CHAPTER 1 – The Announcement
It was March, and the Japanese school year had just began at Ryoo High School. As the doors to the hallways opened, students of all grade levels flooded in heading towards the bulletin board to see what homeroom they were all in. Many of the students were excited. They were cheering and giving each other thumbs-up signs, and hi-fives to their friends when they discovered they were in the same homeroom as each other.
"Woohoo!" yelled a certain short, blue haired student, "I'm in Kuroi-sensei's homeroom again!" she said flashing a thumbs-up sign, "What about you guys?" Konata asked her three friends, Miyuki, Tsukasa, and Kagami.
"Oh my!" exclaimed Miyuki, "It appears I'm in Kuroi-sensei's class as well, how exciting!"
"Yay! Me too! I can't believe it, we're all together again!" Tsukasa smiled, then looked at her sister, Kagami, "What about you Onee-chan? Are you in our homeroom this year?"
Kagami looked a bit worried,as she carefully scanned over the list of students in the same class as her friends, "I-I don't see my name!" Kagami sunk her head down, "Again? How could this happen to me again?" She turns to her group of friends, "Looks like I'm in a different homeroom...again."
"Oh my! Thats quite unfortunate," said Miyuki, "Well, you are still welcome to eat lunch with us in our homeroom if you want to."
"Yeah, yeah," said Kagami, a bit irked, "I guess I'll see all you guys later then." Kagami then slowly stomps off to her homeroom.
"I'm a bit concerned for Onee-chan," said Tsukasa, "She seems sad that we aren't all together again. Do you guys think so too?" Tsukasa hadn't notice that Konata and Miyuki had walked off to class, and the bell had rang. In fact, she was the only student not in a classroom. Tsukasa walked to her homeroom, and when she reached the room, then opened the door thinking, "Maybe Kuroi-sensei isn't here yet, boy that'd be lucky of me..."
She wasn't lucky, "How nice of you to join is Hiiragi-san," said her teacher, Nanako Kuroi sarcastically.
"Oh! Sensei! Sorry! I didn't mean to be late!" Tsukasa's speaking became frantic at this point. "It won- It won't hap-"
"Please," said Nanako, "Hiiragi, just take a seat already." as Tsukasa made her way to one of the two empty desks, Nanako started to speak, "Now, as I was saying, Ryoo High School is in an exchange program this year, so we will be getting a new student who is starting in about a month in this homeroom. His name is Jonathan Davis, he is American, and he can't afford appropriate housing so he'll have to stay with one of you." Nanako looks around, "Any volunteers?"
"An American eh?" Konata thought to herself, "That'd be quite the experience, living with an American. I've heard many things about them that I must see for myself, and the only way to properly do this would be to live with one." Konata raised her hand, "Sensei! Kuroi-sensei! I'll provide shelter for the new student!"
"Izumi?" Nanako was a bit confused, "I didn't expect you to volunteer out of all the people in my class. I suppose its okay for him to go with you, of course if your parents don't mind." Kuroi looked around again, "So no one else wants to take him in? We might need someone else to in the case that Izumi-san cant."
Tsukasa slowly raised her hand, "Uh, well, one of my older sisters moved out recently to live in a college dormitory, so if Kona-chan cant take in J-Jo-Jona-" Tsukasa struggled with the new students name, "Uh, the student, then I could see if its fine with my family."
"Well then, its settled," Nanako smiled, "Get back to me with a signed piece of paper from your parents tomorrow and then we can go into further arrangements." Nanako turned around and wrote something on the board, "Now get out your textbooks, today we began our History unit with France."
"Yes sensei," the class replies in a group monotone response, as if they were bored already...
--
One Month Later
It was afternoon, and the school day had just ended. Konata, Tsukasa, and Kagami grouped together to go to the train station as they always did to go home, but the only difference this time was that they were going to the airport to meet up with the new student Jonathan Davis.
"I still can't believe you volunteered Konata-chan," Kagami said, "You don't seem like the kind of person that would let others live in their own home."
"Well, this is different, if it was any other Japanese person then it wouldn't have even crossed my mind to house them, but an American," the volume in Konata's voice grew "Now that is a unique, once in a life time opportunity!"
"Ugh, you'll meet plenty of Americans in your life," said Kagami, "What makes this one so special?"
"Well for one, imagine what I could teach him about our culture, how much anime he hasn't viewed, manga he hasn't read, songs he hasn't heard, games he hasn't played!" the three stopped at the platform as they waited for the train, "What would you teach him about, books?"
"No!" Kagami yelled, "I'd teach him about the real Japanese culture! I'd be interested in his culture as well! It just sounds like you want him to have someone to talk about games with..."
"I'm plenty interested in America!" Konata argued back, "I'd ask him what is edited out in the dubbed versions of anime over there, same with manga, and with games too!"
"Ugh," Kagami vocalized, "You know, he might not be into all of that stuff."
"Yeah," Konata replied, "Doesn't mean he's into what you're into."
The train pulled up, neither Konata or Kagami noticed.
"Uh, guys..." Tsukasa mumbled. "The train is here, we should get on, he should be landing soon."
"Look, arguing is pointless, we're going to meet him soon anyways, we'll see what he's like then." Kagami walked on the train with her sister.
Konata soon followed the two, "Fine, fine. You're right anyways, we should argue over him after we meet him anyways, makes more sense that way, and we also know what's on the line!"
As the doors of the train closed, Kagami said, "Yeah, whatever, it doesn't matter if we argue over him, your dad said it was okay to stay with you, and my dad said it wasn't okay for him to stay with us, so arguing would be pointless." Kagami turned her head away from Konata.
"Fine, you're no fun." Konata then turns her head away from Kagami.
After a quiet, and rather awkward train ride for Tsukasa, the three found themselves at the airport, as the walked into the front area near the baggage claim, Kagami asks Konata, "How do you expect to tell him we're here to pick him up?"
Konata pulls a piece of paper out of her school bag, on it are the letters "Jo D." crudely written on it. "This sign will get his attention for sure, wont it?"
"I think it would help if you wrote out his full name." Kagami said sighing.
"I was going to, but I forgot his full name, so hopefully he can recognize this." Konata said with a fixed smile on her face as Kagami rested her hand on her forehead.
The three waited, and watched people come down the escalator and stairs that led from the second floor of the airport where the different gates were. For the most part, the people coming down were Japanese business men in suits who either had work in their town, or were returning from work afar. Occasionally a Japanese family would come down and break the chain of business men, but they didn't see any American's for a while. After about 15 minutes of waiting, a teenage caucasian male came down the escalator. He was probably around the height of Kagami if not a little bit taller. He had blonde hair that was a little shorter than shoulder length, and he had some stubble on his face as a result of not shaving. His eyes were obscured by the sunglasses he had on. He was wearing tennis shoes, camouflage print pants, and a black shirt with a band logo in english that the girls couldn't make out. His body type was average, he didn't look like he often worked out, but he wasn't overweight.
Konata gasped, "That must be him! He's the only American in the vicinity!" Konata starts jumping and waving her arms and making noise trying to get the American's attention.
"Huh?" the American said looking over at Konata. "Could those be the people that are taking care of me? Two of them appear to be high school girls, but the third looks 13 at the oldest."
When Jonathan walked up to the three girls Konata immediately said in poor English, "He-row, Jo Deh, wear-kum to our countury."
"I can speak Japanese, you don't need to speak English for me..." said Jonathan in Japanese. Jonathan then looked at Kagami, "You must be Izumi Konata, I'm your new classmate, and now house resident Jonathan Davis, pleased to meet you." Jonathan then looked at Konata, "Oh, are you Izumi-san's younger sister? Pleased to meet you as well, how old are you?" Jonathan smiled at Konata thinking she was in middle school.
"Listen bud," Konata said in a less than content voice, "I'm eighteen like these other two girls, and I'm Izumi Konata, got it?"
Jonathan was a bit shocked, "Eigh-eigh-eighteen you say? Well, my apologies, I didn't mean to offend you, its nice to meet the real Izumi Konata then!" He said, trying to let out a laugh to lighten the mood. He then looks over at Kagami, "Then who're you?"
"I-I-I'm Hiiragi Kagami," she says nervously as she bowed, "It's very nice to meet you Davis-san! That is my sister Hiiragi Tsukasa." She said as she pointed at Tsukasa, who nervously waved back.
"Well then its very nice to meet you Hiiragi-san." Jonathan looked around, "If you three don't mind I'm going to get my bags from the luggage carousel." Jonathan said as he walked away from the trio.
"What a jerk," said Konata to the other two, "He totally thought I was your kid sister, what's up with that?"
"I found his conclusion justifiable," Kagami responded, "I mean, you are short and...under developed for your age. Just try to be nice to him, he's in an unfamiliar place around strangers, he probably needs people he can call friends, and I think Kuroi-sensei expects you to be one of those people."
"Hey girls!" yelled Jonathan, "I got my stuff! We can head to the train station now if you three would like!"
The now four person group made their way to the train station. "Do you need help with any of your bags, Davis-san?" Kagami asked.
"No Hiiragi-san, its quite alright I can handle it," Jonathan politely replied.
"Please, call me Kagami-chan," she said, lightly blushing.
"Bleh," Konata thought, "Why don't you lay it on him a bit thicker Kagamin."
When they had arrived at the platform, the train hadn't arrived yet, since it was a bit quiet, Jonathan decided he would try small talk. "So..." he said, "What are you guys into?"
"I'm into some video games, and reading light novels I guess." said Kagami a bit quietly.
"I like cooking a lot!" Tsukasa exclaimed to her new friend.
"Games, anime, manga, that sorta thing I guess," Konata said, less than enthused.
"Oh thats cool! I like a lot of games myself, even brought my laptop with me to play around on! I also like a lot of different manga and anime. I also used to take some cooking classes in America. I have a feeling that we are going to get along with each other great."
The train pulled up, and the four got in. "God, what doesn't this guy like?" Konata thought mildly annoyed with her new house mate already.
"I'm also into a lot of music, I play guitar myself but my parents wouldn't let me take it with me."
"Oh?" Kagami said, "The guitar? I always thought that would be a hard instrument to play, Tsukasa and I can only play the recorder."
"It really all depends on what kind of music you play on the guitar which determines the difficulty." Jonathan said, smiling at the girls. "What I play though some would think was really hard, but it really isn't that hard with enough practice."
"What do you play?" asked Kagami.
"Oh, just bands like S***er, N***lm D***h, M***deth, L*** of ***, P***era but I don't expect you to have heard of those bands really, their American based, I'm not that familiar with Japanese music outside of anime openings and endings." Jonathan chuckles slightly at his own comment.
Konata got rather annoyed quickly and thought, "Kagamin just has to be so friendly with him, what does she see in him? I just don't get it." For a while Konata kept on thinking this to herself and kept silent as the two sisters socialized with Jonathan.
Her silence was broken when Jonathan brought up her forte, "What kind of anime do you watch Konata?"
"Oh, well, a lot of varied stuff I guess, far too many too list, you can check out my collection when we get to my ho-" Konata was cut off mid sentence by her cellphone. Her ringtone at that time was Hare Hare Yukai, as Jonathan heard this, his eyes lit up. "One moment Davis-san," Konata said, "That's my father, I should tell him we're on our way home." Konata answered the phone, "Yeah dad we picked him up...yes we're on the train home right now...okay see you soon then, love ya." Konata hung up the phone.
Jonathan began to say, "Was your ringtone just..."
"Hare Hare Yukai? Yes it was! You like The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya too?" Konata questioned.
"Yeah! It's one of my favorites if not my favorite!" Jonathan answered. The two then began a lengthy discussion about their new found common interest and practically shunned Tsukasa and Kagami out of the conversation.
"Konata-chan, Davis-san," said Kagami "This is where we get off, see you tomorrow at school..."
As the two got off the train, Jonathan let out an impersonal, "Yeah, see you two tomorrow." He then jumped back into his conversation with Konata, who hadn't noticed the twin sisters had left.
"Hey Onee-chan!" Tsukasa said to Kagami, "That was fun, I'm glad we have a new friend."
"Yeah," Kagami replied, "I'm glad we did too, but I'm happier him and Konata are finally getting along with each other." She then thought, "Though I wished they could've broken their conversation for a few seconds just so say good bye properly...I guess it doesn't matter, I'll see him tomorrow and get a chance to talk to him again. Yeah tomorrow, tomorrow..."