Of Hot Lunches and Gelatin

By Funakounasoul

Disclaimer: I don't own these people nor do I own Azumanga Daioh, Kiyohiko Azuma does. I do own plushie, key chain, and Gashapon versions, though...

Author's Notes: You know how they say that writers and artists sometimes get ideas during the strangest times and in the weirdest places? Well, that's what happened to me when this story popped into my head. I was in my keyboarding class, when all of a sudden, poof! I typed part of it there, while I e-mailed it to my house and finished it up at home.

Anyway, this story takes place way before Azumanga Daioh begins. Tomo and Yomi are in second grade! That's a long time ago, huh?

Ah, lunchtime -- the time when children can finally relax from the horrible pains of learning. It is a fun time, where children eat food, trade food, and yes, even play with food. Children always look forward to eating lunch. Of course, the ever-popular recess follows it, but that is another tale.

This tale is about two girls. Now, these two have been together for who-knows how long. It seems like the two have been together since their school lives began, maybe even longer. What the rest of the school does know is that they have always been together period. Yes, they are Tomo Takino and Yomi Mizuhara.

For the first time ever, these young girls brave the treacherous lines of the cafeteria. Having only eaten sack lunches before, the two do not know what is in store for them. Is school food really as disgusting as they say? What exactly do schools serve their students? Is school lunch even worth it? The time has come for both girls to find the answers to these questions...

The bell rang, signaling the start of lunch. Children filed out of their classrooms in single-file lines, their destination being the cafeteria. The ones with sack lunches separated themselves from the rest of the kids, heading straight for their favorite tables. Tomo and Yomi, however, waited within the confines of the ever-growing line. The line inched along slowly, causing the never-still Tomo to complain.

"Argh! What's with this line?" Tomo screamed at the top of her lungs, unaware of the nearby teachers' glares, "Can't you guys move any faster?" Tomo hated waiting for long periods, and this line was killing her patience. She wanted the food-receiving part of their journey to end as quickly as possible.

"Tomo, could you be a little quieter? I don't want to get in trouble." Yomi quietly asked, hiding behind the hyperactive girl. She never liked Tomo's outbursts and feared getting in trouble. Yet, the bespectacled girl liked the things the two did, whether it was playing outside or pulling a prank on someone.

"Ha! Who case about getting in trouble? I could shout all day if I --"

Before Tomo could go on, a teacher had approached the girl. Using a small paperback book, the teacher lightly struck Tomo upside her head. Now, most kids would see that as their time to quit, but Tomo was not like other kids. She paused for a while, but resumed her ranting as soon as the teacher left their sights.

"Argh! Why can't this line go faster?! I thought lunch was given to you in a snap!"

"Maybe this is all just part of the experience..." Yomi whispered, "You know the stuff we see on TV isn't the same in the real world... right?" Yomi waited for a response but did not get one. Instead, Tomo was busy jumping up and down. It was finally their turn to go through the lunch line.

The line itself was more than they expected. There were three lines, each serving the same items. The choices of food were many, though the students themselves had no real control on what they wanted. The only real choice they had was milk flavor -- regular, chocolate, or strawberry.

"So... Do we grab a tray or something?" Tomo looked at her bespectacled friend as if she had all the answers. Yomi's only response was a small shrug. The other girl only knew as much as her rowdier counterpart. Tomo grabbed a tray hastily, mumbling, "People with glasses are supposed to be smart."

Students moved slowly through the line, waiting for the food to land onto their trays. After receiving a vegetable, a fruit, a bread roll, the main dish, and dessert. The children then moved onto a second set of lines. Within these lines, the student would grab their milk and hand the cashier a card. The card was then scanned, to show that the student received lunch for the day, and was placed in another pile. Finally, the student would pay for their lunch and head for the cafeteria.

"So that's what these things are for..." Yomi looked at the small piece of laminated paper in her hand. She had always thought the cards were like credit cards. In a way, they were. She turned around to find Tomo frantically searching for her card.

"Oh no!" Tomo shouted, "Where'd I put it? I know I had it!"

"Waah!" Yomi's eyes began to water, "Tomo, how could you? Now you can't eat! They'll take your tray away from you! Even worse...you won't be able to eat with me!"

"Don't say that!" Tomo cried, "We're both gonna have hot lunches! You'll see!"

"Uh...excuse me?" The two girls turn around to find the woman at the register staring at them. It was finally their turn, and everyone behind them was growing impatient. The two laughed nervously and moved up.

Yomi sadly gave the woman her card. After scanning it, the cashier asked the girl to pay one dollar. Luckily, Yomi knew the two would have to pay and brought two dollars. She slowly walked towards the doorway to the cafeteria, anxiously waiting for Tomo.

Tomo nervously approached the cashier, "Uh...I-I...uh...I d-don't have my c-c-c-card with me, ma'am...Please don't take my lunch away!"

"...No problem," the woman replied, "Name, please."

"Uh...T-t-takino Tomo."

The woman searched for Tomo's name and checked her off. Tomo gave the woman Yomi's other dollar bill. Tomo proceeded to exit the lunch line and approached her waiting friend.

"Hah, what'd I tell ya?" Tomo smugly told her friend, "I made it out, tray and all."

"Gee, Tomo, I wish I was like you," Yomi looked at her friend with awe, "If that was me, I would've cried. You're so brave!"

"Well, that's just how I am!"

The two entered the cafeteria. Before they could sit down, a teacher told them to get back in line. When asked, the teacher explained that all students must fill up tables in the order they come out of the cafeteria. They cannot choose their own seats or tables.

"Hey! We never had to do that before!" Tomo yelled at the teacher. Fortunately, the teacher already knew her and only sighed in response.

"Tomo," Yomi whispered, "I think we've never had to do it before because you always like to sit at the first table. That's the table where all the sack lunch kids sit at."

"...Oh."

"Anyway, I think we should just go back."

"Okay," Tomo waved goodbye to the teacher, "Sorry for the troubles, my good teacher!"

After getting back in line, the girls hoped they would sit together. Since each table was filled up one by one, the two noticed how friends were separated because of it. Luckily, they found themselves seated in the middle of their table -- no separation for them this time.

Tomo grinned, grabbing her spoon. "Alright! We've made it through the line. Now let's see how this food tastes!"

The two ate their food quietly. They discovered that their school's lunch was not bad -- a common stereotype shown in television and movies. They only things they did not touch, however, were the vegetables and their desserts. With the latter, they did not eat it simply because it looked disgusting; they did not eat it because they were more interested in finding out what it was.

"What do you think it is?" Tomo asked Yomi.

"I don't know..."

"Hmph. People with glasses are supposed to know this stuff..."

"We don't always know the answers, you know."

"Then why do you wear glasses?"

"Because I can't see well!

Yomi ignored Tomo's next comment and approached the strange dessert. It was cube-shaped, green, and moved a lot.

"Have you noticed how much it likes to jiggle?" Yomi asked her still-complaining friend.

"Hmmm...Wait a minute, It's green and it moves, right?" Tomo looked at the cube closer, "Yomi! I think I know what it is!"

"Really?! What is it?"

"It's..." Tomo moved up to the other girl, "an alien."

"Really?" Yomi stared at the jiggling green cube. She grabbed her fork and inched her way towards the supposed alien. In a blink of an eye, she stabbed the cube with her fork, yet the cube continued to move. A bit of the green substance stayed on the fork. The fragment was continuously jiggling, as if it was screaming for its life. Without thinking, the young Mizuhara inserted the fork into her mouth.

"Oh my gosh! What are you doing?!" Tomo began to shake Yomi, frantically scolding her for eating an extraterrestrial.

"But it tasted good!" Yomi pushed Tomo away from her and began to eat the rest of the alien. Tomo watched in horror as her best friend devoured the green cube, slurping away at its green juices. "See?" Yomi reassured her friend, "It's perfectly safe. And it tasted like lime."

"Lime?" Tomo looked at her green cube and tasted it. Sure enough, it tasted like lime. However, she still refused to believe what Yomi did was right. Remembering another thing that was green, she faced Yomi sadly. "What if it was some weird radioactive slime?"

"What?!" Yomi gasped. Realizing what she had just done, she soon regretted eating the strange cube. Then again, she thought, some superheroes were born by being in contact with radioactive slime. Was Tomo just jealous?

"Hey! What if this stuff was good anyway?" Yomi suspiciously stared into Tomo's eyes, adding, "Are you just jealous I got superpowers now?"

"Who said anything about superpowers?!" Tomo shot back, poking her bespectacled friend with her fork, "There's poisonous slime, too! Do you actually think schools would use the good kind?"

"Yeah! Maybe for the good kids!"

"Are you saying I'm bad?!"

"Well, you are most of the time!"

"You take that back, Four-Eyes!"

"Four-Eyes?!" Yomi screamed in rage. She stood from her seat, visibly shaking. The lights of the cafeteria reflected off her glasses, giving her a menacing appearance. Tomo whimpered, not knowing if this was a good thing or a bad thing. However, before she could experience Yomi's wrath, the principal approached them and escorted them to his office. A few seconds later, the bell rang, signaling the beginning of recess.

"I can't believe I'm here." Yomi sniffed quietly. The principal's office was one place she had not entered before. After all, she was one of the school's best students behaviorally as well as academically. Tomo, on the other hand, was quite used to the small room. She was calmly sitting on the chair next to the crying girl.

The principal looked at Tomo first and sighed. "Tomo, considering our somewhat frequent encounters, you should know what I expect of you. However," He faced Yomi, giving her a worried look, "I have never seen you, Miss Mizuhara, so angry before. I'm afraid I'll have to punish you the same way I punish Tomo here."

"But sir!" Yomi cried, "I promise I won't do it again! Just don't let me do this! Please!"

"I'm sorry, but rules are rules." The principal escorted them back into the cafeteria. Their punishment was to clean every table during recess for the rest of the week. Tomo waved goodbye and headed for the tables while Yomi continued to cry. The principal assured her this was not as dreadful as she thought. Sniffling, Yomi thanked the principal and slowly made her way to the dirty tables.

"Tomo," Yomi asked her calm friend, "How can you be so calm at times like this? I was crying back there!"

Tomo thought for a moment, wiping a few crumbs off a table, "Well, I guess it's because I'm brave! I've seen the good, the bad, and the ugly -- all while I'm still a kid! I've learned to keep my cool in front of even the most dreaded of people, the principal himself!" By this time, Tomo was in a dramatic pose -- her foot on a chair and a fist in the air -- laughing like a lunatic.

Yomi admired Tomo's bravery. Tomo's obvious lies flying past her head, she marveled at her friend's speech, "I wish I was more like you!"

The two continued cleaning tables. Eventually, Yomi found herself in front of a jiggling piece of the green cube. Picking it up, she muttered, "This is all your fault. If it weren't for you and your mysterious origins, I'd be playing outside right now!" Yomi proceeded to squish the green goop in her hand and threw it to the ground. Hearing Tomo yell her name, she turned around and continued her cleaning duty.

A few minutes later, both girls were in the kitchen, reporting the completion of their cleaning duties. While heading to their classroom, they noticed a pan filled with the evil, jiggling cubes. Noticing the two girls staring at the substance, one of the lunch ladies approached them.

"Aren't you supposed to be heading back to class?"

"Ma'am," Yomi looked at the woman, confused, "Is this stuff really radioactive?"

"Yeah!" Tomo chipped in, "Is it radioactive, or are they aliens? Why do you make us eat this stuff anyway?"

"Radioactive? Aliens?" The woman looked at them strangely. "What are you talking about? This is gelatin."

"Gelatin? What's that?"

"You mean you've never heard of gelatin before?" She began to laugh, further confusing the two girls. After quieting down, the woman explained, "Gelatin is a dessert. It comes in many flavors. The one we served today was lime-flavored, so that's why it was green. It jiggles around because of the ingredients. It's not an alien, it's not radioactive, and it's not a living creature, period."

Tomo and Yomi looked at the lunch lady and then at the gelatin. "So, that means it was okay for me to eat it?" Yomi asked.

"Of course!"

"No superpowers?"

"No superpowers..."

"Oh," Yomi looked at her friend, giving her a stern look. They left the kitchen afterwards, heading straight to their class. The walk was quiet, except for the occasional muffled sounds from passing rooms. Moments passed until they finally reached their class's door. Before entering, Tomo looked at Yomi, while Yomi did the same.

"So, it's not...?"

"No, it's not."

THE END

Well, there you have it. Before you click that review button, I'd like to say a few things:

1. I am aware that most Japanese elementary schoolchildren have lunch within their classrooms. I just liked the idea of the two going through our style of lunchtime. It's funnier. You've probably also noticed I used U.S. currency...The reason being, I don't know my conversions well...

2. The entire lunch scene is based off one of my childhood lunchtime routines. This one was the most confusing of the three I've witnessed. I captured everything, from the line procedure to the "fill up one whole table as they come" seating arrangement.

3. The gelatin part was slightly based off a strange conversation a friend and I had a while ago...

4. We all know that Tomo always acted the way she does since elementary school... but who said Yomi had to act the same as her present age? Except for the part where she loses it, she couldn't have acted the same ALL her life.

Ok, that's it. Bye!