Hello everyone, and I hope your prepared for this. And I'm sorry to all NicoMaki shippers, but this won't end the way you want it. Hopefully you all enjoy and forgive for the ending.

This story may last 2-4 chapters, but I'm still deciding. Although, I may take while in updating this to let the feelings sink in.

Disclaimer: I do not own Love Live!

A regular day after practice and Nico and Maki were alone after everyone left, so Nico could talk to Maki.

"Ne, Maki…"

"What is it?"

"What would you do if someone confesses to you?"

"Ehh, why?"

"Just curious."

"I would probably reject it."

"Why, what if you were close to that person?"

"Why are you asking all of this, well anyways, I'm pretty sure I would still reject it. After all, there isn't anyone I like right now."

"I see, but what if I were the one to confess to you?"

"Wha-"

"Maki, I love you. Would you go out with me?"

"…" Maki was dumbfounded by it, but she already knew what she would say, what she had to say. After all, she's pretty serious about school and her parents would probably never let her go out with a girl.

"Sorry Nico-chan, but I'm not going to say yes."

"Ehh?"

"Face it Nico-chan, can you imagine us dating? You and I will always just be acquaintances."

"Acquaintances? You don't even consider me as your friend!" Nico suddenly got up and got angry after hearing her saying that word. It hurt that she was rejected, but it hurt more that in Maki's eyes that she isn't even considered a friend.

"Wait, Nico-chan-"

"No, just stop there, I already get it."

"What are you talk-"

"You don't see me as a love interest, and you don't see me as a friend. So, let's just stop talking or interacting with each other!" Nico ran out of the room as fast as she could with her stuff.

"W-wait a minute, Nico-chan!" Maki tried to catch up to her, but for some reason Nico was just so fast that she couldn't catch up. "Nico-chan…" Maki finally lost Nico and just stopped running.

The next day…

Maki was walking through the hallway and saw Nico.

"Nico-chan." She walked towards and even called out to her.

"…" Nico just walked past her and ignored her completely.

"Nico-chan." Maki tried to call out to her again, but someone distracted her and she lost sight of Nico.

"Maki-chan." It turned out to be Hanayo.

"H-Hanayo…" She saw a serious face on Hanayo's face.

"Let's talk Maki-chan."

"O-okay." They walked to the roof and it was quiet because there was no one there.

"Hanayo, what is this about?"

"Nico-chan confessed to you, right?"

"Ehh, how did you-"

"Nico-chan told us she was going to confess to you yesterday. That's why we all left after practice."

"I see."

"What did you say?"

"I told her no, but she got mad at me afterwards."

"Why?"

"That's probably my fault. After she confessed to me, I told her that us dating was just impossible and that we were just acquaintances."

"Acquaintances, you didn't call her your friend?"

"No, that's why she's pretty mad. She was already sad that I rejected her, but was hurt more when I told her that we'll always just be acquaintances."

"So, she thought that she isn't even your friend."

"Yeah…"

"Well?"

"Well what?"

"Is she your friend, or just another acquaintance?"

"Ehh, s-she's a friend, a close friend."

"Then why did you say acquaintance?"

"I don't even know."

"Why don't you leave her alone for a while, let her calm down for a bit."

"I guess so, but how long should I leave her alone?"

"Until you feel it's right Maki-chan." The bell rang to return to class. "Now, let's go back to class, okay."

"Okay…"

Maki accepted the fact Nico distanced herself and even sat far from her at the clubroom. Instead of sitting next to Nico, she sat in between Hanayo and Rin, while Nico sat next to Eri at the edge of the table. Every day, Nico neither talked to her, looked at her, nor even mentioned her. The atmosphere was always tense when the two was in the same room, Nico didn't even pretend to be happy or even smile, she was just, reclusive and became solitary. No one could talk to her properly, and no one can even talk to her for more than minute. Her current mood was nothing like the regular Nico that would always smile, fake smile or even a real smile. Nothing, but a blank and lonely face was there. No emotions, no concern, just...nothing. And Maki felt like she was to blame.

Maki didn't feel good about it, but she accepted the fact Nico avoided her for a whole week. The entire time she was avoided made her feel all weird and lonely, but for some reason, it also hurt too.

When it hurt so much that she couldn't take it anymore, she tried to talk to Nico after school. So, she decided to go to Nico's class, and when she got there, she saw Nico, but she wasn't alone.

"Nico, I love you." Maki hid herself and went up against the wall, when she thought she couldn't be seen, she tried to see who it was confessing.

"No way, Eri…" It was Eri confessing to Nico; she was holding on to Nico's shoulders and was very close to her. For some reason, how close they were to each other made it seem like someone just stabbed her right at her heart.

"Eri, why are you telling me this?"

"Because I don't like the way you've been acting and how sad you look. I know you really liked Maki, but don't let her affect you this much." Nico looked into Eri's eyes to see if she was lying, but no, it showed true concern, honesty, and love. Eri's eyes were how she wished Maki would've looked at her with, but she knew it would never happen. Maki would never love her, she wasn't even thought of as a friend.

"I want the Nico who smiles so much, the one who tries to be strong when everyone else is crying. The one I love." Eri hugged her so tightly in her arms, amd even though Nico was so sad, she felt a little better. The fact she was cared for this much by someone other than her family, the fact that the arms embracing her were filled with warmth.

"I want to be the one who is near you when you feel like this, or even when you're happy. As long as I'm near, I thought that would've been fine. But when you told us about your feeling for Maki, it hurt, it hurt me so much. But I still kept quiet about my feelings, because...because when you love someone your own happiness doesn't come first, but the one you love. That's what I thought at first. And when I saw what happened after you confessed, I was mad that she hurt you. I knew that she couldn't make you happy, all she did was hurt you. She didn't even give you a chance, did she?" That earned a few quiet sobs from Nico because it was true, Maki rejected her right away and just told her it was impossible.

"Because of how you felt about her, I thought it would be fine if you ended up together, but now… but now."

Eri tightened the hug and Nico started crying in her arms, while hugging Eri back. Tears were also beginning to flow from Eri's eyes after hearing Nico cry.

"But now, I won't let anyone else hurt you like this. So, please accept my love, accept me to be your lover and the one who will be with you forever. I want to protect you from this pain, so let me be the one you love as well."

Eri's confession hurt Maki more than the week of not interacting with Nico. It hurt her how much Eri cared for Nico, it hurt that Nico was actually listening. It even hurt because she knew she was the entire reason Nico was like this right now, and she knew. She knew that maybe even after she talks with Nico, they may never be the same after all this.

"I know I hurt you Nico-chan, but please… please don't accept Eri's confession." Maki thought as she cried, while biting her lip to make sure that she wouldn't burst into loud sobs right there.

They hugged for a while, until Nico moved away from Eri. Eri thought Nico would finally give her answer and because of that she felt very nervous. It was truly nerve-wrecking.

"Nico-chan, please… You told me you loved me, didn't you." It took an entire week of distance and Eri's confession to finally realize the feelings she may have always had for Nico. She thought it was too late, but still hoped that Nico would give her a chance to make up for it. "I know I don't deserve it, and I know I don't deserve you. But please! Please give me a chance to show you I love you!"

"Okay, Eri…"

"Ehh?" was what went through Eri and Maki's mind.

"I'll accept you to be the one I hold dear. The one I will love, the one that makes me feel better just like what you did now." Maki and Eri were just shocked, but Nico continued. "I'll love you Eri, it won't take long for me to feel the same as you. After all, you just made my heart beat so quickly just now."

"I'll give you the chance Maki never gave me." Those words that came from Nico's mouth felt like her heart was being ripped from her body, but, but it was the truth. No matter what she thinks, or even feels, she knows it's the truth. She never gave it a chance and that was her biggest mistake.

Maki gathered her courage to peek in there again, but only to find Nico pull Eri into a kiss. That sight made Maki's heart burst into a million pieces, so she ran away. Far enough to try and forget about it, but it didn't work no matter how far she was, the pain was still there. So, she just ran all the way home. There was no one there, and that made her feel better that no would see her like this, but also sad that no one could comfort her like Eri did for Nico.

"Nico-chan…" Maki's thoughts were only filled with her as she lay on the bed in the dark. "I probably deserved that, right. This is probably what you felt when I rejected you, so I guess it's only fair that I feel it now, right?" This time she spoke aloud, although no one could hear pained voice.

"If only I knew it would hurt this much to see you with somebody else, I would've never done that!"

"Wahh!" Maki could no longer hold in her tears and sadness back any longer, so she just sobbed loudly.

In the empty halls of the Nishikino house, all that could be heard that night was the sobs of Nishikino Maki.

The very next day…

Maki came to school, but it was obvious she wasn't feeling well and she really looked like it. Hanayo and Rin noticed Maki's strange behavior almost immediately.

"Maki-chan…" The two approached her quickly.

"…" Maki didn't even feel like replying.

Hanayo and Rin looked at each other, and they both knew it had something to do with what happened with Nico. So, they decided to wait after school so that everyone could help Maki, but what was announced before they could even tell the other members, shocked not only them, but the entire group.

"Everyone, Nico and I have something to tell you." Everyone focused their attention to the two. "Nico and I are going out now."

"...!" It shocked everyone, but it made Hanayo realize why Maki was depressed.

"…" Maki just sat quietly at the corner of the table, not saying anything, not looking at anything. She looked away from everyone, but before she did Hanayo noticed a tear falling from her eyes and knew that Maki was hurting from what Eri announced to them.

"Is it true, Nicocchi?" Nozomi was in doubt because Nico just told everyone she was in love with Maki a week ago, but now she was going out with Eri.

"Yeah, it's true."

"But what about..." Nozomi looked to where Maki was, and just didn't continue. "Never mind."

"..." Everyone knew how Nico felt for Maki, so if Maki rejected her they would've accepted that. But they didn't really believe the fact that Nico moved on so quickly, especially since how serious she was when she told everyone that she loved Maki.

"Nico-chan..." Honoka called out to her.

"What is it?"

"Do you mind if we talked for a bit?"

"...fine." The two walked out and after that someone had to talk to Eri.

"Eri-chan." Kotori and Hanayo decided to be the one who were going to talk with Eri.

"Its okay, I know." She stood up. "Let's go." The three walked out of the room and headed somewhere with not to many people.

Umi, Nozomi, and Rin were the ones left to talk to a sobbing Maki.

"Maki-chan, I think you know we need to talk." Nozomi approached Maki first.

"I don't need a lecture Nozomi, so just leave me alone."

"It's not a lecture, but I think you need to realize why you're hurting so much right now."

"I already know why I'm hurting so much..." They could hear Maki stifling her sobs and it pained the three to see her like this.

"Why Maki-chan, why are you hurting so much?" Rin kneeled to where Maki was looking at and it really brought her down when she saw how much Maki was crying, how much pain it looked Maki was in.

"Because I finally realized that I loved Nico-chan all this time, but it was already too late..." After finishing her sentence, she just broke down. "Nghh..." Maki but her lip down as hard as she could so she doesn't break down right there, but it was futile. "Wahh!" She started crying as hard as she could, so the three instantly surrounded her, trying everything they can to make her feel better.

Nozomi was rubbing her back to at least soothe even just a little of her pain, Umi hugged her from the back and tried to hold back her own tears because seeing Maki like this pained her so much, and Rin was just rested her head on Maki's lap and Maki could feel Rin's tears which made her cry even more knowing that she made her friends cry as well.

The clubroom was just filled with sadness and tears, so they waited for Maki to calm down enough to tell them what she really wants to say, but just can't because of the pain.

To be continued...

Hey guys, so I'm not even going to ask if you liked this because you may not feel so happy after reading this. So, all I'm going to ask you for is your opinions on this and also to tell you some painful words, but often ends up as the truth.

Love is a painful thing, it also can be happiness if you try to treasure it and cherish the one you love. But, if you don't even realize it and let it slip away from you, it may get taken away from you. You have to realize the importance that some people have in your life, it's not just romantic love, but family love and the love you have from you friends. If you never realize their importance and take them for granted, whether or not it was your intention, something great might just slip away from just from saying a few words with empty meanings. They may mean nothing to you, the person who's saying, but the person who's receiving those words may take it seriously. So, my point is to cherish what you have and not let slip away from you.

Thanks for reading this story and my (probably) worthless explanation and BYE BYE!:D