Maki had been forced to give up her electronic cigarette in the building's halls; apparently whoever owned the place didn't like them, even if they smelt nowhere near as bad as actual cigarettes.
Unfortunately for Nico, she was now in an elevator with an irritated doctor who was twirling an e-cig in her fingers, looking as though she was about to punch the camera in there just so she could have one little drag.
"... Do you think they monitor these cameras regularly?"
"Yes, Maki-chan. Yes I do."
"Do you think they'd notice if they didn't?"
"Yes, especially if the elevator starts smelling like, what, black cherry?"
"Fine, point taken," She shoved the e-cig in her bag, as if that would put it out of her mind.
They fell back into silence as they waited for the elevator for finally stop; neither of them had felt like taking the stairs. Maki stepped out first briskly, not looking back to make sure Nico was catching up with her.
Maybe Nico shouldn't have told Maki. She took it far harder than she had anticipated and although Nico couldn't deny that she would be a huge help in this whole ordeal, she felt like she would heavily overreact when it came to any confrontation. Maybe she should have gone to Umi first. But what was done was done, and Umi would have to wait. Right now, she had to make sure Maki didn't ask Hanayo about anything that Nico alleged that was happening.
The proof she had was more hearsay. People would have to trust her, but what she had come across wouldn't hold up in a courtroom at all. She would only have what she needed if she managed to get Hanayo to come forward and tell the truth about what was happening, or if she managed to piece together more of what was happening.
"You go to the apartment on the left, I'll go to the one on the right," Maki said curtly without giving her a chance to argue. Not like there was any point in arguing anyway.
Nico stopped in front of the door and raised her hand to knock on the door, before stopping and realising she had no idea what to say. She looked over at Maki, who had already gone ahead and was waiting for a response rather impatiently judging from the way she was tapping her foot.
She would just knock on the door, ask about next door, hope that no one in the apartment recognised her, get her answer and leave. That would work out, right?
She finally knocked, glancing over to note that the door Maki knocked on had since opened.
It took a few moments, but the door opened, a young man behind it who quickly looked her over, "Can I help you?"
He frowned, not necessarily out of annoyance, more likely out of the fact he was wondering why on earth an idol was knocking on his door in an apartment complex.
"Ah, p-pardon the intrusion," She began sheepishly, "But I was just wondering if you had heard anything next door?" She gestured to Hanayo and Eli's apartment, "Loud noises, stuff late at night maybe?"
He blinked, "Well, ah… This place has pretty good soundproofing in the walls… But I think some of it's being worked on, me and my wife swear we have actually heard some things…"
"A-anything you could make out?" She said, suddenly more anxious.
"W-well… It was kinda muffled, but we did hear a little bit of shouting late at night. A few days ago anyhow. We… We didn't think a lot of it."
Nico was about to curse when suddenly who was presumably the man's daughter barreled through him, looking up at her with wide eyes.
"Y-you're super idol Nico-Nii, right?!"
She had been momentarily stunned as she looked down at her, but then her expression softened and she smiled and crouched down to her level.
"Mmhm, that's me," She said and she couldn't help but feel her heart swell when the girl smiled even brighter in awe and excitement.
"Can we do it together?!" She clasped her hands together and Nico of course knew what she meant.
"Of course we can," She replied, making her signature hand signs and waiting for the girl to do it as well.
"Three, two, one!"
"Nico, nico, nii!"
As the girl giggled and blushed brightly, Nico felt more warmth flood into her chest.
"Can I have a picture? A-and an autograph?" She bounced up and down excitedly as Nico got back on her feet.
"Now, now Miu-chan, we don't want to bother Nico-Nii, okay?"
"It's no problem," Nico said with a light chuckle, "It's the least I can do for taking up your time as well. If you have a pen and paper I can sign that and I'm willing to take a picture, no worries."
"Well… If you're sure. And I can't say no to my little girl," He said as he turned to get his phone, flipping it onto the camera mode.
Nico crouched beside the girl again, getting into her signature pose and the girl followed suit, until she heard the shutter sound effect go off and the father nod.
"Thank you for doing this for her… She really looks up to you," He said as she was handed a notebook of unlined paper to sign.
"Aw, no problem, I'm always happy to do these kinds of thing. And it was Miu-chan, wasn't it?"
When the father nodded, she began to write a small note as well as her signature, "Besides, you'll have an interesting story to tell your friends, huh?" She laughed as she handed the notepad back.
"I suppose I will. Thank you very much again, I can't wait to tell my wife about this."
"No problem. Anyway, I have to be heading off now," She said as she crouched down, "I'll be going now Miu-chan, okay?"
Miu pulled her in for a tight hug for such a young, small girl, as Nico smiled again and hugged her back, before saying her goodbyes and watching the door shut.
She let out a happy sigh before realising she had forgotten about a certain someone's presence, turning to face Maki who had her arms folded and whom had presumably watched the nearly entire exchange.
"... What?"
Maki wouldn't admit it if she was pushed on it, but for a second she had let a small smile grace her features, "Nothing. Did you get anything?"
"Mm, yeah. He said that he had heard shouting one night, but it was muffled because of the soundproofing in the walls. Shouting is never a good sign late at night," Nico felt her previous happiness fade as she was snapped back into the cruel reality of what was happening, "What about you?"
"Nah, nothing. Literally. Or, well, nothing useful. Behind the door was; brace yourself… A crazy fucking cat lady. And she was nearly deaf. She only answered the door because one of her cats was clawing at the door. She probably lost her security deposit."
"So… They'll allow cats not e-cigs?"
"I know, right?!" Maki said in exasperation, "Whatever, that's not the point. The point is that she doesn't 'believe' in hearing aids and therefore has heard nothing. But I have to give her credit, she can lip read well."
"Right… Do you want to check the upstairs and downstairs apartments too?"
"No, that gave us enough. Something bad is definitely happening. Let's get out of here."
Maki shuddered as she passed by the door to Hanayo and Eli's apartment, eyeing it before briskly walking back towards the elevator and hitting the button to bring it to their floor. Nico followed along, what else could she do?
As they both got into the elevator, Nico decided to break the silence.
"So… When do you think Umi should get involved?"
"As soon as we get out of here I'm calling her."
"Y-you're not gonna tell her by phone, are you?"
"Of course not. I'm going to pull a you and say it's urgent and we have to talk to her in person."
As the elevator stopped and the two stepped out, they quickly left through the doors, Maki sighing and pulling out her e-cig to take a drag and breathe out the smoke slowly, "Much better…"
"How does that thing work anyway? It doesn't have tobacco, does it?"
"Nope. Just the liquid. And it has nicotine in it as well. I'm slowly dialling down the nicotine level to get it to the lowest setting. You know, wean myself off it."
"Nicotine is still dangerous, right?"
"Yeah, not just the addiction. It increases the risk of blood issues and all that stuff. Heart issues, high blood pressure, blood clots."
"So you could like, lose a leg?"
"Yep," She said, pulling out her phone.
"You sound really calm for someone in that position."
"Yeah, well, I should have thought of it before I started smoking. And I did. And I still decided to smoke. So if it happens, I probably deserve it," She shrugged as she got up the contact, "You're good to see her today, right?"
"Yeah. This depends on Umi's schedule too though, doesn't it?"
"I suppose so. But we'll see," She replied as the phone began to ring and she put it up to her ear, "Come on… I don't care if you're busy hitting someone with a stick..." She hummed before the other end finally picked up.
"Hello? Maki?"
"Yep, that's me. I need to talk to you. In person. Well, we need to talk to you in person."
"First of all, who's we, and second of all, why does it need to be in person?"
"Glad we're not beating around the bush here," Maki said, only pausing to blow out some smoke, "We is Nico and I and we need to talk in person because it is a sensitive thing to talk about."
"... Sure. I can talk. You'll have to come over here though if you want to talk now."
"Perfect. See you in a bit. Oh, another thing, is Honoka there?"
"No, she's visiting Yukiho at the bakery. Is that a problem for this, or…?"
"Actually, it's better that she's not here, we can explain that later."
"Right, ah… See you."
It hadn't taken long for Umi to lock up the dojo, but it also hadn't taken too long for Nico and Maki to arrive at her door with sombre expressions. She let them in with a bare minimal greeting from the both of them and brought them into the main room.
"Do either of you want a drink?" When the both of them shook their heads, Umi frowned, "What's this about then? If you do want to get straight down to business."
There was a silence before Maki looked to Nico, "Now I understand what you mean, it is hard to find the words."
"Look, it's about Hanayo."
"And Eli. Both of them.
When there was another uncomfortable silence, Umi sighed, "What about them?"
"We think, or, well… Know something's wrong," Nico anxiously rubbed at her neck as she looked to Maki for help.
"Nico-chan came to me a couple of days after I think… We checked with a couple of the neighbours and we could be misunderstanding, but we can't afford to just ignore it if it is what we think it is."
"And what do you think it is? I can handle whatever you want to tell me," Umi said rather calmly all things considered as she leant forward in her chair.
Maki was about to take a nervous drag, before she stopped, "Hey, you don't mind if I…?"
"Go ahead," Umi shrugged, "Doesn't smell as bad as the stuff you used to smoke."
Maki decided to ignore that last remark as she held the flavoured smoke in before speaking, "We think Eli's being abusive."
Umi's back straightened and she rubbed her eyes with one hand quickly enough so Nico and Maki couldn't see her expression, "I, er… I hope you have more than baseless accusations."
"Blunt…" Maki murmured as she glanced at Nico from the corner of her eye, using her e-cig as an excuse not to talk.
"Y-yes, anyway… When Nozomi and I went to visit, there were signs-"
"What signs?" Umi cut her off rather curtly, but Nico quickly recovered.
Nico proceeded to explain what she had said to Maki, the red mark, the tweezers and the disposed of glass shards and that she was led to believe Eli was an alcoholic. In hindsight, Nico realised she should have taken a picture of the items and documented them.
"Then," Maki finally decided to stop letting Nico shoulder the burden, lowering her e-cig, "We visited their apartment complex and asked the neighbours if they'd noticed anything. One couple said that they heard shouting late at night."
"Well, to be fair, we need more to go off than that."
"So, you don't believe us?" Maki raised an eyebrow with an expression that looked like it was hiding something negative, watching as Umi's face shifted.
"It's… Not that I don't believe you. Scepticism is healthy."
"But scepticism when it comes to this kind of thing could be fatal for Hanayo," Maki's eyes narrowed but Umi stood her ground.
"No, Maki, you're missing my point. Scepticism in very few situations can be fatal. It would be like if someone came up to you and claimed they had bipolar disorder without a doctor's diagnosis and needed the drugs for it. You'd be sceptical at that point, wouldn't you?"
"Yes, but this is different."
"Mm… I suppose so, but we live in a world of innocent until proven guilty, or at least, we should do. My belief is, if it doesn't hold up in court and doesn't hold up in fact, then you need more evidence."
"Well-"
"Tell me, what happens if we just walk up to Eli and accuse her of being abusive and she isn't? What if all of those things could be harmlessly explained? Can you imagine the emotional impact it would have on Eli, and even Hanayo at the same time? What if we ask Hanayo about the abuse she may or may not be experiencing and she isn't experiencing it? This is a game of truths and mistruths, not allegations and guesses."
Nico and Maki exchanged a look, a pained one, as a simultaneous feeling of doubt rose up in both of them.
"Look… I don't want to dissuade either of you from the truth. In fact, scepticism is what leads to finding out the truth. You want to find out more, and whether what you're saying is proven to be true or false, it is scepticism that takes you to that point."
Umi paused to sigh, before continuing, "I don't doubt you because I don't trust the both of you. I doubt you because I want to believe you. So, in order to get to the point of true or false, I will help you in any way I can."
As the two in front of her brightened up a bit, Umi glanced between the two of them, "I do have something in mind… But the two of you aren't going to like it, in fact, I don't either."
"Yeah? What is it?" Nico asked with a slight sense of unease.
"All three of us, and possibly our partners, should try to drop in at more impromptu times. Try to catch something that proves your theory. If we're lucky, we might get something like, Eli coming back drunk, or possibly something… Physical on Hanayo."
"But… That means leaving Hanayo is a potential danger…"
"I did say you wouldn't like it. But it's all we can do. Catch Eli in the act, get Hanayo to talk to us and, or come forward, or see something like a bruise or a mark. It's too risky to barge in and point fingers."
"Yeah, I guess you're right…" Maki was the one who spoke this time, twirling the e-cig, "So that's the plan? Drop in, see if we can catch something?"
"If you're both okay with it," Umi said, "I would also probably assume that if Eli does drink, she drinks after work on days she doesn't have to work the next day. So that's probably a good time to check in. Or the next day, or anything like that. Do whatever you feel is necessary. Take video, or even pictures if you can manage it."
"I guess it's all we can do…" Nico glanced downwards, "If that's sorted, I should probably get going before Nozomi calls me back."
"Yep, same for me. Thanks for the help, Umi."
Umi smiled for what felt like the first time in a while to her, as she stood up to see the two of them to the door, "I'm happy to help. This is something serious after all."
As they said their final goodbyes, Maki murmured to herself.
"She always has been the voice of reason…"
Author's note: This story will be taking a small hiatus whilst I work on my entry for the Love Live! Big Bang! Me and my partner have something planned, but I'm sorry about the wait ^^; Hopefully my LL! Big Bang fic will be enough to make up for it.