I've got no idea where I'm going with this. I'm rusty, I'm stressed out, and I just want to get some damn lines of text posted here for once. Anyways, just relax and enjoy.

Also, to anyone who might've gotten an author alert from me and stumbled upon this—yeah, it's lucky star, tough shit, I like what I like. So if you're gonna say something, at least make it funny.

Ok, now relax and enjoy.

The week before school starts is unexpectedly... calm. Things are about as exciting as the commute to Saitama—slow, monotonous, suffocatingly crowded. It seems as though everybody came to try on their school uniforms, judging from the groups of girls piling into empty classrooms with unopened plastic bags under their arms.

Kagami manages to catch their conversations in passing, something about how cute the uniforms are, then something about how heavy the fabric is, how summer is right around the corner and how can anyone survive the heat like this? She just doesn't see the big deal. They'll be indoors most of the time, anyways.

"Huh," Kagami frowns, barely able to make out the kanji of her name over the heads of the mob. "Class 2-B. I don't think we're in the same homeroom."

"Oh..."

She throws her arm around Tsukasa's drooping shoulders, silently festering with rage. Put in extra hours at the shrine, make sure to pray twice a day, and this is how she's rewarded?

Her stomach churns at the thought of an entire year alone with a bunch of strangers, going through the hard work of making friends again when all she really wants is to take care of Tsukasa and read her novels in peace. That's... not to say she dislikes people. She just likes her space; maintaining friendships takes work, and honestly, she'll need all the energy possible for school these next three years.

"Oi! Hiiragi!" Kusakabe's raucous voice calls out to her, and Kagami almost groans at the thought of dealing with her over-abundance of energy right now.

She pops out of the crowd with Minigeshi in tow, waving her arm frantically as though Kagami wasn't standing just ten feet from her. "Oi!"

"Hey," Kagami deadpans, admittedly amused at Misao's offended reaction.

"Geez! After all the support I gave you last year, too!"

"... Support for what, exactly?"

"Too bad we're not in the same class this time," She says, ignoring the older twin's question and going for an arm-pat. "Don't worry, Hiiragi—me and Ayano will take care of imouto-san for you!"

Tsukasa looks scandalized, and Kagami is lost. "Huh?"

"Yep! Your sister's gonna be with us this year!"

Oh...

Ayano steps forward, smiling in that angelic manner only she could pull off. "Misa-chan was excited—and then she realized that it wasn't your name on the list, but your sister's."

Misao's jaw drops halfway to the floor. "Y-You promised you wouldn't tell!"

"Eheh... Sorry..."

Kagami forces a smile.

Misao and Ayano are good people, and she can trust them to keep Tsukasa company, though she's not sure whether Tsukasa will ever get used to Kusakabe's energetic personality; she's also not sure how she feels about a blabbermouth like Tsukasa being around somebody as sneaky and unforgiving as Misao.

Ayano catches her eye and winks, as though in reassurance.

"Well, imouto," Misao exclaims after catching her breath, grabbing Tsukasa's hand and giving it a hard shake. "I'm Misao, and that girl there is Ayano. Since we'll be in the same class, and you happen to be Hiiragi's sister, I figured we could go for some ice-cream or something—you can come too, Hiiragi! Yeah?"

"Um," Tsukasa stammers, glancing at Kagami helplessly. The older twin just crosses her arms and shrugs. "S-Sure..."

Misao laughs cheerfully while Ayano looks on in mild confusion. "I never agreed to this..."

"Oh, boo!" She turns to Kagami, eyes shimmering hopefully, and the twin can't help but relent.

"Fine."

Misao cheers, and the four end up going to a new ice-cream shop close by. Unfortunately, nobody remembered to bring any money, so they all settle for a trip to the Kusakabe house. They have no ice-cream, but fruit is just as good.

Tsukasa was reluctant at first—she's always been the least adventurous of the Hiiragi's—but by the end of the day she's laughing alongside Ayano at Misao's horrid impersonation of Kagami, who simply looks on with mild annoyance.

"Knock it off," Kagami grumbles, pelting Misao on the head with a grape. She shifts onto her elbow and smirks, watching the fanged girl scramble for the grape before the three-second rule ran out.

"So, good luck with the, ah, new year and all," Misao says through a mouthful of grapes. "Sucks we couldn't all be in the same class."

Really... That again? Just when she thought she'd forgotten about it, too.

Kagami shakes her head and sighs as a way of appeasement, but what she really feels about it is so much more emotional and embarassing and stupid and god, why didn't the prayers work? Why doesn't Tsukasa look as disturbed by this as she, herself, feels?

"... Hiiragi! You listening?"

Kagami blinks at the chocolate chip flung onto her shirt. "Yeah," she mutters, chucking a second grape at Misao.