Maki wanted to barge into the waiting room to apologize with all of her heart. However, she was stopped at the entrance and was told it was for participants.

She wasn't feeling too motivated to watch the other performances as she was hung up on missing the most important one.

'I can't believe it. I missed it again. How can I repay her...I just need to go to another one. She's too important to miss again.'

Maki heard the doors opening from the auditorium and felt happy that it was over. She could see Riko again and apologize for missing her performance.

"Hello, Maki." Eli greeted her friend.

"Eli," Maki said, not paying attention to the blonde. She looked up her, but her attention was focused mostly on the participant door.

"Riko sounded good," Eli told her.

"Of course she did. She's amazing," Maki said. She planted her face into her palms. "I can't believe I missed it."

"Riko-chan!" Maki heard someone call out. Looking up, Riko was right outside of the door. She looked at the girl who called her and smiled at her. Riko scanned the group, but saw the one person she didn't want to see. She began to walk away at a fast pace. "Riko-chan?"

Before anyone else could start moving to her, Maki started to run in Riko's direction. "RIKO-CHAN!"

Riko heard the shout of the familiar voice and started to pick up her pace. She did not want to see Maki right now. Once she was outside, Riko darted straight to the nearby café. Before she could enter, her shoulders were gripped by a familiar touch.

"Riko-chan," Maki said as she took a deep breath. She was able to catch up to Riko, but it took a good amount of effort to reach her. "I'm-"

"Where were you?!" Riko pushed the arms away and looked at Maki with a fierce look.

Maki was surprised to see this look on Riko's face. "You know where I was. It went long, I couldn't help it. I'm sorry."

Riko saw the other girls approaching them. However, they were staying their distance as they saw the two girls arguing. "Was it important? Enough for you to neglect me?"

Maki was getting irritated with how much Riko was playing off her work. "Of course it was important. I'm a head doctor, I have patients to tend to. And what do you mean that I neglected you? We could barely go out the past few weeks. Didn't you want to spend some time with me?"

"I did! Don't you think school is important for me? Isn't it equal to your work? So, you think that my school work isn't equal to yours?"

"I didn't mean it like that!" Maki was getting frustrated with her girlfriend. "All I want is to make it up to you. I never meant to miss this, but I'm sorry that I did. I'll make it up to you, Riko-chan!"

Riko felt like Maki didn't understand anything they shared. "This isn't something that you can just make up, Maki-chan. This was something special. To me…and to you. You promised me that you wouldn't miss it! Isn't that something you should be able to keep?"

"I'm sorry that I couldn't keep a stupid promise, Riko-chan! There are times when my work is more important than us!"

"What? S-Stupid?" Riko couldn't believe the words she heard. "Everything you said to me...those promises that you made…it was just stupid to you? You didn't care about that?"

The older girl crossed a line, and she didn't even see it until she saw the pain in Riko's eyes. "No...I didn't mean that...I did care-"

"Well, obviously you didn't care enough. It may sound childish, but promises are precious to me. Calling it stupid…it shows how much you care about this."

"I…" Maki was at a loss for words. She was realizing her mistakes, but she couldn't say anything to counter Riko's words.

"I'm sorry, Maki-chan…I don't want to do this, because I love you too much…but, we have to break up." Riko wiped away her tears.

"Riko…I'm…I'm sorry…We don't-"

"I can't if it's like this, Maki-chan. Isn't it better to focus on our work? We can't see each other that often anyways, so it might be better. Right?"

"No…It…doesn't have to end like this…" Maki was barely getting her words out. She couldn't believe that this was happening.

"It was nice to be with you for so long, Maki-chan. It was some of the best days of my life. But…"

"Riko-chan…"

"Don't make promises you can't keep, Maki-chan." It was Riko's last words to her before she turned around and went over to the group of girls. "Chika-chan, You-chan. Can you drive me back home?"

"S-Sure," was all Chika could say. After seeing that, they didn't want to make the atmosphere even more awkward than it was. "Let's go, You-chan." She turned to the other girls. "We'll see you later. It was nice to meet you Eli-san, Nozomi-san, and Arisa-san."

"Same. Bye, girls." Eli bowed to the three girls as they left.

"I think we'll leave as well," Hanamaru said. She, Ruby, and Yoshiko said their goodbyes to the girls and started to walk away.

"Are you leaving too?" Nozomi asked. "We understand if you do."

Dia shook her head, which surprised Kanan and Mari. "I have something to show Maki-san."

"Okay."

The six girls walked over to Maki. The red-head was kneeling on the sidewalk, clutching her skirt as her tears fell onto the pavement.

"Maki-chan?" Nozomi knelt down and held Maki's shoulder.

"I messed up. I lost the best person in my life because I couldn't keep a promise. I only thought of it as a thing we say so we'd be together, but she was the only one that took it seriously." Maki was trembling. So, Nozomi and Eli went and hugged her, doing anything to comfort her.

"Maki-san." The red-head heard her named called. She looked up to see a person that she hasn't seen before. The face seemed familiar, but she was too distraught to try and remember.

"Yes?" Maki replied.

"I'm a friend of Riko-chan. She…played her song for us before the concert. And…she said it was for you. It might not help but…would you like to listen to it?" Dia asked.

'A friend of Riko-chan would want to help someone like me? Someone who can't even care about her enough?' Maki wiped away her tears. "If it's okay."

Dia nodded. "We should go to the café an-"

"Please. Let me listen to it now." Maki desperately demanded.

"Hey, Maki-" Eli was about to scold the red-head, but she felt Nozomi's grip tighten. Looking to her girlfriend's face, she saw Nozomi shaking her head.

"Okay." The black-haired girl plugged in her earphones and lent them to Maki. When Maki put in the earphones, she heard the title of the song.

'Red-Hot Love. She thought so much about us…and I couldn't even bother to make her happy.' As soon as the first note was played, Maki's eyes started to water up. The sound was so enjoyable and fun. It was fast, but it conveyed Riko's emotions extremely well. As it kept going, Maki could only watch her love play her heart out. And she could only feel the guilt weighing down on her for not being there to listen to it live.

"Maki?" Eli looked at her friend. She saw the tears dripping onto Dia's phone. She was about to wipe it away, but she was stopped by the ravenette.

"I'm so awful. I wouldn't want to be with me either." Maki said after the song was finished.

"Maki-san. You are not awful. I know that the both of you still love each other. But…this will take some time to get over. Especially for Riko-chan. Please, give her some time. She might be overreacting, but she takes relationships seriously. Not to say that you don't, but Riko I feel treasured our friendships more than anyone else did." Once Dia was finished saying her words, she stood up and asked Mari and Kanan if they could leave, which they said yes.

"Why did you want to show me this?" The trio of girls looked back at Maki, who was still crouching. "I hurt your friend...and yet, you're trying to help me. Why?"

Dia faintly smiled. "I haven't seen Riko that happy before. She was shining when she was talking about you. She still loves you, Maki-san. But...this hurt her. I hope you understand that."

"I...I do. But...what you said before that." Maki made her way over to Dia and looked her square in the eyes. "Do you mean that?"

"I do." Dia hugged the red-head, surprising everyone. "You just have to give it some time."

"Thank you." Maki said. The three bowed as they left, which only left Maki, Nozomi, Eli, and Arisa.

"Are you okay, Maki-senpai?" Arisa asked.

Maki took a deep breath. "No…not really. Breaking up with the best person I've ever been with isn't good, you know?" She stood up and started to walk away. The three other girls started to follow her, but Maki stopped them by putting her hand out. "Please. I need to be alone right now."

"…Okay…" The three watched Maki leave with her head hung low.

"I guess that's what the cards meant…" Nozomi said. She wasn't trying to make a joke about this. All she could think about was the "Pain" card she drew from her deck.

'That's…all the pain…right?'

…

"Thank you for driving me home," Riko said to You and Chika.

"It's alright. Anytime," You said. The ride to Riko's home was filled with a tense silence. After seeing the break-up happen, the two girls didn't want to say anything insensitive. "Do you need anything else?"

"No, I'll just drive myself. I don't want to bother you too much."

"Riko-chan, you aren't bothering us," Chika said from the back.

Riko smiled from her friend's insistence. "Thanks."

Riko opened the door to-

"Are you okay, Riko-chan?" Chika asked. Looking back, she saw You's disappointing glare at Chika and was faced with You's sympathetic one. Looking at Chika, she saw the orange-haired girl's expression; a mix of awkwardness and concern.

"I'm not." Before her friends could say anything else, she quickly left the car and slammed the door. All she wanted was to be alone, and hopefully her friends could understand that. She walked quickly back to her apartment and slammed the door shut, not caring if anyone was annoyed.

She holed herself up in her bedroom, not wanting to deal with anyone or anything. She opened her laptop and searched 'How to get over someone.'

Some things she was reading seemed obvious. 'Listen to music', 'cry', 'talk to friends'. Those seemed like things like Riko would have done already. Two of the ideas looked interesting.

'Write in a journal' was one of the ideas. Looking in her room, all she had was her school books and some sheet music. Reaching over to the sheets, she could only think of one thing. 'Writing music…is like a journal, right?'

It was the last one that Riko had mixed feelings over. 'Just forget her? Delete pictures, contacts, everything about her?' The important things in her life just so happened to involve Maki. With her piano playing, she made her and Maki's concert song. 'That's too much to throw away. It's my best work.'

Her phone wasn't much help either. Looking through her pictures, it was filled with her and Maki's dates. Everything that revolved around Riko's first relationship was something that she didn't want to let go. But…Maki missing the concert, Maki trying to replace one of the most important days of their relationships, breaking her promise to be there for her…it's for the best. If Maki wasn't able to be there for her when she needed her to, they would drift apart eventually. 'Okay, I'll just delete them all. I can't dwell on this for so long.'

She chose every picture of her and Maki together and hovered her finger over the delete button. Pressing it once, the confirm box popped up.

DING! DONG!

Before she could say yes, her doorbell rang, surprising her. She put the phone in her pocket and went to the door. Looking through the peephole, she saw Chika's concerned face, and You was right behind her. She sighed. 'I guess they didn't get the hint.'

"Chika-chan, You-chan," Riko said as she opened the door, "I don't want to be bothered right now."

"We can't leave you like this, Riko-chan," Chika said bluntly. They may be confronting her, but Riko wanted to be alone right now.

"I don't know what-"

"I told Chika-chan to leave you alone," You interrupted, "But, she's right. This is rough, Riko-chan. You cannot do it alone."

"Yes, I can!" Riko retorted. However, she couldn't keep up her strong façade for long. "I…I can…" Before she knew it, she started to cry. Thankfully, Chika and You were there to help comfort her.

"Riko-chan, we're friends. Talk to us, don't hold it in," Chika said. Riko nodded, and the three of them went over to the couch.

"It hurt…when I saw her after I preformed."

"But," You said in a small voice, not wanting to assume things, "Was it that important? Can't you play it for her again?"

"No!" Riko said loudly. "It's completely different, You-chan! That song…it was for us…and I wanted to show it off to everyone! But…she couldn't even keep her promise…"

"Promise? But-" You was interrupted by a disapproving Chika. It was clear that the orange-haired girl was the best person to handle Riko's feelings, so You kept silent.

"What was Maki-san's promise?"

"She…she wouldn't miss my concert."

"Hmm," Chika hummed as she stroked Riko's hair. It was what helped her be calm, so she figured that it would help her friend. "And you can't play it for her again, right?"

Riko shook her head. "It was the last concert I would perform at. I needed competitions for school, so I was going to focus on that. I could have played it for her alone but…this was…special…"

Riko started to sob again, so Chika started to rub Riko's back. "Shh, I know. Do you still love her?"

"Of course I do! It's just…if she couldn't keep this promise, what would make me think that she would care enough about me?"

"I understand," Chika said. She felt like she was treating Riko like a young girl, but she felt like it was the best way to talk to her right now. "Let this pass, Riko-chan. Maybe it's better that you broke up. You two can have time to think things over and make up." She felt Riko's head nod. "For now, we're here for you. Until we have to leave, you won't be alone."

"You…you don't have to care-"

"Yes, we do, Riko-chan." Chika said. "We always care about our friends."

Riko nodded. She couldn't contain her emotions and started to wail again. But just like Chika said, Riko didn't have to deal with this alone.

…

"Are you sure you'll be okay, Riko-chan?" You asked.

The red-head smiled. "For now. Thanks for staying."

"It was no problem," Chika said, "You needed someone to talk to."

"I did."

Riko was waving at her friends, and she heard Chika say: "Call us if you need to talk!"

'It's…nice to have them.'

It's been nearly a week since the concert, and Riko was feeling better as each day passed. She still felt crappy, but it was manageable. She has been keeping up with her studies, but she felt overwhelmed by the math and sciences. She dropped those courses and worked harder on piano playing and cooking. She started to enjoy cooking and saw herself being a chef in the future.

She had a free day since her assignments were near-finished. She was still feeling a bit of heartbreak so she decided to follow one of the ideas she found.

'Indulge yourself.'

As she was driving, she was planning what to treat herself with.

'Ice cream sounds good. I'll avoid anything with tomatoes. I don't want to remind myself of Maki-chan. Maybe a nice sandwich. I'll prepare some steak. Hopefully, it's on sale today. What else? Maybe-'