Disclaimer: If I didn't make them chances are I don't own them.
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Somewhere in the park.
Konata and Kirio were walking side by side when Konata suddenly shivered for no apparent reason.
"You feeling cold or something?" asked Kirio.
"No," replied Konata. "I just got a chill all of a sudden. I don't know why."
Kirio raised his eyebrow in curiosity. Strange stuff like this has been happening to her a lot lately. Maybe he was just gone longer than he thought. Konata simply shrugged off the sudden chill and put on a cheery face. Kirio decided to leave the issue.
"Well, where do you want to go next?" asked Kirio.
"The Ferris wheel sound like a nice idea," replied Konata.
"Okay, then."
The two teens made their way to the Ferris wheel in good spirits. All the while they were unaware that they were being hunted down by something that was more deadlier than any other predator know to man.
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Somewhere else in the park.
Kagami has long since left the variety show (which was temporarily closed due to technical…and noise problems) and was now trudging across the park ground on a mission to hunt down a certain blue-haired otaku who owed her a big explanation.
Following behind her were the very nervous pair of Tsukasa and Miyuki. Both of the girls were sweating trying to come up with ideas on how to stop Kagami before she actually finds Konata and her…well, even they didn't dare to think about it with Kagami in this mood.
"Onee-chan, you need to calm down a bit," said Tsukasa
"Yeah, no need to get riled up over something like this," added Miyuki.
Kagami didn't have an ear for whatever they were saying. She was too focused on the number of questions she had for Konata should they catch up to her. Along with the number of things she'd like to do to Konata depending on how she would answer those questions.
"Where is that girl?" grumbled Kagami under her breath.
Kagami seemed to be emanating that dark aura of hers again since Tsukasa and Miyuki were inadvertently keeping their distance from her and, to be honest, so was everybody else around them who scooted away as soon as Kagami neared. The twin-ponytailed girl didn't notice any of this or simply chose to ignore them.
Behind her, Tsukasa and Miyuki were getting increasingly nervous about the situation. Tsukasa still had the memory of last night fresh in her mind. Miyuki, being long time friends with Kagami, knows what it's like when the normally docile girl get's a little bit ticked off.
"What are we gonna do?" asked Tsukasa.
"I don't know," replied Miyuki. "I know that Kagami-can can be pretty hard to talk out of something once she's in this sort of state."
"But if we don't so something, who knows what Onee-chan will do?"
"But I can't come up with any idea on how to pacify Kagami."
The two were so caught up in their discussion that they failed to notice that Kagami had stopped dead in her track. Tsukasa and Miyuki accidentally bumped into Kagami and fell on their butts while Kagami stood as still as a statue. Tsukasa and Miyuki ribbed their sore behinds then looked up at Kagami and were taken aback as they say her glowing red aura drain the light from the atmosphere.
Both Tsukasa and Miyuki looked into the direction Kagami was glaring at and they both spotted Konata…getting off the Ferris wheel…being helped by a boy.
Tsukasa and Miyuki's eyes went wide. They looked up at Kagami and lightly gasped.
Kagami practically fumed. "Konata…"
She slowly started taking steps forward slowly approaching the unsuspecting blue-haired girl and her companion. The ground beneath her feet seems to quake a bit with every step she took.
Behind her, Tsukasa and Miyuki were scrambling to get up off their butts and chase after her hoping to have some kind of plan to stop her. But Kagami seemed all but unstoppable at this point. Tsukasa and Miyuki racked their minds for a solution but they didn't have to think that much as a solution literally fell at their feet.
A small bouncing balled bounced right up to the three and suddenly exploded in a puff of smoke catching all three of the girls off guard. Kagami snapped out of her mood and started coughing as the some of the smoke invaded he lungs. The other two girls were trying to fan away the smoke with their open palms.
As soon as the smoke cleared and the three girls caught their breaths again they were all taken aback by a pair of ninjas dressed in contrasting red and blue suits.
"Good evening!" exclaimed the two ninjas accompanied by a lot of flamboyant and overly flashy martial arts style moves which look nothing like actual ninjitsu, "We're the super happy awesome ninja entertainers! Please take a minute to watch our show!!"
Kagami just stood their with her jaw dropped.
Tsukasa and Miyuki stared curiously. Around the three girls, a few other people started to gather to see what was up.
The blue ninja started doing a simple juggling act with a set of rubber balls. After a moment, The red ninja started throwing extra balls into the mix to make things more interesting.
Kagami continued to look dumbly at the two entertainers.
Behind her, Tsukasa and Miyuki started to lightly clap. The people around them were increasing in number and started whispering around.
Now the blue ninja was spinning plates on sticks on both his hands. At first there was just one plate per hand but the red ninja soon started to add even more spinning plates to each hand. The blue Ninja seemed to stager a bit at the additional plates but somehow kept his composure.
Kagami looked on, her eyebrow slowly rising.
Tsukasa and Miyuki started clapping faster and wore modest smiles on their faces. The crowed behind them doubled in number and the people were also starting to sheer for the two totally random entertainers.
Now the two ninjas were doing a small musical number where the blue ninja was playing a samisen while the red ninja was singing something akin to the tune of some old theater play.
Kagami's eyebrow was at its highest point.
Tsukasa and Miyuki were clapping enthusiastically and wore bigger smiles on their faces. The crowd behind them doubled in number again and they too seemed quite entertained by the two performers who randomly came out of nowhere.
Now the blue ninja was doing a solo magic act where he constantly made playing cards appear in his hand out of thin air while the red ninja was just clapping him along.
Kagami was almost at a catatonic stupor at this point.
Tsukasa and Miyuki were over-elated. The crowd behind them had tripled and all the people were cheering like they would at a world cup match and some where even screaming for an encore.
"Wait a minute!?" Kagami suddenly exclaimed.
The two ninjas stopped what they were doing.
Kagami was eyeing them curiously. "Exactly who are you guys again?"
The ninjas were hesitant to answer for some reason. "Um…We're the super happy awesome ninja entertainers, miss!!" replied the red ninja.
"Are you part of the variety show?"
"Uhhh…yeah!"
"How come you weren't advertised?"
"Well, um…we're new here. We're freelance entertainers you see."
"But shouldn't you have registered with the park managers or something?"
"Well…uhhh…ummm…you see…THANK YOU ALL, YOU'VE BEEN A GREAT AUDIENCE!!!"
The red ninja threw another one of those small bouncing balls which quickly exploded into a puff of smoke which completely blocked out the sight of the people in the crowd. As Kagami, Tsukasa and Miyuki were trying to keep the smoke out of their lungs again, the smoke eventually cleared and the two ninjas were gone. The three girls were stood there slightly dumbfounded. Behind them the crowd broke into a flurry of curious murmurs as they eventually started to disperse back to their own businesses.
"Well, that was quite strange, wasn't it," commented Miyuki.
"Yeah, it was…" added Kagami. "…wait a minute?"
Kagami snapped out of it to remembered what she was doing a while ago. She started searching frantically in the direction of the Ferris wheel but unfortunately Konata was long gone.
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Behind some nearby bushes.
The red ninja removed her mask to reveal that she was in fact Tomoyo. "Well, that went rather nicely. Good thing I packed these cool ninja suits just in case."
The blue ninja removed his mask to reveal himself to be Sōjirō. "Yeah…I happen to find that rather creepy."
Two seconds later, he was in a headlock yet again.
"Hey, a good lady always comes prepared!" she stated.
"Alright! Just let go of me!"
She let him go and Sōjirō caught his breath. "Now that that's over, let's go return these props to the stage before they find out we took them without permission."
"Don't be so worried. At least the plan worked out perfectly right? Looks like that scary, twin-ponytailed girls lost track of Konata and Kirio. That really was a great plan, I came up with!"
"So great that we also lost track of those two…"
Tomoyo gloated for a bit then Sōjirō's words repeated in her head. Realization hit her and she then slapped her forehead with her palm. "Darn it!!"
Sōjirō could only sigh exasperatingly.
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Somewhere else.
Konata and Kirio managed to find a quiet place at the shore of the pond. By now, it was around nine in the evening and it was a cloudless night. The stars were bright and clear in al their beauty. Fireflies were dancing around over cattails near the shore of the natural pond.
There were a few other people near the shore of the pond, some where couple and others where small groups of friends picnicking. They were all seated on the soft grass that surrounded the pond. Each couple or group was spaced far apart from each other as if they all knew of an unspoken rule that everyone here was looking for privacy and everyone respected that.
Among them were Konata and Kirio. The two teens were seated closest to the water. After a tiring day the came here to relax.
"I had a wonderful time," said Konata, resting her head on Kirio's shoulder.
"Thanks," said Kirio. "That means a lot to me."
"So tell me, when are you guys leaving tomorrow?"
"Around three in the afternoon."
Konata sighed sadly. "Do you really have to leave so soon?"
Kirio turned to look down at her face. He saw genuine loneliness form there. It stirred up a string of emotions in his own mind that made him feel good and bad at the same time.
"Well, it can't be helped," he said. "I have to go back to school when my vacation's over."
"I see," was all Konata could say.
Kirio felt an uncomfortable silence pass by them and he was compelled to say something. "It's not like I'm not coming back."
This caught Konata's attention. "Huh? What do you mean?"
"My mom has always been planning to move the business back here. She's well on her way to doing just that. Plus, I have my eye set on a certain university here in Saitama. I'll be graduating from high-school soon."
Konata's eyes seem to light up. "I'm glad to hear that."
Kirio stretched out his arms and laid back onto the grass. "Why would you be?"
Konata turned away with a slight blush on her cheeks. "Just because!"
Kirio took some slight humor in her reaction but it made him happy to hear her say that.
"But, it's still a pretty long wait," said Konata, looking out into the pond. "Won't you get a little lonely in the west?"
Kirio shrugged. "Maybe…"
Konata turned to him with a caring smile. She slowly lowered her head so that it was right over Kirio's own. They both looked into each others eyes for who knows how long.
"Just so you won't get lonely," said Konata right before she slowly closed her eyes and lowered her lips down to his. They met in a kiss that lasted only a few seconds but to them it was enough to cover for all the years they missed together.
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Much later.
Kagami, Tsukasa and Miyuki were in there own little resting spot somewhere on the outer rims of the amusement park. They had managed to find a nice little spot in the park with benches and little people passing by. They were seated side by side with Kagami in the center.
"Man, I can't believe I wasted all that energy," said Kagami.
After spending the remainder of the night looking for a certain blue-haired friend of theirs, who they failed to find in the end, Kagami had finally managed to calm down much to the relief of her two companions.
"Well, you could always ask Kona-chan in the morning right?" suggested Tsukasa. "If you really want to know about her…you know."
Kagami let out long, exasperated sigh. "Why do I even bother being so worked up over something like this…I ought to be happy for Konata."
"My, that's a nice thing to say, Kagami-chan," said Miyuki.
"Well, whoever her date is, I doubt we'll see him tonight. Why don't we just go home?"
"I think that would be a good idea. You look like you need the rest."
They all got up and started to walk away into the direction of the bus station. None of them noticed the teenage boy that suddenly appeared from close by who seemed to be looking for somebody. The teenage boy spotted the three and couldn't recognize them at first but decided to give it a try anyway.
"Excuse me!" called out the boy.
All three girls turned around to see a boy that none of them recognized. Strangely though, Kagami felt like she knew him from somewhere. "Um, yes?"
"You wouldn't happen to be a Miss Kagami Hiiragi, would you?"
Kagami felt strange that a stranger would know her name but she didn't fee like this kid was any danger to them. "Yeah, that's me."
The teenage boy smiled pleasantly then looked at the two girls on either side of Kagami. "And you guys must be Tsukasa and Miyuki, right?"
Both girls nodded, also feeling a little strange about the situation.
"Hey, how come you know our names?" asked Kagami. "And who are you anyway?"
"Call me Kirio," he said, "and don't worry I mean you no harm. I'll be leaving in a bit but I wanted to see you guys first."
"Um…why?"
"I wanted to thank you guys."
All three of the girls looked at each other questioningly. They all turned back towards the teenage boy who they never met but could feel a slight connection with. "Thank us?"
"Yeah. To thank you and to ask favor actually. A small favor."
"Hey, hold on, we barely know you."
"I know but I have to make sure of something before I leave, that's all."
"And what would that be?"
Kirio hesitated a bit as if trying to find the right words to say. "I just wanted to ask you guys…to continue being good friends to Konata."
All three girls were rendered speechless. They were frozen in place and couldn't say a word to the strange new boy in front of them.
"You have no idea," he continued, "how much I appreciate the fact that Konata has such good friends like you guys. And I'm sure you also don't know just how much you guys mean to her as well. I mean, she might make fun of you guys a lot, I'm sure. But the thing is that I'm also sure that she holds you guys dear more than you think. So please, ca I ask you guys to continue being her friends?"
A silence followed. Kirio patiently waited for their answer. The three girls looked at each other again questioningly before turning back to Kirio.
"Umm, I don't really know you," started Tsukasa, "but I definitely will be as good of a friend as I can be to Kona-chan."
"I, as well," said Miyuki. "I like having Izumi-san as a friend."
Kagami couldn't hold back the smile on her face. "Well, I guess I could hang out with that little brat a little longer," she said heartily.
Kirio smiled with genuine satisfaction. "Thank you, that's all I needed to know."
He glanced at his watch. "Wow, that time already? I really have to go. Thanks again for you time. See ya then"
Kirio turned and quickly rushed back towards the park. Kagami and the others didn't know what to make of the situation. Then they suddenly had the urge to ask him just how he knew Konata in the first place. But before any of them could call him back, he was already gone.
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Author's note: I'm almost done with this story. Please excuse the lateness as I had so many important stuff to do that it kept me very busy. Pls. R&R!
Other notes: A samisen is a traditional three-string banjo-like Japanese instrument.