Akari: Presence and Presents

Akarin!

Akari: Hey! Yuru Yuri: Amusement Club Forever is about to start!

Akari: Welcome to our brand new series! Akaza Akari is here to do the introductions for each chapter in this story!

Akari: We're going to attempt to push the whole plot of Yuru Yuri a little further along than normal here. So, while a few things might be different, pretty much everything that you know and love about Yuru Yuri will still be here! There's going to be comedy, drama, and…romance?! Oh my.

Akari turns slightly red.

Akari: Ah, anyway. All of your favorite characters will of course be here, and-

Kyouko (charging in): Like me! Everyone's favorite fantastic fan fiction femme fatale, Toshino Kyouko! YAY!

Akari: Kyouko-chan! Please, Akari isn't fin-

Kyouko: Don't worry, Akari! I'm certain you'll have at least some presence in this story!

Yui: Kyouko, stop butting in, and let her finish the introduction.

Chinatsu (popping up): YUI-SENPAI! You're so amazing; you should be doing the introductions!

Yui: N-no, it's okay…

Kyouko: Maybe I should be doing the introductions! After all, I'm the girl everyone wants to read about, right?

Yui: That's debatable.

Akari: Would you-

Ayano (barging in): TOSHINO KYOUKO! Are you holding things up here?!

Kyouko: Ayano! How about you and I do the introductions for this story together?

Ayano (turning red): I-that might not be so…ah, I mean…

Chitose (looking over, nose bleeding): Ah, we're only at the first chapter's introduction, and I'm already seeing such wonderful things!

Himawari (walking in with Sakurako): So, I'm assuming we're in this story too?

Sakurako: No, not you! There's no room for more BOOBS.

Himawari: Well, I doubt there's any room for excessive idiocy, so the story won't feature you either.

Akari: Hey…

Chizuru: I don't want to be in this story. Do I have to be here?

Chitose (wiping blood from her nose): Now, now, onee-chan, don't be like that. At least show up for the chapters you're in.

Ayano: Chitose, please be careful with your nosebleeds, I think you already have a lot of Fangshan fiction going on in your head as it is.

Yui (snickering): Ha…

Sakurako: I only want to do chapters in which I'm not with Himawari!

Himawari: Is that so? Well, I refuse to do any chapter in which Sakurako appears!

Akari: You two-

Suddenly, there's a huge CRASH as a wall collapses from the force of an explosion. Nana Nishigaki strolls in, carrying Matsumoto Rise under her arm.

Nana Nishigaki: Well, that was a larger one than expected. Wonderfully done!

Akari: Nishigaki-sensai?

Nana Nishigaki: Hello there! Everyone's so lively! This all looks like lots of fun, so you'll see me here too. And more explosions, of course. Look forward to it!

Rise: ...

Nana Nishigaki: Matsumoto says she's also glad to be here and will try her hardest during all the chapters in which she appears.

Akari: Alright. If everyone would please just-

Kyouko: As the main protagonist of this fan fiction…

Chinatsu: You aren't! Yui-senpai is the protagonist!

Yui: Eh, I'm not sure that's really the best plan to follow.

Kyouko: ….further establishing my canon romantic relationship with Chinatsu-chan….

Ayano and Chinatsu: WHAT?!

Chitose: Don't worry, Ayano-chan, I think she's just being dramatic to kick things off.

Chinatsu: No! My canon relationship is with Yui-Senpai!

Yui: Um.

Nana Nishigaki: Perhaps all ships should be canon.

Rise: …

Nana Nishigaki: We can't do that, you say? What if, instead, all ships have cannons?

Kyouko: Oh, now that would make the Himawari-Sakurako scenes VERY interesting!

Akari (frantic): No, no!

Sakurako: Humph. Why is it that I'm ALWAYS stuck with Himawari, even in this?

Himawari: I was just thinking the same thing about you!

Sakurako: Hey, don't copy what I'm thinking!

Himawari: That's easy. Usually, you're thinking nothing.

Kyouko: We'll feature several chapters devoted entirely to Mirakurun in the near future!

Yui: Stop saying weird things. That's not going to happen.

Kyouko: Boo!

Akari (sighing): We haven't even really begun yet, and Akari is already overshadowed.

It was late afternoon. Akari sat down at the table, looking warmly at the three girls who, aside from her sister, she treasured the most in the world: Yui, Kyouko, and Chinatsu. The four of them were sitting in Yui's apartment, playing cards, and chatting. The school year had ended the previous day, so they had come here instead of their usual "secret base" (as Kyouko called it) in the Tea Club Room at Nanamori Middle School. To Akari, that was fine. What was important to her was being with her friends, whatever the locale.

Still, things would be changing. They had some days of vacation ahead, true, and then they would be right back at school, but their situations would be different then. She and Chinatsu would return to Nanamori Middle School; Yui and Kyouko would continue on to Nanamori Senior High School. The quartet would remain steadfast friends, Akari was certain of that, but being at separate schools would be difficult, not to mention strange.

The round ended. Akari had held a decent hand, but she was unable to beat Yui-senpai. She constantly seemed to win at the card games they played, except for when Kyouko tried to distract her or simply outright cheated. Kyouko, of course, would deny pulling either shenanigan.

It's only for a year though, she thought, as she collected up the cards and stacked them. Then Chinatsu and I can go to that same high school. Things can be like they are now, once again. I went to a different school from Kyouko and Yui for a year before middle school after all, right? And then we were back together anyway. And we made new friends!

"Ah, Yui-senpai!" Chinatsu exclaimed, cutting into Akari's thoughts. She reached into the bag she had sitting next to her. "Since we're at a stopping point now, this is a good time. Akari and I got you and Kyouko-senpai graduation presents. We hope you like them!" She pulled out a small wrapped box, tied with a red ribbon that looked to Akari like it was silk. It looked very pretty.

Did she have that professionally wrapped? Akari wondered. She must have. If Chinatsu-chan had done that herself, the result would be very different. She remembered suggesting that they have the store clerk wrap their gifts when they bought them. Chinatsu had balked at that, insisting she would wrap them herself. Akari, of course, had her sister Akane's help in wrapping the presents to Yui and Kyouko that she was responsible for.

"Thank you, Chinatsu-chan, Akari-chan." Yui said, accepting the package. "You didn't have to get us anything, however."

"Oh, oh, oh, Chinatsu-chan, what did you get for ME?" Kyouko cut in. "Because I know what I'd like for my graduation!"

POW! Yui bonked her on the head, and a small round bump rose up.

"There. You got something."

"Ow, but I get that from you all the time," Kyouko sulked, rubbing her head. "I wanted something from Chinatsu-chan!"

"Of course, as I said, we got you something too, Kyouko-chan." Chinatsu said stiffly. She pulled a second package from her bag. It was wrapped similarly to the first. She handed over to Kyouko at arm's length, seemingly afraid of Kyouko grabbing her. Akari couldn't blame her for that.

Yes, that's definitely not Chinatsu's handiwork, Akari affirmed to herself, looking at the box. Maybe her sister helped her, like mine did for me.

Kyouko tore apart the wrapping paper and ribbon. It was one of the video games that Chinatsu and Akari had bought the previous weekend. Akari had figured this one would be perfect for Kyouko.

"Oh, the Mirakurun game!" Kyouko beamed. "Thank you so much, Chinatsu! I will treasure this!"

She leaped up and flew at Chinatsu, most likely to tackle-hug her, Akari thought. Some things never change. Chinatsu had seemed ready for this reaction, however. She had already shot over to Yui's side, hiding slightly behind her from the over-excited Kyouko.

"Protect me, Yui-senpai!" cried Chinatsu.

Yui sighed. "Behave, Kyouko. You're a high school student now. Maybe you ought to act more like it."

"I thought I was behaving."

"You weren't."

"Complimenting me won't help!"

"That wasn't a compliment."

"Kyouko-senpai, please stop interrupting Yui-senpai so that she can open her present!" Chinatsu insisted. She smiled happily at Yui.

"Oh, okay. I'll need my left arm for unwrapping though, please." In her flight from Kyouko, Chinatsu had latched onto it. Chinatsu reddened a little and loosened her grip on Yui's arm.

Yui opened her game and took a look at it.

"Lady Knight Moon?" she asked. "Looks interesting."

"It's a 2-player RPG!" declared Chinatsu. "One player is the Lady Knight Moon, and the other is her true love, the Sun Princess. And together, they have adventure and romance!" Her eyes sparkled a bit at this.

"Oh, I see." Yui scanned the back of the game.

"Yui-senpai, I was thinking that…maybe when you have free time from all your high school homework…we could play it together?"

"Sure, Chinatsu. That sounds fun."

"Aaah, yes!" Chinatsu exclaimed in ecstasy, turning beet red. She looked as though she might faint from happiness.

"Let's play Mirakurun! Right now!" cried Kyouko, waving the game around.

"Settle down." Yui ordered, but in Akari's experience, "settling down" wasn't something Kyouko-senpai did well. "We're going to have dinner soon. We can play some afterward."

"Let's have dinner! Right now!" Kyouko continued to wave the game around. Yui sighed.

"We're going to play Lady Knight Moon anyway, Kyouko-senpai!" Chinatsu insisted.

"Well, then I'd love to play it with you, dear Chinatsu-chan."

"No, it's Yui-senpai's game, and she's going to play it with me!"

"No. No video games until after dinner." Yui ordered, sounding a bit like the girls' mother.

And just like that I'm forgotten, Akari thought. Again, some things never change. She cleared her throat loudly enough to get the attention of the other three girls. They looked over at her.

"Anyway, here," said Akari, getting up, "is our other present to the both of you. We wanted to get one thing fun and one thing meaningful." She smiled, reached into her bag, and retrieved two boxes. She handed one each to Yui and Kyouko, bowing.

"Meaningful, huh?" Yui mused, slowly unwrapping the present.

"The Mirakurun game was meaningful and-ooh!" said Kyouko as she tore off the wrapping on her present.

"Oh, wow."

Akari and Chinatsu had gotten two framed pictures of all the entire Amusement Club, the same photograph for both Yui and Kyouko. It was the four of them sitting at the table in the Tea Club's room at school, just as they had spent so many afternoons. The frames were ornate and rather expensive, but looking at the expressions on their seniors' faces right now, she was glad that they had splurged for them. Even Kyouko had been briefly stunned into silence.

"Thank you so very much. I love it." Yui said, finally. There was a faint blush on her cheeks.

"Yes, thank you, to both of you." Kyouko added. Tears were running down her face.

Akari got up, walked over to Kyouko and hugged her.

"Don't cry!" she said. "Or else Akari will start crying too."

"We're going to miss the both of you so much!" Chinatsu said, throwing her arms around Yui.

"And we're going to miss you two." Yui replied. "But, you'll still see us. Weekends, holidays, even some evenings. We're still going to spend time together. We promise that. Right, Kyouko?"

"We promise." Kyouko whispered.

"Chinatsu-chan." Yui said with a rare smile, "Would you like to help me make dinner?"

"Absolutely, Yui-senpai! Whatever you need, I'll do it."

After a dinner of spaghetti, the group sat down in front of the television to try the new games. Putting on Lady Knight Moon, there was a brief, spirited debate, which ended with Kyouko and Akari playing, with Yui and Chinatsu switching in and out, so that everyone would have a turn to try everything in the game.

"So, which of you will take over as leader of the Amusement Club?" Kyouko asked, as she handed her controller over to Yui. "You are planning on keeping it intact, I hope?"

Akari hadn't thought of that. "Well, it will be hard without you two."

"Don't feel obligated to do anything just because she says it." Yui remarked dryly without looking away from the game.

"But, it has to keep going!" Kyouko exclaimed, putting on a false look of scandal. "It's our legacy, Yui-nyan! And we'll have to carry it on into high school too and start a Nanamori Senior High chapter! We could have cross-school meetings!"

"I don't see that happening."

"Tsk, tsk, Yui. Ever the pessimist."

"This has nothing to do with pessimism."

Would I need more presence to lead the Amusement Club? Akari wondered. Or would I be able to simply take the spotlight and hold onto it? Would Chinatsu and I have to do a membership drive? Maybe Sakurako and Himawari would join us.

"Don't worry, Kyouko-senpai, Yui-senpai." she said, smiling. "Akari-chan will do her best in your place!"

They played until it was very late. Akari felt sleepy, but happy.

I just wish we could go on like this always and forever.

She dozed off and missed her turn to play as Lady Knight Moon.