Thank you all so so so SO very much for your reviews. Your advice was very needed, and I will take every word to heart in order to make this fic the best it can possibly be. Thank you, Zokusho, for your advice. I'm sure you know this, but you're a big name in the Lucky Star fanfic world. (One of the biggest names, my friend.) I was very surprised and happy to see you had posted your thoughts.
One another note, I'm glad to see people are still very much interested and still in love with the Lucky Star-verse the way I still am. It truely warms my heart that people like us are still out there.
Originally, I wasn't going to address all the characters of the series and their experiences, but because I love each and every one of them so much, I shall. This makes my life harder, but the finished project is just that much more heart warming and sweeter.
Oh, thank you Gigarot for pointing this out. I'm changing the Hurt/Comfort genre. I wasn't sure what I was thinking when I chose that. It was, in my defense, pretty late.
Chapter 2
Minami ran a hand through her slightly damp hair as she closed the door of her home behind her. Her dog, Cherry, sat patiently by the walkway leading out to the gate for a pat on the head which he received. Her demeanor and sense of aloofness did not go unnoticed by the loyal animal. Usually, she was quite direct and affectionate when interacting with him, but today she merely pet him without glancing. The whole way out to the gate she not once break her blank stare ahead.
While she opened the gate and stepped a foot out onto the sidewalk, her face flushed a light shade of red and her eyes glazed over with a small smile. In her mind, she kept looping that one moment she shared with Yutaka in her over an over from the day before.
Just before Yutaka had fallen asleep, she said with in a soft mumble with closed eyes, "…I…missed you….Minami-chan…"
Her hand clenched the handle of her book bag tighter as her heart warmed more and more. She brought her empty hand up to her face and stared at her palm. The faint feeling of Yutaka's soft fluffy hair gently grazing across her fingers had not faded since the day before, and Minami let out a small sigh of loneliness. "…..Yutaka…." she mumbled quietly to herself.
Across the street, Miyuki had closed the gate to her home behind her. When she saw Minami, she smiled and waved at her, but the other girl made no movement at all. She just stood look gazing at her palm with an airy expression Miyuki had not seen very often. That face Tsukasa usually made when reminiscing about a beloved stuffed animal she had just gotten.
"Iwasaki-san!" Miyuki said from across the street, her waving now a bit more sporadic.
"Huh?" Minami's eyes bolted towards the voice and her head instantly straightened up. When she recognized Miyuki's giggly expression and cute little wave, she felt embarrassed at her spaciness and waved back timidly.
With her tote over her shoulder, Miyuki stepped off the curb and made her way across the empty street of the upscale neighborhood. Before she reached Minami's side of the street, she fell down. Wide purple eyes fell towards the ground followed by a flurry of pink hair.
Minami put up a hand and rushed towards her. "Miyuki-san! Are you alright?" she asked, reaching a hand out.
"Ow.." Miyuki said gingerly, one eye closed tightly as she pushed herself off the ground. She took Minami's hand and proceeded to dust herself off. "I'm alright. My goodness….Thank you for your concern."
"That looked like it hurt." Minami said, a little taken back by her casual reaction. Then again, she realized, this does happen all the time to her. "Are you sure you're alright?" she asked, picking up Miyuki's tote.
Miyuki nodded with a sighed as she received her tote from the younger girl. "Yes, thank you. I'm alright."
Minami wasn't entirely convinced. Miyuki didn't come across as the most resilient girl, but after falling down so much, she guess the pink klutz had gotten used to it.
"I was about to ask you the same thing." Miyuki said. "You looked a bit solemn a moment ago."
"Oh, no I…" she turned her head away and folded her hands in front of her. "I'm okay. I was just…thinking about something."
"That's good." Miyuki said. "For a moment there, I was worried you were starting to come down with something."
They started to walk down the sidewalk together. Minami shook her head. "No, it's not that."
"May I ask what was on your mind?" Miyuki asked, cocking her head slightly. "If there's anything wrong, you can always tell me."
Minami shook her head, a bit more enthusiastically this time. "No, it's nothing."
"Umm…alright then." she said. "I heard about Yutaka getting sick, and I was worried who else might become ill."
Minami's eyes opened wider at the mention of the small girl. "Oh, yeah…I went to visit her yesterday."
Miyuki smiled. "That was nice of you. How is she doing?"
"Okay." Minami said sheepishly, remembering what had caused her to space out earlier. "…She just has a cold."
"That's a relief." Miyuki said. "Although…she sure does get sick a lot, doesn't she?"
Minami nodded somberly. If anyone was well aware of this fact, it was her.
"Do you visit her every time she gets sick?" Miyuki asked.
"I try."
Miyuki smiled. "Yutaka-san is lucky to have a friend like you." she said.
Minami blushed and looked down at the ground. "I guess so…"
-o0o-
With groggy eyes heavy from mysterious fatigue and a heavy head, Kagami slowly sat up and blinked. The right strap of her light purple lace tank top fell over shoulder just as a sneeze erupted. Her nose felt a little congested.
"Ugh…" she groaned while rubbing sleep from her eyes, "I hope this is just allergies."
Allergies were usually never a problem for her, which she was happy for. Tsukasa was usually the one to suffer from the periodical sneezing when the weather changed, and the allergy medicine she took probably contributed to her excessive sleeping. Maybe, at least Kagami hoped, this was allergies.
She pushed her blankets off her bed and stretched her arms over her head while yawning hard. That was another thing that bothered her. She usually wasn't this tired in the morning. Now up before most everyone else in the house except for her mother, this gave her first use of the bath.
She turned the shower head on the wall on, and sat down on a small stool under the water. The warm pulsing massage of the water felt good. Her morning didn't seem so bad now that relaxation was overtaking her senses.
That was another thing that confused her. A bath in the morning usually didn't feel so good. It was usually a quick clean, then straight back to her room to get dressed. This time, for some reason, she couldn't bring herself to finish washing and leave the comfort of the warm reverberating water.
"Am I becoming more like Tsukasa?" she asked herself, "I hope not…."
After mentally scolding herself for being lazy, she finished washing and wrapped a towel around her body. The cooler air in the hallway hit her skin a bit harsher than usual. "Maybe…" she thought, "I need to catch up on more sleep." That problem was always a constant battle for her, but at least she had a good reason, unlike Konata. The thought of Konata at that moment annoyed her. She wasn't sure if she'd have enough stamina today to deal with her antics any more than she usually did.
She dried her hair off and got dressed. While pulling her skirt up over her hips in front of the mirror, something about her face caught her attention. She looked over her eyes while tying her hair up into twin tails. There were bags under her slightly bloodshot blues, and her cheeks seemed a little pale. "Low blood sugar." she told herself while leaving her room.
Downstairs, her mother asked what she'd like to eat. She didn't feel particularly hungry, but breakfast was the most important meal of the day. After settling for a slide of toast and jam, she sat down at the table and nibbled on the crunchy bread apathetically.
Tsukasa, still in her pajamas, walked downstairs rubbing her eyes sleepily and yawning softly while giving her sister and mother a little wave. "Morning mom…morning sis…*yawn*…"
"Morning sweetheart." Miki said, smiling vibrantly. Tsukasa's appearance in the morning was always a little funny to her. The wildly messed up hair in all directions, puppy like face with half closed eyes, and frequent yawning was always a treat for her. Of course, she wouldn't ever tell her daughter that, but it wasn't something she wanted to change. "What would you like this morning?"
"Umm…*yawn*…" Tsukasa's voice was quiet and airy. Miki giggled to herself and Kagami rolled her eyes. "…some eggs sound nice."
"Eggs it is." she said, happily moving about the kitchen.
Tsukasa sat down across the table from Kagami and laid her head down. "You want some help, mom?" she asked sleepily.
"It's ok." she said. "Why don't you go get changed really quick. By the time you come down, I should be done."
Tsukasa slowly stood up out of her chair and shuffled her way to the stairs. "Okay mom…"
Kagami brought her plate to the kitchen and placed it in the sink. "Thanks mom."
Miki was in the process of scrambling some eggs together. "You're welcome, dear." A quick glance at her daughter told her something was wrong. Kagami started for the stairs again, but Miki stopped her. "Hang on, Kagami. Come here for sec."
Kagami did as she was told, but sighed. "What is it, mom?" she asked, "I have to get all my books ready for school."
"You don't look so well." Miki said. "How late did you stay up studying last night?"
"I didn't." she said. "I actually went to bed early."
"You did?" This made Miki worry. "Well, how are you feeling right now?"
"I'm fine." Kagami said. "Just a little worn out, mom. It's ok, really."
Miki let her daughter go, but she couldn't help but feel a little hesitant. "If you say so, dear…but maybe you should take it easy for a couple of days."
Kagami put a foot on the stairs. "It's nothing, mom. Don't worry so much." Just as she finished those words, her grip on the railing slipped, and she fell against the wall in a slouch.
Miki heard a slight thump and turned around. "Oh my god! Kagami!" she forgot about everything she was doing in the kitchen and rushed over to her daughter. With one arm under her neck to support her, she looked down into the face of someone fighting defeat. "Kagami!"
Tsukasa had finished getting dressed after taming her hair, and had seen the whole thing from the top of the stairs. "Onee-chan!" she shouted, horrified, rushing down the stairs as fast as she could.
-o0o-
The morning had come much earlier than she had hoped, but then again, the mornings always did. Staying up til two in the morning usually had that affect on her. Her eyes slowly opened, and the light of the early morning sun through her window made her cringe. A faint noise in the distance slowly got louder and louder until it was unbearable, and she lazily tapped the top of her Haruhi alarm clock.
Her hair was a blue mass of tangles, but after getting up and shaking her head back and forth vigorously, her hair seemed to tame enough to finger brush down smoother. Almost as if in a haze, she changed into her uniform, but realized her skirt was on backwards after trying to put her phone into her pocket.
Once she was actually ready for the day, she thought to herself while wiping sleep out of her eyes, "I wonder how Yu-chan is doing."
She walked down the hall and came to her cousin's room. After knocking twice, Konata opened Yutaka's door and walked inside. "Hey there, Yu-chan." she said with a smile. "You feelin any better today?"
Little Yutaka's eyes were drowsy and half closed. Her nose had become an even brighter shade of red than yesterday, and her face was more flushed. She gave a little sneeze and wiped her nose. For her to be awake so early in the morning meant se herself hadn't gotten much sleep last night due to her cold symptoms. "Oh, hi onee-chan. To be honest, not really." she said, eyes bloodshot and groggy. "I'm just glad my nose stopped running so much.
Konata sat on the edge of the bed and wrapped her arms around her, giving the poor girl too tight of a squeeze. "Awww poor Yu-chan…" she cooed, patting the girl on the head. "I think you need a biiiggg hug…mmm…"
When Konata finally let up, she smiled. "Thank you, onee-chan." she said. "I kind of needed that." Truth was, Yutaka was not at all looking forward to another day of being sick. She enjoyed going to school, seeing her friends, playing, having fun, and best of all, Minami-chan was there.
"I hope you won't be too bored by yourself today." Konata said.
"Uncle will be here with me, so it won't be too bad." she said, smiling.
Konata got up and gave her one last pat on the head. "I've got to go to school, but call me if you need me to get anything for you on the way home, ok Yu-chan?"
She nodded. "Mhm. Thanks."
Konata waved goodbye while closing the door behind her, and left the house with her nearly empty book bag in hand. Before she reached the street, she turned around and looked up at the second story. "I hope she'll be alright…"
The rest of the way to the station was quiet for her. She usually walked together with Yu-chan to school, and she missed having fun conversations with her little cousin in the morning. She would usually talk about the latest anime or manga that Yutaka had no idea about, and Yutaka would talk about something interesting she saw her friends did.
It wasn't until she saw Tsukasa at the station did she say another word.
"Hey, Tsukasa!" she shouted out, waving a hand to get the girls attention. Tsukasa turned to her, but her face seemed sad and depressed about something. "Whoa, What's wrong Tsukasa? Did you run your phone through the dryer again?"
She shook her head. "No…Onee-chan is sick." she said, nearly ready to cry. "She just collapsed on the floor….I didn't know what to do."
Konata hadn't expected that, and was in her own state of shock. "No way…really? Is she ok? What happened?"
"I don't know…" Tsukasa sniffled, "She just fainted."
Konata imaged the entire situation in her mind, and fought the urge to run all the way to the Hiiragi home just in time to catch Kagami's last words to her before she passed out.
"Kagami…." she whispered to herself.
Tsukasa boarded their train first, and Konata came back to reality. They found two seats together in part of the train.
"You think she's going to be alright, Kona-chan?" Tsukasa asked, a slight tremble in her voice.
Konata nodded slowly and rubbed her back. "She's the toughest person I know." she said. "I'm sure this cold has nothing on her." In the back of her mind, however, Konata couldn't help herself from worrying. Yes, Kagami would be fine, but for some reason, Konata felt a little guilty and responsible for this. She knew she hadn't actually done anything, but her ranting about sickness the day before made her feel as if she had jinxed her friend.
"You're right." Tsukasa said. "I didn't want to leave her though….but dad made me go to school today."
"You ok, Tsukasa?" she asked, now focusing her concern for her friend who was beginning to cry in front of her.
She nodded, wiping her eyes and forcing a smile. It was hard to explain the reason for tears. Her sister had always been the strong one out of the two of them, and for her to sudden collapse like that was shocking for her to say the least. "I'm alright, Kona-chan." she said. "It was just so sudden…"
Konata stared blankly in front of her and watched the buildings pass them by absently through the window. "You said it…" she thought. At first it was Yutaka, now Kagami. "People sure are getting sick fast…" she mumbled. "…I really hope Kagami is ok…"
-o0o-
Miyuki and Minami went their separate ways to class a few minute before the bell would ring. Before sitting down in her seat, Miyuki scanned the room for her friends, but couldn't find anyone. Not seeing Konata there wasn't much of a surprise, but Tsukasa was usually early due to her sister's faster pace in the morning.
Right before class, Konata and Tsukasa walked in as the last two to enter. Everyone else was already in their seats, and Miyuki got up and walked over to Tsukasa.
"Are you alright?" she asked, "You look as if you may have accidentally left your phone in your laundry again."
"That's what Kona-chan said." she said, failing to lighten the mood. "I'm fine. Sis just got sick all the sudden this morning, and it surprised me."
They had to take their seats when Kuroi-sensei walked in. She looked a bit disheveled herself that morning and she blew her nose without holding back before reaching the front. Her eyes were a little baggy and her nose red. Her blonde hair was done back in a pony tail, but loose strands of hair escaped from their place, giving her a rather late morning look. She sighed and threw the tissue away. "Okay class!" she said, sounding rather nasally, "As you all can tell, I have a cold today, so I'm especially on edge today!" She looked at Konata. "I'm talking to you Izumi!"
Konata wasn't paying attention. She just kept looking at her desk, still thinking about Kagami. "Maybe I should try and text her…" she thought. "Or, I guess I could call her at lunch." When she heard her name, she look up to see a rather angry and red faced Kuroi staring at her. "Huh?" Konata blinked.
"Yes you!" Kuroi said. "No games today, got it?"
Konata simply nodded and went back to staring blankly at her desk. That made Kuroi a little taken back. The little ahoge on her blue head seemed to droop down more than usual. The sick teacher decided that she'd probably leave the sad girl alone today and ask her what was wrong later. The sound of quite sniffling brought her attention to the younger of the Hiiragi twins. Tsukasa had that same blank stair, but her face was more depressed and slight tears were clinging to the corners of her eyes. "I wonder what this is all about…" she thought before turning around to write something on the board.
Meanwhile, in the class next door, Misao peered back and forth between Kagami's and Ayano's seat. Her eyebrows were down turned and she bit her tongue. "Hmm…." Her brown eyes told the story of a detective solving a mystery. "They both played sick on me, didn't they." she murmured.
-o0o-
The morning sun now sat higher in the sky, and the air had warmed up enough to allow a few windows open for fresh air. The goings on about the school through its hallways and the goings on outside of the birds provided a nice atmosphere. An atmosphere, for some however, was a mixed blessing. The nice weather outside was pleasant to enjoy, but also gave those gazing out the window a yearning to be somewhere else other than around their desks eating their bland lunches.
One such person was Minami. Her bento was open in front of her, but not a single morsel had been eaten yet. Her mind was filled with lingering thought about Yutaka sick in bed gazing out her own window and feeling the same longing to be free from this cooped up sensation. All she could think about was how miserable Yutaka had to be at that moment with nothing to do and no one to talk to.
"I should go visit her after school today." she thought, but hesitated. "…But I was over yesterday…I might be a bother…."
A girl wearing big round glasses, standing slightly below average, sat down backwards in the chair in front of Minami. Her innocent little smile, her round dark violet eyes, and soft expression said she was just here for a friendly chat. Her dark black hair falling neatly down to her waist swayed a bit as she sat, and her forehead reflected a little of the natural light coming through the window. True, her intentions at the moment were good, but deep down she harbored a secret she had just received, and couldn't wait for the chance to share it, but the person she was going to share it with hadn't actually arrived yet.
"You alright, Minami-chan?" Hiyori asked as if she didn't know, "You seem depressed. What's the matter?"
"Afternoon Tamura-san." Minami replied in a quiet and reserved tone she used on all occasions. "I'm fine."
Hiyori sighed, and asked a baiting question she probably already knew the answer to. "What're ya thinking about?"
Minami sighed as she propped her head in hand and stared at the window again. "I worried about Yutaka." she said.
"Thought so." Hiyori's face inched a tad closer. "What's the matter? Is she sick again?"
Minami nodded. "It's pretty bad."
"That's awful." she said, moving another inch closer. "Did you, um, happen to visit her?"
Minami nodded apathetically without breaking her gaze, and nodded. " She was in bed when I saw her."
Hiyori moved yet another inch closer, and her glasses started to give way to a slight grey tint from some unknown steam. "Did you…um…take her temperature?"
The mint green hair on her head swayed side to side as she gently shook her head. Her eyes closed ever so slightly into an affectionate, lonely expression. "No…but I helped blow her nose." When she said that,. The fog on Hiyori's glasses grey thicker as she imagined Minani holding a tissue over Yutaka's nose as Yutaka blew with all her might. "Her cold seems serious."
Hiyori's face was now inches away from her storyteller. Unknown to Minami, she had a captured audience. The door to the classroom slid open, and a tall blonde girl with messy locks over her nose and ears came strolling in with a wide smile. She hummed to herself ever so slightly while walking through the desks in the room. Her blue eyes looked excited and energetic as her arms swung back and forth. A slight pink tint filled her cheeks in anticipation. Earlier that day, Hiyori had told her there was something she just had to see to believe. The black haired girl was found, oddly enough, two inches away from what appeared to be a dazzed Minami staring at the birds in the trees. Patricia was just about to shout out and put a hand up, but stopped herself. Her eyes widened, and with a slight gasp, she stopped in her tracks.
"Uh-huh…" Hiyori's breath seemed to be slightly labored. "Then what happened- oof!"
Just before a stream of blood started its slight trickle down her nose, Patricia had walked up behind her favorite otaku friend and had rested her arms atop her head, pushing her face down onto the desk. Minami's eyes turned to see who had entered the scene. "What's going on, Minami-chan?" she asked, face beaming with her everyday smile, baby blue eyes slowly lowering to her level as Hiyori's head sank towards the desk. "I heard about little Yu-chan. That's too bad…That girl sure has it rough, huh?"
Minami simply nodded. It was a story she knew all too well.
"Pathritha…yourmm onmm my headthhh.." Hiyori whined, face planted on the desk.
"What was that?" Patricia asked, "Oh, You're right, Hiyori. It IS a nice day out, isn't it."
Hiyori brought her head back up as Patricia moved away and sat down in an adjacent chair from a desk next to her. "I'm only kidding." she said, stifling a giggle.
After taking her glasses off, Hiyori rubbed her little red button nose vigorously. "Ow…" she complained, putting her glasses back on. "My head is not an armrest."
"Aw…come on.." Patricia made the saddest puppy dog face she could at her angry friend, and said in English, "I sowwy…"
Hiyori stared with a little surprise at the blonde. Patricia looked, in her own exuberant way, adorable. Her big blue eyes nearly made her heart melt, and Hiyori suddenly had to fight of the urge to either pet the girl or stroke her cheek. Her glasses fogged up again, and now her nosebleed had really started to run.
"Wuh?" Patricia stopped her act and sat up. She instinctively held out the edge of her sleeve and brought it up to Hiyori's nose. "Whoa there, slow down or you'll pass out on me."
With one hand, she covered to nose and got up. "I'lb be ride back." she said, sounding congested while walking towards the classroom door. As usual, she headed to the bathroom to get cleaned up.
Patricia got up and followed her. "Hang on!" she said, putting an arm on the girl, making sure she didn't hit a desk on her way out. "I'll go with you."
Gazing back out at the birds, Minami dismissingly pondered about just how odd her friends were.
In the bathroom, Hiyori held a paper towel to her nose as Patricia wet on under the faucet. "Here," Patricia said, holding the paper towel up to her friend's face. "Hold still."
"Huh?" Hiyori looked up and felt something wet being dragged across her upper lip. One of her eyes closed tight, and she instinctively took a step back, but Patricia stayed with her.
"Stop squirming, would ya?" she said, trying hard not to smear. "I can't clean you up if you keep moving like that."
For Hiyori, the embarrassment was really starting to set it. In the classroom, she felt embarrassed when her nosebleed was pointed out, but now it was even worse when she had the one girl she now felt extremely awkward around cleaning her face. Her cheeks grew crimson, and she stared at the wall to her side, trying to avoid eye contact.
"There." Patricia said, throwing the paper towel in the garbage. "That's better."
Hiyori stared at the ground. "Uh…thanks, Patty-chan." she said timidly. "I could've done that myself. You didn't have to."
Patty put a finger to her chin and looked up. "Yeah, you're right, huh." she said. "I guess I was just thinking on my feet."
The embarrassed girl cleared her throat and leaned against the sink counter. "Um…yeah, well, it's ok. Thanks anyway."
"Oooh!"
Hiyori jumped back, startled. Patricia looked suddenly beyond belief, and her eyes were gleaming with sparkles. "What? What is it?"
"The surprise!" Patricia said, hands clapped together.
"Surprise?" Hiyori asked, one eyebrow raised.
She nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah! You said you had something to show me!"
Hiyori slowly nodded her head in understanding. "Ohhhhh." she said, reaching into her pocket for her phone. "I've been meaning to show you…"
Patricia got up right next to her shorter friend and pressed her cheek against the girl's face. Hiyori blushed again, but found enough composure to hit the keys on her phone to bring up the picture. When the picture lit up the scream, Patricia's face went expressionless.
"No…way…" she said, eyes fixated. "…This….this isn't a fake?"
Hiyori stuttered in her answer, "N-no, it's not." she said. "Konata-sempai sent it to me last night."
Slowly, Patricia's hands rose to handle her phone, and Hiyori let Patricia hold the device like it was a nugget of gold they had just unearthed. "This…is…SO MOE!" she squealed, brilliant smile spread across her face as she danced around in place.
Hiyori had to laugh. The weird tension in the air she had felt had vanished, and she felt her earlier excitement over the picture come back as she shared the experience with Patricia. "I know, right!?" she said, joyously. "It's almost too perfect! It's like something straight out of my fantasy!"
Another girl outside the bathroom was just about to walk in to do her business, but stopped herself mid stride before opening the door just before Patricia's outburst. "Maybe I'll just use the restroom upstairs…" she mumbled, turning back towards the hallway nervously.
-o0o-
In their usual spots, usual place, usual lunch, one thing seemed out of balance, like someone had cut a quarter of the cake out of the box. Essentially, that's exactly what happened. Konata dutifully licked the chocolate filling out of her favorite lunch pastry, but could not the taste she enjoyed everyday to be as good as before. Something about today had just seemed off.
Earlier that lunch period. Kuroi-sensei had called her up to her desk, and she explained that Tsukasa was upset about her sister's sudden collapse that morning. Even in her debilitated sickened state, Kuroi did find one thing funny out of the whole ordeal. It was so often Konata called in sick out of the group of four instead of Kagami. This had to have been one of the rare times where it was the other way around.
With an empty seat beside her and no one to exchange amusing dialogue with, Konata sighed. Miyuki seemed nearly unaffected while eating, but her slight frown betrayed her. Even she felt a little empty without the back and forth of lunch everyday. The noise of Konata and Kagami's bickering actually had somewhat of a soothing affect on her she had never recognized before. At least Tsukasa had calmed down and seemed to be alright. She wasn't in the highest of spirits, but calm enough to focus on her food.
None of them seemed to notice someone walk into the classroom. Her brown eyes peered around the room in search of the little blue blob she was looking for that stood out among the rest of the class. She licked her lips while scanning the room, a tiny little fang protruding from her right upper lip.
Everyone around the table looked up to see a short messy brown haired girl sit down in the empty chair Kagami usually occupied.
"Oh, hello there, Kusakabe-san." Miyuki said with a nod. "Will you be eating with us today?"
Misao looked down at Konata glaring at her. "Hmph." she crossed her arms and looked away. "I don't have much of a choice. Kagami and Ayano are sick today, so I guess so."
"Hmph.." Konata looked away and crossed her arms herself. "You think you can just barge your way in here? Who do you think you are?"
"What's your problem, shortie?" she asked condescendingly, "Everyone else doesn't seem to mind."
"Fine." Konata said. "Have it your way. Do what you want."
"How are you, Misa-chan?" Tsukasa asked, trying to break the tension between the two.
She sighed. "I'm ok. Just a little tired is all."
"Why is that?" Miyuki asked.
"Since Ayano is sick, I had to do my homework myself. I had to stay up til almost midnight to finish." she complained, popping a meatball in her mouth.
"It took you that long?" Konata asked, "No wonder you're not sick."
"Did you just call me stupid? You probably didn't even do your homework!" Misao growled, "For your information, I had other important things to do that day to."
"Oh yeah? Like what?"
"Well…." Misao turned away. "You know…chores and practice and stuff…"
"I'm not buying it." Konata said.
"Okay fine!" she said. "I was up all night playing a new video game and forgot about."
Konata's eyes perked up and her voice softened. "Really? I do that all the time. Sometimes, it's just hard to leave the console in the middle of a good part, you know? You're just not sure what's going to happen next, and there's not way you're leaving til you find out."
"Or, like when you're on a roll with a huge combo kill streak and about to level up." Misao nodded her head.
"I know exactly what you mean." Konata said with a catlike smirk. "Sometimes I stay up all night and have to sleep half the day during class. It's totally worth it, though."
Now that Misao and Konata had found some common ground and seemed to be talking civilly, Miyuki and Tsukasa both relaxed.
"I thought they might bite each others head off." Tsukasa thought.
Miyuki sighed. "I do hope they don't end up arguing again."
Unfortunatly, the relief was short lived. Konata and Misao now seemed to be in another argument over who was the best videogamer. Everyone around the table knew who best gamer was, but Misao felt she might stand enough chance to win. She had been logging more hours on her console the passed week.
"I bet you wouldn't last ten seconds in a round against me!" Konata said.
Misao crossed her arms. "You underestimate me and my proweless on the battlefield!"
"You want to put some money where your big fat mouth is?"
Misao stopped smirking. A bet against Konata was a risky one indeed, but she felt like she had a chance.
"So," Miyuki glanced towards Tsukasa, "I was propose we visit Kagami today, if that's alright with you. I wouldn't want to impose too soon." she said, trying to ease Tsukasa's mind.
"Oh, that's a great idea Yuki-chan!" she seemed genuinely happy. "I'll text my mom and ask."
Miyuki smiled. "Would you like to stop and pick her something up on they way?"
She nodded, clearly relieved and happy. "Mhm. We can pick up some tangerines. She seems to like those when she's sick."
The argument had now gone from betting to where the battle would take place. Misao mentioned her house, but Konata wouldn't risk going against someone possibly using a modified controller. It didn't matter how good she knew she was. Konata said her house would be the best, but Misao wouldn't have it. She wouldn't risk the Konata's own devices either. When Miyuki mentioned Kagami's house, both of them turned and faced the other two girls. "AH!" Their outburst startled the two having a peaceful conversation about mixed fruit.
"Kagami's house!" they both shouted. "Perfect!"
That was a bit drawn out for me to start and finish this all right after dinner, so I'm pretty tired. Please drop a card in the comment box on your way out. It's the best thing in the morning to wake up to. See you all next time!