"Yu-chan, is everything okay?"
Konata wasn't sure what she expected to find when she opened the door to Yutaka's room, but it wasn't Minami lying on Yutaka's legs atop her bed as the two were holding Nintendo DS consoles.
"Ah, Kona-chan, hello!" replied Yutaka chirpily. "Yeah, we've been fine, why?"
Konata hesitated. "It's just that... you've been awful quiet today. I usually hear you talking to miss Iwasaki, but today I haven't heard anything."
Yutaka nodded. "Yeah, she's having one of those days where she doesn't feel able to say anything."
This seemed to confuse Konata. "What, she just goes non-vocal? Surely she can talk, right?"
Minami looked over and seemed to be straining to speak, but nothing came out but air and some very quiet, high-pitched sounds. She then looked away in shame.
"It's a psychological thing. Sometimes she just finds herself mentally overwhelmed and physically can't get the words out even when she wants to," Yutaka explained, petting Minami's head reassuringly. The silent girl blushed but seemed happy to feel her friend's touch.
Konata looked as though she'd just learned something new. "I've been speechless before, but I don't think I've ever been speechless inthat way. More that I just can't really summon the energy to speak more than a brief mumble."
"Minami's had some rough experiences in the past. Sometimes she has nightmares that really shake her up and she can't speak for hours afterwards."
"I never saw her as the type to still get bad dreams like that", Konata observed.
Yutaka was quick to explain, "She doesn't like to go into the details, you understand."
"Of course," agreed Konata. "But she's happy other than that?"
"Yeah, she's felling good!" Yutaka exclaimed, showing her DS to Konata. "She's been using Pictochat to communicate anything that doesn't come across from body language alone."
Konata noticed that Minami's calligraphy seemed very neat even on the tiny and imprecise DS touchscreen, though sometimes accompanied by little doodles of Cherry or other cute details like cat paws or a sleepy rabbit.
"She's a much more sensitive girl than I realised, isn't she?" wondered Konata.
Yutaka smiled. "Minami-chan is really sweet and caring, and has a massive heart. I wish people would see her for the lovely person she really is instead of being so afraid of her..."
Minami appeared flattered, but shy, smiling a little. Yutaka then surprised her with a kiss on the cheek, causing her to hold her arms to her torso and wave her hands up and down excitedly like a little bird flapping its wings, face flushed.
"Normally I'd make some kind of yuri comment, but honestly she's too cute to corrupt like that," admitted Konata earnestly. "I'm glad you're both getting on so well, just let me know if you two need anything."
"Of course!" Yutaka replied, now wrapping one arm around Minami, who covered her face with both hands from shyness at what had transpired but seemed very happy with the situation on balance, her inability to speak notwithstanding.
Konata gently departed and elected not to tell Hiyori she'd seen anything for fear of ruining the mood between the two lovebirds in the other room. Some things just aren't for sharing.