Second Elementary School.
At the school gates, Konata Izumi, Kanade Tono, and Suzune Tono stood waiting.
But they weren't waiting for Tokyo, Hiroshima, or Nagasaki.
They were waiting for Shouko Nishimiya and her little sister Yuzuru.
"You—what are you doing here?"
"You trying to pick a fight? There's more of us, and we've got friends. Don't mess with us."
"If you hit us, we'll tell the teacher."
Ugh. Why'd it have to be these three idiots?
Kanade Tono squinted at the three boys who had just walked out of the school. He felt like his eyes had been dirtied just by looking at them. He was here for the Nishimiya sisters—what made these guys think he had time to come looking for them specifically? Their self-importance was off the charts.
"Why can't I stand here?" Kanade rubbed his eyes. He didn't want to get personal, but honestly—these three looked like a bunch of crooked melons and shriveled beans, nothing at all like him, who was obviously gorgeous.
"This is our school," snapped the skinniest boy—Hiroshima—his tone dripping with defiance.
"Oh, your school? You own it?"
Kanade's face stayed perfectly blank.
"…No."
"Then what's it to you?"
"You—"
"You, what? Get lost before I deck you. Tell the teacher all you want, I'll still hit you. I'll come every day after school just to pound you flat. Beat up little kids, that's me."
He shook his fist, looking every bit the delinquent.
It's a miracle he hadn't turned into some supervillain with powers like his. Only his abilities' side effects—and his family's good upbringing—kept him from going full "Homelander." Otherwise? He would've been unstoppable.
For now, though, he was… Cricket Speaker-Man.
The three boys bristled at Kanade's words, but what choice did they have? Under threat of a beating right there at the gate, all their bravado fizzled. No one wanted to cry in public and lose face at school forever.
"There! There they are!"
The three pests finally driven off, the "wild Nishimiya sisters" appeared. From a distance, Konata raised both arms and waved.
"They… actually came," Yuzuru murmured, spotting the group. She had thought they were only joking yesterday. Could it be… her lonely sister really was about to have friends?
"Big sis," Yuzuru tugged on Shouko's sleeve, worried she hadn't noticed the kids waiting for her—or hadn't heard Konata's excited shout.
Her sister had been born with a hearing disability, and because of it her speech was halting and awkward. For once, though, she had a chance at friendship. Yuzuru didn't want her to miss it.
Shouko spotted them, understood her sister's signal, and smiled. She raised her hand to wave, forcing out the words with effort:"Ni…ce… to… meet."
Fifth-grader Shouko Nishimiya still hadn't given up on communicating.
"Hey! Nice to meet you!" Konata beamed back."Hello," Suzune added with a small nod."Afternoon," Kanade waved half-heartedly, more out of obligation than anything.
The five of them started the walk home together.
The Tono siblings and Konata had deliberately come to pick the Nishimiya sisters up after school. After finding out yesterday that Shouko was hearing-impaired, and from Yuzuru that the sisters were often bullied, Konata's righteous streak had flared up. From now on, she declared, they would always walk home together to protect them.
Don't let her usual slacker act fool you—between video games and anime binges, Konata Izumi had a hero's sense of justice. She was the kind of girl who could've stepped right out of a hot-blooded shonen manga.
Sure, alone she could be a little timid. But with Kanade—the childhood friend next door, armed with actual superpowers—she was bold enough to take on the world.
Her only hope? That this world wasn't some grimdark tragedy setting. If it was… well, childhood friends of protagonists rarely survived long. She hoped Kanade was the main character—because if he wasn't, and this really was a dark world, then they were all screwed.
Funny enough, Kanade liked to imagine he was the main character too. Konata was the same. It was probably why the two clicked so well—neighbors, childhood friends, and partners in delusion. Like attracts like.
For years it had just been Kanade and Konata, sometimes with Suzune tagging along. Neither of them ever really made other friends. Kanade only had Konata. Konata only had Kanade and Suzune. That was it.
"Whoa, so this means 'police'?"Konata's eyes lit up as she eagerly copied the hand sign Shouko had shown her.
If they were going to be friends, learning sign language was a must. Sure, Shouko could speak a little, but her words were often unclear. Misunderstandings were bound to happen. Better to bridge the gap properly.
Kanade was learning too—not just to talk with Shouko, but because, hey, it counted as a skill. In his eyes, the more skills, the better. Besides, you never knew when sign language might show up in a manga.
Speaking of manga… he hadn't drawn much at all during lunch. He'd have to work harder when he got home. He was only an elementary schooler, sure, but the dream of debuting early as a mangaka—and earning the coveted [Genius Boy Manga Artist] platinum achievement—was just too cool to let go.
"Picture it, Konata," Kanade grinned, puffing himself up. "Me. A professional mangaka. A genius child prodigy mangaka."
Konata poked his cheek. "You're grinning like a creep. Were you thinking pervy thoughts just now?"
"What? No! I'm in elementary school, okay? Not some adult with a dirty mind. Why do you always assume I'm thinking about that stuff? You're the one bringing it up all the time—you must be the pervy one."
Kanade tapped her forehead. Seriously, what was going on in this girl's head? She was way too young to be obsessed with that sort of thing. If she was like this in elementary school, he didn't even want to imagine her in middle or high school. By college she'd… no, no, impossible. Konata wasn't like that. Not while he was around.
If anything, he should be worrying about himself. She kept saying he had the "perfect face" for crossdressing. What if one day she tricked him into doing it? Everyone knew: when it came to crossdressing, there was no such thing as "just once." It was either zero times… or endless times. For the sake of his dignity, he intended to stay at zero. (Hopefully.)