Maki's Accidental Addition

Chapter 14: The Ritual

"That's interesting," Mrs. Nishikino said. "It's nice that Nico knows how to take care of the house. Maki is hopeless when it comes to cooking and cleaning."

"I wouldn't expect that Maki is bad with housework," Mrs. Yazawa commented. "I know she's good at piano though. Nico talked about one of her underclassmen and how cute she was." Mrs. Yazawa chuckled at the memory.

"You know, if I didn't know any better than I would have thought that you wanted them to be together, not that I'm saying I'm any different." Both women laughed.

"Let's just say that they look nice together. Besides I feel that Maki has a lot of common sense." Mrs. Nishikino laughed.

"Common sense? Maki? That's funny. She has as much common sense as a mule. I wonder what she'd have done without that Nico." Now it was Mrs. Yazawa's turn to laugh.

"Without Nico, she would've been less burdened. Nico is just . . . well, she can be a lot. I know that every parent talks about their child like this but it's kind of funny that it's true." Both mothers laughed again. Four people looked through the cafe window and quickly ran inside.

"How long have you two been here?" Haru asked the two women.

"We left before Maki's little speech. We wanted you all to have some time together." Mrs. Yazawa told them. They all looked at each other.

"You missed Maki's big announcement," Honoka said with a big smile. Then her smile turned into a frown. "I thought it was really sweet. I wish Tsubasa was more like that."

"Focus," Umi told her. Honoka always tried to find a reason to complain about Tsubasa ever since they got in a fight. "So want to head back to the house?"

"Of course, you did come to find us after all." All six of them left the cafe and went back to the beach house.

~

"Should we just go back to the beach house since we didn't find anything?" Eli asked her group. They all groaned a yes and set off back towards the house.

~

"Oh you guys got here alright, awesome," Haru excitingly yelled. "So I'm guessing nobody found them."

"Rin almost caught them but Maki can really speed," Eli reported. "How about you four?"

"We found their moms," Haru excitingly yelled. "Wait, maybe we should check the beach house, to see if they went back here."

"Good idea," Umi said. They all went searching around the beach house, making sure to check every room.

"Everyone come upstairs," Kotori called all of the rest. They all went to where Kotori was and tried to see what she was looking at. In the room, Maki and Nico were snuggling up together.

"They look so peaceful together," Kotori said giving them a smile.

"Yeah they do," Hanayo agreed.

"You know what that means," Eli started, "all of you get them outside and don't worry about being gentle, they're heavy sleepers."

"Are you seriously thinking about doing that?" Nozomi asked her. Eli had a smirk on her face and simply gave her a nod. Nozomi smiled and shook her head. "You're an idiot."

"Everyone let's go!" Eli and Umi carried Maki while Hanayo and Rin carried Nico. Nozomi took Kotori, Honoka, and Haru downstairs.

"I'm going to sit this one out," Haru said nervously. He didn't realize that his friend's friends were this hardcore. "I'll just watch."

"Suit yourself," Nozomi laughed.

"What do we need?" Honoka asked the group. Nozomi thought before she gave a mischievous grin.

"Get any chocolate containers you can find, I know there's some around here."

"I don't think we should do this again. Last time you guys did it to me and Umi it wasn't good," Kotori laughed nervously.

"Just be glad it's not ketchup again," Nozomi said while shaking her head. "Oh yeah, we'll need something to catch everything. Is there a plastic tarp or something?"

"Ah, found one," Honoka yelled out. The group all gathered the rest of what they needed and headed out to the beach.

"They just look dead right now," Eli commented. They set down both of the girls on a blanket on the sand.

"Don't say that," Umi said after her.

"They look peaceful, nya." Eli looked at Rin and gave her a smirk.

"They won't be peaceful for long," Eli bellowed. Nozomi sighed and looked at her. She honestly thought that when Eli was serious it was for stupid reasons.

"Put down the tarp, Kotori. Everyone, grab a chocolate container." Kotori set the tarp down as Umi and Eli picked up Maki and Rin and Hanayo lifted Nico up. They set them down on the plastic tarp and grabbed chocolate containers.

"Who wants to do the honors of waking up this lovely couple?" Everyone looked amongst each other, unsure of who was going to be first. "No one, then I'll have to pick someone. I choose Kotori, she was the last and first person to have this done to her."

Kotori looked at Eli bewildered. Eli handed her a chocolate container and pushed her forward lightly. She gripped the chocolate container lightly and walked forward.

"Maki, Nico," she called. She pushed them slightly. Maki and Nico sat up slowly, barely recovering from her sleep. Maki looked at Kotori with half-closed eyes. Nico looked around at the other members. "I'm sorry!" Kotori raised the chocolate container and squeezed it hard. The thick brown fudge came shooting out and splattered all over both of them.

"Everyone fire!"

The others all squeezed their chocolate bottles. Maki and Nico couldn't do anything. They both tried to get up but kept slipping on the chocolate. Chocolate was splattered but kept contained due to the tarp. All the members squeezed bottles and bottles of chocolate. How there were so many bottles, they didn't know. Soon there were only a couple bottles left that were quickly used up.

"Wow, Maki's friends are crazy," Haru muttered. He looked at their faces and saw happiness on each one. Maki and Nico had on a face of surprise and anger.

"Haru? What's going on?" Haru turned and saw a girl holding hands with a smaller girl. She looked past him to the members and her eyes went back to him. "Do I even want to know?"

"I don't think you do." He laughed.