Eli was still sobbing as they got to the nurse's office. The nurse told the girls that Nozomi was doing fine, and that she'll be healed up soon. The nurse also allowed them to use the office for their meeting since the student council president was there. The nurse thankfully respected the girls and didn't question what was happening.

Eli was sitting on a chair beside the bed that Nozomi went on. Umi stood beside her girlfriend and was holding her hand. However, Umi noticed that Eli was barely holding on and still looked defeated. Nico may have acted harshly, but it did have the intended effect on the new couple.

Nozomi watched Eli, her best friend looking like an entirely new person. She knew how Eli was a calm girl who had good control over her emotions. However, the way Eli cried made her feel saddened.

She took Eli's free hand, which shocked the blonde. As she looked, Nozomi had a warm smile. "Elichi, I don't like seeing you cry." Nozomi tried to give a bigger and reassuring smile. "It's going to be okay."

Eli attempted to calm down, but with no avail. "It's not going to be, Nozomi! I'm just a stupid girl who ruined all of her friendships. You shouldn't even be…comforting me. I...ruined you."

Umi looked at her girlfriend in disbelief.

"My best friend…but can you even call me that anymore? I just thought that you were being just Nozomi. But, Nico made me see that everything you did…was out of love. And I only saw this after I broke your heart. How could you love-"

Nozomi brought the girl into a hug, and accidentally dragged Umi into it. The bluenette tried to escape, but she saw how much Eli happily accepted the hug. Umi felt useless in all of this. 'Maybe…I shouldn't be with Eli. Nozomi looks so happy with her, and Eli seems so comfortable. Is there…nothing I can do for Eli?'

"Umi-chan, stop." Eli felt Umi's hand slipping from their grasp. "I know that you're thinking that you should break up with me."

'Is she psychic?' Umi was surprised that Eli knew her thoughts.

"Umi-chan, I forbid you to break up with Elichi." Nozomi spoke up. "The only time you can is when you and Elichi have a big fight and you know you never want to see each other again."

"Nozomi-chan, I don't think that would happen," Kotori responded to what Nozomi said.

"Exactly." Nozomi freed one of her arms from Eli's hug and grabbed Umi's hand. "You two should never break up. Please, worry about yourselves before me." Nozomi was tearing up, but she kept going. "I know I'll come to terms about you two. To be honest, you guys were like…made for each other. I don't want to break this bond. I'll find another one, I know it. I really am happy for you two." Nozomi stared at the two. And hoped that she could get away with something.

"If you could, Umi-chan. Please let me do this."

Nozomi leaned over and kissed Eli on her lips. The entire room was shocked at Nozomi's bold choice. They were all speechless as they watched the two best friends kiss in front of Umi.

When they stopped their kiss, the reactions of the two girls were extremely different.

Nozomi's expression was one of content. Eli's reaction was a mix of embarrassment, shock, and…happiness. The happiness part of Eli's reaction didn't settle with Umi well.

"Elichi, that was my lingering feelings I had for you. Of love. I still love you, maybe as a heartbroken girl."

Eli frowned at hearing Nozomi saying that. It kept reminding her of how much she hurt her best friend.

"But," Nozomi continued. "I will always love you as a best friend. I don't want to lose you, Elichi."

Eli leapt into Nozomi's arms. "I'm never going to leave you, Nozomi. I lo-"

Nozomi brought a finger to Eli's lips. "Elichi, I think I deserved that kiss. Selfish, I know. But that was the only way to get my feelings out. If you make a big deal out of this, we won't go out for parfaits anymore." Nozomi had a serious expression on her face when she said that last part, which terrified Eli.

"N-Nozomi! I was going to say I also love you as a best friend. And you go and say that." Eli was furiously blushing as she kept talking. "I'm not going to make it weird. You made it weird when-"

"Eli-chan?"

"Huh? Umi-ch-"

Eli was cut off by Umi sharing a passionate kiss. The entire room was stunned by Umi's actions.

"Wow, Umi-chan never does that," Honoka whispered to her girlfriend and the first-year trio.

"Yeah, they have been kissing for a long time nya-ow," Rin responded to Honoka.

Nozomi watched this since it was right in front of her. And she had a pained smile. 'I'll never have you as a lover, Elichi. But, I know you'll be happy with her as your love. And me as your best friend.' Nozomi had a slight feeling of jealousy. However, she felt happy that she and Eli could continue to be best friends with no heartbreak.

The two finally released the kiss, and had an immense amount of embarrassment.

"Umi-chan. I…I didn't know you could be so…bold," Eli said as she stared at her girlfriend. She took small gasps of breath with how Umi kissed her.

"Sorry Nozomi-chan. But, when I saw you kissing Eli-chan…I felt jealous. Because…" Umi went and hugged Eli tightly and rested her head on Eli's arm, which brought a blush on Eli and a huge smile on Nozomi.

"…she's my Eli-chan." Umi said softly, but loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Yes, Umi-chan. I understand. You and Elichi…will be great for each other," Nozomi said to the new couple, with a smile on her face. "Now, let's go home now. Everything here is solved."

"H-how about…N-Nico?" Eli nervously questioned the group.

"I will talk to Nicochi. I'll get her to come to my place." Nozomi understood the nerves that Eli would be feeling. Knowing Eli, she would place all the blame on herself for breaking Muse up. "Don't beat yourself up, Elichi. Everything stems from me."

Nozomi put up her motherly smile that everyone loved and admired. Thankfully, Nozomi wasn't faking it this time. She felt at ease with all of her feelings out there.

...

Maki was about to leave when Nozomi grabbed her from the bed she rested on.

"Maki-chan, you weren't just going to leave me here. Were you?" Nozomi put on her pouty face.

Maki started to blush and twirl her hair, the obvious signs of an embarrassed Maki. 'She does look cu- stop it, Maki. Everyone is cute here, just focus on Nico-chan.' Thankfully, Maki didn't think this aloud. "N-no! I just thought you would go with someone else."

"Well, you're not dating anyone, are you?" Nozomi had a huge grin on her face and Maki knew she was in a corner.

"F-fine. How well can you walk right now?" Maki was basically forced to go with Nozomi.

"Well enough. I'll probably need to lean on Maki-chan~" Nozomi told the red-head with a playful tone.

"Sorry for the intrusion." Maki said in a polite manner.

"Now, now Maki-chan. It's just us here." Nozomi told the first year.

"You live alone?"

"Yeah, my parents move a lot for their jobs. I wanted to stay here, so they allowed me."

"O-oh…" Maki felt a bit awkward.

"Loosen up, Maki-chan. My family is happy, so don't worry about it. I just need to make a call. Get comfortable, we'll have some girl talk." Nozomi smiles at Maki before she goes and calls.

"Right. Sorry, Nozomi-chan." Maki went around and looked at Nozomi's place.

Nozomi went on her phone.

"Hey, could you come over for a bit?"

…

Knock! Knock!

Nozomi attempted to get up for the door, but Maki stopped her. "Nozomi, you need to rest your leg. Let me get it."

'Well, this is going to be interesting.'

Maki opened the door and-

"M-Maki-chan?! Nozomi! Why is she here?" Nico barged into the room and went to Nozomi.

"I think I could ask you the same question, Nico-chan." Maki stated.

"Well," Nozomi caught the two girls' attention, "Maki-chan helped me coming home. And I asked Nicochi to come over for a bit. Understand?"

Both Nico and Maki stared at Nozomi with a bit of frustration.

'Well, that would make sense,' the two girls somehow thought at the same time.

"So, Nozomi. What do you want to talk about?" Nico took a seat along with Maki.

Nozomi poured a cup of tea for Nico. Nico took a sip after she asked her question.

"Well, I got to kiss Elichi."

Nico spit out the tea and stared in disbelief. She looked at Maki to make sure that Nozomi wasn't lying. Maki made it obvious that it did happen because she was blushing and twirling her hair.

"Really, Nozomi? So, Eli and Umi br-"

Nozomi shook her head, and Nico stared at her blankly. "I couldn't break up a beautiful relationship like that. Could I?"

"O-of course you could! You're so nice to everyone…well, to everyone not named Nico-Nii. You were close to getting Eli, so you had the best chance to stop it."

"M-maybe I'm hearing too much." Maki attempted to excuse herself, but Nozomi grabbed her hand.

"No, Maki-chan. It's okay. You'll just be…more in the know!" Nozomi exclaimed.

"O-okay." Maki responded as she went to sit back down.

"To answer you, Nicochi. I'm Elichi's best friend, and I need to support her in anything she does."

"But…she did an awful thing to you. She broke your heart."

"You should have seen Eli-chan when you left practice. It's something none of us have seen before, except maybe Nozomi-chan." Maki responded.

"Yeah, Nicochi. She was the one who looked heartbroken. She probably thought she lost me as her best friend and you as a new friend."

Nico was speechless. And now, she felt like the worse person. 'I really didn't want to forgive Eli. At least, not for a long time. But…I don't want to lose her as a friend. Not after only a couple of months.'

"I-I'm going to apologize to Eli tomorrow. I was out of line." Nico responded in a defeated tone.

Maki, not one to help Nico, talked after. "Yeah, you really were."

"Argh! Nozomi, why does she keep annoying me?!"

Nozomi thought for a bit, but when she had the realization it looked like a lightbulb went off in her head. "Oh! Elichi and I were talking about that on…that day."

The two girls blushed. "T-talking about what, Nozomi-chan?" Maki was the first one to answer.

"About the Muse love life. Elichi said something like "a person who loves someone teases them a lot." It was the perfect way to describe you two, so maybe…?" Nozomi suggested using her eyebrows and grinned.

Nico immediately responded. "I-idiot! I don't like her that way! She keeps annoying me, and the great Nico-Nii has to put up with the girl."

"That's n-not my fault, Nico-chan. You keep being dumb, so I have to point stuff out to you." Maki responded. Although she looked composed outside, Maki was anything but.

'Has Nozomi really seen through me? It's not my fault that Nico keeps acting like a cute idiot…But, Nico didn't seem like she liked me.' Maki's spirits were down, but she kept her cool exterior.

"Well, I want to hang out with you girls more. You don't like each other so I'm not really stopping anything there. And our friends all have each other, so it will be the 'Three Out of Love Girls!' Sounds like fun!" Nozomi told the two girls.

"Well, I have a test coming up soon. So, you two can hang out together for a couple of days." Maki told the purple-haired girl.

"Okay. So, how about it Nicochi? Let's hang out after school for a few days!" Nozomi was enthusiastic.

"Sure, Nozomi. We'll just have to be finished before 7 o'clock. I still need to make dinner for my family."

"It's a date!"

Maki froze at hearing those words. Nico was not far from being in that state. However, she recovered quickly.

"Nozomi! You just got a rejection confirmation! It's too soon to make jokes about love!" Nico responded.

'Wow, Nico is right for once. But…the way Nozomi said date really got to me…does she like Nico as I do?' Maki thought to herself.

"Just a joke, Nicochi. You can go back home now. You two really helped me through this, and I thank you." Nozomi bowed to the two girls.

Nico and Maki went up and hugged the girl.

"It's okay, Nozomi. We're glad we helped you."

"No problem, Nozomi-chan. We're happy that you feel better."

Nozomi had tears of happiness. She sniffled them away and looked at her two friends. "Thanks for being great friends."

As Maki and Nico got ready to leave Nozomi's place, the purple-haired girl asked them something.

"Could you two come to my house while I still have this sprain? It'll be hard for me to walk long with it, so I may need some support. Is that okay?"

The two looked at each other and smiled.

"Of course!" They answered.

A/N: Another 2000+ word chapter. And the story, IMO, feels like it is progressing better than previous stories. Hopefully you are enjoying this!

Next Chapter: How Nico and Nozomi hang out.

Thanks for reading!

(P.S: Man, having your wisdom teeth pulled out really doesn't help with flowing ideas.)