First time posting a one-shot.
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Nao watched in silence as the girl a few steps away from her fawned over Airi. It had been well-known to everyone that the girl admired her sempai on an intense level. But although everyone seemed amused at the fact, Nao was not, especially at moments like this, where she had just rushed from a Team K dance rehearsal to an SKE event to find her best friend gazing at someone else with literally hearts in her eyes, and being completely unaware of her presence.
“Oh, Nao-chan, you’re back!” an energetic voice spoke.
Nao turned to her right and was met with a hug that almost knocked her off her feet. She struggled to breathe as she tried to return the hug. Madoka seemed to sense that the hug was a bit too tight and release her fellow team E member, not before linking their hands together.
“Gomen, it’s just that I haven’t seen you in quite a while,” Madoka said sheepishly. Nao smiled and said it was okay. She had always enjoyed the company of Team E’s former captain. She was always cheerful and non-intruding. And not as ignorant as some people. Or person.
Madoka’s loud voice had attracted the attention of the members in the room and Nao looked up to meet the gaze of the person that had been responsible for her mild irritation. She was staring at her with a mildly surprised look, before her face broke into a large smile as she waved excitedly.
Still feeling slightly annoyed, Nao pursed her lips and turned her head away.
“Ne, is Nao-chan angry at Nanako?” Madoka, who had observed the whole exchange, asked.
“Eh?” Nao responded immediately, “N..Not at all. What gave you the idea?”
“Maa, it’s just that you didn’t really respond when Nanako waved at you. And I saw you alone just now. I mean, both of you had always been together right?”
Nao didn’t expect Madoka to be this observant. But her irritation fueled her desire to lash out, “Yeah, we were, until someone decided to stick to her sempai like glue.”
There was a pause in which Nao wanted to hit herself on the head for her impulsive words. She fixed her eyes on the walls as she waited for Madoka to speak again.
“Eh…But I’m sure Nanako would’ve come and talked to you if she’d actually noticed you, you know. You didn’t exactly approach her,” Madoka said slowly, bewildered by why Nao had gotten angry at such a small thing. Her lips curved up into a sly smile when a possible theory came to her mind.
“Or is Nao-chan just jealous?”
The question sparked a myriad of emotions in said girl as she burst out with a loud no.
Once again everyone in the room turned to stare at her with curious eyes.
Nao felt like digging a hole in the ground(even though its made of marble) and hiding herself in it right then, but manage to escape the increasing tense atmosphere in the room by choking out one of the most famous excuses, “I need to go to the washroom.”
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Nao leaned against the tap as tried to gather herself together. It seemed that Madoka’s words had struck a chord deep within and had forced Nao to contemplate on something she had long been trying to avoid.
That she viewed her friend as beyond a mere friend, even though she herself had been unconscious about it.
It all started with Nanako declaration in the hotel room the night where she, Nao and Harutamu had shared.
“Ne, do you love me?” Futamura Haruka asked, pushing the shoulders of the person who was sprawled across the bed, half-asleep. There was an incoherent mumble.
Harutamu pushed her shoulder again, determined to get an answer while Nao sat idly at the edge of the bed.
“Yeah, I do,” Nanako finally let out a clear sentence, before her eyelids fluttered shut again.
“Eh? But you said you loved me the other time!” Nao said in a fake angry tone.
“I love Nao in a romantic way and Haruka as a friend,” came the slurred answer and Nanako’s breaths became even after, suggesting that she had fallen asleep.
Even though Nao know that Nanako had most likely been bordering on lines of sleep when she said those words, it didn’t fail to spark something that had been long hidden in the depths of her heart. Since then she had viewed her friend in a different light. She had squealed inwardly when she saw Nanako dressed in an Inu costume for Sekai Seifuku Joshi and had intentionally shared her food with Nanako. Her annoyance at Nanako’s relationship with Airi had probably stemmed from that spark of feeling as well.
With her mind still dwelling on the realization that she liked Nanako in a more than friendly way, Nao failed to register the sound of the washroom door being swung open.
“Nao? Are you alright? You’ve been gone for quite a while.”
The speaker was no doubt the person on Nao’s mind.
“I’m fine,” she replied coldly, trying to compose herself to face the person before her.
“Is it…did I do something wrong?” Nanako tone was a mix of confusion and hurt that stabbed her heart.
“Does Nanako like Airi-san?” Nao blurted out. It had been the third time that day where Nao felt like punching herself in the face for being so impulsive. But her thoughts had always been clouded when it came to the girl in front of her, who seemed surprised at the sudden question.
“Yeah, I do,” Nanako said frankly, and Nao felt her heart sank, “but not as much as Nao! So you don’t hafta worry, like you did just now.”
“Who said that I was worried!” Nao exclaimed, face red with something that was certainly not anger.
“You weren’t? I just assumed that you were, ‘cus Ume-chan said so,” Nanako said, brows knitted together. Nao narrowed her eyes. ‘Wait till I tell Kin-chan about all your endeavors…’She thought evilly.
“Nao is really not worried at all?” Her head shot up as Nanako started to close the distance between them.
“Why would I be worr-“ Nao paused when she saw the look on Nanako’s face. The latter looked like a sad puppy, and Nao could almost see the invisible pair of dog ears twitching on the girl’s head. She inwardly sighed. Wasn’t she the one that was supposed to be hurt? So why did heart felt as if a sudden weight had been fastened onto its edge?
“Maybe a little,” Nao mumbled, lowering her eyes.
“I knew it!” Nanako exclaimed in that usual loud voice of hers, wrapping her arms around her arms around her small-framed friend, “You still care about me! Yay! Nao still cares about me!”
Although Nanako’s hug possessed the same degree of tightness as that of Madoka’s, Nao did not feel that she was being suffocated. In fact, it was strangely calming. Her mind stalled as she immersed herself into the hug. Then one of the words in the sentence caught her attention.
“What do you mean ‘still’? I’ve always cared about you,” Nao’s cheeks tinted with pink hues as she said without thinking.
There was a pause, where Nao finally turned her head back to Nanako. The latter seemed to be struggling with herself, something that Nao has rarely ever seen.
Without meeting Nao’s eyes, Nanako said, “We barely get to see each other nowadays, and you’ve made lots of friends in Team K…”
“I mean I’m glad to see that you’re adapting well, but I just thought that you didn’t like me anymore. I guess I’m just lonely.”
It took a few moments for the words to register in Nao’s mind. A warm feeling enveloped her slowly as she reached out to curl her fingers around Nanako’s hand.
“I guess I’m not the only one who is being bothered by this feeling then.”
Both of them burst out in laughter as their eyes met.
“私はなな子が大好き。”
“So, let’s be frank with each other in the future, hmm?”
It was a rarely display of affection on Nao’s part, and Nanako’s face lit up like a lantern upon those words.
“Okay!”
Nanako readjusted her fingers so that their hands were inter-linked, before they exited the bathroom. There were a few moments of silence before Nanako spoke.
“Say, you were jealous just now, weren’t you?”
“…”
“Baka Nanako!” Nao pouted and turned her face away from her friend.
The grip on Nanako’s hand did become slightly tighter though. Just a little bit.