AN: Christmas!...I hate it. Now that that's over with...
There WILL be OOC. It's intentional, and if you don't like that, don't read. Okay? =) As per usual, the stereotypical personalities of mainly Konata and Tsukasa has been dialed down quite a bit (Kagami's personality is completely different altogether, so she doesn't really count.), and every character that's not involved in the story is gone. Some day I'm gonna man up and make a story with the entire Lucky Cast, WITH their respective personalities intact...some day.
Not the best of my work, I'll admit. But some people will appreciate the story with its flaws, and I spend a little too much time on it to simply scrap it. 'Sides, it's not that bad! xD
Reviews are greatly appreciated. Fo' sho'.
"Give it back!" I'm angry, furious, but my words sound small and insignificant. Kagami just laughs and flips through the tattered pages of my notebook. I struggle to get free, but Misao's grip of my arms is next to vice-like.
"Math, schedules…not gonna lie to you, Konata, we expected something a bit more…interesting." The girl throws the book over her shoulder and gives me a malicious smile. "Then again, you're all but interesting. Don't know what I was thinking." I'm about to shout something when Misao lets go of me. The newly attained freedom takes me by surprise and my words never find their way out. I can hear the brunette laugh loudly behind me as I run past Kagami and grab my notebook, which is thankfully unscathed, from the floor. Well, at least the cover is. When I pick it up, every single page falls out in a pile of a month's writing. A frustrated huff escapes me, and I immediately sit down to try to pick up all the pages. I wait with a pounding heart for more sarcastic comments, but there are none. I look up. They are going, their collective giggling fading. They've left. I breathe a sigh of relief before I go back to collecting pages.
"This isn't that bad." I say silently to myself. "Worse things have happened. And I needed a new notebook anyway." I pick up the last piece of paper and turn around to get up on my feet.
"Hi Konata."
"Wah!-" Leave it to me to be scared by the least intimidating person I know. I fall backwards and at least half of the pages I just picked up fly up in a cloud of equations, doodles and historical timelines. "-oof."
"S-sorry. Didn't mean to scare you." I look up through carefully arranged blue bangs. I look up at a clearly uncomfortable short-haired girl with an evasive gaze and extremely restless hands. It is as if the air itself is too close for her comfort. Any other day I would be thrilled to see her, but today has just been too tiresome, without being completely horrible. I don't need cheering up, I need rest.
"Ah, Tsukasa. It's fine, it's not your fault. Help me up?" I hold out my hand, and Tsukasa takes it hesitantly. Looking back at it, I don't know how I expected this frail girl to pull me up. Because what ends up happening is that I tug a little too hard and Tsukasa falls over me, causing the rest of my notes to fly out of my hand. If I had seen it happen, I would probably have laughed until I cried. But with her trembling hands on either side of my head and her nose pretty much touching mine, laughter is the not my immediate reaction. Instead I roll to the side and let Tsukasa collapse in a sea of paper. She quickly gets up on her knees, her embarrassment glowing brightly on her cheeks. I feel a touch of heat on mine as well, something I'm not used to.
"I'm sorry, I-I didn't mean to-"
"Tsukasa!" I can't help but snicker a little. She's so quick to apologize for something that wasn't even her fault. "Stop." I realize I still sound pretty angry, when I'm really not. I try to soften my voice a bit before continuing. "You don't have to apologize for everything you do. It was just as much my fault. Why are you here?"
"I…saw them bully you. I wanted to help you, but I couldn't…"
"Eh, thanks for the thought." I give Tsukasa a reassuring smile, and I am truly happy that she wanted to help me. Most people just choose to ignore me. "Help me pick these up, will you?"
"Sure." She rewards me with careful smile, and I feel a strange tug in my stomach. A familiar tug. "Konata?"
"Mm?"
"Were you talking to yourself?" I get taken aback by the surprisingly forward question, and I'm glad my long hair hides the majority of my suddenly blushing face.
"What if I was?" I try to ask as casually as possible. Due to my newly acquired interest in the floor, I only hear the amused giggle.
"I do that too. And when people ask me about it, I do what you're doing now." And then she bursts out laughing.
-I-
"Dad, I'm home!" I struggle to close the door behind me, the harsh wind is intent on keeping it open. After a few seconds of pulling, I manage to close the door. I absolutely love windy days, but they have their downsides. I hang my coat neatly on its hanger before stepping into the kitchen. I open the refrigerator and manage to chug down the last orange juice, half a cartoon of milk and some leftover milkshake before my dad comes down from the stairs.
"How was school, dear?" He asks with seemingly no interest as he paces back and forth between the table and the sink. I take a deep breath and run my fingers through my bangs, my thirst quenched by at least three kinds of refreshing.
"Dear? Since when?" I say maybe a little too mockingly. Dad stops pacing and looks at me with a confused look that makes me unsure whether I should laugh or cry. I'm still a little fluttery from the incident earlier. Not even the thought of Kagami or my ex-notebook can dampen my mood.
"Isn't that what a father usually says to his daughter?" He gives me a goofy smile, and I resist the urge to spit out another comment about his strange choice of words, and I instead ask:
"What are you doing? You look tired."
"Heh…I'm looking for some pictures. You know I got a new job recently, and they asked me for the pictures I brought for the interview. Problem is, now-"
"-you can't find them." I finish his sentence with a smirk.
"Mm-hmm. I'm running out of places to look." I walk halfway out of the kitchen before I remember, where I yawn loudly before speaking.
"I need a new notebook, Dad. Can you buy me one tomorrow if I give you the money?"
"Sure, Konata. Just leave it on the table and I'll take care of it." I decide that his answer came quickly enough for him to have listened. I hurry up to my room.
-I-
The remains of my notes are spread out all across my desk, and they all rustle with a satisfying sound as I lay my head comfortably against the wooden surface of the desk. The computer screen blinks at me with a dim glow. The digital clock above it looks down on me with two empty, red eyes. 01:10. I promised myself to go to bed earlier, as I've fallen asleep during class three times in one week, and I'd rather avoid any unnecessary conflicts with my teacher. I reluctantly turn off the screen and stagger into bed. The buzzing sound my computer makes calms me down, and my entire body seems to give off a sigh of relief when my head meets the pillow. Maybe I shouldn't stay up so late…meh, I'm not an insomniac, I'll be fine. And maybe just to prove a point, I fall asleep right then and there.
-I-
Tsukasa and I were in the same class, and she was the only person I could actually call my friend. This was the first day I started to feel more than friendship towards her, even if I wasn't really ready to admit it. I had been in love a few times before, enough to know that gender didn't matter to me. I just didn't want to ruin my brittle friendship with all those confusing feelings. At that point, I also had no idea that I would end up falling in love with the younger sister of the person who had made my life just that much more unbearable.
-I-
I don't exactly have time to spare when I wake up. For some ungodly reason, I oversleep even though I went to bed earlier than usual, what the hell is that about! I realize that I won't have a lot of time to get ready, and stressing certainly doesn't put me in a good mood. I grab my school uniform and run out of my room, slamming the door shut behind me. In the bathroom, I manage to change my clothes and brush my teeth at the same time by juggling the toothbrush back and forth between my hands. Something tells me I won't have time to make lunch, and that fact alone is enough to make me want to stay home. Since I'm done brushing my teeth, I grab a hairbrush and head for the door. Bad idea. The hand I'm supposed to open the door with is the same hand that's currently stuck in one of my sleeves. Not noticing this until it's too late, I run face first into a pretty solid door.
"Ow!" Not being able to cover my nose with my right hand, the task goes to my left. Unfortunately, that is the hand holding the hairbrush. So...yeah, I hit myself with a hairbrush. It's exactly what it sounds like. After that, I just stand in front of the door for a while, taking deep breath after deep breath as to not smash through the door in pure rage. "Calm down, Konata." I say to myself while running the brush through my matted hair. "Calm down. You're only making this worse for yourself." I stand like that for half a minute or so, so I can finish brushing. Then…
I rush down the stairs and grab my coat from the hanger. I search the pockets for my wallet, I find it and take out some loose change and run into the kitchen while putting on said coat. I dump the money on the table and grab two slices of bread, using my mouth to hold both of them. I make quick work of the remaining milk before I jam the bread in the toaster and sprint into the living room. I get my school bag from the couch and run back into the kitchen to get the bread. With my bag in one hand and two pieces of slightly warm bread in the other, I use my elbow to open the door. The relentless wind takes a hold of it and flings it wide open as if it was made out of cardboard. Right on cue, I hear a sleepy voice behind me.
"Konata, what's with all the noise? Some of us are trying to sleep." I don't turn around to take in the hilarious sight my father surely would be.
"Close the door after me, money's on the table. See ya!" Before he even has time to say anything, I'm out. The wind takes a hold of me and I notice that I'm running with it, not against it like yesterday. It's not that cold, and thanks to the sudden gusts, I'm running at an impressive speed. The feeling of being carried forward makes me bubbly with joy, and the feeling is not that different from what I felt after I'd met Tsukasa yesterday. I start laughing, and I don't stop until my chest hurts like hell. Despite having overslept, despite having no notebook and no lunch, I'm feeling pretty great. And the perhaps best part is that I make it to school in time. Sort of.
-I-
"Where is Kuroi?" It was supposed to be a whisper, but since almost everybody in the classroom is talking, I have to raise my voice a bit to get Tsukasa to hear me. I look at the clock. I'm technically late, but I wouldn't count it seeing as our teacher isn't even here. By the looks of it, Tsukasa was just sitting quietly at her desk, to nobody's surprise. When she hears me, she looks up at me with big, happy eyes. I bet she didn't hit herself with her own hairbrush this morning.
"She isn't here. I guess she's late." The girl shrugs, and a purple lock of hair slides down in front of her left eye. She flicks it away with an annoyed huff. I go to sit down at my desk, which is two rows behind and one row to the left of Tsukasa's. The class seems to be in a good mood, judging by the happy chatter and all. I'm not all that hyper myself, partly because of the earlier mishaps, but also because I'm really hungry.
"Quiet, class!" I look up, not realizing that our teacher has arrived. Bad idea, I have to try my darnest not to laugh out loud. Kuroi looks like what I would've looked like if I had woken up an hour later…and gone to sleep two hours later. Her hair is a mess, her tie's crooked and her eyes speak of a long, sleepless night. But as a person of authority, she quickly assumes her natural role as guidance for us young minds. And by that I mean that she looks so scary that no one dares say anything. Then, I hear the strangest sound, something one really isn't used to hear. Tsukasa is laughing. Not just quietly giggling, but full on can't-stop-even-if-I-wanted-to laughing. And I realize with a smile that she's not laughing at Kuroi.
"Tsukasa, do you mind telling us what's so funny?" The blonde teacher says with an amused tone. I guess she's not used to Tsukasa interrupting class like that either. I feel kinda bad, since I'm sure Tsukasa was laughing at me and my reaction when I saw Kuroi. Tsukasa looks like she's been hit by lightning. She practically bounces back into seriousness, her cheeks turning a deep scarlet. Some giggles are heard across the classroom, but most of my classmates are just disappointed that class will be starting for real.
"N-nothing…" Tsukasa voice is a squeak, and I feel if possible even worse about the whole situation. Even her cute little ribbon seems to be droopy with humiliation. I promise myself to apologize to her at lunch.
"Good." Nice as she is, Kuroi doesn't pressure Tsukasa any further. "Now, I'm going to talk for a while, so make sure you all take notes." Oh god damn it…
-I-
Lunchtime. The chatter has once again filled the air with its calming effect, similar to the soothing buzzing of my computer. I walk over to Tsukasa's table and sit down. The purple-haired girl is quietly nibbling on a rice ball, and I note with a wide grin that she looks as happy to see me as always.
"Hi, Konata."
"Hi, Tsukasa. You seem hungry." I can feel my heart rate increase ever so slightly, and I have to wonder why I've never felt like this around my friend before. Maybe I needed her to fall over me to realize that I had some kind of feelings for her. Still not too happy about that, by the way. Mostly because I'm sure that she doesn't feel the same way.
"I am." Tsukasa rubs the back of her head with an embarrassed grin, as if being hungry was something to be ashamed of. "I overslept this morning, so I didn't have time to eat breakfast. Where is your lunch, Konata?" I yawn and raise my arms into the air, stretching them the best I can.
"Eh, I overslept as well. And I am guessing that you have a nice mother or older sister who makes your lunch in the morning. Well, I'm not that lucky." I say that last part with a little more spite than necessary. Tsukasa's eyes widen and she almost crushes the poor rice ball in her small hands.
"I'm so sorry, Konata. I didn't know about your mother…" I have to mentally retrace what I said to sort out the misunderstanding.
"Oh, I didn't mean it like that." The poor girl is on the verge of crying, understandable considering her personality and what she thought I meant. I hold up my hand in a reassuring gesture. "I meant that I have to make my own lunch if I want any. Calm down."
"S-sorry." She slides one of the two remaining rice balls across the table before she sniffles loudly and raises her hand to wipe away invisible tears. Strangely enough, I don't find Tsukasa's…emotional fragility annoying in any way. She is just more considerate than most people, for better or for worse. "Here, I'm full anyways." She points at the rice ball.
"Thanks." I happily munch down the food given to me, and it's definitely better than nothing. "Then again, I don't even know if you have any sisters at all." I say while chewing thoughtfully. Tsukasa looks at me with a raised eyebrow.
"Um…I do have older sisters. But you know Kagami, don't you?"
"Hffgh!" I'm pretty sure that's not the exact phrase I uttered when I choked on my meal, but it's close enough. I cough and splutter, and several heads are turned in my direction. I take deep, slow breaths until I'm sure I won't start coughing again. My heart and thoughts are racing, fighting for a place in mouth so they can express what they feel.
"Is Kagami…your sister?" Tsukasa smiles worriedly, I think I've reached my acting-weird quota for the day.
"We're twin sisters, actually. You didn't know?…people say we look a lot like each other…"
"No…I didn't." How can such a sweet girl be related to that horrible, horrible person? And how come I've never noticed that they look alike? "It was just a little surprising…that's all…" I run out of things to say, I'd rather not insult Tsukasa. Cute, considerate little Tsukasa that I'm positive I have some kind of feelings for.
"I know what you're thinking." Just like I'm not used to hearing the timid girl laugh loudly, I'm not used to the cold tone that now seeps into her voice. "My sister is an idiot. She's mean to everyone, except Misao and our parents." The chair gives off a loud screech as Tsukasa gets up. I can see tears sparkle in the corners of her eyes, though I suspect they're more because of anger than anything else.
"Tsukasa, wait!" There is probably not a single pair of eyes in the room that's not looking at me right now, but I don't care. I run after her. In the hall I catch her, and grab a hold of her wrist to make her slow down. The hall is empty at the moment, and the early afternoon sun cuts neat rectangles of light on the floor. Tsukasa stops immediately. She probably just panicked, I don't think she wants to run away.
"I'm sorry." She's whispering, I can't almost hear her. I tug her hand gently, and she turns to face me. The tears I saw earlier are halfway down her cheeks, and I suddenly remember what I forgot minutes ago.
"Actually…I'm the one who should be apologizing. I'm the one who caused you to get scolded by Kuroi after all." I still haven't let go of Tsukasa, and my hand has somehow slid into hers. She haven't noticed.
"That wasn't your fault, Konata." Something between a hic and a giggle escapes the short-haired girl. I get a sudden urge to wipe away her tears, now that her good mood is returning. Such an action is embarrassing to say the least, not only for the obvious reasons, but also because Tsukasa is a bit taller than me. Yet, without a word, I raise my other hand. She looks at me with a confused look, and that's the last thing I notice before I hear the taps of running feet against the floor.
"KONATA!" If I had turned my head, I would've seen Kagami run at me, her pigtails whipping behind her. She tackles me and rams me into the wall. The impact sends a ringing through my head, and I swear I go blind for half a second.
"What the hell are you doing!" My own voice makes my head hurt twice as much, and I can barely stand up. Not that big of a problem since Kagami pins me to the wall with her beastly strength. Seriously, there is no getting away from that girl. I can hear Tsukasa yell something, her voice shrill. The corridor is still almost empty, which is mockingly unusual considering what time it is. I try to break free from Kagami's hold with little success. Her short, forced breaths and the look in her eyes tell me that she's trying her best not to rip me to pieces, something I'm convinced she could gladly do if she wanted to.
"Stay away from my sister." The words sound almost comical being pushed through Kagami's clenched teeth, but I'm not in the laughing mood right now. Her nails are digging into my arms, and she is showing no signs of wanting to let go. There is no one here to help me. And even if there was, they wouldn't care. I'm starting to get teary-eyed from the pain, and in the corner of my eye I can barely make out a terrified Tsukasa. Kagami is convinced that I am the one who should stay away from Tsukasa. Which means she thinks she's protecting her little sister. She must really hate me for some reason.
"Hiiragiii!" The panting voice is Misao's, who comes running through the hallway with swift steps. She literally pulls Kagami away from me, and I fall to my knees in the absence of arms holding me up. Tsukasa makes a valiant attempt at catching me. It's the thought that counts. I rub my sore arms, red marks showing where Kagami's hands have been.
"…just supposed to sit and watch when…"
"…not the point, don't you understand…" Bits of Misao and Kagami's heated conversation reach me, but I have other things to worry about. For that matter, they agree that they shouldn't stick around and they walk away. I'm more pissed off than anything, seeing as I just got assaulted for no reason. Tsukasa isn't doing too well either. She is sitting beside me and is literally trembling with anger. It is such an unusual sight that I start laughing, despite everything. Tsukasa looks at me with her head tilted to side and asks what's so funny.
"Nothing." I jokingly put my hand on her head in a very older sister like fashion, totally believable now that we are about the same height. "Thanks to your lovely sister, I couldn't take notes today. Would you like to come over to my house after school, and perhaps I could copy yours?" The younger Hiiragi nods and smiles. Carefully, shyly. Perfectly. I don't give a damn about Kagami.
"What are you two doing?" The question is asked by a tall, brown-haired boy that is accompanied by at least four other students. I just look up at him stupidly. I have no answer to such a valid question, and I'm way to exhausted to even act embarrassed.
-I-
"Kona-chan?"
"Mm?" I say the name silently to myself, trying to get a taste of my new nickname. I can't say I dislike it, it's just sounds a little too…cutesy. I can live with it.
"You really didn't know about me and Kagami being siblings? And I thought I was an airhead." I love it when she jokes like that. I can manage being made fun of, honestly.
"Yeah…well, you two are nothing alike. Personality-wise, I mean." Splash, splash, splash. The sun is nowhere to be seen and it's pouring down. Thankfully, Tsukasa had brought an umbrella. When I asked her why, she said that she always brings one just in case. Really now.
"I guess…" Tsukasa's trails off, and I decide to be quiet for a while as well. I'd rather be an only child than have someone like Kagami as my sister.
"Ah, we're here." Finally at my house, I open the door and go inside, while Tsukasa tries to get the umbrella as dry as possible by shaking it violently. As I take off my shoes, I notice a note on the floor. It's from Dad, apparently he's gone to buy groceries and other assorted junk. He ends the note with "I didn't know what color and all that you wanted, so…"
"It's beautiful!" Tsukasa exclaims next to me. I stand up to see what she's talking about. The umbrella is lying forgotten on the floor and in Tsukasa's hands is a black, quite thick notebook. Purple floral patterns run up and down the cover, intertwining in complex shapes that somehow seems to follow a pattern. When Tsukasa flips through the pages, I notice that the same pattern is present around the edges as well. I groan and shake my head.
"Of course he'd get me something as girly as that." The purple-haired girl seems absolutely spellbound by the book, she keeps flipping the pages back and forth.
"What makes you say that? It's lovely." I take a few steps towards the living room and Tsukasa follows, not taking her eyes of the black notebook. I pray she won't walk into anything.
"Well, of course you would like it." I throw my school bag in the couch before I throw myself in it as well. Tsukasa carefully puts the book down, as if it was made out of glass. Then she looks around nervously, fiddling with her fingers.
"What makes you say that?" She asks with a certain amount of curiosity. I point at the opposite end of the couch.
"For God's sake, Tsukasa, sit down. You're making me nervous."
"Sorry, Kona-chan. It's just the first time I've been at a friend's house in a while."
"Yeah, we're both loners, aren't we?" Tsukasa sits down in the couch, and she does look slightly more comfortable.
"Not necessarily." There is a pause, and I can faintly hear my guest's fingers scratching the couch. Maybe she's just restless. "We just have trouble making friends, that's all." For once, she looks straight at me with her violet eyes, innocent and curious. And I find myself looking away, a familiar heat rising on my cheeks. When she breaks that bashful attitude of hers so suddenly like that, I can't help but feel something very annoying and inconvenient.
"Always so optimistic…hey, wanna play something?"
-I-
Some hours later, we've played a bunch of my PS2 games (I only let her win twice) and I've successfully written down everything Kuroi talked about today, and I even helped Tsukasa fill in some of the things she didn't have time to write down. My guest is currently on the floor, arms and legs spread out. Her eyes are closed, and I think she's asleep. I'm looking down on Tsukasa over the edge of my bed, and my head is right above hers. We were both tired, and one of us decided to take a nap on the floor. So I decided to spend my time inspecting the sleeping beauty, carefully so that my long hair won't brush against her face. Sure I could read something or wake her up, but that wouldn't be as fun.
"You look funny upside-down." I say it more in thought than anything else. If lean a little closer, I can feel the warm puffs of air coming from Tsukasa's slightly open mouth. A lock of blue hair slides across her forehead when I move, and her mouth closes and her eyebrows are lowered in a frown. I have to hold my hand over my mouth not to start laughing, she is so goddamn adorable. I want to point out that my body is about halfway over the edge of my bed. So you can imagine my reaction when this malicious little devil suddenly opens her eyes and asks in a loud, clear voice:
"Having fun, Kona-chan?" I jerk my head up in surprise and my left hand slides of the bed. The rest of me follows and I end up in a pitiful heap to the left of Tsukasa, who is writhing with laughter. I crawl onto my knees and rub my head, that conveniently broke the fall. I swear, my brain must be mushy from all the bumps it's gotten today. Or it just really feels like it.
"You know, I could've hurt myself." I mumble indignantly.
"Oh my god, your…your face. I'm so-sorry, but I couldn't…help it." I crack my knuckles and pull my hair back with the slow, deadly calm movements of a predator. Time for revenge.
"Apology accepted. Then you understand why I must do this." Just as my prey starts to calm down, I pounce on her. She's too spent from her laughing fit to fight back. I go directly for the weak points; armpits and stomach. Yep, I tickle her. Tsukasa once again explodes with laughter, but this time the involuntary kind. Knowing I've already won, I straddle her and hold down her arms with my hands, making her unable to move. "Give up!"
"I give…I give up!" Tsukasa's face is nicely red and her eyes are beaming with bubbly happiness. "Let me go." She pleads with a relieved sigh. I think about it for a moment.
"Nah, I'd rather just sit here for a while."
"Konataaa…"
"What? I like to sit here. It's nice and cozy and-"
"Ahem…Konata?" My planned speech is interrupted by a male voice. Tsukasa's bubbly expression turns in to a distressed one as we both turn our heads to look at the intruder. It is the one and the only Soujiro Izumi, my beloved father. His amber eyes are gleaming and he does horribly trying to hide his amused grin.
"What!" I'm nothing but furious, and I figure trying to get up would be as awkward as staying put.
"It's about time your…friend, hi by the way…"
"Hello." Only reason I can hear Tsukasa is because how close I am to her. Dad must've assumed that she answered.
"It's time she headed home. It'll be dark shortly, and what sort of adult would I be if I let my daughter's friend go home at such a late hour?" God, I wish I could take a good swing at his smug face. My father or not.
"Yeah, great. Leave." I stare at him with as much hate and intimidation as I can.
"Hope you liked the notebook." His final words echo out into the room when he closes the door. The silence that follows is horrendous. I then notice that I still haven't let go of Tsukasa's arms, and I can only now notice that the girl is shivering. I instantly let go of her.
"I'm so so so sorry, Tsukasa. I didn't mean to…" My apology is cut short by a weird, high-pitched noise. "...wait, are you laughing?"
"Fffft…maybe." I sigh sharply and pull myself up on my bed. My head is spinning with emotions. Tsukasa gets up and wipes away the tears my attack caused. She's still giggling randomly, and her hair is quite messy from rolling around the floor. Also, her ribbon is crooked. "You looked so surprised, sorry."
"And you weren't surprised in the slightest, I assume? I'll see you tomorrow." Tsukasa picks up her school bag from the floor and suddenly looks very uncomfortable again.
"You okay, Kona-chan?" And there it is, the worried tone again. Tsukasa's shifts in personality are almost scary.
"I'm fine, Tsukasa. Really."
-I-
That day was when I realized something about Tsukasa Hiiragi. She is the kind of person who only shows her real personality among friends. Sure she's clumsy and shy and forgetful, but she's also funny and daring, perhaps even reckless at times. I started to think that night. Not about Tsukasa, but about the older sister. "She's mean to everyone, except Misao and our parents." That's what Tsukasa had said. And wasn't Misao Kagami's friend? I wanted to find out why Kagami despised me so. I wasn't going to let her stand in the way of me and Tsukasa. And I was frankly quite tired of the random bullying too.
-I-
"She seems nice." This morning is not as interesting as yesterday's. When I come down to eat breakfast, my father is already sitting comfortably at the table with a tuna sandwich in hand.
"I'm not talking to you." Short, to the point. I'm not hungry. My stomach is already filled with yummy-yummy butterflies. I don't look forward to confronting Kagami. It's not that I'm scared of her per se, just that she could easily beat me to a bloody pulp if she so wanted. It's the difference in our strength that makes me nervous.
"I'm just saying." He's not going to work today, obvious by his clothes and bed hair that even a steel comb would fear.
"She's just a friend." I mutter while I force down some tasteless breakfast items. Hungry or not, I gotta eat.
"Is that so?" Dad's tone is neutral, but you'd have to be both blind and deaf not to understand how much he loves teasing me.
"Mm-hmm." Cue long, drawn-out silence. Then, after almost a minute:
"I'm glad."
"Excuse me?"
"I'm glad you found a friend." Swallowing the last bite of tuna sandwich, Dad picks up the newspaper from the table and starts reading.
"And…?" I still can't believe how easily he let go of that.
"And nothing, Konata. By the way, shouldn't you be going?" I get up slowly, still expecting at least a final jab. Nothing.
"Dad?"
"Mm?"
"Did you find those pictures?"
"I did." He puts down the paper and smiles warmly at me. I don't get that man.
-I-
"Really sorry about my dad yesterday, Tsukasa." It's right before lunch, and almost everyone has left the classroom. Me and Tsukasa along with two other girls are left, and I'm patiently waiting for my friend to get done with the note-taking. Poor girl can't write very fast, it seems.
"Nah, it's fine. I like him, he seems more easy-going than other parents." She seems to be in a joking and enthusiastic mood today, something I'm thankful for.
"That's one way to put it." I chuckle half-heartedly, my fingers tapping impatiently against her desk. 'Tis now or never. "Tsukasa?"
"Yeah?" Violet eyes blink at me with uncensored curiosity.
"I'm gonna go talk to Kagami." I'm gonna go talk to the hungry and relentless beast without weapons while bleeding heavily, is what I could've said. Though I'm not sure Tsukasa would've gotten the joke. Or liked it.
"Why?" The question is asked hesitantly, in the "what did you just say" kind of fashion.
"I want to know why she picks on me, when I haven't done anything to her. I'm also going to ask why she thinks she can decide what you should and shouldn't do." I'm expecting protests and an array of reason why I shouldn't bother. A funny analogy about a brick wall, maybe. I'm definitely expecting an upset reaction. I get none of this.
"I'm coming with you."
"You're what?"
"She's my sister, Kona-chan. I s-should be the one talking to her." The quiet and frail Tsukasa shines through for a second, but I can tell she's not going to let me go alone. Besides, I would feel much better with her with me.
"Great. I was thinking we could talk to her during lunch. That way, she won't be able to ram me into a wall." Tsukasa looks down nervously. I laugh, forgetting what I'm about to do for a moment. "I'm just kidding, come on." We walk out into the unusually crowded hallway, and we're lucky that we are going the same way as the river of people.
"Yeah, sure…I'll see you later." I instantly recognize the voice behind me, even with all the chatter around.
"Misao?" The brunette looks up from her cellphone. Noticing me, she oddly enough raises her hand in a greeting.
"Hi, midget." I tug Tsukasa's shoulder lightly to make her slow down. Annoyed students pass around and between us when we stop walking. Misao first now notices who I'm with. "Oh…hi Tsukasa.
"Hi." That one syllable does not have a sliver of Tsukasa's careful, light tone of voice. Oh Misao, she really does not like you.
"You are not the brightest of them, eh Konata?" Misao nods in Tsukasa's general direction. If I had to guess, I'd say Misao is an all-around rotten person. At least on the outside. She's independent, and follows Kagami just as much as Kagami follows her.
"I don't care about that, wolfy." I say calmly, referring to that unorthodox little fang of hers. "Where is your master, speaking of?" The girl's contemptuous grin loses its intensity, and she sighs resignedly.
"There's no talking sense into you, I see. She eating lunch, like everyone else…oh, I see. That's clever." I would say thinking to meet Kagami in a room full of people is sort of obvious, but whatever. I grab Tsukasa's arm and walk away, and I can feel how tense she is. What has Misao ever done to her?
-I-
When I look at her, sitting oh so quietly and filling her stomach with food to survive another afternoon, I can almost tell myself that we're dealing with a normal, completely sane human being here. Almost.
"Hey, how's it going?" When we approach her, Kagami notices Tsukasa first, and I'm once again confounded by hearing my tormentor sound so friendly. And then comes the... "What is she doing here?" Tsukasa opens her mouth to answer, but I beat her to it.
"I just wanted to know what your issue is with me. You have no right to treat me the way you do, and the fact that I don't even know the reason for it doesn't make it better." Okay. Pretty PG-13, but it's gotta be neat and clean in front of the younger sister. Kagami takes a look around. Yep, twin-tails. Lots of people. No violence allowed.
"I told you to stay away from Tsukasa." Her threat is very lackluster, probably because she's disappointed about not being able to reinforce her order with some physicality. I take a quick look at my friend, but she's just looking down into the ground.
"Yeah, I heard you. But why? That's all I want to know." Kagami smiles grimly and says unnecessarily loud:
"Because I know." I'm about to answer with the unoriginal "know what?" until I realize that I know exactly what she's talking about. And I hate her even more for it. "You're a happy-go-lucky delinquent, easy to make fun, but your probably also the most corrupted little piece of-"
"Shut up. Just shut up." I smile widely to myself at Tsukasa's voice, never mind the fact that I almost got a heart-attack then I realized what Kagami was going to say. I make a quick promise; today, I'm gonna tell Tsukasa about my feelings for her. Unless Kagami spoils it right here. "Kona-chan is right. You have no right. You are the one who should stay away from her." The brave warrior exhales sharply, and I feel like giving her a big pat on the back.
"You sound sure of yourself, Tsukasa." Kagami's voice is gentle, meant entirely for her younger sister. "But you know, I bet dear Konata didn't tell you that she's in fac-" I can't believe she would go as far as to actually say that out loud. There are boundaries. I take two steps forward and punch Kagami square in the face. It hurts.
-I-
Heh…yeah, I don't know if that was the best idea I've ever had. It certainly shut Kagami up though. Thankfully, a bunch of older students came between the two of us, mostly to stop Kagami from murdering me. Of course, I got in a great deal of trouble because of the incident. Tsukasa…well, I explained everything to her. Everything. And she forgave me. Secretly, I think she enjoyed having her sister knocked down a few pegs.
So what now? It's Monday, and I'm going back to school. I have to remember to ask Tsukasa about Kagami, if she's sworn to horribly maim me or something like that. I expect nothing less from the twin-tailed beast. But I'll be fine. You know why? 'Cause I got the good ol' younger sister shield. That's right, Tsukasa has been overly protective of me ever since the incident. That makes me happy, honestly. She hasn't mentioned anything about my…revelation, so I'm guessing she's fine with it. Me, I'm just happy to have kept a friend. And a girl can always hope…