It was something that was there even before they became school idols.

"Kayo-chin, going to listen to Nishikino-san today?" Rin asked, standing over her friend's desk with a knowing grin.

"U-um..." Hanayo's cheeks warmed in answer and she laughed sheepishly at being caught. "Was it that obvious? Um... do you want to come along too?"

"Nah, Rin's okay, nya." She smiled teasingly. "If you talk to her, maybe she'll play some of your favorite songs too?"

"R-Rin-chan!" Hanayo squeaked, ducking her head. "That's embarrassing! All my favorite songs are all... pop and idol songs. Nishikino-san doesn't look like she's interested in those. She looks like she'd listen to more... um, mature things."

"Mature things?" Rin turned to her, voice gravely deadpan as she spoke, "Rin bets she listens to hardcore rock."

Hanayo snorted, hiding a giggle behind her hand. "Rin-chan! Oh gosh." Rin laughed along with her before giving her a nudge.

"Rin will message you later then. Don't get caught now! Or," Rin winked playfully, "get caught too, nya."

"Rin-chan!" Hanayo covered her face in complete embarrassment.

Then after they became idols, they had more chances to talk. Maki was hard to approach, always so gruff with them, and always ready with a retort anytime Rin said anything. So it was obvious then, that there was a clear weakness when a certain someone was involved.

"Nishi–ah, er, Maki-chan," Hanayo called out, smiling sheepishly at her mistake, "today's practice was hard, wasn't it?"

"Was it?" Maki shrugged. "I thought it was the same as usual."

"Oh..." Hanayo laughed quietly at herself. "I guess it's not that much of a problem for someone like you, huh?"

"Even before we had regular practice, I did do some exercise to keep myself in shape, though not as strenuous as this. It's still not too bad though."

"Ah, did you?" Hanayo laughed ruefully at herself, glancing away in embarrassment. "I should have done that too, to be honest. Being an idol means having to dance constantly on stage so you need to be really fit but practice always just makes me so tired all the time…" She blinked at the sudden hand on her shoulder.

"Hanayo, you'll… er, you'll get better as you practice more, don't worry," Maki spoke up instead, glancing away from her, coughing into her hand to hide the redness of her face. "Just… just keep working hard, and you'll be… the… uh, idol you want to be."

"Maki-chan…" Hanayo looked up at her before her face broke out into a shy smile, nodding. "Thank you," she murmured. Maki stared at her, eyes widening just the barest hint before she darted her eyes away.

"Y-yeah," Maki replied, awkwardly patting Hanayo's shoulder before sliding it off. "A-anyway! It's getting late!" She turned away, scowling when she caught sight of Rin smiling slyly at them. "Let's hurry up and walk home before the sun sets."

As the days went on, they all slowly grew accustomed to each other, even with their newest additions, Nozomi and Eli. Though Maki and Hanayo awkwardly fumbled around each other every now and then, there were also times where it was as if they were quietly comfortable with each other's presence. Rin didn't know how many times she had caught Hanayo quietly dozing against Maki's shoulder while the other girl was reading a book, or the times where the two of them sat next to each other and listened to Hanayo's music, neither of them saying a word.

It always took all of Rin's self-control to not tease them every single time. Especially whenever it was around lunchtime, and the two acted as if they weren't just barely able to say each other's names without being embarrassed several months earlier.

"The rice ball that I made today is really good!"

"Huh… really?"

"Yeah! Do you want to try?"

"Um… sure, I guess."

Rin looked over, watching as Hanayo held out a piece of her rice ball in her hand and Maki casually leaned over, taking a bite out of it.

"Hm…" Maki widened her eyes, blinking. "Oh, it is good," she said after she swallowed. She looked down at her lunchbox, putting a piece of sausage in her chopsticks. "I helped my ma— er, mother, make these. Would you like to try one?"

"Sure!" Rin blinked, watching as Hanayo ate off of Maki's chopsticks, smiling in satisfaction afterward. "It's delicious! Thank you, Maki-chan!"

"Yeah, no problem."

Rin struggled to keep her mouth shut, knowing if she pointed it out, the two of them would burst into embarrassment and not be able to look at each other in the eyes for two days. The first time she did, Maki completely choked and Hanayo was torn between either wanting to run away or help out. As it was, Maki took the decision out of her hands, sprinting away from them as fast as she could, still choking.

But still, how could the two of them be this oblivious? Hanayo, she could understand, after being with her for so long. But Maki... was Maki, the smartest girl in their grade.

… who still believed in Santa Claus, Rin remembered.

But still! Someone had to have noticed something. It was obvious. Even during practice, they watched out for each other all the time.

"M-Maki-chan, are you okay?" Hanayo asked, looking up at her worriedly.

"I'm fine," she answered, rolling her shoulder, "maybe I just slept wrong on it or something. How are you?" Maki looked over her carefully. "You were slowing down a little near the middle, was it too rough for you?"

"Ah?" Hanayo laughed sheepishly. "You caught that, huh? Yeah, it's... it's a little hard for me to keep up."

"... do... do you want some help?" Maki rushed out, scratching her cheek. "I-instead of vocal practice, I can go over the steps with you instead."

"Really?" Hanayo's face was hopeful as she looked at Maki.

"Uh, y-yeah, sure, of course," Maki mumbled, roaming her eyes everywhere to look at anything except the beaming girl in front of her.

"Thank you, Maki-chan!" Hanayo chirped, smiling widely. "I'm sure I'll be able to get it down if you help me with it." She was about to turn away before she caught all the sweat pooling at Maki's forehead. "Oh! Here, let me..." She reached out then, dabbing at Maki's face with her towel.

"E-eh?" Maki blinked at her. "Oh, u-um, I mean, uh, thank you."

"Of course," Hanayo replied easily, giving her a small smile. "Do you need some water too? Mine's over here, you can take some if you want." Maki whipped her eyes down to where Hanayo held out her water bottle, feeling her whole body warming up even more.

"M-Maki-chan! Your face is getting redder! S-shouldn't you rest some more?!"

Rin tilted her head as she watched the whole exchange, trying not to laugh.

"They're cute, aren't they?" Rin glanced up to where Nozomi stood next to her, watching as Maki awkwardly explained that she was okay and Hanayo remained unconvinced, still frowning at her.

"More like they don't get it," Rin muttered as she watched Maki wave her hands around, trying to step back from Hanayo, except now Kotori had joined them, smiling at the both of them and suggesting something Rin couldn't hear that made Hanayo nod vigorously and Maki blanch.

So apparently everyone except them noticed. And though Rin wasn't too sure of Hanayo's feelings just yet (though she had a really strong inkling anyway), it was almost undeniable at this point what Maki's feelings were.

"Umi-chan told me my voice has gotten better," Hanayo said after another day of practice, clearly happy at being complimented by one of her upperclassmen even if they had said to disregard such titles between them.

"It has!" Rin agreed, happy to see her friend in such high spirits.

"It's all because of Maki-chan," Hanayo said, turning to Maki with a grateful smile on her face. Maki froze, widening her eyes as she stared at the other girl, especially when Hanayo reached down to push their hands together. "Thank you for helping and teaching me!"

"I-i-it's-it's! Nothing!" Maki's voice was a tiny squeak as she stuttered, her whole face turning increasingly red. "It's um, also because of how hard you work too," she quickly rushed out, pointedly keeping her eyes away from the girl in her face as she rambled, "you've improved a lot and you'll just keep getting better if you keep practicing." In her elation, Hanayo didn't notice Maki's odd behavior, only nodded and smiled even wider.

"But it's also because I have such a good teacher," she said with a shy smile, laughing softly. Rin watched as Maki inhaled sharply, slowly turning back to face Hanayo, who still continued to beam up at her. "Ah, I forgot! My mom wanted me to help her with dinner tonight so she wanted me to come back as soon as possible." She gave a quick hug to Rin and turned to Maki after, looking as if she was about to do the same. She paused though, suddenly hesitant. "Ah... um..." Rin blinked, seeing the slight blush on her friend's cheeks. "I'll see you tomorrow in school!" she said instead, waving goodbye to them before taking off.

Rin brought a hand up to her mouth, thoughtful expression on her face as she turned to where Maki continued to stand frozen like a statue, hands twitching. She waved a hand in front of her face, smiling slyly when Maki didn't even seem to flinch.

"Hey, Maki-chan, can I copy your homework?" she asked, poking the other girl in the shoulder.

"Yeah, sure," Maki answered in a dazed voice. A few more seconds passed by before she snapped out of it, glaring at Rin. "Wait, no!"

By then, Rin was already running away, snickering as she waved goodbye to a fuming Maki, a plan forming in her head.

The next day after school, Rin caught her outside the classroom, casually leaning against the wall with her arms crossed.

"Maki-chan, not leaving for the clubroom yet?" she asked.

"Hanayo has cleaning duty today, doesn't she? We're not practicing today anyway so I'll just wait for her," Maki answered with a shrug. If Rin had cat ears, she'd have them up right now, seeing her chance. She tugged on Maki's sleeve, grinning slyly at her. "W-what is it?" Maki asked, looking suspiciously at where Rin's arm was on her.

"Maki-chan, Maki-chan," Rin said, smiling widely at her, "just wondering… do you like Kayo-chin?"

Maki froze, turning her head back in such awkward motions that it reminded Rin of robots.

"Hah?!" Maki scowled at her before shouting, "No!" Rin held a hand to her mouth in mock surprise, glancing all around. "I mean, yes–no! I mean, as a friend." She stressed the last word, almost hissing the word out. "Of course. A friend," she repeated again, as if trying to convince herself.

"Like a friend?" Rin began to make hand motions as she clarified. "Are we talking like me and Kayo-chin friends, or Nozomi-chan and Eli-chan 'friends?'" Rin's hands began to get vaguely suggestive as she wiggled her fingers around. "Because you know, that's a really big difference–"

"Rin! Stop doing that with your fingers, that's crass, ugh." Maki shook her head, exasperated. Then she blinked rapidly, the words finally registering in her head. "Wait, Nozomi and Eli? What do they even have to do with this–" she broke off with a choked gasp, realizing what the other girl was truly saying.

Rin continued to make hand gestures, waggling her eyebrows now.

"S-stop that! And n-n-n-n-n-no," Maki stammered, taking a step back, eyes wide. "I don't! No! Not..." she couldn't even finish her sentence, the words caught in the back of her throat as she gaped at Rin.

"Why not?" Rin easily said. "Kayo-chin's really nice and cute! She talks about you all the time, you know."

"Does she?" The near instantaneous change in Maki's expression made Rin blink. "I mean, Hanayo's... nice, she's... very... nice." She began to twirl her hair, acting bashful. "She's always working hard all the time and she's always so considerate of others that she doesn't notice herself sometimes."

"See!" Rin pointed out but Maki was still speaking, seemingly unheedful of her words.

"–and she has a really nice smile and sometimes it's so cute to watch her get really excited even if I don't know what she's talking about and then she just looks really adorable with her glasses–" Maki trailed off with a silly smile, laughing softly under her breath.

Rin kept her face flat, blinking several times at Maki. Several more seconds went by before Maki whipped her head up, gawking at her. "You… you didn't just hear all of that, did you?"

"Nope!" Rin stood straight up, fighting against the smile threatening to split her face. "Nothing about how cute Kayo-chin looks with her glasses, or how Maki-chan totally gets jealous when Kayo-chin talks about other idols–"

"Wait, I don't get jealous–"

"So you don't deny the other parts?" Rin cut in, grinning. Maki realized the trap she walked into. The warning bells went off in Rin's head, as she noticed Maki's hands twitching in place, two seconds away from reaching out to strangle her.

"You've gotta go with her to all her favorite idol lives," Rin rushed out then, hoping to make Maki too flustered to do anything else, "and go along with her when her favorite albums and singles come out and then listen to her ramble on about all her favorite idols–" Rin couldn't help the snicker when Maki wrinkled her nose at that. "And she loves your singing and piano playing, you've gotta do it for her everyday. For the rest of your lives."

"Rin, we're only fifteen, why are you making it sound like we're getting ma–" Maki cut herself off, unable to continue speaking as she imagined the very same scenario going off in her head. Her whole face turned red with the thought and there was nothing but quiet gasps.

Rin paused, pretending to look thoughtful before she continued. "Oh yeah, that's right, you've gotta learn how to make the perfect rice for Kayo-chin. She won't accept anything less than absolutely fluffy you know!" Rin looked away at that moment, sighing loudly. "She almost didn't talk to me for two days when I messed up her rice we were younger," she said with a dramatic sigh. Okay, it was only two hours at most but Maki didn't need to know that.

All of Maki's protesting died down when the realization hit her. She reached out, grabbing Rin's arm in yet another death squeeze. Before Rin could protest again, the terrified look in Maki's eyes made her stop, wondering if she had taken it too far.

Maki's face was entirely red with embarrassment as she mumbled, "I don't know how to make rice."

When Hanayo finally came out of the classroom, she found Rin slightly bent over, laughing into her hands. Maki stood over her, rubbing her forehead, repeatedly telling her to shut up and stop laughing.

"Um, were you guys were waiting for me?" Hanayo asked, unsure of what else to say. Rin looked up at her with grin that Hanayo knew was trouble but for some reason Maki stiffened, gaping at her as redness crept into her cheeks.

"Kayo-chin, nya!" Rin greeted, straightening herself back up. On the other hand, Maki mumbled out something, face as red as her hair now. Hanayo tilted her head at her, frowning.

"Maki-chan, are you okay? You look kind of feverish."

"Ha-Ha-Ha–" Maki stiffened, taking a step back as she continued to stare at Hanayo. Finally, she mumbled something, too low for either of them to properly make out but Hanayo swore she heard something about rice.

Hanayo raised a hand toward her, looking at her worriedly. "Maki-chan–" and Maki spun on her heels and ran away. Hanayo stood there, blinking in complete surprise with her hand still in the air. "Rin-chan, what did you even do?" she finally asked, eying her best friend with a suspicious look.

"A huge favor for you," Rin only said with a wide grin before she broke down laughing again.

"There's definitely something wrong with Maki-chan," Hanayo said worriedly the moment they met up for lunch. Maki disappeared right before either of them could blink (which was actually amazing considering she sat the furthest away from the door) and this wasn't the first time either. Rin could only shake her head, wondering what the other girl was even thinking of right now. "She's been avoiding me," Hanayo continued, sighing as she unwrapped her rice balls. "Do you think it's something I did?"

"Um," Rin only said, trying not to laugh. Ever since the whole conversation she had with Maki, there was no doubt that their usual third was acting strangely. She still talked to Rin fine, always ready to retort back after rolling her eyes, but the moment Hanayo came to join them, Maki would clam up and refuse to look at her at all. Even when Hanayo tried to talk to her, all Maki could get out were a few words at most all while mumbling under her breath. It was surreal to see someone like Maki reduced to a stammering mess (and admittedly very fun, if Rin had to admit) and now it had gotten to the point where she hadn't been hanging out with them for the past few days.

She busied herself with unwrapping her bread from the plastic, taking a huge bite out of it instead. "Kayo-chin," she started, mouth full of bread as she talked. It was the only thing Hanayo could clearly make out, the rest of Rin's words muffled by the food in her mouth. Nevertheless, it was all their years of being friends that allowed for Hanayo to understand Rin completely.

"What do I think about Maki-chan?" Hanayo asked, taking a small bite of her rice ball as she thought. When she swallowed, there was a smile on her face as she answered. "She's nice, I like her." More unintelligible noises came from Rin, and Hanayo furrowed her brow. "Huh? What do you mean that's not what you were looking for?" She paused to take a large bite of her rice ball, smiling indulgently as she did so. She heard another series of muffled speaking. Hanayo waited until she swallowed her rice to continue the conversation with Rin.

"Maki-chan is amazing, don't you think so? She knows how to play the piano and she sings so wonderfully too! Then she's really fit, and she gets the highest grade in class! And she's also studying to be a doctor too! She's... really... incredible, isn't she?" There was that sparkle in Hanayo's eyes, the same one she had when she spoke about her favorite idols.

Rin swallowed the pieces of bread in her mouth before quickly shoving more inside. Hanayo remembered that Rin had skipped breakfast today in order to make morning practice on time so she hadn't eaten anything until now. Having things in her mouth didn't deter Rin from continuing to speak though.

"How do I feel about Maki-chan?" Hanayo began to flush, taking tiny nibbles of her rice ball instead. "U-um... that's... um..." she trailed off, eating her rice as an excuse to stall in answering. Rin tried not to laugh at the sight of her friend taking quick bites of her giant rice ball, a way that reminded Rin of hamsters and mice. Not that it wasn't exactly an inaccurate description of Hanayo right now, slightly skittish as she looked everywhere except Rin before adamantly keeping her eyes on her rice ball, face slowly turning red as the question was no doubt replaying over and over in her mind as Rin knew it would be.

Rin finished the rest of her bread before she finally spoke again, her words no longer muffled. "Oh okay, so you're in love with her."

Hanayo choked on her rice.

"But that's okay," she continued, patting Hanayo on the back and listening to her choke on pieces of rice, "because she likes you too."

Hanayo stopped choking, covering her mouth as she slowly turned to Rin with wide eyes. Right in that moment, Rin could see when the realization dawned on her face as Hanayo scrunched her nose and furrowed her brow.

Hanayo sneezed in her face.

Maki tapped her fingers against her arm, keeping a steady beat as she glanced around. Rin caught her gaze and did that weird smile thing she could do with her eyes, something that fitted the cat-like girl. On the other hand, Hanayo blinked at her for two seconds before darting her eyes away, trying to shrink within herself as she kept her head down.

That was usually a normal reaction, for the most part. Other times, when their eyes caught each other, they'd stare at each other for a few seconds before Hanayo nodded and gave her a shy smile and Maki would either feel like she could take on Eli's ballet stretches or fall off her chair. The latter happened much more often than not.

For this particular time though, Maki couldn't help but feel annoyed, her finger tapping even faster than before. Already, it had been several days since Hanayo couldn't even look at her in the eyes, even during the regular hours of school. Never mind that Maki was the one avoiding her first, she didn't expect Hanayo to give her the same treatment while she was still trying to sort through her own thoughts. And now she was annoyed.

Then there was also the way Rin kept glancing between the both of them, snickering to herself as if she had a great secret to hide. The solution was obvious.

The school bell rang and Rin was about to stand up and drag Hanayo out the door to the nearest ramen restaurant when a hand on her shoulder made her pause. Turning her head, there was Maki, face deadly serious as she tugged on her sleeve. "Rin, come with me."

"What for?" Rin asked dumbly, trying not to hide her laugh because she knew full well why Maki needed her.

"Because." Without saying anything else, Maki dragged Rin outside of the classroom, standing to the side. "Okay, so why is Hanayo avoiding me?"

"Y-you're holding too hard, nya!" Rin cried out. trying to swat Maki's hand off. "And also, weren't you just doing the same thing to her?"

"That's! That's different!" Maki's voice unexpectedly went a pitch higher. Rin snorted, about to laugh before Maki squeezed down her shoulder again.

"Ow!" Rin thumped Maki's hand, trying to get the other girl to release her death grip. "A-anyway! Shouldn't you ask Kayo-chin!?"

Right at that moment, their classroom door opened, revealing Hanayo standing in the doorway. Rin smiled at her but when Hanayo and Maki locked gazes, Hanayo became stiff, mumbling something under her breath before excusing herself, already pacing down the hallway.

Maki slowly turned back to Rin, her expression flat with an eyebrow raised.

"Uh, okay, so," Rin laughed nervously, "maybe Kayo-chin's having an off day?"

"For a whole week?" Maki countered, narrowing her eyes. "She hasn't spoken to me since last week! I only went three days at most!"

Rin wasn't sure how this turned into a competition but she knew that wasn't the right thing to say. "Is Maki-chan lonely?" came out of her mouth instead. Maki narrowed her eyes, squeezing her shoulder even tighter and ignoring Rin's yelp of pain. "R-Rin was kidding!" she cried out, slapping her hands against the source of her pain. "Kayo-chin will definitely notice if you do anything to Rin!"

At those words, Maki immediately let go though she kept her glare on. Rin rubbed her shoulder soothingly, wincing. "What's going on? Did something happen with her?" Her brow became even more furrowed, with worry this time instead of anger. "Did she get mad about me... uh... not, er, talking to her?" Her worried look became mixed with guilt. "I'll go apologize, I really didn't mean to do it."

"It's not you," Rin had to blurt out. If left unchecked, Maki had the potential to spiral into even worse thoughts and that was the last thing either of them needed right now. "I mean, well, kind of, yeah, maybe, nya." She waved her hands as she spoke vaguely. "I mean, it sort of has to do with you... sort of doesn't... I kind of ended up saying something and then uh, Kayo-chin's always been indecisive about these things and uh..." she trailed off with a yelp when Maki reached out and shook her furiously.

"You said something to her?!" Maki shouted, never mind that they were in the middle of the hallways with their classmates still walking past them.

"No! Maybe. Rin can't say, but you should really ask her instead–uh." When Rin stopped talking suddenly, eyes widening as she stared behind Maki, the exasperated girl only turned around to see what had distracted her only chance for answers. She immediately let go of Rin in surprise.

Hanayo peered at them curiously, about to reach out with her hand before she paused, blinking at them instead. "I forgot... something in class. Am... am I interrupting anything?" She let out a loud squeak when Maki suddenly reached out, grabbing her arm.

"Come with me," Maki only said, in a voice that brooked for no arguments. Even as she was being dragged away by Maki, Hanayo glanced behind her to where her best friend stood watching, pleading wordlessly for any sort of help.

Rin only gave her a thumbs-up and an encouraging smile.

"The... er, weather's nice t-today, isn't it?" Hanayo asked, laughing nervously. As if to answer her, a clap of thunder boomed outside at that moment and the rain poured even harder.

"... could be better," Maki only said, glancing at the windows in the music room. Hanayo let out another laugh before trailing off, unable to figure out anything else to keep the room from going silent again. Maki took a deep breath, turning to Hanayo, fully intent on articulating her thoughts clearly.

"Um." Everything she planned on saying died in her throat instead, as she remembered that she was the first one to avoid Hanayo in the first place. Hanayo glanced up at her, a quick second, and then shot her eyes away. Maki opened and closed her mouth several times, wracking her mind as to where to even start.

"S-so," she started, coughing into her hand, "what's... up?" Maki wished the floor could swallow her at that point.

"N-n-n-n-n-nothing!" Hanayo squeaked, looking up at the ceiling instead.

Something told Maki that could have gone better, but it was at least a start, as she awkwardly stammered out a reply. "R-really."

"Y-y-yes!" Hanayo said, shuffling in place, trying to subtly turn away, eyes darting between the ceiling and the door. It was silent again, with only the sound of their shoes scraping against the floor as they shuffled in place.

The sheer awkwardness of the situation and the lingering frustration she felt from her and Rin's conversation made Maki sigh deeply, deciding enough was enough. She moved to stand in front of Hanayo, making sure to catch the other girl's eyes. "Why are you avoiding me?"

Maki screamed mentally, aware that that was a lot more accusatory than she intended, especially when Hanayo froze up. Her tongue refused to work with her mind as she tried to take back her words, apology stuck in the back of her throat.

Hanayo let out a scared squeak. Her mouth was a thin line, staring at Maki with wide eyes like a deer caught in the headlights. She opened her mouth, and closed it. This continued for several more seconds, gasping wordlessly. Maki felt like doing the same thing but managed to keep her cool though she was a few seconds away from copying Hanayo's actions.

Hanayo wanted to point out that Maki was the one who was avoiding her first and it made her worried. But as she recalled Rin's earlier conversation with her, the words she wanted to say got jumbled in her mind and she began to panic. She said the first thing that came to mind, the only thing she could think of for the past week.

"Do you like me?!" Hanayo blurted out instead.

Maki mimicked Hanayo's earlier actions. If anyone looked into the music room right now, they would see two awkward teenagers standing alone in the music room doing their best impressions of a fish.

And Maki, so flustered from the sudden question, remembered she still had to answer. She shouted the first answer that came to her, the most instinctual.

There were two messages from Hanayo that night.

The first she saw as she went down: "Do you want to go to the arcade tomorrow? Or maybe the zoo? Or maybe even rewatch some idols lives with me?"

The next one underneath it: "I asked Maki-chan if she liked me."

Then there were a whole string of messages from Maki.

"RIN"

"RINASDIFA"

"I NEED HELP."

"I DIDN'T MEAN TO DO THAT."

"RINIAHOD"

"HANAYO HATES ME"

"NKDFHNAVKL"

"IT WAS AN ACCIDENT."

"RINRINRIN"

Rin stared at her phone in horror.

"How did you even do that!?"

"She just straight out asked me! What was I supposed to say?!" Maki's voice was muffled from where she was face down on her desk, with her head in her arms.

"'Yes, I like you too, nya!'" Rin shouted, slamming the desk. She paused then, turning to look at their classmates who were watching them curiously, no doubt intrigued after Maki's outburst. She flashed them a wide grin. "We're practicing our lines for our next song." Rin swore about half of them looked disappointed before looking away.

"That was a perfect opportunity! How do you mess up something like that?!"

"... shut up, I know," Maki said miserably, thumping her head against the desk.

"So what are you going to do to fix it?" Rin asked in a much quieter voice. "I mean, you do li–"

"Shut up!" Maki shouted from within her arms before mumbling so low that Rin could barely hear her. "Hanayo's just a really good friend, I don't want things to be awkward between us!"

"Maki-chan," Rin said incredulously, "does Rin have to say it again? You can't even talk to her when she smiles at you!"

"Because she's..." Maki looked up, eyes narrowed as she glared at the girl in front of her, "I mean, no I don't, what are you talking about, I'm perfectly fine when I talk to her."

Rin's look was flat.

"... w-what?" Maki asked with a huff.

"She smiled at you that one time and you almost walked into a wall."

The squeak Maki let out was almost Hanayo-like and Rin didn't know whether she wanted to laugh at how they were also picking up each other's habits as well, especially when Maki began to nervously fidget where she sat. The moment quickly ended though when Maki shook her head and slammed the desk, hard expression back on her face now. "That! That was an accident! One time! She just happened to be smiling when I walked into the wall, you can't prove that!" Maki looked away with a huff. "And it was the shoe lockers," she muttered, as if that made things better.

If Rin really wanted to, she could list off all the times Maki had frozen mid-sentence when Hanayo turned to her with a dazzling smile, or had turned so red whenever Hanayo complimented her on something. As it was now, whatever Rin could say, Maki had excuses ready. She needed to do this delicately so Maki could understand there was no ambiguity about this.

Rin held out her hand, going off her fingers as she listed more convincing reasons. "You guys hold hands, you help each other stretch all the time, you guys are happy when you get complimented by each other, you get tripped up when Kayo-chin smiles at you and then do you know how smiley Kayo-chin gets when you praise her? And then she always tells me how beautiful your voice is and how amazing you are when we're alone." She leaned forward then, staring straight into Maki's eyes. "You guys go on dates."

"... wait what?" Maki furrowed her brow. "Dates?"

"You know, when two people like each other and they agree to go–"

"Shut up, I know what dates are!" Maki narrowed her eyes, scowling. "And no, we don't go on dates, what are you even talking about?" A feeling of dread began to rise when Rin only turned to her with a smile that meant absolutely nothing but trouble, especially when she pulled out her phone.

"Remember that one Sunday a few weeks ago," Rin rattled off, clicking through her phone as she did so, "Kayo-chin invited you out to go with her to the record signing for one of her favorite idols?"

Maki blinked at her, remembering what Rin was talking about. "Didn't you say you were busy that day? Wait a minute–"

"Yep!" Rin continued, ignoring Maki's outburst and getting her to quiet down by poking her forehead. "Then you guys went to get dessert afterward and you guys were totally sharing crepes with each other and taking bites of each other's crepes, and you got a smudge of ice cream on your cheek and Kayo-chin–mmpffh!"

Maki's hand shot out, covering Rin's mouth. "W-w-w-wait, what are you even talking about?" And now, Rin shoved her phone in front of her, showing Maki what she had been fiddling around with. Maki took one look at what was on the screen, and paled instantly.

The picture on the screen had Hanayo staring at the cream on Maki's face. The next was Hanayo reaching out. The one after that was Hanayo sweeping the cream off of Maki's face. The fourth was Hanayo licking the cream off her finger. The last was Hanayo smiling reassuringly at Maki, whose face was so red, it was as if her whole face was on fire.

"What the hell?!" Maki squeaked, staring at the pictures in horror. "You set us up! And how the hell did you even take these?!" She let out another squeak, reaching out to Rin's phone, who quickly pulled it out of reach from the incensed girl. "All those other times when something 'unexpected' came up for you, those were… you… you just…" She shook her head slowly in disbelief.

Rin shrugged, her words muffled, but Maki could feel the smile curving underneath her hand. "It only took you like five dates–"

"Five dates!" Maki's voice was a painful squeak.

"Anyway," Rin cut in, shoving Maki's hand off of her. "Kayo-chin's really depressed and when Kayo-chin's depressed, she likes to go to the arcade and play the crane machines for more stuffed animals to hug." Her face became grave. "Rin had to start taking some because Kayo-chin's bed was already overflowing. Do you know how many different types of alpacas there are–"

"O-okay!" Maki made a sour face before sighing. "I'll... I'll figure it out. And stop following us around, that's creepy." Rin only stuck her tongue out. Maki put her head down, sighing loudly as she wracked her brain for a solution to the problem she made worse.

She suddenly shot her head back up though, reaching forward and tugging on Rin's sleeve again. Her face was full of disbelief and Rin knew whatever Maki had to say, she wasn't going to like it.

"Wait, Hanayo likes me?"

Rin slowly put her face in her hands and silently cried.

"S-s-sorry for coming with me again," Hanayo mumbled, bending down as she picked out the prize, a large yellow chick, she had won from the machine. Rin only shook her head in return, orange hair being the only visible thing about her above the mountain of stuffed animals in her hands.

"Don't worry about it, nya," Rin said, "Rin just wants you to feel better!" Even if that meant going to the arcade four times in a row with her. Okay, even there were some limits Rin could take, and she was sure that if they came one more time, the arcade was going to ban them for winning all their stuffed animals.

"S-sorry," Hanayo apologized again, sighing quietly to herself. "We can get some ramen later and I'll treat you out."

Though the prospect of free ramen made Rin's mouth instantly water, there was something more important she had to do right now. "Kayo-chin, why don't you try talking to her again?" she said, trying to keep her voice hopeful. "You know how Maki-chan is." More awkward than Nico-chan's catchphrase, she wanted to say but she clamped her mouth shut to keep the remark from coming out. She shuffled her feet instead, glancing over to the doors of the entrance. Not yet.

"Maki-chan is... honest," Hanayo said quietly, absently playing with the strands of her hair. Honesty was Maki not being able to look Hanayo in the eyes every time she smiled at her, but it seemed like neither of them could notice that. "I mean, I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up." she continued as she looked around for which crane machine to try next. "There's nothing good about me at all so... it makes sense."

"Kayo-chin, you can't talk like that," Rin cried out instead, "there's so many wonderful things about you, nya! Stop talking so bad about yourself all the time."

Hanayo turned to her, blinking for a moment before smiling softly. "It's okay," she only said, looking away. "Thank you, Rin-chan."

"Kayo-chin!" Rin looked down, shuffling the plushies in her arms, trying to look for something appropriate. "Uh, look!" Rin carefully juggled one of the plushies, a bowl of rice with what looked like red sauce on it, to the top of the pile. "Don't disappoint your bowl of rice!" She looked at it closely afterward, squinting at it. "You know, if you look at it from a certain angle, it kind of looks like Maki-chan."

Hanayo turned to her, looking at the plush in her hands. "If I took off my glasses, maybe."

"... it looks like Maki-chan, nya," Rin repeated weakly.

It made Hanayo laugh though, and that was a start. But she sighed again as she walked off, turning to another crane machine with a blue stuffed alpaca in the middle of the machine. Rin followed after her though she glanced over to the entrance, tapping her feet against the floor impatiently. Her eyes brightened up though, when she finally caught sight of what she had been waiting for.

Hanayo was concentrated on the crane machine before her, carefully aligning the claw up, too distracted to notice anything. Perfect. Rin unloaded the plushies she carried into another pair of arms, grinning as she did so, relieved that she could finally feel her arms after carrying things for about an hour and a half.

"Don't worry Kayo-chin, everything will be okay, nya!" For some reason, Rin's voice sounded farther away than next to her and if Hanayo weren't distracted, she would have definitely noticed that was odd. As it was, she brushed it off to Rin maybe wandering off, bored with watching her all the time.

"I know," Hanayo mumbled, watching the claw slowly come down. The claw pushed the alpaca resting in the middle of the machine down into the prize area and though Hanayo would have normally felt elated, she only let out a quiet breath of relief. "I just… um, a few more days. Mom's been worried about all these stuffed animals so if you don't mind, we'll stop by Nico-chan's place later and give some to her little sisters and brother." She let out another long sigh again, reaching down to pull the stuffed alpaca out of the prize area. "S-sorry, your hands are probably full so I'll just..." She stood back up, turning around, and blinked into violet eyes staring back at her over a pile of animals.

"Um… hi," Maki greeted in a tiny voice. "Rin just… gave me everything," she continued, scowling as she struggled to keep all the stuffed animals in her arms. "You… er, have a lot."

"Maki… Maki-chan?" Hanayo whispered, taking off her glasses. Even though everything became blurry, she could still vaguely make out Maki's face in front of her, nose scrunched up in confusion. Oh, so this wasn't a figment of her mind, and Maki was coming closer—

"M-Maki-chan!" Hanayo squeaked, quickly putting her glasses back on and backing up into the machine. She held up her new alpaca to her face, trying to hide behind it. "W-w-when did you get here?!"

"… a few minutes ago," the other girl only said, "when you were just putting in the tokens for this machine."

"O-oh!" And that was all Hanayo could manage to get out before abruptly shutting her mouth, looking everywhere except Maki.

"You... you said you wanted to... give these to Nico-chan right?" Maki mumbled, looking everywhere except Hanayo. "I can... I can go with you."

"That... that'd be helpful," Hanayo said in an equally quiet voice, shooting a quick glance to the pile of plushies in Maki's arm before looking away. "U-um, so... er, should we... go?"

"Y-yeah!"

They continued to awkwardly shuffle their feet before finally, Maki turned away, staring straight ahead of her. "I, uh, guess, I'll be... going then?"

"O-oh!" Hanayo darted in front of her, shooting her another quick glance before she whipped her head back to the front, nodding quickly. "I'll, er, lead us... there," she finished, wincing at how lame she sounded.

It was the most awkward walk in either of their lives. At least Maki could occupy herself with keeping the stuffed plushies from tumbling out of her arms. Hanayo, in very stuttered speech, said she could hold some but Maki shook her head, motioning for her to continue walking ahead. It seemed like it had taken forever but finally, they were outside Nico's home, with Hanayo knocking on her door.

"... what the hell?" Nico said in lieu of a greeting, raising her brow at the armful of plushies thrown in her face.

"I, um, won too much at the arcade today and I was wondering if your siblings would like them?" Hanayo explained, laughing nervously. She almost yelped when Nico turned a wary eye to her.

"... sure, I guess," she finally answered, sighing, still looking at the two of them suspiciously for some reason, but she opened the door wider for them to come inside.

Afterward, as they walked out of Nico's apartment complex, Maki let out a breath of relief, glad that the load had been taken off of her arms. Hanayo glanced down at the one stuffed plush Nico had left with her, the bowl of rice with the tomato on top.

"... I think you'll want this more than I do," Nico had only said, handing it back to Hanayo as she glanced over to where Maki was, being pulled by her younger siblings. "You guys are so awkward," she continued with a roll of her eyes, "hurry up and fix whatever the hell's going on between you two. I'm going to go crazy if I hear Nozomi and Rin giggling to themselves whenever they look at you two. Even Kotori laughs at you guys, ugh." She stuck her tongue in a grimace. Hanayo could only gape, even as Nico pushed Maki outside and closed the door on them.

And now, they were walking side by side silently, neither of them wiling to break the silence hanging between them. Hanayo absently played with the plush in her hands, running her hand along the top of it to hide the shakiness of her hand.

"So… how... how's the weather?" Maki asked, never mind that they were both outside and could both see how it was if they looked up.

"It's nice," Hanayo replied in a quiet voice, glancing at the overcast skies above them.

"… is that so." Maki tried not to sigh aloud but she couldn't help grimacing at the sheer awkwardness between them. She was the one who inadvertently messed things up, and now she had to fix it before anything else could happen.

"Hanayo," she said, trying to ignore how Hanayo startled suddenly and shrink within herself, "um… about… the… er, other day, I'm–"

"D-don't worry about it!" Hanayo blurted out, interrupting her with a smile. Maki could tell it was forced though, by the way she darted her eyes away afterward, looking at the ground instead. "I… er, shouldn't have… said that. You can ignore that and we'll… we'll… um," she trailed off, realizing the other girl wasn't next to her anymore.

Maki stopped walking, staring at Hanayo with a strange expression. She took a deep breath before speaking. "Hanayo, h-how do you… uh, feel… a-about m-me?" she stammered out, face red. Though that didn't match how Hanayo face exploded in sheer redness, reaching up to the tips of her ears even, as soon as the words sunk into her mind.

"Y-y-y-you're! You're amazing!" Hanayo blurted out, blinking at Maki before she moved her eyes away, continuing in a nervous stammer. "You're so talented at so many things, and your voice is so beautiful to listen to, and when I feel down about things, you know exactly what to say to help me feel better. I just… I just think you're really wonderful."

"You were the one who inspired me to take that step forward," she whispered, feeling her cheeks warm up even more with every word she spoke. "If it wasn't for you, I don't think I would have been able to become a school idol," she finished in a murmur, unable to look at Maki in the eyes. She felt embarrassed for admitting everything aloud, but it was her feelings, and she felt strangely relieved after letting it all out, even if she knew Maki didn't return her feelings.

It was silent, though she could hear Maki walking closer. She didn't want to look up right now though, didn't want to see what sort of face Maki was making.

"... it's the same for me too," Maki said, her voice quiet, "I wouldn't have joined either if it weren't for you."

Hanayo snapped her head up, unable to believe what she was hearing. "E-eh?"

"You were hesitant on joining but deep down, you were going to join no matter what. Someone just had to give you that push, and then you did everything else yourself. You already had everything inside of you." Maki slowly lowered her hand from her hair, reaching down to grasp Hanayo's free hand. " You're... used to being behind others but you don't realize how much your support really helps us. When I watch you working so hard, it really makes me feel like I can accomplish what I want to do too. And what I want to do right now is to perform with you together, as a part of Muse."

Maki took another deep breath before smiling gently at her. "I hope that I can inspire and support you in the same way that you do for me one day." The words tumbled out so naturally that she wondered how she ever thought this would be hard. "Hanayo, I like you."

Hanayo froze at those words, gaping up at her, mouth wide open. The words that she dreamed of hearing echoed in her mind. Surely, this had to be another dream. Absently taking her hand out of Maki's, she pinched herself to make sure.

"Ow!" She winced, rubbing her cheek soothingly afterward. "Oh... this isn't a dream then," she mumbled. Maki raised an eyebrow at her but before she could speak, Hanayo shook her head furiously, gaping at her.

"W-wait, w-what?! W-why!? I'm... I'm so plain and all I do is eat a lot of rice, and there's really nothing special about me at all, and I just follow after everyone and I don't... I'm not..." she trailed off, realizing she was sniffling and any more words she spoke would have her in a blubbering mess.

"Are you seriously telling me why I shouldn't like you?!" Maki asked incredulously. "And I don't think that's how you're supposed to respond?!"

"Oh, sorry," Hanayo automatically apologized. They stared at each other, uncertain of what to say after that though Hanayo visibly froze up whenever their eyes locked and she'd dart her own eyes away. Maki's hands twitched, struggling to come up with something to say, anything at all, something to break this silence.

Wait, Hanayo never said she didn't like me, Maki thought. That thought made Maki widen her eyes and before she even realized it, she was smiling. When she remembered what Rin had told her too (after laughing at her for ten minutes at how completely dense she had been), there was no stopping the exhilaration she suddenly felt.

"Hanayo," she murmured, reaching out to touch her face. Hanayo looked up at her and though it was hard to see behind her glasses, Maki recognized that glossiness of her eyes. "Hey, it's alright," she said, "you… you, um, like me too, r-right?" Hanayo blinked at her, her mouth a thin line as she uneasily looked around. Looking down at the ground, she nodded slowly. "It's… it's okay, it's…" Maki trailed off, sighing as she fought against the embarrassment surging through her right now. She moved her hand to Hanayo's chin, making the other girl bring her eyes up back to her. They stared at each other, their breaths slowly mingling together without either of them realizing.

Maki leaned forward and kissed Hanayo.

"Hey, want some ramen? My treat. Meet us up at the usual place, we're already there (*^o^*)"

"That was Hanayo by the way."

"The emoticon I mean."

Rin's eyes sparkled once she read through the messages, grinning widely as she spun on her heels, dashing to her favorite ramen shop. It took several minutes from where she was, but her friends were already standing outside, waiting for her. Rin's grin grew even wider though, when she noticed they were holding hands and though their faces were red with embarrassment, she could feel the happiness rolling off of them.

"If you don't talk at all, I'll treat you out to another bowl some other time," Maki blurted out before Rin could even open her mouth, pointedly looking away from them.

"M-Maki-chan!" Hanayo protested, tugging on her hand. Maki made a face before sighing exasperatedly, turning to Rin. And blinked, when it looked as if their friend was actually contemplating it, deep in thought as she glanced back and forth between the ramen shop and them.

"I was kidding," Maki finally said. "Maybe."

"Maki-chan's always so mean to Rin!" she cried out, "Kayo-chin, you've gotta get her to stop picking on Rin all the time!"

"Maki-chan isn't mean," Hanayo protested weakly, "she's just… um, honest?"

"… do you know how long it even took for her to admit she even had–"

"O-o-okay! L-let's go in before it gets too dark!" Maki said, shoving Rin before she could say anymore. Rin gestured for Hanayo to go ahead before turning to Maki.

"So it all went well then?" she asked with a cheeky smile. Maki sighed, running a hand through her hair but instead of the scowl Rin expected, there was a tiny smile on her face instead.

"Yeah, I guess," she answered, "and thanks, I think." Rin beamed at her.

"So, do you know how to make rice now?" she teased after, nudging the other girl playfully. Maki slowly widened her eyes in horror. Rin gave her a lopsided smile and was about to go inside before a hand shot out, grasping the back of her shirt and tugging her back.

"Rin, you're not doing anything for a few days, are you? So that's why you're going to help me, right?" Maki said slowly, smiling at her. Rin felt shivers going down her spine. "You know what sort of rice Hanayo likes best, don't you?"

Rin suddenly regretted bringing that up.

A/N: This was for the love live secret exchange over on tumblr, which I clearly had a lot of fun with. Thanks for reading.