Chapter 1
The gentle wind hissed through the supple petals of the sakura trees. With each sway of their branches, more and more pedals would break free and dance toward the ground. Under one tree in particular, the pedals would fall and land on the graceful soldiers of a certain young girl. The pedals that landed on her hair seemed to disappear upon contact (the strands of hair being the same color of pink.)
It was here she had waited for many minutes, her jade eyes fixed onto her feet. It was only when she heard approaching footsteps from her right did she lift her gaze to its source. Just as she had promised, her friend from school, a taller sempai with short black hair, came running over, waving her hand at the pink haired girl.
Before she could speak, the sempai held a hand up at her, allowing herself to catch her breath after running such a distance. After a few minutes of hard panting, the sempai finally forced herself to stand straight and look the other in her eyes.
"… You asked me to come here?" the pink haired kouhai asked in a nervous whisper.
"Y-Yeah," the other replied with caution. "I… wanted to tell you something. It's easier to say here, since there aren't a lot of people here."
"… What did you want to say?"
"… Umm… You see… I think I… I think I love you."
In that instant, the emotions that entered through the kouhai's heart were those of… of…
No, this won't do. Damn, why can't I get past the confession in these stories? Maybe if I try a different situation?...
Grabbing her sempai by her right wrist, the kouhai pulled her friend behind her at a near running pace, tugging her through the crowded hallways of their school. Reaching a secluded spot beneath a stairwell, she felt as if she could express herself here.
"What's going on?" asked the sempai. "I have class in a few minutes and it's on the other side of the school now. What is it you wanted to say?"
Taking a pause, the kouhai looked upward into her friend's eyes. "S-Sampai," she stuttered, "I… I love you."
No, this won't do either! I'm just describing actions and not portraying the emotions very well at all. Let's try one more time…
Sitting across her sempai at the lunch table, the kohai desperately wished to say what was on her mind. Lifting her gaze from her bento, the sempai in question noticed that her friend had barely touched hers; everything was undisturbed and in exactly the same place as it was when it was opened.
"Is something wrong?" she asked her pink haired friend.
"… S-Sempai… I think I-"
No, no, NO! This is all crap! What the hell is wrong with me? Why can't I get this right!
-o0o-
With her train of thought officially broken, the tapping of her mechanical pencil against the blank sheet of paper in front of her grew ever louder. In the darkness of her room, the only source of light there was came from her desk lamp, which shown its spotlight on the blank piece of paper. Unbeknownst to her, in the midst of her work, Hiyori had spent the past hour in this same position, riddled in deep thought, thoughts that could be considered as both random and unfinished.
Being an aspiring doujin writer and artist, Hiyori needed but two things to create successful pieces of work. One of which was the ability to create respectable and convincing visuals. In this field Hiyori was undoubtedly skilled. She had received praise from the drawings and sketches she had shown her friends (or what her friends were able to sneak peeks at.) They were described in such adjectives as "incredible," "realistic," and "immaculate." Hiyori did, in no way, doubt her status as an artist.
However, now, and for the past few weeks, she was struggling in another category, the second thing she needed to create a successful piece of doujin: a story, background with which to put together the relationship the two or more fictional characters had. It was in this that Hiyori Tamura was struggling.
"Damn it!" she screamed at herself in her head, her eyes fixed upon the blank slate before her. "Why is it so hard to think up a freakin story? I mean, it's not like I've had this problem before…"
She, of course, was referring to the inspiration she formally had. On an almost daily basis, she need only attend school and watch the interactions of her other friend in order to gain ideas with which to draw and sketch. One pair of students, Yutaka Kobayakawa and Minami Iwasaki, provided a myriad of inspiration for Hiyori.
However, lately, such sources had seemed to lose their impact in the young artist's mind. What once gave her such simulation was now providing her with nothing.
"What's going on with me?" she continued to ponder as she rose from her desk and began pacing the length of her room back and forth. "I use to get inspired daily, but nothing seems to work anymore!" Walking past her window, she looked outside at the snowy night landscape painted before her. "The weather is turning cold… Like my passion…
Maybe I need to change the way I gain my inspiration? It seems that watching from a distance isn't cutting it anymore. I need to take another step forward to further my work… But what does that mean? What exactly do I need to do?"
Hiyori threw herself backwards onto her bed, her eyes now fixed onto the ceiling above her. "What do professionalmanga artists and writers do for inspiration? Well, in interviews, they usually say that they simply draw from personal experiences, from things from their past… I guess I'm sort of screwed in that department there. I mean, I usually write about girl/girl relationships, but I've never-
Wait… Is that what I need to do? All the great writers and artists draw from their personal experiences, so does that mean I need to…"
Stricken with a shooting feeling of fear, Hiyori shot herself upright from her bed, her hands now clutching the sides of her head. A cold sweat began to accumulate on her forehead. "Do I need to… actually have that type of relationship… with another girl? I… I'm not sure I can do that! I've never even had a real boyfriend and now, if I'm ever going to get myself out of this writers block, I need to have a relationship with another girl?"
Tamura looked back across her room, to the blank paper that sat atop the desk's surface. It was now as if the paper was mocking the young artist, existing as a constant reminder as to how she was failing herself.
"… I guess there's no other alternative," she self-concluded. "If I'm ever going to further my passion, I need to engage in that which I write and draw about… But now the question is… Who do I do it with?"
Reaching over to the nightstand next to her bed, Hiyori snatched her cell phone up and began to go through her contacts list. Next to each name was a tiny picture of the person (pictures she took with the phone's camera.) One by one, she began to contemplate her options, each one seemingly impossible than the last. That is until she brought the cursor over one friend in particular…
"Konata Izumi… Well, I suppose she and I are the most in common. We both like anime. We both like manga. Heck, she even commented on some of my work… I suppose she wouldn't be a bad source to- UGH! What am I saying? I'm treating my friends like they were test subjects for some mad science experiment! Should I really be doing this? Using my friends for my own personal gain?"
The blank paper continued to taunt Tamura with its very presence.
"… I'm gonna do it," Hiyori declared once more. "Tomorrow, I'll ask Konata on… a date…"
-o0o-
Throughout school the entire next day, the black haired artist's mind was mulling her plan. Though she forced herself to act normally throughout the day, in the very back of her thoughts, she could not rip from it the thought of "I'm going to ask another girl out on a date." When the final bell rang, she put her plan into action.
When school was let out, many students met in the courtyard in front of the front doors of Ryoo High. It was there, from across its length, that Tamura spotted Izumi in the midst of conversation between Kagami, her sister Tsukasa, and Miyuki. Just then, the group seemed to split up: Kagami and her sister walking off in one direction, Miyuki in another, and Konata walking off alone in yet another direction.
"Now's my chance," Hiyori said to herself.
With quickness in her step, Hiyori ran over to the unsuspecting otaku. Once within hearing distance, Tamura called out to her "Hey! Konata! Over here!"
Hearing her voice, Konata turned around and, putting on a grin, waved back. "Hey Hiyroi! What's up?"
The artist came to a stop before replying "Oh, n-nothing much." Damn it. I say two words to the girl and I'm already nervous. This is gonna be harder than I thought. "Hey, Konata, I wanted to ask you something."
"Like what?"
"Umm… You think we can, I don't know, hang out some time? I'd like to-"
"Finally show me the doujin you've been working on?" Konata finished with intense enthusiasm.
"No, nothing like tha- Wait, what?"
"Come on, pleeeease? You're always hiding it from everyone! I've seen a bit before and it was awesome! I wanna see more!"
"Uh…" What should I say back? I guess it wouldn't hurt to let Konata see my projects. After all, she's more likely to appreciate it. Plus, if I want to get on her good side… "Sure, Konata," Hiyori finally replied, "I'll let you take a peek, but first, you have to hang out with me." What the hell was that?
"… So you'll let me look at your doujin in exchange for… a date?"
"AH! N-No! That's not what I-"
"Cause I accept!"
"I- It's not a date! It's-… You do?"
"Sure, why not? After all, it's not like a real date, right?"
"… But you just agreed to it when you yourself said it was a-"
"That's all water under the bridge. So, what are we gonna do?"
…What should we do? Think, Hiyori, think. I need as much material as possible, so I guess what I can do is do whatever the other person wants… not matter how much I hate it…
"Well," Tamura finally replied, "how about you choose, Konata. You can take me wherever you want."
The instant that was said, the mother-of-all cat grins shot onto Izumi's face which, in turn, made Hiyori instantly regret her words. "Anything?" Konata repeated, putting intense emphasis on the word.
"… Yes," Tamura replied. "Anything you want." I hope she doesn't take it too seriously.
"Then I got the perfect day for us," Konata declared. "So, when can we go?"
"How does tomorrow sound?"
"Sounds good. Met you at the station?" When Tamura nodded in reply, Izumi nodded back. "See you then, Hiyori!" And with a wave, Konata headed off toward the center of town (most likely to stop at Gamers, Hiyori thought to herself.)
-o0o-
Just as planned, after school was let out the next day, Hiyori awaited Konata's arrival at the foot of the stairwell at the train station. With every passing minute, Tamura began to worry as to what exactly her blue haired otaku had in store for the both of them. When the station's clocks chimed that it was 15:00, Izumi arrived, still dressed in uniform (as was Hiyori.)
"YooHoo!" Konata greeted the artist from a distance, waving as she approached. "You ready?"
Ready for what? "Uh, sure," she replied. "Kona-chan, where exactly are you taking me today? I only have about 5000 yen so it can't be anything too pricy."
"Oh, frugal today, are we?" Izumi joked. "Don't worry, you'll have money when the day is done. Now let's go!" With Tamura following closely behind, Izumi, as she seemed to do yesterday, began to head in the direction of the town's center. Remembering that there were a few game and manga stores there, the artist made the quick assumption that they were heading there.
As it turns out, she was correct.
Their first stop was Gamers, which, despite its title, was a manga/anime store. Konata immediately upon entering began to rummage around the "New Releases" section. Hiyori looked through as well, asking the occasional question of "Is this good?" "Would you recommend this?" and other such questions. The pair left the store an hour later, Hiyori leaving with a plastic bag containing three manga issues. Konata left with no less than three times that amount.
Their next stop was an arcade that Konata and her three other friends (Tsukasa, Kagami, and Mikuri) frequented. There, Izumi and Tamura engaged in a few rounds of a two person arcade fighter. The machines were set up in such a way that one people would man a screen placed on opposite sides.
It should go without saying that Hiyori stood no match against Konata's skill and, admitting defeat, she instead allowed the other attendants of the arcade to face off against the otaku. Tamura took great pleasure in watching giant, scary looking guys face off against Konata, lose to her, then check the other side of the machine to find that they had been bested by a tiny schoolgirl.
After a while of that and after leaving the arcade, Konata asked what would be an inevitable question. "So, when can we stop by your house, Hiyori?"
"You just want to take a look at my drawings, don't you, Konata?" Tamura asked back, knowing all too well the answer.
"Heh heh, you know me well… So, can we?"
"I suppose so. Do you really want to leave now? We still have time to do some other stuff around here."
"Sorry, but I can't wait any longer. I need to check it out. If I don't see it, I'll just die!"
"Alright, alright, fine. We'll go now." Damn it, I knew this was gonna happen sooner or later…
It was now Konata's turn to follow Hiyori. With her home not being a far distance from the downtown area, Tamura walked the distance to her home. As was the case in waiting for Konata's arrival, every step she took brought more and more anxiety into her heart, knowing that her doujin works, projects originally intended for her eyes only, were about to be shown to another person.
Finally arriving at her home, the two (with Koanta adamant in her intentions) immediately headed to Hiyori's room. The second Konata stepped through the door, she once more dispensed with inevitable questions. "Quickly, where are they, Hiyori? Tell me! TELL ME!"
Voicing a relenting sigh, Tamura pointed a tentative finger to her desk. "They're in the top and middle drawers on the left. Please, try not to rip-"
Before she could even blink twice, Konata was already atop of Hiyroi's bed, lying flat on her stomach, and her nose buried into one of Tamura's sketchbooks. Next to her was a tall stack of her other sketch notebooks. Is this all she wanted to do today? Just look at my stuff? Well, I did agreed to it after all-
"Hey, Hiyori," said Konata suddenly, showing Tamura a page in the book. "This girl kind of looks like Yutaka."
SHIT!
"Uh… I- I'm gonna get something to drink. Be right back." She quickly left the room, all the while suppressing the blood flow in her nose that was threatening to burst forth. This girl is gonna be the death of me today. She just had to stumble on the ones of Yutaka, didn't she? Well, she won't be here for too much longer. Hang in there, Hiyori. You can do this. And the payoff will be more than worth it… I hope…
Tamura returned to her room holding in her left hand a two liter bottle of an orange flavored drink and in her right hand two glasses. "Sorry, this was the only thing I ha-" Konata had not changed her position on Hiyori bed, but the expression on her face was drastically different: a strong blush was plaster across Izumi's face and, even from the distance she stood from her, Hiyori could see visible sweat on her brow.
Noticing the red cover on the sketchbook, Tamura instantly began to sweat as well. Shit! She got into the hardcore stuff! Quickly putting the drink and glasses down on the ankle high table of her room, she rushed over to Konata and snatched the book right out of her hands.
"Hey!" Izumi exclaimed. "I was reading that!"
Tamura ignored her friend's protest and, putting the red book back into its respectable drawer, locked the drawer itself. "That if for my eyes only," the artist explained.
"But it was awesome! Why wouldn't you let others see it?... It was because the two girls looked like Yutaka and Minami, right?"
"…"
"Thought so."
"W- Whatever. You gonna have a drink or what?"
Nodding in reply, Konata sat next to Hiyori at the aforementioned table: a tiny wooden furnishing with legs no more than a few inches high. The two poured a glass for themselves and Konata, who cunningly slipped one of Tamura's doujins past her, retrieved it from beneath her uniform shirt and opened it back up.
"What the- How did you-?" Noticing the book's color was not red, Tamura relented. "Well, I guess you can look at that one." What followed were a few minutes of silence, Konata being absorbed into the content of the sketchbook. Wishing to break the silence, Hiyori reach for her stereo's remote and turned it on, switching the radio to a popular music station.
A few seconds later, Konata asked a question. "So, Hiyori," she began, her green eyes unremoved from the pages "what were you trying to do today?"
"… Eh?" Tamura grunted back.
"Our date today." Please don't call it that. "No offence, but you don't seem like the kind of person to switch fields like that all of a sudden."
"Switch fields-? Hey! Just what are you trying to insinuate!"
"Nothing," Izumi replied casually. "I don't care if you like girls. Hell, I like Kagamin."
"I don't like gi- Wait, you do?"
"Sure… So, who do you like, Hiyori? Me?"
"I don't like girls, Konata!"
"Then what the date for?"
… Dang it. I was hoping she wouldn't become wise to my plans, but it looks like she did just that. I guess I have no choice to but to tell her. "It was for… research…" she finally replied.
Konata's eyes finally lifted from the pages and fell onto Hiyori's. "Research?" Izumi echoed.
"Y- Yeah. You see, I've been in a huge slump with my work. I just wasn't getting enough personal experience to draw on, you know? How can I write about what I don't know, right?"
"Sure…"
"So… Sorry, Konata, but I kind of used you as test subject. I feel real crappy for saying that, but it's the truth. I never had this problem before, but lately, when writing the script for a new doujin or manga, whenever I got to the love confession part, I kept drawing blanks: How the characters react, what they're thinking… The last thing I wanted to do is give up on my work so… I was willing to do anything to get more material… I'm sorry if I insulted you, Konata, but-"
"Hiyori?"
Hiyori turned her head to face Konata only to find her face was an inch away from hers. She opened her mouth to gasp but was cut short when Izumi leaned forward and pressed her lips against Tamura's. Her body turned to stone at that very moment: deathly pale stone. So, when Izumi leaned in further, Hiyori fell backwards, Konata falling forward at the same time. The artist suddenly found herself beneath her otaku friend, their lips still connected.
The position was held for a few minutes before Konata lifted her face from Hiyori's. With a cat-like grin, Izumi asked the stunned girl "How's that for material?"
The only sound that escaped Tamura's lips was a stifled gasp. A second later, a nosebleed caused twin trails of blood to fall from the artist's nostrils. Expecting this to happen, Konata retrieved from a pocket in her uniform a small handkerchief and handed it to Hiyori. "Here, use this."
Tamura broke herself from petrifaction and, accepting the handkerchief, dabbed the blood off her upper lip, all the while sitting herself up off the floor. Her voice was understandably weak (given her sudden shock.) "Uh… What was that for?" she shakily asked.
"Just helping a friend out," Izumi replied playfully. "So, how do you feel?"
"… Weak… Confused…" The artist suddenly blushed. "… Exhilarated…"
"Well there you go!" Izumi exclaimed. "You had a problem portraying emotions, so I gave you them. So, did it help?"
"… Did it help? Did it help?... Actually… It did. All these sensations I'm feeling! I- I got to write this down!" Jumping up from the table and to her desk, Hiyori ripped out from a drawer her "Script" notebook. She quickly opened to a new page and began to write out her thoughts at a blistering speed. Some would joke that smoke could be seen rising from the page itself.
As the inspired writer inscribed her newly acquired emotions into her notebook, page after page, Konata walked over to the desk and, placing her hands on the back of the chair's headrest, peaked her head over Hiyori's left shoulder and read off the newly etched material. "Looks like that did a lot," Izumi mused aloud, all the while grinning.
"That's for sure," Tamura replied, not lifting eyes nor pencil from the paper. "Thanks a lot, Konata! I got enough material for at least a month."
"… Maybe you can thank me another way?"
The pencil ceased its movement. "… Huh?" Hiyori replied. A second later, she felt the arms that leaned on the headrest wrap around her chest and Konata's chin rest on her left shoulder.
"Oh I think you know what I mean." Konata said playfully.
"… Another kiss?" Hiyori asked.
"Yep."
… Well, I suppose she deserves it. She did help me out a lot today. Slowly, Tamura rose from her chair and turned around to face her smiling friend. "Ok…" she whispered. Konata lifted herself onto her toes and Hiyori bent down slightly. The two leaned in forward once more and their lips touched. The same surge of emotions as before came flooding back to Tamura. When the touch lifted from each other once more, the artist was surprised to see that she didn't start to bleed from her nose.
"Uh, Hiyori," Konata suddenly spoke, "I have to get going. My dad will get pissed if I'm out too late. So… Happy drawing!"
"… Thanks," Tamura replied back with a smile.
As she watched her friend (?) walk out of her room, Hiyori wondered to herself if "helping a friend" was all that Konata intended with their first kiss. Was there more to it…?
-o0o-
With Konata Izumi's intervention, Hiyori found herself producing more doujin, drawings, and scripts than she ever thought possible. In a period of a week, she successfully cranked out a total of three fifty page notebooks of drawings, four full-length story scripts, and a countless number of sketches. Hiyori had never been more pleased with herself.
However, when two weeks past, the young artist suddenly found herself back at square one: in a complete and utter slump. She came to this conclusion in the same exact place she had before: sitting at her desk, late at night, in the dark of her room.
… Oh no. Don't tell me… I'm losing my inspiration again? B- But how can that be? After all that work I went through? Forcing myself to ask Konata out. After… we kissed…
Does this mean… we have to kiss again?
Author's Notes: Ok, I'll admit, this story archetype is one that has been used before: Hiyori losses her passion in her work, she takes a bold step forawrd to regain it, and lemon/yuri/fluff/romance ensues. Boooring! However, the fics I've seen involving Hiyori and this type of plot have all been really short oneshots and/or nothing of substantial length. And, if you know me, I don't write oneshots. So, I'll take a crack at this and lets see if I can't create something of full length, ne?