#Umi and I have put so much thought into this au you don’t understand | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

sharktoraptor · 5 years

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Linkeduniverse Daemon AU

So uhh I posted it on the Discord and thought I may as well share here too. I put a lot of work into this one, beware that there’s a LOT of text beneath the cut!

If you’re unfamiliar with daemon AUs (referring to daemons from the His Dark Materials series), the basic concept is that your soul lives outside your body in the form of an animal that represents your personality. There’s a whole lot of character exploration involved in making a daemon AU!

If you’re unfamiliar with Linkeduniverse, it’s a Legend of Zelda AU where all the different incarnations of the hero meet and are on a quest. This daemon AU should be understandable with just a basic working knowledge of what the Legend of Zelda franchise is, this is all character/daemon stuff and no plot!

Again, a whole lot of text incoming. You might want to get comfortable. Enjoy!

Time: Wolf (white/gold)- Faekuri [fay-KYU-ree] (Kuri)

From Farore, fairy, Deku, and Kokiri.

Hyrule: Wolf (brown)- Fernwai [FURHN-why] (Fern, or just Fernwai)

From ‘fernweh’ (German for wanderlust) and fairy.

Twilight: Wolf (dark grey)- Aiyvona [eye-VOE-nuh] (Vona)

From ‘ayna’ (Turkish for mirror), Navi, Fai (Fi), and Ordona.

Warriors: Wolf (light grey)- Audelfi [awe-DEHL-fee]

From ‘audax’ (Latin for bold/reckless), ‘bellum’ (Latin for war), and Fi.

Wild: Field Mouse- Firielore [FEE-ree-uh-lore] (Firi)

From Farore, Fi, and Ciela.

Four: Field Mouse- Emper [EHM-purr] (no nickname, sometimes Em)

From temper, as in to temper a sword.

Sky: Blessed Butterfly- Lydivia [lih-DIH-vee-uh] (Lydi)

From Hylia and ‘divum’ (Latin for heaven/sky/open air).

Legend: Hare- Faistina [FY-stih-nuh] (Fais, rhyms with ‘vice’)

From Farore, ‘aisling’ (Irish for dream), and ‘obstino’ (Latin for persist).

Wind: Seagull- Marumi [mah-ROO-mee] (no nickname, sometimes Umi or Rumi)

From ‘mar/mare’ (Latin for sea), Ruto, and ‘umi’ (Japanese for sea).

The heroes traditionally settle when they first are draw/touch the Master Sword. This is true for Time, Legend, Wild, Warriors, Wind, and Sky (when the sword was completed). It doesn’t matter how old they are when they get the sword- Wild and Wind were both quite young, and Time technically settled when he was 9 years old, just before going into his seven year sleep. The exceptions are:

Twilight- Was already settled when his adventure began, he and his daemon merged upon entering the Twilight realm to create their wolf form.

Hyrule- Settled upon receiving the Triforce of Courage. Of the Links, Hyrule settled the latest in his journey.

Four- Officially settled upon restoring the Four Sword; however his daemon was already close to settling and was a mouse for the vast majority of his first adventure.

~Form Explanations~

A lot of the forms here aren’t necessarily exemplative of the Link’s personalities like a real daemon is, rather more of a symbolic representation of the character.

...Or something I thought would be cute because my city now.

The Wolf Pack (Time, Twilight, Hyrule, and Warriors)

All of these together, because the forms are the same. Because “Link” is the spirit/soul of the hero reborn again and again, it makes sense that there would be some overlap with forms. Each Link is their own person, but having legends of the hero with the wolf daemon as one of the most common depictions of the hero sounds cool and makes sense lore-wise. Right off the bat we have Time as the Heros Shade as the Golden Wolf, and Twilight following him with Wolf Link, the divine beast of the Twili.

Analysis/personality-wise, the form doesn’t fit all four of them as well as I’d like it to, but aspects of it do and like I said, we’re going more Pullman form/lore/symbolic here (not Pullman’s ‘wolves = evil’ though, that sucks). Wolves are hierarchical (Warriors), cooperative (all), social (Twilight, Warriors, the others to lesser extents), hard working and loyal (all), etc. All traits that would fit most of the Links well enough, but I like it for these four especially.

Important note, though: though all of their daemons share the same form, they’re still incredibly different. The differences in color is the first thing they all noticed, but their personalities are their own- not just the “soul of the hero.” That goes for all of them, of course, but it’s especially important for these four.

Mouse Friends (Four and Wild)

My reasons for picking mice for Wild and Four are so, so superficial. The analytic form actually fits both of them somewhat (again in different ways)- some of the core traits are things like independent, adaptable, observant/aware, defensive (physically and emotionally), but here are the real reasons.

Picture this okay. Four shrinks down to the size of a Minish, but his daemon doesn’t (or maybe she does but just a little bit). Now they’re like the same size. He can ride on his daemon and it’s adorable what’s not to like?

I made a big post about my botw daemon AU already here (disregard stuff about the other Links, I made this post before I’d really gotten into LU or any of the other games). Part of it that I don’t think I mentioned is logistics of the way Wild gets around, climbing and paragliding and swimming and stuff. He needs a daemon that is small enough to cling to him and stay safe when he’s doing stunts and shit.

Pink Bunny (Legend)

The Dark World in ALttP picked Legend’s daemon for me… I can’t give him a literal pink bunny though, so I took liberties. He’s much more of a hare personality than a rabbit, with hares being bigger and wilder, more independent, and having coats that change in the winter (get it? Oracle of Seasons, get it?). Not much else to say here, again more so picking a form to match the existing lore rather than doing an in-depth character study for it.

Butterfly in the Sky (Sky)

Alrighty, Sky was kind of hard because of his setting. What I chose eventually for him is the (fictional) Blessed Butterfly from SS, for a few reasons. It makes sense to me that daemons of people in Skyloft have to fit a couple of criteria: 1) small or fast enough at flying to ride a loftwing and 2) only take forms native to the sky, because it’s all they know about. Blessed Butterflies are one of the only animals in the game (according to the wiki- I’ve never played it myself) that are found on the ground and in the sky, so it works symbolically for his character.

I used the Monarch butterfly analysis as reference to make sure it wasn't totally off base, and it works for Sky surprisingly well from what I know about him. They're adaptable and adventurous (as a migrating species), and value group cohesion and teamwork (again because of the migration swarms). Lots of liberties being taken here, but the Blessed Butterflies in game apparently appear mostly in groups, so I'm willing to roll with it.

*Inhale* (Wind)

Wind has a seagull daemon because look. Have you seen Wind. Have you seen a seagull. Yes.

In all seriousness, there are some obvious reasons. Most of Wind’s adventure(s) take place on the ocean, so he needs a form that’s either adapted for that or small enough to fit on a boat, or both. You can literally take control of a seagull in WW. Plus she can nest on his head like the doves do in Spirit Tracks!

Personality-wise, I’m going to just copy from the ring-billed gull analysis because this one probably fits the best of all the Link’s, analytically. The form is listed as chaotic neutral (I’d say Wind is probably chaotic good but it’s the chaotic here that counts). Seagull souls value social interaction, cooperation, courage, confidence, and duty, and are stressed by lack of control, boredom, lack of purpose, and dishonesty.

~Individual Links and their Daes~

Time and Faekuri

Faekuri settled when Time drew the master sword as a child. He settled the youngest of all the heroes at 9 years old, and she was still settled even when they traveled back in time. Time is bitter about that; another aspect of the childhood he never had, stolen from him.

Before settling, Kuri mostly took forms traditional of the Kokiri ( small woodland creatures and fairies, though fairies are still separate entities). When they set out on their first adventure her repertoire expanded and she took bigger forms, but never left her forest shapes for long. Settling as a wolf was unexpected and jarring for both of them, especially the experience of waking up in an unfamiliar, war torn world in shapes that neither of them knew how to deal with. Going back in time to be a child again didn’t help- Kuri never changed again, and Time had to live with that.

Kuri isn’t quiet, exactly, but she’s not generally conversational. She’s fairly blunt with scolding or encouragement if it’s needed, but if something is important enough for her to talk about, the others listen. However, she’s the most physically affectionate of all the wolf daemons, often nosing at, walking alongside, or even playing/rubbing up against the other wolves. She and Time are usually touching during downtime, but not as openly cuddly with one another as some of the others. With age comes a deep understanding of one another, and that’s enough for them.

Hyrule and Fernwai

Hyrule, by contrast, has one of the oldest settling ages of the Links at around 16. Fernwai’s settled form (which she took when they received the Triforce of Courage) was somewhat of a surprise to them both, but not as shockingly out of left field as it was for Time. It was a form they had taken before, just infrequently. They settled towards the end of their adventures as the Hero, and because they didn’t have to navigate their journey in unfamiliar skin, it feels wholly right and natural to them now. Before she settled, Fernwai preferred bird forms over landbound ones. They knew that the Hero of Time had a wolf form, so they’d tried it before, just in case, but the Hero of Legend didn’t, so maybe it was a one time thing…

Fernwai is a little more pragmatic and cautious than Hyrule, but aside from that, they’re basically the same. She doesn’t often initiate conversation with the others, but is very chatty to Hyrule. She’s less touchy with the other wolf daemons, though she’s become the most popular perch for the smaller ones while traveling, but she and Hyrule are the most openly affectionate with one another. It’s common to see them sleeping on top of each other, not just next to or touching like most of the others do. Their tight bond comes in part from the lucky timing of their settling; they had time to work through it without much distraction after, while most of the others weren’t so lucky.

Twilight and Aiyvona

Twilight was the only Hero to be settled at the start of his adventure, which he’s sometimes hyperaware of. Aiyvona settled when he turned 15, about a year and a half before meeting Midna. People in Ordon village joked about his being the ‘lone wolf’ of the village, but he was a member of a pack then (the village and the children), and he’s a member of a pack now. It’s always suited them, and it had the bonus of being a good, mobile form for herding.

The Twili don’t have daemons, and the spirit people in the twilight realm don’t either, which is horrifying from Twilight’s perspective. But that’s why when they were taken into the twilight realm, Twilight and Vona’s forms merged into Wolf Link, a combination of both of them. Both of their minds are in Wolf Link and they can both control the form, but they’ve only ever fought for control once, when Vona tried to stop Zelda from sacrificing herself for Midna and Twilight won out, holding her back.

Despite the obvious similarities between Vona and “Wolfie,” the Links that don’t know about their secret haven’t figure it out. It’s a pretty big leap of logic- besides, Wolfie has all those strange markings, and a shackle around their paw. Wolfie doesn’t mind if the others touch them, even if Vona is in there too- it’s a magical form unique to them both, and it’s neither of theirs completely. Vona is as mature as Kuri is, but more talkative with the others, less touchy, and far more willing to tease and rile the younger daemons up. She doesn’t actually talk to Kuri much- the two wolves recognized each other as soon as they met, and they have an unspoken understanding. She talks to Twilight the regular amount, but they don’t need physical contact as much as the others do- they can share a body whenever they want, and nothing feels as close anymore.

Warriors and Audelfi

Audelfi settled when Warriors drew the Master Sword, but she’d been taking a wolf form on and off for some time before that. It was a noble form to take and common among the unsettled soldiers; the legendary form of the Hero. They were both quite happy with the form, though settling in the middle of a conflict is never easy.

Despite her name, Delfi is absolutely Warriors’ voice of reason and caution. It’s not a mostly even split like it is with Hyrule and Fernwai, she got just about all of it and he got almost none. She’s the one to talk him down from his most reckless decisions, or to sit by exasperatedly when she can’t. It’s sometimes caused noticeable friction between them; every rare once in a while it gets so bad that they flat out won’t speak to one another, and Delfi has actually pulled at their bond to try and drag him away from a dangerous situation before. They (obviously) always apologize and make up, but it’s a cycle that keeps repeating.

Delfi sees herself partly as her Hylian’s protector (she’s not entirely wrong), so it took her a while to relax around the other daemons and interact with them instead of Warriors, who was the exact opposite and warmed up to the other Links very quickly. She’s the only daemon that will talk to the other Hylians uninvited, which they don’t mind, exactly, but find a little bit… forward. Her ego is definitely smaller than Warriors, but Delfi was the Greek center of the world, after all.

Wild and Firielore

Wild settled young, drawing the Master Sword when he was 13. Firi settled as a field mouse, which was a cause for concern at first. Scholars quickly reassured the King that everything was fine; the Hero’s daemon was most often a wolf, yes, but there was at least one other in the ancient texts that took the shape of a mouse.

Wild and Firi have the longest bond distance of all of the Links, because of the painful pulling that they frequently put themselves through as a knight and as Zelda’s guard. Every once in a while she’ll climb a rock or something and Wild will go carefully still, automatically pretending not to be fazed- old habits die hard. Everyone has noticed, but no one brings it up. It’s none of their business, even when any one of them would be doubled over with the pain of the distance while Wild stands outwardly unaffected. Twilight tried talking to him about it once, and Wild didn’t respond but ignored him for the rest of the day, Firi like a statue of a mouse on his shoulder.

Firi is and always has been a quiet daemon, but she got even quieter as the weight of her and Wild’s responsibilities settled over them Pre-Calamity. She never speaks except to Wild, and even then, only softly and occasionally. She’s opened up considerably since their awakening in the Shrine of Resurrection in that she’ll leave Wild’s shoulder and interact with the other daemons for longer and longer periods of time, often riding with Emper on Fernwai’s back during long days of uneventful travel. The others have only heard her voice once or twice, and she always pretends that they haven’t in case they make it a big deal.

(More on Firi pre-LU here)

Four and Emper

Emper settled when Four drew the completed Four Sword during his first journey, but she was taking the mouse form long before that. It was just always who she had been, and it was really a relief to settle, because they’d been wondering why they hadn’t already. Four loves her form for a multitude of reasons- he’s small, and she’s small. She can’t really help in the forge, but she can fit into lots of places that he can’t (when he’s big). She can ride on his shoulder, and when he’s the size of a Minish, he can ride on her back. They’re perfect for one another!

Emper doesn’t shrink when Four does, but she does change when he splits. It’s kind of complicated. There’s not four Empers the same way there’s four Fours, but they each have an aspect of her the same way they do of him. What form that takes I’m unsure of- there aren’t four mouse daemons, though.

Emper is one of the calmer social daemons, just like her Hylian. She's very friendly with all the other daemons, and she was a big part of helping Firi to feel at home in the group (meeting Four and having their form validated was actually very important for her and Wild). It's hard to be super cuddly with a mouse, but she and Four manage. They prefer to communicate silently rather than openly, but they have a healthy combination of both.

Sky and Lydivia

Sky and Lydivia settled later in their journey as well, when Hylia’s blessing completed the transformation of the Master Sword. The people of Skyloft didn’t have as much form variance as they would as the people of Hyrule, because of how deeply ingrained the loftwings were to their culture. Daemons only took shapes that were small enough to ride on a loftwing, be carried, or fly quickly enough to keep up with one; though only the the Goddesses themselves (and by extension all Zeldas) could settle as one of the sacred birds. Lydi always favored the butterfly form, and it was fitting that she settled as something found both in the Sky and on the land beneath the clouds.

Lydi is quiet, because even though her wingspan makes her larger than Firi and Emper, it’s hard for a butterfly to be loud. She does speak sometimes, just very softly, and mostly lets Sky voice her thoughts if she needs him to. It’s not uncommon to see her settled on one of the other’s daemons, either listening to them talk or just being near them for comfort or camaraderie. She’s content to just be, listening to the other Hylians and daemons (who learn what the different movements of her wings mean and include her in conversations when they can) and talking silently to Sky.

Legend and Faistina

Faistina settled when Legend drew the Master Sword, like most of the others, but they already sort of knew. The Dark World reveals your true self, and they had been a rabbit- he feels unspeakably lucky they didn’t settle that way, though he’d never admit it out loud. A hare is a better form, faster, bigger, and more capable. He is not a defenseless rabbit.

When they’re forced into the rabbit form in the Dark World, it’s sort of the same experience that Twilight and Vona have when becoming Wolf Link, except that it’s a weakening and incomplete merging and not an advantage. It’s more like Fais- all of Fais, not just the parts that they always share- is forced into Legend’s mind all at once, and he takes on her base physical traits, but softened; the ears, the fur, the face… it sucks for both of them. He’s so glad they didn’t settle as a rabbit.

Like Hyrule and Fernwai, Legend and Fais have similar base personalities- they just don’t get along as well as they maybe should. It’s not like Warriors, where he and his daemon have spats and then reconcile, more like they have some unresolved things they probably should have talked about long ago but most likely never will. Her form still makes him uncomfortable and self doubtful, and she knows it, though she’s long accepted it herself. Fais interacts with the other daemons in the same way that Legend interacts with the other Links; a little bit needling at times, kind of aloof, but able to see when she’s needed to be serious or kind. Despite their differences she and Legend do love each other, of course they do, but they don’t show their affection as outwardly, instead verbally sparring with one another or sharing exasperated looks at someone else’s expense.

Wind and Marumi

Wind settled when he drew the Master Sword at age 12, young even for a Hero. He’s never had any issue with Marumi’s form; seagull daemons are pretty common on the Great Sea, and he’s happy to represent that. It’s a good form for a sailor and a pirate, as long as she’s perched when the King of Red Lions goes fast, and she can even glide from traincar to traincar to check on passengers and cargo if they’re careful about it. They aren’t upset at how early they were forced to settle, either, except maybe for the fact that Marumi didn’t get to play with forms as much as most kids. Time is bitter about it on Wind’s behalf.

Wind and Marumi are young and have an innocent, open daemon-Hylian bond despite their mature experiences. They’re used to silent communication, because she’s in the air whenever possible and it’s hard for her voice to carry over the roar of the sea and the wind. Marumi helps to serve as the group’s navigator if they’re lost and she and Wind can get up high enough to not stretch their bond too badly (they have a larger than average bond distance, which is helpful for avian forms, but it’s natural and not forced like Wild’s is). She has a good sense of direction and the flight power that Lydi lacks to get a good view of their surroundings.

Marumi loves to talk to the other daemons, and she and Wind have reacclimated fairly well to talking to each other verbally. Sometimes Wind will still yell out non sequiturs to her, though, because they’re used to the one way communicating. She’s not flying that high, and he does not need to yell so loud and startle all eight of his fully armed travel companions, thank you very much. Marumi stays in the air most of the time during the day, but nests in Wind’s lap or hair at night.

~Other Stuff~

- All of the daemons call their Link ‘Link,’ and all the other Links by their title. It’s not as confusing as one would think. Everyone learns the other daemons’ voices very quickly, so that if one shouts out in the heat of battle they can identify who needs help.

- Listening to the daemons talk about their Hylians can be confusing. Not for the daemons themselves, though.

- Most of them know on some level that Legend is unhappy with Fais’ form, they just don’t know why. Sky, Wind, Four, and Wild have tried pep talking him about not having a wolf form, thinking maybe that’s the problem. It’s not.

- They all worry about the extremes to which Wild and Firi push their bond, and how often they do it.

- If they need to split up, the wolf daemons communicate long distance with an agreed upon system of howls. Most of the group is impressed with how quickly Wolfie picks it up too.

#linkeduniverse #legend of zelda #the legend of zelda #daemonism #daemon au #daemons #(this is dipshitcoyote btw)#(if the readmore is broken for anyone im so so sorry)#validate me #my post

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xcamay · 7 years

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Hi everyone! First, let me apologize for the small delay..! To tell you the truth, I had 4pages for a Halloween fic (set in the Aqours as parents AU), but I finally changed my mind and started working on a new semi-Halloween-related fic yesterday, but it got late and I was tired and my baby cat Nola kept climbing on me to get my attention because she just wanted me to lie down in bed so she could sleep too ... And so I gave in, haha, and decided to write the last scene of this fic this morning. I really, really, really (...) really hope that you will enjoy this new AU just like I've been enjoying working on it for the past few weeks, and just like I enjoyed writing it yesterday! It's an AU that I hold very close to my heart, and I really wanted to share it with everyone so, now, I just have to pray that you will all like it a little ... :’3 Before I forget, I would like to thank @my-idol-you-chan and another friend (Entropy! I’m sorry I don’t remember your tumblr name :c) with all my heart for proofreading me, but mostly for giving me their opinion on that fic! (And for encouraging me to publish it, even if they don’t know that)

I'm kinda getting off the beaten track, as it's an AU with µ's and A-RISE. So ... No YouRiko this time, guys! :') I still love them dearly, don't worry. But I'm going to shower you with TsubaHono, EreAnju, NozoEli, RinPana, KotoUmi and NicoMaki as much as I can with it!

Warning → this is a specific AU which can have some OOC characters once in a while. I'm not fond of, um, OOCness, but it'll be needed for a few scenes sometimes here, and I'm pretty sure you'll understand why when you know what this AU is (I won't say it, I want you to discover it while reading hehe~). Oh and, despite that once-in-a-while OCCness, please know that I'll do my best to stick to all the girls' real personality! Maybe except Tsubasa, Erena and Anju, seeing as the anime didn't give many scenes with them and, so, very little detail ...

Thank you for your time, and I hope you’ll enjoy! And ... Happy Halloween, I hope you didn’t spook too many children and that you got a lot of sweets~

(Oh and! HAPPY BIRTHDAY RIN-CHAN♥)

October 31st, 07:02

“K-Kotori-chan, I-I’m sorry I’m late!”

“There there,” Kotori chuckles as she pats her panting co-worker’s –and new friend– head, “It’s all right, Hanayo-chan. We’re still on time, don’t worry.”

“B-but won’t our mentors be mad at us …?” Hanayo finally straightens up, and Kotori is surprised to see that the young woman’s cheeks have a rosy tint –did she run to get here?

“At worst, it’s the first time we aren’t here at 7AM sharp since we’ve started working here.” Kotori offers her a reassuring smile as they both walk toward the entrance of the building, “I bet we’ll be fine, Hanayo-chan.”

“Yeah …”

“And I can’t wait to see what’s planned today!” the amber-eyed girl cheerfully goes on, clapping her hands while displaying a wide smile, “I wonder what they do on Halloween, here!”

“I-I’m curious about that, too …” Hanayo lightly scratches her cheek, wincing a little, “I mean, they told us we can’t dress up for the occasion, so … Do they really do something?”

“We’re going to find out!” Kotori smiles but, as soon as they reach the doors, she stops and turns to look at her friend, the worry slightly distorting her features. “Hanayo-chan … Are you okay?”

That simple question catches the brunette off guard, who lets out a surprised ‘Eh?’.

“I mean, you still seem a little bit … Stressed.”

Hanayo instantly looks away, as if she were feeling very ashamed. She gulps and shakily sighs, “I … I never know what to expect here, even if it’s part of our job … But I do like it here, though!” Her expression is now a resolute one, which makes Kotori smile.

She knows how sensitive Hanayo is, and she clearly remembers their first day –the day they met– here, at the psychiatric hospital : before starting, they were in a room, which became their classroom day after day so their instructor could teach them the basics and some procedures ; and Kotori took a seat next to that nervous and shaking young girl. She was twisting her fingers, and sometimes went very pale during the doctors’ speech. Especially when they talked about the criminally-insane patients, who are kept in the forensic ward.

“That’s good Hanayo-chan. Let’s go, then?”

Partly reassured by Kotori’s ever-present smile, Hanayo nods her head and they both walk into the building, the excitement making their hearts flutter.

“Ah! Koizumi-san,” Hanayo holds a shriek back when she hears a voice calling for her, stopping dead in her tracks, frozen “Minami-san. You two are here,” the voice goes on, and the two friends turn on their heels.

In front of them stands a navy-haired woman, with amber eyes, clad in a white blouse, a cream-colored top and classic jeans : the doctor Sonoda Umi. As soon as Kotori sees her, her face brightens.

“Good morning, Umi-chan!”

Without a second thought, a bright red hue dusts the usually so composed doctor, who then stammers :

“R-right … G-g-good morning, Kotori-san …”

Some patients who are already walking down the corridor curiously look at them, others shoot them a weird look ; while Hanayo decides to stay silent, even if she does her best to fight her growing curiosity. She finds herself giving a polite and shy smile to every patient who happens to look at her.

“So, it’s Halloween today Umi-chan,” Kotori begins, her hands linked behind her back, “Will something special happen?”

“Unfortunately, no.” Umi shakes her head, furtively glancing around them, watching everything, “But we did plan activities related to Halloween. Speaking of, Koizumi-san,” Hanayo’s ears perk up at her name “Could you go see the patients who haven’t been checked on yet, and who have to take their medication today, and see if they want to come to this morning’s activity?”

“Y-yes, of course.”

“Here are the patients,” Umi hands her a notepad, before offering her an encouraging smile. “Um … K-Kotori-san and I are going to get everything ready, so we will wait for you.”

“H-hai!”

Pressing the notepad against her chest, Hanayo slightly bows before walking away. She doesn’t dare look back, or glance over her shoulder, fearing that if she does so, they will think she is too unsure and scared of doing that simple task all alone. And they certainly have already left, anyway. Gathering all her courage, Hanayo reads the first name on the sheet of paper … and she lets out a long and relieved sigh. Hoshizora Rin. Her firm favorite patient ; the one she gets along with very well, and the one who always makes her days brighter and brighter. She is well aware of the fact that she shouldn’t get emotionally involved with any patient –the therapists insisted on that point on her first day–, but she’s … She is human, right? So, she can’t really help it.

Before she knows it, Hanayo is already standing in front of the door leading to Rin’s room. After knocking twice, she slowly opens it, a smile illuminating her face. It grows wider the moment she sees the short-haired ginger sitting in her bed, loudly yawning, and rubbing the sleep off her eyes with a bent and closed fist –just like the paw of a cat.

“Good morning, Rin-chan,” she gently greets the patient, her tone of voice as soft as possible, as to not push her so early in the morning.

“Nyaaaw …” Another loud yawn and, at the sight of the nurse that she holds close to her heart, Rin starts kicking the cover on her legs, trying to get out of the bed as quickly as she can. “Kayo-chin, you’re here! Morning, nya!”

“Did you sleep well, Rin-chan?” she asks, letting the girl give her a quick hug –even if she knows that she shouldn’t.

“I did! I even had a dream about you, nya!”

“R-really?”

A soft and touched smile paints Hanayo’s lips as Rin, with her wild gestures, begins to relate everything in detail. It is about the two of them, some cats, a bridge over a river … Hanayo smiles and nods her head several times, still amazed at the fact that Rin has such a good memory.

“And you know, you know, the two cats who got to their feet –or should I say paws?–, they suddenly–“

“R-Rin-chan,” Hanayo carefully interrupts her, a warm and friendly smile on her face, “I have to check on other patients, you know …”

“Oh,” Rin pouts, disappointed, “… Oh but I know, nya! Can I go with you?”

“You should put your clothes on, first,” the nurse chuckles, stealing a glance at the notepad –next patient : Kousaka Honoka–, “And you have to go and take your medication, too.”

“Oh, right. Nya …”

“B-but we’ll see each other later!” Hanayo is quick to reassure her, causing Rin’s chartreuse eyes to glint, “S-Sonoda-san wants you to participate in a new group activity, and–“

“Will you be there, Kayo-chin?”

“I will. I didn’t attend a lot of group activities, so I’d love to–“

“Yay!” Rin cheers, bumping a fist in the air, “I’m going to get dressed, and I’ll see you there, nya!”

“D-don’t forget to take your medication!” Hanayo hurriedly says, earning a nod from the girl before she closes the bathroom door behind her.

Heaving a small sigh, the brunette leaves the room, knowing that she can trust Rin on putting her clothes on alone. She soon reaches a new door, but does not have time to knock that it’s already opening. She blinks, surprised, when she comes face to face with a girl who isn’t Kousaka Honoka.

“A-ah, good morning, Tsubasa-san,” Hanayo greets the chestnut-haired girl, quite unsettled. She is about to ask what she is doing in Honoka’s room, but then she remembers : these two are always together. So much that the staff and other patients nickname them ‘the lovebirds’. Director Nishikino even allowed the staff to not separate them and let them visit each other whenever they want to –‘They are each other’s medication, after all’, she once said.

“Hello,” Tsubasa says with a polite smile, “Honoka-chan is still sleeping, don’t wake her up, please.”

“But–“

As if she had anticipated what Hanayo was about to say, Tsubasa shakes her head and interrupts her, her voice gentle, “I’ll bring her her meds, and I’ll make sure she takes them, don’t worry. You can go on and see the others.”

Kira Tsubasa. As responsible and as caring as ever –especially when it comes to Honoka. She would do anything for her, and always makes sure that the smile she cherishes so much never vanishes from her joyful ginger’s face.

“Thank you very much, Tsubasa-san. Oh! Before I forget …”

“Mh?” Tsubasa lightly hums, stopping herself from taking a step forward.

“Sonoda-san is organizing something this morning. Would you like to come?” And she hastily adds, “With Honoka-chan, of course.”

“We will be here,” the emerald-eyed girl assures with a big smile –despite not spending much time with the lovebirds, Hanayo heard that they were fond of group activities, and especially the ones led by the doctors Sonoda, Ayase, Toudou and Nishikino.

Toujou Nozomi.

Hanayo gulps as she reads the patient’s name. To tell the truth … Toujou Nozomi scares her, a little. It isn’t the kind of fear that makes you freeze right on the spot, that makes your heart beat loudly in your chest –so loudly that it’s the only thing you hear–, no ; it’s mostly the kind of small and short-lived fear that you don’t know how to deal with, because you never know what to expect with her. And that, that stresses Hanayo out.

Toujou Nozomi suffers from borderline personality disorder, and she experiences bad mood swings.

Most of the time, she is a kind, considerate and happy woman, with that mysterious and spiritual aura around her. But last week put her through hell : because doctor Ayase Eli didn’t show up at work, as she caught a nasty strep throat. Her absence ravaged Nozomi’s heart and mind : she felt abandoned.

Luckily, today is supposed to be the day doctor Ayase comes back. And, hopefully, Nozomi will be fine again and will start taking her medication again. Indeed, she stopped taking it the first day Eli wasn’t here. As if it could punish her. And, more importantly, as if it could magically drag Eli here so they could see each other again. If it were possible, Nozomi would have been reassured, and they would have avoided that week full of mood swings, swearing, tears and screams.

“Please, be okay,” Hanayo whispers to herself, eyes closed, “Please, please, be okay, Nozomi-chan …”

“YOU ABANDONED ME!”

The holler startles Hanayo, who slightly jumps and freezes. Her purple eyes are widen open now, and they widen even more –if that’s even possible– the moment she sees the blonde-haired doctor in front of a closed door.

“A-Ayase-san …?”

Hanayo is surprised to see dark rings under those intense blue eyes. Doctor Ayase is still recovering, it seems.

“Hello, Hanayo.” Eli smiles at her, before wincing. “Eh, I guess Nozomi is still mad at me …”

“OF COURSE I AM! MORON!” Nozomi’s voice echoes in her room, but also in the corridor.

Eli lets out a weak chuckle, before looking at Hanayo again.

“Don’t worry, she’ll stop screaming in a few minutes.”

“I WON’T!”

“I’m taking care of her,” Eli says while ignoring the screaming patient on purpose, “I know what Umi planned. I’ll bring her, it’s just going to take me five minutes to be forgiven.” Another chuckle, and she knocks on the door. “Nozomi, just listen to me–“

As Hanayo walks away, a small and amused smile finds its way on her rosy lips –and even more when she hears Nozomi yelling again :

“ELICCHI, YOU DUMB IDIOT!”

The last patient on the list is not hard to find. Actually, even a newbie would be able to find such patient in a second before struggling to know who is in which room.

Yuuki Anju was admitted a few days ago and was placed in one of the two seclusion rooms, in which she has been staying ever since. Usually, every new patient ends up with a room, just like everyone else ; but Yuuki Anju completely withdrew into herself, which makes her … Literally out of reach. She does not speak, does not look at whoever enters the room to try to talk to her, and barely eats. The only time Hanayo heard the sound of Anju’s voice was the day she got admitted, against her will. Some security guards put restraints around her wrists and brought her here, while she was thrashing about, crying and yelling at them to let her go.

Just thinking about it saddens Hanayo.

And the young nurse already feels defeated : trying to interact with Yuuki Anju is a battle that she has already lost.

Standing in front of the door, Hanayo can’t help but glance through the square-like glass window on it –a distinctive feature of a seclusion room is that small window which allows the entire staff to know what’s going on inside. Today, just as usual, there is nothing alarming going on : Anju is here, sitting on the poor plain bed –the only furniture in this room–, tightly hugging her knees against her chest. Just as usual. She is motionless, her chin stuck between her knees and her gaze never leaves the tiled floor. Just as usual. She seems exhausted, and her lilac eyes are dull. Just as usual.

How heartbreaking …

Hanayo inhales sharply and, the moment she grabs the door handle, too many questions start flooding her mind : what is she going to say? A simple ‘hello’, and then wait for an answer which will never come? Or is she going to try to ask something interesting that will make Anju want to speak, for once? … Is she just going to give up a few seconds after passing the door, or will she succeed?

“… Good morning, Anju,” the brunette speaks once she has stepped in the room, a feeling of uneasiness creeping up and sending shivers down her spine –no answer–, “I, uh– I … I’m Koizumi Hanayo and–“

Still no answer.

“–Um, I’m a nurse here …”

The more she talks, the lower her voice becomes, slowly dying down. The lack of reply is not helping her, either. The lack of everything is discouraging : she wasn’t even able to elicit a single thing, not even a sound, a wince or a rictus. Nothing. And it has been like that since they threw her into that white room.

“I … I guess I’ll see you later …”

Hanayo discreetly sighs as she carefully closes the door behind her. What a failure … But at least, she got to check on her and she now knows that there is nothing out of the ordinary. As sad as it’s going to sound, Anju is still the same.

“Ah, Koizumi, I finally found you!” A voice suddenly breaks the young nurse’s train of thoughts. She looks up, only to see doctor Toudou’s piercing but intrigued azure eyes. “Did you talk to Anju?”

“Talking is a big word, Toudou-san,” Hanayo sighs while staring back at the ground, as if she were feeling guilty.

“… I see,” Erena says after a short pause, before she rests a sympathetic hand on the chestnut-haired girl’s shoulder. She slightly squeezes it. “Don’t let yourself get worked up, Koizumi. Let me take the helm, and go meet up with Minami and the others. They’re waiting for you.”

“All right.” Hanayo straightens up a little, and offers her superior a tiny and shaky smile. “Will you try to talk to her, Toudou-san?”

“Yes, I will. I’ve been trying since she got here, and I believe my efforts will pay off, some day.”

October 31st, 08:45

The way Kotori and Umi set up the room makes Hanayo smile the moment she shyly enters. There are six tables, all arranged to make a U-shape, which allows the patients to see and look at each other. Speaking of, all the patients she saw earlier are here : Rin, who excitedly waves at her ; Honoka, all dressed and smiling, her chair glued to the one Tsubasa is sitting on –there is absolutely no space between them. And, finally, Nozomi is also here, and she seems to feel better. Her kind and motherly smile is back, her turquoise eyes twinkle … She and Eli certainly made up, and it’s the best thing that could have happened to Hanayo today. Six other patients are here, and so there are two chairs left –maybe the others will be here soon.

Umi is quick to strike up a conversation, greeting everyone, before going on with a kind smile. At first, she asks what today’s date is, and earns a cute pout from Honoka who got the month wrong –but not the weather– (“Eeh, but I swear it’s December, it’s cold outside!”), before she agrees with Udo, a man in his thirties.

“Indeed Udo-san, it is October 31st.” She nods her head and smiles, “Which means that it’s also Halloween today.”

Rin calmly raises her hand, but her wide smile gives away her enthusiasm, “Can we have candy, then?”

Umi lightly chuckles, “No, no candy.”

“Aww,” Honoka and Rin both pout, eliciting a giggle from Tsubasa.

“But I heard that the doctors Nishikino and Toudou want to do a cooking workshop with everyone in the afternoon.”

With only one sentence, Umi was able to bring a wide smile on everyone’s face –and Kotori can’t help but silently admire her for that. She would have loved to compliment her mentor, but she knows that it would have flustered her to no end, and she wouldn’t have continued :

“I know that you all like to paint and draw, and that’s why I wanted you here today. A few weeks ago, the watercolor painting was a success, you all had fun with that, so I decided to do it again today. With the colors of Halloween, of course!” As she says this, Umi places in front of each patient two plastic cups filled with clean water, one fine brush, one watercolor paper and a plastic palette with orange, black, brown, dark green, red watercolor paints, helped by Kotori and Hanayo. “I can give you other papers if you need them, but I’ll leave you this one for now. Remember to be creative! I am eager to see what you’re going to do. You can paint something real like a flower or else, or just go with something abstract.”

A few more words, and she finally lets them begin.

Honoka immediately picks her brush before she leans toward Tsubasa, almost making their heads touch, whispering, “Say Tsubasa-chan, what can I paint?”

The emerald-eyed girl turns to look at her dearest friend, their noses ready to brush due to their proximity –and they don’t mind ; it even feels more than comfortable, for them–, “I don’t know. Isn’t there something you’d like to paint?”

Honoka glances at the paper, suddenly lost in thought. She only looks back at Tsubasa the moment the latter places her hand over hers, “It will come naturally, Honoka-chan.”

“… You!” the ginger suddenly exclaims, happily beaming.

“Me?”

“Yeah, you! I want to paint you Tsubasa-chan, because I love you!”

While Tsubasa’s sparkling eyes considerably soften and show all the love she has for Honoka, Hanayo’s heart melts as she hears their conversation.

“I love you too,” Tsubasa whispers back, resting her head against Honoka’s.

“I just don’t know how it’s going to look like when I finish it, but well …”

“Just do your best, Honoka-chan.” She smiles and combs her ginger locks, before focusing on her own blank watercolor paper.

“I will!”

A soft smile graces Hanayo’s features, but it soon disappears when she looks at Kotori, who is discreetly nodding toward Rin. Rin, who is completely engrossed in her painting –and she is progressing very fast. Sliding behind her chair, Hanayo ever-so-slightly leans over her shoulder. Her lavender eyes widen, and she feels her heart breaking. In the middle of Rin’s watercolor paper is an orangey cat, whose eyes have a lighter orange color, whose pupils are barely visible, whose dark brows are furrowed, whose mouth is open, black, and it seems like Rin did her best to leave two white triangles to represent the cat’s fangs. It seems like the cat is raging mad, and hissing.

“Say, Kayo-chin?”

Hanayo instantly freezes –Rin hasn’t even looked up from what she’s doing, wetting the paper under the cat’s head, plunging her brush into the orange spot on the palette, before letting the orange paint spread, slowly drawing the cat’s body–, and the nurse’s heart plummets in her stomach. She feels bad, very bad ; she feels as if she is invading Rin’s privacy.

“Wh-what is it, Rin-chan?”

“Will that thing stop, one day?” Rin asks, her eyes fixated on the cat she’s currently painting.

If it’s even possible, Hanayo’s heart breaks even more. Rin is the type of patient who is very conscious of her condition. She knows that has something, and she knows that it’s the reason why she is temporarily living here. She knows why she must go to the medication room every morning, and why she must take her daily medication.

She knows that she suffers from dissociative identity disorder. And, as surprising as it can be, one of her alters –and the main– is a cat. And it is haunting and hurting her.

“R-Rin-chan …” Hanayo whispers, sadness written all over her face, “Of course, it will stop …”

“Right nya!” Rin twists her upper body a little and offers her friend a rapturous smile, “That’s why I’m here!”

“Indeed …”

“Thank you Kayo-chin, nya. I wanted to hear it from you,” Rin admits, her smile never fading.

And, without adding anything, the short-haired girl focuses on her drawing again. Hanayo bites her lower lip and walks over Kotori, whose amber eyes are silently asking her if everything is okay. The brunette can barely nod, before being caught off guard by someone opening the door.

“Oh, Erena. What are you doing here?” Umi seems as surprised as the two new nurses.

“I’m sorry for bothering you, Umi–“ Erena offers her co-worker an apologetic smile, “–but can I borrow some things, please? I would like to try watercolor painting with one of my patients.”

“Yes, of course. Here, I have a few palettes ready,” Umi says as she hands one to her maroon-haired friend, “And you’ll need a brush like that and two cups. And the paper, of course.”

“Thank you.”

“Erena-san!” Honoka butts in with a chirpy voice, “Is it true that we’re going to do a cooking activity this afternoon?”

A kind smile immediately finds its way on Erena’s lips, and she nods, “Yes Honoka, it’s true. I hope you look forward to it!”

“Yeah!” The blue-eyed ginger grins and loops her right arm around Tsubasa’s shoulders, almost hitting her in the face with the tip of the brush she’s holding, “Count me in! And Tsubasa-chan too!”

“Oh, don’t worry Honoka, I knew you’d come,” Erena giggles, “I’ll see you all later then. Have fun!”

And, with all the tools in her arms, doctor Toudou leaves the room. Deep inside, Hanayo has a feeling that Erena found a new way to help Anju express herself –and she hopes, for once, that she is right.

October 31st, 10:00

The activity came to an end a few minutes ago, and Umi is now looking at all the drawings she retrieved before everyone left. Well, except Nozomi’s drawing, as she insisted on wanting to give it to Elicchi –Umi still caught a glimpse of it, and was strucked by how beautiful it was. Indeed, Nozomi drew a garden full of flowers –lilies, to be more precise–, and the colors she used just … perfectly blended. For once, the turquoise-eyed girl didn’t put what was going on in her mind down on paper. She drew her feelings –and positive feelings, this time.

That is the reason why Umi loves organizing drawing activities with all her patients : first, they can be very, very creative, and they often come up with adorable ideas. But, more importantly, she loves this kind of activity because the drawings always say a lot about their artist. And when her patients become artists, it helps her see and discover them in a new light. After all, the drawings reflect their soul. It is very common for the patients to draw what they feel –whether it be positive or negative–, but also their deepest secrets, their deepest insecurities, and their deepest fears.

Just like Rin’s drawing.

Umi winces a little as she looks at the furious orangey cat. She slowly puts it on the desk in front of her, and lets out a small sigh.

Thank goodness we’re here for them …

47 notes · View notes

arielle0808 · 7 years

Text

Sea Stars- 4

Here comes a new chapter of my mermaid AU :3

I really hope you’re enjoying it. Thank you for reading <3

After the bath, Jaehee gave me some new clothes. I struggled to put on the breasts-concealer and noted down that I had to ask Yoosung later what was that for, since the dress already covered them. But that could be done later, since when I noticed Yoosung’s smile and blush when he saw me in my dress, I forgot everything, my mind only able to concentrate on the features I allowed myself to think I had made brighter.

“How do I look?” I asked, spinning around as I had done before in front of the mirror.

“Very pretty!” he exclaimed, blushing more.

I laughed and almost slipped when I did it again, but fortunately there was a couch on which I could fall. It was so fluffy and comfortable I felt I wouldn’t want to move from there never ever again. My stomach had other plans, as it expressed complaining out loud.

“Dinner should be ready soon,” Yoosung chuckled as my face heated up.

“Nice.”

Yoosung led me to the kitchen since I was quite curious about human food, but God 707 saw us, whispered something to Yoosung, who complained as he got into the kitchen, coming back again without letting me see the inside.

“Why don’t you wait in the living room and I bring you something?” he asked, alarmed and almost shouting.

“Sure,” I replied, suspicious.

God 707 grinned and guided me to the living room.

“Well, Umi, what are you going to do now onwards?” he asked me, apparently amused.

I frowned. I hadn’t thought about that.

“I don’t know. I know Yoosung’s going to town and I want to go with him. That’s why I...” I covered my mouth with my hands when I realised I was about to tell him I had become a human.

He laughed.

“That’s why you...”

“Never mind!”

“Well, you should go and live with Yoosung then,” he suggested. “Unless you prefer coming to my house since I actually have one spare room.”

“No way will she go with you or Yoosung,” Zen suddenly said, appearing behind 707. “I can trust Yoosung a bit more than you, but still, he is a man. She cannot stay with a man. She should stay with Jaehee.”

“I think we should find her relatives,” Jumin spoke up, appearing suddenly in the room with Jaehee. “They must be worried about her.”

“I have no relatives,” I said.

“She must return home,” Jaehee pointed out.

“Umi, here I brought some food!” Yoosung arrived in the middle of the conversation.

He looked at the scene in front of him. Zen looked pissed off, God 707, amused, and Jaehee and Jumin were quite serious.

“Don’t you think she should stay with Jaehee, Yoosung?” Zen asked.

“What are you talking about?” Yoosung replied, confused.

He actually hadn’t thought about it, assuming I had a home, which I of course didn’t, and reality suddenly hit him. He wanted to say I should stay with him, but of course he knew that was not the proper thing to do.

“What do you think we should do with her?” Jumin asked.

I pouted. I didn’t know I was going to be such a burden.

“I... what do you want?” Yoosung suddenly asked me.

I startled.

“I want to be with you,” I replied without hesitating.

God 707 let out a long ‘aaaaaaaaaaaw,’ Zen got mad, and Jaehee and Jumin asked a flustered and happy Yoosung if that was ok with him, who replied nodding effusively.

“Well, we should have dinner now that this is solved.”

I stood up, but Yoosung gasped and took my arm.

“I want to show you something,” he said, dragging me with him.

I pouted, hungry, but as he promised me I was going to like it, I followed him. And God if I liked it.

He took me to the beach, which made me a bit scared because I didn’t want him to return me to the sea, but when we sat on the sand I felt confident again. He gave me a sandwich, stating he had made it himself, and I begged him to teach me the next time, which he found almost as adorable as I found him making me sandwiches. Then I saw it. The sun was setting at the horizon and the sky turned of an orange and red colour I had often seen reflected on the water, but never so clearly.

“This is beautiful,” I whispered, taking Yoosung’s hand by instinct.

He gasped, surprised, but squeezed it with a big smile I couldn’t see, so focused as I was at the scene in front of me. We stood there in silence for some time, beholding the subtle way the sky changed its colours right in front of us. It was amazing. It was calming, warm despite the breeze and when it turned cold, Yoosung put his hoodie round my shoulders, which made me blush like crazy as I felt his scent so distinctively. Before I could realise what had happened, the sky had turned completely black and stars had started to appear.

“Oh, those are stars!” I exclaimed, pointing at them. “Can you see them, Yoosung?”

“Of course,” he chuckled, happy at my amazement.

I knew stars are night lights that stood on the sky near the moon, which is the mistress of the night, though I don’t know why. I never went to the surface during the night time, because it was dark and scary and it was more difficult to protect oneself from humans, but at that moment I had nothing to worry about. I had also seen the moon reflected in the water before. It was a bright shivering circle which looked like a silver stone.

“Where’s the moon?” I asked. Yoosung pointed at a curved line. “Don’t tease me, I know the moon is round,” I frowned.

“Oh, it changes with the passage of time,” he explained. “It goes from full to gibbous, quarter, crescent, new...”

“And what’s now?” I asked, my eyes sparkling.

“Crescent,” he smiled.

“It’s like a smile,” I chuckled.

“It is!”

Then, all of a sudden, it happened.

“A star has moved!” I exclaimed, standing up. “A star has moved!!”

“Oh, that’s a shooting star!” Yoosung exclaimed, standing up with me. “Look, there’s another there!” I was scared, but Yoosung seemed happy and excited, so I grew excited too. “You have to make a wish when you see one!” he explained, taking my hands.

“Really? Do they come true?”

“Of course!”

I started laughing out loud and gasping and exclaiming every time I saw one, too excited to make a wish and stop running around, searching for more falling stars even though Yoosung said it was not necessary to look for them.

“Umi, we should go back!” he exclaimed, trying to follow me as he prevented me from falling as I clumsily stumbled on the sand.

“Why? We are having so much fun!” I exclaimed.

“We need to get some sleep before our trip tomorrow,” he explained, trying to catch his breath as I stopped. “Aren’t you tired?”

I was, but I just didn’t want this night to end.

“I’m sorry,” I said, shyly. “You must be used to see stars and this is only boring to you.”

“It isn’t!” he exclaimed. “Actually, where I live there’s a lot of artificial light so stars cannot be seen as clearly as here, so I really like it too.”

“Really?” I smiled. “Were you having fun?” He nodded, blushing and grinning. I laughed. “Ok, let’s go back.”

We held hands as if it was just the more natural thing to do and headed to Jumin’s house. When we arrived, Zen gave us a suspicious look. Jumin had already had a room prepared for me, which I thanked, and when I jumped on the bed I discovered that the couch was uncomfortable compared to this thing created in Heaven and I decided that I wouldn’t move from this piece of wonder called bed.

“Do you have one in your house too?” I asked Yoosung.

“I do,” he chuckled. “Everybody owns one. But mine is not half as comfortable as this one.”

“I don’t think it’s possible for a more comfortable thing to exist!” I exclaimed. “Lie with me,” I asked him to make him understand my point.

He complied and said the one in the room Jumin gave him was as comfortable as this one. As I didn’t believe him, he took me there. He was right. Seven, that’s how Yoosung called him, said that his was even better, and so we rushed there to try it, but it was as comfortable as ours.

“I bet Jumin’s is more comfortable,” he smirked.

We rushed to the poor man’s room and jumped on his bed at the same time. It was not more comfortable, but bigger, and Seven started to tickle us while we were still on the bed when I pointed this out, saying I was wrong. We were laughing and begging him to stop. I had never had more fun in my life. Tears were rolling down my eyes from all the laughter and when Yoosung saw it he tried to protect me with his body. He was so close I could feel his breath on my face as he lied in all fours on me. We were blushing like crazy for a small moment before Seven attacked Yoosung, who told me to escape, but I got to tickle Seven, who freed Yoosung to try to stop me, but that only made the latter tickle him too. That’s when Jumin entered, and though I thought he was going to join us, seen that we were having so much fun, he gave us a sour look.

“What are you doing on my bed?” he asked, sighing.

“Your bed is more comfortable!” Seven accused him.

“No!!!” I exclaimed. “I tell you it’s only bigger!!”

Yoosung got off the bed and apologised as Seven and I still argued about it. Suddenly, Seven stood still his eyes widening and almost turning into hearts.

“I think I just heard Elly!”

“What’s Elly?” I asked Yoosung.

I got afraid when Seven jumped off the bed and Jumin became pale. Was Elly something bad?

“Eeer... she’s a cat,” he said, following Jumin and Seven to the other room with me.

Suddenly, two men in black captured Seven, making me gasp and cling to Yoosung, scared.

“What’s a cat?” I asked, terrified.

Jumin entered the room and went out of it with the most beautiful and fluffy creature I’ve ever seen.

“That’s a cat,” he pointed out.

I opened my mouth, but no sound came out of it. I was shocked. In a good sense, though.

“It’s as strange as unfortunate you didn’t get to know cats until now,” Jumin said. “This is Elizabeth 3rd. Elizabeth, this is Umi.”

“Elly!!” Seven exclaimed.

“And who are those men?” I asked.

“They are in charge of protecting Elizabeth 3rd from Luciel.”

“Why?”

“Because otherwise he would harass her.”

“I only love her!” Seven exclaimed.

“Hi, Elizabeth,” Yoosung petted her hair.

So jealous.

“You can try too,” Jumin said.

“Thank you!” my eyes started to sparkle as I reached out a hand to pet her delicate head as if she were the most fragile being in this world. She made a sound that melted my heart.

“She likes you,” Jumin smiled.

“Of course she does,” Yoosung whispered, blushing and smiling without thinking I was going to hear him.

But I did and my heart raced like crazy.

I went to sleep after Yoosung showed me how to brush my teeth and where to pee as we both blushed as we wanted to kill ourselves, but I needed to know, and Jumin told me to change my clothes into my nightgown. I jumped on the bed, far from tired, excited for all the things to come, grinning like crazy. That’s until the storm started. I had never heard a thunder so clearly and it made me jump on the bed, grabbing the bed sheet. When the second one stroke, I jumped off it and ran to Yoosung’s room, banging the door open, which made him let out a yell.

“Yoosung, help me,” I sobbed.

He got off the bed and walked towards me slowly. That’s until we heard the third thunder and we jumped into each other arms, sobbing uncontrollably.

“Do you want to sleep here?” he asked.

“Yes, please.”

We both got to the bed, not even bothering to close the door, and embracing the other as if our life was on the line, gasping with every thunder until we finally fell asleep from exhaustion.

#mystic messenger #yoosung kim #yoosung x oc #zen #jaehee #jumin #707 #707 x oc #yooseven #fluff #mermaid au

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jstonedd · 7 years

Text

Otonokizaka Private Academy

Final Chapter

Note: I’m really sorry I never got around to finish it, so I’m finally posting the rest of what I’ve written. It would have been the first part of the next chapter, which coincidentally would have also been the last chapter plot-wise. I might have thrown in some other twist if I wanted to go longer, but I think it’s also nice to conclude on a calmer note. With that being said, I hope you enjoy the last bit of this AU. It’s been an honor to write for you guys because you gave me so much back, not just kind asks but also fanart and funny headcanons.

Summary: Nozomi thinks she can finally get used to her new school.

Words: ~4300

“Have you seen Honoka?” Kotori asked after taking her seat at the lunch table, looking around for her missing friends. “She stormed out of the classroom the second the bell rang.”

“Some bakery nearby is selling some limited edition bread,” Nico answered distractedly as she struggled to eat her lobster without using her fingers. Nozomi watched her in suspense, ducking in time when a severed lobster leg came flying her way. “Whoops, sorry.”

Kotori carefully scooted her chair away from Nico. “Will she be back in time for class?”

“Who cares,” Nico grumbled, immersed in her task of eating her seafood without dirtying herself, “I’d take any reason to miss class. Like Hanayo. Calling in sick because she’s traveling halfway across the world just to see a concert, can you believe that? And she asked Rin to tag along instead of me even though Rin doesn’t even know the band!”

“Well, did you give Hanayo any hints that you would be interested in going with her?”

Nico paused in her movements. “No.”

Nozomi and Kotori shared an amused look. “Maybe you need to communicate your feelings to get them across as most people are not mind readers.”

“Blergh,” Nico let out in disgust, sticking out a tongue. “I communicate just fine.”

“I beg to differ,” a voice behind her spoke up.

Kotori, Nozomi and Nico turned their heads to the person who sat down at their table without waiting for an invite. “What? Don’t you agree?”

“Maki,” Kotori greeted with a nod, the first one to recover from her surprise. “I do think that Nico could sometimes express herself better. But are you really in a position to point that out? Something about throwing rocks within a glasshouse?”

Maki ran a hand through her hair to mask her tension, giving Kotori a stiff smile. “Ah you know me, never minded a little self-destruction.”

“That I already knew. But hey, self-awareness is the first healing step,” Nico said with a snort. She eyed Maki with a mixed expression. “Not that I want you gone or anything, but why are you sitting here?”

“Hm?” Maki stole a calamari ring off Nico’s plate and dipped it in a sauce that was on Nozomi’s plate. “What, am I not allowed to sit wherever I want? Besides, Eli and Umi were talking about boring business stuff.”

When Maki reached for another calamari, Nico slapped her hand away. “First of all, mine. Second of all, what’s the real reason?”

“Saw you wrestling with that lobster. And while you’re getting beat by dead seafood, your perfectly fine calamari rings are getting cold and I really can’t stand for that.”

As if on cue, Maki lifted her left hand and snapped with her fingers in front of Nico’s face to distract her long enough to extract a few more calamari rings with her right hand. Bevor Nico could let out an indignant shout, Maki’s mouth was already filled with her stolen food.

“Oh my god, you’re so disgusting,” Nico groaned.

“Thank you, I’m trying to fit in with you,” Maki said, her full mouth still chewing.

“Wow, aren’t we charming today,” Nico sighed, rolling her eyes. “Just spill it already. Why are you here?”

“Is it so hard to believe that sometimes I feel like socializing?” Maki asked after forcefully swallowing her food down.

She was met with silence and blank looks.

“Yeah, I also wonder how I managed to say that without choking,” Maki muttered with a grimace. “Fine. I’m here because I want to be here. Happy?”

“Not until I earn my first music award, but that’s another question for that matter.” Nico turned to Kotori and Nozomi. “Question: Why is she here? Please discuss.”

“Really?” Maki raised an eyebrow. “You’re making a talk show out of this now?”

“The audience is not permitted to participate,” Nico cut her off. “Nozomi, your opinion?”

Maki waved her hand in front of Nico’s face. “Hello, I’m right here?”

“Nozomi,” Nico repeated in a louder voice, ignoring Maki entirely.

“Um,” Nozomi wanted to laugh over Nico’s and Maki’s serious and incredulous expression, respectively. “Well, if she’s feeling excluded from the business talks, then it’s understandable she would search for attention from somewhere else...”

“Hm, does sound reasonable…we’ll keep that in mind.”

“Reasonable your ass!”

“Kotori, your opinion?”

“Kotori, come on, I know you’re better than this,” Maki said in an almost pleading voice.

Kotori let out a thoughtful hum before a grin appeared on her face. “Isn’t it obvious? She’s here for one reason only.” And she directed her growing smile at Nico, who blinked cluelessly for a few times before slowly turning to Maki with a wide opened mouth.

Maki uncomfortably avoided Nico’s questioning gaze. “Like I said, calamari rings were getting cold.”

“Are you sure?” Nico asked in a half-serious, half-teasing manner. “Only here for the food on my plate?”

Clearing her throat and still avoiding knowing glances from three smug people, Maki added curtly, “And perhaps unfortunately also for the person incapable of finishing the food on the plate.”

“Wow. That’s the most roundabout way someone’s ever talked about me.” Nico tilted her head. “I’m not sure if I should be pleased or annoyed…it feels like I always have to make that decision every two seconds when I’m with you.”

“Well, I would have suggested a coin toss if you’re so obsessed with it, but I’m too rich to carry any loose change on me.”

“And now I’m annoyed.”

“See, decision made. Always a pleasure to help.” And Maki mockingly imitated a polite bow.

“So,” Kotori decided to interfere when she saw Nico’s hand grabbing her knife a little too tightly, “I’m so glad Maki decided to join us. Makes everything livelier.”

“Are you certain? Because I’m pretty sure someone’s going to die…” Nico growled.

“Well, seeing that my next class is math, I sure hope it’s me,” Maki said, rubbing her eyes.

“I can help you with that-“

“Stop it!”

Startled, everyone at the table looked to Kotori, who looked just as surprised about her own outburst. But as seconds passed by, she remembered what had made her exclaim in frustration in the first place.

“Nico, put the knife down. Nozomi, take all cutlery out of her vicinity. And Maki…” Kotori’s voice softened. “When were you going to tell me that you’ve taken a sudden liking to seafood?”

Maki stiffened. Her eyes were fixated on a point in front of her. Finally, after seconds of no reaction at all, she threw up her hands. “Fine. Yes, I sat down here because of Nico. She thought I didn’t want to be seen with her in public and I should feel pissed that she thinks that I care about that at all, but I get it. I’m not easy to read and if someone ever figures me out, I’d like the first copy of that manual, please and thank you.”

She released a long sigh and tiredly gazed at Nico. “So here I am. Trying to do…well, something. I’m not sure exactly what but it’s better than nothing, right?”

Maki helplessly shrugged, keeping her eyes focused on the table to avoid Nico’s softening gaze.

“Now was that so hard to admit?” Kotori gently asked.

“Terrifyingly so.” Maki’s fingers nervously tapped on the table. “How do you guys do this scary crap? Sharing feelings and stuff. What a suicide mission.”

“It’s called trust,” Kotori answered quietly. She gave Maki a soft smile. “You trust the other person not to use your feelings against you.”

Upon seeing Maki’s skeptical grimace, Nico added, “Or in your case, you trust the other person not to use your secrets against you.”

Leaning back, Maki observed the other three sitting at the table. “And how do I know when to trust someone?”

She looked into a round of solemn faces until Kotori softly replied, “You don’t. You’ll just have to take their word for it and hope they meant it.”

Maki scoffed through her teeth. “Tch. And that’s how you get hurt.” By Umi, she almost added but bit her own tongue. She was blunt, not cruel. She knew that Kotori had been talking about her own situation when she had answered.

“Maybe,” Kotori admitted with a weak smile, “but isn’t it lonely when you never share anything with anyone?”

“How does that make me lonely?” Maki asked, incredulous.

“Because no one will know a thing about you,” Nico answered instead, sober eyes searching for Maki’s. “You’ll just be that one rich brat with trust issues, but guess what, this school’s full of them, so you’ll be quickly forgotten. If it weren’t for your last name, you’d blend right in with no personality of your own. Because you never share anything about you. So no one will ever know anything about you.”

Maki’s expression contorted into a scowl. “And shouting all my secrets out to the world will make it better? Have you ever thought that maybe not knowing a damn thing about me is better than knowing all the garbage about me?”

“I know all your garbage and I’m still here,” Nico countered without hesitation. “So are Nozomi and Kotori.”

Falling silent, Maki lowered her gaze. She leaned back in her seat and crossed her arms.

“Do you think we don’t have any baggage of our own? We have loads of them and we’d be crushed by them if we had to shoulder that alone.” Nico turned to Nozomi and Kotori with a smile. “That’s why we need friends.” She looked at Maki again with a more serious expression. “That’s why you need to accept that we’re your friends. The kind that doesn’t care about your money or your name. The kind that you can trust.”

Maki uncrossed her arms, running a hand through her hair. She sighed. “I guess I could’ve ended up with worse.” She mustered up a lop-sided smile. “But then again, the only friendships I can compare this to is with Eli and Umi, and they’re not really setting high standards.”

“They don’t even trust themselves.” Nico chuckled without humor. “You can’t help them until they figure out who they want to be.”

“Well,” Maki’s smirk faded, “to their defense, that’s not exactly an easy thing to figure out on your own. I would know.”

“And how did you figure it out?”

Maki closed her mouth, eyes flickering to Nico, Nozomi and Kotori before they settled back on Nozomi. “When Tojo said she wanted to be my friend.”

Nozomi’s eyes widened and her cheeks turned red when she felt all eyes on her. “Why?”

“Because you said it so naturally,” Maki said with a frown. “You said it like being my friend was something you honestly wanted. Like I was someone that people would want to be friends with. And at first I thought you were crazy. Like, it really made me want to laugh that someone would suggest that.”

Before hurt could sneak onto Nozomi’s expression, Maki quickly continued, “But it wasn’t that. I think I was just…” A grimace appeared on her face as if saying the next few words gave her physical pain. “I guess I was happy. And that’s how I figured it out. I wanted to be someone that people would actually want to be around with. For more than just the money and name.”

Nozomi shared a quick glance with Kotori and Nico, and the latter one smiled gratefully.

“I’m glad I could help you.”

“Yeah,” Maki breathed out, one corner of her mouth curling up. “You proved to me that there are actually people who help because they care about the person. I really didn’t believe it before.”

Nozomi’s smile was tinged with sadness. She wanted to reply with ‘I’m sorry no one helped you believe it earlier’, but she swallowed her words.

“You’ve got to share some of that special power of yours with us, Nozomi,” Nico said jokingly. “We’d be unstoppable.”

Kotori smiled at Nozomi. “Something tells me she already is an unstoppable force all on her own.”

And Nozomi ducked her head with an embarrassed smile. How she wished that this was true.

Nozomi didn’t understand why she was nervous. It was just a door she had to open, just a door that she had frequently opened in the past month and even back then, when she had been afraid of the person waiting on the other side of the door, hadn’t she been as nervous as now.

“Ah, Miss Tojo,” and Nozomi flinched in shock. She turned around and stumbled a step back when she found herself staring up at Principal Minami’s kind face.

“Director!” Nozomi stuttered, her nervousness rising.

“I was wondering when you were going to open that door,” the principal said with a chuckle, nodding to the door to the student council room. “Judging from your hesitation to enter, I assume you don’t want to continue being in the student council – but I could be wrong of course.”

“Actually,” Nozomi began quietly, “I do want to keep my position as the vice president.”

To Nozomi’s slight annoyance, the older woman didn’t look surprised at all at her answer, merely smiling back with a knowing grin. “Then I’m glad I assumed wrong. I believe Miss Ayase is already informed of that decision?”

Nozomi nodded.

“Then what are you waiting for? Let’s head inside,” the principal said and opened the door, entering the room first. Nozomi followed her, seeing Eli quickly stand up and bow in respect for Principal Minami.

“Excuse me for intruding,” Minami said with a nod, “as you know, Miss Ayase, our latest vice president has been with us for a month now. I only came to ask if that is an arrangement you both want to keep.”

Eli briefly glanced at Nozomi, who mustered up a nervous smile. Then she turned to the principal. “I’m sorry, Director, but I can’t accept this arrangement. Tojo is not suited to be the vice president.”

Both Nozomi and the principal were silenced in shock. Nozomi felt her heart constricting as she stared with wide eyes at Eli, wondering what was going on inside of that head. How could she reject her in front of Director Minami when they had already talked about keeping the arrangement? Why did Eli try to shut her out again when Eli had been the one to ask Nozomi if she would come back?

“Oh,” Minami slowly said, scanning Eli’s hard expression. “Are you sure? Maybe if you give Miss Tojo an explanation on what she could have done better, she could work on improving them.”

Eli’s jaw tensed. “It’s not her fault. I simply don’t think she should be in the student council.”

“Why?” Nozomi blurted out in anger, not caring if she seemed inelegant or emotional in front of the principal. “You wanted me to come back, didn’t you? Why are you doing this now, why are you pushing me away again?”

“Tojo,” Eli muttered through gritted teeth, glancing at the principal, “not now.”

“I do believe that there is no better time than now,” Minami said, walking towards the door. “I will leave you two to talk it out. By the end of the week, I want a definite answer.” Before she pulled the door shut, she concluded with a smile, “And I won’t accept an answer that is not a hundred percent genuine.”

The door was shut and left the two third years in silence.

“Why…” Nozomi weakly muttered. She was tired, so tired of always being the only one who made an effort to get through to the other person. And each time she thought she had gotten somewhere, Eli would move further out of reach.

Eli’s hard mask crumbled. Her features softened, showing the strained look in her eyes. “When I asked you to come back, I was only thinking of myself. Only thinking about what I wanted.”

“But I agreed, don’t you remember? Because I wanted to come back too,” Nozomi replied in exasperation. “Please, don’t lie to me anymore, Eli. I need the truth.”

Eli clenched her fists. “As…as you probably know by now, I’m not the most popular person around here. I used to blame it on my last name but the truth is, I’ve made a lot of enemies myself. And the predecessors of your position belong to that group.”

Nozomi swallowed nervously when she was reminded of the unpleasant group of former vice presidents. But she still didn’t understand what Eli could be worried of, she was untouchable, wasn’t she?

“None of the previous vice presidents lasted long because I personally made sure of that. How well do you think they’re going to take the news if I let you stay? You, who came to this school just months ago, who has had no connection to anyone in our world before. A nobody to them.”

It stung, being called a nobody. Nozomi swallowed to get rid of the lump in her throat.

“Pride can be a very ugly thing, especially if you grew up privileged. And I know the lengths some people will go to restore it,” Eli said lowly, grinding her teeth. “I know because I am one of those people.”

Nozomi took one hesitant step towards Eli. “You…is that why you changed your mind about me staying in the student council?”

Eli didn’t look up. “I shouldn’t have agreed in the first place. It was arrogant of me to assume that I could live on without bearing any consequences of the things I’ve done.”

“Eli,” Nozomi whispered, getting a flinch as a reaction, “are you – are you afraid?”

“Of them? They wish,” Eli hissed, starting to recklessly pace around, “I know they can’t do anything to me. And they know that it will backfire if I can trace it back to them. Why do you think did the badminton club just accept the budget cut without complaining directly to us?”

“If they can’t do anything to you, then what are you afraid -,” Nozomi didn’t finish her sentence when she suddenly realized what it was really about. She put a hand on her forehead, wondering how she could be blind. “You think they’re going to target me.”

Eli stopped pacing, staring at the ground. “I can’t always be around you.”

“And I don’t need you to be,” Nozomi replied heatedly, walking over to Eli. “I’m not afraid of them.”

Eli slowly looked up, her eyes finding Nozomi’s. “I know you aren’t,” she whispered, her voice weak, “but I made your life hard enough. I don’t…I just don’t want to be responsible anymore for any pain you feel…” She stared at her trembling right hand, closing and opening her fingers. “I don’t want to be that kind of person anymore. The kind of person who hurts people because they themselves can’t feel anything.”

“Eli,” Nozomi breathed, taking Eli’s trembling hand and holding it close to her chest. “It’s not your fault if they choose to target me, they are the ones responsible for their own actions.”

“You don’t understand, the only reason they would target you is because of me,” Eli tried pulling her hand out of Nozomi’s grasp, but the other girl didn’t let go.

“Then let them come,” Nozomi said firmly, “I’m not scared.”

“But I am!” Eli burst out shouting, managing to step away from Nozomi. Her loose bangs fell into her eyes, her gaze wild as she stared at Nozomi like an animal trapped in a corner. “I – I can’t take it, I can’t stand the thought of you starting to regret everything, of you starting to hate me because of them. To them, you might be a nobody, but to me, you’re –“ Eli clenched her teeth shut.

Nozomi closed the distance between them again and before Eli could react, Nozomi threw her arms around her shoulder and hugged her, pulling her in until there was no space left between their bodies. “Eli,” she whispered into the blonde’s ear, “don’t you know that I’m just a fool who cares too much?”

END.

AN: It hasn’t been an easy ride and I thank everyone who participated at some point or another. I’m sorry if I’ve let you down with this ending, which isn’t really an ending just a point where I stopped writing because I didn’t know what to type anymore. I used to be a chronic ‘not finishing a story’ type of author and I’m still amazed that I managed to write Buy Your Love or Soldier Wars, so it really kills me that I couldn’t give OPA the ending it deserves.

Long story short, the love live fandom has been really kind to me and it was really the best platform for my stories so far, so thank you for everything. Hope I’ll see some of you in another fandom or whereever it takes me

#private academy au #nozoeli #nicomaki #i have no excuse

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dimensiontripperkotori · 7 years

Text

Cross The Line (1/?)

Love Live/Pokemon AU. The members of Muse and Aqours attend a Pokemon Academy, along with Arisa. Yukiho and Eli and Arisa’s long lost brother. Rivalries are formed and friendships are formed. Ships: Nozomi/Eli, Honoka/Umi, Kotori/Honoka/Umi (eventual), Nico/Maki, Chika/Riko, Kanan/Mari.

Honoka jogged down the stairs, a bright smile on her lips. Today was going to be the day, she could feel it. Kotori and Umi had already received their invitations. It had to be her turn today. If nothing turned up today, she was going to do everything she could to track down the missing post. That was what it had to be, after all. Either the post was delayed or her letter had been lost. She made her way to the kitchen, finding Yukiho sitting at the table. She didn’t notice the guilty look Yukiho shot her. “Where’s mom?” “She’s out in the shop.” Yukiho answered, averting her gaze from Honoka as her sister took a seat at the table. “She just left.” “Has the post been?” Honoka asked hopefully as she grabbed a piece of toast from the toast rack on the table. She set it on the plate in front of her and looked to Yukiho for an answer. “Uh…yeah.” Yukiho said awkwardly. “There was nothing addressed to you.”

Honoka’s shoulders slumped in resignation. “It’s fine.” She said, trying to sound upbeat despite how downtrodden she felt at hearing the news. There was still some time but it was quickly running out. Soon enough her friends would be leaving her behind. “Maybe there’s a delay or something. I know all of the letters are all sent out at the same time but maybe mine hasn’t gotten here yet. There’s plenty of time.” Yukiho hummed in acknowledgement though she couldn’t bring herself to agree with what Honoka was saying. “What’s that?” Honoka nodded to something hanging out of Yukiho’s pocket as she spread jam onto her toast. “N-Nothing!” Yukiho grabbed the letter and quickly hid it behind her back. “Ooh, a love letter?” Honoka smirked, amused by the guilty look on Yukiho’s face. “Can I read it?” “NO!” Honoka laughed under her breath and took a bite of her toast. “Fine, fine. I’ll just go and help mom with the shop.” She stood up, toast in hand and walked past Yukiho, noticing her give a sigh of relief. Before her younger sister had a chance to hide the letter in her hand though, Honoka grabbed it from her and backed off, laughing as Yukiho shrieked in indignance. “ONEE-CHAN, GIVE IT BACK!” Yukiho stood quickly from the table, sending her chair to the floor. Honoka had already backed away though and was opening the letter. Yukiho’s stomach plummeted in dread. “C-Come on, please don’t read that.” “Why not?” Honoka grinned, pulling the letter from the envelope. She starting to unfold it and Yukiho lurched forward in a final attempt to get it back. Honoka backed out of the way though. “It is a love letter, isn-” She paused when the letter was finally unfolded, revealing it was an invitation rather than a love letter like she’d thought. Her blood ran cold as she stared at the words informing Yukiho that she was formally invited to the Sacred Heart Academy. “Oh…” “I’m sure it’s nothing. M-Maybe yours was just lost in the post like you said.” Yukiho said hurriedly, wringing her hands. She truly did feel awful about Honoka seeing the letter. She’d meant to hide it before Honoka came downstairs. Honoka forced a smile to her lips. “It’s fine, maybe I just didn’t get in. I’ve never been very good at studying a-and Umi-chan said I should do it more.” She blinked profusely as the corners of her eyes stung. She had studied so hard for the test, only stopping when Umi said she had to go home and they’d start again the next day. She’d felt confident when she was answering the questions too, not like she was getting everything wrong. Obviously she had. “I’m going back to my room.” “O-Onee-chan, wai-” Yukiho was cut off as Honoka put down the letter before she rushed from the room, rubbing at her eyes with her sleeve. “You got your letter then?” Yukiho jumped and turned toward the doorway to see Eli standing there. “H-How long have you been…?” “A few minutes. Your mom told me to come through.” Eli answered as Yukiho trailed off. “I’m going to talk to Honoka.” Yukiho opened her mouth to protest but Eli had already left the room. She sighed and looked down at her slightly crumpled letter. “Damn it… ” — Eli knocked lightly on Honoka’s door though she didn’t wait for an answer before she bug entered. She found Honoka lying on her front on the bed, sniffling into her pillow. “Hey…” Eli cautiously approached the bed, perching on the edge of it. “What’s going on?” Honoka gave a muffled reply that Eli didn’t quite understand. “What?” Honoka pushed herself into an upright position, revealing tearstained cheeks. “I said I’m never going to get my invitation! I didn’t pass my test because I didn’t study and I’m never going to be able to go to the academy!” “Oh.” Eli bit her lip and looked to the side. “Well as long as you studied, maybe it just…” “I DIDN’T STUDY, I FORGOT!” Honoka wailed in distress. If only she hadn’t fallen asleep on that last night, then her earlier studying would have meant something. She flopped back down onto the bed and buried her face in her pillow again, soaking it with tears. Eli winced and gently rubbed Honoka’s back. “I’m sorry. Do you want me to call Umi?” “And tell her that I’m a failure?!” Honoka shot back into a sitting position, glaring at Eli. “No, of course not! What am I going to tell her when I can’t go with her? We only just got together and now we’ll have to break up!” “I’m sure that won’t happen.” Eli said, at a loss for what to do. She flinched as her pokemon suddenly appeared at her side. “Mewtwo, what are you doing?” Mewtwo reached out his paw and patted Honoka on the head several times while Eli looked on in surprise. “You really think it’s going to be okay?” Honoka asked, sniffling softly. Mewtwo made his usual trilling noise and patted Honoka once more. “Are you kidding me?!” Eli sighed in frustration as Mewtwo returned to his pokeball. It seemed like Honoka was the only person Mewtwo actually liked. She quickly turned her attention back to Honoka. “Look, Honoka. Even if you don’t get into the academy, Umi won’t just break up with you. And the rest of Muse won’t leave you either. We’ll visit all of the time.” “Visit.” Honoka scoffed, averting her eyes from Eli’s. “I don’t want to visit. I want to be there! I thought I studied enough, even Umi-chan said I was doing well…” She cringed at the thought. “She’s going to be so disappointed when I tell her I failed the test.” “You don’t know that.” Eli pointed out quickly. “She’ll probably think she didn’t help me study enough and then she’s going to blame herself.” Honoka continued rambling, seemingly not hearing what Eli had said to her. “And I’m hardly going to see her and Kotori when they leave for the academy!” Eli briefly contemplated calling for Mewtwo again. He seemed to have much better luck when it came to reassuring Honoka. Before she could do anything else though, Honoka had dived under her covers and Eli settled for patting the Honoka shaped lump in the bed. —- Umi wasn’t at all surprised to find Kotori waiting outside of Honoka’s house, her bag slung over her shoulder and her earphones fixed securely in her ears. Kotori brightened when she saw her, pulling them out. “Good morning, Umi-chan!” Umi flashed Kotori a small smile. “Did she oversleep again?” She checked the time on her watch and sighed to herself. “We really don’t have time to wait for her. Did you knock? I don’t want to be late for practice.” Kotori nodded. “Hikaru-san says she’ll be down in a few minutes. She’s just running a bit late or something.” “Good.” Umi leaned back against the wall, placing her bag down next to her. “Are you excited to go to the Academy next week?” Kotori gave a hurried nod. “Of course! I’m a bit worried about Honoka-chan though, I don’t think she’s…” She trailed off as Honoka appeared at the door, her usual training outfit on. She wondered what would happen to Muse if any of them didn’t get into the academy. “Sorry, I’m late!” Honoka exclaimed, bounding forward. She headed straight for Umi, cupping her face in her hands and kissed her hard. Umi let out a squeak of surprise and grabbed Honoka’s arms to steady herself but she didn’t push Honoka away. Kotori raised an eyebrow at the two of them, confused by Honoka’s behavior. Seeing Eli coming out of Honoka’s house she glanced at her questioningly, receiving a shrug in response. “W-What was that for?” Umi stuttered, her face red when Honoka pulled away. Honoka shrugged her shoulders. “I may as well kiss you while I can. We might not have the chance to anymore after next week. Let’s go to practice!” “Hono-” Umi trailed off as Honoka began to walk ahead of them, her head lowered. She turned to Eli. “What’s going on?” “Yukiho got her invitation.” Eli explained sheepishly. “Honoka didn’t so she thinks she didn’t get into the academy.” “Wouldn’t she have gotten a rejection letter if she didn’t get into the academy though?” Kotori asked logically. “They never just leave people without an answer. It’s the same as it is with other colleges and universities.” Eli’s face fell. She smacked her forehead with the heel of her hand. “Why didn’t I think of that? I have to go!” She hurried ahead, calling out for Honoka to wait. Kotori looked at Umi, noticing she seemed to be deep in thought. “Don’t worry, Umi-chan.” She hooked her arm through Umi’s and picked up her bag for her. “She’s going to get in, I just know she will.” Umi gave a small smile in response but she couldn’t keep herself from thinking about what would happen if Honoka didn’t get into the academy.

—

“Take a break.” Umi ordered as she watched Honoka walk away from everyone else on the school rooftop. They were lucky Honoka still had the key for the school thanks to her being the student council president. “I’ve gotta take this, one sec.” Eli announced before she moved towards the door, opening it as she answered her ringing phone. The door closed behind her before anyone could hear what she was talking about and who she was talking to. Umi looked on at Honoka who was staring out through the fence on the roof. She could hardly imagine what being in the academy would be like if Honoka didn’t attend. It just wouldn’t feel right. She hadn’t had a chance to tell her what Kotori said about the rejection letter she should have received and she didn’t think that Eli had either. She took a deep breath, deciding now was as good a time as any. “Honoka, I…” “Kousaka Honoka. I finally found you.” Everyone turned around quickly at the unfamiliar voice interrupting Umi, their eyes widening in shock at who it was. Even Honoka recognized the person immediately. She had been listening to his radio station almost her entire life. Professor Oak stood at the door, breathing slightly heavier than usual. Eli and Arisa were in front of him acting as a guide. “You had to pick the place with the most stairs, didn’t you?” “I-um-well…hi?” The other girls could hardly believe it. It was the first time Honoka had ever been speechless. “You were…looking for me?” Honoka asked sheepishly, running her hand through her hair as she took a step closer to the man. She had no idea why the Pokemon Professor would want to talk to her. “I am, Kousaka-san.” Oak answered honestly as he finally got his breath back. He supposed he didn’t have the stamina he once did in his youth. “You were the only student to answer my question.” Honoka frowned in confusion at the professor’s statement, but also at the brown sweet bag in his hands. It was one of the ones from her mother’s shop. He must have gone there first. “Your question?” “That’s right.” The professor smiled. “I had a special question at the bottom of the test. ‘How would you treat a pokemon given to you?’” The professor started explaining as he looked around the roof for a place to sit. “Okay?” Honoka could hardly believe what was going on. She was actually having a conversation with Professor Oak. It was like one of her dreams had come true. “You were the only one who put the correct answer.” The professor announced happily. His expression quickly changed to confusion when the ten girls stared at him in shock “I thought you would be happier.” They could hardly believe it. Honoka was the only person out of the thousands and thousands of students who took the test to get the question right. If professor Oak wasn’t the one saying it, even Honoka would have had a hard time believing it. “Well, anyway.” The professor smiled before walking slowly over to Honoka, his hand reaching into his bag. “It would be an honor if you would come and study at our academy, Kousaka-san.” Honoka froze as she watched the professor pull out the same kind of envelope that Yukiho got in the mail. “I…um…thank you!” The professor smiled at the idol’s happiness. He had been told by Eli that she was starting to think that she hadn’t been accepted because there was no letter. But the smile on her face was worth the wait. “I’m expecting great things from you, Kousaka-san.” Honoka could only nod repetitively as the professor walked back towards the door, slipping the sweet bag back in his pocket. “Have a nice day.” “I said not to wo-” Umi started to talk, but before she had a chance to finish speaking Honoka had leapt onto her, wrapping her arms tightly around the blushing idol. “We get to stay together!” Honoka cried out in happiness. Despite it being embarrassing for her, Umi smiled softly and returned the embrace. She had never seen Honoka so happy before. Honoka hopped off Umi, returning to the spot she was practicing at earlier. “Let’s get back to practicing!” —-

Honoka bit down nervously on her lip as she slipped the thin piece of white paper with her name on through the hole in the glass cube. She could see so many pieces of paper inside the cube, all with name of people she could be roomed up with. She couldn’t bare the thought of not being with any of her friends for the nights of the three years she was going to spend at the school. She knew she was very outgoing and could probably make more friends quickly, but she didn’t want to. She wanted to spend more time with her friends, but mainly more time with Umi. “Are you okay, Honoka?” Umi inquired as her girlfriend leaned against her arm. The action still made her blush despite how long she had been dating her. She didn’t mind it as much as she used to, but she wished Honoka wouldn’t be so obvious in front of everyone else. "I’m back…hi Honoka-chan.” Kotori spoke happily as she returned to her seat. She was glad to see that Honoka had joined them. “Oh who do you want to be roomed with?” Honoka smiled before wrapping her arms around the already blushing Umi, making her face turn even redder. “Umi-chan, of course.” Honoka answered with a giggle as she looked at Umi’s embarrassed face. She had always loved embarrassing, Umi even before they started dating. “Urgh.” Honoka frowned in confusion as she turned to her left. A blonde girl and a girl with blue hair were walking past. It seemed that the former was the person who’d made the comment. Mari scowled at Umi. She had hoped that going to this school was what Aqours needed to get out from Muse’s shadow, but now they were there. Umi diverted her eyes as she realised Mari was looking towards her. “Hey Kanan…” Kanan sighed softly. “Leave it, Mari…” “Isn’t that the idiot you’re always compared to?” Mari inquired as she looked towards her companion with pride. Honoka started to get up, ready to jump in and stand up for Umi, but she stopped when something soft grasped onto her hand, pulling her back down. Umi sat beside her, shaking her head with her hand on Honoka’s. She didn’t want Honoka to get in trouble. “What was it…? Kawa? Ike? OH wait…Umi, right? Who cares anyway? It’s not like she’s important.” Honoka sucked in a breath through her teeth and tried to get up again only to feel a hand on her shoulder, pushing her back down. She looked to Kotori in disbelief. “Kotori-chan, come on…” “Umi-chan wouldn’t want you to get into a fight.” Kotori said firmly, keeping her hand on Honoka’s shoulder. She looked like she wanted to get up and do just that herself though. “Just leave it.” “How did she even get an invitation?” Mari continued, causing Honoka to grit her teeth in annoyance. She really wanted to say something. “I guess anyone can get in if she did.” “Hey!” Mari flinched at the sudden loud voice. She turned around quickly to see two bright blue eyes staring at her, anger burning in them. “That’s my friend you’re insulting. Got something to say, say it to me!” Eli yelled, her loud voice attracting the attention of everyone else in the room. She refused to let someone talk down to one of her friends like they were nothing more than garbage. If Mari wanted to get to Umi, she’d have to get through her first. Mari scoffed before turning back towards Kanan. “Whatever.” She walked away and Kanan trudged off behind her with a sheepish shrug. She didn’t know why Mari was acting so much like a bully, but she didn’t like that version of her friend. Eli watched as the two girls walked away, still angry at how they were treating Umi. “Thank you, Eli.” Umi spoke softly. It was her first day and she had already made enemies. She could feel the rest of the day was going to be bad. “You don’t need to thank me, Umi.” Eli replied as she sat down, letting out an annoyed sigh. It wasn’t directed towards Umi, but more towards those two girls. They didn’t even know them, so why would they start insulting Umi like that? People like that made her feel sick. “I would do it again in a heartbeat.” “Do you know who they were, Eli-chan?” Kotori added as she took a drink of her water. She had never seen them before but the blonde one said that the other one was always compared to Umi. “Yeah. They’re two singers from Aqours.” Eli answered as she looked at Honoka who was scanning the room like she was searching for someone. “Where’s Nozomi-chan?” Honoka inquired as shs returned to leaning against Umi, but thanks to Eli being there too she didn’t blush. She knew Eli would protect them if anyone else started to insult them. “Are you not waiting for her?” “No. She said she was going to be a day late so I was waiting for Arisa.” Honoka nodded slowly. It made sense that she would wait for Arisa, they were closer than most sisters were. “She shouldn’t be taking this long though…” … “Can I help you?” Arisa questioned as she looked up at Mari, shaking a little. She could clearly see that Mari was angry at her but she didn’t know why. She didn’t even know who she was, but the older girl was obviously angry at her for something. “You’re the sister of that Muse girl. Yes?” Mari questioned aggressively, making Arisa step back instinctively. She knew Eli? So why was she so angry about it. She let out a startled squeak when Mari tried to grab her. “I can get some…” “Hey!” Mari flinched as she felt her entire body begin to violently move away from Arisa before being thrown back against the stone wall. Nico stood with her hand grasped tightly onto Mari’s collar with the usual angry look she had. “Just that the fuck do you think you’re doing?” “Mari!” Kanan yelled as she rushed over to her in an attempt to help. She’d been too busy looking for Dia to really pay attention to what Mari was doing. Nico lifted the blonde off the wall before swinging her leg to the side, sweeping the charging Kanan off her feet. “Listen closely, Maaaarrri.” Nico commanded as she pushed the blonde back against the wall for the second time, her foot on Kanan’s back to stop her getting up. “You go anywhere near Arisa or Umi again and I’ll wring your scrawny little neck. Got it?!” Mari could only nod quickly as fear finally set in. For a girl so small, Nico could almost make anyone scared of her. Nico scoffed as she threw Mari to the ground, taking Arisa by the hand. “Let’s get out of here, Arisa. I’m sick of the sight of trash anyway.” “O-okay.” Arisa looked on in confusion as Nico guided her past Mari and Kanan, heading towards the main hall where everyone else decided to meet up. Arisa still couldn’t understand why they were both so angry at her and her sister. She didn’t do anything to them and she was guessing Eli didn’t either.

—

“Pokeballs?” Rin questioned, bouncing around Hanayo as she sat on her bedroom floor packing for the new school. She couldn’t believe she was going to the heartfire academy, the same place Professor Oak was teaching. She could barely contain her excitement, what made it even sweeter was that all her friends were going too. “Potions?” “Check and check.” Hanayo announced proudly as she wiped the sweat from her brow. She had everything packed. Ready for the next day where she would be starting the next chapter of her life, and she was determined to get there on her own. “Are you sure you don’t want me to come with you, Kayo-chin?” Rin questioned as she hugged the usually shy girl. Normally she would shy away from any challenge, but this was one of the rare times Rin had ever seen her be so bold and brave with the only other time being when she joined Muse. Hanayo took a deep breath before smiling towards her energetic friend. “Thank you, Rin. But I can’t keep relying on you, Eli, Honoka and everyone else for the rest of my life.” Rin nodded confidently. “Yeah. Then I’ll be waiting for you with everyone else in the entrance hall.” Rin stated as she turned away. She knew joining Muse with Hanayo would make her best friend braver. “Call me if anything happens, and I’ll be over in a flash.” “I will. I promise.” Hanayo said with a soft smile, waving as she watched Rin walk out her bedroom heading back home. She knew going to the school on her own would be hard on her both physically and mentally. But she had to do this for herself. She stood up from the floor, moving her backpack to the corner of the room with her other bag containing her rice cooker before turning her light off. She wondered what type of Pokemon she would meet when she attends the new school. Maybe she would even meet more legendary pokemon other than Arisa’s Mew and Eli’s Mewtwo. She shuffled into her bed, drawing the sheets over her with her eyes growing heavy as soon as her head hit her pillow. — Hanayo walked slowly along the busy streets, following the map on her phone to the school. She couldn’t believe she was finally doing something on her own, standing on her own two feet. Maybe she could even do more without Rin or anyone else constantly helping her. Hanayo jumped suddenly as she bumped against someone walking quickly past her, turning quickly towards them. “I’m sorry!” Hanayo stated quickly, bowing towards the person. To her surprise, the person she bumped into just scoffed at her and continued on their way. It was then that realisation suddenly set in. She wasn’t home anymore. Everyone acted completely different than the people back home, most of them only caring about themselves rather than anyone else. It made her feel alone. Hanayo’s eyes shot open as she suddenly lost her balance somehow, slamming against the cobblestone ground of a back alley. Still in pain from the fall, she slowly held her arm. Her arm had started bleeding from the fall, dripping onto the floor in front of some black shoes. Hanayo looked up in horror at three grunts standing before her, cracking their knuckles. “Thanks for dropping in like this, doll. See what I did there?” “Nice one.” “Way’d a go, dude.” The two other grunts paused at once, patting the first grunt on the back. Hanayo, almost frozen in fear could only barely start scrambling backwards along the ground, using the heels of her feet as leverage to push herself. She felt like she was about to burst into tears at any moment. Why? Why was this happening to her? She was finally about to prove to everyone that she could take care of herself. “Listen little lady, just give us all ya’ stuff. Ya’ hear me?” The first grunt continued to order as Hanayo tried to back away, her back hitting a wall. She was trapped. The only way out was through them. “We can do this the easy way or hard way, bro. You feel me?” The grunt questioned as he pulls out three pokeballs, releasing three Zubats by his side. Hanayo could only look on in fear, unable to move any part of her body. What could someone as weak as her do? They had Pokemon with them. She hadn’t ever owned a pokemon nevermind battle with one. All she could do is surrender and let them do whatever they wanted to her. “Sparky! Thunderbolt!” Hanayo’s eyes shot open as she heard another voice. She looked on, frozen in shock as a strange Pikachu leapt over the men, sending a bolt of thunder striking down on the Zubats, wiping them out with one hit. “What the…” The first grunt turned around as Hanayo dropped to the ground, covering her eyes with her shaky hands. She just wanted to go home. She knew she shouldn’t of even considered going by herself. She knew she was the weakest link in Muse, and what was happening now proved it. Hanayo’s tears stopped as felt something land on her shoulder before hearing painful grunts from the men, making her look through her fingers. Her eyes widened in surprise at what she saw. The strange Pikachu rested on her shoulder with a smile on it’s face. Her eyes darted quickly to in front of her at the sound of something hitting the ground. A man likely a year younger than Eli stood between her and the three grunts with one of them on the floor already. The first grunt tried to punch the black haired stranger while Hanayo slowly lowered her hands. The stranger dodged the hit easily, grabbing the first grunt’s arm as it went past, kicking his legs out from under him so he crashed into the floor. He spun around quickly towards the one last grunt, kicking him to the ground before reaching to the back of his belt. Hanayo’s eyes widened in horror as he pulled out a pistol, pointing it towards the grunt’s head. “No. Don’t shoot him!” Hanayo pleaded to the stranger, her voice sounding a little squeakier because she had been crying. The man turned towards her for a second in confusion before turning back. Why didn’t she want them to pay for what they did to her? He sighed, pulling the trigger. Hayayo furrowed her brow as water sprayed out from the pistol, soaking the grunt. “Get the hell out of here before I use my real gun.” Hanayo watched in relief as the grunts quickly scampered away from the back alley with their tails between their legs. The man guessed they wouldn’t be mugging anyone else for quite some time. “Are you okay?” Hanayo flinched at the question, instinctively pushing herself back against the wall. Who could blame her, she had been through something not a lot of people ever go through. He turned to his Pikachu and sighed. He understood why she was being silent. “What’s your name?” “Ha-Hanayo…” Hanayo spoke softly as she looked the stranger in his forest green eyes, her hands still trembling. “Hanayo…Koizumi.” The stranger smiled as he joined her on the floor, crossing his legs. “Awesome. I’m Raven. Raven Evergreen and this is my best friend Sparky.” Hanayo smiled weakly back at Raven. She didn’t understand why, but he reminded her of Eli and how she would always find a way to help everyone in Muse. Raven frowned in confusion towards Hanayo’s bags with one of them sticking out. “Hanayo. You are going to Heartfire accademy, not some kind of rice cooking contest?” Hanayo tilted her head at his question, finally realising what he was talking about when she looked towards her rice cooker. “No. I mean yes! I mean no! I mean…” Hanayo whimpered as she stopped talking. She wished she could just find everyone else and forget about what happened. “Yes. I’m starting the Heartfire academy today.” “Starting. Cool, so am I.” Raven announced happily as he hopped to his feet, holding his hand out towards her. “Wanna walk together?” Hanayo stared blankly towards Raven. She couldn’t even imagine what the men were going to do to her if he didn’t come along. “Yes please.” Hanayo answered sheepishly, taking Raven’s hand. She didn’t like having to make someone she had only met walk her to the school, but she had no idea how dangerous it was without a pokemon. Hanayo stood up off the floor with Raven’s help, reaching down to pick her bags. “Agh!” Hanayo winced in pain as she lifted her rice cooker, releasing it from her grip. Raven quickly caught the bag before it hit the floor, looking towards her arm. “How much does it hurt?” “About a 7 out of 10.” Hanayo smiled despite the pain as she watched Raven’s Pikachu creep slowly down her raised arm, starting to gently lick the cut with a worried expression on it’s face. Hanayo expression changed to a more serious one as her eyes ran down the Pikachu to it’s tail. It was made of metal, and shorter than most Pikachu. “What…happened to him?” Raven smiled faded as he grabbed the other bags, remembering what happened to Sparky. “It’s a long story. But the quick version is that he was tested on by a group of people know as Team Pulse.” Hanayo was horrified by the news. Why would people do something so evil to such an adorable pokemon. “Why would they do that?!” Raven stopped at the end of the back alley, turning back towards Hanayo. “Are you meeting your friends at the school?” Hanayo didn’t fail to notice how Raven changed the subject, though she decided it would be best not to push it. He was helping her without asking for anything in return. She looked at him as they walked, amazed by how fit he actually was. He was carrying almost all her bags in one hand with the other one containing the rice cooker slung over his shoulder. Hanayo’s eyes widened in shock as she lost her balance, falling forward. Raven couldn’t do anything to stop it this time, his hands were full of her bags. Sparky leapt off the falling Hanayo, turning quickly around and standing on it’s two back feet. Raven could tell what it was going to do and got ready for it to end badly. Sparky stretched it’s stubby hands forward, ready for the falling Hanayo. With a loud thud, Hanayo slammed into the ground squashing Sparky in between her and the floor. “Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no.” Hanayo started panicking quickly, scrambling off Sparky as quickly as she could. What had she done?! She couldn’t believe she had just hurt Raven’s Pikachu. He must think she’s a monster. “What did you think was going to happen, Sparky?” Raven questioned at the Pikachu, waiting for a moment before it hopped to it’s feet once more like nothing happened. “I’m sorry.” Hanayo exclaimed frantically, rushing over to Sparky. “I’m sorry.” Raven smiled, watching Hanayo looked all over Sparky’s body for any injury. It was adorable how much she actually cared despite only just meeting them. “It’s okay, Hanayo. But we should get going to the school before starts.” Hanayo jumped as she remembered where she was going. They wasted a lot of time, so they’re going to have to hurry. At least she didn’t need to worry about any more thugs trying thanks to Raven being with her. She really hoped they could be friends.

—

“So what happened?” Officer Jenny inquired as she walked onto the crime scene, lifting the yellow and black tape up over herself. She was just about to end her shift when she got a call about shots being fired.

“Two John Does with every bit of anything to give them an identity wiped and scrubbed.” The first police officer, a lieutenant with long black hair tied up in a ponytail behind her answered. Her dark green eyes looking down at the covered up bodies.

Officer Jenny crouched down, looking at the wall behind her. It was covered in blood, more than likely the blood of the two victims. “How long ago did the two victims die?” She inquired, lifting the blood soaked sheet off one of the bodies. The shots were clean, in the centre of their heads. Whoever the killer was, they weren’t a novice. A professional.

“About an hour ago. Also I wouldn’t be so sure about the men being victims, Ma’am.” The lieutenant answered honestly, making Officer Jenny look towards her with frowned brows.

“What do you mean, Rei?” Officer Jenny questioned as she covered the dead man back up with the sheet. The Captain was already claiming ownership of the two kills, saying that he stopped a terrorist attack. But that was a lie. The captain couldn’t shoot someone if they held the gun up to their own head and allowed him to pull the trigger. He had sent them to search the crime scene for the real shooter. “The Captain says that it’s a simple shooting.”

“The Captain also says that Halloween is the devil’s birthday.”

“…Fair enough. Continue.”

“The two men had sniper rifles of their own, Military grade stuff to boot.” The lieutenant started to explain, putting her hands into new plastic gloves so she can pick up one of the sniper rifles. She walked over to the edge, aiming the rifle as the men would of. “Notice the blood splatter on the wall behind me. It says that the two men were focusing on the same spot, like lets say the same target as someone they were going to set up.”

Officer Jenny stood up quickly, looking down at where Rei was looking. She was right. The best position to hit someone on the street below would of been at the construction sight. “Anything else?”

“Well beside the fact that there are no bullet shells from either of the two rifles on this roof, it looks like they were taken by surprise by their target shooting them.” Officer Jenny could barely believe Rei was still a Lieutenant. With the level of work she had put into this, it wouldn’t be a surprise if she mistook her for a detective. “We also found a perfect condition silencer for a heavy sniper rifle on the top floor of the construction sight with two bullets on street level away from where anyone else would be.”

Officer Jenny’s eyes widened in realisation as she figured out what happened. What Rei was suggesting. “The third sniper shot without the silencer on purpose. They were scaring away the target. They saved them from the two snipers up here.” Officer Jenny clenched her fist as she started thinking about how the Captain was stealing the credit for the save from someone else. She really hated him. She smiled, turning her attention back to Rei. “Nicely done, Lieutenant Ayasa. How are your family anyway?”

“They’re good. Eli and Arisa are starting a new school with all their friends, and Derek is still being a good husband.” Rei answered honestly, moving over to the wall with Officer Jenny. She hadn’t really given her family much thought since she found out a member of her family were still alive years after she thought they died.

“What about your son? I can’t imagine what it’s like finding out the son you thought died when he was a baby came back 17 years later.” Officer Jenny didn’t miss Rei’s eyes look down for a moment before turning to her. Rei knew why too. She missed growing up with her son, what Eli and Arisa would of been like if they had a brother with them.

“Yeah. He’s going to the school too, so it’ll be interesting to see how well he gets along with Eli and Arisa.” Rei closed her eyes after answering. She didn’t know everything from her son’s past, just that it was hell for him. A small smile tugged at her lips as a thought crossed her mind. At least her entire family were together once again.

TBC

#nozoeli #honoumi #nicomaki #kotohonoumi #pokemon #kotohono #fanfiction

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mackinmacki · 7 years

Text

Shipping Wars

Rating: K+

Word Count: 2786

Pairings: DiaMari (Implied)

Summary: Dia and Kanan have a little argument about idols. Somewhat AU-ish taking place in Dia, Kanan, and Mari's first year at Uranohoshi, where the seven girls (minus Riko and Yoshiko) all know each other.

Link: (FFN) | (AO3)

"I don't think I heard you correctly, Kanan." Dia folded her hands together, leaning forward in her chair and staring at a squirming Kanan. "What exactly did you just say to me?"

"Ahaha... I-I didn't say anything, Dia." Kanan backed up from her position on the floor, trying to avoid looking at Dia. Though she knew her friend would never harm her, there was something in those eyes that could scare even the bravest of souls.

"If I recall correctly, you said, and I quote, 'I think EliUmi is a pretty cute pairing.'" Dia's eyes were burning with intense flames, so bright that they even made Mari shudder a bit. "Those were the exact words that came out of your unforgivable mouth, Kanan. Eli and Umi... as a pairing."

"W-Well, it's just a personal-"

"How dare you come into my house and say these things in my face!" Dia erupted, making both Kanan and Mari scurry back as Dia stood up from her chair. They knew that she was passionate about idols, but this was beyond belief.

"Y-You invited me over..." Kanan muttered weakly, not wanting to aggravate Dia any further.

"The holy pairing of Nozomi and Eli is a sacred bond between two lovers." Dia clasped her hands together, looking up reverently at the ceiling. "The love they hold for each other is so pure, it's impossible to not feel it in your very soul." Then she glanced back down, side-eyeing Kanan. "And yet here you are, in my room, speaking sacrilege like you know them!"

"B-But you've never met... Uh, never mind." This was not a can of worms Kanan wanted to open right now. "I-It's not that I think NozoEli is a bad pairing, Dia! I just think EliUmi is cute too. It's not a big deal."

"No big deal?! What things in common do those two have, huh? Tell me!"

"W-Well, they're both kinda strict, and they have friends who can be goofs something." This did not seem to abate Dia's fury.

"I don't think you understand how much Nozomi and Eli went through to get through where they are today. Love Live champions! You just can't... I won't..." Dia looked like she was about to blow a gasket. She may well have done it if it wasn't for the door to her room opening. Standing in the doorway was Ruby, a concerned look on her face.

"Dia, what's wrong? I heard shouting."

"Ruby, it's a tragedy. It's the worst thing that's ever been said in this house." Ruby's eyes widened as she covered her mouth. What horrific thing had been said there?

"E-Even worse than when dad swore after he tripped over your idol magazines?"

"Even worse!" Trying to calm her breathing, Dia went over to Ruby and laid a hand on her shoulder. "I think you'd better sit down for this. It may break your heart."

"Oh come on, Dia! This is ridiculous!" One sharp look from Dia shut Kanan up quick, though. She and Mari just watched as Dia led Ruby to her bed, sitting down next to her and squeezing her shoulder consolingly.

"Now I know you consider Kanan to be a dear friend." Kanan groaned with a hint of frustration. "But she..." Dia took another calming breath, knowing she needed to be strong for Ruby. "She ships EliUmi instead of NozoEli!"

At first the room was quiet, with everyone staring at the younger Kurosawa sister. Ruby was expressionless at first, just taking in all the new information. Then tears pricked at her eyes, and she threw herself against Dia's shoulder, crying loudly. Dia slowly rubbed her back, whispering that it'd be okay, while Kanan and Mari looked on in disbelief.

"H-How could you?!" Ruby sobbed out, pulling away from Dia to glare at Kanan. It was the most adorable glare they'd ever seen. "I-I thought we were friends!"

"W-We are friends, Ruby!" Kanan stuck her hands out in a gesture of surrender, feeling horrible for making Ruby cry. "A-All I said was Eli and Umi could go well together."

"There's no chemistry there!" Ruby suddenly left the bed and got on her feet, staring down Kanan with a look that she could've sworn was very Dia-like. Was that just something all Kurosawas could do? "Nozomi and Eli love each other! Didn't you see the picture of them in the marriage outfits? They're married, Kanan! Married! Why would Eli throw away such an amazing woman like Nozomi for Umi?"

"Th-They're not married, though." Kanan looked back at Mari, who had been quiet the entire time. "Mari, can you please back me up here?"

"Well, I think Nozomi and Eli are very shiny together!" Mari flashed a grin at Dia, who nodded solemnly. Then Mari looked at Kanan and mouthed 'sorry' her way.

"Traitor..." Well, it looked like she was alone in this fight. A fight that she hadn't even wanted to be a fight in the first place. It wouldn't be for long, though. Standing up, she pouted at the Kurosawas and, as a mature fifteen year old, she stuck her tongue out at them. "Just you wait, Dia. I'm going to get help, and I'll knock you off your NozoEli throne."

"Try me, Kanan. I glued myself to this throne." She stuck her tongue out in retaliation, and Ruby copied her sister. The three of them glared dagger at each other until Kanan backed out of the room. Well, she actually backed herself right into the wall, then rubbed her head and shot back one more glare before turning around so she could see where she was going. All the while, Mari was desperately trying not to die of laughter. Her friends were so ridiculous. She loved them so much.

"What's up, Kanan? Something wrong?" It was a question that didn't need to be asked. There was obviously something wrong, considering how she was pacing in a circle on the beach with grim determination. Both Chika and You had been called to meet her there, but Kanan hadn't given them a reason as to why. "Are you just gonna pace the entire time?"

"No. I mean, maybe." Kanan sighed and stopped pacing, turning to face her two childhood friends. Well, her first two childhood friends. "Look, Dia's being crazy right now."

"What else is new?" You smirked.

"I mean more crazy. All I said was that EliUmi would be cute-"

"Oh jeez Kanan, did you really say that to Dia?" You rolled her eyes, no longer wondering what was going on. "You know how crazy she gets about those idols. May as well have offered to toss Ruby in the ocean while you were at it."

"I know, but I thought she'd maybe understand that everyone has their own pairings that they enjoy. They're famous idols from the city, and they're not actually dating, so what's the harm?"

"What are you talking about?" Chika piped up, smiling at her two friends.

"Did you forget about idols again, Chika?" You shook her head fondly.

"Ehehe, yeah." Chika laughed and rubbed the back of her neck. "I kinda zone out when Dia talks about them."

"Anyway, I need your help." Kanan put a hand on each of their shoulders, a serious expression on her face. "I need you two to come with me and back me up when we talk to Dia. She just needs to understand that everyone has their own opinion on these things."

"Ehh, I dunno, Kanan. Dia's really scary..." Not that You was afraid of anyone, but Dia was no normal person. She was pretty sure that Dia had killed a man. "And besides, isn't it kinda weird to ship real people together?"

"You're not being a team player, You." Kanan sighed and turned to Chika. "What about you, Chika? Will you help me out?"

"Sure!" Chika smiled brightly, giving Kanan a thumbs up. "I love EliBoomi!"

"It's EliUmi."

"Whomi?"

"... We'll work on that."

After school the next day, Ruby was in her room studying with Hanamaru. The previous day's fight had been forgotten, and she hadn't even bothered to tell Hanamaru about it. Sure, she'd been upset, but it was a new day, with new things to do. It was better to leave things to Dia, who had spent last night creating a PowerPoint presentation about how NozoEli was better than EliUmi.

When the doorbell rang, she was sure that Dia would answer it, so she kept studying. After a minute, it rang again, which surprised Ruby. Dia was always so prompt with answering the door. Looked like it was up to her to answer it. "I'll be right back, Hanamaru." She stood up and smiled at her friend, then went to the door and looked through the peephole. Safety first.

On the porch stood Kanan, Chika, and You. Since she knew them, Ruby opened the door. "Hi! Are you three here to see..." Then it occurred to her just why they would be there. Her smile fell immediately. "You're here about the shipping war, aren't you?"

"Yes. Can we speak to Dia, please?" Ruby sighed but complied, allowing the three of them entrance. Then the four of them went to Dia's room, where Ruby knocked on the door.

"Sis? The traitor is here." Kanan rolled her eyes at the nickname, but didn't say anything.

"Uh, alright! Let me get the PowerPoint ready! Just tell her to stay in the living room!" Chika and You looked at each other, wondering why Dia sounded so harried. They even heard her murmuring something, though it was so quiet that even pressing their ears against the door yielded nothing. Then they were given light swats on the arm from Ruby.

"You heard my big sis. To the living room, all of you!" She really could be like her sister when the moment popped up. The three of them scrambled over to the living room, while Ruby went to fetch Hanamaru. It was time for a throwdown.

Dia exited her room, her laptop under her arm. She joined the others in the living room, putting her laptop down on the coffee table and opening it up. "Once Mari gets here, we can begin our discussion."

"Wait, you really made a PowerPoint?" Chika groaned, flopping down on top of You's lap. "Aww, that's so lame! I don't want a lecture after school!" Dia narrowed her eyes, about to admonish Chika before Mari bounded in with a big smile on her face.

"I'm here! So we can get this party started!" She went over and slung an arm across Dia's shoulders. "You know, instead of a lecture, we could do a game of water chicken! Everybody has their bikinis, right?"

"Mari! I worked hard on the PowerPoint! Why is everyone being so rude?" Dia pouted at all of them, folding her arms. "My house, my rules."

"You know what, Dia? No." Kanan stood up defiantly, getting a round of gasps from the younger ones. "I brought Chika and You here to stand beside me, and we're going first." Dia stiffened at this bout of defiance, but she just nodded and allowed them to go first. "Isn't this getting a bit ridiculous? One pairing isn't better than another, and they don't define us, right?"

"Kanan's right." You was the next one to chime in. "This has gotten out of hand. Can't we all agree to disagree?"

"No." Dia was resolute, eyeing them with a steely gaze.

"Alright, then I will destroy you." Kanan returned her steely gaze, shocking Chika and You. What happened to making peace? "I may not have a fancy PowerPoint, but I'll still take you down, Dia."

"Hah! You will bow before the might of NozoEli!" Dia grinned confidently as she booted up the presentation.

"Come on Dia, do we really need the PowerPoint?" Mari laughed, hugging Dia back to her side. "We could discuss it over hamburgers, right?"

"I worked all night on this, Mari," Dia whispered harshly, leaning into Mari's ear. "If you don't let me show this, good luck getting into my pants tonight." Mari froze, thinking about her chances slowly slipping away.

"H-Haha, I can't wait to see your presentation, Dia! I'm sure it's the shiniest thing ever!" Satisfied, Dia smirked and began her presentation. "So let's start with the commonality of friends to lovers."

"Ughhh," Chika groaned. "Can I die instead?"

"Save all questions for the end of the presentation!"

Dia's presentation was long and thorough. Mari had to fight to stay awake, if only for a potential victory 'celebration' later on that night. Chika was already conked out, while Kanan stared on with determination. Only Ruby seemed genuinely interested in the presentation, while Hanamaru was excited by how the computer worked.

After it was finished, Kanan tried to make points about EliUmi, but Dia kept interrupting her with various Muse anecdotes. It made Kanan mad enough that they began arguing again, and pulling the others into said argument. Nobody else wanted to get involved, but they were unwilling participants in this mess.

"Okay, so it's three for NozoEli..."

"And three for EliUmi..." Dia and Kanan looked at each other, then their gazes went straight to Hanamaru. She had been staring at the computer, but she looked up when she felt six pairs of eyes on her.

"Z-Zura?"

"Hanamaru! Which pairing do you like best?" Both Dia and Kanan rushed over to her, trapping her on the couch. "You know that NozoEli is the superior, sensible answer, right?"

"Don't let her bully you, Hanamaru! You don't have to like what everyone else does!" Hanamaru looked between each of them, shrinking back into the couch as far as she could. Then she felt someone touching her shoulder, and she looked into the calming face of Ruby.

"It's okay, Hanamaru. Pick whichever pairing you like the best." Ruby's calming demeanor put Hanamaru at ease, and it also helped abate the loud campaigning of Dia and Kanan. Now it felt like she could breathe again, and she could make her own decision. Silently thanking Ruby, she thought on everything Ruby had told her about idols.

"Hmm... My favorite pairing is..." Everyone leaned in closer. "Rin and Hanayo, zura!" Everyone else collapsed onto each other.

"Well, they are really cute together." Ruby smiled, rubbing Hanamaru's shoulder. The others murmured their agreements, except for Chika, who had slept through all the commotion. She was still laying on You's lap, keeping the other girl incapacitated.

"Uh, anyone wanna help me out here?"

"Sure!" Mari grinned, cupping her hands around her mouth and leaning down next to Chika. "Some!"

Chika shot up off of You's lap. "Body once told me!" She then noticed everyone staring at her. "Huh? Oh, did I sleep through the entire argument?"

"Yeah, but it's over now." Kanan smiled and gave Dia a hug. "I think Hanamaru made all the tension go away."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." All the anger that Dia had held seemed to be washed away from the pure innocence of Hanamaru. "I'm sure there's common ground between us, no matter what pairing we like."

"Exactly!" Mari smiled broadly, joining in with the hug. "Now we can all forget this silly spat ever happened."

"Mari's right." Everybody could breathe a sigh of relief now that Hurricane Dia was no longer on the warpath. "Besides, at least we can all agree that Nico is worst girl."

"Ahaha..." Kanan gulped, laughing awkwardly. "Yeah..." Her tone spoke otherwise, and it caught Dia's attention.

"Hmm? Do you have something to say, Kanan?"

"Well, I..." Behind her, Chika and You were desperately gesturing for her to shut up. "I kinda like Nico."

"You... like Nico?"

"Well, her story's really sad, isn't it? I mean, she has to support her family, and they look up to her so much-"

"Unbelievable!" Dia roared, sending Kanan scurrying behind Mari to hide. "Nico is such a bullheaded, mean-spirited person who tried to destroy Muse, the greatest musical group to ever exist, before they even began! How can you even say this to me?! In my house! That's it, I'm making a PowerPoint."

"Oh no Dia, please, not another one!" Kanan begged, but it was no use. Dia had already picked up her laptop and stormed away, with Kanan hurriedly following her. "Remember when Nico anointed Hanayo as the idol club president? That was really nice, wasn't it?"

"I don't want to hear this from you, Miss EliUmi lover!" Their arguing continued until the door was slammed shut, leaving everyone else sitting there awkwardly. While the others looked between each other with a mixture of worry and resignation, Mari sighed to herself.

"Well, at least angry sex is better than no sex."

#love live! sunshine #my writing #kurosawa dia #matsuura kanan #ohara mari #takami chika #watanabe you #kunikida hanamaru #kurosawa ruby #implied DiaMari

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nozoroomie · 7 years

Note

I just reread your love live fanfic gods au, although is only a one shot, I have to say I love it! T_T It's a little 'bit' sad, but I want to know more! Do you think about the others animals too? And I admit I probably don't understand the dynamics: they are gods so they are immortal? Like how Eli do three life looking for the others, if they too don't die. But you told us Nozomi and Nico are 'dead', sleeping. Please, sorry about this but I love that Au! Did someone make a fan art? Thank you! :)

I was so surprised to see this message because that au is pretty old, but I also got really excited because I had been thinking about it not very long ago!

I’ll put all the answers under a read more because it could get a little long

The animals are pretty much a combination of that one sr set for sif and my own personal animal hc’s.

So Nico, Eli, Nozomi and Honoka’s were established in the story, but the rest of them were:

Maki- Leopard

Rin- Cat

Hanayo- Deer

Kotori- Phoenix

Umi- Wolf

I made Kotori a phoenix because I thought it’d be interesting for a reincarnating god to become a bird that reincarnates as well. Umi is a wolf because I couldn’t have two rabbits I’ve always really liked associating her with them. It’s probably because of that one artist who drew muse as animals and they drew Umi as a wolf and I’ve been really attached to that idea ever since (I cannot remember the artist but if anyone reads this and knows who im talking about plz feel free to send me their twitter sdnjfs)

You also sort of have the right idea! Thanks to an undecided thing that happened in their original world, the nine of them were reincarnated as mortals and would continue to live as mortals until they remembered who they were in their original life. In order to get back to that life they had, the nine of them need to remember who they are on their own and together they’d be able to open a portal to travel from the mortal world back to their home world.

Once each of them remembers who they are, it sort of unlocks their inner god and they become immortal beings stuck on the earth. Eli was the first out of the 9 of them to remember who she was, and technically, Nozomi and Nico are the second and third, but they remember just before they die, and because of it their bodies went into a state like a coma. Once the other six girls found unlock their inner gods, the hope is that they’d be able to use their powers to wake Nozomi and Nico, which would wake Eli and allow them all to return to their world.

Honoka is the fourth to remember who she is, but because of how long Eli’s spent doing this and how tired she is, Honoka takes the torch from her and begins to finish Eli’s quest to reunite all nine of them and bring them home.

I can’t remember exactly how I envisioned what would happen afterwards, but I do remember Honoka succeeds in finding everyone again and all of them do end up remembering who they are on their own eventually, but none of them end up making it back to their original world. Instead they all fall asleep next to the other three under that same maple tree and live as the soft glowing spirits they are in the mortal world and become some sort of urban legends with humans.

and thats it I believe? I don’t think there was any art drawn for the au but I hope this answers all your questions and Im rly glad you liked the au!! ;w;

#roomie speaks #ider what the tag was i used for this au is so ill just leave it as it is #Anonymous

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musicprincess655 · 7 years

Text

Knight and Bishop, Ch. 25

Pairing: Semishira, Kawashiki

Rating: T

Tags: a/b/o, royalty au

read on ao3

“You have to have the fighting spirit. You have to force moves and take chances” - Bobby Fischer

So Eita was honest enough with himself that he could admit it.

He had a crush.

A big crush on Shirabu, and he wasn’t completely sure how to approach it. On the one hand, Shirabu’s age shouldn’t be too much of a barrier. He was hardly a child, and if he was interested in a relationship, there was no reason not to pursue one.

On the other hand, he could get burned so easily. They’d already proven how badly things could go if they didn’t communicate. And Shirabu may not be that much younger than him, but he did have a kind of impenetrable feeling around him. Eita wasn’t keen on the idea of rejection.

So for now, he was playing it safe. He didn’t have to do anything about his crush immediately. Instead, he would continue spending time with Shirabu as they had been doing, and in the meantime, he would try to adjust to life in the castle.

Which meant he would have to start making friends here. He was already most of the way there with Taichi and Ushijima, but the new guard Goshiki was probably worth another look, and it was better to get to know all of them better, anyway. He’d probably be working closely with them in the future.

They were busy most of the time – there was still fallout from the war to deal with, and as it moved into October and the first snowfall of the year threatened, they were busy making sure there would be enough to last the citadel through the winter.

Still, Eita did find some of their free time to spend with them. Taichi was just as sarcastic and biting as he’d always been – Eita could see why he and Shirabu were best friends. Goshiki was a sweet kid with a surprising amount of insight, and it wasn’t long before Eita had switched to calling him Tsutomu. He rarely called anybody by their surname once he got to know them, with Ushijima and Shirabu as glaring exceptions.

It was almost surprising to learn that Tsutomu was the same age as Shirabu, now that his birthday had come and gone. In a lot of ways, he seemed much younger, but that was only on the surface. Tsutomu had a kind of wisdom that couldn’t come from anything but experience, and he carried himself with pride, even if he forgot himself a lot in his excitement. He was young at heart, and probably always would be, but that didn’t mean he was a child.

And Ushijima…Eita had a lot more respect for him after everything that had happened up north. Granted, he’d thought Ushijima was as cold as his mother when they’d first met, but if knowing each other for a few years hadn’t changed his opinion, the way Ushijima treated him after the battle had convinced him. Ushijima, in his own way, cared deeply about his people, and could often see to the heart of their issues by observation alone. He would make a good king someday.

All in all, Eita was pleased with the people he was closest to in the castle. They were a good group.

He’d noticed that Shirabu seemed to be withdrawing in on himself, though. He came looking for Eita to play a game or just to talk less, and when Eita did go looking for him, he usually found him tucked in a far corner in the library, isolated from everyone.

Eita could understand the compulsion to push people away, but in the long run, that wasn’t going to help Shirabu. Luckily, Eita had an idea.

“You should come down to the village with me tomorrow,” he said, once again finding Shirabu with his nose buried in a book. Shirabu looked up, only his eyes showing over the top.

Eita had always liked brown eyes. Blue or green or any other color would be distorted to him, but brown was always clear.

“I’d rather stay here,” Shirabu said.

“Come on, it’ll be fun,” Eita insisted – gently, because he didn’t like what had happened last time he pushed too hard, even if it was probably better for both of them. “They’re celebrating the harvest festival starting tomorrow. Haven’t you ever been to that?”

Shirabu shook his head.

“It’s a lot of fun,” Eita promised. “There’s always a lot of games and food and dancing at night. Ushijima-sama is going with Taichi and Tsutomu.”

Something in Shirabu’s face relaxed at the promise of people he knew that would be there.

“Fine,” he said slowly. “But I’m leaving if it’s too much.”

It almost turned out to be too much. Shirabu had given the crowd gathered in the village square a look like a deer seeing a hunter. Someone had knocked him into Eita’s side, and he almost looked ready to turn tail and run until Eita caught him and held his hand.

“Stay close,” Eita said. “Don’t wanna lose each other in the crowd.”

He couldn’t help falling back into his usually accent down here in the village, but he wasn’t trying that hard to keep up the noble accent, either. This was a day to have fun.

Shirabu, despite the death threat he’d thrown at Eita for that, squeezed his hand every time the crowd pulled at them. It wasn’t as bad when they drifted closer to Ushijima and Taichi and Tsutomu. People naturally parted for the crown prince.

Eita pulled Shirabu all over the place, looking at all the games and grabbing bites of food they could carry around with them. Shirabu actually looked like he was having fun, smiling as he followed Eita around. It was a good look on him.

Finally, though, Eita could sense that Shirabu was starting to get overwhelmed by the people surrounding them, so he took them both to a familiar door.

“Hey Ma!” he called, stepping into the smell of freshly baked bread like a warm bath.

“Eita!” she yelled back, a smile in her voice. “Grab the cookies from the oven, would ya? We’re near out.”

Eita stepped into the kitchen, covering his hands with a towel to go into the oven for the baking cookies. He turned around to see Shirabu staring around with something like awe.

“Here,” he said, passing one of the cookies to Shirabu. “Careful, it’s hot.”

Shirabu ignored him and bit into the cookie instantly, making a face when he burned his tongue. Then it smoothed out into something undeniably happy when he actually tasted it.

Eita didn’t have long to hang around, instead hurrying the cookies up to his mother at the front of the bakery. She kissed him on the cheek, setting them out in a hurry. This was always one of their busiest days of the year, and the bakery was packed with people.

“We’re also runnin’ low on rolls, dear, if you’ll put more on,” she said. “Did I hear someone else come in?”

“Yeah,” Eita told her. “I have a friend. He needs a breather from the festival.”

“Put ‘im to work if he’s up for it.”

“Will do.”

Eita headed back to the kitchen. Shirabu was still standing awkwardly, avoiding anyone who walked around him.

“C’mere,” Eita said. “Help me out.”

Shirabu wrinkled his nose, but he looked grateful for some direction.

He was absolute shit at anything to do with baking, and Eita spent more time fixing his mistakes than he did actually following his mother’s instructions, called back to them every so often, but it was fun anyway.

After a particularly vicious critique of Shirabu’s nonexistent kneading skills, Eita got flour thrown in his face for his troubles. He opened his eyes to the strangest look he’d ever seen on Shirabu’s face, before Shirabu burst out laughing.

It was the ugliest thing Eita had ever heard in his life. Shirabu gasped and squeaked in his inhales, snorted and gurgled on the exhales. It was adorable.

Finally, though, night started to fall, and they shut down the kitchen. Umi – home from wherever she’d been adventuring, promising stories later – took whatever was leftover out in a cart. She would sell things for a reduced price around the bonfire they were setting up.

Eita’s mother came back into the kitchen, collapsing at the table in the corner where the family ate together. She looked exhausted, but happy. The harvest festival was their last big day before the winter, and they had to make enough money for supplies. It seemed like this year had been a good year for them.

“Sit with me,” she told both of them. “Your brother’s makin’ tea.”

Eita sat easily, but Shirabu followed much more slowly.

“Ma, this is Shirabu Kenjirou,” Eita introduced him as he sat carefully, back straight and on the edge of his chair. “He’s a friend o’ mine up at the castle.”

“He’s pretty,” a small voice answered. Tomoko walked in to sit herself down as well. It was easy to chat with his family, and even Shirabu relaxed enough to join in. His mother liked Shirabu, he could tell.

Eita kept an eye on the fading light for when the bonfire would go up. When he judged it dark enough, he stood, pulling Shirabu with him.

“We’re goin’ to the dance,” he told his family.

“Have fun, dear,” his mom said, in a voice that told him she knew.

They ran into Ushijima, Tsutomu, and Taichi on their way to the bonfire. Eita could feel his heartrate starting to pick up from the sound of the fiddles. People were already dancing by the time they got there.

“Dance with me,” Eita said, holding out his hand to Shirabu.

“What?”

“It’ll be fun,” he insisted.

“I don’t know how to dance like that,” Shirabu said, nodding at the fast, jig-like steps.

“That’s the fun thing about dances like this,” Eita said, close enough that he could now take Shirabu’s hand. “If you don’t do what you planned to do, you just made up a new dance move.”

And before Shirabu could protest more, Eita dragged him out into the dance. Shirabu looked terrified for a split second before Eita put a hand on his hip and started to guide him.

Eventually, Shirabu stopped trying to fight it and followed Eita’s lead. His eyes were starting to shine, and he was smiling again.

Then the musicians started to play a song that was especially for couples. Eita kind of wanted to stay, even if it wouldn’t mean anything to Shirabu, but he could see Tsutomu and Taichi standing on the sidelines, watching over Ushijima.

They deserved this more than he did.

“You two go have a dance,” he told them. “I can watch Ushijima-sama for a while.”

They both shot him grateful looks before going out to dance. Eita settled in.

“This dance is for couples, is it not?” Ushijima asked.

“Yeah,” Eita said, watching Tsutomu sneak a kiss before they started dancing. “They deserve it.”

“I am glad they get along so well,” Ushijima said. “They make each other happy.”

“Mmm.”

Eita looked over at Shirabu, eyes shining in the firelight. He was drooping with exhaustion, but he looked happier than Eita had seen him away from a book. Eita felt his chest squeeze. Great. On top of his crush, he wanted to take care of Shirabu and make him happy.

But if this was the result, it was worth it.

#my writing #a/b/o #royalty au #kab #semishira #kawashiki #haikyuu!!

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theworldhopper · 8 years

Text

Nice to Meet You

AN: So...this was a NozoEli Soulmate AU fic requested to me by my friend...like...months ago...and I just thought I’d share this one here. Enjoy!

3…

2…

1…

0…

Those were what the numbers in Ayase Eli’s arm said. She gasped as she saw them and stood frozen in the middle of the mall atrium. It’s finally happened. The day her grandmother’s always told her about. The day she would meet her soulmate…

Once upon a time, when she was a 5 year old back home in Russia, she asked her grandmother what the numbers in her forearm meant as she sat in her lap. Her father was seated on the couch, next to her mother who was tending to her baby sister back then. She noticed that her parents had one, her grandmother had one even little Arisa had one. Except her parents’ and her grandmother’s said 00:00:00 while hers and Arisa’s were still counting down. Their marks also looked like it was branded into skin with iron rather than printed like hers and Arisa’s. Her grandmother made her look at her and cupped her little cheeks as she answered her question.

“My dear Elichika, these numbers are not something to take lightly. These numbers in your arms, my dear, is time.”

“I don’t get it, grandma.” Little Eli said in confusion. Her grandmother merely smiled and patted her head.

“I’ll explain. These numbers tell you when you’ll meet your soulmate. See this; this means you’ll meet them in Fifteen Years. When the time comes for you to meet, the numbers become zero and when you both see each other face to face; it becomes a scar, branded into your skin for the rest of your life.” Her grandmother excitedly said. Little Eli deduced that the reason her parents’ and grandmother’s time already said zero was because they already met their soulmates…whatever that is.

“What’s a soulmate?”

“Let’s see…how should I put this so that a little fox like you can understand? Ah…a soulmate is your true love. The one you’ll marry and spend the rest of your life with…like your mama and papa.”

“Grandma and Grandpa too?” She asked back then with an excited look and the elderly lady nodded.

“Yes. Oh my dear Elichika, I hope that I can stick around long enough to meet your soulmate. I’m sure the two of you will be very happy together.” Her grandmother said as she gave Eli a big hug. Little Eli happily returned the hug and kissed her grandmother’s cheek.

But unfortunately, Grandma Ayase would never get to meet her granddaughter’s soulmate. It’s why Eli was at the mall in the first place; to get her mind off the news of her grandmother’s death and her eventual return to Russia in two days time. She felt bitter at the fact that this happened just after she died. Eli wished that she found her soulmate days or weeks earlier. Or that grandma held out until she did. Oh, how happy her grandmother would’ve been. But that was pretty selfish of her; after all grandma wasn’t suffering from her sickness anymore and she was with grandpa now. Eli furiously wiped her tears away and looked up, coming face to face with a woman, who was looking at her own forearm. Eli noticed that she was very, very beautiful; gentle Japanese features…vibrant green eyes…purple hair tied into twin tails…a shapely body and voluptuous breasts (Eli would be lying if she said she didn’t notice that after seeing the girl’s face). She could feel her own timer starting to sear into her skin; like it was being branded into her. When their eyes met, her heart started rapidly beating; fast enough that she could swear it was going to cause a tear into the space time continuum. Time slowed down and at that moment, Eli felt like there was nothing in the world but her and her new found soulmate.

But then…

Everything came rushing back; her grandmother’s death, the fact that she has to return to Russia tomorrow…and all of a sudden, she felt bitter all over again. Before the purple haired girl could say anything else, Eli walked past her and didn’t once spare her a glance as she left the mall and went home.

“So, are you sure you both have everything you need?” Umi asked her, scratching the scar of her timer on her arm. A habit she’s had ever since they met.

“Yes, Umi, we do.” Eli answered in a monotone manner. This is the hundredth time her friend has asked her that question. Though, she was used to Umi’s constant worrying; it was another habit she developed from looking out for her childhood friend, Honoka, too much. Eli and Umi met in college and the moment they did, there were three things that Eli noticed about her; the first was that she was really beautiful with her long blue hair, the second was that she was strict and disciplined but polite as well and the third was that her timer was already branded into her skin. Umi claimed that it was because she met her soulmate, Kotori, when she was a mere seven year old playing in the park. Eli wouldn’t have believed her, but then she met Kotori and knew that they both spoke the truth. Eli saw how Kotori saw her beloved as her Knight in Shining Armor while Umi adored Kotori; always staying near her and being at her beck and call especially when she needed it. Unfortunately, Kotori had to study for today so she wasn’t able to see them off in the airport.

“Alright…well, take care. Send our condolences to your parents.” Umi said before wrapping her arms around her in a hug.

“We will.” Eli said as she returned the gesture. Before she can walk away to where Arisa and her girlfriend, Yukiho, were waiting, Umi called for her.

“Wait. Your timer. It’s branded.” Umi pointed out in surprise. Eli simply nodded in confirmation to what Eli was thinking.

“What did you do? Did you get her name?” Umi asked in a hurry since they were already calling for the people who were in the flight to Russia.

“Nothing. I walked away. We’ll talk about this when I get back, Umi. I’ll see you.” The blonde said before hugging her friend and walking away. She passed by Arisa, who gave Yukiho a kiss on her cheek. When they arrived in Japan and Arisa started school in the country, she met her soulmate almost immediately. Truth be told, she felt a bit envious of her; their grandmother actually got to meet Yukiho, even if it was only through video call. Arisa has her love to help her through her grief while she walked away from her soulmate. Maybe when they come back…she can make it up to that girl. Assuming she finds her. With a heavy heart, both girls board the plane, with the younger sister eventually collapsing in her arms to cry…

The funeral went by in a blur for Eli but she does remember breaking down crying when she tried to read the eulogy she made for her grandmother. In the end, her father had to take over reading for her because she was crying so much that she couldn’t speak.

“Elichika…” A soft voice called for her. She turned around from her perch in on the living room and saw her mother. The older woman walked towards her and wrapped an arm around her shoulder.

“I remember when you were a five year old; asking about the timer. You were sitting on your grandmother’s lap when your curiosity finally got the best of you. She tried to explain to you as best as she could and you never asked again; you even took it upon yourself to explain it to Arisa when she finally asked. You were so excited for days after that day.” Her mother said with a gentle and comforting smile; one that Eli couldn’t help but return.

“Your grandmother must be so happy right now; wherever she is. Even if she didn’t get to meet your soulmate.” Her mother told her. Again, that brought a painful tug upon her heart. It was her grandmother’s fondest wish to meet their soulmates but she never got to meet Eli’s.

“Elichika…” Her mother forced her to look her in the eye. “Your grandmother wouldn’t want you to abandon your partner just because of her death. You’re angry…you’re grieving, I know. You love your grandmother so much. But think of your partner, Elichika; it’s unfair to her. She’s waiting for you. Your grandmother is waiting for you to build a life with her. If you run from her, that wouldn’t happen and that would make your grandmother sad…and I’m sure you don’t want her to be sad, right?”

Eli found herself unable to speak and simply nodded in response. Her mother had a point; it was unfair to that girl who was probably waiting on her back home.

“You…you’re right, mother. I’ll set things straight with her as soon as I can.” She said in surrender.

“That’s my girl.” Her mother said before pressing a kiss to her forehead and she sat beside her, enjoying a comfortable silence with each other’s company.

A week later, Eli and Arisa were back in Japan. Arisa immediately left their house to go to the Homura bakery to see Yukiho. Eli, on the other hand, wondered how she was going to find her soulmate again. She never even got her name; all she got was a face but what good would that do her. Sighing, she decided to take a walk. It was snowing outside and she wrapped her scarf around her neck as she wandered aimlessly. Eventually, she found herself at the steps of the local shrine. Before she knew it, she was walking up those steps; like there was an unexplainable force pulling her to the shrine. When she reached the top steps, her breath was caught on her throat. Because, there, praying by the shrine, was her purple haired soulmate. There was just something about her that drew Eli to her. Whether it was part of the package of being her soulmate or something else entirely, she felt the need to be by her side and make up for her absences since they met. The blonde Russian was snapped out of her stupor when the purple haired lady turned around and their eyes met. She felt the same thing she felt in the mall all over again; time slowed down and it’s as if nothing else was in the world but the two of them as they slowly approached each other.

“Hello.” The purple haired woman shyly greeted her.

“Hello.” Eli replied, the atmosphere suddenly between them suddenly becoming awkward. Unable to take the silence anymore, the blonde Russian decided to break the ice.

“I’m Ayase Eli. Nice to meet you.” She introduced herself as she held her hand out. The lady took her hand and shook it.

“Toujou Nozomi. It’s nice to meet you, Ayase-san. I’ll be in your care from now on.” Nozomi politely said with a shy yet beautiful smile.

“Eli, please. Call me ‘Eli’. ” The blonde said as she took in Nozomi’s form and continued holding her hand, not once having the intention of letting go anytime soon.

“Call me, Nozomi, then…Elicchi.” She replied. Even though they’ve only met twice in their lives…Eli was already smitten by this girl and she found herself warming up to the nickname immediately. It felt just…right.

“Nozomi-san-“

“Just Nozomi.”

“Nozomi…I-I would like to apologize for my actions during our first meeting. It was unbecoming of me. I want to make up for the times I wasn’t there when we could’ve been getting to know each other. To start off...there’s this cafe I know that serves really great parfaits. Would you like to have some with me? ” Eli shyly asked as she rubbed the back of her neck with one hand. Nozomi could hear the sincerity in her voice and smiled.

“I would like that.” She responded. With a wide smile, Eli let her hand go and offered her arm to the purple haired lady, who immediately took it and they walked down the shrine steps, ready and excited for the beginning of their new life together…

#nozoeli #fanfic #love live

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lonelypond · 7 years

Text

CROSSROADS

Love Live, NicoMaki main pairing, New 1Kiss AU story, 7K

1Kiss (NicoRinPana) has been on tour for 6 months, Nico and Maki’s 5th anniversary is approaching and Maki finds herself struggling with both school and the absence of Nico. So she gets talked into going out with some schoolmates, which only makes the situation worse. More intense than my usual 1Kiss style, but I wanted to figure out the Maki doctor-music equation. And There’s a playlist.

LOST

1Kiss had been on tour for six months. Maki stared at their website. Winking and cheering for their fans were the grinning, vibrant faces of the three people closest to her in the world. Also the three people furthest from her in the world currently. Currently. Currently dancing their way across Canada, then swinging down to the US, then back to Europe. Another three months. While Maki sat here, alone, in classes, bored, useless, dreaming about … Maki shoved her textbooks into the laptop and stood, stomping, nearly screaming. She’d tried connecting with Nico tonight, but no response. And she’d been … out … last night, when they usually had their weekly catch up on everything call. One they’d never missed until yesterday. Well, Nico had been available …

Maki stopped, hands tearing through her hair. So much was racing through her head, and she hated not telling Nico. But Nico wasn’t here, and how could she explain it. Even through the laptop, the past few weeks, she’d seen it in Nico’s eyes, how worn out Nico was from Maki’s loneliness, the aching, the worries, the pit that Maki saw in front of her instead of a future. And as far as Maki could tell, Nico didn’t ache, didn’t tremble on the edge of a precipice, no, Nico was busy, active, happy, achieving her goals, losing any discontent in dance and busyness, and letting sharp, well-dressed reporters take her out to expensive restaurants for interviews.

Her phone. Her mother. Not a conversation Maki wanted to have. And a text message. Not from Nico, from … oh, Maki hung her head. After last night, she should have a headache, but instead, there just seemed to be anger throbbing in her skull, she just wasn’t sure what or who it was directed at. And Nico was in Toronto, probably being feted by someone who actually took the time to listen to her.

A knock, polite, then a pause and more determined. Maki groaned and opened the door. A very stern Umi stood on the sill, golden eyes concerned, umbrella dripping. Of course, it was a rainy day, all things ended in grey.

“Umi.” Maki stepped aside; Umi removed her boots and followed Maki into the apartment.

“Have you been on your computer?” Umi asked.

“Not really. Why,” Maki collapsed on her couch in front of her computer, back to disinterested.

“Kotori was right,” Umi muttered.

Maki’s head snapped up. “What did she say.”

Umi frowned. “That you needed to be hit upside the head by a dose of reality.”

Maki laid back. “Is that like rain? Will it drip on my floor like you?”

Umi ignored Maki, crouching in front of the laptop and typing, then she dumped the laptop on Maki’s chest.

Maki focused. There she was, last night at the club, in full color, oh God, she really did wear that dress, Nico-chan would kill her, and there was Yasu, sitting next to her, head on Maki’s very bare shoulder, shot glasses lined up in front of the bar, and then again, there they were on the dance floor, with Mi and Eiko …

“They’re my classmates,” Maki explained.

“Studying hard, I see.” Umi found another page, which had a helpful written clue, “Nishikino heir takes over club for wild night with girlfriends.”

Maki sat up, placing the laptop back on the table, and spoke carefully. “Yasu was having trouble with her boyfriend. She needed a distraction and a sympathetic ear.”

Maki’s phone buzzed again. Her mother. She ignored it.

“I have a dear friend who is having trouble with a romantic partner as well.” Umi’s voice was sharp. “I talked to her last night because she was worried. And crying.” Umi sat next to Maki, “This is information I was forbidden to share with you,” Umi had a look worse than any sad puppy Rin had ever sent a pic of, “but you are also my friend.”

“Why did Nico-chan call you?” Maki felt a few old resentments simmer, even as she realized how ironic that might seem in this situation. But jealousy is a hard habit to break.

Umi never pulled any punches. “I believe she said she tried to call you.”

Maki’s phone vibrated again. Umi snatched it. “Possibly just as your mother is now.” Umi handed Maki the phone. Maki typed in her passcode.

“Mama, I can’t talk now. I’m sorry. I’ll call you tomorrow.” Maki listened for a moment. “No I’m not alone … no, not … Umi’s here.”

“What happened?” Umi poked.

Maki shrugged.

“Maki.”

Maki closed her eyes, willing the tears not to start. “It’s just too much.”

“What is?”

“School, Nico being away, seeing her talk to people, flirt with everyone, sing … do EXACTLY what she’s always wanted while I’m …”

Umi was relentless. “While you’re …”

“Here. I’m here. Stuck.” Maki stood and shoved the table with her shin. Umi recognized the temper flare and grabbed the laptop before Maki tossed it anywhere or put her bare foot through the screen.

“Ah.”

“You don’t understand,” Maki snarled.

Umi stood. “Honoka and Kotori spent two years in France.”

“It’s not the s …” Maki halted, still not entirely sure what the combination of Umi, Honoka and Kotori meant exactly. If Umi had been anyone else, she might have raised an eyebrow at Maki’s hesitation. As it was Umi, she just waited, solid and unquestioning until Maki continued, “I’m frustrated.”

“With Nico?” Umi prodded.

Maki shook her head and decided to grab a cold coffee from the fridge. Maybe that would cut off the headache that was actually starting. She couldn’t remember exactly what she’d drunk or said last night, she just had an empty, foreboding twist in her gut that Yasu now had more information about Maki and Nico than either of them would be comfortable with. What had possessed her?

Umi repeated her question. “Are you frustrated with Nico?”

Maki banged her head into the closed door of the refrigerator, and decided to just be raw, it was how she felt anyway, and she might have told someone who was practically a stranger yesterday so why not share with a friend. “With not being able to to feel her breathing, to touch …”

Umi was silent. Maki glanced to the side. Umi looked physically pained, but she whispered, “That’s what Nico said.”

Maki stood, shocked. “What do you mean?”

Umi couldn’t look Maki in the eye. “I asked Nico what she thought was wrong, and that’s what she said, that you were probably frustrated.”

Maki’s lip curled. “Because she isn’t …”

“Wrong.” Umi’s eyes were steady and warm but unyielding. “Do you know why Nico called me?”

Maki shrugged. Why care anymore.

“I’ve been helping her with meditation and designing workouts to deal with …” Umi twisted her hands, looking away again, “excess energy. We talk every couple of weeks. She seems to be enjoying rock climbing. Most hotel gyms have a wall.”

Maki’s jaw dropped. Nico had mentioned a while ago that Umi had helped her develop a workout program. Maki had puzzled over that for a few days, especially since 1Kiss had a personal trainer.

“Nico’s going to start learning kendo when she returns to Japan. She works very hard.” Umi sounded proud of her pupil. Maki was still processing.

“So neither of us is happy,” Maki concluded, after slowly working through Umi’s revelations.

Umi raised an eyebrow. “There is no single component to happiness.”

Maki popped the tab on the coffee and chugged it, the chill waking her up a little.

Maki’s phone rang. 1Kiss’s first Hot Chart topper, “Cute Girls Kiss.” Hanayo.

“That’s Hanayo.” Maki tossed the can aside.

Umi nodded, resting a hand on Maki’s shoulder. “I’ll be going. I am available if you need to talk.”

“Thanks, Umi,” Maki smiled, a little.

Umi nodded. “You are welcome, my friend. Take care.”

Maki grabbed her phone. Hanayo had called again after getting the voicemail.

“Hello.”

“Maki-chan!” Hanayo sounded relieved.

“I tried to call Nico-chan today,” Maki blurted out; Hanayo didn’t respond. “How is she?”

Maki heard Hanayo exhale, she imagined the lavender eyes looking concerned over glasses. “She’s mad. And confused and worried. Rin is trying to cheer her up. Rin and I are worried about both of you.”

Something about the gentleness is Hanayo’s tone triggered tears Maki had been holding in for she’d forgotten how long.

“Maki-chan?”

“Just don’t … ask … I’m sorry … I just … I can’t talk right now, Hanayo.”

There was a long silence. “Call Nico-chan.” And Hanayo ended the call.

Maki did. Some days, following simple directions was better than having to dive into a whirling, stormy, rock- and siren-strewn strait.

“Maki,” Nico’s very controlled voice lashed painfully across all the raw emotions digging tears down Maki’s cheeks. “Are you all right?”

“Y … yes.”

“Good.” Nico’s voice was so cold. “I don’t have time to talk right now. Try not to let photographers get shots of the next set of girls you have draped over you. The questions cut into our sound check.”

“Nico-chan …”

A knock, hard and persistent. Nico heard it. “Have a date?”

“No … of course not, I don’t know …” Maki looked confused, between the door and the phone.

“Answer the door, Maki-chan.” That was the tone Nico used when she thought Maki was being hopelessly inept. This minute Maki was proving her right. She went to the door.

“Mama?” Maki heard Nico chuckle in her ear as she stared at her mother, who looked stern.

Nico snorted. “Call me back when you’re not grounded,” and she ended the call. Maki’s mother swept into the room.

“Was that Nico?” Accusations hovered.

Maki nodded. Nothing was going to help with the headache. Certainly not anyone she knew. And who else would show up next. Cocoro? Oh … Maki felt a bit pale.

“Maki?” Her mother put a hand around her daughter’s waist, noticing the sudden shakiness.

“I have to go to the Yazawas for dinner.”

Her mother’s smile was grim. “Well, at least you’ll stay sober.”

“Mama!”

“Care to explain yourself?”

Maki opted for a kitchen chair. Her mother sat across from her.

“It was a late study session. Yasu was having boyfriend troubles, I was …”

“Missing Nico.”

“Yes.”

Her mother put a hand over Maki’s. “You know that’s not a solution.”

“There isn’t a solution.” No one was giving Maki any time to think. And she didn’t want to.

“Do you have class?”

Her phone said she’d missed her exam. “No.”

“Do you want to talk about anything?”

“No.”

“Do you want a plane ticket to …” her mother hesitated.

“Toronto.” Maki finished the sentence without having to think about it, and then met her mother’s worried eyes. Was this some kind of a fever, this aching feeling of being without Nico, would it go away in time, was there a cure?

“Well?” There was no sympathy in her mother’s glance.

Maki put her head on the table; the tiles felt cool. Nico had vetoed Kotori’s choice of wood and made Maki buy a table with nature scenes brushstroked across ceramic tiles. She’d been surprised by Nico’s choice but loved it. “No.”

“What do you want?”

“I don’t know.”

Her mother patted her hair. “When were you last happy?”

Maki’s response was, once again, automatic. “Touring with Nico.”

“Do you just want to follow Nico around?” Her mother sounded curious, not disappointed. That was unexpected.

“No.” Maki raised her head, energy coming back, “It was … we explored, we sat next to each other on trains, looked up cool museums, stared at different stars, Nico told me everything about her days, she set up master classes for me in practically every city, we curled up on sofas together watching silly things, I played pia …” Maki felt energy charging. “There was music.”

“Right.” Her mother nodded, a suspicion confirmed. “Have you eaten?”

Maki shook her head.

“Get changed. Let’s go get some food in you.”

“Okay, Mama.” Almost meek.

Her mother hugged her daughter impulsively as soon as Maki stood, before she could flee.

“Mama!” Maki struggled.

But Nishikino-sama refused to release her daughter. “You need to talk to Nico.”

Maki chuckled a little. “She said to call after I was done being grounded.”

No amusement tinged her mother’s voice. “You’re not 16. Don’t act like it.”

Cocoro glared, Cocoa was still for the first time Maki had ever seen, and her question was subdued. ‘Is your new girlfriend prettier than Nico?”

Oh gods, Maki would have prefered to face Nico’s phalanx of paparazzi. Nico’s mom stood at the end of the hallway, arms crossed, waiting.

“N … no …” Cocoro and Cocoa continued to present an unyielding wall of Yazawa disdain. Maki straightened up. “They were only my classmates.” Maki held out a box of extremely expensive French pastries. “I brought dessert.”

The younger Yazawa sisters turned in unison and went into what used to be Nico’s room, closing the door before Maki could say anything else. Inside, it was still aggressively pink, although most of the pillows had migrated to Maki’s apartment. Their exit left Nico’s mom. And a very very heavy silence.

“I regret that Cocoa and Cocoro saw those pictures.”

“Wouldn’t it be wiser to regret being in that situation?” Deceptively mild, not a safe question to directly respond to, Maki knew.

“I intend to avoid similar situations in the future.”

“Good.” Nico’s mom tapped a foot, “My daughter is very upset. She thought better of you. So did I.”

Her own mother had said something similar. Maki had thought it herself, staring in the mirror, seeing a near stranger, before heading out for this dinner. She had once thought better of herself. She had once felt in control. There had once been cool breezes, and Spring days, not stormy, drenched emotional avalanches.

“Maki?” Nico’s mom sounded worried. Everyone sounded worried. Except Nico. Nico had sounded livid.

Honesty. Default to that. At least then everyone would know where she was. “It’s been hard.”

There was a small flare of sympathy mixed in a swell of sadness in bright crimson eyes.

“Nico’s been trying; I’ve been trying, but I don’t explain things very well. And I know she’s getting discouraged because I keep …” Maki palmed the wall, but not hard enough to disturb the girls inside Nico’s room. “I keep getting low.”

Another silence, but then Yazawa-sama came toward Maki, taking the box out of her hand, “Cotarou has a new game to show you. He’s been waiting.” A pause. “And Nico never gives up on anything she loves. You know that as well as anyone.”

Maki felt the tears again, but this time they were a cooling relief, not another fever symptom.

NO SLEEP FOR NICO

Maki tried again, a third time. Nico’s phone had gone to voicemail. Maki quickly did the time difference; thirteen hours behind, Nico had had to travel back to Toronto after a concert, she’d probably still be asleep.

And there it was, Nico’s voice, grumbling and sleepy. “Maki-chan, Nico needs sleep.”

Maki opened her mouth to say “I”m sorry” or “Are you mad” or anything, but nothing came out.

“Maki-chan? Are you there?” Nico yawned. “Is this a prank call?”

Maki still got nothing out, Nico’s sounded like she was going back to sleep. “If you want to talk, or cry, or break up, text Nico, please. Nico will read it when she’s awake.”

“N … No …” Maki yelped.

“You mean Nico. You have my number.” And the call cut off.

Maki stared at her phone. Even for asleep Nico, a person Maki had probably too much experience talking to, that had been cold. Talking to Nico without Nico here was impossible. Nico was hard enough to read. And she was angry. And when Nico was angry, she shut down. And Maki just wanted to hug Nico and never let go. Sure, next week, Maki planned to fly to Canada, to meet Nico for their fifth anniversary. But at this rate, it would be a nonevent. Text something, anything to Nico, Nishikino, she ordered herself. Communicate.

M: (´･_･`) Sorry about the call; I just wanted to hear your voice. And talk to you. About being an idiot ((_　_* I love you, Nico-chan ♥(ˆ⌣ˆԅ) I miss you (⋟﹏⋞)

M: That’s about me being an idiot ●﹏●. Nico-chan is wonderful (★≧▽^))★☆

A reply text.

N: Call Rin if it’s an emergency. (｡v_v｡)

“Call Rin if it’s an emergency.” Maki stared at the screen. She was scared. Was that an emergency? Maki sat on her couch, staring … was there a song for this? Shuffle. Beverly “I Need Your Love” Universe getting in a gut punch on a bad night. Might as well turn up the volume. Maki threw herself back into the couch, the ceiling her new target, trying to picture Nico, to remember what lying next to Nico felt like, what laughter was … why had she gone out last night? To get someone to pay attention? To get Nico to pay attention? Well, that had the opposite effect. Nico was throwing up walls. Or was Maki just bored … and dangerously, recklessly tired of the same nights, the same conversations, the same worries and aches. The repetitive solitude. Now she was crying again. Pointless. No one to notice the tears. And Nico across an ocean, growing colder.

Maki sat up as the song looped again. Nico would be in Toronto for the next couple of days, 1Kiss was using it as their base as they toured that region. Time to get on a flight and see Nico. It had been too long.

BAD TIMING

Rin had told her this was a bad idea, twice. And texted her. ALL CAPS. Maki didn’t care. She’d left her luggage in her suite at The Hazelton, changed into a nearly see-through shirt she knew Nico found irresistible, threw a hoodie over it, tucked her tailored trousers into boots and flashed ID at security at the concert venue. Nico-chan’s dressing room, check. Now to wait. Rin had said this was their biggest crowd ever, made sense with Toronto’s rep as a diverse, multicultural hub. Maki had enjoyed visiting here once with her parents and looked forward to exploring it with Nico, if she could … Maki sat in front of the makeup mirrors and noticed a frame with a picture of herself, taken at the beach last year, that she didn’t recognize. Maybe that meant Nico hadn’t gone completely …

The door opened, and Maki recognized the exhausted sigh.

She stood. “Nico-chan!”

“W … w … what …” Nico spluttered. Her costume, what little of it there was, clung to her, sweat was dripping off the tip of her nose, her eyes were brilliant rubies held siege by tired red lines, and her lips … Maki couldn’t help staring. And then Nico was right in her face, finger shaking under Maki’s nose, and all Maki could feel was amazement that Nico was so close, smelled so good, and Maki stepped forward, a move Nico anticipated from a familiar glazed over look in the amethyst eyes. Nico dodged, and Maki stumbled.

“You can’t be here, Maki-chan. No one can be in Nico’s dressing room after a concert. Nico needs her space.” Nico’s jaw was so tight Maki was surprised not to hear teeth being ground down. “That’s how rumors start.”

Maki knew what that was a dig about as Nico muttered, “Nico is going to have a long talk with Rin and security.”

“I’m sorry, Nico-chan.”

Nico shook her head. “Nico doesn’t want apologies. Nico wants you to be somewhere else. Tokyo, where you’re supposed to be. Or in your apartment, when you’re supposed to be, talking to Nico.”

“I”m here now. Talk to me.” Maki felt like dropping to her knees, surely Nico must see the plea in her eyes.

“No.” Nico turned away.

Maki pulled the smaller woman into an embrace. “Scream at me if you want, Nico-chan.”

Nico froze in Maki’s arms, and as soon as the redhead gave up and released the embrace, she stepped back, arm slicing through the air between them.

“This is Nico’s biggest concert ever, best concert ever, audience crazy for Nico, and she can’t enjoy it because Maki is in Tokyo with women crawling all over her, except Maki’s in Toronto, NOT LISTENING TO NICO.”

Maki’s eyes were wide. She’d seen Nico angry before, but this Nico didn’t seem to have any warmth left at all. It was all cold, loud rage.

“N … Nico … I never … I’m s … Nico-chan …” Maki floundered, then found something to save the moment, “I just needed to see you.”

“Hmmpphh.” Nico glared, reaching behind her to tear off her mic pack, throwing it at Maki, then came her heels. “You need to see Nico, how much of Nico do you want to see …” And then her arms went up, and her shirt … Maki fled to the hall, chest tight, breathing impossible, brain stalled.

“Maki-chan?” Hanayo’s voice was a softness in the echoing confusion. She and Rin had a furtive aura, caught lurking.

Maki’s eyes looked lost. “Nico-chan hates me.”

“Yeah,” Rin agreed, Hanayo frowning at her. Then there was the sound of something slamming in Nico’s dressing room.

“Someone who hates you wouldn’t be that upset,” Hanayo offered, sliding her arm through Rin’s.

“So she’s mad?” This was galaxies beyond any previous rage level.

Rin and Hanayo exchanged a look and then Hanayo spoke. “She’s hurt. And scared. And worried. We all are. Nico looks forward to your call every week … and she thought something had happened to you. And then …”

Maki felt queasy. One impulsive decision, so many ripples, so much hurt. Another slam. Rin shook her head at Maki. “And Nico’s mad. Really really mad. So mad.”

“Want to wait in our dressing room?” Hanayo was ever kind. Maki appreciated the offer, but Nico was going to have to go through her to get anywhere else. They had to talk.

Maki sat next to the door, knees pulled up to her chest. “I’ll wait here.”

Hanayo nodded; Rin chopped her on the head. “Don’t be a jerk, Maki-chan. We love Nico-chan.”

“So do I.”

ATTENTION

Maki might have nodded off, but just for a moment. Nodded off, but never got comfortable. How could she get comfortable when Nico was on the other side of the door, as furious as Maki had ever seen, because Maki had shown up. Maki leaned back against the wall, stretching her arms, listening for Nico. And the door ripped open, and Nico stomped by and a duffle bag as large as the Idol thumped into Maki’s shins.

“Do you have a car? Nico is starved,” Nico hissed. Maki grabbed the duffle and raced after Nico. She took Nico’s arm and guided her to the door.

“It’s been waiting.”

The concierge had arranged a driver and a nicely sportif car that fit the Toronto downtown aesthetic. Maki figured Nico didn’t need a limo screaming “look at me.” Since 1Kiss had actually started having fans who came up to them on the streets in nearly every city they visited, Nico had become a little more appreciative of privacy protections.

Maki opened the car door, and Nico slid inside. She put Nico’s bag on the front seat and greeted the driver, “Back to the Hazelton, please.”

“Of course, Ms. Nishikino.”

Nico had her arms crossed over her chest, staring out the window and refusing to look at Maki. Maki slid an iPad across Nico’s lap and handed the Idol her phone. “There’s the menu. Order whatever you want, even if it’s not listed, and have them bring it up to the Bellair Suite.”

Nico turned, her eyes wide for a moment, then she “hmmpphed” and turned her attention to the menu.

“The desserts are excellent. And they’ll deliver breakfast if you want it.”

“Nico can read,” Nico grunted.

Maki pressed against the door, giving Nico space, and watched couples walking down the relaxed sidewalks, wondering if she and Nico would ever be that casual together again.

Nico placed her order, but Maki was too lost in thought to pay attention. What had brought her here? Why had she agreed to go out with Yasu? A reckless mood, the kind that surged when her outlook was dark, nothing was challenging her, and nobody was there to … Nico, when Nico wasn’t there to be Nico. Vexed, physical frustrations too closely mixed with this feeling she kept getting, that nothing was resonating and medical school was a labyrinth leading away from everything and everyone she loved. Her mother had pressed the “did she see her future at the hospital” question, and Maki had for the first time demurred. Not because she couldn’t see her future taking over the family business, but because she couldn’t sense a path forward into that future at all. She could easily see the white lab coat and the clean floors and the fluorescent lighting that would make her eyes twitch from too many late nights, but she couldn’t feel herself taking the step forward into that hallway, some echo behind her turning the present into stone she couldn’t carve her way free of.

The car stopped. Nico hopped out. Maki pulled Nico’s bag out of the seat and swallowed, best to make no assumptions. “Thank you. Ms. Yazawa may require a ride back to her hotel.”

The driver nodded. “Just let the concierge know.”

Maki slung Nico’s bag over her shoulder. Nico was wearing a cute pink and black over-sized varsity jacket with a 1Kiss logo on the back and pink Chuck Taylors.

“I’m on the fourth floor.”

Nico followed silently, until they got to the room. When they got to the first sitting room and Nico saw through to the second, she whistled. “This is big enough for me, Hanayo-chin, Rin-chan, and the rest of the crew.”

“There’s only one bed,” Maki said automatically as she placed Nico’s duffle on a couch, and turned to see Nico’s eyes flash at her.

“Nico will take that car now.”

Maki felt herself flushing. “I … I didn’t … I know … I wouldn’t …”

“Good.” Nico sat on the end of a tan couch, staring wistfully out a window at the night sky.

“There’s a balcony, if you want to see the skyline. And a kitchenette. That’s why I picked this suite,” Maki explained rapidly.

“So you could cook?” Nico didn’t even turn to raise an eyebrow at Maki, but her tone was dubious enough to get the message across.

“N … no.” Maki stepped into the other room. “I’ll check on your food.”

Nico had ordered more than enough food for both of them, so they sat at the table, opposite each other, chewing slowly, no words to share. Nico really was starved, Maki thought, noticing as the color came back to Nico’s cheeks.

“Is this show more difficult than the last?” Maki wondered, forgetting for a moment there was a reason for the weight of silence between them.

Nico looked up from her cookies and milkshake, startled.

“I haven’t gotten to see a performance yet,” Maki admitted.

Nico’s lip was a snarl. “Right, Maki-chan was too busy being a diligent student to pay attention to how hard Nico works.”

Maki’s voice had a tremor. “You were a continent away while I had school. And my break is about to start.”

“From Nico?” Nico pushed the shake away and crumbled the cookie.

Maki felt like slamming her head into the table. “From school. Not from Nico.”

“It looked like a break from Nico to me.” Nico’s pace was matter of fact, her tone frigid.

Maki stood, discouraged by bashing uselessly at Nico’s emotional fortress, hands gesturing wildly in the air. Balcony. Door. Fresh air, she needed fresh air, and space, and a minute to think if they were going to have this talk with Nico in sniper mode. But Nico wouldn’t give her that minute.

Nico stood, her voice finally afire with the emotions she’d been tamping down. “Tell me, Maki-chan. Why? Were you that lonely?”

“No!” Maki yelled. “NO!” A moment, a huge breath, and then right back at Nico, throwing all her own emotions into a desperate parry. “I wasn’t lonely. I wasn’t attracted. I was just … I just …” she felt the damn tears starting again, “I was just lost, Nico-chan.”

“So you don’t call Nico AND you went out in your sexiest dress with not one but three women Nico doesn’t know. Did you find anything?” Nico was small, and coiled, and fierce, all the astounding Nico Ni energy and charisma hammered into a perilous, cutting edge.

Maki stepped out on the balcony, tempted to close the doors behind her and just scream. She deserved this, Nico had a right to ask all those questions, but it wasn’t anything about anybody else … it was about this feeling, this empty, this inability to express herself. She found the fingers of her left hand in front of her, slamming through the air as if she were seated at a piano. A tune in her head. Ravel. Slamming through “The Left Hand.” The start. The darkness. She needed the release. And a piano, not a damn kitchenette. And she needed Nico.

Nico was in the door of the balcony, chic in black shorts and an off-the-shoulder white lace tunic, one hand on her hip, one resting against the doorframe. The picture was one Maki had been dreaming about for months. Nico was breathtaking. And heartbreaking. Maki couldn’t touch her. Couldn’t reach for her again. Maki couldn’t articulate her feelings, physical expressions were too inexact. Not touching Nico was too painful. Nico was so close, sharp angles and soft curves glowing in the light, silky hair blowing in the wind, her sweet, sweaty, fruity smell a pull, but her eyes had no welcome or warmth. All crimson challenge, a challenge Maki was no longer prepared to meet. A challenge Maki was no longer worthy of.

Maki glanced away from Nico’s intensity, arms wrapped tightly around her own torso, holding everything together for just another minute, until she could flee. “I’ll get another room. Or you can call for a car. I’m sorry I interrupted your night. It was good to see you.”

And tears. End scene. Rush past the woman you can’t bear to either be near or apart from and then practically fall to your knees when she puts out a gentle hand to stop you.

“Maki-chan.” It was a demand. “Tell me.”

Maki had dipped to Nico’s eye level in her moment of collapse. The ruby gems were dark, a mix of emotions too intense for Maki to process behind their shadows. Nico’s hands were under Maki’s arms, and the small woman pulled her inside, to the couch. She settled Maki down and then sat catty-corner next to her, legs tucked under.

“Tell me,” Nico urged.

Maki rubbed her eyes. “My mom asked me if I just wanted to follow you around.” Maki’s eyes impressed on Nico the urgency and truth of her next statement. “I don’t.” A breath. “Well, I do want to be with you … but it wasn’t just that.’

Nico nodded, still listening. Maki pushed her hands into her the couch at her sides. One barely brushed Nico’s knee, but Nico remained steady. The weight on Maki’s heart lightened.

“I hate school.” Maki just said it. Out loud. For the first time.

“Wh … what?” Nico shook herself, shocked.

Maki turned, and spoke louder. “I hate school.”

Nico tilted her head, cautious. “Does Maki-chan not want to be a doctor?”

Maki breathed out, rapidly and loudly. “I don’t know …”

Nico’s voice was gentle. “Did you tell your mom?”

Maki felt the tears again. “N … No.”

Nico hesitated. “Did you tell your ‘friends’ while Nico was worrying about you?”

Maki stared at Nico, surprised by the cynicism in Nico’s voice.

“N … no, Nico-chan. I don’t even remember anything I talked about. I just wanted … to not talk for once.”

“You looked like you were saying a lot,” Nico drew her hands together, pulling back.

That was it. Nico was never going to get past whatever she thought Maki had done. Maki propelled herself from the couch, heading for the door. She couldn’t go through this over and over, all night, throwing herself at Nico’s defenses. And then Nico caught her, arms as strong as Maki remembered, and Maki stopped, overtaken by sensation and hope.

“What do you want, Maki-chan?” Suddenly, Nico only sounded curious, her head pressed into Maki’s back as she tightened her embrace. Maki felt herself relax, just a start to the thaw. And then everything came out in a flood.

“You. Music. Freedom. Not stupid classes and stupid teachers and people who want to know all about me. And you. I just …” Maki couldn’t be still any longer.

Nico, arms still around Maki’s waist, walked Maki to the table. “Nico will make tea. Maki can keep talking. Nico will listen. Or Nico will not listen if Maki doesn’t want to talk.”

Maki let Nico sit her down. She was shaking. Nico kept her arms wrapped around Maki’s shoulders, whispering, “But I’ll be right here, Maki-chan. It’s okay. Nico loves you.”

“Nico-chan.” The sobs started, and Nico pulled Maki’s chair around so she could hold the hysterical redhead, continuing to murmur endearments into Maki’s hair.

Then there was calm. Nico was kneeling on the ground in front of Maki’s chair, forearms resting on Maki’s thighs. “Maki-chan,” she urged, her voice tender.

“I … I’m sorry.” Maki stared over Nico’s shoulder.

Nico giggled. “Maki-chan is cute even like this. Nico is just glad to be the one Maki is crying on.”

Maki grabbed Nico and pulled her onto her lap, hugging the air out of Nico.

“MAKI! Nico needs those ribs. I have a show tomorrow.”

Maki refused to let go, although she did ease her grip.

Nico put both hands on Maki’s cheeks and pulled her in for a lingering kiss before chirping cheerfully, “The Number One Idol in the Universe has a genius for a girlfriend. We can figure this out.”

Maki wasn’t really listening, her head buzzing and her lips tingling. Nico recognized the fugue state and stood up. “Maki-chan, Nico is making tea, Maki-chan is talking, telling Nico what’s been going on without Nico, then there will be more kissing.”

Maki grabbed Nico’s hand. “Promise, Nico-chan?”

Nico grinned, “Guaranteed.” Nico kissed the palm of her lover’s hand, and Maki took a deep breath as Nico started filling the electric kettle at the sink. “Go wash your face, Princess, you’ll feel better. Then Nico will rescue you again.”

Maki nodded. Cold water would help. And maybe the balcony. “Bring the tea outside?”

Nico saluted with a wink. “You got it, Maki-chan.”

RELEASE

Nico took longer than expected, but she also brought out the leftover doughnuts. “Eat something, Maki-chan.”

Maki didn’t really like the sweet, but food made her feel a little less shaky. “Thanks, Nico-chan.”

Nico nodded, her tone serious. “So now that you’re a fugitive from Tokyo, what are you going to do?”

Maki sniggered. “I am not a fugitive, Nico-chan.”

“Here you are, on another continent, hiding from school. And cute girls. Because you know Nico will protect you.” Nico leaned back against the balcony, hands on her hips, chest proudly puffed out.

Maki chuckled. Laughing was so much better than crying. “They aren’t cute. Nico-chan defines cute. But Nico-chan always does save me.”

Nico’s nod of acknowledgement was quick, and she pecked Maki on the cheek as a reward before sitting in the other chair. “You used to love school.”

Maki-chan shrugged. “School was something you had to do. It was okay. And then there was μ’s.”

Maki had such a sweet smile remembering μ’s that Nico fell in love with the hidden softness of an imposing, impossible-to-ignore stranger all over again. “Third year must have been tough, eh, Maki-chan?”

“I had cram school and exams to study for … it passed.” Maki lowered her head, trying not to sink back into memories of solitude and sadness. But then Nico’s voice threw her a lifeline.

“Do you want to be a doctor?”

Maki leaned back, staring intently into the sky as if to divine an answer from the stars. “I like the hospital. I grew up there. I want to help people.”

Nico’s comments were gentle, trail signs to help Maki find her way out of darkness. “Maki knows Nico helps people. Besides Maki-chan.”

Maki reached out a hand, squeezing Nico’s. “Nico-chan is the best, always wanting to make people happy.”

“You can too.”

“How, Nico-chan? Write songs for 1Kiss? Idol music makes people smile, it doesn’t actually heal them.” Maki did miss writing for Nico and 1Kiss occasionally, but she’d been happy to move on to new adventures when college had started.

No one should sound that weary at 20, Nico decided. No wonder Maki had tried and – being Maki – failed miserably at a wild night on the town. Hanayo had done better when she turned 20, Nico still shuddered at the memory of the look on Rin’s face when a drunk and dizzy Hanayo had bumped into one of her favorite Idols at an afterparty. Rin and Nico had been roommates for a few nights after that.

“First of all, Maki-chan,” Nico stood, perching on the balcony edge and facing Maki, “Nico’s smile and voice DO have healing powers. Don’t insult Nico. You know better.”

Maki muttered something, eyes half closed. Nico decided not to push the redhead on that point. She’d get an apology later. The thought made her grin, dangerously, and Maki began to look wary.

“Isn’t dead guy music good for your brain?” Nico wondered. Maki knew the “dead guy music” reference was her fault, from what seemed like a very long time ago, but Nico had latched onto it far too strongly. “It always puts Nico to sleep.” Then Nico posed dramatically, finger in front of pursed lips. “But didn’t Nico read somewhere that music therapy helps depressed patients and stroke victims get better?”

“Classical music and music therapy are two different things. Too many people think music therapy is just entertainment and has no clinical value.”

“Can’t Maki-chan do both? Help people with songs instead of scalpels? Change people’s minds?”

Maki leaned forward, flummoxed. “I don’t know, Nico-chan. I never thought about it.”

“Well,” Nico stretched out her arms, lacing her fingers together, “Maki-chan can take some time to consider Nico’s insightful suggestion. Nico will be here to consult.”

Maki hmmmmed and nodded. Nico sat opposite, watching Maki’s amethyst eyes slowly regain their sparkle as ideas danced across them. Then she leapt, sitting across Maki, pushing the redhead back into her chair. “But for now, Nico-chan needs someone to carry her bag for the rest of the tour. Want a job?”

Maki grinned, her heart doing flips in her chest, her lips moving closer to Nico’s. “I’m terribly expensive.”

The sigh in response was dramatic, and, of course, perfectly suited the mood, “Nico knows.” Nico leaned in, one hand tracing a line down the front of Maki’s shirt. “And Maki knows Nico finds that shirt terribly tantalizing.”

Maki shivered as Nico’s hand roughly brushed across a breast. “Nico-chan’s vocabulary is impressive.”

Nico’s hand slid under the shirt, her mouth hovering near Maki’s ear. “Nico has had far too much time to think about Maki.” Nico’s fingers began deftly unbuttoning, as Maki found herself straining to get closer to Nico, but then both Nico’s hands were stroking lightning over Maki’s skin, and the stars were spinning, and Maki was collapsing back into the chair, Nico’s agile lips a sharp, spiking pleasure as they darted from lips to throat to shoulder and back.

“Nico-chan,” Maki gasped as Nico’s knee slid into the chair, Nico leaning her weight into a kiss that dissolved Maki into waves storming against Nico, who met every surge with renewed vigor. They were going to be on the ground soon, rolling up against the balcony wall, Maki knew, and she was going to be screaming Nico’s name so loud it could be heard over the crash of Niagara Falls, and then Nico pulled her up, and somehow Maki fell through three rooms into a bed and Nico was there, everywhere, hands and lips and legs and …

Nico-chan … Maki sat straight up, silky sheet draped over most of her, suddenly awake and fearful that none of tonight had happened. But she felt Nico, right there, solid, next to her, one eye open.

“Maki-chan?”

“Sorry. Just a bad dream.”

Nico nodded, patting the bed next to her. “Come back to sleep, Maki-chan. I missed holding you.”

Maki stared down at Nico, black hair across her eyes, half a sleepy smile. “I love you, Nico-chan.”

“I love you.” Nico reached up and pulled Maki down into a kiss.

Maki remembered something and hesitated. “Nico-chan?”

“Yes?”

“Umi and Honoka and Kotori … what exactly … Umi said …”

Nico looked more awake – and cautious. “Nico-chan will explain it when Maki is older.”

“Nico-chan,” Maki chided her lover.

“Nico needs her beauty sleep.” Nico closed her eyes.

Maki grabbed a pillow, trying to sound threatening. “Nico-chan.”

Maki thought Nico had fallen asleep again, but suddenly Nico’s arms were around her waist, and Maki found herself, once again, pushed into the bed, Nico’s eyes a fiery mix of mischief and thirst. “Fine, If Maki won’t let Nico sleep, Nico will do other things.”

“Nico-chan …” Maki couldn’t look away, breathless and melting again. And then Nico leaned in, kissing her, and that feeling came back, the flood of confidence and surety, as she and Nico crashed into each other, a crescendo of motion and inspiration and love.

#nicomaki #love live #fanfic #1Kiss #1Kiss AU #nishikino maki #yazawa nico #writing

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curewhimsy · 8 years

Text

Love Live AU called Wonderful Stage, what I have so far lol

It's supposed to be the Whimsica AU version of Love Live.

I'll post more about it when I get home.

"Honoka, I still can't believe you got us trapped in a sea anemone!" Umi shouted.

The disgruntled nereid timidly peeked through the colorful tresses of the anemone to see if the giant octopi were still there. There was still one tentacle looming right above and in front of them. The girls, who were tiny in comparison to everything in the giant sea, huddled together in the far corner of the comfy sea anemone.

Honoka and Kotori had taken a magical potion to enable them to breathe underwater. Umi, being a nereid who could breathe underwater naturally, didn't need to take the potion. However, the potion was going to wear off any minute now! Honoka had truly gotten them in danger.

It all started because Honoka wanted to find some undersea love gems in order to pay for the beautiful dress she saw at the store.

"Honestly, Honoka." Umi was irritated.

"But I would've bought three dresses, one for each of us!" Honoka sighed.

"I don't even look good in a dress." Umi whispered loudly.

"But... I just wanted us to have something together again..." Honoka's usually upbeat tone grew suddenly melancholy.

"Honoka... was this was this was all about?" Umi asked. "Us drifting apart so much?"

"Mm-hm."

Umi sighed, feeling more understanding of Honoka.

"Come here..." She said out of remorse.

They hugged.

"Um, guys!" Kotori was still huddling in the corner, her lithe frame shaking and face full of shock.

-----------

Honoka was always putting her two closest friends in danger.

It all started when they met.

Honoka was six years old at the time. She was at the grocery store, on an ordinary plain old mundane Monday in late April, after school. But Honoka thought it was exciting, as she did with every adventure. That's right, life was an adventure! Her mother had sent her on one of her first ever errands, to get soup for her sister Yukiho, who had come down with the cold. Never would Honoka know she was about to have a first encounter with both a nereid and a sky angel--and her future best friends.

Anyways, that day, Honoka was feeling strange. Objects had sounds to her. Even when she covered her ears as tight as she could, she could still hear it. Oranges were just so orange. They had the most vivid and divine sound of all the fruits in the aisle. Honoka couldn't take it anymore and picked up an orange from the pile of oranges, she stared at it. It was like wonderful music was coming from the orange. Music with no words, but strong enough to tell a story to Honoka... She was mesmerized.

She was slowly coaxed out of her indulgent trance from the soft rumbling drumming of many small objects plummeting on the floor right next to her. Honoka glanced up and saw that the oranges were falling everywhere. She had realized, that by taking an orange from the bottom of the pile, she had caused the rest of the oranges to lose balance.

Honoka hastily ran around in circles for a while and squished a small orange under her foot, oh no! She then decided to frantically pick up all the oranges and attempt put them back. Some of them were rolling so far and fast, she would have to chase them across the store. Honoka defeatedly picked up an orange from the floor, and to her surprise, two more hands reached for the orange as well. Honoka looked up and gasped.

One of the two girls her age had translucent blue fins growing from her arm, and on the sides of her face. The other girl had silver wings folded on her back, and thin feathers coating her shoulders.

"Ooh..." Honoka stared. "Wow! A fish girl and a bird girl!"

The two other girls glanced at each other. The winged girl smiled and giggled. The finned girl blushed and scowled in shyness.

"I... I'm not a fish girl!" The blue-haired girl said, stuttering. "I'm a nereid..."

"Hee!" The silver-haired winged girl looked at Honoka and smiled. "You've never seen a nereid or a sky angel before?"

"Nereid...?" Little Honoka repeated the words, "Sky angel?"

"Well, it's understandable." The sky angel said. "You see, um..." She pulled out a map.

"There aren't many of us around here in... Otonokizaka City. Sky angels usually live around high mountains such as Mount Foreverest, or the Peaks of Dreams. And nereids are from the sea, you see! I wonder how this one can breathe air though?"

Honoka and the winged girl both eyed the girl with fins, waiting for her to give her introduction. She was a nereid, yet she was breathing air!

"I was given air immunity magic." She said. "It was necessary to travel the world like this."

"Wow!" Honoka honked. "You travel the world?! That's cool! One of my biggest dreams is to be an explorer!"

Honoka realized she might have been yelling too loudly in overexcitement, because the nereid girl covered her finned ears.

"Sorry." Honoka spoke in a little whisper. "Anyway... can you help me pick up these oranges? I kind of had a little accident."

"YOU did this?" The nereid looked shocked.

"Aw, it's okay!" The sweet sky angel smiled. "Everyone makes mistakes!"

The sky angel sweetly bent down to pick up more oranges, then carried them in the pocket on her shirt.

"Come on? Aren't you going to help?" She eyed the nereid. She sighed and began to help as well.

"Hey, what are your names?" Honoka asked.

"I'm Kotori!" The sky angel chimed. She had a sweet and chirpy demeanor.

"I'm Umi..." The other girl said. She seemed quite shy actually, and Honoka was able to pick that up.

"Umi!" Honoka jumped and cheered playfully, trying to get Umi to warm up to her. "Umi Umi Umi Umi--"

Umi covered Honoka's mouth and blushed.

"H-hey!" She said, flustered.

"I think she likes you, Umi." Kotori giggled. "What's your name."

"Me?" Honoka gave a huge smile. "I'm HONOKAAAA!" She spun around and tapped her feet and then fantastically fell on her bottom.

"Achoo." Honoka sneezed and her large nose gave a honk.

"Haha!" Kotori laughed. Even Umi was laughing with her face red.

"What?" Honoka asked.

"You honked!" Kotori laughed. "Can we call you Honkers?"

"No!" Honoka objected. "That sounds silly!"

"But it fits you." Umi said, with a sincere-looking smile.

Honoka pouted.

"Fine..." She growled. "Anyway, I really need you to help me pick up these oranges."

After returning all the oranges to the bin, the three girls ended up getting a prize from the store for all their hard work. (And maybe out of a little bit of pity.)

The prizes were three matching dresses. Honoka was ecstatic to be able to match with the other girls, already her new best friends.

Kotori and Umi moved to the local school, permanently moving to Otonokizaka, as their parents got jobs there.

From then on, Honoka, Kotori and Umi were inseparable.

-------

Ten years later...

Now sixteen years old, the three girls had grown out of their matching dresses, of course. That was why Honoka wanted to badly to buy another set of matching dresses for them.

#love live #love live!#honokotoumi #whimsica #wonderful stage

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lonelypond · 7 years

Text

THE DANGERS OF DATING A DIA

And here we are, back at the completely self-indulgent, Nico and Maki dropped off the grid, Dia and Ruby are their daughters, Idol Protection Program AU. Characters are not mine, license is definitely taken, all faults are mine and your mileage will vary but I hope you enjoy.

I had the thought that there aren’t enough “I bet you can’t ask her out” stories in the Love Live Universe and then this happened, You and Yoshiko competing for the hand of the eldest Kurosawa daughter.

3K Love Live meets Love Live Sunshine

THE BET

The sun was beginning to set. Kanan and Mari stood, and went hand in hand back to the Matsuara family shop. Well, first Kanan had needed to forcibly remove Mari’s hands from where they’d started, high on her torso. You and Chika sat on the edge of the dock, idling kicking their feet.

“Seems nice, doesn’t it.” You smiled, turning back to stare out to sea.

“Yeah.”

“How are you and Riko doing?” Chika shrugged, “She’s so awesome I still can’t believe she spends so much time with me.”

You found herself thinking about how often Chika was at Riko’s now, “I wonder how the student council president is doing now that her best friends are dating?”

Chika, being Chika, missed why You might have thinking that and giggled, shoving her best friend, “You should ask her out. She’s so elegant.”

“Me?” “Yeah, you.” Chika’s giggle turned impish, “Bet you’re too nervous.”

“Nervous? About the student council president?”

Chika snorted, “She has a name.”

“Kurosawa Dia.” You’s tone carried. “But why would she…”

“Why wouldn’t she? Go for it.” Chika leaned back, “I bet you won’t.”

“Oh really…” You wasn’t sure what she would have said next but a swooping figure in black nearly tripped over Chika and fell into You.

Yoshiko grinned at You, who had half caught her by reflex, “Yohane falls to earth to advise her little demons. Charming cute girls is easy for beings as beautiful as I.”

“Really.” You laughed.

Yoshiko raised two fingers to her eye and glared at You, “So simple.” Chika sat up, “Then I bet you can’t ask Dia out before You can.”

“Wait a second, Chi…” You’s objection would have been stronger if she hadn’t been distracted by the Fallen Angel twisting in her arms.

Yoshiko pushed off You, perhaps pausing for a moment to let her hand linger on You’s bicep, her voice deep and rolling, “Of course, Yohane can cast her net of charm over the unsuspecting temptress.”

“Net of charm…” You chuckled, “Let’s see how your ‘net of charm’ works against a little old fashioned muscle.” You stood, grabbing Yoshiko by the waist and tossing her over her shoulder.

“Hey, put me DOWN.” Yoshiko squealed, her black feather falling to the ground. You whirled them both to face the shore.

“Sounds like a bet to me.” Chika grabbed Yoshiko’s fallen token and lodged it back in her hair.

“If you dare.” Yohane’s bold tones echoed across the water.

You let Yohane down and met the dare in Yoshiko’s purple eyes as she held the taller girl’s hands to steady her. You was thoughtful for a moment, then dove, “You’re on. Loser pays for the date.”

“Cruel.” Chika reached her arms to the sky, loosening up for the walk home, “I like it.”

After Yoshiko had broken away to interrupt You and Chika, Ruby and Hanamaru had slowed, stopping to greet Kanan and Mari outside the store. But they had been close enough to hear the bet made. Hanamaru stepped forward to say something as the other three approached but Ruby stopped her, shaking her head. Hanamaru nodded.

“Good. The rest of my little demons have caught up. Yohane had to move at a speed beyond your mortal capabilities.”

Hanamaru remained silent; Ruby’s smile was forced. “We’re going home. Want to walk with us, Chika?”

“Sure, Ruby.” Chika linked arms with the two first years.

You turned to her rival, “I guess we’ve got a bus to catch, Yoshiko.”

“Yo-ha-ne.”

You bowed, arm out, “After you, O Fallen One.”

Yoshiko crossed her arms over her chest and stepped onto the road.

THE PLAN

Hanamaru had accompanied Ruby home and invited inside. Nico had a tray of tea and snacks ready for the two girls. Dia was still out.

Nico hugged her daughter, their heads at the same height, “Your mama and sister will be home for dinner, Ruby. If you need me, I’ll be writing.”

Hanamaru bounced happily on her cushion. She always got to read Kurosawa-san’s final drafts before they went to the editor.

“Where did you set this one, Kurosawa-san?”

Nico posed, appearing to reminisce about a far off place, hand to her cheek, “Paris. I’ve had a few adventure there myself.” “Really?” a low, skeptical voice drawled from the doorway, “Do tell, Nico-chan.”

Nico winked at her wife, “If you don’t remember, you’ll have to wait for the book. I’ll sign a copy for you.’

“Mom, Mama.” Now that both her parents were present, Ruby stood abruptly, sending tea cups clattering.

Maki glanced at Nico, eyebrow raised. Nico shook her head, hands twisting her apron. Ruby’s head came up, eyes angry, jaw set. Hanamaru couldn’t decide who to watch and poured herself a cup of tea.

“What’s the matter, Ruby?” Maki came up behind her daughter, hand on Ruby’s shoulder.

“You and Yoshiko are going to upset Dia and I think we should do something.” Ruby blurted, looking up at Maki.

Nico took two more cups off their shelf and knelt, pouring out cups for Maki and herself. When she was done, she asked, “What’s going on?”

Ruby sat back down on a cushion, “Chika was daring You to ask Dia out and then Yohane swept in.”

Nico could easily picture Yoshiko consumed by her Fallen Angel Persona.

“Does You want to date Dia?” Maki frowned. She liked You but Chika’s influence sounded like it brought out the other girl’s prankster side. Playing jokes on her daughters was a serious offense. And besides, she was not nearly ready for either of them to start dating.

Ruby looked at Hanamaru, who pursed her lips before answering, “We don’t think so. We think they both just got caught up in the moment.”

“Do you want me to warn Dia?” Nico sounded puzzled. Maki fidgeted with her tea.

Ruby shook her head. Violently. “I want you to scare them. Like Auntie Cocoro does when someone wants to date Cocoa or Cotorou.”

Nico chuckled; Maki sighed. “Cocoro still asks me when I’m bringing you home, if we’re visiting Tokyo.”

“She just has very high standards.” Nico nudged her wife with grin, “You meet them some of the time.”

Maki spun her tea cup around in front of her, aggrieved, remembering all the stares and questions she’d been subjected to from Cocoro, who although Nico’s younger sibling, had taken it on herself to act as a concerned and FROWNING older sibling on Nico’s behalf whenever Maki came over to ‘court’ — as Nico called it.

“I don’t want Dia to know.” Ruby insisted.

“What about Chika?” Hanamaru asked. “I’ll ask Kanan to talk to her.” Ruby had faith that Kanan would understand why she wanted to protect Dia.

Nico and Maki had already silently agreed to act, in a quick glance. Maki took on the spokesparent role, “I think your mom has a plan already so we’ll talk it over while we finish dinner.” Nico nodded, “Just bring You and Yoshiko here tomorrow, after practice and make sure they don’t have any time alone with Dia.” Ruby smiled, eyes back to mild, “”Hanamaru and I will keep Yoshiko so busy she’ll forget she fell to Earth. I’ll get Kanan to help with Dia.”

“Help Dia with what?” Another low, skeptical voice launched itself into the room from the doorway.

Nico was, as always, quicker than anyone else in the room, “”Plans for summer training camp.” She hugged her oldest daughter.

“I have Umi-san’s old schedule, from Muse’s beach training camp.” Dia announced proudly. Maki snorted, “Your mother loved that. Her favorite workout ever. Maybe she can take you through it, make sure you do every kilometer…” Dia’s face lit with glee while Nico glowered at her wife, “Hush you or I’ll only make dinner for the girls.”

“Nico-chan,” Maki pouted.

Ruby and Dia rolled their eyes.

“Come on Hanamaru, I’ll walk you home.” Ruby waited at the door for her friend to wave goodbye at Nico, who was ducking out of the room.

“”Don’t be late for dinner, Ruby.” Dia called after her sister.

“If there is one,” Maki muttered as she chased after her disappearing wife.

THE PAYOFF

Yoshiko had barely had a moment to herself at rehearsal; Ruby and Hanamaru had kept her busy, forcing her to go to the store for snacks, demanding she help them with their stretches, actually insisting she do some kind of weather related ritual. It was both gratifying and confusing and Yoshiko dearly wanted a moment alone, somewhere quiet. Kanan meanwhile had run You like a drill sergeant, pushing the athletic girl to her limit, sweat soaking You’s t-shirt to her back. Yoshiko had picked up an extra juice and passed it to her now rival in a moment of animal sympathy. No sense beating someone who was too exhausted to even enter the arena. Mari and Dia had spent downtime during rehearsal talking seriously about promoting interest in the school from what Yoshiko had overheard.

And now Ruby was dragging her off somewhere, Hanamaru staring at them both, frowning.

“I have a bus to catch, Ruby. And what about Zuramaru?” Yoshiko whined.

Ruby waved at the remaining first year, “She has to stop by the library. And I need you to come home with me. My mom wants to talk to you.”

“Your mom?” Yoshiko gulped and tried to escape, but Ruby’s grip was surprisingly strong.

You looked around for Dia after practice, but the older girl had disappeared. Chika and Kanan were cleaning up and chatting so You joined their conversation.

“Hey.” “No, You, you’ve got to get to the Kurosawas before Yoshiko or you’ll never win the bet.” Chika pounced on her friend. Kanan raised an eyebrow. You expected a question but the older girl remained silent. Later, You would realizes she should have fled then, but right now, Chika’s push and “you can’t do it” teasing override any rational doubts she might have had.

“Aye aye. Off to win a bet.” And You sprinted off, hoping that would shut up Chika and that Dia wouldn’t…wouldn’t what, say no? Glare? Get You kicked out of school? Why was she doing this again? Chika. And somehow, to prove she was…faster than Yoshiko? Did Yoshiko want to date Dia? You tried that picture in her head, Dia, tall, elegant, Yoshiko curvetting in front of her, all dark charisma and personality…You shook her head. It was all Chika’s fault. Best to get this over with. Maybe Dia would say no to both of them and then they could…

You stopped, now where was that thought going? She shrugged and soldiered on down the road. Grumbling about Chika was safe; thinking about girls with dangerous glares and dark auras could actually be dangerous. Stick to the sunlight, You, she told herself.

Kanan turned to Chika, “You’re an awful friend.”

Chika giggled, “I am an AWESOME friend. And maybe You will get a date with the Student Council President.”

Kanan shook her head, “Have you met Ruby and Dia’s mothers?”

Chika shrugged, “Nope.”

Kanan patted her friend on the shoulder, sympathetically, “Try not to for awhile. Trust me.”

Ruby had left Yoshiko in a large open room, surrounded with exquisitely decorated screens. Yoshiko felt small. And then a screen slid open and Yoshiko could hear chanting behind it. A figure, was it Ruby, it was the same height, covered in black lace, beckoned her with a finger. Yoshiko reached into her bag, pulling out the magical token and Yohane swept forward, following this avatar of Darkness.

A much smaller room was ringed round with candles, a floral incense perfuming the air and the, woman?, knelt behind a table, spreading out cards in a pattern, then sweeping the lace back from her face, ruby eyes piercing through Yohane’s confidence, leaving a Yoshiko who was trembling a little under her cloak.

A voice rang out through the room, “Welcome, Yohane!” A card was turned over, but Yoshiko made a point of not looking but then the woman flipped the card like a magic trick and Yohane saw the Death Card, The Ace Of Spades. With a cackling laugh, the woman launched herself at Yoshiko, “The cards say you will join the Darkness That is Our Family, O Fallen One. How many little demons will you and Dia create together?”

Nico narrowed her eyes and smiled, a piranha’s grin, putting every watt of personality into it. Yoshiko cracked, voice shaking, “Demons?”

“I want grandchildren, after all and soon,” another cackle, while Nico dragged the stiffening girl toward a cushion, “but you and Dia can discuss that over dinner.”

The hairs on the back of Yoshiko’s neck were standing. Trapped. She recognized the feeling and the blood red eyes getting closer and closer were….

“BUS.” Yoshiko screamed, “Bus. H…have to…c…can’t w…wait…must

fly…”

Nico was impressed with the young girl’s footspeed and managed to hold the laughter in until she heard the front door. She was glad Yoshiko hadn’t run straight through one of the painted screens. They were antiques and Kotori always hated finding replacements.

You had decided the tear off a bandage approach was the best, do it and do it fast. So she knocked sharply on the door. Ruby’s mama answered it, a tall woman with hair the color of her daughter. She was dressed very formally, with some kind of gold braid on a dark coat and a captain’s hat. You thought she remembered Kurosawa-sensei was a professor, not involved in the Kurosawa fishing business, but perhaps she’d heard wrong.

“Ah, Watanabe, right on time, good to see you. Dia’s told me so much about you.” Maki waited, raising an expectant eyebrow. You realized perhaps a bow was expected and leaned forward. Kuroasawa-sensei nodded and tucked her hat under her arm, “Follow me.”

You reviewed what had happened so far, puzzled, “Dia told you about me?”

“Yes,” Maki nodded, trying very hard not to grin when she noticed the mild panic building in You’s eyes. Nico had been right, this was actually fun. But she had to stay in character, it was a performance, after all, “We’ve had our eye on you for awhile. Excellent prospects.”

Maki pulled the door open to a room. You stepped inside, amazed by the casual nautical decorations tossed everywhere. Maki sat down behind a desk, pulling a folder out of a pile.

“Ummm…” You scratched her head, “Prospects?” Maki’s voice was stern, “Stand at attention, young woman. Did I give you permission to talk?”

“No, ma’am, sorry, ma’am.” Maki nodded, slighly mollified, “My daughter informs me that you are an excellent candidate for marriage.” You choked “Marriage?”

Maki smiled, more pirate than piranha, but still in no way comforting, “Yes, we want to expand the Kurosawa family fishing business. The best way to do that is to have someone in the family take over.” Maki opened the folder, “Once you sign these papers, you’ll start your five year apprenticeship.”

Maki pushed the papers toward You with a pen, “You and Dia can celebrate tonight and tomorrow, you can ship out.”

You took a step back, then another, then turned. She looked over her shoulder, about to say something in parting, but Maki had stood, crossed her arms over her chest and her purple eyes were glaring with a fierceness very few people had ever brooked. You blanched and fled.

Maki gave her a ten count and then stepped out into the hall where Nico was watching You disappear out the back door.

“I think mine was faster.” Nico put her arm around Maki’s waist. “Well, you are a little terrifying in certain lights.” Maki smiled warmly, her arm dropping naturally over Nico’s shoulders.

“Hey you,” Nico shoved her wife with her hip.

“Too bad we aren’t in Tokyo, you could have borrowed Nozomi’s cards.” Nico groaned, “I’m never touching those things…too much…” “Spiritual power” they said in unison, laughing their way into a kiss.

“Hey,” Maki said, suddenly remembering they had two children to feed, “Want to get sushi delivered and watch a movie with the girls.” “Sure.” Nico took off the mantilla, “but first I have to change, black isn’t really my color.”

Maki’s eyes followed her wife down the hall for a moment, before she decided dinner could wait for a bit, “Let me help you, Nico-chan.”

Nico’s knowing chuckle didn’t say don’t.

Dia had prepared tea and she and Mari were sitting in the Kurosawa tea house, sipping. First Yoshiko went tearing down the road, then You sprinted out of the back door, raced around the corner and headed toward the bus stop.

“I love that Kanan tells me everything. La donna dei miei sogni.” Mari sighed happily at the picture in her mind.

Dia nodded, “Very convenient.” “Are you upset?” Mari asked. Dia snorted, “They’re kids. Silly kids. It’s Chika’s fault anyway.” “True.” Mari laughed, “Now there’s a girl with no sense.”

Dia sipped her tea and chose not to comment, but Mari noted a mischievous glint behind the curtain of her bangs.

“What are you plotting?” Mari leaned forward, curious.

Dia stretched her hand out, examining her fingers, “I bet” and there was a slight emphasis on the verb, an almost vengeful note, “we can get those two on a date.”

Mari giggled, golden hair blowing in the wind, “Oh Bella, I did miss you.”

#love live #love live sunshine #nicomaki #yazawa nico #nishikino maki #kurosawa dia #kurosawa ruby #watanabe you #Tsushima Yoshiko #Idol Protection Program

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