Another fic from my part.
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"'Morning!" Konata greeted the twins at the train station as she approached them. The place was filled with people walking around and making conversation everywhere. Their train was to get there in about five more minutes.
"Yo!" the older twin, Kagami, returned the greeting. The younger twin just smiled and waved at the petite girl as she finally reached them.
"Hey," she started up, still fighting to catch her breath. "Do you guys have anything to do after school today?"
"Not really, Kona-Chan," Tsukasa replied and then asked, "why?"
"Have you guys heard of the new House of Horrors that has just become available to the public?" Konata asked.
Tsukasa immediately froze after Konata was done with her sentence. Kagami quickly picked up on her sister's reaction and replied, "Yeah, we have. They keep playing the advertisements on TV non-stop."
"Where your worst fears and nightmares become reality…" Konata repeated the "catch phrase" that she had heard several times playing on TV.
"Stop that," Kagami said, rolling her eyes. "I get enough of it on TV back at home. It's annoying."
"But Kagami," Konata continued, "you just don't want to go because you're scared!"
"Don't stoop me down to your level!" Kagami snapped, then pulled back some of her hair as she said, "I just don't think that students, who are studying for college entrance exams, such as ourselves should be slacking off during these crucial time in our lives."
"Y-yes," Tsukasa, who was holding onto her sister's arm, for once, agreed with her. But her fearful expression did not enforce her words. "I think we should pass this one up, Kona-chan… we have exams."
"Tsukasa," Konata started, "I may be dumb, I may be stupid, and I may be an idiot!"
Just where is she trying to get with this? Kagami thought incredulously, eyeing the small girl.
"But I know you dislike studying for those exams as much as I do, you're just afraid of going!" she finished her sentence with fire in her eyes, fist up. And then she finally turned to Kagami, still burning with passion, just letting the words flow through her and come out as they wish. "And you, Kagami, need to get a life."
"WHAT!?" Kagami cracked, Tsukasa let go of her arm, letting the beast be unleashed. "I need to get a life? You need to get a life!"
Konata sniffled and her eyes watered as she proceeded to saying, "And Miyuki-san was so excited, too…"
"Yuki-Chan?" Tsukasa repeated the name Konata had just spoken, the one that belonged to her pink-haired friend.
"Why are you bringing Miyuki into this?" Kagami asked, eyeing Konata curiously.
Konata swirled around and glanced at the big clock that indicated their train would arrive in less than a minute. Better make this quick. With her back still turned to her friends, she feigned another sniffle, rubbed her eyes, and then said, "Miyuki-San was really looking forward to coming to the House of Horrors, you know?" She turned back to facing her friends, big puppy eyes staring straight into Kagami's. "Do you really want to shatter a Miyuki-Chan's dream?"
"That's not Miyuki's dream," Kagami said, folding her arms.
Konata sighed, "Either way, she wants it, okay?"
Tsukasa exchanged looks with Kagami, who just blushed, nodded, and then stared away. Tsukasa smiled at her sister's stubbornness, and then said, "Okay, Kona-chan, for Yuki-chan's sake, we'll go!"
Konata's eyes gleamed with delight, they sparkled. She threw herself at Tsukasa and then started to rub herself against her as she said, "Tsukasa, you're so nice, totally unlike fire-breathing Kagami!"
"Hmm," Kagami hummed as she glanced at Konata's little love act with Tsukasa over her shoulder. She then put her left hand on her left hip as she said, "So I breathe fire, huh?"
"I am—" Konata, arms still wrapped around Tsukasa, quickly reworded her unfinished sentence and changed it to "Miyuki-san will be so happy when she hears about this!"
Tsukasa nodded in assent while peeking from the corner of her eye, hoping to catch a glimpse of the train fast so that she and Konata could break from this awkward position in public. Then the three girls heard, and felt, a sort of vibration coming from the tunnel—the train. The train slowly came to a halt, leaving only the echoes of the remaining sounds of screeches and a faint Puff. Konata stopped clinging onto the younger twin and ran to one of the train's entrances, standing to the side, waiting for the amount of people that were coming out to finally decrease in number. When she thought it was finally safe to go in, she motioned her friends to follow after her as she herself entered the train. Mission accomplished, she thought triumphantly as she allowed herself to crack a smugly grin.
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The girls arrived at school in less than 10 minutes, but time was running short and they had to make a mad dash to their classes, so Kagami really didn't have time to say a proper "see you later" to her friends because her class was the furthest away. Konata and Tsukasa went to their own class and just as they entered, the bell--indicating that class had now begun--rang. After having had to go through the first two periods of the school day, the bell rang once more announcing the glorious lunch hour. Kagami was dismissed by her other two friends from her own class and headed for her sister's class—3-B. She finally arrived to the classroom and as she made her way in, she greeted her three friends with the usual "Yo!"
"Kagami, you're here!" Konata cheered as she slipped out a chocolate cornet from her backpack.
"Welcome, Kagami-San," Miyuki greeted her politely, as usual. Tsukasa just waved a hand at her twin because she had already started eating and had her mouth full of food.
"Don't eat too fast or you'll choke," Kagami warned her sister of the dangers of eating too quick as she took her seat beside Konata. She dismantled her own lunch box and then started eating along with the others.
Miyuki was the one to start up conversation for once. "Tsukasa-san, Kagami-san, I just want to apologize for not agreeing to go to the House of Horrors before. I was not aware of the fact that you were really excited about going… So, I am truly sorry for not having noticed."
"Miyuki, you don't need to apologize to us or anything," Kagami said as she waved her hand so fast that it could only be seen as a blur. "Besides… Weren't you the one that was excited about going to that place?"
…
"Eh?" Miyuki's expression showed puzzlement and confusion. "I thought it was you and Tsukasa-San who wanted to go…"
"N-no way, I never said that," Kagami said as she put her food down.
"But according to Izumi-San, you were really looking forward to this," Miyuki finished explaining.
After hearing the name "Izumi-san," Kagami realised she, along with the other two clueless girls, had been a victim of Konata's scheme all along. Her gaze settled and locked onto Konata. "Just what is going on here?"
Tsukasa kept on eating, not looking down at her food; she was too busy trying to follow along with what was happening right in front of her eyes, as if this were the scene of some movie and she was the only audience—if you don't count the students in the background. Miyuki was part of it, too, so she couldn't stay in the sidelines with Tsukasa this time.
"My, my, whatever could you be talking about, Kagami," Konata said as she took another lick at her chocolate cornet nonchalantly.
"Don't act so innocent," Kagami said, directing a finger at her accusingly. "You know full well what I'm talking about, now, spill!"
Konata sighed and resigned, she knew she couldn't keep it up any longer—deceiving the two, that is. She placed her chocolate cornet on her desk calmly and started to explain, "Well, yesterday I called up Miyuki-San and asked her if she wanted to come with me to this new House of Horrors that had just opened to the public. But she said she couldn't come because she would only be an obstruction and stuff like that." Konata was now drawing imaginary circles with the tip of her index finger, seemingly bored. "But I just knew she was going to have fun this time so I had to make up a white lie to get her to come—"
"Not so white," Kagami interrupted.
Konata glanced at her, frowned, and then continued, "Anyway, I told her that you guys, Tsukasa and other, were going to come, as well, and that you were really excited about going."
"Other!?" Kagami thought, tapping her foot.
Miyuki picked up where Konata had left off. "Yes, I did not want to cause you any trouble because I have an extremely advanced case of Claustrophobia…"
…
"You're afraid of Santa, Miyuki-San?" Konata chimed in.
Kagami gave her a smack on the head, trying to knock some sense into the girl, and then said, "If you studied a little more you'd know that Claustrophobia is the fear of being in narrow or enclosed spaces."
"Eh!?" Konata's eyes widened in surprise. "I would have never guessed, Miyuki-san. But wait… what does that have anything to do with going to the House of Horrors?"
"Well, you see," Miyuki started to explain, fixing her glasses as she did, "I'm not very good with dark places, I feel as if I were trapped and on the verge of suffocation…"
"Oh" was all Konata said.
"But wait up a minute," Kagami said, turning her attention from Miyuki and back to Konata. "If you talked to Miyuki last night and you barely told us about your plans this morning then—"
"I knew you'd say yes, Kagamin," Konata said, leaning back on her chair now.
"How could you be so confident about getting my approval?" Kagami asked, raising an eyebrow.
"You can never deny me, Kagamin," Konata said, smiling benevolently, "you never do."
"I have, too, denied you—" Kagami stopped in her tracks after having come across the horrible realisation that she had never, not once in her life since having met Konata, denied the girl. She tried to recall a time, any time, where she had refused to do as the otaku wished. But there was none. It was always a "yes" here, and "sure" there—doing as Konata pleased.
"Kagamin," Konata's voice interrupted her train of thought, as well as thrown her right out of it. "Aren't you going to finish your rant?"
"Eh… I forgot what I was going to say," Kagami replied.
"I'm disappointed…" Konata said as she reached for her juice and took a sip. She placed it back on her desk and continued, "I was expecting a better come-back than that."
"I don't need to prove myself to the likes of you!" Kagami retaliated.
"Good enough," Konata said, satisfied with Kagami's response. "So, are you guys coming or not?"
Tsukasa was finally able to join in to the conversation. "I'll go if Onee-Chan goes; I don't really want to be by myself."
"I will try and make an effort to take part in this event if you so wish me to go, Izumi-San," Miyuki said.
Konata grinned, "I got two, now." She turned to face Kagami. "How about you, Kagamin?"
Kagami saw this as her chance, an opportunity to redeem herself. She had lost to Konata far too many times; those fake tears, feigned innocence, everything she did was bogus. But this time it wasn't going to go her way, but Kagami's way. "No," Kagami replied, standing firm to her words. "I am not going. And there is nothing on this earth that will—"
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"I cannot believe I'm here…" Kagami said, a tone of defeat accompanying the words.
"An endless supply of Pocky," Konata said triumphantly. "It always works, Tsukasa."
"Y-yes" Tsukasa nodded. She wasn't sure if Konata was really speaking to her because the otaku's gaze wasn't particularly on her.
The girls now found themselves standing in line, waiting for it to gradually lead them into the most anticipated House of Horrors. School had ended about two hours ago; they had been standing in line for almost an hour. They couldn't believe how popular the place was—kids, teenagers, adults, even the elderly were part of the lot making line just to see how scary and frightening that place really was. Whenever the doors opened, only a small group of people were allowed the entrance, while the group that had entered before them came out with traumatized expressions or just plain shocked. Konata had tried sweet-talking Kagami into coming to the place. But that didn't work. So she decided to play it dirty and used Kagami's weakness to her advantage—food. An endless supply of Pocky would be something Kagami could never resist. Of course, it would fall hard on Konata's wallet but it would pay off quite nicely. Seeing Kagami scared would be glorious.
The next group had entered. Now there were only a few people left before their turn finally came around. Konata decided to strike up some conversation. "So, I heard this place was popular because it actually makes you face your greatest fears."
"In other words," Miyuki started, "we'll have to confront that which we are terrorized of the most?"
"Exactly!" Konata cheered.
"O-Onee-chan," Tsukasa whimpered, tugging at her sister's skirt. "I-I want to go back home, now."
Kagami held her sister's hand so that she could comfort her a little, smiling reassuringly. "Don't worry, Tsukasa, they're just a bunch of crazy people dressing up in ridiculous Halloween costumes trying to give us a good scare and gain some money in the process."
"Oh…" Tsukasa said no more. But Onee-Chan isn't easily scared by anything, really. She'll get by just fine.
"Kagami, don't be so pragmatic," Konata said, taking a step forward as the line moved. "You'll never have fun in your life. Act more your age."
"I'll start acting my age once you start acting more your age," Kagami snapped.
"Oh," Konata said, ignoring Kagami's previous comment. "The line's moving again, we're closer to the front!"
Tsukasa gulped, but she finally stopped grabbing her sister's skirt. Miyuki pulled out a handkerchief from her small schoolbag and tried patting away some of the small bits of perspiration that were starting to form upon the side of her face. The girls stayed put for a few more minutes before the person in charge of keeping the crowds in order finally let them in. Pitch Black—that was all they had seen upon entering. The darkness surrounding them, not a single thing was visible.
"O-Onee-chan, are you there!?" Tsukasa asked, panicking.
"I'm here, Tsukasa," Kagami said.
"Wow, I can't see anything!" Konata exclaimed.
"Y-yes, it is definitely darker than most common places…" Miyuki said.
"Yuki-Chan, are you alright?" Tsukasa asked.
"I-I'll be fine, Tsukasa-san, thanks for your concern," Miyuki gratefully said.
"So… isn't there someone that's supposed to guide us?" Konata asked.
"I'm not sure," Kagami said.
"Well, I think we should just keep walking for now, right?" Konata suggested.
"But I feel like I may stumble or trip on something, I can't see anything," Kagami complained.
"Yeah, I know what you mean, it's like you have your eyes closed when they're actually open!" Konata commented.
"Tsukasa, how are you doing?" Kagami asked.
There was no reply from her twin sister.
"Tsukasa?" Kagami called for her sister once more.
But she still got the same result—no response.
"Why isn't Tsukasa answering?" Konata asked. "Miyuki! Miyuki?"
The pink-haired girl didn't answer, either.
"This is weird, Konata," Kagami said. "Where could they have gone?"
"We were all together just a minute ago, they couldn't have gone far," Konata reasoned. "Wanna go look for them?"
"Sure, I just hope they're okay," Kagami said, concerned.
Right then, Konata's steps could be heard approaching Kagami. The small, blue-haired girl searched for the tallest girl's hand. She found it and held it tightly. The darkness still dwelled in the place, but Kagami could feel Konata's right hand clasped with her own left. "K-Konata, what are you doing?"
"We have to hold hands so that we don't get separated," Konata explained.
"O-oh, right."
"You sound disappointed. Did you think I was doing it for some other reason, Kagami?"
"N-no! Plus, it's dark, how can you even tell?"
"Strangely, the darkness makes it all the more perceptible."
"Walk."
"Hai."
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"O-Onee-chan?" Tsukasa called for her sister. Before having even become aware of it, she had been separated from the rest of the group. "Are you there?"
The only response she received were the sounds of the remaining echoes of her voice being bounced off the dark walls. She tried to keep on walking, but each and every time she attempted to make a move, she would bump into a wall, followed by an apologetic "I'm sorry," or "Excuse me, Wall-san." She thought she might as well close her eyes since they didn't serve much of a purpose and wouldn't make much of a difference if they stayed open.
"Kona-chan?" Tsukasa called for her otaku friend, now. "If you're trying to scare me like last time, with the Inugami family, it won't work…"
Suddenly, the darkness that surrounded her grew into raging flames of burning fire. She was startled and fell to her knees, trembling. Then, the fires ceased. It was almost as if they had never even occurred. Tsukasa, still down on her knees, found herself at a crowded place with lots of people conversing with one another and making lines for who-knows-what. Her eyes grew wide in surprise, she couldn't believe what was happening; a minute ago she was at the dark House of Horrors and now she was at a place that she found strangely familiar. Then she saw something that indicated that what Konata had said before they entered the house was no lie—a cosplayer. "I heard this place was popular because it actually makes you face your greatest fears," she remembered the otaku had said. I'm at Comiket, she thought, shocked.
This can't be real, she thought in disbelief. I must have hit my head really hard on those walls, yes, that must be it! She nodded to herself reassuringly. Then a crowd of crazy otakus came running down the stairs and she was caught in the sea of people.
"Aaaaaahhhh!" She let out a terrorized scream as the crowds carried her elsewhere in who-knows-where at the comic market.
The crowds dropped her off somewhere up the stairs and she sluggishly made her way to a nearby bench. She let out a heavy sigh as she sat down, looking over the large amount of people making their way in and out of stores and forming endless lines. She was fixing her crooked ribbon and straightening out her uniform when an old lady approached her. "Excuse me," the lady said, "but you are sitting at the bench that I have reserved for making my sales."
"E-eh?" Tsukasa looked down at the bench and saw a sign that had "Reserved" written on it. How was she not able to spot the thing before? "I'm so sorry!" she apologized and bowed countless time before the lady to express how very sorry she was. "I didn't know this was where you did your sales!"
The lady dismissed Tsukasa with a wave of the hand and said, "Don't worry; I know you meant no ill will."
"Thank you," Tsukasa said, her voice low.
"Say, youngster, could you do me a favor?" The old lady asked, assembling her small stall.
"What? I mean, yes! I mean—"
The woman laughed. "It's nothing at all difficult, I just want you to read one of the doujinshi that I am about to sell."
"O-oh, okay," Tsukasa agreed, taking one of the fan-made manga that were part of a large stack of the same kind.
"Tell me what you think, okay?" She said, then a customer approached her and she tended to him immediately.
Tsukasa sat down somewhere near the woman, on the same bench she had been sitting at a while ago. She leafed through the introduction and character profile pages, and then finally started reading the story. She was pretty bored after a few minutes, but her face gave off the aura of amusement, she didn't want to make the old lady feel bad. She stopped paying attention to the story by now, but kept her eyes on the figures. She started to think about how much influence anime and manga had on people, and how they stuck with them until they grew old and wrinkly. She wondered if Konata would still be an otaku once she grew into a full-fledged adult. All thoughts violently came to a halt after having reached a certain page in the manga book: two girls kissing passionately like there was no tomorrow. Tsukasa quickly turned to the next page, and the one after that, and the one following the one after that—her face growing redder and redder through each passing page—and so on until she'd reached the end of the book. J-just w-what is this? she thought to herself questioningly. Those two girls, why were they—?
"Are you done?" The old lady approached Tsukasa, leaving a customer to look over her merchandise and see what he would like to purchase.
"I-I-I," Tsukasa didn't know how to answer the old lady; she hadn't read the story at all. "I'm so sorry! This is too much, I can't handle it!" Tsukasa rose from the seat, lowered down her head, handed the book back to the old lady, and quickly ran to anywhere her feet would lead her as long as it was not there.
After having run for at least a decent three minutes, Tsukasa realised she needed to use the restroom. She located a guy reading a manga sitting on a bench, he looked normal so she decided that she would ask him where the nearest restroom was. "Excuse me," Tsukasa started; the guy put the book down, and stared up at her. "Where's the nearest restroom?"
"Ah, the restroom, you ask?" the guy replied, "It's in the east building. Right now, you're in the west building. If you want to go to the east building, you'll have to make line over there, and go up one floor." He pointed toward his right. "At this pace, it would probably take you about an hour."
Tsukasa was flabbergasted. This is just like last time! she thought miserably. This isn't fun; I can't have fun like this. She then said, "Thank you, I think I'll just take the train back home, now."
"You can't," he said darkly.
"E-excuse me?" she was confused, and the mood wasn't as carefree and cheerful as it had been just about a minute ago.
"You're staying here," he said, "forever."
"N-no…" She said, trying to get as far away from the guy as possible.
"Yes, you will become one of us…" said the guy, his hands reaching out to grab Tsukasa.
Tsukasa was stricken by sudden fear, then, in the midst of all the terror, all the anime-obsessed shoppers turned around slowly, giving Tsukasa fierce looks and approaching her the same way the other guy was doing. Tsukasa was cornered by a wall; she fell to her knees, covered her head with both her hands and screamed, "ONEE-CHAN!"
Tsukasa then felt someone, or something, grab her hand, pull her down, then up, then back into the shadows along with it.