A/N:

G'day m8s, here's a quick update while I take a five-second break from the bubble pit. No update on Sunday, so this'll do for now :3

I shall return with (hopefully) the bubble queen!

'Hello, you have reached Sonoda Umi. My sincerest apologies, but I am unable to take your call at the present time. Please leave me a message and your phone number, and I will call you back. Thank you.'

"She's always so formal," Eli mumbled as the message stopped playing. She was leaving her yoga class, matt rolled up and tucked beneath her arm, when she got a phone call earlier from Nozomi. The artist explained the situation, and was going to be home late due to her staying back with Kussun to talk to the lawyer about organizing themselves for the case.

"If you give Umi-chan a call, she can give you a lift home," was what Nozomi had told Eli.

Eli was now standing in the street, in her athletic wear, sending back a voicemail to Umi.

"Umi, it's Eli. Nozomi said you could give me a lift home. If that's not the case don't worry, I'll talk to you later," she hung up after leaving the message, and noticed that the message was just as formal as Umi's.

After that, Eli felt like she needed something sweet, despite having just done yoga for an hour and a half.

Eli found a cafe called Floating Heart, and popped her head through the door.

"Excuse me, are you still open?" She asked the waitress, who was sipping on water through a straw.

"Yes of course!"

Eli smiled and sat down at a table, peering at the menu eagerly. Her phone vibrated again, and she looked down at the screen. With a little sigh, Eli unlocked her phone and brought it to her ear.

"Hello?"

"Eli! I'm so sorry I missed your call!"

"Umi, it's f-"

"After the great news I took Rin straight home, then drove myself home and Kotori got me sucked into wedding plan-"

"Umi, I said it's fine," Eli raised her voice to be heard over Umi's apologetic babbling.

"I'm sorry," Umi sighed in defeat.

"Would you like me to come collect you?"

"No no, it's okay," Eli read through the menu again.

"But while I have you, what was the date for the court session again?"

"It's this friday. Do you plan on being there?"

"I think so, Nozomi needs some form of support, since the only family member she has left is prosecuting her and Rin," Eli mumbled in annoyance. Umi sighed again.

"Yes indeed, but we might be able to save ourselves. I don't know how late Nozomi will be though."

"Yes, she did say she would be staying back," Eli racked her brain to remember if there was any food left in fridge. Umi seemed to have read her mind,

"If that is the case, would you like to come over and have dinner with me, Honoka and Kotori? We're making a hot pot."

"That does sound good," Eli mused upon finding the dessert she wanted to order from the waitress.

"Would you like me to pick you up?"

"I'm just at a cafe about to have the most ungodly, unhealthy parfait, so no thank you," Eli chuckled, catching the waitress's eye.

"I think I'll walk over once I'm done here. It will make me feel less ashamed of myself about what I will consume."

Umi sighed into the phone, "You're shameless, but I'll see you tonight, nonetheless."

Nozomi left the law firm with Kussun, who offered her a ride home.

"No, it's okay, I'd rather walk in the fresh air," Nozomi turned down the offer and pulled out the e-cigarette. She looked rather tired.

"You're contradicting your sentence with that," Kussun smirked, eyeing the e-cigarette. Nozomi shrugged and stuck the device in her mouth.

"Takes the stress away," Nozomi responded, and then the two fell into a silence. Kussun pulled out her car keys while Nozomi bit her lip. She exhaled the smoke and turned to Kussun with a blink.

"Hey,"

"Yes, Non-tan?"

"Am I...going to be okay in this?"

Kussun's eyebrows flew into her hair. Nozomi looked very vulnerable, with her wide, glistening eyes and anxiousness swirling around her features. Kussun sighed and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"You have four days to gather as much evidence as you can to prove your innocence. But," Kussun's gaze went down for a second, then back up again.

"Worst case scenario: at least you know you're innocent."

Nozomi locked onto Kussun's kind eyes, and her brow furrowed, "But won't it be worse if we're the only ones who know this?"

"No, it'll do the opposite," Kussun took Nozomi's hand and made her lean on her Mini. She joined, folding her arms and look up at the law firm.

"There's always this sense of comfort knowing that you are not responsible. It's hard to deal with people who see you as otherwise, but hey," she glanced at her former apprentice and chuckled.

"We're both used to those looks by now,"

Nozomi gave a small smile and looked down at her boots. It was getting dark, and Nozomi had actually lost track of the time. How long had she been in the law firm? How many documents did she go over? Her eyes were stinging, and she swore that she had developed dyslexia.

Kussun, not knowing what was happening inside Nozomi's head, shrugged and turned back to stare at the navy blanket of sky.

"They'll be really harsh on you in court, so maybe don't dress like a naughty schoolgirl. Just some food for thought."

Sitting opposite such a happy couple like Kotori and Umi was giving Eli an array of mixed emotions. The first thing she felt was adoration from how happy the couple seemed. Although they weren't public in their display of affection, they simply radiated with joy for being each other's soulmate. It was a rare sight of Kotori wearing her glasses and offering Umi a bite of her food. Umi blushed, but didn't resist. Eli chuckled, wondering if her relationship with Nozomi would ever step towards marriage. It had been well over three years of being together.

"Umi-chan, say 'ah!'"

"I can eat from my own plate, Kotori," Umi awkwardly rubbed her arm, but did not resist again. Honoka let out a chuckle, diving into her own food.

"Do they always do this?" Eli asked her orange-haired friend. Honoka looked at her with a mouthful of noodles and nodded.

"It's so cute though!" She managed to gasp out after she swallowed her food.

"Don't tell me you and Nozomi-chan have never fed each other."

"N-No, we do sometimes," Eli's cheeks were grazed with a blush, her eyes downcast at the bowl in front of her.

"Oh, that reminds me," Umi placed her serviette down on the table from wiping her mouth and looked at the florist.

"How's your navel piercing?"

"Ah, it's fine," Eli had honestly forgotten about it. She didn't have many body modifications, and was able to lose track of them quite easily. She had her ears pierced at the age of eighteen, completely sober, and did tear up at the pain. Her navel, on the other hand…

"I still can't believe you got completely plastered and decided to get a matching piercing with Nozomi and Kotori," Umi sighed while her fiance giggled.

Eli dipped her head again, ashamed that she couldn't remember what happened that night. All she knew was she had woken up the next morning with Nozomi on top of her with a searing pain in her abdomen.

"To be fair, Umi-chan, you did pierce all three of us without hesitation," Kotori nudged Umi's side. Honoka threw her fist into her mouth in an attempt to contain her laughter.

"I-It was a regret!" Umi stuttered, furiously blushing.

"So was mixing orange juice and vodka," Eli grimaced at the few memories she had of that night. Why did others do it? It was just so tart in flavour. Not to mention she had ruined a perfectly good bottle of Smirnoff.

"By the way, Eli," Umi was quick to change the subject from their drunken shenanigans. She excused herself and went to pick up a book from the coffee table.

"Kotori and myself have picked a venue for the wedding."

"Ah!" Eli peered at the book, taking in the venue.

"Sagami bay?"

"Yep! It's a gorgeous area, and they do weddings a the Enoshima lighthouse. Churches and shrines...um…"

"Won't let us get married, for obvious reasons," Umi finished Kotori's sentence for her. Eli nodded and flicked through the book, listening to Kotori and Umi talk about their plans so far.

"Would you still be okay to do the flowers?"

Eli looked up at her friends. She had not forgotten, but it was a surprise to be talking about it now. With a thoughtful hum, she looked back down at the booklet.

"I can, but I'll need to know what style and choice of flowers you'd like. Will you both have bouquets?"

"Just Kotori," Umi rubbed her hands together.

"I will be wearing a kimono."

"Even though it's not in a shrine?" Eli questioned. She knew Umi would be all for a traditional wedding, seeing as she came from a very old and very traditional Japanese family. Eli only asked the question to confirm her suspicions about Umi wanting to maintain some form of tradition for her special day.

"Yes. My parents would not show up otherwise."

'That's harsh,' Eli thought, tucking a stray lock of blonde hair behind her ear. Umi shrugged and pointed to the lighthouse.

"You're more creative with colours than I am, would you be able to design a bouquet and scheme to match the lighthouse?"

Eli took in the design: it wouldn't be impossible to coordinate some flowers to go with their venue, but it would take some time. Even if only a few select people were being invited to the wedding, a job like this would consume a tonne of time.

"I can do it, but I'd really like you tow to drop by the shop sometime and we can sort it out with a visual references and a sizing chart," Eli smiled at her friends. Kotori beamed and placed her hands over Eli's.

"Thank you so much Eli-chan!"

Honoka had gotten up while they were discussing all things floral, and returned to the table with three glasses and a whole bottle of baileys.

"Here's cheers to Umi getting her butt saved and Eli getting to play with flowers!"

It was a bad decision. Correction, it was the worst decision. Kotori and Eli decided to see who could hold their liquor more, and between them, downed two bottles of baileys and got through half of a champagne. Umi and Honoka had to separate them before they could start making out, and the piercer dragged the blonde to her car. Honoka held back Kotori with all of her strength.

"We'll be reunited s-soon my love!"

"I'll wait for you, my songbird!"

"Just get in the car, Eli," Umi unlocked the fiat and pushed Eli into the passenger seat and locked her in with the seatbelt. She was a very responsible driver, and knew this would happen. Therefore she had passed on Honoka's baileys offer.

Whenever Kotori and Eli were around and alcohol was involved, literally nothing would stop them from downing every beverage that they could get their grubby hands on. Umi knew Kotori only had eyes for her, but drunk Kotori would always try to get into drunk Eli's pants. Nozomi was aware to this, but didn't bother to stop it, and would often cheer from the sidelines while Umi separated the two borderline alcoholics.

"You're Russian, you should be able to hold your liquor better than Kotori," Umi mumbled, turning on the car and flicking the headlights to life. Eli didn't respond, and was pawing at the window.

"M-My Songbird," Eli sniffled, and drunkenly slumped herself against the door. Umi made sure to lock the door and window incase the florist did anything stupid.