"WHYYYY?!" Even though the main hallway of the school was currently packed with students, Kagami's tearful scream was still clearly heard by every single one of them as she dramatically sunk down on all fours to the floor. Konata, Miyuki, Tsukasa, and the devastated Kagami were looking at the newly published class rosters for the third-year students together one of them especially didn't like what they were seeing. There was sadly next to no change in the rosters and so, Kagami had to spend her last year separated from her friends as well.
"E-Ehm…" Konata was having an equally hard time. For an entirely different reason, though. She wasn't sure if she should feel sorry or start laughing because the scene Kagami was doing right now was way too funny. For the sake of her relationship… and well-being, she chose the safe option. "N-Now, now, Kagamin~, it's not that important, is it? It doesn't make much of a difference anyway."
"T-That's right, onee-chan, it's not like we can chat much with each other outside of our brakes in the first place and there you can come over anyway…"
"Indeed. There are also still our electives where we're together, Kagami-san." Tsukasa and Miyuki also did their best in order to cheer her up.
"Thanks, girls… I get what you all mean… Still, it's really not fair, but there's nothing I can do, I guess…" Kagami accepted her fate with downcast eyes and slowly walked away from the place.
….
Despite accepting it, Kagami was still rather depressed for the rest of the day and wanted to be alone. So, after school, she decided to hole herself up in her room at home.
Konata, having some time on her hand because of that, decided to use it wisely and started up her PC. Login in into her favorite online game, she quickly found someone to play, or rather, to chat with.
KonaKona: Sensei! o/
Nanakon: Izumi? Gotten furlough for today? It became rather rare for you to be here.
KonaKona: Haha. Kagami's just a little depressed and wanted to be alone.
Nanakon: Eh? What did you do again?
KonaKona: Oi!
KonaKona: If anything, it's your fault, sensei!
Nanakon: Eh?
KonaKona: She probably thinks you hate her…
Nanakon: What?
KonaKona: Well, she wanted to be in the same class as the rest of us, after all.
Nanakon: Ah, I see…
KonaKona: So?
Nanakon: No, I obviously don't hate her. I did it for the sake of the two of you.
KonaKona: Huh?
Nanakon: As if you two stupid lovebirds would be able to concentrate for even 5 mins when put together in the same class…
KonaKona: -.-
Nanakon: Am I wrong?
KonaKona: I exercise my right to remain silent.
Nanakon: It's not I need an answer in the first place.
Nanakon: It's great how your grades have improved so much thanks to her, but yours, and especially Hiiragi's grades would definitely suffer if put together in the same class.
KonaKona: Wow, that sounded pretty sensei-like.
Nanakon: I am a teacher!
KonaKona: Oh, right…
Nanakon: I'll hit you.
KonaKona: That doesn't sound very sensei-like. Well… maybe Kuroi-sensei-like.
Nanakon: I hope you look forward to school tomorrow.
KonaKona: Always~
Afterward, the two played for about an hour until Konata heard a knock on her door.
"Konata-oneechan?"
"Oh, Yu-chan, welcome back. How was your first day?"
"I found her!"
"Come again?" Konata had no idea what the current high tension Yutaka was talking about.
"The girl from the entrance exam! I was finally able to see her again!"
"Hmm? Oh, the handkerchief girl?" Konata finally understood what she was talking about.
"Yes! I told you she passed and would've to our school!"
"Yes, yes, good for you, Yu-chan… And, did you two become friends?"
"I think so. Iwasaki-san's a really nice girl, just like I thought. She even volunteered to be the health representative because she remembered me. Well, I ended up becoming the class representative because of that, though."
"Heh~? Sounds like a hassl- I-I mean, that sounds nice." Konata voiced her real feelings, but somehow managed to correct herself.
"I think it'll be fun."
"She her name's Iwasaki, huh?"
"Yes, Iwasaki Minami-san."
"Minami… Minami… I have the feeling I heard that name somewhere before…"
"Eh? Do you know her, Konata-oneechan?"
"I'm fairly sure I don't, but I think someone mentioned that name before… Well, whatever, it's not that important, is it? I'll probably see her soon enough, I guess."
"That's true."
…..
Two weeks passed since Yutaka entered Konata and co.'s school, but everything she's talking about still had something to do with Minami in 97% of all her stories. Konata soon started to become slightly tired of it. Because of that, she started to ask Yutaka about the other friend she mentioned making a week ago.
"So, what's this Hiyori like?"
"Tamura-san? Well… She's nice, but I don't really understand her…"
"What's that about?"
"She talks a bit like you, Konata-oneechan, and I often don't understand the things you say as well…"
"Ah… So she likes manga and anime, huh?" She had a vague idea what Yutaka meant.
"Yes, and she even draws her own mangas."
"Hoh? What kind of things does she draw?"
"I don't know. For some reason, Tamura-san really doesn't want to show them to me…"
"Is that so? I see, I see…" Konata already had a very good idea on why and became a little interested in Hiyori. "She sounds like a fun person. I kind of want to see her, and Minami as well."
"Hmm… Oh, we wanted to go flower viewing next weekend. I think you could join us if you want, Konata-oneechan."
"Our group, Kagamin~ and co., wanted to do the same… Ah, I know, let's all go together. No one on our side would probably mind."
"I have to ask the others first, but I think that's a very nice idea. Do you perhaps have a place where we can all go to, Konata-oneechan? Most places are pretty packed, after all…"
"The place where we went last year was really nice and we were completely on our own. Even if there are people, I still have a plan to get rid of them that I couldn't try last year…"
"K-Konata-oneechan… Your face looks pretty scary…"
"Ah… S-Sorry, don't mind me."
"Okay…?"
….
The next weekend arrived and both had agreed to have their flower viewing together. The more the merrier was their collective answer. They had split the parts on who has to prepare what around the groups and everyone was looking forward to it. Due to it being a weekend, Kagami was already at Konata's place long before they decided to meet up.
"Flower viewing, huh? That sure brings back memories…" Kagami started reminiscing about the last time with a nice smile on her lips. "I can't believe it's already been a year since I fell in love with you, Kona…"
"You said that before, didn't you? That it happened on the flower viewing last year."
"Yeah… I saw you peacefully sleeping while leaning against that beautiful cherry tree and something just… clicked. I guess that's also why I took a nap next to you back then… Even though I had no idea at that time, that surely was the point where I fell for you."
"Haha. The cute me is irresistible when asleep, huh?" Konata sounded pretty self-confident.
"Yeah, you are fairly cute when sleeping." Kagami, on the other hand, looked more smug, rather than confident.
"Hey, what's with that weird emphasis on the word 'sleeping'?"
"Ehehe~."
"Haa, I really miss the times when you just started blushing, Kagamin~."
"Do you now?"
"Well… occasionally…" While Konata does miss the old, easily flustered tsundere, she equally loves the current, more confident Kagami that has no problems in getting the upper hand over her a lot of times.
The two kept bickering, or rather, flirting for quite a while until Tsukasa suddenly arrived a little later.
"Hey, you two, I hope I'm not interrupting or anything…" Tsukasa entered Konata's room and didn't fail to notice the atmosphere.
"Oh, hey, sis…? Nah, it's fine, but… What are you doing here?"
"I remembered last year and there's no way I'm able to find Kona-chan's flower viewing on my own. Because I'm bored, I decided to come over a little early and spend some time with the two of you…"
"I see, but why aren't you spending the day with Miyuki?"
"Ah… w-well, that's…" Tsukasa suddenly turned red and started fidgeting.
"Hoh~?" Konata noticed the sudden change and immediately became interested.
"I-It's a little awkward between Yuki-chan and me lately… That's why we aren't seeing each other as much as before lately…"
"What happened?"
"I-I kind of… kissed her again…"
"Oh, good for you." Konata sounded rather indifferent. It wasn't the first time Tsukasa said it, after all.
"Her lips were so soft…" Tsukasa accidentally remembered the feeling and muttered something completely out of place.
"That's nice… Wait, what?!" It took her a second before Konata noticed that Tsukasa had managed to trip her off her feet once more.
"Sis, I think we need a few more details."
"It happened on White Day… We watched a movie together that ended up being a romance. The mood became rather… good and we cuddled a little. Then, there was a kissing scene in the movie… I looked at Yuki-chan… She was pretty embarrassed… She looked at me as well a little later and I… just kissed her without thinking then…"
"Oh~, your sister's pretty good, Kagamin~." Konata was pretty impressed by Tsukasa's boldness.
"While I'm inclined to agree with you, Kona, don't you can feel the 'but'?"
"Ah, right, there's always a but, huh?"
"So, what's the problem, sis?"
"W-Well… I kissed her, but that's all that happened… We finished the rest of the movie and the day ended without any meaningful conversation at all. The next day was so awkward that we couldn't even look at each other and we haven't talked about the kiss till today…"
"I'm sorry, Kagamin~, I was wrong… Your sister's completely useless…"
"Yeah…" Kagami could only agree with her. It was pretty harsh, but saying otherwise was simply not possible.
"I-I'm very sorry…"
"Seriously though, Tsukasa, get a grip!"
"Y-Yes…"
"I mean, what the hell is wrong with you?! Make it official already and stop beating around the bush!" Konata became slightly angry at Tsukasa.
"I…"
"I don't even get the problem… Is there even one?"
"I'm very sorry…" She apologized again. "I'll do my best to get rid of the awkwardness again…"
"You know what… Golden Week starts in a little over a week, right? I give you until that and if you aren't together once Golden Week's over, I'll take care of it myself and I'm going to have a talk with Miyuki. I know Kagamin~ and I were a total pain back then as well, but you two are just… argh!" Konata got frustrated by just thinking about them lately.
"P-Please don't do that, Kona-chan. I promise that I'll have a proper talk with Yuki-chan."
"Good."
…..
Konata cooled down soon enough and the conversation came to a close. The time for them leaving for the flower viewing was also approaching. The girls started packing the things they prepared, the three were in charge of the food and bringing a blanket, and were about to leave.
"Wait, where's Yutaka-chan?"
"Ah, she went to her friend's place in the morning. She's coming together with her to the place later."
"Oh, I see." Having cleared that, they finally left Konata's house.
The three arrived at the meadow with the little river and the beautiful cherry blossom tree in full bloom and were once again stunned.
"Wow~, it looks even better than in my memories…"
"Yeah, it's easily my favorite place, especially the tree, right, Kagamin~?"
"Yes~." The couple like the place for their very own reason.
"Let's get ready then." The girls walked towards the tree and spread out a huge blanket on the grass right under it and took out some of the food they brought with them. When they were about to sit down, Konata noticed a group of girls walking towards them. Looking more closely, she recognized that it was Miyuki, Yutaka, and another girl.
"Eh? Why's Yu-chan coming with Miyuki?"
"Huh? Why's Minami-chan here?" Tsukasa recognized the third girl and was surprised.
"You know her, sis?"
"Yes, Minami-chan's the childhood friend of Yuki-chan. I told you before, didn't I?"
"Ah! That's why I felt like I knew her name from somewhere." Konata hit the palm of her hand with her fist as the mystery got solved. "What a small world we live in."
"So, it really was Yutaka-chan who Minami-chan was talking to Yuki-chan about… What a small world indeed."
"Konata-oneechan!" Yutaka spotted her and started energetically waving towards her direction before picking up speed.
"Yu-chan, welcome."
"Wow, this place is so beautiful." She stopped right before Konata and praised the location.
"I know~, I know~. Anyway, who might this girl next to you be?" She suddenly switched to a formal voice. It seemed like she was having fun already.
"Ah, this is Iwasaki-san, Konata-oneechan."
"So this is the rumored girl, huh? Good day, Iwasaki-san, I'm pleased to meet you. My name's Izumi Konata and thank you for always taking care of my Yu-chan. I heard that you're always a great help to her."
"G-Good day to you as well, Izumi-senpai. I was looking forward to meeting you after Kobayakawa-san told me so many good things about you." Not knowing how to handle Konata, Minami also started using polite language. "My name's Iwasaki Minami and on the contrary, I've been in the care of Kobayakawa-san ever since we entered the school together."
"My dear Yu-chan also told me a lot about you and I'm very happy to… Ouch!" Konata suddenly squatted down and started rubbing her head in agony with a tear in her eye.
"Are you her father or what?! Stop talking like that already!"
"K-Kagamin~, that was absolutely not necessary!"
"Want another one?" She raised her fist again.
"No, I'm fine… Ahaha, I was just messing with you a little, Minami, just 'Konata' is totally fine by me, you know?"
"I-I see, Konata-senpai…" Minami looked a bit troubled.
"Don't worry, I only heard good things about you from Yu-chan, but…" Konata circled around her once while checking her out. "It's fine, there's also demand for girls like us." Konata stared at a very specific part of Minami's body who directly covered her chest with her hands.
"H-How?" She looked flustered and wanted to know how Konata immediately found out about her biggest weakness.
"Intuition~. Still, it must've been hard growing up together with… that…" Konata pointed at Miyuki.
"Yes…" She gave a short answer together with a small nod.
"Like I said, though, worry not too much about it. Isn't that right, Kagamin~?"
"Let me stay out of this, Kona." Kagami only showed her fist to her again.
While they were having their slightly questionable conversation, another girl showed up.
….
"Ah, Tamura-san, welcome." Yutaka was the first who noticed her. "I'm glad you found it. It's pretty remote after all."
"No, I had no problem finding it. After all, I know this place already."
"From 2D or 3D?" Konata let out a chuckle while asking because she's the one who suggested the place after seeing it in an anime.
"You shouldn't worry about such small and irrelevant details, senpai."
"Hah, she's great! I'm Izumi Konata, the cousin of Yu-chan."
"Tamura Hiyori, nice to meet you." After the two had a flying start, the remaining members of the groups introduced each other and everyone except Hiyori, Konata, and Kagami sat down under the tree on the blanket. The group of three continued to chat with a little distance from the rest.
"Hmm…" Konata suddenly seemed to be lost in thoughts while looking at Hiyori.
"You're the one who suggested this place, right, Konata-senpai? That means you're a comrade, am I right?"
"That's for sure… Hmm…" She continued to stare after giving her answer.
"I-Is there something wrong?"
"Do I know you from somewhere?" Konata had a strange feeling of déjà-vu again because she felt like this wasn't their first meeting.
"I'm not completely sure, but I don't think so, Konata-senpai."
"Hmm… No, I'm sure we met before… Ah! Last Comiket! You had your own stand and I bought a ton of your works!"
"Yes, I was there and now that you mention it… I think I'm starting to remember you seeing there. Thanks for your patronage, Konata-senpai."
"You're welcome. Your works are really good after all. Kagamin~, she's the one who drew the mangas I showed you after New Year's Eve."
"What are you… Ah!" Kagami seemed to remember because her face suddenly started to turn red.
"Y-You showed them to a normie?!" Hiyori began to panic when she saw Kagami's embarrassed reaction.
"Don't worry, she may not look like it, but Kagamin~'s actually a closet otaku."
"Really? Wow, that's pretty cool."
"Oi, Kona! Don't tell that to people I for the first time!"
"That's the problem?" Konata wasn't sure if that's really what Kagami wanted to say.
"Wha-?! I-I mean, I'm not an otaku!" Although she was a little late, she corrected herself.
"Heh~." Konata developed a big grin on her face.
"Shut up, idiot!" She formed her hand into a fist
"Is she a tsundere, Konata-senpai?" As expected of a fellow otaku, Hiyori's observation skills were quite good.
"I'm not a tsundere!" Kagami wasn't helping herself.
"She's a little difficult when it comes to that…"
"Eh? She either is one or is not… or am I wrong?" The two skillfully ignored Kagami's complaints.
"She's occasionally one…? Lately, she's in permanent dere mode. The last time she went into full tsun… Ouch!" Konata, once more, squatted down on the spot while holding her head.
"I'll hit you!"
"Y-You just did, Kagamin~…" Konata complained about the order of her actions.
"If that's here dere mode… I'm not sure if I want to see the tsun Kagami-senpai…" Hiyori had her doubts about Konata unlocking her dere side.
"You want a try?" Kagami pointed her fist at Hiyori this time.
"N-No, I'm good for today."
"She's just a little shy~." While making her statement, Konata tightly hugged Kagami and rubbed her head against her shoulder.
"…. Kona?" It took her a while before she realized that it was neither the time, nor the right place for a hug, but Kagami still only gave a weak reaction afterward.
"Hmm?"
"Could you let go for the time being? We're in the middle of a conversation right now."
"Sure~."
"Thanks."
"See what I mean, Hiyori?" Konata gestured at the perfectly unflustered Kagami next to her.
"Yes, I DO see. Thank you very much for the meal, senpai." Hiyori looked delighted and started drawing something into a sketchbook she seemingly had produced out of thin air. Konata took a look at said sketchbook and started smiling
"Oh, I want a copy of that later on."
"Really? Okay, sure."
"Copy of what?"
"Nothing~." The two immediately played innocent after hearing Kagami's question.
"By the way, Konata-senpai, how do you like the new anime season?" She changed the topic away from her drawings.
"Hmm… It just started this month, but it certainly looks promising… Definitely way better than last season already."
"Yeah, last season was rather weak. Oh, have you seen the latest episode of ***** on Thursday evening?"
"Of course I did! I think it's time I already have two solid ships after just three episodes."
"Let me guess, one of them is Hiiro-kun and Satoshi-kun, right?"
"That so is the otp of everyone, even on the net, huh? But yeah, they're great. The other pairing definitely is Yui and Arisa."
"Yeah, that's true… Wait, what? Arisa?! No way! It's absolutely Yui and Kurumi!" Hiyori didn't agree with Konata's second ship.
"Kurumi, huh? I thought you watched the last episode, Hiyori? I agree that there were some nice scenes between the two, especially in the second episode, but Kurumi never had a chance against Arisa. She made her victory clear in the third episode and the scene after the ending song basically made them canon already."
"Yeah… Episode three definitely was an Arisa episode, but… Wait… There was a scene after the ending song?! I was a bit in a rush because I forgot about a deadline and had to stop watching once the song started…"
"Wow, you missed something great. The scene showed what happened when the girls group was sleeping in Yui's room. Arisa went to the bathroom and when she came back, she accidentally entered Yui's futon and woke her up. Yui just looked at her and pulled her closer. They didn't show it, but the camera angle definitely suggested that they had kissed before falling asleep. The scene ended directly afterward while showing a total of their embrace with a smile on their lips."
"W-What?! No, that didn't happen…"
"Of course it did, You have no idea how much my inner fangirl was screaming~."
"No way… Another case where the childhood friend lost, huh? Man, they should just stop with the childhood trope if they lose anyway. It's way too painful to watch…"
"Yeah, I had my fair share of grief because of that as well… But this time I shipped Arisa from the very beginning because she's just way too cute. Wait… Aren't Hiiro and Satoshi also childhood friends?"
"Oh, you're right… They're also super cute together… Okay, I'll let you have your Yui and Arisa ship, Konata-senpai."
"Hehe."
"Heh~, looks like you're having fun, Kona…" Kagami's words didn't sound harmful, but one look at her made clear that Konata had a problem. Her eyes didn't look friendly at all and her puffed out cheeks, although very cute, underlined her sulking even more.
"I-It's okay, Kagamin~." She noticed that Kagami got a bit jealous and decided to include her in the conversation. "Sorry, Hiyori, Kagamin~'s more of a light novel fan. She's probably a little bored by our conversation…"
"No problem. Light novels, huh? Hmm… They're not my number one, but I do read quite a lot of them…"
"Really?" Kagami instantly recovered and seemed happy to have found someone who shares her hobby. Konata's a lost cause in that regard after all. "What do you read, Hiyori?"
"Let me think… Oh, I'm pretty absorbed in the yuri novel 'Childhood's autumn and a new spring'. I just love it." Hiyori mentioned the name of her favorite novel and all color left Kagami's face. Konata, noticing her change, thought about the title again and her eyes suddenly grew wide. It isn't the first time she heard that name. She leaned over to Kagami and started whispering.
"Hey, Kagamin~, isn't that…"
"Yes… It's the series of your father…" She wasn't expecting that.
"Ahaha~." Konata had a great time.
"It's so great that there's a long, still ongoing yuri novel out there. The characters are also all really good and well written. The main childhood pair is so adorable. Oh, but the tsundere and 'my pace' otaku couple that just got its own dedicated volume is simply the best." While Hiyori was talking in great length and detail about her favorite couple, Konata had yet another feeling of déjà-vu because it sounded strangely familiar for some reason. The more she heard from Hiyori, the stronger the stare she was directing at Kagami got. Beads of sweat started to form on Kagami's forehead and she was unable Konata anymore. "Best of all, despite it not being an 18+ novel, it was super juicy." Hiyori finished her explanation and Kagami's face was beet red by now. Konata's piercing stare wasn't helping her at all either.
"E-Ehm…" Kagami was too flustered to get any meaningful words out of her.
"Ah… I did it again…" Hiyori noticed her expression. "I'm very sorry, Kagami-senpai, I got a little overexcited. You probably don't even like the yuri genre, do you? It's kind of an 'advanced' genre after all…"
"N-No, it's not that. It's just… You see, the author 'Jiroso', Kona and I know him, like, personally…"
"Seriously?" It was Konata who answered. "He just swapped a syllable of his name? How lazy can he get?"
"Really? That's awesome! Who is he?"
"I call him 'dad' most of the time…"
"He's your father, Konata-senpai? How cool is that?"
"I wonder about that right now…" Konata was still a bit distracted about the strangely resembling couple Hiyori had just described out of the light novel from her father.
"Okay… By the way, why's Kagami-senpai so flustered?"
"Uh… Multiple, very difficult reasons… One of them is, Kagamin~ doesn't just know my father, the author, she's something like a co-author or rather, editor of the series for quite some time already."
"W-What?! You're really contributing to a serialized work? Can I call you Kagami-sensei from now on?" Hiyori was really surprised and impressed by Kagami's involvement in the light novel.
"I would prefer if you don't… It's not like I was planning on doing so. It just kind of happened and some circumstances led me to get even more involved in it…"
"Heh~? That's still super awesome! So, what's the favorite couple of an insider?"
"It's the same as yours. The childhood couple is great and got me interested in the novel in the first place, but the reversal the 'tsundere' in the current volume pulled off was just too awesome. It's so amusing how she managed to turn the tables after they got together and the reactions of her girlfriend when she gets cornered are sooo adorable." Kagami got a little too into it and Konata only rolled her eyes. She said nothing, but her facial expression clearly indicated that she had mixed feelings about the whole thing.
"Wow, you have a great taste, Kagami-senpai. The slight S-tendencies are also a perfect fit for her character."
"Ahaha…" Now even Kagami could only let out nothing more than a dry laugh.
"Anyway, to the important part. Kagami-senpai, what's going to happen in the next volume? I'm sure you already know a thing or two, right? I really hate to wait for things I like…"
"Well, sure, I know the concept of the next two volumes even and I read a rough draft of the next one, but no, I'm not going to tell you anything." Major spoilers are one of the worst things that can happen to unpublished works after all and so, Kagami obviously had to stay silent.
"Aww… Not even a little hint about our favorite couple?"
"Yeah, what's going to happen to our favorite couple in the future, Kagamin~?" Konata still had not much of an idea what's inside the novel, but her interest in the mentioned couple was because of something entire else anyway. The couple in question had way too many similarities with the real world Kagami and Konata and she's going to have a lot of questions for Kagami soon enough.
"W-Well…" Kagami realized she was in a pinch with the main reason being Konata's question, which had quite a bit of depth to it. "I can't say anything specific, but in my personal opinion, I'm sure they'll be happy together until the very end."
"Smooth one, Kagamin~."
"Long term couple, huh? Those are my favorites. I hope the author listens to your ideas, Kagami-senpai."
"He's a bit whimsical when it comes to that… He only occasionally listens when he likes what he hears, but that kind of runs in the family…"
"Sounds like you have a fair share of problems… Anyway, it's the best to have found two like-minded people here. Otakus are often so halfhearted nowadays…"
"Like I said, I'm not an otaku!" Kagami got angry again.
"Ehm… Kagami-senpai, Konata-senpai loves and collects anime and manga related things, but you, besides loving light novels, are even actively working on a serialized and rather popular light novel. If I had to choose who's more invested in the whole scene, it would be you, Kagami-senpai."
"W-W-What?!" One could even hear Kagami's world shattering. "Hahaha~. You shouldn't make jokes like that, Tamura-san." Something inside her snapped and Hiyori retreated two steps.
"N-No, now, calm down, Kagamin~…" Konata hugged her from the side again and the menacing aura instantly vanished again. "She's a bit hard to handle at the beginning, but once you get to know her better, you'll see that Kagamin~'s simply the best, Hiyori. There's no need to be scared."
"Yes, you're right, this IS the best." She made a totally recover and somewhat agreed with Konata, but she focused more on the whole picture in front of her. While she was looking at Konata and Kagami hugging, her sketchbook appeared again and she concentrated on that for the time being.
"So, now that she's busy, Kagamin~…" Konata started whispering. "Is there maybe something you want to tell me?"
"I have no idea what you mean." Kagami tried playing innocent.
"You know that you're as bad as I am when it comes to lying right?"
"I'm not that bad, okay? Whatever, it's about your father novel, huh?"
"Yeah, what's up with this strangely familiar sounding couple Hiyori and you were talking about?"
"Ahaha, I actually kind of forgot to tell you about it because it's kind of embarrassing, but I don't think you want to know anyway, Kona…"
"Ehehe, I think I do." Konata had a different opinion about the topic. "I thought he wasn't using our story in his book?"
"Yeah, that was back then… Once we came out and were more open about it at your home, though… Well, he added another pairing to his cast and dedicated a whole volume to them…"
"Seriously?! Why didn't you stop him?"
"Don't you think I did?"
"It doesn't sound like it…"
"Kona… He wanted to ask his publisher whether it's okay to change the age rating for the volume or not…"
"Kagamin~?"
"Yes?"
"I love you."
"I know~. Seriously, though, if you compare the initial draft with the finished novel, you can see that I kicked his rear multiple times…"
"That's good, makes it easier to tear him a new one." Konata wasn't planning on letting her father get out of it easily.
"Feel free. Well, the volume turned out to be rather cute, though."
"That's good… I guess?" Konata actually wasn't that angry that her father used the relationship of the two as an inspiration for his novel, but it somehow left a bad taste behind that he never asked her. Kagami restraining him with all her might, probably saved his life, though.
While the two were having their own conversation, Hiyori finished her drawing and started to look towards the group of Miyuki, Tsukasa, Minami, and Yutaka who were sitting on the blanket under the tree. Two girls, in particular, caught her interest.
"Hey, Konata-senpai, about Minami-san and Yutaka-san…" Hiyori pointed at the two who were currently happily chatting with each other while snacking on something. "Aren't they kind of cute together?"
"Hmm…" Konata looked at them, but then sighed. "Haa… I understand where you're coming from, Hiyori, but I'm a little tired of them already…"
"What happened?"
"You see, whenever Yu-chan starts talking about school at home, it's always 'Iwasaki-san this', 'Iwasaki-san that', and so on…"
"Heh~?"
"I'm happy that she found a friend she's that attached to, but it started to get a tiny bit annoying at home, especially if I want to be al… Nevermind…" Konata stopped herself from finishing her sentence and looked at Kagami. In short, the quality time of the two took quite a blow thanks to the heroic, in Yutaka's eyes, tales of Minami.
"I see… While I get your problem, Konata-senpai, it only helps me to solve the mystery of why I always see lilies around them."
"You know, I'm always on board of a new ship, but, ignoring, that I'm slightly tired of them, I don't think there's much going on. Yu-chan tends to get sick a lot, which made it difficult to have friends. Minami's basically the first friend she got so close to. It's only natural she's over the moon right now. Like I said, I understand you, but I don't see it going that direction."
"Well, it has to start from somewhere, Konata-senpai."
"…" Konata couldn't say anything and Kagami just sighed. They wanted to retort something, but their relationship started rather innocent as well after all.
"Anyway… I'm getting hungry… I think we should join the others already, senpai." Saying so, Hiyori left the two and walked towards the group under the tree. Konata and Kagami stayed behind for now.
….
"What a fun girl." Konata had a good impression of her.
"Yeah…" Kagami looked rather displeased. "You two sure got along nicely… You have a lot in common with her…" She started sulking again.
"You are way too jealous, Kagamin~. You should be happy that you're easily cute enough to make up for it. Well, it's true, though, we are rather similar and I really enjoyed talking with her."
"I… see…" Now she was just depressed.
"Kagamin~…" Konata felt bad and grabbed her hand in a way none of the others could see. "There's absolutely nothing to worry, you know? Sure, there are probably a lot of things I can talk about with her, but even I think that talking about nothing but anime and manga all day would bore me out eventually. You're way more well-rounded, Kagamin~. You have your otaku side, whether you admit it or not, you're way cuter, more interesting, super adorable, fun to be with, and overall just perfect for me. You improved my grades, brightened up every day until now, you…"
"O-Okay, that's enough, Kona. If you say anymore, I won't be able to hold back." Kagami stopped her because she felt terribly embarrassed, along with a couple other feelings. Despite the embarrassment, she was still smiling from ear to ear.
"Haa… What am I going to do with you…?" She only joked, but actually got an answer.
"Take me on a date somewhere…" She didn't mean to say it out loud, but it was still a critical hit.
"You should be illegal, Kagamin~… You're way too cute to be allowed running around.
"S-Shut up…"
"Ehehe~. Oh, I know, besides tearing my father a new one, let's get some money out of him from the novel volume that's more or less about us and go on a weekend trip. Just the two of us."
"That's an idea I definitely wouldn't say no to, Kona."
"Good, let's do that then."
"I'm looking forward to it."
"… I know it's a little late… But weren't you getting along with Hiyori just as well as I did? I mean, you were speaking about your hobby, the light novels, as passionately as I with her. What's the reason for you to even be jealous anyway?"
"This and that are different…"
"How's that any different, Kagamin~?"
"It just is!"
"I seriously don't get girls after all…"
"Really? That again? You see, I'm not just fairly sure that you're a girl as well, I know that you're one by now. In the first place, I would be rather troubled if you weren't one…"
"Ahaha, my adorable lesbian girlfriend~."
"…" She answered nothing.
"Okay… Awkward…" It was time to stop and Konata looked around. "Wow…" She pointed at their group of friends.
"Hiyori's sure something else…" The two looked at Hiyori who was currently in front of Minami and Yutaka with her sketchbook in her hand. She was having a blast sketching the supposedly pink space around the two.
"She's pretty true to her real self. Although, that's not what I meant…" Konata directed Kagami's attention to Miyuki and Tsukasa. While the two were sitting next to each other, the atmosphere around them seemed super awkward. They were really fidgety and even had problems with looking at each other.
"Indeed… Wow." Kagami understood what she meant and facepalmed.
"Hey, hey, can I hit them?" Konata asked while cracking her knuckles. "I'll try to hold back, but I can't promise anything…"
"Calm down, Kona. I do understand you and kind of feel the same, but you gave them time until after Golden Week, right?"
"Okay, I'll hit them then…"
"Good… Probably…"
"Honestly, Kagamin~, I don't get their problem."
"Isn't it the same we had?"
"Not really… It's kind of different… We were close, fell in love without knowing the feelings of the other party and that made things awkward. Tsukasa and Miyuki went through a similar experience, except for the important part where they knew about the feelings of each other, but it still got awkward. It's almost the other way around. I mean, they knew about the feelings of the other person before the person in question knew it themselves…"
"Yeah, you're right, they don't make any sense at all… Making it awkward after being on the same page already is just stupid…"
"Youth, huh?"
"Shut up… Anyway, it's no use thinking about them as usual, Kona. Let's join them and enjoy the flower viewing already." The couple finally went to the others and sat down next to each other on the blanket as well, but Konata had to do something in order to acquire peace there first.
"Oi, Hiyorin, let it go for today. Let's take it easy now." She stopped her as she was going wild with her sketchbook and made her leave them alone.
"H-Hiyorin?" She was a little bewildered after suddenly receiving a nickname out of nowhere.
"Yep, that's what I'm going to call you from now on."
"Okay…? Well, you're right, let's enjoy the rest of the day like a normie." Hiyori agreed with taking it easy and put her sketchbook away.
The actual flower viewing finally started. The girls were happily chatting with each other and the members of the two groups started to get to know each other better. Everyone was having a great time, despite two of the girls being a little awkward, but Hiyorin wasn't able to hold her promise to stay calm. Konata wanted to tease her a little and started feeding Kagami out of nowhere. Hiyori managed to only suffer a small nosebleed, but when Yutaka tried to copy her for some reason which caused Minami, the recipient, to turn red, Hiyori finally fainted with an ecstatic smile while losing herself in some of her delusions as she mumbled some rather interesting things. The remaining flower viewing was really relaxing, though. Apart from the time where Konata was thinking whether Yutaka was really innocent or possibly pretty dangerous right after the incident with Hiyori, that is.
.
With this chapter and the flower viewing, more or less an entire year passed inside this story (Ch. 1 Teaser, ch. 2 the weeks before the flower viewing, and ch. 3 was the flower viewing last year).
I finally got our girls into their third year in high school…
Hiyori and Minami also entered the game. Well, mainly Hiyori this time… I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to with Patricia/Patty. She's more otaku than Hiyori and Konata together and I already had a bit of work with their conversation in the chapter. For now, I'm going with the excuse that this story is more based on the manga, rather than the anime. In the anime, Patty showed up at a rather similar time with the others, but in the manga, Yutaka, Minami and Hiyori were introduced in volume 2 and the first chapter with Patty was in volume 7. Also, in the manga (8. volume), Patty's living in the Izumi house as an exchange student. It's rather different from the anime. Then again, the introduction of the 'new' girls I did in this chapter was based on nothing… So… I guess, I'll probably add Patty sometime when I figured out what I'm going to do with her, but it'll take some time.
I really like Hiyori and I think I'm going to have a lot of fun with her. Poor Kagami will probably get jealous again for some reason she doesn't understand either. A girl's heart is complicated after all.
Next chapter (May/Golden Week) is, for their own safety, planned to be about Miyuki and Tsukasa again because Konata would hit them otherwise.
It's probably going to be a while till then, but I'm planning multiple things for their summer break. If you would like to see something like an event or trip, feel free to make a suggestion. As well as for the weekend trip of Konata and Kagami I mentioned in this chapter.