Home Visits and Nico

Probably only Cocoro was getting it, but that was fine. She could re-explain to the little ones as she saw fit.

"Hey," Nico said. "What's going on is, Maki-chan and I didn't have a fight. She said we should spend a little time apart. I'm not explaining it all because it's not something you'll have to worry about until you're much, much older."

Kotori looked at Nico questioningly. Nico squeezed her hand, which she took as assent.

"You know, the other thing is that I said Nico and I should spend a little bit of time together, so I think it's working out okay. Your sister is doing fine. And Maki will visit again sometime in the future, I am certain. Should we say hi to her for you?"

They were enthusiastic about that, but still dubious about the situation. Cocoro had obviously decided to step up and act as maturely as possible.

"If Nico-nee doesn't want us to worry, I won't worry, and that's that. Okay, Cocoa? Okay, Cotarou?"

Just to test her out, probably, the two youngest mobbed Kotori. They were satisfied that she let them jump in her lap and cuddled them just like Maki had done on her frequent visits to the Yazawa home. They weren't going to be satisfied if they lost Maki-nee, but it was okay if Kotori-san hung around for a while. Probably. At least through dinner.


They had arrived at the Yazawa house a bit later than usual for Nico, but her mother and Cocoro knew about it. She was doing drama rehearsal and µ's rehearsal in the same afternoon, so her mother had dinner ready when she arrived, and had made enough for Kotori, as well. Nico had told Kotori she learned how to cook like a chef from her mother, and it seemed to be true.

When Nico asked her mother if Kotori could stay over in her room, she thought she saw an odd expression cross her mother's face, but when she agreed immediately, she decided she might be mistaken about that.

She wasn't.

After dinner, when they'd established themselves in Nico's room, including their homework and textbooks, they heard a knock. Nico's mother asked to come in, then did so, closing the door behind herself.

"Nico, tell me what's going on with you now, please."

Nico asked if she meant, besides being very busy, to which her mother nodded.

"Well," she began. "I have been very down-in-the-dumps but I am trying to cheer up, now. I suppose that's the main thing."

"My apologies, Kotori-chan, but I have to be very direct. Nico, is this an indication that you're moving on from Maki-chan? Are you and Kotori becoming a couple now? I'd like to know."

Kotori sheepishly put up her hand ass if she was in class. When Nico's mom looked at her, she said, "If it's alright, Nico would be less embarrassed if you and I talked about this not in front of her. I realize that's a little strange, but I can answer your questions as well as she can. Perhaps better, as Nico is still, really, just getting her feet under her."

Nico looked shocked. She'd never come right out and said she and Maki were lovers. She'd wondered how much her mother knew. Now she was finding out. Her mother caught her expression.

Mama Yazawa sighed. "Nico, when you and Maki sound-proofed your room with egg-shell foam 'to practice music,' you did a good enough job for the little ones, so I didn't protest. But I don't have four children for nothing. I know what I'm hearing, even when you have music playing."

Seeing how stricken her daughter looked, she said "Nico, it's fine. I don't understand what's going on with you and these girls. But the fact that Kotori wants to talk with me privately is probably a good sign. She's been able to bring you out of the blue funk you were in when you and Maki broke up, and that goes a long way with me. So relax. As long as it's no worse than it was with Maki - well, you're nearly eighteen now. You have a right to some happiness, Heaven knows. "

Nico gave a very half-hearted smile. She didn't want to speak up, because, suddenly, having Kotori talk to her mother didn't sound crazy, which it had when Kotori was offering it. It felt like something that would calm her down, if anything. She was right, and the rest of µ's was right. Getting better was not the same thing as "better."

"Nico, this seems to be a strange night. Perhaps Kotori and I should go out and get a cup of tea together. Is that alright with you?" her mother asked, suddenly.

"I am sorry to both of you for being so useless, but it's a good idea," Nico replied.

"Nico, for almost two years you kept from all of us that you weren't doing your idol shows, that you were sitting all alone in a small, dark room, sad, lonely and miserable when you could have been home with us, just to keep up appearances. Honey, if there is one thing I would change about you, that would be it."

"Contrariwise," she continued. "I can't imagine what a more useful girl your age would be like. I agree with your sisters and brother, Nico. You are an amazing young woman. You can do almost anything competently, and many things expertly, if you really try. Please don't use that word to describe yourself, baby. Please, never again be afraid to tell your family what's really going on, and what you're really feeling. You don't have to be the mother all the time any more. If I am going off to talk with Kotori-chan, it's because I am your mother, and I care. You don't have to get past me to live your life as you see fit, because I believe I raised you to make the right choices, in the end." She hugged Nico tightly, and with that, she and Kotori left the room. A short while later, Nico heard the door open and close.


"So," Yazawa Kotono said. She took a sip of her tea and put it down.

The girl opposite her, Minami Kotori, felt at a loss for words. Being confident with Nico was one thing. This was an older, shrewder, more intimidating Nico, and the topic of discussion was her beloved daughter. And her, well, I guess you couldn't call it chastity any more. Her love life, that was it.

Very well. "It's not so simple that Nico can easily say yes or no, I think. The situation is bizarre, and I am the one most responsible for it being so strange, I think. Did you know how Nico was over Maki?"

"She seemed really crushed. Why did they break up, if I can ask something like that?"

"Well, hmmm. Nico was really dependent on her, and it started to make Maki feel suffocated. She has to study science, get perfect grades, study music for her recitals, practice dancing with µ's, write all our songs, keep her parents at bay when they probe if her non-medical-preparation activities are going to affect the bottom line - that girl has a lot on her plate. More than Nico, even. They actually have a lot in common, strangely enough. Umm, what I mean is, the Nishikinos are very wealthy, the opposite of your family. But their child feels a lot of pressure, too, just like yours. Anyway, Nico was all love, love, love constantly, and Maki's a lot more reserved. She also started to feel like Nico was using her relationship as a kind of crutch to avoid dealing with her problems. It kind of built up, and built up, and finally Maki one day just said 'we need to take a break from this, Nico.'"

Mama Yazawa was sad to hear the story, but was she really surprised. Probably not very.

"Anyway, crushed, yes, crushed is fine. I mean, completely crushed. Nico was taking no initiative ever, just doing whatever anyone told her to, trying to smile, crying all the time. Feeling completely hopeless and lost and useless and unwanted. You know, most of us in µ's like girls. Maybe many of us only like girls. I think Nico's that way, but I am not sure about it for any of us, even me, since we go to an all-girls' school. We didn't really see Nico as one of the heartbreakers in the group, to be honest, because her idol persona was a bit too much, and her normal grumpy, selfish persona was, too. It's only now that she's kind of gentle and wistful you can see how pretty she is. But that's not what led to this, not quite. Or not all of it."

"Go on." Kotono decided if the information was flowing freely, no point in stemming it with accusatory questions.

"You see, me, Honoka and Umi have been together for years. When you are all close, and you all like girls THAT way, then at some point you have to face that two of you may pair up, and where does that leave the other one? A third wheel? But we've been avoiding dealing with that. For one thing, we thought Honoka might get together with the leader of our rival group, A-RISE. But that didn't happen, or not so far. And also, we are all romantics at heart. The idea that we would get together and break up seems really sad. But we also realize that finding just one person and never even dating anyone else, that doesn't work. Anyway, we were on the edge of discussing things more openly, and I decided I would try to date Nico for a while. I brought that up, and Umi and Honoka thought it was a terrible idea, right?"

"Yes, it seems a bit whimsical. You hadn't previously considered it?"

"Nope. But now, with her on the rebound, and her heart still in Maki's back pocket, was a perfect time to try dating someone, seriously, but with a time limit, of whatever time it would take for Nico to rebound and become herself again. And like I said, she was suddenly attractive, which was a big bonus." She paused.

"Then Honoka agreed. She even said, half-jokingly, that when Nico and I were done dating, she and Nico should go out. 'If we did it right, we could give her a couple months to get over Maki-chan, if µ's each dated her for a short time.' The thing about that is, it made sense to me. The only reason not to do it was what other people would say. But by this point, we had a huge reserve of good feeling in our group. To a degree, I didn't care what anyone else thought except µ's. I said all this out loud, and, completely shocking me and Honoka, Umi said she wanted in, too. She said she'd been thinking about the three of us and how she didn't want a sad breakup like NicoMaki had. She realized she was too innocent and inexperienced to have a good relationship, and that people who'd never tried dating anyone else usually got restless if they stayed with their first partner for a long time."

She looked over at mama Yazawa. "And just like that, this weird topic became a real thing. I called Eli, I called Nozomi. I talked about it with Rin and Hanayo in person. Eli thought it was really absurd and crazy. Perhaps even evil. She's not so much into the girl/girl thing, she just thinks it's romantic someone can put aside gender for the one they love. Anyway, by the next day, Nozomi had somehow convinced her. And just like THAT, we had a commitment from everyone else in µ's. Except Maki, of course. That is causing some trouble. Maki feels like we're conspiring against her. That we're blaming her for Nico's sadness. Umm ..." Kotori stopped talking.

Kotono waited a while then mimicked Kotori: "Ummm?"

"Ummmmyeah Nico and I have slept together. And Umi plans to, and Honoka plans to. Rin and Hanayo are probably too innocent. And we're all girlfriends for a week. At the end of our week, we hand Nico over to the next girl. Nico thought it was as bad an idea as Eli, at first, but in truth, it's made her happy, so I think she'll stick with it. Especially because we're also kind of helping her get her life in order and improve, so it's not just comfort. And now that she's been with more than her I-love-you-to-death-forever one-true-soul-mate, she's less embarrassed and reluctant about things like that. So I think it'll happen with Umi and Honoka. And there's one other thing ..."

"I am afraid to ask, if it goes beyond those things you've already talked about, but go on ..."

"Well, my first time was a couple of days ago. And it will be that way for Umi, too. And Honoka. And maybe Eli and Nozomi, assuming they're not already there. And even, I guess, just possibly, Rin and Hanayo. I guess that's strange, too? Like a ritual, almost?"

"Why on Earth is it THAT way, Kotori-chan?"

"Well, in our case, us the threesome ... Once I 'did it' it'd be unbalanced if Honoka and Umi had their first time together. They'd be the couple, at least for now, and I'd be the third wheel. They are going on dates while I am dating Nico, but they're not 'doing it.' If all of us are equal that way, we're back to where we started, sort of? It's confusing to explain."

"It's nothing that would have happened in my day. Kotori, what do you know about your mother's time in school?"

"Did you go to school with mom? I don't think she's ever mentioned that."

"No, a rival school. But word travels between the schools. So, what do you know?"

"Well, like you say, rumors?"

"Like what?"

"Well, she says certain things, like, 'Ah, but I won't talk about that.' So I think there must be something to not talk about. Did she date girls in high school? That would be amusing, but reassuring."

"It may not be my place, but the truth is, for a couple of years she was, apparently, dating Maki-chan's so, you and Maki-chan owe your lives to their breakup." Kotono smiled as the girl grimaced. She had a little bit of Nico's rather trollish sense of humor at times. "I bring it up, not to gossip, but to say your mother would probably understand ... well, some of what you're doing. I don't have the luxury of being easily offended. If my daughter, at some point, becomes distraught over this, please promise me you won't pressure her to continue just to achieve balance."

Kotori considered that. "That's actually a very good request. I'll talk about it with Umi and Honoka, but I'll do my best. Ummm .. you know how Nico is, though. In a given week, I think she'd rather be uncomfortable or unhappy rather than not follow through on something she's committed to. But on the week breaks, maybe we should always, always, ask her to reflect a bit before going on? Is that good enough?"

It was, Kotono decided. She paid for their tea and they walked back to the Yazawa's apartment. Later that night, after Nico had tucked in Cocoa and Cotarou and caught up with Cocoro a bit on events in their lives, and Cocoro's schoolwork, Kotono retired to her room, and Nico and Kotori to Nico's room. She heard music start to play, faintly through the soundproofing. Well, she couldn't say the girl hadn't warned her.