Hello! Sleygal here! Yes, I am still alive. Sorry for the like... super duper delay on updating this story. So much happened that intensified my writer's block for this story. Luckily, I recently found something that helped me write another chapter for this one.
To all the readers, reviewers, and lurkers of this story, thank you very much for your patience and suggestions (to those who reviewed and messaged me about this)! As to what's gonna happen next, I am not sure actually since I am writing this without an outline or a plan. I just... improvise as I go along.
You might have to check on the previous chapters since I updated some stuff there. Don't worry, they're only minimal... I think?
Anyway! Disclaimer: I still don't own this franchise. Sunrise does.
Chapter 6
"What are we doing here again?"
Nico asked as the group huddled in front of the shrine where Nozomi works part-time. All 8 of them waited for Nozomi, who went ahead to change into her shrine maiden outfit. The afternoon breeze flew by them, making them shiver with the cold.
*FLAHSBACK*
"Hmmm..." Nozomi pondered as she observed Maki up-close. Having such attention to her caused the pianist to blush beet red but she can't do anything since her hands have been restrained by Umi and Eri. The rest of the group looked in confusion at the scene before them, not really knowing the reason why Nozomi needs to observe Maki like that.
"What are we doing again?" Nico asked as she impatiently taps her foot on the floor. Even she doesn't know the reason why Nozomi called all of them to the living room as soon as she arrived back at Maki's house with her things. Upon gathering, she asked Umi and Eri to restrain the red-head. Umi looked at Eri in confusion but the blonde girl could only shrug her shoulders and went along with Nozomi's orders. Before Maki could bolt out of the room, Umi had a firm grip on her right wrist, causing the cat-girl to pull back.
"What's the matter, Nozomi-chan?" Kotori asked.
Nozomi ignored the question as she circled around Maki, occassionally touching the ears and the tail on her. Maki tried to squirm away from the spiritual girl but before she could do so, Nozomi snapped out of her trance.
"I think I know what's wrong with Maki-chan but I need to verify it." Nozomi finally said.
"What's wrong with Maki-chan, nya?"
"Why don't we all take a trip down the shrine?" Nozomi smiled. "I need to check something."
"What are you planning to do?" Nico said with an unintentional suspicion in her tone. Unfortunately, Nozomi caught on with it and smiled. There's something about the purple-head's smile that spells teasing and mischiviousness for the raven-haired girl as she tried to look at Nozomi with suspicious eyes.
"But how are we going to go when..." Hanayo's words died down when she shyly looked at the flustered pianist. The rest of them followed Hanayo's trail of sight and wondered how the heck they are going to go out with Maki and at the same time not attract attention to her.
"Any ideas, Nico?"
They tore their gaze away from the cat-girl and back to the raven-haired girl. Both Eri and Umi let go of Maki's hands and the pianist is currently massaging her sore wrists.
"W-Why are you asking me?" Nico flinched.
"I know! We should all wear cat ears and tail too!" Their leader proposed while raising her hand.
"I'd rather not attract more attention than needed right now." Nico sighed.
"How will Maki-chan go out then?"
"Shouldn't you leave this to Kotori?" Eri said while looking at the ashen-haired girl at her right.
"Eh?" Kotori replied, surprised at the sudden mention of her name.
"Makes sense. Well then." Nico turned her attention back to Maki. "Off you go then!"
"M-M-Mreow?!" Maki lets out a startled mewl as finds herself being pushed on the back towards the stairs along with Kotori.
"N-Nico-chan?"
"Just get her something that won't make her ears and tail stand out. We'll just use a medical mask for her whiskers." Nico said. Once the duo went up to Maki's room, the rest of them waited in the living room.
"What did you find, Nozomi?" Eri asked. Both Honoka and Rin can't sit still so they went off and raided the kitchen for more food. The rest of them sat back on the sofa, sipping the tea Nico prepared for them earlier while waiting for the duo to come down.
"This might be a theory but..." Nozomi trailed off.
*FLASHBACK ENDS*
"Something about Nozomi's theory..."
"Mrreow..." Maki clung to Nico's sleeve and hid behind her back. Nico looked back and saw that Maki's uncomfortable being outside. Who could blame her? With the way she's dressed right now: a red shirt and pants, with a sweater tied around her waist to hide the bulge on her pants with her tail crammed inside. She's also wearing a bonnet to hide her cat ears from the public and a face mask to hide her whiskers. One could mistake her as some kind of weirdo with the way she's dressed right now.
Before Nico could ask her what's wrong, the person that they are waiting for trudged down the steps of the shrine in her shrine maiden outfit.
"Nozomi!"
"Well then, shall we go?" Nozomi smiled as she looked over at the small group.
"Go where?" Umi asked but only received a mysterious smile from the purple-head.
Confused and curious, they all followed Nozomi up to the shrine. Silence engulfed the group as they followed the shrine maiden up the plight of stairs leading to the shrine.
"Oh?"
"Something wrong, Nozomi-chan?" Hanayo asked. All of them stopped midway the plight of stairs when the purple-head suddenly spoke. Nozomi just smiled and continued climbing the steps. Once they've arrived at the shrine, Nozomi pulled out a basin with water.
"Maki-chan, could you place your hands here?" Nozomi asked. Confused, Maki tried to but immediately pulled her hands back, hissing when her fingertips touched the water.
"Maki-chan?!"
"Ahh. So I was right!" Nozomi set the basin down and motioned for the group to sit at a nearby bench.
"Cursed?!"
"Yup!" Nozomi cheerfully replied.
"W-What are you talking about, Nozomi?!" Eri said. "There's no such thing as curses!" She might have a bestfriend who is a believer of the supernatural but Eri's a girl of logic so she doesn't believe in curses.
"Besides, how can you tell that she's cursed?" Umi piped in.
"Seeing as this is a shrine, it's common that it has barriers to prevent evil entity from entering." Nozomi replied. "I'm actually surprised that Maki-chan made it here."
The confused faces of her friends made her further explain the ordeal.
"At a certain step towards the shrine, there's a barrier erected to ward off demonic auras." Nozomi said. "But for her to manage to pass by it makes her curse a lot stronger than I thought."
"I don't get it." Nico scratched her head in confusion. All these mumbo jumbo didn't make any sense to her.
"Remember the basin?" Nozomi pointed at the basin beside them. "I used holy water, which can be quite painful for someone who is cursed to dip her fingers in." Everyone directed their attention to Maki, who is massaging her fingertips from the ordeal earlier.
"But why Maki-chan, though?" Kotori asked. "Why was she possessed?"
"She's not possessed. She's cursed."
"That makes no difference, right?" Honoka piped up, though with a hint of uncertainty in her tone. All this talk about curses got her head swimming with confusion; and it is super effective.
"Possession and Curses are two different things, Honoka-chan. Possession merely refers to someone inhabiting your body and controls your being. Curses are inflicted by someone. Reasons for putting a curse on someone varies on different people." Nozomi explained.
"But why Maki-chan?"
"That... is something I wouldn't know until we have her examined by the priest here. He might know how to undo the curse on her."
"So where is this priest?"
"I'm afraid he's out of town at the moment." The purple-haired replied sadly. "I don't know when he'll be coming back."
"Well, now that's that, shall we head back?" Nico clapped her hands to call the attention of everyone. "No point in hanging around here when there's no help to turn to right? Besides..." She looked at the pianist, who seemed to be squirming in her seat, as if trying to get a comfortable position. "It might be painful for her to sit on her tail for so long."
"Well then. Shall we head back?" Nozomi smiled.
"Mreow."
Nico jolted up from her position on the couch. The rest of their group have gone to bed, leaving the third year wide awake. And because she is a third year, Nico was forced to work on their homework that Eri and Nozomi have kindly gathered for her for the days she's not around in school. Now, she's trying to figure out the solution to a math problem when Maki came down.
"Maki? Why are you still awake?"
Maki ignored the question and went to the kitchen. Sighing, Nico resumed her attention to the math problem, unaware that Maki came back and sat beside her. Only then did she notice Maki's presence when a cup of coffee was pushed near her books. Nico looked up and Maki tried to look anywhere beside the questioning red eyes.
"Thanks."
Maki looked back and saw that Nico went back to her homework, ignoring the girl beside her. The pianist used this opportunity to look at the raven-haired third year. Eyebags are more prominent underneath those red-eyes after dealing with a bunch of supernatural stuff, starting from the day Nico went to her house and accidentally pulled on her bonnet. After that, she had spent days looking after her, making sure nothing else happens. After the events today, who knows how fatigued the third year is. She even has homework to deal with despite skipping out days from school!
Well, since, I'm awake, might as well help her as thanks... N-Not that she needs to know it!
Maki scooted closer to the third year, peering over the homework that occupied her companion. The movement caused the raven-haired girl to snap out of her concentration and looked over at Maki.
"Is something wrong?" She asks.
Maki just shook her head and pointed at the homework in front of them.
"You know. This is third year stuff. I doubt that you'll be able to get any of this." Nico chuckled while Maki gave her a stern glare. Provoked, Maki grabbed the pencil from Nico, eliciting a loud "Hey!" before scribbling down the answer. Once she's donw, she threw the pencil down and crossed her arms. Her tail swayed behind her with anticipation. Nico looked at the problem that she's stuck with and saw that Maki scribbled the answer there, as if she didn't broke a sweat.
"H-How the hell? That is third year stuff!" Nico complained but Maki gave a smirk at the petite girl. Nico is willing to wipe that smug look on the red-head's face until an idea popped into her head. Giving a devilish smile behind her hand, she reached out and patted Maki's head.
"Heh. As thanks for helping the great Nico-nii, this is your reward!" Nico declared. A startled "meow" is enough for her to widen that devilish smile on her face while scratching behind Maki's furry ears. This caused Maki to slap Nico's hand away and blushed with embarrassment while the other girl is laughing her head off for bringing out a flustered catgirl from Maki.
After that, Nico went back to her homework with Maki supervising her, occasionally helping her solve the math problems that she finds a hard time to do so. Once she finished all of them, Nico let out a huge yawn and stretched her arms.
"Finally... I'm beat..." Nico slumped back on the couch while Maki looked over her homework one last time before giving a nod.
"Sorry. Could you fix that?" Nico pointed at her mug. "Just leave them at the sink. I'll wash them later. I just need a few minutes to rest."
Maki nodded and gathered up the dirty mugs before standing up and going to the kitchen. She dumped them at the sink and contemplated on whether she should just leave them or wash them herself. But seeing how tired Nico was, she opted to wash them herself so as to not trouble the raven-haored girl any longer. Once she's done, she wiped them dry before depositing them to the storage.
When she came back to the living room, she saw Nico still slumped over the couch. Her eyes are closed and her breathing is even, notifying Maki that Nico is asleep. Sighing, Maki sat down beside the sleeping girl and tucked away a strand of hair out of Nico's face. Maki debated on carrying the girl back to the room upstairs but she doesn't have the heart to wake Nico up after being tired for so long. Also, there's the fact that she doesn't want to leave her alone.
So Maki decided to just let the raven-haired girl sleep there and accompany her until she wakes up. It's the least thing she could do after everything the petite girl has done for her for the past few days. It's a good thing that they always store a blanket in the living room. Maki pulled it out and draped it over the both of them. Nico mumbled something before settling down once more. Maki scooted closer to her until she felt the warmth coming from Nico's body. She laid the raven-haired girl's head down on her lap and closed her eyes, her tail laying comfortably on the couch, twitching slightly as she played with Nico's hair. She continued to do so until sleepiness take its toll on her. She closed her eyes and let sleep take her to dreamland.
Maki hated this whole curse thing but at the same time, she's grateful for it because it gave her the chance to get closer to the raven-haired girl.
Like I said, I'm sorry for the super delay update of this story. I'm still trying to get my momentum back here so...
Anyway, reviews are always welcome! Feel free to message me with regards to this fic. I don't bite! :D Just a little... kidding! xD
Now that LoveLive! is over, let's turn out attention to LoveLive! Sunshine Project and support them too! Honestly, I'm in Idolm ster hell right now ever since my friend forced me to watch it in exchange for her to watch LL. Oh, listen to me ramble on in this Author's note section thing here.
See you again next time! :D (Sakurauchi Riko is best grill.)