"This Is Such a Pity"
Disclaimer!: I don't own Azumanga Daioh. Kiyohiko Azuma does. The songs are owned respectively by their artists.
Don't worry guys, I will be updating my other fics this weekend – expect a new chapter of "The Phantom of the Azuma", "Bri's Azumanga Hits", "Sweetness", and "Raspberry Random" all before Sunday. I will NOT be continuing, "Pity Party". Ever. It's up for adoption.
I'm just writing this because I've been CHOKING for a super-mature Azumanga Daioh fic.
Summary: Sequel to "I Do", takes place six years after the series ends. Chiyo-chan has returned to Japan but not to the smiling faces and happy-go-lucky zany antics of her friends… but distorted shadows of what was once her home.
WARNING!: YURI/LESBIANS/SHOUJO-AI/GIRLxGIRL/SLASH, Sexual Situations, Violence, Drugs and Alcohol Abuse, Rape, Psychological Issues, and possible character death. Most of the bad stuff is a few chapters away and for the first few it'll be missing angst, yuri fluff, and all the cute stuff you've come to love. And it'll be awhile before I skip to six years later. When that happens you'll know when… you'll know a chapter ahead.
Thirteen-year-old Chiyo Mihama stared up at the plane which would fly her and Mr. Tadakichi to California, U.S.A. America. Today she would be leaving Japan for College. She would now be in a country entirely different from her own; with a friend of her parents she's never before met, with no friends to help her through the dramatic change.
The five other girls, plus Kaorin, Chihiro, 'Braid Maiden', and 'Lady Brunette' were all there with her at the Airport, Chiyo's now Middle-Schooled friends Yuka and Miruchi coming for the occasion as well.
"Hello, everyone!" The young prodigy chirped with a fragile, false smile on her sweet face.
"Yo, Chiyo-chan!" The Numbnuts chimed in unison – the Numbnuts, of course, meaning Tomo Takino, Ayumu 'Osaka' Kasuga, and Kagura.
Yomi smiled and handed the smaller girl a bag with the Mascot of Magical Land on it. "Here, we all got you a little something each so you never forget your friends in Japan."
Chiyo's light brown eyes filled with bittersweet tears as she sniffled, still smiling, "Thank you! I'll never forget you, I couldn't!" She looked inside the bag, pulling out a cat-printed scrap book. Flipping through its pages with a surprised gasp she saw all their most fun moments, even some awkward ones, each with a title written beneath it.
The first picture was of all of them before Kagura really came into their group, though she was in the background with Ms. Minamo 'Nyamo' Kurosawa. Yukari was there posing with a suspiciously happy face on, Tomo with her arm around Yomi's shoulder, dragging the taller girl down with a large silly grin on her face, winking with a thumbs up, while Yomi gave an half-smile to the camera. Osaka was staring at the camera with spacey eyes and a sneaky smile, demonstrating her neatly split chop sticks with pride. Sakaki smiled a bit shyly with Chiyo hugging her around the waist, giggling joyfully at the time. The title for this one was, "The Beginning of the Days of Youth!!!" Chiyo figured Tomo came up with the title. She blushed lightly looking over at Sakaki and her in the photo, feeling a brief wave of euphoria wash over her. Behind her ample-breasted friend was a sneaky heart-eyed Kaorin whose face was as red as it always was, Chihiro shrugging and looking exasperated in the background.
The next picture was of the Sports festival which was basically a class photo – the only male she recognized was Ouyama Masaaki, the former class representative with thick glasses. 'He was a good rep the first year. I wish I could've gotten to know him and my other classmates a little more.' The picture was called, 'Come and see, Mighty, Mighty, Class THREE!'
The next was of the dearly beloved Culture Fest – The Rise of the Fanciful Fairyland Class! Tomo was in the giant cat suit with the head being held by Yomi, both looking oddly flustered, Osaka was posing and waving with her teddy ears strapped on, Kaorin had her hands clasped looking up at Sakaki adoringly, Chihiro smiling with Ouyama and the boy who looked like Minamo with brown hair holding up a banner that read 'Greetings from Fairyland Class', Chiyo looking happy, and Sakaki looking sadly at her hand-made stuffed cat… or wait… was it the dog? Oh well, both of them looked like cats. The sign was basically the title of the picture.
Chiyo flipped a few pages ahead to see some of Kagura with them too and found one of her twelfth birthday party. Chiyo was cradling Mon Petite (or if you prefer, 'Monpuchi') (5), Sakaki having her arms wrapped around Chiyo's shoulders from behind. Tomo was lashing the toy-wand she gave Chiyo at Yomi who was at that point ignoring her, and Kagura had an arm over Osaka's shoulder, grinning and giving a thumbs up while Osaka just looked confused and munched obliviously on her slice of birthday cake. This was perhaps foreshadowing of the two numbnut's relationship. This title was, 'Happy Twelfth One, Chiyosuke!' The girl had a sneaking suspicion Tomo came up with all of these titles…
Chiyo smiled at Yomi, eyes shaking. "Thank you so very much, Miss Yomi!" She cried, already on the verge of tears after just one present.
Yomi chuckled sadly, "Aw, Chiyo-chan…"
The bespectacled brunette was interrupted by her wildcat best friend who took a calmer approach of doing so than usual, "Hey, hey, hey! Time for my present Chiyooo! Ta-da!" Chiyo smiled and took it, not expecting much – a condescending gift which symbolized how Tomo still looked at Chiyo as a child, a cheap yen-less way of showing she cared, or maybe even a corny prank. She began to easily unravel the paper, not wanting to rip it up. To who greatest surprise, Tomo had done… exceptionally well with her present. Underneath the main gift was a box a Chinsuko, but what came before that was truly a tear-jerker, not that Chiyo needed more of that. Inside was a cooking set, not a childish mini-oven, but a real cooking set.
"So yeah, you were always singing that little baby song like…" Tomo grabbed her hair into two pig tails and began to sing in her best impression of Chiyo's voice, "Cooking is so fun! Cooking is so fun! Now it's time to take a break and see what we have done! Yay! It's ready!"
Rather than look mad or insulted, Chiyo began to giggle, deciding to humor Tomo, "You're impression of me has gotten much better, Miss Tomo!" It was the first time she used any honorific on Tomo's name.
Tomo grinned and winked, "Miss Tomo? Ha!"
Next to give their gift was Osaka who's rapping was… questionable. 'Why in the heck?' written in Kanji, with different types of bread rolls, evil-looking things that seemed to be her pig-tails and creepy yet cute yellow father cats on it. 'Did she make this herself…?' Chiyo sweated, staring at Osaka's happy-happy-joy-joy face.
"Go on, Chiyo-chan, open it!" Chiyo sweated and laughed nervously, unbundling the small gift. The young teen gasped to see two beautiful, shiny ribbons in shadings of bubblegum pink, sunset orange, and daffodil yellow.
"Oh my! They're beautiful, Miss Osaka! Thank you very much!"
Osaka winked, "Yep! Not only that they'll keep the evil at bay when tied in!" I doubt I need to explain to you devoted Daioh fans what the 'evil' is.
Chiyo herself cocked her head to the side, looking darling and confused.
Next up was Kagura, 'all-star-sports-girl'. "Hey, Chiyo-chan! Promise you'll write to all of us in U.S., okay?" Chiyo wiped away the tears, still not fallen from her eyes and nodded, taking the small box from Kagura's tanned hands.
She undid its covering and pulled out a diary – on it were four 'Maneki Neko', one of Necoconeco, one of Kamineko, one of a Yamamaya, and one of Father Cat. It had a lock on it and on top of the book in red kanji was her name; underneath it in smaller kanji it read 'Young Genius of Red Raccoon Dog High'. The key had two Necoconeco chains already on it. Iriomote Necoconeco.
"Thank you, Miss Kagura!"
The young athlete scratched the back of her head, "Yeah, I'm not so good with gift ideas. Osaka had to help me out big time." She explained, blushing a little.
The redhead looked behind Kagura to see a nervous and deeply distraught looking Sakaki attempting to bring over her own gift, only to be cut off by the foursome of Kaorin, Chihiro, Kumiko ('Braid Maiden'), and Eri ('Lady Brunette'). In unison they sang out, "Chiyo-chaaan!"
Kaorin began, "To make sure you never forget us,"
Chihiro followed up, "We have combined out talents,"
Kumiko added, "Especially for you," Chiyo's eyes became cuter and happier than before Yukari lied about the Okinawa trip being cancelled.
Eri topped off, "Like with your Penguin costume for our second year culture festival,"
All four joined in, handing her a long box, "To put together these special, hand-made outfits for you!"
"My goodness, this box is huge! Did you really work on this whole thing for me?" Chiyo asked, taking the rather heavy box from them.
The foursome winked, "Uh-huh!"
Chihiro began to explain, "We made a few outfits for when you get older as well – we made a few heads or tails with those, we figured you'd have the same stature as Tomo-chan and perhaps the same bust size as me and Kaorin but if we do turn out to be wrong, please mail us the clothes and your measurement so we can fix it up."
Chiyo giggled, blushing giddily, "I'll open it as soon as I get…" she stopped. For a minute there she almost said, 'Home'.
Sakaki now stood before Chiyo and in front of Kaorin. "Ch-Chiyo…"
"Miss Sakaki?" Chiyo gulped, blushing again. This was the last she'd see Sakaki for… years.
Sakaki gulped, "I—"
"MISS MIHAMA!!!"
The two girls face-faulted. A group of boys came running up to the group of girls, a present in tow. The leader of them was Ouyama Masaaki. "Miss Mihama!" he shouted again.
Chiyo turned to him, "Mr. Ouyama!"
Ouyama leaned over, panting form exhaustion. He always had been about as useful in the Sports fest as Tomo, Osaka, and Chiyo had been. "So… tired… can't… breath… must… say… Bye…"
Chiyo smiled sympathetically, "You didn't have to. Really!"
"Nonsense!" This came from a boy who looked almost exactly like Ouyama but with browner hair than black and was maybe a bit less pale. "I know none of us were actually friends but you were our class rep and you did earn our school some major publicity as a cheer leader, not to mention the culture fests."
Chiyo blinked, "I'm sorry but, what might your name be?"
"Matsuyama Masaaki, I'm Ouyama here's brother." The boy explained, pointing at his 'clone' which was close to having a stroke… or a seizure… or just plain collapsing from exhaustion perhaps… or dying from exhaustion.
Chiyo bows her head, "It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Mr. Matsuyama."
A boy with hair in the same style as Minamo Kurosawa's only brown stepped up, holding a small rectangular box out to Chiyo. Inside was a small trophy with her name engraved into the bottom and 'for outstanding achievements'. On it was printed simply, 'To Our Honorary Class Representative – Go Class 3!' The hand-writing looked suspiciously like…
In smooth English a woman's voice sang, "Good evening, everybody!!!"
The class looked behind them to see none other than Yukari Tanizaki and Minamo Kurosawa walking up to them, gifts of their own at hand.
Yukari knelt down smiling suspiciously kindly as always. "Chiyo-chaaan! Be a good girl in America for us, okay?"
"Yes, ma'am!" Chiyo giggled naïve as always. She really wanted to talk to Sakaki…
The English teacher continued, "And be sure to mention your school and your wonderful Miss Tanizaki to the rich male teachers at your new college, okaaay?"
"Yukari!" Nyamo exclaimed furiously.
Yukari rolled her eyes wryly. "Oh yeah. And mention Nyamo to your idiot PE teacher, alright? Pera, pera, pera…"
"Stop it, Yukari! Give her the present!" The said Physical Education Teacher shouted, flustered from Yukari's usual antics.
Her best friend since High School sighed, "Yeah, yeah… here Chiyo, it's something me and Nyamo found up in Hokkaido, hope you like it…" Despite the nonchalant teacher's half-hearted deliverance of the gift, Chiyo giggled happily. "Aw! You got me a post card of the Hokkaido hot springs! It's a beautiful photo, thank you, but… wouldn't this have been better to send when you were actually in Hokkaido?"
Yukari stared blankly for about a whole minute which despite the patient appearance really annoyed Chiyo.
"NYAMO!!! GIVE HER YOUR PRESENT, QUICK!" The green and white-clad woman grabbed her stupefied friend and pushed her forward form behind where she somewhat 'hid' from Chiyo.
The more mature woman knelt down to Chiyo, smiling as she handed her a gift-wrapped box, "Here, Chiyo. I got this form Hokkaido too, but it also comes from my uncle who lives up there. He insisted really."
Chiyo seemed blissful again, "That was very generous of all three of you, be sure to thank your uncle for me please!" She opened the box and found a statuette of a bear with a fish in its mouth, much like the one Nyamo's uncle sent her that Yukari smashed, only was made from a more precious type of stone. "Wow! I love it, it must've cost a lot! These things are pretty old."
The woman smiled and whispered in the pigtail-girls ear, "Don't be too mad at Miruchi and Yuka. They really are trying to get you a present but it won't get to you until you're already in America. They've been working at the Magnetron for some money."
Chiyo looked deeply touched and nodded, "Right." After hugging them all (even the Kurosawa-looking boy, Ouyama, and Matsuyama), she finally came face to face with an abnormally patient Sakaki.
"What were you saying, Miss Sakaki?" Chiyo asked with her undivided attention on the lone wolf now.
Sakaki sighed, blushed, and shook her head, kneeling on one knee and handing her the present, "Never mind that. Please, open it before someone else breaks in."
It wasn't meant to be. The person most unwanted there at the time appeared.
Mr. Kimura and his family. The questionable teacher panted, now in between Chiyo and Sakaki. "Ahhhhh… lollicon… so hot…" he breathed, adjusting his glasses.
The girls (and even the guys) screamed like a really bad, really cheap American horror flick, leaning away from the pedophilic-like teacher whose infamous lockjaw was covered by a gift of his own. "In light of this special occasion, I too will now contribute this gift on behalf on my sorrow in seeing such a cute girl leave fo—"
"NO-THANK-YOU!!!" Tomo screamed, chasing the teacher away.
Mrs. Kimura, also known as 'Mafumi' approached with her darling sweet eyes on the departing child. "Chiyo-chan, my husband was so distraught in seeing you leave we all put together this going away present for you – me and my daughter, Seika, made it but my husband designed it."
This made everyone with the exception of Tomo who was still chasing Kimura very nervous to see what was inside. Chiyo looked behind Mafumi Kimura to see the Sakaki-esque girl 'Seika' looking rather resentful for some reason.
'Sakaki!' Chiyo's mind screamed. "Thank you very much, Mrs. Kimura and Miss Seika but I'll have to open this in California!!!" With that she scurried back to Sakaki looking apologetic to the point of crying, "I'm so very sorry, Miss Sakaki! Really! Please, I have to go now but I'll write to you first and tell you what I think!" She squeezed the still kneeling girl with all of her youthful might, reminding the emo-looking young woman of the time Chiyo tackled her while chasing Mr. Tadakichi that evening. However what Chiyo did next made the girl blush ten times more if possible and both were glad no one noticed at the time thanks to Tomo…
Chiyo and Sakaki got their first kiss.
The next thing either remembered was everyone, excluding Kimura, waving and shouting Goodbye to Chiyo was watched crestfallenly form the window, waving and obviously sobbing, heart break in her large eyes.
Sakaki's eyes reflected Chiyo's as the plane began to take off – she hadn't felt this torn since she had to leave Maya the day she met him on Iriomote Island. The way she felt as she watched him get smaller and smaller form where she stood on the boat back home.
Sakaki watched as the plane carrying her best friend and possible more did the same – it got smaller and smaller until it was another but a memory that burnt and scarred a hole into Sakaki's fragile heart.
Everyone began to leave, Yomi and Tomo going out with their families on vacation, Osaka needing to catch up with her family who went back to Osaka before hand, the boys who needed to get home, Kagura who needed to train before dinner, and the teachers with their nieces who needed to move on as well.
Sakaki didn't even turn to watch as they left. 'Everyone is gone,' she thought as she stood alone, 'And… me and Maya are leaving first thing tomorrow too…' she fell to her knees, practically alone at the airport. "I'm alone… we're all splitting up now aren't we…?" Her first friends ever… everyone was gone. They may see each other again, yes… but could she make it that long? Would they all even ever see each other again? And what if something really did happen in corrupt America to Chiyo? The glue in their family… the little light that brought them all together. If not for Chiyo, none of them save for Tomo and Yomi and Chihiro and Kaorin would've really had friends.
The lone wolf howled her sorrow into the darkening, plane-less sky, the stars glowing beyond human reach – like those happy-go-lucky days that seemed for far behind. Those yesterday's feelings…
'Close my eyes and move to the back of my mind…
'Cause feelings mean nothing now!
All those feelings
Those Yesterday's Feelings will all be lost in time!
But Today
I have wasted away!
For today is on my mind!
For today is on my mind
Yeah, today is on my mind—
I can't get away!
I'm feeling so lonely!
Breaking apart all this love in my heart!
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Please Review, even if you don't have any opinion, hate it, or are lazy like me. I worked really hard on this one and I really think this is the kind of fic I've been aiming for.