Birds chirping, people laughing and almost everyone was hanging out outside. It wasn't summer quite yet, but it sure did feel like it already was. Everyone was trying to enjoy the sun already, before it'd fade again and the more cloudy days would return. It was a happy day.

But not to Maki-chan. Maki felt utterly disgusted. The world was spinning too fast and turning like it never had before. The crimson haired girl felt nauseous, while the ground seemed to be approaching very fast. This was until, out of the blue, Maki felt two soft arms wrap around her waist, carefully guiding her to sit down gently.

Everything was moving so quick, yet so slow at the same time. Maki-chan's brain couldn't really handle this. Not because she was too dumb, no, not at all. It was just not okay to her. It was too ridiculous to be true. This couldn't be true. It was so unreal. So..painful.

It wasn't true. That must have been the case. Nico-chan wasn't lying there! She wasn't lying there, looking like she was dead. This would all just be one big nightmare. One of the many nightmares she'd had ever since they started dating. Nico hadn't ran onto the street laughing like the idiot she was, just because Maki-chan was chasing her playfully. She hadn't tripped over that stupid stone and she wasn't hit by that horrible car. Nico-chan wasn't dying!

Maki was positive. The number one idol of the universe couldn't be dying. Of course not! What kind of messed up situation would that be? All of this was just too weird to be true.

With her eyes filled with hope - and tears - she looked up, hoping to confirm Nico indeed was not lying there. At first she met the worried gaze of Kotori, who had teary eyes, too. Maki promised herself and the dream Kotori that she would fix Kotori's crying as soon as she would have saved Nico from being in such a terrible position. Because if you knew it was a nightmare, you could change your dream right?

And so she tried. Again and again, while Nico-chan was slowly lifted onto a brancard.

'Please, Nico must not be hit!', she tried thinking again. 'You cannot be dead Nico, please!'

Maki-chan's sight started to become more blurry once again, while reality slowly started to down on her. Maki could feel her hands, her arms, her entire body shaking. No. Please. God, no.

"M-Maki-chan! Stop!"

Disbelief was in Maki's eyes as she felt her cheek burn. With wide eyes she looked at the girl right in front of her. Had Kotori, the sweet and caring Kotori, the Kotori that would never even hurt a fly, just....slapped her?

And she had felt it.

Oh God no.

In dreams you wouldn't have felt pain.

She felt this...

This was not a dream. This was not what she had secretly hoped it to be.

Nico was dying. Because she, Maki Nishikino, had chased her and failed to warn her. Nico was dying. Or even worse; she was already dead.

"Nico..." she whispered, this being the first thing she had said since the accident. The first word since..since... since Nico died.

"Wait! No! Stop! Please, wait a moment!" Maki cried out, freeing herself from Kotori's tight hug.

"Please, I-I'm begging you, let me see her once more! One more time, please! She's my girlfriend! I-I..It's my mistake she died! Please let me just hold her once more.. kiss her lips one last time... please..."

Her voice broke as she got up to run to Nico. She didn't exactly seem to get far though, as she almost immediately bumped right into Nozomi's soft chest. The taller girl immediately wrapped her arms around Maki, holding her even tighter than Kotori.

"Nozomi!" She tried so hard to get past the mint-eyed girl. "Let me past! Let me go to Nico! Aren't you supposed to play matchmaker and let me be with her!?"

"Maki-chan, please calm down. I promise we will visit Nicocchi in the hosptial, okay?"

"No! I want her now!" Maki by now sounded like a five year old. "I want Nico and I want her now! Now that she's still a bit like..Nico."

To her very disbelief, Nozomi let out a slight chuckle. How could she. How could she laugh like that, after Nico just died?

Maki could not understand. It made no sense. As she went to look at the rest of her friends, she only ended up more confused as she even saw Kotori crack a little smile.

"What it so bloody funny!?"

"Nicocchi's life isn't in danger. It never has been. It was only her leg that was broken. It may have looked really bad, but she really is okay," Nozomi explained. "And she got a number of scratches, hence the blood you saw. I think your mind has been playing tricks on you as soon as you saw Nicocchi lie there."

"But she's passed out..."

"Nico hadn't eaten yet, which is why she passed out... Dealing with pain was a tad hard when she was so hungry. And I had even offered her some bread only an hour ago!" Honoka added, giggling slightly.

Maki-chan blinked a few times quickly. Had she, the ever so calm tsundere, just overreacted like that when her girlfriend seemed to get a little hurt?

"If I hadn't put it all on camera for Nico, I wouldn't have ever believed anyone trying to tell me," Honoka grinned. "I guess it was some kind of creepy form of cute though."

Kotori stood up and looked at Maki, hugging her friend and gently patting her back.

"Shall we buy some flowers and then visit Nico in the hospital? She'll be awake by then." Kotori winked. "Plus, I bet she, too, would like to kiss you at least one more time~"

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Honoka! Give that to me!", Maki-chan exclaimed, chasing the older girl. "I promise you that if you don't delete it right now I'll personally delete you myself!"

Kotori-chan was holding the flowers she had promised to buy together with Maki and was watching the rather..odd sight of the crimson haired chasing her best friend. Next to her stood Nozomi, grinning slightly.

"Maybe we should record this for Nicocchi too~"

Immediately Maki stopped in her tracks, spinning around to face Nozomi.

"I swear you all can be pissing me off so incredibly much!"

"But Maki-chan, I'm sure Nico-chan would love to see this," Honoka whined, waving her phone slightly in front of Maki's face. "Speaking of which, I will show her right now! Bye!"

In the blink of an eye Honoka disappeared, running off into some corridor, leaving Maki-chan completely speachless.

"Honoka-chan!" Kotori called after her, trying to call her friend back. "You'll get lost! We don't even know where Nico-chan is!" She seemed to be contemplating running after Honoka, but was held back by Nozomi-chan.

"She'll find her way," Nozomi spoke, holding up a card. "Somehow, Honoka always seems to find her way. Let's ask where Nicocchi is, so we can visit her too and hand her these flowers. Maki-chan~, would you like to do the honours of giving Nicocchi the bouquet?"

The purple eyed seemed to think about this for a while. Should she try and be more like her usual cold self for the rest of the day, or maybe let herself enjoy being a little soft for the rest of the day? I mean- they had all seen her act rather soft around Nico already, so why not enjoy being a little softer for the rest of the day? It could be quite nice to do some nice things every now and then. And she was sure Nico would like it too..

Her train of thought was interrupted when Kotori tapped her shoulder and handed her the flowers, giving her a small smile.

"No need to hide it anymore Maki~ We can see in your eyes that you would like to hand the bouquet to Nico, so please do, okay?"

Maki looked at the slightly shorter girl in front of her, giving her a small smile. Her cheeks were as red as the tomatoes she loved so, but for once, it didn't matter.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*  

Nico sighed. It was quiet and boring in here.

And so incredibly...

White.

It was nothing like her usual bedroom, filled with pink and posters hanging everywhere on the walls.

Hospital rooms where so dull.

Nico didn't want to be here alone. Her mother was busy at work again and her siblings couldn't know about what happened, she understood that. She just couldn't believe that not even Maki had showed up. It was lonely. So lonely she didn't even feel like singing.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*  

Maki was holding the bouquet of flowers tight. Maybe a little too tight. Her knuckles were starting to get a little whiter with every step they took towards Nico's room.

What was she so afraid of? It was nothing! The receptionist had said Nico was up and awake, already demanding everyone to entertain her to such a level they'd decided to leave her alone.

Then why did it feel like Nico wouldn't be there? Like Nico might not be awake, or even breathing?

Why did it feel like somehow, Nico would've woken up with no memory of her? Why did it feel like Maki had lost Nico?

Maybe Honoka had showed her the video and Nico got mad... Maybe Nico wouldn't like her anymore now that she'd become so soft...

Maki-chan felt a hand on her shoulder, dragging her around a corner.

"You too shouldn't get lost, Maki-chan!"

It was Honoka. Honoka hadn't been to Nico yet.

Honoka had not yet showed the video.

Maybe...if she'd just be quick...

In a swift movement Maki tried grabbing Honoka's phone, and to her surprise she actually got it. However, Honoka seemed oddly calm under this situation. Like she didn't care, at all.

"You forgot that my phone is still locked~", the ginger sang, taking her phone back. "And I won't unlock it till Nico-chan has seen the video!"

"...To show it to Nico-chan you will have to unlock your phone, you know that right?" Maki stared at Honoka for a few seconds, who seemed to have a hard time processing this. Maki shook her head and continued to walk further, only now noticing that there was a slight amount of blood leaking from her hand.

Of course. The roses for Nico had thorns.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*  

A knock on the door? Maybe it'd be one of the nurses again. Nico sighed.

"Come in. I'm hungry either way," she mumbled the last part, waiting for the door to open.

"Nico-chaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!"

An orange flash ran into the room, diving right on top of Nico and hugging her tight.

"H-Honoka!? What? G-Get off! Take it easy on the number one idol in the universe!"

"Sorry Nico-chan. I'm just really really exited to show you something."

"I will refuse to watch it as long as you're sitting on my bloody broken leg!"

Honoka froze in place, before quickly getting off. She looked really embarrassed and Nico nodded, not bothering to tell her that Honoka had actually been sitting on the leg that was still pretty much fine. Nico looked around the room, scanning for her girlfriend.

"Where's Maki?"

Kotori and Umi gave each other a look, before stepping to the side to reveal the blushing mess that previously would have been Maki-chan.

What on earth happened to her? Since when does Maki-chan blush?

"W-we of ehh Muse, we ehh," the purple eyed started stammering, holding her hands behind her back. "Kotori-senpai said we should get you flowers! Just take them already," she eventually blurted out, extending the bouquet toward Nico.

Nico was caught in absolute awe. It was rare Maki would present a gift to her that way. Usually she'd just casually leave it in front of her bedroom door, but this was different. Maki wasn't just buying her a gift. She was giving it.

"Wh-Why aren't you accepting it, you idiot!" Maki looked away, her cheeks even redder than they were a few seconds ago. Nico didn't think this to be possible, even though it was possible now.

However, this beautiful moment between the two lovebirds was soon interrupted by Honoka, who seemed to have no idea of what was going on between the two.

"Nico-chaaan! Will you look at the video now? Please!?"

"No!" Maki exclaimed, trying to grab the phone again but failing this time.

Nico smirked at this. A video that was already making Maki blush even before she'd started it? Oh God yes, she'd love to see that.

Gently she took the phone from Honoka, pressing the play button and watching, while Maki was slowly slumping off the bed and trying to hide in embarrassment.

This was such a stupid idea! I should never have come with them! I knew this was going to end up badly....

Maki-chan sighed and hugged her knees, while hiding so close to the bed that she was almost completely under it. She heard Nico's laugh and smiled a little, while at the same time she just wanted to cry. This was too embarrassing. This was not okay.

Suddenly she was jerked up by Nozomi, who was holding her arm tightly and guiding her to the top of Nico's bed and setting her down right next to her girlfriend.

"Ey..Maki-chan?"

"Y-yes Nico-chan?"

"I do expect some payment considering you said it was your fault~"

"I-I'll pay for the hospital! A-and any other trouble that might appear because of me."

"Sure~, but I was talking about something else~~"

"N-Nani?"

At that moment, Nico leaned in closer, carefully closing the gap that was still between their lips. She wrapped her arms around Maki-chan, her Maki-chan, and kissed her like their lives depended on it.

Both girls had their eyes closed as their held the other, both unwilling to ever let go of each other again.

It was Nico who fist broke the kiss slowly.

"I still wanted that last kiss~"