December 25th, 2020, Present Day
Christmas Morning, 13 Years after Graduation
6 AM
Kagami knelt, mostly hidden by the island countertop, the top of her head just peeking over the kitchen island.
What am I gonna do…
"Tryin' to hide from me, Kagami?" An unexpected voice teased from the living room on the other side of the counter, just out of Kagami's sight.
"Oh! You're up early," Kagami said, rummaging hastily for coffee from the back of the breakfast cupboard.
"I get up early sometimes!" Konata protested, the gesture wiggling her massive lock of bed head as it peeked over the counter.
"No, you really don't."
Konata giggled, that lock she never brushed down jiggling about with the slight motion.
"Yeah, you are probably right, Kagami. All the good anime is on late at night anyway."
Always comes back to anime with her. Maybe I could tell her there are better reasons to wake up this early? Hmmm, nah, I'll leave that for another time.
Leveraging herself to her feet and putting the coffee on their greenish counter, Kagami stood up, careful of her footing so she wouldn't slip on the tile in her heavy winter socks.
Standing over the counter Kagami looked down at her girlfriend as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes.
Oh, she looks hungover. Maybe we should make extra for breakfast.
It was a ridiculous sight, one she had come to know and expect.
Konata was framed against the walls, bookshelves, and glass cases of the otaku merchandise that adorned their living room, up to and including a life-sized promotional cardboard cutout of Kizumonogatari's own Hanekawa.
Seeing Konata waiting patiently for her coffee, Kagami gave her a dumb smile, to which Konata quickly returned with an equally dumb looking thumbs up.
It's the little things...
Konata's mop of bedhead hung messily over her back and shoulders down to her knees, only minimally adjusted so it didn't hang in front of her signature red underframe glasses. Today her hair was partly obscuring that one faded t-shirt, comfortably three sizes too large. It was the one that read "MEGA MILK" in bold English letters.
I still can't believe she walks around in that thing. It's to here knees almost... It's kinda cute in a dorky way, but I swear every other shirt she owns is anime related. I mean, the English on this makes it a bit more obscure, but...
Still... this quirkiness was always one of her cute points, in a weird way. She's passionate, that's what matters.
If it makes her happy it makes me happy.
Kagami sighed.
How in the world did I ever fall in love with someone so ridiculous?
"Oh right, Merry Christmas, Konata! You have a good time at the Christmas party yesterday?" Kagami asked, making coffee with practiced dexterity as Konata took up residence at a chair set up at the kitchen island countertop.
I wish we had some Christmas decorations to put up, but where would we even keep them off season?
"Merry Christmas to you too, Kagami. Yeah, last night was a lot of fun with everyone there! Still, vaguely disappointed that I didn't get as many presents as I used to, but that's adulthood, huh?"
"Wait. Wait." Kagami said, leaning over the countertop and looking Konata in the face. "Hold up, are you telling me that all those presents your dad gave you at the Christmas party were less than he gave you as a kid?"
"Yeah, dad used to spoil me preeetty bad back in the day, just a few kind words here and there and he'd give me everything." Konata said lackadaisically, adorably brushing her hair out of her face with the same two fingers she used to emphasize that statement.
"Back in the day, right... Well, at least everyone had a good time, that's what's important." Kagami added, sighing contently as the coffee maker began to percolate.
"Yeah, but you really need to cut loose; you hardly drank anything last night." Konata said, palm upturned on the counter as if suggesting something.
"It's not like we can afford much booze on our budget anyway, "Kagami said, "and it's also not like you can handle much to start with, Konata."
Lightweight. Literally.
"Yeah, thankfully I'm not really feeling it much now anyway." Konata added, kicking her short, surprisingly toned legs into the walkway between the kitchen and living room, perched atop her rotating chair.
"Kinda surprising considering the, uh, quality of that improv karaoke session you did with Patty." Kagami said, smiling playfully as she recalled the screechy performance. "I don't even know what song that was."
"I want to say it was Head Cha-la as a duet thing, but it might have been Makafushigi Adventure. Something Dragon Ball I know." Konata said, cupping her head in her hands as she struggled to remember.
"You sure you're alright if you can't remember?" Kagami asked, sympathetically adjusting her own hair, draped straight down her back as Kagami watched Konata struggle get her hair in order without a brush.
"Yeah, don't worry about me, I got that much under control." Konata said with another big dumb thumbs up and a bigger, slightly forced smile.
"Okay okay, I believe you." Kagami said as she began to wander about the corner of the island countertop, taking in her girlfriend as she sat legs spread wide on the rotating chai-
"Konata, seriously?" Kagami said, stopping in place as she held her took effort to keep her drooping head from falling. "You could at least put some underwear on. You're gonna catch cold like that."
"You didn't seem to mind a few months ago~." Konata said, a slight teasing lilt in her voice.
"It was summer a few months ago." Kagami said flatly.
"Besides, it's not as if there can't be other reasons not to wear any." Konata said, that lilt taking on a slightly more sultry tone.
Is she trying to...?
"You can't be serious. This early in the morning? Before coffee, even?"
"Are you not in the mood, Kagami? Because I most certainly am."
"Oh for the love of…" Kagami sighed, lifting her head up to look Konata in the eyes with a wry smile.
"Alright, get over here, you! The coffee will be there when we're done." Kagami said, taking Konata in both arms as she carried her to the couch.
Konata let out a delighted squeal as held tight to Kagami
What am I gonna do with you?
Kagami draped Konata with a blanket as she lay on the couch, the same couch that sat in essentially sat in basically the same spot perpendicular to the kitchen counter as long as they'd lived here.
Redressing, Kagami couldn't help but notice that dumb English shirt Konata had been wearing was draped across Hanekawa's cardboard face.
On the other end of the room.
Kagami giggled.
Yeah, let's get this thing off of Hanekawa before they get more dented and bent than the years have already done. Gotta take care the things you own, not that I'd ever tell anyone this doesn't belong to Konata.
Kagami turned back to Konata, still basking in afterglow.
Whoops, didn't quite get it over her legs, still, nice to see that little boyish dimple she's got on her butt.
Is... it weird to say that does something for me?
Taking in her lazing girlfriend, she pulled the blanket back down to her thigh, taking a seat on the remaining unoccupied seat cushion
Tucking her shirt back into her pants, Kagami pulled her hair out of the twintails she'd put them in during, and smiled at Konata.
Konata turned around to smile back before turning over to a more comfortable position.
"Now that that's over, I'll bring us out some coffee, just give me a sec." Kagami said, walking around the nearby counter. "Two sugars and cream, as you like it?"
Konata's hand reached out from under the sheet, giving her a thumbs up as confirmation.
Kagami smiled harder.
Is this what contentment feels like? I just can't help acting like it sometimes.
It almost feels too good to be true that we came this far together...
Taking a deep, deep breath, Kagami took in the life they had together.
Looking around at the life they'd built for themselves, It was all something she once could hardly have imagined.
A loving life. Living in our apartment. Our home. The one we'd made our own together.
The memories began to flood her mind, thinking back on times past.
Kagami wondered to herself.
"How did we come this far?"