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 23

Last time in Of Galge and Imaginary Friends…

A thump came from the doorway, where Soujirou had collapsed again, this time from shock. Konata, herself, wasn't doing much better. She staggered back, crossing herself, except that it wasn't a cross; it was an "H." "Tanabata…on Tanabata…" the stunned girl muttered to herself, before managing to gather herself again. "Definitely don't mention that," she said, before her mouth returned to a frowning position "I'd like to avoid locking most of my family up, though that seems less and less likely the more I watch Otou-san."

Kanata turned, saw what her daughter was talking about, and began giggling again. Soujirou was trying to combine worshipfully bowing to the Hiiragi twins with making a crawling retreat from his daughter's pan-wielding anger.

Kagami -FM02-

By ten minutes after two, nobody else had yet arrived, though Konata didn't seem to mind; in fact, she seemed to have expected this. To pass the time, she led the group into the living room, where Tsukasa noticed something.

"Kona-chan, when were you in the hospital?" she asked, concerned.

Kagami, Konata, Miyuki, and Kanata all moved to see what she was looking at: a picture. It was, indeed, in a hospital, and Konata was in the picture, though Tsukasa probably wasn't referring to the tan-skinned baby in the noticeably paler woman's arms (Who does Tsukasa think the baby is, anyway?). To Kagami, the differences between the picture's Kanata and the now-smirking Konata were as obvious as those between the picture Kanata and her giggling ghost, whose entire incorporeal body looked whitewashed to be even paler than her past, living self.

"That's not Konata/me," was the simultaneous response that came from both Kagami and Konata, inciting even more ferocious giggling from the spirit. Immediately, the twintailed teenager regretted her words, primarily due to the curious and teasing glance that came from her apron-clad friend (Don't look at me like that, and don't you dare say anything!).

Interestingly, Konata didn't mention Kagami's slip-up, but quite obviously took note of it if her tiny smirk was anything to go by. "Ah, that's Okaa-san, actually," the blue-haired teen explained, nodding to herself for some reason (If it has something to do with what I said, I'll-). "Don't we look alike?"

"You're not pale enough," was Kagami's mutter, unheard over the accenting and, in Tsukasa's case, disturbed responses from her other two living companions (She's probably thinking something like, 'Are you sure she was legal?').

Well, it should've gone unheard, but Konata, again, seemed to have picked it up. "Yeah, I got my skin tone from Otou-san."

Any further conversation was cut off by a knock from the door. Almost immediately, as if he'd been waiting for this, Soujirou's head appeared from the hallway. "Are you going to get that, Konata?" he asked in a poorly faked innocent tone (Ugh…and it's her birthday too. No, wait, before that…).

In response to her father's obvious less-than-pure state of mind, Konata's cat-grin morphed into her v-frown, a simple transformation that had profound effects; to be honest, Kagami found herself rather startled at how much such a little change could do. Combined with Konata's perpetually half-lidded eyes, her normal grin made her seem, well, like herself (Annoying, lazy, never really trustworthy except in serious situations…). However, her frown combined with a slight narrowing of her eyes turned the girl into a seriously menacing entity, though the truly scary part for the twintailed miko was how easily it was for the otaku to switch between personas.

Kanata's continued giggling indicated that she was completely unaffected.

Soujirou, on the other hand, paled drastically. "O-or you could stay with your friends?" came his high-pitched statement-turned-question.

And, just like that, Konata (normal) was back. "Thanks, Otou-san! Yell out who it is when you let them in!"

"…Sergeant Kona-chan can be scary," muttered Tsukasa; Miyuki nodded absently, as if she hadn't seen the display at all.

Again, the blue-haired girl easily picked the words up despite their low tone (How keen can one person's ears be?). "It keeps him in line," she dismissed lightly. "All of them, actually."

"You keep saying 'them' but haven't clarified exactly-" began Kagami, but Soujirou's voice cut her off.

"Well, if it isn't Imouto and Otouto! Come in, come in. Konata's friends are already here."

The twintailed teenager had her answer, but only had a second to brace herself for the inevitable.

Scra~pe! Thud-Fwap!

How socks managed to scrape well-kept wood floors, Kagami would never know, but those on the feet of Soujirou's two younger siblings did. Despite this, however, they kept sliding, hit the sofa, and toppled over on top of each other in a tangle of tan limbs, predictably inciting giggles from Kanata, who was beside the slowly following Soujirou (Well, it has been a while since she's seen him.).

Konata's aunt and uncle recovered admirably, however (If only their purpose was as admirable…). "So you must be Konata's friends! I'm Izumi Otouto." (What.)

"And I'm Izumi Imouto." (There's no way that somebody actually named their children that.) "Hm…" Then, the Izumi sibling duo began a weird, quick inspection of Kagami, Tsukasa, and Miyuki, to Kanata's great and rather loud amusement.

Even though they managed to finish before anything was done about it, the long-haired Hiiragi twin didn't bother to warn them of the descending frying pan.

Thwang! Thud!

"No, my partner!" cried out "Izumi Imouto" as her brother collapsed, surprisingly still conscious, to the floor, his spiky black hair flat at both impact sites (Did he use hair gel?). "I will get you back for this, Birthday Girl! No amount of Pan-ing will defeat me, Izumi Imouto!"

Konata looked neither amused nor phased. "Carry the food dishes to the coffee table. Don't break anything."

That caused the skin of "Izumi Imouto" to pale beneath the hair that shared its color with Soujirou's. "Ah…well, I don't think…"

"That or the chamber."

"Right away, master! Anything you need, master!" And she was gone, dragging her downed, moaning brother along with her and leaving Konata to rub the bridge of her nose in exasperation.

"Even after I warned them…" she began, but was cut off.

Knock, knock, knock…ding-dong! Knock, knock, knock.

"Ah!" exclaimed the blue-haired girl in sudden happiness. "That would be Yui-nee-san with some interesting news!" Likely seeing the perplexed looks on their faces, Konata continued, "She's over here often enough that she's developed a code."

As the girl skipped off, followed by her father and incorporeal mother, Kagami's attention was pulled away by Tsukasa pulling on her sleeve. "O-Onee-chan," she whimpered quietly to Miyuki's confusion. "Isn't Yui-san part of the police?"

"Yeah, why do you ask?" (That's a rather strange thing to-wait.) "Oh, no. I mean, she probably never heard about it, right?"

"Hey, Konata! I heard something interesting from a colleague about the Hiiragi family!"

"Hm? Is that so?"

Kagami tried to dash through the doorway to silence the loud traffic officer, but "Izumi Imouto" happened to slowly trudge through at that moment, muttering mutinously (Where's "Otouto"? No, there're more important things to deal with right now!). The twintailed miko couldn't make out Yui, but Konata spotted her out of the corner of her eye.

"Heh…what did Kagami do to catch the attention of the police?" her gaze asked teasingly.

"If you don't stop her, you'll regret it later," Kagami responded with her glare.

All she got in return was a mischievous cat-grin-smirk.

"Well," began Yui, oblivious to Kagami trying to drill a hole through her cousin's brain, "some officers responded to concerned neighbors' calls last night 'cause they heard a bunch of people yelling in the Hiiragi house about stealing and cell phones and stuff." Kanata's giggles, coming from somewhere out of sight, suspiciously increased at "cell phone." "Turns out, though, it was just the entire family yelling at each other 'cept the little short haired one, who was trying to calm that one."

The cop gestured toward Kagami and, apparently, Tsukasa, who had, at some point, approached her sister from behind and only announced her presence by making a small, "Eep!" which only encouraged Kanata's increasingly enthusiastic giggles to the point that she was nearly falling over ("Able to float"? Yeah, right.).

Not even the ghost seemed as amused by this as Konata. "Hm…that is interesting," she nearly purred, giving the twintailed miko a look that said, quite plainly, that this would not be the last she'd hear of it.

Over the next three and a half minutes, the grumbling "Izumi Imouto" finished her meaningless task (Why'd Konata have her move the food only to move it back?), taller-than-Soujirou "Izumi Otouto" was found stuffed in the dishwasher (Somehow, that someone in this family can do that doesn't surprise me.), all three of the currently present Izumi siblings were threatened by Konata (How is she controlling them so effortlessly?), the other three teenagers tried to not get trampled in the crossfire, and Kanata incessantly giggled nearly without pause (Why does a ghost need to stop for breath, anyway?). At last, they settled down in the living room.

"Oi, Konata," Kagami called to the short girl, who was weaving through the moderately occupied room and talking with everybody.

As she approached, she verbally poked, "Yes, Kagami, Disturber of Peace?"

Ker-znap!

Konata hissed a bit, but didn't cry out, instead saying, "…You learned to control it," in a general tone of respect and disbelief. "How can you even do that?"

"This is coming from the girl who flipped a guy four times her size and whose aunt managed to force her brother into a small dishwasher."

"…Touché, Kagami. Touché. What did you need?"

"Are their names really…?"

"Imouto-oba-san and Otouto-oji-san? No clue. That's how they introduce themselves to everyone, and Otou-san, Ojii-san, and Yuki-oba-san never correct it. Actually," Konata continued, a cat-grin with a strangely disturbing feel to it on her face, "I was hoping you would ask why I didn't hit Imouto-oba-san."

This, of course, especially when combined with the giggles from behind her, put Kagami entirely off asking (Wait, Kanata is still over next to Konata's dad, so who…?). Then, she realized exactly what it had to be, and, of everything she had prepared her self for, this was not one of them. Kagami turned to face the new arrival, a strange combination of intense curiosity and utter dread coursing through her.

The woman was old, though her face barely showed it; the only wrinkles Kagami could see were crinkles in her eyes' and mouth's corners, while her hair, a blue-grey that looked like age had tried and failed to take it original Konata-and-Kanata-blue, provided the most prominent physical hint. Her short-as-Konata figure just gave off an aura of elderly wisdom and a sense of general weariness-not that it interfered with her amusement at all.

From across the room, Kanata's eyes brightened just as her daughter's did the same.

"It seems my son-in-law's family hasn't changed a bit," the woman said, her voice as different from Konata's and Kanata's as they were from each other, while a familiar teasing sparkle danced in her unfamiliar black eyes.

"Ah, Obaa-sama!" Konata cried happily, just before her mother spoke up too.

"Okaa-sama!"

Kagami's mind was just aware enough to question one last detail (What is it with Kanata calling her family members "-sama"?).

Character Profiles: Hiiragi Kagami

Technically the second youngest Hiiragi daughter, as she's the slightly older of the twins, Kagami also feels like she's the most responsible, especially after having dealt with Matsuri, the troublemaking middle sister, though Misao, a long-time and also troublemaking friend, Kanata, the teasing and easily bored ghost, and Konata, the ghost's still-living daughter, probably helped promote the idea.

Kagami is known to be very self-conscious about her body, though nobody, even twin Tsukasa and present-since-Kagami-was-two haunter Kanata, knows exactly why. She is also very selective of her friends and extremely uncomfortable with extremely friendly actions early on in acquaintanceship. Despite this, Konata managed to gain the prestigious title of "Kagami's friend" in just over a month, a fact that makes the twintailed girl rather uneasy whenever she stops to think about it (this, admittedly, only really happens whenever Konata isn't around, though only because she provides so much of a distraction that Kagami usually forgets her concerns).

She can also become rather violent when she feels the situation necessary-notably, whenever Kanata, Konata, Matsuri, and Misao become particularly annoying. Recently, though, she seems to have a store of static electricity that she can use whenever she's angry. Interestingly, it seems to be able to affect Kanata, even though the spirit's experiments of sticking her finger through wires or into electrical sockets had no effect at all.

AN: That's Kagami -FM02- complete! As you can see, I added a Character Profile section at the end mostly because I felt like it, though, admittedly, most of what I write is there because I feel like it at the time.

Anyway, thank you very much for all of the reviews, comments, follows, and favorites thus far! Here's a preview for next chapter, Chapter 24, Konata -FM02-:

Next time in Of Galge and Imaginary Friends, Konata has a lot to deal with.

'Alright, the living room is becoming a bit crowded, so I should probably try to spread them out, but I also can't leave Kagami, Tsukasa, and Miyuki with Otou-san's family. Oh, and I also need to bake something really quickly.'