I have to say I am surprised, I definitely had not expected all this sudden support! Nevertheless, it makes me happy. Make sure to leave reviews if you like it, I also accept suggestions on how to improve or ideas for keeping the story going! Although I have the whole timeline written out already, I could try and sneak in a few suggestions here and there.

Again, thank you very much, to all those who reviewed, favourited and followed the story!

Special thanks to KookieMastahArt for betareading.

Without any further ado: I still don't own Love Live.

Enjoy Chapter 1!

Nico sighed for the tenth time that day, sitting down on the chair outside of the cafe while waiting for Nozomi to come back from inside, as she went to take both their orders.

They had only talked and walked around for an hour, yet there she was, rubbing her temples because of her headache caused by none other than her friend, who probably had absolutely no idea about the internal struggle Nico was dealing with.

She simply came back to the table, plopping down on the seat in front of the black haired girl after handing the other her coffee and finally placing her chin softly on her folded hands once she allowed her elbows to rest on the table. "Nicocchi, what's troubling you?" the purple haired asked, raising an eyebrow at her friend, sounding slightly worried.

After her question, Nico felt like snorting and punching her in the face, but she refrained from doing so, simply removing her fingers from her temples and staring at the girl in front of her, wondering if Nozomi was even trying to hide her true emotions from her. She was tempted to reply with 'You are troubling me', however, she decided to keep her mouth shut, simply waving a hand in front of her as if she was dismissing her. "I just got tired from walking around the city." she said instead, not entirely lying about it either. She was tired, after all.

Nozomi chuckled, moving down both of her hands and leaning slightly closer in to the other, her smile now turning into a smirk. "Super idol Yazawa Nico got tired with just a small walk? You're going to have troubles with your career if you don't work on your endurance." she commented, glancing away right after talking and drifting off in her own thoughts, her face becoming melancholic once again. Nico honestly had lost count on how many times she had seen that kind of expression on Nozomi's face, and she really couldn't take it anymore.

Her eyebrows twitched ever so slightly as she stared at her, waiting for her friend to wake up from her daydreaming, but guessing that it wasn't going to happen any soon, she finally snapped. "... just what the hell is wrong, Nozomi?" she asked, trying hard not to sound harsh with her.

The purple haired looked back at the black haired girl, blinking in confusion a couple of times until she smiled at her again. "What are you talking about, Nicocchi?" she tilted her head to the side, trying to sound and look like she didn't know what the other really meant. "There's nothing wrong, is there?"

"Of course. There's never anything wrong with you." Nico sighed again, obviously sarcastic about her own words. "Look, I might not know you as much as Eli does but I can clearly see through your facade, so just open up already and speak." she ordered, crossing her arms and almost glaring at her, but she stopped herself when she saw Nozomi's face.

She had never seen anything remotely close to that blank expression she was making; it made her feel uncomfortable now. 'I guess I hit the spot', she thought, leaning slightly closer to the other with a small frown; and right when she was about to talk again, Nozomi interrupted her, her eyes softening and a genuine smile finally appearing on her lips.

"I'm sorry, I'm not used at not having her around." she admitted, resting her hands on her lap and glancing down at them. "I know that she left just a few weeks ago but... it's hard to wake up in the morning while knowing that I still won't be able to see her for a few more years." she trailed on and sighed silently, the corners of her lips now turning downwards into a small pout.

Nico simply kept her stare on Nozomi as she listened to her, frowning slightly afterwards and glancing away, knowing very well how she felt. Although they still lived in the same city, Nico hadn't paid a visit to Maki ever since she graduated, nor had she found an excuse to call her yet, and her pride had stopped her multiple times from hitting the call button just to hear the redhead's voice.

The black haired girl's sigh didn't escape unnoticed by the purple haired one, so she turned her pout into a smirk and tilted her head slightly to the side, covering her mouth with one of her hands. "What about you, Nicocchi? Don't you miss someone from μ's?" she asked, awaiting some kind of reaction from the girl sitting in front of her, and she wasn't disappointed.

At first, Nico ended up spilling her coffee while drinking, almost choking because of it, but she was quick to recover and stare at Nozomi, who simply returned the stare with a knowing smile, the one that pissed Nico off no matter the situation. "Huh? What are you talking about? I miss all of them, no one in particular." she replied, coughing awkwardly and composing herself, placing the now empty cup back on the table.

"Are you sure?" the other hummed, looking up at the sky while being deep in thought. "There really isn't someone? You know, there might be someone who likes you. She even cried when we disbanded the group." she trailed on, lowering her gaze once again on her friend, tapping her chin with her fingers.

The black haired girl sighed, brushing a hand through one of her pigtails and trying to calm down her racing heart and thoughts. "Stop implying that Maki likes me, Nozomi." Nico said, and she immediately realised how she had dug her own grave; however, she didn't have the time to correct herself as she stared at her friend, whose lips had already formed another smirk.

"Oh?" Nozomi decided to slowly lean closer to the other, resting her chin on her hand and raising an eyebrow. "I never mentioned Maki-chan, did I?"

'Shit.'

She stared at her purple haired friend with a blank expression, immediately brainstorming in order to get out of her predicament. "Uhm... hahahaha!" she started laughing, much to Nozomi's confusion. "Oh please, as if anyone was worthy of Super Idol Nico Nico Nii's love! Hahaahah!" she went on, knowing very well that there was no way out for her anymore, now that she basically confirmed that she was indeed in love with the redhead.

"If... if you say so..." her friend mumbled, obviously not convinced with the other's sudden outburst. The purple haired watched the black haired shoot up from her seat, yelling something about paying a visit to their old group, who were probably practising on the usual rooftop, and gone she was. Nozomi glanced at the direction Nico disappeared in for a few moments, until suddenly realising a small detail she had completely forgotten about. "Wait, I have to pay for her coffee too?"

In the end, Nico didn't manage to outrun Nozomi. She was now lying on the ground in front of their old school's gates, her hands resting on her chest while a single tear escaped from her eyes. "You're horrible." she muttered, pouting and slowly getting up, only to be greeted by her friend's chuckle.

The two of them didn't say anything else as they walked inside the school with a melancholic look on their faces while they were slowly making their way upstairs and towards the rooftop, stopping in front of the door and listening to Umi clapping her hands while saying 'One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight!' in English. The older girls smiled slightly at that, glad that nothing had changed after all. Nor Nico nor Nozomi opened the door, deciding to just stand there for a while and remembering their time in high school, until they were forced to snap out of their thoughts when someone else had opened the door for them, immediately recognising the girl as Honoka.

"Nozomi-chan, Nico-chan!" she greeted them with a huge smile, pulling them into a hug and dragging them outside, letting the door close behind them. Everyone else had stopped doing whatever they were busy with during their break and turned around, gathering around the older girls happily.

"It's so nice to see you guys here! Were you just passing by?" Kotori asked them after everyone stopped hugging the two.

Nozomi was the one to shake her head and smile. "Nicocchi and I thought that it was a good idea to see how you were doing." she explained, glancing at her friend beside her and noticing her serious face.

"Hey." the black haired girl started, looking around, slightly confused. "Why are just the five of you up here? Where's Maki-chan?" she placed her hands on her hips, trying not to sound like she was worrying over her, or anything.

Once Nico had mentioned the redhead, the highschoolers frowned and glanced down, a couple of them releasing a few sighs. They all seemed to wait for someone to start explaining, worry increasing for both the purple haired and the black haired, as they both didn't know what to expect. "Maki decided to quit being an idol after you three left." Umi started, looking at both their former seniors. "She didn't exactly explain her reasons, but we decided not to push her any further. She will still compose songs for us, but singing and dancing..." she trailed on, knowing that she didn't have to finish her sentence.

The two didn't know how to feel about Umi's words. They both knew that Maki wouldn't have quit for futile reasons, yet they couldn't help but worry about her, knowing how secretive she younger girl was. "Oh..." Nico finally decided to break the awkward silence. "Where is she now?"

Rin and Hanayo glanced at each other with a frown, wondering if it was okay for them to tell, until they slowly turned around and looked at the other five, Hanayo folding her hands together awkwardly and Rin rubbing her cheek. "Uhm... Maki-chan left right after our classes ended." the orange haired started, and her classmate only nodded. "Kayo-chin and I don't know where she went, but... Maki-chan always leaves before going to the clubroom lately. We're worried." she finished talking, her hand moving to the back of her head, not knowing if that helped any of them in finding out what was wrong with the redhead, but she still felt like she had to tell them.

"Have you tried asking her?" Nozomi looked at both Rin and Hanayo, not surprised at all when they both shook their heads, apologising to her silently. The purple haired rubbed her chin and glanced around the place, noticing the others do the same. 'She leaves school earlier than usual and quits the group? How strange.' she thought, trying to make sense out of this situation, but she honestly couldn't think of anything happening to Maki. 'I doubt she left because of us graduating, she was in μ's before we joined, after all.'

Not being able to find out more with just the little information she had about it, she decided to leave it at that for the time being, slowly removing her hand from her chin and folding both of them together behind her back, smiling slightly and closing her eyes. "There's no doubt that both quitting and leaving school right after classes are connected." Nozomi said, waiting for a few moments before going on, until they all were paying attention to her. "Maki-chan never talks about something bothering her unless it's about Nicocchi," she continued, intentionally emphasising her friend's name, the smile never leaving her face. "It would be bad to force her to talk, though, so give her time and try to let her open up."

Umi nodded at her words, her gaze travelling from Nozomi to the now second graders, clearing her throat. "Rin, Hanayo, I want you to keep an eye on Maki."

She was about to continue, however, Honoka quickly interrupted her, stepping forwards. "You could try to hang out with her! Share ideas for new songs, or anything you can think of! We should do the same, so let's all work together!"

Kotori clapped her hands, looking at her classmates while her eyes started to lit up. "We can ask her if we can borrow one of her vacation homes again for music purposes but include that too?" she suggested, studying their faces to check if anyone was against it, but unfortunately, everyone seemed to agree with her. "Oh! Why don't we invite Nozomi-chan and Nico-chan too?" the gray-haired looked at the two University students with puppy eyes, hoping that they didn't have anything to do for a while.

Nico and Nozomi glanced at each other, already knowing that it would cost them a bit of free time, as they'd have to study more than usual in order to catch up, but once they smiled at each other they knew they would regret nothing. "It can't be helped then." The black haired said, shrugging her shoulders.

Maki walked out of a certain building while gripping a piece of paper with her left hand, her right one holding firmly the strap of her school bag, completely engrossed in reading. She stood in front of a crossroad for a couple of moments, her eyes never looking up, until she let out a soft sigh and folded the paper, stuffing it in her bag, finding it extremely hard because of the constant shaking of her hands; once she finally managed to calm down and close her bag again, the redhead glanced up only to see that she was too late in crossing the road.

Sighing again, she crossed her arms and started tapping one of her feet on the ground, waiting impatiently for the cars to stop moving in order to allow her to go back home. All she wanted to do was to sit in front of her piano and play for the rest of the day, or even her whole life, as that single instrument was the only thing keeping her company ever since she was nothing but a small child. Without any friends and her parents barely being at home, she had started playing the piano after discovering the music room in her very first school simply out of boredom, and she instantly had loved it. One day, she woke up just to be greeted by nothing less than a grand piano in the living room, and ever since she never stopped playing: Maki always took her time to sit down in front of it and play even a simple piece, everyday.

'I'm probably going to lose that, too.'

The redhead started walking again, keeping her eyes in front of her for a while, until she started to become uneasy and her eyes flickered all over the place, studying her surroundings carefully. Maki wasn't sure if she had developed a paranoid personality disorder or if she was thinking too much about it, however, she couldn't help but be terrified about someone finding out about her occasional after-school activity, or even the future itself. She knew that her parents and her friends were bound to find out eventually, but she kept pushing the topic out of her mind as soon as she had the chance to, not wanting to talk about it with anyone.

Maki brought a hand up to her hair and started twirling her locks with her fingers ever so slightly, doing her best to calm herself down, and although it seemed to work for a bit, a small part of her anxiety kept sticking to her like glue, not wanting to let go; she tried not to think about it and simply kept walking, eventually reaching her home.

After almost emptying her bag for not being able to find the keys, she opened the door and didn't waste any time, heading straight for the grand piano in the living room, throwing her bag on one of the couches and plopping down, entirely forgetting about leaving the main door slightly open. The redhead closed her eyes and started playing, pressing her fingers down on the keys too quickly and therefore quickening the song's pace considerabily, which frustrated her even more. She forced herself to stop playing for a few seconds, taking a deep breath in and trying one more time, slowly.

Little did she know that right outside of her mansion, a group of seven people were listening to her music, slowly making their way inside after finding the door open. None of them wanted to disturb her as she played, so they decided to stand right outside of the living room while staring at her back, but they all seemed to notice her stiff movements, almost as if she had forgotten how to play or move completely.

Maki kept playing, her fingers almost slamming the keys by now, making the sounds gradually become louder and louder, until the song came to a halt out of nowhere, her hands still placed right above the last notes. The others watched her, waiting for the right time to call out for her, and just when Nico was about to comment on how the last few notes sounded absolutely terrible, she was stopped by none other than Maki, who started pressing the keys again, muttering 'It's not fair' and 'Are you looking at me?' before removing her hands and opening her eyes again, finally noticing her friends standing by the door. "Wha- when did you get in here?" she asked, apparently really bothered by her performance. It definitely didn't sound like the usual Maki after all, and she hoped none of them noticed how badly she actually played.

Rin was the first to step forward, throwing her bag on top of Maki's and running over to her, grabbing her by her shoulders right before pulling her into a hug. "We wanted to visit you nya!" she informed the other, sitting on the redhead's lap by now.

Honoka smiled at her and walked inside of the living room, followed by the others shortly after. "Rin-chan told us you left right after classes ended, so we wanted to check up on you." she continued, approaching the two of them. "What song was it? I have never heard it before." she tilted her head to the side, wondering if it was a new one for their group.

Maki quickly pushed the orange haired out of her lap and shot up from her seat, clearing her throat awkwardly and going over to the couch she threw her bag on, quickly retrieving it. "It's just something I made up on the spot!" she stated, looking at them. "Have a seat, I'll make some tea for you." the redhead then made her way towards the kitchen, placing the bag on one of the chairs by the table and sighing heavily, upset for being caught by them angrily playing piano like that.

Slapping her cheeks softly and pulling herself together, she prepared the tea after grabbing a few cups and placing them on a tray, carefully walking back to the others and placing the cups on the coffee table in front of them. Only then Maki noticed Nico's and Nozomi's presence, failing to hide her surprised expression. "Nozomi, Nico-chan." she greeted them, heading towards the door again. "I didn't notice you standing there, I'll get two more cups."

"Eh? But there are enough." Nozomi said, grabbing her own cup and smiling at her. "There are nine."

Everyone suddenly got silent at that, their thoughts drifting off to a certain blonde who was currently in Russia, probably attending her morning classes. Nico noticed the air around them becoming heavy so she coughed, successfully grabbing their attention. "You should be flattered that the amazing Nico Nico Nii decided to pay a visit!" she said, sipping the tea from her cup and placing it back down on the coffee table afterwards, waiting for some kind of reaction from the redhead.

The girl sighed and rolled her eyes, moving a hand up to her hair. "Yes, yes, it's not like I was missing any of you anyways." she stated, keeping her gaze locked towards the wall next to her, apparently not fazed at all by Nico's presence; however, they all knew better than that, so they smiled, glad that nothing seemed to have changed between the eight of them.

"Anyways, Maki-chan!" Honoka suddenly stood up, her energetic smile returning. "Can we use your beach home again for a camping trip? It's been weeks since we got together like this and we don't have any live shows in the next few days, so we thought it was a good idea to spend some time together again!" she explained, going over to her and folding her hands together, begging her with her eyes.

The redhead slowly moved her hand back down, raising an eyebrow at the student council president until she glanced at the others, noticing that they were all giving her the same look, besides Nozomi, who seemed to still be lost in thoughts. "Eh? What about the student council? Wait, Nozomi and Nico-chan can't just leave their studies to hang out with us, can they? Besides, Eli-"

"Maki-chaaaan!" Kotori stopped her from whatever she was about to say, looking at her with a frown and a small pout. "Please?"

The room got silent once again, everyone waiting for Maki's answer. She noticed that even the purple haired had stopped thinking and was now looking at her, still casually sipping her tea as she waited, staring intently, almost as if she was judging her.

The redhead let out a deep sigh, crossing her arms and turning around completely, not wanting to face them anymore. "Fine, whatever! Be glad my parents allow it!" she crossed her arms after talking, closing her eyes as well and pouting, hating the fact that they always managed to get what they wanted from her, but she wasn't mad at them. It wasn't their fault that Maki got emotionally attached to them, after all.

The other seven smiled in relief, Honoka and Kotori immediately hugging her from both sides, rubbing their cheeks against her own. "Thank you Maki-chan!" she heard them say, but the redhead was too flustered by their sudden action to let out any words from her mouth, besides a single yelp.

Nozomi watched them with a smile for a few moments before glancing down to her lap and placing the now empty cup back down on the table, brushing her hair out of her face and finally standing up. "Well, it's time for me to leave now." she said, straightening her clothes and folding her hands behind her back afterwards, stepping forwards until she stopped by the door, turning around to face them again. "Send me the details by text later, Nicocchi. Bye guys!" and with that, she disappeared, leaving the others inside of Maki's mansion.

Nozomi opened the door to her apartment, making her way over to the living room after closing it again and as soon as she placed the bag she was carrying on the couch, her gaze flickered towards the clock, noticing that it was already 8 PM.

Although it was already fairly late for her, she couldn't help but think about how Japan was six hours ahead of the city Eli was currently living in. Because of that, they hadn't spoken a lot lately, mostly during the weekends, when none of them had anything to do and they could spend the whole day on their computer while videocalling each other.

The rest of the week was a torture for Nozomi: she either woke up two hours earlier, hoping to find Eli still online, or she'd stay up until late, only to fall asleep after a few minutes of talking to her. Thanks to that newfound lifestyle, she'd often pass out during a train ride or, even worse, in the middle of her classes, and even though it was slowly affecting her grades at University, she didn't regret anything, as her blonde friend always managed to put a smile on her face.

It would be an understatement to say that Nozomi missed her. At some point, during their Highschool years, everything the purple haired did somehow involved Eli, and she guessed that maybe, just maybe, she depended a bit too much on her friend.

The girl sighed, shaking her head to snap out of her thoughts. She had an essay to finish for the day after and getting sidetracked wasn't going to help her out at all.

Nevertheless, she sat down on the couch, completely ignoring both her thoughts and the essay, turning on the TV and trying to focus on whatever programme she had randomly chosen, which was apparently a yuri anime about an assassin falling in love with her target and protecting her from the other assassins, who incidentally were their classmates.

Soon enough she was immersed in the anime and she wrote down the name of the main character on her phone, wanting to look it up later on her computer in order to actually finish it. 'There goes my essay.'

Right after the blue haired assassin saved the redhead from being killed, she felt the need to hear Eli's voice. Glancing at the time again and noticing that barely half an hour had passed, Nozomi moved her gaze to her phone and stared at it with a conflicted expression, unsure whether to call her or not.

She brought a pillow on her lap and hugged it with her free arm, her eyes never moving from the phone in her hand, and just when she was about to press the call button, she shook her head, neatly placing it on the coffee table and laying down on the couch while burying her face in the pillow. 'She's probably in the middle of a class, I can't just call her.'

After a few seconds she turned around and decided to rest her head on the pillow, folding her hands together on her lap and staring, or rather glaring at the ceiling, her mind filled with thoughts about Eli one more time. When her heart's beating started increasing once she imagined her friend and herself in questionable positions, Nozomi brought her hands up to her face and immediately stood up from the couch, running towards the bathroom and splashing her face with cold water, hoping that would be enough to calm herself down and make the blush disappear.

The purple haired sighed heavily and walked into the kitchen, making herself a quick sandwich and some tea while resting her eyes on her bag, knowing that she wasn't supposed to slack off on her studies but she just couldn't help it. 'Damn you, Elicchi. Stop invading my mind.'

Nozomi went back to the couch after eating and placed the tea on the table, glad that there weren't any other yuri anime currently airing to distract her, and right when she was about to start writing her essay, she saw her phone still on the table. She immediately regretted having left it there, as the bright screen caught her attention in a matter of seconds.

She took it in her hands and opened the text she had received, only to be disappointed as it was only from her other friend, Nico. She informed her about the date of their trip - which was the next day, right after her morning classes, - when and where they were supposed to meet, so Nozomi simply replied with a 'Thank you' and sighed again, resting her back against the couch, pressing her phone against her chest.

'I'll never be able to focus on my work if this goes on.'

Giving up for the time being, she grabbed the cup and sipped from it, feeling the previous tension slowly leave her and being replaced with warmth; she started to think that maybe she could finally finish her work and then watch the rest of the anime on her computer, but her mind was quick enough to fill itself with Eli again, and Nozomi cursed out loud for perhaps the first time ever.

Now fed up, she grabbed her tarots and placed them on the table, taking a deep breath in while hovering her hand over the cards. "Depending on whatever I get, I will call her or not." she said, taking one of the cards while closing her eyes, actually not wanting to know her own prediction. After waiting for a while, she slowly gathered the courage to look at the card, only to throw it away once she noticed that it said 'Death'.

'That's it, I won't call her. I'll finish this essay first and then wait for her as I finish the anime.'

Nozomi forced herself to ignore the rest of the world and started writing while occasionally sipping her tea, feeling extremely pressured from both the University and her thoughts, but she wasn't going to give up just yet. If Eli found out that Nozomi didn't have good grades, the purple haired knew that the blonde would come back to Japan just to lecture her about the importance of her studies, but... thinking about it, it wasn't a bad idea, at least she'd come back earlier than expected, and for a moment she really considered ignoring the University, only to slap herself on her cheeks. 'As if!'

Barely an hour had passed since she started and she only ended up writing a page before resting her head on the essay while mumbling 'This is hard' and 'I can't do it anymore'. Deciding that she had written enough for the day, she took her phone and laid down on the couch, browsing through her pictures of Eli and herself, chuckling every once in a while whenever she remembered something funny.

She glanced up at the ceiling for a while, holding her phone tightly with both hands, releasing a sigh, and she finally gave up, not just on her essay.

'I'm not going to call her, I'm going to text her.'

And so she did.