First thing first . . *kneels, places both hands in front of her and bows* . . My most sincere apologizes for my absence from this fic. I won't say much at the moment, so please proceed with the reading and I hope it's of your liking. Thank you.

Again, sorry for such long, long delay.

Disclaimer: Sadly, Lucky Star does not belong to me.

Chapter 9: Gummy Bears

"Time's up, everybody. Put your pencils down and start passing down your exams to the front desk," announced the blond-haired teacher while scanning through her pupils and making sure they were doing as told. Until she spotted the short bluenette still scribbling on her paper.

"Izumi, I said time's up," there was no respond from the girl. Not wanting to repeat herself, Kuroi did the next thing that came to mind to catch the girl's attention. She threw a chalk at Konata.

But even though the projectile thrown with great accurately -not bad for the baseball fanatic- hit the base of her ahoge and bounce away, she still didn't respond. This only made Kuroi lose her temper and stomped towards Konata's desk, rolling up a few of the exams she had already collected.

-SMACK-

". . . ow-ow-ow!" whimpered Konata while holding her head. "Sensei, that was totally uncalled for!"

"Well, next time do as you're told, when you're told!" Kuroi said a bit irritated as she collected Konata's exam and scanned through it making sure all questions had been answered.

"By the way," she continued now looking through all the papers. "I didn't saw you online during the weekend. Normally I would be the one trying to keep you logged off, but not seeing you there was just weird. You been doing something else?"

"As a matter of fact, yes I have," declared the blue-haired with a sparkle in her eyes. "I've embarked in the most challenging quest to ever cross my path!"

"Really? So you started playing another game without even inviting your comrade in arms?"

"No, no, no; it's not an actual game, ma'am," said Konata dismissively. "It's just this deal my Dad and I made the other day."

"And what kinda deal did ya' make? If you don't mind me asking."

Konata cleared her voice, sit up properly on her desk and began talking with a finger held in the air as if lecturing her one person audience.

"Well, basically I get to choose whatever car model I want, if I'm able to collect five perfect scores on any exams we take from here until the end of the school year," she said with a pleased smile.

Just like the first time Konata told the others about this event of hers, she sort of got the same reaction from Kuroi. The blond-haired pretty much wore a blank expression; for some reason this kind of information required an extra amount of time to be processed and acknowledge. The only thing that seemed different was the reaction afterwards.

"Wa-ha-ha-ha! . . . You? Getting a perfect score? Like that's ever gonna happen!" in this case Kuroi followed Tsukasa's example of a laugh, although hers was more of a burlesque laughter than the innocent chuckles from the short-haired miko.

And unlike Tsukasa's comical interpretation of seeing her short friend driving a vehicle larger than Konata, she thought it was simply amusing to even think that Konata could actually get a perfect score on anything that was school related.

"You really don't think I can make a perfect score, do you?" asked Konata as her lips began to curl mischievously.

"Hah! . . . Izumi, you can barely make a decent passing grade on your exams, but to actually get a perfect score?"

"You shouldn't underestimate me that easily, Sensei. I actually spent the entire weekend studying; you can ask Tsukasa! We had a study session at my place an- . . . " Konata glanced at Tsukasa for confirmation, but trailed off as she noticed her somewhat exhausted friend rubbing her temples.

"You okay, Tsukasa? Were the exams too hard for you?" grinned Konata in a confident tone.

"It just felt like my brain kept expanding with every question I read, and now it doesn't know how to return to its normal size . . . that took most of the little energy I had," sighed Tsukasa while resting her head on the table.

"Cheer up!" Konata leaned closer and patted her shoulder. "Lunch bell should ring any minute now, and you'll regain your strength once you've had something to eat- . . . oh yeah, isn't true we had a study session during the weekend? We did, right?"

"Huh? . . . err- . . . yeah?" Tsukasa, oblivious to their conversation, seemed confused by the question.

"See? I told you I've been studying!" pounded Konata, but her eyes suddenly lighten by the click of a light-bulb right above her ahoge. "Sensei, how would you like to get a brand new video game for free?"

"I'm listening," said Kuroi raising an eyebrow and placing both hands on her hip. Use the words 'video,' 'game' and 'free' in one sentence, and you'll have her devoted attention.

"You said that there's no way I can actually get a perfect score in the exams, right?"

"That's correct."

"Well then, what do you say we have ourselves a little bet on whether or not I can get a perfect score on at least one of the exams?"

At this point, Kuroi completely forgot about picking up the rest of the exams. Even a puzzle Tsukasa staring from friend to teacher was ignored.

Three minutes passed followed by the bell signaling lunch time, pretty much what it took for Konata and Kuroi to finish up with the details of their bet.

"Alright, then we'll settle this once I bring the exams graded tomorrow," announced Kuroi as she collected the rest of the exams and headed back to her desk. "Don't back down once you see the results!"

"Right back at ya'!" Konata gave a victorious grin to the back of Kuroi. Noticing that the other girls had taken their lunch boxes out, she took hers out as well and headed to her usual spot, just as Kagami was walking in their class.

Once everyone had gathered to eat, Konata told them about her little bet with Kuroi. Tsukasa and Miyuki listened very carefully, finding the bet to be quite interesting. As for Kagami, she thought that even the single idea of betting with a teacher was ridiculous.

But after thinking about it for a minute, she thought it was even more ridiculous to think of Kuroi as a 'regular' teacher.

"Seriously, you people are like birds of a flock," sighed Kagami whilst twirling with a lock of her hair. Sighing a second time, she began getting out of her seat and collecting her lunch box.

"You're leaving already, Sis?"

"Yeah, there're stuff I need get ready for next class . . . I'll see you guys after school," and with a hand wave she head to the door. Not before been followed by a pair of violet orbs that examined the older twin from behind round spectacles.

While all four girls were still eating –and without them noticing- Miyuki would occasionally throw discrete glances at Kagami. Although minor, she began to notice a few things in the twin-tailed girl ever since their study session that caught her attention. To the untrained eye, things were just normal with Kagami; to Miyuki, there was something odd about her.

But for now, she decided to keep this thought to herself.

-o-o-o-

The bell rang once again, this time announcing the end of school for that day.

Kagami began putting her books away just as Ayano and Misao were saying their goodbyes to the twin-tailed from the door. Once she was all settle and ready to go, she left the classroom and headed to her sister's.

So far it had been a really good school day –that is, the last half of it- without any mishaps or the other that might affect her mood. But then again, the day seemed too good to be truth, she just had this hunch that this day was far from being a good day. First thing she noticed when reaching the door were both Tsukasa and Miyuki standing right next to Konata's desk, whose head seemed to be resting on said desk.

Noticing that Kagami had arrived, Tsukasa waved for her to approached them, a sheepishly smile on the younger twin. Sighing, she approached their small gathering, and not only did she found it a bit strange for her sister to wear a bemused expression, but even Miyuki's funny looking smile also seemed out of place.

"Look Sis, Kona-chan fell asleep on the last half of class and now she's talking in her sleep," pointed Tsukasa in a whisper at the blue-haired Rapunzel while trying to hold a sudden giggle.

And she made fun of me for sleep talking when sick? Thought Kagami, but then curiosity got the better of her and she got closer, standing behind Tsukasa to have a better view from over her shoulder.

And there she was, fast asleep. More than talking, she seemed to be mumbling nonsense to herself. Kagami couldn't help but to stare in awe at such vulnerable creature as it slept. Time froze for a minute; a moment in which Kagami had the enough time to eye the sleeping girl in slow motion, taking account of every little detail of her features.

The way a small lock of her silky blue hair slightly fell over her smooth cheek seemed like a glistening stream to Kagami. Sapphire eyes traveled to Konata's dark and large eyelashes, I never noticed how big and beautiful they were.

Her sight slowly traveled south and stopped at those slightly parted rosy lips. Which just happened to be adorned by . . . a drool. That definitely took the enchantment away, but then again:

That .. looks .. so .. adorable!

The increase in temperature from her cheeks brought her back to reality, ending that eternal minute that almost consumed her. Gulping, she approached her sleeping beauty and lightly shook her shoulder.

"Hey Konata, school's already over!" and in the blink of an eye, she sit up half asleep.

". . . damn it, my summon monsters have been annihilated!"* shouted Konata rising her arms in the air, somehow messing up her hair in the process. This made both Tsukasa and Miyuki to suppress even more giggles, especially when they noticed Konata's left cheek completely covered in a pink glow, even her ear was rosy.

"Kona-chan .. y-your cheek .. is all red!" Tsukasa couldn't control her chuckles anymore. It was a good thing Konata didn't noticed, though, as she lazily rubbed the numbness on the left side of her face. But Tsukasa's sniggers became even more audible once she noticed small, yet barely visible coiled markings from the bluenette's spiral notebook on that reddened cheek of hers.

"Mmm, so much for an ambush. I ended up losing anyways," Konata was definitely still drowsy to not hear Tsukasa laugh.

I guess there's no need to ask what she was dreaming about, thought Kagami as she stared at a yawing Konata rubbing her sleepy eyes awake.

"For how long was I asleep?" a dazed Konata wondered.

"I believe your head dropped down around the second half of class," the pink-haired meganekko informed her.

"You know, Kona-chan usually snoozes in the mornings and she's more active in the afternoons when we're about to leave from school," Tsukasa stated after finally getting back to her senses. "I wonder why today was the other way around."

"Mmm, might have been 'cause of the exams. I'd to keep my mind awake this time in order to concentrate and keep focus," the short girl deduced while stretching her arms; then she brought a hand down over by her left ear and began fanning some air to it.

"Are you okay, Izumi-san?"

"Feels like my ear is burning."

"Look Sis, her ear's still red," pointed out Tsukasa to a dumbfound Kagami.

As for the twin-tailed in question, those sapphire eyes of hers were glued to Konata's ear. And it might had been because it already had been hours since they had lunch, not that it was much of a surprise, but whatever it was it made Kagami crave for something to eat.

This time, because of this rare sight of Konata's blushing red ear, for some reason the image of sweet gummy-bears came to mind. Along with a somewhat disturbing thought.

I wonder if it would feel like eating one if I were to nibble on that earlobe of hers.

"Someone must be thinking about me, heh-heh."

". . . . ." whatever film had been playing this sudden fantasy of hers nibbling on Konata's ear, it probably burned down the screen after that unexpected comment.

"Isn't that what they say?" continued Konata as she touched her ear to measure its temperature. "That your ears burn when someone's thinking about you?"

"I thought it was when someone talked about you," said Tsukasa.

"No, that's what makes you sneeze. But I think I heard somewhere bout having your ears burning when someone's thinking about you. Have you heard about it, Miyuki?"

They carried on with this topic unaware that a certain tsundere had sneaked out of their sight and waited silently by the door, clearing her mind from disturbing fantasies that kept crawling in her mind. After a couple of minutes or so, she called out the others.

"Are you guys gonna stay there all day or are we leaving?" she said with the most annoyed tone she could muster. Not that she was annoyed, actually, but frustrated for having her mind wonder off to such places.

Tsukasa was the first to hurry to her twin's side, followed by Miyuki who kept listening to a more talkative Konata –compared to the one from just minutes ago- as she walked beside her talking about trying to sneeze with open eyes.

The trio continued with their conversation as they exited the school gates, whilst Kagami opted to keep her distance a few steps ahead of them. Fortunately for Kagami, because of the fact that she had finally understood and accepted her feelings for the bluenette, she became more aware of a few things to look out for.

For instance, her behavior. Kagami had to make sure to keep it normal, or at least close to what she thought was normal. Another thing, very important, was to try and avoid as much as possible physical contact with Konata. Luckily for her, days prior to the exams had been free of any sort of interaction from the short girl. Kagami had to admit how impressive it was to see how Konata kept to herself by reading actual school books for once. But now that the exams were finally over, she would have to pay very close attention to any of Konata's movements.

However, here was the tricky part; how is Kagami going to keep an eye on Konata's actions without actually ending up been drawn by the sudden wish to simply contemplate with a longing and yearning desire for her friend? Definitely, this wasn't going to be easy.

I can do this, she thought. I know I can make it work somehow. Yes, I'll do my best!

"Kagamin~!" taking a deep breath and more confident than ever, she turned with a serene smile to the one that called out for her.

"What is it Kona-OOF!" next thing she knows two petite arms found themselves around her waist, crushing her affectionately and not giving any signs of letting go any time soon.

"I missed this so much!" muttered Konata as she nuzzled her face even more into Kagami. And in a split second, Kagami's face had gone from a pale color to a deep crimson red, with wide open eyes at such an attack from her beloved crush.

I c-can't .. I don't think I can do this after all!

A/N: Again, I'm so sorry for getting back to this story after over a year and a half since its last update. The reason . . well there are too many to speak of right now, so I rather not get into tedious details.

Frankly, I'm not really sure when the next chapter will be ready. All the outlines I'd for the remaining chapters for this fic were lost along with all my files when my old laptop pretty much died on me. What a tragic day that was.

However, that doesn't mean I'm giving up on this story! It might take me a while to come back to it with the next chapter, but I will come back!

So, until then .. please read and review, thank you.

BTW: *[". . . damn it, my summon monsters have been annihilated!"] . . first one to guess from which anime this line is gets a cookie! XD