Chapter Text
After so many years of dealing with Nico, Nozomi had perfected the art of dealing with her longtime friend. Of course, that didn’t mean that she enjoyed doing it all of the time. Especially not after being rudely awakened by said longtime friend.
“Nicocchi honestly, if the landlord ends up calling us again, I’ll make sure to ask him to take you off of the lease.” Nozomi tried in vain to get her voice at a volume high enough to be heard over the blasting music.
Nico rolled her eyes at her friend as she continued to make breakfast. She didn’t make any indication that she would be moving from her position in front of the stove to go lower the volume.
Nozomi grumbled under her breath and turned off the speaker herself. With a sigh of relief at the newfound silence in the room, she took her place at the kitchen table.
“Are you opening today Nicocchi?”
Nico placed scrambled eggs on the plate in front of Nozomi and answered around the cigarette in her mouth. “Yeah. You think you’d remember since you make the schedules.”
Nozomi only shrugged and proceeded to eat her breakfast.
“Smoking so early in the morning?”
Nico ignored her comment and took a seat in front of Nozomi, putting out her cigarette on the ash tray on the table.
“You going out before your shift today?”
Nozomi shrugged once again. “I might go pick up some flowers. The ones at the office died the other day.”
Nico grunted and continued eating. They continued to eat in silence with only the occasional word to each other. Once she was done, Nico stood up and went to her room to go get ready for the day.
Nozomi enjoyed the rest of her breakfast calmly, the only sounds in the apartment being those of Nico’s indiscriminate cursing as she realized that she was running late for work.
Nozomi hummed to herself as she grabbed a bouquet of lilies from the rack.
“Would you mind passing me one of those?”
Nozomi looked up and saw blue. Eyes like that shouldn’t exist on anyone and the rest of the person with said eyes, was equally as awe inspiring. It was unfair for a person to look like that. In fact, Nozomi was absolutely offended that such an attractive woman existed.
“Oh, of course.” Nozomi cursed her slightly trembling hands as she reached over and grabbed another bouquet.
The woman quietly thanked her and turned to leave.
But she was never one to believe in coincidences and she kept this in mind as she spoke again. “For a special someone?”
The blonde immediately blushed once she had seemed to register Nozomi’s word, which Nozomi definitely noticed with a smirk.
“N-no! These are for my sister! She recently won a competition, so these are congratulatory.”
Nozomi smiled at the newly acquired information. Judging by how the woman had reacted, it was doubtful that she was seeing anyone. Which was perfect for Nozomi.
“That definitely sounds like something that would merit congratulations. Make sure to send your sister my kudos. Miss?”
The woman was still beet red and stuttered out her answer. “Eli Ay-yase! Ayase Eli!”
Nozomi smiled, the other woman was just too precious. “It was a pleasure to meet you, Ayase-san.”
She turned to leave very slowly and barely took a step forward before Eli called out.
“Wait! I didn’t catch your name!”
“Toujo Nozomi.”
There was a faint blush that graced her cheeks. “It was nice meeting you as well Toujo-san.”
“Just Nozomi is fine.” She interjected.
Eli smiled at her and Nozomi could swear that her heart almost gave out. “Nozomi. I hope to see you around.”
Nozomi would definitely make sure to thank all of the spiritual forces that gave her the opportunity to meet this woman.
“You definitely will Elicchi!” She made sure to add a teasing wink.
She left the blonde blushing and stammering once again and once she paid for her flowers, she left to work with a skip in her step.
“You’re late Nozomi-senpai!” Rin waved from across the park as she skated on the lip of the pool. Of course, the waving made her lose her balance and she fell off the board.
Nozomi waved back and shook her head fondly.
“Rin, I saw that! That’s what happens when you get distracted. Fall off that board again and you and Honoka will be waxing the ramp again after closing.”
Honoka squawked in protest from where she was sitting on the ramp. Everyone ignored her protests and exclamations that “Nico-senpai is a tyrant!”
Nico turned to Nozomi when she walked into the office. “You are late though. What kept you?”
Nozomi smiled at her shorter friend. “I got distracted.”
Nico rolled her eyes.
“Your eyes are going to get stuck like that Nicocchi.”
Nico only rolled her eyes with more fervor. “I need a smoke.”
Nozomi wagged her finger. “Our agreement was one cigarette every five hours. It’s only been three Nicocchi!”
“Whatever. Get to work, you have four boards to get done by tomorrow and you’ve only finished one.”
Nico grabbed her pink helmet and her board and went to join Honoka and Rin before the flood of people would begin to come when school time finished.
Nozomi nodded and sat at her station, starting to assemble the longboard she had been working on the day before.
Once she was done, she ran her hand over the board, admiring in the design on the underside of the deck, her design. She would never get tired of pride that would run through her whenever she completed a skateboard that was created with her own two hands.
She looked up as Nico entered the office again.
“By the way, I forgot to ask you about our new neighbors.”
“Neighbors?” She hadn’t remembered seeing anything on her way into the shop. But she admittedly might have been distracted by her thoughts of a certain blonde woman she had just met.
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure they opened up an ice rink next door. Pretty lame but as long as they’re not as bad as annoying as the ballet studio was, I’m happy with it.”
“Hmm true.”
Nico frowned. “I mean, all they did was complain about all of the noise. Like what did they expect from a skate park? Were they stupid?”
Nozomi laughed. “Should we be polite and give them a house warming gift?”
Nico shrugged. “Who cares?” She paused. “Wait, what if they want to try to be friends? That would be horrible.”
“You shouldn’t be so anti-social Nico-chan. You could use more friends!”
Nico glared at the taller woman. “Hey! I’ve got plenty of friends! I’ve got you and dumb and dumber over there. That’s more human interaction than I would actually like, but it’s not like I’m a hermit.”
Nozomi only smiled at her, knowing that Nico would keep the fight ongoing for hours if she continued instigating her.
“Well anyway, I think we should drop off the flowers that I just bought while on our way home.”
Nico rolled her eyes. “Yeah sure, whatever.”
After locking up the park, Nozomi and Nico walked together towards the newly occupied building, Nozomi holding a vase with lilies.
It was predictably closed, considering how late the park usually closes. Nozomi left the vase on the mat in front the entrance doors.
They left a card attached to the vase,
Welcome to the neighborhood! Come visit anytime!!
-Muse Skate Park