The Harem Route

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Chapter 8: The School Trip

---(Konata POV)

"I'm impressed Konata, I didn't think you'd be able to get to the ero scenes so soon, what with her being a tsundere and all," there was a strangely proud sparkle in Sojirou's eyes.

Konata stared at her father, trying very hard to connect the words coming out of his mouth to a reason for her not to impart any physical harm on him, she was having some trouble with this, since her best argument was repercussions in the form of the long arm of the law – which, after all the time spent with her cousin Yui, wasn't something she put all that much faith in.

Sojirou seemed to somehow understand what went through his daughter's head, and began to back away, until he reached a door that he could close between them, which he then did.

Konata sighed, with her father's annoying – and perverted – bluntness, she was beginning to understand why Kagami acted the way she did. Although this was the kind of realization that would normally cause someone to feel a sudden need to better themselves, the small otaku just smiled as she remembered the way the tsundere blushed.

She's so cute it's almost criminal… This caused a sudden jump in thought from Konata. I wonder if I could dress up as police and arrest her…? Konata reached for some paper towels to stop the sudden nosebleed.

As the Hiiragi family had come back home, Misao and Konata had decided that it was probably time for them to return to their own homes, and so, after some goodbyes – Kagami had been asleep at the time so it hadn't been all that difficult – the two of them had set out.

The parts of the walk where they were together were unusually silent, though it didn't feel all that awkward for some reason, and when they finally split up, the small otaku actually found herself looking forward to the next day, when they'd meet again.

Even now that she'd returned home, she wasn't sure of what to make of all this, so she sat down in front of the computer and set out on another quest to save some random princess from evil.

---(Hiyori POV)

It was always difficult to find inspiration for Hiyori. She felt as if she had to declare war against the relentless armies that were her artists block, and even though Minami and Yutaka helped her with this to some extent, she couldn't help but feel guilty for using the two of them in such a manner.

But it wasn't like there was anyone she could ask to help her out with ideas, since Patricia had proved to be a lot more distracting than usual lately – something about pillows, Hiyori had done her best to force it deep down into her subconscious – leaving nobody for the fujoshi to turn to.

It's so unfair! Even though there is a yuri triangle drama right in front of me, I still don't have any inspiration… wait… what? Hiyori looked up from the drawing that just wouldn't form on the paper. That's it! I'll ask senpai! And with this thought in mind, the fujoshi dived for the phone.

---(Kagami POV)

Kagami stared out of the window of the school bus, sighing quietly to herself as memories of how she ended up here made themselves reminded.

After Tsukasa had rushed off – in an unreasonably responsible manner – Misao and Konata had arrived at the house's doorstep like what she'd recently come to consider to be normal, this was followed by a walk to school where shameless flirting and random groping was much too common for the strict girl's liking.

It had been a very ordinary way to start the day – she tried not to think of how she'd come to accept the oddity of it all so quickly though. The problem had started when they arrived at school.

Kagami was in a different class than Konata, Miyuki, and her little sister, this meant that she had to go on a different bus to get to their destination. This was something it seemed like all parties involved had come to accept. But that was before Misao, who was actually able to get on Kagami's bus, was counted for.

If you want to make someone feel unsatisfied, show them someone who has something they don't.

Basically, the small otaku had almost caused a riot in order for her and Kagami to get on the same bus. Kagami was a little unnerved by the ease with which Konata had been able to drag so many people into the giant protest of splitting them up by classes – was she actually able to do almost anything if she just put her mind to it, just like so many teachers claim their students to be?

Thankfully, she'd been stopped by Kuroi, who'd ended the whole thing by smacking her on the head and saying that they'd be able to see each other once they arrived.

It seemed like Misao had decided against attempted groping and settled for falling asleep on Kagami's shoulder, something that was a little awkward – and embarrassing – but not something that she needed to pay any real attention to.

The strict girl had spent most of the trip looking out the window, watching as the landscaped raced by. She hadn't been able to have a conversation with the sleeping girl for obvious reasons – she was sleeping – and Ayano seemed to be completely engrossed in her book, this left her with nothing to do but to slowly be consumed by boredom.

Boredom is a funny thing, you might think that you're a calm and sensible person, and then when you get bored… BAM! Sudden random impulses telling you to do something, anything, just to relieve the endless boredom.

Kagami was experiencing one of those random impulses right now and was fighting a losing battle, the tool needed was already in her hand, the victim was already so close by – and had done so many annoying things that no jury in the world would convict her – there was just no way she could've resisted.

An evil grin snuck its way onto the twin-tailed girl's lips, as she removed the cork to the permanent marker, and set to work on the unsuspecting victim's face.

---(Konata POV)

As Konata entered her bus, wearing a dejected face and praying quietly that the bus driver would get to their destination really fast, she was greeted by its occupants as a war hero of sorts.

The small otaku wasn't the only person split up from friends by annoying traveling conditions, and many had held high hopes that her revolution would succeed, leaving them able to rejoin their comrades. When it had been foiled, they still had enough pride left in them to show the losing side a measure of their gratitude at the attempt.

Konata was like a god.

This was true for at least five to ten minutes into the trip, which was when boredom began to overtake her loyal subjects, leaving her in her normal place. In other words, she picked out her game and disappeared into her own little world of make-believe.

Well, she would've done that, if it weren't for the fact that she was still very much remembering how Misao and Kagami were alone together on that bus – who knew what kind of perverted things the fanged girl might do to her tsundere.

In the end she failed completely at trying to emerge herself into the game – she just kept dying – so she began to look for other ways to distract herself.

As her now freed mind began to wander, Konata began recalling the events that had transpired yesterday, until something caught her mind. It wasn't how soft the twin-tailed girl had felt when she'd carried her, nor was it about how cute she'd been when she smiled sleepily at her.

Konata reached for her bag, there was something she'd forgotten that she was in possession of, something that she'd been able to obtain by getting up even earlier than usual, and stopping by at a certain kouhai's place before returning to her usual routine of arriving at the Hiiragi household just as the second youngest member opened the door.

She dug around a little before finding what she was looking for.

Konata stared into those sky colored orbs, mesmerized by the way they were slowly drawing closer, the hand on her thigh had begun to sneak its way beneath her skirt. Her own faced was blushing, but the tsundere was smiling slyly, enjoying this reversal of their roles, as she drew in for the kiss.

As expected of Hiyorin, this is really great stuff… The small otaku smiled a little as she looked at the picture which she'd gained for all of her troubles, it might've been a fake, but it was still totally worth it.

---(Kagami POV)

"Ayano…?" Misao's groggy voice seemed somewhat confused, "Why are you laughing?"

Kagami couldn't really blame the girl – she was having troubles suppressing her own laughter – but she still tried to send discreet signals telling the formerly reading girl not to mention the reason.

"… Nothing… I just thought of… something funny…" it would've probably been more convincing had Ayano not had to take regular pauses to suppress her own laughter.

"Really? What was it about?" still seeming a little sleepy, the fanged girl still managed to show an interest in her friends mirth.

"Ah," clearly Ayano hadn't thought that far ahead, "… It was kind of an inside joke, you wouldn't understand…"

Kagami was amazed, the way that she'd been able to pull that out of nowhere was something that the twin-tailed girl couldn't hope to match – she'd been planning her responses to Misao's possible inquires for an hour or so.

The three of them made their way towards the rest of the group, a place where they'd be able to locate Konata and the others. Or in Ayano's case… well, let's just say that she ran off somewhere and be done with it… It kind of makes you jealous if you think too deeply into it. Kagami almost had to suppress a sigh, but then she saw Misao's face and was forced to catch her breath to make sure that she wouldn't burst out laughing.

Doing sneaky things wasn't Kagami's specific area of expertise, but she still planned to do a good job out of it.

---

The look on Konata's face was pretty much priceless.

It was enough to make Kagami's well-built laughter-barriers suffer a complete, structural failure. Misao just stood there looking confused as Kagami was forced to her knees by her own laughter.

Konata on the other hand, seemed to have been frozen in some kind of ultimate shock, caught somewhere in between 'imminent hysterical laughter' and disbelief. Apparently, the small otaku hadn't expected the normally strict girl to be able to pull off a prank like this – even if it was harmless, it was still technically at someone else's expense.

Tsukasa and Miyuki both seemed to be trying very hard not to laugh, and – despite a valiant effort – failing as usual, causing the fanged girl with doodles on her face to look even more confused. This, in turn, resulted in the doodles being brought to life by the girls facial movement – this is where the two air-heads of the group finally lost it and joined the still laughing Kagami on the ground.

Konata seemed to finally break out of her 'shock mode' and a mischievous smile began to creep it's way to her lips. It was very disturbing to watch, but Kagami was trying desperately to breathe at the moment so she wasn't paying all that much attention to it.

It was only now that it seemed to finally dawn on Misao that there was something on her face, which she immediately asked the most sane looking person out of the bunch, a bystander.

Her answer was some choked laughter, and an answer hinting that maybe she shouldn't fall asleep in close proximity to a permanent marker in the future.

The rest of the day had passed in much the same way that days like these usually passed, there was no really strange happenings.

Although 'normal' is hardly a word that you'd normally connect it to.

Tsukasa was acting a bit jumpy for some reason – Kagami had lately learnt to simply ignore her little sister's odd behavior.

Misao struggled for an hour or two with trying to remove the doodles with soap, water, and anything else available – her face was red like a tomato for some time afterwards.

Miyuki seemed like she was considering something of grave importance – Kagami suspected it might've something to do with their earlier training, but decided not to ask.

Konata was being Konata – nothing could make that girl change her attitude towards life.

Kuroi was acting much akin to a teacher – until someone located the nearest bar.

And Kagami was caught somewhere in the middle trying not to get a headache from it all – she failed miserably.

---(Konata POV)

It had been a satisfying day for the small otaku. Not only had she been able to spend it on a school trip together with the love of her life, her fiercest rival had been disabled by a prank that aforementioned love had pulled on her.

Well, it was supposed to have been a satisfying day, but Kagami had spent a lot of time helping the fanged girl remove the doodles on her face, so much in fact, that Konata had been unable to fully enjoy what the day should've had in store for her.

But the bottom line was that the cause for it wasn't Misao, but the twin-tailed tsundere that had spent all that time trying to help her out, and she couldn't be mad at Kagami… Okay she could, but it felt like it was an empty anger, and it didn't last for very long – Konata blamed it on the strict girl's unfairly good looks.

In the end, she had been able to commandeer a futon in the same room as her – Kagami slept next to a wall, with Tsukasa's futon being the closest one – but even here her rival had managed to follow them.

Kagami had looked slightly unsettled about the idea of sleeping when both of them were in the room with her, but had settled for telling them to sleep, think clean thoughts, and stay the hell away from her side of the room.

This of course meant the Misao and Konata was sleeping next to the other wall – as far away from Kagami as possible whilst still being in the same room – together.

There had been some dispute about who'd get the spot closest to Kagami, until she'd told them that if they continued to bicker she'd kick them both out and they could sleep in the corridor – the issue had been settled by the two of them sleeping with their heads towards Kagami and their feet towards the wall.

Konata still remembered vividly just how much Misao tended to move in her sleep, and she wasn't looking forward to the prospect of sleeping next to her, but it couldn't really be helped.

---(Kagami POV)

Being the first one to wake up in the morning – Tsukasa was acting a little more like her usual self, although that might just be related to how she'd seemed to have had some trouble with falling asleep – Kagami took a deep breath, and began to do something she knew she would regret.

She made her way towards the two girls that were sleeping in positions that were very odd – it looked almost as if they'd been fighting in their sleep – Kagami knelt down next to them, determined to wake them up.

It was at this time however, that she noticed a piece of paper falling out of Konata's overturned bag – Misao seemed to have kicked it at some point during the night. Now, the strict girl knew better than to go through the small otaku's bag – or any potential papers that were placed in it – but curiosity got the better of her.

---(Konata POV)

Konata opened her eyes. She wasn't really sure what it was that woke her up. But, some part of her brain – probably a part related to animalistic survival instincts – told her that it was very important for her to be awake, and, if possible, very far away from here.

It was a confusing way to start the day, but she decided that it was probably best if she at least checked on her surroundings before attempting to dismiss it and go back to sleep.

That was probably what saved her life.

Konata had seen an angry Kagami before – it wasn't something you'd be able to forget in any given time – but it was still just as terrifying, only, this time, Konata had just gotten out of her comforting dreams, and she really wasn't ready for it.

She almost had an heart attack when she noticed the reason for the twin-tailed girl's apparent rage.

The commission Konata had ordered from a certain fujoshi was clenched tightly in one of Kagami's hands, the other hand seemed to be looking for something to harm. Not choke, not crush, harm. As in, it had been stripped from everything else other than it's immense thirst for blood and violence.

Konata had probably never gotten out of the bed so fast in her life – and who could honestly blame her for that, getting up in the mornings is hard.

Before Kagami was able to get a grip on the sudden change in the situation, Konata was already rushing out the door – even if she'd had a explanation, it wouldn't have been one Kagami would accept, even under normal conditions.

The small otaku didn't remember much after that, but when she came to her sense again, she was standing outside in a vaguely familiar place, dressed only in her pajamas, panting heavily from her hard run, and Kagami was nowhere in sight.

Well… that's good, it looks like I might survive for a little while longer… Konata sighed a little, she knew that the tsundere would probably calm down in a few hours, but what should she do while waiting?

The small otaku quickly realized that she was in a bit of a spot. She was in the middle of the street wearing nothing but her pajamas, without any money, or any way to contact anyone.

It wasn't that she was worried about men or anything like that – there was a reason that her dad had made sure that she'd been well trained in martial arts – it was just that it might be difficult to find any way to pass the time until Kagami calmed down, without any money to spend.

She'd considered many different possibilities, but one would get her arrested – mugging someone using force didn't sit well with the law – one would cause Kagami to harm her if she were ever to find out – stealing candy from babies wasn't nice – and the rest were either illegal or just plain unpleasant – like blackmailing someone, or sitting down on the sidewalk for hours doing nothing.

Plainly put, she needed to find something to remedy her situation, and the best way to do that?

Find something that you know, and tell them you'll pay them back at a later time.

Problems that might arise from this? Kagami might be present at their location, or already having formed an alliance with them.

So, who was there that Kagami wouldn't form an alliance with? There was Misao, because the fanged girl would probably ask her for a similar drawing containing her and Kagami, leaving them back at square one. Unfortunately, Kagami would probably be present, or in the vicinity, meaning that she was also out of the question.

Muttering curses under her breath – still a little peeved knowing that the tsundere had probably burnt, or in other ways destroyed, the picture that she'd worked so hard to possess – Konata found herself looking at an entrance to what appeared to be a bar of some sort.

Normally, she'd avoid places like this, but she could swear that she'd heard that voice somewhere before…

Konata opened the door slowly, revealing a very ordinary looking bar, the kind of average place you'd have difficulties not finding in a city or town of reasonable size. And in this very ordinary looking bar sat a very disheveled looking teacher, drinking merrily and laughing at the man who'd collapsed in front of her.

Apparently, Kuroi wasn't your average drinker, and you'd be hard pressed indeed to find a normal person capable of drinking her under the table.

This, was Konata's answer to her earlier conundrum.

Kagami, would never set foot in a bar, and Kuroi was way too unreliable when drunk for Kagami to try and reason with her even if she had paid her a visit at some point.

It was difficult to convince Kuroi that she shouldn't drink any more than she already had, although she did have some help from the bartender who was beginning to get tired of having to pick people off the floor – or order someone to do it for him, Konata didn't plan on staying long enough to find out either way.

When they finally made it back out onto the street, Konata made a mental note that, if this ever happened again, she should at least bring something capable of pinching her nose – Kuroi reeked of alcohol.

Somehow she managed to get the still slightly peeved – she'd been interrupted when she was having a blast – woman to find her a place to change into more day-appropriate clothes – and pay for the clothes in question.

When the small otaku was satisfied with having found a way to make it possible for her to pass the time without anything bad happening, she allowed the now happily singing woman – who claimed she was completely sober – to continue on her way to the nearest bar, which hopefully wouldn't be the one that she'd just left.

Wandering around the place – or going sightseeing, whatever you might call it – was proving to be, albeit boring, not quite as painstakingly boring as she'd originally assumed. It was however interrupted by a small growling noise – that didn't come from a Hiiragi's stomach for once – convincing her that she needed to find something edible in the near future.

It was just after having completed this quest for sustenance that Konata was met with a somewhat confusing sight.

Some way away from where she was standing, and well hidden from the mass's prying eyes, stood two familiar looking girls. Namely, Tsukasa and Miyuki.

Eh? What are those two doing here? Konata began to go over in her head the potential reasons, quickly dismissing the idea that would've sent a certain manga artist into a fantasy world, and beginning to line up the more probable ones. She came up with two.

Kagami could've asked them to help her find the small otaku – giving Konata a good reason for not moving from her spot until the two of them had made their intentions clear. Or they could've wandered off exploring on their own.

Unfortunately, Konata couldn't really hear what was being said all that well – there was still some distance to them, so she couldn't quite pick out what was being said – however, it did seem to be important since both of them looked much less air-headed than usual.

Apparently, Konata wasn't the only person that was having difficulty in hearing what was being said, Miyuki seemed to be having trouble on her end as well – although, from the looks of it, she also seemed almost as if she was gathering up courage for something at the same time.

This was all a very odd situation for Konata to be in, she was eavesdropping on two of her friends – to whom she couldn't speak due to previously stated and still quite plausible scenario – whilst neither of the two friends acted much like friends would normally do in a situation like this – there was no talk about food, smelly things, or of anything of similar nature.

In fact, the two girls acted very much like they weren't actually two girls. Instead the feeling they gave off was similar to the awkward silence that can only really be found in between two people that are very much attracted to the other – which was just plain ridiculous.

"I'm in love with you!"

Okay… not quite as ridiculous as she'd originally suspected. Konata stared at the two girls who'd somehow managed to time their mutual confession down to the millisecond, it would've been funny if she wasn't busy trying to piece together what was still left of her thought process, which seemed to have broken down somewhere around the 'in lo-' part.

The two of them stared at each other, looking both shocked, happy, and embarrassed, all at the same time. And then Tsukasa moved forward, an unusual determination in her usually air-headed movements.

Konata wondered for a moment whether or not it was considered rude to watch a couple's first kiss from a hiding place, but then she quickly dismissed the though – she'd watched their confession, she might as well sit this one out until the end.

---(Kagami POV)

Kagami stared into the fireplace – she'd been surprised to find that there was one when they'd arrived – watching as the last remnants of her ink made doppelganger curled up into black ash.

It had been the obvious choice, tearing it up would only leave trouble for someone else, and leaving it alone would mean that Misao would probably catch wind of it sooner or later, and that would not end nicely.

Still, after she'd gotten used to the actual contents of the image – it was embarrassing, but not extremely inappropriate – she'd realized that it was a very odd sensation to see yourself as a drawing, it kind of put anime in another perspective.

Now she was watching that burn away into nothingness, never to be seen by anyone else – three people was already too many – she could imagine who'd been the artist, partly because of the drawing style, but mostly because she was the only person she knew who'd willingly draw something like that without much – if any – compensation.

She was going to have to have a talk with Hiyori when she got back.

---(Hiyori POV)

For some reason, Hiyori felt a shiver run down her spine. She couldn't really understand why, but she was quickly distracted from the sudden prick of fear by the events that transpired in front of her.

Patricia glanced over at her, surprised to see that she'd somehow been distracted in the first place – the fujoshi could hardly blame her.

Minami was standing in the middle of the chaos, a determined face set upon her handsome features – looking very much like the prince Hiyori usually had to picture in her head. Cradled safely in her arms was Yutaka, staring up into the eyes of her rescuer with a mixture of relief and tired happiness – looking so much like a frail princess, that Hiyori was considering doing a background check on her family, just to see if there really wasn't any royal blood flowing in her veins.

Needless to say, Hiyori had been sketching the whole thing when the chill had momentarily interrupted her.

---(Konata POV)

It'd been fun to see the way the two girls jumped when Konata came up to them – congratulating them and wishing them happiness as she did so – it'd also been funny to see the way they kept shooting each other uncertain glances, but she hadn't wanted to become a third wheel of sorts, so she'd left the two of them to fend for themselves after a little while.

She spent a few more hours walking around the city aimlessly until she found a place that seemed to lead directly towards the place at which the students were currently staying, she took this as a divine sign – God, if you mess this up I'll hunt you down and teach you the meaning of true pain – and began her journey back towards the – hopefully – calm tsundere.

---(Kagami POV)

There was something strangely bewitching with watching the soft crackling of the fire, and it took Kagami a while to realize that she now had company.

"Eh? Where's Konata?" Misao looked very much like she had looked when she'd still been sleeping – her eyes were open, but only barely – and she seemed to have the same mental capacity as if she really were still asleep.

"Konata is outside somewhere…" her voice was calm, but it was the kind of calm that would make people walk around you, if nothing else. Misao didn't seem to catch on.

"Really?" looking only a little surprised – it was hard to feel surprise when you had the same thought pattern as a zombie – the fanged girl sat down next to her, seemingly happy with staring into the flames together.

Kagami could never understand either of the two girls that had fallen in love with her.

Konata would flirt shamelessly given half a chance – she would create a chance if it wasn't given – but could actually act sweet sometimes, just not often. She was also the type of person to slowly steer a person into the path that she wanted them to walk – it was a little unsettling to watch, since it made the twin-tailed girl wonder if, and when she'd been subjected to it.

Misao on the other hand, seemed to be innocent by comparison – with exception of the groping – and would always be straightforward about everything and anything. She wasn't the cleverest of people – this was undeniable – but she would work hard to achieve her goal. The problem with trying to analyze Misao's behavior, was that you could sum most of her actions up with her saying the words 'it seemed like a good idea at the time'.

Kagami had tried to understand exactly what they'd seen in her – there should've at least been something considering that both of them fell for her – but she'd only drawn blanks. This could lead to two conclusions.

The first would be that love truly was blind and that it could strike at the strangest and seemingly oddest moments. The second was that the two girls were both completely insane.

Personally, she favored the latter, but it seemed a little odd that in spite of their apparent madness they were able to use reason to such a degree. In the end, she'd simply given up, deciding that it was probably some sort of unholy mixture of the two.

She couldn't really understand why it seemed so… normal, to sit next to Misao as the two of them stared into the crimson flames that were dancing happily inside the fireplace. Maybe it had something to do with how there was nothing – at that particular moment – which really reminded her of their new positions, and how her life had changed so drastically since that day when she'd forgotten her umbrella.

Of course, she still knew that it had changed, she just wasn't forced to pay any immediate attention to it, which was a nice change. The two of them sat there watching the fire and enjoying the calmness that seems to come naturally from being next to a lit fireplace.

It was during this peaceful moment of hypnotized calmness that two more girls arrived in the room, two girls that seemed oddly nervous for some reason – Kagami would normally have tried to figure out why, but she was feeling very relaxed right now and didn't really feel like digging through something that might make her tense up, without a very good reason.

Tsukasa looked at her curiously, probably trying to figure out why she was looking so relaxed despite her proximity to the ever-groping Misao, she soon learned the cause as Miyuki began to fall under the spell of the softly crackling fireplace.

In the end, the two of them settled down on Kagami's other side, putting the twin-tailed girl in between them and Misao – there didn't seem to be any special reason for it, other than that they had to sit down somewhere.

There was now four girls, sitting calmly in front of the fireplace – Miyuki and Tsukasa seemed to be sitting unusually close together, but Kagami didn't really feel like thinking about it at the moment.

There was now a slight weight that had come into contact with her shoulder, the soft breathing proved her suspicion that the fanged girl – who'd never had a chance to leave her zombie-like state – had fallen asleep again with her head on the strict girl's shoulder. And it was at this moment that Kagami realized something very important.

It feels like we're missing someone. Her thoughts darted back towards the small otaku, and she was slightly peeved to find that she actually missed her – not by disregard for the rest of them, it just felt like there should be someone else there as well.

She lay the now sleeping girl back onto the soft pillows, and then got to her legs, walking quietly past the long-since-sleeping pair that had settled down in a really large armchair, careful not to wake anyone she pulled the door to the room open, and stepped out.

She began to move toward the big entrance, still not really understanding why she had abandoned her comfortable spot.

"Ah," their eyes met as the small otaku came walking in from the street, looking a little hesitant to be running into her so early on, her mouth opened again – perhaps in order to apologize, or mock, or maybe both – but she didn't seem able to find any words.

"Shut up," Kagami interrupted her before she could find any of her excuses, "I don't feel like talking to you," this actually caused the smaller girl to flinch slightly, though she hid it well, "So, come on, let's go."

Grabbing the stunned looking otaku's hand, Kagami set off towards the spot she'd left earlier, there was plenty of room in front of the fireplace, they'd have no problem fitting all of them.

---(Konata POV)

Konata wasn't really sure about the exact reason for being forgiven – she'd expected that she'd at least be forced to apologize, but that hadn't happened – but she decided that there was no need to bring up something that would probably just prove unfavorable for her.

The rest of the trip seemed to pass by in a flash – it wasn't really a very long trip, so it wasn't all that surprising – although there was that incident when Tsukasa and Miyuki admitted their new relationship to Kagami – and Misao, who'd also happened to be present at the time.

Kagami had looked at them for a moment, seemingly completely calm, and then she'd brought her hands up to her head and complained about how it felt as if her brain would break. It hadn't, and she'd given the two girls her blessing.

Misao had looked genially happy about the whole thing – Konata wondered if it was possible that she was just too dense to be surprised about it.

The fact that Konata hadn't even blinked had however, tipped a certain tsundere off, and she was forced to explain how she knew about their relationship – the two girls looked about ready to faint from embarrassment when she began to explain how she'd seen it all happen, so she politely decided not to mention every little thing, even if that would've gotten a wonderful reaction from Kagami.

When it was all over and done with, the gang had spent the rest of the trip sightseeing – though the newly formed couple didn't seem to be paying much attention to the actual scenery.

Kuroi was located in good time before the trip ended – Konata had joked about the possibility that she might've been left at a bar somewhere, and prove unable to return home – and spent the entire trip back telling the class to shut the hell up, while holding her head as if she was worried that it might split open if she didn't.

For some reason that she couldn't understand, Konata wasn't all that bothered when Kagami and Misao split from the rest of them to get on their own class's bus. She was actually so calm about the whole thing that she fell asleep during the ride – she only prayed that Tsukasa and her girlfriend would be too busy to think of trying to replicate her sister's earlier prank.

---

A/n: And, the reason for Tsukasa's odd behavior is finally revealed! … I think it was pretty damn obvious, but maybe that's just me…