Love, a confusing, painful emotion.
Note: I do not own anything to do with Azumanga Daioh. I only own this fan fiction story.
Hey again, everyone. I'm back, although for how long I'm not sure. This story is a one chapter story, as it may be my last for a while. Anyway, enjoy. I apologise now if I make the characters too OOC, and for other problems.
Setting: Second year, a week before summer break, on a Friday.
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The school bell had began to ring. It was now time to go home, and the azumanga girls had every intention of doing so. Chiyo-Chan walked over to Osaka, who had her head resting down on her desk, and poked her for a few minutes, before she lifted her weary head.
"Come on, Osaka, it's time to go home now," Chiyo recited.
"Ah, Chiyo...Okay then, lets go," Osaka replied hastily.
She rose to her feet, half asleep still, and wiped her eyes before picking up her bag and approaching the exit of the classroom. Miss Yukari shouted over to the two leaving.
"Hey, you two, don't forget your homework!" She said, with a nasty intent present in her eyes for the consequences of not bringing it in. The two girls merely smiled, gulped, and proceeded out of the room.
Walking down the road outside their school, Chiyo had began to talk about the summer holidays approaching in around a week. She seemed excited, yet Osaka glanced at her at the mention of the profound summer home. She did not seem to be able to talk for a minute.
"Are you okay, Osaka?" Asked a worried Chiyo, even though all she got in response was a mediocre smile before facing the way they were walking.
The rest of the walk seemed to fly by, with few words being said. This was sort of unusual, even for the pair, who could talk a lot. Eventually, they reached the crossroads where they had to go separate ways to go home.
"See you later, Chiyo," Said Osaka, in her usual monotone voice.
"See you later," She replied, even if it seemed strained.
Osaka had walked down a few more streets, until she reached her front door. She opened it using her door key, and proceeded inside.
"I'm home, mother, father," She announced, before hearing a reply from her mother.
"Ah, there you are. Have a nice day at school?" Her mother replied, "Your father's out to get some shopping at the moment."
"It was a good day today..." Was all she could say. She hastily proceeded to the bathroom, and changed into her more relaxing clothes. She placed her bag in her room, and saw that dinner was nearly ready, so she joined in with the cooking, although her mother seemed to have a worried expression on her face.
"Dear, are you alright? You seem sad," Her mother asked, although Osaka remained silent. Ten minutes later, Osaka and her mother had finished preparing the dinner, and they began eating while waiting for her father to come back.
Chatter was not abundant at the dinner table, as was shown that afternoon. Osaka played a little with her food at the beginning, before slowly eating it.
"Thanks, mother. It was very nice..." Her trail of thoughts had begun to wander once again, as she left the room to go to her bedroom quite quickly. She reached her room, opened the door, and proceeded inside. She sat down at the chair by her table.
Her room was nothing special. It had all the necessary equipment, like a table, bed, chairs...All of that, but it lacked any distinguishing features. Things that really showed others that she was Osaka.
Her bag was on the table in front of her. She began emptying it, as the weekend was now beginning. She took out all of the contents, until she reached a small pouch. She opened it, to discover that it was the photographs given to her after the summer holidays last year. She smiled, and opened them.
There was around 20 or so photos there, and she took her time cycling through them. When she reached the last one, her eyes began watering. She did not realise they were, until a droplet fell onto the photo. The picture showed the whole group, Yukari and Nyamo included, in a group pose.
"Those were good times...But, why do I feel like this?" She muttered, as she wiped her eyes. She placed the photos back down on the desk, and proceeded putting the other contents of her bag away for the weekend. When she had finished, she sat down again by the desk, and looked through them again.
Every photo had memories attached to it, even the one where she drifted out to sea and was nearly killed. All of them happy, and because of this she had no idea why she was crying. She kept cycling through the photos for the next half an hour, thinking a little about each person reflected on the pictures.
She began to think heavily of what they were like, their relationship...No, their friendship with her, and her own opinions of them. Firstly there was a picture of Yomi and Tomo, as the latter was trying to pinch Yomi. She smiled, and began her thoughts.
"Yomi...You are the formal one in the group. Your appearance is kind, although often misunderstood. You are always there for us," She thought.
"Tomo, you are the crazy one in the group. Even though you were the one to give me a nickname, I appreciate the gesture. It made me feel...Accepted," She finished by flicking through the others until she found one of Sakaki, wearing her yellow bikini.
"The cool one of the group, Sakaki...I wonder, are you sure you're not just hiding your feelings? You always seem distant...I wonder how she gets them so big, anyway?" She continued to think, as she found a new picture. She began to feel strained as she found the next one.
She paused her thoughts abruptly when she saw who was in the picture. Her smile began to reappear, as her thoughts were redirected against the last remaining character in her school friend group.
"Chiyo...You're the one who was always there for me. Even though you're a super genius, you were always there, encouraging me to carry on..." She ended quickly, as she pictured Chiyo in her mind, holding her hand as they walked down the street to school. She quickly jumped out of the chair, and slammed her hand into the table, after witnessing what her mind was portraying to her. She stared evidently at the photo, depicting Chiyo practically beaming as she stood near Kagura at the beach.
"Just what...What is this I'm thinking? I like her...Is that all, though? Damn it! I can't think..." She shouted as she approached her bed, lying down quickly. She only noticed that the photo was still with her when she looked down the bed, at her hands.
She began contemplating all the possible means as to her feelings, yet she kept coming to the same conclusion. She felt that she loved Chiyo, but to what extent, she could not figure. Yet.
Her right eye began watering, as a tear slid down her cheek. Could she really be in love with Chiyo? Impossible, she thought at the time. All these signs had made her seriously think about what her feelings for her really were.
Time passed by rather slowly, as the tear had begun to dry onto her cheek. She wiped what remained of it, and got up on her feet, proceeding towards the window. In the very far distance, she could see a very large manor...Chiyo's manor, to be exact. When she squinted, she could just make out a small figure, with a larger, although still tiny, figure of a dog. She thought to herself.
"That must be Chiyo and Mr. Tadakichi..." She smiled as she said the two names, before noticing the two of them in the distance run into their manor. Osaka began to wonder what could possibly have made them go inside.
Osaka had began to think that her feelings were much stronger towards Chiyo then she initially thought, as this made her smile when she thought she had found out the truth. Clutching the picture towards her chest, Osaka let out a sigh, and she heard the phone ring from downstairs.
A few seconds later, her mother had shouted up the stairs.
"Osaka! It's Chiyo on the phone!" Osaka felt as if her heart had stopped, and ran down the stairs, thanking her mother, before snatching the phone and running back up to her room.
"Hello, Osaka. I just rang to see if you were alright. I saw that earlier you seemed sad. How are you now?" Chiyo explained down the phone.
"Oh, hi Chiyo. I'm okay now, I was just thinking about...What to do in the summer holidays coming up, that's all," replied Osaka, trying her best to cover up the truth.
"Ah I see. If you like, we can go to my summer home again with everyone, what do you think?" Chiyo asked, waiting anxiously for a reply.
"Of course, I'll be there for definite," recited Osaka, before realising this would be a good time to deal with her feelings.
"Oh, there's something I have to ask you, Chiyo. Could I ask to meet you at the cafe by our school in, say, half an hour?"
"Um...Okay, sure," replied Chiyo, wondering what she could have meant.
"Alright then, see you there," exited Osaka.
Before bringing the phone back downstairs to her mother, she started to feel much more optimistic, as her facial expression returned to the Osaka we all know. Her smile glowed as it reappeared from what seemed like hibernating.
She had gotten herself together, but did not really need to bring anything, as it was only the cafe. She opened her piggy bank on the table, took out around 500 yen, and proceeded out of the door, towards the meeting point.
It was a quick walk, with Osaka turning up in ten minutes, before she noticed Chiyo already sitting there, drinking an orange juice. Chiyo had motioned Osaka over to her table, with a large smile on her face.
"Hello, Chiyo! I'm sorry to call you out like this..." Said Osaka, feeling as though she had done something wrong.
"It's okay, Osaka. What was it you wanted to ask me?" Replied Chiyo, with a hint of confusion in her voice. Osaka had ordered an orange juice in the time it took for Chiyo to say her sentence.
"Well...I just wanted to ask...Do you think we'll be friends after we leave school?" Asked Osaka, wiping her eye as it began to water slightly. Shocked, Chiyo stared in awe as she was trying to find the answer.
"O-of course, Osaka! We'll keep in touch, for sure," Dumbstruck by the show of emotion from her, she herself thought for a reason as to why she was asking.
"Why do you say that? Are you going somewhere?"
"Oh no, I was just looking at the photos from last year's trip to your summer home and I kinda felt...Sad, it was nice to spend the time with you...Uh, I mean everyone," Trying her best to put it into words, Osaka hesitantly finished her orange juice.
"Ah, okay then. Say, what are you doing tomorrow?" Asked Chiyo, trying to decode this message Osaka was sending.
"Not much, I don't think. Why'd you ask?"
"How about coming over to my house for a little while?" After Chiyo had said this, the optimistic side of Osaka had finally shone through her delicate facade shown earlier. She began smiling from ear to ear, as she made her reply. Chiyo had saw this change, and also smiled brightly.
"Yeah, sure," Replied Osaka, now restored to her normal self, as she ordered another orange juice.
(-o-)
Well, that's it for this story. I hope I didn't ruin it completely with my OOC-ness and lack of other characters, please review, I eagerly await replies.
Disclaimer: I do not own anything to do with Azumanga Daioh. I only own this fan fiction story.