasho… It's so calming and beautiful, isn't?" I asked as I kept staring at the sky… the moon was shining bright today.
"Definitely…" Maki's voice was so soft… it made me turn around to look at her, I quickly blushed as our eyes lock. W-was she looking at me all this time? I notice I can hear Maki's breath… She is so close… My glance moves instinctively, so now I can't keep my eyes away from her lips. When did we get so close? Maki bites her lip and I feel my body melting.
"Eli…" Maki's voice was almost begging me… so I couldn't resist anymore. I pressed our lips together with some urgency, but softly. Somehow, we just deepened the kiss… I placed my hands on her hips and turned her around, she was now against the railing as I kept kissing her. Hard. Maki moaned a bit and that's when I knew I lost it.
I sat up straight impulsively, breathing heavily. W-what? I look around just to notice… I notice… It was a dream?! I cover my face with my hands, the darkness just made me remember the dream even more vividly, I could feel my face burning and my stomach going wild. How could I dream something like that!? I'm so screwed! So, so screwed! I was at loss of words. H-How… I put my knees up, just to hug them with my arms so I could hide my face better as I trying to regain some composure.
"Hmm? Eli?" I almost jumped in surprise, looking to my left just to see a sleepy Maki next to me, she was scratching one of her eyes, with one elbow resting on her pillow. I felt my blush grew as intense as her red hair. "Are you okay?" She seemed more sleep than awake, I couldn't say a thing even if my life depended on it. I only woke up from the shook when Maki's eyes opened, I looked away quickly.
"It was just a dream." I was still hugging my knees, but I couldn't look at the redhead. Not now.
"A nightmare?" She asked with a husky voice that didn't help at all.
"I-I guess…" Not really. Not at all. "Did I woke you up?" I had to look at her, did I said something in my sleep? I gulped nervously as Maki proceeded to hide her face in her pillow once again. I heart was beating fast, just like in my dream.
"No…" Maki yawned and I smiled wide. She is so unbelievable cute. She was way too sleepy, it's been a while since the redhead had a goodnight sleep.
"Shh… go back to sleep." I caressed her head like she was a baby. Well, she kind of is…
"Don't worry, I left a light there and there are no bears around here…" Bears? And just like that, she went back to sleep almost immediately… I chuckled as I hugged my knees, resting my chin on them, just staring at the peaceful breath of the red head. I know you did… I saw Maki turning a light close to my bed just before we went to sleep. I took a deep breath before I rested my head on the pillow… I was looking at the ceiling as I remembered the dream and my cheeks flush. T-This is so… bad. It's really bad. I turn around to the other side, seeing the back of Nozomi's head as she slept. You can't just dream these things! You just can't! I scolded myself as I turned to the ceiling again, I covered my face with the sheet in an attempt to cover my thoughts. Stop thinking about it… Stop… No. Don't! It was no use. How am I supposed to sleep after this? And Maki… She only makes this harder! Being so unbelievably- That's when I hear… someone was snoring suddenly, it wasn't close but not that far away, and it was definitely coming from Honoka. I sighed, jackpot…
Winter is co- ok, it will actually take a bit but we are getting there. I wish I didn't loved slowburns so much... :)