Uuuuuh yeah. Takes place after they finish high school; now, by coincidence, all four of our favorite characters are in the same college in America. (Some coincidence, hunh?) Hilarity, romance, etc ensue!

My first time writing something like this. (hope you don't kill me for it.)

Chapter One: An All-Girls College!

August 15

Konata's POV

Konata wasn't exactly a girl who had a very clear vision of her future. She didn't know what she wanted to do once she got out of high school; heck, she was out of high school now, and still she was stuck.

As she blasted up a couple of aliens on her computer, she thought back to what her father had told her a week ago: he'd gotten a really good gig in America, and he wanted his beloved daughter to go with him there as he finished the gig up (which might take a couple of months.)

Konata sighed and put down the game controllers, then shut off the XBOX360 with a halfhearted press. She was, beyond all other expressions, completely bored of America. She'd been here for a couple of days, and she was already worn out.

Probably the jet lag, Konata decided, then got up and stretched. The blue-haired girl looked around her rather depressingly small room. Though it was outfitted with a rather pleasant bathroom and had a very soft bed, it was crammed full of comics she'd acquired at the airport and in the nearest comic book stores she'd managed to visit once getting to Massachusetts. Konata had to give some props to those Americans, though: they had a very interesting style of drawing and creating their comics.

With a cat-like grin to herself, she picked up an unread stack of mail sitting in the corner of her room. Brushing off any dust that might have collected on the surface, Konata glanced at each of them uninterestedly. Her father had stupidly agreed to sign a few contracts online, getting sucked into those "FREE WII!" deals and such, which resulted in him getting a load of junk mail.

As Konata flipped through each of them, her interest caught on some cursive writing. Intrigued, she pried open the mail and read its contents.

Dear Miss KONATA,

We would like to cordially invite you to attend St. Mary's All-Girls Catholic College for your freshman year. The verdant hills, peaceful lakeside view, and easy-to-learn-in atmosphere is perfect for exchange students. We have recently opened up a program for students coming in from different countries, including China, Japan, Korea, Africa, Canada, the United Kingdom, and, of course, North Dakota.

St. Mary's is a college for gifted students who may excel in certain areas, including academics, athletics, gaming, cleaning, domestic work, the arts, and special abilities.

You will find attached in this letter a copy of your required books if you do decide to choose St. Mary's. The monthly fee for the school year is a rate of a mere $50, as compared to our previous price of $1,000. Feel free to consider our request, but we would like a response by August 20th.

This is an extremely rare chance! St. Mary's rarely invites exchange students; most apply through a tough auditioning session. Please consider our college!

Sincerely,

Njiu Dothie

Konata had to read this several times before she could completely absorb what it meant. Her mouth had gotten progressively wider as she continued down the letter (it was written in both Japanese and English.) Even before she was done, she was completely convinced it was a prank. Probably planted by her father, she decided, scoffing at herself for actually genuinely believing the letter in the beginning.

Without a second thought, the blue-haired girl set it out on the kitchen table.

A FEW HOURS PASS

As the day went by, Konata did nothing but stare at the opened letter. Surely enough, there was an attached letter for the list of required items, which were all very unorthodox.

"Gaming was a special talent?" Konata mumbled to herself. "Oh, Kagami would have a field day if she found that out." Grinning cattishly at the thought of her green-haired friend, she leaned back in her chair and narrowed her eyes at the letter.

"Mmmmm..."

Her fingers twitched; she was tempted to log on and send an email to this Dothie person, just for laughs. Plus, she had nothing better to do. And her father did leave her a generous amount of money for the rest of the year to live off of, just in case the university was real ("Thank that man for considering how much I want new mangas!")

Konata shrugged to herself and was about to log online again when her phone rang. The vibration in her pocket was hard to miss; Konata reached inside, dug around, then withdrew a rather battered-looking black cellphone.

"Hello?" Konata pressed the phone against her ear.

"Konata? It's me, your dad. Sorry, I'm in a hurry, but if you find a letter from a St. Mary's – well, I signed you up for it, and it's supposed to come in today, and I wanted to surprise you with it once I got home, but then I found out that I didn't have time to get home since I'm going away for half the year to this scenic mountain place that has a bunch of MOEEE little girls, so take care and go there, it's not too far away, you can just tell the headmistress of the place you don't know where it is in an email, okay, is that alright, love ya bye."

With those words, Konata's dad hung up. Konata wasn't as surprised by the fact that he said it all in one breath as much as it was her dad who signed her up for this. She was suspended in complete shock for a couple of heartbeats, then she slunk in an L-position on her chair. Groaning, she slapped a small hand over her face and took a few deep breaths.

What the hell did her father do?

SIXTEEN DAYS LATER

September 1

Kagami's POV

Seriously, what the flying monkey was her father thinking? Sending her fraternal sister and herself to America was shocking enough, but this? And she wasn't even frickin' Catholic! Plus, Tokyo frickin' University had accepted her – so what the hellfire were her parents thinking! At least in Japan Kagami could contact her friends – but America? No way. She didn't even understand English that well. Sure, the green-haired girl knew enough to get by, but not enough to study in a frickin' Catholic university in Massa frickin'chusetts.

Kagami had to grip the iron pole of the fence to avoid hurting someone near her. That someone happened to be Tsukasa, who was equally frightened. Her pale complexion didn't seem to get any better ever since the two were shipped off to America to continue their studies. Kagami forced out a big-sister smile and wrapped her left arm around Tsukasa's shoulders.

"Don't worry, Tsukasa – I'm sure we'll be fine. I'm certain this is all some mistake and the stupid headmistress will realize that this idiotic school of hers is – ooh, hello there Miss Headmistress!"

Kagami was cut short in her rant by the untimely appearance of the headmistress herself. The two sisters were lingering by the large, foreboding gate that barred the entrance to the rather grand-looking university. Kagami's fist tightened around the iron she was gripping and her left arm instinctively tensed; her eyes narrowed, not knowing what to expect from this new arrival.

"Hello there, girls!" The headmistress said in rather fluent tones of Japanese. She smiled at them. The headmistress, Mrs. Dothie, had lazy curls of red hair that trailed down to her waist. She also possessed a childish splattering of freckles across her face, along with bright green eyes and a warm aura about her. Kagami was surprised at her youngness, but she didn't let her guard down; she was still wary of this rather queer school: gaming was a special talent? Konata would have a legit field day if she found out.

"Don't be shy, come on in!" Mrs. Dothie insisted, forcing Tsukasa's rather unwilling hand into a handshake. Kagami thanked the heavens the woman didn't turn around to give her a handshake as well.

"Aw, it's always the transfer students who're the shyest … just follow me, I'll give you a quick tour of where your section of the university will be. Don't worry, you can drop your bookbags on the ground there, a runner will come by to pick them up and plop them in your appropriate dorms. During the day, a school representative will give you a more thorough tour."

Without waiting for the girls' assent, Mrs. Dothie turned around and rather curtly began walking toward the school building. Lingering on the threshold for moment longer, Kagami sighed and followed the headmistress' lead. "We might as well go, Tsukasa," she mumbled to her sister. "It's not like we have anywhere else to stay …"

"Yeah, I thought it was rather mean of mom and dad to not rent us an apartment," Tsukasa admitted with a sheepish smile at her older sister. Kagami smiled sadly at her sister then picked up her pace.

The two entered the university.

The doors of the university were impressive enough themselves; they were embroidered with gold plates, and the St. Mary's coat of arms (a hawk attacking a large rodent with flames erupting out of its eyes) was in the middle of it. Kagami estimated that the door was about twenty feet tall. With a shiver, she averted her eyes from the grisly coat of arms and looked around at the interior of the university.

There was a velvet rug on the floor, and the walls were decorated artistically with many beautiful, breathtaking paintings and framed pieces of digital art. Kagami could almost accept living here if it meant being in these amazing conditions. And it's only fifty bucks! She thought to herself, almost appreciating the low price. Almost.

Tsukasa was likewise impressed. As they progressed down the hall, Kagami noticed the many expensive pieces of furniture stacked up neatly against the walls. They were crafted with extreme talent; the minute details were enough proof.

"This is the south entrance hall," Mrs. Dothie said without loosening her pace. "There's a north entrance hall, an east entrance hall and a west entrance hall. Our school resembles, from a bird's eye view, a rather large addition symbol."

The trio made a left turn, entering a large atrium-looking place. Mrs. Dothie stopped abruptly and Kagami nearly bumped into her. Scowling at the woman's lack of tact, she was about to curse in Japanese when her breath caught in her throat: she'd just noticed that this area was actually a dining hall, and students were eating here. At first, Kagami was confused at why they weren't talking; then she noticed that they were reading books, studying, writing, catching up on late homework; even Kagami was impressed by how diligent these kids appeared to be.

"This is the dining hall," Mrs. Dothie said unnecessarily. "The students are forbidden to talk today, but only because it happens to be Monk Breakfast; that means nobody can talk for breakfast. Anyone who makes a noise will get their eating utensils taken away, then their napkins, then their chair." Tsukasa giggled at the silliness of this special breakfast, and Mrs. Dothie smiled at her. "Yes, it's rather funny, but it keeps the students looking forward to what tactics we'll be up to next."

They continued down the dining hall; Kagami felt her face flush a dull red as all of the students turned around to stare at them as they walked toward the other end. She heard a couple of light whisperings from a clump of girls to her left. Without preamble, Mrs. Dothie stepped toward them and took knives from each of them without hesitation. The girls groaned and began plucking at their bacon with their fingers. Kagami instantly felt some gratitude toward the headmistress; she sure did stick by her rules.

Finally, they were out of that dining hall. Kagami let out a pent-out breath of relief, barely noticing her surroundings as Mrs. Dothie led them toward a grand flight of stairs.

"I'm afraid we'll have to part ways here, girls," Mrs. Dothie stretched her skinny arms out and nodded at the stairs. "Just go up onto the second floor, then the dorm room marked "22" is for you, Tsukasa. Kagami, your room is number "27". We'll sort things out soon, don't worry. All the transfer students are supposed to be in the same room, but I'm afraid we're mixing up the specialties this year. That means that if you happen to major in cleaning, you might get sorted in with a dorm of foreign-exchange gamers and athletes." Mrs. Dothie took out a slip of paper from her breast pocket and glared at it.

"Tsukasa, I'm aware that your specialty is … uh, cooking, right?" She looked up critically, softening when Tsukasa nodded rather tearfully at the prospect of not sharing a dorm with her sister.

"Don't worry, you'll still see each other a lot. Alright, it appears that you're going to be bunked in with another girl from Japan who's specialty is in the academic field, along with a cleaner from Egypt. Your dorm head, a girl who's supposed to be taking care of the foreign exchange students, is Martina Gleefield. She's from Massachusetts, and she's a nice girl. Martina specializes in athletics."

"A – am I supposed to go there now?" Tsukasa asked with a quiver in her voice. Mrs Dothie smiled and nodded.

"Don't worry, Tsukasa; I'm sure they'll be friendly. They're up in their rooms, organizing their beds and whatnot. You can head down to breakfast with Martina once you're ready." Mrs. Dothie handed Tsukasa a small brass key, then patted her on the shoulder. Kagami felt a bristle of protectiveness, but that died away as Tsukasa ran up the stairs with dainty steps. Mrs. Dothie watched Tsukasa leave for a moment before turning to address Kagami.

"Kagami, you're going to be bunking with four others … it just so happens that two of them have yet to appear, and I doubt they'll be here all week since they're on a leave, but your dorm head and the other exchange student are here already." She glanced at the slip of paper. "You're with a girl from Japan (wow, lotsa Japanese kids this year) who specializes in gaming," - Kagami was forcibly reminded of Konata - "along with a girl from China and a girl from India. The Indian girl brought her guitar, and the Chinese girl is extremely skilled with drawing.

"Your dorm head is Lily Lee, and she's from New York … nice girl, nice girl. All of them are quite nice. I don't think Lily's up there right now, since she's got kitchen duty, but the other Japanese girl'll be there. Here." Mrs. Dothie handed Kagami a brass key. "Run along, now."

Kagami watched as Mrs. Dothie turned around and left the scene, mumbling to herself for some reason. With a shrug, the green-haired girl walked up the stairs, rather dreading to see who this gamer girl would be … probably some fat loser. Fit gamers like Konata were extremely rare.

Kagami bit her lip and walked up another flight of stairs, finally arriving on the second floor. She saw a line of black doors, each marked with a white number drawn in paint. Cocking an eyebrow at this less-than-grand appearance, she paced down the aisle with a hammering heart. First impressions, first impressions …

Kagami put a hand on the doorknob of room 27. With a deep breath, she yanked the door open.

It took her a moment to absorb what she saw.

The room would have been considered large, complete with another door to her left, and rather beautiful, if it weren't for the messy clothes strewn all over the place. A brown suitcase was open in the middle of the carpeted floor, and its contents were pretty much everywhere. It looked like somebody stuffed the suitcase in a microwave and allowed it to explode all over the place. There were five beds; two were off to the side and extremely close to one another, while the other three were placed seemingly randomly off to the side.

However, this wasn't the strangest part. There was a small girl crouched in the center of the room, her back to Kagami, next to the messy suitcase. Blue hair trailed down to the floor, and she was muttering to herself, apparently playing on some sort of game console that Kagami couldn't see because of her position.

Kagami stared at the back of the girl and the mutterings ceased. Dumbfounded, Kagami watched as the blue-haired gamer girl turned around with a cat-like grin that was so familiar -

"K … K …"

The two girls locked eyes with open mouths for over a full minute, then Kagami grasped the reality of the situation.

"KONATA!" Complete giddiness, battling with outright confusion and anger at the messy interior of the room, won: she ran toward the girl and cleared the distance easily enough, then her confusion struggled for dominance. "What the – what're you -"

"I could be asking YOU the same thing!" Konata said with a widening grin. She dropped her DS Lite onto the ground, abandoning her Pokemon battle, then stood up. Kagami was pleased to note that the girl was still shorter than her, though Konata had, surprisingly enough, grown a a tiny bit; still, it wasn't enough for their eyes to be even to one another.

"Wait – don't tell me –" Kagami's face turned rather blue. "Don't tell me that you're my dormmate!" She backed away in some horror, though she had to fight to conceal her happiness: finally, another familiar face! Though it was something extremely unexpected (understatement of the freaking CENTURY), she still welcomed it.

Konata's cat-grin had widened to such an extent it literally stretched from ear to ear. "Apparently so! Isn't it awesome! I never thought that you'd be my nerdy roommate!" Her mouth opened slightly into a rather retarded-looking lopsided grin. "Tell me I'm dreaming!"

Kagami instantly got angry, though she was pleased even at this: Konata hadn't changed. She grabbed Konata's cheeks and pulled as hard as she dared without ripping the flesh off. "Is this enough of a pinch?"

"Oww …" Konata pulled away and sulked off in a corner, completely forgetting her DS game. "That hurt … as expected from a tsundere, though. I'm sure you're secretly happy with my appearance, right?" The blue-haired girl asked slyly, turning her head around to face the flabbergasted Kagami.

"W – what? Of course not!" she lied blatantly. "You're more of a hindrance than anything! This way, I won't be able to focus on my studies!" Kagami grumbled, crossing her arms. Still, a hint of a smile lingered on her face. "But getting serious … are you serious?" She asked, allowing her arms to drop to her sides. "I can't believe it!"

"Me neither," Konata admitted, then sat down on the messiest bed of all; there were cables falling off the bed, and onto the sides and pretty much everywhere. "To think that Kagamin would be my roommate … this is like a dream come true!" Konata had a malicious glint in her eye. "This way, I'll be able to copy all I want and I wouldn't get in troub -"

Before the otaku could finish her sentence, Kagami had leaped forward and proceeded to finish her previous endeavor: tugging off Konata's little cheeks.

"Say that again and I swear to god I'm going to prove you're dreaming!" Kagami threatened. Konata tried saying something smart-alecky, but her response was lost in the gurgling as she tried to form words through horizontal lips.

Kagami let go and sighed deeply. "Still, this is news to me. I didn't know you were in America. I didn't even know you were Catholic!" Kagami revised her thoughts of Konata almost completely: this girl had a lot of sins to pay for.

"But I'm not!" Konata responded, rubbing her red cheeks defiantly. "My stupid dad sent me to America since he got a new gig, and I tagged along, only to find that he enrolled me at this school!" Konata shook her head, her cheeks beginning to flush their normal color again. "It's nice seeing a familiar face again … it's like old times! All we need is Tsukasa and Miyuki to complete the picture."

Kagami was forced to grin. "Well, about Tsukasa …"

"Wait, don't tell me." Konata closed her eyes, then rubbed her eyelids. "Holy cow! That means we're only missing Miyuki! Amazing!" She shook her head, trying to take in this revelation. "But we have to get down to business … where'll you be sleeping? A runner already brought your suitcase up, it's in that corner," - Konata pointed to her left where Kagami's blue suitcase was - "and this is my bed." She patted the messy bed. "Do you want to sleep near me?" She asked with a rather sly undertone.

"Huh?" Kagami looked at Konata's bed. Surely enough, there was another bed right next to it; it'd be easy for any of the occupants to crawl over into one another's mattress. "WHA! Are you kidding me? No way!" Kagami objected, but she was secretly kicking herself repeatedly in the crotch for rejecting Konata's offer. But why? Shouldn't she be happy she wasn't sleeping anywhere near that abominable ball of blue hair? Or should she be kicking herself? Konata was a bit of a prankster at times … she might slip a cockroach in her bedding if she wasn't aware.

"Fine, suit yourself," Konata said, apparently trying to shrug Kagami's decision off with faked sadness. However, was it just Kagami's strange mind, or did she detect a sense of real rejection? Kagami regretted her choice even more. Kagami shrugged internally, then sat down on the bed farthest away from Konata's. Instantly, she sprang up; she'd sat on a living thing! A writhing, LIVING thing!

Shrieking, Kagami backed away and pretty much fell on Konata. She noticed dully that it was a mouse, who now scurried away frantically, but she was more aware of the fact that she'd slammed her back into Konata's chest.

"Owwwww!" Konata moaned from underneath Kagami's messy double ponytails. Face redder than a tomato, Kagami got up into a sitting position, rubbing her head.

"S – sorry about that …" Kagami apologized, then noticed that Konata's hand was pressed down on her stomach; the awkwardness of Kagami's fall had resulted the two of them to be tangled up in a rather pretzel-like shape. Kagami tried to force her flush down, but to no avail; her face still resembled a tomato. With a sunburn.

Konata suddenly grinned, then crossed her leg over so she was sitting on Kagami's lap. "Haha, just kidding. That didn't hurt too much. Aww, your face is all red!" Before Kagami could react, Konata tugged on Kagami's nose. "Poor widdle Kagamin is embarrassed!"

Despite herself, Kagami's face got even redder, if that was physically possible. It now looked like a sunburned tomato with red face paint on. "H – hey!" She shouted, anger trying to battle away her embarrassment. It wasn't just her fall that made her embarrassed, though; she was acutely aware of the fact that Konata's warm legs were pressed against her own, and that Konata's face was inches from hers, and that Konata's breath was -

"Get away from me, you little freak," Kagami said, looking away. She pushed Konata off, but instead of toppling over, the blue-haired girl managed to bounce athletically away.

"Hehe," Konata said with that cattish grin again. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say that you're getting turned on!"

"What!" Kagami exclaimed, more out of surprise at Konata's rather accurate guess than fury at a wrong statement. "Hey! I'm just embarrassed from that fall, you lil' horn dog!"

"You sure are moe when you're angry," Konata plowed on, not ceasing in her teasing. Kagami and Konata exchanged a couple of retorts, but Kagami had to admit one thing to herself: no way in hell was she sleeping in a bed with freakin' rats.

"But … is it okay if I do sleep near you?" Kagami asked, almost desperately. "It's not because … well, you know!" She proclaimed. "Only 'cause I don't want to be raped by mice when I'm asleep, y'know."

Konata's green eyes gleamed. "Well, you might have to worry about a certain other person raping you at night, then …"

"Oh, shut up!"

Yeppers, that's the end! Hope you liked this first chapter … second one should be coming in a week :D Please review! Those little comments might not take much effort, but they mean a lot to me.