It was after school a few days later that, only a few minutes after Kagami and Tsukasa had walked through the door of their house, the phone rang.

"Hello?" Kagami said.

"Hey, Kagamin, wassup?" Konata said over the line, sounding like she was in good humor. Kagami raised an eyebrow, leaning against the wall.

"Umm, nothing, we just got in. Why?"

"Cool, I was just wondering if you were doing anything later?"

"I was gonna study, but we can do that together, right?" Kagami said with a smile.

"Yeah, study, right," Konata said dismissively, "so you want to sleep over?"

"Sure," Kagami said, trying not to sound overly excited. She'd kind of been waiting for this. Now that things were back to normal, being alone with Konata in her own room would be the test. "But why didn't you just ask me earlier?"

"Well," Konata said, sounding like she was lining up a joke, "I wanted it to be the two of us, you know? I thought it would be romantic if I asked you personally."

"Over the phone? I don't think that's very romantic," Kagami said. "But whatever, I'll be over soon." Konata said goodbye and hung up, while Kagami ran off to go pack for the night. It was a Friday, and she had an agreement with her parents that she could go out and do what she wanted on the weekends as long as her grades were good – which they always were.

When Kagami showed up and knocked on the door, the sun was just disappearing behind the buildings. Konata met her at the door, and led her in.

"Come in, come in," Konata greeted eagerly with a smile. Kagami did, and to her surprise, Konata took her hand and pulled her to her room.

"Hey, what's with all this energy today?" Kagami scolded, sitting on her bedside, trying not to laugh at Konata's shared excitement. Kagami wouldn't say it, but she really liked spending the night at her friend's house, and it was good to see Konata liked having her. It was odd, though. Generally, she'd just make a joke about it.

"Dunno, I'm just feeling uppity," Konata said, sitting at her computer. Kagami eyed her; a little afraid she might go right to the porn. That would be a real test, but alas, Kagami called her over to show her a new show she'd found.

The two sat and watched what developed to be a dramedy, but in a classy low key sense that Kagami found she enjoyed quite a bit in the first few minutes of the pilot. She leaned over the top of Konata's chair, and watched with a content smile, happy to be with her friend.

She felt a little shock run through her as, at a particularly tender moment between the obvious love-interests-to-be of the show, Konata pulled Kagami's arms down around her neck, making Kagami pull her into a warm, close embrace. It was nice and pleasantly intimate, and though Kagami found it weird, she just blushed and kept her in the hug for awhile.

"You're really friendly today, huh?" Kagami commented later in the episode, noting Konata's happy smile. "And more touchy-feely than usual."

"I'm happy to have you around, is all," Konata said. Kagami frowned, a little worried. The tone on Konata's voice was unusually honest. Kagami pulled her arms back, but smiled.

"Your deredere is showing," Kagami teased, turning Konata's old joke on her. She just smiled.

Later, Kagami laid on Konata's bed as she sat curled up in her chair, gaming. Kagami flipped through one of Konata's untouched light novels, quiet.

"Hey," Konata spoke up after a while, "I'm glad you decided to come over. I was afraid you were mad at me or something."

"I wasn't mad. What made you think that?"

"You were acting a little weird around me," Konata answered, voice serious but conversational. "I thought something was bothering you, and I'm usually right about that kind of stuff."

"Well," Kagami began with a laugh, surprised at how well Konata knew her, "it wasn't anything big, and it wasn't your fault. Don't worry about it." Konata nodded, turning the swivel chair around, but looking up at the ceiling. She chewed her lower lip pensively, eyes blank.

"Can we," she began, pausing, "umm… talk seriously?"

'Uh oh,' Kagami thought, worried. She set the book down. Now she knew something was up. The extra affection and how Konata lessened up on the teasing was a tip, but 'talking seriously' was something she rarely did. Usually this just meant she was feeling blue or lonely or something, which was about as truly emotional as Konata ever got.

"You? Talk seriously?" Kagami joked, rolling onto her stomach and facing her friend. Kagami put on a warm smile, the look she used as a visual cue to tell that she was Konata's friend and she was going to listen, not judge, and that no matter what it was, they would still be friends after. Konata usually took that bait and vented, but this time she kept looking at the ceiling.

"Yeah… So, I've been thinking," she began slowly, pausing directly after for close to a minute, one hand running through her long, dark blue hair, "thinking really hard lately. About why…"

She fell quiet after that, frowning. Kagami waited patiently, as Konata took deep breaths. She hadn't ever seen Konata this worked up before, she was actually anxious to hear what she had to say.

"About why I don't have a boyfriend," Konata finished. Kagami was genuinely surprised. She hadn't though Konata cared about any of that. Before she could pose a meaningful and supportive response, Konata went on.

"I mean, I don't feel ugly or unpopular or anything, cause that stuff doesn't matter, but I've never even tried to get guys to like me… I don't think I want to. I don't think I'm interested…"

In the silence that followed, Kagami spoke up. "Hey, there's nothing wrong with that. You're just more focused on other things. One day you'll find a great guy, though."

Konata sighed, and Kagami felt she'd missed the point. Whatever it really was, Konata didn't seem to want to say it.

"I uhh, I don't think I'm gonna grow out of it," Konata half laughed sarcastically, the humor empty and sounding a little emotional, maybe bitter. Kagami sat up, concern on her face.

"What are you saying?" Konata was still staring at the ceiling, and didn't respond. "I'm not judging you here; I just want to be able to help. You're my best friend," she said, letting down her tough defenses, letting Konata in, "and that's never gonna change. So if you have something to say, no matter what it is, I want to be here to listen."

Konata took another deep breath and glanced down at her, then back up quickly. "I think I'm into girls…" she said, finally voicing what she'd been keeping in her for the last few months. Her outward appearance didn't change, and her voice staid even. "I think I'm into girls… And I think I like you."

The aftershock of that statement didn't hit Kagami for about half a minute. She smiled a little at first, laughing. "What do you mean by that?" she asked, though she knew full well what she meant. Konata finally looked down; face still restraining her inner emotions.

"I think I'm a lesbian," she said again.

"You think?" Kagami countered.

"I really think," Konata said, looking aggravated, "I mean, I've really thought about it, and I don't want to say I know until I've explored it." Kagami chuckled a little, not meaning to be but coming off condescendingly.

"You don't mean that. You don't even know for sure." Konata recoiled visibly, holding back tears.

"Fine! If you want me to say it that way, then I'm a lesbian and I really, really like you, and I want to be with you!" She said, voice strained, drawing close. Kagami sat up and moved away a little, still looking assured.

"Konata, you're just confusing friendship with infatuation," she said matter-of-factly. Konata's face fell into near hopelessness. "You aren't used to being true with your emotions, so because we're close you got a little confused."

"That's," she stammered, "that's not true at all, Kagamin. I know what I feel, and what I think." Konata sat next to her friend, forcing a smile to punctuate her point, but Kagami stood, pacing, her face concerned now. "Kagami, please don't freak out, I've had a lot of time to think about it, and it's obvious you've never thought about it. So let's just talk it out, okay?"

Kagami couldn't even think of what to say. Her mind was recoiling from what her best friend was saying, and Kagami couldn't form any reasonable argument against her. She didn't want to believe it, but Konata obviously had her mind pretty set. Kagami didn't know how to convince her she was wrong.

Why couldn't she have just teased her and ignored her problems? She wanted to have fun tonight.

"No," Kagami finally said quietly, trying to form sentences without blowing up in Konata's face, "I think I should go home." She turned around and walked towards the door. Konata's heart sank so far she thought it might tear out of her. She jumped up and laid a gentle hand on her friend's shoulder.

"C'mon, just stay and calm down," Konata suggested, trying to sound in control, though there were tears in her eyes. Kagami shrugged her off.

"Please don't touch me. I'm going home." Konata backed off, shocked at the edge of anger on her voice. Konata finally jumped into action as Kagami opened the door. Konata blocked her way, eyes desperate, arms wide to stop her.

"I'm begging you Kagamin, talk to me! I don't wanna lose you like this!" The anger on Kagami's face spiked and then, in a burst of confused rage, Kagami slapped Konata hard across the face, walking past her. Konata held a shocked look as her best friend walked away.

"Don't talk to me tomorrow, or I swear I'll tell everyone what a twisted closet pervert you are," Kagami hissed, not even looking her way.

And then she was gone. Konata didn't follow her, or call her or anything. She just went back into her room, closing the door, and slipping into bed, not sure of what else to do.

Sleep didn't come though, and she cried like she never had before, the despair and defeat uncontrollable, consuming. Her best friend was gone. Her crush was gone. She could never fix this.

"Please don't tell anyone…" she sobbed under her breath again and again. Finally, her body utterly exhausted, she fell asleep.

Kagami stormed home through the dark, anger plain on her red face. She threw open the door to her room, and fell onto her bed, breathing deep, trying with all her might to calm herself. She heard Tsukasa at her door.

"Kagami-chan? I thought you were at Kona-chan's for the night?" she asked curiously. Kagami had her back to her, lying in her bed, staring at the wall, trying to keep herself from blowing up again at her sister. It wasn't her fault.

"I don't wanna talk about it," she almost growled. Tsukasa, confused and concerned, pressed on.

"Did you get in a fight?"

"No! Just," Kagami shouted, raising a hand and glancing over her shoulder, "just leave me alone, okay?" Tsukasa jumped, but nodded, closing the door and returning to her own room.

When she heard the door close, Kagami curled up, covering her face with her hands and biting her lip, holding back angry, confused tears. Why did Konata always have to do this stuff? The moment Kagami thought things could go back to normal, thought she had all her worries figured out, Konata had to mess it all up with something like that.

Konata was always so difficult, Kagami figured. She just wished she knew how to talk her down from this. Konata didn't know like Kagami did, obviously. She didn't know how wrong this… joke was.

As she lay there, she found herself conflicted. She knew Konata, and all she did was joke and tease, but when she was genuine, Kagami could tell, and Konata couldn't hide it. So Kagami found it hard to believe this was a joke. Did that make Konata irredeemable?

She didn't want to think that, but she was a lesbian, and that was just something Kagami couldn't forgive. It was wrong and immoral, and though Kagami expected immoral things from her friend, this struck such a different chord.

But why was that? What was so wrong?

Kagami quickly abandoned that line of questioning. It was because Konata was a lesbian, and that was just wrong. End of story. Worse yet? Konata had feelings for her.

At that thought, Kagami sobbed harder. Her friendship with her best friend was over. Because Konata couldn't keep that to herself, couldn't just be a normal girl like everyone else, Kagami would never be able to get over this. It was too much for her. They couldn't go back.

Kagami cried till she was too tired to do anything and then just lay there silent, staring out the window by her bed up at the moon. Her head was spinning, and she felt like a hole had been torn in her. She didn't want her friendship to end like this…

And why did this make her so mad? So frustrated? She knew it was wrong, but it was Konata's decision, and normally Kagami would've let her live with it.

Was it because Konata's feelings were for her? And why did that bother her? Was it because, maybe, she had some strange feelings for Konata, too? Ones she'd never looked at or thought about? Ones she had completely ignored or written off?

Kagami stopped herself short. That certainly wasn't it at all. She herself had argued Konata was confusing her friendship for affection. She wasn't going to do that.

So… she couldn't do anything. She and Konata were just… done.