"Oh my!", said a cute girl with a cute voice and gray hair.

"What is it, Kotori-chan?", a girl with long, dark blue hair replied. Her name was Umi Sonoda.

"Umi-chan, I counted all the balloons we have. I noticed that one balloon is missing. I think we had left it behind!"

"Are you sure, Kotori-chan? If that's the case, it'll be difficult to find where it is."

"Hang on, Umi-chan! I'll look for it!", said the girl named Kotori as she quickly ran through the hallway.

"Kotori-chan...", Umi said as she watched her leave.

That day, the girls found out that it was Maki's birthday and decided to hold a birthday party for her at the school's rooftop. But moments ago, Nico called and said she won't be coming to school due to illness. This forced the girls to quickly hide every birthday decoration before Maki sees them. They plan to hold the party elsewhere, but for now, hiding those things were their first priority.

---------

Meanwhile at the rooftop, Maki found out that someone knew it was her birthday, someone was coming upstairs. Hurriedly, she tried to look for a hiding spot, but there was nowhere to hide. She had no choice but to stay put and reveal herself. She wondered who could be coming upstairs, she was expecting it was Honoka or the other girls.

Moments later, a tall girl with blonde hair came out of the entrance. She was surprised that Maki was the only person there at the rooftop. Maki knew exactly who she was and glared at her cautiously.

"...Eri-senpai...", Maki uttered. It was Student Council President Eri Ayase.

"What's going on here? Aren't you that first year that plays pianos and hangs out with those second year students?"

"You mean Honoka, Umi, and Kotori? It's a long story but yeah I do. You have a problem with that?"

"Yes I do. Those girls are wasting their time on stupid ideas to try and save the school and...what's that you're holding?", Eri noticed the balloon that Maki was holding.

"It's none of your business...hey!", Eri took the balloon from her and read what it said.

"A birthday party, huh? My God, I never thought you were that stupid."

"Hey, Eri-senpai. What's your problem with us, huh?", Maki replied angrily as she gave her a bad look. Eri responded with a straight face and said:

"Parties or any celebrations are not allowed here in school without permission. Even if you did, it doesn't mean that you or your companions are allowed to run all over the hallways and distract the other classes." Eri implied that she too noticed the back and forth movements of Honoka and the others.

"Just because I am involved with them doesn't mean I'm like them, Eri-senpai. Seriously, I had nothing to do with any of this..."

"Even so, this school has rules, and I won't tolerate anyone who breaks it. Tell your friends that they should stop whatever they're doing." Maki understood Eri's point, but she felt like she was also referring to their idol activities. She felt Eri was insulting her and u's.

"No offense Eri-senpai, but you can't order me or any of my friends around."

"And why not? I'm the the student council president. That's my authority..."

"I DON'T CARE WHO OR WHAT YOU ARE! You have no right to mess with me or my friends when there's nothing wrong with what their doing!"

Maki shouted those words without hesitation. She did not care if the girl in front of her is the president. She wanted to defend u's and prove to her they're not a burden in anyway. But she herself could not explain why.

("Friends...Honoka...Umi...Kotori...Hanayo...Rin......Nico-chan...they're...my friends.")

Maki thought those words in her mind as she realized the reason why she spoke for them. The reason why they went to her in the first place. The reason why they went all the trouble to celebrate her birthday. Even when she tried to push them away, even when she kept her birthday a secret. They. Are. Her. Friends.

"Excuse me, but isn't it wrong to have parties in school and causing trouble? Isn't it wrong to join a competition you can't win and humiliate the school's reputation in the process?", Eri coldly replied.

"Stop insulting u's, Eri-senpai. That's what you always do, that's where your wrong." At this point, both Eri and Maki are starting to fight each other.

"How am I wrong when you're the ones who started the wrongs in the first place? I would've never wasted my time on you had you realized your foolishness." Eri was really opposed to u's and becoming idols and believed it was a bad thing. They reminded her of herself back then as a little girl, joining dance competitions and losing time after time before she finally gave up and made her bitter. She wanted to stop them - whatever way she can find.

"Since when did u's become a name or a group in the first place? How absurd." 

After hearing those words, Maki got furious feeling Eri had gone too far with her words. She approached Eri with a very nasty look. She wanted to hit her, Eri noticed it.

"I'm surprised that you treat me like that. Perhaps I should teach you some manners..." Eri held her hands up and was about to slap Maki...

"ERI-CCHI!!!" All of a sudden a powerful voice called Eri-senpai. A girl with purple hair tied in two pigtails rushed upstairs to the rooftop.

"N-Nozomi...?" Eri replied in shock.

"Ericchi! We got a problem! One of the second years is in trouble. Come on, we need to go and help!"

"Hang on, Nozomi! How bad is it? I'm in the middle of some..."

"NO TIME! WE HAVE TO GO NOW!"

 Just as the two were about to leave, Nozomi turned her head, looked at Maki, and winked at her with a smile on her face for a few seconds before she left. Maki thought: "Thanks, Nozomi...", as she realized Nozomi did it on purpose to save her and Eri from hurting each other.

Once the two were gone, Maki realized how stubborn Eri would be and that she has to stay away from her from now on, then she returned to thinking what she should do with her birthday.

"Everyone knows it's my birthday today. I still can't believe that it happened. Still, I need to find out how they found out. Should I ask them? They probably still don't know that I now know all of this; asking them directly would be suspiscious."

Maki realized how important the day is now, and how much effort the girls went through for her. It would not be nice for her to ruin the moment and tell them she knows. She felt she had to do something. After much thought, Maki made her final decision.

"I'll eavesdrop on them."

Maki left the rooftop and headed back to class. She left the balloon at the rooftop's entrance since she doesn't know what to do with it anyway.

---------

Meanwhile, in the hallway, Nozomi and Eri went to the second year who was in trouble. It turned out to be Kotori.

"What's wrong?", Eri asked.

"Ah!? E-Eri-senpai!? I-uh...sorry to cause you trouble but I need your help!"

"Help? For what?"

"I'm looking a balloon!"

"Eh!?"

"I'm looking for a balloon, Eri-senpai. Honoka and I were going to celebrate our friend's birthday but we lost the balloon. I know it bothers you and sorry if we..."

"It's at the rooftop." Eri answered quickly.

"Really?"

"Yes, it's at the rooftop, one of your friends found - *hmph!?* ", before Eri mentioned Maki found it, Nozomi covered her mouth and calmly responded: "Eri found it there and called me about it." Though it was obvious she was hiding something, Kotori just stared, smiled, thanked them, then left for the rooftop. Once she left, Nozomi let her hand off Eri's mouth.

"Nozomi...", Eri stared at her "you stopped me again, didn't you?"

"Sorry Ericchi. I can't bear to see you be so angry like that."

"S-sorry...I just lost my cool, that's all. I'm sorry you saw me act like that."

"It's nothing Ericchi! Just smile and everything will be fine!"

"Seriously Nozomi. What kind of favor is that?"

"I just - I just want you to smile. That'll make me happy. I could ask nothing more." 

The two girls left together; Eri wasn't angry with what Nozomi did while Nozomi thought of Maki and the others. Maki went back to class while Kotori got the balloon. A lot of things have happened.

-----------

After school, probably at around 4:00 PM

Maki spent the day trying to listen on the other girls' conversations. However, she did not hear anything important. Honoka was talking about making a new song and Umi sharing her ideas. Kotori just looked at them. Hanayo and Rin did not say anything much. It looked like the girls intended to not say anything to each other about it.

Maki tried other options. She asked the other students who also saw the girls who ran throughout the school, some said to her that they saw some of the girls carried balloons, banners and other stuffs. Maki looked for where the other party decorations were, hoping to get some hints, but she couldn't find them anywhere. She also tried to call Nico but she did not answer. By the end of the day, she walked out of the school and headed home, not getting anything important. "What do I do now...", Maki thought to herself. The only thing she thought she could do was to head back home.

She was at the gate when suddenly her phone rang. It was Nico - Maki hurriedly raised her phone near her ear and replied:

"Hey, where have you been, Nico-chan! I've been calling you a while ago but you didn't answer!" Moments of silence followed.

"Hey, ANSWER ME, Nico-chan!" Still there wasn't any response. Maki now felt like she was being toyed with.

"I hate you, Nico-chan!", Maki said furiously and was about to drop the call when...

"*Cough*...Ma...*cough*...ki...*cough**cough*", Maki was surprised with those sounds. Suddenly she felt something was wrong.

"Nico-chan!? Hey, is that you? What's going on?!", again there was no response. Maki's eyes looked like she wanted to cry.

"Nico-chan! NICO-CHAN!!!"

.... ....

~~~~~

A/N: Wow. Thank you guys for the 100+ views and the 10+ votes. I'm very happy for your support! :) I'll be ending this story soon, so stay tuned!

By the way, I've already finished the next page, but I'll take a break for while so that I could celebrate my birthday. I'll publish it tomorrow. <3