"Brr… It sure has gotten colder lately."
"Well, it's already December after all…" Konata had just arrived at Kagami's home and was happy that she should cold enter somewhere where it's warm again. It was the first week of December and already way too cold for Konata's liking.
"I can't wait for spring…"
"Winter hasn't even really started, though, Kona…"
"Don't remind me of that…"
"… Hey, do we really have to do it?" Kagami's mood changed all of a sudden.
"I can't say I'm looking forward to it, either…"
"Haa… Well, I'm the one who started wailing first, but my dad… and mom are already waiting in the living room anyway…"
"We could still run, Kagamin~."
"Now you want to elope or what?"
"N-No, I wouldn't go… that far, I guess…?"
"A-Anyway…"
"Yes, let's just get over with it." Saying so, the two took a deep breath and entered the living room where Kagami's parents, Miki and Tadao, were already waiting. Tadao looked relieved for a second because he was expecting a boy after the invitation of her daughter, but it really lasted for only a second. It wasn't a boy, but the situation felt exactly the same and so he decided to not let his guard down.
"Hey, d-dad… and mom…" Kagami was already more than just a little nervous.
"Hello Kagami and welcome, Konata." Tadao answered and Miki on the other hand just remained silent.
"H-Hello…" Konata was only thinking about running again.
"Thanks for waiting, dad, I… no, we…" She grabbed Konata's hand in order to boost her confidence and continued. "We have something to tell you."
"Go on." He obviously saw it, but let her continue.
"Okay… Mom already knows… but Kona and I finally decide to make it official… W-We two are… are a couple and dating each other for… well, already five months now…"
"…" Tadao remained silent and it seemed like he was thinking about something.
"D-Dad?" Thanks to the silence, Kagami became incredibly uneasy and tightly clenched Konata's hand.
"Well, I'm rather surprised. I had the feeling that something had changed, but it's that, huh? It certainly explains a couple of things, though." Tadao's poker face skill was rather good, but there was no need for an interpretation because; "But…"
"Oh no…" A single word was enough for Kagami to turn pale. A couple moments passed before he continued.
"… I don't think I can approve it…"
"N-No… no way… that can't be happening… W-Why…? Why is that so?!" Kagami started to despair and her voice got low, but then her feelings started to change into anger, causing her to almost shout at the end of her sentence.
"Let me make one thing clear first." Tadao's voice remained as calm as before when he continued. "For me, it has nothing to do with you two being girls. What I'm questioning is, is the seriousness of you, Kagami. I know that you're a serious person, but you're also young and being in love can make you less objective. You know that I'm a rather traditional person, no, I don't mean it in who your partner is, but rather, that you find someone to stay with. I mean, your mother is the only person I wanted to be with and I'm still with her until this very day."
"That… That's just stupid!" Her anger was clearly rising. "My relationship with Kona is the first thing in my life, that I can say with absolute confidence, that I'm 100% serious in! My feelings for her are nothing whimsical and I love her with all my heart. We wouldn't even be doing something so grand as telling our parents about if we, or I, would take any of this lightly!"
"Still, this won't change my opinion right now. What I want from you now, Kagami, is that you think hard and as long as you need to in order to find out what your long-term goals are and when, or if you know it, we can talk again." He completely ignored her.
"That's completely unnecessary! I already know perfectly well how I want my future to be and Kona is an integral part of it!" Kagami was losing her little remaining composure.
"This conversation is over, Kagami."
"W-What is wrong with you?!" She finally snapped and stood up. "Why aren't you listening to me?! There is no need for me to think about it! It's not going to change anything! … Here I thought all my life that you were reasonable… That's what I should think about and not about Kona!" Kagami's yelling echoed through the whole house before she turned around and angrily left the living room. The last thing the others heard from her was the loud bang of her slamming the door shut behind her. Konata looked at said door and was rendered completely speechless for a moment. Tadao hung his head in response and Miki still said nothing.
"W-Well… uh…" Konata felt extremely awkward. "I-I guess I'll also go… Now that the most, or rather, only reasonable person has left the room…" She said the second part in a slightly lower voice, but made sure that Tadao could hear her, slightly passive aggressive, opinion of him. "Bye, Miki." She was also the only one who received a goodbye. Konata wasn't happy that she remained silent and also rather angry because she didn't understand why, but it was still way better than what he did. She arrived in the hallway and was about to leave, but Miki had followed her and guided her into the kitchen.
"Let's have a little chat, Konata."
"Sure… What was that about?! Why didn't you help us?! Or at least warned us beforehand?!" Konata wasted no time at all. It wasn't to the extent of Tadao but she still was quite angry about her.
"Well… You see…" Miki started her explanation and 15 minutes quickly passed.
"Wow… that's pretty low…" Konata's final thought of the discussion was something like that.
"I'm very sorry…"
The two left the kitchen and Konata decided to leave for real now. She searched for her shoes at the entrance and after finding them on the floor, she suddenly started smiling.
"Well, it's fine, we're going to win anyway."
"You're pretty confident, huh?"
"Yep, I was 100% sure earlier, but now it's easily 200%."
"Hmm?"
"See you later, Miki." Konata became rather cheerful again and quickly left.
…
30 minutes after Konata left Kagami's house, she arrived home again.
"I'm back…" Konata announced her returning and quickly ran into her father.
"Hey, Konata… What happened to Kagami? She arrived here 15 minutes ago, looked extremely irritated and went directly to your room without even greeting me… Did I do something wrong again? Just when I thought we got a little closer…"
"Not commenting on the last part… No, it has nothing to do with you, dad. It's just that… stuff happened. Anyway, do you have some time for us later? We have something to talk about…"
"I still have some work left, but is it important?"
"I would say so, yes."
"Sure, then I have time."
"Thanks, dad. I'll go and talk with Kagamin~ first and then we'll come to the living room."
"Okay."
Konata went to her room and immediately found Kagami there. She was lying on her bed with her face buried in the pillow. It looked she also cried a bit because Konata could still could occasionally hear a sniffle. She sat down next to Kagami and silently comforted her by gently petting her head for almost ten minutes.
"W-What should we do now?" Kagami lifted her head, but she was still far from being calm.
"Well…"
"He wasn't listening to me at all!"
"I know."
"I'm absolutely serious and there's no reason to waste time thinking about it!"
"Yes."
"Again, what do we do now, Kona?"
"I probably know your answer already, but can we tell my father first before we do something about yours?"
"I really think we should solve one problem first before making it more complex…"
"That's true, but I think when my father finds out that we waited with telling him, that could create a problem it itself…"
"Hah… Why are parents so complicated?"
"Fair point, Kagamin~, fair point…"
"Okay… let's do it…" She agreed to it in the end.
Konata grabbed Kagami's hand and the two went to the living room where Sojiro was still waiting. They sat down on the sofa, but stayed silent.
"Here we are… Soo, what's the matter?" Sojiro was the one who broke the silence.
"Well…" Konata wanted to start explaining, but she quickly noticed that it was harder than she thought and began hesitating.
"What's wrong? It's not like you to suddenly start fidgeting." Her father didn't know what the problem was.
"Argh, I'll just do it!" Konata found her motivation after looking at Kagami. "Dad, Kagamin~ and I are here to tell you something. We… We two are a couple and we hope that you're okay with me being together with Kagami."
"…" Sojiro didn't answer and just looked a little dumbfounded.
"Oh no…" Kagami felt like having a déjà vu and Konata wasn't sure what to say.
"No, well, what should I answer except that I know that much already…" Sojiro finally said something, but it wasn't something the girls were expecting.
"Ehhh?!" They didn't even try to hide their surprise.
"Wait… you two were hiding it?" A very familiar phrase came up. "I mean, I knew that Kagami's somehow interested in it and also okay with that kind of thing and the time where she even lived a couple weeks here when I was gone, was also quite a big of a hint. Not to mention that you two are always together and various other things…"
"Ehm… just so you know, Sojiro, we weren't together yet when I stayed over back then." There were many things to retort to, but Kagami decided to address the least important thing of them all.
"Sure you weren't." Sojiro didn't believe her.
"It's true!"
"Of course it is~."
"Really! Okay, I may admit that my feelings were already changing without me knowing back then, but that's all there was…"
"'All', she says…" The little bantering of Sojiro and Kagami continued and the original topic was about to get lost when Konata stopped them.
"Wait, wait WAIT! What was that about you knowing Kagamin~ being interested or okay with it, again?" She remembered hearing something that really bothered her.
"Y-You really never read any of my recent light novels, have you?" He looked quite dejected by it.
"Eh, what has that to do with… wait…" Konata didn't understand at first, but then looked at Kagami, who just shyly looked away in response. "Kagamin~?"
"W-Well…" She was behaving really suspicious.
"You remember the light novel Kagami forgot here back then?"
"More or less, yes."
"It was the first volume of my recent ongoing series. It's a story of two childhood friends…"
"Okay…" Konata tilted her head a little.
"To be precise, two female childhood friends. The main story is the changing feelings of the two for each other and how they handle it. By now, there are also a lot of side stories about their friends in it, but the selling point is still the ever-changing relationship of the childhood pair."
"I-I see…" Konata had no idea what to answer and just looked at Kagami again, but the girl in question still couldn't match eyes with her. Konata had a feeling that the light novel of her father was something that carried interest, but she never thought it would've been actually yuri. "Haa… If I only would've known… That totally would've made things easier for me…" She could've been spared from most of the suffering after realizing her feelings.
"That's so totally your own fault!" Kagami suddenly made a full recovery and directly snapped a little.
"I can't say anything against that… Wait a moment… You helped him with his recent light novels, haven't you, Kagamin~? Don't tell me it's basically a story about us?"
"Nonono, I admit that the premise sounds a bit similar, but that's all his own doing, I just gave him some general tips and things like what work and what doesn't." Kagami quickly denied Konata's thought.
"That's good, but leaving the novel aside for now, we should get back to the topic again…"
"Yeah, I think so, too, Kona."
"Sooo… Dad, are you okay with us?"
"Well, I can tell with a single glance that both of you are completely serious and so, as a father, there's no way I could oppose you two, completely leaving aside my books, but at the same time, it's also a bit complicated for me…"
"Exactly! Thank you very mu-… Eh? C-Complicated?" At first, Kagami was happy that Sojiro confirmed that her own father was the one at fault, but then she realized the other part of his sentence.
"I'm obviously okay with it and I vowed that I'll support my daughter with everything she decided on in her life a long time ago, but, as a parent… never going to see the family growing… in form of grandchildren is a little… sad… you know?"
"…" Konata's mouth hung open and she was unable to say a single syllable. She had never thought about that part and she even less expected to hear it from her father. Thinking about it now also would just end up in feeling happy as long as she's together with Kagami, but it's not like she can't understand her father's point of view.
"Uhh… ehm…" Kagami was also surprised and at a loss for words for a moment. "W-Well… Although it's not exactly the same… there are still other ways, including adoption and who knows, science is moving at an incredible pace… Wait! W-What am I even talking about?! I-In the first place, it's way too early for us to even think about things like that!"
"…" Konata's inability to talk got even worse. Hearing that from Kagami made her a little emotionally unstable, but she wasn't alone with that.
"I see… I see… I hadn't thought about that… You're right… that's true. You two being girls just makes it harder, but not entirely impossible, huh? Haaah~, welcome to the family, Kagami." Sojiro looked extremely relieved and let out a happy sounding sigh after the sudden revelation.
"O-Okay… Thank you…" Kagami unexpectedly got way more than she hoped for today and was taken aback a little, but definitely in a good way. "Isn't that great, Kona? At least your father is reasonable… Kona?"
"Huh? Uh… y-yes. That… That's indeed… very true…" She had a very hard time with keeping up.
"Speaking of which… You already briefly mentioned it earlier, but what happened with your father, Kagami?" Sojiro got interested in the story.
"Haa…" Her mood worsened just by recalling it. "We had the same talk with my parents earlier, but my dad, well… had a different opinion of us than you…"
"Really? What did he say?"
"He doubted my seriousness and ordered me to think long and hard about if this relationship has a future or not. Well, it's not because Kona's also a girl, but apparently more of a general thing…"
"Wow… I know it's probably a weird thing to say as a parent, but how could you two be any more serious?"
"I know, right?!" Kagami almost shouted it.
"What happened then?"
"He didn't listen to me no matter how hard I tried and so, instead of thinking about something that doesn't need to be thought about, I kind of ran away from home and arrive here about an hour ago…"
"Hmm?" Sojiro looked like he was thinking about something, but let it go again. "What are you going to do now?"
"That's a good question… Maybe I should just start living here…"
"Ahaha, that wouldn't change much anyway, wouldn't it?"
"Ha, that's true." Sojiro and Kagami were joking about it, but, actually, Kagami didn't look like she was joking at all.
"Not that I have anything against it… more like, I would greatly welcome it, but…" Konata liked the idea, but she wasn't sure if that's the right thing to do.
"Do you have a better idea, Kona? After what happened…"
"W-Well, you see… the thing is… Oh!" Konata was about to explain something when the sound of the doorbell ringing interrupted her. "They're earlier than expected… I mean, I'll go!" Saying so, Konata left the living room and went to open the door.
"Who's that?"
"No idea…" Kagami and Sojiro exchange a couple confused glances.
…..
It happened 15 minutes after Konata left the Hiiragi home. Miki was hoping that Kagami had calmed down a little. She went upstairs and knocked at her door because, just like with Konata before, she also wanted to talk with her. After getting no response, she stepped inside the room and saw something unexpected. The thing she saw, was nothing. Kagami had apparently never entered her room after leaving the living room earlier.
"Interesting…" Miki wasn't as surprised as one would think, though. Rather, she looked more amazed and even a bit proud. She went downstairs again and just in that moment, the front door opened.
"Oh, hello, mom."
"Hey~, mom." Matsuri and Inori, the two older sisters of the twins had just arrived at home after coming back from college for the weekend.
"What a timing… I mean, welcome home, girls…"
"Timing?" Inori, the oldest one of the sisters looked a bit confused. She had just put away her hooded jacket, which then revealed her short, dark purple hair when she asked. Matsuri did the same the same with hers, making her also short, but light brown her visible and asked something else.
"More importantly…" She pointed at the living room. "Is dad in there? I feel a really heavy mood coming out there…"
"Ahaha…" Miki could only laugh dryly.
"What happened?"
"You see… about an hour ago, Kagami brought home someone she wanted to introduce to us, or rather, your father and, well, this is the aftermath…"
"Heh~. That's surprising, or rather… Why did I miss the first train home?!" Inori was a little surprised, but her real desire leaked out rather fast.
"W-What?! I-Introduce as in the person she's going out with?" Matsuri's surprise was way more genuine. "Kagami's in a relationship?! I had no idea! Since when? No way… W-Why do I feel like I have lost…?" But then, her real problem also leaked out.
"A-Anyway…" Inori tried her best to ignore what her sister said at the end. "How long until…"
"She didn't even go back to her room after the discussion was over." Miki didn't need to hear the full question before answering.
"Wow~." Inori looked impressed for some reason. "Kagami's pretty serious with that person, huh?"
"Yep~, and the other person's as well. They're a really good couple."
"To be acknowledged by mom… impressive…"
"Wait, wait, WAIT! What is going on?" Matsuri didn't understand what the two were talking about.
"You'll understand once you bring someone home…"
"Ehh?!" She wasn't satisfied at all with that answer.
"So, who's that boyfriend?" Inori directly came back to the important topic.
"Well… you see, that's… uh…" Miki had no idea how she should answer to that and became rather evasive.
"In the first place, from what I heard, doesn't she spend all her time with that blue-haired shorty? Konata was her name, wasn't it?"
"…" Miki just averted her gaze. Inori's probably the only one who can hold a candle to her.
"Now that I think about it… Didn't I see Konata at the station earlier?"
"It's a bit complicated… You should ask her yourself when she comes home again." She took the easy way out.
"Heh~." Inori raised an eyebrow. "I should come home more often… Well, I'm tired and so I'll go to my room for now. Please immediately inform me when she's back, okay? Ah, but don't wait too long with the visit. Knowing Kagami, she might actually start to get really angry…" She said so and then went upstairs to her room.
"Sure~."
"Could someone please tell me what's going on here?!" Matsuri got a rather angry because she couldn't understand the situation and felt left out thanks to it.
…..
After Konata had opened the door of her house for the visitors, she and the two other people came back to the living room. Seeing them, Kagami directly went pale.
"W-What are you two doing here?!" She pointed at the guest, Miki and Tadao, who were currently standing in the room.
"I think we could ask you the same, though."
"Why?!" Kagami did her best in holding back, but she was having a really hard time with it. "That's my answer to you not listening to me after all. I don't need to think about it. I know perfectly well how serious I am and if you don't acknowledge it, then that's not my problem! Why should I stay in the same house with someone who doesn't even listen to me and doubts me with no backup at all?! I'm definitely not in the wrong here!" There was no holding back all anymore.
"Now, now…" Sojiro interrupted her. "First things first… Welcome, I'm Sojiro, Konata's father. Thank you for coming over."
"Ah, y-yes." Miki was taken aback a little from the outbreak of her daughter but quickly recovered. "I'm Miki and the slightly depressive looking man next to me, is my husband Tadao, as you probably already guessed, we're Kagami's parents. Thank you for having us and we're sorry for the trouble…"
"No, it's fine, don't worry about it."
"That's reassuring to hear." The small talk of the parents continued for a couple minutes, but then abruptly came to a stop.
"Okay, that's enough." A vein was about to burst on Kagami's forehead, when her incredibly cold sounding voice killed the cheery conversation. "Again, Why. Are. You. Here?" She was close to losing herself completely, maybe it was already too late, though. Up until now, Kagami always greatly respected and cherished her parents, but since today, that started to crumble and said respect was currently nowhere to be found.
"K-Kagamin~, please wait a minute before you kill them…" Konata had a bad feeling about the whole situation and wanted to reduce further damage to the family relationship. "Miki, it's over, I'm going to end it now. It's obvious that we won, right? We can stop this, sorry… bullshit now." She looked at Miki, who could only sigh in response.
"Yes… please do. I can't look at it anymore, either."
"What's going on?" Kagami's anger momentary changed into confusion.
"W-Well… You see, thanks to how you reacted, Kagamin~, we actually got acknowledged by your parents…" Konata dropped a bomb on her and logically, she didn't understand a single thing.
"W-What?"
"Can you please let me take over from here, Konata?" Tadao looked at her. "I think I should be the one who explains the situation in order to make her hate me a little less…"
"Oh, yeah, sure… Do your best."
"T-Thanks… First off, Kagami, I'm very sorry for everything that happened…"
"You better be!" She was still very angry.
"What happened today… was a family tradition of ours… It was a test to prove your commitment to your relationship."
"Y-You're kidding, right?"
"You saying that you don't need to think about it because you already know how serious you are, was exactly what we wanted to hear. The longer you would've needed to give us an answer after thinking about it, the more we would've doubted you and your relationship. Although, you directly leaving for Konata's place after the discussion was over, even surprised us."
"Oh…" Sojiro chipped in. "If it's about that, I can also guarantee that she's more than just serious… You should've heard her earlier… I even was about to shed a tear there…"
"Oh?" Miki looked very interested.
"What kind of twisted logic is that?!" Kagami interrupted them, for various reasons and Konata nodded in agreement.
"I'm sorry." Tadao had nothing to say in his defense.
"Is that really the only reason of today?"
"Yes."
"Seriously…" Kagami walked over to her father, bent over to him a little and then gave him a hearty forehead flick to soothe her anger. After that, she hugged him. "You're horrible, dad." The malice and pure hatred in her voice was gone, but the damage his dad took because of it still was great.
"Y-Yes…" Tadao sounded incredibly hurt and almost shed a tear, but somehow, no one felt sympathy towards him. "D-Does it help that the tradition comes from Miki's side of the family? It's just that the father is the one who has to do it…"
"Heh~, is that so?" Kagami let go of her father and looked with incredible cold eyes at her mother. Coincidentally, Konata did the same. That's not something Miki had mentioned earlier when she stopped Konata at her house earlier in order to explain the situation.
"W-Well…" Miki could only look away to flee from the glares of the two girls after she got betrayed by her own husband.
"Let me say it again, we're really sorry about what we did to you two." Kagami's parents slightly bowed to the couple and earnestly apologized once more.
"Hah… It's fine…" Kagami didn't care anymore. She just felt stupid for being angry at such a ridiculous thing. "Anyway, does that really mean we're acknowledged by you?"
"Yep, 100%." Miki immediately answered.
"I also have nothing to oppose. I even heard from Miki about Konata's side of the story and combining it with your seriousness, Kagami, I can only give you two my full blessing. Anything else would just be unreasonable after all."
"Yeah… but a lot of unreasonable things happened today…"
"The only thing I want for you is to be happy and starting to be sure that Konata is the key to achieve this."
"Thanks, dad, I think so, too." The relationship between father and daughter was on a good way again, but Konata, on the other hand, could only watch them with a slightly red face. After all, it's impossible to listen to something like this without getting embarrassed.
"Anything to add, Kona?"
"N-No, I'll do my best…." She couldn't say much more than that.
"Hoh~." Sojiro suddenly sounded impressed for some reason. "That's an interesting test the Hiiragi family has there."
"Nonono, it really isn't, dad!"
"Come on, I really would like to join in that…"
"No… Wait… Sure, I don't mind." Konata suddenly changed her mind.
"Eh? Are you sure about that, Kona?"
"Sure, why not? It's not like he's going to get a chance to ever try it on me, now that he's already accepted us."
"Oh, t-that's right…" Kagami got a little bashful herself.
"Are you sure about that, Konata? Not even in the distant future?" It looks like Tadao really has a death wish and so he promptly received a glare from his daughter.
"What do you mean? Why would he be able to use it in the future?" Konata radiated such an innocence that Tadao was taken aback quite a bit, but at the same time, he felt terrible danger coming from a different place.
"Father…" An incredible cold stare was directed at him once again. "Stop it or I'll get really angry now."
"Y-You weren't earlier?"
"Eh?" Konata answered for her. "That was stage 3 at most, 'rather agitated'. I made it to stage 6 and trust me, it's really no fun at all at this point anymore."
"I-I see… I will keep that in mind. I won't do it again."
"That's good to hear, dad."
"To be that afraid of his own daughter… I really wonder how you could maintain a straight face at the test earlier…" Miki could only sigh, but at the same time, she was secretly happy that he was the target.
"Aww… too bad…" Sojiro looked a bit sad. "Ah! Maybe I can use it on Yutaka somewhere in the future…"
"Yu-chan? What does she have to do with that?" Konata didn't understand what he meant.
"Well, it's not certain yet… I'll tell you once she made it."
"Eh? Did I miss something?" She got only more confused.
"On a completely unrelated note…" Miki suddenly changed the topic. "Be sure to be prepared when you get home, Kagami…"
"That doesn't sound good at all to me…"
"Inori and Matsuri came home for the weekend earlier and…"
"Oh… K-Konata, Sojiro… the thing about moving in here earlier… Can I do it after all?"
"W-What?" Tadao didn't like the sound of it.
"I still don't really mind, but are your older sisters really that bad?" Konata hadn't much contact with them, but there wasn't much of a bad opinion of them in her memory.
"It's not exactly that… but they're quite similar to mom when they're interested in something… Especially Inori…"
"O-Oh…" Konata immediately understood. "That really runs in your family, huh?"
"Yeah…" Unexpectedly, Tadao was the one who answered her.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Miki and Kagami were in perfect synch and glared at their respective partners.
"Ahaha…" The other two could only laugh dryly in response.
The group kept talking about this and that for some time, but it started to get late.
"I guess that's enough for today. We should better leave." Miki announced and Tadao nodded in agreement. "Are you coming with us, Kagami? We're here with the car after all. That would make it easier for you, wouldn't it?"
"Eh?" Kagami's facial expression was the textbook example of 'What are you talking about?' "No, I was planning on staying here for today since the very beginning anyway."
"I see… You left in a hurry earlier… Did you even bring clothes with you?"
"You just want me to go home in order to get attacked by Inori and Matsuri, right, mom?"
"No way~." It was exactly that.
"Too bad for you, but I easily have enough clothes to stay for a week straight here." Kagami sounded proud for some reason.
"Is that so? Well… I'm really that surprised, though… Okay then, but be sure to come back tomorrow and bring Konata with you."
"Eh? I also have to suffer?"
"Of course, I'm obviously not going to face them alone.
"In good times and bad times, Konata." Miki said so and Konata wanted to retort to her way of wording it, but seeing her grin, she decided to stay silent.
Miki and Tadao finally left and after the door closed behind them, Konata and especially Kagami let out a really big sigh.
"What a day…"
"Yeah…"
"Your parents are pretty nice, Kagami, I wouldn't mind having the meetings more often."
"No!" The girls immediately shot him down. He behaved relatively well today, but the danger of him being… him is rather great.
"Aren't you two a little too mean to me?"
"Come on, you know you like it, dad."
"This and that are totally unrelated…"
"You're not helping yourself, Sojiro."
"Ehh?!" He was shocked.
"Let's go to my room, Kagamin~."
"Good idea." She agreed to her idea and the two left Sojiro alone.
"Now I'm also getting abandoned?"
They ignored his wailing and arrived in Konata's room. Inside, Kagami immediately tackled Konata and both landed on her bed. The day was extremely exhausting for both and so they decided to cuddle with each other until they got sleepy enough to end the day while feeling incredibly happy by the fact that their relationship got approved by their parents.
…..
The next day arrived and after having breakfast, the two girls went back to Kagami's house. She already knew it's a big mistake, but there was nothing she could do at this point anymore. Kagami opened the door and three seconds after stepping in, it was already over. Inori and Matsuri arrived out of thin air and each wrapped an arm around Konata's and Kagami's back. Without being able to do anything against it, they were forcefully dragged into the living room. Konata hoped for a second that Miki maybe would help them, but after arriving in the living room, she immediately realized her foolish way of thinking. Miki was already sitting on the sofa with sparkling eyes.
"There they are, come on and sit down~." She was in a really good mood. The couple really didn't want to, but the older sisters left them no choice and simply made them sit down.
"So, what brings us here?"
"Don't even try, Konata."
"Fine…" After all, it's years too early for her to fool Miki.
"Can't we just get over with it? I have nothing to hide anymore." Kagami wasn't in the mood for playing around the bush.
"Here! Here, me first!" Inori, just like Miki, also was in a mood and accepted Kagami's 'offer'.
"Sure… go on…"
"Is it really true that you introduced someone to dad yesterday?"
"That's true, I did."
"Oho~. Was it fun?" Inori's smile looked pretty mischievous.
"Yeah… it was great." The sarcasm in her words could almost be seen.
"Ahaha, you also weren't a fan of it, huh?"
"Not a fan is good." Miki answered instead. "She got furious, yelled at Tadao, was about to attack him, almost destroyed the door by vigorously slamming it and then she ran away…"
"M-Mom, you don't have to go that much into detail!"
"Wow, you did pretty well… way better than I did back then…"
"You also went through it, huh?" Kagami felt deep sympathy after hearing Inori.
"Yeah, well, but I got a little ahead of myself there. I waited not even a month and it only lasted another one afterward and so I wasn't that sad that I failed afterward…"
"Well, I am more than serious and so, failure wasn't an option, or rather, I couldn't care less about his opinion."
"There are still some hard feelings left, huh?"
"You can't blame me for that, can you, mom?"
"What did he say about… Wait, in the first place… just to make sure, it really is Konata over there you're dating, right?" Inori wanted to avoid a misunderstanding.
"That's why I'm here~." Konata said something for the first time in a while.
"Yes, Kona's my girlfriends, but no, didn't mind it that much. Then again, he was too busy stubbornly following his plan and I was too busy shouting…"
"Oh, that's good to hear." Inori was happy about her father's tolerance.
"Would somebody mind telling me what's going on, or rather, what happens when you introduce someone to dad already?!" Matsuri got angry that she was left out again.
"Nope~, you'll have to find out on your own once it finally happens." Kagami's way of answering really didn't help with the situation at hand.
"Don't get cocky now just because you managed to get into a relationship."
"Oh, that's quite a thing to say for an eternal single like you." Sparks started to fly between Matsuri and Kagami.
"Oh, that's quite a thing to say for someone who merely found a…" Matsuri was about to say something she would terribly regret because she didn't mean it and it just happened because she's angry, but she luckily got saved.
"Now, now, now…" Inori and Konata simultaneously managed to get the attention of the fighting sisters and dispelled their anger. "Matsuri, it's a family tradition and you really have to experience it on your own someday."
"Bad, Kagamin~, bad!" Konata had her very own way of calming down Kagami.
"Shut up, idiot." It always works, though.
"I'm sorry, Kagami, I didn't mean any harm and I'm very happy for you that you found a reliable partner."
"No, I also said too much." The two quickly apologized and further harm was prevented.
"Oi, Konata, where were you my entire life?" Inori turned her attention to her. "I always have to stop the fighting of the two, but it never happened so fast!"
"I studied a lot of Kagamin~ in the past after all."
"I see. You're pretty good."
"You're not half bad yourself." Inori and Konata had a strange mood going on and suddenly shook hands for some reason. Kagami wasn't sure how she should feel about this. Coincidentally, Matsuri neither.
"Enough with the small things! I want details already." Miki got a little pushy.
"Ehh? Didn't I tell you enough already?" Konata didn't like the sound of it.
"Nonono, I want to know everything now." The sparkling in her eyes sent shivers down Konata's spine.
"Hah… Kagamin~, it's your turn now, your mother had already enough fun with me…"
"I guess that's only fair… probably…" Saying so, Kagami deeply inhaled and told them everything, at least everything she's not going to take into her grave. Starting with how they met each other, how they feelings changed over the course of time, actually falling in love, suffering, getting together, dating each other and many details that happen in between those. It almost took her half an hour before she was able to finish her recap and as a result, Miki looked pretty satisfied. Inori and Matsuri, on the other hand, were more surprised than satisfied. They hadn't expected to hear so much from her little sister, especially with so many emotions.
"W-Wow… so serious! In a good way, I mean…"
"Indeed… that's… intense. The little one overtook us, no, overlapped us both, huh?" Matsuri and Inori were amazed by Kagami and Konata.
"You both know that I don't do thing halfheartedly after all." Kagami looked pretty smug.
"That's a good thing. Like this, there's no one who couldn't accept you two. No one who's reasonable, that is." Miki was proud of her daughter.
"Yeah, but it's still a good thing that everyone around us is so supporting. Ignoring that Hiiragi test, the only one who remotely had a solid argument against it, was my dad, but even that got nullified by Kagamin~, right?"
"Y-Yeah…" She immediately turned red and seeing that Konata quickly followed suit. Miki, seeing that, naturally got interested.
"Oh~, what happened there, I wonder."
"N-Nothing, definitely nothing at all!" Kagami didn't help herself.
"Interesting… I think I have to call Konata's father later on…"
"D-Don't do that! Kona, tell Sojiro that I'll kill him if he says anything!"
"K-Kagamin~, please calm down, saying that to him would only be a reward and would have the opposite effect." Seeing the talk drifting to something she wasn't interested in, Inori spoke up again.
"You know, I've been wondering about something now… Kagami's into girls and Tsukasa is her twin… Does it work like that or has that nothing to do with each other?" She asked a random question, but Konata and Kagami instantly froze up. The reason for that was obviously Miyuki.
"W-Well, we are fraternal twins in the first place, so I don't think so… I'm not sure it works like that anyway, either… Ahaha…" Kagami really had no idea, but looking at Tsukasa and Miyuki, she at least could take a rough guess.
"Y-Yeah… They don't even have the famous twin telepathy going on... I-I also don't think it works like that… probably…" Konata also didn't help much and Miki, for some reason, looked like she found some new prey.
The group talked some more, but Matsuri's eyes started to wander between Konata and Kagami after some time.
"Hey, Konata, could you come over for a second?"
"Sure?" She looked confused, but still stood up and walked towards Matsuri. Arriving there, she grabbed Konata and made her sit down on her lap. "Ehm… Okay..." She looked even more confused.
"You don't mind, right?"
"Not really…" But instead, Konata looked at the one who was minding it. Kagami remained silent, but her eyelid was already twitching and she looked slightly scary.
"That's good."
"Mind I ask why, though?"
"Just wanting to tease Kagami a little."
"I see. We're pretty similar, huh? That's also a hobby of mine."
"Inori's right, you are pretty good…" Matsuri had fun, but Kagami couldn't take it anymore and looked hopeful at Inori in order to get help and she actually started to move.
"Hey, Matsuri, could you?"
"Sure~." She readily accepted and Kagami looked happy, but only for a second, that is. Konata stood up, but was immediately grabbed by Inori, who sat her down on her lap and hugged Konata's waist.
"Eh? You also like to tease Kagamin~?" Konata hadn't expected to land on Inori's lap next.
"Hmm? Not really… You just looked so small and cuddly on Matsuri's lap that I had to try it for myself. It looks like Kagami discovered something good here.
"Oh, and you're pretty similar to Kagamin~, huh? She always says something similar."
"Hoh~." She sounded impressed, but said Kagami in question was reaching a critical point. Not only was she jealous before, anger and strong embarrassment were also in the mix now. She got up, grabbed Konata's arms and forcefully removed her from Inori's lap. She went back to her place and hugged Konata so tightly on her own lap that there was no one who would be able to separate them. The word 'mine' was written all over Kagami's face when she glared at her older sisters. Seeing that, Inori, Matsuri, and also Miki looked extremely satisfied. Konata could only smile wryly. She felt a bit stupid for being treated as a mascot or pet, but honestly, she didn't mind it much at all.
"You got a good one there, Kagami, it's decided, you can keep her." Inori took a liking to Konata.
"Yep, she can stay." So did Matsuri.
"Kona, we're going to stay at your place even more often now." Kagami had mixed feelings about her sister, or rather, no, they were pretty clear.
"Ehh? No fair, keeping her all to yourself is no good."
"She's my girlfriend after all!"
"So possessive~." Inori also likes to tease Kagami in the end after all.
"Okay, we're done here." Kagami had enough. "Let's go to my room, Kona."
"Sure?" The two stood up, Kagami grabbed her hand and dragged her out of the living room, but she wasn't fast enough.
"Hey, Kagami, leave the door open so you two won't… Eh?" Matsuri wanted to tease her sister with something meant as a joke again, but looking at her face, she wasn't able to finish her sentence and her eyes grew wide. Kagami had immediately understood what Matsuri wanted to imply, but instead of getting angry and making a snappy reply, her face got rather red and Kagami just dragged Konata faster out of the room. She stomped up the stairs into her room and sure enough, the sound of a door closing shut could clearly be heard in the living room. This was completely outside the range of what Matsuri was expecting and so, she looked completely stupefied. Inori and, to some lesser degree, Miki as well also were rather surprised and so, the living room remained silent for a while.
…..
The couple arrived in her room and Kagami immediately wanted to vent her displeasure by continuing where she left off before. She sat down on her bed, grabbed Konata and used her as a hug pillow. Konata thought about addressing what just happened before they left because Kagami probably hadn't noticed, but after thinking about it, she decided against it. Five minutes passed, but still, nothing had changed.
"Ehm… Kagamin~, how long…"
"Until I'm satisfied." She only increased her grip around Konata's waist.
"I see…"
"Just so you know, that could take a while."
"I know that much already, Kagamin~. Feel free to take your time and when you're done, add a couple extra minutes for me as well~."
"Now that's a request I can agree with." Kagami seemed happy and a, not further mentioned, period of time had passed before she let go of Konata again. Kagami let herself fall down sideways on her bed and Konata did the same. The two continued to relax in silence for some more time.
"Another exhausting day, huh?" Even though Konata wasn't in the focus today, in terms of getting teased, she still was tired.
"The second one in a row, yeah…" Kagami had it way harder in these days and so, her sigh was considerably stronger.
"But we sure are lucky, aren't we?"
"Absolutely… To be accepted by everyone is really great. Well, I'll give my dad a hard time the next week or so, but still…"
"It totally feels like a weight was lifted off my shoulders…"
"Indeed, and we don't have to hold back now anymore."
"I wonder if the other will see a difference, though…"
"Ahaha…"
The two continued to laze around on the bed while feeling happy and relieved by everything that happened, but then they heard something suspicious.
"Hey, Kagamin~…" Konata was the first to notice.
"Yeah, I just heard it as well… Excuse me for a moment." Kagami left the bed, went to the door and abruptly opened it. Three seconds passed and the door closed again. Her glare changed into a smirk and then she got back to Konata on the bed again.
"Good job, Kagamin~." Konata gave her a thump up after the outside of the room was silent again. "Your family is great, though." Their laziness continued after this, but then Kagami noticed that she got a message on her phone. She grabbed it and her face suddenly cramped up.
"Geh, it's from your father… Why does he has my number again, Kona?"
"Well, he kept telling me to carry my phone with me in case something happens, but it sounded like a pain and so I thought giving him your number would serve the same purpose. We're always together anyway."
"You know, there are still some days where I genuinely hate you, Kona."
"So, what does he write?" She just ignored her.
"Let me see…" Kagami looked at the text and soon started to smile before finally breaking into laughter. "… Hah, your dad is such an idiot…"
"Heh? I mean, I kind of know, but…" Konata looked confused at first, but after seeing the text herself, she couldn't help it and started laughing as well.
[Hey, Kagami, is it too late to shout 'I won't let you have my daughter!'? I always wanted to say that line, but I completely forgot about it yesterday…]
After that, the two basically stayed the entire day in Kagami's room and did next to nothing. At least nothing productive, that is. Then again, cuddling is the most productive thing in the world, according to both.
.
Rant ahead!
And here's another chapter faster than expected. Usually, I make a ½ - ¾ page long concept of the chapter with the most important points, but this time, said concept was almost six pages long and it somehow made it way easier…
Funny thing, I originally wanted to add way more in this chapter and maybe even get to the end of their second year, but that totally didn't work, like, at all.
Konata finally lifted the mystery of her father's light novel. Not that anyone's surprised, though. I still have more with it planned, but in this chapter, I took the easy way out.
Anyway, that one here is also one of those chapters that are more than two years old and based on the original plan of the story. I obviously had to make a ton of changes, though…
I'm not sure if the purpose of the Tadao/Hiiragi test was clear in the end because it somehow worked better in my head, but I guess the idea should be okay. Although, I almost think they're a bit too serious with the whole thing in this chapter… I mean, they're both only 17 and reality often doesn't work that way. Sometimes, it does, though, and that's also exactly how I want my story to be.
Coming out to your family is in reality also often way harder (emotional wise) and what Tadao did as a test here isn't rare to happen without a being a test in the background and entirely basing on the fact of a couple being two girls and saying things like 'Why would they be serious?' or 'It's just a phase anyway' from outsiders, but in the end, I always wanted it to be a light-hearted story. I mean, I really don't need depressing things in stuff I read/write. I added the test just to have Kagami react to it and how she would handle a situation like this. Lately, I often tended to put Konata in a better light when it comes to serious things, but Kagami even puts her above her own parents and that really shows her commitment. The good thing is, though, people are a lot more open about it nowadays and people who are like almost everyone in my story actually also are increasing (I actually know a lot of them). Ten or so years ago, it was way worse. Sojiro's concern about grandchildren is probably the only thing that still has a little weight to it. The only viable ways right now are adoption or getting a third-party donor. Honestly, I don't like the donor idea at all because in the end, biologically it's not the child of both and that's somehow… Well, I like adoption more. While there is no common blood, everyone's on equal ground to absolutely equally love the child and most importantly, the adopted child also gets a family. Science actually is advancing in terms of two egg or two sperm babies, but if ever, it's going to take time, a lot of it. Long rant short, even if it generates problems, it still wouldn't change who you are and to begin with, how many straight couples decide against children nowadays anyway?
On a completely unrelated note, in order to change the topic. Something funny happened last week. On a whim, I ordered like 60 (translated) mangas, to support the author a little, and let it deliver to my mother's place because I'm never at home when I'm supposed to get a delivery. My little sister knew about that and wanted to take a look. Interesting thing is, I'm still missing the Kindred Spirits on the Roof Collection and the first volume of Bloom into You… I wonder why… I think I should probe into that soon… That could be very informative…
Back to topic… The next chapter… I think I should include a big piece of Tsukasa and Miyuki because the last chapter ended rather interesting for them. Maybe they get a Christmas chapter instead of Konata and Kagami… Not sure yet. I also want to get closer to the third year. Not sure how far I get, but maybe a little introduction of the first-year cast. Although, I maybe have to re-watch the anime first for that or even better, read the manga once more because it has way more content when it comes to Yutaka and co.
(Now I better stop before the notes are getting longer than the actual chapter…)