OuMiyuki: For the most part I agree, either music or doctor for Maki X3 And… yes, yes they did more than just kiss. And no, they aren't the only three. Muse has a specially selected crew, it's just those three are the only ones mentioned last chapter. I might make more mentions in the future, not sure yet.
Major Mike Powell III: Agreed, which is why I'm pretty glad I managed to fit them in. They deserve some attention every now and then. And well, we just have to wait and see what those little sisters are planning.
*Disclaimer: I do NOT own Love Live!
Learning from yesterday, Honoka set an alarm to wake up early this morning. She did her best to move quietly, as to not wake up Yukiho. But as she looked over, she found her sister's bed already empty. It was odd, since neither of them were morning people. But she didn't dwell on it too much, as she didn't have much time to waste. Honoka moved as quietly as she could through the hall to the bathroom to wash up, returning to her room to change in what she laid out last night.
As she made it downstairs, she noticed that the light was on in the kitchen. She walked over to find Yukiho and Arisa inside. Arisa was by the coffee machine, while Yukiho already had a mug in her hands.
"Oh, good morning, Honoka-san," Arisa greeted. "Coffee?"
"No, not today. I actually need to get going."
"Hmm, where are you off to so early?" Yukiho asked.
Honoka looked away. "I uh… need to finish shopping."
"Oh yeah, Arisa mentioned that yesterday."
"We can come and help if you'd like," Arisa offered.
Honoka smiled. "I appreciate that, but I think I'll be fine. It's only a few more gifts. Just let the others know I'm out again."
"Got it. Good luck, Onee-chan."
She waved goodbye to the younger-sister couple before making her way to the front door. She saw the lights were still off throughout most of the house, which meant she was doing good so far. But of course because it was dark, she missed just one thing.
"Where do you think you're going?"
Honoka froze as she heard the voice. She turned slowly, just able to make out who was standing at the bottom of the stairs. Erena was standing there with her arms crossed, giving her an amused look.
"E-Erena. I… uh…"
"Does it have anything to do with where you went yesterday morning as well?"
There was a minute of silence as Honoka tried to think of an excuse. But when nothing came, she sighed and nodded.
"I see. Well, we better get going then."
Honoka looked over again, completely surprised. Erena dropped her arms, revealing that she was already changed.
"You… You want to come?"
Erena nodded. "You're being pretty secretive about this even yesterday, and you woke up before everyone else to leave again today. So I'm curious what's going on."
"… I guess I did this to myself then, huh?" Honoka shook her head, smiling. "Well, come on then, let's get going."
XXX
It was fair to say that Erena was having an interesting morning.
She wasn't necessarily an early riser, though she was usually awake before her two friends. But for some reason, she woke up even earlier than usually today. As she opened the door to her room as quietly as she could, she just happened to catch Honoka as she left the bathroom. Because Honoka's room was in the opposite direction, as well as it being dark in the hall, she didn't notice Erena at all as she returned to her room.
She stood still, wondering why Honoka was up at this hour as well. And not shortly after, Honoka remerged from her room, all changed, and hurrying downstairs. Now a bit suspicious, Erena had made her decision. She moved as quietly as she could in her room to change and make it downstairs. She happened to overhear Anju and Tsubasa talking the other day about how Honoka was much more forward, more proactive against their advances than either were expecting. So when she caught Honoka trying to sneak out the front door, she knew she had to take advantage of the opportunity. But as she found out soon after, she realized she wasn't as prepared as she thought.
"Let's see… I have most of the gifts already… the last four are…"
Because it was still a bit early for any mall to be open, they had stopped for breakfast first. On the way here, Honoka revealed what she did yesterday and was planning on continuing today, which was her gift shopping. It already surprised Erena how direct Honoka was, not even waiting for her to ask before explaining her plans.
And sitting here now, listening as Honoka prepped herself for what she wanted to do this morning, Erena continued to be surprised. With no disrespect to Honoka, her initial impression of the girl was that she wasn't one to be organized or think things through all the way. That idea only grew when she worked with the Muse, seeing how their jobs were distributed, working with Eli on Muse's public relations and seeing Tsubasa's help Umi coordinate everything. Not only did Honoka reveal her reason for buying the others gifts, but she had a plan thought out for it. Sure, she didn't think every little detail out, but that was what worked for Honoka anyway.
"Liking what you see?"
Erena snapped out of her thoughts hearing the ginger's voice. She looked over, seeing Honoka resting her elbow on the table, her head on her hand. Seeing that signature smile, meeting those blue eyes, made Erena's heart skip a beat. She felt the heat of a blush on her own face as well, realizing that she had spaced out while still staring at the Muse leader.
Honoka giggled. "I'm just kidding. So, what are you thinking about?"
"Nothing really… just thinking about what we need to do later."
"I see. Well we can worry about our final rehearsal later. Right now, we have some shopping to do."
XXX
"Stay here, I need to run and get something I almost forgot."
Honoka hurried off, leaving Erena to hold their place in line. While Erena waited, she couldn't help but let her mind wander off again. Because of earlier, she wasn't as surprised with how quickly this went as she would've been otherwise. Having come here yesterday with Arisa, Honoka already had an idea of what kind of gifts she wanted to buy for the last four people. There was a little bit of going back and forth, as she was simply going down her list. A lot of their time spent was Honoka narrowing down her options. Aside from following along with the basket, the only thing Erena had to help with was giving her opinion to help Honoka make a final decision. After the last one, they were in line in a bit under an hour from when they arrived.
After a few minutes, Erena noticed Honoka making her way back, one hand held behind her and a bright smile on her face. Erena gave her a curious look as she joined her in line again.
"Did you find something you like?"
"No, but I found something you do."
Honoka brought her hand from behind her back, smiling as she revealed what she was holding. Erena eyes widened in surprise as she recognized the accessory shown to her.
"This is…"
"I noticed you kept looking at this necklace while we were over there. This will be my thanks for you helping me out today."
As touched as she was, Erena shook her head. "I appreciate the thought, but you don't have to do this."
"You know… I hear that a lot. Still hasn't stopped me though."
Honoka flashed another smile before turning around as they were next in line. Erena stood in surprise for a moment before shaking her head while smiling. Once her new necklace and the last of Honoka's gifts were paid for, she at least managed to help one last time by carrying everything back to the car for Honoka. As the car started, Erena decided to go through with something she knew neither of her friends managed to do before her. She placed her hand over Honoka's, gaining the ginger's attention, and leaned forward for her lips.
As she fell back onto the couch, Honoka let out a long sigh of relief.
Because it was the last rehearsal before the concert, it wasn't as harsh as the last few days. But since she woke up hours earlier than usual, and because the others were a bit upset that she was gone in the morning and didn't really leave her alone at rehearsal, she was still extremely tired.
But finally, she was allowed to rest. She felt relieved to be off her feet, glad that she didn't have to worry about anything else for the day. As she let herself unwind, she noticed a mug being offered to her. She looked up, seeing Tsubasa standing there. With a smile, she accepted the warm drink. She felt even more comfort as she took a sip, warmth from the hot coco doing wonders for her. Happy to see Honoka visibly relax, Tsubasa sat down beside her.
"Feeling that tired, huh?"
"It's been a long day." Honoka took another sip, letting out a blissful sigh. "Thanks for this, it's wonderful."
"You should thank Kotori. She told me you would like this and asked me to bring it."
Honoka only nodded in response, taking another sip from her mug, a bit surprised at what she just heard. Although the other Muse had essentially calmed down through their years together, Kotori was still one of the few that showed Honoka a lot of affection. To hear one of her longest friends had essentially passed this chance on to Tsubasa, while it was surprising, it got her thinking to their rehearsals, especially earlier today. It brought a smile to her face realizing how much better things have been between everyone. Despite what A-Rise said when they first arrived, which Honoka knew even though she wasn't supposed to, they were getting along with the other Muse a lot better than she ever expected.
"Hmm? What are you suddenly smiling about?" Tsubasa asked, bringing Honoka out of her thoughts.
"Oh, nothing much. Just glad that everyone is getting along well."
"You think so?"
"Yeah. I see you three talking with the others a lot more, even outside of work, and are having fun. It makes me really happy to see that."
"I see… Well, I'm glad we can make you happy."
There was silence that followed as neither had anything more to say. Honoka turned the TV on, and the two just watched while enjoying the other's company. With their attention fixed, they didn't notice a Muse walk by, stopping briefly to look in. Although a bit jealous, she still managed a smile.
Really, I shouldn't be giving her chances like this. But Honoka-chan's happiness always comes first, so I guess it's okay this one time.
Although she thought that to herself, the longer Kotori stood there, the harder it got to convince herself of that. Again she thought of Honoka, and it was enough to get her to tear her gaze away. She continued walking down the hall, originally wanting to go to her room. She only made it a bit further before being stopped once again.
"Oh, hello Kotori," Anju greeted as she reached the bottom of the stairs. "Have you seen Honoka?"
"She's with Tsubasa in the living room."
"I see, thank you."
Anju gave Kotori a quick smile before moving past her. Kotori turned and watched as Anju hurried back down the hall and into the living room.
… You know… it never hurts to spend more time with Honoka-chan.
With her original goal completely forgotten, Kotori quickly moved back to the living room to join the other three.
Hey everyone, nobodD here!
So a little different with Erena's chapter compared to the others. For most of the other chapters, I did a general scene with everyone and then ended the chapter with a specific character. No real reason for changing things up this time around, just wanted to. As for the chapter itself, well Erena got to experience what the other two did, which is that Honoka isn't as simple as they thought. Of course, we know Honoka knows what's going on between everyone, so she has an edge. Otherwise, nothing too fancy with this chapter.
With this, we are done with the character chapters, which to me was honestly the hard part. Kind of my fault, with the way I originally approached this story. But anyway, now we'll be getting to the part of the story I'm excited to write about. But before that I have a favor to ask of you, or at least the people that review. Pick 2 characters out of the A-Rise and other Muse and put it at the end of a review. It'll help me with the next few chapters.
So, the concert is next. And I will be quite honest, I don't plan on writing out the performances. It'll be before the start and some backroom stuff in between. So if you were looking forward to the songs or anything, I'm sorry. I'm nowhere near decent at including music or lyrics in my writing, so we're not even going to mess with that, haha.
See you next time~