Ever wondered how fate works? Anyway, this chapter is about Nozomi and the chosen pair. Who? Just read it first~ Then, you'll know who.

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters from both Love Live and Ensemble Stars. All characters belongs to their original creator. I merely own the story of this fanfic.

Chapter 21: Twisted Way of Fate (Nozomi)

Nozomi looked around the area as she tried to find her missing charms. They weren't her personal belonging but it was a handmade good luck charms that she made for everyone in μ's. Unfortunately, despite being a good luck charm and all, it certainly didn't bring any good luck to her situation right now.

"It must be here somewhere..." she wondered out loud as she recalled back the time she wandered around the school during their school period. She had searched almost everywhere. The classroom, the staffroom, the garden space and even the female's restroom. However, she still couldn't find the charms. She was searching at the fountain area as she looked around to see if the charms were dropped somewhere.

"Hm, this is quite troublesome... Just when I thought I could give them those charms right after practice." she mumbled by herself. She had planned to surprise them after practice by presenting those charms she made to them. When she realized they were missing, she knew she had to keep it a secret from them. If she had asked them to help searched for it, it would ruined the surprise.

Shaking the thoughts away, she finally left the area she was searching around and went back to the fountain in the center of the courtyard. Looking over at the fountain, she was expecting to see Kanata soaking in it. Surprisingly, he was not there. In fact, she was surprised to find no one in the area except for herself.

"Just when I thought I could ask for help, turns out no one is around to help me at all. Just how much luck is testing me right now?" she wondered before she resumed searching for the charms. It took a lot of time to search the area and a lot of energy to move around, going from another part to another part just to find the charms she made.

The sky was turning reddish orange as it signaled the purple-haired female that it was getting late. Letting out a sigh, Nozomi wondered if she should just quit and tried searching again tomorrow early in the morning. Just when she was lost in her own thoughts, she failed to notice someone approaching from behind as they suddenly wrapped their arms around her neck, causing the purple-haired female to yelp in surprise.

"Found you!" judging from the familiar cheerful and energetic voice, Nozomi's previous anxiousness and panic faded away as she let out a sigh.

"Ahh, geez. You surprised me, Chiaki-kun." she gently removed the brunette's arms around her neck before she faced him with a little smile. Chiaki stood there, smiling as usual until his smile faltered when he saw the look on Nozomi's face.

"Hm? What's wrong? Somehow, you looked glum today." he said. Surprisingly, Nozomi didn't expect the brunette male to see through her troubled face. She looked away before returning her gaze back at him. Chiaki puts on a serious face as he asked, "Did something happened, Toujou?"

"Ah, no, no. It's nothing. I was just searching for something that I dropped today. But unfortunately, I couldn't find it." she shrugged her shoulders.

"Hm, that's no good. Looks like you need help. Don't worry, Toujou! I'll help you out and I won't rest until I find whatever you were searching for back to you!" he raised his fist up, showing her that he was serious as well as determined to help.

"T-That's very nice of you but it's fine, Chiaki-kun. Besides, I've been searching for it around the school already. I'm sure someone must have taken it or something." she tried to stop the brunette male from getting involved into her problem.

"Hmm. But why? If it's something that belongs to you, then it should be important enough for you to keep looking for it."

Nozomi looked away as she kept quiet. His words rang truth in her mind as she was in desperate need to find those charms as soon as she can. It was something that she made with all of her heart into them. Losing those charms was not acceptable. Her thoughts were interrupted when Chiaki continued his statement.

"Besides, I know you're the type that won't give up when you've set something on your mind~! So, let me help you out! I'm sure with two people, we can do an even more wider search around the school!" he grinned. Blinking twice at the male's enthusiasm to help her out, she laughed softly.

"Ahahaha, you're as reliable as you always been huh, Chiaki-kun?" If she had to be honest, she was glad to find Chiaki. Or more like, she was glad that he found her.

"So, what are we searching for?" Chiaki asked as he looked around the courtyard. Nozomi hesitated for a while before she finally answered his question.

"It's...my handmade charms."

"WHAT?! Your handmade charms?!" Chiaki had a look of a major surprise on his face before it turned serious.

"Toujou, if it was that important, you should have asked for someone's help earlier." Chiaki gave her a bit of a disapprove look before he shook his head and gave her one of his usual smile. "But that matters no more! I'm here to help you find those charms! You can leave it to me~!"

Surprised by his sudden change of behaviour, Nozomi let out a soft giggle.

"Enthusiastic as usual aren't you, Chiaki-kun?"

"You know me!" Chiaki said with a little hint of pride in his tone as he crossed his arms, looking a bit proud. Shaking her head, she knew it was too late to decline his help at that moment.

"Well, I'm not entirely sure at this point if we can find them...but I guess I'll try to think positive for a while. Right~?"

"Exactly! That's the Toujou I knew! Hahahahaha~!" he laughed before he began searching for the charms around the courtyard. He was so into the search that he was basically leaping from one spot to another, again and again. Somehow, it almost looked like he was the one searching for something that he lost.

Nozomi giggled at the brunette's action. His positive and energetic attitude lifted up her depression as she began her search once again.

It has been almost an hour since they started searching and they still haven't found a single charm that she lost. The sky had turned dark and all students should have been at their homes by now. With the exception of the two students creeping around at the garden space. Letting out a long sigh, Nozomi could feel the depression feeling slowly coming back to her. That was until, Chiaki snapped her out of her world.

"Don't look so sad, Toujou!" his words surprised her but what really surprised her was the fact that the brunette's hands were placed on both of her shoulders as he peered closer to her face. "It's still too early to give up! I know it must be somewhere around here!"

"And how do you know it's here? Don't tell me, are you a psychic~?"

"My instinct!" he said it proudly. At that point, Nozomi lost all of the mood to make any more jokes as she let out another sigh.

"I appreciate you saying all of those to cheer me up, Chiaki-kun. But somehow, I don't think it's here anymore..." she cast her gaze somewhere else as Chiaki released his hold on her and crossed his arms.

"Precisely! Instead of looking at the spots you thought you dropped it, we should find who took it! I had a feeling that the charms were moved from the spot you dropped them! For example, maybe an animal took it!" Nozomi wasn't sure if the brunette was sane anymore. She could understand if it was a person, but why an animal?

"I doubt an animal knew what they could do with charms, Chiaki-kun."

"But you can never know, Toujou! Take that cat as an example!" he pointed to a cat passing by recently as both of them watched the small animal stopped from its' tracks as it watched them as well. Silence surrounded the atmosphere as both Nozomi and Chiaki had a blank stare on their face when they saw something familiar that was hanging at the cat's mouth.

"AH!" both of them pointed at the cat as they finally found one of the charms that they were searching for. Unfortunately, their shout surprised the cat as it ran away from the two human.

"It's one of my charm!"

"It really was the cat!"

"Quick! Chase it!" Nozomi ran after the small animal as she put all of her leftover energy in running. After searching for almost forever, she finally found one of them and she most definitely won't let it out of her sight.

"Come back here!" Nozomi called out to the cat as she almost reached the small animal. Just when she almost touched the cat, it suddenly turned a sharp corner as it went through a nearby bushes. Nozomi would have jumped in and continue chasing the cat if it wasn't for her lack of energy. Her legs gave out as she slid down to the ground, landing on her bottom while she tried to catch her breath from all the running she did.

"Toujou! Did you caught it?!" Chiaki finally caught up to her. Nozomi could only mustered enough strength to point towards the bushes that the cat went in. The brunette nodded his head as he pet the purple-haired female's head.

"You did well! Now, leave the rest to me!" he praised her before jumping through the bushes as it was his turn to chase after the cat.

"Hold it there, you frisky little feline! Give that back to whom it belongs to!" she could hear the male struggling as soon as he went through the bushes. His voice was growing distant as Nozomi thought that they were getting farther away. When she finally caught her breath once again, she went after the two.

"Chiaki-kun? Where are you?" she called out but she received no reply. Worried over the brunette's situation, she went further in as she called him out once again, "Chiaki-kun? Are you okay?"

"Over here, Toujou." finally receiving a reply, Nozomi made her way towards the source of the voice until she finally reached the spot where Chiaki was sitting down on the grass. She could see fresh scratches on his arms and his cheek. However, his smile were telling that he was fine despite his current condition.

"Chiaki-kun! Are you okay?" she rushed over to the brunette as she examined the scratches on him.

"Hahaha~! I'm fine, I'm fine! More importantly," he waved her worries off as he reached something beside him and handed it in front of her. It was a light blue-coloured charm that Nozomi made for Eli. Looking back at the male, he gave her a grin. "I finally got it off from the cat~!"

Slowly taking the charm from him, she took a good look at it before she held it close to her chest. She was glad that one of them finally returned back to her. In a good condition no less.

"Thank goodness..."

"That's not all, Toujou. Look over there." Chiaki pointed over at the previous cat as it sat far away from them both. Nozomi looked over at the cat and once she had a good look at it, she saw several kittens beside the cat as they played with her other charms. Slowly walking over to the kittens, she saw 7 other charms that made for the other members of μ's.

"Those are all the charms I've made...!"

"Looks like the mother thinks those charms are for her kittens' plaything." Chiaki explained as he looked over as well. The cat was watching them cautiously especially the purple-haired female as she went closer to the kittens and knelt down in front of them. Slowly reaching out to the kittens, she gently pet each of their head before she stroked their tiny bodies.

"Huh, really... I went through all the trouble of searching the whole school only to find out that it was taken by a cat. Fate is surely messing with me..." one of the kittens went towards her as it brushed its' head at her knee in a friendly manner. Picking it up, she laid it down on her lap before she resumed stroking its' body.

"Hahahaha~! But I think fate was just trying to tell you that you only had to ask for help." Chiaki knelt beside her as he pet the other kittens as well.

"I...guess so." she let out a soft giggle as she looked over at the male and smiled. "Thank you, Chiaki-kun."

Nozomi could see the brunette's face flushing red before he laughed it out to cover his embarrassed look.

"Nah, don't sweat it! I'm only doing what I think is righteous! After all, I am RYUSEI Red! The hero that everyone can depend on!" he grinned. Nozomi couldn't help but let out a giggle. "But really. I'm really grateful that you called out to me. If you didn't, I would have been moping around at home without these charms with me by now."

"Hahaha, well I did called you out because- AH!" his sudden shout surprised the kittens and the cat as they ran away from the two humans, creating a distance between them.

"W-What's wrong?" even Nozomi was taken by surprised when he suddenly shouted. Chiaki could only scratched the back of his neck before he apologized with a clumsy smile on his face.

"Sorry about that. It's just that, I just remembered why I called out to you in the first place." he patted his pockets and checked inside his blazer's pocket as if he was trying to search for something. Reaching into a pocket in his blazer, he finally took out something and held it in front of her, surprising the purple-haired female as she gazed at a familiar purple-coloured charm that she made way long before she made the other charms for μ's.

"This is yours right?" he asked.

"But... I thought it was with me the whole time-" she reached out to the pocket she always placed her own charm inside only to realize that it was really gone. Looking back at the charm in front of her, it was no doubt that the purple-coloured charm was hers. Taking it off from the male's hand, she held it tightly in her hands.

"How did I ended up losing this one too?"

"Well, when our last class ended, you were rushing out and I noticed this charm was on the floor at your desk. I thought I might as well keep it in case I bumped into you. And, you know how it goes from there!" he explained.

"Hm~ It's no wonder that I felt as if my luck was abandoning me. Turns out that it was with you the whole time. Doesn't that sound like you are my own walking charm, Chiaki-kun~?" she asked, her playful nature coming back to her. Her mood suddenly lifted up now that she finally got all of her charms safely back to her.

"Hahahaha~! I still think it's fate's work that things took into this turn." he said with a cheeky smile adorning his face. His smile made the purple-haired female smiled as she watched all of the charms at the ground as well as the ones in her hands.

"Hm, can't disagree with you there. After all, fate has a twisted way of messing with people."

Oh my god. I've been away for too long. Not really. My writer's block was bugging me that I ended up stopped writing. Hahahaha~! I'm really sorry for holding up for too long! (T^T) Anyway, there you have it. Nozomi with her chosen pair! I seriously found this pair interesting because of certain 'similarities' these two have. What are the similarities? I won't tell but it will be shown in another one-shots between these two~!

Anyway! Thank you for taking your time to read my story and this newest chapter! Hope you liked it and if you have any comment or review, please write it down below~! I'll see you in the next chapter~! °˖✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧˖°