A new chapter, a new day for Hanayo. The day has finally come for Hanayo to start working at the place where Makoto works. How will it go for the young brunette in this chapter? Let's start the story and enjoy~

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.

"Hanayo, it's not nice to hide from our new neighbours." her mother spoke up. However, it wasn't enough to help her went past her nervous self as she eyed the two stranger in front of her from behind her mother. A boy was gripping a sleeve of a woman beside him as he looked at them with the same look as she had, nervous and shy.

"Oh, come on now. What did I say about meeting new people?" a woman's voice spoke up as Hanayo looked over at the woman in front of her as she pushed the boy forward.

"I-It's nice to meet you..." he bowed down. Once he gazed up, he cast it away immediately. Hanayo, on the other hand, could only stared at the boy and the woman from her hiding spot behind her mother's back. The little brunette's mother could only let out a soft chuckle as she petted her daughter's head gently.

"Hanayo." her mother called her out, lightly pushing the little brunette's back so that she would leave her hiding spot and stood in front of her. As she was pushed to the front, Hanayo tried to hide back but was held on her spot by her own mother.

"Come on, say hi to your new friend over there~" her mother urged. The small brunette shyly looked away, playing with the hem of her skirt.

"H-H-Hello..." she said, softly. Suddenly, the woman laughed, surprising the small brunette.

"Oh my, I'm so sorry about that. I just couldn't help but find you so adorable~" the woman walked forward until she knelt down, just so that their eyes were on the same level.

"What's your name, sweetie?" she asked and Hanayo couldn't bring herself to speak. Looking up to meet her mother's gaze, she was only given a nod from her mother as an approval to answer the woman's question.

"H-H-Hanayo..." she replied, not meeting the woman's gaze as she looked down on the ground, feeling embarrassed.

"Hanayo... My, that's a very lovely name. I'm Noriko. And this boy right here..." she looked over her shoulder to pull the boy and put him on the spot right in front of the small brunette.

"This is my son. Come on, introduce yourself." the woman smiled, nudging the boy lightly from the back. The young boy was hesitating, avoiding eye contact as he looked away, shifting his eyes from left to right, again and again. It felt like hours until he finally spoke up.

"M-Makoto. My name...is Yuuki Makoto." he slowly lifted his gaze up, making eye contact with the small brunette. His face was burning red from embarrassment and Hanayo could feel the same as well. As if on cue, both of them immediately hid behind their mother's back at the same time. Both of the mothers could only looked at their child before laughing together.

Hanayo was beyond embarrassed at that point as her face turned redder. She took a peek from behind her mother, only to find the young boy doing the same with an all familiar shy face. It was obvious that both of them were still nervous. Even so, deep down, she was happy to have a new friend but she was too scared. She wondered how long will it take for her to get used to the young boy and if she can even try to get closer to him. All she knew was, she couldn't.

She never tried.

The sound of the alarm woke her up from her sleep as she slowly opened up her eyes. Slowly getting up from her bed, she lazily set off the alarm before letting out a small yawn. She made her way towards her window, parted the curtains away and letting some sunshine into her room. The sudden light that came into view hurt her eyes as she slowly adjusted herself with the brightness.

"Today's the day..." she mumbled, letting out a sigh afterward. She wondered how will she do when she finally experienced the role as a model's makeup artist.

"Guess I'll find it out soon." she said, leaving the room to prepare herself. Once she had taken her bath and wore an appropriate formal clothes, she finally went downstairs, only to find her mother preparing their breakfast.

"Good morning, mother." Hanayo greeted first as it caught her mother's attention from her cooking.

"Good morning, sweetheart. Did you have a good rest?" she asked before focusing back to her cooking.

"Yeah, I did." she replied, smiling. Her mother giggled before looking over to her.

"Well, that's a good start. You need a healthy body and mind first before going to your work after all." the older woman set down their breakfast on the table before sitting across of her daughter. After saying their prayers, they finally ate their breakfast in silence. While she was eating, she felt as if she was being stared. When she looked up, she saw her mother staring at her with a smile.

"Mother? Is something wrong?" Hanayo asked and the older woman let out a soft chuckle, shaking her head.

"It's nothing sweetheart. I'm just happy that you finally get to work in a real working business." the older woman took a sip of her tea while Hanayo cast her gaze downward.

"Well, that is, assuming if I do get the job..." Hanayo said, the worried tone in her voice was obvious to hear. Her mother noticed it and placed a hand on one of her hand.

"I know you can do it. I mean, you've been doing a lot of part-time jobs for these past 2 years. Of course, I was really worried about you at that time, pushing yourself to do many kind of part-time jobs right after you've just graduated..." Hanayo's mother had a worried look on her face but soon it was replaced with a smile. "...but I'm glad it paid off. You've changed. You've started to become more mature and responsible."

"To finally see my little Hanayo-chan become an independent young woman, what mother wouldn't be proud to see that?"

The older woman's statement had caused the brunette to blush but at the same time, smiled. She knew she pushed herself too hard from before. Too hard that she even realized that she might eventually overworked herself than she could bear. But deep down, she was glad that she did. Working all those part-time jobs keeps her mind occupied with it. It pushed her to think about the future, to look forward. And most importantly, it changed her. And she wanted that change.

"Thank you, mother." Hanayo gripped back the hand her mother placed on her, smiling and she could feel the confidence in her rising. The older woman nodded her head and smiled.

"Go out there and make yourself proud."

After the long breakfast, Hanayo finally set off to her new work. She received an address that leads her to where Makoto was currently working at. Thankfully, she was familiar with the location and she made her way to a nearby bus stop. All she had to do was to take a bus, walked a little further into the town and she will soon arrived at the place.

It took approximately around 20 minutes, if she managed to catch a bus fast. Plus, with walking from the train station to the work location, Hanayo was glad that she went out early. Once she arrived, she could only watched the building in awe. The building itself wasn't really big or tall like any other buildings in the town, however, Hanayo couldn't help but admired the building. She recalled back where her mother mentioned that the owner was actually one of Noriko's friends' and they had always requested Makoto to be their model for various kinds of advertising, mostly on fashion.

She entered the building, looking around to see if she could find anyone familiar. Fortunately, she didn't have to when someone approached her.

"Excuse me." a man's voice spoke up from behind her, surprising the brunette as she turned around to face the owner of the voice. He was a man in his mid 30's, wearing a pair of black spectacles and had black hair that was slicked back and a thin moustache. He was wearing a tucked in white shirt with black blazer with a matching black formal pants. The man noticed Hanayo's surprised look and backed away slightly.

"Ah, sorry about that. I didn't mean to surprise you. I apologized." the man let out a laugh. His friendly laughter somehow calmed the brunette almost immediately as she smiled at the man. "My name is Sonozaki Mado, the owner of the photoshoot studio here as well as the director."

"O-Oh! I'm deeply sorry for not recognizing you immediately, Sonozaki-san!" Hanayo bowed down. The man however, told her not to worry, saying that it was unnecessary to apologize for. The brunette proceeded to introduce herself to the man.

"My name is Koizumi Hanayo. I'm here to ask about a job as a makeup artist."

"Ah, so I was right. You're the one that Noriko told me about." the man explained how Noriko had contacted him several days ago and mentioned to him about the brunette. He gestured her to follow him as they made their way to an elevator. Once they've entered, the man began to ask questions.

"I'm sorry that I had to ask but, you said your name was Koizumi Hanayo, wasn't it?"

"Ah, yes. I am."

"Then I assumed you must be Koizumi Misaki's daughter?" he asked, surprising the brunette. Koizumi Misaki was her mother's name.

"Y-Yes, that's true. How do you know her?" she asked and at the same time, the elevator stopped and opened it's door, letting the man and the brunette out as they walked down the hallway.

"Hahaha, I'm not sure if you know this but you're mother was once a model who worked here while she was an Idol long ago. I was just a young apprentice in this studio at that time, but I really admired your mother." he laughed, talking a little bit more about how her mother was during her Idol days as they walked on. Hanayo amused herself by listening to the man's story regarding her mother. However, the mentioning of an idol also reminded her of the past which she didn't want to remember, the smile on her face slowly disappearing as she cast her gaze down. "Anyway, we've arrived."

The man's sentence snapped her out from her thoughts as she faced the door in front of her. As if on cue, he opened the door, revealing a big studio with several people walking around talking and discussing with each other while some of them brought out all the necessary equipment for their photo shoot and set them up.

"Welcome to my studio." the man welcomed the brunette as he gestured to the studio and the people. She noticed some people looking at her as they bow down slightly, smiling at her and she did the same, feeling grateful that they were welcoming her presence.

"Come, my office is on the second floor. We need to properly have an interview first." Mado proceed to walk up the stairs with Hanayo trailing from behind as they entered his office. Upon entering the medium-sized office, she could only look around in amazement. Despite the size of the room, it was certainly spacious. Shelves that was pushed to the wall was full with neatly arranged files. The small coffee table with two sofas on each side in the middle of the room made it looked like a living room instead of an office.

"Take a seat first, I'll go get the papers." he told her and she did as she was asked. Mado went behind his office table at the corner of the room as he took out a file and made his way back to her. He sat across of her and flipped open the file he brought.

"Nervous?" he asked, glancing up as he noticed the brunette fidgeting from her seat. Hanayo could only muster a soft chuckle.

"I'd be lying if I said I'm not."

"Ah, honesty is good." Mado nodded his head as he scribbled something on one of an empty papers, which made Hanayo wondered if that was part of an interview question. Though, she doubted that it was.

"Well, then..." he stopped writing right after he spoke those words, looking up to face the brunette with a serious yet kind smile. "Shall we began the interview?"

She wondered how long has time passed since the interview began. Despite the nervous feeling in the pit of her stomach, she managed to answer the man's questions throughout the interview. It was one of those normal questions she usually heard whenever she had her first interview at her previous part-time jobs. Does she have working experience? What made her wanted the job? How willing was she to work overtime? All sorts of working related questions that she had grown accustomed with.

"Well then, that concludes the interview." he wrote down several things on the paper before slipping it back into its' file. Hanayo slowly let out a silent sigh, relieved to find that it was over. All that was left was to wait what the man's conclusion was.

"You're hired, Hanayo-san."

Not even given a chance to take a break from the interview, the brunette was already given an answer that she wasn't expecting to receive so soon. She stared at the man in front of her with disbelieve eyes. However, Mado's smile only proved that he was serious and honest, which immediately brought a smile upon the brunette's face.

"T-Thank you very much, Sonozaki-san!" she bowed down, the sound on gratitude could be heard from her tone of voice. He laughed, nodding his head.

"You can thank me by working hard. Speaking of which, I might as well let you start with your job. Since you're a makeup artist, I supposed I should introduced you to one of our most frequent model that is currently working with us. He should be here soon..." as soon as those words left his mouth, a knock from the door interrupted the conversation.

"Excuse me. Director?" a voice called out from the other side of the door.

"Speak of the devil." Mado said as he send a feigned surprised look at the brunette before smiling at the door's direction. "Come on in."

The person behind the door entered and Hanayo's eyes landed on a very familiar yet different figure. A young man strolled in as he walked towards them and upon closer inspection, it turned out the young man, surprisingly, was Makoto. Hanayo would have mistook him for someone else if it weren't for the blond hair and his green eyes. He wasn't wearing his spectacle and he was also wearing a very stylish clothes, which she assumed as a part of an advertising item for a photo shoot.

"Ah, Makoto-kun. You came at the right time. I wanted to introduce you to our new makeup artist." he gestured to the brunette. Makoto walked closer and upon realizing that the female sitting across of Mado was Hanayo, he greeted her with a smile.

"Oh, good morning, Hanayo-chan." he smiled, waving slightly.

"Good morning, Makoto-san." the brunette bowed down, smiling. The interaction between them caused Mado to exchange looks between them with a surprised face, before he crossed his arms, his face lit with amusement.

"Oh, so you two do know each other. Well, that makes things easy." he faced Hanayo with a smile. "I'm sure you can tell by now, but Makoto-kun here was the one I mentioned previously. He will be under your care from now on, Hanayo-san."

"I'll do my very best, Makoto-san." Hanayo stood up and bowed down to the young man. Makoto smiled before replying, "I'll be counting on you, Hanayo-chan."

"Makoto-kun, why not show her around and introduced her to the staffs? After all, getting to know the people that you're going to work with is the first step after all." Mado asked the young man.

"Oh, sure. I can do that." Makoto nodded his head. Mado let out a relief sigh as he stood up from his seat.

"Well then, now that that's settled. I'll be taking my leave then." he said as he walked over to his office table to put away the file.

"And where exactly are you going this time?" Makoto somehow had a skeptical face on him as he crossed his arms.

"To the cafe across the street. I heard Mira-san is working today~! Now that's something that I can't miss!" the man gave Makoto a thumbs up as he had a wide smile across his face. The man walked passed him as he went to the door with a lighthearted attitude.

"Again...? You better not be sitting there just to stare at her while she's working." Makoto said, the teasing tone in his voice was obvious as he directed a tired smile at the man.

"Hey, hey! How cruel of you...! I'm not just going there to see Mira-san! I'm going there to notify the cafe to do their usual delivery! And one more thing-" the man acted as if he was hurt by the accusation as he came up with excuses. Makoto could only amused the director by nodding his head in agreement every time he came up with excuses. At this point, Hanayo was already wondering where his playful personality came from. He was completely different than the one she saw from the beginning until just now.

"Ah, that's it! I have to go now! You've taken my time quite enough for now!" the man quickly made his way out of the office before opening the door. "Don't forget to do your job, Makoto-kun. I'm leaving our new worker to you!"

He saluted at them before closing the door, leaving behind the two people in his office.

"Don't let it get to you. The director is always like that..." Makoto spoke up upon realizing that Hanayo's silence and surprised look still lingered even after Mado had left. Hanayo could only muster a nervous chuckle.

"He is...very different." she worded it carefully. Makoto nodded his head in agreement.

"So, looks like we're co-workers from now on too, huh?" Makoto asked. Hanayo couldn't help but giggled. The thought of being co-workers with her childhood friend does seemed amusing.

"But, you know, I'm glad you're here." he said, smiling at her. "At least, some familiar faces around here would calmed me down."

Hanayo felt the same. The thought of working at a new place always made her anxious at times. The thought of meeting new people scares her but at the same time, excited her. Makoto was no exception.

"So am I." she replied, smiling at the young man. Makoto smiled as he told her that he should start showing around, walking towards the door.

"Makoto-san." she called out to him which caused him to turn around and faced her with confused look. She stared at him as if she was about to tell something very important. Something that had been in the back of her mind since she woke up that morning. This thought had been bothering her ever since she met him and she couldn't sit still until she let it out. She was hesitating to speak but after a while, she finally spoke up.

"I know we haven't known each other for a long time when we were young. And I know that we're not as close as any childhood friend should have been at the moment. But..." she thought for a while, casting her gaze downwards before looking up, smiling at the young man. "I hope that, by working together, even if it takes time, we can get to know each other again like we used to."

Makoto could only stare at her with wide eyes, surprised by her sudden statement.

"I want to know more about you. That's why..." she bowed down slightly. "I'll be in your care as well, Makoto-san."

I tried.

The images of her dream came back, reminding her of her timid, shy self that wasn't able to do anything as she would stayed behind, doing nothing. She wanted to change. She doesn't want to remain the same girl she was once before. She doesn't want to make the same mistake as before. When she finally looked up, she could see his surprised look faded away as it was replaced with a grin.

"Yeah, sure! I liked to know more about you too, Hanayo-chan!" he said, the excited tone in his voice was obvious to hear. His answer was enough to make a smile appeared on her face. Hanayo was as equally excited as him as she nodded her head. The fact that she finally tied the last knot of their long, lost relationship back together was something that she should be proud off. And she did.

I finally tried.

End of chapter 2! The long, lost relationship between these two have finally been reconnected. How will it goes from now on? That will be in the next chapter~!

As you may know, I rarely update this one because of my main story that is currently, ongoing at the moment and I tend to focus on that story instead of this. But no worries, a friend of mine will always reminds me of this story so that I would not lose track of it! Yes, I'm talking to you, sweetknife55. ┐(´∀)┌

Anyway, thank you for taking your time to read the story. I'll see you again in the next chapter...one day~! °˖✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧˖°