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"Sorry for the intrusion," Nico mutters flatly as she takes off her shoes in the doorway, knowing full well that even if there was anyone in that labyrinth of a mansion but her and Maki right now, her voice would never be able to reach them. She follows Maki inside with her hands shoved into the pockets of her cardigan, head tilting left and right as she takes in her surroundings like it's her first time seeing them. There are so many pieces of overly-elaborate decor that Nico doesn't think she's ever going to remember them all.

Oh, but she definitely remembers that giant piece of armor on the wall over there. She always gets the feeling like if she gets too close it'll topple over and trap her underneath, so she subconsciously leans towards the opposite wall every time they pass by it.

"Seriously, Maki, no matter how many times I come to your house, it's just way too big," she grumbles, only to catch herself the next moment.

"-- But of course, once Nico's become a super idol, she'll have a mansion like this in every prefecture!" She strikes her signature pose and smile. "Teehee."

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Nico's eyes briefly dart back to Maki, and she frowns. She looks so impressive -- and sounds it, too, completely in her element. All right, she tells herself, fists bunched up at her sides, I'll make sure not to lose!

This time, she doesn't miss her cue, and starts singing where she's supposed to. She kicks herself internally when she hears the way her voice wavers on the first few notes, but doesn't let it hinder her, steadying and firming her sound as she goes.

Nico still remembers all the lyrics, even to the parts she didn't sing -- she always made sure to have them all down pat, just in case. She's been listening to their music a lot after graduation, too -- because she likes it, of course, and because it's theirs, but also out of some inexplicable obligation to keep it all fresh in her mind.

By the end of it, she'd say she gave a pretty solid show. She didn't fall behind Maki once, didn't let the volume of the piano drown her out. Yup, she didn't let herself lose.

Once the song is over, she turns back to Maki with a grin, hands on her hips. "Well? How was it? Don't you feel privileged to have gotten a private performance by the great Nico-nii all for yourself?"

Maki focuses on her playing, but there are moments throughout the song when the focus and intensity dies down somewhat as she tries to listen to Nico. She's surprised she remembers the song, even as a group they didn't sing it that often.

There are moments when Nico pushes her voice too hard, maybe because of her playing, though that's also her style, Maki's noticed. Bit by bit she matches her playing to Nico's singing, so the sounds don't compete but compliment each other. It's nice playing just for someone else.

Maki turns to Nico after the song finishes as Nico celebrates her own performance. She does think it's presumptuous of Nico to say something like that. But she decides to give her this one. Perhaps something to do with the 'all for yourself' part of what Nico said.

She claps softly, though it echoes more in this room. Her tone only has a slight hint of sarcasm. "Oh yes, quite a privilege."

Nico flips a twintail, pointedly ignoring any traces of insincerity in Maki's voice. "You're welcome!"

And, in a moment of considerable generosity, she adds: "Your playing wasn't bad, either."

Maki crosses her arms across her chest, leaning back on the bench. Maybe Nico's just being Nico, but it's nice to hear her compliment her. "Thank you. And your singing was really good. Sounds great in this room, right?"

Maki actually complimenting her wholeheartedly catches Nico off-guard enoigh for her heart to almost miss a beat, but she bites back any change to her expression. Whatever, she was good.

"Yeah. Must be real nice to practice somewhere like this." There might be a subtle, unintended note of jealousy to her voice.

Maki watches Nico for a moment. She licks her dry lips as she considers whether to say what she's thinking out loud. Then she leans onto her knees a bit when she talks, as if to gather courage. "You can come practice here if you want. For auditions or, just whenever. I can play for you to help you practice..."

"Oh," Nico says, blinking slowly. It's not like it's an unusual offer -- they're friends, well, and dating as of fifteen minutes ago. And she wouldn't be surprised if Maki's house has fifty more rooms like this one, so it's not like this would seem significant to her at all. She can practically hear her say 'aw, Nico-chan, you pleb, look at you getting all excited over getting to use a mere music room'. Ugh.

But still, it's just... nice. This music room is so fancy, it's not something Nico usually gets to have.

She shuffles a little closer to Maki, made all the more awkward by trying to look casual about it. "Uh, that'd be cool. Thanks."

Cute...

The change in Nico's demeanor makes Maki think that but she doesn't say it out loud. She already told Nico she thought she was cute but to do so right now would just be too embarrassing. The air's already a little heavy as is, even in this large room.

"You're welcome," she says quietly, swinging her feet a little. "Just... text me whenever you want to come over."

Edited 2014-10-08 23:56 (UTC)

"'kay, I will." Maki can be really sweet sometimes, when she's not making an effort to be aggravating. Nico just wishes she had something to offer her back -- as much as she acts like of course people should lavish her with all sorts of stuff, she doesn't like feeling indebted to others. But what's she gonna say? 'And you can come to my place to watch me cook and do laundry'? Right, that's exciting.

Nico sighs. "Anyway, isn't it about time you came up with a new song?"

Maki rolls her eyes and sighs exaggeratedly. "I know. The rest of the girls keep asking me too." She leans forward on the bench, padding the floor with her feet. "I have a few sheets of lyrics from Umi but nothing that inspires me right now."

"Then the cute and radiant Nico-chan will be your inspiration!" she announces with jarring chipperness, one hand raised up in her trademark pose, before reverting to normal the next second. "But really, let me see."

Maki hides a laugh as she stands and opens up the piano bench. Inside are several books of music composition paper, some workbooks, and a special, pink binder where Maki keeps the most recent lyrics she gets. She closes the bench and sits back down, flipping through the binder to the newest pages of scribbled lyrics and holds it out to Nico.

Nico hums as she reads the sheet over, nodding her head once. "As expected of Umi, this is some pretty good stuff. When you read it, you get kind of a fun, upbeat feeling, right? So what if something like..."

She sings out the first two lines to an attempted rhythm. "Now, let's see how far our smile will take us! Set your destination and go!"

Nico pauses. She doesn't really know anything about composing, and her greatest involvement in creating music was with the little keyboard her mom got her when she was eight, playing a daring new interpretation of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

"... Or something?"

Maki pays close attention as Nico hums, staring off from them as she takes the sounds in. She taps her foot along to Nico, trying to catch her rhythm.

She stops a beat after Nico does and turns to her as if noticing her again, she was so lost in her own thoughts.

"What about..." Maki's fingers hover over the keys for a moment until she decides to settle on a chord. She plays one but it doesn't sound quite right, so she tries another, one step up. Then two, but that one's too high and she goes back to the second one. She plays it a few times humming out the melody Nico attempted, until finally her fingers break from it and play the melody, improvising an accompaniment.

It's Nico's song, but added to it, a few notes here, a longer pause there. She adds some staccato to her playing to make the melody more fun, jumping from note to note.

The passage was short, so it ends all too soon. "Like that?"

Nico, expecting her suggestion to be turned down point-blank, is more than a little surprised when Maki doesn't just listen, but accepts it, as well. And when Maki plays, she can hear her own tune in it, a faint but prevalent guideline, on top of which she's built something rich and alive. She just hummed it out on a whim, and yet it's already starting to take form as a real, actualized song-- it's pretty amazing to hear.

"Wow," Nico says, for once not thinking to filter her praise. "That's really good."

Maki smiles at the piano keys at Nico's compliment, then puckers her lips to not let it show too much. She clears her throat and taps out a random melody on the keys. "Don't you mean it's because of the great Nico-nii that the song came out so good?"

"Yeah, well," she smiles lopsidedly, "but I'm willing to give Maki some credit, too. Why don't we try the chorus?"

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