Okay, this time is a little different than usual. It's more of a side story and doesn't feature anyone of the usual cast. You can skip it if you want because it doesn't have much to do with the main plot, but I highly advise against it. This one and the other side/special chapters that are yet to come are going to introduce the new characters I'm adding in the future.
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Back to the day of Konata's and Kagami's entrance test.
The couple had just left the grandma's sweets store to head back home after a long and tiresome day.
Kagami had briefly noticed a tall girl entering the store and was slightly entranced by her long and silky, jet black hair, but was too tired to start a conversation.
"Oh, Mio-chan, welcome back." The grandma, the owner of the store, seemed to know her and lightly greeted her once she saw the girl named Mio.
"Yeah, I'm home, grandma." As is turned out, the sweets store grandma is the actual grandmother of the girl. It's her granddaughter who is called Mio who had just entered the store.
"How was your day?"
"Pretty awesome. The college should have entrance test more often so that we have some more free days. I was able to laze around for half of the day and even found a couple interesting books in the bookstore. I actually read one of them entirely in the store already earlier…"
"Ah, so that's why you were out so long again…?" The grandma didn't sound overly surprised. It seemed like this wasn't the first time something like that happened.
"Yeah, I was so into it that I completely forgot about the time and place~." Mio didn't sound apologetic at all.
"That probably also means that you're going to spend the rest of the day reading as well, too, huh?"
"I would love to do just that, but I don't think I'll be able to do it…"
"Getting a visit later on today again?" The grandma guessed why Mio wasn't able to spend her time reading in peace today.
"I would be surprised if not. That would be a first after all then."
"You sure are popular, aren't you~?" She guessed right and tried to tease Mio a bit about it.
"By the way, who were those girls that had just left the store when I came in?" Mio wasn't fazed at all by her teasing. "I've never seen them, before, and there aren't many young people that come here after all."
"A-Ah…" She suddenly froze up.
"What's wrong, grandma?" Mio was confused by her reaction.
"I totally forgot about them…"
"Hmm…?" She didn't understand at all what she was talking about.
"They wanted to meet you, but I totally forgot to introduce them to you just now…"
"Would it be possible to get some details already?" Mio became even more confused.
"Those two were Kagami-chan and Konata-chan. They first visited the store back on Christmas. They're super nice girls, and I had a lot of fun talking with them."
"I see, that's good to hear, but what exactly does that have to with me, grandma…?"
"Both of them took the entrance test for your college today. They wanted to meet you the last time because I told them that you're going to that college and the two wanted to hear some things from someone who has first-hand experience in the college." The grandma explained the situation and Mio finally understood what was going on.
"Okay… So, how did they do?"
"The two seemed confident. Well, they really have to after all…" She remembered the grand plans of Konata and Kagami once they were accepted into the college.
"What do you mean by that?"
"Konata-chan and Kagami-chan told me that they're going to rent an apartment together nearby and both seemed to be really looking forward to it."
"Is that so…? Hmm… Are they going to come visit again, grandma?"
"I guess that depends on the results of their tests and whether they passed or not, but the two said they will at least."
"Okay, good, could you tell me the next time they're coming for a visit?" It seems like Mio had taken an interest in Konata and Kagami.
"That's not a problem." The grandma obviously agreed, and then changed the topic. "Anyway, Mio-chan, I thought of a filling for my…"
"No."
"Come on, just a bite…" She had changed the recipe for one of her sweets and wanted Mio to try it.
"It's absolutely delicious, you know? Kagami-chan and Konata-chan also liked it very much."
"Good for them. I'm still not trying it, though."
"Why not?" The grandma wasn't giving up so soon.
"I told you like a million times that I don't like your sweets, grandma. I just can't see the appeal of traditional sweets at all. They just don't taste good to me." Mio apparently really had a significant aversion to them.
"I really wonder what went wrong when we raised you…" As the owner of a traditional Japanese sweets store, the grandma naturally wondered what happened that her granddaughter doesn't like these kinds of sweets. "You should be more like Naomi-chan, you know? She's such a good girl who loves my sweets…"
"Yeah, yeah, I know… After all, I'm feeding her the sweets I got from you ever since we were little, grandma." Mio apparently never liked those sweets and had to make others eat them for her instead.
"Maybe I should really make her take over the store in the future…" Because the granddaughter was such a disappointment in that regard, she had to look for another successor.
"Maybe you should because I'm surely the wrong person for the job." Mio had absolutely no interest in taking over the store eventually after all. "Well, I don't think that's possible, though."
"Yes, I can see how it would be impossible for Naomi-chan. That's too bad…" It seems like there were some difficulties involved with that Naomi taking over the store instead.
Mio and her grandmother kept talking about the topic for a while longer, but then another girl entered the store. It seems like this girl was even more sensitive to the cold than Konata because she was wearing such thick clothes, including a beanie and a fluffy muffler that covered up almost her entire face. Because of that, except for her sapphire-like blue eyes, no one could even guess how she looked. The girls timidly peeked into the store through the half-opened door first to see if other customers were inside right now, and once she saw that there was no one, the girl fully entered. Her shy attitude suddenly changed entirely as she happily skipped towards the counter where Mio was still talking with her grandma.
"Hey there, Naomi." Mio greeted her first, and somehow, she had absolutely no problems recognizing her hiding beneath the ton of clothes. She also didn't seem surprised by the change of the timid acting between entering the store and the sudden cheerfulness.
"Ah, Naomi-chan, welcome." The reaction of the grandma was similar.
"Hello, Mio-chan~, and grandma." The sweets store owner was the grandma of everyone. "What were you two talking about?" Naomi had noticed that they were having a conversation when she entered.
"I just wanted Mio-chan to taste some sweets of which I changed the recipe a bit and…"
"Aww, you should know better by now, grandma…" Naomi directly knew what was going on with just that.
"I'm not giving up on her just yet, Naomi-chan. I still believe that I can fix her stubbornness."
"I really wonder who exactly is the stubborn one here…" Mio couldn't agree with her grandmother.
"Grandma, accept it already that Mio-chan has absolutely no taste for good things."
"Hey!"
"I should really make you the successor of the store, after all, Naomi-chan…" She picked up the idea from earlier again.
"Oh, I would totally love to!" She seemed really excited about the suggestion. "But, I really can't… Daddy would be super sad if I wouldn't help him with his companies in the future…"
"Ah, the curse of the rich girl who loves her daddy~."
"Got a problem with that, Mio-chan~?" It looks like this is a sensitive topic.
"Not at all, my princess."
"Ehehe~." Naomi seemed pleased with the answer.
"By the way, do you want to try my new recipe then, Naomi-chan?"
"Of course I will! Your sweets are the best, after all, grandma!" She didn't hesitate for even a fraction of a second with accepting her offer.
"Really, such a good girl you are."
"I'm terribly sorry for being such a disappointment…" Mio wasn't the biggest fan of their discussion right now.
"Don't worry about it, Mio-chan, you're also a good girl… It's only that your tastes are highly questionable." Her grandma tried to cheer her up, but she wasn't overly skillful at it.
"Sure…" She began pouting just a little bit.
"Anyway, Mio-chan, Mio-chan!" Naomi suddenly became even more fidgety in a happy manner and hold up some bags she was carrying until now. "You see, I was shopping again today and found something really great!"
"Oh no… not again…" Mio let out a sigh while looking extremely tired for some reason.
"Don't be like that, it's super cute~." Naomi happily let her peak into the bags with a super expectant look in her eyes. "I'm sure it'll look great on you~."
"Haa… Of course, it's for me again… Didn't I tell you not to do that anymore?"
"Mio-chan, please~…" Naomi looked at her with her upturned, big and blue puppy eyes that easily could even rival those of Tsukasa and quickly got a favorable result.
"Argh, fine, whatever…" There was no way she could've resisted such a stare and gave up.
"Yay~, thank you very much, Mio-chan. It looked super cute in the store, and I'm sure you'll love it as well!" From her level of excitement right now, it was clear that Naomi really loves using Mio as a dress-up doll.
"Sorry, but as usual, I have mixed feeling about that." Mio seemed used to it already, but that still doesn't mean she liked it overly much, though.
After Naomi had gotten her will and also received some sweets from the grandma, she and Mio went upstairs where the living area was and left the grandma behind who was looking after them with a warm smile.
"Those two are as lively as ever. Hmm… Now that I think about it, Kagami-chan and Konata-chan were pretty similar to them, weren't they? I'm sure those girls are going to be great friends in the future. Let's just hope the two passed their tests. No, there's no need to worry, they passed for sure." The grandma continued to tend the store with the same warm smile she got ever since Mio and Naomi left earlier.
...
I hope people don't feel too cheated about this chapter because it wasn't about the usual cast and so short. I got the idea while writing the actual next chapter and liked it. I think it's a good way to introduce the new girls. They're going to be a few more side stories like this after one of them meet the main girls, and I'm also planning a full introduction of their life, but I'm not sure whether that will happen as a side as well or be part of the main story, or maybe even both. This time, it's more like a tease and the next side stories will form their personalities and quirks in more detail in the future chapters. Especially Naomi needs a lot of context until she fully works. I also didn't describe how Naomi looks on purpose here because I'm saving that for the time she runs into the main cast.
I also added the character profiles on my site with this chapters info.
Anyway, the next chapter that was supposed to be this one… Man, I totally overdid it there… I made a nice and detailed concept for it so that I don't forget anything while writing it. Somehow, just that concept ended up being 16 handwritten pages long… So, I started writing the chapter, and after using about 3.5 pages of my concept, the chapter was already something between 9000 and 10k words long… I decided to split things, and the first part is already done, and it will be up here in about a week or so, I guess…