Love Live!! If Three's A Crowd, Nine's A Multitude!

Chapter 53

Chika's POV

"YOU DID WHAT?!?!" Riko's voice rang loud in my ear. I was currently sitting in the little medical center in town. 

"Shhh... be quiet we don't want You to find out-" 

"Fine out about what?" the young sailor asked appearing into the room carrying a huge bag of ice.

"Absolutely nothing-" I began only to be cut off by Riko.

"She confessed." 

It took a while for You to realize what she was talking about, her eyes widened at me, "You mean you-"

I nodded, she dropped the ice bags in shock. After a moment of silence the question I knew would be asked was asked. "What'd he say?" 

I scratched my head and laughed, "Well, he just sort of nodded and it was awkward silence. Then when he dropped me off, he couldn't look my in the eyes." 

"I- well, maybe he's stunned, embarrassed, or something else." Riko suggested.

"What led you to do it Chika-chan?" You questioned.

I answered honestly, "See I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to confess at any other time, so I kind of just let it slip..." I winced, "Was that not the best thing?" 

"Chika, I'm going to be completely honest and I believe You feels the same way," Riko put her hand on my shoulder, "We can't help you because we're all competing for him. I hope you understand." 

"Think about it like this," You explained, "We're gonna be competing now, but in ten years or something we'll be laughing at how dumb this all was." 

I nodded, "But," she continued, "This is now, and unfortunately we're going to be doing everything we can to win." Riko nodded beside her.

I looked at them with confidence, "Then I guess I'll have to win!" 

"Sorry Chika-chan, but I'll win." the silver-haired girl smiled.

"Both of you are wrong, cause it'll be me." 

Shizuko's POV

Am I just crazy? Did she confess or was that my imagination. Think, think, think! What happened back there? She fell asleep right? She seemed to have been asleep when I dropped her off. 

I think I'm going insane. There's no way that something like that actually happened. Yeah, that's just my stupid teenager belief. Thinking that every girl I come in contact with will like me. 

Yeah that's it.

I avoided eye contact with Chika and all the other girls at night. She seemed okay, just needed to stay here the next day to rest up her leg. 

She didn't seem awkward, she in fact seemed normal. There was nothing wrong, so it was definitely me. 

Kanan tapped my shoulder, "Are you okay? You're burning up?" 

It was only now that I realized that I was blushing. "Uh, yeah I'm f-fine." 

She felt my forehead, "You're pretty hot, but no sign of a fever. Do you need to go outside for a little bit?" I nodded and stepped out of the room. I walked down the hallway and down the stairs. The cool air hit me as I stepped outside. Kanan was right, I did need to go out here.

"You okay?" I was startled by a voice behind me. 

"Huh, yeah I'm fine." I responded.

Dia stood there in the moonlight. "That's good, well I just wanted to check on you." she turned to go back inside.

"Oh, okay thanks." I told her, I thought she was going to say something else.

"I- y-yeah..." she said opening the door and going back in. Leaving me alone out here at night. And I just realized, I didn't have a key on me... Shoot.

Dia's POV

I tried, I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Was I afraid or something? What should I be afraid of? It's just Shizuko, he has to know that we like him. There's no way he's that dense... But still, what if he rejects me? That's probably why I'm scared, I've always been afraid of being rejected.

Probably because of what happened when I was little. I think it's just a fear of rejection in general. I became a hard working student solely for that purpose. I was afraid of being turned down for an application of a job or school, and yes dating.

Whenever I developed a crush I just told myself that it wouldn't last that long and I needed to look towards the future. But for some reason that little crush on Shizuko didn't go away. In fact it grew even more.

Am I overthinking this? I just have to accept the fact that if he does reject me, that I'll be okay. We're leaving in two months and we probably won't ever see each other again so I might as well. 

I gave myself a little pep talk before stepping back outside only to hear a sentence that caught my attention.

"I like you Shizuko..." 

Shizuko's POV

A few moments after Dia left, I heard someone else step outside.

"Sup zura?" Hanamaru stood next to me.

"Nothing much," I sat down on a bench, "The air's nice isn't it?"

She nodded, huh, I never noticed how pretty Hanamaru is. Come to think of it, all nine are beautiful. "So why'd you come out here? It's gonna get pretty cold soon."

"W-well I a-actually wanted to tell you something zura." she said shyly.

"I'm all ears." I assured her.

"Listen, I know that there's no way you'd return these feelings, but I like you Shizuko." she blushed. "And I know that I'm just a shy girl who likes to read. I'm not interesting and I'm not like the others. I'm not mature like the third years, I'm not cute like You, I'm not cheerful like Chika, I'm not adorable like Ruby, I'm not elegant like Riko, but we're leaving and I didn't want to keep this in me after we leave." 

"Hanamaru..." I was lost at words, I didn't really know what to say. "You're special in your own way, you don't have to be like any of the others wanna know why?"

She looked up at me, "Because this version of you is the only version you can be. Be happy about your personalities, because everyone likes you the way you are." 

"Thanks Shizuko," she hugged me, "you don't have to give an answer if you don't want to. But I just wanted to tell you."

I nodded, thank the lord she wasn't hoping for an answer cause I had nothing to tell her. Hanamaru was cute, but I don't know. It sounds stupid but I can't decide. 

"I don't want to be a jerk," I told her, "So I'll give you a proper answer before you guys leave okay?" 

She nodded, "I hope I didn't make things awkward between us." 

"No, it's my fault because I'm taking my time with the answer." I assured her.

She smiled, "I'm going to keep being the same Hanamaru." she reminded me.

"Wouldn't have it any other way." I grinned.

Woah, I didn't know that I was writing a whole anime plot... Well I'm sure this chapter was better than yesterday's. Especially the confession, because I got lazy yesterday...

Anyways here's another chapter... I hope you all liked it! It was fun also it's my mom's birthday tomorrow so I may not be able to write another chapter for tomorrow... Next one is probably New Year's Eve!

I love you all! Thank you for reading this book even though it's very bad...

Also I'd like to argue with you here... so I'll start asking random questions and stuff so here's question one: What are your top 5 anime openings of all time?

Be safe! Mask up! Don't be stupid!

-Kazuya