Disclaimer: Nope, still don't own them.
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Hours later after the play.
The gang of eight were all sitting at a local cake cafe. Amazing was the fact that that cafe actually had a table that fitted eight people. It was still pretty early in the afternoon and the sun was still high in the sky. Outside, the busy buzzing of the city continuous on while the eight girls inside the cafe continued to chat about their day.
"Still that was a bit surprising, Kagamin," said Konata as she took a big bite out of her slice of strawberry cake. "I didn't think you would be a fan of Kenichi as well. I was kinda worried that my plan wasn't gonna work."
"What plan?" said Kagami. "The whole thing was spur of the moment."
"Ehehe," the blue-haired otaku scratched the back of her head. "Guess I should've practiced more on those lines of mine. I was so caught-up on my new dating sim that I sorta forgot all that stuff I actually memorized beforehand."
"Again with the dating sims? I would've thought you'd tire of those now that you have Kirio to talk to."
"Oh, that reminds me," said Miyuki suddenly. "How is Kirio-kun these days?"
"He's doing just fine. We've been trading e-mails almost everyday. As far as I can tell, he's doing quite well in his studies. Me and my dad are actually thinking of vacationing in Canada to meet them next summer. you know, give them a surprise visit for a change."
"That's nice."
"When the heck did you guys get to afford being able to go to Canada?" asked Kagami.
"Ever since dad got promoted," said Konata. "He's assistant editor now since the last guy had to retire. He got a big fat bonus check out of it too. Enough to take him, me, and even Yu-chan with us."
At this news, Minami's attention piqued. "Uh...Kobayakawa-san...is going to the west?"
Yutaka blushed. "Well, I thought it sounded like a good idea. I've never really seen Canada, or America for that matter."
"Will you be alright? i mean...you are..."
"Awwww," said Konata. "Looks like Iwasaki-san is worried for my little cousin again."
At this statement, Minami turned red with a huge blush on her face then started to stare intently at her plate for no reason. Yutaka also seemed to blush a bit after realizing how much her best friend is worrying about her. The rest of the group noticed and Patricia in particular seem to find it humorous. Mityuki didn't seem all that surprised, having know Minami the longest out of all of them she knew the green-haired girls was very clingy when it came to close friends. Hiyori had that "gone-out-back-in-whenever" empty look on her face which all but guaranteed that she was imagining something not right.
"Oh, um, don't worry about my health, Iwasaki-san," said Yutaka in as a reassuring tone as she could manage. "I'll be fine. I'll never get stronger unless I actually go out an get some exercise."
"And besides, Canada's got the best healthcare in the world, right?" said Konata. "At least that's what I keep hearing."
"Why don't you go with her, Minami-chan," suggested Patricia. "Heaven knows you could afford it."
"Yeah, that's right!" said Konata excitedly. "She should come with us! Like patty-chan said, Iwasaki san is really--"
"If you want extra spending money for your trip," interrupted Kagami, "then earn it yourself instead of leeching it off of other people."
A beat. Konata dropped her head in shame. Kagami grinned victoriously. She loved these moments when she gets to strike down Konata for a change. The rest of the group (except for Hiyori who was still stuck in a daydream) snickered slightly at Konata's expense.
Konata suddenly sprang up. "You know, people who don't have a job should not dictate how others should manage their finances!"
"Hey, I do have a job. Sorta."
"Oh, yeah, right you cosplay as a miko in the Takanomiya Shrine."
"I told you, it's not cosplay! It's a real job and I do get an allowance from it! It may not be the same as yours and Patty-chan's salary from that cosplay cafe but at least I can say I earn my keep!"
"Alright, alright! Sheesh! Wow, today, Kagamin seems stingy...er."
Kagami let out a long exasperating sigh. "Sorry...things are a bit tough for me at the moment."
The rest of the group seemed to have had their interests piqued. "How's that, Hiiragi-san?" asked Miyuki being the good friend that she is.
"Well, our family's in a bit of a financial bind. The economy's not doing so good lately and fewer people have been going to the temple recently. then there's my Onee-chan's college tuition fees and mine and Tsukasa's college entrance test fees to think off. Basically my family is a bit tight for cash right now so I'm sorry if I sound stingy...er than usual."
"Actually, Onee-chan has been thinking of getting another job," said Tsukasa. "Though our parents are a kinda against it. they say we should be concentrate on studying for college entrance exams."
Konata scratched the back of her head in embarrassment. "Sorry. guess I shouldn't have been talking about money and overseas vacation like that. Hey, you know you could try and get a part-time job at the cosplay cafe too."
"Don't I have to be in costume? I don't think I'd be comfortable dressed as a fictional character, much less act like one. It'll be too embarrassing for me."
"Oh don't worry about that, Kagamin."
"Why not?"
"We're doing a Spirited Away special all next week. I'll be Chihiro, Patty-chan will be Lin, and you can be No-face. All you'll have to do is stand still and breath heavily with a mask one and nobody will ever know its you so you won't have to be embarrassed by anything!"
A vein popped on Kagami's forehead. "Don't make me defenestrate you, squirt."
Just then, Hiyori suddenly burst out. "NO! That's too indecent! Now way any of that will ever happen!"
She calmed down enough to notice that the whole group was staring strangely at her to which she blushed and sweat profusely.
Patricia smiled wryly and simply said. "Welcome back to reality, Hiyorin."
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Another hour later.
The gang was now headed home. It was just past three in the afternoon and the girls were at the train station in the process of buying their tickets when Kagami received a text message and her cellphone started beeping in response. She fished it out of her pocket and read the message.
"Oh it's from mom," she said. "Let's see. Please buy some onions on your way home I forgot to get them myself, she says. I guess she's making stew for dinner."
"Eh, b-b-but we're already here at the station," said Tsukasa worryingly. "And the store is all the way back from were we came from and I wanted to get home quickly since I still have homework that needs to be done and--"
"Don't worry about it Tsukasa, I'll just go myself. You go straight home."
"B-B-But, Onee-chan..."
"Oh C'mon. You can survive one trip home without me, can't you?"
"Yeah, and besides," said Konata. "I'm coming over too so I'll be with Tsukasa on the way to your house."
"Oh, thank you Kona-chan," said Tsukasa.
"That's rather nice of you, Konata. I'd never expect you to do something so nice."
"Yeah, well, I also have some unfinished homework so I was planning on stopping by your house anyway so that maybe I could copy some of your--"
Kagami raised a clenched fist and had a red aura emanating around her body. "Konata, it is extremely crucial to your well-being that you not finish that sentence."
Konata and he rest of the gang sweat-dropped nervously. Of course Kagami was never one to refuse a friend a favor when they needed it. Something Konata was happy to exploit. And so, Kagami resolved herself to a busy night later on of tutoring her sister and otaku friend. She saw all of them off on the trains before turning around and heading to the nearest grocery store.
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The nearest store was less than 5 blocks away and Kagami needed only five minutes to get there. Despite having less than average cooking skills (much to her annoyance) Kgami did however posess keen enough sences in the buying of food stuffs to know which is good and which is not worth the price shown on the weighing scale. Kagami finished her shopping quickly and soon went on her way, eager to to get home as well.
She took this time to try and think about her day a little bit more. The play was a nice refreshing change of pace. Gods know she was pretty darn reluctant at first but as time went along (as well as the increased begging of Yutaka's friends) she finally went along for it and to her great surprise, enjoyed it. She found that playing another character was actually enjoyable to her. She wondered why though. Strangely enough, Konata gave her somewhat of an answer a while back.
"Kagami is really such a tsundere," the otaku said. "She likes to act tough but the truth is she's really shy and gets lonely pretty easily. You know Kagamin, I bet you'd make a good actor." She didn't think much about it at the time and Konata probably only meant it as a teasing joke. But still, was that it? Has she spent so long trying to cover up her shy side that acting has become enough of a second nature to her that she's comfortable with it? Much more, enjoy doing it on a stage?
She remembered her parents saying something like, "Kagami, you should be more honest with yourself," a long time ago, back when she was in middle school. Heck even her two good friends, Misao and Ayano, said something similar as well. Maybe she should be more honest.
Lost in thought, Kagami never saw what happened next.
As she passed a certain building on the way to the train station, Kagami was bumped into by some guy who was apparently in a rush to go or to get away from somewhere. The guy was not in a good mood and thereby didn't have enough presence of mind to avoid the girl was just bumped into. Kagami yelped in surprise and both of them fell on their butts on the sidewalk. The grocery bag full of onions Kagami was holding dropped to the side.
"Ow, ow, ow. My back." Kagami struggled a bit as she got up as the fall caused her to land on her tail bone.
The guy on the other hand, had fared slightly better landing on his side and only slightly hurting his pelvis. Kagami got a good look at the guy. He looked to be about her age and was only slightly taller than her with an average build for a guy. He was dressed in a light blue checkered polo shirt that was open and a simple gray t-shirt underneath. A pair of blue denims and black tennis shoes. He had a smooth complexion of a face and he wore large eyeglasses over sharp-looking eyes under short, unkempt, black hair.
He got up much faster and flashed Kagami and annoyed look. Kagami caught it and that triggered something in her head.
"What are you scowling at?" she said. "You should have watched were your going."
"Me?" said the guy, sounding surprised. "You're the one who was standing right in front of the door when got out!"
"How's that my fault?!" she said back to him as she picked up her grocery bag and made sure her onions were alright. "I was walking, not standing. You would've seen me through the door. It was a glass door after all and a revolving one too. You should have been more aware."
"Well you shouldn't walk so close to the front doors of buildings in the first place!"
"You shouldn't be rushing out of doors in the first place."
"I was in a hurry!"
"And how the heck was i supposed to know that?!"
"What do you want? An apology or something?"
"That would be polite, yes."
"Well, you're not getting one!"
"What?! Why?!"
"Because this wasn't my fault! I don't have to apologize!"
"When I'm not apologizing! It wasn't my fault either!"
The two of them simply glared at each other angrily and even growling each other like a dog and a cat would.
Just then, a woman, came running out of the same building, also in a hurry. "Oh, Tetsuya-kun!!" she called out.
"Crap, she caught me up," he said under his breath with an obvious hint of exasperation. Kagami curiously looked towards the woman who just came out. She was a young woman, though considerably older than her and the guy she just bumped into, probably late twenties or something.
She was short in stature, barely, taller than Kagami's own shoulders. She wore a simple, pale peach, sleeveless blouse and a long, white, frilly skirt that covered down to her ankles. She wore a par of high-heeled sandals on her feet. She dad a fairly dark skin complexion that looked like the result of too much time outdoors. She had a simple, yet pretty face and long, straight, bright red hair tied in a ponytail.
"Tetsuya-kun, how could you just run off like that?" asked the woman.
"Oh, C'mon Omori-san," replied the boy. "Why should we bother to stay here when we know Natsume isn't gonna show up? You know I can't work alone like this."
"Yeah, I know that, but we're so close to finishing up the production. Why can't you just wait a few more hours and give me a bit more time to find a replacement for Natsume-can."
"We both know it's nearly impossible for us to find a replacement at this short notice. Let's just postpone this until we can find a replacement. I really need to get home soon."
"But if we postpone any longer..." The woman's depressed look got even deeper and small tear bubbles started forming at the corner of her eyes. It was by chance that her glance wandered in Kagami's direction who simply stood there with a confused look on her face. An idea hit.
"You!" exclaimed the woman, catching the other two by surprise. "Are you looking for a job right now? It'll only be for today and we'll pay you well. Don't worry, I promise you it doesn't involve anything indecent."
"Ehhh?" stammered Kagami. "Um...actually..." She momentarily forgot about the situation at hand and thought back to her current family crisis and how tight they were of money. Her mother has already started looking for a job herself. She didn't want that. She's the daughter, she should be providing for the family even if just a little bit more.
"You can't be serious?!" interrupted the guy again. "We don't even know if she's qualified. Don't involve her in this."
A vein popped on Kagami's temple. Something about that guy saying she wasn't qualified really irked.
"Look here, miss," he was talking to Kagami now. "Why don't you just say 'no' and we can all go home and call it a day, huh?"
Another vein popped on her temple as she turned to glare at him with a piercing look. The guy suddenly felt uncomfortable, as if his sould was being squeezed by invisible hands. Kagami then turned to the woman with a very cheerful expression.
"Why, yes I am looking for a job as a matter of fact," said Kagami sounding as polite as humanly possible. "I would love to help you in any way I can."
The guy's chin dropped to the pavement while the woman's face beamed in excitement. Kagami turned to the guy with sharp eyes and an evil grin as if to deliver the mental message saying that she was not going to let this guy get away with the satisfaction of not having to apologize. The woman quickly grabbed Kagami's hand and started shaking it vigorously.
"That's wonderful! I'm glad you accepted. By the way, my name is Aoi Omori. This guy over here is Tetsuya Shimakage."
"Hey, don't start giving my name away like that!" protested the boy.
"Well, it'll be rude if you don't introduce yourself to your new colleague. Do you want to go back to the Love Me Section, Tetsuya-kun?"
Tetsuya, slapped his palm to his face in frustration. Kagami seemed to derived a bit of pleasure in that. Then she realized something: she had no idea what job she just agreed to taking. She was about to ask when she felt a tug in her arm. She then realized that the woman, Aoi, was pulling the both of them exitedly into the building.
"Uh...by the way...what is this job supposed to be anyway?" Kagami managed to blurt out.
"Oh, don't worry about it," said Aoi. "All we need is your voice."
Kagami wondered what that meant then she decided to look up to the face of the building. She spotted what she was looking for. In big neon lights ans stylized letters spelled out the company's name: Studio Peach.
Wait a minute, Kagami thought. She knew this place. She had heard of it before, multiple times, from her friend Konata. She remembered that Konata mentioned it every now and again during some of their conversations over the last few weeks.
"This place..." said Kagami under her breath, "..it's an animation studio!"
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Author's note: The plot is progressing nicely, I think. Just so you guys know, Studio Peach is a fictional Japanese animation studio I made up for the sake of the story. It is based on actual animation studios.
Other notes: The "love me section" part was a reference to the manga/anime Skip Beat.