Day 4

Friday, February 4th

Morning

Who's that girl? Eh, she seems nice enough anyways. I've got to ask her about something. I don't even know who she is. Pink hair, glasses. Is she in my class or something? I run through the hallways, trying to catch up to her. She seems to be running away. She turns around suddenly. Backs me up into a locker. What the hell. Am I being assaulted or something. She's got my arms pinned to the lockers behind me. She's leaning in. She's gonna…kiss…me…!?

Woke up today with one hell of a headache, from one hell of a dream. A lot of times I seemed to get headaches for no apparent reason. It was something I'd been dealing with my entire life, so after breakfast I popped a couple of Excedrin and called it good. Hopefully the pain would subside by the time school started. Still, that was a weird dream…but I've had weirder.

My mom caught me going for the Excedrin in the kitchen. "School stressing you out?" she asked.

"Nah, nothing super stressful anyways." I replied simply.

My dad was in the living room watching his TV as usual, one room over, and could easily overhear what was going on. He turned his head back to me from the couch he was sitting on and asked, "So how's your new gal been treatin' ya?"

"A-She's not my girlfriend, dad!" I fumed slightly.

"Aah, alright alright, but still how's she been treatin' ya?"

"Well enough," I replied, "Though she can read me like an open book for some reason…"

"Weren't ever that hard to read in the first place," Dad replied, grinning and turning back to his TV. I made a 'pfft' noise in response. "You're just like your mother in that respect, always wearing your heart and emotions on your sleeve."

"I dunno about that," Mom chimed in, "Sometimes I feel like I haven't the slightest idea what's going on in that brain of his. Worries me occasionally."

"You gotta admit though, Dad's always been good at reading people," I commented, "Anyways, I'm off to shower and get ready."

"Oh, Sakana!" Mom called to me as I went to leave as though she'd forgotten something. I turned around, and Mom hesitated. Dad looked back, and shook his head at mom.

"Yes?" I asked.

"Nevermind, you can go get ready for school, we'll explain after school," Mom replied. I shrugged and left, reasoning that it could wait if it wasn't truly urgent to them.

End of Class

"Yo," I said as I went to greet Konata.

"Heya," she replied as she was packing her things, "Ready for another day of interrogation?"

I chuckled. "No, actually, Fridays are usually the days I head to the library in lunchtime and work on my homework so I don't have any on the weekends."

"Oh, alright then," she replied nonchalantly, "Say hi to Kagami and Miyuki-san when you get there for me."

"Mmkay," I replied, "I uhh…hope you aren't upset over me ditching today…"

"Tsukasa and I might be down there too once I finish my lunch and if I have enough time, so no worries," she replied, "Besides, if you're gonna be my boyfriend, you should probably keep yourself up in grades; you're gonna need to compensate for me anyways."

I hesitated for a moment, then asked, "You ok?"

"Yeah, fine." She said simply. I wasn't buying it.

Then I grinned mischievously. "Ohh, I get it. You really are upset that I'm not gonna be around today!" I put on a silly lovey-dovey face. "Youuu weally doo wuv meee!"

She giggled, and then replied coyly, "Yeah, you'd just love that, wouldn't you?" The bell sounded, marking the end of class. "Run along to your library and silly studying and whatnot!" she said with a smile.

"Don't be too shy to come on over now!" I replied as I left for the library.

Lunchtime

Contrary what Konata had said, when I walked into the library, I saw no Kagami, so I just took a table to myself and whipped out my math homework, stealthily popping in a sushi roll. Thank goodness for my big mouth that could fit it all in one bite. Technically you weren't supposed to eat food in the library but…hey, it's not like I ever make a mess or anything! And I've never gotten caught once, as it wasn't easy to sneak a bite in here and there. Just gotta know how to do it and when.

Unfortunately, when I got about halfway through my homework, I soon realized from then on out it was Trigonometry problems.

I always hated Trig. The one math I absolutely sucked at and didn't understand in the slightest. And I didn't even bring a calculator either.

My head hit the math book open on the desk, and it stayed there for a moment before I jutted upwards because someone tapped me on the back. Poor girl, I jutted upwards too fast and I bumped her in the jaw with my head. I turned around. Turns out it was Kagami. "Oh my god I'm so sorry I didn't mean to hurt you and hit you on the jaw and I'm sorry!" I frantically said, "Are you bleeding? Do you need anything? Are you okay?"

Kagami chuckled a little while favoring the place she got hit. "Yeah, yeah I'm fine. Don't need to be so apologetic. I'm not bleeding or anything, it was just a tap really. Mind if I join you?" she asked, motioning to the table. I nodded, telling her it was okay, and she sat down to the right of me. "Trig, huh?" she said, looking at the various papers and book I had opened, "Always was pretty good at that."

"Really?" I responded dryly, though the dryness was more directed to myself than anyone else, "I always sucked at it, big time. I'm usually good at math, and when it comes to linear equations and combining integers, I can positively blow them away. But Trig's always thrown me for a loop, even in earlier grades.

"You know the laws and whatnot, right?" Kagami asked

"Yeah, but the problem is I can never figure out which sin, cosine or tangent to use for which problem. I always get the purposes and the problems mixed up, and almost always I end up getting the wrong answer because of it." I rested my head on my book once more. "This one's gonna be a bust. Who's idea was it to make these silly equations anyways? Can't a sextant or protractor or something like that measure the exact same thing in any real life position without the use of this thing!?" I began to get frustrated at myself.

"I know it's often used for measuring distances you can't really measure with a sextant," a voice said from behind me, "I think it's usually it's for things like astronomers to calculate distances between stars." I turned around, and immediately had a mini freakout when I saw who it was.

It was the girl from that dream I had today!

"W-who are you!?" I asked, absolutely flushed and frantic. Definitely the girl from my dreams. Large, round glasses, purple-pinkish eyes, pink hair, and – damn, I gotta admit, girl got bust!

The girl seemed taken aback a bit. "Uh- Takara Miyuki?"

"Something up, Sakana?" Kagami asked, "It's just Miyuki."

Not taking my eyes off of her, I asked, still slightly frantic, "You aren't gonna pin me down on any lockers or anything are you?"

Both Miyuki and Kagami tilted their heads and gave a short "eh?" sound. The area was silent for a while, both people besides me apparently trying to digest what I'd just said.

Okay Sakana, that has got to be by far the single weirdest thing you've ever said to anyone out loud. Ever.

Konata and Tsukasa walked into the library and headed to our table. "Yo, we finished our lunch so here we are!" Konata said enthusiastically, and then began to observe the scene. "And why does everyone look weird here?" Tsukasa, not knowing how to react, almost mirrored Miyuki and Kagami's reactions now, albeit a little more over her head.

I turned back around to Konata slowly, then said, "Nothing, I'll explain later, I was just doing my math homework and Kagami was helping a little." Kagami and Miyuki seemed to not even know how to respond by now, so they just decided to play it off as nothing happened, and normality resumed. Konata, Tsukasa and Miyuki took seats around the table, and we all began chatting.

"That's right," Konata said, "You haven't met Miyuki yet, have you? She's like a walking encyclopedia over here!" She leaned over to me and whispered, "And she's amazingly moe too, just watch. Her flaws are so moe that it practically comes around and makes her flawless!" I chuckled a bit at that, though I wasn't particularly weak against moe.

"I'm wouldn't say I'm flawless," Miyuki replied, apparently having heard, "I mean, my eyesight's flawed after all."

"But with your glasses, it's a moe trait," Konata pointed out.

"I'm klutzy a lot."

"Moe trait."

"I'm forgetful."

"Moe trait."

"I'm unable to-"

"Moe trait, moe trait, moe moe moe trait!" Konata rebutted to Miyuki, "I'm sorry Miyuki-san, but I can't really hear you over the amount of moe you exude from every pore in your body."

"But I-"

"Moe trait."

"What about-"

"Moe trait."

"I'm a prostitute."

"Moe traiiiiiwhaaaaaaa!?" Everyone in the table made the same "Whaaaa!?" sound besides Miyuki. A beat.

Miyuki smiled. "Just kidding! I've been looking up a lot about standup comedy lately, and one thing I read said that shock value is a powerful thing in comedy. How did I do?"

Everyone in the table besides Miyuki made an exasperated face. Tsukasa slowly said, "I don't mean to be mean or anything like that but…I don't quite think that's how a joke like that is supposed to work…"

"I just think she's too moe for standup comedy." Konata said with a catsmile on her face.

"Well hey," I chimed in, "At least you've got the 'shock' part down just fine!" Konata and I chuckled. At that moment, the bell rang for class, and everyone parted except for Konata, who stayed as I hastily gathered my things. I was the only one who'd gotten any sort of books out to put away, so Kagami, Tsukasa and Miyuki left before me. "Oh, nice meeting you Miyuki!" I said before she left, "Sorry about before, I was a bit uhh…mixed up in the head."

"It's fine, I can relate honestly," she replied, "I get my words jumbled up with people I'm supposed to say them to myself sometimes, so I understand the feeling. It was nice meeting you as well, Sakana!" she said, then turned and left. I stared at her figure as she'd left. That was the girl from my dream? It looked exactly like her, but…she's a lot gentler, that's for certain.

"Admiring how she's built?" Konata asked, apparently seeing me daze off in her direction.

I turned quickly. "Wha-NO! "

Konata grinned. "It's alright, you can admit it, I don't mind!"

"No, seriously, she's got bust and that's nice and all, but I really don't think she's my type."

"Oh? And why's that?"

"Well I…" I had to think about it for a minute. "I…don't really know. I'm sort of a klutz myself. If what you say is true, then I feel bad for any room full of fragile things that Miyuki and I are in at the same time. It'd be good enough to be classified as a disaster zone." Konata started giggling uncontrollably at something. "What, what is it? Something I said?"

"No no no, nothing you said," she replied between giggles, "It's just that, ehehe, I totally imagined you and her trying to make out."

"E-EEEHHH!?"

"Yeah-yeah! And you two'd be all like bumping each other in the nose when trying to kiss and stuff! And maybe one of you would trip and bring the other down like a pair of dominos! Then you'd give each other concussions for trying too hard! Bahahaha!"

I pouted a little as she laughed. "I don't even like her like that!"

"But it's so funny to imagine two klutzes trying to make out!"

"You're being such a shipper on deck! Anyways! We really should get going; class is almost on!"

"Oh yeah, the bell rang, didn't it? And yeah, FYI, totally shipping you and Miyuki!"

"I can tell." I replied, "Anyways, I'm off. Have a good weekend Konata."

"You too," she replied as we left the library and parted ways.

After School – Home

I walked into my house, arriving from school, to my Mom sitting at the kitchen table reading her book. "Sakana," she said, "Can we talk for a minute?"

I wasn't surprised. It was probably about what went on this morning. I pulled up a chair across from her and took a seat. "Sure, what's up?" I noticed a box of tissues to the side.

"Well, there's no easy way to say this…" Mom hesitated for a moment, clearly bothered by something, then continued, "It's your grandmother…" Immediately she had my undivided attention. "She doesn't have much longer to live. The doctors can't do anything more for her. It's not like a disease or anything…but you know, she's been slowing down the past few years…"

"Yeah, I know…" Nana hadn't exactly been in her best health lately, and it had only steadily declined from what I could tell. Bluntly speaking, it was her beginning to die simply of old age. "So it's finally come to a head now, has it?" I sighed. To be honest, I didn't really know Nana that well, but what I did know of her, I liked. She was always so…earthy, I guess you could say. Had a lot of plants and knick-knacks. Damn good to go to for advice on pretty much anything, and she was always so sweet and caring to everyone around her. She'd lived a long, full life, which is why I wasn't about to break down into tears or anything. Still, I'd miss her quite a lot…

"She says that she wants to visit and stay here for a few days before heading out for the rest of her days," Mom said, "She'll be coming over on Sunday, and staying until around Friday on the 11th, give or take a day depending on how she's feeling."

I nodded. "Ought to give me a chance to talk with her a bit more than I had before." I had always felt guilty about not talking with her as much in the past, but half of the reason was Grandpa, who was quite frankly downright scary back when he was alive. I did my best to avoid him, and consequently, Nana. But he wasn't around anymore; hadn't been for a few years, so there was no need to avoid Nana any longer.

"Don't bring this up with your father, please," Mom said, "While she's my mom, she was quite close to your father as well. Just…try to act as though Nana's just visiting for a few days, nothing more, nothing less, okay?"

Again, I nodded. "Of course."

"Good. Now head on up to your room. I need some time to myself." I understood, and went to my room, where I attempted to finish whatever homework I could.