Disclaimer: I don't own Lucky Star but I wish I did...in the same way I don't own the Vatican...but wish I did.
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Saturday afternoon.
With school pretty much over for that given week, high school kids will do pretty much whatever their allowance will allow. And more than often they would do it with the company of others. At the more trendier part of town, a casually dressed Misao and Ayano were doing their best to enjoy their weekend break from school starting off with a nice lunch at the local restaurant.
"Oi, Ayano," started Misao. "It's the weekend. Aren't you supposed to be spending time with onii-chan?"
"Well, he's away doing some club-related activities at the moment," said Ayano. "I won't see him until Monday comes along."
"Lucky you. You have a boyfriend and everything. I haven't had a guy so much as give me a second look."
Just then the waiter arrived with their orders. He handed down a bowl of miso ramen in front of Misao and a plate of yaki udon in front of Ayano. The waiter then bowed and gave parting glances to each of them while telling the two girls to enjoy the meal. Misao couldn't help but notice he looked at Ayano a second longer than he did to here. once the waiter was out of earshot, Misao brought this to Ayano's attention.
"See that? That guy looked at you longer that he did me!"
Ayano sweat-dropped. Misao was really taking this seriously. "Um, don't worry about it Misao-chan. It's probably because of my hair."
"Eh?"
"Well, because I wear my hair all pulled like this, I look like I have a really big forehead. I've always gotten looks from most people because of it.
"Geez, was that it? Why don't you try a princess cut or something, and maybe people won't keep looking at you like that."
"Well, it's not really annoying. and besides I don't think I'll look good in a princess cut."
"How about twin tails then?" asked Misao reaching for a red pepper shaker.
"Ah, that's Kagami's look. I wouldn't want Kagami to say I'm stealing her style. Besides I don't think I could pull off that look either."
"Speaking of whom, where's Hiiragi right now? Shouldn't she be hanging out with us or with that chibiko's group?" said Misao with a distinct mark of discontent on her face while she starts to sprinkle red pepper into her bowl.
Ayano had a soft smile at Misao's nickname for Kagami's other friend, Izumi-san. "Kagami, told me in an e-mail that she'll be at her job today. She can't hang out."
Misao let out a grunt of frustration, still shaking pepper into her bowl, as her thought turn to their long-time friend. "That Hiiragi. How dare she just take a job like that behind all our backs! I mean, she could have given us some warning!"
"Oh, come on now, Misao-chan. You know how Kagami is actually quite shy. Such a high-profile job like this, Kagami-chan probably had no idea how to tell us." By now Ayano was also noticing that Misao was apparently too engrossed with her thought on Kagami to notice that she was still sprinkling pepper on her bowl. Ayano started to sweat-drop.
"Well sure, but what I'm worried about is if Kagami will let all that fame get o her head. I mean, from what I saw from the DVD Tsukasa lent us, she's pretty good. and She's also supposed to be a main character in this new big-budget production of an already famous manga. Pretty soon she's gonna start hanging out with big stars and major names in the entertainment business, goin' to VIP parties and going on shopping sprees..."
Ayano noticed that Misao's irritation could be measured by the amount of shaking from the pepper shaker. After those first few statements, Misao's hand was going into overtime. Ayano sweat-dropped more. She'd better stop this before this goes off in a really bad direction.
"Misao-chan!" exclaimed Ayano with a slightly scolding tone.
This finally caused Misao to stop shaking the pepper shaker, which has lost about a quarter of its contents already. Misao looked surprised at the sudden outburst of Ayano. She was one of the few people who knew how Ayano can be really scary when she's mad. Misao comically raised her hands in front of her face as if to block an incoming attack.
Instead, she heard Ayano let out a long exasperated sigh. Misao slowly put down her arms and peeked to see Ayano with a calm smile on her face.
"Now, now, Misao-chan," said Ayano. "It's okay to be a little jealous of Kagami but you shouldn't really accuse her of doing all that. Kagami is the most down-to-earth person we know. She would never turn into someone that shallow. I mean, we've known her for years and she's always been one of the top students in class but she always hangs out with us and helps us with our homework."
Misao looked humbled and turned her gaze away. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Kagami is one of the most hard working people we know. I guess if she does get famous, she deserves it."
"Exactly. We should support her. Kagami would do the same for us."
"Still, I hope she still hangs out with us after she gets famous...I've always wanted a celebrity friend."
Misao placed the pepper shaker back down onto the table and started stirring the dish with her soup spoon. She took a big scoop of soup in the spoon and started to raise it to her mouth. Ayano sweat-dropped nervously.
"Um...Misao-chan are you really gonna eat that?"
"Well, I ordered it didn't I? Might as well get my money's worth."
"Um..the thing is..you actually--"
"Itadakkimasu!"
Misao took the whole spoonful in her mouth. Ayano quickly covered her ears with the hands.
"HHHHHOOOOOOTTTTT!!!!"
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Some time later.
After recovering from a slight case of mouth burn, the two friends were now out and about in the trendier part of the city. It was early in the afternoon and the shops were moderately busy with a fair amount of shoppers. Misao and Ayano were relaxing themselves by window-shopping, checking all that wonderful merchandise on display.
"I guess I really am just jealous of Kagami," said Misao. "I mean, how lucky could she be, getting that kind of job by accident. That kinda stuff usually just happens in manga."
"I think Kagami will forgive you for being a little jealous Misao-chan," said Ayano. "That's probably why she tried to hide. She didn't want us to see her any differently. That's just like Kagami."
"I wish that kinda stuff would happen to me every once in a while. Honestly I feel like second-rate background character. Do I look like I'm painted in matte to you, Ayano?"
"Geez, you always overreact to these things. Instead of counting other people's blessings, you should count your own. you should be happy about the things you have and appreciate the precious people in your life."
"Says the girl who's dating my older brother."
Ayano grinned wryly and let out a cute snicker. Misao sweat-dropped. Misao knew that Ayano, despite herself, took a little pride in being the only person in her circle of friends to have a boyfriend and though she doesn't boast about it much, it's somewhat obvious when the subject pops up in conversations like this one. To a jealous type like Misao, this was a little irritating at times.
A thought then popped into Misao's head and her own wry smile appeared. She looked towards her friend. "You know, Ayano-chan. Now that Kagami is in the entertainment business, don't you think it's likely that she'll start dating a celebrity?"
Ayano choked up for a split second before regaining her composure quickly. The thought never crossed her head until now. A few small beads of sweat appeared around her temples.
"D-Don't be silly Misao-chan. Kagami just got started some weeks ago right?"
Misao's eye sparkled. So she does worry about it. "Looks like I'm not the only jealous type, huh, Ayano-chan."
Ayano was taken aback. A few more beads of sweat appeared around her head and she quickly tried to distract herself by looking around the buildings, avoiding Misao's glance. Misao, for her part, was holding back a laugh. She knew her friend a little too much it seemed.
"You seemed like you're really worried about it, though," pressed on Misao. "And wasn't it you who said that Kagami deserves whatever she gets? Ayano, don't tell me that you'd get jealous if when we start hanging out together with her again, she's gonna drag her super-cool celebrity boyfriend along. I wonder if my onii-chan is also the jealous type."
Ayano was imagining it in her head.
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It was graduation day.
The ceremony was over and the new graduates were talking amongst themselves about their future plans. Ayano was there with her friends and her boyfriend of course. Misao was there, Kagami was there and even Konata, Tsukasa, and Miyuki were there as well. The sky was bright and the typical storm of sakura petals were blowing in the wind.
Then suddenly a handsome older man with an immensely bright aura surrounding him walks up to the small group. He was wearing a sharp-looking suit that was of the trendiest fashion and had bright, flawless skin, and handsome face and perfect hair. The man was followed by a train of photographers with still cameras and a whole bunch of screaming fans. The flash from the cameras were blinding to the girls.
All except Kagami who seemed used to the bright flashes as well as the bright aura emanating from the man.
"Have you been waiting long, my darling?" said the man to Kagami.
"Oh, not long," replied Kagami casually. "In fact you're just in time, dear."
"Now that I'm here, let me whisk you away into a life of fame and fortune as the high-profile girlfriend of a high-profile celebrity such as myself."
"Yes. I'm so glad I got a boyfriend like you."
The man then picked up Kagami like a groom carries a bride and started walking towards a huge black limousine parked at the school entrance. All the while the photographers kept taking pictures of the scene and the fans were enviously screaming. Ayano, for her part, is left dumbfounded and stares at the lovey-dovey couple as they merrily walk away into a pink haze of floating neon hearts.
At the back of her head, Ayano was starting to wonder if she was spending too much time with her more otaku friends.
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Back in the real world
Ayano shook her head clear, getting the image out of her head. Misao couldn't help but snicker, knowing what her friends was imagining right now. She enjoyed these little moments where she can tease Ayano for a change instead of always being called childish by her peers.
"Hope your not thinking of anything obscure, Ayano-chan," said Misao.
Ayano gave her friend a nervous look. "No way! Stop putting thoughts in my head already, Misao-chan. What would Kagami say if she knew we were talking about her like this?"
"She'd either be mad as heck or ridiculously amused, I'd say. knowing her it's more likely--Hey where are we anyway."
The two have been walking for a while now and have all but forgotten where they were. They had planned to go to the nearby shopping district because they both wanted to buy some stuff. It took a while for them to recognize their surroundings. Ayano was the first to notice that they were in fact in a familiar place. They used to hang out here a lot. This was a area where the dessert cafe they all liked was located. Ayano figured that walking by auto-pilot they took themselves down some familiar routes.
"Wait, isn't this where Kagami and her friends showed invited us to that dessert cafe?" asked Ayano, looking for confirmation
Misao looked thoughtful for a bit then quickly looked around. She spotted the aforementioned building quickly enough. "Hey, yeah. I think it's that one over there, right?"
"Yeah, that's the one. That means the shopping district is pretty near now. Say, maybe after we go shopping we could stop by the cafe again and grab some cake or--"
Ayano suddenly stopped in the middle of her sentence. Misao waited a good while for her friend to finish whatever she was saying but soon decided that something was not right. Misao turned to look at Ayano who happened to be gawking at something. A raised eyebrow indicated Misao's curiosity. "Hey, what's up?"
Ayano slowly lifted a pointing finger towards the cafe's window. Squinting her eyes, Misao turned back towards the cafe and...
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...inside the dessert cafe.
Kagami was dressed in her usual personal taste of semi-smart-casual wear consisting of a neat looking pink striped polo shirt with a bright red tie paired up with light blue denim short pants. Tetsuya wore something that was a little nicer to what he usually wore, having on a white shirt under a black jacket and light gray khakis over tennis shoes.
Kagami was enjoying a nice cup of tea and eating some new low-fat pastry. Tetsuya was, well not really enjoying, but he was slowly consuming a big slice of chocolate moose. The faint blush on his face was only visible if you looked carefully, which Kagami was doing. And it seemed that it was okay for her to look that closely since Tetsuya seemed to be avoiding her glance.
Kagami allowed herself to smile ever so slightly and let out a silent sigh. And here I thought I would be the shy one here, though Kagami. He won't even spare me a glance. Might as well be the one to try and break the ice here. Let's see, what did that article she once read in a magazine say about a good way to start a conversation? Oh, yeah. Talk about his clothes.
"Nice to see you dressed a little more respectable," Kagami commented. "And here I thought I would be embarrassed to be seen around you."
Tetsuya finally turned to look at Kagami. by now he was pretty much used to her snotty remarks. "That the best you got? I would've expected you at least make fun of my hair as well."
And kagami was also used to his banter by now as well. "Sorry. Blame it on me to want that at least one of our exchanges be pleasant for a change," shot back Kagami. "Your not still stuck up on being kicked out of the office, are you?"
"Yeah, that's what happens when you blurt out our afternoon plans to Aoi-san. She essentially let's us off work and makes the afternoon that much longer. Heck, she gave us a coupon for the restaurant."
Kagami couldn't help but giggle at the memory. She should really start to to listen to Tetsuya more when he says not to talk to their producer. The woman practically pushed them out the door a whole three hours before they were supposed to leave and tossed them a coupon for a twenty percent discount to a good restaurant in the area. All with a Cheshire cat grin on her face.
"Well, on the bright side, we don't have to worry about where we'll eat later. So now let's just enjoy this place," said Kagami, taking a bite out of her food.
"Why'd you pick to go to this place again?"
"Because you took so long to decide where we should hang out in the meantime and had to ask me where I wanted to go. This was the only place I could think off that was familiar and still pretty close by. Plus I like this place..."
A beat.
"...And don't you even try to make a crack at my weight, unless you wanna get defenestrated."
Tetsuya narrowed his eyes but had to grin a bit nonetheless. "Well, I owe you so, I'll ease up on you just for today."
A small vein popped on Kagami's temple for a split second there. But eventually she too had to crack a smile. They both returned to the food on their tables, knowing the penalty of what will happen if they don't finish their food within the one hour period. Really, now, was nothing gonna change between the two of them? Is it a good thing or a bad thing that they seemed to be getting used to it? Was this how it was gonna be like two, maybe even three years into their relationship, date after date afte--
Kagami's face turned a few shades of red. Where the heck did that thought come form? She shook her head clear, chasing away the thought with another, less embarrassing concept. What to talk about? Oh yeah!
"B-B-By the way," called out Kagami.
Tetsuya looked up from his food. "Yeah?"
"Some of my friends from my school's AV club came to me and asked about my new job. They basically asked if I would mind doing something like a quick Q and A session. I told them I wouldn't mind but then I'm not sure if I could say much since I haven't been on the job that long. But then I though about you and--"
"You're inviting me to sit in front a large group of otakus while they blast obscure questions at me to try and satisfy their personal fantasies and myths about the industry they obsess over."
Kagami gave him one of those looks. "Oh c'mon, now. i know you've had some unpleasing experiences at a few conventions here and there, but I know these guys. I can vouch for them."
Tetsuya still looked doubtful. "Really. I gotta make sure if these guys are genuinely serious or seriously nuts."
"They're serious, I promise. A couple members of the club are in my class and I know they have a genuine interest in media. Also, that friend of mine who asked is a doujin writer herself, and has written some stuff which she sold at Comiket."
"Comiket, huh? I guess that is pretty cool for a high schooler."
"So, will you do it?"
"As long as there aren't any really crazy otaku types there. You know, the kind who try to make it their job to cosplay."
Kagami's thoughts quickly turned to a certain blond-haired first-year student in the club. "Well...I guess there's this one girl in that club."
Tetsuya looked totally dejected. "I knew it! If that's the case, I don't think I wanna go. Honestly, I wouldn't mind these people so much if they could at least get a good enough grip on reality. This just my job! I'm not all that special! I swear, at every little show-off I go to there's always--"
"She's American."
"--when and where did you say this Q and A session is gonna happen?"
A large drop of sweat rolled down Kagami's temple. Yup, as she thought, that did the trick.
Just as their talk was reaching it's conclusion, a waitress walked up to their table right on cue. "Excuse me, but you've only got five minutes left on your hour. Would you like to extend?"
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A few minutes later.
Apparently, the two opted not to extend their time and soon they were out the door. Kagami took a moment to stretch out in the warm afternoon sun. They stood on the sidewalk for a few seconds exchanging a few words, probably discussing where to go next. It didn't take long for them to decide on something and the two started to casually walk towards the direction of the markets, standing in close proximity to each other.
This little exchange was completely seen by Ayano and Misao from across the street, both of who were comically hiding behind a storefront signpost advertising a buy-one-take-one sale on tuna. They tried to ignore all the stares they were getting form people passing by.
"Well, look at that," said Misao. "here we are, talking about Kagami's love life and here we see her on what definitely looks like a stereotypical date scenario. What are the odds, huh?"
Ayano didn't answer.
Misao continued. "But you know, from where we're looking, that guy don't look like any celebrity I know of. Maybe he isn't. Maybe he's just a normal guy, don't you think? Kagami's taste are rather plain and all."
"...We have to make sure about that."
"Well, then. I guess We'll just go and ask Kagami when we get back to school."
Misao then makes a move to stand up and leave when she suddenly felt pressure on her shoulder. She turned to see that it was Ayano who stopped her and had this look of determination on her face that made Misao all but a little bit nervous. "Um...Ayano-chan. What are you thinking?"
"We're following those two."
"...Heh?"
"C'mon! Before we lose them!"
And just like that, as she was being dragged be the collar of her shirt, Misao knew it was gonna be a long day.
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Author's note: Some of you out there will probably say that Ayano is rather OOC here and I'll agree. But she was never really expanded as a character during the run of the show so I decided to take some liberties and have a little fun by making her the jealous-type. For those of you who don't know, Ayano's boyfriend is Misao's older brother, who's probably a college student.
My pace has slowed down over the past few weeks. Sorry for that. My excuse? I'm getting a small promotion at work and I'm in the middle of training right now for the added work so some of my free time equals to study time at the moment. And I'm also taking care of my FnF fic as well.