Summary - A response to Azuology by Weener1, who has graciously granted permission to write a continuation of sorts. The one character forgotten - Chihiro!
Pairings - One-sided Kaorin/Sakaki, a bit of one-sided Chihiro/Kaorin if you squint.
Disclaimer - Azumanga Daioh belongs to Azuma Kiyohiko.
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Lines of carbon tore through the paper, accompanied by a low growling sound. A few heads turned, but others were either bored or concentrating.
Chihiro knew Kaorin's distinctive growl all too well, and glanced up from her own (blank) paper towards her best friend's desk, three rows away. Kaorin was glaring at her now-torn paper and didn't notice Kagura (seated behind Kaorin), who was now facing Chihiro with a shrug and a look that plainly said "hey, don't ask me".
And Chihiro knew Kaorin's selective interests all too well, so even though she couldn't see Kaorin's essay from where she was, she knew it had something to do with Sakaki, or the stars. Or maybe both. Either way, Chihiro figured that she herself wouldn't be mentioned in the essay -even though she was Kaorin's best friend- since she saw herself as simply one more person among many.
You see, Chihiro envisioned herself as leading a relatively simple life. She obeyed the teachings of the Buddha, visited the Shinto shrines at the appropriate times, paid her respects to her ancestors. She was a good student, and a good person, and no idiot by any means, but somewhere in her mind... she eschewed what she saw as the "unnecessary complexities" of modern life, and longed for something simpler. Once in a while, she'd even daydream about becoming a shrine maiden. At least that offered steady employment, and would allow her to fulfill a role, she thought to herself.
But that didn't make her apathetic or unmotivated: far from it. She genuinely loved Kaorin (like a friend? like a sister? something more? she knew the line was blurred somewhere) and faithfully did her best to keep her neurotic friend in line. Sometimes she had to talk Kaorin out of crazy schemes to get Sakaki's attention... like wearing kitty ears to school ("what if she prefers puppies?"), or conveniently falling out of a tree branch just when Sakaki passed underneath it ("what if she doesn't catch you, what if you don't manage to land in her arms?") or "accidentally" spilling her miso soup on Sakaki and offering to clean it up (!).
Between daydreaming about becoming a shrine maiden, to taking care of Kaorin, Chihiro considered her plate to be full already. And therefore Chihiro concluded her essay thus:
Life is complex enough without God.
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Final notes - I took a bit of liberty with the canon: Kaorin isn't a schemer (that we know of, but it could reasonably fit her character), and we don't know anything about Chihiro's dreams or ambitions. In my opinion, she's not stupid, but prefers to keep things simple.
Since Weener1 revealed his true stance at the end of Azuology, it's only fair that I reveal mine as well. I do prefer simplicity, but don't daydream about becoming a shrine maiden. If anything, my response is a mixture of Chiyo's and Sakaki's (in the original Azuology).
This essay went in a different direction than I'd originally planned. The initial plot-bunny had Chihiro deciding that there is no God because of her own perceived insignificance. (You can see traces of that idea in the finished version.)
Anyway, thank you Weener1 for allowing me to write this, and thank you dear reader for giving me the honour of reading this.
~ Flower of Paper