A/N:
The Doll House - KanonxKanon
Nico left the backroom after adjusting the temperature to warm the flowers in storage, and saw Maki waiting at the front counter with the phone up to her ear and jotting down something in the note pad.
"Everything okay?" Nico asked, placing her hand on the counter and looking up at her fiance. It as weird to think that after three years of dating they were now engaged. Nico thought it was be impossible for her to be any more euphoric than when Maki said yes. Maki turned around with half-lidded eyes and nodded.
"Yes sir, your bouquet will be ready for you next Tuesday, as per your request. We are open from 9am...yes, that's fine...okay, we'll see you then," Maki politely hung up the phone and turned to Nico, looking weary.
"I'm fine, just need to make a few bouquets," she sighed and stretched out her entire arms. To Nico, she seemed lanky.
"There's a couple of different ones, so I better get to it," Maki sighed and walked over to the bench in the corner to start. Nico pondered, watching her fiance get ready, and folded her arms.
"How do you think everyone is at court?"
Maki looked up at the question and shrugged.
"I doubt most of the prosecutor would be making the session a walk in the park, but I think they're managing. The water isn't so cold until you dive in."
"What does that mean?" Nico asked, picking up the notebook Maki had written in to get the details from the client on the phone.
"I mean that it all seems really intimidating until they actually just do it. Take the plunge and all that crap," Maki elaborated, setting out daisies over lavender paper.
Nico thought the analogy was rather good, not that she'd admit it - Maki's ego did not need to be inflated any more, or else she wouldn't be able to get into the backroom. Looking down at the notebook, Nico walked over to Maki and leaned against her shoulder.
"What's up?" Maki asked, not shoving the smaller woman away. Nico shrugged and looked around the shop.
"This place is seemed terrifying, but Eli really did take the plunge and made it the best she could," Nico remembered all the blood, sweat and tears that Eli had put into the place when she took over as manager. Nico was forever grateful for her university friend to offer her a job when she became a washed-up dropout with no income.
Nico couldn't help but smile at the memory of stepping into the place with her blonde titan of a friend, and the pride that swelled from her upon just being there. Eli was one of her closest friends, although they sometimes disagreed over minor topics, but who didn't?
When Eli and Nozomi started dating, Nico couldn't honestly be happier for them. Sure, they were disgustingly in love, constantly swooning over each other and dripping with affection, but it was the first time Nico had seen either of her friends truly happy.
To think some bastard was trying to destroy Nozomi's livelihood, and the fact that he had the nerve to call Eli's shop, made Nico's blood boil.
She clenched her fist and flipped to a new page in the notebook.
"Maki, can you google Tojo O-asshole for me,"
"Huh?"
"Just google Nozomi's deadbeat dad, please," Nico instantly scribbled down a new header in the book, a fire burning inside of her. Maki looked confused, but pulled out her phone and typed Nicos' request into the search bar.
"What do you want to know?"
"His main office address," Nico got ready to jot down the address. Once she had it, she slammed the book shut and stormed into the backroom.
"Nico-chan! What are doing?" Maki called after the small woman, who just ignored her.
"Nico-chan!" Maki dropped everything and hurried to the back room to make sure her fiancé wasn't blowing the place up.
Nico stood in the temperature controlled room, picking out flowers with a stern look on her face. She was lucky that Eli imported such exotic and rare flowers for the shop, because it would surely come in handy for this.
"Maki, pass me the orange lilies," Nico jerked a twin tail to her right as she reached up to grab a few yellow carnations. Maki hesitantly picked up some orange lilies as per Nicos' request and held them tentatively.
"Nico-chan, what the hell are you doing," Maki's voice was low as Nico got down from her step stool with yellow, pink, red and yellowish-green flowers in a vase. The look of determination on her face stayed as Nico opened her mouth, indicating for Maki to place the lilies there.
"Im gonnah thend a gifth to athhole Tojo," her speech was impaired by the flowers, and her voice wavered while she trotted out of the backroom to the the station at the counter. Maki followed, suspicious as to what Nico was up to.
Nico laid out the flowers and bent down to get a sheet of black paper. Before Maki could even ask again, Nico removed the orange lilies from her mouth and flared her nostrils.
"I honestly don't give a shit about the language of flowers, unlike Eli, but I do know this: Yellow carnations are for disappointment," Nico readied the flowers into their positions.
"Meadowsweet is for uselessness," she placed the yellowish-green flowers into the mix and shuffled them into a nicer formation.
"Foxglove is for insincerity," she wrapped up the striking bouquet.
"Geraniums is stupidity," Nico used her teeth to clip off a piece of tape to hold everything in place.
"And orange lilies are for hatred," Nico flashed her quick bouquet at Maki with a triumphant smirk. Maki blinked, and looked down at the bouquet. The black paper really accentuated all of the bright colours of the flowers, but upon Nico telling her their meaning, she couldn't help but feel a sense of loathing towards it.
"Uhm...I don't get it," Maki twirled at an awkward strand of hair, but Nico just groaned and pulled out the notebook again.
"Maki, you're dense."
Before the redhead could protest, Nico shot out her middle finger with a smile.
"I am going to send Asshole Tojo a bouquet that means 'fuck you' in flower."
Maki tried her hardest to scowl, but she couldn't keep her look of disappointment on her face. It was a stupid idea, and Nico would definitely an earful from Eli and Nozomi, but from she had heard about the bastard, Maki picked up the phone and pulled out a delivery form.
"So Koizumi-san, how did you hear about Lily White Body Art?"
Rin could see Hanayo visibly curl into herself. Having known her for so long, Rin saw all of those dreaded high school class presentations return for Hanayo, judging from the mortification in her bleary eyes.
"...ner…"
"You'll have to speak up, Koizumi-san," Owada still spoke with gritted teeth and clenched fists. It was making Rin angry, as if the man was about to hurt Hanayo.
"Hoshizora-san is my p-p-p-partner."
"Is that so?" Owada turned to raise an eyebrow at Rin, who was just about ready to lunge at him. Nozomi placed a hand on Rin's leg to keep her sitting.
"I...I wanted to be one of the first people to get tattooed by Ri-Hoshizora-san."
"Were you aware of the rules regarding the documentation?"
"I knew that I had to sign my consent, but I did not know Tojo-san had to sign either," Hanayo looked over at Nozomi and smiled shyly.
"But since Hoshizora-san's first tattoo was on Tojo-san, then I think they will be okay."
"You're jumping to conclusions," Owada cut across her scowled.
"Where is this alleged 'document' that somehow proves their innocence, anyway?"
"Right here," Nitta held up the document as if it was some holy relic. Rin smiled up at it - her ray of hope.
Owada took a shaking breath through his nostrils as Tojo tensed up at once. Nitta handed it to the judge to read.
"We aren't talking about that document, your honor."
"But I am doing my job of defending my client about the current case, Owada-san, so this document is what we will talk about," Nitta said while she returned to her seat. At this point, Owada looked like he was just about ready to storm out of the room in rage.
Hanayo caught Rin's eye and gulped. Rin wanted nothing more than to rush over there and give the girl a hug. Owada turned and shot another glance at Rin, who steeled herself.
"Were you aware of the document, Hoshizora-san?" His voice was made of venom.
"Wait until Hoshizora-san is on the stand, Owada-san," Mitsuishi put the lawyer back in his place and looked down at Hanayo.
"Is it necessary to interview this young woman?"
"She was present! The tattoo is on her neck!" Owada hissed, all form of control gone.
Rin couldn't help but notice the difference in lawyers. Owada looked ready to murder someone (which would turn the tables drastically for his life,) and Nitta seemed...excited to be there.
"So, Koizumi-san, you signed the bottom of the document, didn't you?"
"I did…" Hanayo retracted into herself and cast another fearful gaze at Rin, who nodded for her to keep going.
Owada stormed back to the table where Tojo and Minami sat, and pulled out the document that started this entire mess.
"It's there."
"And?" Mitsuishi drawled, sounding more dull than before.
"I beg your pardon?"
"Are we not here to talk about the documentation in regards to Hoshizora-san and Tojo-san?"
"Yes, but-"
"Koizumi-san, you are dismissed," Mitsuishi looked at the girl and nodded back to the seat.
As Hanayo scuttled back to her seat next to Eli, Tojo shot a look over at Nozomi. It struck the artist's heart like a sharp, cold sword. The man beckoned his lawyer over and spoke quietly to him.
When Owada straightened up, he turned back to the judge.
"I'd like Tojo-san to take the stand," and he pointed at Nozomi.
Paying attention in history classes was always difficult, unless the subject was ridiculously interesting. That had been Roman history for Nozomi. As she sat at the chair, hands in her lap, she stared around at everyone in the courtroom. Nozomi went back to her original thought of the place being the Colosseum, and she was about to be fed to the lions or deal with a savage gladiator.
Upon visiting the Colosseum during her time in Italy, she could imagine the lion feeding and gladiator fights quite clearly. However, she had always been a spectator during these thoughts: always in the stands, not the actual arena herself.
So there she sat, in the arena, staring down a furious looking man whose forehead was beading in a livid sweat.
"So, Tojo-san, how long have you been a tattoo artist?"
"Approaching five years," Nozomi answered in her most controlled voice possible, locking eyes with the suited gladiator so as to not look at her father.
"And Hoshizora-san is your first apprentice?"
"Yes."
Owada took a deep breath, and Nozomi noticed her was a tooth on the bottom row.
"So this alleged 'first tattoo' Hoshizora-san did is apparently on you."
"Correct," Nozomi clenched her fists.
"When was it done?"
"Last month," Nozomi answered, feeling herself swell up with a chance to bite back at the fumbling lawyer.
"I-Is it visible as proof?"
"Owada-san, that is not necessary," Mitsuishi looked ready to throw her face into her palm, but Nozomi steeled herself and moved her side braid aside and turned her head.
The tattoo was visible to all.
Kussun smiled and winked at Nozomi while Tojo let out a snort through his nostrils and turned away.
"I don't understand why that was important, but to be frank, I think we should hear from Tojo-san about her way of managing documentation.
Nozomi moved her side braid back and folded her arms in thought.
"It's a natural habit for me to get the documentation ready. However, since the tattoo Hoshizora-san was performing was quite special, of course my mind wondered. However, it did not wonder when Hoshizora-san tattooed me, as it was a very raw educational procedure for her training."
"So you could remember to sign that form, but not one on an actual client?" Owada looked as though he had an opening to strike, but Nozomi's small smile and the information she had memorised from all that time spent with Nitta was her counter.
"I was a client myself. I paid for the tattoo, presented my identification and got what I wanted just like any other client. As I'm sure we have been over before, the first client is the only time the tattoo artist has to sign the form for the apprentice."
"What rubbish is this? What kind of law is that?" Owada was stunned and seemed that the only thing he could do now was to throw insults. Nozomi sighed and looked over at Nitta, who waved a hand that clearly indicated for her not to worry.
"One that you are clearly not aware of, Owada-san. It's a very subjective line of work," Nozomi managed to get out before her voice crumbled away, along with the sudden attack of anxiety that stabbed her in the back. The fallen lawyer stuffed his hands in his pockets and dismissed Nozomi with a grumble.
"The last person to interview is Hoshizora-san."
Suddenly, just mentioning Rin's family name gave Nozomi an idea. She had no idea how this would play out, but she remembered what Kussun and Nitta had said some time back in one of their meetings.
"Actually, I'd like to say something else while I am up here," Nozomi leaned forward and looked over at Minami.
"Minami-san, you showed the document to Tojo-san, didn't you?"
"Yes, I did," was the curt response. Umi looked worried on the side, but Nozomi kept going, and Nitta instantly picked up on what she was doing. The female lawyer nodded slightly and spoke up, "I'd much rather we bring Minami-san up next rather than Hoshizora-san, your honor."
Owada grimaced at the action, but the judge allowed it, seemingly not minding that they were jumping right over to the prosecutor for interviewing.
Nozomi walked away from the stand with her head held high. She had managed to defeat the gladiator as best as she could, but knew she would now have to deal with the lions.
"Minami-san, you have managed Lily White Body Art's business for how long, now?"
"Under a month."
"And has their documentation and records seemed odd at any time?"
"Only recently."
All of Minami's answers were curt. Nitta quickly scurried through her bag for something as the two continued.
"Do you have any relation to anyone at Lily White Body Art?"
"Sonoda-san is soon to be my daughter-in-law, but that is all."
"When you took over managing the business, did you inform Tojo-san, the owner?"
"Yes, I did."
"And when did you send the document off to Tojo-san, your boss?"
"The day after it was given to me."
"I'd like to make an objection there, your honor," Nitta raised her hand as she straightened up with a large smile. Owada groaned as the judge allowed Nitta to speak.
"Minami-san, you shared a private document with someone who has no connection to the business?"
"Tojo-san is my boss," Minami started slowly, unsure of what was happening. Nitta had placed her fingers on top of what she had pulled out of her bag: a thick book.
"Your boss, yes, but part of Lily White Body Art's business?"
"No, he is not,"
"So you gave out private documentation from a private business to an outside business? I doubt Tojo-san himself runs a tattoo parlour."
"Of course I don't, it's disgusting," came the growl from Tojo. Nitta turned back to Minami with a raised eyebrow. Minami had been caught: hook, line and sinker.
"Why did you send that document off to Tojo-san?"
Minami fell silent instantly, and ducked her head. She was silent for a few moments, then raised her head and bit her lip.
"Tojo-san tattooed my daughter...She never told me she was getting it done..."
"You mean to tell me you threw an entire business into this vortex of a mess just because Tojo-san tattooed your daughter, who is a legal adult and able to make her own decisions?" Nitta spoke slowly, to make sure Minami heard what she sounded like. Tojo, on the other hand, looked furious. He did not say anything, but just glowered at the defendants in a silent seething rage.
"I'd like to call a recess, and then I would like to properly interview Hoshizora-san and Tojo-san," Nitta looked over at Tojo with a solemn expression. Mitsuishi did not oppose this, and granted them ten minutes.
"We're...doing well?" Rin blinked a few times to comprehend what she had just heard. The group stood outside of the courtroom, minus Nozomi, who wanted to smoke and Eli, who wanted to provide her girlfriend some company.
"Yes, Rin-san, very well, so there's nothing to worry about at this stage. Nozomi-san did a fantastic job by turning the tables on the prosecutor's by pointing out Minami-san's reasoning to ratting you out," Nitta grinned, not seeming to be breaking a sweat. Inside, they saw Owada scavenge through a heap of documents with a livid Tojo.
"It's not one the judge will be impressed with?"
"Not in the slightest," Nitta rocked back and forth on the balls of her feet, not caring about the seriousness of the situation. Umi awkwardly rubbed her arm and bit her lip.
"She probably hates me by now…"
"Don't say that, Umi-san," Nitta placed a hand on the piercer's shoulder and smiled brightly.
"We're not going to rat on her anymore, we're moving onto Tojo-san, because the dirt we managed to get on him will surely give us a home run on this case."
"I never want to be here ever again," Nozomi puffed out the synthetic smoke and leaned against Eli's shoulder with her eyes closed. Her nerves were on fire, and her mind was swirling with anxious thoughts. Eli sighed and pulled Nozomi closer to her, but angled herself away as to not be in the line of smoke.
"I can imagine you wouldn't, but you are doing so well," Eli softly said to Nozomi, more than happy to just stand with her girlfriend. She wrapped her securely and hummed softly as the wind lazily blew around them. Eli looked up at the sky, blinking slowly and Nozomi took another drag of the e-cigarette.
"When will this be over," Nozomi murmured and nuzzled closer while Eli continued to stroke her hair.
"Soon, I hope. Just keep it up," Eli felt hopeless that she couldn't do anything apart from sit next to a terrified Hanayo and smirking Kussun the entire time. Eli longed to just take Nozomi home and fawn over her as if she were the queen of Sheba. If she could take the stand, she'd tear the man apart, just like how Umi and Nitta were doing in their own ways. On top of being an artist, Tojo was livid upon realising his daughter was in love with another woman. As awful as Eli thought about it, she was lucky the man had not tried to separate them, but making his daughter's life a living hell still made Eli sick to her stomach.
Eli was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't hear the tiny footsteps that belonged to Hanayo, who was walking down the pavement with her phone in her hand.
"Eli-chan? Nozomi-chan?" Hanayo saw the two standing there, and instantly blushed.
Eli smiled at the younger girl, "Don't worry, Hanayo-chan, you're not interrupting anything."
Hanayo approached slowly, like some baby animal towards food. She gave a timid smile and tapped away at her phone.
"I'm just texting Maki-chan about what time to pick me up…" Hanayo's voice trailed off and Eli caught the look in her eye. Maki was not a good driver- she was horrible. Poor Hanayo clung to the side for the car as her flatmate ran three red lights and didn't stop for any pedestrians.
She would spend half the time looking at her lipstick in the mirror or sipping on her coffee, and Eli thought about how she was only doing this for Nozomi as her life flashed before her eyes.
"You don't want to ride with Umi?" Eli's eye twitched, and Hanayo bit her lip again.
"I don't think there's room, and Rin-chan wants to go straight home and Maki-chan has a bigger car-"
"Well, Maki will get you home quicker than Umi," Eli thought out loud, then her phone vibrated.
"I'll just take this quickly, then I'll meet you back inside," Eli smiled at Hanayo, then gently kissed Nozomi and untangled herself from their side-standing hug position.
As Eli walked away, Nozomi opened her eyes and smiled at the younger girl in front of her.
Hanayo fidgeted with the hem of her shirt. She had so much respect for Nozomi, as an artist and as Rin's mentor. Hanayo was always in awe whenever Rin showed her the tattoo artist's work, and it only inspired Hanayo to stay at her uni and complete her course.
"Are you enjoying the show, Hanayo-chan?" Nozomi sounded tired as she breathed out smoke. Hanayo couldn't respond properly, so she just shrugged.
"I don't like seeing you all in there...it's not right…and your father is very scary."
Nozomi chuckled lightly, "he looks it, doesn't he?"
"We...we bumped into him last night, when Rin-chan and I went for dinner," Hanayo looked down to avoid looking at Nozomi, as if she was in trouble.
A purple eyebrow quirked up, "Did he hurt you?"
"N-No!" Hanayo squeaked, jumping as if Nozomi had just tazed her.
"He didn't hurt us, we just accidentally walked into him and then he looked down at Rin-chan's arm and muttered something, and I had to hold back Rin-chan-"
Nozomi's expression grew dark and her eyes narrowed. Hanayo felt her blood run cold at the scowl forming on the artist's face.
"It's bad enough he likes to make my life hard, but he will not get away with insulting Rin-chan," Nozomi growled, and it was scaring Hanayo.
Nozomi clenched her fists and the smoke came out of her nose, looking like an angry dragon.
"I'll make sure he doesn't do that again."
"N-Nozomi-chan! Please don't do anything rash!" Hanayo pleaded quickly. It was bad enough Rin was ready to take on the man last night.
"He's a homophobic, narrow-minded, obnoxious person, Hanayo-chan. I'm not going to stand for it."
Hanayo reached forward and placed a hand on Nozomi's shoulder. Nozomi's eyes looked from the hand back to Hanayo.
"Please, neither of you need to make the situation worse. You're all so strong and being fair,"
The younger woman had watery eyes and an expression that seemed to calm Nozomi down.'Hanayo-chan is right,' Nozomi thought,
'We're already at the courthouse, and there's no point in kicking up a further storm,' Nozomi furrowed her brows and moved and sighed.
"You're right, Hanayo-chan," Nozomi looked down and folded her arms.
"We can only keep going as we are and hope that the judge understands us."
"I think the judge is leaning towards you all," Hanayo's voice was small.
"She didn't seem too pleased with Minami's reasoning for outing that document."
"None of us were," Nozomi sighed again and took the e-cigarette out of her mouth for a moment, closing her eyes.
"Kotori-chan is a legal adult, and she chose to get a tattoo. She signed the forms and showed me her ID. It's very frustrating, and it's worse because I can understand it," Nozomi opened her eyes, looking into the violet.
"My first tattoo was in Rome, and it was the chariot tarot right here," Nozomi pointed to her right forearm.
"My mother was in hospital and was quite shocked, but upon realising that I am a legal adult, she learnt to understand that this was my choice. My father never accepted it...he could barely accept me being an artist and not a corporate doll for him to dress up and get to join his company," Nozomi smiled sadly, looking more like a grimace.
"Growing up with him...was like living in a dollhouse. He wanted me to do everything he said and gave me creative freedom whatsoever. When we disagreed, he threw me in boarding school, which is just another dollhouse."
"It sounds awful, Nozomi-chan," Hanayo left her hand on Nozomi's shoulder to provide some sort of comfort now.
"It was, to be honest," Nozomi relaxed at the squeeze Hanayo gave her, and her face fell some more into a determined frown.
"Which is why I'm not going to let him get away with anything."
I'M NOZOPANA TRASH OKAY IT'S UNAVOIDABLE
If you like Nozopana, please talk to me about it and maybe read the gaymestop!au: /works/6236257/chapters/14289277
Now for a ton of plugs:
Prompt for the first scene: post/145978926636/flower-shop-au
#Baddrivermaki: post/148195086549/so-i-was-talking-to-my-gr8-m8-68bears-and-we
My magnum opus: post/148243414184/tarot-tatas-my-magnum-opusthis-took-six