Disclaimer: These characters (most of them anyway) are still not mine!
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In the Hiiragi household.
Tsukasa was preparing dinner while her twin was setting the table along with their older siblings. Their parents would come home in a few minutes and once they do the family could start dinner. With a limited number of ingredients at hand, the sisters simply decided to have a simple meal of Chinese Fried Rice.
With the meal being so simple, Kagami decided that she wanted to give cooking a try, determined to improve her household skills. Tsukasa tried to tell her that she had everything under control but Kagami was insistent. Tsukasa, being ever so obedient to her older-by-a-few-minutes sister, obliged to her while at the same time hoping for nothing to go wrong. Kagami grabbed the ladle for Tsukasa with one hand and grabbed the wok with the other.
It took about two seconds for her above-average intelligent mind to realize that she was grabbing the bare metal handle of a sizzling hot cast-iron wok with a completely unprotected hand.
"Yeeeeeooooooowwww!"
The sudden yelp of pain prompted the two elder siblings, Matsuri and Inori, to rush into the kitchen where they found Kagami blowing on her palm with almost teary eyes.
"What happened in here?" asked the eldest sister, Inori.
Tsukasa turned to them both with a nervous smile. "Ehh, Onee-chan accidentally grabbed the wok with her bare hand."
This took a few moments to register with the two eldest sisters but once they grasped the statement they both saw great humor in it and started to laugh in Kagami's expense.
"Seriously?!" said Inori. "And I thought she was supposed to be the smart one!"
"Don't be so mean, Inori-chan," said Matsuri, though she herself was doing her best to stifle a laugh, "I'm sure we all made that mistake at least once."
"Still, haven't you ever heard of an oven mitt, Kagami?"
A vein popped in Kagami's noggin. "Alright, already! So I make one little mistake. I'm just trying to learn over here."
"Yeah, yeah I know! But you have to admit, it's pretty funny."
"But still," said Inori, "it's also pretty admirable for Kagami to want to learn more about housework."
Kagami turned her glance away as she was slightly embarrassed. "Well, everyone else is better at it than me so I thought that it couldn't hurt to practice, even though I'm taking a home economics class at school."
"That's good to hear, Kagami-chan. We'll help you out if you want."
"Eh?" said Matsuri, "why should we?"
Inori turned to her younger sister with a slightly scolding look. "Matsuri-chan, you know that you owe Kagami-chan. Even though you're in college you still have to ask her for help with your homework."
Matsuri was taken aback but otherwise could not argue against that statement. Kagami snickered quietly to herself with pride while Tsukasa giggle at Matsuri's expense.
"Okay, fine," agreed Matsuri. "But I have to ask why the sudden need to improve on household skills, Kagami?" Matsuri then put on a wry smile. "Don't tell me you're planning to get engaged anytime soon."
This was a joke of course but the rest of the sisters still turned beet red for a moment at that thought presented by the statement.
"Of course not!" exclaimed Kagami.
Matsuri laughed at her little sister's expense. Meanwhile, Tsukasa decided to clarify things herself. "Ehh, I think it's probably because Kona-chan kept teasing Onee-chan about her cooking skills."
"Kona-chan?" asked Inori, "you mean that friend of yours who has that really long hair?'
"Yup. Kona-chan is actually an excellent cook and is the best at home economics class."
"Well, I can see wanting to show up your friend who's been teasing you," said Matsuri before sighing in mock relief. "I was afraid for a second that my little sister managed to get a guy before me."
Kagami flushed. "Onee-chan!"
"Well, since I know a little bit about this friend of yours, Kagami, I can definitely say that you at least still have a better chance of nabbing a guy than her. I mean she does tend to come off as a bit weird don't you think?"
Inori flashed another scolding look towards her younger sister. "Matsuri-chan! Don't be mean about people you don't know well. It's rude."
"Yeah, yeah, sure, sure."
Kagami sighed and the conversation ended there.
Afterwards, Kagami decided to try again with the Fried Rice, this time remembering to wrap her hand in a thick towel as tradition dictated when cooking with a wok. She did much better this time though her technique could've used some work as commented by her eldest sister, Inori. Still, she felt nice having done this much at least.
Their parents arrived sometime later and the family gathered at the table to eat. In the middle of the meal, Kagami found herself thinking back to what Matsuri said to her. She was told that she still had a better chance of getting a guy than Konata.
She thought about Konata, with her short, child-like build and obsessive drive for anime, manga, and games. What were the chances of someone like Konata getting a significant other before Kagami? While she wouldn't mind if Konata would get herself a guy, it was nice thought that she, to a certain degree, was more suitable a bride. Too bad she didn't know any decent boys and neither did her friends.
Kagami was giggling before she knew it. Her family asked her what was so funny but she simply evaded the question and returned to her Fried Rice.
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In the Izumi household.
"I see your taste in manga haven't changed all that much," said Kirio as he browsed through Konata's bookshelf which held a number of mangas.
The bookshelf full of manga was only one of the things that he noticed about the blue-haired girl's room. There were dozens of manga and anime related goods all over the place from posters to statues to consumer products designed in the image of popular characters. He also recalled to a little while back when he walked to the playground that her remembered from long ago. He remembered how he saw a girl and, unsure of her identity, took his cell phone from his pocket and called her. The ring tone was something he wasn't particularly familiar with but he knew it was from an anime somewhere.
"Well, I tried other stuff before when I borrowed them from friends," replied Konata who was seated on her computer chair, still in her uniform. "But I always seem to come back to shōnen. "
"Most people wouldn't really associate a girl like you to enjoy shōnen manga, ya know?"
Konata gave a mock look of insult. "Why? What's wrong with a girl liking shōnen?"
"Nothing. I just said it was unusual."
"Hey! Don't look down on us unusual people! You for get that unusual traits that separate us from the common folk are what make us great!"
"So you admit your unusual?"
"I happen to be proud of my unusual traits!"
"Like the fact that you're short and flat-chested?"
Konata choked and bowed down here head in defeat. Kirio noticed her silence and had a laugh at her expense. Konata fumed at the fact that he found humor in that. "You know me too much, Kirio-kun…" she mumbled to herself.
Kirio reached up a hand and pulled down a volume of Air Gear and started flipping through the pages of the book.
"I see you read this too," said Kirio. "It's my favorite, actually."
Konata looked up again to Kirio. "Oh, really? I thought so. I remember you loved to roller-skate, Kirio-kun."
"Still do. And if somebody ever invents a real pair of Air Treks, I'll be the first one at their door."
Konata laughed a bit at that. "I'm sure you will. I don't like the anime that much though. It's too short and doesn't show enough of the story. The manga much more interesting even though the only character with any moe value is that schizophrenic gay guy. How far have you read, Kirio-kun?"
"Volume 18."
Konata's jaw dropped. "Huh? But they don't even have volume 17 out yet here!"
"Is that so? Should I tell you what happens to Ikki and Kururu?"
Konata started waving her hands wildly. No! No! Don't tell me! I've been following this story closely, I don't want any spoilers!"
Kirio took some humor in her reaction. "They should have the other volumes in the stores around here. Why didn't you get one yet?"
"Eh, I was just occupied with other manga and stuff. Busy stuff, you know?"
Kirio looked around the room a bit and spotted Konata's school bag still closed. "Among those distractions, was one of them studying for school?"
Konata choked again. Kirio held back a snicker. "Kona-chan, how do you expect to go to college with that kind of attitude?"
"N-None of your business! Actually, I do just fine I school you know!"
"Oh, so you're still an expert in all-nighters, huh?"
Konata was getting annoyed of Kirio pointing out all her bad habits. "Hey, if it works…!"
Kirio continued to take humor out off Konata's reactions. Konata fumed. "Knock it off, Kirio-kun!"
Kirio stopped his giggling and gave a look that was partly serious and coupled with an oddly sympathetic smile. "Why? You're not gonna cry are you?"
Konata was taken slightly aback by that comment. She didn't answer immediately but she soon had a knowing look and returned the slight smile with her own. "Of course not," she said. "I'm done crying, remember?"
"Yeah, I do"
They both exchanged knowing looks and didn't speak for a while though they both knew that whatever was conveyed didn't need to be said between them. Kirio closed the manga he was reading and returned it to the book shelf. He browsed a bit more and pulled down a volume of KissxSis. He remembered reading the first volume of this manga and found the whole plotline to be pleasingly ridiculous. That Particular manga reminded him of someone else.
"By the way," he said, "how's your dad?"
"Oh, same-old same-old. Still doting over young girls in his spare time."
Kirio flashed her an inquisitive look. "You should be more respectful about your dad, you know."
"What? I'm being honest. But don't worry, I know that he isn't a bad guy."
"Where is he by the way?" asked Kirio, remembering the fact that he and Konata were the only two people in the house.
"He left a note on the table that said he'll be working late so he just might spend the night at his editor's office doing some proofreading or something. It's such a hassle for him to be telling me this now. I bought a lot of stuff to make dinner with. Even Yu-chan is staying over at her friend's place tonight so all that food I bought will have to wait till tomorrow. Such a waste."
"Yu-chan?"
"Oh, I mean my younger cousin, Yutaka."
"Your younger cousin is living with you guys? What's she like?"
"She's studying at my school as a first year high school student. She's a little sickly so she can't make the daily commute all the way from her place. She's also short for her age, shorter than me actually. She's also not as good in housework as me so she asks me to help her out a lot. Its nice having her around because I have somebody to play games with, like a little sister."
"I see," said Kirio with a knowing smile. "So, you're saying it's nice having her around so that you can have someone you feel superior to."
Konata choked again. "I told you to stop that!"
Kirio chuckled slightly. "So what are you gonna do about dinner, now that the rest of the family isn't here?"
Konata sighed in frustration. "I don't feel much like cooking anymore. And, for once, Kuroi-sensei was kind enough not to give us any homework. I wanted to play some MMO's but their doing server maintenance today. I have nothing to do!"
"Wanna show me around town?"
"Eh?"
"I was planning to check out the town for the rest of the afternoon, I mean it's still a few hours till sundown. But now that you're here, I feel like I'd be better off if you showed me around since you don't have anything to do. After all I don't know how much this place has changed while I was gone."
"Hmmm, I don't feel like it today."
"I'll treat you to dinner and the cab ride home."
"What are we waiting for?! Kirio-kun, wait outside so I can change into more comfortable clothes!"
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Author's note: Not as long as I wanted to be but I decided the other stuff would be better in the next chapter. Pls. continue to R&R! I treasure your reviews.
Translation notes: Shōnen is the classification of manga and anime that's intended for a mostly male audience (ex: Dragon Ball, Bleach, Naruto, etc).
Other notes: About the two mangas mentioned by ttitle. Air Gear is a manga about an extreme underground sport involving super motorized in-line skates called Air Treks. KissxSis is a mature manga about a young man who has two step-sisters who are madly in love with him and are on an endless quest to get him in bed with them while he himself is pretty resistant to the idea.