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"Blah" — Speech

"Blah" — Speech in another language

'Blah' — Thoughts

[ Blah ] — Text

*Blah* — Sound effects in speech

(Blah) — Author's notes

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters of Love Live! School Idol Project.

Umi flips a page as she stares down at her Kinesiology book. She picks up her cup and takes a sip of water. 'Hmm, so there are many other branches.' After several seconds, she turns the page to see a picture of a man stretching another man's leg.

Ahem

Umi turns around to see Nico leaning on the doorway, "Nico? What are you doing here?"

Nico smiles as she walks in the room while adjusting her backpack. "I wanted to surprise you and came to visit." The college student paused as she stares at the table.

Umi looks at her direction to see pamphlets from colleges and advanced textbooks.

"Wow."

Umi turns back to Nico to see her incredulous stare; she starts to feel self-conscious and fidgets. "W-What? I just wanted to research my options."

Nico quickly raises her hands, "And there's nothing wrong with that." She walks over the table to pick up a couple of pamphlets; she turns them over and then looks at Umi, "How long have been you looking at these?"

Umi touches the corner of the page, "Five days."

Nico sighs, "Alright. We're going out."

"What?"

"Go change 'cause we're going out." Nico drops the pamphlets in the book and closes it. Umi opens her mouth but the older teen interrupts, "It's not like you had anything better to do."

Umi closes her mouth and sighs, 'I was planning to read all day.' She gets up and goes to her bathroom to change.

.

5 minutes later...

.

Umi comes out of the bathroom wearing blue jeans with a blouse and blazer. Nico looks her over and nods, "You look nice."

Umi tucks a strand of her hair behind her ear and smiles, "Thank you." She was about to go for her phone when Nico took it, "Nico?"

Nico tucks it in her pocket, "Nuh uh. We're going to have some 'Numico' time."

"Numico?"

"Yup. Nico plus Umi, Numico."

Umi shakes her head but smiles at the nickname.

Nico comes over and takes the blunette's hand, "Let's go." They walk down the stairs and come across Yori and Umi's dad. Nico waves her hand as she opens the door, "We're going out."

Umi's dad nods while Yori waves back and gives a thumb up, "Be sure to come back at 5. I'll see you later sweetie."

Umi raises her eyebrow but waves her free hand, "Bye mom. Bye dad."

.

. . . . . .

.

Umi stares at the stores around her and then turns to Nico, "So why are we here again?"

"Shopping." Nico rolls one of her hands, "Well window-shopping to be exact." She tilts her head to one of the stores, "Let's go."

.

"Wow that looks nice on you."

.

"That color looks really nice with your hair."

.

"That cake looks really delicious."

.

"I wonder how much those diamonds cost."

.

Nico tugs on Umi's sleeve, "C'mon last store and we'll call it a day."

Umi chuckles, "Slow down Nico." She looks up at the store name, "An arcade? Really?"

"C'mon it'll be fun." They go in and Nico goes to a machine to slip in some notes; it spat out numerous gold coins.

"That is a lot of coins Nico."

"It'll be fine." Nico picks them up and hands half of them to Umi, "Let's play." For a while they went around and played various games: Some racing game with an Italian plumber, a shooting game where they shot at pixelated aliens, a game with drums, and so on.

Nico led Umi to another game area, "This is my favorite one."

It looks like some kind of platform with some color-coded arrows on either side of it. "What is this?"

"It's a dancing game. C'mon I'll show you how to play it." Nico puts some coins in and began teaching Umi the moves.

One song later...

Nico turns to Umi, "You're pretty good for your first try."

"The game was not that difficult."

Nico smirks and poses, "It's a shame you can't beat the top."

"What?" Umi turns to the screen and her jaw almost drops; 'Nico_Nii' is at the top of the leaderboard.

Nico dramatically fans her face, "So far no one has beaten my score." She shrugs her shoulders, "I can't blame them. I am the best after all."

Umi perks up and the corner of her lips twitched, "Ohhhh? You sound very confident."

The ruby-eyed teen stays silent as she plays with the rail support. She then looks at Umi with her smirk still plastered on her face, "Want to bet on it?"

"Yes." Umi takes off her blazer and shakes her legs to warm-up. "What are the conditions?"

"Hmmm." Nico taps her chin. "If you give up, you'll get to be my personal maid."

"And If I win?"

"I'll give you a very big surprise."

The blunette rolls up her sleeve, "What is the surprise?"

"C'mon Umi, it's called a surprise for a reason. Why, are you going to chicken out?"

Umi gives Nico a blank stare, "Deal."

Nico smiles and gives all of her coins to Umi save for a few coins. "I'll get some drinks."

"Thank you." Umi turns to the screen and picks a song.

.

1 hour later...

.

"Haaa. Haaa." Umi leans on the support and wipes the sweat from her brows. She takes a couple more breaths before looking at the screen: {1st Place Winner!}

"Whoo!"

Umi turns her neck around to see a crowd; she blushes and gives a small bow. 'I was so focused that I did not notice.'

Umi was about to step off the stage when Nico appeared in front of her; she notes that the aspiring idol's backpack was filled to the brim. She was about to ask her when Nico wrapped her arms around the younger teen's waist, "Hahaha you finally beat me. Did you have fun?"

"I..." The crowd disperses as Umi thinks on the question. 'I'm a little bit sore but my head feels a little lighter.' Umi returns the hug, "I guess I did."

"Heh. Of course you had fun. You're with me." Nico picks up the blazer and offers it to Umi, "It's getting late so want to go home?"

Umi accepts and wears the blazer, "Yes. I think that is enough fun for today." She raises her eyebrow when Nico smiles.

.

. . . . . .

.

"...And so this one girl thinks she could squat better than me."

Umi chuckles at Nico's story as she opens the door. As they both got inside and took off their shoes, Umi notes the state of the house. 'It is dark and quiet.' She turns to the older teen, "Did my parents tell you anything?"

Nico shakes her head, "Nope. They probably just went to buy something." She nudges Umi forward, "C'mon let's eat something I'm hungry."

Umi sighs and walks through the darkened hallway. As they entered the living room area, Umi turns her head around as she reaches for the light. "Can I get my ph—"

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"

"Ah!" Umi jumps back and bumps into Nico.

"Oof."

Umi takes a second to allow her eyes adjust to the lights. She sees streamers strewn about and attached to the ceiling. She brings her eyes down and gasped; all of Muse, parents, and even Nico's family are here. She brings her hand up to cover her mouth as her eyes start to moisten.

Umi jumps as she feels arms wrap around her waist, "Surprise."

The blue-haired teen cranes her head around to stare at Nico. "...You planned this." 'The phone, mom's weird behavior, and her bet.'

Nico chuckles, "Yup. Needed to get you out of the house so they can prepare the party. Besides, you needed the break." Nico pushes Umi to the rest of the party, "Alright everyone take care of the birthday girl alright." She tracks back and makes her way upstairs.

Before Umi could call out to Nico, Honoka is in front of her, "Happy birthday Umi! You're an adult now."

Umi smiles at her friend, "I guess I am." She looks around to see where everyone is situated. Hanayo and Rin are by the food table as Hanayo stuff her face with rice. Maki and Kotori are by the couch with Nico's siblings. And it seems the adults are in the kitchen talking with each other.

"It isn't all that grand." Eli and Nozomi came to the third-year pair.

Umi turns to the older duo, "Ah, Eli. Nozomi. How have you two been?"

"Good."

"Great."

Honoka turns to them, "How has college been?"

Eli is the first to answer, "Not bad. Nozomi and I are attending at a nearby university."

"But it's great that Nicocchi would visit us from time to time." Seeing Umi's gaze, Nozomi elaborates, "She wants to make sure we are exercising and eating healthy foods."

"So you two and Kotori are about to graduate huh?" Eli asks.

Honoka nods, "Uh huh. In about three months."

"Have you decided on what to do after?"

"College of course. The professors will definitely be easier than Umi." *Gasp* Honoka slowly turns to Umi while Eli face-palms and Nozomi shakes her head.

Umi has a totally innocent smile plastered on her face. "Well I am glad that you can learn something from my teachings."

Honoka is sweating a waterfall and waves her hands. "A-A c'mon Umi I was just making a metaphor you know? Your teachings are so advanced that even professors can't understand it."

.

.

Nico walks down the stairs and into the living room, "Alright let's get this party started!" Nico looks to the side to see Umi's arm around Honoka's neck. "What she do this time?"

Honoka taps the elbow, "I give!"

.

. . . . . .

.

Night time

"Phew! That was great party." Nico dries her hair with a towel.

Throughout the surprise party, they ate, played (more) games, cut the cake, and gave presents to Umi. Although Nico did not give her present yet. After that, almost everyone left and Nico is staying over for the night.

"Yes. It was..." Umi stares at the back of Nico's head; the older teen has her hair down. 'Her hair looks so nice like that.'

"...mi. Umi."

Umi blinks and sees Nico in front of her holding something behind her back. "Yes?"

Nico smiles with a small blush, "Here." She presents the present.

Umi delicately takes the box and lifts the lid; there is a blue plush bunny inside holding something. She picks the toy and places the box on the ground. "Nico..."

Nico has her hands behind her back, "It took me some time but I found what I wanted at the arcade."

Umi notes that the bunny's eyes are hazel like hers. She looks up and smiles at Nico. "Thank you Nico."

Nico tilts her had at the bunny, "There's more."

Umi looks down to see something attached to one of the bunny's arms. She plucks it and tucks the bunny into the crook of her arm. "Love coupons?" It was beautifully decorated and designed in pink.

Nico nods, the blush returning to her cheeks. "You can use them whenever you want."

Umi flips through the small book:

Cuddle little spoon

Breakfast in bed

Movie night

Massage

And so on. There are 18 coupons in total.

Nico stretches her arms over her head and yawns, "Let's go to sleep."

Rip

Umi has one of the coupons outstretched to Nico with a blush on her face.

"Eh? You're using one right now?"

"Why not? It is my birthday."

"Well I mean..." Nico sighs and walks over to accept the coupon. She reads it and looks up with a smile, "Alright." They both walk to the bed with Nico getting in first. Umi gets in after and wraps her arms around Nico. She snuggles up close and sinks her face in Nico's hair. Nico squirms under her hold, "Ahaha. Hey that tickles."

Umi smells the scented hair and sighs, 'What a great day.'

.

Fin.

Happy Birthday Umi!

Notes:

-Umi's dad will be forever nameless... probably. His only means of communications with be noise and non-verbal

It has been a year huh... Time sure does fly. It still does seem surreal that I started writing stories.

While it was great to write this story, I must go back into hibernation. Until next time.

Thanks for reading

Constructive criticisms are appreciated

Bravo Tango out.