Maki was the first to notice the two girls following them from a distance as they left the school. She told everyone and they all stopped walking.
“What should we do? We can't let them find out where Honoka-chan lives.” Kotori asked.
“You guys go ahead. I'll go and talk to them.” Eli said as she waved them off.
“I'll help you. Incase they try and fight.” Nico stated.
“Alright. The rest of you go.” Eli nodded.
Her and Nico started heading over to the girls, who were whispering amongst themselves.
“Hello, girls. You've been following us since we left school. Is there a problem?” Eli asked.
“Oh, uh, no?” One of them replied.
“Then why are you following us? When we stopped you stopped. You would've kept going if you had a place in mind!” Nico screamed at them.
“What do you think we're doing then?” The other girl taunted.
“I heard you're little conversation about jumping Honoka!” Nico growled as she tried to attack them.
Eli held her back, “I suggest you leave. If not, I will be reporting you to the police.”
The girls looked at each other and ran in the opposite direction as fast as they could. Nico was fuming.
“You really shouldn't try and attack people out in the open. You could've gotten in a lot of trouble.” Eli scolded Nico.
“Sorry, but come on! They needed to be taught a lesson!” Nico protested.
“Come on. Let's go. We can talk when we get to everyone.”
“Fine…”
The two of them ran to catch up with the others. They had already made it to Honoka's house.
“How'd it go?” Umi asked as the two entered.
“Nico tried to kill them.” Eli stated.
“I did not! I was just going to punch them a few times!” Nico defended.
Everyone laughed as she became flustered.
“Aw, Nico. Does someone need to be taught not to fight?” Nozomi teased, smiling as she started to get up.
Nico let out a squeal as she dove over to Maki and hugged her tightly, “Don't let her get me!”
Maki lightly gripped Nico to keep both of them from falling off the couch. Everyone was stunned. The first person Nico went to was Maki, who had previously been half way across the room from her. And Maki didn't seem to care.
“Did you two finally make up?” Honoka asked.
Nico shot back out of Maki’s light grip and fell onto the floor, “Ow!”
“Aw… did you two confess?” Nozomi teased.
“What?!” Everyone but Nico, Maki, And Honoka chimed.
“Uh… Yeah… so, everyone… Maki and I are, uh, dating…” Nico mumbled out.
“Wait. You guys are gay?!” Hanayo seemed to be the most shocked.
Nico glared at her, “Yeah. Is that a problem?”
“N-no. I just didn't expect you guys.” Hanayo mumbled.
Nico smirked. She stood up and walked back over to Maki. She sat on her lap. Maki gave Nico a confused look. Nico smiled and kissed her on the lips.
“S-shameless!”
“Oh my. How lovely.”
“No! Don't do that here!”
“Cute! Right?”
“Y-Yeah. Cute.”
“The Hell, Nico!?” Maki pushed her away.
“Just admit that you loved it.” Nico smirked.
Maki started blushing insanely, “N-no… you shouldn't kiss people without asking first!”
“Aw… come on. I was just proving that we're dating.” Nico whined as she plopped back onto Maki’s lap.
Maki turned her head away with a huff, “I think they believed you the first time.”
Nico laughed as she kissed Maki on the cheek. Maki groaned and faced Nico.
“Stop doing that.” She warned.
“Fine…” Nico pouted.
“How did you guys start off fighting and end up dating?” Umi asked.
“Long story.” Nico mumbled.
“Well, we have all night. We're having a sleepover.” Kotori pointed out.
“Fine… I guess we don't have a choice…” Nico sighed.
…
“What do you mean?! Why?!” Nico cried as she clung desperately to her mother.
“I found a better job. We need to go there, Nico.” Her mom explained.
“B-but…” Nico protested.
“I know you don't want to leave your friends, but it's for the best.”
“Okaasan, I'm not leaving. I'll get a job, I'll pay the rent. Please!” Nico begged.
“Fine. If you truly want to stay, I can't stop you. But, we won't see each other again.”
“I'm not leaving this place.”
“We'll be leaving town in a week. Say goodbye to your siblings. Until then we've decided to stay at a motel.”
“Alright.” Nico bit back tears as she ran off to her room and cried.
…
“Nico-chan… I had no idea…”
“Yeah. But why didn't you go with them if you're so sad?”
Nico looked at the ground, fiddling with Maki’s hand, which she had grabbed without thinking as she spoke, “I didn't want to leave you guys… you're my friends. I doubt anyone at the new school would deal with me…”
“Is there something else wrong?” Eli asked.
Nico nodded, “Yeah…”
…
“I'm sorry, but you need to move out in a week. They're building a shop here.”
“But this is my house! You can't do this!”
“You're barely paying the rent on time! You should be lucky I let you stay till now!”
…
“How long do you have?” Rin asked.
Nico sighed, “Tomorrow is the last day…”
“Do you have a place to go?” Eli questioned.
Nico shook her head, “No. I got fired from my job. I don't have any money…”
“Well, you can probably stay with all of us until you can find a place.”
“But how? I don't have a job…”
“We'll help you. We're family after all, aren't we?”
“Minna, thank you…”
“It's nothing. We're all happy to help.”
“Anyway, I'm hungry!” Honoka complained.
Everyone started laughing. Honoka looked at everyone, confused.
“Is all you can think about food?” Umi whacked her on the head.
“Ow… gomen! But I'm hungry.” Honoka mumbled, rubbing her head.
“Shall we go out to eat?” Hanayo suggested.
Everyone nodded and got ready.
“Nico-chan?” Maki asked.
“Yeah?” Nico glanced at her.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah. I'm alright.”
“You sure?”
“Well, I'm a little upset, I guess. I tried not to ever think about it.”
“Oh, sorry. You should've just said you weren't ready to talk.”
“They deserved to know.”
“Is this why you were being mean to me?”
“Yeah… you were just so happy. I wanted someone to suffer… I know I keep saying sorry, but I really am.”
“No matter how many times you apologize, I'll still say it's alright.” Maki whispered as she lightly kissed Nico on the head.
“Aw, how cute.”
“N-Nozomi?! How long have you been there for?” Nico and Maki jumped back, their faces fully red.
“I just came in. We're waiting for you guys.”
“Oh… come on. Let's go then.” Nico got off of Maki.
Once Maki stood up, the three girls headed out of the room. As they were making their way downstairs, Nico hesitantly grabbed Maki’s hand. Maki stared at her for a moment, before smiling and grabbing her hand back.
“Alright! Let's go eat!” Honoka yelled as they reached the front entrance.