"Do not worry, Nico. This is Maki's mom you are talking to."

"Ah! Maki-chan's mom?!", Nico replied.

("Come to think about it, I guess it has been a while since I last saw her. We have not actually talked to each other much.", Nico thought to herself.

"Oh, sorry. I thought you were some stranger trying to get me or something."

"Hehe, my apologies. I was about to call you two days ago, but Maki woke up earlier than I expected at that time so I had to hide.", replied Maki's mom.

"Hide? Excuse me but why were you hiding from your own daughter?", Nico curiously asked.

"Well...I did not want my Maki to know that I was looking for you; when she asked why my phone was open whilst you were on the phone, I just said to her that I called you by mistake."

"Did she believe you?"

"Yes, she did. For a moment I thought that she'd find me out too."

(Nico now understood what had happened, as well as why the person who called her had no name - since Nico did not have Maki's mom on her phone's contacts, her phone displayed no name of caller. Also, since Maki's mom was a busy doctor, Maki would likely believe that her mom was calling someone else.)

"Okay...I never thought you'd keep secrets from your own daughter."

"Well...I plan to tell her later on her birthday, but I'd like you to be the first to know."

"Huh? I don't get it? Why would you not tell Maki-chan.........wa-wait....you mean!?"

"I guess you figured it out, Nico. It will be my daughter's birthday this coming week, so I thought that I'd tell her friends to do something special for her on that day."

"Eh!? Maki-chan is gonna have her birthday?"

"Yes. Didn't Maki tell you about it yet?"

"Well...Maki-chan never told me when her birthday was..."

"I see...I figured my daughter haven't told you or anyone about it. I'm glad I thought of calling you then..."

Nico felt a bit angry when she found out Maki didn't tell her that. Without thinking, she whispered to herself:

"Grrrgh. I never thought Maki-chan would be such a jerk. Not telling people her birthday...what's wrong with her, huh!!?"

But her voice was still loud enough for Maki's mom to hear.

"Hehehe. I heard that."

"Eeek! No!...umm...I-I mean...I was trying to say that...umm...I'M SO SORRY!!", said Nico as she panicked as to what to say. Saying bad things in front of Maki's mother felt like falling off stage during a concert.

"Hehe, no it's fine Nico. I'm just relieved that you're so honest about your feelings with my daughter."

"Y-yeah, but really...I'm so sorry for you to hear me talk about your daughter that way..."

"It's alright, Nico. I understand. My daughter really isn't used to being with people, she really isn't fond of talking about herself. I was really worried for her. I'm happy that she finally had friends like you, Nico"

"Uh...thanks...I'm happy to hear that."

"Would you be even happier if I told you what my daughter says whenever she talks about you?"

"Huh? Maki-chan told you about me?"

"Yes and I was really surprised. Who knew my daughter was interested enough to talk about someone. I thought maybe you two were close that's why..."

"C-could you tell me what she said about me?"

"Of course."

Maki's mom told Nico what Maki said: Nico is different, unusual, and annoying. Nico is a third year, but looks like an elementary student. Nico is too self-centered, and makes that "Nico Nico Nii" pose that makes her want to look away.

It almost seemed that Nico wanted to say something bad about Maki when she heard these. But her mood changed when she heard:

"My daughter said that you were really inspiring. She told me how honest you really were to yourself, how you recognize your own faults in your attitude, and how hard you worked to be an idol.", Nico blushed when she heard those words.

In the end, one thing is for sure. Nico was so touched that Maki really cared about her. Otherwise she would've not talked about her so much. Nico was surprised. She paused for a couple of seconds and thought:

"I really can't believe Maki-chan. How would she know me this much. We've only just met each other a few weeks ago. I bet Maki-chan knew more about Hanayo-chan and Rin-chan since they are both classmates. Sheesh"

Nico knew this, yet amongst her friends, Maki seemed interested in her the most.

"But...for some reason...I-I'm happy...", Nico thought to herself. At that moment she had a warm feeling.

"T-that's strange...why is my heart..."

Nico placed one of her hands on her chest. Her heart was beating really fast...and is beating faster. Never has she felt that someone would care about her so much even though that person heself denies it.

"M-maki-chan is really nice...maybe I should learn more about her", Nico thought.

"Umm?...hello?...Are you still there?"

"Ahh! Sorry, I-I was just thinking of something!"

Nico slapped back to reality - she did not say anything on the phone for 9 seconds.

"I'm glad you're still there. Did my daughter's words move you?"

"Yes, they did m'am. And I feel like I already know what to do with Maki-chan's birthday."

"Really! I'm so happy to hear that! Well, I hope you will tell me about it next time. Thank you Nico for your time!"

"Thank you too, Maki's mom. It was nice to chat with you too."

"Oh! One more thing..."

"What is it?"

"You should apologize to Maki for what you said earlier."

"Y-yes m'am! I will do that, I promise!"

--------------------------

That was how Nico and Maki's mom talked with each other on that cold night. After the call, Nico looked at her phone - it was 7:03 PM.

"Ah! I almost forgot that I have dinner to cook! I need to hurry back soon!"

Nico ran as fast as she could back home. Sadly, when Nico got home at about 7:10 PM, her siblings were crying and complaining because she took so long.

"I can't believe this...what a drag...I hope no one calls me tonight...*sigh*"

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*A/N : Sorry if it took a long time for me to update this. I lost my internet connection and sadly a problem occured when my tablet was loading this story and it did not match the one online. I lost my story in the process. :(

Anyway, I just rewrote this entire page from scratch, manually, in my computer instead and waited for a while before I finally got to a computer shop to upload this. I guess I made it longer than my original draft. Hope you enjoy it though.

Stay tuned for the next pages. I'll do my best to upload them as soon as possible. Though I will rewrite them all in my computer first just in case something bad happens again.