I really like writing in second person POV now, omg. I blame it on you, Nicotachi. It's not a bad thing, though. Haha.

You were in a bad mood, that day.

You know you shouldn't let it affect you, yet it still did, anyway. It happened every day, but you guessed after a while it had started to bother you more. The once close relationship you had with your parents was now non-existent. You understood that they were doctors, and that they owned a hospital, and that they were busy, but you couldn't help but feel somewhat lonely at them constantly ignoring you and anything that regarded music; everything you said came with a "Sorry dear, I'm busy. Tell me again later, okay?"

When you got to school, you didn't bother to greet Hanayo or Rin by the lockers, slamming it shut and leaving to class after putting your bag in. You sit in your seat by the window, slumped against the table, waiting for the teacher to arrive. You like your Maths teacher; she is kind, caring, and relatable. She understands if you can't do your homework. When she walks in, you sit up a little straighter, not wanting her to pick up on your mood.

"I'm sorry I'm late, girls," she apologises after greeting a quick 'good morning'. "My children didn't want to let me go. I guess they love me a lot! Haha!"

Her comment gets a few laughs, but you remain silent. There's the word again. Love. Something you know your parents don't have for you–not anymore, at least. Suddenly you don't like your Maths teacher all that much.

When recess rolls around the corner, and everyone leaves the classroom, you stay in your seat. You don't feel like eating, and had even skipped breakfast earlier on. Your parents were too busy to care, after all.

After declining Rin and Hanayo's invitation to eat with them, you bang your head on your desk, groaning when pain shoots through your forehead. Still, you don't bother to ease the sting. You glance out to the window, watching your classmates and schoolmates talk and laugh and eat and play together. You've been alone all this time and yet it is only now that you feel lonely, sad, rejected. Your parents had been such a huge part of your life all along and all of that feels flushed down the drain now. Oh god, you think as a though pops into your head. You had grown up thinking that you would own a hospital because your parents loved you and trusted you to be able to do it. That it was an act of love and care. But now, looking at it, what if they only gave it to you because they wanted the money? Because you are an only child and they had no one else to hand it down to? Panic runs through your head as you consider this. It's probably true. You spend the rest of recess with your head on the table. The remaining of the school day passes through quickly like gentle breeze, though your mind is taking it like a rough storm.

The last lesson ends and you consider skipping practice. After all, you aren't technically feeling well. You push aside that thought; there was a live just around the corner, and you couldn't afford to let family matters affect your performance.

You walk over to the clubroom, feeling slightly giddy from the lack of food and the amount of time you had spent with your head on the table. You rub your forehead lightly, hoping to ease the sore spot. When you open the clubroom door, you find that Nico is the only person in there.

You greet her with a nod, and then plop down onto your usual seat, your forehead against the table again. You can tell she's looking at you suspiciously, as if she's wondering why you aren't either reading or arguing with her. "What are you doing?" she finally asks.

Nico's eyes are narrowed when you glace up at her from the table. "Nothing," you mumble weakly and it's true. You realise that that's the first time you've spoken today.

"Exactly what I mean. You're never doing 'nothing'," comes Nico's retort.

"Look, I'm just tired, okay?" you sigh, closing your eyes. You really were tired, just not physically, and you hope Nico would understand. She didn't.

"If you're tired, then why don't you go home?" she shoots. She looks angry, you notice when you open your eyes. Why was she angry? Her face suddenly contorts into worry. "We can't have you not feeling well. If you overwork yourself, then you'll get really sick!"

You don't know why, but her worry finds its way to your heart and you feel an unknown warmth in your chest. You push it aside, sighing once more. "Can I tell you something?"

"Sure," Nico accepts, though you can see she's confused.

You take a breath before telling your twin-tailed friend everything.

Somehow, letting it off your chest seems to relieve you a little. You wonder if it has to do with the senior sitting across from you. Nico takes everything in, nodding slowly as you continued, not saying a single word as you spoke. When you finish, she opens her mouth to speak but is interrupted by the door bursting open. Honoka stands outside, Umi and Kotori behind her.

"Sorry we're late!" Honoka says in her loud, enthusiastic voice that you had grown used to over the past few months, as annoying as it was.

"Talk about bad timing," Nico grumbles, and you relate to her.

"Sorry, did I interrupt something?" Honoka asks; you don't like the smirk on her face.

You don't say anything, but hold back the urge to laugh when Nico's face goes red, before realising that the ginger-haired girl meant both of you. Nico growls at the second year, "Yeah, you did interrupt something, but it's not what you're thinking, I swear!"

Honoka backs away at the third year's threatening voice, shooting both of you an apologetic look. Umi sighs from behind, while Kotori laughs nervously. They take their respective seats.

Rin and Hanayo come in soon after, and your purple-eyed friend apologises for being late as well. Rin, however, looks at you with a small pout, "We were looking for you, nya! We didn't know you were already here, Maki-chan! Tell us next time, nya!"

Looking down, you mumble a quick 'sorry', and unexpectedly, Nico pats your leg reassuringly. You almost flinch at the sudden contact, but refrain it and give Nico a small, grateful smile. Her eyes seemed to say, It's okay. Rin doesn't know what you're going through.

Nozomi and Eli arrive almost immediately after your two classmates, and all nine of you head up to the rooftop for training.

You realise, while dancing and exercising, that you really shouldn't be dancing and exercising when you don't feel well. Especially if you didn't eat any food the entire day. Because if you do, chances are that you'll feel like collapsing. You push away the sharp pain in your stomach, though, and continue with the routine until Eli claps and calls for a ten-minute break. It is then when you slump against the wall, sliding onto the ground. You pant heavily, feeling extremely hot and out of breath, not to mention hungry. You watch as Nico approaches you with a bottle of water.

She gives you the bottle and you take it wordlessly, nodding in thanks as you gulp down the liquid. It makes you a little less starving. The black-haired teen sits down beside you. "You okay?" She frowns at you, concerned. "Your face is red."

"I'm-I'm fine," you lie, but she sees right through you.

"I don't believe you."

"The why did you ask?" you retort drily. Normally, this would have burst into an argument between you two, but the look of concern on her face does not waver. "I'm serious, Maki-chan."

You don't reply, but your stomach does: it growls loudly, and doesn't go unnoticed. Nico narrows her eyes at you. "Did you eat lunch today?"

You want to stop making her worry, but you don't want to lie either. So you don't. "I…haven't eaten anything today."

She stares at you, like you are some kind of alien. Maybe you are. You huff, crossing your arms. "Why do you care? It's none of your business."

"Of course it's my business! You're my friend, a fellow member of µ's!" Nico exclaims, and you feel somewhat guilty at her outburst. She shakes her head quickly, like she's trying to calm down. "Enough of that. Let's get you something to eat."

She marches off to Eli, leaving you alone. You can hear her: "Eli! Maki's…not feeling well. She needs to eat something, I'll go home to prepare something, okay?" You hear Eli agree, "Be quick.", and the sound of footsteps resonated throughout the rooftop. You notice Eli walking over to you.

"Are you okay?" she asks. You nod weakly, hugging your knees to your chest in a desperate attempt to ease the pain. The blonde pats your head lightly, "You should rest, anyway. We'll continue practice without you and Nico. You can catch up tomorrow."

By the time Nico comes back, practice is almost over, but you still sit in the same position you were in half and hour ago, trying to rid the uncomfort in your stomach. Nico is panting as she bursts open the rooftop door, and she runs toward you without greeting the others. "Here," she says, leaning beside you to rest, and hands you a bento. "I kinda rushed it, but it should do."

You open the bento and almost cry at the sight of food, but suddenly your stomach churns. It's gotten to the point where you were so hungry you couldn't even eat anymore.

"Don't just sit there! Eat the food!" Nico tells you, but you shake your head, "I…don't feel like eating."

Nico stares at you, incredulous. "Are you kidding me?"

You remain silent, and Nico reaches down to pick up the bento. "What are you doing?" you ask. She picks up a cherry tomato, and says, "You like tomatoes, right? We had some in my fridge...so…"

Heat crawls up your neck, though you feel grateful at her thoughtfulness. "T-Thanks."

"Open your mouth!" your senior demands, and you almost choke at her request. "Excuse me?"

"I said open your mouth!" Nico repeats, and you do so obediently. She plops the cherry tomato in, and you bite down on the fruit, the sweet juice filling your taste buds. You swallow the cherry tomato, and your appetite comes back almost immediately. You let Nico feed you; you can see she's enjoying it, and though you'll never admit it, you are enjoying it too.

"Tsundere," you hear your senior mumble, and you nearly spit out the food in your mouth. "What the hell?!" you say, glaring at her, "That came out of no where!"

"Nah, I was just thinking about how much you are a tsundere!"

"I am not!" you defend yourself, but your friend only chuckles in response.

You finish the rest of the bento in silence.

"So," Nico asks when both of you leave the school, "wanna stay over at my house tonight?"

You stare at her in surprise; she said it like it was no big deal. Tomorrow was a school day, too. "I…what?"

"It's okay if you don't come," she adds quickly.

"No, I'll come. It's not like my parents would care," you say, looking away.

"Do you want to go to your house first?" she asks, and you shake your head no.

"Let's go, then!" Nico grabs your hand and quickens her pace, and you match her footsteps to keep up, ignoring the flutter in your chest as she holds your hand.

Before long, both of you arrive in front of Nico's apartment. It was starting to get dark, you notice, and Nico unlocks the door to for you to step in.

"Onee-chan!"

"Onee-sama?"

"Neeko."

Three small figures you recognise as Nico's siblings run up toward you, excited faces twisting to confusion at the face that didn't belong to their older sister.

"Maki?" Cocoro asks.

"Maki-san!" Cocoa exclaims happily, while Cotaro tilts his head. "Makee."

From behind you, you hear Nico laugh. "Looks like they like you, Maki-chan!"

Cocoro nods enthusiastically, "Yeah! Onee-sama always talks about you!"

You feel your face heating up and turn to your friend for an explanation. She lets out a nervous laugh, "H-Haha! I talk about everyone in µ's, of course!" Nico does her signature pose, grinning. You decided not to press the matter. "Okay."

She leads to the table, sitting you down. "I'm going to make dinner now," she tells you. She adds with a smirk, "Tomato soup, to be exact."

You try to hide your excitement with a dry cough, gaining a laugh from Nico.

"Thank you for the meal, Nico-chan. It was…it was really good."

"Haha!" Nico grinned, giving you a thumbs-up, though a blush was evident on her cheeks. "Of course Nico Nii's cooking is the best!"

You turn your head over to the next room, where Nico's sisters and brother were playing. Unconsciously, you bring a finger to your hair, twirling it around the crimson strands. "Say, Nico-chan…"

"Huh?"

"Do you like having siblings?"

"T-That's really random, Maki-chan…"

"Answer me."

Nico hummed. "Why do you want to know? Well, it can be hard to handle them at times, but they really love me. And they're my biggest fans, and will cheer me on no matter what. That's why I love them…"

"Must be nice," you say, rather wistful, and ignore the urge to insist that you're Nico's biggest fan. You wish you had siblings. A little sister would have been nice. You know your parents don't want any more kids, though, and let out an unsatisfied sigh.

"Not all the time," Nico admits, "They can be troublesome, and you have to accept that they're going to be that way before they can accept you."

You nod understandingly at her words, liking the wise personality she has on. Nico stands up suddenly.

"Follow me, Maki-chan," she tells you, and you can see a glint of determination in her eye before she turns away. It's as if she's going to do something bold. Obediently, you follow her.

"Here," Nico opens the door, and you step in after her.

You realise that you've stepped into her room, and it looks no different than it had the first time you saw it. Except now, you are in it, while last time you were not.

"You know," Nico says, and you turn your attention to her. "I only put the things I love in this room."

There's a hint in that statement that you decide to ignore. It may have not been intended.

"That's why I don't sleep here," she continues, averting her gaze. "That's why I was so upset when the other µ's members walked into my room like it was no big deal."

Oh, you think; it makes sense. Dumbly, you say, "Then why am I here?"

You already know the answer.

You're glad you do.

Nico has this small, sad smile on her face when she returns eye contact. "Because I love you, Maki-chan."

You don't feel at all surprised when her lips meet yours. But it'd be a lie to say you weren't happy.

OMAKE:

Nico stumbles over to you, a stupid smile on her face. She leans down to your ear, so close that you can feel her breath on your skin: "You're so hot Maki-chan. So hot."

You pull back abruptly, shock and surprised and undoubtedly blushing. Nico doesn't act like this when she wasn't drunk–something wasn't right. But she couldn't be drunk: this was Eli's seventeenth party. It wasn't like her to bring alcohol. You cast your gaze to the drink cup in your girlfriend's hand.

You sigh. "Alright, who spiked the drink?"

You can hear Nozomi's giggle in the distance.

Hope you enjoyed this, haha. Feel free to review. It was pretty fun to write.

Extra:

"I love you," you tell her.

Nico lets out a small laugh, "Me too. I love me too."