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 26
Last time in Of Galge and Imaginary Friends…
"But Konata's always done that," protested Kagami, though she didn't seem to know what, exactly, she was protesting.
Kanata, though, did, and gave her unknowing daughter a small smile just as her mother gave Kagami a mysterious one.
"Exactly," Okaa-sama said, before wandering off toward Miyuki's group.
Kagami -FM03-
Kagami managed-barely, and only by remembering that Konata would notice-to keep herself from asking Kanata just what the hell the spirit's mother meant. To be honest, the twintailed miko had long ago realized that her "imaginary friend" displayed a talent for telling how deceitful someone was being, though, admittedly most of her time was spent teasing instead; that it was some sort of family trade wasn't too surprising. Reassurances that "Konata understands" didn't compute nearly as well, comparatively.
Then, Kagami's musings lost her attention due to a very effective distraction: Konata. The blue-haired girl had, at some point, started telling an awed Tsukasa some sort of story that required quite emphatic movements, a rather dangerous prerequisite for someone standing and balancing on a half-meter tall stool tilted so that only one leg touched the floor (Wait, one leg?! She's going to fall if she keeps this up!).
Konata didn't appear to notice her twintailed guest's sudden apprehension. "…We were trapped, the enemy in front of us and a thirty meter cliff behind us." As if to emphasize this, the barely-wobbling stool gave a sudden jolt, though the girl it supported immediately regained her balance. The girl's voice was almost a purr, low and deep, that conveyed the seriousness of the situation. "Kuroi-sensei wouldn't be able to help much more, so instead focused on bandaging me up while the enemy approached with its slow, gloating gait." ("It"?) "When it got close enough…IT STRUCK!"
The sudden yell caused Tsukasa, Yutaka, and Miyuki to scream (When did they start listening, too?), but none of this disturbed the unusually athletic girl's balance. "Kuroi-sensei was down. It was me versus the beast." ("Beast", now? Wait…) "Knowing the odds were so tilted against me that they were like an impassable wall, I gripped my sword tightly-" she mimed the action with her small hands, though the space between them made it seem as if the imaginary weapon was quite a bit larger than its wielder, "-and charged forward, intent on avenging my fallen comrade!"
What the otaku-turned-storyteller did, then, was as graceful as a well-practiced dance. Hands still holding their invisible weapon and feet still holding their precarious position on the stool, Konata began fighting "the enemy." She cut upwards, shifting her feet to keep the stool steady; dodged by rolling the stool onto another leg, managing to stay up with barely a wobble; drank some imaginary liquid from an imaginary bottle; and, finally, after a minute of acrobat-level balancing and constant motion, stabbed her giant, invisible sword through the giant, invisible skull of the giant, invisible "beast." The stool loudly returned to its natural, four-legs-on-the-floor state, emphasizing the end. She remained in that position for a few seconds, listening to the applause coming from her audience; even Kagami, who had already figured out what was going on, found herself reluctantly impressed by how the birthday girl held the group's attention while balanced on one leg of the half-meter tall stool (That shouldn't be…no, it definitely isn't possible! Stop ignoring physics, dammit!).
That didn't make the reveal any less anticlimactic. "And that's how I killed a high-level, magic-immune boss monster meant for a party of six without any real support." Everybody besides Kanata, Kanata's Okaa-sama, and Kagami stared in disbelief, and, of the mentioned three, one was giggling invisibly, the second was giggling behind her hand, and the last just rubbed the bridge of her nose exasperatedly (How did they not see that coming?).
"Eh? No faceplants?" Konata asked, sounding very insincerely disappointed, before turning towards Kagami with an expectant cat-grin (Fine, you asked for it. It's not like I wasn't going to say anything, anyway.).
"Don't expect us to do that kind of thing on your whim. That kind of thing only happens in anime." And thus, it began.
"Ah, that's where your wrong, Kagami! It also happens in manga," corrected Konata. "Besides, it's perfectly reasonable to trip over your own feet whenever you're adequately shocked."
"…There are so many things wrong with that statement."
"Kagami, you're not being logical."
Something about Konata's words tugged at the twintailed miko's mind, but she ignored the sensation for now. "Says the girl who can toss around police officers and balance on one leg of a stool perfectly. While I'm at it, apologize to the scientific laws you broke today."
"Oh, I'm sure they'll be fine. I heard that the hospital's going to release them in a week."
"…What the hell. Weren't you the one who was just telling me to be logical?"
"I'm matching your logic level exactly, Kagami, else it wouldn't be fair."
"How is hospitalizing the laws of physics in any way as logical as not expecting people to slam their heads into the ground?!"
The blue-haired teenager gave a sigh of obviously fake exasperation. "Oh, Kagami, your naïveté will be your-"
Ker-zzz…
"-saving grace in this cruel, heartless world, one that will be ever brightened by your shining brilliance and electric personality."
"…You stole that joke from somewhere, didn't you?"
…zzz…
"Yep."
"And you couldn't have at least stolen a good one?"
…zzz…
"I would if I knew any. Do you have any ideas?"
"Isn't that your job in this situation?"
"…Touché, Kagami. Touché."
…zzzp. The blue arc that had appeared between the twintailed girl's left index and middle fingers extinguished itself almost silently. Only then did Kagami register the dual giggles from the Konata look-alikes, the stares from Yutaka and Yui, and the side conversation that had started up between Tsukasa and Miyuki (They do that every time Konata and I-No, wait, before that, how did I forget everybody else was here?!). She didn't have much time to feel embarrassed, though.
"Ah…actually, Kagami, what were you being illogical about?"
Something beneath the long-haired Hiiragi twin's right eye twitched. "I wasn't being illogical about anything, but, if you mean what you were being illogical about…well, I don't really remember, either." (Like hell I'm reminding you!)
"Is that so~?" Konata asked in a knowing tone (Gah! Damn you, Konata's ancestors, for passing down such annoyingly useful knowledge!).
Kagami replied, "Yes," a little harshly, before shifting her gaze away from the room's other occupants. As it turned out, her eyes found, sticking out of nearby drawer, a bit of plastic, a familiar corner decorated with part of a logo. "Is that one of your cornet wrappers?"
"Hm?" came from the otaku, who looked up from where she was checking the oven. "Oh, yeah."
"And you save them…why?" Though, when Kagami pinched the plastic and pulled it out, it didn't look used at all, only crinkled from its tight squeeze between the countertop and the drawer.
Konata replied, as if it were obvious, "Save them? Why would I do that? I order them in bulk to make my choco cornets look like they're store-bought." (Why would you pointlessly waste money on something like that?)
"You make your own cornets? But you eat them…every…" Then, dread-filled realization dawned over Kagami. The twintailed miko stared disbelievingly at her nearly indiscernible reflection in the wrapper. "I…I can't believe that I…" (How did I not realize this sooner?!)
A slight smirk twitched in Konata's cat-grin, like she knew what was coming…
"I took nutritional advice…from someone who only eats cornets for lunch."
…and had the perfect counterargument. "Don't worry, Kagami! My cornets have a bunch of important nutrients in them. No processed sugar or anything reallybad."
"That doesn't change the fact," hissed a very angry Kagami, who found herself forcing the strange electricity she was able to manifest to not electrocute the entire kitchen, "that you've been having me eating several boxes of Pocky a week!"
"You need energy, Kagami! Just ask Yuu-chan!"
Out of nowhere, it seemed, the even-tinier-than-Konata girl appeared, her cousin's hands on her shoulders. "She's right, Kagami-san," she confirmed, voice rather steady despite how startled she looked. "Though I'm not sure how I got over here…"
Yutaka's scared mutterings went ignored. "See? She's an expert in this kind of stuff!" exclaimed Konata triumphantly (Nothing she said proves that!).
"Don't sell yourself short, Konata," Yui said from behind Konata, causing the blue-haired girl to turn towards the traffic officer and free Yutaka. "You're the one giving her advice most of the time! There's a lot of ability crammed into this tiny body of yours!"
It was a rather innocent statement with a sprinkle of teasing, but Kagami noticed something flip in the apron-clad teenager before her. Subtle as it was, the twintailed miko couldn't quite figure out what had happened, only that Konata suddenly seemed almost defensive. Kanata, who had, up to this point, amused herself by giggling at her daughter and hauntee, apparently noticed it too. The ghost's mutter of, "Oh, Konata," just barely reached Kagami's ears.
Konata replied to her on-demand police officer with, "It's not like anybody else bothered to learn any of it." The birthday girl's tone was ever-so-slightly harder than usual, though it seemed to pass right over Yui's laughing head as she lead her still-confused sister off back towards the others.
It only took a second for Konata to return to her usual self, cat-grinning at Kagami as if to say, "See? I know what I'm talking about," before glancing back inside the oven, leaving the long-haired Hiiragi twin to contemplate how strange it seemed that her blue-haired friend had a complex around her tiny build (I mean, Kanata…doesn't…).
And, thus, came Kagami's second and third realizations of the hour. One: she'd been treating Konata as if she were her mother, though there were obviously differences between the two, just because they liked to tease, looked similar (almost identical), and sometimes said the same things-for example, Kanata had used the "You're not being logical" false argument several times before. Two: according to Konata's Obaa-sama, the blue-haired teenager understood this at some level and constantly acted like she did because it was what Kagami was more comfortable with.
Idly, in the back of her mind, she thought about how short-lived this mystery was.
Story Notes: Hiiragi Tsukasa
Tsukasa is probably tied with Konata as my second favorite character in Lucky Star, so one might think that she'd get a few chapters to herself in this story. Honestly, that was the original plan-Tsukasa and Miyuki getting the occasional chapter, possibly once a story arc-but, as of now, this probably won't happen (outside of filler, but those are written a bit differently than the main story). Why? It's simple: I can't write Tsukasa.
Okay, that might be off by a little bit, but it's mostly true. The main source I would use to represent the youngest Hiiragi's mind is the seashell-at-the-beach moment, and, quite simply, I have no idea how to translate that into writing. Believe me, if I could, I would. Luckily, there's a kind of consolation prize: a whole bunch of appearances by virtue of being Kagami's sister. Around two thirds of the chapters (Kagami's and Kanata's) take place with Kagami nearby by necessity, while the others (Konata's) nearly always feature Kagami, and, thus, Tsukasa, anyway, so the younger twin gets quite a bit of screen time in.
Hm…what else can I say about Tsukasa? Oh, yes, her stuffed animal collection. Its existence is entirely due to a random whim I got when I needed something for her to be doing way back around twenty chapters ago. It has been mentioned that it is made up almost entirely of frogs (inspired by half-remembered association with Sgt. Frog that I didn't bother to look up) and pandas (because pandas are adorable and Tsukasa is adorable). Yay, pointless trivia!
AN: That's another chapter done! At this rate, -FM- might actually pass -03-, heralding an age of longer story arcs and…well, that's it, actually, but it's still a pretty big milestone for oGaIF. Or it will be if/when it happens. Same thing, really.
I had a lot of ideas in my mind when I started writing this story arc, but no connection between them. Much of the time I had hoped to use for building up a chapter buffer has been spent contemplating this and moving stuff around. Unfortunately, I'll actually need that buffer by next semester. Maybe I'll just set aside a bunch of time on weekends for working on it.
Anyway, thank you very much for all of the reviews, comments, follows, and favorites thus far! Here's a preview for next chapter, Chapter 27, Konata -FM03-:
Next time in Of Galge and Imaginary Friends, the Ecchi Rangers act strangely.
'"They're never quiet for long, Kagami. They're acting suspiciously unsuspicious."
"If you're going to say things like that, don't complain about my supposed lack of logic."'
