She dared to put away her own desire.

She managed to kept herself from shouting out loud "I want a duet with Umi" when Honoka decided the next duo. Still, her usual tsundere character had helped her not get jealous when Eli got the next duet with Umi. But, she couldn't get pass of the fact that Umi could ever write something so shameless for that.

"Umi, remind me how you could write something like this again?" Maki's eyebrowns twitched furiously. Her amethyst eyes landed on the lyrics, and then carefully turned to a flustered Umi

"Ehh...I...don't know." The blue hair waved her hands in rejection, as her voice became smaller and then completely gone.

"I can't believe you...Ughh." The red hair's grib to the papers became tighter, as she threw them to the top of the piano "I never thought you would be in the mood for such topic."

"Maki, are you mad?" Umi carefully reach the red hair, like she was approaching an angry panther.

"Hah, I am not. Why do I have to? Mou~." Violently pressed the keys down, Maki eyed the blue hair, before sighing "I am sorry. Don't know why I could be like that. Just.." She then signaled Umi to sit next to her.

"It's okay, I understand." Umi sat down, and leaned her body to the other's shoulders "Sometimes, I don't know myself either."

"Aitai no Summer. Kotoshi no Summer.." As the melody rang through the air, Umi's new song came to life. The lyricist herself was cauhht surprised, but her lips soon curved into a smile as their voices became one.

"Anata to watashi no hitotsu no Story."

"I am sure Eli would love to sing this song with you."

"Maki..." Umi touched the red hair's hand, "Are you by any chance...Jealous?"

By saying that, the blue hair expected to see an usual reaction from the pianist: denying with a hime manner. But Maki never ceased to amaze her. No denying, no nothing, she just sat there emotionlessly. And it really made Umi worry.

"Neh, Maki, are you okay?" Slightly shaking the other, her voice was full of concern

"I just... I want a duet with you." Maki's voice was dry, and at the same time, sad. She was on the edge of tears, but Umi always knew how to calm her down. As the blue hair pulled her into a tight embrace, Maki gladly snuggled further into a familiar wamrth.

"I know Maki. I want it too. But you know what. Every songs we have, are our duet."

A satisfied smile managed to make it's way to the red hair's face. She knew the blue hair was right.

She didn't care where her legs could take her to.

She didn't care about the surrounding. She stumbled upon her running, hitting people, but none of those things could get ingo her mind. She kept on running, away from reality. Running away from the past that had been haunting her. When her whole body had finally given up, Maki found herself outside of Otonokizaka's building. As painful memories hit her, Maki collasped, both mentally and physically.

"No, I can't..Umi, I am sorry" The red hair sat on the cold ground, tears flowing down to her cheeks. She was trembling and broken.

"Maki/Maki-chan." Maki turned her head around to the direction of the coming voice. It was her friends, chasing after her. But for the red hair, it was like an illusion. She saw Umi.

"Umi?" A strange question rang through her mind, as several thoughts attacked her at the same time. Soon enough, when it was too much for her to take them all, Maki fell into a gentle pair of arms.

"Great job you two." Honoka excitedly bounced up and down, while Umi and Eli just sheepishly smiled at each other.

"It was nothing. Really, I just poured my heart out." Eli scratched her cheeks, tried not to look at Umi's eyes.

"Me...me too." The blue hair kept choking on her words, not used to be complimented

"Honoka-chan is right. You two really nailed it." Kotori gentlely pat the blue hair's shoulder, while the others members eyed them silently.

"I never know you could write a song like that nya~"

"I guess Umi-chan is into those lewd things after all." Nozomi adde with a smirk,

"Uehh, no, I am not...Just, aghh" Umi desperately tried to defense herself from Nozomi's teasing. But she failed eventually. As the blue hair burried her redden face between her hands, Eli did her best to stop Nozomi

"Okay, enough Nozomi." Eli tried to defense Umi, but it only made Nozomi's smirk wider.

What they all didn't notice is a red hair, standing at the corner of the club room, whose gaze stuck on Umi. She couldn't help herself from staring at her partner. It was hard to see Umi and Eli talking all fun with the other like that. And soon enough, aqua blue filled her vision.

"Maki, are you okay?" While the other members packed their stuff up, Eli approach her unit member carefully "You don't look well."

That was when Maki finally got snap back to the reality. The red hair quickly avoid Eli's curious gaze.

"I am okay."

"Accompany on the way home with me today, okay?" Eli's eyes smiled, and she was really hoping for a yes.

"Ehh, but..." Maki knew she couldn't deny those looks. "Okay. I guess."

After agreeing, Maki was pulled out of the school by a certain blonde. Maki remained silent for the first 5 minutes. And then, Eli decided to break the ice.

"Neh, Maki, do you like Umi?"

"Hphm, is that a trick question?" Maki eyed her senior suspiciously, but the blonde just simply said

"Well, Umi seem to really like you. So I just ask if you like her or not." The way Eli said those words naturally made Maki frown. And it made her think, like a lot of thoughts ran through her mind.

"I like her...or not.." The red hair put a finger under her chin. As her surrounding seem to be faded away, what Maki really cared about was Eli's question. Did she like Umi? Probably yes. Just thought about it. She was the pianist, Umi was the lyricist, there was no way they could work together without liking each other. And consider the blue hair herself, she acted all graced, cool, calm and collected; but at the same time, she was so easy to tease and got flustered all the time. That was a really cute side. How could anyone not like Umi?

And then, a sudden realization hit the red hair. That emotion when it was not her, but Eli got the duet with Umi, was jealousy. That feeling was uncomfortable, it just made her want to make the blue hair her own. And at that thought, Maki's cheeks redden, rival to her hair. While Eli just giggled, Maki bashfully mumbled

"I think...I love her."

Right, that was it. Love

"I think you just came up with quite an interesting feeling, didn't you?" Eli said teasingly, but still caring

"What do I do now?"

"You two are really troublesome when it come to these things, neh! Just let your heart decide." Eli put Maki's hand to the red hair's chest, aqua blue eyes looked directly into amethyst color ones.

"Ar..Arigatou Eli." Never in her life, Maki knew Eli was such a reliable person

"Ah, we are at your house already."

"Ahh, right, see you later, Eli." Maki was hesitant, "Uhmm, arigatou, for everything."

"Uh, that was nothing." Eli waved goodbye to the red hair. When Maki finally made her way into her house, Eli turned herself to the other direction, heart and mind heavy.

"Ahh, I did that."

"..."

"Goodbye, my first love."

As hot tears made their ways down to her cheeks, Eli had decided it was the best to let her love for Umi die down. After all, Umi loved Maki, and Maki too.

A/N:

Okay, what just happen?

My mind was really full of songs, hehe.

Anyway, I hope you like this chapter as well

I may or may not add to much sadness into this,

See ya around