Chapter 1

"Hello?"

"Hey, Ritsu?" Izumi asked.

"Speaking. Who is this?"

"It's me, Konata."

"Oh… Hi, Konata. H-How are you?" Her voice showed clear nervousness.

"Oh fine- Ouch- Just fine."

"Something wrong?"

"Oh, well, Nanako threw a stapler at me."

"She did? What for?"

"I made a joke about her skin and all the red marks she had. Guess that was a bad decision on my part. Still, that was funny as hell, wasn't it? When we lit up both Nanako and Sawako?"

"Hehe, yeah, that was funny… So… What's up? D-Did you want to tell me something?"

"Actually, yeah…"

"Is it about our toe-to-toe yesterday?"

"Yeah…"

"I see... L-Listen, about that… I did say I did that I did that to get the jump on you… But, I… Oh Jesus."

"Ritsu, don't feel embarrassed," Izumi reassured the girl. "There's nothing to be ashamed about. If both our teachers were able to come out, you don't need to feel guilty."

"B-But I… I don't know if I'm- I'm just not sure… I need help, Konata. I- I've always felt like I had something for Mio, but I-"

"Mio? You and Mio-!"

"Konata! You're not helping!"

"Oh, right. Sorry… B-But Ritsu, if you need help… I'd be willing to help."

"… You would?" she whispered.

"Of course. After all, it's best to confer with those of mutual interests."

"Right… And 'mutual interests' being-?"

"Yuri."

"Eh- Y-Yeah… Konata?"

"Yeah?"

"… Y-You think you could, I don't know, stop by my house sometime?"

"… Sure, Ritsu. I'd love to."

-o0o-

That day would come on the proceeding weekend. Just as Ritsu had agreed and Konata agreed, the blue-haired otaku found herself approaching the front door of the Tainaka residence. It took her but a short train ride to the town of Sakura, then an even shorter walk from the station to reach the home itself. Her reasons for coming were much more than to perhaps obtain a few more kisses. No, Konata was there, first and foremost, to help the drummer out. When she heard her friend's tone of voice yesterday slip into a state of confusion, she knew that action had to be taken.

With a plan in her head and confidence in her heart, Izumi strode up the last steps to the front door and rang the doorbell. It took a few seconds before she heard the muffled thuds of footfalls approaching from the other side, and another second until the door finally opened. From the other side emerged the drummer herself, Ritsu Tainaka, dressed casually (as Konata was.) She poked her head through and met eyes with the short otaku, stared for a split second, then yelped from fright.

"K-Konata!" she exclaimed, perhaps a bit louder than she had expected herself to, "w-what are you doing here!"

In response, Konata shot up her left eyebrow. "Eh? Did you forget?" she asked back. "I came to help you out with your problem, duh."

"W-Well, yeah, but I didn't expect you to come this early. I mean, it's only-" She paused to fish out her cellphone from her pants pocket and checked the display "13:31. I figured you would have come later."

"Why, is this a bad time? Are your parents home?"

"No, actually, they're out. I think they said they wouldn't be back for a couple of hours." The second that was uttered, the mother of all cat-grins formed on Izumi's face, which sent a shiver down Ritsu's spine. "W-Wait a second! What exactly do you have planned!"

"That, my patient, is all dependent," she grinned back.

"… Dependent on…?"

"Dependent on how things progress today. Nothing may happen, or everything may happen. It's all up to the decisions we both make."

"W-Well, if you think just because you're here that I'm just gonna open up my legs, you got another thing coming, you little-"

"Hey-whoa-whoa-hey! Let's not jump to any conclusions here, Ricchan. Like I just say, nothing may happen today, but for your sake, you should just roll with things, not to mention keep that head of yours open. If not, I may not be able to help you at all."

"… Fine," Ritsu relented, giving a *humph* as she did. "… So, what did you have in mind?"

"Well, first, we need a quite, comfortable place for the both of us to sit. Might I suggest your room?"

"My room!" the drummer gasped. "I thought you-"

"I said roll with it," the otaku snapped.

"Fine, fine, damn… It's up the stairs- You can come in, you know."

Tainaka fully opened the door and Konata let herself in immediately after. She kicked off her shoes in the foyer and, after taking a few steps forward into the hardwood floored hallway, commented aloud "Nice crib."

"'Crib'? Seriously, who the heck still uses that word anymore?" Ritsu said back with a chuckle as she shut the door. "Uh, I guess I could make tea or something."

"Eh, sure, if you want to, but don't think that kind gestures will get you out of this," Izumi joked. Ritsu gave a shrug of her shoulders and entered the kitchen. As she filled a small metal kettle with water from the sink, she asked her day's company, who was still standing in the main hallway "So, how are the others doing?" In all honesty, she was just attempting to stall the inevitable for as long as she possibly could.

"Oh, they're fine," Konata replied absentmindedly. "Nothing really much to report on our front."

"Is Kuroi-san still pissed off about us shooting her?"

"Oh yeah, she's still pissed. The marks have gone away by now, but she has been cramming Tsukasa, Miyuki, and me with all this extra homework. I guess it's her way of taking revenge. What about Sawa-chan? Is she still pissed?"

"Yeah, she- Hey, you called her Sawa-chan!"

"Yeah, so? All you guys call her that? What, am I not allowed?"" the otaku joked.

"No, I guess you're allowed, but I'm not sure how Sawa-chan would react to her wife's students calling her by that name… Jeez, I'm still trying to get use to that: my female teacher having a wife. Hey, that reminds me of another thing: both Nanako and Sawa-chan kept their own last names."

"Yep, they sure did."

"Did Nanako tell you why they did that? Sawa-chan hasn't told us (not that we've asked.)"

"I think she said that it was because they wanted both their families to be connected to their marriage. After all, they're perhaps the most famous couple in Japan."

"Right, right."

"Remember all the news crews and reporters that flooded into both our towns after they got back from Okinawa? Man, it was a total frenzy."

"I know, right? I remember all the freakin interviews me and the others in the band had to do. I felt like dying from exhaustion every day."

Konata laughed a confirming chuckle. "Yeah, I had the same issues," she said. "Me, Kagamin, Tsukasa, and Miyuki. I felt relieved when they all shoved off. But man, those were awesome days."

"Yeah…" The kettle finally came to a boil and the spout began to scream its ever-familiar whistle. Ritsu prepared two cups of tea and, with one in each hand, walked back into the hallway, where Konata still stood. "Here ya go," she said as she handed the other the drink. "It's a milk tea, nothing special."

"Thanks." After taking the cup, she glanced back to the stairwell at the other end of the hall, which seemed to beckon to the both of them, offering promises of understanding and self-realization. "So, you ready, Ritsu?"

The drummer initially gave a sharp inhale, but eventually came around to give a nod. "S-Sure," she replied. "Let's just get this over with. Follow me." Konata followed the other to the top of the stairs, to Ritsu's room. It was rather simple in layout: a bookshelf against the right wall (which housed little books, but held a lot of cd cases), a small-legged table in the very center of the room, a bed tucked in the corner opposite the door, and a disorganized desk against the wall to the left. Konata made a quick look-around before commenting "Not bad."

"Thanks, I guess," Ritsu said back. "So, what should we-?"

"Let's take a seat," Izumi stated, and she did just that, tucking her legs under the aforementioned table. Ritsu took a spot on the opposite side. "So…" she once more trailed off, "what happens next?"

Konata replied "You strip naked."

"W-WHAT!"

"Hahaha! Just kidding! Man you should have seen the look on your-!"

"KONATA!" Ritsu's face was about as red as a fire truck, flushed from both extreme embarrassment and anger.

"Ok, ok, damn. Just lightening up the mood, is all. But now, onto the seriousness…" Konata brought her arms up to the surface of the table and leaned forward onto her elbows, her fingers interlocked. "So, Ritsu, you said over the phone that you are not sure if you like girls or not. But you also said that you thought you had a thing for Mio, right?"

The drummer's face slowly paled back to its original shade. It was back to normal by the time she replied "Y-Yeah…"

"Ok, then let's begin with Mio. Tell me your current relationship with Mio, and anything about the friendship you have had." She was sounding less like a friend and more like a psychologist.

Ritsu lowered her head down to the steaming cup of tea that sat before her. "Well…" she began at length, "I mean, Mio and I have been friends ever since kinder garden. I use to always pick on her because she used to have this stuttering problem. I used to make her cry because of it, but somehow, she knew I was joking with her the whole time. She somehow knew picking on her was my way of becoming friends with her… And I guess it worked.

Ever since then, we've done practically everything together. Whenever our families would go on vacations, we would always ask our parents if either Mio or I could tag along, and they usually agreed. Hehehe, when middle school rolled around, and Mio had grown out of her stuttering problem, I would still call her 'Stuttering Mio.' She still hated me for doing that, but honestly, we've never had any real arguments as friends. It's been… good between us."

"Hmm. Sounds like the perfect friendship to me." Izumi shifted on her legs to a more comfortable position. "Would you say you are attracted to Mio?"

This question brought the red color back into Ritsu's face, but it was not as intense as it had been but a few moments ago. Rather, it was a line of pink that stretched horizontally across the bridge of her nose and cheeks. "K-Konata, this is embarrassing."

"Why? You said it earlier like it was no big deal. So why are you nervous now?"

"I…I-I don't know." Her voice was rising in panic.

"And for that matter, why are you afraid of doing 'stuff.' We kissed during our battle, so why-?"

"I don't fucking know, Konata, okay!" The outburst seemed to resonate in the small room longer than it should have. "I knew letting you over was a bad idea. You're not helping me; you're just making things worse!"

"Wrong, Ritsu!" Izumi shot back. "I am helping. You're just refusing it!"

"I don't want to hear another word!" she then screamed before jumping to her feet and making toward the door. But she did not make it more than half way before Konata's voice stopped her right in her tracks.

"Not another STEP!" No longer the psychologist, Konata had made the transformation into drill sergeant. So convincing it was that Ritsu turned into a veritable statue. "If you just run away from your problems, you'll never be happy with yourself," she continued.

Tainaka finally worked the courage to turn back around to look Konata in her green eyes. They were now a tone of piercing she had never witnessed her display before. "I'm not running away from my-!"

"Yes you are!" she interrupted. "If you walk out of this room right now, I will no longer help you in getting what your heart desires."

"D-Desires?"

"Mio. Though you may kick and scream and deny it, the truth is clear: you love Mio Akiyama." Ritsu gasped at this. "And the sooner you admit this the sooner we can move forward."

"B-But, but I don't know if I love Mio!" Ritsu cried.

"Then say it. Say that you love her. If you love her, it should be easy to do."

"W-Wha-! B-But I-"

"Repeat after me: "I love Mio Akiyama." Say it, Ritsu!"

Now, Ritsu was actually crying. A tear rolled from the outer corner of each of her eyes, down her cheeks, and a drop or two made the plunge to the carpet below. "K-Konata, stop it… Why are you doing this to me!"

"Because it's the only way to get you on the right track! If you can't do this, then you're hopeless. Now say it!"

"I-I can't! I just can't!"

"Ritsu, if you don't say it by the time I count to three, I will walk out that door, and you'll be back to being scared little Tainaka, forever alone because she didn't have the passion to tell the one she loved that-"

"I love Mio Akiyama! *Gasp*" Ritsu shot her hands over her mouth an instant after the exclamation. The yell echoed through both their ears, slowly replaced by dead silence. "…Oh my God…" she whispered. "I-I said it… I actually said it…"

Konata's "take-no-shit" demeanor washed away as fast as light itself, replaced with the placid, grinning visage we all knew and loved. "Mhm," she mused. "Good. Now, say it again," she ordered in a regular tone. "You'll find that the more you say it, the easier it becomes."

With trepidation, the drummer's hands fell from off her mouth and back down to her sides. "…I love Mio Akiyama," she repeated in a whisper. "I love Mio Akiyama. I love Mio Akiyama!" With each reiteration, her lips curled up more and more into a smile, her face began to glow brighter and brighter, and her words became louder. "Konata! I can say it! I love her!"

The other's grin widened. "Excellent. You've passed the first step of your road to success. Now, we can begin on Step Two."

"And what is Step Two?"

"Take a seat and I'll tell you. Also, have some of the tea, now that it's cooled down. It'll help calm your nerves." Ritsu was again taken slightly back at Konata's demeanor. Usually, she acted in a goofy way, but not a few minutes ago she was actually succeeding in frightening the drummer, only to now act as placid as ever. Tainaka took her seat back at the table and took a few loud gulps of the tea. It was still hot, but not hot enough to scorch the lining of her throat. "Aah," she sighed after said gulps.

"Better?" Izumi asked.

"… Better. So, what's Step Two?"

Konata cat-grinned again, which didn't help Ritsu feel any better. "Easy," Konata answered. We must discover the boundaries to your 'yuri zone.'"

A blank look was what faced Konata now, courtesy of Ritsu. "… My yuri zone?" she repeated in deadpan. "What the heck is that?"

"Oh, just a name I thought up, but it's a title for the comfortable zone in your new sexuality. Allow me to explain:

Before you knew you liked girls, when you were straight, I imagine you had a good idea what you were comfortable doing with another guy, right? How far you were willing to go with someone else, you see. So, what was it with you, Ritsu? First base? Second? Third? More?"

"Uh…" Again, the blush returned to her face. "I'm not sure. I mean, it's not like I knew any guys that were interested in me. I am in an all-girl school, after all."

"True, true… But now that your 'playing fields,' so to speak, have changed, you have no indication as to how far you would be comfortable going with a woman. Luckily, I'm here to help you figure this out right now."

Red. Such was the color of Ritsu's face once moire. "Ah!" she squeaked. "So this is what you were talking about when you said 'everything could happen.' W-What are you trying to do? Use my confusion so you can get some free sex?"

"Absolutely not!" she instantly shot back, the drill sergeant reemerging for a split-second. "I would never do something so low as to take advantage of someone like that! Like I said, I'm here to help you."

"And how exactly if figuring out my 'yuri zone' helping me?"

"Once you've both figured it out and expanded those boundaries, you'll have no trouble doing anything with Mio."

Mio… "B-But aren't couples suppose to stumble through that kind of stuff? Together?"

"But what would you rather have, Ritsu: to stumble and possible ruin a relationship you've subconsciously wanted for nearly all your life, or to dive headlong into a relationship, knowing full well how not to mess it up. Most relationships end because of stupid misunderstandings or small blunders that add up over time… But if you go into a relationship with Mio with my knowledge, you'll have nothing to worry about.

Trust me."

"… Are you sure?" she slowly asked.

"Have I ever lied to you before?"

"… What do I need to do, sensei?" Ritsu further relented.

"Hmm, Izumi-sensei. I like the ring of that… Ok, this is how it's going to go. I'm going to ask you to do certain things to me, and if you feel comfortable doing it, then do it. Each thing will get progressively more personal as we go along. But, if at any point you decide that you can't do it yourself, I'll do it. But then, if you feel uncomfortable with that, we'll stop right there, and that will be the boundary to your 'yuri zone.' After that, it just a means of expanding it until-"

"Until what?" Ritsu suddenly snapped. "Until we fuck? Is that what you were about to say!"

"That's based on if we both agree to it. Now, if you're ready, we can begin. We'll start of slow, I promise. Just sit in front of me and we can start." Konata finished by pivoting herself ninety degrees to her left, thus making an open spot before her where someone could sit.

Ritsu swallowed her pride (and perhaps a healthy dose of her dignity) before she force herself back to her feet. Measured footsteps brought her before the awaiting teacher and she took a seated position in front of her, sitting atop her own folded legs. "*Sigh* Ok, so how do we begin…?"

The blue-haired girl held out her right hand and asked her to "Hold it."

"… Eh?"

"Hold my hand, Ritsu."

The brunette looked at the presented hand, then to Konata's expectant visage, then back to the hand. "That's it?"

"I said we would start slow, didn't I?"

"R-Right…" Little by little, Ritsu brought her left hand up and, after a pause of hesitation, she dropped it down atop the other hand, her fingers wrapping around it in a soft grip.

"Nervous yet?" Konata asked.

"… Actually, no," was her reply. "Not at all. Well, it is just holding hands, I suppose."

"Exactly. Now," she continued as she held up her left hand, "hold the other hand too." After another pause, Ritsu cupped the other hand in hers. "Good. Now, I want you to hold my forearms."

"Your forearms? Why that?"

"Trust me, we're working out way up." Yet another pause brought Ritsu's hand to the instructed place. Now both their skins were beginning to tingle. "Ok, good. Now the upper arms." The drummer's fingertips glided across the other's sleeves and migrated to a place centered between the elbow and shoulder, where they then continued to grip softly.

"Very good, Ritsu," Konata commended. "Now comes the more difficult part. Next, I want you to hug me." Before the other had time to exclaim something along the lines of "H-Hug?" Izumi had already proceeded further with an explanation. "Just put both your hands on the small of my back to start… Also, we're going to have to sit closer together, so if you wouldn't mind opening your legs just slightly so that I can shuffle forward?"

"O-Ok…" At this point, even Ritsu felt her will of defiance drain from her. With greater caution than previously before, she parted her knees slightly, creating a wedge for Konata to slip her left leg into as she scooted herself forward, Ritsu's left leg doing the same in the process. Her knee came dangerously close to touching Izumi's crotch. And in response to the touch of hands on her back, Izumi returned the favor by placing her hands on Ritsu's back.

The otaku looked into Ritsu's eyes, hinting the tiniest bit that she might be enjoying this learning session, and grinned. "Nervous?" she whispered.

"K-Kind of," was the other reply. "Hey, I thought I was the one doing things, not you." She obviously referenced Konata's return of a hug.

"Semantics, semantics," Konata passed-off. She shuffled herself forward further, bringing her left leg into the open wedge. "Now we do a full embrace. Just bring your arms fully around my midriff and I'll do the same, ok?"

Ritsu nodded before reaching further around Konata's body, Izumi doing the same. They brought their chest closer and closer until they finally made contact, two flat chests pressed against each other. The legs that were wedged between the other's moved closer as well, so much so that Konata had to sit herself atop one of Ritsu's legs.

Their faces were now less than half a foot's distance apart, their noses no more than a few inches. Each paused, their eyes locked onto those of the one before them. It was hard for either of them to read the other's emotions. Nervousness? Infatuation? Absolute fright masked by a stern face? Atleast for one, an answer came.

Across Konata's cheeks and nose, the blush on her visage grew ever slightly, betraying that she might have actually enjoyed this teaching method. Ritsu caught this in an instant, but said nothing of it. "Ok…" Izumi resumed. "Now comes the even harder part, and every step afterward is only going to get exponentially more… intense.

Next on our list is… kissing." The other reared her head back an inch at the uttering of the "k" word, but Konata continued speaking. "It can be a small one right now, if you want (a peck, if you will). And it can be anywhere: on the cheek, forehead, or the lips, if you want… Ready when you are." She then closed her eyes and awaited the other's advance.

Now the entire gravity of the situation had been placed directly into Ritsu's hands, and had Izumi kept her eyes open, she would have witnessed the devastation that such pressure brought on the drummer's face, for it began to shadow with all manners of anxiety and stress. "Oh God, oh God, oh God," her mind began to race. "She's not joking around at all! She's really expecting me to do this again. I-I should be able to do it again. Hell, we did a lot more than mere pecks during our fight, but it feels different now- Why do it feel so hard to do now! It makes no sense!

Damnit, Ritsu, you can do this just lean forward and… and… She looked again at the face presented before her. She and Konata were friends, yes, but were this any other day, the drummer would have not given the other's looks a second glance. But today, she did, and what came from it was a view of the blue-haired girl she never had before. It was never as if she saw Konata before as "ugly" or such words, but for whatever reason, the otaku's beauty shown that much more brighter to her in that moment.

And in her absentmindedness, Ritsu whispered aloud "Wow, you're beautiful…"

And like a hook to a fish, that comment snatched onto Konata with unbreakable force. Her eyes popped open and widened to what seemed the diameter of silver dollars. No, much bigger than that. Furthermore, they seemed to glimmer with a hint of smitten. "Y-You think I'm… beautiful?" It was a complement that she was not use to receiving. At all. In fact, if it was not for characters in dating sims, she would have never received such a complement in her life.

"S-Sure," Ritsu replied, again absentmindedly. While her own words were not at the forefront of her thoughts, the thought within her mind were; namely, how the heck she was going to overcome her anxiety and kiss. Konata closed her eyes again and awaited the touch of Ritsu's lips to hers… but the anticipated contact never came. Finally, Konata reopened her eyes to see that Ritsu was look away to her right, her eyes scrunched shut. "Uh, Ricchan?" Izumi asked. "Something wrong?"

"… I-I can't, Konata," the drummer choked up. "I just can't do it!"

"But why? We've kissed before, so why can't you now?" The blue-haired girl did well to mask the frustration she was feeling at not having Ritsu plant one on her.

"I know that, but I just can't explain it! W-When we kissed before, I thought I wasn't into girls, and…" She paused. "I only did it so I could win, so that I could win our fight. But now… it's different. It's for different reasons…"

"Hmm… So are you saying you've reached your limit? You absolutely cannot continue further by yourself?" Konata asked, to which her reply was a nod. "Ok then. So, since we've reached the limit you can initiate advances at, we now need to find out how far you can go receiving." Konata smiled, knowing that now she had another chance to kiss Ritsu. She felt the other's body tense up at her last spoken words.

"S-So does that mean," said Tainaka, "that you're going to kiss me…?"

"Yep. Now, close your eyes." Slowly, Ritsu did just that. Now she was at the mercy of Konata's own advance, and near instantly, her mind began to race with thoughts. "Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit, she's going to do it, and I know it. But I don't know when it's going to happen!. Damnit, why does it feel like she's taking forever! My heart is beating so fast, it feels like it's going to burst out of my- AAH!" Her thoughts screamed when she felt Konata's hot breath grace Ritsu's lips.

And it was at that moment that she had had enough.

She yelped a loud scream and her instincts forced her arms forward, pushing Konata off her thigh. Izumi fell backwards and landed onto her back with a thump on the carpeted floor. She got up immediately and yelled back "What did you do that for!"

"S-Sorry, Konata," Ritsu apologized, "but I just can't do it. I don't know why, but I can't! Gah, guess I'm just hopeless."

Though Konata was still peeved that no kiss came of her attempted advance, her feelings or anger were overshadowed by the emotions Ritsu displayed. The look on her face, it showed clear self-disappointment. "Oh don't worry about it, Ricchan," Konata reassured her student. "To be honest, I was surprised how far we got today… At any rate, we've both figured out the limits to your yuri zone: kissing, both giving and receiving. We got a good point to know where to resume our training."

"R-Resume?" Ritsu sounded slightly distressed at that aspect. "You mean we're just going to do this stuff regularly?"

"Well, yeah, but we're not just going to do that. If we just try to just expand your yuri zone, I wouldn't be doing half of what I intended to help you with. To answer your question again, yes, we are going to do that stuff again, but we'll be doing much more together."

"Oh? Such as?"

"Oh dating, for one."

"D-Dating! B-But why!"

"Simple, to get you ready for Mio." Again, Ritsu's panic subsided at the mention of Akiyama's name. "I'm going to help you get comfortable with other women, or to be more specific, being with other woman. I can already tell you're nervous about the entire aspect of it, so there's some definite work that needs to be done to 'loosen you up.' Know what I mean?"

"Uh, yeah, I guess so…"

"Hmm… Well, I think we're done her for today." Konata stood back up on her feet, Ritsu following suit shortly after. "Thanks for having be over, Ricchan. Despite the abrupt stop, it was a productive day."

"Yeah, I guess…" Ritsu said back. "Listen, Konata?... Thanks. Thank you so much for agreeing to help me. Honestly, I don't think I could have asked any of the other members of Houkago Tea Time about this."

"You could have asked Sawa-chan," Konata suggested.

"…"

"Anyway, I got to get back home. I left when Dad was out and I didn't leave a note. If I don't get back before he does, there will be interrogations from him, that's for sure. So, when is it ok to meet up next? For our first date."

"O-Oh, yeah, um… You free this Saturday? I don't know, we could do what you want to do, I guess."

"Yeah, sure, I'm free then. Meet me at my station at noon then?" Ritsu nodded back. "Ok then. Well, I'm off." Konata headed out the door of Ritsu's room, giving her one last "See ya, Ricchan!" before shutting the door behind her.

Once gone, Ritsu took a few reverse steps before falling backwards onto her bed with a few bounces, heaving an exhausted sigh as she did. "Man, that was the most nerve-wracking thing I've ever done, and I've openly opposed Sawako before… Still, Konata did help me do what I probably couldn't have done on my own…"

"I love Mio Akiyama…" she whispered aloud. "Yep, it's getting easier and easier to say…"

Author's Notes: More Lucky Stars and Gitahs? You bet your fucking ass there is!

And so, I now delve into what readers of the series have probably been waiting to see for a long while: crossover pairings with the girls. And now, we have our first: KonataXRitsu. This calls for a new name! Let's see... SawakoXNanako I dubbed "Sawanako," so Konata and Ritsu will be... "Konatsu." Yeah, I like the ring of that. I know it sounds like it would be a TsukasaXKonata name, but I'd rather call that "Tsunata" instead.

At any rate, I hope you guys will read this next installment in the series. Reviews are always greatly appreciated, and Happy Readings!