For SevilResoleon ^_^ Sorry for the long wait. Hope you enjoy!
~The Yuri Fangirl
"Tokyo Disneyland, huh?" Konata said thoughtfully as she sucked the chocolate off of a Pocky stick.
Konata, Tsukasa, and Miyuki were gathered around and eating lunch while Tsukasa discussed the Hiiragi family's vacation plans.
"I'm excited!" Tsukasa said cheerily. "We've been before, but Kagami and I were about 3 or 4 years old, so we don't remember much."
"Tokyo Disneyland is really fun, but I prefer to go to Sanrio Puroland. I love getting different Hello Kitty plushies everytime I go there," Miyuki put in.
Konata finished off the chocolate-less Pocky stick, and then pulled another one out of the box to start the process over again.
"I've never been to either of them. They're not exciting enough," she said with a shrug. Tsukasa gave a little smile.
"Because you can't defeat your enemies to gain skill points and level up, right?" the younger Hiiragi guessed, knowing how Konata's videogame-obsessed mind worked.
"Exactly! There's no amusement in these 'amusement' parks," Konata nodded. Tsukasa looked down at her bento box with a little sadness in her eyes.
"Kagami isn't going, though. I wish she would; I don't know how much fun I can have without her," she said.
Konata raised an eyebrow.
"Kagamin? Why isn't she going?" the otaku asked. Tsukasa shook her head.
"She said that she just doesn't want to go. She's not interested."
"Typical party pooper Kagami," Konata said impishly.
"But my parents don't want to just leave her alone at home. They aren't sure what to do with her. We might not even go at all because of it," the purple-haired girl explained.
"Nonsense, she can stay with me," Konata said simply. Tsukasa looked curiously at her friend.
"Really? You'd let her stay at your place?"
"Sure. No problem."
"That's a good idea. That way Kagami won't be left alone and you won't have to stay behind," Miyuki clarified.
"And plus, I get someone to play Street Fighter X Tekken with!" Konata added with girl-gamer fierceness, twiddling her thumbs like she was playing an invisible Xbox controller.
"…Is that the only reason you offered to let her stay with you?" Miyuki asked with a nervous smile.
"A girl can only pawn online strangers for so long," Konata answered matter-of-factly. Tsukasa giggled.
"I'll have to talk to my parents, but I'm sure they'll be okay with it," she said. Konata's eyes lit up.
"Yes! Ryu versus Heihachi! Kagami is sooooo going down!" the avid gamer exclaimed with a fist pump. Miyuki looked nervously at Tsukasa.
"I hope your sister can survive two days alone with Konata."
"Me too, Miyuki. Me too…"
"What? Spend the next two days with Konata?" Kagami yelled incredulously.
Her parents had just dropped the bomb on her, and Tsukasa sat innocently at the dining room table, watching the scene play out.
"Well, you didn't want to spend your birthday with us at Tokyo Disneyland like we had planned, and we really didn't want to force you to go…" Kagami's mother said.
"And we couldn't leave you home alone," her father put in.
"I would have stood a better chance alone than I would at Konata's house," Kagami said dryly, crossing her arms.
"Onee-chan, Konata is our friend," Tsukasa reminded her slightly older twin.
"Hmph, is she? We barely see her anymore. She hasn't been hanging out after school with us for weeks."
"Well…she's probably busy with something."
"Ha! Like what? Challenging the Pokemon League?"
Tsukasa tilted her head curiously.
"Why are you so mad at her? It's not like she's ignoring us completely. We still see her during school, and she calls us at home a lot," the youngest Hiiragi reasoned. Kagami didn't answer her twin; instead she turned with a huff and left the dining room.
I just wish she'd think about someone…something else for once in her life, Kagami thought to herself as she shuffled to her room.
The next day, the Hiiragi family was en route to the Izumi house, getting ready to drop off Kagami.
"Last chance to change your mind, Kagami," her father said from the driver's seat of the family car.
All four Hiiragi sisters were crammed into the backseat. Tsukasa was desperately hugging her older twin and making the best puppy dog eyes she could.
"Pleeeeeeeease change your mind, onee-chan!" she pleaded. "It's our birthday, it won't be the same without you!"
Kagami gave Tsukasa an apologetic smile.
"I'm sorry, Tsukasa. I just don't think I'd have a good time, and I wouldn't want to bring you down. We can have a late birthday celebration when you get back, okay?"
Tsukasa sadly stuck out her lower lip, but nodded and let go of her sister just as they pulled up to Konata's house. Kagami ruffled Tsukasa's hair, then said her goodbyes to her parents and two other sisters before getting out of the car. She waved after them as they drove away, then hoisted her overnight backpack onto her shoulders. She sighed as she stood alone on the Izumi's driveway.
Well, here we go…
"Kagamiiiin," said a lazy voice behind her. She jumped a foot into the air and spun around to find herself face to face with Konata.
"Yo!" Konata said coolly. Kagami was surprised that she had appeared so suddenly.
"Konata! What are you doing here?" she asked.
"I live here, remember? You got everything you need?" Konata said as she eyed Kagami's backpack. Kagami didn't answer, she just nodded once.
"Right then!" Konata exclaimed as she grabbed Kagami's hand and ran towards the house with her. "A wild Xbox appears! Konata used Double Team! It's super effective!"
Once again, Kagami sighed as she was pulled along by Konata.
"It's going to be a long two days…"
After seven rounds of being pummeled at Street Fighter, Kagami finally gave up and chucked her controller onto the floor.
"Not to fret, Kagami. A little online training and soon you'll be the queen of street fighting!" Konata said encouragingly. Kagami flopped backwards onto the floor and stared up at the ceiling.
"I don't feel like being the queen of street fighting right now," she muttered.
There she goes again, thinking about video games and stuff…
With a frown, Konata crawled over to her friend and peered intently at her.
"What's up with you?" she questioned curiously.
"Nothing. I just don't want to play Street Fighter anymore."
You know, now that I think about it, Konata hasn't said anything to Tsukasa or I about our birthday…it figures that she would forget. Don't know why I'm surprised.
Konata suddenly got a devious gleam in her eyes.
"Well, if you don't want to play Street Fighter…"
With a dramatic whirl, she whipped out two card decks and pointed her finger at the lavender-haired girl on the floor.
"Kagami Hiiragi, I challenge you to a duel!" she yelled enthusiastically.
"What? Since when do you play Yu-Gi-Oh?" Kagami asked.
"Since one of my Shonen Jumps came with an Egyptian God Card," Konata answered candidly.
Despite being more annoyed than usual with Konata's aloofness and one-track mind, Kagami couldn't help but laugh.
"Alright, you're on. But I get the deck with the God Card," she said as she rocked herself upright. Konata gasped at the demand.
"Are you kidding? After all the hardship and turmoil I went through to obtain it?" she cried overdramatically. Kagami snatched one of the decks out of her hand and shuffled through it, looking for the card in question.
"Pft, you went to the store and bought a Shonen Jump. That's the extent of your 'hardship'…aha! Found it! I get this deck!"
"Kagamin, you're so cruel…"
The sun was just starting to set as Kagami won her third straight duel against Konata, who was wide-eyed with disbelief.
"How could you beat me? You didn't even use the Winged Dragon of Ra once!" Konata was stunned.
"This game is about using your skills to win with what you have, not holding out for the most power and strength," Kagami lectured with a know-it-all grin.
"Not cool…it's one thing to have the advantage, but to not even use it…" the disappointed otaku mumbled to herself.
"Can't be helped," Kagami playfully stuck out her tongue.
Konata's house was empty except for her and Kagami, and in the relative silence a sudden ringing could be heard coming from the living room.
"Hmmm…oh, that's the phone," it took Konata a few seconds to figure out where the noise was coming from.
She stood up and leisurely made her way to the living room, with Kagami following behind.
"You could make an effort to get to the phone a little faster…" she scolded as her friend picked up the receiver.
"Why bother? They'll call back if it's important. Hello? …Oh, Tsukasa!"
"Tsukasa?" Kagami's eyes lit up at the sound of her sister's name.
"Yeah? Oh, nothing, just hanging out with your sister. Huh? Yep, she's right here," Konata handed the phone off to Kagami, who cheerily answered it.
"Hi Tsukasa!"
Kagami winced as her sister answered her back.
"Onee-chan!" the younger twin practically sobbed into her end of the phone. "I miss you!"
"Sis, you've only been gone 8 hours…at least wait until it's been half a day…" While Kagami talked to Tsukasa, she watched Konata shuffle down the hallway and make her way back to her bedroom. "So how's it going? Did you get there alright?"
"Uh-huh! We're checked into the hotel here. I'm sharing a room with Inori and Matsuri. What about you? Having fun with Konata?" Tsukasa asked. Kagami didn't answer; she just let out a little groan and looked up at the ceiling.
"Onee-chan? You're not still mad at her, are you?" Tsukasa inquired.
"*sigh* I don't know what it is. You'd think that I'd be used to her one-track mind by now, but something about it is just annoying the heck out of me. She never thinks about anything else. You know she hasn't mentioned anything about our birthday? Has she said anything to you?"
"Well…"
"Hmph. I knew it," Kagami muttered.
Konata returned to the living room, sporting a beanie, jacket, and wearing a small messenger bag across her shoulder.
"Kagami, I'm going out," she said plainly, heading for the front door.
"Huh? What? –Hang on a second Tsukasa—"Kagami lowered the phone from her ear. "Where do you think you're going?"
"Not far. Got an errand to run," she put her hand on the door handle.
"You're just gonna leave me here alone?" Kagami asked incredulously.
"I'll be right back. I'll be home before my dad gets here. Feel free to play any of my video games or read manga. Oh, but if you mess with my saved files, it won't be pretty," Konata said with a smile before she opened the door and left the house.
Kagami just stood there, mouth open, staring at the door Konata just exited from. She put the phone back up to her ear.
"Well, Konata just left me here to go run some stupid errand…"she grumbled.
"Kagami—"
"Look, I don't really feel like talking anymore. I'll see you the day after tomorrow, ok?"
"….O-okay, if you say so…" Tsukasa said quietly.
The girls hung up then, and Kagami leaned against the wall and slid down to the floor with a heavy sigh.
"It's the day before my birthday, and my entire family is miles away…I wish Konata would pay a little more attention to me…"
