Chapter 9

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“Okay, that's enough for now. Take a break.”

μ's has just finished a rehearsal on the roof. There was an event coming up for the school and they had been asked to perform for the visitors.

“Do you think we'll be ready in time? We only a have a week and it doesn't feel like we've made any significant progress.” Kotori asked as they sat in the shade.

“Well, if we can't finish this song, we can always just do an old one. But, I do agree that we don't seem to be getting much better.” Umi replied.

“Are we done for the day or are we doing more?” Honoka asked, panting heavily.

“We should stop. It's getting too hot. We don't need someone passing out.” Umi stated, passing out water bottles to everyone.

“What are we gonna do for the rest of the day then? It's only been half an hour.” Rin asked.

“Let's go get ice cream!” Honoka declared.

“Maybe later. I think they aren't open yet. They had a repairman there this morning.” Kotori offered.

“Fine… can we at least go inside? It's hot!” Honoka complained.

“Sure. Let's go cool down.” Eli stood up.

Everyone nodded and they filed down into their club room. The weather had been quite unpredictable lately. One day it would rain, and the next it would get really hot outside.

“So, what should we do? We can't just sit here in silence.” Nico asked.

“Well we could, but it'd be really boring and kinda weird, nya~” Rin pointed out.

“Anyone have something they wanna talk about?”

Everyone went silent, mostly due to trying to decide if there was anything worth saying to each other. They didn't keep many secrets.

“Well, since no one else will talk, I'll tell you guys about something. A while ago I ran into a really strange kid while walking around.” Nico broke the silence that hung heavily in the air.

“Go ahead, I have to say it sounds quite interesting knowing you.”

“So, I was bored and decided to go walk around. Along the way, I saw a kid, maybe about six, who was playing on the sidewalk. He didn't seem to be with any of the adults, so I asked him where his parents were. He told me that his mom was shopping and his dad was working, so he would go and play around town. As I got up to leave, he grabbed my jacket and started screaming. People were looking at us like we were insane. Eventually, I managed to get this kid off of me. Someone asked what happened and this idiot had the audacity to try and say I had attacked him. Well, she believed him, so I ran and didn't look back.” Nico shared.

“Nico-chan, why do you think he did that?” Honoka asked.

“Looking for attention, probably. Sounds like his parents weren't too enthused to have him.” Maki mumbled.

“Yeah. He might've been trying to have some fun, but just didn't know a way to do it.” Hanayo added.

“I never have been back that way since then. I've seen that woman a few times and she glares.” Nico muttered, “I can't believe she would just think he was right. There wasn't even a bruise on him.”

“People tend to instantly believe kids.” Nozomi pointed out.

“But, as much as I hate to admit it, I didn't look too much older than him. This kid was big.” Nico mumbled.

“No tolerance fighting?” Umi suggested.

“That's probably what it was.” Kotori agreed.

“I guess.” Nico accepted it.

“Is there anything else to do?” Honoka whined, before she was hit by Umi.

“Stop whining all the time. You're nearly an adult.” Umi scolded.

“Umi-chan, that's not very nice to say.” Kotori stated, resting her head on the girl’s shoulder.

Umi’s face started turning red, “K-Kotori-chan?”

“Yes?” Kotori asked innocently.

“W-what are you doing?” Umi stammered out.

Kotori chuckled, “Nothing. Is there a problem?”

“Kotori, stop teasing the poor girl.” Nozomi giggled.

“Alright. I'll stop. For now.” Kotori slowly moved away from Umi, enjoying the sight of the normally strict girl being so bashful.

After a few more boring conversations, they decided to head downtown and find an ice cream place.

Honoka smiled cheerfully as she savored the ice cream in her hand, “This was a good idea. It's a nice day to do something like this.”

“What're you talking about? I'm dying from that walk!” Nico mumbled as she wiped sweat from her face.

“Maybe you should've wore something lighter.” Maki muttered, tugging on the jacket Nico was wearing to prove her point.

“Fine… hold this.” Nico gave her ice cream to Maki and took off the jacket and tied it around her waist.

“Happy now?” Nico mumbled as she took her ice cream back.

“I'm sure Maki-chan would be even happier if you took off more.” Nozomi chuckled.

Both Nico and Maki went bright red, “W-what?!”

“N-no! That'd be worse!” Maki quickly protested.

Nico just remained silent. Her face was still a bright red, but she didn't protest what had been said.

Nozomi tilted her head, “Nico-chi? Are you doing to say anything?”

“Huh? Oh. Uh, it's obvious she doesn't want that, so no.” Nico quickly spouted out.

“Oh, I see how it is. You want it to be the other way around, right?” Nozomi said.

“No! I don't want that! That's out of the question!” Maki protested first.

“Nozomi, Leave them alone. You'll draw attention.” Eli nudged her gently.

“Alright. I don't want you guys to be too embarrassed.”

“Maki-chan? Can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

Nico has invited Maki to go hang out at the park for a while to get away from the others.

“Why can't we tell your parents?” Nico asked.

Maki sighed, “They think it's wrong.”

“Why?”

“I wish I knew…” Maki sighed.

Nico sighed as well, “What would happen if they found out?”

“I'm not sure… I don't think my mom would really mind. It's my dad I'm worried about. He's a little too overprotective.” Maki mumbled.

“Well, don't worry too much. They won't find out.” Nico reassured her.

“I'm not too sure about that. What if at the performance someone tells them?” Maki worried.

Nico thought about it for a moment, “Well… you have eight people to back you up. Don't worry too much.”

“Alright. I'll try not to.” Maki smiled at Nico.

Nico smiled back, “You seriously should smile more.”

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