Summary: Basically a homage to (but NOT an actual crossover with) the Earthbound/Mother trilogy. Shortly after the anime ends, Kagami, Konata, and Miyuki each have their hair mysteriously done up into what's called a beehive, and at first, can't seem to figure out how their hair got that way. This, however, is only the beginning of what's to come. After something much more serious happens late into the night, they and Tsukasa will be contacted by someone who also had her hair updone, and who knows exactly what's about to unfold and what purpose their new hairstyles serve. All five girls agree to meet somewhere and follow her back to her home to learn more, before embarking on a journey in which they will travel around the world, fight aliens and every-one and –thing under said aliens' influence, and make friends with four other girls and even their first real male* friend ever, as they seek out a certain deity for answers regarding the situation as a whole.
(*Yes, I am aware that including even one guy in the party will alienate some readers, no matter what I do, though I am open to suggestions on how to handle him well. No, he will not be getting a hive, nor will any other male characters, and for a fandom like this, though, I would never go as far as to give the male gender as a whole an equal role to females, nor will I have more than two permanent male member, although gender might be irrelevant regarding anyone who joins just briefly.)
Special thanks to: Yiuokami (as known on Fanfiction.net and DeviantArt; not sure about here), for all the advice they've given me for both this chapter and the fic as a whole, even though she isn't enough of a slice-of-life fan to watch the anime. If anyone more familiar with the anime would like to help me keep everyone in character, I'd more than welcome it.
Disclaimer: Lucky Star is property of Kagami Yoshimizu. Anything derived from or otherwise pertaining to the Earthbound/Mother trilogy is property of Shigesato Itoi. And, two certain guest characters to appear here are property of Group SNE. (More about them later.)
-----
Saitama Prefecture, Japan.
.....
The year is 200X.
.....
Ryouou High School
It was almost time for classes, and most of the students had already taken their seats. Two girls were still up, busy talking to each other, and both pinching their noses shut.
"What a horrible smell!" one of them said, a girl with waist-length, butterscotch-colored hair. The girl sitting by her side, who had long, lavender hair done in narrow twin ponytails, couldn't help but agree.
"Ugh! Does it stink or what!" she replied, trying to breathe through her mouth.
Just then...
"Kagami-sama!!!" a voice came from the doorway just as it was opened, both girls letting go of their noses as they saw the newcomer, a short, flat-chested and blue-haired girl. "Did you get the assignment for world history?"
The twin-tailed girl frowned, but she nodded. "I did, and don't think I'm gonna show you my work."
"Aww, don't be so stingy," said the bluenette, getting closer and pouting, making her annoyed.
"You never change, Konata. Graduation is only a few months away! If you don't start cleaning up your act now, how will you expect to manage yourself in college, or even in the real world?" Kagami demanded, but Konata wasn't listening, just as she picked up one of her ponytails and started tugging playfully at it. "Put it down, Konata."
"Not until you let me see your homework," the bluenette replied, annoying her further.
"For the last time, you are not seeing my answers!" she snapped while yanking the piece of hair out of her friend's grasp, retreating a bit. "Not like I put all that effort into my schoolwork just so you can leech off of me or something!"
"You know, Kagami, why do you wear your hair in pigtails?"
The purple-haired girl took one moment to feel her own hair, considering the question, while Konata tried to do the puppy eyes routine - and, as usual, failed. "Back in Junior High, I guess. At some point, I just decided to try them out, for the heck of it, but people started telling me it looked pretty cute." She blushed for a moment "Until then, Tsukasa was always the cute one, while I normally got compliments about how mature and responsible I am, so hearing something different... felt nice for a change."
"Aww, you're blushing!" Konata teased her, smirking, only for Kagami to push her on the face angrily.
"Come to think of it," Ayano said after a moment, "I've been thinking of trying out a different hairstyle. Haven't quite decided, but I wouldn't want Misa-chan to laugh at me if I put too much effort into it."
"That's a good idea," Kagami said, finally letting Konata go. "Konata, don't you ever think of trying something out yourself? I mean, you have grown it out long enough to do whatever you want with."
"I'd rather do it in the presence of others," the bluenette answered dismissively. "It's no fun to do it when you're all alone."
"Don't you think you might get more of a reaction when you try something out in private, and then come out to show it off?" Ayano asked, making her think about it.
"Hmmmm... I guess you're right. Maybe I should take that approach," she decided.
The next morning...
Kagami yawned as she woke up, stretching her arms and legs before she got off the bed, still feeling a tad drowsy. "Morn'," she muttered once inside the kitchen, settling down at the table to jam up some toast.
"That's a nice hairstyle you've tried out, Kagami," said her mother, Miki, eyes above her where her head was. She put her food down, confused.
"What made you decide to try that out?" asked her father, Tadao, confusing her even more.
"What are you talking about?" she asked, just as Matsuri came in, stopping in place to stare at her. Kagami looked at her, noticing her starting to snicker at, it seemed, her expense.
"What are you-" She reached up to her hair from behind, only to find it missing there, and as she moved her hand up, she felt it was bunched up higher and higher, sticking together pretty hard. "What did you do to my hair?!" she yelped, trying to pull it down, but every strand or patch she pulled seemed to be magnetically attracted to each other, because it would then get pulled back up so hard she couldn't help but wince from it.
"We didn't do anything!" said Matsuri, even as her sister ran to the bathroom, her chair falling to the ground from how fast she stood up. The cry of horror coming shortly after managed to be surprising, if only from how loud she was.
Kagami wanted to cry at the sight meeting her in the mirror. All her hair was bunched up on the top of her head, shaped like a large oval or egg or something, and her every attempt to pull it back down did nothing; not even running water over it seemed to destroy the gel or whatever that had been done to it, and all it did was get her pajamas wet.
And the more failed attempts, the more her panic grew. Kagami couldn't go out with her hair like this, not if she wanted to keep her reputation. Screw going to school, she wouldn't be able to put her face out on the street at this rate!
"All right, which one of you did this to me?" she asked sharply, the moment she returned to the kitchen. They all looked at each other, confused, before giving their own excuses about why they wouldn’t be able to do such a thing. Kagami listened to them for about fifteen minutes before she realized there was no way for any of them to do such a thing while she was still asleep, considering her bed was still clean and she was a rather light sleeper.
A couple of apologies to her family due to her outburst later, she was off to school, still tugging on her hair and trying to break it down to a normal length again. “Ugh, today’s gonna suck…†she muttered sadly.
-----
After what felt like the longest walk ever, due to how everyone kept staring at her oversized hairdo, Kagami and Tsukasa had just arrived at the school gates when they heard a sudden cry from behind, drawing their attention. "K-Kagami-samaaaaaaaaaa!!!!" Konata was yelling, her hair also done up into a beehive.
"K-Konata? You too?! Kagami let out, as her friend suddenly hugged her, almost crying. What's going on here?
"Yuu-chan noticed something different about my hair, just when we were saying bye to each other," the bluenette yelped, tearfully. I could've sworn it was straight back at home!"
"I noticed sis's hair was shaped like that during breakfast," Tsukasa commented. "She wasn't too happy about it, either."
"Would you stop crying on my chest, Konata?" Kagami muttered, unhappy, getting nervous about her surprising reaction. "Why are you crying like that, anyway?"
"Because my Kagami-sama looks so moe like thaaaaaaat!!!" she revealed, making her feel worse. Yep, Konata was being annoying again.
"And here we go again" she groaned, forcing Konata to release her, the bluenette no longer crying or pretending to. "If it wasn't because there's no way you could get inside my room tonight, I would think you're the one who did this to me."
"Oh, you're so cruel, Kagami-n," Konata teased her, before pulling her kittenface. "I sure hope Miyuki-san's hair looks just as moe as yours by now, too!"
Kagami blushed. "Shut up about that! This is totally embarrassing!"
-----
As if because of the blue-haired girl's wish, some kind of blue jewel appeared over Miyuki's head, out of thin air, just as she was walking to class with a few classmates. As soon as someone noticed her hair start to rise and wrap itself around the stone, a commotion broke out around her, all the students watching as her hair became just as oval-shaped as Kagami's and Konata's.
"Wha-What's going on?" Miyuki asked, once she realized everyone was staring at her.
"Your hair's what's going on!" one of the onlookers, a nearby girl, spoke up. "Something weird appeared over your head and it made your hair look all weird!"
Feeling up revealed that her hair was already stuck in the large oval shape, and everyone was busy talking about the strange event. Embarrassed, Miyuki covered her face with her hands and ran towards the girls' room.
-----
Just as Konata had entered her classroom, a shut-eyed boy had decided to talk to her. "Oh, hey, Kona... huh. Happened to you too?"
"'Too'?" The blue-haired girl blinked. "Did you see someone else like this?" 'Miyuki-san, I hope!'
"Heh, you'll never believe it!" he teased her, raising her anticipation. "Like, this weird stone appeared over her head, and then her hair started to rise up and wrap around it, and everyone was like..."
Konata was listening to his every word intently, picturing the image on her head. Her heart started pounding in excitement, and she had to struggle to keep her face steady... even as the boy began to trail off, staring at her, as did her classmates.
'Ohhhh, this is gonna be moeeeee!' she thought.
This was her thought for the next few minutes, as homeroom started, the teacher taking names as usual until she reached Miyuki. "Takara-san late to class? That's a first..."
-----
The noise of quiet sniffing was quite loud within the empty bathroom, along with the noise of hard tugging. As the school nurse walked inside to wash her hands, she couldn't help but take notice of that noise, and soon she was knocking on the door.
"G-go away!" The sound of Miyuki's voice saying those words surprised her; wasn't she possibly the nicest student in the entire school?
"Excuse me, Takara-san," said Nurse Fuyuki Amahara, making her quiet. "You haven't been hiding in this stall all morning, have you?"
"U-uh..." The pinkette's hesitation made her sigh, but she couldn't help but smile.
"Come, now, there's nothing to be afraid of. You should be in class now." She tried to push the stall open, only to find it remained locked. "Why don't you come out?"
"I-it's kind of embarrassing..."
"It's okay, I won't laugh." 'It's probably just a zit, or maybe she had a bad hair day,' she thought, fighting back the smile. Kids could be so stressed about the smallest things...
"It's just, something happened to my hair, and now..." Miyuki actually hiccuped there, to her surprise. "I can't get it back to normal!"
The nurse frowned. "Show me."
After a few seconds, Miyuki unlocked the stall, letting the door open. The nurse was prepared for anything, but certainly the sight of a bright, pink beehive that practically doubled her head's height was not something she had expected.
"W-what..." she let out, hesitant, until she noticed the hurt look in the pinkette's eyes. Fighting against her shock, she decided to be as business-like as possible, and she cleared her throat to be sure. "This is certainly strange. Why would you style your hair like this if you would be so embarrassed by it?"
Miyuki shook her head, feeling uncomfortable as the mass of hair above her moved together rather than the normal, flowing motion she was so used to. "I didn't do it! Â Something made my hair end up like this just before homeroom!" To prove her point, she pulled on her hair; unlike what the nurse was expecting, Miyuki managed to pull out a good clump of hair away, but as soon as she had some distance she was forced to let go - and then, the strands rearranged themselves in place once more, becoming indistinguishable from the rest of it.
"...let me try," the woman said, placing both hands on her hair and trying to pull on her own, but her few attempts only resulted in the same thing. "Well, this is definitely the weirdest thing I've ever seen. Y'know what, why don't you just remain in there? I'll call one of your parents to come get you."
Miyuki nodded, before bowing politely. "Thank you very much," she said, tearfully.
-----
"I'm home!"
Kagami had never been so glad to come back home after school. Throughout all day, people kept staring at her, even after they had done this multiple times before, and she knew that their teacher had been distracted as well. Even Konata's teasing had never made her so embarrassed in her life!
She was ready to tune out any responses from anyone and just rush to her computer to find out anything she could regarding strange hair mutations, when the phone suddenly rang - right when she was passing by it.
"What is it?!" she asked, rather roughly.
"Kagami-san?" Miyuki's voice came from the other side, surprising her. "D-did I call at a bad time, or-"
"N-no, no, not at all!" Shaking her head, she decided to focus on what was going on now. "What happened? Do you need anything?"
"Yes... would it be okay if I came over for today's notes and assignments?" She didn't know if the other girl was blushing, but something about her tone reeked of her embarrassment about this request. "I had to leave school today, and-"
"You? Leave school?" Now THAT was unusual enough to draw her attention. "Why would you do something like that?"
"W-well... do I have to say?" Miyuki asked her with a hushed voice. Were it not for her tested patience, Kagami might have been more polite, but as it was she went and told her to do so. "...well... when I was walking to homeroom, something happened to my hair, and—"
"Wait! That's what happened to me today!" she interrupted, surprising Miyuki as well. "And Konata too, though neither of us were at school yet when that happened." She huffed. "That idiot thinks this weird thing is 'moe'."
"Oh... I see." Miyuki sounded... disappointed? Sad? She couldn't tell.
"I was just about to look online to see if there's anything going on about this," she went on. "But well... if you're like this too, then I guess you should come over. Who knows how contagious this is."
"O-okay! I'll come over soon!" Miyuki said, just as Tsukasa walked by.
"Is Yuki-chan okay, sis?" she asked Kagami, who nodded.
"Yeah, she is... she got some of this on herself, though," she said, tugging on her hair for emphasis. "She's coming over for her notes, but we'll try to figure out more about whatever this is now."
-----
After a few minutes, the doorbell rang. "I'll get it!" Tsukasa said, opening the door only to find Miyuki there. "Ah, Yuki-chan!"
"H-hello, Tsukasa-san!" Miyuki greeted her, trying not to blush as her hairdo - just barely able to fit through the doorway - seemed to draw everyone's attention as well.
"It's almost as big as Kagami's..." said Matsuri, unable to hold it in. Seeing the girl's eyes widen, Tsukasa shook her head quickly, trying to calm her down.
"Sis asked me to bring you to her room once you arrived," she said, leading her in. Once they reached that room, she knocked on the door. "It's us! Yuki-chan just arrived!"
"Come in!" Kagami's voice told them, and Tsukasa opened the door. As soon as it was open, both girls looked at each other's hairstyles, comparing it instinctively. The purplette couldn't help but feel uncomfortable that her hair was bigger than Miyuki's.
For a few seconds, there was a very uncomfortable silence, which lasted only until Kagami noticed the door was still open. "Tsukasa! Close it already!" she ordered, her sister squeaking before she turned to close the door, leaving the two of them alone in their embarrassment. "...there. Now we shouldn't be bothered by anyone."
"...t-thank you..."
"I couldn't find anything about it at school, so I decided to use the Internet for help," Kagami explained, taking a seat back at her computer. "While I was waiting for you, I put up messages about it on all the emails I could find and even some message boards, but I'm not so sure if they'll believe me."
"I see..." Miyuki muttered, still blushing. "Could we please focus on our homework for now? I... would rather not think about that."
"Y-yeah, sure," Kagami admitted, before she took out her notebook.
-----
Due to it being a weekend, it wasn't a problem for Miyuki to sleep over at the twins' house, and both Kagami and Tsukasa were readying plans for learning more about this the next day. However, in the middle of that night, things changed severely.
It all started with a loud scream that completely woke Kagami up. "What the-?" She jolted out of bed, trying to find a light or something, something about the scream triggering her instincts. That was how she managed to see her desk lamp start to get up, on its own, disconnecting from its wall socket as it did so.
"Oh crap!" she cried out, ducking right as the thing flew towards her head, barely missing her huge beehive. Looking at the ground, she saw that her pillow had fallen as well, quite close to her hands in fact. One look back up, and the lamp had just turned around, trying to face her.
"GET LOST!" she yelled, slamming it with the pillow. Although it was a really strong impact, the pillow was too soft to truly damage it, or so it seemed; in fact, it couldn't even take the impact itself. Feathers scattered all over the room after that first blow, leading to her coughing from the dust it had built up after years of use.
The lamp was deterred only for a second, before it managed to move again, tackling her in the belly and sending her back. The impact was painful, but as she looked around, she saw that she had landed right next to the door - at least, based on what little she could see in the dark. She took a second to find its handle, grabbing it at once and pulling it open, letting herself out of the room. When the lamp missed her again, it slammed against the wall behind her, its bulb shattering at once as it went out.
The effects of the adrenaline faded just enough to make her realize how scary that whole experience had been, but she didn't have enough time to actually delve into that. The lights suddenly started to flicker like crazy, and the portraits on the wall shook and trembled. The sound of furniture scraping against the ground came right after. The girl had to run desperately down the stairs, dodging even the telephone stand before it could try to strangle her and a vase that flew at her head, before she managed to dive past the open door at the very entrance of the house.
"Oooof..." she grunted, coughing a bit. "What the hell...?" Right at that moment, something touched her shoulder. The bravery from before gave way to her childish nature, as she even screamed a little, but realized that it was only her father a second later.
"Kagami, are you alright?" he asked her, and she nodded.
"What the hell is going on here!?!" she asked him, only for him to shake his head. She noticed his arms and face didn't look very good, like he had cut himself on something.
"I don't know," he admitted, and then Kagami noticed that Miki and the others were also there. Her attention was taken by her mother. "Where's Tsukasa?" she asked, her lips curled as she tried to hold back her emotions. They could see she was almost crying when nobody could answer her. "Tadao, go back inside and get her!" she begged, before turning to the others. "The rest of you stay out here. I'll call the police."
Although they tried to trust her father, Kagami felt a sudden headache not a minute since he left, her thoughts suddenly going towards him. "Dad-!" she grunted, before running towards the garage, driven by the feeling that trouble was about to happen. There was a simple, wooden baseball bat they had forgotten to store there, which she took for her own protection, before heading further into the house.
Her face paled as she saw the lights flickering, trying to make her way despite her concerns, before a brief period of full light. She gasped as she saw her father lying on the floor, struggling against the telephone's cord that had wrapped around his neck, cutting off his breathing. He tried to grab the stand with one hand, but it remained out of reach, ringing in a mocking manner.
She couldn't stand that. With one mighty swing, she shattered the phone so hard that none of the fragments landed on either of them, the cord's grip dying right after. Tadao gasped for air as he finally managed to pull it off, with some help from his daughter. "Thanks," he finally stammered, while she helped him get up. Her eyes were still focused on their surroundings, making her aware that several other pieces of furniture were moving towards them. "Didn't your mom tell you to stay outside?"
His question was not answered, as a swarm of knives suddenly flew in from the kitchen. "Forget that! Go get Tsukasa, I'll cover you!" Kagami shouted, taking her bat and readying a baseball batter stance, while he ran up the stairs. She made sure to focus on the biggest knives, managing to take them down in two swings; unfortunately, although she managed to hit quite a few of the other blades, others managed to fly past her guard, leaving her with a few shallow cuts.
"Is it over?" she wondered, seeing how they were all on the ground, only to see they were starting to float again. "Crap!" she groaned, before backing away towards Tsukasa's room. The door was thankfully open, which meant she had no trouble getting inside and then slamming it closed, just before the knives embedded themselves into the wood with loud noises.
She had just caught her breath again when she saw her father and sister on the other side of the room, the man busy as he dealt with the desk’s lamp. She was confused until she saw it twist itself, trying to move on its own, while he beat it up with a heavy-looking book.
Her sister was in the corner, her eyes wide. Kagami knelt down in front of her, too worried to put on some clothes right now, noticing several bruises on her face and neck. The poor girl's eyes were focused only on her table, and on the objects that were strewn about, broken and damaged.
"Tsukasa, it's alright now, snap out of it," she said, shaking her gently. The younger twin was so scared she looked like she was going to cry, and Kagami hugged her tight.
After a few seconds of that, Tsukasa nodded, her breathing back to normal. "Okay."
Kagami pulled her to her feet and looked back at Tadao, who was still bashing the remnants of the lamp. "Let's go," she said. He gave one more furious slam and breathed out.
"Our own house is trying to kill us..." he muttered. He was so distracted by this thought that he didn't notice the bed behind him had started to shiver, much less its rising in the air.
Kagami, however, had noticed it. "Dad, we gotta go, now!" she screamed, both girls' eyes as wide as they saw the bed suddenly swing forward, nearly crushing their father as it slammed against him. Kagami ran for the glass doors, dragging Tsukasa along, and once her sister got out she ran back for her father, who had taken a nasty hit from the bed. Helping him out, they tried to close the doors, but the bed rammed itself against the doorway, shattering the glass and throwing the two of them back, both of them barely missing serious injuries from that.
Still, as the bed smashed against the balcony railing, it suddenly flipped and fell over, breaking apart as it struck the ground. Seeing the mattress lying elsewhere, and looking like it was not moving or possessed, gave Kagami the inspiration for her next action.
"Everyone, jump!" she yelled, getting up the best she could, just as her father stood up as well. Tsukasa looked nervous, but the three of them had no choice but to jump together, falling on the soft mattress. The impact was painful, but compared to the cuts and the near-strangling, it was still bearable.
-----
'Oh man, I can't believe I missed such a moe thing...
The whole day, Konata had been meaning to meet up with Miyuki in person, eager to see her with her new hairstyle. School had been so draining that day that she had completely forgotten about actually doing it, even after her other friends had brought up the subject, and both Soujiro and Yui had asked as well when she got home. She tried giving Miyuki a call… but for some reason, she had to leave a message.
She figured she could just pay her a visit on the way to her part-time job in Akihabara, but unfortunately only Yukari was home. It was somewhat hard for her to find a good costume that day, due to her hair being stuck in place as it was - the first time she had actually bemoaned her incredible hive - but at least she managed to find a cosplay that wouldn't be ruined by her new hairstyle.
The faint buzzing in her head that had been going on all day was enough to make her distracted enough to forget about Miyuki after work, as she went straight to playing World of Warcraft as soon as she could and didn't even think of anything else. She was just done with another mob when she heard a frantic knocking at the door, so loud it managed to draw her attention.
"Sheesh, who is it?" she muttered, checking on the nearest clock. It was way too late for visitors, that was for sure. Still, since they were knocking so loud, she decided to go and see what it was, unless she wanted her father to wake up and be annoyed.
She didn't expect to see Miyuki standing on the porch of her house, with her hair in a thick, beautiful hive, looking uncomfortable as she glanced around.
"Miyuki-san!" she cried out, almost ready to hug her, when the rest of the scene entered her thick skull. Miyuki wasn't alone; Tsukasa and Kagami's family was there as well, the group as a whole looking really nervous and shocked even.
"W-what's going on?" she asked, realizing this wasn't a normal situation. "Why did you come here right now? What's with the bat? What're with all those cuts and bruises?"
Kagami took a couple of deep breaths, as she looked around. "I'm guessing nothing bad happened to you yet, right?"
"What're you talking about?"
"I suddenly woke up when someone screamed; the next thing I know, my lamp attacked me! We tried to get out of there, but Tsukasa got trapped by her stuff and me and Dad had to run back in to save her!" she explained, in a hurry. "We managed to bring her back, but then we had to run away - from our own house, no less - and then I realized it might have to do with these things that did our hair up like this, and that's where you come in!"
Konata stared at her, before looking at the others. They definitely were too nervous for this to be a joke, not that Kagami would make jokes like that to begin with.
"I'm sure glad that didn't happen to me!" she said, somewhat joking. "I spent lots of effort building up my collection, and it would totally suck if I had to ditch it because it started attacking me."
Kagami just groaned in response. She was in no state of mind to snark about her friend's otaku lifestyle.
-----
About ten minutes later, everyone was resting in different parts of the house, with the injured having been treated already. The rest of Konata's family had woken up, and although they weren't exactly happy at waking up so early in the morning, explaining the situation was enough to make them appeased.
The conversation had gone on for a while before Miyuki remembered something. "Kagami-san, did you find anything out about those things?" she asked, startling her friend.
"Oh yeah, that's right..." she admitted, somewhat unhappy. "Guess I should've remembered to check them before going to bed." She then faced Konata. "Say, would it be okay if I borrowed your computer for a sec?"
"Go right ahead," said Konata, with a smirk.
At first glance, the inbox seemed to be full of junk mail, but as she took to deleting them, a specific name was noticed. "Rokuna... Hiiragi?" she muttered, before clicking on it.
There actually aren't that many of those. They're part of what my dad's been researching for as long as I can remember. Let's meet up at my house tomorrow morning, and I'll explain everything then, okay?
-Rokuna Hiiragi
She stared at it for a few seconds, before grabbing Konata's cell phone and running back to her family. "Dad!" she cried out, just as she got to the door. "Do you know anyone called 'Rokuna Hiiragi'?"
"Hmm..." Tadao thought for a bit, trying to remember. "The name sounds kinda familiar... but I'm not sure. Maybe..."
"Maybe?" his wife asked, and he turned to her just for a nod.
"It's my cousin... he's a weirdo. Haven't seen him in a while, so I didn't remember at first, but... I think he had a daughter named Rokuna," he explained. "It might be worth calling him first."
Calling his number took a few moments, but the tone soon gave way to a sleepy, female voice. "Unnnggghhh... Who is this?"
"Are you Rokuna Hiiragi?" Kagami asked, hearing a mumbled 'yes' shortly after. "Listen, I'm your cousin, Kagami Hiiragi. You're the one who answered my questions about the hair thing, right?"
"Y-yeah, that's me..."
"Then listen! Something really bad just happened to me back home, and we're at a friend's house. We need to know everything we can about this whole thing ASAP!"
After a polite yawn, the voice seemed to perk up. "Guess I shouldn't be surprised. Â Let's all meet up at my house, okay?"
"Sure. Where do you-"
"Make sure you bring a weapon of some kind. It's gonna be dangerous," Rokuna interrupted her, before groaning. "Look, I have to get dressed up. I'll talk to you when you arrive."
"R-right! See ya!" Kagami put down the phone, after she heard the call end. She turned to face her friends. "Konata, Miyuki, that was my cousin. We're going to visit her and learn more. Get dressed and grab something to fight with."
Both of them nodded at that, even if Miyuki was kinda embarrassed about it. "Sis!?!" Tsukasa suddenly said, as they had turned away. "Would it be okay if I come with you too?"
"What?! Tsukasa, you can't come! It's gonna be dangerous!" the older twin let out, surprised at her audacity. "What if you get attacked again?"
"But I don't want you to be alone!" her sister said, looking quite serious. "You're gonna be in danger too, aren't you? I mean, if things were bad like that at home, then maybe they'll be really bad in other places too!"
"And that's even more of a reason why you shouldn't come!"
"Aww, come on, Kagami!" Konata interrupted the argument before it could continue, moving next to Tsukasa. "You can't leave her here! Who knows how long we'll be away?" She pushed her friends closer to each other, grinning. "It's not the same without her!"
Despite her best attempts, Kagami just couldn't resist those puppy eyes for very long. "Fine, whatever you want... but you better be ready for whatever might be out there."
Tsukasa just smiled, before the group spread out in search of clothes and equipment.
Konata decided on asking Yui for some weaponry, and given Kagami's description, she included her gun in the list. The earful she received on why they weren't allowed to take it was enough to make her regret that almost at once.
Looking around for equipment wasn't very hard. Somehow, the girls started feeling a knack as they looked at objects, gauging their skill and potential power. Miyuki stopped by the kitchen, where she found a nice and new frying pan that seemed to be both particularly sturdy and ill-suited for actual cooking, while Konata had opened up an old toybox from back when she was even smaller. A yo-yo and slingshot were there, along with a pack of plastic pellets. The slingshot's usefulness was clear, even if she didn't really have a good aim, but she didn't have much confidence on the yo-yo's usefulness until her attempt at using it resulted in her swinging it all the way to the wall in front of her.
As for their clothing, the girls were forced to keep their current outfits, seeing as how there were no real clothes available for them to wear. Even their shoes had been left behind, a fact which bothered Kagami quite a lot as she waited by the living room. In the end, though, she figured that they wouldn't be gone for very long and might even get to go home again before the next morning.
Konata decided to go to the kitchen to eat something before they left, finding Yutaka there. "Yuu-chan, what're you cooking rice for?" she asked, the younger girl smiling.
"Just making some riceballs for you guys, just in case you get hungry,"she explained, looking away from the pan. "Say, oneechan, would it be okay if I come along too?"
"Thanks, but you should stay here. There might be more dangerous things out there, and I'd rather you stay with Yui-neesan." As soon as she had said that, she realized that she had already turned to face her cousin, even if she wasn't in the room just yet. "Right, nee-san?"
"You can count on me!" the cop said, with a grin. Konata didn't think it was too fitting, but she said nothing. "As for you, don't let anyone tell you otherwise, but you're a brave young girl. Just remember to go for it!" She whipped her fist out in a thumbs-up while saying those last three words.
-----
After preparations were finished, the girls met up at the living room to say their goodbyes to their families. Soujiro didn't seem to be very concerned, having his own faith in them and willing to let his only daughter go out in this quest. Tadao and Miki, however...
"No means no!" the father said, glaring at his daughters, his wife by his side.
"What if something were to happen to you?" his wife asked them, quite worried. "We should wait until tomorrow morning to visit them!"
"But there's probably nothing out there that could come to life like those things did!" Kagami said, serious. "It's probably safer out there than in here, in fact!"
"No, I don't think so. What happened back home... I never dreamed it could be possible," the woman said. "What else might happen, after that?"
"We'd never forgive ourselves if something were to happen to you girls, and we weren't around to protect you."
"We're not the only ones who need protection!" Kagami almost yelled at that point, frustrated as she was. "And maybe... it might even be better if we're not around! Who knows if it's not related to what happened to our hair!"
"Yuu-chan is going to need someone to take care of her too," Konata added, trying to be helpful for once. That didn't seem to change their minds, however.
"I don't want to lose any of you!" Tadao explained, shaking his head. "There's no way I'm letting any of you go out there and-"
Suddenly Miyuki's eyes widened, as she looked at the front door. "There's something out there!" she shouted, looking almost terrified, and the pinkette pressed one hand to her forehead. "It feels... so strong, and so scary...!"
Kagami stepped away, while Tadao, Soujiro, and Yui moved towards the front door, the young woman already having her gun out. The door was suddenly blown open, falling to the ground, and she immediately aimed at the open entrance.
"Freeze!" she shouted, targetting some kind of silver, humanoid... thing, with a visor for a face and strange black markings on its body. The being seemed to scan the room, before stepping forward.
The gunshot rang through the entire house as the bullet struck against its body, penetrating a bit but not very far. The 'skin' wasn't pierced, but it certainly seemed to have felt it, if the way it turned towards her meant anything.
Before she could shoot it again, however, Tadao suddenly came from the side, tackling it hard and slamming it against the ground. He had just managed to press down on it when the creature's body flashed white, and he fell onto the floor himself, a sudden pressure formed on his back. He couldn't look up from that position, but he heard some kind of humming noise, while Yui saw the creature - having somehow teleported itself over him - point its tentacle-like arm at the man, pink energy gathering at the tip.
A few more rounds shot at its body were enough to keep it from focusing on that, and the creature teleported again. As it reappeared, however, Soujiro - who had paid enough attention at it to realize there was a second flash of light forming just before it disappeared - swung a sledgehammer that he kept at the shed right at its head, sending it hard against the wall.
The thing let out some strange, unintelligible noises, before another swing seemed to ruin its communication abilities further; not even a sound came out. The third swing did not land, though, as it managed to teleport away before he struck.
The three of them panted, as the adrenaline passed. They looked at each other, even as Yui helped Tadao stand up. "Thanks..." he said, before turning back to the group. See, girls, there's no need to wo-"
His speech was cut off as he realized something. "Where did everyone go?!"
-----
By this point, the four girls were running into the forest, having left the house with the others and ditching them mid-flight before they could notice. Kagami had her phone on and at the ready, having called Rokuna again. "Rokuna! Are you there?"
"Yeah, what is it?"
"Listen, something just happened outside my friend's house, and we had to leave," she explained. "That hill in the woods we used to play on, can you come and meet us there?"
"No problem! Just be careful!"
The dark forest was awfully silent, even at night; not even the normal hoot of owls or the sound of bugs making noise seemed to echo. It was scarier than it should be, the moonlight and starlight managing to make it through the thick leaves just enough to let them see their surroundings, if barely. Kagami held a flashlight on one hand, her rapidly trusty bat still on her right hand, while Konata held the yo-yo attached to her index finger, Tsukasa fiddled with her slingshot, and Miyuki kept a grip on the frying pan with both hands.
Going through the path they were taking wasn't very difficult, at least for now; although it was narrow, going through the trees, and had plenty of bumps in the way, it was wide enough they could walk on pairs as well as single-file, or with some leeway in-between. Other than Konata, though, the girls were starting to feel dreadful as their bare feet met the cold grass and ground, Kagami flinching every so often as she thought she was stepping on a bug.
They had just entered a wider space when a nasty sound drew their attention. A brown dog had leapt from one of the bushes, growling at them, the light reflecting off its square glasses. Right after, behind them, a big crow with a yellow beak, sunglasses and a purple bowtie let out a caw, as it landed by the nearest branch. A hissing noise came from the side, and Konata gasped as she saw that it was a green snake, somehow having taken the shape of a coil.
"W-what the-" Konata let out, as the four of them found themselves stepping back. "What's with these animals wearing-"
Before she could finish her thought, the dog suddenly pounced on her, throwing her to the ground and biting her arm. At the same time, Tsukasa was slammed by the snake, whose body spun and coiled around her, trapping her arms and making her unable to breathe, and Miyuki suddenly saw the crow flying at her, scratching and pecking at her eyes. The three of them yelled in pain as they fell, trying to protect themselves uselessly.
Seeing this whole mess happen all at once made Kagami freeze in shock, not sure who she should help. All three of them were clearly in danger, and she had to do something to save them - but who? In what order?
Tsukasa's pained yell was enough to make her decide, as she realized her lungs would be permanently crushed at this rate. Just slamming the bat against the snake wouldn't be a good idea, but she managed to slip it under one of the coils near the head, pulling it back as hard as she could. It wasn't enough to free her sister, but despite the pain, Tsukasa managed to free her hands just enough to hold the head off herself, wincing as the snake tried to bite her with its non-venomous teeth. "Sis... do something!"
"H-hold on!" Kagami said, as she looked around. "I'll try to get the others to help!"
"P-please!"
Running towards Miyuki, she kicked the crow as hard as she could, getting it off the busty pinkette. One look at her face led to a relief; she wasn't badly injured, not even really bleeding, but her glasses had been completely destroyed by the pecking. The bird seemed to grin, in a nasty way, before flying away.
She turned back to Konata, who had managed to get the dog to let go of her arm, but now had to deal with a leg bite. She didn't expect the dog to just let go of her with a kick, and she was somewhat nervous about what'd happen if she just touched it, so she pulled the bat from its place where it was helping her sister and brought it down on the mutt.
The dog yelped, before turning on her, pouncing on the lavender-haired girl as well. She barely managed to use the bat to protect herself from its bite, but was no longer able to stand up, falling to the ground as well.
Before she could think of another 'bright idea', however, the sound of something swinging hard drew her attention. Right above her, Miyuki used the frying pan to strike the dog, sending it flying off her like a pancake. The beast rolled against the nearest tree, yelping in pain, while Kagami's sudden relief gave way to shock as Miyuki's strong swing hit her right in the face.
"Ahh! I'm so sorry!" the pinkette yelped, as she realized what had happened. Kagami's eyes were spinning really fast now, and she felt almost like throwing up.
"Save... Tsukasa!" she gasped out, as she tried to recover. Miyuki looked towards the other girl, realizing she was already losing the battle against the snake, her hands moving back down. Both she and Konata moved towards the reptile, grabbing it by the 'neck' and pulling as hard as they could. The sudden uncoiling led to Tsukasa rolling on the ground, wincing as she hit a tree herself, and the two of them then threw it away, Konata striking it with her yo-yo for good measure. The snake retreated at once, leaving the four of them alone in the forest again.
The four girls took some time to nurse their wounds and pick up the fallen flashlight, before examining each other's state. Miyuki rubbed her face slightly, as she tried to not look so embarrassed at her own situation. "Miyuki," Kagami said, after a few moments, "did that crow break your glasses?"
"Y-yeah," she admitted, blushing. "I sorta... spaced out, and then that crow flew at me and-"
"It happened to everyone. Don't sweat it," Konata dismissed it, but Kagami was adamant.
"Don't be so easy-going! She could've lost her eyes from that!" The girls were shocked as they heard that, Miyuki growing pale this time. "Listen! Maybe it was okay for you to space out like this before, but... things have changed! We need to pay more attention to our surroundings, and be more careful! You can't just space out like that anymore!"
Miyuki bit her lip, before nodding. Tsukasa looked at her injured fingers, the bite marks thankfully not deep. "Do you know if that was a poisonous snake or not?"
"No... I don't think so. It attacked by wrapping around you and trying to squeeze, rather than by biting," Miyuki explained, remembering her biology lessons. "I couldn't really see what kind of snake it was, but I don't think it was venomous. At least, not with the smaller teeth."
That, at least, was a relief.
As the four of them finished cleaning up their wounds with some supplies that Tsukasa had remembered to grab while at the house, the silver creature observed them from a spot within the forest, safely hidden from sight. Its body had yet to recover from the previous skirmish, and it was not currently in a fighting state just yet.
Rather, it focused on increasing the violent nature of the animals in this forest and its surroundings, through passive methods. Wearing them out until they were on the same level as it was now was enough to begin with. At the rate things were going, they could only fight for so long before they would be incapacitated and succumb.
-----
They managed to find the hill at the end of the forest, but the group looked disheveled and exhausted as a whole. Their little trek had led to them fighting more of those critters, looking similar in their oddity, but no longer fighting in such groups - for one reason or another, at least for now. Their awareness of their dangers was also a helpful point, as now they were more likely to swing at a possible enemy first, rather than let it have the first move.
The group had just made it to the halfway point of their climb when Tsukasa noticed a white present-like box, neatly tied with a big red ribbon.
"Wow, look! It's a present!" she said, coming closer. "I wonder how it got here!"
Before she could get closer, however, Kagami grabbed her and pulled her back. "Don't touch that!" she snapped at her, glaring at the box. "After everything that happened tonight... what if that thing's rigged, or there's a monster in it or something? Let's just leave it!"
"But sis-"
"But nothing!" Dragging Tsukasa by the hand, she took point again. "Come on, we're almost there!"
After about a minute or so of walking, they finally reached the hilltop, where someone waited for them. It was a girl about their age, wearing a bright yellow shirt and a red skirt and sneakers, with her hair, in a rich shade of brown, also arranged into a big beehive like theirs. She had a wooden sword resting by her side.
She didn't wait for them to speak before doing so. "You guys look beat," she introduced herself, looking at , her gaze piercing as if she was looking inside her. "Here, let me fix you all up."
Raising one hand towards them, she focused her mind for a bit. "P. K. Healing. alpha."
First her hand started to glow green, before the glow spread over to Kagami'ss body, healing her injuries and fixing her clothes' damage. Rokuna continued to focus, moving her hand towards each girl, healing them back to their normal states - though their hair remained updone despite that.
"Thanks!" Tsukasa said, a sentiment shared by the others. Kagami was relieved as well, but tried not to think too much on that.
"That was... pretty helpful," she admitted. "It's just a healing power, though?"
"Yes. No side effects or anything, so don't worry about that," Rokuna said. "Those are your friends, right?"
"Yeah, Konata and Miyuki. We've been friends since the beginning of high school," she explained, waving towards them. The girls each gave a greeting sign with a hand, before introducing themselves.
"Hi. I'm Konata. Nice to meetcha."
"My name is Miyuki Takara. It's a pleasure to meet you."
"It's all mine, don't worry," Rokuna replied, smiling as well.
"So, anyway," Kagami went on, frowning again. "What is going on, exactly? Why did our hair get like this, and we got attacked by our own furniture and weird animals, and that thing you just did to us?"
"Now, where to begin..." Rokuna let out, as she realized this wasn't what she expected to hear. "Well, from what Dad told me, you have special gemstones nestled within your hair, out of a total of twelve altogether. They have the power to grant us special abilities, which you should be able to channel soon enough."
"And what about all those things attacking us?"
"It's the gemstones, again. According to Dad, these gemstones are the only things that can stop an alien invasion that's beginning, and as their bearers, we-"
"A-aliens?!" Tsukasa cried out, getting behind Kagami. "Alien... invaders? Li-like in the movies?"
"Basically. It's gonna be troublesome, and..." Rokuna blinked as she realized something. "Wait, Kasa-chan, your hair wasn't changed. Why are you here?"
"I... I didn't want to leave my sister alone!" Tsukasa explained, though she looked terrified again. Rokuna sighed.
"It might better to leave her back at her house, where-"
"It's not safe to leave her anywhere!" Kagami declared, quite serious. "We got attacked by our own house thanks to me, and then some weird alien thing came to Konata's house and-"
"Wait, weird alien thing?" Rokuna blinked. "Was it... silver, and not quite human-looking, but kinda human-looking?"
Kagami nodded. "Yes! Our dads defeated it, but-"
"Ohhh, this is so not good..." Rokuna's unhappiness was a surprise to them. "I seem to have some latent foresight abilities since I got this stone. I can see images of the future, if barely, and it's shown me that silver creature multiple times."
"And?" Konata asked, ignorant of the meaning of this. "What's the problem?"
"I've seen it just before you arrived. It's watching you. I'm sure that it'll try something, before we can arrive somewhere safe." Rokuna smiled at that point. "Don't worry, though. I'll protect you, and you can awaken your powers in the meantime as well."
After a little more small talk, the group decided to head to Rokuna's house. For some reason, the animals that had hounded them before arriving at the hill were no longer attacking them, although there was still an awful silence throughout the forest, one which put everyone on edge.
Just as they had made it to the forest edge, however, a silver light flashed through the area, revealing the same creature who had attacked Konata's house before. The flashlight, which Rokuna was now holding, was the only thing giving them further view of it, as the light the alien emanated faded away, within the dark part of the forest.
"Targets acquired," the creature let out, somehow; they couldn't tell if it was actually speaking or simply mentalizing words inside their heads. "Four gemstones detected. Confirming:-"
"You!" Rokuna cried out, as her eyes widened the most, the remaining word going unheard by the group. "You're one of the aliens, aren't you?"
"Threat level confirmed. Starman Jr. initiating full combat mode." With those words, the creature's body let out a nasty, booting up noise, while the button shapes and visor let out lights - and that was all the light they saw, before he walked forward, now looking more threatening than before somehow.
"Spread out!" Rokuna yelled, deciding to run towards the alien as a distraction while the others ran off in their own directions. Rather than pursue her as expected, however, the alien instead turned towards Konata, the visor scanning her.
"Potential threat level..." it let out, before darting in pursuit, moving horribly fast for something made out of titanium. The blue-haired girl soon realized it was chasing her in particular, suddenly appearing before her on several possible turns; it was only through luck and seeing the flashes of light before it was time that she managed to avoid being cornered. PK Laser beta.
"WATCH OUT!" she heard Kagami yell, all of a sudden, before a sharp pain struck her on the back; although she had managed to turn as expected, this time the Starman Jr. had managed to fire a pink laser in her direction, blasting the back of her shirt and burning a good deal of her skin. She yelled in pain as she fell, the laser missing the rest of her and piercing through several trees, cutting quite a few of them down.
Enraged, Kagami felt a sudden jolt in her head before she raised one hand forward, flames roaring through the air and ground towards the alien. The flames were so fast that, although they set a good portion of the forest ablaze, it easily put itself out, meaning that it was more scorched than a true forest fire. Only the body of the Starman Jr. remained ablaze, and it screeched as it felt a surprising amount of pain, unlike anything else.
In response, the alien teleported out of the flames, its body managing to not combine with it in the process, and reappeared right behind her. Swinging hard and fast with its tentacle appendages, their enemy completely struck her down, causing her to land on her face. "Eliminating target."
Before it could crush her head with its metallic, pod-like foot, a lightning bolt flew horizontally through the air, striking the alien in the torso. The electricity spread all over its surface, burying itself inside a crack formed through the impact, and dazing the Starman Jr. for a few seconds. It was about to teleport when its systems detected a sudden reduction in temperature, as its body was suddenly frozen to at least -50°. The sudden freezing caused the titanium to crack despite its resistance, forcing the hole in the belly to open further, revealing very sensitive machinery that was breaking apart as it fell.
Kagami could barely breathe as she felt herself being pulled away from the alien, her eyes exhausted. How long had she been awake, at this point? She'd rather sleep for a while, to be honest...
"I believe... that's exactly what I sensed outside of Izumi-san's house," Miyuki said, as the group met up. Tsukasa was sitting next to Kagami, who was still not quite able to stand up.
"It must've been sent here to kill us," Rokuna said, as she breathed in. "But well, congratulations! The three of you managed to channel your psychic powers quite easily, despite all that stress you were going through."
"Could've told us how to..." Konata groaned, as she sat next to Kagami. Her own shirt was a mess now, and she had her eyes closed as she walked. "Mind healing us now?"
"...Sorry. I don't have enough power left," Rokuna admitted, after a few seconds. "I overestimated your state when we met. I focused so much on taking care of you that I... well, tired myself out."
"Great..." Kagami mumbled, on the ground. Rokuna shook her head.
"Now, now, don't worry. We're almost at my house now," she said, lifting her up. "My dad's got some stuff that'll help you feel better. For now, you should rest up."
The lavender-haired girl soon found herself asleep, despite her own worries.
(*Yes, I am aware that including even one guy in the party will alienate some readers, no matter what I do, though I am open to suggestions on how to handle him well. No, he will not be getting a hive, nor will any other male characters, and for a fandom like this, though, I would never go as far as to give the male gender as a whole an equal role to females, nor will I have more than two permanent male member, although gender might be irrelevant regarding anyone who joins just briefly.)
Special thanks to: Yiuokami (as known on Fanfiction.net and DeviantArt; not sure about here), for all the advice they've given me for both this chapter and the fic as a whole, even though she isn't enough of a slice-of-life fan to watch the anime. If anyone more familiar with the anime would like to help me keep everyone in character, I'd more than welcome it.
Disclaimer: Lucky Star is property of Kagami Yoshimizu. Anything derived from or otherwise pertaining to the Earthbound/Mother trilogy is property of Shigesato Itoi. And, two certain guest characters to appear here are property of Group SNE. (More about them later.)
-----
Saitama Prefecture, Japan.
.....
The year is 200X.
.....
Ryouou High School
It was almost time for classes, and most of the students had already taken their seats. Two girls were still up, busy talking to each other, and both pinching their noses shut.
"What a horrible smell!" one of them said, a girl with waist-length, butterscotch-colored hair. The girl sitting by her side, who had long, lavender hair done in narrow twin ponytails, couldn't help but agree.
"Ugh! Does it stink or what!" she replied, trying to breathe through her mouth.
Just then...
"Kagami-sama!!!" a voice came from the doorway just as it was opened, both girls letting go of their noses as they saw the newcomer, a short, flat-chested and blue-haired girl. "Did you get the assignment for world history?"
The twin-tailed girl frowned, but she nodded. "I did, and don't think I'm gonna show you my work."
"Aww, don't be so stingy," said the bluenette, getting closer and pouting, making her annoyed.
"You never change, Konata. Graduation is only a few months away! If you don't start cleaning up your act now, how will you expect to manage yourself in college, or even in the real world?" Kagami demanded, but Konata wasn't listening, just as she picked up one of her ponytails and started tugging playfully at it. "Put it down, Konata."
"Not until you let me see your homework," the bluenette replied, annoying her further.
"For the last time, you are not seeing my answers!" she snapped while yanking the piece of hair out of her friend's grasp, retreating a bit. "Not like I put all that effort into my schoolwork just so you can leech off of me or something!"
"You know, Kagami, why do you wear your hair in pigtails?"
The purple-haired girl took one moment to feel her own hair, considering the question, while Konata tried to do the puppy eyes routine - and, as usual, failed. "Back in Junior High, I guess. At some point, I just decided to try them out, for the heck of it, but people started telling me it looked pretty cute." She blushed for a moment "Until then, Tsukasa was always the cute one, while I normally got compliments about how mature and responsible I am, so hearing something different... felt nice for a change."
"Aww, you're blushing!" Konata teased her, smirking, only for Kagami to push her on the face angrily.
"Come to think of it," Ayano said after a moment, "I've been thinking of trying out a different hairstyle. Haven't quite decided, but I wouldn't want Misa-chan to laugh at me if I put too much effort into it."
"That's a good idea," Kagami said, finally letting Konata go. "Konata, don't you ever think of trying something out yourself? I mean, you have grown it out long enough to do whatever you want with."
"I'd rather do it in the presence of others," the bluenette answered dismissively. "It's no fun to do it when you're all alone."
"Don't you think you might get more of a reaction when you try something out in private, and then come out to show it off?" Ayano asked, making her think about it.
"Hmmmm... I guess you're right. Maybe I should take that approach," she decided.
The next morning...
Kagami yawned as she woke up, stretching her arms and legs before she got off the bed, still feeling a tad drowsy. "Morn'," she muttered once inside the kitchen, settling down at the table to jam up some toast.
"That's a nice hairstyle you've tried out, Kagami," said her mother, Miki, eyes above her where her head was. She put her food down, confused.
"What made you decide to try that out?" asked her father, Tadao, confusing her even more.
"What are you talking about?" she asked, just as Matsuri came in, stopping in place to stare at her. Kagami looked at her, noticing her starting to snicker at, it seemed, her expense.
"What are you-" She reached up to her hair from behind, only to find it missing there, and as she moved her hand up, she felt it was bunched up higher and higher, sticking together pretty hard. "What did you do to my hair?!" she yelped, trying to pull it down, but every strand or patch she pulled seemed to be magnetically attracted to each other, because it would then get pulled back up so hard she couldn't help but wince from it.
"We didn't do anything!" said Matsuri, even as her sister ran to the bathroom, her chair falling to the ground from how fast she stood up. The cry of horror coming shortly after managed to be surprising, if only from how loud she was.
Kagami wanted to cry at the sight meeting her in the mirror. All her hair was bunched up on the top of her head, shaped like a large oval or egg or something, and her every attempt to pull it back down did nothing; not even running water over it seemed to destroy the gel or whatever that had been done to it, and all it did was get her pajamas wet.
And the more failed attempts, the more her panic grew. Kagami couldn't go out with her hair like this, not if she wanted to keep her reputation. Screw going to school, she wouldn't be able to put her face out on the street at this rate!
"All right, which one of you did this to me?" she asked sharply, the moment she returned to the kitchen. They all looked at each other, confused, before giving their own excuses about why they wouldn’t be able to do such a thing. Kagami listened to them for about fifteen minutes before she realized there was no way for any of them to do such a thing while she was still asleep, considering her bed was still clean and she was a rather light sleeper.
A couple of apologies to her family due to her outburst later, she was off to school, still tugging on her hair and trying to break it down to a normal length again. “Ugh, today’s gonna suck…†she muttered sadly.
-----
After what felt like the longest walk ever, due to how everyone kept staring at her oversized hairdo, Kagami and Tsukasa had just arrived at the school gates when they heard a sudden cry from behind, drawing their attention. "K-Kagami-samaaaaaaaaaa!!!!" Konata was yelling, her hair also done up into a beehive.
"K-Konata? You too?! Kagami let out, as her friend suddenly hugged her, almost crying. What's going on here?
"Yuu-chan noticed something different about my hair, just when we were saying bye to each other," the bluenette yelped, tearfully. I could've sworn it was straight back at home!"
"I noticed sis's hair was shaped like that during breakfast," Tsukasa commented. "She wasn't too happy about it, either."
"Would you stop crying on my chest, Konata?" Kagami muttered, unhappy, getting nervous about her surprising reaction. "Why are you crying like that, anyway?"
"Because my Kagami-sama looks so moe like thaaaaaaat!!!" she revealed, making her feel worse. Yep, Konata was being annoying again.
"And here we go again" she groaned, forcing Konata to release her, the bluenette no longer crying or pretending to. "If it wasn't because there's no way you could get inside my room tonight, I would think you're the one who did this to me."
"Oh, you're so cruel, Kagami-n," Konata teased her, before pulling her kittenface. "I sure hope Miyuki-san's hair looks just as moe as yours by now, too!"
Kagami blushed. "Shut up about that! This is totally embarrassing!"
-----
As if because of the blue-haired girl's wish, some kind of blue jewel appeared over Miyuki's head, out of thin air, just as she was walking to class with a few classmates. As soon as someone noticed her hair start to rise and wrap itself around the stone, a commotion broke out around her, all the students watching as her hair became just as oval-shaped as Kagami's and Konata's.
"Wha-What's going on?" Miyuki asked, once she realized everyone was staring at her.
"Your hair's what's going on!" one of the onlookers, a nearby girl, spoke up. "Something weird appeared over your head and it made your hair look all weird!"
Feeling up revealed that her hair was already stuck in the large oval shape, and everyone was busy talking about the strange event. Embarrassed, Miyuki covered her face with her hands and ran towards the girls' room.
-----
Just as Konata had entered her classroom, a shut-eyed boy had decided to talk to her. "Oh, hey, Kona... huh. Happened to you too?"
"'Too'?" The blue-haired girl blinked. "Did you see someone else like this?" 'Miyuki-san, I hope!'
"Heh, you'll never believe it!" he teased her, raising her anticipation. "Like, this weird stone appeared over her head, and then her hair started to rise up and wrap around it, and everyone was like..."
Konata was listening to his every word intently, picturing the image on her head. Her heart started pounding in excitement, and she had to struggle to keep her face steady... even as the boy began to trail off, staring at her, as did her classmates.
'Ohhhh, this is gonna be moeeeee!' she thought.
This was her thought for the next few minutes, as homeroom started, the teacher taking names as usual until she reached Miyuki. "Takara-san late to class? That's a first..."
-----
The noise of quiet sniffing was quite loud within the empty bathroom, along with the noise of hard tugging. As the school nurse walked inside to wash her hands, she couldn't help but take notice of that noise, and soon she was knocking on the door.
"G-go away!" The sound of Miyuki's voice saying those words surprised her; wasn't she possibly the nicest student in the entire school?
"Excuse me, Takara-san," said Nurse Fuyuki Amahara, making her quiet. "You haven't been hiding in this stall all morning, have you?"
"U-uh..." The pinkette's hesitation made her sigh, but she couldn't help but smile.
"Come, now, there's nothing to be afraid of. You should be in class now." She tried to push the stall open, only to find it remained locked. "Why don't you come out?"
"I-it's kind of embarrassing..."
"It's okay, I won't laugh." 'It's probably just a zit, or maybe she had a bad hair day,' she thought, fighting back the smile. Kids could be so stressed about the smallest things...
"It's just, something happened to my hair, and now..." Miyuki actually hiccuped there, to her surprise. "I can't get it back to normal!"
The nurse frowned. "Show me."
After a few seconds, Miyuki unlocked the stall, letting the door open. The nurse was prepared for anything, but certainly the sight of a bright, pink beehive that practically doubled her head's height was not something she had expected.
"W-what..." she let out, hesitant, until she noticed the hurt look in the pinkette's eyes. Fighting against her shock, she decided to be as business-like as possible, and she cleared her throat to be sure. "This is certainly strange. Why would you style your hair like this if you would be so embarrassed by it?"
Miyuki shook her head, feeling uncomfortable as the mass of hair above her moved together rather than the normal, flowing motion she was so used to. "I didn't do it! Â Something made my hair end up like this just before homeroom!" To prove her point, she pulled on her hair; unlike what the nurse was expecting, Miyuki managed to pull out a good clump of hair away, but as soon as she had some distance she was forced to let go - and then, the strands rearranged themselves in place once more, becoming indistinguishable from the rest of it.
"...let me try," the woman said, placing both hands on her hair and trying to pull on her own, but her few attempts only resulted in the same thing. "Well, this is definitely the weirdest thing I've ever seen. Y'know what, why don't you just remain in there? I'll call one of your parents to come get you."
Miyuki nodded, before bowing politely. "Thank you very much," she said, tearfully.
-----
"I'm home!"
Kagami had never been so glad to come back home after school. Throughout all day, people kept staring at her, even after they had done this multiple times before, and she knew that their teacher had been distracted as well. Even Konata's teasing had never made her so embarrassed in her life!
She was ready to tune out any responses from anyone and just rush to her computer to find out anything she could regarding strange hair mutations, when the phone suddenly rang - right when she was passing by it.
"What is it?!" she asked, rather roughly.
"Kagami-san?" Miyuki's voice came from the other side, surprising her. "D-did I call at a bad time, or-"
"N-no, no, not at all!" Shaking her head, she decided to focus on what was going on now. "What happened? Do you need anything?"
"Yes... would it be okay if I came over for today's notes and assignments?" She didn't know if the other girl was blushing, but something about her tone reeked of her embarrassment about this request. "I had to leave school today, and-"
"You? Leave school?" Now THAT was unusual enough to draw her attention. "Why would you do something like that?"
"W-well... do I have to say?" Miyuki asked her with a hushed voice. Were it not for her tested patience, Kagami might have been more polite, but as it was she went and told her to do so. "...well... when I was walking to homeroom, something happened to my hair, and—"
"Wait! That's what happened to me today!" she interrupted, surprising Miyuki as well. "And Konata too, though neither of us were at school yet when that happened." She huffed. "That idiot thinks this weird thing is 'moe'."
"Oh... I see." Miyuki sounded... disappointed? Sad? She couldn't tell.
"I was just about to look online to see if there's anything going on about this," she went on. "But well... if you're like this too, then I guess you should come over. Who knows how contagious this is."
"O-okay! I'll come over soon!" Miyuki said, just as Tsukasa walked by.
"Is Yuki-chan okay, sis?" she asked Kagami, who nodded.
"Yeah, she is... she got some of this on herself, though," she said, tugging on her hair for emphasis. "She's coming over for her notes, but we'll try to figure out more about whatever this is now."
-----
After a few minutes, the doorbell rang. "I'll get it!" Tsukasa said, opening the door only to find Miyuki there. "Ah, Yuki-chan!"
"H-hello, Tsukasa-san!" Miyuki greeted her, trying not to blush as her hairdo - just barely able to fit through the doorway - seemed to draw everyone's attention as well.
"It's almost as big as Kagami's..." said Matsuri, unable to hold it in. Seeing the girl's eyes widen, Tsukasa shook her head quickly, trying to calm her down.
"Sis asked me to bring you to her room once you arrived," she said, leading her in. Once they reached that room, she knocked on the door. "It's us! Yuki-chan just arrived!"
"Come in!" Kagami's voice told them, and Tsukasa opened the door. As soon as it was open, both girls looked at each other's hairstyles, comparing it instinctively. The purplette couldn't help but feel uncomfortable that her hair was bigger than Miyuki's.
For a few seconds, there was a very uncomfortable silence, which lasted only until Kagami noticed the door was still open. "Tsukasa! Close it already!" she ordered, her sister squeaking before she turned to close the door, leaving the two of them alone in their embarrassment. "...there. Now we shouldn't be bothered by anyone."
"...t-thank you..."
"I couldn't find anything about it at school, so I decided to use the Internet for help," Kagami explained, taking a seat back at her computer. "While I was waiting for you, I put up messages about it on all the emails I could find and even some message boards, but I'm not so sure if they'll believe me."
"I see..." Miyuki muttered, still blushing. "Could we please focus on our homework for now? I... would rather not think about that."
"Y-yeah, sure," Kagami admitted, before she took out her notebook.
-----
Due to it being a weekend, it wasn't a problem for Miyuki to sleep over at the twins' house, and both Kagami and Tsukasa were readying plans for learning more about this the next day. However, in the middle of that night, things changed severely.
It all started with a loud scream that completely woke Kagami up. "What the-?" She jolted out of bed, trying to find a light or something, something about the scream triggering her instincts. That was how she managed to see her desk lamp start to get up, on its own, disconnecting from its wall socket as it did so.
"Oh crap!" she cried out, ducking right as the thing flew towards her head, barely missing her huge beehive. Looking at the ground, she saw that her pillow had fallen as well, quite close to her hands in fact. One look back up, and the lamp had just turned around, trying to face her.
"GET LOST!" she yelled, slamming it with the pillow. Although it was a really strong impact, the pillow was too soft to truly damage it, or so it seemed; in fact, it couldn't even take the impact itself. Feathers scattered all over the room after that first blow, leading to her coughing from the dust it had built up after years of use.
The lamp was deterred only for a second, before it managed to move again, tackling her in the belly and sending her back. The impact was painful, but as she looked around, she saw that she had landed right next to the door - at least, based on what little she could see in the dark. She took a second to find its handle, grabbing it at once and pulling it open, letting herself out of the room. When the lamp missed her again, it slammed against the wall behind her, its bulb shattering at once as it went out.
The effects of the adrenaline faded just enough to make her realize how scary that whole experience had been, but she didn't have enough time to actually delve into that. The lights suddenly started to flicker like crazy, and the portraits on the wall shook and trembled. The sound of furniture scraping against the ground came right after. The girl had to run desperately down the stairs, dodging even the telephone stand before it could try to strangle her and a vase that flew at her head, before she managed to dive past the open door at the very entrance of the house.
"Oooof..." she grunted, coughing a bit. "What the hell...?" Right at that moment, something touched her shoulder. The bravery from before gave way to her childish nature, as she even screamed a little, but realized that it was only her father a second later.
"Kagami, are you alright?" he asked her, and she nodded.
"What the hell is going on here!?!" she asked him, only for him to shake his head. She noticed his arms and face didn't look very good, like he had cut himself on something.
"I don't know," he admitted, and then Kagami noticed that Miki and the others were also there. Her attention was taken by her mother. "Where's Tsukasa?" she asked, her lips curled as she tried to hold back her emotions. They could see she was almost crying when nobody could answer her. "Tadao, go back inside and get her!" she begged, before turning to the others. "The rest of you stay out here. I'll call the police."
Although they tried to trust her father, Kagami felt a sudden headache not a minute since he left, her thoughts suddenly going towards him. "Dad-!" she grunted, before running towards the garage, driven by the feeling that trouble was about to happen. There was a simple, wooden baseball bat they had forgotten to store there, which she took for her own protection, before heading further into the house.
Her face paled as she saw the lights flickering, trying to make her way despite her concerns, before a brief period of full light. She gasped as she saw her father lying on the floor, struggling against the telephone's cord that had wrapped around his neck, cutting off his breathing. He tried to grab the stand with one hand, but it remained out of reach, ringing in a mocking manner.
She couldn't stand that. With one mighty swing, she shattered the phone so hard that none of the fragments landed on either of them, the cord's grip dying right after. Tadao gasped for air as he finally managed to pull it off, with some help from his daughter. "Thanks," he finally stammered, while she helped him get up. Her eyes were still focused on their surroundings, making her aware that several other pieces of furniture were moving towards them. "Didn't your mom tell you to stay outside?"
His question was not answered, as a swarm of knives suddenly flew in from the kitchen. "Forget that! Go get Tsukasa, I'll cover you!" Kagami shouted, taking her bat and readying a baseball batter stance, while he ran up the stairs. She made sure to focus on the biggest knives, managing to take them down in two swings; unfortunately, although she managed to hit quite a few of the other blades, others managed to fly past her guard, leaving her with a few shallow cuts.
"Is it over?" she wondered, seeing how they were all on the ground, only to see they were starting to float again. "Crap!" she groaned, before backing away towards Tsukasa's room. The door was thankfully open, which meant she had no trouble getting inside and then slamming it closed, just before the knives embedded themselves into the wood with loud noises.
She had just caught her breath again when she saw her father and sister on the other side of the room, the man busy as he dealt with the desk’s lamp. She was confused until she saw it twist itself, trying to move on its own, while he beat it up with a heavy-looking book.
Her sister was in the corner, her eyes wide. Kagami knelt down in front of her, too worried to put on some clothes right now, noticing several bruises on her face and neck. The poor girl's eyes were focused only on her table, and on the objects that were strewn about, broken and damaged.
"Tsukasa, it's alright now, snap out of it," she said, shaking her gently. The younger twin was so scared she looked like she was going to cry, and Kagami hugged her tight.
After a few seconds of that, Tsukasa nodded, her breathing back to normal. "Okay."
Kagami pulled her to her feet and looked back at Tadao, who was still bashing the remnants of the lamp. "Let's go," she said. He gave one more furious slam and breathed out.
"Our own house is trying to kill us..." he muttered. He was so distracted by this thought that he didn't notice the bed behind him had started to shiver, much less its rising in the air.
Kagami, however, had noticed it. "Dad, we gotta go, now!" she screamed, both girls' eyes as wide as they saw the bed suddenly swing forward, nearly crushing their father as it slammed against him. Kagami ran for the glass doors, dragging Tsukasa along, and once her sister got out she ran back for her father, who had taken a nasty hit from the bed. Helping him out, they tried to close the doors, but the bed rammed itself against the doorway, shattering the glass and throwing the two of them back, both of them barely missing serious injuries from that.
Still, as the bed smashed against the balcony railing, it suddenly flipped and fell over, breaking apart as it struck the ground. Seeing the mattress lying elsewhere, and looking like it was not moving or possessed, gave Kagami the inspiration for her next action.
"Everyone, jump!" she yelled, getting up the best she could, just as her father stood up as well. Tsukasa looked nervous, but the three of them had no choice but to jump together, falling on the soft mattress. The impact was painful, but compared to the cuts and the near-strangling, it was still bearable.
-----
'Oh man, I can't believe I missed such a moe thing...
The whole day, Konata had been meaning to meet up with Miyuki in person, eager to see her with her new hairstyle. School had been so draining that day that she had completely forgotten about actually doing it, even after her other friends had brought up the subject, and both Soujiro and Yui had asked as well when she got home. She tried giving Miyuki a call… but for some reason, she had to leave a message.
She figured she could just pay her a visit on the way to her part-time job in Akihabara, but unfortunately only Yukari was home. It was somewhat hard for her to find a good costume that day, due to her hair being stuck in place as it was - the first time she had actually bemoaned her incredible hive - but at least she managed to find a cosplay that wouldn't be ruined by her new hairstyle.
The faint buzzing in her head that had been going on all day was enough to make her distracted enough to forget about Miyuki after work, as she went straight to playing World of Warcraft as soon as she could and didn't even think of anything else. She was just done with another mob when she heard a frantic knocking at the door, so loud it managed to draw her attention.
"Sheesh, who is it?" she muttered, checking on the nearest clock. It was way too late for visitors, that was for sure. Still, since they were knocking so loud, she decided to go and see what it was, unless she wanted her father to wake up and be annoyed.
She didn't expect to see Miyuki standing on the porch of her house, with her hair in a thick, beautiful hive, looking uncomfortable as she glanced around.
"Miyuki-san!" she cried out, almost ready to hug her, when the rest of the scene entered her thick skull. Miyuki wasn't alone; Tsukasa and Kagami's family was there as well, the group as a whole looking really nervous and shocked even.
"W-what's going on?" she asked, realizing this wasn't a normal situation. "Why did you come here right now? What's with the bat? What're with all those cuts and bruises?"
Kagami took a couple of deep breaths, as she looked around. "I'm guessing nothing bad happened to you yet, right?"
"What're you talking about?"
"I suddenly woke up when someone screamed; the next thing I know, my lamp attacked me! We tried to get out of there, but Tsukasa got trapped by her stuff and me and Dad had to run back in to save her!" she explained, in a hurry. "We managed to bring her back, but then we had to run away - from our own house, no less - and then I realized it might have to do with these things that did our hair up like this, and that's where you come in!"
Konata stared at her, before looking at the others. They definitely were too nervous for this to be a joke, not that Kagami would make jokes like that to begin with.
"I'm sure glad that didn't happen to me!" she said, somewhat joking. "I spent lots of effort building up my collection, and it would totally suck if I had to ditch it because it started attacking me."
Kagami just groaned in response. She was in no state of mind to snark about her friend's otaku lifestyle.
-----
About ten minutes later, everyone was resting in different parts of the house, with the injured having been treated already. The rest of Konata's family had woken up, and although they weren't exactly happy at waking up so early in the morning, explaining the situation was enough to make them appeased.
The conversation had gone on for a while before Miyuki remembered something. "Kagami-san, did you find anything out about those things?" she asked, startling her friend.
"Oh yeah, that's right..." she admitted, somewhat unhappy. "Guess I should've remembered to check them before going to bed." She then faced Konata. "Say, would it be okay if I borrowed your computer for a sec?"
"Go right ahead," said Konata, with a smirk.
At first glance, the inbox seemed to be full of junk mail, but as she took to deleting them, a specific name was noticed. "Rokuna... Hiiragi?" she muttered, before clicking on it.
There actually aren't that many of those. They're part of what my dad's been researching for as long as I can remember. Let's meet up at my house tomorrow morning, and I'll explain everything then, okay?
-Rokuna Hiiragi
She stared at it for a few seconds, before grabbing Konata's cell phone and running back to her family. "Dad!" she cried out, just as she got to the door. "Do you know anyone called 'Rokuna Hiiragi'?"
"Hmm..." Tadao thought for a bit, trying to remember. "The name sounds kinda familiar... but I'm not sure. Maybe..."
"Maybe?" his wife asked, and he turned to her just for a nod.
"It's my cousin... he's a weirdo. Haven't seen him in a while, so I didn't remember at first, but... I think he had a daughter named Rokuna," he explained. "It might be worth calling him first."
Calling his number took a few moments, but the tone soon gave way to a sleepy, female voice. "Unnnggghhh... Who is this?"
"Are you Rokuna Hiiragi?" Kagami asked, hearing a mumbled 'yes' shortly after. "Listen, I'm your cousin, Kagami Hiiragi. You're the one who answered my questions about the hair thing, right?"
"Y-yeah, that's me..."
"Then listen! Something really bad just happened to me back home, and we're at a friend's house. We need to know everything we can about this whole thing ASAP!"
After a polite yawn, the voice seemed to perk up. "Guess I shouldn't be surprised. Â Let's all meet up at my house, okay?"
"Sure. Where do you-"
"Make sure you bring a weapon of some kind. It's gonna be dangerous," Rokuna interrupted her, before groaning. "Look, I have to get dressed up. I'll talk to you when you arrive."
"R-right! See ya!" Kagami put down the phone, after she heard the call end. She turned to face her friends. "Konata, Miyuki, that was my cousin. We're going to visit her and learn more. Get dressed and grab something to fight with."
Both of them nodded at that, even if Miyuki was kinda embarrassed about it. "Sis!?!" Tsukasa suddenly said, as they had turned away. "Would it be okay if I come with you too?"
"What?! Tsukasa, you can't come! It's gonna be dangerous!" the older twin let out, surprised at her audacity. "What if you get attacked again?"
"But I don't want you to be alone!" her sister said, looking quite serious. "You're gonna be in danger too, aren't you? I mean, if things were bad like that at home, then maybe they'll be really bad in other places too!"
"And that's even more of a reason why you shouldn't come!"
"Aww, come on, Kagami!" Konata interrupted the argument before it could continue, moving next to Tsukasa. "You can't leave her here! Who knows how long we'll be away?" She pushed her friends closer to each other, grinning. "It's not the same without her!"
Despite her best attempts, Kagami just couldn't resist those puppy eyes for very long. "Fine, whatever you want... but you better be ready for whatever might be out there."
Tsukasa just smiled, before the group spread out in search of clothes and equipment.
Konata decided on asking Yui for some weaponry, and given Kagami's description, she included her gun in the list. The earful she received on why they weren't allowed to take it was enough to make her regret that almost at once.
Looking around for equipment wasn't very hard. Somehow, the girls started feeling a knack as they looked at objects, gauging their skill and potential power. Miyuki stopped by the kitchen, where she found a nice and new frying pan that seemed to be both particularly sturdy and ill-suited for actual cooking, while Konata had opened up an old toybox from back when she was even smaller. A yo-yo and slingshot were there, along with a pack of plastic pellets. The slingshot's usefulness was clear, even if she didn't really have a good aim, but she didn't have much confidence on the yo-yo's usefulness until her attempt at using it resulted in her swinging it all the way to the wall in front of her.
As for their clothing, the girls were forced to keep their current outfits, seeing as how there were no real clothes available for them to wear. Even their shoes had been left behind, a fact which bothered Kagami quite a lot as she waited by the living room. In the end, though, she figured that they wouldn't be gone for very long and might even get to go home again before the next morning.
Konata decided to go to the kitchen to eat something before they left, finding Yutaka there. "Yuu-chan, what're you cooking rice for?" she asked, the younger girl smiling.
"Just making some riceballs for you guys, just in case you get hungry,"she explained, looking away from the pan. "Say, oneechan, would it be okay if I come along too?"
"Thanks, but you should stay here. There might be more dangerous things out there, and I'd rather you stay with Yui-neesan." As soon as she had said that, she realized that she had already turned to face her cousin, even if she wasn't in the room just yet. "Right, nee-san?"
"You can count on me!" the cop said, with a grin. Konata didn't think it was too fitting, but she said nothing. "As for you, don't let anyone tell you otherwise, but you're a brave young girl. Just remember to go for it!" She whipped her fist out in a thumbs-up while saying those last three words.
-----
After preparations were finished, the girls met up at the living room to say their goodbyes to their families. Soujiro didn't seem to be very concerned, having his own faith in them and willing to let his only daughter go out in this quest. Tadao and Miki, however...
"No means no!" the father said, glaring at his daughters, his wife by his side.
"What if something were to happen to you?" his wife asked them, quite worried. "We should wait until tomorrow morning to visit them!"
"But there's probably nothing out there that could come to life like those things did!" Kagami said, serious. "It's probably safer out there than in here, in fact!"
"No, I don't think so. What happened back home... I never dreamed it could be possible," the woman said. "What else might happen, after that?"
"We'd never forgive ourselves if something were to happen to you girls, and we weren't around to protect you."
"We're not the only ones who need protection!" Kagami almost yelled at that point, frustrated as she was. "And maybe... it might even be better if we're not around! Who knows if it's not related to what happened to our hair!"
"Yuu-chan is going to need someone to take care of her too," Konata added, trying to be helpful for once. That didn't seem to change their minds, however.
"I don't want to lose any of you!" Tadao explained, shaking his head. "There's no way I'm letting any of you go out there and-"
Suddenly Miyuki's eyes widened, as she looked at the front door. "There's something out there!" she shouted, looking almost terrified, and the pinkette pressed one hand to her forehead. "It feels... so strong, and so scary...!"
Kagami stepped away, while Tadao, Soujiro, and Yui moved towards the front door, the young woman already having her gun out. The door was suddenly blown open, falling to the ground, and she immediately aimed at the open entrance.
"Freeze!" she shouted, targetting some kind of silver, humanoid... thing, with a visor for a face and strange black markings on its body. The being seemed to scan the room, before stepping forward.
The gunshot rang through the entire house as the bullet struck against its body, penetrating a bit but not very far. The 'skin' wasn't pierced, but it certainly seemed to have felt it, if the way it turned towards her meant anything.
Before she could shoot it again, however, Tadao suddenly came from the side, tackling it hard and slamming it against the ground. He had just managed to press down on it when the creature's body flashed white, and he fell onto the floor himself, a sudden pressure formed on his back. He couldn't look up from that position, but he heard some kind of humming noise, while Yui saw the creature - having somehow teleported itself over him - point its tentacle-like arm at the man, pink energy gathering at the tip.
A few more rounds shot at its body were enough to keep it from focusing on that, and the creature teleported again. As it reappeared, however, Soujiro - who had paid enough attention at it to realize there was a second flash of light forming just before it disappeared - swung a sledgehammer that he kept at the shed right at its head, sending it hard against the wall.
The thing let out some strange, unintelligible noises, before another swing seemed to ruin its communication abilities further; not even a sound came out. The third swing did not land, though, as it managed to teleport away before he struck.
The three of them panted, as the adrenaline passed. They looked at each other, even as Yui helped Tadao stand up. "Thanks..." he said, before turning back to the group. See, girls, there's no need to wo-"
His speech was cut off as he realized something. "Where did everyone go?!"
-----
By this point, the four girls were running into the forest, having left the house with the others and ditching them mid-flight before they could notice. Kagami had her phone on and at the ready, having called Rokuna again. "Rokuna! Are you there?"
"Yeah, what is it?"
"Listen, something just happened outside my friend's house, and we had to leave," she explained. "That hill in the woods we used to play on, can you come and meet us there?"
"No problem! Just be careful!"
The dark forest was awfully silent, even at night; not even the normal hoot of owls or the sound of bugs making noise seemed to echo. It was scarier than it should be, the moonlight and starlight managing to make it through the thick leaves just enough to let them see their surroundings, if barely. Kagami held a flashlight on one hand, her rapidly trusty bat still on her right hand, while Konata held the yo-yo attached to her index finger, Tsukasa fiddled with her slingshot, and Miyuki kept a grip on the frying pan with both hands.
Going through the path they were taking wasn't very difficult, at least for now; although it was narrow, going through the trees, and had plenty of bumps in the way, it was wide enough they could walk on pairs as well as single-file, or with some leeway in-between. Other than Konata, though, the girls were starting to feel dreadful as their bare feet met the cold grass and ground, Kagami flinching every so often as she thought she was stepping on a bug.
They had just entered a wider space when a nasty sound drew their attention. A brown dog had leapt from one of the bushes, growling at them, the light reflecting off its square glasses. Right after, behind them, a big crow with a yellow beak, sunglasses and a purple bowtie let out a caw, as it landed by the nearest branch. A hissing noise came from the side, and Konata gasped as she saw that it was a green snake, somehow having taken the shape of a coil.
"W-what the-" Konata let out, as the four of them found themselves stepping back. "What's with these animals wearing-"
Before she could finish her thought, the dog suddenly pounced on her, throwing her to the ground and biting her arm. At the same time, Tsukasa was slammed by the snake, whose body spun and coiled around her, trapping her arms and making her unable to breathe, and Miyuki suddenly saw the crow flying at her, scratching and pecking at her eyes. The three of them yelled in pain as they fell, trying to protect themselves uselessly.
Seeing this whole mess happen all at once made Kagami freeze in shock, not sure who she should help. All three of them were clearly in danger, and she had to do something to save them - but who? In what order?
Tsukasa's pained yell was enough to make her decide, as she realized her lungs would be permanently crushed at this rate. Just slamming the bat against the snake wouldn't be a good idea, but she managed to slip it under one of the coils near the head, pulling it back as hard as she could. It wasn't enough to free her sister, but despite the pain, Tsukasa managed to free her hands just enough to hold the head off herself, wincing as the snake tried to bite her with its non-venomous teeth. "Sis... do something!"
"H-hold on!" Kagami said, as she looked around. "I'll try to get the others to help!"
"P-please!"
Running towards Miyuki, she kicked the crow as hard as she could, getting it off the busty pinkette. One look at her face led to a relief; she wasn't badly injured, not even really bleeding, but her glasses had been completely destroyed by the pecking. The bird seemed to grin, in a nasty way, before flying away.
She turned back to Konata, who had managed to get the dog to let go of her arm, but now had to deal with a leg bite. She didn't expect the dog to just let go of her with a kick, and she was somewhat nervous about what'd happen if she just touched it, so she pulled the bat from its place where it was helping her sister and brought it down on the mutt.
The dog yelped, before turning on her, pouncing on the lavender-haired girl as well. She barely managed to use the bat to protect herself from its bite, but was no longer able to stand up, falling to the ground as well.
Before she could think of another 'bright idea', however, the sound of something swinging hard drew her attention. Right above her, Miyuki used the frying pan to strike the dog, sending it flying off her like a pancake. The beast rolled against the nearest tree, yelping in pain, while Kagami's sudden relief gave way to shock as Miyuki's strong swing hit her right in the face.
"Ahh! I'm so sorry!" the pinkette yelped, as she realized what had happened. Kagami's eyes were spinning really fast now, and she felt almost like throwing up.
"Save... Tsukasa!" she gasped out, as she tried to recover. Miyuki looked towards the other girl, realizing she was already losing the battle against the snake, her hands moving back down. Both she and Konata moved towards the reptile, grabbing it by the 'neck' and pulling as hard as they could. The sudden uncoiling led to Tsukasa rolling on the ground, wincing as she hit a tree herself, and the two of them then threw it away, Konata striking it with her yo-yo for good measure. The snake retreated at once, leaving the four of them alone in the forest again.
The four girls took some time to nurse their wounds and pick up the fallen flashlight, before examining each other's state. Miyuki rubbed her face slightly, as she tried to not look so embarrassed at her own situation. "Miyuki," Kagami said, after a few moments, "did that crow break your glasses?"
"Y-yeah," she admitted, blushing. "I sorta... spaced out, and then that crow flew at me and-"
"It happened to everyone. Don't sweat it," Konata dismissed it, but Kagami was adamant.
"Don't be so easy-going! She could've lost her eyes from that!" The girls were shocked as they heard that, Miyuki growing pale this time. "Listen! Maybe it was okay for you to space out like this before, but... things have changed! We need to pay more attention to our surroundings, and be more careful! You can't just space out like that anymore!"
Miyuki bit her lip, before nodding. Tsukasa looked at her injured fingers, the bite marks thankfully not deep. "Do you know if that was a poisonous snake or not?"
"No... I don't think so. It attacked by wrapping around you and trying to squeeze, rather than by biting," Miyuki explained, remembering her biology lessons. "I couldn't really see what kind of snake it was, but I don't think it was venomous. At least, not with the smaller teeth."
That, at least, was a relief.
As the four of them finished cleaning up their wounds with some supplies that Tsukasa had remembered to grab while at the house, the silver creature observed them from a spot within the forest, safely hidden from sight. Its body had yet to recover from the previous skirmish, and it was not currently in a fighting state just yet.
Rather, it focused on increasing the violent nature of the animals in this forest and its surroundings, through passive methods. Wearing them out until they were on the same level as it was now was enough to begin with. At the rate things were going, they could only fight for so long before they would be incapacitated and succumb.
-----
They managed to find the hill at the end of the forest, but the group looked disheveled and exhausted as a whole. Their little trek had led to them fighting more of those critters, looking similar in their oddity, but no longer fighting in such groups - for one reason or another, at least for now. Their awareness of their dangers was also a helpful point, as now they were more likely to swing at a possible enemy first, rather than let it have the first move.
The group had just made it to the halfway point of their climb when Tsukasa noticed a white present-like box, neatly tied with a big red ribbon.
"Wow, look! It's a present!" she said, coming closer. "I wonder how it got here!"
Before she could get closer, however, Kagami grabbed her and pulled her back. "Don't touch that!" she snapped at her, glaring at the box. "After everything that happened tonight... what if that thing's rigged, or there's a monster in it or something? Let's just leave it!"
"But sis-"
"But nothing!" Dragging Tsukasa by the hand, she took point again. "Come on, we're almost there!"
After about a minute or so of walking, they finally reached the hilltop, where someone waited for them. It was a girl about their age, wearing a bright yellow shirt and a red skirt and sneakers, with her hair, in a rich shade of brown, also arranged into a big beehive like theirs. She had a wooden sword resting by her side.
She didn't wait for them to speak before doing so. "You guys look beat," she introduced herself, looking at , her gaze piercing as if she was looking inside her. "Here, let me fix you all up."
Raising one hand towards them, she focused her mind for a bit. "P. K. Healing. alpha."
First her hand started to glow green, before the glow spread over to Kagami'ss body, healing her injuries and fixing her clothes' damage. Rokuna continued to focus, moving her hand towards each girl, healing them back to their normal states - though their hair remained updone despite that.
"Thanks!" Tsukasa said, a sentiment shared by the others. Kagami was relieved as well, but tried not to think too much on that.
"That was... pretty helpful," she admitted. "It's just a healing power, though?"
"Yes. No side effects or anything, so don't worry about that," Rokuna said. "Those are your friends, right?"
"Yeah, Konata and Miyuki. We've been friends since the beginning of high school," she explained, waving towards them. The girls each gave a greeting sign with a hand, before introducing themselves.
"Hi. I'm Konata. Nice to meetcha."
"My name is Miyuki Takara. It's a pleasure to meet you."
"It's all mine, don't worry," Rokuna replied, smiling as well.
"So, anyway," Kagami went on, frowning again. "What is going on, exactly? Why did our hair get like this, and we got attacked by our own furniture and weird animals, and that thing you just did to us?"
"Now, where to begin..." Rokuna let out, as she realized this wasn't what she expected to hear. "Well, from what Dad told me, you have special gemstones nestled within your hair, out of a total of twelve altogether. They have the power to grant us special abilities, which you should be able to channel soon enough."
"And what about all those things attacking us?"
"It's the gemstones, again. According to Dad, these gemstones are the only things that can stop an alien invasion that's beginning, and as their bearers, we-"
"A-aliens?!" Tsukasa cried out, getting behind Kagami. "Alien... invaders? Li-like in the movies?"
"Basically. It's gonna be troublesome, and..." Rokuna blinked as she realized something. "Wait, Kasa-chan, your hair wasn't changed. Why are you here?"
"I... I didn't want to leave my sister alone!" Tsukasa explained, though she looked terrified again. Rokuna sighed.
"It might better to leave her back at her house, where-"
"It's not safe to leave her anywhere!" Kagami declared, quite serious. "We got attacked by our own house thanks to me, and then some weird alien thing came to Konata's house and-"
"Wait, weird alien thing?" Rokuna blinked. "Was it... silver, and not quite human-looking, but kinda human-looking?"
Kagami nodded. "Yes! Our dads defeated it, but-"
"Ohhh, this is so not good..." Rokuna's unhappiness was a surprise to them. "I seem to have some latent foresight abilities since I got this stone. I can see images of the future, if barely, and it's shown me that silver creature multiple times."
"And?" Konata asked, ignorant of the meaning of this. "What's the problem?"
"I've seen it just before you arrived. It's watching you. I'm sure that it'll try something, before we can arrive somewhere safe." Rokuna smiled at that point. "Don't worry, though. I'll protect you, and you can awaken your powers in the meantime as well."
After a little more small talk, the group decided to head to Rokuna's house. For some reason, the animals that had hounded them before arriving at the hill were no longer attacking them, although there was still an awful silence throughout the forest, one which put everyone on edge.
Just as they had made it to the forest edge, however, a silver light flashed through the area, revealing the same creature who had attacked Konata's house before. The flashlight, which Rokuna was now holding, was the only thing giving them further view of it, as the light the alien emanated faded away, within the dark part of the forest.
"Targets acquired," the creature let out, somehow; they couldn't tell if it was actually speaking or simply mentalizing words inside their heads. "Four gemstones detected. Confirming:-"
"You!" Rokuna cried out, as her eyes widened the most, the remaining word going unheard by the group. "You're one of the aliens, aren't you?"
"Threat level confirmed. Starman Jr. initiating full combat mode." With those words, the creature's body let out a nasty, booting up noise, while the button shapes and visor let out lights - and that was all the light they saw, before he walked forward, now looking more threatening than before somehow.
"Spread out!" Rokuna yelled, deciding to run towards the alien as a distraction while the others ran off in their own directions. Rather than pursue her as expected, however, the alien instead turned towards Konata, the visor scanning her.
"Potential threat level..." it let out, before darting in pursuit, moving horribly fast for something made out of titanium. The blue-haired girl soon realized it was chasing her in particular, suddenly appearing before her on several possible turns; it was only through luck and seeing the flashes of light before it was time that she managed to avoid being cornered. PK Laser beta.
"WATCH OUT!" she heard Kagami yell, all of a sudden, before a sharp pain struck her on the back; although she had managed to turn as expected, this time the Starman Jr. had managed to fire a pink laser in her direction, blasting the back of her shirt and burning a good deal of her skin. She yelled in pain as she fell, the laser missing the rest of her and piercing through several trees, cutting quite a few of them down.
Enraged, Kagami felt a sudden jolt in her head before she raised one hand forward, flames roaring through the air and ground towards the alien. The flames were so fast that, although they set a good portion of the forest ablaze, it easily put itself out, meaning that it was more scorched than a true forest fire. Only the body of the Starman Jr. remained ablaze, and it screeched as it felt a surprising amount of pain, unlike anything else.
In response, the alien teleported out of the flames, its body managing to not combine with it in the process, and reappeared right behind her. Swinging hard and fast with its tentacle appendages, their enemy completely struck her down, causing her to land on her face. "Eliminating target."
Before it could crush her head with its metallic, pod-like foot, a lightning bolt flew horizontally through the air, striking the alien in the torso. The electricity spread all over its surface, burying itself inside a crack formed through the impact, and dazing the Starman Jr. for a few seconds. It was about to teleport when its systems detected a sudden reduction in temperature, as its body was suddenly frozen to at least -50°. The sudden freezing caused the titanium to crack despite its resistance, forcing the hole in the belly to open further, revealing very sensitive machinery that was breaking apart as it fell.
Kagami could barely breathe as she felt herself being pulled away from the alien, her eyes exhausted. How long had she been awake, at this point? She'd rather sleep for a while, to be honest...
"I believe... that's exactly what I sensed outside of Izumi-san's house," Miyuki said, as the group met up. Tsukasa was sitting next to Kagami, who was still not quite able to stand up.
"It must've been sent here to kill us," Rokuna said, as she breathed in. "But well, congratulations! The three of you managed to channel your psychic powers quite easily, despite all that stress you were going through."
"Could've told us how to..." Konata groaned, as she sat next to Kagami. Her own shirt was a mess now, and she had her eyes closed as she walked. "Mind healing us now?"
"...Sorry. I don't have enough power left," Rokuna admitted, after a few seconds. "I overestimated your state when we met. I focused so much on taking care of you that I... well, tired myself out."
"Great..." Kagami mumbled, on the ground. Rokuna shook her head.
"Now, now, don't worry. We're almost at my house now," she said, lifting her up. "My dad's got some stuff that'll help you feel better. For now, you should rest up."
The lavender-haired girl soon found herself asleep, despite her own worries.