Disclaimer: I do not own Lucky Star or any of the characters/plot points/dialogue associated with it and other franchises.

Of Galge and Imaginary Friends

Chapter 18

Last time in Of Galge and Imaginary Friends…

Konata continued her checkup, pulling her patient into a sitting position to better apply her stethoscope. "Luckily for you, all reports say that you were on good behavior," she said after writing something down. "This means…" Taking a pair of scissors, she quickly cut the bandages binding her arm to the IV stand.

Kagami was free.

"You should stay on the same medicine schedule for the rest of the day. I'll be back later."

Kanata -ID02-

Though Kagami's initial rush to the restroom was extremely quick-she hadn't gone for over half a day-her current state caught up to her rather quickly, slowing her down on her walk back to her bedroom, where she grabbed a novel from her bookshelf and returned to her previous spot. To Kanata, it appeared that, despite the sheer force of her yearning for freedom, she had no idea what to do with it.

And, considering that she sat her book aside after thirty seconds of staring blankly at a page, reading wasn't on the list.

The nudges of oncoming boredom, vacant from the spirit's thoughts during the fright of her hauntee's illness, returned with a subtle vengeance. Something had to be done, else Kanata might just start messing with things to pass the time.

She knew that would end badly.

"Hey, Kaga-chan," she began, causing the usually twintailed girl to jump, startled out of whatever thought she had been immersed in, but the resident ghost couldn't think of anything to say. Bringing a hand to her chin to stroke an invisible beard, an expression of intense thought overtook her face for nearly a minute of silence.

"Yes?" the irritable whisper of the recovering girl pierced the haze of thinking that had clouded Kanata's mind.

"Ah…I can't think of anything to say."

"Then why did you say anything in the first place?"

"Because I might break something if I try to do entertain myself."

"…That's unusually thoughtful of you."

"Hmph."

Any further speech-not that Kanata thought the conversation would've lasted much longer anyway-was cut off by the bedroom door creaking open, revealing a shifty-looking Matsuri. Upon seeing her little sister's pointed, half-lidded stare, however, the middle Hiiragi sister froze with a look on her face that said, "Aw, crap."

"Hello, Matsuri," hissed Kagami menacingly. "What might you be doing in here?"

"Ah…" The brown-haired teenager's eyes briefly-very briefly-glanced toward the room's closet. Pinned by Kagami's glare, Matsuri stood stock-still in complete and utter terror.

Kanata's giggling quickly filled the silence, though the seemingly unwelcome guest didn't notice.

"Well?" prompted the lavender-haired teenager.

A second of silence preceded a clearly visible I-have-an-idea moment from Matsuri. "Oh! I was just coming to check on you, Kagami! Can't be too careful, you know."

"You were thinking something like, 'I thought she would be somewhere else,' when you walked in, right?"

Matsuri's act fell immediately, though Kanata continued giggling, unheeded. "Yeah, well, I assumed that you would actually take advantage of not being tied to your bookshelf, not doing exactly what you could've done anyway."

The flush on the usually-twintailed girl didn't hinder her speech at all, and, for the first time in quite a while, the ghost could make out the sarcasm she knew Kagami used periodically anyway; she must have put a considerable amount of effort into not hiding her tone, as habitual as it was for her. "Yes, I haven't done anything at all."

"Oi, don't take that tone with me!"

"You're not Okaa-san."

"Well-"

At this point, however, something in Kanata caused a sort of cool feeling on the back of her neck, startling Kanata away from her continual laughter and straight into an, "Eep!" and stumble. It had been quite a while since she had felt actual air, after all.

However, for some reason, this seemed to catch Matsuri's attention, even though she hadn't heard the rather noisy giggles that had but a few seconds before permeated the air. This isn't to say that the brown-haired Hiiragi actually looked at the ghost, though; it looked more like she had reacted to a feeling akin to that of being watched rather than an actual noise.

This passed after about half a second, though it apparently jarred the brown-haired woman enough that she forgot what she had been saying. "Ah, well, I'll just be going," she muttered, quickly fleeing into the hallway and closing the door behind her.

A brief pause passed between the room's two remaining occupants, who listened to Matsuri's fast and fading footsteps. Then, she turned her glare on Kanata and, in a low and eerily calm voice, said, "I thought we talked about this."

"It was an accident, Kaga-chan!" replied the spirit immediately. Though, now that she thought about it, she had been rather focused on the Hiiragi sisters' argument, just like the night before with the book.

"How does an invisible, inaudible, likely imaginary woman 'accidentally' draw attention to herself?!" Kagami whisper-yelled; she had finally, after fighting with Matsuri and starting another with Kanata, forgone the pretense of calm.

"I think it's like-"

Knock, knock, knock.

"Kagami?" the gentle voice of Miki filtered through the closed door. "Can we come in?"

With a look that greatly implied that the conversation would continue later, Kagami replied, "Yes, Okaa-san."

Like before, a Hiiragi woman stepped into the room, but, this time, she wasn't alone. Both Inori and Tadao were with her.

As they entered, Inori asked, "Do you know why Matsuri fled the house muttering about a demon?" Though, Kanata reflected, the knowing smile on the eldest sister didn't match the question. Kagami, though she likely noticed this too, simply murmured murderously; the only words the ghost managed to catch weren't really repeatable in polite company.

Amused smiles graced the faces of all three visitors, which just caused Kanata's giggles to return and Kagami's tone to become even darker.

Several hours later, though Kanata truly found it difficult to believe that it had been nearly noon when most of the Hiiragi family had arrived to visit their second youngest, Kagami seemed to remember something.

"Ah, I'm supposed to be mad at you, aren't I?"

"Kaga-chan?"

Nodding, the still-un-twintailed girl continued. "Yes, you were explaining why you drew Matsuri's attention to yourself."

"Ah...I can explain."

"Well?"

"You see-" A knocking, more distant than before, interrupted her yet again. Out of reflex, she listened to hear who would be visiting at such a time, ignoring the twitching eyelid of an annoyed Kagami. "It seems your friends, Misao and Ayano, are here."

"Really." She didn't seem to believe the ghost-that is, until thundering footsteps echoed throughout the wooden building. "Ah. I see."

Bang!

"We're here, Hiiragi!" Misao exclaimed as if the whole world were listening. "We're goin' to make ya feel better through the force of our will!"

Kagami leaned in order to see around her loud friend. "You keep saying 'we' as if there's someone else with you," she deadpanned, eliciting a burst of giggling from the room's unseen blue-haired occupant.

These only increased as Misao blinked in confusion, turned, and saw Ayano only just arriving. The lavender-haired girl, on the other hand, rubbed the bridge of her nose as if the "numbness" she had confessed to having before had given way to a headache once again, likely because her brown-haired friend hadn't even looked sheepish at the accidental abandonment of her companion.

Or, perhaps, the sheer volume of Misao's every word. It was like she was trying to pour every bit of energy she had into her voice, like she really wanted to heal Kagami with pure willpower.

Under normal circumstances, Kanata would've giggled, but, for now, she was content with trying to save her incorporeal eardrums.

Afterwards, barely five minutes after the uproarious cacophony of Misao and the far less hyper Ayano left, more footsteps, these far less familiar than those before, reached Kanata's ears, though, curiously, she hadn't heard any knocking.

Kagami, however, was far less curious about their owner's mysterious and sudden existence. "I can't believe I'm saying this," she groaned, "but I'm actually hoping that this one is Konata."

It wasn't Konata, but someone that, Kanata knew, was probably quite a bit more welcome in Kagami's bedroom.

"Hello, Kagami-san," Miyuki greeted as she entered.

Pleasant surprise crossed over the lavender-haired girl's face. "Hello, Miyuki-san," she sighed out. "You have no idea how refreshing it is to see you."

"Oh?" she questioned, head tilting to the side and a hand rising to the base of her mouth. "Has there been trouble?"

Kanata giggled quite like she couldn't earlier. "For once," she muttered to herself, "it's not because of Konata."

"The past hour has been...loud," Kagami vaguely explained, eyes vacant as if she were reliving a past horror. "Very, very loud."

Miyuki's eyes grew worried. "Ah...was it that bad?"

"If I hadn't taken my headache medicine, I would probably be in severe pain right now."

"I'm sure Sergeant didn't mean to..."

Kanata muttered, knowing despite her words that she was unheard, "Didn't I already say that she didn't do it?"

"Hm?" Kagami asked. "Oh, not Konata. She hasn't been here since this morning, though her outfit was a bit..."

Nodding slightly, Miyuki seemed to accept this explanation, but was cut off from saying something by the door, once again, slamming open, this time to reveal Tsukasa.

Kanata's giggling stopped at once. The ever-so-slightly younger of the twin was, to put it lightly, not in good shape. Cuts and bruises littered her skin, as well as several bloodstains on her torn clothes. With one eye shut due to the blood pouring over it from a particularly nasty gash on her forehead, Tsukasa stood, panting and, inexplicably, smiling.

"Tsu-Tsukasa?!" Kagami cried, alarmed.

The short-haired twin limped forward, past a very startled Miyuki and toward her concerned sister, and held out a stack of papers. "Homework!"

"...What?"

"I...I did the homework."

"...And that caused you to end up like this?"

"Yeah...doesn't it happen to you?"

AN: There's Kanata -ID02- complete! It's a little late, but not as late as it could be. Just to note, I think next chapter might be the last one in this story arc. This makes it shorter than the last two, but the next one might (maybe…possibly…probably not) make up for it.

Thank you very much for all of the reviews, comments, follows, and favorites thus far! Here's a preview for the next chapter, Chapter 19, Konata -ID02-:

Next time in Of Galge and Imaginary Friends, Konata returns.

'The grin on Konata's face just widened. I know my limits, silly Tsundere, no matter what you say, as well as when and how to toe them.'