Author's Note: To Zokusho, thanks for pointing out those small errors with the first chapter. It's helpful that my readers are helping me out, but in the future I implore that if you notice something off about a chapter like a grammatical error or something like that, that you send me a PM instead of leaving a review. While adding onto the reivw count is nice, I fear it might dissuade future readers if they see comments on problems my story has. I don't think that's a unreasonable request. I actually was up until the wee hours of the morning working on this before I sent it into the Beta Reader. I only got up at 5 in the afternoon, which right now in Maryland is dark. I think I'll be able to get a few more chapters in before Thanksgiving, so stay tuned!
Chapter 2:
Teasing the Tsundere
"Stand right there."
Konata stood perfectly still as Kuroi busied herself sorting various papers on her desk in the teachers' room. Every passing moment Kuroi didn't say anything felt like a living hell to her, like it was the calm before the storm. This lasted for a few minutes until Kuroi made herself a cup of tea and finished organizing her desk.
"Now…" Kuroi swivled around in her chair so she was staring straight at Konata. Konata's spine tingled as her teacher made eye contact with her after not saying anything for so long. "Care to explain to me why I saw your gamertag active at 1 in the morning?"
Sweat started forming on the back of Konata's neck. Luckily, thanks to her long, flowing blue hair, her teacher didn't notice it. Miss Kuroi knew she playing the same online game last night but she stayed on much longer then her teacher did. She didn't fall asleep until about 3 in the morning, but she had a valid reason for doing so.
"Well, uh, Ma'am, it sorta goes like this" she started stammering. "I was only intending to stay on for a little while after you left, but someone asked me to help them go take on the boss at the Water Temple. His party was nothing but a bunch of newbies who were all under level 20 so letting them go up against that boss would have been like cows to a slaughter. So being the helpful person I am, I decided to give them a hand. But along the way, one of them accidentally destroyed a sealing totem so when we got to the boss his defense was about 50x higher than usual. He started spouting tentacles from all over his body and attacked the female players. He spread their legs open and-"
Kuroi put her hand right in front of Konata's mouth to signal her to stop. "If I let you finish that sentence I don't think I could really consider myself a decent and responsible adult. I'm sure your story is great, but let's cut to the chase, shall we?"
She held up the written copy of Konata's paper, which had a big red zero in the top left corner. "Care to explain this?"
All Konata could do was turn her head away and start whistling the A*r theme.
"You forgot what the assignment and at the last minute came up with this didn't you?"
Kuroi noted the slight nod Konata gave her and leaned back in her chair. "You know, getting into college at the rate you're going would be nothing short of a miracle. Don't you have any plans for the future, Izumi?"
"To be quite honest Sensei, I don't think much about the future to begin with!"
Kuroi couldn't help but cough a little. Don't be so quick to answer that kind of question!
"You need to start taking your schoolwork more seriously. The job market in Japan is very competitive nowadays so if you don't have a college degree you'll get stuck with a poor job like being a waitress or end up in your room all the time."
"But Sensei, I already do those things? Didn't I tell you I work at a waitress at a cosplay café?"
Kuroi coughed again. What speed! And rather, what kind of café would hire a small girl like her as a waitress? Best not to think about it too much. "Like I said, I hate having to give students zeros, so that's why I'm going to give you one more chance."
"Really Sensei? I'm getting a second chance?"
"Like I said in class, I don't look good as a teacher if I have one of my students failing. I guess you can call it a little thank you present for helping me get some of those rare drops recently."
"That's more like equivalent exchange."
"I suppose you're right. You should get some help from Takara or that other girl I see you hang around with all the time, Hiiragi's sister. I hear from Sakuraba she's pretty smart herself."
"Kagami? Yeah, I know she's smart, since I co- I get help from her on my homework from time to time. But why not Tsukasa?"
"I could tell she got a little help from her sister on her paper as it was better than her usual work."
"Sensei, that's a mean thing to say about one of your students…even if it's kinda true."
"Coming from the girl who skipped a few grades to get to where she was today."
"What do yo- Hey!" She realized her teacher crossed the one line Konata had: her height. "You're setting a bad example right now."
Kuroi smiled a bit, showing off her fang. "Hey, we're not in class. Besides, I said that to get back at you for the computer comment earlier, so I think we can call it even now. You have the whole Golden Week to do this paper so don't throw my generosity back in my face. Now get out of here, I have to finish packing up so I can leave and I'm sure your friends are getting impatient. School ended twenty minutes ago."
"Thank you Ma'am!" And with that, Konata bounded out of the room with the most energy she had all day down the hall to go meet up with Tsuakasa, Miyuki and Kagami.
Kuroi watched her as she made it down the hall before disappearing down the staircase. "Man, I'm starting to get soft on my students already? I'm 27 and I'm starting to feel old."
On her way out, Konata stopped by her shoe locker. As she did so, she peered out of the front door and saw her friends waiting for her by the school gate. Miyuki looked as if she was explaining something to Tsukasa, who was nodding like she agreed with her yet held that blank look in her eyes when she didn't understand something.. Knowing Tsukasa, no matter how someone would try to explain something to her, she would typically not understand it. At least with Miyuki, Tsukasa tried to pay attention, but it was obvious most of Miyuki's words were flying over her head. That was common since Miyuki was definitely the most knowledgeable person out of the four of them. Konata did admit sometimes her explanations would get a bit lengthy and it became increasingly difficult to keep up. Not far from them was the elder Hiiragi twin Kagami, clearly irritated, tapping her foot and looking at her cell phone to see what time it was.
Kagami had been her best friend since they were introduced to each other through Tsukasa during their first year at Ryōō High School. She remembered asking her for the previous days' homework ten minutes after they met so she could get all the answers before before class. For some reason, instead of blowing her off and telling her to do her own work, Kagami obliged and helped Konata out. Over the course of the past two years, Konata had grown to know Kagami as a tsundere.
Before she could think much more about it, she saw Kagami make eye-contact with her. "Hey, could you hurry up please? It's almost been twenty minutes since school ended!" Kagami yelled across the front yard.
Konata started waving to her. "Hold on, Hold on, I'm coming!" Konata yelled back. She stuffed her school shoes back in her locker and started bounding over to her friends. They made their way out of the school and started walking towards the bus station.
"Sorry for making you guys wait, Teach wanted to talk to me for a bit."
"Well, what did Kuroi want? Was she curious on how you managed to get here from primary school so quickly?" Kagami always managed to get at one least cheap shot on Konata every day, showing off her "tsuntsun" side.
She and Sensei must be on the same brain length. "No, no my little Kagamin." Konata tsked and waved her finger at Kagami like she was lecturing a small child. "We were discussing on which foods that you can eat a lot of when you're on a diet."
"Like what?" Kagami asked.
"It wouldn't matter to you anyway."
"Why not?"
"Because somehow you would manage to gain the weight anyway!"
Kagami replied by rapping the top of Konata's head in the exact same spot Kuroi had hit her a little while ago with her fist so it still would sting for a bit."H-hey, I've lost a few kilos lately."
"Really?" Konata sprung up behind Kagami and gave her a big hug, groping her stomach. "Because to me you seem the same."
"H-hey! Get off of me! We're in public you know!" Kagami tried to push her friend off but Konata had an almost vice-like grip and pretty soon got tired out.
Miyuki cleared her throat. "There aren't a lot of foods you can simply eat a lot of when you are on a diet. While there are certainly lots of healthy foods that are good on a diet, you still need to factor in how many calories a day you're taking in as well."
"So you should only eat healthy foods during the proper mealtimes, Yuki-chan?" Tsukasa asked.
"Yes, you are correct on that. It's also important to maintain a fairly regular exercise schedule, as dieting may help you lose weight but if your muscles aren't ready for the rapid weight loss, your skin will get flappy around the areas of your body that aren't properly worked out on. But a little snack every now and again isn't a bad thing, it's only bad to make a habit of it."
"So why is it when I try to eat healthy or a lot my body doesn't grow, Miyuki-san?" Konata asked, her arms still around Kagami's waist.
"It depends on your metabolism. If you are the type of person who is constantly up late at night, your metabolism tends to speed up quite a bit an uses the little energy it has to keep up you awake. If your don't give your body proper rest, you basically refusing to let it grow."
"I told you playing all those net games late at night was bad for you, Konata. Now I'm going to ask you again. Can you get off of me?"
Konata only nestled herself further into Kagami's back, her arms working their way around Kagami's stomach and her ahoge skimming the back of Kagami's neck, sending electricity up her spine. "But I like your cornet body, Kagami."
Kagami's body temperature rose up a little bit. "Why the cornet comparison?"
Konata let go of Kagami as she tried to remember why she made that comparison. The choco cornet riddle was like a Rubik's cube to the foursome. After a long while of deliberating and trying to solve it they still couldn't figure it out. But as the answer dawned on her, Konata started smirking. "Well it's all based on perception, Kagami. Let's say we said that the thin end was the head, what would that mean to you?"
Kagami put her hand under her chin and thought. She imagined herself getting thinner to fatter as she went down. "Hey! I'm not like that at all!"
"Or, you could be the opposite, where the fatter end is the head. Now what do you see?"
Kagami pictured in her head. She was at the beach, wearing a bikini showing off her "assets" and watched as the boys around her took notice.
Wow Hiiragi, you're looking good today! Can I have your phone number?
No, can I have your phone number?
Hey jerk, I asked her for it first!
Well what are you going to do about it?
"W-well, I wouldn't mind that a little bit" Kagami said sheepishly.
Now she was in her 'deredere' mode, the part Konata loved the most. Time to go in for the kill. "But there's a possible downside to that."
"What do you mean, downside?"
"They could keep growing and growing and growing until the fanbases run away." Konata's arms started opening up more and more to indicate something was growing." By then the only thing you could do is save people who were thrown overboard at sea or wait until they explode."
Kagami held her chest. "Don't go there! Like you're one to talk!"
She realized the rashness of her statement when she saw Konata's eyes well up with tears." Ka-Ka-Kagamin is so mean! She knows that I'm short and have no boobs but she's been teasing me about my petite figure ever since we met!"
Kagami looked at Konata's fake water works with bemusement. "Didn't you say that the market for flat-chested girls is what landed you your job? If it wasn't for that, you wouldn't be able to support your lifestyle of anime and manga."
That shut the valve on Konata's tears pretty quickly. Konata eyed Kagami when she wasn't looking. I still wouldn't mind having a partially developed figure like yours, Kagami. Wait, what did I just think?
"Still, at least you have some appeal to those A-boys. Guys are too afraid of me because I'm too overprotective of Tsukasa."
"Sis…" Tsukasa trailed off. Miyuki just stood still, not sure of what to say in this situation.
Kagami suddenly felt small soft hands feeling her face. When she looked down, she saw Konata staring into her eyes with a cheerful expression.
"Don't worry about it Kagami. There's a market for your type as well."
"My type? You mean the whole 'tsundere' thing?"
"Yeah. I mean a few minutes ago you were being pretty cold but right now your face is pretty bright. I find it pretty cute if you ask me."
Kagami couldn't help but blush a little more. Hearing anyone, even if it was Konata, say she was cute made her feel embarrassed. "Konata, you can let go of my face now."
"Alright." Konata removed her hands from her friend's face, Kagami's skin color was able to go back down a few shades. "So where you guys headed off to today?" Konata asked.
"Matsuri said she would make us some of her paella tonight so Sis and I have to go to the grocery store to pick up the ingredients." Tsukasa was always excited when it came to cooking food because it was one of the few things she was better than her older sister at. Kagami, on the other hand was perfectly content microwaving food since it took the least amount of work with the smallest amount of error.
"So I guess that means I'll be seeing you later then. I gotta go home and get started on some work."
"Okay then. Bye Kona-chan! Bye Yuki-chan!"
"Goodbye Tsukasa-chan. Goodbye Kagami-chan."
"See ya, Tsuakasa. See you, Kagami-sama!"
"I told you not to call me that!"
Author: I really don't have much to say this time round, so stay tuned!
