From that day on, Konata was back to her regular self- if not a cheerier person- and though she did spend lots of time with Neville, she didn't disappear nearly as much as she had. But come the beginning of March, her enthusiasm began to falter until it faded altogether. Her disappearing acts started again. And to make matters worse, a few more students had been found petrified.
"Excuse me… Shiro?" a feminine voice said one day. Shiro looked up from his novel to see a girl with bushy brown hair facing him. He was feeling quite out of it, since he hadn't spoken to Konata for a couple of days. "Oh, hello… You're Hermione Granger, correct?"
The Gryffindor girl nodded. "Yes, I am. First of all, I hope you're not trying to read that book, because you have it upside down. Second, have you been looking for your friend Konata? I had been, um, passing by that out of order girl's lavatory, and heard talking, so I peeked inside… Konata was in there, talking to herself… I told Blaze, but she was busy helping Snape clean his classroom or something of that sort, so she told me to find you," she explained.
Shiro was on his feet in a flash. "Out of order girl's lavatory, you say? Alright, thank you for finding me, Ms. Granger!" Without further ado, he bolted inside. After many twists and turns and avoiding of teachers, he finally came across an old lavatory marked "Out of order." He carefully opened the door a crack, peering inside. Sure enough, Konata sat cross legged in the middle of the floor. Hermione had been right: it looked as if she was talking to herself. Shiro heard her giggle rather cheerlessly and say "I know, right?"
"Konata…?" he said hesitantly, opening the door further.
Konata's head shot around, panic seeping into her expression. "Shiro! What are you doing here…? This is a girl's lavatory, you know!"
Shiro opened the door all the way, closing it behind him as she strode inside. "Konata, what's been going on with you lately? We've been wo-"
"She's right, you know. Boys aren't allowed in here," said a sickeningly high-pitched, squeaky, melancholic voice. Shiro went rigid, taking a few steps backward as he saw who had spoken. The girl had round glasses, and two black pigtails. She wore a Ravenclaw attire. But what was truly off about her was that she was translucent, gave off a bit of a blue glow, and moved almost weightlessly.
"You're a…a… a-a… You're a g-ghost!" Shiro gasped, starting to shake.
The phantom floated over to him, looking rather agitated. "So what if I AM? Do I disgust you? Are you going to LAUGH at me? Or, perhaps…" A look of amusement spread across her deathly pale face. "Perhaps you're afraid of me?"
Shiro nodded, gulping and groping the door for its handle. The ghost girl let out an earsplitting series of shrieks that could have been interpreted as laughter.
"This boy is afraid of little old ME! How WONDERFUL! Someone for me to see what it's like to be giving out swirlies instead of receiving them, hm, Konata?"
Konata bolted to Shiro's side, taking his hands away from the door. "No, Myrtle, it's okay. This is my friend." It was hard to determine if the ghost- Myrtle, Konata had called her- looked relieved or disappointed.
"I, er… I-it, it's nothing PERSONAL, M-Ms. Myrtle, I-I'm just utterly TERRIFIED of g-ghosts," Shiro whispered.
"This is news to me… Shiro, there are constantly ghosts roaming around Hogwarts, and you never react to them," Konata remarked.
"O-oh, I suck it up when I'm with other people, since there's safety in numbers… But oh, how they make me scream mentally… The idea of living dead- ghosts, vampires, zombies, you name it- makes my insides feel ice cold."
"Well, Moaning Myrtle here wouldn't hurt you. She's a good ghost. The best ghost I've ever met," Konata said in a tone that obviously stated she was fond of this Moaning Myrtle. Myrtle giggled, running a hand through one dark pigtail. "Oh, thank you, Konata. You're the best witch I've ever met, certainly… Never laughed at me, or threw things at me, or tried to make me suffer even more than I usually do… You've been a FRIEND to me."
"I'm very glad to hear that, Myrtle. You've been my friend too."
Shiro calmed down a few levels. "Konata… Is this where you've been disappearing to?" he asked. Konata flinched as if Shiro was holding his wand an inch away from her face.
"Yes… I-it has. Since October, people have been bullying me… Calling me weak, and ugly, and dumb, and a… a mudblood. When I ran away in tears one day, this was the first place I came across in which I couldn't hear their laughter. I met Myrtle- well, her ghost- and learned that we had a lot in common… S-so I started coming down here to talk to her," she explained quietly. Shiro's expression looked more guilty than angry.
"Konata… Why didn't you come to Blaze and I from the start? We could have helped you!"
"I… I didn't want you to worry…"
"Do you honestly think we wouldn't be worried when you started acting out of character and vanishing on us?" They both shrunk down a bit at Shiro's raise of tone.
Konata's eyes began to water. "I'm… sorry… It was a dumb decision to hide everything from you guys, I-I know, but… W-what can you expect? I'm a worthless, stupid mudblood."
Shiro's eyes widened. He lunged forward and grabbed Konata by the collar, momentarily pulling her feet off the ground. "Don't you ever, ever, ever, EVER say that again! You are NOT worthless! You show more determination than anyone I've met, and can read stars like the alphabet and grow plants like it's common knowledge! You're NOT stupid; you're bloody brilliant! And a- it feels disgusting to even say this word- mudblood… How could you say that, Konata? You're lovely, and sweet, and brave, and the best friend anyone could ever ask for. So WHAT if your parents are Muggles? I hear they're very kind people. Frankly, I wouldn't care if you had the blood of a troll; I think you're PERFECT."
Tears automatically escaped Konata's eyes. She gripped Shiro's robes, burying her face in his chest as he began to stroke her hair. "I'm so sorry ,Shiro! Those are the nicest things ANYBODY has EVER said to me, thank you so much… It's not that I didn't tell you guys what was wrong because I didn't trust you, please know that! I-I just-"
"Shhh, it's okay, I understand. I'll see to it that those jerks leave you be. Satoshi knows EVERYBODY, and people like those bullies practically kiss the ground he walks on. I'll get him to make them lay off. If you'd like, I could go find him now," Shiro said softly. Konata sniffled and gave a small nod.
"That would… That would be nice, thanks. I-I'll go back to my common room," she murmured. Shiro nodded, ruffling her hair gently. He lifted his eyes to find Myrtle, and was quite relieved to see she was now hiding in a stall. He took Konata's hand and led her out of the bathroom.
"Thanks, Sato, I appreciate it," Shiro said a while later. He had convinced his brother to make the people bullying Konata leave her alone, and the boys were now heading back to their dorms.
"No problem, baby brother. You know, you've got the best of both worlds. Looks AND brains…"
"You think I have looks?" Shiro asked, blinking incredulously.
Satoshi halted by a long mirror, putting his arm around his brother's shoulders. "Naturally! I mean, you look just like your big brother!"
Shiro sighed. He was fully aware of the similarity between him and Satoshi; nonetheless, he looked at their reflection to humor his brother. Noticing movement in the background, he tilted his head and squinted. "Hey, what's…?"
"Alexanders, Verdent, I'm glad I found you…" huffed Professor McGonagall. Blaze had been tutoring Konata and Neville, who were sitting quite close to each other. They all looked up.
"Girls, you're going to have to come with me…" Konata and Blaze exchanged nervous glances, then got to their feet. Konata kissed Neville on the cheek (which made him blush tenfold) before trotting off after Blaze and McGonagall.
Their heartbeats increased as they realized the Gryffindor headmistress was leading them up toward the hospital wing. They felt their stomachs tie into knots as the woman grimly opened the door. Neither of them were prepared for the sight that greeted them.
"SHIRO!" they shouted, bolting to the bedside. Their friend was lying there, statue-like, his eyes widened in abrupt terror with his arm in a position as if he was in the middle of shoving someone away. The girls' eyes drifted to the bed beside his, in which Satoshi lay. His expression was identical to Shiro's, and his arm looked like it was around the shoulders of an invisible person lying beside him.
"It's… It's Salazar Slytherin's monster! It got them! But WHY? Th-their father is a pureblood…!" Konata cried, kneeling next to Shiro's unmoving body.
"But their mother is a Squib, Konata… The monster petrified Filch's cat, and he is a Squib…" Blaze reminded her in a morose whisper.
"Why did it have to be him, of all people! Why couldn't it have been me instead? I-I mean, I'm a Muggle born!" Konata shrieked, tears cascading down her cheek. Blaze gave a half-hearted shrug.
"Don't worry, girls… Professor Sprout is working on a potion that will revive everyone who has been petrified. We just have to wait for the mandrakes to be fully grown," Madam Pomfrey assured them quietly. Konata bit her lip, nodding and wiping her eyes on her sleeve. She shakily got to her feet, caressing Shiro's stone-cold cheek.
"A-alright." She felt like saying more, but couldn't seem to find the words.
A month or so went by before the mandrakes were old enough to be chopped into the healing potions. Once completed, it was fed to all the petrified students. It was learned that the monster was a basilisk: a creature that caused death when one looked into its eyes. However, nobody had managed to look it in the eye; they all saw it reflected through something, fortunately.
When Shiro entered the Great Hall with Satoshi on his heels, Konata and Blaze bolted out of their seats and dashed over to him. They hugged him so tightly he nearly fell over. "We're so glad you're back!" they gasped, nearly in tears. Shiro wrapped his arms around both of them, at a loss for words.
"What, doesn't anybody care that I'M okay?" said Satoshi. The others laughed and pulled him into their group hug. Just when they thought the moment couldn't get any better, Dumbledore announced that exams were canceled. The hall erupted with cheers (from everyone except for Hermione) and the feast appeared, thus bringing the events of the second year to a close.
"Still going to write us, right?" Blaze confirmed a week or so later as they awaited the train at Hogwarts Station.
"Naturally. Where's that Konata? I need to give her a big hug before our departure." At Shiro's words, Konata walked into view, hugging Neville's arm tightly.
"Let's keep in touch, hm?" she suggested.
Neville nodded, patting her hand. "Of course. See you next year?"
Konata nodded, suddenly blushing. "Yes. See you next year."
"I'll miss you, Konata," Shiro called. Konata trotted over into his open arms, Neville behind her.
"You too, Shiro. See you?"
"Yeah. See you." At the sound of the train whistle, the trio, accompanied by Neville, boarded the train, wrapping up their second year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.