Disclaimer: I don't own these copyrighted characters, ok?
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Morning the next day.
The daily bumps and grinds of Kasukabe starts anew as all kinds of people from students to office workers fill the streets in their daily commutes. Among the crowds, standing at the train station, waiting or the next train to arrive was Kagami, Tsukasa, Konata, and Yutaka who since arriving at the Izumi household has decided to take the same route as her big cousin in going to school. The train arrived and the four high school girls got in, found themselves seats, and settled in for the short ride to school.
Honestly, Tsukasa," said Kagami in a slightly scolding tone, "you need to get up more early in the morning otherwise we might be late for school the next time."
"Sorry, Onee-chan," said Tsukasa in her ever innocent tone. "But you know that you and I usually wake up around the same time, right."
"That may be true but you take longer to get out of bed. I'm almost finished with breakfast by the time you get to the table."
Tsukasa could only laugh nervously. At this point Tsukasa started to blabber a bit and she also moved her hands about as if to try to make some kind of visual as to what she was talking about.
"But, Onee-chan, you know that it's hard for some people to get up in the morning, right? Like me, for example. Even though I wake up at the same time as you, my body doesn't want to get out of bed just yet and I end up going back to sleep for a few more minutes. Then even after I get out of bed my body still feels too tired to do anything."
"Are you sure that's not just and excuse for staying up too late at night?"
"No, it's not! I promise!"
Yutaka giggled a bit. "Don't be so hard of her, Hiiragi-chan. That happens to me a lot too."
Both of the Hiiragi sisters turned to the small pink-haired girl. "Is that so, Yu-chan?" asked Kagami.
Yutaka nodded. "Yes. Even though I manage to get up early, I feel like I still want to sleep no matter what. And when I get to breakfast, I'm always too sleepy to have an appetite. Sometimes I even end up sleeping at the table."
"That's right, Yu-chan!" said Tsukasa. "It's really hard to get up in the morning isn't it?"
"Hey, don't jump to conclusions so soon, Tsukasa," said Kagami to her sister then turned back to Yutaka. "Yu-chan, isn't it because you're a little sickly that you get tired more easily?"
"No, I'm pretty sure this happens to a lot of people too," Yutaka said matter-of-factly.
"Oh, I see."
Tsukasa looked happily towards her sister. "I told you, Onee-chan."
Kagami sighed, "I guess I'm the exception again, huh. But what about Konata-chan?"
Yutaka cheerfully snickered as if remembering something entertaining. "Oh, even Onee-chan goes through things like this sometimes, especially after she's been gaming the night before. Like I remember this one time…"
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Konata hobbled across the hallway of her house into the dining room where her dad and Yutaka were already waiting and about to start their breakfasts. Konata said (more like slurred) the customary "good morning" and her family members returned it though with her sleep-deprived senses she was barely ably to register them.
Konata took her place at the table and saw that breakfast was already prepared for her, which were last night's leftovers reheated by her dad and a glass of orange juice. She had some trouble finding her utensils and the rest of her table settings. This caused Yutaka to watch her older cousin curiously.
Konata reached for what she thought was a bottle of sugar. Yutaka noted that it was actually soy sauce. Yutaka sweat-dropped. Konata poured at least two teaspoon's worth of the salty, black liquid into her orange juice. Yutaka sweat-dropped a bit more. Konata set aside the soy sauce and grabbed her glass sheepishly then brought it up to her mouth. Yutaka sweat-dropped a lot more and, finally realizing Konata was not of sound thinking at the moment, raised her hand to call out to her older cousin.
"Um…Onee-chan…" Yutaka called.
Too late. Konata had already taken a long sheepish sip of the juice. Exactly two point eighty-seven seconds later, Konata's eyes went wide and she vehemently spit out the disgusting concoction from her mouth. She coughed a bit, finally coming to her full senses. She looked up to noticed that her dad was now soaking wet with her drink and had an annoyed look on his face.
Konata cringed. Yutaka was only able to laugh nervously.
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Back at the train.
"Needless to say Uncle Sōjirō gat a little mad after that," said Yutaka.
The Hiiragi sisters were having a laugh at Konata's expense. Yutaka couldn't help but follow soon after. By the time they were finished, Tsukasa almost had tears in her eyes.
"That is so like Kona-chan!" said Tsukasa as she giggled a bit more.
"I know," replied Yutaka.
"You see," said Kagami, "this is what I keep warning you about playing games all night, Konata-chan."
Konata didn't answer. Her three companions got curious and turned towards her. Konata wasn't paying attention to any of them. Instead she was absent-mindedly staring out the opposite window, almost nostalgically.
"Konata?" called Kagami.
The blue-haired girl didn't respond.
"…Konata!" Kagami exclaimed a little louder.
Konata jumped a bit. "Huh?! What? What's going on?"
"You were zoning out."
"Oh, uh, sorry you guys I was just…thinking about something. What were you guys talking about just now?"
"About that time," Tsukasa answered, "when you accidentally put soy sauce in your juice."
A flash of memory from Konata. "Oh, that's a funny story. You see I was up all night playing games so when it cam to breakfast the next morning--"
"Uh, Yu-chan already told us the story."
"Eh? Uh, right…"
Kagami raised an eyebrow. "Are you feeling okay, Konata?"
"Don't worry, I'm fine. Guess I just have a little too much stuff on my mind."
The others could only stare at her curiously.
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Lunch time at school.
"So it was pretty weird the way Onee-chan acted on the train to school," said Yutaka. "She said that it was only because she had something on her mind. What do you guys think?"
Two of Yutaka's friends, Minami and Hiyori were seated with her on two tabled that were pulled together where they could eat their lunches. Minami looked up and put a finger to her chin in serious contemplation to Yutaka's inquiry.
"Maybe she was just remembering something," said Minami in her signature monotone voice. "Is there something about it that worries you, Kobayakawa-san?"
"Not really. "It's just that Onee-chan doesn't usually act like that, that's all."
"I see,"
"Maybe she just saw something on the TV," said Hiyori, "or a manga that made her think about stuff, ya know?"
"That could be possible, Tamura-san,"
"I know how your cousin likes to read a lot of manga and watch late-night animes."
"Maybe you should ask her yourself," suggested Minami.
"Nah. I'm sure Onee-chan is okay," replied Yutaka cheerfully. "She may not look it but she's actually pretty mature. I'm sure she could deal with no matter what."
"You really look up to her don't you, Kobayakawa-san?"
"I do. I've always admired the way Onee-chan can stay positive in any situation. I wish I had her confidence."
"…So do I."
"Really? Why is that, Minami-chan?" asked Hiyori.
Minami had her back turned to them, patting her chest with her hands, and was mumbling to herself. "I wish I didn't have to worry about my shortcomings like Izumi-san."
Her two friends could only look curiously.
"By the way, are we still up for the sleep-over at your place, Minami-chan?"
"Huh? Oh, yes! I have prepared the house for you guys and even Martin-san."
"That's great then!"
"It'll be also a great opportunity for us to finish our group project. We can even ask Patty-chan since she's from America."
Yutaka was just about finishing up her lunch and picked up the last miniature burger patty from her bento with her chopsticks. But as she brought the patty to her mouth it suddenly slipped off the chopsticks and landed on the floor. Yutaka yelped then sighed disappointingly.
"Awww," she groaned. "That was my last patty. And I was even saving it for last. Now it's too dirty."
Minami looked down at her own bento and saw that she still had some burger patties left herself. She put down her utensils and extended the bento towards Yutaka.
"Uh, Kobayakawa-san. I'm full already so you can have my leftovers if you want."
Yutaka looked happily towards Minami. "Eh? Really, Iwasaki-san?"
Hiyori was watching all this and in her mind…
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"Minami-chan…" Yutaka almost stuttered as she mentioned the name of the girl in front of her. She shyly averted her eyes from the sight of the slender student as to hide her growing blush of affection.
"Yutaka, you must be hungry still," said Minami in a caring tone with a blush growing on her face.
"But, Minami-chan, I cannot. These burger patties are yours. They were made especially for Minami-chan."
"Please, I insist," said the green-haired girl as she affectionately looked upon the meek little girl in front of her and offered up her almost-empty bento like it was a precious thing. "You need them more than I do, Yutaka. I would gladly give you these hamburger patties and anything else I might have for your sake, Yutaka. It is my duty to you."
Yutaka turned towards Minami with small teardrops forming in the corner of her eyes. "Oh, I'm so touched! Minami-chan!"
"Yutaka…"
"Minami-chan…"
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Back in the real world.
An embarrassed blush spread across Hiyori's face and the long-haired girl started to shake her head violently from side to side as she mumbled to herself. "No! No! No! Stop thinking thoughts like that! Their your friends, for goodness sake! Calm down, me!"
Yutaka and Minami simply looked at her clueless.
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Later that afternoon.
Konata was on her way home all by herself. She left the Hiiragi twins at the station where they went their separate ways. Yutaka was also not with her since she was sleeping over at the Iwasaki household. To be honest, she was feeling a bit lonely at that point. She let out an exasperated sigh as she continued her journey home.
As she walked further she suddenly found herself stopping at a certain crossroad. She had crossed this junction well over a thousand times by now. She would always go in just one direction, going straight ahead, whenever she reached this crossroad. The direction that lead to her home. But she then found herself looking at another direction, the one to her left. That also led to a familiar place. She found that she was actually indecisive of where to go.
Go straight. Go left. Two options. Pick one.
After a while, Konata picked the later option and after only a couple minutes worth of walking she was there.
The place was nothing special by any means. It was simply a small playground with the usual stuff one would expect to see like a slide, swings, a jungle gym, monkey bars, etc. The playground was unusually empty that afternoon. Konata sat down on one of the swings and let her mind take her back. This place held some memories for her. They were few, but she liked thinking about them nonetheless.
Suddenly her cell phone, which was for once brought along by her, suddenly played "Hare Hare Yukai." Konata quickly fished it out of her bag and looked at the number. One look and a sense of excitement filled her. She answered the all.
"Hello? Hello? This is Izumi. Anyone there?"
The caller suddenly hung up. Konata pulled the phone away from her ear in utter shock. "He hung up on me?!"
"Well I figured it'd be a waste of batteries," said a familiar voice from behind Konata.
Konata went wide-eyed, hopped off the swing, and turned around and saw what she was expecting but it still filled her with some surprise.
The person standing a few meters away was a Japanese teenage boy. At first glance there was nothing overly special about the boy. His looks were average to say the least. He was about five and a half feet tall with an average build. His skin was light and had a slight tan. He was wearing a black hooded sweatshirt with white strings hanging from the collar, a pair of black, faded, denim pants, and white running shoes. He had a boyish complexion that was complemented by he medium-length, light brown hair.
"I figured I'd see you hear," said the boy as he started to casually moved towards Konata.
Konata had a slight smile forming on her face. "Wow, it's really you! Man, you've really changed!"
"Yup, that's true." The boy was standing in front of her now. He playfully placed a hand on her head which was well below his own neckline.
"But you haven't changed all that much, chiisai kitsune-chan,"he said with slight emphasis on the word chiisai.
"Chiisai janai" eplied Konata completely automatically as she pushed his hand away.
He laughed at the humor of the moment. A moment later, so did Konata. Both teens had themselves a good laugh for a long moment which they both thoroughly enjoyed.
"Anyway," said Konata while smiling, "It's good to see you again…Kirio-kun!"
The boy, Kirio, smiled back at her. "You too, Konata-chan."
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Author's note: Hmmm, got a lot more reviews than I expected. I'm really glad about it. Thanks to all those who reviewed my first chapter. Hope you like this one and all that will follow. Pls. R&R
Translation note: "Chiisai ja nai" translates to "I'm not little."