[Disclaimer] I do not own Azumanga Daioh, or any of these characters. Mr. Okabe is mine though, he has one little scene! his dog. The name of the veterinarian's office is mine, Mr. Hiyemoto. Besides those two people, and the plot, I don't own anything.
It takes place about five years after the fourth manga, and everyone is about twenty-two, except for Chiyo-chan, who is around eighteen. The story used to be called Forget Me Not, but I think the title didn't have to do with the main undertheme that was in the story.
Echoes of A Fleeting Nightmare Chapter 1: Meeting UpIt was another beautiful day as sunlight flowed through all of Japan, the land of the rising sun. It was a day when people should be basking outside in the sun's warm rays of light, or swimming down in the cool ocean's smooth water. It was not a day for people to be holed up inside of a building, which, ironically, was exactly what Sakaki was doing. To be exact, she was inside of the veterinarian's office and that was because she works there.
The inside was like any other normal office, with white walls, and white tiled floors. There were some doctors walking around, escorting pet owners to small rooms with their own little pets. There were three sets of waiting booths, with cushiony teal seats covered in animal hair. The whole place smelled of many animal scents mixed with brand new tools, medical equipment, and pet treats to calm any unruly animals.
"There you go Mr. Okabe, your dog will be okay, but you have to remember to give him this medicine every five hours. If his condition worsens, just come back and we'll run more tests," said Sakaki as she bowed her head to her grateful customer.
The rather tall girl with jet-black hair and a long lab coat behind the counter handed the short man a small pug. He thanked her greatly and he petted his dog softly and whispered in as high a voice he could things that any dog owner usually do, like "Who's a good dog," and, "What a good dog!"
As Mr. Okabe walked out of the office with his cheerful dog, making the door's bell ring signaling his exit, Sakaki glanced at the round black clock hanging crookedly at the corner of the wall.
'Nine-thirty in the morning and already many customers have come and gone…' She thought. She always had customers in the morning, but today she had quite a few sick animals early.
She once again heard the familiar gentle tingle of the bell that was attached to the door and looked up with her most inviting smile.
"Hello, and welcome to the Veterinarian's office. How may I help you?" Sakaki looked around, but she did not see anybody around. "Hello?" She said again, unsure if she was starting to hallucinate.
"I'm down here, don't say that you can't see me!" A small voice projected from somewhere very near, yet it reverberated off the walls, so it sounded like it was from everywhere at once. "It's me, Chiyo-chan."
Sakaki looked down and noticed her little friend. Short in stature, Chiyo was much younger than her, but wise beyond her age. She had gone into high school at the age of ten; practically nobody can achieve that kind of genius. Her hair was up in its two innocent pigtails (that don't really control her mind), tied up with the two bands that Sakaki had given her for her previous birthday. There were puppies on both of them. A small brown purse was around her arm, and it matched with her earth brown top that had yellow lace around the neckline and her dark navy cutoff jeans.
Sakaki smiled and invited her to sit in the meeting office to talk and have a cup of tea. After making two cups of herbal tea, mixing them together, and gently placing it on the deep oak table, she took a seat herself and struck up a conversation.
"This is a surprising visit. Why did you decide to come to see me today? It is not like I do not enjoy this, but I was just asking out of curiosity."
Chiyo looked up from her cup and flashed an adorable grin that caused a faint blush to fall upon Sakaki's face. "I just wanted to come and see how you are doing lately. How is everything? Are the cats still scratching you like always?" Sakaki looked at her, glanced down at her scratched up hands, and then laughed softly.
"Haha… you know me all too well Chiyo-chan. Yes, they have been scratching me, but not as much as they usually have in the past. It's a good change, and I have less scars and bandages over my hands," then she looked at Chiyo, "but seriously, I tend to know when things are up, what is the real reason you came to see me?" This time, it was Chiyo's turn to laugh.
"Hahaha! You also know me too well. I did indeed have a secret motive for coming here. I'm having an old-time get-together at my summer beach house this Saturday! Would you like to come over? Everyone is going to be there, and you can even bring Maya. It just wouldn't be the same without you!" Her eyes grew wide and sparkly as she tried to imitate the innocent puppy face.
Sakaki looked at her and grinned, "You don't have to pull that face on me, I will go, even without the help of your cute little face, though that was some great extra encouragement. I will also bring Maya like you said."
After hearing that, Chiyo sprang up like an overjoyed frog and her face beamed. "Yay! Then it's settled! I promise you, you'll have a very fun time, and you won't regret it! Though I don't know why you would regret it in the first place anyways. Haha, I don't even know why I just said that. Wow, I should calm down." She took some deep breaths, but instantly bounded to the front office.
She waved on her way out, "Bye, I'll see you then!" Sakaki looked at her seemingly endless amount of energy and waved back. "I'll see you too. Take care." With that, Chiyo walked out the door with the pleasant tingle of the door's bell behind her.
As the day went on, all Sakaki could think about was Saturday. ' I can't wait until tomorrow! I have really wanted to see everyone lately and find out what has been going on with them lately. It would be fun to be with Chiyo-chan too…' she thought as she pictured everyone smashing watermelons on the beach and swimming in the clear blue ocean.
The day in the office dragged on, and went by uneventfully with virtually no more customers after the man with the pug.
The only remotely exciting event that happened all day was a frantic woman who came storming in demanding what was wrong with her rather large calico cat. The cat kept emitting noticeably odd sounds and it convulsed every time it happened. The doctors told her to calm down and they would find out what the problem was in no time. After a few minutes of examining the sick-looking cat, they told the lady that she didn't need to worry; the cat was just having the case of the hiccups from eating too quickly.
Sakaki was sitting in the rolling chair at the front desk, staring at a computer screen with information on the best cat toys for Maya when Mr. Hiyemoto, her boss, came walking by carrying his portfolio of papers and a few personal belongings.
"Oh, Sakaki-san, you're still here? It's closing time, so you could go home now."
She whipped her head to look at the crookedly hung clock and sure enough, it was eleven o'clock at night. She turned off the computer, stood up, bowed to Mr. Hiyemoto, and then took her leave into the night. She spotted a shining white car all alone in the parking lot under a blinking street lamp.
Sakaki entered her car and turned the key to start the ignition. The engine hummed to life and all the gears groaned as they began to spin. She drove out of the parking lot and began to head for her small apartment. Even though being a veterinarian's assistant was a great job, it does not exactly pay the largest amount. She wanted to get an advance to a full-fledged veterinarian.
Her car flew by a block of dark houses with only a few lit ones. She turned a corner and began to see the ashen-colored apartment complexes. She kept cruising down the road while thinking about Chiyo-chan.
' Wow, she has already gotten her bachelor's degree, and now she's working on her masters. That's going to take a long time for her. I thought she was thinking of studying abroad in America, but I wonder why she decided to stay?'
She wondered about the many possible reasons for why she would stay here in Japan with her and all of their friends until she came upon her apartment. Getting out of her car, Sakaki locked it and scaled a few flights of stairs in order to reach her apartment. She finally saw the dark gray door with the number '176' painted on the front of it. She fished in her pocket for her keys and heard scratching noises behind the door.
' Maya must be waiting for me.' She thought as she opened up the door. Not surprisingly, Maya was sitting at the entranceway to the room with his head cocked up looking at Sakaki. She walked inside to her rather small, but cozy, apartment.
The small entranceway merged into one large room with an attached open kitchen to the left. The small bathroom was located jus to the left of the door once you stepped inside. There was a small futon mattress out in front of the window, and multiple stuffed animals covered almost every inch of the room, along with Maya's cat fur. There were a few shelves to the right that contained pictures of her friends, Maya, and other stray cats that she managed to sneak a camera towards.
Sakaki took off her shoes and lab coat, and went straight to her futon. She plopped down carelessly, and Maya jumped on her. He purred and snuggled comfortably on her stomach falling almost instantly to sleep. Sakaki stared at Maya and grinned lovingly at her adorable kitty. She relaxed on the soft mattress and she eventually succumbed to her tired body's request to sleep, and her eyes began to close…
Sakaki looked around her bright neighborhood and saw Osaka flying by her with apparently two things on her head that resembled orange pigtails.
"Yo Sakaki! You should fly too, it's a great thing and whatnot." Sakaki just looked at her oddly, but then she saw Chiyo-chan come walking by. She looked different, maybe it was just because her hair was missing her usual pigtails, but that was probably all in her imagination.
"Hi Sakaki, it's nice to see you again. Do you want to come fly with me? It's awesome, everyone is doing it nowadays."
She took Sakaki's hand and they began to mysteriously float upwards. They eventually touched down on a cluster of cottony soft clouds. All Sakaki could see were clouds, endless blue sky, and a beautiful sunset.
"It's so nice up here…" she breathed. Chiyo looked at her and giggled, "Well, I thought you would like it… Hey, look over there!" She pointed to their left, "it's Kagura! Oh, I think she's trying my pigtails out for a spin." Sakaki not only saw Kagura flying with helicopter pigtails, an orange cat was also spotted gliding around in circles above them. Sakaki stared at everything in confusion.
The cat landed and looked at her very intently, and after what seemed like an eternity, he began to speak. "Hey, I'm Chiyo-chan's dad, and I don't like the clothes you're wearing," he gestured to Sakaki's lab coat, "… it doesn't seem right." He shoved the cat hat that they used in the Stuffed Animal Coffee Shop activity on her head. He once again sized her up and nodded slowly.
"Hmm… yep, that's just about right," he nodded again, "Have a good time, but you should ask me again if it's alright to cut my head in half and make it a hat. Well, toodles!" He waved and then flew away.
Sakaki stared at his body fly into the distance in dumb disbelief; then she waved. "Bye Chiyo-chan's dad…"
"Oh!" Sakaki's eyes sprang open and her head jolted up. 'What kind of a dream was that?' she thought. Maya looked at her with cute little eyes, and purred. She stroked his head and laughed to herself. "Wow, what an odd dream. I haven't dreamt of that cat since… high school."
She looked at the clock and began to get ready to depart to Chiyo's beach house. She slipped on her shoes and opened a plastic container full of tuna and placed it in front of Maya. "Maya, food, come eat before we leave." He came trotting over, sniffed the food, then he purred with acknowledgement before he began digging in.
After Maya had finished, Sakaki picked him up and walked out of her apartment, locking the door behind them. "Come on Maya, it's time to go have fun with everybody."
And with that, they left to her white car and they began to drive.
The bustling streets and crowded sidewalks soon gave way to sandy beaches and remotely scattered houses. Soon, a large house, no, more like a mansion, began to grow in the distance. Soon, they arrived at an extravagant home with white walls and a reddish roof. It had a grand front lawn, with a walk-in maze garden with a wall of flowers at the center.
Sakaki and Maya once again admired how big the whole place was, and they stepped out of the car. Almost at once, Chiyo-chan appeared out of nowhere with Kaorin close behind her. She grabbed her arm and talked excitedly, "Come on Sakaki! Everyone's waiting for you!"
She looked down at Chiyo's eager face and couldn't help but smile.