Day 7

Monday, February 7th

Morning

Not a terribly unusual morning for me, though I did have to try to be quieter so that I wouldn't wake Nana up. I thought at the time that, considering her hearing probably wasn't as up to snuff, there wasn't really any need to be quieter, but my parents insisted that I try, and I suppose better safe than sorry.

After having all of my things ready, I headed outside just as Aika began to pass by. We greeted each other and walked together to school.

"So, it's been a full week now since things got started between you two?" Aika asked.

"Well, not technically," I replied, "Things really got kicked off on the 2nd."

"Yeah but you approached her on the first," she said, "So that day counts too!"

I sighed smiling. "Alright then, have it your way. It's been a full week."

"Sooooo…" she said, leaning forward and looking up at me mischievously, "What's the first week assessment then?"

I blinked and looked at her slightly puzzled. "Not sure what you mean."

"Oh don't play dumb!" she exclaimed as I grinned a little.

"Well, if you must know, she's everything I could have wanted and then some. And yet…"

"And yet…?"

"…I'm not sure. "

"I love how specific you're being, Sakana."

"Lemme alone! I just don't know the right words!"

"Having doubts?"

"N-no! Why am I getting asked that lately?" Truthfully, I was having doubts, but I didn't want to admit it. Up until now I hadn't really had any sort of relationship before, and as much as I didn't want to acknowledge them, my insecurities were probably shining through pretty powerfully at this point. Then again, it's not like Konata and I were together, so I didn't honestly feel like I had to worry about it too much. For now, anyways.

"Oh, I think I know what's going on…" Aika straightened herself out now, walking triumphantly as though she'd solved a great riddle.

I arched an eyebrow. "Oh, do tell."

"You're beginning to like someone else in her group, and you're having conflicting emotions between them!"

"…" I was dumbfounded for a moment before beginning to laugh harder than I had in a long time. "Ah-ahahaha-and where did-aha-that come from!?"

"Not it at all?" she asked somewhat disappointed.

"Not at all, my friend." I replied, grinning, "I've been 'crazy about Konata' as you've said before, for two years now, and I don't think that's liable to change anytime soon."

"Hmmmm…" Aika puffed her cheeks a little, "And I was so sure I'd gotten it too."

During Class

Everything seemed oddly average today so far. Nothing easy, but nothing mind-bending either. Class was no exception. Kuroi-sensei's lecture finished early, so after chatting idly with Aika for a few minutes, I went over to where Kagami, Konata and Tsukasa had situated themselves. "You can pop that trig paper out now so I can look at it if you want," Kagami said as I approached, reading my mind on what I was going to ask. I did just that, and handed it to her.

"I tried to make my paper more legible." I said apologetically.

"I see that," she said, relieved, "I can actually read it just fine now." My consequent sigh of relief mirrored hers nicely.

"Hey," Konata suddenly piped up, "What did you say the visual novel you read was again, James?"

I blinked. "Erm…Umineko no Naku Koro ni, it was called. I actually really liked it, it's one of my favorite stories of all time."

A mischievous grin formed on Konata. "I'll keep that in mind."

"Oh geez, what are you planning?" Kagami asked, eyes glancing away from my paper and to Konata.

"It's a surprise!" she exclaimed, "My plan should be done in about a week!"

A surprise, huh? What could it be…maybe some sort of special game patch? Nah, she's no programmer. At least, I don't think so…maybe she's going to cosplay? Oh my god...she'd be perfect as Furudo Erika! Oh my god oh my god oh my god...if she did that I might just explode in the heart!

"I uh...look forward to it." I stated with a slight nervous twinge.

"There are a few mistakes, I think you mixed up on your cosine and tangents again," Kagami reported, "But it's a lot better than last time. Make more progress like this and you'll probably be just fine for the exam."

I clicked my tongue, giving an unsatisfied look more to myself than anyone.

"Don't beat yourself up over it too much," Kagami nonchalantly stated, "I can tell you're trying, unlike a certain blue haired someone you're trying to court." she dryly ended with a dirty glance towards Konata. I gave a bit of a blush while Konata delivered a sheepish grin.

"W-well uh...thanks for the help and encouragement, Kagami." I meekly chimed as she handed my paper back to me. It really was a huge help for me - I was better at math than Aika, so she never was any help and I had to fend for myself for the most part. The change in pace with having someone I could bounce work off of was something I didn't realize just how much I'd appreciate.

"No problem." Kagami replied satisfied.

Lunchtime

"Hey Sakana, you should come over to my place today!"

That was Konata, suddenly exclaiming that as I ate my sushi next to her, across from Kagami. Learning from my previous mistake, I didn't swallow until my shock abated, and avoided choking.

"Uh...I-i mean..."

"C'monnn, that's the sort of thing you should agree to without hesitation! Spending time at your crush's place?"

"W-well it's just...is that okay?"

"Well if you say she's just a friend like you keep saying to everyone else," Kagami pointed out, "Then it should be okay, right?"

"Well..."

Wait, did she just put me in checkmate!? If I say she's right, that would imply I don't like her! If I don't, then the problem still exists!

I hung my head. "You got me there, Kagami...b-but, what about your parents, Konata?"

"Iiii wouldn't worry too much about my dad, he'll probably make a big deal out of it at first, but just leave you alone afterwards. That or I could just tell him that you prefer guys."

And there went a stray grain of rice to choke me a bit again. After a small coughing bout, I chuckled a little. "U-uh...yeah, uh...I don't think that'd be necessary. But uh...what would we do at your place?" My mind raced a little with possibilities. Maybe I could even get my first kiss!

"Um...Sakana?" Tsukasa, who hadn't said much until now, called lightly to get me to come back to my senses.

"Ah, uh...yeah?"

"Your face is all reddy-red."

My face did feel a slight bit hotter than usual.

"Probably fantasizing about certain things involving me, kukuku~" Konata chortled with a mischievous I-know-what-you're-thinking smile.

"N-NOTHING THAT BAD, YEESH!" I hotly retorted.

"Ohhh?"

"It wasn't!"

"Well fantasize all you want, kid. We're probably just gonna play video games together anyway, kufufu~"

"T-that's fine! I'm okay with that! And what're you calling me kid for, we're the same age!"

It was half true. I was perfectly fine if it was left at some friendly gaming, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to at least have my first kiss. And over some games too? For a gamer myself, that'd be the most romantic thing!

"You're going red again." Kagami pointed out.

"Shuddup."

After School

"Your place is pretty far, huh?" I asked Konata as her and I boarded a metro train, "I mean, if you have to take a train here and all..."

"Yeah, but it's fine. You learn the train system pretty quick."

"I suppose..." Train systems have always escaped me, so I had to have faith that Konata knew where she was going. Also, how am I gonna know how to get back...?

"Ah, we're here."

"Huh? But...that was only a couple of stops..." I tilted my head in confusion as Konata got off the train and I followed.

"Why walk it when it just takes me there?" Konata replied, "Besides, Tsukasa and Kagami take the same route just a little further, so it's convenient to go with them too."

"That reminds me, why didn't they come with us?"

"Mmmm...not sure. I think Kagami went to study a bit more after school. Maybe Tsukasa just tagged along."

"And Miyuki?"

"Who knows."

Why do you like Konata?

Miyuki's words echoed in my head suddenly at the thought of her.

It wasn't too long before we got to Konata's place. "I'm home~" she called out as she waltzed in, while I kicked my shoes off to the side of the entrance.

An unknown male voice replied with a rather high pitched tone, "Hi there, honey!"

"I brought along a new friend, hope you don't mind~" she replied.

"Ohhh? Is it a boy~?"

Konata leaned to me with a little whisper, "He always asks that. This'll be interesting." She then leaned away to call out, "Yeah, actually!"

"Wh-!" I heard a small amount of clanging and scrambling before an older guy peeked around the corner. "Well, I'll say! You've caught yourself a bit of a rebel, huh!? Long blonde hair, tall, thin, eyes to match yours..." I was taken slightly aback, but less out of fear and more out of...'wha?' factor. He now confidently strolled out slowly before dynamically pointed at me with a pose you might see in Gurren Lagann, "I'm Konata's father, Sojiro! You might think you can go out with my daughter, but you'd better treat my princess with the best care you've got, or else you'll have to deal with my burning heart of fury!"

My eyes just widened with a big closed-mouth smile on my face, a look clearly stating what the hell did I just get myself into?

"Uh...dad, he's just a friend, don't worry about it." Konata said with a mild flat tone.

"Oh..." Sojiro's expression immediately changed into a sheepish one, "Well uh...you two just have fun then~" And off he seemed to wave into a different room. I thought that was the end of it until a second later he called out, "That's how it always starts, thoughhhhh!"

Konata just gave a cheeky grin. "Don't mind him too much, he's totally harmless."

A sniffle emitted from the other room over. "F-from my own daughter...so harsh..."

I just smiled awkwardly and itched the back of my head. "So uh...where's the games? What sorta consoles do you have?"

The voice of her dad from the other room suddenly said in a low, satisfied tone, "Ah, that's the first question he asks...yes, he could be worthy!"

"Uhhh..."

"Again, don't worry too much about him," Konata assured me, "He tends to dote on me a lot since Mom isn't around anymore."

"Ah..." Wonder what happened...I won't pry. Just games now.

"I basically have everything you could want. All the consoles so far! What do you like to play?" Konata asked.

"Mmm...well, I enjoy Soul Calibur, 3 in particular...I like a lot of the older stuff like Mario Kart 64 and Goldeneye007. Kingdom Hearts is fun, but not two player, although we could pass the controller around for a singleplayer game if you were down with that...the PS2 Silent Hill games are really good, I enjoy them a lot, and uh...Castlevania's up there, but again a lot of the stuff I play...I'm beginning to realize isn't exactly multiplayer..."

"Sounds like you've led a lonely life." Konata wistfully replied with an air of mischievous teasing.

"Ah-hey! I'm not that much of a loner! I just never really had anyone to play games with other than Aika, and she's way more of an MMO person than I am."

"Well, I like me some fighting games, so we'll go with Soul Calibur then to start it out, mm?"

I smiled pretty enthusiastically. "Yeah, absolutely!"

"Who's your main?" she asked as she popped in the disc and grabbed a controller.

"I'm good with a few. Siegfriend, Raphael...Seong-Mina is probably my best though."

"Aaah, I'm partial to Maxi myself! His flow can confuse the opponents sometimes~ hey, don't hold back just because you have a thing for me, alright?"

I blushed, but showed a grin through it. "C'mon, that'd just be low if I went easy on ya. I give everyone my best unless they're a new player, and I can tell you aren't, so there's no way I'm going easy!"

"Good! That's how I like it~"

Evening

The score in Soul Calibur so far was 15-7 in favor of Konata, with each match being comprised of first-to-three rounds. Various match-ups were had, character changes, experimentation, but in the end Konata could handily beat me twice for every time I could beat her. It wasn't like I couldn't win...but man, she was a beast at fighting games, and Soul Calibur was no exception. I was starting to become mentally fatigued, and I could see Konata wavering a little as well out of sheer attrition if nothing else.

"Hauh...I have to admit," Konata began, "You're givin' me more of a run for my money than most people in the arcades. I can't let my guard down with you at all."

"Yeah well, it's the only fighting game I'm decent at and the only one I ever consistently owned, so I got practice on my side."

"Really? What about Street Fighter?"

"Oh god, I'm abysmal at that one."

"Smash Bros?"

"I never owned a Gamecube and I only played it at parties, so I'm...subpar at that one."

"Okay, but what about Tekken?"

"It totally passed me by for some reason. Played the first one when I was really, really young, but I dunno what happened to it when I got older. It's been years."

"Dead or Alive?"

"Never played it."

"Even the Beach Volleyball series!?" It almost sounded like genuine horror from her mouth when she said that.

"I mean, I've heard about that one from reputation, but uh...never played it myself. That one isn't even a fighting game though, is it?"

"Hauuuh, still though! King of Fighters? Melty Blood? Arcana Hearts?"

I hung my head in shame. "I played Arcana Hearts in an anime convention once, but that's it."

"Geez...you really did grow up lonely, didn't you?"

"S-shuddup! I had Aika, so it was fine~"

"She was your only friend? Also, I've been meanin' to ask, why isn't she your girlfriend already?"

"A-wh-w-well I just-uh-s-she has a boyfriend already! A-and besides, I was never that interested in her like that and she wasn't interested in me like that so it's pretty much an agreed purely platonic thing!" I blushed at the rogue thought of Aika and I being together. It just seemed so...weird. Off-putting. Yeah, she was my childhood friend, but as far as I knew, neither of us even came close to seeing each other that way. "Thinking about us like...that...I dunno, it's really werid...kinda feels wrong, y'know?"

"So she's like a sister to you?" Konata asked.

I opened my mouth, then closed it for a moment. "Actually...yeah kinda."

"Y'think if I was the childhood friend instead, she'd be the one you'd be fawning over?"

"Y-you mean like if the roles reversed between you and her?"

"Yeah, yeah!"

"I uh...I have no idea. The thought of me having any sort of feelings like that for her is just so...outlandish to me. It's hard to imagine. I have no idea how to answer that question..."

"Eh, it was just a what-if question, don't gotta break your head over it."

I thought for a few moments. Maybe that's the only thing that sets her and Konata apart. Sheer circumstance? Could it be that simple?

"Hey, I just got an idea!" Konata exclaimed. I tilted my head with a slight 'mm?' sound, interested. "We're both winding down, right? Let's call this next one here the last match. We go all-out here! I pick my best, you pick yours!"

"That'll mean Seong-Mina for me."

"And that'll mean Maxi for me!"

"Isn't that a bad matchup for you? The reach of my character's halberd is pretty superior to yours' nunchucks..."

"Haven't you ever heard the phrase 'it's not the size that matters, but more how you use it'?"

I blushed madly. Konata didn't seem to care.

"W-w-well okay then, I see your point!" I managed to sputter out.

"Good, so there's no problem. Now, to make it more interesting, if I win, you owe me...mmm, how about a meal? You said you were a pretty good cook, right?"

"Uh...well, I like to think I am, anyways..."

"And if you win, I have to kiss you!"

What? Did I hear that right?

If I wasn't blushing hard enough from that innuendo earlier, that turned it up to eleven.

"Man, Sakana, with that reaction, it's like you've never been kissed by a girl your age!"

I blushed harder and hid my face behind my hair, something I didn't usually do in public.

"Wait...no way. Sakana, you're, what, sixteen, seventeen, and you've never even kissed a girl before!?"

"S-stooop! It's embarrassing!" I turned my head away, stuttering and sputtering my way through sentences, "I-it's not like I ever really needed to a-and no situations ever a-arose!"

"No situations arose? Sakana..." Konata had the biggest tease-grin in the world on right now. "You've never even had a girlfriend before, have you?"

I squirmed away slightly out of embarrassment.

"I was the first girl you've ever asked out, wasn't I?"

I squirmed and squeaked. I must have looked either pathetic or like some sort of male moeblob.

Konata seemed to back the teasing tone off a little now, still lighthearted though. "Well, you've certainly got guts, I'll give ya that! To have just come up to me a week ago and asked out of nowhere out of the blue for the first time, no wonder you were such a mess! Man, how long have you even liked me for? Six months? A year?"

I shook my head silently, even more embarrassed.

"A year and a half!?"

I shook my head again. I'd been talking about it with Aika for a year and a half, but really it was...

"Two years!?"

I nodded with a small squeak. My face must have been purple right about now.

"You waited to ask me out for two whole years? Yeesh, dude, what would you have done if I'd gotten taken in that time?"

What would I have done? That was a good question.

"...n-nothing...I-i guess..."

"You woulda just tried to move on? Get another crush to set your sights on? Or just hole yourself up and done your own thing without worrying about romance at all?"

"W-w-why are you saying these sorts of things?" I squeaked out.

"Aaah, sorry, sorry. I guess I'm messing around with ya a little too much, huh?" Konata did seem a bit sheepish and apologetic. "I'm not trying to be mean or anything, it's just...I uh, can't say I've ever really had an admirer confess to me like that, y'know? And to think it was after so long too, kinda makes a girl happy to know at least someone out there has wanted her I guess~ If you were Kagamin's type, she'd be crazy jealous, you know? Then again, I'm a little surprised she isn't considering how much you're willing to study with her and all..."

It was then that I realized, and theorized, that Konata kind of just...says what's on her mind with little to no filter. She wasn't grilling me to be mean, it was simply the first things that popped into her head, and consequently, out of her mouth. Once I realized that, I began to relax a lot more.

"Aaaaanyway," she continued, "Shall we have this last match? All out, no holds barred? I win, you make me dinner tomorrow, you win and I have to give you your first kiss~ dealio?"

I had to take a few deep breaths before opening my eyes with a more composed look now. "Alright, I'll take you on that deal! Let's go!"

"Hah, your enthusiasm is radiating, Sakana! Kuuuu! I can tell this'll be a good match!"

It came down to the wire, two wins each. Whoever won this last match would come out victorious. It was close, I'd reduced her character Maxi to only about 20 percent of his health and I thought I could outzone her, but somehow she wormed her character's way in, and with a few well placed strikes, the match ended with Konata's victory.

"Yatta!" Konata cried in triumph, "Free dinner for me tomorrow~! Wooo!"

While I was defeated, I was by no means dejected. "Man, phew...that last one was intense. I love it when it's even like that on both sides holding nothing back~! I ain't even mad that I lost honestly, that was just too good!" So what if I didn't get my first kiss? It can happen sometime else, it's not the end of the wo-

A sudden weight on me interrupted my thoughts, and I was knocked down to my back. I saw Konata above me - no, on top of me, and the only thing she said was "Hold still." before putting one hand on the back of my head, lifting it upwards as she descended in the same pace and placed a rather lengthy kiss square on my lips.

I got lost in it. It only lasted for about four or five seconds. It all happened so fast. I expected my brain to go into an overload state and possibly faint again, but contrarily...I immediately relaxed. This was it. It was done. Nothing to do except lay back and enjoy. Konata Izumi, the girl I had been fawning over and crushing on for two solid years from a distance, was giving me my very first kiss. It felt so right.

It almost felt too right.

After what somehow paradoxically felt like a millisecond and half an hour at the same time, she lifted herself up and off of me, rolling to my left with a grin. "I figured you deserved it after that last match~" she chirped with her usual lightheartedness. "You still owe me dinner tomorrow, though~!"

I silently lifted my back up off the ground and into a sitting position, dazed.

"You uh...you okay there?" Konata asked, seemingly slightly worried.

"...that was...a-amazing..."

Konata gave a small sigh of relief. "Well, good to know I'm not horrible on that front. Then again, I guess you wouldn't know if I was or wasn't a bad kisser, huh?"

I blushed a little, but surprisingly not too much. It all felt so...real. Of course, because it was real, but when I say that, I mean...in my head, whenever I imagined such a scenario, it always seemed so romanticized, with wind gently flowing our hair, or some sort of romantic background music lightly playing, a pinkish, bubbly background, all these visual and audial conveyances of euphoria that, in retrospect, I suppose I'd always gotten from media.

This was nothing like that. Save for the background character select music of the video game, there was no accompanying backing track, no environments changed. I was clearly grounded on earth, in Konata's house, no wind flowed. It just...happened, with no frill or fanfare. It was all so...real. Raw. Nothing like how I'd built it up to be in my head, but somehow, that was okay, almost better that way.

...do most people think about their first kiss this much?

"You uh...gonna be okay?" Konata asked, a little sheepishly.

"Huh? Ah, yeah, fine, more than fine actually, great, I uh...thanks for that."

...thanks for that? You just had your first kiss and your natural response is to say 'thanks for that'? Brilliant, Sakana. You are a wordsmith, just a totalsavant with the most silver of tongues. Jesus Christ, dude, what's wrong with you?

But, it made Konata snort before bursting into laughter, so it wasn't all bad.

We had a couple more casual matches before calling it quits for the night. I assured her on my way out that I'd make her the best sushi rolls I could.

"And hey," Konata called out to me as I was leaving, "Just remember that tonight didn't change anything, got it kid? The month is still on, and nothin's official~ keep working at it, mm?"

Why does she call me 'kid' anyway? Eh...I don't mind too much, I guess.

It looks like it's been nearly three years since I last updated this story. This is the only story on my fanfiction account that didn't make me visibly cringe reading it, so I think I'm going to try and continue it. Not with any particular schedule, mind, I'm in France right now studying abroad, but I've come up with more free time than usual, so who knows? I still have my old outline of what I wanted to have happen in this story, and this seems to be among my most popular written works here, so...after three or so years, it seems I'm back and picking this one up again~ see you all around~