Sojiro glanced at his daughter, his face expressionless. Then he stared intently at his daughter's girlfriend, noticing the way she gulped but still made eye contact.
"Misao Kusakabe, right?" He confirmed, setting the mood for the conversation. Misao nodded nervously. When he wanted to, Konata's father could be rather menacing..
"You're dating my daughter?"
"Yeah. Chi- .. Konata and I have talked about it, and we've decided that we want to try."
"..." Sojiro said nothing.
"Misao is a good person, even though she's hyper. She'll take care of me." Konata defended her friend, grabbing her hand. She smiled, and got a smile back. Sojiro watched stone-faced.
He didn't harbor any ill feelings towards her. In fact, he was thankful. Being in a serious relationship with his daughter meant that she would have another outlet for her emotions. Keeping them inside her would only cause harm, so it was good that she had someone to talk to and to share a mutual bond with. As much as Sojiro wanted to be that person, he knew it had to be more of a romance and less of a fatherly love that would help Konata move on.
But it would be boring if he didn't put on a show, right?
"If Konata cares that much about you, then we can make an agreement." Sojiro paused, letting that sink in. When he continued his voice was threatening and protective at the same time. "You can be her girlfriend. But if you ever hurt her, if you make her cry, you have more than one Izumi to deal with."
Then all traces of danger disappeared, and his face melted into a smile. "Alright, Misao. Please take care of my daughter." Seeing the relieved expression on the brunette's face, he chuckled a bit as the two hugged each other.
"Yay, he accepted you!" Konata cheered, but a cat-like grin directed at Sojiro told him that she knew he had faked the whole thing. "She can see right through me.. That's my girl!"
/-/
Now in the otaku's lair, Misao and Konata sat down at the table, falling backwards onto the ground and sighing loudly in perfect synchronization. After bantering with each other for a couple of minutes, the serious topics slowly floated to the top.
"Man, today really was something!" Misao exclaimed, putting her hands behind her head. She laughed as she reviewed the events that had occurred. "A lot happened today, right chibi?"
Konata, also, cast her mind back over the day's events. She couldn't help but flinch at the thought. "Yeah.. A lot.."
"Was it really alright for me to do this? Did I do the right thing?"
Misao looked over at her, curiosity being the only thing written on her face. "What'cha thinking about?"
"..." Konata didn't respond, but that gave Misao her answer.
"Hm." Misao grunted. "I want to say I know how you feel, but I'd be lieing. All I can say is, I'm your girlfriend now. Anything you need to get off your chest?"
"Misao.."
"If you're worried about my feelings, thanks. As much as I appreciate that, I don't want to see you smothering yourself though. We're all like that. Most of us know how you prioritize making us happy, and you neglect yourself."
"..." When her speech was met with silence, Misao took that as a cue to keep going.
"Nobody wants you to hold it all in, none of us want you to care only for other people and not yourself. Be a little selfish once in a while, you get it? If there was a karma system, you'd be the one girl hoarding it and not using it, if you know what I mean. You can afford to ask us for things, we don't mind!"
"Thank you.. I will." Quietly, the bluenette nodded her thanks and smiled faintly.
"Just don't ask me about money or politics." Misao joked. "I can't help you with either of those!" Grinning, she ruffled the short girl's hair.
"Haha, thanks Misao! I'll be sure to take advantage of your offer!" Having lightened the mood, Misao felt a hand travelling down along her side and stop at her waist, before the presence disappeared altogether. Konata giggled innocently while Misao feigned exasperation.
"That doesn't mean you can have my body just yet, chibi. From all those dating sims you play, I would've expected you to know you can't jump straight into sex, haha!"
"Oh my, what are you talking about? I wouldn't dare do such a thing so rashly." Konata cooed and pursed her lips. Misao took the initiative, kissing the unsuspecting girl without warning.
Konata returned the kiss, surprised but pleased.
/-/
"We have to tell them." Konata said out of the blue. "Our friends. At school."
Not looking away from the screen, Misao replied. "Okay. Tomorrow?"
"..." Konata's lips formed a line, and she glanced sidelong at her partner. "You'll be there, right?"
"Yeah, of course chibi! Goes without question. That way if Hiiragi bites you, I can protect you!" Misao grinned at the bluenette, but her expression quickly turned to match the one on the other girl's face.
"Misao.. I'm sort of scared.." Konata mumbled, her normally bright eyes wavering with doubt. "What if Kagami.. I mean, we used to be.. She might get mad, and then.."
"Hey, she's still your friend you know! Hiiragi wouldn't hurt you on purpose. Even if she tries, she has to get past the rest of us.. including me." Misao grinned, nudging her girlfriend with her elbow.
Konata did her best to grin and laugh it off. "Haha.. you're right.. Kagami is a good friend, a good person. She wouldn't get mad.." She told herself, almost halfheartedly.
"Misao is right.. right?"
/-/
Kagami walked through the classroom, trying her best to ignore Misao's positively radiating enthusiasm. She waved at her friends, the smile on her face not reaching her eyes.
"What's up?"
"Hello Kagami-san!"
"Welcome back sis!"
"Hey, Kagami!"
"Hey Konata, was that you earlier? In the hallway?" Kagami asked, remembering the crowd of people and yelling.
"Oh, you heard about that? That was me, yeah." Konata grinned, put down her chocolate cornet and stood up, stepping a reasonable distance away from the table. "Hold on, let me open my box of memories real quick."
"So, when it happened I was just walking through the hallway and all of a sudden this girl falls into me." Konata said, looking surprised and pretending to stagger to the side.
The girl in question bumps into Konata by accident, and she instantly takes a step backwards, her hands raised in apology.
"She starts to talk really fast and she says sorry and stuff, but then the new transfer student dude comes up and starts yelling at her and she gets really scared and everything! So naturally, I step in front of her and take up a fighting stance." Konata assumes her stance, her shoulders raised, her hands up, her head tilted down.
When she took a step back, she knocked into a student, and he spills his drink all over his uniform. Swearing, he glared at the girl and advanced on her, but Konata stepped in front, holding her hands out and explaining frantically.
"The guy glares at me and starts to talk crap, trying to sound threatening and ignoring everything I say. Seeing no way around this problem, I swiftly step in with a sweep kick and knock him to the floor!" Konata moves forward, dropping down and whipping her leg in front of her in a kick.
The boy interrupts Konata, telling her to get out of the way before he does it himself. Konata, her eyes sparking with anger, steps forward and knocks him to the ground, spinning gracefully and posing.
"But he's about to get up and attack me, probably with a typical roundhouse punch, but thankfully Kuroi-sensei grabs his arm while he's winding up, and she drags him away while thanking me for my daring heroics!"
Kuroi appears from the classroom's door, going straight for Konata and grabbing her arm. The girl from before speaks up, asking for the release of her blue-headed savior. Reluctantly, Kuroi lets go of Konata, but not before scolding her. However, she then walks over to the winded boy, standing over him and grinning. "Ah, try not to piss her off. I don't want to expel her for hospitalizing someone."
".. And that's what happened." Konata finished, sitting down with an air of modesty.
"That was really brave of you, Kona-chan!" Tsukasa beamed, marveling at how capable her friend was. Kagami furrowed her eyebrows and stared hard at the otaku.
"I'll ask Miyuki about the true story later." She snorted, smirking in the pinkette's direction, but all she got was an apologetic shake of the head.
"I'm afraid I didn't see what happened. I do believe Izumi-san's story, but she does have a habit of bending the truth a little bit." Miyuki stated.
"I'm not sure if you're on my side or not.." Konata pouted at the lack of trust by her friends.
Settling down, the six girls chatted idly about whatever came to mind. Konata said nothing. Not that she wanted to, but now it felt like taboo to crack jokes or make witty comments.
"Oh, Chibi and I wanna tell you guys something." Konata froze, her face paling at the words.
".. Ah.. ... ..."
"May I?" Misao turned to the otaku, raising her eyebrows and smiling encouragingly. Biting her lip, Konata bit her lip and braced herself.
Tsukasa looked at her friend with concern, the short girl's strange behavior not going unnoticed. "Kona-chan looks.. scared?"
"Are you okay Kona-chan?" She asked, but the shaky laugh and reply she got didn't qualm her worries.
Ayano watched the brunette, her eyes narrowed in suspicion. "She's being polite. That's not normal.. Wow, that sounded really mean.." Shaking her head as if to clear away the thought, she sat back in her seat and waited patiently.
Kagami sat with a blank expression. The interactions between her two friends was.. She didn't like it. The way they always sat next to each other, the way they laughed and looked at each other..
She had known this would happen. Konata seemed put-off and dispirited whenever Misao wasn't around.
Konata needed people, but she needed more than friends. Konata had referred to herself as a social person on more than one occasion, when it was just the two of them. She needed a person to love and care for, who would love her back and care for her.
Thinking about it, she felt terrible. The only thing she had done ever since? Distance herself from the poor girl. For all her worth, she couldn't bring herself to approach Konata, to say anything, to even mention what had happened. Every time she ended up alone with her best friend, the words wouldn't and her eyes would find something else to look at.
Why was it so hard?
Why couldn't she bridge this rift that had appeared between them..?
Why.. All she wanted was-
She hadn't realized her eyes were filled with tears. "I'm.. crying.."
"K-Kagami, I-" Heart pounding and stammering over her words, Konata felt panic quickly rising up in her chest, but it disappeared promptly when she received a hug from the tsundere.
"Sorry.. Konata.." Kagami muttered, barely audible. "Just.. if you're happy."
Konata opened her mouth but nothing came out. Giving in, she buried her face into the taller girl's shoulder, hugging her tightly. "Kagami.. thank you.."
Misao's stood quietly, watching the two embrace. Her eyes shone with emotion, not of jealousy but of pride and the slightest bit of happiness.
"You know.. If things were different, I would totally ship Chibi and Hiiragi!"
