A/N: Wow, college life's been taking a toll on my spare time! It's great here – love my class, love my subjects, and best of all, absolutely LOVE my new eye candy! But that, we shall reserve for another time. I apologise for the loooong delay between chapters! So, without further ado, let's start this one!
Disclaimer: I don't own Azumanga Daioh. Don't sue.
***
Chapter 3 – The Animal Instinct***
Falling.
It felt so ordinary, thought Tomo. Like that time she swung way too high on the playground tires and flew off, landing face-first into the sand. Or the time she tripped over Chiyo (who was tying her shoelaces) as she was running on the tracks and skidded on the hard rubber. Maybe even the time she ran too fast down the school stairs and fell down a whole flight of them, or when she tried to fly off her bedroom cabinet as a kid. She was used to that.
But it was different this time, thought Tomo, as her hair blew back, the air stinging her eyes. This time, she wasn't sure of whether she'd be able to get back up again after getting knocked down. Now, she wasn't so sure of surviving the fall. She couldn't tell whether she'd live or die. Those falls were five feet, at most.
This time, she was plunging down five storeys.
***
Yomi stood rooted to the ground, still staring at the spot where her childhood companion had been perched on just mere fractions of a second ago. Thin air stood where Tomo's leering, taunting face had been. The cold wind blew through Yomi; wind which would have been blocked by Tomo's now missing form.
Missing, because she had fallen over the ledge.
As if her legs had suddenly unlocked, Yomi sprang forward towards the edge, her eyes wet and wild with frantic tears, her head knowing, just knowing what lay at the bottom, but her heart hoping for just one small miracle, anything, anything at all that would save her dearest, closest…
"Tomo! TOMO! TOMO!"
***
Tomo closed her eyes, bracing herself for the final blow. This is it.
But the impact never came.
Like the gears in a clutch, some mysterious force clawed at the wildcat's insides, grabbing hold of her like puppet strings. Like a marionette, her body moved of its own accord, like it was being pulled by a puppet master.
Or rather, Tomo just knew how to move. It felt natural, as she somersaulted in the air. Fluid, like water. She just knew.
Suddenly, time seemed to slow down, first becoming sluggish, and then shifting into a complete and utter halt.
Tomo opened her eyes, and they widened almost immediately in shock.
She was hovering.
Hovering, it seemed, just several feet away from the concrete floor that, if she had landed on, would most certainly result in the task of scraping her off the pavement. There she was, her limbs stretched out, taking the shape of a starfish suspended in mid air.
As if instinctively knowing what to do, Tomo immediately shifted herself into a new position, her limbs cocked, ready to take the impact of the fall. And fall she did, just a split second after that, gravity working its way back at light speed, and Tomo landed on the ground with a surprisingly gentle thud.
Just as suddenly as it came, the force clawing in the pit of Tomo's stomach left her, like a vice coming undone. Immediately, she felt her body grow incredibly heavy and worn-out, as if the strange force had sapped all of her energy with its departure. Tomo fell to her side, and rolled onto her back groaning. Weakly staring up, she saw the school building looming over her like a great grey goliath. It swayed before her and grew fuzzy in her vision.
Then all was dark.
***
Yomi stood where she was, half her body leaning over the railing, her eyes so wide open they were in danger of falling out her sockets. The initial fear had now left her; now, all that remained was renewed shock at what she had seen. Tomo had actually done several flips in the air and landed safely onto the ground below. Tomo, of all people, who was one of the worst students in P.E for Class Three, had actually done mid-air flips.
And she had survived a fall which would have killed the average high school student.
Yomi gripped tightly onto the railing, clutching it so hard her knuckles turned white. Her knees gave way and she slid to the floor, breathing hard, her heart drumming so fast she thought it would explode.
Perhaps she was hallucinating, Yomi thought. Maybe it was all just a sick, twisted dream of sorts. Maybe she was still back in bed, tangled under her warm and toasty covers and early morning dreams. She slapped herself to make sure of it.
Nothing happened.
The bespectacled girl peeked through the bars again, looking down at the ground below her. Tomo had rolled over to her side, staring back up at her. Yomi gave a weak smile; new tears of relief started welling up in her eyes.
But then she stopped, shaking her head. "God, what the hell am I thinking? She just fell off the goddamn school building!" Scrambling back up to her feet, Yomi rushed all the way down to the ground floor, a stitch in her side as she ran. There in the school yard was Tomo, lying still on the ground. She could have almost been asleep.
Yomi kneeled beside the girl, propping her head up. "Tomo? Tomo, come on, get up. Come on, Tomo, wake up, I know you're alright. You've got to get up", she breathed, trying to rouse the wildcat awake.
Tomo inhaled deeply. Her eyelids fluttered and parted. Blinking twice, she cast a dazed look at Yomi, who threw her arms around her in a tight embrace. "Thank God, Tomo, thank God you're alive…"
WHAP!
"OW!"
"THANK GOD YOU'RE ALIVE, YOU IDIOT!" raged Yomi, her sudden warmth dissipating into thin air. "Do you have any idea how worried I was? How the…why did you…is this another one of your stupid tricks? Are you trying to get back at me for yesterday? I can't – believe – you'd pull – a stunt – like – this!" she screamed, her sentence punctuated with a punch to Tomo's noggin.
"Ah - OW! YOMI'S GONE NUTS! OW! OW! OW! AAH! OW!"
"Serves you right, this whole day you've been ASKING FOR IT!"
"I don't know what you're talking about!"
"SAY THAT AGAIN!" Yomi bellowed, raising a potentially deadly fist into the air. "Don't you DARE come up with that!"
"Honest, Yomi, I swear I don't know!" Tomo cried frantically, her hands shielding her aching head. "One minute I was sleeping and the next I'm…I'm…"
She stopped. Poking about in her hair, she turned to Yomi. "My hair…what's happened to it?"
Yomi's hand fell to her side, and the murderous look on her face seemed to soften. "You mean…you don't…?"
But just as quickly, Yomi's glasses flashed dangerously again. "Oh no, you don't! I'm not falling for that trick!"
"What trick? What the hell are you talking about?" retorted Tomo, who was fiddling with her spiked hair. "Eww, GROSS! This stuff's the kind of stuff my dad puts in his hair! Did you guys pull a cosplay prank on me or something while I was sleeping? You guys suck, that's MY job!"
But Yomi was no longer listening to her. She watched with her eyebrows furrowed as Tomo grumbled and fussed over the mutilated mop of hair on her head. Yes, this was definitely the Tomo she'd grown up with over the years. She could sense it, that Tomo was indeed being her old self. No weird, absurd foreign change whatsoever.
Then what of the Tomo she had been with earlier on? What was with that… that shift in her behavior? It was almost as if she had been…possessed…by some other being. Tomo was, without a doubt, obnoxious, but back there that had been too much, even by wildcat standards. It was no longer the innocent, albeit annoying manner in which the girl entertained her friends with. It was almost as if she took pleasure in deliberately hurting. She seemed so…cold.
"So why are we here again?"
Tomo's abrupt question snapped Yomi back to the current situation. The girl was seated cross-legged on the ground, staring intently back at the bespectacled girl with round eyes.
"You mean you have no idea…?"
"I told you before; I don't know what's happened!" Tomo retorted, waving her arms in the air. "Why else would I be asking you? Geez Yomi, is the fat getting to your ears too?"
Yomi chose to ignore the last comment. "Nothing?"
"Not a thing. How'd I get to school, anyway?"
Yomi stared back at her friend, worry written all over her face. She couldn't see a hint of a lie on Tomo, which scared her the most. It was almost as if Tomo really wasn't there when she was acting absolutely batshit crazy. Still, she had her doubts; Tomo had a pretty good poker face when she needed to pull one, such as now, if she was indeed plotting an epic prank, like she had guessed. Nevertheless, Yomi decided to play along... in the rather unlikely event that she was right, and that Tomo really had no clue about what she did. "Do you remember coming in late for school? Coming into class?"
Tomo scrunched her face, thinking hard. "Now that you mention it…yeah, maybe that did happen to me. I mean, I don't exactly remember what happened, but hey, I had to come into school, right? Otherwise I wouldn't be sitting here talking to you. Wow, it's like a HUGE portion of my brain's been taken out, I can't remember a whole bunch of things, Yomi! Like I was abducted by aliens or something, and then they went about poking the mush in my brain, like some sci-fi movie…"
"I doubt you even have a brain sometimes", uttered Yomi under her breath.
"Eh?"
"Nothing." Yomi got up, and extended a hand towards Tomo to help her up. "I'll clear up stuff with you later, but right now we've got to get back to class. Yukari's probably awake now and wondering where we've been", she said, re-entering the school building.
"Wait, it's Yukari's class now? But I can't remember if I've already copied your homework! Did I, Yomi?"
***
Kagura absentmindedly doodled on a piece of scrap paper that she had lying around, all the while frowning. She had half-hoped Yukari would've woken up when Tomo yelled like that. Instead, the English teacher was still as dead asleep as she had been before, with the occasional mumble about bets or drinks. At least, that was what it sounded like. Kagura had hoped that at least Yukari sensei would've been able to tell Tomo off, at the very least.
She didn't get it. Why Tomo always had to mess around like she always did. Not that Kagura had issues about messing around, though; she always ended up being in cahoots with Tomo and Osaka when it came to Knucklehead business. And Tomo could be heaps of fun when she wanted to be, Kagura could vouch for that.
It was when Tomo really ended up pissing people off that annoyed Kagura. She couldn't see how anyone would ever want to be the bane of anyone's existence. She hated it when she became a hindrance to anyone, regardless of whether it was just a small issue or not, which was why she was so upset when she had accidentally knocked over the tent her friends had been setting up just before the Sports Festival. Inconveniencing people was something she tried her best not to do. Which was why Kagura doubted Tomo even had a conscience; the way she kept driving Yomi up the wall, it was like she didn't even feel the slightest bit of guilt.
But today, Tomo had really pushed the limit. Those words she had spat back at Yomi, her friend…her best friend, mind you…they were spiteful and vicious. And even then, Yomi still cared enough to follow her out the classroom. Kagura just didn't get how anyone could've stuck with her for so long and not ditch her somewhere along the way. Whatever the case, she just couldn't see that 'other side' of Tomo that Yomi talked about.
Just then, the pair returned, Tomo in front, with Yomi walking a little behind, looking somewhat exhausted just as the school bell went off. Noticing the tired-looking appearance of the latter, Kagura turned back to her desk feeling a little more ticked off than before.
"So…I did all that?" Tomo said incredulously. "Wow."
"And just when I thought you couldn't get more annoying", said Yomi, turning to the shorter girl. "You know, I'm starting to believe that that really wasn't you back there."
"Ah, Yomi-kun, how could you ever believe little old Tomo's lying to you? You know I never do. Besides, hard, cold cruelty just isn't my style."
"Yeah, you never lie…unless you're planning another great prank."
Tomo shook her head. "You're so, so cold."
"And you're so, so loud and annoying."
"How could it have happened, though? It seems kinda creepy once you think about it. Like something's taken over me. Something like…Chiyo's pigtails!"
"Chiyo's…wait, what?"
"Pigtails."
"…do I want to know?"
"No, seriously, Osaka was telling me the other day about it, it makes so much sense now, you know…"
Yukari, having been roused by the collective commotion of the class, stretched out like a cat and let out a wide yawn. This noise must mean the period's over, thought the English teacher. "Class dismissed", she mumbled, walking out of class with her eyes half-closed.
Kagura hastily cleared her desk of the stuff cluttered on its surface, and stuffed it into her bag. She welcomed this period; it was always a session for her to let off steam from all the confusion she faced during normal lessons. Kagura shook her head, clearing her mind of any negative thoughts; that was no state to get her mind into before playing any sport. She turned to the tall young woman seated near the window, staring out of it with a vacant expression on her face. She could always count on her rival to liven things up for any sort of competition. "Hey Sakaki", she exclaimed, putting on her trademark grin, "Me and you. I'm gonna beat your timing today!"
Sakaki, rudely interrupted from a fuzzy daydream of flying Nekokonekos, merely turned to the tan girl and nodded silently. Sighing in slight disappointment, she rose from her desk and joined the rest of her group of friends. "I really wish she hadn't", she uttered softly, a little sad.
A few classes away, a girl with chin length hair sneezed.
***
Tomo was hyped.
Today, she was gonna beat the rest of class 3-3 in doing laps. Today, this was gonna be the day that she would overcome her weaknesses and become number one. Today she was jumping up and down at the starting line, along with several other girls; Kagura and Sakaki included. The class was taking turns in doing laps and well, she just had to be among the ones to do that first.
"Alright", called out Kurosawa-sensei as she walked towards the track. "Get ready…three, two, one…"
FWEEEEEEEE!
Like a bullet, Tomo shot off ahead, racing madly down the track while the rest of her classmates fell into a steady jogging pace behind her. "Awright! First for the start!" yelled Tomo as she careened round a bend.
"Tomo! You're not supposed to spend all your energy like that; we're just doing laps, not racing!" cried out the exasperated gym teacher, although she knew her words were falling on deaf ears. The girl never listened.
And true enough, by the first quarter of the second lap, Tomo was several yards away from the second last runner on the track.
Kagura jogged along, her legs keeping a steady rhythm as they moved, one ahead of the other over and over again in an unbroken beat. She was doing great; Sakaki was jogging along at the same pace as she was. The only thing that irked the athlete was that Sakaki was completely unfocused on the track, instead choosing to focus her line of sight on something else. How the heck does she make it look so effortless? , she thought, casting a sidelong glance at her. She decided that it was best to just finish the laps without paying much attention to her rival (who, unbeknownst to the athlete, was paying very much attention to a kitten that had made its way onto the school grounds). It only served to sink her spirits at not being able to beat her.
No, I shouldn't be thinking that, she thought, snapping out from it. Sakaki's a natural athlete, but I've got it in me too, and I've got way more drive than she does!
With that, Kagura put in an extra boost to her pace, and sped up a few feet ahead of Sakaki, grinning. Just for kicks, she decided to sneak a peek behind her, maybe to catch a glimpse of surprise and indignation from her rival. To the contrary, Sakaki remained fixated on a particular point off the track, but was still keeping up her regular pace, if not faster.
"The hell…? She's not even trying to compete!"
Gritting her teeth in frustration, she decided to forget it completely. Just then, she noticed something.
"Hey…Sakaki? Wasn't Tomo in the lead at the start?"
***
Yards behind the rest of her classmates, Tomo sluggishly plodded on, her chest hurting like crazy. Wheezing and panting, the girl could just barely jog, let alone run through the track. Her legs were trembling like jelly, being unsuited for long periods of running.
The sun continued to beat down on the girl, sweat making her shirt stick to her hunched back. She wondered how the hell anyone could call a day with the big fat ball of fire in the sky beautiful, glaring angrily at the sky – and then making a feeble noise of discomfort as sunlight shone in her eye. On and on Tomo plodded.
The blood in her ears thundered all the more, her head becoming light and dizzy with all the panting she was doing. The track seemed miles long.
And suddenly, Tomo felt it happening again; that familiar feeling, of losing herself, creeping back up.
Shit...I remember now…She slowed down, and so did the rest of the world. She screwed her eyes shut, trying to mentally pry the…being, the animal, out of her mind.
This morning…that wildness…Tomo bit down hard, gritting her teeth.
Can't let it take over! I don't know what's gonna happen…The girl struggled, trying to keep a hold on consciousness. But running had worn her down, and the sun was draining every last bit of energy she had left.
Slipping…I gotta…I can't…
Too late. You lose. My turn, wimp.
In an instant, Tomo's eyes snapped open again. Hard, cold and vicious, as they had been that morning. Not at all like the girl she had grown to be. The animal inside her flexed, its powerful limbs moving with Tomo's own, filling her up with renewed energy. Adrenaline flowed through her veins at lightning speed, along with that same, strange ferality. All that remained now was…
GO.
Like a bullet, she shot ahead, strong, fast and hard. Her legs were moving like clockwork at an amazing speed. Slowly, but surely, she was gaining back all the distance she'd lost. Eventually, she joined the rest of the students in position, all of who immediately stopped and stared at their once worst-conditioned classmate.
Kagura turned around to see what the commotion was about, and had the shock of her life. Tomo, of all people, was charging down the track, right towards where she was.
Quickly, she turned her attention back to the front and started sprinting for all she was worth. "I don't know what's going on", she cried, through ragged breaths, "but you're not beating me!"
Sakaki blinked, snapping out of her reverie from Kagura's yelling, turned back to what she was doing…and almost got knocked over by a speeding Tomo despite her size.
"T-Tomo?"
"Outta my way, tits!"
Sakaki practically skidded to a halt, her face terribly red and her eyes wide open. She wrapped her arms around her chest, extremely uncomfortable.
"I…it's not my fault."
***
"YEAH! Take that, jockface!"
Kagura just stood there, in utter disbelief and shock. She wasn't dreaming – she'd pinched herself five times, doused herself in her water bottle water, hit her forehead against the bottle, and pinched herself again for good measure. She was definitely wide awake – in a nightmare.
Had she finally sunk lower in rank? Tomo had actually beaten her own rival, as well as herself. Did this mean…Kagura cringed at the thought… that Tomo was her new rival? Sports was something Kagura took very, very seriously, and to have things turn out like that…
Aw man, thought Kagura, this bites! First Yomi likes her better, and now I gotta get past her to be the best athlete in school? What next, she getting superpowers or something?
Still, she had been taught since her first encounter with Sakaki's athletic prowess that good sportsmanship was key to being a good sportsman. Kagura glanced over at Kurosawa-sensei, who was running alongside the stragglers on the track, and gave a determined nod. After all, Tomo was still her friend, no matter how annoying she was at times. Plus, she had to give the girl some credit – her improvement on the track had gone up beyond anything she had seen!
"Hey, Tomo", she cried, running up to her. "That was beyond awesome! Been training lately?"
Kagura heard something resembling a small snarl, and stared as Tomo slowly turned round, a scowl on her face. "I don't need to train…unlike someone who's always playing second fiddle to Miss Sakaki", she retorted, a small sneer on her face.
Taken aback, Kagura frowned. "Shut up man, I just thought…"
"'Thought'? Wow, Kagura, you telling me you actually have a working brain underneath all that jock muscle?"
"Quit being so damn rude-"
"Don't tell me what to do, you dyke!"
***
Yomi looked up from the leg stretches she was doing with the rest of the class who weren't running yet. The voices were coming from two familiar figures standing by the track. Her eyes immediately darted to the one with the oddly-spiked hair. She was swaggering around, an ugly smirk on her face.
"Tomo."
Sensing trouble, she quickly made her way towards the two.
***
Kagura's mouth fell open in indignation. "D-dyke? What the hell, how – I'm not! "
"Right, like I'm going to believe that", Tomo hissed, grinning evilly. "I've seen the way you look at Yomi, how you just love siding with her up against me – you like her don't you? And please, you call that thing with Sakaki rivalry? Get a room, will ya?"
The tanned girl took a step back, embarrassed by every accusation that was spilling out of Tomo's mouth. Her eyes were filling with tears of rage. "Shut up! Shut up, it's not true…"
"Haha! Aww, is little Kagura sad cause Tomo knows all her secrets? Crybaby, crybaby! Ahahaha!"
THWOCK.
A collective gasp was heard among the students who were now watching the spectacle with great interest. Kagura's fist was outstretched, her knuckles now throbbing slightly with pain, having come into contact with flesh and hard bone. The athlete was panting, panicking, having struck out in blind fury, her eyes wild and teary. Tomo had her head turned slightly to the side, a purplish bruise beginning to form on her left cheek. Time seemed to stand still, frozen in petrified silence.
Yomi, just a few feet away, gasped. Nobody had ever managed to hit Tomo, save herself.
Kagura quickly withdrew her trembling fist, having returned back to reality. "Oh crap", she breathed, a hand extended to help Tomo. "I'm sorry; I'm so sorry Tomo…"
"…bitch."
Kagura froze. Tomo turned back to face her, a terrible expression on her face. There was nothing but rage, and a wild insanity blazed in her eyes, screaming death. Her teeth were bared, and Kagura could hear an audible growl issuing from her. The athlete shrunk back; this was not Tomo, not Tomo at all.
"NOBODY", growled Tomo, taking a step forward, "TOUCHES ME! DO YOU HEAR ME, DYKE? DO YOU HEAR ME?"
"Tomo, wait!"
"SHUT UP!"
"NO!"
Just as Tomo lunged forward, her fist curled to launch a square hit in Kagura's gut, Yomi pushed her out of the way…and took the blow.
***
A/N: And that's it for Chapter 3! Expect the new chapter to come up around two weeks from now, if not later. Bye for now!
