Never mind! Get in here already!" Nico snatched her by the sleeve and dragged her inside, shutting the apartment door behind her.
The three Yazawa siblings seemed more confused than surprised at first.
"Oh, it's not Maki?"
"You didn't bring Maki over?"
"No Maki."
Nico nearly so much tripped over her own words as she sputtered, "W-W-What made you three think it was going to be Maki, of all people...?"
Honoka pat Nico on the back, rubbing her palm in circles against it, sending a shiver down the smaller woman's spine.
"It's okay! I'm happy to be here! I'll try my best to live up to Maki's reputation!"
Honoka felt a little uneasy. Three little pairs of eyes were staring up at her, their pupils wide with awe and admiration, their mouths hanging agape. They might as well have been meeting a real celebrity in the flesh. Honoka wanted to say something, anything, to them, but she wasn't entirely sure what. She'd only met these three kids once before, and not exactly on the best circumstances.
"So you really aren't one of the back-up dancers?" Kokoa was the first one to speak.
"Whuh?"
"Are you sure that my big sis isn't the center?"
"Kokoa!" Kokoro snapped, "Nico had already told us-"
Honoka giggled. "No, I'm not one of the back-up dancers, and neither is Nico. We're all the same in our group; no one's any better than the other." Well, Honoka thought, she was supposed to be the center actually, but she figured that would have been an unnecessary complication to bring up to the kids. It wasn't like Honoka even considered herself to be more important than Nico or Eri or any of her other friends.
Kokoro and Kokoa's eyes were literally sparkling. "Wow! That's so cool! It's just like those magical girl teams we see on TV; all for one and one for all! You can't go on with the show if even one of you is missing! Right?"
"Heh heh, that's right!" Honoka beamed.
Nico returned with a bowl of snacks and some toys. "I'm back. Honoka, you weren't telling my siblings anything strange, were you?"
"Oh, I'm sure it's nothing odder than what you've told them before, right, Nico-Nico?" the orange-haired teen teased with a sly grin. Nico blushed quietly in response; she'd been trying to forget that incident, and she had hoped in turn everyone else would forget about it too.
"Big sis, what are you doing with our dolls?" inquired Kokoa.