Disclaimer: I do NOT own Love Live!
"Ah, Honoka-chan," came a familiar voice.
Honoka looked up from her phone screen. "Hey, Anju-chan."
"Sorry I'm a bit late. Practice took a bit longer than expected," she explained.
"It's alright. Well, are you ready?"
They both faced the building they were standing outside of.
"Let's do it," Anju said simply.
Together, they walked into the shop, instantly being greeted by the scent of coffee. The inside of the shop itself looked fairly typical. They were met by a waitress with strawberry blond hair that fell to her shoulders, and in an interesting uniform. She looked about the same age as they were.
"Welcome!" She said. "Table for two?"
"Actually, we're here looking for a part-time job," Honoka explained.
"Would that be possible?" Anju asked.
"Ah, sure! Let me talk to the owner. Why don't you have a seat while you wait."
The waitress led them to a small booth near the back. She disappeared through the door leading to the back. After a few minutes, she returned, asking them to come inside. They followed her through the door. The back area reminded Honoka of her own home, but a little more traditional looking.
The girl left them in front of the owner's office. After knocking and getting permission, they entered. They found the owner, who was in the middle of talking with a young looking girl with long light blue hair, which reached halfway down her body due to her size. They could tell she was shy, because she quickly fled once they had entered the room.
The owner himself was very nice. After a couple of minutes, they had worked out their part-time schedules. It was only a temporary arrangement, as practices would slowly get emphasized when the next round was drawing near. For now though, they would be working right after practices ended, and would stay until closing hour. Not the easiest, but Honoka and Anju were as enthusiastic and optimistic as ever.
The girl with light blue hair came back so she could take them to try on the uniforms. As they walked, they found that this girl was actually the owner's daughter, and that this coffee shop is a family-owned business. They also found that she was as young as she looked, which was a few years younger than Yukiho and Arisa.
When they reached the employee room, the met strawberry blond from earlier as well as another girl. She was slightly taller, with long purple hair in two ponytails. They exchanged friendly greetings before the owner's daughter brought them to some of the unused lockers. She opened two of them and handed them the uniforms inside. The uniform consists of a long ankle-length black skirt, a white blouse, and a colored waistcoat and bowtie. The other three girls had waistcoat and bowtie colors that matched them. Pink coat and red tie for the strawberry blond, blue for the owner's daughter, and purple for the tall girl. It seemed like Honoka and Anju's uniform would follow the trend, as their uniforms matched them as well.
After trying the uniforms on and finding they were perfect fits, the five of them began talking to get to know each other better. It turns out that the two other girls were also here working part time. The strawberry blond lives here through arrangements, and works to compensate her living expenses. She's also the same age as Honoka and Anju. The taller girl was a year older, making her the same in age and grade as Eli, Nico, and Nozomi.
They spent around an hour leisurely chatting about more random things until Honoka and Anju realized they should get going. The owner's daughter told them they would be starting tomorrow, and to come straight afterschool this once, so they could do a bit of training.
"I'm getting excited for tomorrow," Honoka said as she left the coffee shop with Anju.
"Me too," Anju replied. "It's going to be a lot of fun."
"Yeah! I can't wait to wear the uniform again. It was so cute!"
"Hehe, yeah. It's a shame, though. We'll only get to for a little while, with the next round of Love Live being in a few weeks."
"I guess so. But no matter what happens, we'll both get to come back and work together after."
"That's true. Everything will work out in the end."
"Yup!"
They continued their fun and excited conversation, thinking about what things they might get to do starting tomorrow. It lasted until they reached a certain street. Honoka was going to Tsubasa's house, while Anju was going to Erena's. They reached the street where they would have to part. They agreed on meeting back at this spot right after school tomorrow and going back to the coffee shop together. After a bit of stalling, they both finally said their goodbyes and went their separate ways. Honoka's mind was still having a few last thoughts about tomorrow. Finally she snapped out of it and, at the reminder of where she was going, started to pick up the pace.
As much as she didn't want to, Tsubasa stopped Honoka from her barrage of kisses.
"Honoka?" she asked.
Honoka pouted, having been interrupted. "What?"
"I was just wondering.. What did you and Anju do today?"
"Oh! Well we..." Honoka stopped herself. "...Sorry. I can't tell you. It's part of the surprise."
"That again?" Tsubasa sighed. "You know I'm starting to get really curious about this surprise you've been so focused on."
Honoka barely managed to move Tsubasa's hand from her so she could kiss her again. "Eheh, sorry. You'll get to find out soon, I promise."
"I guess that's fine then."
"It'll be worth it. You just wait and see."
"Since it's from you, I'm sure I'll love it no matter what."
Honoka blushed a bit. "Aww. Tsubasa-chan always says such sweet things."
"Ch- chan?"
"Y-yeah.. I mean.. We have been dating for a few weeks now... Was I not supposed to?"
"N-no, no. It just surprised me a little.. It's okay with me, Honoka-chan."
Honoka smiled. "Tsubasa-chan!"
She hugged Tsubasa tightly, and she moved just enough to knock down her and Tsubasa from where they were sitting on the bed. Together they continued their previously interrupted moment.
"I have something really important and I need to go."
"Wait, Honoka!"
"Sorry, Umi-chan. Tell Eli I'm sorry for missing practice as well. Bye Kotori-chan!"
Before either of her friends could say another word, Honoka had already left the classroom. They continued looking at the door she left out of.
"What... was that all about?" Kotori asked.
"I don't know..." Umi said. She stood from her desk. "Come on, practice is starting soon."
The two of them walked out of the classroom together. They held hands as they walked to the clubroom. They got their before most of the others, walking in on a very suspicious looking Nozomi and Eli. They waited for the others to arrive before Umi explained what had happened earlier.
"This really isn't the time for her to be doing this..." Eli said, a little annoyed.
"Why is that?" Maki asked.
"We were going to start picking up the pace for practice to be able to compete with A-Rise," Eli explained.
"A-already?" Nico asked, hoping it wasn't true.
Eli nodded. "We're going to have to."
"Nya... Rin has something to say," Rin said, raising her hand. "We might know something about Honoka-chan."
The other six members turned to look at Rin and Hanayo.
"Do you know what's happening?" Kotori asked hurriedly.
"W-well, we happened to see Honoka-chan yesterday," Hanayo explained. "And we saw her with Anju."
"Anju? From A-Rise?" Nico asked, incredibly surprised.
"Nya, that's right," Rin said.
"But Honoka's dating Tsubasa. Why was she alone with Anju?" Umi wondered out loud.
"Honoka doesn't seem like the girl to cheat on someone," Nozomi said. "So I think we should all calm down before everyone starts jumping to conclusions."
"But, she's skipping practice, and this is the only hint we have to work with," Eli said.
"Relax, Eli-chi." Nozomi put her hands on Eli's shoulders to calm her down. She looked to Rin and Hanayo. "Where did you two seem them?"
"It was in town," Hanayo answered. "By the time we saw them, I think they were already on their way home."
"We should go look for them," Nico suggested. "This is getting us no where right now."
"Agreed," Eli said. "Alright, we'll cancel practice today to go into town and look for Honoka."
"Wait, let's think this over..." Nozomi said.
"Should we split up like last time?" Umi asked.
"We can cover more ground that way. But let's have different partners. We all remember how well it went last time," Maki reminded them.
"Everyone.." Nozomi tried saying again.
"You don't think Anju could be plotting something, do you?" Rin asked.
"That might make sense," Eli said. "She is our competition after all."
"But Honoka-chan wouldn't agree to anything that would hurt our chances," Kotori reminded them.
There was more guesses as to what might be happening as they all got their stuff together and left the clubroom. Nozomi stopped trying to reason with them and sighed. Honoka, please tell me you're doing something perfectly innocent... Nozomi pleaded in her mind. Because this isn't looking good.
Hey everyone, nobodD here!
Okay, so, yes. Honoka and Anju's part-time job is a reference to another anime. I'm still not sure whether I want to use the characters' names from their anime, or just use a generic set of names. What do you guys think?
Hmm... now I want some coffee...
Kotori: Here you are *sets down a mug*
Yay! ^.^
Maki: uh oh, Author is trying out having convos in the notes now.
Don't judge me..
(But in seriousness, some other people make these extremely fun. Reading some of those made me want to try... haha. Anyway, to the people that do this, don't take any offense by it. And to you readers... I'm sorry if you don't like it but xp)
Well back to the chapter itself, pretty simple stuff. I've been meaning to do a small scene like that for Honoka and Tsubasa for a bit now, but I always forget. (oops) I noticed that a lot of doujins they address each other like this, and thought to myself to add that in. It was bugging me alot otherwise, haha..
Hanayo: Hey, don't you have an event to be participating in?
Ah, you're right. I'll wrap this up then. I gots an event Hanayo card to work toward ;)
See you next time~
Edit: I realize there is some incorrect information about the workers of the coffee shop. It shall be fixed starting next chapter.