Izumi Household, 7:20 PM
"College exams, eh? What're your plans?"
Family dinner at the otaku household was a fickle event, coming and going like the clouds in autumn. It would happen twice or thrice a week, sometimes none at all. Every now and then, someone would leave right as the other arrived. It wasn't that they disliked the company of another; Their situation was more of three separate lives under one roof.
This happened to be one of the rare occasions where everyone had seemed to be home for dinner, so Konata took the initiative and picked up the job of cooking.
"I don't know. Pull an all-nighter, get a perfect score, work full-time at the cafe?"
"You really don't care, do you? Haha.. that's my daughter for you.."
They shared a quick laugh, leaving Yutaka looking between her uncle sitting across from her and her cousin in the kitchen.
"Was it really that funny?"
The table was set, tradition was upheld, and the trio began to enjoy Konata's home cooking. It was as much a social event as it was a meal, and they talked of work, school, and graduation.
"Sis, what are you gonna do after you graduate?" Yutaka asked curiously. She figured out her cousin was joking, so her interest was renewed.
"Didn't I already tell you?" Konata raised an eyebrow.
".. Wait.. you weren't joking?" Staring at her cousin in shock, Yutaka's mouth slowly opened. She made a quiet sound, unsure whether or not it was funny enough to merit laughter.
"Yeah, I was joking." Konata smiled a cat-like smile.
"O-oh.." Yutaka mumbled in embarrassment. "So what are you going to do?"
"Ah, you're persistent aren't you.."
Stalling for time, Konata switched gears and offered a new topic for conversation, her skills of speechcraft easily allowing her to change topics without raising the slightest bit of suspicion.
Dinner continued. As things began to slow down, a portion of the food was left in the center of the table uneaten, and the question was left unanswered.
/-/
Izumi Household: 8:40 PM
[||]
NanaKon: upping dps, assassin debuff asap
Symantra: Applying debuff and increasing DPS. DSharp, pull aggro, next skill is one-shot for me.
DDxSharp: shout on c/d, focus healing on AS, barrier too
NatalieEBF: Got it!
KonaKona: ****, need some help w/ adds
Symantra: DSharp and Nanakon, help her out
KonaKona: focus boss, I'll be fine
Konata frowned at the screen and bit her lip.
"HP decreasing, won't last for another fifteen seconds.. minions over 50%.. gotta pick up my damage before the boss summons again.."
Symantra: 60% summons Kona!
KonaKona: almost dead, previous summons still over half hp!
NanaKon: what?! tank the new ones, ill burst the rest
A Warrior has died
KonaKona: ****.. sorry for ruining raid, out of it today. gotta take a break, bye!
[||]
Konata fumbled with the power button, somehow managing to power off her computer. She dropped her headset to the ground and stood up from her chair, pushing it away and walking over to her bed to flop onto it with an exhausted groan.
"And here I thought a raid would clear my head.. Turns out this curse is deeper than I thought.."
She rolled over in her bed and buried her face in her pillow.
"The future, huh? What am I gonna do.."
Konata knew that breathing was a vital function of life, but her face was pressed into the cushion. Rolling over, she exhaled deeply and tried again. The expansion of her flat chest until the sudden release of breath was satisfying and relaxing.
"I wouldn't say that I'm not smart.. If I tried, I could probably get into a decent college. The only thing is that I'm so lazy.. I'm getting spoiled with copying Kagamin's homework!"
The mere idea of attending university-tier classes sent a shudder through Konata.
"I can handle learning and everything, but there's so much work.. and so much listening.."
Why would she even want to go to college anyways? It wasn't necessary. Then again, neither was high-school, but that was free and required much less effort.
"Kagamin is going to college.." The words that came out of her mouth winded her like a blow to the stomach, the realization that her closest companion would be taking the path that she herself shied away from.
"That's why I want to go, huh?"
There was no doubt that Kagami would find herself a spot in one of the most successful universities that Japan had to offer. Hell, she might even go overseas to study abroad.
".. She wouldn't fly overseas, right?" Konata's breath caught in her throat. The room around her felt like it was expanding, the walls seemed to grow distant, the air grew heavy. It was like she was alone in a void of non-existence, although she knew that the air wasn't really crushing her against the bed, and the floor beneath her wasn't actually falling away.
"No, no.. Kagami wouldn't fly away." Konata mumbled, breaking out of the pressured environment that had enveloped her just then. "Just Miyuki, she's really smart.. And I can imagine Tsukasa flying overseas too, for some reason.
"Kagami would get lonely, right? She wouldn't go that far away from home.."
"I sound really desperate right now.."
Konata sighed. Then she sighed again. She was about to sigh again, but decided to just stretch herself out as an alternative to excessive breathing.
"Breathing, stretching, thinking.. Soul, body, mind.. How relaxing."
"Ideas.. ideas.. Formulate thy stratagem, Konata-sama! Step one, what do I want.. Step two, how can I do it.. Step three, what will it require.."
Over the period of twenty minutes, she had come up with at least thirty plans and analyzed each one of them. After about eight minutes more it became clear that she was just stalling, avoiding the obvious solution.
It took her another couple of minutes to realize that all of her ideas were worthless; none of them would guarantee a stable positive result. Biting her lip, Konata brought forth the one idea she had pushed to the back of her mind- the one idea that seemed so unearthly, so impossible, so unpleasant to her.
Half an hour later, she had come to terms with what she was going to do.
"Okay.. first time for everything, right?"
"Shoot.. My books are all at school.. One less night to study.."