It was early in the evening and the sun was starting to set. Only the top half of the sun peeked out from the horizon and lit the sky with a bright orange glow. It was late April and it was the last day of school for the third years.

Two long-time best friends were walking home together from Otonokizaka High for presumably the last time after a mini graduation party hosted by the new student council president and her vice presidents. The whole of μ's was there to attend the party along with other specially invited guests such as their various family members and Hideko, Fumiko and Mika.

The third year trio had a pleasant surprise when they walked into the rearranged clubroom to find all their friends there to celebrate their graduation and was thankful for the party.

Soon it was late in the afternoon and they had to leave the school to go home lest they be locked in. The members of μ's decided to walk home together for one last time while the rest went on ahead. They chatted happily about various things as the group of nine walked home together.

As they reached a fork in the path, Nozomi and Eli had to split from the rest to go home. They all shared a hug as they held back restrained tears to prevent the moment from turning into a bawling event.

As the lively chatter from the other seven faded out, the two best friends settled into a comfortable silence. Usually, they would be talking about random things but they felt like they should appreciate the peacefulness this time instead.

It wasn't long before they reached the next section where they had to split. Nozomi spoke up, surprising Eli who had also just opened her mouth to say goodbye.

"Elicchi, I..." Nozomi paused and bit her lip, clearly hesitant to continue. She took a deep breath to calm herself down. "I have something to tell you." She said in a more serious tone.

Eli frowned at the serious look on her usually playful best friend's face.

"What is it, Nozomi? You can tell me anything," Eli said in an attempt to comfort her friend in some way.

"P-promise me, Ericchi, promise me that no matter what you won't hate me?"

Eli felt worried. Nozomi sounded genuinely scared that she would destroy their friendship with what she was about to reveal. It must be a really serious thing, Eli thought, but whatever it is, I'm sure that it wouldn't change anything.

"I promise that whatever you say, I won't hate you." Eli replied with a confident smile. She was, however, not prepared for what Nozomi was about to say next.

"Elicchi... I... I love you! And not in the best friends way either!"

"... E-eh?"

"I... I want to hold you and touch you and kiss you and do all the other things lovers do together!" Nozomi blurted out, months of pent up emotion finally being let out.

Eli was speechless. She had not expected that at all. Nozomi's sudden confession had stunned her and she had no idea how to react.

Nozomi took Eli's lack of reaction as rejection. Tears started leaking from her eyes and she hastily turned around and ran.

Eli stood rooted at her spot, staring blankly at the purple haired girl's back as she ran further and further away from her until she disappeared into the horizon. Eli wanted to run after her but she herself did not know her own feelings and wouldn't know what to say if she did catch up to her.

Eli snapped out of her confusion after a while and decided to go back home. Her mind replayed the scene that had just occurred over and over again.

When she reached home, she half-heartedly greeted Arisa who had been eagerly waiting for her return as she trudged up the stairs to her bedroom. Arisa was left with a slightly hurt and confused look which the older blonde did not notice.

Questions were raging furiously throughout Eli's mind, the most prominent one being 'Do I love Nozomi the same way?'

This question repeated itself in Eli's head while she lay in bed face up, arm on her forehead as she stared at the ceiling trying to figure out an answer to the question refusing to leave her alone.

She thought back to her earlier conversation with Arisa after dinner.

"Nee-chan, are you okay?"

"Ah? Yeah I'm fine."

"Are you sure? You've been acting weirdly since you've got home."

"Y-yeah it's nothing. I'm just... Thinking about something."

There was silence between them for a moment before Arisa suddenly exclaimed, slamming a fist down on her other open hand.

"Ah, I got it now! You got in a fight with Nozomi nee-chan didn't you?"

"H-huh? What m-makes you say that? I-I have n-no idea what you're t-talking about."

Eli stuttered out in defense, nervously looking away. Arisa just smiled proudly.

"Ah-ha! I knew it! You only look this distressed when it has something to do with Nozomi nee-chan. What is it? You can tell me anything."

Arisa looked up at Eli with big, shining eyes, expectantly waiting for her older sister to spill her troubles. Eli could only blush as she wondered, is Nozomi really that important to me?

Eli turned to look at Arisa and gave a defeated sigh. Knowing how persistent her sister was, she wouldn't leave her alone unless she told her what happened.

"You see... Today when we were walking home, she kind of told me... a secret... about herself and I'm not sure how I feel about it and she maybe, kind of... ran off... because she thought I hated her..."

Eli slowly spoke, rephrasing the situation as best as she could to not reveal too much. Her sister had her head down, eyes closed and eyebrows furrowed, thinking deeply about what Eli had said before suddenly opening her eyes and looking up with a frown. She dramatically pointed at Eli.

"Onee-chan!"

Startled by her sister's outburst, Eli immediately sat up straight.

"Y-yes!"

"You should apologize to Nozomi nee-chan!"

"H-huh?"

"For three years she's been your best friend and only friend, might I add, until μ's came along, how could you let such a silly thing ruin your friendship? She told you a secret right? She must have needed to gather a lot of courage to do such a thing and now she thinks you hate her because of it... she must be really hurting right now!"

"Y-you're right! I should go apologize to her now!"

Eli quickly stood up and moved towards the door.

"A-ah, nee-chan! I-it's too late to go now! She's probably already asleep!"

After Eli settled down, they decided that it was time for them to sleep too. As they went up the stairs, Eli called out to her younger sister.

"Arisa..."

"Yes, nee-chan?"

Eli gave a huge warm smile to her sister.

"Thank you."

Arisa's eyes widened a bit before she returned the smile with a huge bright grin.

"You're welcome, onee-chan."

Eli subconsciously smiled at the memory. She was really grateful to Arisa for helping her out. She thought back to the topic of their conversation again.

Nozomi...

"She's always been there for me and is always able to put up with my stubbornness. She was my first friend here and probably the only one who has ever understood me. She is my best friend and I love her."

But do I love her in that way?

And with that they were back to square one. However, one thing Eli was sure of now was that she didn't want to lose Nozomi as a friend.

Eli marched out of the house determinedly. She had already decided to continue being Nozomi's best friend and she was going to keep to that decision. She could also figure out her feelings in the meantime and hopefully be able to answer Nozomi's confession properly. Who knows, she could even return those feelings. Eli blushed at the thought of the two of them being a couple.

Holding hands... going on dates... maybe even k-kissing? Eli's face flushed an even deeper scarlet as an image of her and Nozomi kissing popped into her mind.

She slapped herself and internally berated herself for thinking such thoughts.

B-besides, I still haven't figured out my feelings for her yet...

Eli finally stood outside the door to her best friend's apartment. She fidgeted nervously as she glanced at the familiar sight of the slightly peeling wallpaper and the old worn out door in front of her. She reached a finger out to ring the doorbell. As her finger slowly approached the small round button, she could hear her heart beating madly in her ears and feel the waves of doubt creeping on her. She quickly shot her finger forward to press the doorbell before she could actually change her mind.

She anxiously waited for Nozomi to answer the door, mentally prepping herself for what to say to the other girl when she appears. After a few minutes, Eli started to panic. Why is Nozomi taking so long to answer the door? She rang the doorbell again and waited for another few minutes. She's probably just still sleeping or something. There's no need to worry... Eli could tell that she was doubting her own words and tried her best to quell her rising panic. She knocked on the door instead this time and called out Nozomi's name for extra measure. W-what if she's a-avoiding me? O-or what if she injured herself? Eli started to imagine all the worse possible situations Nozomi could have gotten in. With each new worry, she started to knock even more frantically and even got to the point of banging on the door and yelling, "Nozomi! Are you okay?"

Eli froze when she heard the door from the next apartment open, her hand halfway to the door in front of her. Shit, did I wake her neighbours up?

Eli had not been able to sleep the entire night, plagued with thoughts about her best friend's confession and as a result had gone over fairly early, wanting to get it over with as soon as possible. Overcome with worry for her best friend, she had forgotten that the other residents might have still been sleeping and did not consider that her actions might wake them up.

She slowly turned her head to face the open door to her right. As expected, the head popping out of the beige door wore an irritated expression at being woken up so rudely. She glared icily at the quarter Russian blonde for a moment before stating in an annoyed tone,

"If you're looking for that big-boobed girl, she left a message for you. She's already moved out to join her parents in Germany or something."

With that, she slammed her door close, grumbling to herself under her breath about how "kids these days are so inconsiderate".

Eli's heart sank.

Is it my fault?

A/N: If ya'll have any suggestions for a title that'd be great (I suck at titles I don't know how all those other authors can come up with such great titles). This is my second fanfic pls don't bite (too hard). My first is a oneshot I posted on my tumblr so yeah go check that out too if you're interested (my tumblr is of the same name). Also for those of you who don't know, Hideko, Fumiko and Mika are those three girls that are always helping them in the anime ye :D