Note : It has been established that Lucky Star takes place in 2007. In this story, it occurs in 2011 to allow for commentary on more current otaku trends. The relaunch date of a certain manga has been modified. These are very minor chronological edits that shouldn't detract too much from the content of the story.
Professional Amateurs.
Chapter # 1 : Rough Draft.
This was how it usually started. With that look.
"Hello, Kagamin!" Konata greeted brightly.
This was always what Konata was like right before she was going to ask a big favor. Kagami turned around and waved goodbye without looking back.
"See you after school, Tsukasa." Kagami said.
Tsukasa returned the gesture and eyesmiled even though her sister wasn't looking.
"No, wait!" Konata exclaimed.
Kagami heard a chair screech across the floor as Konata bolted from her desk and ran to intercept her before she could get too far down the hallway. Konata stretched her arms out as far as they would go to make a barricade out of herself. Kagami didn't like her smile or the way her eyes were lit up. If this was anything like the last favor she asked, the answer was already. . .
"No." Kagami said bluntly.
Konata's arms fell to her side and she chuckled.
"What's on the menu for today? Whatever Tsukasa made?" Konata asked, pointing at the bento box Kagami was carrying.
She was trying to catch her off guard. Kagami tisked and made an effort to move past Konata, but Konata skillfully blocked her and took a step forward. She was now uncomfortably close, so Kagami took a step backwards. Konata readjusted herself and grinned.
"I have some rice cakes, some mochi, and some dango. I have so much of it that I can't possibly eat it all by myself. How about I share it with you over lunch?" Konata asked.
"What do you want?" Kagami requested point blank.
"Come, I insist you gorge yourself before we discuss business." Konata stated, grabbing Kagami's arm.
Kagami gently broke away from Konata's grip.
"I'm not a kid. I can get there myself."
Konata looked slightly disappointed.
"This isn't about homework, is it?"
"Nope. Not at all." Konata reassured her.
"Then I bet it's about some anime or a video game." Kagami said.
"I'm an open book, so what?"
"I am not going to cosplay. I have lent you too many things already. I do not want to go on another futile treasure hunt with you to find some out of print manga. I can't go on another pilgrimage right now because I'm very busy preparing for entrance exams."
"At least hear my proposition. Please?"
She sighed and then caught herself when she saw Konata perk up, thinking the battle had already been won. Kagami didn't really know what this was about. All she knew was it would probably take more time than what she had and could possibly rob her of her energy, her dignity and her self-respect. However, mochi and dango were involved. Konata was an excellent cook and Kagami felt she could get away with eating some sweets even if they were merely part of the plan.
"You can tell me what you want, but the answer is already no. Negative. Not at all." Kagami said.
"I can live with that. Hurry, the buns are getting less delicious."
Kagami walked inside Konata's classroom and took a seat at the cluster of desks they had arranged so they could all eat together. Miyuki was absent today since she was getting her wisdom teeth cut out, so it was just the three of them. Konata slid a second container stuffed with dessert over to Kagami. A piece of paper had been taped to the bottom, which Kagami tore off and unraveled. She was holding a copy of an advertisement from a magazine. Manga Time Kirara was holding a contest. In order to win, an aspiring young author needed to submit a story dealing with one of their more profitable franchises.
K-On.
The mere mention of this show made Kagami cringe. It was a show with no substance, only fluff. Konata had tried her best to get Kagami interested in it, but she had higher standards. It took much more than a group of bumbling twits acting like fools to catch her interest. She continued reading. The story could be about anything the writer wanted. It allowed for a lot of creative freedom and it would make the judges work to pick the winner out of the hundred people who were allowed to participate. The story had to be between five and ten thousand words in length. They were actually looking for something that might contain something the series was missing. A plot.
Whoever happened to be lucky enough to win would earn twelve thousand yen and a set of very rare figurines of the K-On cast sculpted by Alter and the coveted nendoroid of Ritsu Tainaka, which had yet to see a second release. Their story would also be published in the June edition of the magazine, which the winner would receive ahead of time, and it would be read by the whole cast on an upcoming drama CD. Pretty major stuff. They had two weeks to write this story and send it to the judges via E-Mail.
"Is this some kind of a joke?" Kagami asked.
"Nope, it's very real. I already signed up for it."
"I bet you were first in line."
"Of course I was, but my typing was too slow and I actually wound up being the thirty third registered participant."
Kagami set the piece of paper down and began eating her regular meal, saving the snacks for later.
"Questions? Concerns? Comments?" Konata asked.
"I didn't realize that show was so popular."
"They used it as a way to get people interested in a census. The sales of the first Blu-Ray volume were only eclipsed by the Evangelion reboot. The elementary school the show is based out of has become quite popular with fans of the show. Casio made a special limited edition digital camera that would automatically impose one of the characters on the photo you were taken, no Gimp required. One crazy otaku used his money to buy all the instruments and equipment the band uses."
"Can he play any of them?" Kagami asked.
"Of course not." Konata replied with a smile.
"And you like this show a lot, don't you?"
Konata nodded enthusiastically.
"Anything that comes out of Kyoto Animation is just so very awesome. How can you possibly go wrong with Air and Haruhi?" Konata asked.
"You and your moe." Kagami said distastefully. "Have you even watched one episode of Golgo 13 yet?"
"There is a fine line between suspension of disbelief and being silly. That show crosses it."
"But he always gets his shot!"
"He could get his shot with both hands tied behind his back. Blindfolded. He'd roundhouse his M16 and make a shot with it point black at eight hundred meters during a tsunami and you would be all like this is the best anime ever! Oh, and did you notice how his M36 can somehow magically shoot more than sixbullets? I think he should tell people how he's able to do that."
"Okay, what about Spice and Wolf?"
"Yuck, boring!"
"But it has a tsundere."
"She's not enough to save the show."
"Ghost in the Shell : Stand Alone Complex?"
"Even more boring. Twenty minutes of talking and three minutes of action is tedious."
"Yeah? Well, if I want to watch a bunch of high school girls get together and do nothing, I'll buy a camcorder and film myself."
"You should. I bet it would be a very good show."
"I want my DVD's back."
"Sure. Let's get down to business, though. I'm going to write a story and you're going to correct it. If we win, I get the figures. You get the money. What do you say?" Konata asked.
Kagami thought about it for a moment. Konata could tell that she was actually thinking. This was progress. She had managed to get through to her.
"What's the matter? You don't want to have a little fun? Is this going to take too much time out of how much you study?" Konata teased.
She let that comment slide. Kagami studied so much because she knew it was the only way she was going to be successful. The harder she worked, the more it would pay off in the end. Kagami firmly believed that.
"Why can't you just ask Hiyori?"
"I did, but she said fan fiction is for lonely people who can't draw."
"What about your dad? Isn't he a writer?"
Konata crossed her arms across her chest and looked off to the side.
"I don't want to tell him that I'm doing this. He's clingy enough as it is. If he finds out I'm writing something, he'll get all excited and stuff. This isn't something I'm going to make a hobby out of. I think my style would differ greatly from his and besides, this isn't an original idea. It's a cover. I think he would be a little disappointed, maybe. I don't know. I do know that I don't want to find out."
"It is a little weird they're asking for a story. I think a doujinshi would be more appropriate."
"This type of thing can be pretty popular as well if it's done right. For example, there was this one guy who wrote a light novel based in the Evangelion universe. He made the story a lot more plausible and believable."
Kagami raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah, I know." Konata said, taking note of Kagami's expression. "He improved the plot to the point where it actually makes sense to the average reader. It's kind of like the reboot. Remember how the Eva units could just run through the city and nobody really cared? Not in this rendition. The Angels are lured to certain locations and then dealt with. In two instances they do get into the city, though. Anyway, he uploaded it to an archive and put a link in his profile to make donations to him if the reader liked the story enough."
"Well, if that isn't arrogant I don't know what is."
"It's not that arrogant. Creating something, anything, is pretty difficult. I don't blame him. Anyway, apparently someone important noticed, had him take down the story, had him correct a couple of things and add a hundred more pages before it was actually released to the public at the last Comiket with a very limited print run."
"Did you read it?" Kagami asked.
"Yeah, it was absolutely awful, but that's besides the point."
"I thought only Americans were into this."
"Not at all. Some rich kid made a site for us enthusiasts in Asia a while back. I go there sometimes when I'm bored."
"Is there any real talent?" Kagami asked.
Konata thought about that for a moment before she answered.
"There's a couple of amateurs who are okay, but I haven't read anything worthwhile."
"Says the girl that only reads light novels and manga." Kagami said. "Konata, what was the last actual book you read? You know real writers read books, right?"
"Yes and the last book I read was Lolita by Nabokov."
"Why of all books did you choose Lolita?"
"My dad recommended it."
Kagami recoiled in disgust and blushed bright red.
"Have you no shame?" Kagami demanded.
"Dad said Nabokov was the original lolicon. I think he's right. It wasn't half bad. A little weird, but lolicons usually are. Have you read it?"
"Yes, but only because I have an interest in classical literature. Anyway, why are you coming to me for help? Is it because I'm the only one left on your list?"
"Yup. Come to think of it, though, you are the best choice. You're an avid reader, you're smart, and Tsukasa says that when you write a report you convey your message very well."
"Don't try to flatter me." Kagami said as she took a bite out of a mochi.
She then realized what she had just said and set the mochi back down for a moment.
"What about Patricia?" Kagami asked, still trying to look for a way out of this.
"She's actually in the contest as well. She's my competition."
Kagami considered the reward. She could make good use out of twelve thousand yen.
"So you get the figures and I get the money?" Kagami asked.
"All of it?" Konata whined.
"Okay, we'll split it fifty-fifty."
"Nah, you can keep the money. You don't have a job like me. Your parents could use the break from your allowance."
"If we even win. Konata, I've never really written anything for fun before."
"That's because you usually don't do anything for fun aside from burying yourself in your homework. All I'm asking you to do is clean up after me. Grammar, plot holes, things that just don't make sense. . .narrative. . .that sort of thing."
"Are you gonna be mad if you don't win?" Kagami asked very seriously.
"Nope."
"You had better not be. Honestly, I don't think we stand much of a chance."
"Kagamin, I happen to be somewhat of a connoisseur of this form of literature. I have seen what works and what doesn't. I believe that because I am so critical, I am more qualified to write something decent than someone who is blinded by their obsession."
"Sounds like a waste of time." Kagami said as she took another bite out of her mochi. "You would be better off coming up with your own idea. Haruhi was a light novel before it was an anime or a manga. You would make more money if you managed to start your own franchise as opposed to beating a dead horse, a.k.a writing fan fiction."
"Nobody is happy when a show they love finally ends. So what do they do? They get together and they make it last forever. Touching, isn't it?"
"Pointless, actually. Given what they're putting on television these days, I'm sure at least three of the shows coming out next season are rehashes of what's being done this season." Kagami said.
"Okay, say something positive, please. You're bringing me down."
"This is the tastiest mochi I've ever eaten. Listen, we've got fourteen days. That means you have seven days to write your story and I have seven days to correct it."
"Can I have ten days instead? There's this new expansion coming out this week for Fantasycraft and I absolutely have to have it! You can go underwater now! Finally!"
"Do not let that stupid game get in the way. I was actually hoping you would take a break from it to do this. How silly of me."
"Hey, take it easy. If anything goes wrong, I'm sure I'll be at the source."
"In that case, we're partners. You don't have any plans to make this dark, do you?"
Konata shook her head.
"Good, because those dark doujinshi's you gave me were positively horrible. By the way, I hope you write better than you draw." Kagami said, recalling the sketches she had done of all of them.
"You act like you know me so well. Make sure that dinosaur PC of yours can run Libre Office. Oh, one more thing. Are you ready for this, Kagamin?"
"Ready for what?"
Konata reached inside her briefcase and pulled out a small brown leather case. Kagami reached for it, pulled back her hands and wiped them with a napkin, and then took the nice case. She flipped it open. A platinum Kindle DX III shined up at her. Her heart skipped a beat. She wanted one of these things so bad that holding it was getting her a little excited. This was Amazon's latest release. It finally supported color and could actually handle PDF files properly thanks to a slightly bigger screen, which could be manipulated by touch. The device was off and the screen saver was active. Tamama from Sgt. Frog saluted Kagami cheerfully. Konata must have already hacked this thing because she was expecting to see Mark Twain or some other famous American author.
"You're drooling, Kagamin." Konata said.
"That mochi must be very good." Tsukasa commented.
Kagami wiped the slobber from her face and handed Tsukasa a mochi. She then slid the Kindle III over to Konata.
"I couldn't possibly ask to borrow this. It's so expensive!" Kagami said. "I'd feel horrible if I broke it!"
"Yeah, but you won't. You're good with other peoples things, Kagami. Besides, I saw the way you were looking at him just now. I think he'd be willing to stay with you for two weeks."
"You're letting me borrow your Kindle for two whole weeks?"
"Yeah, just don't buy any books without asking me first. Besides, there's a reason I'm letting you borrow it. Remember how I said that Patty is also a contestant? It's not her work that she's submitting. There's a few authors she really likes that she translates for to keep herself immersed in our language. They're. . .hmm, how to put it?"
Konata looked up at the ceiling thoughtfully.
"I only gagged once or twice." Konata said.
"Sheesh, you're bad." Kagami said.
"Whatever, you just got done denouncing a harmless otaku pastime. If anything, I'm just brutally honest. Come to think of it, so are you. Anyway, you'll be reading work by some people that are not very conventional. According to Patty, they come up with some of the more unique ideas in the K-On fandom and they're somewhat readable, which is more than I can say for a lot of other aspiring authors."
"I see. Follow the leader, huh?"
"They're not leaders, but yes. It should help you get a feel for this project since I know you don't read this kind of stuff. Here, you'll need this as well."
Konata reached into her briefcase and pulled out a BD-R that she gave to Kagami.
"This is the complete second season of K-On. Watch as much as you can stand first, then read the stuff on the Kindle."
"Oh, what do we have here?" Kagami asked, grinning. "Is this by chance what they call a raw? Where's your otaku spirit? Eight thousand yen a disc for two episodes cutting a bit into your pocket?"
"Yes, very much so. I'll wait for the American release and import it like you do since Japan and America are in the same Blu-Ray region."
"You had better keep this to yourself."
"Well, unlike most NEET's I don't plan on living with my father indefinitely. By the way, I'm going to need your help with the English. I don't want to accidentally order something I don't need."
"Sure, it's actually very easy. I'm impressed. You're finally learning how to budget. What happened?"
"My father found out how much the Clannad Blu-Ray boxed set cost and I had an intervention."
"You spent sixty five thousand yen on that set?" Kagami exclaimed.
"Don't talk to me like it didn't hurt to make that purchase. I knew how much I was spending."
"Konata, that's the price of a nice television!" Tsukasa said, finally deciding to add to the conversation.
"Or a new video game system. Or a Kindle DX III. I know, I know! Do you know what the worst part about the whole thing was? All the Blu-Ray did was sharpen the colors."
"That's because all they did was upscale it! Back then, studios weren't optimizing their shows for HD. You should have known that! What were you expecting?"
"Kyou and Ryou to morph into you two in 1080p." Konata said, pointing at the two sisters.
Kagami sighed. She was getting tired of hearing that. Konata seemed absolutely enthralled by their apparent similarities. Kagami failed to see the resemblance.
"Do you two still have those lace ribbons I gave you?"
The sisters nodded.
"Why don't you ever wear them?" Konata asked, pouting.
Kagami had thought it had been a joke gift when she received a ribbon for her hair which was identical to the type the Fujibayashi sisters wore until Konata admitted to making them herself.
"Wearing those would be no different from slapping a brigade leader badge on your arm or coming to school with those little antennas the Evangelion pilots have done up in your hair. I pride myself on not being ostracized."
"Why can't all otaku's be like me instead of people who smell like old Cheetos and don't keep their rooms clean and feed cake to their favorite anime characters on the holidays?"
"They do what?"
"They get a good picture of their favorite anime character and they feed stuff to it over the monitor. Sometimes the mouth of the character isn't even open so it's like they're force feeding her."
Kagami was speechless, Tsukasa more so, who dropped the mochi she was eating.
"Ah, but what is the lesser of two evils? Doing that to an anime character or doing that to their favorite seiyuu?" Konata asked.
"Both are unacceptable!" Kagami concluded. "Anyway, let me see what we have here."
Kagami turned on the Kindle and took a look at what was available.
"Which folder. . ." Kagami started to say.
One of the folders was labeled Budokan. Kagami clicked on it and was taken to where she needed to be.
"Never mind."
There was also a folder for manga. Lately mangaka had finally decided to begin releasing their titles online, much to the delight of their fans. Kagami checked it really quick and was pleased to find there was nothing lewd on the device. Her family would probably play with it and the last thing they needed to see were things only legal in Japan. The pages displayed beautifully. She had to buy one of these things.
Kagami went back to the Budokan folder and saw five stories awaiting her approval. She was a quick reader, but the Kindle didn't count pages. A tiny bar beneath the story would mark her progress. They were all fairly lengthy. Kagami believed she could finish these within three days or so if she was feeling lazy.
"I think it would be really hard to sell this sort of thing at a convention." Tsukasa said, peering at the Kindle over Kagami's shoulder.
Konata laughed darkly and smiled.
"It is. You have to be sponsored by an established circle to stand a chance. Otherwise, you had better catch the reader with your opening paragraph. It's not like drawing, where you can easily lure someone in with great art."
"You do have an idea of where you want to take your story, right?"
"Of course. I want it to be a surprise, though, so I don't want to share it with you yet."
"That doesn't seem like a good idea." Kagami said, doubt seeping into her voice.
"Trust me."
Kagami narrowed her eyes.
"That's asking a lot."
"Okay, fine. You got me. I don't have an idea of what I want to do yet, but I'm pretty sure it can't be that hard. I do have an idea for our pen name, though. We should call ourselves Konami!"
"That name is trademarked." Kagami said.
"You're right! I forgot!" Konata said.
By her reaction, she must have seriously been considering it and she did indeed seem very distressed that they could not use it.
"Wait, what if we put a space in it so it's like Ko Nami and then Ko is written in blue and Nami is written in lavender?"
"How about you think about where you want to take this idea and get back to me in three days?" Kagami asked.
"But the expansion pack. . ."
"No. Three days. If you haven't thought of anything by then, I'm out. I won't help you if you're not going to take this seriously."
"Do you have any ideas?" Konata asked.
"Hey, this was your plan." Kagami replied, steadily growing more agitated.
"Okay. I'm sure it can't be that difficult."
X
Not another word about the project was exchanged as the day went on. Konata was far too concerned with her game to worry about anything else other than how long it was going to take to reach level eighty. Kagami didn't ask Tsukasa about it since her interest in manga and anime was casual at best while Kagami considered it a hobby. For Konata, it was a part of life.
Kagami knew she was going to have to pick up most of the slack. If she was having a hard time thinking of a decent idea, she was positive that it was nearly impossible for Konata to come up with something. She began regretting her decision to participate in this endeavor. The odds were against them and she was afraid that their entry would be pathetic. Kagami would do her best to prevent that from happening. A part of her really wanted to win. There wasn't any point in entering a competition without intending to place first. She may have spoken differently earlier at lunch, but that was because she wasn't really thinking too much about the whole thing until after she had agreed to it.
There wasn't an open seat on the train that would take them home, so reading the Kindle and mining for ideas would have to wait until later. The rest of the day played out as it normally did. No adventures, no surprises, just the steady progression through day to day life that would ultimately lead to nowhere. Kagami was ahead on her studies by about a week, so she quit early that evening. After her bath, she managed to secure the living room for herself and watched two episodes of the show she now had to care for.
It wasn't easy. Kagami's eyes glazed over. She brought a notebook with her, but all she had managed to do was title it ideas so she could file it away properly later. Aside from the moe, Kagami could not see how Konata could enjoy this show. This stuff was destroying the industry. Somewhere in her daze she felt it might not be a good thing she was so disinterested in the show and having so much creative freedom was actually a bad thing. It would have been easier if they had already been given a specific point to expand on.
When she'd had enough, she stopped the disc and left the living room. The computer was free, so she checked her E-Mail and wasn't surprised to see that Konata hadn't sent her anything yet. This process took a lot longer than it should have since their computer was a relic. The processor was fused to the motherboard and it only had a gigabyte of RAM. It managed to run Windows XP with encouragement from whoever was using it. Kagami was secretly hoping it would die soon. Computers had at least four cores these days and ran Windows 7.
Kagami went inside her bedroom and retrieved the Kindle. Opening the case was like removing a treasure from a bag in a movie with very high production values. She could hear an instrumental from some film she couldn't remember playing in the back of her mind. The world just seemed like a brighter place altogether. Somehow, there was hope for the future. Someday she would have a boyfriend. Maybe someday soon.
Unable to contain her excitement, she leaped on her bed, rolled over on her back, and booted the Kindle up. Joy gave way to apprehension when she realized what she was supposed to read. The formula of the show was rather simplistic. A meaningless event transpired, Ritsu said something stupid, Mio hid in the corner, Tsumugi kept her mouth shut, Yui acted like she needed medication to help her concentrate, and Azusa tried in vain to make everyone get their act together. The stories she read somehow corrected the problems the show had while at the same time adding a slew of their own unique idiosyncrasies to the plot they were trying to convey.
A rather violent zombie apocalypse, a tragic tale of Ui losing Yui to some form of black magic, a yarn of battling murderous creatures from another dimension with their music, a comedic adventure involving a mutant goldfish, and another story about Azusa being trapped in the clubroom with demonic vestiges of her friends who knocked her eyes out for not accepting the reality that had been created for her were the silly excuses for light novels that she burned through. Patricia's translations were spotty in a couple of places, but it didn't really become too much of a problem.
"These guys are really weird." Kagami said to herself as she set the Kindle down for the first time since she had begun reading.
Kagami covered her eyes with her hands. That hadn't been too horrible. Her tolerance for the show had increased now that she was able to see the characters in a new light, but she still couldn't think of anything. Given what she had gone through, Konata might come up with anything. Kagami took a look at her alarm clock to see what time it was and nearly fell out of her bed. She had spent way too long reading. It all came back to her. At one point she was sure Tsukasa wished her a good night and she had grunted in reply, but she could barely remember it. Her father had said something as well. When Kagami was serious about reading, the outside world didn't matter as much.
She put the Kindle away and changed into her pajamas. At least tomorrow was Saturday. Sleep would not come easily that evening. In fact, it didn't. She had already stayed up too far past her bedtime and she couldn't manage to relax. In times like this, it was advised that you get out of bed and go find something quiet to do until you felt tired. That was such a stupid suggestion. What if sleep was just around the corner, waiting to be rescued from insomnia? Her medicine was out of the question since she needed to know that she could have eight hours of sleep before she took it. At four-thirty in the morning, Kagami had her hands behind her head and was staring at the ceiling blankly, waiting for her thoughts to subside and fatigue to finally set in.
"At least this ceiling is familiar." Kagami said with a stupid grin. "I'm so clever."
Her phone vibrated. She had forgotten to turn it off and normally it would be enough to rouse her from her slumber. There was only one person who would text her in the middle of the night so she could read the message first thing in the morning. Kagami retrieved her phone and read the message.
It's done!
That had been rather fast. Hopefully Konata was a prodigy because Kagami thought that this should have taken at least five days. Since there wasn't much else to do right now and Konata was still up, Kagami decided to give her a call and get the full story.
"Good morning!" Konata sang.
"Yeah, right." Kagami muttered, looking in her mirror to see how red her eyes were.
"Can't sleep?"
"That's fairly obvious."
"And you're grumpy, too. I assume this is about about the masterpiece I'm currently sending to you via E-Mail?"
"Yes. Care to elaborate?"
"Most certainly. I had a fit of inspiration so powerful that I just couldn't sleep. It was amazing! It was euphoric! I had to write it!"
"It sounds like you're still on a high."
"Now I know why other people waste their time with hobbies such as this!"
"I thought I said that earlier."
"You did, but I wasn't listening. I am aware of what a constructive hobby is. I wish I had one, but it's a little late to start learning how to play the guitar and I definitely don't want to wait ten years to get good at drawing."
"As if conveying an idea coherently through writing is a skill that could be acquired in a shorter period of time."
"I love our conversations, Kagamin."
"I guess I'll go read it now."
"Hooray! Hey, don't hesitate to give me a call back once you're finished. I'll probably still be up."
"What's the longest you've ever spent awake?"
"Three and a half days."
"That must have been a really good game."
"More like a really good high school entrance examination. Anyway, I hope you enjoy my story!"
"Sure, we'll see. Talk to you later. Goodnight."
She ended the call and set her phone down on her desk. Kagami quietly proceeded to the room where they kept their computer. They had learned to keep it on since it took three minutes to boot even after Kagami had tinkered with the system configuration. Bleeding Hearts : March of Justice awaited her appraisal inside her E-Mail inbox. As usual, Konata had neglected to add a subject line to her message.
You're supposed to add a witty summary before you send it to the judges. I'm not good at summaries, so just take a peek and we can work on that part later, okay?
Kagami winced. She downloaded the file to her hidden TrueCrypt container that contained all of her personal files that she didn't want Matsuri to see and printed it off. She would much rather read it on paper, but the brief glance she caught of the story on the computer screen told her that she might want to say a prayer first. Kagami realized the ink cartridge needed to be changed when half of the page came out with faint letters on it. She hastily tried to cancel the document, but it just kept printing. With a sigh of frustration, she waited until it was finished and ran the faded pages through the shredder.
Kagami changed the ink and tried again. The document wouldn't print. She restarted the computer, grabbed a cup of white tea from the kitchen, and went back to the computer. It was still booting. Four minutes later she finally had a fresh copy of the story in her hands. Kagami went back to her room and set the short story down on her desk. Getting comfortable, she fetched a pen from nearby, took a deep breath, and began reading.
NEXT TIME WITH HOLO, THE WISE WOLF (SPICE AND WOLF) : Since the previews of Target Audience proved to be such a notable part of the story to those who reviewed it, the author has taken it upon himself to risk humiliation once more by delving into the troubled depths of his imagination and bringing forth an interpretation of the next chapter as it would be told by a specific character in order to add charm to the previews. I am Holo, the wise wolf, and all I can say about Konata's story is that it is very much like a balloon. It catches your eye, but it is full of hot air. Yet why trust my opinion on something so trivial? Experience it for yourself. Only then will you know if it is truly worthwhile.