A little time since the flower viewing passed and Golden Week had already arrived. Yutaka had invited her friends, Minami and Yutaka, over and the two just arrived at the Izumi house. Both entered and Yutaka led them to her room.
"Please make yourselves comfortable." While Yutaka said so, the three sat down at the small table in the middle of her room.
"So, this is your room, huh?" Hiyori looked around and saw the armada of plush toys. "Yep, it's exactly like I imagined it, it's very cute."
"Thank you very much, Hiyori-chan."
"By the way, is Konata-senpai not at home today?" Hiyori was wondering why she hasn't seen or heard her when she came over.
"No, she's still out."
"Where is she?"
"Onee-chan hasn't come home yesterday, but she didn't say anything…"
"Heh~? Don't tell me she has a lover?"
"E-Eh?! Onee-chan has a boyfriend?! She never told me!"
"Calm down, Yutaka… I never said she has, it was just the first thing I thought about when hearing that she spent the night somewhere."
"Oh, so that's what you meant, Hiyori-chan." Yutaka quickly calmed down and Hiyori breathed out a sigh in relief because she was tired already.
"Anyway…" She still decided to change the topic. "Ah, Minami, is it true that you have a dog as well?"
"Yes."
"Cherry-chan's super adorable! She's really big, white and incredibly fluffy!" Yutaka's answer contained more details.
"Is that so? I have a dog myself, but he's on the smaller side. Aren't big dogs rather scary?"
"Cherry's a really nice dog… She isn't scary at all." Minami's pretty fond of her dog.
"Really? I kind of want to see her now."
"Oh, let's visit Iwasaki-san together next time, Hiyori-chan You can see Cherry-chan then."
"Hmm…?" She sounded confused for a second, but agreed with Yutaka's idea. "That sounds like a good idea. Is that okay with you Minami?"
"I don't really mind. Kobayakawa-san, please tell when you and Hiyori-san are coming over, okay?"
"Sure~." Yutaka answered her, but Hiyori looked confused again. "By the way, Hiyori-chan, I asked onee-chan to show me the mangas you drew…"
"W-W-What?!" Cold sweat run through her spine as she panicked. "H-How much did you see?!"
"Onee-chan didn't want to show me for some reason she won't tell me as well. She also forbade me to look at a lot of other mangas without asking her first…"
"Thank you very much, Konata-senpai! I shouldn't have doubted you earlier!" She thanked Konata with all her heart, even though she wasn't there.
"But what are your mangas about? I'm really curious about it. Can I please see them?" Yutaka looked with big eyes at her.
"Ahaha~…" Hiyori played off her panicking with a forced laugh. "B-By the way, where is the bathroom? I kind of need…" It was a weak attempt, but thankfully, Yutaka was extremely gullible.
"Oh, go down the hallway, it's the last door on the right side."
"T-Thanks…" using her chance to escape, Hiyori swiftly left the room. Not actually needing to use the toilet, she started to think about how to get rid of the topic at hand. While having no idea at all, she suddenly heard a sound coming from the living room downstairs. Curious as she was, Hiyori went to take a look. Peeking her head inside, she was quickly greeted by someone.
"Oh, a new face, please come in." Sojiro bid her into the room.
"Ah, no, I was just wondering about the sound I heard. I'm probably interrupting you anyway, aren't I?"
"No, no, high school girl's never going to be a bother." His true feelings leaked out rather fast.
"Okay… Oh, my name's Tamura Hiyori, I'm in the same class as Yutaka."
"Thanks for always taking care of her. I'm her uncle and Konata's father, Izumi Sojiro."
"It's nice to meet you. By the way, what were you doing before I showed up, Izumi-san?" Hiyori couldn't help noticing the laptop with an opened text program on the table in front of him and became interested.
"I'm actually a light novel author and I was working on my next volume a moment ago…"
"Wow, so you really are 'Jiroso'?" Hiyori's eyes started to sparkle even more.
"Yep, that's me~. How did you know?"
"Kagami-senpai and Konata senpai told me about it."
"Ah, those two… Have you read my current series?"
"Yes! Actually, I'm a really big fan!"
"Really? That's great. Thanks for your support." He was happy hearing that she enjoys his novel.
"The latest volume was especially great. The new couple's really awesome!"
"Ahaha… Yeah, I really enjoyed writing them as well…" Even though Sojiro agreed with her, he also looked a bit tired all of a sudden. "Someone forced me to edit them a ton, though…"
"Eh? Did your publisher not like it?"
"I wouldn't know, actually… The initial draft never made it to him..."
"Hmm?"
"Someone suggested that I should make some minor edits before showing it to the higher ups. By the way, by 'suggest', I mean 'forced', and by 'minor', I mean 'a ton'…"
"What was the problem?"
"Well, my publisher said no to a change of the age rating anyway, but there were multiple internal… conflicts to solve…" Sojiro tried to stay vague.
"By internal problems, you mean…?"
"Kagami."
"Does that make any sense?" Hiyori couldn't follow his reasoning.
"Once you get to know her better, it will."
"I see… So, Kagami-senpai really is your editor then?"
"Not my official one. But a much stricter version of it… She has a lot of good ideas as well, though."
"Wow… How did that even happen? Kagami-senpai working with you, that is."
"Hmm… Before that, how much do you know about the rela… ehm, about Konata and Kagami?" He didn't want to accidentally leak something the couple hasn't told them yet. He did an okay job at best, though.
"Not that much… I only know them for not even two weeks after all. Why?"
"Just asking… Anyway, she's one of the first fans of the series and because she's here quite often, it just happened that she became a reliable help or so…"
"Kagami-senpai really is interesting… She totally doesn't look like she's the otaku type, especially one who likes yuri and yet…"
"Ah, w-well…" Sojiro had no idea what to answer. "I was pretty surprised as well when I first found out…" He actually didn't lie with his answer, he just referred to something else in his head.
"Ah! I almost forgot… You know, I actually drew some doujinshi about your main couple in the novel around the time when the second novel was released. They were even quite popular at the last summer comiket."
"Heh~? I never knew people are drawing doujinshi about my novel. That makes me quite happy."
"The series is one of the most popular ones in the yuri scene, after all, Sojiro-san. There are quite a few doujinshi next to mine."
"Obvious flattery will bring you… pretty far actually…" He's an easy to please fellow.
"Oh, I brought some of the ones I drew with me to give them to Konata-senpai. Do you want to take a look?"
"Can I? I would love to."
"Sure, I'll go and get them." She quickly got up and went upstairs before coming back to the living room soon after again. "Well, there are more I drew, but those here are the most 'family friendly' ones of them. Showing you the other ones is a bit… even for me…" Hiyori isn't embarrassed about her works, but looking at 18+ doujinshi together with a middle-aged man she just met is not something she wants to experience. No matter if the man in question was the original author or not.
"Don't worry, that's more than enough and this way, Konata and Kagami also won't kill me… again…" Lately, Sojiro's a little scared of his daughter and her girlfriend because of many reasons that are also mostly his faults. Tossing the thought about Konata doing a sermon before extorting some money out of him to the side, he finally took a look at Hiyori's doujinshi. He intently flipped through the pages and it seemed like he likes what he's seeing.
"A-And?" Hiyori became rather nervous at last because it's not an everyday occurrence that you're able to show your fan works to the original author of the source material.
"Hmm… It's good. Really good, actually. The art and the character designs are really fitting and their personalities are also spot on. The story's interesting as well."
"R-Really?!" She sounded excited.
"Absolutely. I'm especially fond of the art. There's something about it that really makes me like it."
"Wow… Thank you very much, Sojiro-san. You have no idea how happy it makes me to know that the creator of the series likes my work."
"No, no, I should be the thankful one here. It's fans like you who keep me going. Oh, can I keep those?" He held up her doujinshi.
"Of course, but why?"
"I want to carefully read them when I have the time for starters. They seem interesting after all."
"Oh, sure, please do." The two kept talking about her doujinshi, Sojiro's light novel and things around it for a while. Hiyori seemed very interested about being serialized and asked lots of questions about it.
While the two were engrossed in their conversation, both hadn't noticed that the front door opened and Konata, together with Kagami, had come back home. The two entered the house and once they left the eyes of the public, their few restraints that were low in the first place, disappeared immediately again. While clinging onto each other, the two walked past the living room and immediately stopped when they glanced into the room and reluctantly let go of each other again.
"You've finally done it now, huh, dad? You finally went and abducted a high school girl… Oh, it's Hiyori, hey Hiyorin~."
"You know that I wouldn't do that, dear daughter of mine." Sojiro seemed hurt at the heavy, albeit not entirely unreasonable, accusation of Konata.
"I'm pretty sure that one day just looking won't be enough for you anymore." She had no intention to stop, though.
"Oh, hello Konata-senpai and… Kagami-senpai?"
"Hello, Hiyori…" Kagami also greeted her. "But seriously… He didn't abduct you, right…?" She's Konata's girlfriend and basically a member of the family after all.
"Et tu, Kagami?!" He was shocked.
"That's my g- Kagamin~." Konata almost forgot about Hiyori for a second.
"No, he didn't kidnap me, senpai. Why would he in the first place?"
"That's a long story…" She got an answer from both at the same time.
"This old man over here feels pretty hurt, you know?"
"What were you doing with him, Hiyorin?"
"I told you about the doujinshi I drew about your father's light novel, right, Konata-senpai? I took the opportunity and showed them to him. Afterward, we talked about a lot of things and even had a few good ideas for our respective future projects."
"Is that so?" Kagami perked up when she heard the words 'good ideas'. She really had a bad feeling about the ideas Sojiro and Hiyori came up together. Wanting to stop any possible catastrophe, she walked up to Sojiro and reminded him about something. "You know what's going to happen if you overdo it again, right, Sojiro?"
"Aww~, don't be like that, Kagami…"
"Ehm…" Hiyori walked up to Konata in the meanwhile. "She calls him by his first name?"
"Well, that's also a long story…"
"Come on, Sojiro, you're not that much of an M, right? You don't want to go through last time again, do you? It's not going to be as smooth and cheap like last week when Kona found out about the last volume again, you know?"
"Wait, last week definitely wasn't cheap!"
"You think so?" She looked with a slight grin at Konata who had an even bigger one. Seeing that, Sojiro shrunk down by a fair bit.
"Okay, okay, okay, fine, I'll keep it tame in the next volume…"
"That's good to hear."
"K-Konata-senpai… What's up with their dynamic?" Hiyori was greatly confused from looking at the two.
"That's rather complicated to explain… Wait, actually, it's rather easy… It's my fault because I told her how to handle my father and that she shouldn't hold back… Well, her S-tendencies did the rest."
"She's an S?"
"Yep~."
"I can hear you, Kona."
"That's why I didn't lie~."
"My senpais sure are amazing…" Hiyori was equally amazed about the dynamic of Kagami and Konata.
"You have no idea…" Konata only mumbled these words, but once Hiyori finds out about the relationship of the town, 'amazing' probably isn't nearly cutting it. "Anyway… What are you doing here in the first place, Hiyorin?"
"Hmm? Oh, right… Minami and I are visiting Yutaka today."
"Certainly doesn't look like it, though."
"Well, I had to temporarily flee because Yutaka started asking me about my doujinshi again…"
"I see… Yeah, we should do our best to preserve her innocence."
"Even though it's just because you have too much fun teasing her, Kona?" Kagami had finished her talk with Sojiro and joined them again.
"Kagamin~, that has nothing to do with it."
"Sure."
"Ahaha, well then, let's all go to Yu-chan's room now." Ignoring her, Konata walked towards the stairs. The other two followed her soon after and the three girls entered Yutaka's room.
….
"Oh, Konata-oneechan, welcome back, Kagami-senpai as well."
"We're back~." The group joined Yutaka and Minami and sat down at the table as well.
"Ah, Konata-oneechan, do you have a boyfriend?"
"Eh?" She looked confused for a second and tilted her head, but the answer was easy and came fast. "Nope, I don't have a boyfriend, not even interested in having one in the first place. Where does that even come from all of a sudden?" She was asked about having a boyfriend and so, not a single lie was told.
"Hiyori-chan had the idea after I told her that you hadn't come yesterday."
"I just wanted to tease her a little, but she thought about the rest, Konata-senpai… Still, where were you, though?"
"I had something to discuss with Tsukasa and because I was there already, I slept over at Kagamin~'s place."
"Ah, spending the night together with Kagami-senpai, huh?"
"Yep~." Hiyori wanted to tease her with her suggestive wording, but Konata took her on with a complete lack of being flustered.
"Oh, I'm going to use that, Konata-senpai." She had no problem with the confident sounding answer.
"And then, Iwasaki-san, you see…"
"Yes. That's true, Kobayakawa-san." Yutaka and Minami were happily chatting with each other while the others were minding their own business. Seeing that, Hiyori immediately focused on them again while giving Konata a nudge in the sides.
"Hah~, aren't those two just great~?"
"You really enjoy them, huh?"
"Absolutely~."
"Okay, you know what, I'll give you a freebie, Hiyorin." Konata looked at Yutaka and Minami before starting to smile mischievously. "Yu-chan, Minami, I've been wondering about something…"
"What is it, Konata-oneechan?"
"You two are both using the first names to address basically all of us, right?"
"Yes?"
"So, why is it 'Kobayakawa-san' and 'Iwasaki-san' when you two are talking with each other?"
"Eh?"
"…" It looks like the two hadn't even realized that they were doing it.
"I think it's time to change that."
"Oh, I have to agree with Konata-senpai on that."
"Uhm… Isn't it a bit hard to change a habit so suddenly?"
"Just give it a try, Yu-chan~."
"O-Okay…" She looked at Minami and tried her best. "M-Mi… Mi… Mi… I'm sorry, Iwasaki-san, it's somehow really embarrassing once the name's already established…" Yutaka's face turned red as she failed to say her name and shyly looked away.
"It's okay, Yu… Yu… Kobayakawa-san… It really is rather embarrassing." Minami's rather expressionless face also turned a bit red around her cheeks. While the two were wrapped into a slightly embarrassed atmosphere, Hiyori was about to ascend to heaven.
"Hah~, this is pure bliss~." She was holding a tissue to her nose and tried her best to not stain it with too much blood. Seeing her reaction, Konata and Kagami could only smile wryly.
"I'm glad you're happy, Hiyorin."
"Please marry me, Konata-senpai." She was over the moon thanks to the scene Konata made possible for her. The proposed person in question was about to face a problem, though.
"Nah, I'm good." Without even looking at Kagami to confirm her suspicion, she immediately turned her down. The reason she didn't look at Kagami was easy. She didn't need to because she could feel her glare that lowered even the room temperature. Having an idea to diffuse the situation completely, she leaned over to Kagami and started whispering. "Don't worry, little miss jealous, ignoring a few organizational problems, you would be the only one who would get a different answer somewhere in the future."
"W-What?!" Being caught completely off guard, she couldn't find any fitting words.
"Panicky Kagamin~." Konata almost looked as satisfied as Hiyori who was still concentrating on the other two.
"S-Shut up… You can't just say something like that like it's nothing…"
"Ehehe… Anyway…" Konata still changed the subject because of many reasons and looked at Hiyori's direction. "I wonder what's going to happen to her if we go all out…"
"You know, I kind of want to find that out a little, Kona…" Kagami doesn't dislike Hiyori, but she wants to make clear that Konata's hers, even though Kagami also doesn't want to outright announce it on the spot. She's complicated after all and while her jealousy is completely baseless and irrational, she just can't help it.
"Oh~, then I'll go ahead and tease her a little." Konata immediately thought up a plan. "Haa~…" She suddenly yawned and stretched herself. "Wow, I'm so tired… Last night finally caught up, huh? I couldn't sleep at all…" She finished her fake stretching and leaned against Kagami's shoulder with a smile while closing her eyes.
"Hmm~…" Kagami realized what she was doing and decided to play along. "Yeah, it really got too late, I'm sorry for not letting you sleep." She also stretched a little and then placed her head on top of Konata's.
"…." Hiyori was looking at them for some time already, but was at a loss for words as she watched them cuddling so openly. Her left eyelid only twitched a few times while it looked like her brain overloaded. "Ahaha…" She suddenly started laughing. "Thank you very much, Konata-senpai, that was a feast. You as well, Kagami-senpai, it looked very natural and authentic. I expected nothing less from the two of you." Something inside Hiyori broke and she played it all off as her senpais simply teasing her. Sure, that was the plan of the two, but that didn't mean they faked anything just now.
"E-Eh…?" Konata couldn't believe her ears. She certainly didn't see that turn of events coming. While trying to follow the bizarre situation, her confusedness changed into amusement while she tried her best to refrain from laughing.
"Wahaha~…" Kagami hadn't that much self-control right now and let loose." Haa~, that's too good."
"Is something wrong, Kagami-senpai?"
"N-Nothing… Everything's fine~." She calmed down to some degree, but still had fun with the situation.
"Hiyorin, Hiyorin…" Konata almost felt sorry for her that she's thinking that she and Kagami are just faking it. "But that doesn't mean we have to stop teasing you, right?"
"Uhm… no? Feel free to do, it's still a good reference, but… Why?"
"It's fun~." That was part of the reason, but the main objective was that she and Kagami didn't have to hold back that much anymore until they decide to tell them.
With that being clarified, they dropped the topic and chatted about normal things again. Those topics didn't last long, though. Because of Hiyori's okay earlier, Konata and Kagami were officially all over each other. While looking at the affectionate couple, Yutaka started to send slightly jealous glances towards the cuddling two.
"How nice… Being so friendly with your best friend…" While she said that, she occasionally peeked at Minami. Thanks to that, Konata felt a little bad again.
"Ah, w-well… Kagamin's indeed also my best friend…" One of these words were only audible for Kagami right next to her.
"D-Do you think we can also become this close?" Yutaka was now completely facing Minami.
"I think so… Y-Yutaka-chan…" Minami also wanted to get closer and finally managed to say her name this time with an even bigger blush on her face.
"Really?! Thank you… Eh? T-Thank you very much, M-Minami-chan…" Yutaka realized that she used her name and also became bashful in the middle of her sentence.
"No, thank you all very much~." Hiyori couldn't keep her calm anymore, grabbed her sketchbook and started drawing in it with great vigor. Today yielded her a great harvest.
Konata and Kagami had a complicated expression on their faces ever since Yutaka compared her and Minami with the two again. While smiling wryly for some time, Kagami suddenly felt her phone vibrating. She took it out and saw that she had a new message. The mail came from Tsukasa and while looking at the content, she started smiling and showed her phone to Konata. She looked at the mail as well and immediately, too, started smiling. Afterward, the two continued to watch the chaotic scene in front of them with a pretty satisfied look.
…
Earlier that day, about an hour before Konata and Kagami left the Hiiragi home, Tsukasa had already left the house and just arrived at Miyuki's place.
"Haa…" She exhaled deeply and pressed the doorbell. Nervousness was clearly written all over her face. Not much time passed and the door opened.
"…" Miyuki looked at Tsukasa, but both said nothing for a while. "A-Ah, please come in, Tsukasa-san." Before it became too awkward, she finally bid her inside.
"T-Thanks."
"You can go to my room first. I'll prepare some tea and join you then."
"Okay." Tsukasa went to her room and Miyuki disappeared into the kitchen to make the tea. 10 minutes passed and she also arrived in her room while carrying a tray with the tea.
"Sorry for the wait…" Miyuki sat down at the opposite side of the table Tsukasa was already sitting at and offered her a cup.
"Thanks, Yuki-chan…" She took a sip from the tea and placed the cup back on the table again. Then, the room fell silent for a moment again.
"The flower viewing last time was quite nice, wasn't it?" Miyuki wanted to do something against the rising awkwardness with a little small talk, but it didn't help that much.
"Yeah… Kona-chan's place really is beautiful…"
"Indeed… The connection between Minami-san and Yutaka-san really surprised me, though."
"Absolutely… Well, I thought about it before, but I never would've guessed that it's actually true."
"Still, it's really nice that the two became friends."
"That's true, Yuki-chan…"
"Hmm…" The conversation was about to die down again and Miyuki was thinking hard about a new topic. "Oh, I recently succeeded making candy from melted sugar, Tsukasa-san. I probably won't hurt myself anymore again."
"Eh?" She couldn't follow her.
"You don't remember? I burned myself when I tried making the candy for you on… White… Day…" Her voice grew faint at the end when she remembered the day it happened.
"Ah… Right…"
"…"
"… Haa…" Tsukasa had enough. "It really has been awkward between us lately, huh? Even worse, we're seeing each other less…"
"Yes…"
"I'm sorry for not coming over as often lately, Yuki-chan…"
"I think that's equally my fault…"
"No, it's all because I kissed you out of nowhere back then! I'm very sorry about it, but I really don't like the current situation between us…"
"Y-You don't have to apologize for that, Tsukasa-san." Miyuki tried her best to keep calm, but it was basically impossible. Just hearing the word 'kiss' was enough to set her complete face on fire. "I-I didn't exactly dislike it…" Despite her embarrassment, she still managed to mumble those words.
"More importantly…" Tsukasa wasn't listening to her words. "It basically was an accident in the first place… I saw the scene in the movie, then you, and it just happened…"
"Then, does that mean you didn't like it?"
"W-W-What?!" Tsukasa started to panic at the completely sudden and unexpected question of Miyuki. "T-That's not what I meant! I don't regret it, but the time and… I… I, uhm…" She tried her best to explain, but she had a hard time finding the right words.
"Hmm~?" Miyuki's expression suddenly changed into a very determined and resolute one for some reason, but Tsukasa was too busy preparing herself for her next words to notice the change.
"Y-Yuki-chan, listen, there's something I need to tell you…" Tsukasa closed her eyes because looking at Miyuki made her only more nervous. "I… I… lo-!" She tried her best to get the confession out of her, but she wasn't able to finish. Miyuki's determination earlier wasn't just for show and so, she silenced Tsukasa. With her lips, that is. She noticed what Tsukasa was about to say, but Miyuki had her own plan. Using the timing when Tsukasa closed her eyes, she used up almost all of her courage and pressed her lips on Tsukasa's. "Mmnm?!" Tsukasa panicked for a second, but once she recalled the familiar sensation she's feeling then, she instantly went silent again. Even though the kiss was rather clumsy because Miyuki improvised and had no experience in initiating one, it was more than enough for Tsukasa to completely shut down. No matter the clumsiness in the execution, it was a really effective way to silence her. Miyuki naturally wasn't unaffected as well. She parted from her a couple seconds and once they were separated again, her entire face was red, but even though she was incredibly embarrassed, she managed to stay focused on her target, or 'prey'. Said target, Tsukasa, still wasn't focused on anything at all, though. A couple minutes of silence passed and Tsukasa finally finished rebooting. Her face was obviously filled with pure confusion because she had no idea what just happened.
"How frustrating…" Miyuki looked somewhat disappointed as she touched her own lips. "Why is it that even though my kiss was on purpose, it's still so far behind yours when you acted on a whim, Tsukasa-san?"
"…" There would be two natural things to retort here. 'That's your problem?!' and 'Who are you?!' Tsukasa only narrowed her eyes, though, and tried to comprehend the situation. "Y-Y-Yuki-chan…?" She wanted to say something, but it didn't really work and Miyuki interrupted her again anyway. This time with words, though.
"Tsukasa-san, first, I'm sorry for interrupting you…" She took a deep breath and tried her best to keep up her determination on the same level as she continued. "I'm aware what you wanted to say earlier and I'm really happy about it, but it's my turn now… Tsukasa-san, I know we started as friends, but along the way, my feeling for you changed. I'm not exactly sure when it happened, but before I was aware of it, I realized that I had fallen in love with you…" Without stuttering once, Miyuki was able to finish her confession and voiced her feelings with a smile on her lips.
"…" Tsukasa remained silent for a minute again until something inside her audibly broke with a shattering sound. "Ha… Haha… Ahaha…" She started laughing for no reason and the tension was instantly gone. "What's up with that?! That's so unfair, Yuki-chan! If you knew what I was about to say, why didn't you let me finish? Do you have any idea just how much courage this whole day did cost me?"
"Hmm~." She didn't sound or look very sympathetic. "That was the plan, Tsukasa-san. You know, deep down, I've actually been a little angry at you for some time now…"
"W-Why?"
"That's pretty easy… Someone kissed me without any warning whatsoever and then ended the day without saying a single word…"
"Ehm…" She started to understand something.
"Furthermore, not only nothing on that day happened, the girl in question never mentioned the kiss for the next… what is it? Six weeks? Seven weeks? I know that I'm partially at fault for staying silent as well, but somehow, I really thought it wasn't my responsibility to initiate it. I mean, you kissed me and not the other way around. Now it finally happened and I decided to be a bit selfish on my own. While I agree that I acted rather childish today, I'm sorry, but I'm not sorry at all, Tsukasa-san." She made it pretty clear that Tsukasa made a few wrong decisions that upset her to some degree.
"O-Oh…" Tsukasa had just realized what she made Miyuki go through. After acknowledging her mistake, she immediately sprung up from her place and kneeled down on the floor next to Miyuki and pressed her head against the ground. "I-I'm so very sorry, Yuki-chan… For being such a selfish wimp, that is… Now I remember Kona-chan even tried to warn me, but I didn't listen because I thought going at my own, slightly weird, pace was a good idea… As it turns out, now more than ever, it really wasn't and I even ended up hurting you… Once more, I'm very sorry, Yuki-chan…" Tsukasa was feeling really bad.
"Thank you very much for your apology. Well… I said all that, but I really wasn't much better myself. I was also very satisfied with the status quo for a long time without saying anything. I wasn't sure what I should do either after all. I mean, I even ended up looking up things on the internet for help. There, I found this tactic about being aggressive. It was said that I should go on the offensive and take the initative myself. Not having a better idea, I gave it a try today…"
"Wow… The internet sure is amazing…"
"I'll have to agree with that." Miyuki was pretty happy with the result of the tip she got from the internet.
"…" Tsukasa suddenly turned silent with a complicated expression on her face that looked like the whole situation finally dawned on her and she became aware of everything that happened.
"Is there something wrong, Tsukasa-san?"
"N-No… Not exactly wrong, but… What exactly did just happen?" She was looking for a confirmation.
"What do you mean?"
"You… confessed to me a little while ago, right…? D-Does that mean that…"
"Just wait a moment, Tsukasa-san." Miyuki interrupted her once more. "I think I have yet to hear something from your side, do I not?"
"Oh… R-Right…" Tsukasa hasn't given a response to her confession until now. "W-Well…" She tried to find the right words. "First off, Yuki-chan, let me apologize once more, I'm very sorry. I'm sorry that it took so long. I'm having such a great time with you and every time I'm not, I wish I could see you… I was really jealous of Kona-chan and onee-chan for a long time, but that made me also realize that my feelings for you changed into something else over time as well, Yuki-chan…" Tsukasa stood up, jumped into Miyuki's arms and hugged her with all her might. Then, she placed her head on Miyuki's shoulder and started whispering into her ear. "I love you, I love you, love you…" She repeated those words many times over until Miyuki moved her upper body a bit and turned her head to look at her at point blank range.
"Yes, I, too, love you." For a while, the two just gazed into each other's eyes. Tsukasa soon had a different idea, though. Remembering her words about being aggressive earlier, she tilted her head a little and kissed Miyuki on the lips without any warning at all. Miyuki was a little surprised at first, but there was no reason to stop her. One kiss became two and two turned into many more. Time passed and the need for oxygen turned into something very unfortunate. They parted again and while panting for air, Miyuki looked pretty dazed. Seeing that, Tsukasa looked very pleased with herself.
"Wow… That aggressive thing really works, huh?" Tsukasa said so, but it was rather obvious on her face that she was also at her limit.
"… I… I think you very already rather good before, in that regard, Tsukasa-san… Wait… More importantly! Why are you so good at this?"
"Good at what? Being aggressive?" She only tilted her head.
"No, the… kissing… Just like last time, you're really skilled or… amazing."
"Hmm…? Am I? That sure sounds nice, but I have no idea… It's not like I have anything I could compare it with." She has no reference after all.
"That's great…" She sounded relieved for a moment, but quickly came back to the topic. "A-Ahem, I really do think so. At least compared to me, that is. My kiss was pretty awkward after all, but yours on the other hand…"
"I don't think your kiss was bad, though, Yuki-chan…" Tsukasa didn't care about her technique, or the lack of it, at all.
"But I do…" She felt a strange sense of defeat. "Ah, I know, I'll look up the right way to do it on the internet."
"Ehm… Is that really how it's supposed to be dealt with…?" Tsukasa wasn't convinced of the idea. "Isn't it just a question of accumulating experience?"
"I thought you don't have any as well…?"
"Oh… Right, that probably wasn't the best example, huh?"
"Hmm…" Miyuki started thinking about Tsukasa's words. Thanks to today's being the day of being aggressive, it didn't stay with just thinking about it. Miyuki closed her eyes and kissed Tsukasa again. She wasn't even surprised at this point anymore and just greatly welcomed it. The kiss, again, was somewhat awkward, but some improvements were already there. Miyuki was about to part again, but Tsukasa decided to turn it into training. She wrapped her arms around Miyuki's neck and pulled her closer again. While returning the kiss, Tsukasa quickly took the lead. Exchanging kiss after kiss under her lead, Miyuki's returns became less and less awkward. More time passed and Tsukasa let go of her. Miyuki didn't want to stop at first, but a known problem also forced to part in the end. Being out of breath, the two spent the next minute in silence while calming down. Even though Miyuki was busy getting air inside her again, she looked pretty satisfied.
"See~?" Tsukasa seemed proud, although it was a bit hard to see under the blush of her face that wasn't completely caused by the lack of air.
"Yes… I don't think I need the internet after all…" The progress she had already made convinced her that it's going to be alright.
"By the way… Yuki-chan, were you always this… daring? I mean, I don't dislike it, but it's rather surprising…"
"I'm sorry to say, but that's your fault, Tsukasa-san. You made me like that."
"Ahaha…" She could only let out a dry laugh in response.
"I went through some bothersome thing after all…"
"I already told you that I'm sorry, Yuki-chan."
"I know~." She gave her a playful answer.
"Y-Yuki-chan… D-Don't worry, I'll take responsibility for you… ehm, it…"
"That's reassuring to know." Miyuki gave another semi-serious answer and both started laughing soon enough. It took some time before they calmed down because every time they looked at each other, the laughing started again. It slowly changed it occasionally giggling and after another minute passed, both were finally able to look at each other while staying serious again.
"W-What is even going on here, Yuki-chan?" Tsukasa started to question things.
"What do you mean?"
"Everything… This whole situation is so bizarre…" Tsukasa didn't just mean their laughing fit just now, but basically the complete day until now.
"You're right, we're a bit out of it, aren't we?"
"Why did it even become like that in the first place, Yuki-chan?"
"That's indeed a good question… I understand how it became awkward, Tsukasa-san, but not really why…" She took great care of emphasizing Tsukasa's name.
"I wonder how long it'll take until that grudge of yours is gone again…" She let out a troubled sigh. "Anyway, why, huh? Actually, aren't Kona-chan and onee-chan the reason for that…?"
"Why's that?" Miyuki didn't see the connection.
"Those two made me realize my feelings and once I was aware of them, things became complicated…"
"Sooo… If they hadn't said anything, you'd still be doing whatever you want, Tsukasa-san?"
"A-Ah…" She noticed the rather big flaw in her excuse.
"Though, I guess you have a point there somewhere. After I spoke with Konata-san about the situation, I also became more sensitive about the whole thing."
"Today's still rather extreme…"
"That's probably the result of lots of pent-up emotions exploding or something like that…"
"W-Well… The result's good, so all is well, I guess…"
"More or less… That being said, I think I understand Kagami-san's and Konata-san's struggles last year a bit better now."
"Yeah… Speaking of them, is it okay for me to tell them about today, like, now?"
"I don't intend to hide it when it comes to the two, but why so soon?" Miyuki gave her okay and Tsukasa quickly grabbed her phone. She sent a single thumbs-up emoticon to Kagami and Konata and then concentrated on Miyuki again.
"W-Well… I told Kona-chan about what happened on White Day and how it became awkward afterward…"
"And?"
"She became really angry with me…"
"I see, thank you very much, Konata-san."
"Anyway… She kind of threatened me to get a grip already or else she'll have a talk about us with you, Yuki-chan."
"She really is a nice girl after all… So, what does that have to do with you wanting to tell them immediately?"
"Kona-chan gave me a time limit that ends with Golden Week until said talk."
"Is that so? I would've wished that she didn't give you such a lengthy limit and threatened you earlier, though…"
"Ah, n-no, I just told Kona-chan about what happened at the day of the flower viewing."
"Oh, I see, that's good then."
"I never would've thought that you're such a resentful person, Yuki-chan…" Tsukasa already felt plenty bad and Miyuki wasn't helping. "Well… Because it's still my fault, I'll do my best to make it up to you. Just say what you want and I'll do it."
"I'm only like that when it comes to important things are involved. Anyway, things for making it up, huh? Don't worry about it, Tsukasa-san, you're on a good way already." While thinking about the events of today, she simply gave her a sweet smile.
"Ehehe~." She returned an equally nice smile. "That's good."
The important discussions were over and the two spent the rest of the day leisurely. Even though they occasionally let out a stupid grin, especially Tsukasa, both managed to stay somewhat calm. In fact, the two looked so peaceful that the chaos of before seemed to be nothing but an illusion. But, it wasn't, Tsukasa and Miyuki had finally become a couple. Tsukasa also directly made use of this change already. It was hard to notice, but she became even clingier. Because she wouldn't let go of her, neither Miyuki nor the girl clinging to her moved much and spent the entire day with light cuddling. No matter how happy both were, because they were mentally so exhausted and used up all of their boldness and courage already, the two really left it at that.
.
Another chapter done~.
While I have the feeling that especially the second part was all over the place, I still like how it turned out. I had a few problems, but the two, especially Tsukasa being all over the place is somehow even fitting, I guess…
Hiyori and Sojiro also are a dangerous combination, mainly for Konata and Kagami, that is. Poor Hiyori, though, getting overstimulated and misunderstands everything. Well, her main focus is Yutaka and Minami after all, for now at least.
Totally out of context comment of the day: The author of Lucky Star totally wasted something. Yutaka either calls Konata 'Konata-oneechan' or simply 'Onee-chan', but how cute would've been 'Kona-nee'? Well, nothing I can do about…
On to the next chapter! Well, it'll probably take a while, though… Konata and Kagami are going on their trip and I already have a rough idea, but I'm still lacking details… The chapter after that is also completely blank. I'll probably take a short break and look for inspirations (I welcome everything you throw at me, especially for summer break events). I'll do my best to keep it as short as possible.