The most embarrassing part wasn’t that they missed the stop; it wasn’t that they sat in silence the whole way back, Konata humming quietly to herself. No, the most embarrassing part of it was that Kagami kept replaying the accidental kiss in her mind over and over, her face turning redder and redder with each repeat. It wasn’t that she particularly wanted to remember it (though she had to admit that it wasn’t unpleasant by any means), it was that each time she dwelt on it, she was sure Konata should be mad at her.
So why isn’t she? I freaking kissed her in her sleep… more or less.
Kagami’ subconscious once again decided to relive the moment: Warm, chocolate-scented breath. Bottomless, half-closed emerald eyes. Pale, silken lips against her own.
The unmatched and undeniable flush of heat that spread through her for a split second.
The memory of that feeling, that rush of, of… whatever it was, that was what made Kagami’s face flush; what made her breathing deepen and come in short, ragged gasps. It was that feeling that made her want to kiss Konata again.
Glancing over at Konata, and her blissful ignorance of Kagami’s rampant thoughts, Kagami decided that this feeling was dangerous; it made her want to do rash, reckless things. Like touch her. Hold her. Kiss her and-
No more thinking! Kagami mentally yelled at herself.
It was bad enough that she’d kissed Konata; it was another thing to think such… such inappropriate thoughts about her friend. It… it wasn’t right. It was something sneaky, or dishonest, to think these things about Konata; the girl was so innocent. It felt like she was being some kind of pervert.
Kagami glanced at Konata again, her gaze drawn like a magnet.
Expecting to only see Konata’s profile, Kagami nearly yelped when all she could see were those emerald green eyes that she adored so much.
Konata’s face was mere inches from her own, so close Kagami could feel Konata’s breath on her.
It was warm, and a bit fast. It smelled like chocolate cornet.
Konata stared intently at her, unblinking. Kagami stared back, afraid to move at all, even blink.
“Kagamin…” Konata began, her voice slow.
Kagami gulped nervously, wondering- ok, praying, that Konata was about to say she’d liked the accidental kiss. Praying Konata was going to ask if they could do it again.
“… your face sure is red. Are you catching a cold?” The blue-haired girl finished anti-climatically. Kagami was dumbfounded for a second, but disbelief quickly turned to a want to yell at Konata for being so dense.
This too, however, passed swiftly; Kagami found that simply the sight of Konata dissipated her anger… and her embarrassment… and her frustration… and, basically, made her feel nothing but endearment and affection for the short girl.
“It-it’s n-n-nothing…” Kagami choked out, very conscious of how close they were; it would take hardly any movement at all for Kagami steal another kiss.
Konata stayed close for a few silent seconds, then drew away and plopped back down.
Several seconds passed before Kagami realized that Konata was not right in front of her anymore, and was in fact not even looking at her, rather was gazing straight across the isle and out the opposite window.
Kagami felt both relief and disappointment; if Konata had asked to kiss her, Kagami honestly had no idea what she would have said. She wanted to say yes, because she really did want to have Konata kiss her; why, she wasn’t sure; if just felt right to her. After all, that’s what people in love did, right? Like on TV and stuff…
But, could she really do that? Just outright kiss Konata? The thought both terrified and excited her. Was she really ready for that; either herself or Konata?
Lost in her worry, Kagami was completely preoccupied with these despondent thoughts, her mind running in circles with unanswerable questions and groundless worries. Embroiled in her thoughts, it seemed like mere minutes and they were back at their stop, having completed the whole circuit. Kagami absently followed Konata off the train, out of the station, and down the street, dutifully staying by Konata’s side without fail even though she was as distracted as she was.
So distracted in fact, it wasn’t until they were literally in Konata’s room before Kagami realized where she was. Berating herself, she dragged her attention into the present, hating and ashamed that she wasn’t paying attention to Konata; it was rare they had time alone with each other, and rarer still that Kagami was alone with Konata in her room, with no distractions. She should be enjoying this, dammit, not stressing out about a relationship that couldn’t possibly happen… wasn’t even sure she wanted.
Suddenly finding herself in this private place, Kagami grew nervous; it was the first time she had had the opportunity to be alone with Konata since she realized… exactly how she felt. It was like everything was different, changed somehow. She felt like she was being watched, that her every move was being carefully dissected and analyzed, looking for her to betray Konata’s trust in her.
Looking around, Kagami found herself alone on Konata’s bed, with only the anime posters and PVC figures to keep her company. Kagami refused to degenerate into a vaguely panicked worry again, like she had on the train, so she occupied herself with staring at the PVC figures and posters. Surprisingly, she found herself approving of most of them, even though there was a lot of Haruhi stuff (she’d never understood that show very well…).
Kagami’s gaze wandered, tracked over the walls, then snapped back to a poster that seized her attention mercilessly. It was tacked up in the corner, a small 10x14 poster. It was a cheap little thing commonly sold at the smaller conventions, but it was the content that attracted her; two girls, one with long white hair and the other with short-ish pink hair, under a tree in cute, almost Gothic Lolita, uniforms. The taller, white-haired girl had the pink-haired girl’s chin cupped gently, pulling her up with heart-breaking tenderness, their lips hardly any distance apart.
Kagami stared. And stared. Blinked once, then stared some more.
Her mind struggled vainly to wrap itself about the enormity of the situation. Konata had an anime poster. Of lesbians. In her room. On her wall.
The door opened and Konata came in carrying two glasses and a bottle of cola.
“Sorry for the wait Kagamin.”
Kagami whipped around to face Konata, her eyes still wide and her cheeks flushed, feeling embarrassed for staring at the innocuous poster.
“Oh, um, it’s no problem…” Kagami stuttered out, a bit frazzled by what seemed like a close call. Had Konata noticed her staring at that particular poster? If she had, what would she think? Would Kagami be found out?
“So Kagamin, you wanted to know about dating sims, huh?” Konata asked, suddenly breaking into Kagami’s wandering thoughts.
“Uh uh uh, yeah… I don’t get it at all; what’s the deal? It’s a bunch of pics of… erm…”
Kagami tried to go on but found she was too embarrassed to go any further, just thinking the words “hentai” made her face sear like a fireball.
Luckily for the thread of conversation, Konata had no such misgivings.
“Dating sims are a lot more than hentai pics, Kagamin!” Konata exclaimed a tone torn between amusement at Kagami’s embarrassment, and a soft kind of exasperation; really, it was so hard to explain things to non-otaku.
Kagami gave her the most puzzled expression in the history of puzzled expressions. Having never played, or even seen, a dating sim before and only having rumors to go on, Kagami had simply assumed that all dating sims consisted of was a waek plot designed solely to show off the characters, erm… doing ‘it’…
Seeing a long road ahead of her, Konata dragged Kagami over to her computer and flicked the monitor on, the computer itself already on and ready to go (little did Kagami know that Konata kept her computer on almost 24/7; one never knew when the opportunity to hop on her MMO and level up would present itself).
Double clicking a discretely placed icon, then tiptoeing over and closing her door, Konata began her lesson on dating sims.
Needless to say, Kagami learned a lot.
Then again, she had an excellent teacher. Konata lead the way through Fate/Stay Night, explaining the story and plot as they went, showing Kagami once and for all that dating sims were far more than ecchi pictures.
As the final scene of the “Fate” scenario drew to a close, Kagami actually found herself holding back tears; the ending was so wonderful, and moving.
Sniffling, Kagami managed to say “That was great, Konata.”
Konata only smiled at Kagami, then mischievously glanced at the monitor.
“You know Kagamin, there are two other endings…”
The hopeful look on Kagami’s face told Konata exactly what to do.
Reloading a save at the first crossroads point, Konata started the “Heaven’s Feel” path.