Disclaimer: The characters used herein belong to their respective owner(s). I am simply using them for entertainment purposes and to poke fun. No infringement is intended.
"Mmmmh, that was a good session," Konata said with a grin as she logged out of her MMORPG.
She and her group had raided the Dark Forest of Onderon and defeated Elvira, the corrupt Spider Queen. Sadly, the loot hadn't contained anything useful for her character, but the mage of their group had scored a new staff that vastly boosted his intelligence.
Spreading her arms and stretching her back, she felt several vertebrae jump back into place with muffled popping sounds, sending a wave of warmth through her body. "Aaah."
An instant message window opened up on her computer screen.
"Heh. A master gamer's work is never done," Konata mumbled, clicking on the window to stop its blinking. As she read the message, her good mood vanished like a snowflake in her palm.
Good morning, Konata! Up all night playing games again? I hope you've done your homework for the weekend.
"Curse you, Kuroi-sensei," Konata whined. "Why do you always have to intrude upon my game time and ruin my fun with your real-world concerns?"
She quickly typed a response, her fingers flying over the keys with a hardcore gamer's ease and confidence.
Sure thing, sensei! ;-)
Don't lie to me! I'll be checking it on Monday, and if you haven't done your work, I'll give you double the amount!
"Hey! That's not fair!" Konata grumbled.
Don't worry, sensei! It's taken care of! ^_^
It better be! Now you better get some sleep. If I catch you napping in my class I'll rip your head off! See you on Monday.
The status bar of Kuroi's contact turned grey, indicating that she had logged off. "Damn you, sensei." Konata hung her head. "You didn't even let me say good bye."
Now that Kuroi had reminded her of her homework and Konata had foolishly said that she'd done it, she didn't have any other choice but to actually do it. If she showed up on Monday without having completed her assignments, Kuroi would kick her ass!
The problem with that was that Konata had spent the time in class reading manga instead of paying attention to Kuroi's lecture. Therefore she didn't have a snowball's chance in hell of completing her homework.
There was only one solution.
"I'll have to ask Kagami~n to let me copy her homework," Konata mumbled, smirking to herself as she imagined the tsundere's likely reaction to such a request. Her eye-lids drooped, and Konata quickly shook herself. "But first, I have to get some sleep."
Konata woke up well after noon, had a bite to eat, cleaned up and showered. Then she called Kagami. The pohne rang three times before her friend picked up.
"No, you can't copy my homework!"
Ah, that's my Kagami~n, Konata thought. Not even a 'Hello'. Such a tsundere.
"Will you stop calling me that! You know I hate it! And I am not your Kagami!"
Konata blinked. "Hm? Did I say that out loud?"
"Yes!" Kagami growled.
"Mmm," Konata purred, "so tsuntsun."
"I'm hanging up now."
"All right, all right. I'll stop," Konata relented. "But in exchange you have to let me come over and study with you."
"Absolutely not."
"Come on, Kagami~~n!" Konata whined. "Kuroi's been bugging me! She threatened to give me extra work if I showed up on Monday without my homework!"
"It's not my problem if you waste your weekend playing your strange online games instead of doing your work," Kagami said without even an ounce of compassion for Konata's plight.
"But I wasn't!" Konata said, and winced as soon as the words left her mouth. She had no idea why she put up a protest. After all, Kagami was dead on, and Konata was usually proud of her slacker habits and took every opportunity to rub her tsundere friend's nose in them. It always got her deliciously riled up.
Well, there was only one thing for Konata to do: run with it.
"I had to take care of my Dad! He was really sick! He almost died! He had a high fever and couldn't leave the bed! I was so busy taking care of him I had no time to sleep, let alone do my homework!"
There was silence on the line. Finally, after several seconds, Kagami sighed. "Fine. You can come over."
Konata smirked. Hah! She bought it! "Thanks, Kagami~n!" she crooned. "You're the best!"
"Whatever. See you in a bit."
And, like Kuroi had done that morning, Kagami hung up without giving Konata a chance to say her own good byes.
"Good morning, Kona-chan!" Tsukasa waved at Konata as she approached the twins on the train platform.
"Yo, Tsukasa-chan," Konata greeted the younger twin with a nonchalant flick of her wrist.
"Good morning, Konata," Kagami said.
Instead of returning the older twin's greeting, Konata grinned at her. Kagami managed to ignore it and act cool for several seconds before she started squirming. Several seconds after that she scowled, opening her mouth. That was when Kagami pounced. She closed distance between herself and the twin-tailed girl with three short steps and jumped her, enveloping her in an enthusiastic hug.
"And hello to you too, Kagami~n!" she said, rubbing her face into Kagami's chest.
Kagami stumbled back and almost fell on her ass, but managed to remain standing. "Will you get off me!" She grabbed Konata by her hair and pulled, but the smaller girl refused to let go. Teasing her tsundere was too much fun! "Come on, stop it!" Kagami cried. "People are staring!"
Konata let go, stepping back. She didn't want to upset Kagami too much this early in the day. She peered at the flustered girl through half-lidded eyes, her lips stretched into a self-satisfied grin. "What's the matter, Kagami~n? Can't a girl give her best friend a proper greeting?"
"Sh- shut up!" Kagami snapped. "You're not my best friend! Don't go around blurting out stuff like that!"
"Oh? Then why did you let me copy your homework, Kagami~n?"
Kagami spluttered. "Don't flatter yourself! I just felt sorry for you!"
Konata snickered. "So tsundere."
Huffing, Kagami crossed her arms over her chest and turned away.
"Uhm, how is your father, Kona-chan?" Tsukasa asked after several moments of awkward silence.
"He's fine!" Konata waved it off. "Just a bit of a stomach bug."
"That's good."
Another awkward silence fell over their little group, but before it could stretch out too long, their train arrived.
The trio quickly boarded the train and were on their way to school.
For once, Kuroi-sensei arrived on time and began teaching without incident.
"All right, slackers!" she said. "The weekend's over. Did you all do your homework?"
"Sure thing, sensei!" Konata said.
"Oh really?" Kuroi asked with a raised brow. "Then you won't mind coming up here and letting me have a look at it, Izumi."
"No problem!" Konata took out her work and brought it to Kuroi's desk. "Here, check it out! All done!"
Kuroi grinned at her student as she accepted the notes. Her grin quickly grew strained as she leafed through them. "Konata," she growled, "did you do this yourself?"
"Of course I did!"
"Don't lie to me!" Kuroi exclaimed, punching Konata on the head. "There's no way you did this yourself! All the answers are correct!"
"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?" Konata demanded, rubbing the lump growing out of her skull.
"Because you clearly didn't do this yourself and copied somebody else's notes instead, I'll give you an extra assignment!"
"What? But that's not fair!" Konata whined.
"Shut up and return to your seat!" Kuroi said, waving her fist threateningly at Konata.
Grumbling, Konata picked up her notes and shuffled back to her seat.
The lunch bell rang, but Konata was in no mood to eat. She slumped in her seat, her upper body resting on her desk, and did her best to blend out her surroundings.
"Kona-chan, won't you come sit with us for lunch?" Tsukasa asked.
"I'm not hungry," Konata mumbled without turning to look at her friend.
"Uhm, okay. Hope you feel better soon."
Konata heard Tsukasa walk away. Then the younger Hiiragi twin and Miyuki started up a conversation, but Konata couldn't make out the topic. Not that she cared what they were talking about, anyway.
"What's up with Konata?"
That was Kagami's voice! Konata perked up. Time to have some fun!
"Kagami~n!" she wailed, jumping from her seat. She rushed towards her friend and crushed her in a hug, burying her face in Kagami's shoulder as she cried crocodile tears. "It's horrible!"
"K- Konata! S- stop it!"
Konata quickly let go and looked at Kagami with the most pitiful expression she could muster. "Kuroi-sensei gave me extra work!"
Blushing, Kagami tried to put on an indifferent expression and rolled her eyes "What did you do?"
"Nothing!" Konata wailed, squeezing out a few more tears. "I just showed her my finished homework and she gave me extra work!"
"Really?" Kagami asked, her tone indicating that she didn't believe a word Konata said.
"Actually, sis," Tsukasa spoke up timidly, "Kuroi-sensei found out that Konata had copied her homework from you. The extra assignment is punishment for not doing the homework herself."
"Hah!" Kagami laughed. "Serves you right!"
Konata sniffled. "Kagami~n, you're cruel!"
"Don't look at me like that! You won't get any sympathy from me!"
"How can you say that?" Konata asked. "Now's really not the time to be tsuntsun. This is the perfect opportunity to let out your deredere side and show me you care."
"But I don't care, Konata," Kagami said with a cruel smirk.
Konata hung her head. "If that's the case, I'll just go back to my seat and wallow in my misery!"
"Go right ahead."
"Fine!"
Konata shuffled back to her seat and slumped over her desk. As she closed her eyes she heard Kagami ask her sister, "So, did you get an extra assignment for copying your homework as well?"
"Hehehe. No."
Growling at the unfairness of it all, Konata tried to block out the rest of the world and take a nap.
After what seemed like an eternity to Konata, the school day finally ended. She packed up her things and left the classroom, scowling at all her happy, extra assignment-free classmates. She joined her friends Tsukasa and Miyuki at their usual spot in the hall where they waited for Kagami to join them before they went home together.
Tsukasa and Miyuki were talking about dentists and how having chocolate flavoured drills would make the whole experience more bearable. Or something like that. Konata wasn't paying much attention, still upset that Kuroi-sensei had given her extra work. She just wanted Kagami to finally show up so they could all head home.
"Hey guys!" As if summoned by Konata's thoughts, the twin-tailed girl appeared.
Tsukasa and Miyuki returned her greeting, but Konata wasn't in the mood for pleasantries.
"Come on, Konata, don't tell me you're still upset over the extra work Kuroi-sensei gave you?"
Scowling, Konata only sniffed in response.
The door to their classroom opened, and Kuroi-sensei came out. "Jeez, what is this," Konata grumbled, "have I gained the power to summon people with my thoughts or something?"
Kagami heaved a long-suffering sigh. "What weird thing are you talking about now?"
"Forget it."
"Hey! What are you guys still doing here?" Kuroi asked them.
"We were just waiting for Kagami," Tsukasa said.
"I'm sorry for being late," Kagami said. "I had clean up duty today."
"That's quite all right, Hiiragi-san," Miyuki said. "We didn't mind waiting for you."
"What's up with Izumi? Why's she looking like her tank's strength was permanently debuffed?"
Konata scowled. As if she didn't know!
Kagami darted a quick glance at her vertically challenged friend. Biting her lip, she hesitantly spoke up, "Uhm, sensei, can't you let it go this once? Kagami had to stay up all weekend to care for her sick father. He was in bed with a bad stomach bug. She really didn't have time to do the homework herself."
Konata perked up a bit at that, peering at her friend with wide, shining eyes. Kagami was standing up for her! She really is my best friend! Konata thought.
"Hahahahaha!" Kuroi broke down laughing, clutching her sides. "Is that what she told you? She had to care for her sick father? Hahaha!"
"What?" Tsukasa asked, looking lost. "What's so funny?"
"I'm sorry, Tsukasa-san, but I don't know," Miyuki said.
"Izumi wasn't taking care of her old man on the weekend," Kuroi said between laughs, wiping tears from her eyes, "she was playing video games!"
Kagami growled, clenching her hands. Konata peered at her out of the corner of her eyes, afraid to look at her directly, not wanting to be turned into stone by Kagami's Gorgon-stare. The twin-tailed girl's eyebrow was twitching as she glared at Konata. "Playing video games?"
"Now, don't get upset, Kagami," Konata tried to placate the tsundere.
"Don't get upset? You told me you had to take care of your sick father! You lied to me!"
"It was the only thing I could come up with!" Konata explained. "I couldn't think of anything else that would overcome your tsuntsun side to let me copy your homework!"
"DIE!" Kagami jumped at Konata, her arms raised, ready to claw her eyes out.
Konata dodged Kagami's clumsy lunge and sped off down the hall. "Help! A tsundere in berserk mode is after me!"
"Come back here, you lying midget!"
"Oh man, I don't get this." Konata threw down her pen in disgust and rolled onto her back. She'd been trying to do her homework for an hour now, but she didn't understand any of it!
It was time for Plan B.
She picked up her phone and hit the speed dial for Kagami. The phone rang...
And rang...
And rang.
Frowning, Konata hit the end call button. "Great. What am I supposed to do now?"
As if in answer, her phone beeped, indicating a text message.
No, I won't help you and I won't let you copy from me. Stop calling. I'm turning my phone off now. Kagami.
Great. You tell one little lie and everybody hates you.