Dawn of the Daioh!
AN- Yo. Decided I'd give my shot at the challenge of an Azumanga Daioh Zombie Fiction…never really thought about it myself…but after hearing of the idea, thought I've give it a shot. So here's a shot at a fan fiction for anyone who wants to see what Azumanga Daioh would be like if it were a zombie movie free for all. This is also a bit of a change in my usual writing style (a script format), just something I thought I'd try. Anyhow, this is merely an introduction chapter, so don't expect too much excitement, but more will come. Until then, please enjoy!
Legal Information- Nope. I don't own it. Wish I did, cause then I'd know I was a friggin genius. Oh well, the story and characters all belong to the creator, Kiyohiko Azuma, and A.D.V. Manga takes the cake for licensing it out this way. So thank you all who helped bring this masterpiece over here stateside and into our homes and hearts. Now please don't sue me, I'm just a poor guy living on his own with a brand new laptop. Yep, rents gonna be late.
Chapter 1: Just Any Old Day
" Oh God…you've gotta be kidding me…"
The sound an irritable female voice filled the energetic atmosphere created by the small group of girls. They stood in a circle talking amongst each other about the movie they were being dragged into. Tomo, the Wildcat High School girl she is, stood in the center, pointing up at a movie poster hanging on the outside of the theater.
" Come on Yomi! You're not scared, are ya?"
" I don't know what you think you're talking about, but trust me, I'm not scared. If anything, I'm mortified. I can't believe you wanna drag us all the way out here on our movie night to have us watch this crap!"
Yomi's fist were balled and shaking, but as she started to approach Tomo in order to deliver some much needed , or rather deserved, painful punishment…a small hand grabbed the tails of her coat and stopped her in her tracks. She turned to see the loveable Chiyo-chan behind her, holding her back with all she had.
" Please Miss Yomi, let's not fight. I'm sure this movie will be alright."
" Alright? This is 'Night of the Living Dead' we're talking about! It's old, and it's terrible."
" But this is our movie night and it is Tomo's turn."
" Can't we just skip her this one time?"
" I don't think that'd be very fair Yomi. "
The girls turned their attentions towards their friend from Osaka, whom which now answers to the nickname of her hometown.
" I think it'd be a great experience. After all, you nevah know…what if one day, we got invaded by Zombies! And if we didn't see this movie, we wouldn't know what ta do! Ya know what I mean? A real life lesson."
Her facial expression was true to herself, and she honestly believed what she just said. But that's how Osaka was. Thinking out of the box would be an understatement. Maybe thinking about the box, or maybe the origins of it's contents…but never out of the box. Yomi raised her opinion again, trying to persuade her friends out of this obviously bad idea of a movie.
Yomi: " Come on guys! We can see anything else, I don't care…just not Night of the Living Dead!"
" Sure, the movie sucks, but it's still gonna be fun. I mean, come on, what do you think Sakaki?"
Kagura chimed into the discussion and brought Sakaki into it as well, forcing the quiet and usually stoic girl to voice an opinion as well.
" To be honest, it doesn't seem like a movie I'd like to see."
Her answer was short and concise, as usual. Yomi nodded and pushed her glasses up further on the bridge of her nose.
" Indeed. So I've got you're support on this issue Sakaki?"
" No, not really. I mean, we all get a chance to pick a movie for all of us to see…so it's only fair in the end. If it's Tomo's turn, we should respect her choice and see it."
Tomo gave the much taller girl a very hard pat on the back, almost knocking her over.
" Thank you Sakaki! I knew I could count on your support."
" I still don't really want to see the movie though."
It wasn't that Sakaki was trying to be mean to Tomo, but she was usually very straight forwards about things, especially with Tomo anymore.
" So come on everyone, let's buy our tickets before they sell out!"
Chiyo-chan walked to the front of the group, trying to get them all to follow her lead into the theater. It took a moment, but they all finally fell into line, following the younger girl on in. It was a Friday night, so it was no wonder the lobby area was jam packed. People crowded in small circles discussing movies they had just seen, or were about to see. The lines to the Refreshments stand were long and moving at a snails pace. The girls stood in different lines to try and make it to the counter faster, knowing that the theater might fill up while they stood idly in line.
Within the time frame of 15 minutes, the girls had finally gotten their refreshments and met up in front of their theater. Chiyo opened the door and held it for everyone.
" Come on, let's hurry up and find a seat before they all fill up."
As the girls walked in, they came to realize that they were the only ones in there. And it would remain that way, much to their dismay. The movie played out as expected. It was old, the story was lame, and the acting was terrible. But these girls were still girls at heart, especially Chiyo, whom which was frightened by the flick. She often found herself burying her face into Sakaki's shoulder, taking only peeks out at a time when she felt brave enough. Sakaki herself was unnerved by the movie, though never showed it. Since Chiyo sought her as a bastion of strength and courage, she had to tough it out and use her unwavering faux-cool facade to mask her own terror. The only sign of it was the fact that she would grab Kagura's forearm from time to time and dig her nails in, trying to continue this brave act.
The only other one in the group who was more scared was Osaka, for whom which found relief when she became so scared, she fainted. This was only another depressing matter for Yomi because Osaka used her shoulder as a head rest and drooled a little, soaking part of her shirt. And as expected, Tomo and Kagura were enamored, engrossed, and engaged by the horror and gore which they thought was really cool and exciting. Almost 2 hours later, the ending credits began to roll with the movie drawing to a close. The girls got up (or were pried out, or dragged off, or otherwise) from their seats and exited the now illuminated theater. Like most other groups, they found a good spot to make a circle and discuss what they had just saw.
" YEAH! How was that for a show?"
Tomo stuck her chest out with pride, believing that it had been the perfect selection. Sakaki had finally calmed back down to her usual cool without anyone really noticing any changes in her emotions. Osaka was still asleep, crouched down besides Yomi, who didn't do much to help her situation other than drag her everywhere she went. Chiyo had not let go of Sakaki, still clutching onto her arm and hanging multitudes of feet off the ground. Sakaki shook the much smaller girl loose before too long, allowing her to land on her feet safely.
" That has to be the worst time I've ever had in a movie!"
Yomi took her handkerchief and tried to dry up her shoulder and arm from Osaka's saliva. It wasn't coming out well, so it only fueled her hate fires that much more.
" The movie was bad, and Osaka fell asleep on me. And they watered down my Coke!"
" Come on Yomi…Diet Coke is always watered down!"
Tomo took a moment to hop around, poking fun at her best friends dieting habits. Yomi finally gave in and used the closest thing she could to hit Tomo with…Osaka. With a great feat of strength, she took Osaka by the arm and slung her into the bouncing broad, smashing the pair together. With Osaka now wide awake from her sudden and 'mysterious' crash into the now fallen Tomo, Yomi was satisfied having killed two idiots with one shot.
" That movie was so scary. I know it was cheap looking and shallow, but I'm afraid I'll have nightmares now."
Chiyo had stopped shaking, but here eyes were the size of melons, and she skulked close to Sakaki's tall form for some piece of mind. The taller girl put her hand on Chiyo's head in a reassuring manner, smiling as she stared down at her small friend.
" Don't worry Chiyo, there's no such things as Zombies."
" I know, but it's still such a scary idea."
" Don't worry about it Chiyo."
" Yeah! And if any Zombies actually existed, we could just run away! They're slower than Osaka for gods sake."
" Hey!"
The Osakan took a moment to ponder the thought of the meaning of the resident Jocks comment. Of course, she was saying Osaka was a slow runner, but that did mean she was fast enough to get away from them.
" So does that mean that they couldn't catch me?"
" Well, they shouldn't. I mean, I don't know for sure…but it seems that way."
Kagura never knew how to really deal with Osaka. Her questions were always so vague and untimely. And to make matters worse, though she should be faster than the Zombies, Kagura knew this was Osaka they were dealing with. Anything could go wrong with Osaka involved.
" Ok, so now that I've had to sit through this awful movie, can we go home? I'd like to go to bed and forget this whole thing ever happened."
" Come on Yomi, don't be a baby."
" You want another Tomo? Keep talking, cause if you do, I promise it'll come!"
Tomo continued to harass Yomi, and eventually the one gave chase to the other. Osaka continued her contemplations about her physical capabilities as compared to the Zombies, and further questioned Kagura about the matter, since it was Kagura who brought it up. In response, Kagura tried to get away from Osaka, but the usually bubble headed Osaka was unusually persistent in her chase. This left Chiyo and Sakaki all alone in the lobby.
" I suppose we better get going. It's getting late, and I should try to be home before 11."
Sakaki nodded in agreement, and the pair left everyone else behind. Chiyo wouldn't normally do such a thing, but she was still young and the movie unnerved her enough to want to get home before it got any darker. Of course, since it was later in the evening, it wouldn't help that the train was late to boot. By the time Sakaki had fully escorted Chiyo home, it was almost eleven thirty, and Chiyo was beginning to get tired. Upon reaching her front door, the pair found a note taped to the handle.
" Chiyo, your Mother and I were called into the office. Sorry for the short notice, but your phone was off. We'll be home in the morning. We love you. Father
Sakaki watched Chiyo read the note. As she finished, her eyes had became very wide, and she turned the cute and saucer sized receptors onto Sakaki.
" Mom and Dad won't be home till morning."
" Oh?"
" That means I've got to stay here all by myself!"
" I see…"
Chiyo stared at Sakaki for some kind of answer. Sakaki stared back, with her face awash with blush from Chiyo's inherent cuteness. Finally, she was able to break the silence.
Sakaki: " Well…if you want, I can see if you can stay at my house tonight."
Chiyo: " You would?"
Sakaki: " Sure…just let me call Mom and Dad."
The darker girl pulled a phone from her coat and dialed her home. After a very brief conversation with her parents, Sakaki smiled and gave Chiyo a nod of approval. After hanging up the phone, the pair continued on their way to Sakaki's house, which was only a block or so away. As the pair made their stroll through the neighborhood, the streetlights began to flicker and eventually went out. The sudden outage scared the small girl and she practically leapt into Sakaki's arms for protection. After a moment, passed, Chiyo realized the position she had put Sakaki, and let go of her, once again landing on the ground for the second time of the evening.
" I'm so sorry Miss Sakaki. I'm still quite a bit jumpy from before, and with the lights…"
" No, it's alright. You're allowed to be scared Chiyo."
Sakaki started to blush for a moment. She always did when she was talking about her more intimate feelings.
" I'm…scared too."
" Really?"
" Yes, yes I am. I'm glad you'll be staying the night."
This kind of talk always made her feel a little embarrassed. But it was ok, since it was Chiyo. Sakaki reached down and took Chiyo's hand to reassure her they would be just fine, and that they were just freaking out over nothing. Again, she was blushing out of some slight embarrassment, but thanked whomever than it was dark and no one could see her. Once they approached her door step, Sakaki unlocked the heavy door and they entered. The living room light was on, as well as the hallway. A note for Sakaki and Chiyo was left by Sakaki's parents on the coffee table.
" Sweetie, we went on to bed. Please try to keep it down, and tell Chiyo hello for us. Mom"
Sakaki folded the paper neatly and placed in the waste bin. She took her coat and Chiyo's, hanging them up on the rack next to the door. After taking off their shoes, they continued inside and into Sakaki's room. Chiyo had never actually been to her room before, however had been to her house a few times and was well acquainted with Sakaki's parents. Upon entering, she was welcomed by pictures and posters of cats and kittens. Her room was in fact adorned in them, from her bed sheets to her wallpaper. Chiyo glanced around a bit and smiled at the warm welcome.
" I love your room Miss Sakaki, it's so cute."
" You do? You think so?"
" Yes I do."
" Thanks."
Sakaki turned away, getting into her dresser and sifting through her shirts, looking around for something particular.
" You don't happen to have a spare change of clothes, do you?"
The thought suddenly dawned itself upon Chiyo, causing her ears and pigtails to perk up suddenly.
" Oh…I forgot, didn't I. I'll be fine though…"
" No, it's alright. I found something you might be able to wear."
She pulled a long, light blue, shirt out of the drawer. For Sakaki, it might have been just been a long t-shirt, but for Chiyo, it was more than sufficient to act as a night gown or some kind of estranged dress.
" Will this be ok?"
" Sure it will. I'll just go change in the bathroom."
While Chiyo left to go change, Sakaki did the same, throwing on her light blue pajama's. When Chiyo got back, Sakaki had also laid out the bed roll her mother left out for Chiyo. The adorable red head yawned for a moment, then sat down on the floor, undoing her hair.
" Thanks a lot Sakaki. I feel a lot more comfortable with someone around."
" Sure."
Sakaki finally made her rounds in the room, tidying up anything that seemed out of place, the stretched out on her bed with Chiyo following in suit on the bed roll. Sakaki reached over and clicked the light off and pulled the covers over her.
" Good night Chiyo. Pleasant dreams."
" Good night Miss Sakaki. Pleasant dreams."