It wasn't often that Maki and Nico—renowned tsundere power couple—were in good enough terms and calm enough of demeanor to have a date at a private establishment.

Today was a good day for them, and once Maki's university classes and Nico's recording session had let out, they met up at a coffee shop. Maki held the door open for Nico, who smiled smugly and walked through it confidently, keeping her ideas of grandeur to herself; a testament to the unusually high spirits of both women. Was it the warm spring weather? The light work load the gods had graced them with that day? Or that they had spoken few words to each other all day.

"Nico, it's kinda crowded in here. You should go get us a table. I'll order for us. What do you want?"

"Maki! You're been dating the number one idol in the universe for two years now and you don't know her favorite order?"

The twitching of Maki's left eyebrow marked the beginning of the end to the calm.

"For someone as childish as you, I'd imagine you'd ask for the near-equivalent of a cup of pure sugar."

"Hey! My sweet tooth is one of my charm points!"

"Is your inflated ego one of those, too?"

"Sh-shut up! Get me a medium white chocolate mocha, and make sure they don't skim on the whipped cream!"

Nico scrunched her eyebrows together at the sight of Maki's grinning face. "I wasn't wrong, huh?"

Maki walked off to join the cue of customers just as Nico began to growl and mentally prepare a retort. Left awkwardly fuming at the red haired women's retreating back, Nico promptly turned around and walked towards an empty table. She quickly whipped out her phone to check on her blog as she took a seat.

"Have you heard of this new idol, Nico Ni? Her first ever single was announced recently! She looks absolutely adorable, doesn't she?! She has a smile that just draws you right in!"

It was to Nico's fortune that Maki wasn't there, because one could almost see Nico's already over-sized ego growing larger by the second. A fan of hers, Nico mentally squealed, sitting right behind her! When Maki returned, she could raise her voice while talking, and upon being recognized, it was inevitable that she be asked for an autograph!

"Pffft. Yeah, I've seen that Nico Ni all over the place, unfortunately."

Rarely had Nico's mood ever experienced such a complete turnarou so quickly.

"Her voice is so high in the stratosphere, I wonder if she can even hear that incessant screeching she calls singing. And her stupid catchphrase? What a Nico Nico No. Ugh, whenever I hear it, I just wanna tear my own ears off! And yeah, she might be kinda cute, but she has the body of a child! I mean, maybe if you're a loli lover, she might peak your interest. And another thing—"

Busy trying to keep her blood from reaching the boiling point and glaring holes into her phone's screen, Nico hadn't noticed that Maki had reached their table, set their drinks down, sat down for a few seconds, stood up, and walked right up to the table where two twenty-something year olds were animatedly discussing the prospective idol in a magazine.

"How dare you talk about Nico-chan like that?!"

Nico turned her head around so quickly she thought her neck might break right in two. Maki, face redder than her favorite food, loomed over the table of two young men, cowering as her voice boomed.

"She has worked so hard all her life to make people smile with her smile, and bring joy to people with her songs, and grace the world with her voice! She was the president of the Idol Research Club and a treasured member of Muse, even if she called us back-up dancers for a while! She taught us all how to find real joy in performing so we could give genuine smiles and bring joy to our audience and all our fans! We-we-we missed her so much when she graduated! A-a-a-and—"

Maki wasn't sure how, but somewhere down the line, her angry tirade has turned into an emotional roller-coaster of reliving memories, including painful ones, filled with missing the loud and short senior away in college pushing forward to achieve her dreams. Maki was near sobbing at that point, and the employee that had been dispatched to usher them out of the coffee shop was paralyzed next to their table. Nico stood up—completely disregarding their drinks—grabbed hold of Maki's arm, and power walked out of the establishment.

Once they had made their way out, Nico turned to Maki, whose eyes were dry but red and puffy, and hugged her as tightly as she could.

"N-Nico… I don't know what came over—"

"Thank you, Maki-chan."

Maki's train of thought derailed after she had processed those words, and she smiled, hugging Nico back and fighting the tears that threatened to fall once more. Nico smiled, too, and the girlfriends held each other or several minutes before pulling apart. Maki gave her a confused look as Nico grinned at her.

"Oh yeah, you really told him, didn't you?"

"Sh-shut up!"