Authors Notes: Hey everyone, well this one is the longest chapter yet! I could not find a good place to cut it off to make it into two chapters, sorry about that. I would once again like to thank all my reviewers and a special shout out for Yoshimizu Soup! Thanks man! I hope I live up to all your expectations in my writing and storytelling. Please keep all your thoughts coming!
Disclaimer: I do not own Lucky Star or any merchandise related to it. However, I do own this story yay for me! Clap, Clap, Clap!
The four girl's had finished having lunch and were already walking down the street looking for any shop to wander into. Miyuki and the Hiiragi twins were walking at a normal pace discussing topics such as school and the weather, while Konata happily skipped ahead of them.
"So where should we go first?" Tsukasa asked happily as the group made it onto one of the busiest streets in the district, although the fact that Tsukasa made it a point to be right next to one of the other three didn't escape her sister either.
"I heard that this street we're on has the most high quality street vendors." Miyuki said, raising her voice a bit so she could be heard over all the hustle and bustle.
"We should go to Gamerz!" The blunette said loudly while pointing in the direction of where she thought Gamerz was located, which was in the entirely wrong direction.
"Weren't we window shopping for our birthday?" Kagami asked as she made a hand gesture to her and Tsukasa.
"Fine…" Konata said as she drooped her head and made a quiet whimpering noise, she had always been the master at feigning sadness and Kagami knew it, yet she still broke down every time…
"Alright we can go later just stop pouting already." Kagami sighed as her little friend almost instantly returned to her former self.
"Why do I always break down when she does stuff like that?" Kagami questioned herself. "I know she's not really going to cry, but just the thought of her crying…" Kagami thought, but was quickly brought back to reality by her smaller blue haired friend.
"Yay, my Kagamin~ loves me!" The otaku shouted as she ran up and hugged Kagami tightly, obviously very happy the tsundere gave in to her. Konata's hugs were not uncomfortable for Kagami; actually she secretly loved it when she got one... However, this was in a crowded place and they were starting to get an awkward stare for the shop goers and vendors.
"Konata get off me, I've already put up with your clinginess enough for one day." Kagami said calmly trying to keep her building embarrassment and anger under control so that she didn't snap at the otaku in public.
"Aw, but Kagami is so soft and fluffy… Hey, do you think it is because of all the sweet you eat?" Konata looked up and asked the taller girl rather loudly before snuggling her face into Kagami's stomach, making the twin tailed blush more so then get angry at the comment. Konata had attracted quite a crowd adding even more embarrassment and frustration to the situation, needless to say Kagami only knew how to deal her embarrassment in one way.
Kagami balled her fists and with a swing that would've made any pro boxer proud…
"Ouch, hey that really hurt!" Konata yelped in discomfort as she vigorously rubbed her head to try and get rid of the pain, but with no such luck.
"It's your own fault for doing something like that in a public place you idiot!" Kagami snapped at her as she quickly turned away, not wanting to see the otaku struggle to stop the stinging in her head that Kagami had caused.
"I might have hit her to hard; I should apologize… No, she deserved what she got! She should know better than to act out in public!" Kagami said to herself, trying to convince her softer side that what she did was the correct thing to do in this situation.
Konata sat on her knees rubbing her head. "What's wrong with me? Why can't I do anything right? Now Kagami is mad at me again…" The blunette mentally smacked herself for not being able to have a good time with her friend, due to always making her mad, or embarrassed, or upset, or... The list seemed to just go on...
After a few moments the crowd that had gathered to the hint quickly dispersed, leaveing the four girls standing alone on the street for the moment. Kagami was standing arms folded not looking at Konata. Konata was still rubbing her head trying to think of any way to make it stop hurting, while Tsukasa and Miyuki were trying to think of a way to save their outing.
"How about we go in that store Onee-chan?" Tsukasa said quickly as she pointed to a random store, not knowing what it was it just happened to be where her finger landed.
"Sure Tsukasa, let's go." Kagami huffed as she started to walk away from the tiny girl, who had yet to get off the sidewalk. Suddenly Kagami felt a tugging from her sleeve that stopped her in her tracks.
"I'm sorry Kagami…" Konata said in barely a whisper, but somehow Kagami could hear it as plain as day.
All Konata said were those three words, but at that moment both Konata and Kagami thought the world stopped around them.
Konata gasped as she stumbled backwards, almost crawling away from the taller girl. "I don't remember ever saying I'm sorry to anyone for anything, why now?" Konata wasn't a mean child, but the need for her to apologize never presented itself before so why now?
"It was a harmless joke; it's not my fault she got so bent out of shape, why should I be sorry?" Konata was still unsure what had possessed her to apologize once she saw Kagami begin to walk away from her, all the blunette knew was that it hurt to watch the younger girl walk away.
"Maybe I should stop making those kinds of jokes…"
Kagami, Miyuki, and Tsukasa were just as shocked as she was. However, they were showing it unlike Konata, who had reseated herself on her knees and simply looked down, trying to hide her face with her bangs.
The two youngest girls stood quietly to see what Kagami's reaction to this would be.
"Oh my word she just apologized and Konata never apologizes!" Kagami screamed in her mind, could she be changing the otaku for the better? Could Konata finally she the error of her ways? Kagami didn't want to get too hopeful, but there was no harm in trying.
"Onee-chan…" Tsukasa mumbled softly after a few minutes had passed with no reaction from either girl.
Kagami snapped out of her thoughts and glanced over at her sister and Miyuki, then back to Konata. With a warm and reassuring smile, Kagami slowly walked over to where her best friend sat on the side walk.
Konata saw the taller girl walking towards her and knew it was the end. "This is it, I'm either going to be laughed at or hit. And I don't know which is worse." Konata said to herself as she prepared for the blow that would never come and the mocking that would never happen.
It was the shopping district after all so the four girls weren't alone on the street for very long. More people had started to pass by and a few of them assumed that the girls were preforming a sidewalk show, in a matter of minutes the group had been surrounded, but Kagami and Konata didn't seem to notice.
"Konata..." Kagami said just loud enough for Konata to hear. As soon as the tiny girl looked up she was grabbed into a big hug from the taller girl. Konata felt warm inside. This was the first time Kagami ever hugged her first. Actually, she couldn't remember Kagami returning any of her hugs at all.
"I'm sorry too; let's just have fun today okay?" Kagami whispered into Konata's ear making the blunette smile and nod enthusiastically as she wraped her arms around the older twin as well, both feeling something very warm in their chests...
Suddenly there was a loud round of applauds from the bystanders startling both of the high school girls bad enough for them to jump apart. As far as the crowd was concerned, those two girl were from some drama school and just put on a really sweet little performance for all those out shopping that day.
While Kagami was a little stunned, Konata took it in stride and happily jumped up and began bowing to her new fans. "Isn't she cute?" Konata asked happily motioning to Kagami as the tsundere stood up and brushed off her skirt, blushing madly.
Kagami wanted to be mad at the otaku for directing all the attention back on her yet again, but that's just how her otaku was.
"When all those people started to crowd around you guys I got really nervous." Tsukasa giggled as the group continued on down the street. The crowd had insisted they do another skit, but despite the blunette's agreement and attempt to persuade her tsundere, said tsundere absolutely refused.
"That was so embarrassing…" Kagami mumbled, head hung low realizing that she could never come back to the shopping district. She would always be known as that one street performer girl…
"That was so awesome; you think I can get free stuff if we come back here?" Konata asked cheerfully already thinking of how she could use this turn of event to her advantage. Kagami couldn't understand how Konata was so happy, but decided that she was going to be happy as well so all four of them could fully enjoy the day out.
There group spent the next few hours traveling from store to store, browsing more so than window shopping. The group found a small bookstore that had just recently opened up and had a sign claiming that if they didn't have the book you wanted they would give you one for free, so of course Konata had to check to see if they had a manga section, taking Tsukasa along with her.
After browsing through the store for a few minutes Kagami found a certain book she had been wanting, she quickly snatched it up and rushed over to Konata.
"Konata I want this for my birthday." Kagami said cheekily as she held up the item like it was the greatest thing in the world, which to her at that moment very well could have been.
"Yuck why would you want that? Do you even know what that is?" Konata asked rather seriously, her voice filled with dread.
"Yeah, it's a romance novel?" "Well yeah, it's just a romance novel?" Kagami said a little confused as she turned the book over and looked at the back cover, not seeing anything wrong with it.
"That is exactly what it is!" Konata shouted exuberantly as she waved her arms up and down, causing a small smile to make its way onto Kagami's lips.
"I should have been expecting that." Kagami giggled to herself.
"It's a very evil thing, it needs to be shunned!" Konata said as she crossed her arms into an X and backed away from the accursed book with no pictures.
"I'm being serious; it's the last book in my favorite trilogy!" Kagami said with a sigh, not understanding how one person could be so against any form of knowledge. "Besides it's only 2,000 yen so you should be able to afford it."
"2,000 yen, that's outrageous!" Konata shouted as she pretended to faint, while Tsukasa just giggled and caught her smaller friend.
"Come on Konata it's not that much." Kagami groaned, as much as she liked her best friend, her antics did get tiring.
"Is there anything that you would like from here Tsukasa-chan?" Miyuki asked sweetly, wondering if Tsukasa maybe found a book about puppies or such.
"No not from here, but the next store we go to will have lots of stuff I like!" Tsukasa pumped her fist in the air similar to the way Konata does. The stuff Tsukasa did like, she got passionate about.
"Alright then, I will wait till then to start getting some ideas." Miyuki giggled. "She is really cute when she gets all excited like that!" Miyuki thought with a smile.
"Hey Kagami, why don't you just buy the collectors addition? You get all three books plus a sketch book filled with drawings of the characters." Konata said as she held up one of the box sets for Kagami to look at.
"I already own one and two, so getting those is no big deal and the art book isn't worth the extra money." Kagami said as she shot Konata's theory full of holes, although the art book was kind of tempting.
"If you say so Kagamin~." Konata said with her devious cat like smile.
"Just try to remember this book, okay?" Kagami sighed as she put the book back onto its self, mentally accepting that she would not be receiving it from the tiny otaku for her birthday.
"Well we had better go or Tsukasa might just pop from excitement!" Konata said loudly as she grabbed the younger twin by the wrist and began pulling her out the door, leaving Kagami and Miyuki to apologize for all the noise they had caused.
Konata and Tsukasa had made it a good distance by the time Kagami and Miyuki came onto the street. Kagami was determined to give the two a good scolding for causing such a ruckus in the bookstore.
"Hey you two wait right there!" Kagami shouted as she took off down the street, successfully catching up to the two shorter girls, who were laughing at this point.
Kagami didn't waste any time in getting the tiny blunette into a headlock, then proceeding to give her a noogie. Konata tried to squirm away, but the tsundere had her pretty much locked in place.
"They just have to have feelings for each other, but how do I help them realize it?" Miyuki thought to herself as she watched the sight before her. Both Kagami and Konata seemed to be opening up to each other a lot more as of late and this didn't escape the pinkette in the least…
"Hey Miyuki the cross walk light is green hurry up!" Konata laughed as she ripped Miyuki from her thoughts.
"Oh well, maybe I'll ponder this a bit more a little later." Miyuki thought to herself as she jaunted a crossed the intersection with a graceful fashion.
"Sorry about that everyone, by the way did you decided on the next store Tsukasa-chan?" Miyuki asked sweetly and a little light on breathe.
"You'll all see soon enough, come on!" The airhead said with excitement as she took up the spot of leader for the group.
"We're almost there!" Tsukasa stated happily, her excitement bubbling up inside her making it obvious she really liked where ever they were going.
"Well it looks like someone is excited, isn't that right Kagami…?" Konata said as she turned to look at her friend, but found her missing. "Kagami…?"
Konata turned around to see the tsundere had stopped and was looking intently at a window, as if it was alive and talking to her. The others went back to see what had caught her eye; it was a window display of a very beautiful bright blue yukata with dark violet ribbons.
"Kagami would look great in that, and there's a festival coming up soon I think!" Konata was super happy until she saw the price tag, which read 30,000 yen.
"Aw man, that's like two months of salary." Konata whined in her mind as she quickly did the math, despite being so bad at it.
"It's very lovely and well made." Miyuki said as she examined the yukata through the window.
"Yeah it's so pretty!" The younger twin said with awe as she looked at the fancy yukata that she would probably never wear, for that matter she didn't plan on ever wearing a really nice one just because she was so clumsy, she might ruin it.
"Isn't it though…?" Kagami said as if she were in some sort of trance. "It's a shame it costs so much." The tsundere sighed as her persona went back to normal.
"Yes it is rather pricy isn't it?" Miyuki said thoughtfully, wondering if Tsukasa might like something like that for her gift.
"Alright guy we can go, sorry for holding us up." Kagami said as the foursome started to walk away from the tiny store; however, a little old woman came out of the shop and stopped them.
"Excuse me, but I saw you admiring my handy work." The little old woman said with a rather large smile set on her face. "Would you like to try it on young lady?" The woman asked as she looked at Kagami, who blushed a little for some unknown reason.
"Um, well, no thank you." Kagami said a bit frantic not expecting to be asked something like that, I mean it was such a nice yukata… She couldn't possibly get to just wear it, could she?
"I think you should sis, I bet it looks really cute on you!" Tsukasa stated happily as she grabbed one of her sisters hands and began pulling her back towards the shop.
"Don't worry, it'll be fun!" Konata said enthusiastically as she grabbed Kagami's other hand, helping the younger twin pull.
"If you guys say so…" Kagami said with a blush as she was pulled into the store.
"Thank you for your kindness, sorry for any trouble we caused." Miyuki politely apologized with a small bow.
"It's no trouble at all." The woman said with a small laugh, she had seen girls like them before always drooling over the display yukata. She really didn't mind if they wanted to try it on, that is what she made them for in the first place, for cute young girls to wear.
"Alright we will be right back out." The little old woman said as she grabbed the yukata off the manikin in the window and her and Kagami went back into one of the dressing rooms.
After a few moments Kagami came out wearing not only the yukata, but a bright red blush as well.
"W-well what do you guys think?" Kagami asked shyly as she gave a little twirl to show off the yukata in its entirety.
"You look great sis!" Tsukasa chirped happily as she clapped for her sister, Miyuki gave Kagami a warm smile and nod. While Kagami was happy that those two liked it, she was more interested in what Konata had to say for some reason.
Konata just sat there… Looking at her… Now Kagami was really nervous. What if she was too fat for this kind of yukata? What if she just wasn't pretty enough to look good in one this well-made?
"You look beautiful." Konata said quietly as she nodded her head a few times, she wanted to make sure that the look on Kagami's face was forever ingrained in her mind.
"Wh-what?" Kagami stammered. She could not believe her own ears; Konata had just called her beautiful. "Sh-she thinks I look bea-beautiful!" As she thought this, she got even shyer.
"May I take it off now? It's kind of hot in here." A very flustered Kagami asked, she didn't know how much longer she could take the intense stare that Konata was giving her.
"Of course you can, come back here and I'll help you." The woman said sweetly as she led Kagami back into the dressing room.
"The one with the blue hair is your girlfriend, right?" The little old lady asked slyly as she took her time helping Kagami out of the robe.
"Wh-what, n-n-no sh-she is n-not!" Kagami said quite frantically as she waved her hands in the air to add more effect since her words didn't seem to change the smirk on the old woman's lips.
"I see, well don't let her get away; she's a keeper." The women winked at her. This wasn't Kagami's day to get rid of a blush and keep it gone for any length of time.
"Well we need to be going, thank you ma'am." A red faced Kagami said, bowing rather hastily and then speed walking out the shop doors and onto the street, quickly followed by the two younger girls of the group.
Konata walked up to the lady and tapped her on the shoulder a few times to get her attention. "Can you hang on to that for me?" Konata asked pointing at the yukata that Kagami had just been wearing.
"Of course, but it isn't in your size?" The little old lady asked slyly and for the first time in a while Konata's face lit up a light pink.
"I know, but after seeing what she looks like when she wears it… I think I have to get it for her!" Konata cheered as she gave the woman a thumbs up, before quickly leaving the store to catch up with her friends.
"Kids these days, so full of love and they don't even know it." The woman sighed happily as she went about attending to her store.
With the addition of Konata back into the group the girls set out for the store that Tsukasa had so desperately wanted to go to. As they walked, they carried on small conversations, ones that didn't last very long and mostly consisted of anime thanks to the otaku of the group.
"Okay you guys, we're here!" Tsukasa said gleefully as the group stopped right outside a large toy store, one that Tsukasa had wanted to go to for weeks.
"I should have known." Kagami smiled, small sigh escaping her lips while Tsukasa embarrassedly scratched the back of her head.
"Come on Kona-chan, let's go look for cute stuff!" Tsukasa said happily as she grabbed the older girl's hand and swiftly made off with her, leaving the other two in the group standing there with bemused smiles on the faces.
"Oh, I guess now would be a sufficient time to talk to Kagami-san…" Miyuki thought as she picked up her pace slightly so she could be walking right next to the older twin. "Do you mind if I ask you something Kagami-san?" Miyuki said sweetly.
"Sure Miyuki what is it?" Kagami said almost lethargically as she picked up different little things she thought her sister might like as the two went deeper into the massive toy store.
"I wanted to know where you stand on the subject concerning Yuri couples." Miyuki said with the same tone of voice that she always had and looking back Miyuki realized that she might have been able to have worded that sentence better.
Kagami's face lit up a bright red at the sudden, very personal question that Miyuki just asked her. Kagami's mind was raging, what does she say? She didn't love… There was no way, but even still how did she feel about something like that… If it was true love would she do the same thing?
"Why do you ask Miyuki?" Kagami nervously tried to redirect the question so that she maybe didn't have to answer.
"I was thinking about coming out and wanted to know if you would hate me for it." Miyuki said with little hesitation, once again shocking the older girl. Miyuki had thought about love from both direction so that would at least make her Bi, correct? Therefor it wasn't a lie, she just wanted Kagami's honest opinion and when it came to her friends, Kagami was nothing but honest.
"I could never hate you Miyuki, I guess as long as the love is real then it doesn't matter, right?" Kagami said with a smile as she tried to hide that she was blushing. "And don't worry I'll support you when you decide to tell the others." Kagami added with a caring smile, making Miyuki blush slightly.
"Thank you Kagami-san, I'll remember that." Miyuki said with a small bow.
Inside Miyuki was overjoyed, knowing now how Kagami felt, it was only a matter of time before those two got together. Miyuki had a funny feeling that Kagami was going to come out long before she ever did, but who knows right?
Miyuki loved romance novel and in terms that Konata would use, Miyuki was a hopeless romantic so to see a love story play out before her very eyes was absolutely thrilling. Not to mention that in this story she could have a hand on what the outcome was…
The two had been walking and talking for some time, when they heard a crash and Tsukasa's muffled scream. Both Kagami and Miyuki bolted through the store they soon found the two immature girls in one of the toy aisles, Konata sitting with a look of distress on her face.
"What happened?" Kagami demanded as she rushed over to her sister and then Konata.
"I went to grab something and couldn't reach it… So Kona-chan said she would get it, but then… Some kids ran through here and bumped her off… She fell… And…" Tsukasa couldn't say any more due to the tears welling up in her eyes and the sobs burning in her throat.
"It's okay, really I should have known better than to try and climb up the silly thing." Konata said as she painfully stood up, her back pulsing with pain every time her heart beat.
"I'm so sorry Kona-chan!" Tsukasa said sadly as Konata rested her body against the shelf.
"I said don't worry about it okay? I think I should go home for today though…" Konata said with a sad smile, a little upset the day had to end in such a fashion.
"I'll take you home…" Kagami said as she grabbed one of Konata's arms to help support her.
"I don't want to ruin your day guys; I can get home on my own." Konata said with a laugh as she tried to pull away from the taller girl, but quickly found that she wasn't getting away so easily.
"Not gonna happen." Kagami said flatly.
"How about this then, Kagami-san will take Izumi-san home and Tsukasa-chan and I will do a little more shopping?" Miyuki suggested knowing that would make everybody happy, plus it would give those two even more alone time…
The group split and went their separate ways, Miyuki and Tsukasa went to check out the stuffed animal section, while Kagami helped Konata home.
Konata refused to let Kagami support her the whole way and even though it hurt she managed to make it to the train station of her own accord. It was on the train however, that she really started to feel the pain.
"Lean on me." Kagami commanded. Although she didn't look in the larger girl's direction, Konata knew she had a pretty pink blush. Leaning on the younger girl helped and after Konata rested her head on Kagami's arm the train ride seemed to fly by.
"Dad is out of town for the afternoon and Yu-chan is with her mom for lunch so the house is ours." Konata laughed as Kagami insisted on helping her up the stairs.
"I'll tell ya' landing on your back is not a fun way to land." Konata laughed as the two entered her room. Kagami let go and walked up next to the bed and looked at it for a few moments before she got an idea.
"So what now?" Konata asked as she tried to flip on the light, only to find it had burnt out.
Kagami turned around and looked at her tiny friend with a devious sort of smile before saying…
"Konata, I want you to take off your shirt and lie on the bed."
Ending Notes: One Japanese yen = 0.0120 U.S. Dollars.