This takes place on another training camp to the beach, not the one shown in the anime because not all the girls were getting along at the time. Features NicoNozo and EriNozo as the main pairings along with HonoMaki, RinPana, and KotoUmi.

I honestly have no idea where the idea for this particular fic came from.

Disclaimer: I do not own Love Live.

Once again, the nine Muses found themselves at the beachside villa that Maki's family owned. However, they were there this time for their own relaxation and amusement after their victory in the Love Live competition and to recover from the graduation of the third years. Rin and Honoka immediately sprinted to the water, beach ball in hand, as soon as they were settled at the villa (read: put their stuff down and donned their swimsuits). The other seven followed at a much slower pace. Eri and Maki set up the beach chairs they would be sitting on while Kotori and Hanayo spread a towel nearby for more seating. Umi set up two umbrellas, one for the chairs and the other for the towel. Nico ran off to join Honoka and Rin in their game while Nozomi set about inflating a light purple inner tube.

"Come and join us, Kayo-chin nya!" Rin shouted, waving for Hanayo to join them. She and Honoka had decided that even with Nico, they weren't enough to play a decent game so now they were swimming around and looking for things under the water. "I found this really cool fish I want to show you!"

"Coming, Rin-chan!" Hanayo called back, kicking off her sandals as she hurried into the cool water.

"I'm going back inside to get some drinks." Maki informed Eri, who nodded. Honoka noticed this and clambered out of the water.

"I'll come and help you!" Honoka said excitedly, following Maki back to the villa. Eri sat down on one of the chairs set up, figuring she might as well play the lifeguard for the time being. For the sake of their own safety, Maki had taught Eri how to perform CPR on their previous beach trip, though the blonde luckily never had any use for such knowledge. She scanned the area for each of her friends. Rin and Hanayo had just dived below the surface, most likely to look at that cool fish Rin had spotted earlier. Kotori was building a sand castle at the edge of the shoreline and had convinced Umi to help her in the building of the castle. Honoka and Maki were obviously nowhere to be seen, having gone back into the villa to grab drinks. Nozomi was paddling her way out into the ocean with her float, and as Eri watched, she climbed onto the float until she was sitting comfortably in it. Nico was also diving underwater, presumably looking for something interesting down below the surface. Seeing as how all her friends were safe, Eri leaned back in her chair to relax slightly.

Nico burst up from the ocean, gasping for air. She had been looking for anything that seemed interesting, such as a smooth rock or something among that like. She wiped the water off her face as she stared around herself, wondering what the other girls were doing. She saw Rin and Hanayo while searching underwater so not seeing them above water didn't bother her, and having Umi and Kotori by the shoreline wasn't anything out of the ordinary either. Not seeing Honoka and Maki worried her a little bit, but not by much since the two were known to disappear every once in a while if no one was paying attention to them, same as every other couple in the group. However, seeing Nozomi floating in the inner tube as the purple-haired girl went along with the current pulling her away from shore made Nico curious. Dismissing her current search for interesting objects, the black-haired girl swam after her friend.

"Nozomi!" She called as she paddled closer. The spiritual girl looked down from her float.

"Ah, Nico-chi! Did you find anything interesting?" She asked as Nico grabbed a hold of the float for stability.

"Not yet." Nico admitted. She decided to change the subject. "So why do you have a float anyway? You can swim, can't you?"

Nozomi blinked at the question but she didn't need to answer as Nico continued talking and answered her own question.

"Of course you can swim. It would be really bad if you couldn't." Nico muttered to herself.

"Y-Yeah…let's just leave it at that, okay?" Nozomi said. Nico nodded and let go of the float, diving back under the water to continue her search.

Eri looked up from her book at the feeling of her phone vibrating in her jacket pocket. She had put it on after figuring she wasn't going to be swimming for a while. She placed her book down on the space next to her and pulled out her phone.

"Hello?" She asked, speaking into the phone microphone. "What's wrong, Maki-chan?"

"Honoka and I are going to the market because Honoka wants a drink that we don't have here. Just letting you know so you don't worry." Maki responded. Eri smiled, knowing that Maki wouldn't be able to see her.

"It's nice that you're getting along so well." Eri couldn't help but point out.

"You think so?" Maki responded in a soft tone.

"Yeah." Eri said, wondering at how Maki had changed from when they had first met. Then another thought came to her mind. "Please tell me that you two changed before heading out to the market."

"Eh? You should have said something like that earlier…" Maki trailed off. Eri facepalmed. "Anyway, I've gotta go. Honoka is waiting." The red-head hung up and Eri sighed.

"What state of mind were you in to think that going to the market in your swimsuits was a good idea, Maki?" Eri mumbled to herself. "I mean, I understand if Honoka wants to do it but I never thought you would agree to it…" She remembered that she was the acting lifeguard and scanned the beach for her friends again. Umi and Kotori had finished the basic form of their sandcastle and were now adding details to their creation. Hanayo apparently convinced Rin to leave the water and the two of them were now walking along the beach, picking up shells. Eri squinted at the ocean, noting that Nozomi was still on the float. She didn't see Nico and was worried until the shorter girl popped up near the float. Seeing as all of the group was still fine, she leaned back in her chair again and proceeded with reading her book again.

Underwater, Nico thought about how uneasy Nozomi had seemed when she had asked her if she could swim. Of course, Nico had no doubt that Nozomi was capable of swimming, since the purple-haired girl was so calm and collected most of the time. Though, Nozomi always acted that way, even if she was truly scared, so maybe she shouldn't take Nozomi's word for it. As Nico formulated a way to prove whether Nozomi was capable of swimming or not, she figured she could do it in a way that would suit her devilish character. And that would be to flip the float over as a prank. The water was pretty deep where she was, but she was sure that Nozomi would be fine.

Nozomi sat up in her inner tube, stretching. She looked towards the shoreline, a bit worried that she would be too far away for her attempts at swimming back to get her safely there. Though, she had been doing this for the longest time and she had never encountered a problem with floating this far out in the ocean. If anything went wrong, she could count on Eri to save her anyway so there was never anything to fear. She was about to slip down into the water when something pushed her up from under the water. She flipped so fast that she wasn't able to make any sound of surprise or fear as she fell into the ocean. As soon as she dropped below the surface, she started struggling to the top for air, frantically kicking to propel herself to the top. She broke the surface, splashing the water around her as she tried to stay afloat.

"E-Eri-chi!" She screamed before she dropped again.

The inner tube that Nozomi had previously been sitting on floated away from Nico as she became aware of Nozomi's struggle.

"N-No way…Nozomi can't swim?!" Nico froze in shock and did nothing but stare as the information sank into her mind.

Nozomi gasped for air as she made it to the surface for a second time, managing to catch a glimpse of Nico nearby. She reached for the black-haired girl, water streaming from her hair.

"Nico-chi!" Nozomi managed to say, even as she felt herself sinking again. Hearing her name called, Nico reached out and grabbed Nozomi's hand out of instinct. However, the purple-haired teenager was much heavier than Nico and underwater, Nozomi's long hair worked against her. Nico gazed into Nozomi's eyes, reading the utter fear and terror that was coursing through Nozomi. Knowing that she was the cause of the current situation made Nico feel worse that she couldn't save Nozomi on her own. As Nico looked down at Nozomi, the other closed her eyes and when she opened them again, Nico couldn't see any of the terror that had been present just a few seconds earlier.

"No!" Nico shouted but underwater, her shout came out in the form of bubbles that rose to the surface. Nozomi smiled softly and let Nico go, dropping further underwater. Nico returned to the surface, gasping for air. She then faced the direction of the shore.

"ERI! SOMEBODY! HELP!" She shouted at the top of her lungs before diving back down to Nozomi. The purple-haired girl was doing her best to hold her breath and conserve energy by not moving. Nico swam down to the other girl and started to pull her up, struggling against the dead weight.

"ERI! SOMEBODY! HELP!" Eri shot to her feet, book forgotten as she dashed to the edge of the water. She saw Nico dive down in the ocean but Nozomi, who should have been nearby, was nowhere to be seen. Biting back a stream of curse words, Eri waded out into the water and dove when it was deep enough for her to swim. Looking to both sides, she could see that Umi and Rin had also responded to the call for help. Rin was slower than the others, being burdened by a body board that could be used for emergency CPR if it came down to it.

Nozomi opened her eyes as she became aware that Nico was trying to get her back to the surface. She made the mistake of trying to speak and water filled her mouth. She choked and the sea water rushed in, filling her breathing space. As the water filled her lungs, she pushed Nico away towards the surface.

Nico watched in silent horror as Nozomi smiled sadly at her and shook her head. She was running out of air again and swam to the surface, making it there just as the rescue team arrived.

"You have to hurry! Water got into her lungs!" Nico shouted. "It's all my fault! I shouldn't have flipped her over!" Eri slapped her, causing Nico to pause as she touched her face with her hand. "Eri…"

"Blaming yourself won't help her. Trust me, I'm just as scared as you are." Eri grabbed Nico by her shoulders. "But first, we need to save her." Nico found herself nodding. She turned and dove back down, followed closely by Eri and the other two. With the combined strength of all four girls, they were able to propel Nozomi to the surface and onto the body board. The four of them started to push the board back to the shore, where Hanayo and Kotori were waiting.

"Call the paramedics!" Eri shouted once they were able to touch the ocean floor. Hanayo ran to their temporary encampment and grabbed her phone, quickly dialing the emergency number. Meanwhile, they moved Nozomi to the beach towel laid out earlier so that Eri would be able to perform CPR. While she wasn't trained in CPR, Eri had been approved by Maki's parents to be capable of performing the life-rescuing technique in emergencies. However, staring down at an unconscious Nozomi with water gleaming on the girl's smooth skin proved to be a distraction. Eri hesitated, staring at Nozomi, then shook her head to clear her mind of any other thoughts beyond saving her friend. She placed both her hands on Nozomi's chest and pressed down, over and over, counting the number in her mind. She finished 30 compressions before Nozomi coughed up the water in her lungs. She was gasping for air still, so Eri moved onto the second phase of CPR: mouth-to-mouth rescue breathing.

Nico looked away the moment it became apparent to her what technique Eri would be using to revive Nozomi. She gazed out over the ocean, realizing that the inner tube was still in the water. She made up her mind.

"Sorry Nico." Eri mumbled as she pinched Nozomi's nose, cutting off the air flow from there before capturing Nozomi's lips with her own. She breathed out through her mouth, forcing the air into Nozomi, glancing to the purple-haired girl's chest to see if the air made it. Nozomi's chest rose and fell with Eri's breath and the blonde resumed her chest compression, refusing to think about the lip contact until much later. To her relief, Nozomi spat up more water and her breathing began to even out. Almost at the same time, the paramedics arrived.

Nico swam back to shore, float in tow, just as the paramedics were loading Nozomi into the back of the ambulance so they could check and make sure she was okay.

"I'm sorry, Eri." Nico said, making her way to the taller blonde. Eri raised any eyebrow.

"What are you apologizing for?" The blonde asked.

"Well, I did flip Nozomi into the water…she almost drowned because of me." Nico said.

"I should apologize too. For kissing her." Eri responded.

"That was to save her. I almost killed her." Nico muttered. "She probably hates me now."

"You know Nozomi's not like that. She doesn't hate you." Eri said, trying to reassure Nico.

"I don't understand why you're trying to comfort me. You like Nozomi too, don't you?" Nico said sharply.

"Yeah, I do." Eri said calmly. "But in the end, it's her decision and I won't stop you from trying or get in the way."

"I guess you're right…" Nico conceded. She smiled at Eri, who returned said smile.

OMAKE

"I put my dessert for an entire month on Nozomi-chan picking Eri-chan."

"Wow, that's a lot Kotori-chan. But I think Nozomi-chan's going to pick Nico-chan nya! I'm willing to bet an entire week of no ramen on it nya!"

"Um, is this really okay? To be betting on them like this?"

"Sure it is, Umi-chan! Say, who are you going to be betting on?"

"I think Eri would pick Nozomi, to be honest."

"Yeah, and how much are you willing to bet, nya?!"

"Um…"

"I know! Umi-chan will have to wear the outfits I make for an entire week! Only my outfits though!"

"K-Kotori!"

"It's settled nya! Now, what about the rest about you people?"

"I vote on a threesome!"

"And your bet?"

"No rice for a week!"

"Make note of that, Rin-chan."

"Got it nya! Next are Honoka-chan and Maki-chan."

"I bet on Nico-chan getting Nozomi-chan! And I'm willing to go a week without bread!"

"Why is it that everybody is betting food on this? All three of you would be better off without the extra carbs, you know?"

"Come on, Maki-chan! Lay off me a bit, okay?"

"Honoka, you of all people should know how I see this, okay?"

"Let's just get Maki-chan's opinion on who's going to get Nozomi-chan…okay?"

"Ugh, fine. I would have to say Eri though. They've been together much longer."

"And what is your bet, nya?"

"I don't particularly have anything I want to bet…"

"If you don't say something, Kotori's going to make something up for you. And you don't want that…"

"Well, I really don't have anything…"

"Then I pick! Let's see…if Maki-chan loses her bet, then she and Honoka-chan will be separated for a week!~"

"EH?!"

"That's not fair, Kotori-chan!"

"That's right! You were much more lenient on Umi!"

"I did warn you…"

"Maki-chan's bet is noted, nya!"

"Wait, Rin!"

"You six…" The six girls crouched in the darkness of the closet flinched at the sudden light being let in. After being in the dark for so long, the outside light blinded them, making them incapable of seeing anything beyond the two shiloettes in the doorway.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING TAKING BETS ON SOMETHING LIKE THAT?!"

"SCATTER!"

And Nozomi sat on the couch in the lounge, wondering about the reason behind the sudden racket.

Review please.