Lucky Villa
Summary: The gang spends the summer in an isolated villa. But who invited the trigger-happy cupid? A series of love-stories told in short drabbles, most of them silly.
Genre: Romance, Humor
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Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
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Prelude: The Setting
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"What terrifying secrets awaits our heroes in this villa that's been long since hidden away from civilization?"
Kagami groaned. "The movie-voice doesn't make it any better, just cut it out already."
"But Kagamin~" Konata pouted.
"You've scared them enough already." the twin-tailed girl gestured towards the members of their group that was currently hiding behind anything that was available to them.
Yutaka was peeking out from behind a slightly uncomfortable Minami, and Tsukasa and Miyuki were currently – with varied success – trying to hide behind each other.
"Fine." Konata crossed her arms to show what she thought about that, but Kagami wasn't paying attention.
"Heh, the midget got scolded." Misao grinned at the sight.
"Misa-chan, behave." Ayano was smiling as well, but at least she had the good manners to try and hide it.
"Fine." Misao crossed her arms to show what she thought about that, but Ayano flat-out ignored her.
It'd all started a few days back when Konata had asked Miyuki what she was planning to do during the summer break. Somewhere along the line, it'd come to light that she currently had exclusive access to a villa somewhere out in the middle of nowhere, which in turn had resulted in their present situation.
Kagami wasn't really sure how she'd gotten roped into coming along, but it was easy to remember how they'd convinced their families, namely because she was walking behind them.
"How much further is it anyway?" Kuroi didn't seem all that bothered, despite being used as a pack-mule.
"Not much longer, just above that ridge." Miyuki answered with a calm smile.
"Really? Yay!" Misao threw her arms up into the air and took off at a speed that nobody even tried to match. The only reason that the athletic girl hadn't been the one asking the question was that Ayano had told her that 'they'd get there once they got there' a few hours back when she'd been pestering all of them with variations of that very question every five minutes.
Kagami chuckled at the memory, say what you will about her calm friend, but she could reel in Misao's childishness with enough ease to make a fisherman lift his hat.
XXX
"Dibs on this room!" Konata launched herself at the gigantic bed, bouncing softly upon landing.
"Umm... Miyuki?" Kagami looked at her friend.
"Yes?"
"There doesn't seem to be enough beds for everyone..." Kagami was blushing, something which Miyuki was quick to mirror once she understood what that would mean for them.
Some people would have to share a bed.
"Kagamin~! Come and sleep with me~!" Konata called with an alluring voice from the comforts of the bed.
"Shut up!" Kagami's face was somehow managing to become even redder from the suggestion.
After some discussion, a lot of innuendos, and quite a few nosebleeds from Hiyori, it was decided who would share a room – and bed – with who.
Ayano and Misao, since apparently they had gotten used to doing so at some point during all of their sleepovers in the past. Tsukasa and Kagami, because they were siblings. Konata and Yutaka, because Yutaka was the only one who didn't run the risk of being groped by Konata. Miyuki and Minami, because of their 'childhood friend'-status. Patricia and Hiyori, due to their admittance to having strange sleeping habits. And Kuroi with a bed of her own, because she was an adult.
It didn't take long for any of them to pack up, and they quickly found themselves exploring the place that they'd be spending the next few months in.
It was big.
Really big.
The kind of big that made Kagami seriously wonder how it could possibly only possess six bedrooms, with as many beds.
Of course, she was apparently the only one who seemed to be paying attention to that aspect of the building. The rest of the gang had different things in mind.
Tsukasa and Ayano were currently exploring the kitchen with happy squeals of fascination at what they found. Minami and Yutaka were exploring the garden with Cherry. Hiyori was watching them with hungry eyes and sketching away in her notebook. Patricia, Kuroi and Konata were all declaring their praise to whatever god had brought them here, whilst drooling over what seemed to be a myriad of gaming systems. Misao was running from one end of the house to the other, showing off a disturbing amount of energy considering how long they'd walked before arriving here. And Miyuki was trying to answer any question anyone had about the house.
It was chaos.
And it'd probably get worse.
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A Night of Marshmallows
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Sleep was important. Hiyori knew this, but that didn't make acquiring it any easier.
Suffocation might lead to a very honest unconsciousness, but it didn't lead to sleep.
Struggling to pull herself out of Patricia's unfairly strong arms, Hiyori absently wondered what the mortuary report would say. 'Suffocated in a marshmallow hell'. She was certain that there were people out there willing to give their left arm in order to go down like that.
Unfortunately, Hiyori wasn't one of them, and breathing was becoming very difficult.
She wasn't entirely certain if she'd managed to do something desperate in her last moments before blackness stole away her vision, but the arms slackened enough that she could draw one final breath of the glorious air before her consciousness disappeared into oblivion.
XXX
She woke up to a blurry view of... something blurry. It was really hard to tell, and she wasn't even entirely certain of her own name at this moment in time, so she thought she was allowed some leeway.
The blurry something made some sort of unintelligible noise, moving around in a slightly dizzying way.
"-yori-..." The noise wasn't loud, instead almost peculiarly gentle.
Somewhere, in the deepest depths of her mind, a twitch of anger emerged, a sudden irrational urge to strangle the gentle blur. Oddly enough, this twitch of anger was accompanied by the disjointed memories of impossible softness. And lack of air.
Narrowing her eyes in thought, she tried to make sense of what the blur was doing.
"Hiyori? Are you alright?" The guiltily worried voice of the blur emerged.
Hiyori blinked, the exact events of the previous night snapping into her awareness all at once.
"Patty..." She croaked, her voice barely audible through her throat. "I'm going to kill you."
The blur paused, apparently confused by this declaration of intent, and Hiyori took full advantage.
Crashing into the other girl and tackling her to the floor, Hiyori did her best to strangle the bigger girl. Thankfully for both Hiyori's criminal record and Patricia's continued survival however, Patricia managed to avoid death and instead smashed the door open and ran.
Hiyori, her eye twitching, her throat sore, and her vision tinted a dim red to go along with the blurriness of missing her glasses, took off after her.
"Get back here so I can kill you!" She roared.
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Ayano raised an eyebrow as the two friends rushed past her in the hallways, wondering why in the world they were acting like Misao so early in the day. Not even Misao could be bothered to act like Misao this early.
Unless you considered that Misao-like included acting uncharacteristically similar to a zombie at this time of the day... which it technically was, but the point still stood.
Shaking her head at the paradox that she'd accidentally stepped into, Ayano considered taking off after them and making sure neither girl got themselves injured.
"It's your own fault for being so huggable!" Patricia yelled over her shoulder.
Ayano turned on her heel and wandered off into the kitchen instead.
There was no way that she was going to get involved in what could for all she knew be a lover's spat, this early in the morning. No way in hell.
Damn, she needed coffee. Lots and lots of coffee.
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A Day For Cooking
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The humming noises that were already emanating from the kitchen proved to Ayano that she'd, indeed ended up a bit late due to Misao's insistence on trying to skate down the stairs by use of... something, Ayano hadn't really been paying attention at the time.
He didn't hold grudges very well, but Ayano was fairly certain that the boy she loved would be somewhat bothered if he were to realize that she hadn't stopped his little sister that one time that she'd actually managed to kill herself.
He was such a nice person.
Smiling slightly at the thought, Ayano opened the door to the kitchen, revealing a short-haired girl with rolled-up sleeves and an apron, happily chopping the vegetables.
The girl knew what she was doing, that much would've been obvious to anyone. Which was actually quite amusing in that this was the one place that her older – and more responsible – sister could never master.
They'd gotten two very different skill sets. One the hard-working and strict, the other the air-headed and innocent.
Still, from what she knew of their interactions, it was highly likely that the reason for their differences were simply that they'd taken on roles suitable to them at some point, and then just sort of run with it until they hit the extremes.
"Do you need some help?"
Tsukasa snapped out of her humming with a small squeak, apparently only realizing that she was there once she'd opened her mouth, and then blushing a little at being surprised.
However, she was quick to recover, and Ayano was directed away on her tasks with well-practiced ease.
Say what you will about her, but the girl definitely knew how to cook.
XXX
Misao stared blankly at the wall, silent, her fork unmoving in her mouth.
"I-Is something wrong, Kusakabe-san?" Tsukasa asked hesitantly.
Everyone looked at the athletic girl in confusion as she slowly removed the fork, chewed, and then swallowed.
"This is-... this is better than Ayano's cooking." Misao admitted slowly, staring down at her food in confusion.
"Ah... umm... thank you?" Tsukasa curiously tilted her head, trying to figure out what was going on.
Ayano turned away from the table, a hand covering her mouth and her shoulders shaking from silent laughter. She'd known her best friend long enough to have a good idea where this was going.
"Imouto." Misao turned towards their chef with a serious expression. "Marry me."
Kagami was upset about that, Konata was amused, Ayano's laughter was rapidly becoming audible, Hiyori found a notepad and a pen, Yutaka was innocently confused, Minami was blushing, Patricia was grinning like a loon, Kuroi was eying the alcohol, Miyuki was surprised, and Tsukasa tilted her head further in confusion.
Perhaps thankfully, for her sister's innocence, Kagami declared that Misao should shut up and eat her food without spouting weird things, before Tsukasa could ask what she was talking about.
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Everyday
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The chaos of their original entry into the large house had thankfully dissipated after the first few days. Though it was non-verbally agreed that nobody would mention the 'Cherry vs Misao'-incident ever again.
Kagami was also curious to note that their sleeping arrangements had been having both good and bad effects.
Good, Tsukasa was actually getting up early from being accidentally shaken awake when Kagami got up to start her day, and Konata went to bed at somewhat more sensible hours since she didn't want to wake her cousin once she returned for bed.
Bad, Ayano was complaining about receiving bite-marks from a dreaming Misao who'd been muttering something about meatballs, Kagami was starting to worry that Tsukasa's sleepiness might be rubbing off on her – quite literally, the girl had a tendency to cling to things when she slept – and Hiyori and Patricia's sleeping habits seemed to have caused some sort of terrifying resonance between them, resulting in... unpleasant scenarios.
The 'Sudden Ero Death Cosplay Karaoke'-incident could, unfortunately, never be unseen.
Thankfully, most of the more innocent of the girls had been busy elsewhere at the time and had thus escaped unharmed. And unmolested.
Other than that, convincing the rest of the girls to actually do their homework was proving... just about as exhausting as usual, actually.
Kagami sighed. She'd hoped that they would be more inclined towards actually working if they had a teacher capable of staring them down within their vicinity. Obviously, Kagami had forgotten something very important. Kuroi was 'Kuroi' before she was 'a teacher', and she wasn't really the most responsible of people.
Konata kept distracting her by insinuating things, Tsukasa kept falling asleep, Misao kept complaining, Ayano kept being interrupted by having to keep Misao in line, Hiyori kept sketching things that had nothing to do with homework, Yutaka kept being fussed over by Minami, and Miyuki kept being distracted by the rest of the gang's antics.
Basically, they got nowhere. But, it wasn't like they could say that Kagami wasn't trying to help them out, so at least she would be able to easily shift the blame if it came to that.
XXX
Minami straightened slowly from the flower bed, brushing away the sweat from her brow before glancing back at her as she approached.
Minami could name all of the seemingly endless amounts of flowers that surrounded them, with little to no effort. And after Yutaka had confessed to her own lack of experience with gardening, Minami had made it something of a personal duty to teach her.
Smiling slightly at the memory of her doing just that, Yutaka sat down the watering can on the flat stones.
It hadn't taken them long before the two of them had incorporated gardening into their usual routine, besides walking Cherry.
Hiyori had come over to see how they were doing every now and then, but would usually just end up getting distracted by sketching something in her notebook. The rest of them had different things to do. Games to play, food to cook, Misaos to reel in, errands to run... the list went on. And so the two of them would usually spend this time alone, toiling away under the shining sun.
Minami was making sure that she didn't overexert herself, and that there was always water around in order to keep her from getting dehydrated.
It was a beautiful day, the sky was blue, the sun was warm, the breeze was pleasantly cool, the birds were chirping playfully in the trees, and Minami was smiling at her with a grateful warmth as she made her way over.
Truly, a wonderful day.
XXX
Being out in the middle of nowhere, playing around with her friends, away from their homework, and surrounded by girls, wasn't in any way bad for Hiyori's inspiration.
No, Hiyori wasn't tearing her hair out over lack of inspiration, but rather due to the problems that stemmed from not being able to sleep properly. That and the weird inclination towards drawing marshmallows.
Then again, it was entirely possible that the marshmallow-thing was more related to her need for sleep than what she was beginning to suspect, namely, that Patricia was remarkably soft, and that it was distracting her from thinking clearly.
She'd considered talking about it with someone, but there weren't a lot of people that seemed reliable when it came to potential-attraction-towards-a-girl-that's-your-friend. There was Ayano, who always looked ready to help with most issues, but that Hiyori didn't know nearly enough to turn to for advice. There was Kuroi, who might try to attack her for being closer to romance than she was. There was a bunch of completely innocently naive people who would have no idea what she was talking about. There was Kagami, who would most likely get distracted thinking about Konata and end up giving shitty advice. And as Patricia was excluded on behalf of being the girl in question, that only left Konata, who might be seriously inept with seducing girls as she still hadn't managed to even wheedle out a kiss of the girl who was so obviously head-over-heels for her.
Basically, Hiyori could ask anime, or she could ask Konata. And anime would probably give her the better answer.
Thus, Hiyori spent most of her time – that she didn't use for cheerfully drawing the yuri-material that popped up all around her friends, or fiercely battling Patricia for precious air during the nights – paging through every manga she knew of, hoping to find an explanation as she chugged as much coffee as she could manage.
So far, she was coming up on 'crushing' as the explanation of her feelings, which was annoyingly ironic considering how soft being mercilessly 'crushed' by the girl tended to be.
XXX
Kuroi wasn't sure if she should be gleeful or miffed at her current location.
On the one hand, she was spending her holiday with a bunch of kids, supposedly acting as some manner of chaperone for the brats to keep them from killing themselves somehow. On the other hand, she was spending her holiday in a mansion, with fantastic gaming equipment, around people with similar interests.
She didn't regret agreeing, not by a long shot – this was way more entertaining than spending her spare time locked up in her room playing games and eating junk food. It was just that she kind of really wished that Yui was here, since that would've evened out their supposed 'adult-ness' between the two of them, and granting her access to a drinking partner, which was always a nice bonus.
Unfortunately, her friend had been busy with other things, and Kuroi was starting to wonder if it might not have been on the male-front. Which was a good enough reason as any to start inspecting the bottoms of all these nice bottles she'd found.
And kick Konata's ass in videogames, because the girl was hilarious when she lost.
XXX
Misao wasn't the brightest of people, she could admit to that. But she wasn't nearly as stupid as Ayano liked to tease her for being.
So, okay, randomly asking a girl to marry you because they made better food than her oldest and closest friend – never sister-in-law, never! – perhaps hadn't been the most calculated of decisions, but hindsight was twenty-twenty, and how was she supposed to have known that Kagami was perfectly willing to interrupt any time she spent with the short-haired chef in a sisterly attempt of keeping Misao from being too forward. As in: to keep Misao from doing anything that could be remotely classified as 'getting to know the girl of her dreams'.
However, this horribly efficient sisterly protection program also meant that Misao couldn't simply get close enough to Tsukasa to comfortably realize that she'd probably be better as a lifelong friend, rather than as a wife. Thus, Misao was slowly reaching the point where normal people might classify her as stalking the girl.
She wanted to get to know her, and if the only way of doing so was to sneak around her sister and talk with her in random places around the house, then that was what Misao would do. Piece of the background or not, she wasn't going to give up on the maker of such heavenly food without a fight.
XXX
Ayano hid a smile as she directed Kagami to what would most likely be where Misao was 'spending time with' Tsukasa. The girl was so protective of her little sister, it was really quite amusing.
Then again, with someone as seemingly hopelessly innocent as Tsukasa, her current situation of being 'courted' was bound to wake some manner of protective instinct in just about anyone. Except Ayano of course, because Misao looked kind of really happy lately.
Ayano knew that her closest friend hadn't taken her 'seduction' of her big brother especially well. Not badly enough to endanger their friendship, but badly enough that she was probably going to hold a very embarrassing speech during the wedding.
So, when Misao began stalking the youngest Hiiragi like a wide-eyed puppy, when Misao's hyperactive eyes softened every time she caught a glimpse of her, when Misao sometimes threw a half-hearted glare after Kagami for interrupting their time together... Ayano was left with some difficulties in suppressing the urge to cheer her on.
It seemed like her childhood friend had actually managed to develop a crush on someone. It made her feel as if her at times silly – but endlessly adorable – little sister was finally growing up.
Ayano let her control of the feeling slip, allowing a smile to spread subconsciously across her lips. It was a good feeling.
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Shopping For Fireworks
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Kagami sighed and looked up at the blue sky.
"How come I have to help you?"
"Don't you want to eat~?" Konata grinned at her as they walked.
"W-What's that got to do with it? I just don't understand why you couldn't have asked someone else." Any redness that was currently erupting from Kagami's cheeks was definitely a result of the blazing sun.
"Well, Tsukasa and Minegishi are busy, Misakichi is still in recovery, I couldn't find either Hiyorin or Patty, Minami-chan and Yuu-chan were busy, and sensei's got a hangover."
Kagami groaned. "Seriously? Where did she even find the alcohol to get drunk on in the first place?"
"She didn't say... something about it being a trade-secret or something..." Konata shrugged and continued playfully. "Besides, aren't you happy to come with me Kagamin~?"
"Yeah, because carrying grocery bags for kilometers under a blazing sun is certainly much better than what I'd been planning to do with my day." Kagami responded sarcastically.
Konata decided to ignore it, instead merrily skipping along the road like a little kid, so Kagami simply sighed, followed her, and made sure to hide the small, content smile dancing on her lips as well as she could.
XXX
"No." Kagami adamantly refused.
"But Kagami~n! Think of the flags!" Konata whined pitifully.
"Absolutely not." Kagami continued her refusal.
"We've got an adult and everything." Konata tried to be logical.
"She's just old. Not an adult. I refuse to admit that such a person could be classified as an adult." Kagami responded in deadpan.
"Uwaah... Kagami, that's some serious blackmail-material stuff you're spouting." Konata stared at her with wide eyes, before she grinned evilly. "So, please~?"
"Gugh." Kagami winced at screwing up so horribly, Konata was never going to let her live this one down. Gritting her teeth, clenching her fists, she took a deep breath. "Fine." She finally spat out.
"Yay!" Konata gleefully grabbed as many fireworks off the shelf as she could carry.
Kagami just knew that she was going to regret this.
XXX
"You bought fireworks?" Ayano stared at the girl she'd always believed to be responsible.
"She's very persuasive." Kagami tried to defend herself, aiming her classmates ire at the shorter girl.
Ayano narrowed her eyes and wondered if it wasn't very likely that Kagami had said something stupid and accidentally set herself up for blackmail. "Do you have any idea what it's like to convince Misa-chan to act sensibly with anything more dangerous than a piece of string?" She asked her in a deceptively calm voice.
Kagami gulped, obviously not fooled by her supposed calm. "I might have an inkling?"
"And you let Izumi-san buy explosives of any kind, despite this?" Ayano continued her questioning.
"Kuroi-sensei is an adult." Kagami hurriedly blurted out.
"That's not-..." Ayano paused. "There really was blackmail involved, wasn't there?"
Blushing heavily, Kagami nodded slowly, glancing around to make sure nobody had heard her.
Ayano glanced over to the small otaku, feeling the stirrings of something unusual in her chest. The girl had turned an argument from a counter-argument back into an argument, and coupled it with blackmail. It wasn't often she felt admiration for a fellow conspirator.
XXX
Fireworks – Stargazing
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Minami smiled softly as they watched Konata and Kagami chasing each other, yelling, laughing as the night was lit up with numerous lights.
Yutaka leaned deeper into the other girl's arms. The night wasn't really chilly, but it was so much warmer next to the taller girl, and she didn't want to give it up.
Patricia and Hiyori were enjoying themselves with the more explosives fireworks, Kuroi was drinking with an unusually peaceful expression on her face, Miyuki and Ayano were laughing and giggling at Kagami and Konata's antics, Misao was shifting uncomfortably in the kimono she'd been forcefully dressed up in, and Tsukasa had just located those sparkly sticks.
Yutaka didn't know the actual name for them, but thought that it'd be nice to join her.
Possibly almost as nice as curling up into Minami and just breathing.
She wasn't quite sure yet.
XXX
Kuroi sighed as she watched the girls playing.
She felt... unusually old in this company, but not... necessarily in a bad way.
The sake tasted sweet, the light chill of the clear summer night contrasting pleasantly to its warmth. The lights of the fireworks matched those of the silents stars in the sky, and she found herself shaking her head in exasperation as Konata finally caught up to Kagami, tackling her to the ground in a fit of giggles.
Miyuki sat down next to her, looking a little breathless from her own amusement at the antics of her two friends, her face flushed and a gentle smile still lingering on her face.
Kuroi wondered again how strange it was that the girl hadn't been asked out by any of the boys in school. Maybe she was beautiful enough to intimidate them? Made sense, she supposed.
And even if she should probably know better, Kuroi tilted her head and silently offered the girl a sip of her sake.
Miyuki blinked, looking a bit startled, before nodding and lifting the cup to her lips. Her eyes closed and her brows furrowed in a manner that made Kuroi stifle a laugh. It was an acquired taste.
Accepting the cup back without argument, Kuroi smiled as she watched the girl lean back on her hands, breaking her normally politely proper posture.
It was a nice night, she decided as she sipped at the contents of the cup.
XXX
Misao sighed, turning to see the girl currently using her shoulder as a pillow sleeping soundly. Having apparently exhausted herself playing so late into the night. It just couldn't be easy, could it?
She wasn't sure what she felt for the girl. She was... precious, like a gem found amongst the pebbles. A beautiful gem that she wanted to keep all to herself.
She'd heard her brother try to explain what he felt for Ayano a few times, but she was willing to admit that she hadn't really wanted to know about her brother's love-life. In hindsight, she should've strapped him down and pumped him for information, this stuff was important!
Still, even if she – against all odds – really was in love with the youngest Hiiragi, what exactly was she supposed to do about it? She didn't even have the faintest of clues how it was supposed to work with boys, how the hell was she to know what girls were supposed to do?!
There was of course, the option of asking someone else to explain it to her, but she wasn't sure who she could trust with her sort-of-problem.
She might be able to ask Hiyori, since she'd managed to catch glimpses of just what the girl spent most of her time drawing, but she wasn't entirely comfortable with the idea of accidentally involving Tsukasa in what the girl might turn into some kind of bizarre love story.
She didn't trust the lone adult available with anything even remotely delicate, especially not of emotional character – having heard the woman's rants about men being useless.
She didn't really feel like telling Ayano and risk having the girl mock her endlessly for coming to her 'big sister Ayano' for help. She was never going to accept that her brother had been stolen by such a wicked witch! Never! … Even if they were disturbingly compatible.
And she wasn't going to ask the midget for advice, because even if the girl might swing that way, she was clearly incompetent. Misao had seen her interacting with Kagami, and she hadn't been making any headway at all. It would've been sad if the midget hadn't annoyed her so much.
XXX
Kagami slumped down on the porch, trying to catch her breath.
Yes, it'd been fun. A lot of fun. So much fun that she doubted her smile would be slipping from her face for days afterwards. But the night of fireworks had also been utterly exhausting.
Glancing over to where Miyuki had apparently decided to take a nap in Kuroi's lap, Kagami wondered when exactly the two of them had managed to fall asleep. Because Kuroi's head was lulling gently with her breathing, the bottle of sake next to her long since emptied.
Still, at least most of the others were still awake.
Yutaka and Minami had retreated inside once it'd become obvious that Cherry didn't enjoy the sudden explosions filling the night sky. Though, by the time they'd realized that, the dog had apparently already hidden itself underneath one of their beds, forcing the two girls to try and gently coax her back out. Kagami wished them luck, they were going to need it.
Ayano was moving around, helpfully cleaning up any messes they'd caused, shaking her head with a kind smile whenever Kagami tried to move to join her.
Hiyori and Patricia were... doing something. It was hard to tell, but Hiyori seemed to be trying to drown herself in coffee for some reason, whilst Patricia was trying to convince her that they should probably get some sleep. The fact that Hiyori's hands were shaking too much – from the caffeine that she'd already imbued – to actually draw anything was lending credence to Patricia's argument of sleep.
Misao was sitting with her back against a boulder, an arm carelessly draped across Tsukasa's shoulders as Kagami's sister's head settled on her shoulder in blissful sleep. The sight of it made Kagami distinctly aware that her sister was growing up, and that one day in the ever-closing future she might actually fall in love with someone. The idea that that someone might end up being Misao of all people made Kagami feel distinctly unsettled, but there was no way she was going to interfere at this moment. Not with Tsukasa looking so peaceful, and with Misao looking so heartbreakingly conflicted through her careful gentleness towards the sleeping girl.
Kagami might not approve of her classmate trying to 'court' her younger sister, but in the end, it was not actually for her to decide. Tsukasa would either accept the girl's advances, or reject them. And Kagami was beginning to realize that her defense of her sister's innocence wouldn't last forever.
Grumbling inaudibly about meatball-brained idiots trying to seduce anyone capable of cooking, Kagami found herself interrupted by a hand reaching down into her field of vision.
"Come on, we still have to drag the others back to bed. Ne, Kagamin?" Konata smiled down at her, looking unusually serene.
She'd grabbed the offered hand before she'd even registered the task, and soon they were trying to coax some life back into the snoozing forms of Miyuki and Kuroi. They didn't make it to Tsukasa before Misao decided that the youngest Hiiragi could easily be carried to bed in her arms without bothering to wake her from her happy sleep.
And maybe, just maybe, that earned her a few secret points from Kagami.
XXX
Picnic
XXX
"It's not a proper picnic if there isn't alcohol." Kuroi argued, clutching her bottle protectively against her chest.
Kagami glared at her, obviously not approving. "Since when?" She demanded.
"That's the way it has always been!" Kuroi argued. "Why else would someone sit around on a blanket out in the middle of nature? The blanket: so that you don't fall off your chair. Nature: so that you don't throw up on the floor." The teacher proclaimed sagely.
The twin-tailed girl made a disgusted face. "Eww... I did not want to hear that right before lunch-time." She whined.
"But if you're feeling ill enough to throw up, how can you enjoy the cooking properly?" Tsukasa asked, sounding a little bit lost.
"You can't." Misao explained in a voice that spoke of horrors beyond imagining.
"No alcohol, and that's final." Kagami stomped her foot.
"But Kagami~n!" Kuroi begged pathetically.
Konata made an indignant sound. "Oi! Sensei! You can't steal my begging technique! What if you make her immune?!"
"She can't really pull off the puppy-eyes like Misa-chan can." Ayano mused distractedly from her place by the door.
"Konata-, just-... what?" Kagami stared at her friend, looking horribly lost in the conversation suddenly.
"Don't worry about it, Hiiragi-san, senpai is just refusing to share the nickname of her beloved with another woman." Patricia helpfully explained with a cheerful thumbs-up.
"Eh? Kona-chan is in love with oneechan?" Tsukasa blinked, turning to alternate her questioning stare between the two girls.
The two girls who were caught between blushing furiously, stammering denials, and being generally completely adorable.
"When did this become a soap opera?" Kuroi asked with an annoyed expression, still clutching her bottle to her chest.
There was a moment of silence as everyone turned their attention back to the one who started the argument. Then Kagami actually growled.
"No. Alcohol."
Kuroi opened her mouth to try and argue, but Konata's panicked expression and furious hand-waving from behind the twin-tailed girl made her hesitate. The fact that most of the other girls were putting distance in between themselves and the two of them, then made her seriously reconsider saying something.
Finally, she caught the girl's eyes, and her voice came out on its own. "Okay." Sounding remarkably meek in the face of the girl with eyes that burned with the fires of a thousand suns.
Alcohol was probably too flammable to be in the girl's vicinity anyway.
XXX
Shaking her head at the antics of the girls surrounding her, Kuroi again mourned the loss of her alcohol for this particular excursion.
Misao was praising Tsukasa's supposedly-divine cooking, causing the girl to blush helplessly as she tried to divert the praise towards Ayano instead. Ayano spent most of her time smugly shooting down all of Tsukasa's protests, but seemed to spend the rest of it enjoying the soft breeze and the food that she'd helped to provide.
Patricia and Hiyori was doing something that she honestly had no clue about, but that was apparently some sort of chess using breadcrumbs and the checkered blanket. Hiyori was also chugging coffee, but that was to be expected as the girl's sleeping schedule was apparently still insanely messed up.
Kagami was focused entirely on the food, but was – despite how actively both of them were trying not to pay attention to each other – seated fairly close to the manga-reading Konata and seemed to bump into her at regular intervals. Whether this was planned, manipulated by the others, subconscious, or completely random was anyone's guess.
Yutaka and Minami were happily petting Cherry, who was napping in between them. And seemed to be the two who were most enjoying how the nature and food worked as a combination, from where they conversed softly.
Ignoring that Miyuki had stifled a giggle when she'd sighed longingly for her bottle of good stuff, Kuroi continued her conversation with the girl.
It was a bit strange, how they'd ended up talking about something as pointless as music, but then they didn't necessarily have a lot of common ground. Kuroi liked alcohol and roleplaying-games, Miyuki enjoyed reading and and not going to the dentist. In fact, unless they wanted to speak about homework, or politics, or something equally annoying, neither of them could find much more interesting things to converse about than the weather.
And the weather didn't even have the grace of being horrible enough to complain about.
Of course, then they got interrupted.
Blinking confusedly down at the dog whose head was now occupying Miyuki's lap, Kuroi wondered at this sudden development. Why did she feel annoyed at the dog?
Shaking her head, she threw a mischievous smile at the girl. "Your lap must be really comfortable."
Miyuki blushed, not entirely sure of what to say. "I think-... perhaps she merely didn't wish to be petted?" She finally guessed.
Kuroi considered this for a moment, before shrugging. "Possibly." She admitted. "But she does look pretty comfortable." She continued to tease her, enjoying in how the fading blush suddenly reignited.
So, perhaps picnics didn't need alcohol. Who knew?
XXX
Yutaka smiled as Cherry suddenly butted in on Miyuki's conversation with her teacher, childishly claiming the space of Miyuki's lap as her own.
The amusing part of it was that Kuroi seemed to be reacting to the dog's sudden intrusion with what might actually be jealousy.
Turning back towards Minami, giggling lightly at the thought of Kuroi and Cherry fighting each other over who got to put their head in Miyuki's lap, Yutaka shifted into the space that had previously been occupied by Cherry until her shoulder bumped with the taller girl's.
Minami looked up from where she'd been reaching for another sandwich, curious about the sudden contact, and found her face suddenly two inches away from Yutaka's nose.
Both of them froze, neither of them entirely sure how that had happened, but already trying to think of some way to escape the awkward proximity without actually moving away. Because whilst their faces being so close wasn't ideal, the way their bodies were casually leaning into each other as both of them found support from the other, was far too pleasant to give up without a very good reason.
Yutaka felt her face slowly heating up just as Minami's began to turn red. And she wasn't entirely sure why, but her heart was beating really fast all of a sudden.
Then Minami kissed her.
Eyes blinking uncomprehendingly as Minami slowly began to pull back from where their lips had touched, Yutaka pulled on a piece of fabric that she didn't remember grabbing, and pulled the taller girl back in for a second kiss.
This one was equally disorienting, but carried much more enthusiasm.
XXX
Coffee and Sleeping Marshmallows
XXX
Hiyori stared dazedly at the paper spread out before her.
She was pretty sure that blank paper shouldn't vibrate, crinkle itself, or start up conversations with her.
Her eyes slipped closed.
Pain, and a loud 'thump' made her clutch her head.
There was a mark on the paper from where her head had impacted it, and if she had a mirror, she was sure she could've seen that the paper had painted her aching forehead red in retaliation.
Of course, she couldn't let something like that slide, since that would be giving the paper the impression that it was alright to fight back against its supreme master, so she stabbed it with a pencil.
"Die die die!" Hiyori cackled madly.
"Umm... Hiyorin... maybe you should sleep..." Patricia suggested slowly, carefully keeping out of the sleep-deprived girl's reach.
Snapping her head around at her roommate's words, Hiyori stared at her with wild eyes. "Never! The softness is too much! I'll die!" She protested with horror, before her eyes began to close again. "But-... soft-..." She reconsidered, her gaze obviously drifting down to rest upon the other girl's chest.
Patricia winced a bit at her friend's admittance of her being the guilty party in regards to the girl's current problems. She couldn't really say that she was sorry for hugging the girl in her sleep, but she was most definitely sorry for being the reason that she was staying awake for so long.
"I'll let you have the bed to yourself. You need the sleep." She finally declared to her friend.
Hiyori stared up at her for a long moment, before she suddenly launched herself out of her chair and tackled her to the floor.
To say that the blonde was too surprised to react to the sudden movement was a bit of an understatement. She didn't even register what the glasses-wearing girl had done until her back hit the floor and drove the air out of her lungs.
The fact that Hiyori landed on top of her didn't make regaining that breath any easier.
"Softness is mine!" Hiyori declared triumphantly, although a bit muffled by the fact that her face had been buried in Patricia's cleavage.
Gaping both at the complete shift in attitude – she'd after all been trying to escape that same cleavage for quite a few days now – and the embarrassed realization that her friend had gleefully pinned her to the floor and buried her face in between her breasts, Patricia decided to concentrate on drawing in desperately needed air into her lungs instead, and ignore the possibly-hallucinating girl's slip into madness for the moment.
Then Hiyori started to snore.
Patricia was confused, in a bit of pain, and horribly embarrassed. She was also coming to realize that she would probably have a hard time crawling out from underneath the girl on top of her, not to mention the idea of carrying Hiyori back to their bed.
By the time she'd realized that Hiyori's arms had somehow already caught her in a vice grip that actually made escaping impossible, Patricia was hopelessly thankful for the fact that the room they were in was small enough that she could pull down the covers from the bed and halfway-crawl on top of them.
She'd steeled herself for the thought of sleeping on the floor anyway.
XXX
Hiyori grumbled pathetically as the sun interrupted her wonderful sleep.
Finally giving up on returning to her slumber, Hiyori forced a bleary eye to open against the brightness of their bedroom.
And found herself staring straight into Patricia's cleavage.
Patricia's rather exposed cleavage.
Apparently the night had been warmer than the girl had found comfortable, because the only clothes that remained on her friend's rather... curvy body was her underwear. And, much to her embarrassment, much the same could be said for Hiyori.
The sleeping blonde had an arm slung around her waist, keeping her from simply rolling away and finding her clothes most hurriedly, and Hiyori's own arms were trapped in between their bodies, with her hands unashamedly groping her friend's breasts.
Her hands continued to be gleefully unashamed, but Hiyori felt plenty ashamed and embarrassed over their positioning, so it evened out.
Slowly pulling her legs up until she was straddling Patricia's waist in an effort to gain the leverage needed to escape from their current entanglement, Hiyori wondered curiously why they were on the floor rather than in their bed. She couldn't remember, but it was perfectly possible that one of them had rolled out of bed and dragged the other one with them at some point during the night.
There was a knock on the door, before it swung open.
Yutaka was wearing pajamas, and was now staring at their half-naked forms with wide eyes from a beet red face.
Hiyori froze, her mind going blank as her mental faculties suddenly overloaded from sheer embarrassment.
Patricia made a startled noise – having apparently been roused from her dreams by Yutaka's knocking – making Hiyori's hands twitch unconsciously, causing another and much more interesting noise to emerge from the blonde's lips.
"S-S-Sorry for intruding!" The door slammed closed as Yutaka fled.
There was an awkward silence.
"We should probably tell her that nothing happened." Patricia finally admitted as she stared at the door.
Hiyori startled at her voice breaking the silence, her hands once again twitching in response, allowing that very much interesting noise to escape Patricia's lips once more.
Blue eyes met brown, and Patricia's mouth went dry as she stared up into the slowly reddening face of her friend.
"I-... Could we-..." Hiyori stammered, not entirely sure what she was trying to say. "You look beautiful." Hiyori finally croaked, her voice trembling.
Patricia's blush grew deeper, and she gulped audibly. "I- I see..." A soft, pleased whimper escaping from her as their eyes remained locked together.
Hiyori wasn't entirely sure what happened after that, because her balance suddenly shifted and it wasn't possible for her to remain comfortably straddling the girl any longer.
Instead she found herself leaning into the hand that Patricia didn't have circling her waist, giving it a wonderful opportunity to reciprocate the treatment its owner had suffered at Hiyori's still-unashamed hands.
A breathless moan slipping from her lips, Hiyori instinctively pressed herself into the blonde's hand as her hips shifted pleasantly on Patricia's own.
Patricia gulped again, and spared the briefest of thoughts to just how thick the walls of their room were, before she threw caution into the wind and leaned up to capture the disheveled, red-faced beauty's lips with her own.
XXX
Minami stared curiously as her girlfriend – and that development had been a bit of a shock, though a most pleasant such – burst into the room, her face a deep red.
This was especially odd in that she'd returned alone when she'd clearly stated that she'd be fetching Patricia and Hiyori for a study session. Then again, perhaps it wasn't actually surprising, considering both of the girls' views on studying in comparison to the time they could spend on anime and manga.
Still, Yutaka very rarely rushed about anything, and to see her burst into a room was a shock all on its own, regardless of if she had or hadn't succeeded in convincing their two peculiar classmates to study.
"Yutaka?" She asked, feeling a little bit worried over her red complexion, since she really didn't want the innocent girl to develop a fever.
Yutaka startled, apparently only now registering Minami's presence in the room. "Minami?"
Minami stepped closer to the girl, giving into the twinge of concern and deciding to check on her temperature.
Worryingly enough, her face reddened even further as she approached, causing that original twinge of worry to grow.
"Are you feeling alright? Your face is red." Minami voiced her concern.
"I want to see you in your underwear!" Yutaka suddenly blurted out, before her hands immediately covered her mouth in mortification.
Minami froze, her brain not quite registering the words, and most definitely not registering what they could possibly mean because that couldn't possibly have been what she'd said... could it?
Feeling her own face slowly turning red from embarrassment at the thought that Yutaka would... desire her, Minami quickly suppressed the thought.
Yutaka's slightly shaking hands continued to remain closed over her mouth, her eyes wide in panic, and her face a nearly solid red.
Having suppressed the rather embarrassing – though actually rather pleasant, despite her disbelief in its accuracy – thought, Minami went back to what mattered. Yutaka.
"Are you alright?" She asked again.
Yutaka, made a miserable noise through her hands, her eyes still wide from mortification.
Understanding and accepting that her girlfriend wouldn't be able to tell her what was wrong, Minami gently placed her hand against the smaller girl's forehead.
Only to find that her hand got caught, and something pulled on her arm, and suddenly Yutaka's face was right in front of her own, and her lips looked so inviting and her eyes looked so breathtakingly warm.
"I-... I want to see y-you in your underwear." Yutaka gulped, causing her throat to move in a bizarrely interesting way.
And... and maybe that impossible thought wasn't all that mistaken after all?
Minami felt her own face redden as her heart began to speed away. "B-But-..." She couldn't quite form the words that she felt she needed to.
The tiniest of frowns appeared, knotting her girlfriend's eyebrows together in a rather adorable manner.
"I want."
Two simple words, and Minami felt her own shyness momentarily washed away through the conviction in those eyes.
Her beautiful, adorable, wonderful girlfriend, desired her right back.
They'd probably wait a little with seeing each other in their underwear though.
Probably.
Maybe.
Just a little peek?
XXX
Thunderstorm
XXX
Kuroi stared out into the stormy night through the window, clinically noting the beauty inherent in the lashing lightning splitting the sky as she counted the seconds until the rumbling of thunder finally arrived.
If only this had happened when she'd actually felt sleepy, everything would've been great.
The mansion was applying an electronic-blackout in order to not risk the sanctity of their entertainment. And their save files. Especially the save files.
That however, meant that she couldn't focus her need for things to happen towards videogames. And that meant that she was getting very very bored with the whole thing.
Sure, the thunderstorm was pretty cool – she could admit that much. But she didn't particularly feel like drinking, and that only left trying to find entertainment in the girls and their recently emerging soap opera.
The soap opera that made her feel old and unwanted.
So yeah, not a big fan of staying awake to watch the thunderstorm rolling in, no matter how aesthetically pleasing it might be. She'd much rather just sleep through the whole thing.
"Ah?" Miyuki blinked at the woman as she entered the hallway. "Are you watching the lightning?"
Shrugging noncommittally, Kuroi glanced over at the curvy young woman, absently noting that she looked quite good in pajamas.
"It's not like there's anything better to do." She admitted.
Miyuki considered this for a moment. "I see." She finally settled on.
Kuroi took a step to the side, allowing the girl wearing the fuzzy bunny slippers a better view of the window as she patted up next to her.
They remained like that for a long moment, staring out into the darkened skies and the world illuminated only briefly by the flashes of lightning.
There was plenty of space really, but somehow, they ended up standing right next to each other, shoulder-to-shoulder as they watched, their arms bumping into each other to the movement made from their breaths.
In the end however, the moment was broken by Miyuki yawning.
"Ah, I guess I should try to sleep..." The young woman trailed off, sounding a little bit unsure.
Guessing where her hesitation might come from, Kuroi smiled lightly. "I don't think the thunder will bother you if you try to fall asleep, it doesn't seem to be getting louder, and this isn't all that much louder than city-traffic."
Miyuki blushed, looking conflicted for a moment before responding with a smile of her own. "I see. And what about you?"
"I only woke up a few hours ago, I'm not old enough to need that much sleep." Kuroi commented wryly.
Miyuki managed a small giggle, before making her exit towards her bedroom.
For some reason, as Kuroi continued to stand there, staring out into the thunderstorm, she couldn't help but wonder why her arm felt so heartachingly cold all of a sudden.
XXX
Battle-Panties
XXX
Konata took a deep breath. Yutaka was watching horror movies with Minami, though why she'd needed battle-panties for that was something that Konata was actively avoiding thinking about.
Still, that meant that Konata had the room all to herself for the night, and so she'd invited Kagami to the room under the guise of helping her with her studies.
Obviously, Konata had been very careful in selecting the proper battle-panties for herself.
A night all alone, a night uninterrupted by others, a night for which she'd been able to psyche herself for. There was no way in hell that she was going to pass up on this one.
So she shook her head, and tried to dismiss the nervous butterflies in her stomach that were apparently trying to teach themselves the tango.
Interesting thing to note might be that butterflies were not designed for dancing tango. Too many legs to keep track of, and the wings would get in the way.
Tango-dancing butterflies were however, quite a bit more chaotic than those who merely tried to fly all over the place.
XXX
Kagami stopped just outside of the door, her hand freezing uncomfortably inches away from the doorknob, leaving her to take another deep breath.
She was going to say it, she was definitely going to say it this time. No more postponing, no more nervously dodging around the subject, this would be the night that she told her.
Her nervousness hadn't been helped by Ayano telling her to wear 'battle-panties', which was absurd and embarrassing, and how the hell did that girl even know?
Fidgeting slightly at the memory of the slightly unusual way that her current wardrobe clung and shifted with her movement, Kagami forced down the blush spreading across her cheeks.
She was going to say it this time. This time for sure.
XXX
Kuroi shook her head, as she tried not to hear the noise coming out of what was officially known as a study-session, not sure if she ought to be annoyed or sympathetic.
Sure, it seemed as if Konata had finally managed to snag her 'precious tsundere', and would most likely be all lovey-dovey and annoying because of it, but at the same time... Kagami had gotten herself permanently stuck with Konata.
The mere thought made Kuroi want to wince.
Not that Kagami seemed to have the same reservations.
She sounded quite enthusiastic about it actually.
Grumbling something about annoying brats being loud, Kuroi got to her feet and set out for the nearest booze-stash.
There was no way that she was going to accept being forced to listen to two of her students losing their virginity to each other because of the relatively thin walls – in comparison to Kagami's very healthy vocal chords – without first making sure that she was really, really drunk.
XXX
Horror-Movies
XXX
The sky was still overcast, and even though the thunder had ceased, it looked like the rain would make more appearances in the coming week.
Minami and Yutaka both appeared rather subdued over it, being the two people most enthusiastic in enjoying the outdoors. The people more interested in videogames were simply happy to find that there would be no more thunder to endanger their precious electronics, and those who focused on their studies weren't overly affected by the presence of the rainclouds, since the mansion was easily big enough that it was easy to find a quiet spot for yourself, if you really tried.
Of course, the slightly darkened nature of an overcast sky meant that there was no proper sunlight to dispel Yutaka's growing paranoia over whatever it was that might be lurking around the next corner.
Minami was working overtime, trying to keep the girl from descending into a twitching wreck at every unexplainable noise.
It was universally agreed that Yutaka would no longer be allowed to watch horror-movies, no matter how much precedence such things had in pushing a couple closer to each other. The girl just couldn't handle her nerves whenever not in the immediate presence of her girlfriend, and was still a bit twitchy when she was holding the taller girl's hand.
Still, upon hearing of the success-rate for horror-movies bringing people closer, Misao had quickly dragged off Tsukasa to experience such things together with her.
Tsukasa came back a few hours later, with a wide-eyed Misao clinging to her and shivering as she flinched at nearly every noise to be heard. Tsukasa herself seemed rather embarrassed about it, but commented that it wasn't a bad movie, even if it was a little disappointing that it didn't have a happy ending.
Kagami had opened her mouth to force Misao to stop groping her little sister, when she'd finally just thrown her hands up in the air and told anyone willing to listen that if Tsukasa wore the pants in that relationship, then clearly there was no point worrying about her little sister being forced into something she didn't want to do.
Personally, Kuroi figured that it was more a case of Kagami not wanting to get into an argument in which her own actions with Konata might be mentioned by the opposing side.
Still, this meant that Misao and Tsukasa was technically 'allowed' to date. Which Misao would probably be very appreciative of, once she finally emerged from her horror-induced semi-catatonia.
And though Patricia had suggested that a way of waking her up would be to make sure that the girl was very relaxed, it was highly unlikely that Tsukasa was not only peculiarly immune to horror-movies, but also secretly the kind of girl who would molest a defenseless person.
More likely, Misao would wake up after having stuffed herself full of food.
At least that's what Kuroi hoped would happen.
She had a bet riding on it, after all.
XXX
Crazed Cupid
XXX
Kuroi shook her head as she sipped at her sake, feeling rather exasperated with the girls surrounding her.
Misao had kissed Tsukasa after finally emerging from the food-coma – that had happened as an accidental result of Tsukasa's attempt to bring her out of her horror-catatonia – declaring her eternal devotion to the youngest Hiiragi-sister in the process. The two of them had finally come up for breath after their kiss nearly an hour later, looking smugly dazed about it.
So maybe Kuroi hadn't been completely blind to the fact that Konata was crushing hopelessly on Kagami, but she honestly hadn't been expecting this amount of romance lurking within the group of friends.
Minami and Yutaka falling in love was really not much of a change from normal, except now there was an undercurrent of physical possessiveness in their usual sugar-sweet interactions. Hiyori and Patricia's regular friendship had recently gained a tendency to randomly disappear only to return with ripped buttons and hickeys. Konata and Kagami had become more casually physically close, and had stopped fighting down the small content smiles that had always found their way to their lips whenever they looked at each other. And Misao and Tsukasa had cheerfully occupied the kitchen were they were acting an awful lot like newlyweds.
Basically, the only ones who'd escaped the sudden onslaught of romance, had been Ayano, Miyuki, and Kuroi herself.
Considering how Ayano already had a boyfriend who she was quite devoted to – and to whom she could be found speaking with on the phone once or twice a day, supposedly because he kept calling her up with the rather obvious excuse of how he didn't trust his little sister not to accidentally kill herself – and you ended up with the only remaining single people in the group being Kuroi and Miyuki.
Which was why she was currently feeling a bit annoyed at Konata.
Seriously, what the hell kind of idea was it that they'd been attacked by a rogue cupid, and that it was only a matter of time until Miyuki and Kuroi started dating?
Kuroi was their teacher, and even if she might be a little bit reckless, but she was hardly the type to get herself caught up in a scandal like that.
Besides, Miyuki was probably a bit out of her league, being so ridiculously attractive that it was probably going to keep her single for most of her school life simply because the boys would be hopelessly intimidated by her looks. The fact that the girl was also from a quite obviously rich family, and that Kuroi – even after several years working – still lived in a spartan apartment that was comfortably practical, certainly didn't make them fit together any better.
And even if they did get along well, it most certainly wasn't because of some crazed cupid running around and trying to fill them all with its 'arrows of love'.
If she wasn't so annoyed at the girl, she'd probably be laughing herself silly at the sheer insanity of the idea.
She just didn't like being the third wheel in the goings-on of the rest of them, and Miyuki was always quite pleasant to talk to.
XXX
"She really has no idea, does she?" Kagami shook her head sadly as she looked over at their teacher.
Konata made a sound of agreement from where she lay spread across her girlfriend's lap. "She's a lot more oblivious than I'd imagined."
Kuroi smirked at the girl sitting next to her, holding out the cup of sake towards her as she said something. And obviously didn't notice the fact that she'd used that cup, and that Miyuki's embarrassed blush was more likely related to the 'indirect kiss' than the alcohol.
"You'd think that watching anime would prepare her at least a little bit for romance in real life." Konata muttered.
Kagami choked down the sudden need to laugh herself silly. Instead, she affectionately patted her lover on the rump. "It certainly helped you with figuring things out, right?"
Konata blushed, looking embarrassed. "Well... maybe? Who knows how long I would've dodged around if I hadn't had anime-experience backing me?"
"Fair enough." Kagami surrendered, smiling as she was again reminded of the moment when Konata had finally confessed her feelings just as Kagami had done the same. Saying that it'd been a relief to realize that their feelings were mutual, was such a fantastic understatement.
Still, watching Miyuki fumbling so hopelessly around the woman that she was so obviously interested in, was a mixture of adorable and frustrating that Kagami honestly hadn't been expecting from her friend.
XXX
A Dream of Pleasure
XXX
Kuroi smiled slightly as she dreamt of someone brushing her hair.
She wasn't sure who that person was, only that their hands were soft and warm, and their brushstrokes impossibly gentle as they painlessly removed the knots that she knew would be inevitably painful to unravel.
It was very obvious that it was a dream, seeing as she wasn't sure who the person brushing her hair was or where they were at all, but it was a most pleasant dream and so she didn't mind it.
But, like most dreams do, it didn't stay solid for long, and soon it was interrupted by the brushing-person gently shaking her shoulder, as if to bring attention to themselves.
So Kuroi turned towards them from where she lay on the soft bed, grabbing the arm and pulling, because the bed felt nice and that person deserved to experience its nice-ness after the wonderful job they'd done brushing her hair.
There was a slightly startled noise as the person was surprised by her reaction, and then the softest of impacts as the girl – for she was a girl, a most beautiful one indeed – landed on her back next to her.
Smiling contently at how the girl would now also be able to experience the nice-ness of the bed, Kuroi draped an arm around the girl's middle so that she could hug her.
The girl was blushing, but looked happy, so Kuroi smiled back and kissed her softly on the lips.
She wasn't entirely sure why the dream was veering off into kissing, but then it was a dream, and who was she to question what was obviously going to be a pleasant such?
The girl mewled in surprise, but responded most eagerly to the kiss, apparently also content with letting the dream follow onwards towards whatever pleasant destination it had set up for the two of them.
And one kiss became another, and a third, and a fourth, and then there was a tongue and then there were two tongues, and Kuroi smiled smugly at the girl's pleased moans as she began to trail kisses down her neck.
"Nanako." Was breathed breathlessly, and her name sounded so fantastically beautiful in that moment, that she decided to return the favor and speak the girl's name back to her.
"Miyuki." She whispered into her ear as her kisses passed it by.
And the girl's moans became a gasp of sudden pleasure, one of her legs suddenly finding itself wrapped around Nanako's hips.
It was pleasant, it was comforting, it was warm, it was exciting, it was passionate, it was solid, and Miyuki's breathing was becoming quicker and quicker.
Until finally she bit down on Nanako's neck to muffle the scream of pleasure as her entire body went rigid.
And her teeth hurt. Sharp agony that shouldn't exist. Because this was a dream and pain didn't actually enter into dreams, but this was just so wonderful, and- but- there was pain.
Kuroi blinked fully awake, and found herself leaning over her student, one of her elbows placed carefully next to her so that she wouldn't put too much weight on her, with Miyuki's own arms wrapped around her as the girl's back arched.
They were pressed together, and her skin burned with a tantalizing heat wherever their bare skin met. Kuroi's neck throbbed painfully from the bite-mark where Miyuki was now panting breathlessly, and one of the girl's hands had gotten itself tangled in her messy hair that the dream-person had once brushed smooth.
It was most absolute not a dream.
Which meant that she'd just-... with her student-... with someone barely old enough-... with Miyuki-...
She pushed herself upwards to get a better view of the situation, to maybe calm the sudden panic that was rising in her chest, and found herself staring at Miyuki's smile.
She looked happy. Blissful, even. She looked like a dream had come true and everything was wonderful.
But everything wasn't wonderful, because this would be a scandal! And she might lose her job, and it would definitely reflect badly on Miyuki! And what about the-?
Miyuki leaned up and placed her lips solidly against Kuroi's own.
"My turn." She mumbled softly, her expression somehow mischievous through her gentleness.
And then Nanako wasn't entirely sure what she'd been fretting about, because this was Miyuki, and she'd been waiting for this for what felt like ages.
So she allowed the girl to roll them both over and stared up into those wonderful eyes, and decided that she wasn't going to bother with reality or dream just yet, because it was Miyuki's turn. And she really, really wanted to experience what was to come.
XXX
"Umm... shouldn't Yuki-chan be back by now?" Tsukasa asked, feeling a bit confused.
Ayano smiled, suppressing the urge to cackle at the girl's innocence. "Let's leave them be for now."
"But what about breakfast?" Misao asked, sounding a bit worried at the prospect of excluding someone from the wonders that was a point in the day when food was readily available.
"They'll probably find something worth eating." Ayano pointed out, her smile growing a little more strained as she continued to suppress the cackle that wanted to escape.
Miyuki might've managed to muffle her final scream of pleasure, but there'd been a lot of passionate gasping that Ayano had been able to pick up on when she'd listened at the door.
It was about time that that crazed cupid finally got around to those two.
They made a cute couple.
XXX
Panic and Plans
XXX
Konata shook her head as she watched her teacher fret over what would undoubtedly become a great scandal that would ruin both her career, and Miyuki's reputation.
"Did it even occur to you that we've already graduated?" She asked the woman who had so often reminded her about doing her homework in the middle of a raid.
Kuroi paused, suddenly distracted from her panic by this sudden and completely insane fact.
She then slowly began to turn towards the small otaku who was staring at her with a smug smirk, feeling her eye begin to twitch dangerously. "And... you didn't tell me this earlier, because...?"
"I was having sex with Kagami." Konata responded bluntly. "I could barely remember my own name." She admitted shamelessly, because her lover was fantastic.
Kuroi resisted the urge to smack the smug little brat over the head until she cried for mercy – it was a reoccurring urge – and instead decided to ask Ayano about it.
The girl seemed to have a sensible head on her shoulders, and if anyone could figure out a way to minimize the scandal further – graduated or not, she'd still been the girl's teacher at one point, and some disturbing questions might pop out sooner or later – it'd have to be her.
Well, Miyuki could probably figure it out too, but it was a bit hard to talk things over like that when they were busy staring endlessly into each other's eyes, or enthusiastically exploring each other's tonsils.
With Ayano, she wouldn't be too distracted to think about it, and she really needed to think about it.
Then, once she'd talked it over with the disturbingly sneaky girl, she could go and get distracted by Miyuki's attractiveness all she wanted. She was really looking forward to that part of her plan.
XXX
XXX
XXX
Omakes and Scenes
XXX
Sudden Ero Death Cosplay Karaoke
XXX
Kuroi wasn't really a big fan of singing, but then she supposed that she wasn't horrible at it, and if the slightly odd-acting girls decided to start a karaoke contest punishment game, it sounded interesting enough for her to decide to join them.
She really should've known better than to trust the ideas of two people who'd apparently not been able to sleep properly for three days straight – Kuroi had only heard something about suffocation and softness before deciding that she didn't want to know.
Konata had managed to mostly avoid it due to her spending time with Kagami, Ayano and Tsukasa had possibly hidden themselves in the kitchen. Yutaka and Minami had avoided it by simply being outdoors at the time. But that still left Misao, Patricia, Hiyori, Miyuki, and Kuroi.
None would emerge unscathed.
By the time the three not suffering from sleep-deprivation realized that the Sudden Ero Death Cosplay Karaoke Contest wasn't a very good idea, it was already too late.
XXX
Hiyori Making Faces
XXX
Patricia rested her head in her hand as she watched her friend draw the latest flash of inspiration she had received from Yutaka and Minami.
She always enjoyed watching her draw.
A part of it was the fascination of seeing singular, unimportant lines join together into pictures underneath the girl's pencil. But mostly... mostly it was watching Hiyori's face frown and smile and contort into the strangest kinds of expressions.
She thought that she might be able to watch Hiyori's shifting expressions for hours, even when she didn't draw the romantic scenes.
She figured she might watch her for days whenever her face crinkled as if about to tear up, when it gazed so beautifully hesitant at the paper with hope and wonder.
Smiling softly as her heart skipped a beat at the peeved, but rather adorable pout that was settling across the girl's lips, Patricia wondered disbelievingly at how long it'd taken her to actually realize that she was in love with the girl.
She'd read tons of manga, she ought to be genre-savvy enough to recognize the signs instantaneously by now.
XXX
A/n: I've been working on this on-and-off since... oh, somewhere around the 2010-2011 shift. The earliest level of the idea could be summarized as "let's trap them in a building and have them fall in love, that'll be fun" so yeah, not big on the plot-side of things, which kind of left me to stare into the abyss and be driven slowly towards madness.
Some normal pairings, some not-so-normal pairings, and a lot of silliness for everyone. It certainly has been a while for this fandom, but hopefully I haven't disappointed anyone by being rusty.