Looking Out- Osaka

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Peering out over the top of the mattress, she gazed at the alarm clock; it read 5:30. Slowly, she picked herself up off the floor and sat on the bed, cradling the side of her head. She had hit it when she fell off the bed, at the sound of her alarm clock. She seemed to never get used to the alarm- whether it was its loudness, or its unexpectedness as she was fast asleep, she had never been able to figure out.

She headed to the bathroom, glancing out the window on the way over. She was greeted by a view of the sun peeking up over the horizon- not completely up yet, but just enough to give a tantalizing preview of what was yet to come.

Osaka simply smiled; this was the part of the day that she cherished the most- besides, of course, the times she spent with her beloved Chiyo-chan. Though, and Osaka hated to admit it, those times were growing further apart these days…

Now, though, she settled into her normal morning routine- she took a quick shower, then headed downstairs to get some breakfast. She'd never really liked eggs much before, but now that she'd started living with Chiyo-chan, she'd grown to like them more.

After she fixed a quick batch of scrambled eggs and toast, she sat down at the table, her work spread out all around her. It seemed as though Osaka had found herself the perfect job- she was working for a highly rated company writing and illustrating children's books. As she bit down into the warm, buttery toast, she began to do what she often did these days- she simply remembered, thinking about how she'd gotten to this point in her life…

• • • • •

After graduation, Osaka headed off to Kaolen University, the same university that her high school friend Tomo was headed to. (Author's Note: I am taking complete artistic license with the name of the university, as Kiyohiko Azuma never stated the name of the university that Osaka and Tomo would be attending.) Early on in her first year, she had sat down with her school counselor to discuss her future at Kaolen.

"Do you have any idea what you want to study here?" the counselor had asked her.

Osaka was ready for this one. She'd thought long and hard about what she was going to do there, and had finally arrived at her decision based on the advice of her best friend Chiyo-chan, a few years earlier.

"Education," she replied.

"Any specific type?" the counselor asked. "We have Elementary, Secondary, and Special Education majors here."

Osaka simply thought for a second before replying, "Elementary."

So, she signed up for Elementary Education, and began her classes the next day. Almost immediately, she noticed that she was… different from everyone else. Everyone else was always staring at her; it seemed that her habits, which seemed completely normal to her, left everyone else speechless (and not in a good way, either).

Her fellow classmates shied away from her, as though she were some kind of disease.

Her teachers were constantly getting onto her for falling asleep or daydreaming in class (that much about her, hadn't changed).

-----

It was about a month after school had started. Tsuki walked into her room to find her roommate, and best friend, Osaka, sitting on her bed, crying her eyes out.

"What's wrong?" Tsuki asked, running over to Osaka and wrapping her arms around her.

"I can't take this anymore!" Osaka said, amidst her sobs. "I just don't fit in here! My classmates hate me, my teachers hate me- and she's not here!"

"Who's not here?" Tsuki wondered, but Osaka seemed to not even be able to bring herself to say her name- it just hurt too badly.

Tsuki was about to say something else when Osaka hurtled out of the room, tears still coursing down her face. Tsuki was about to follow her, but stopped; something told her that Osaka had to deal with this on her own, as much as it pained Tsuki to admit it…

It was only a few days later that Osaka left. She packed up her stuff in the middle of the day, so as not to further upset Tsuki (somehow, Osaka knew that Tsuki was extremely concerned about her), and left by taxi, when she'd gotten all of the necessary paperwork filled out.

Since it wasn't yet mid-term, Osaka was able to get her money back that she'd already paid, so she figured she'd use that to rent an apartment and use the rest to survive on, til she was able to find a job and pay her own way.

Problem was, Osaka ran into quite a bit of difficulty in finding a job. She had managed to procure an apartment; it was small, but inexpensive, which was exactly what Osaka needed- she didn't plan on having any parties there. But finding a place to work was a completely different story. Her only work experience was her two summers' work at Magnetron, and that didn't seem to impress potential employers very much.

But if there was one thing that Osaka had never given up on, it was… well, not giving up. So, she kept at it, applying at every conceivable workplace, waiting by the phone at night, in case someone called.

But no one ever did. So one night, Osaka got a bit of an idea, to ease the boredom. She hauled out an art pad she had gotten the second day of school, but had just never found the time to use, and a few pencils and erasers. Thinking for a second, she let the pencil touch the pad, and she began to draw. She didn't know what exactly she was going for, but just let whatever hit her mind first flow out onto the paper.

Osaka was utterly absorbed in her drawing; the phone rang three different times, but she didn't hear it in the least bit. Finally, she was in her element.

Finally, when she finished, she looked down. She was surprised to find out that it actually looked good- much better, in any case, than the panda she'd tried to draw for Chiyo-chan so long ago. Delighted with herself, she decided to take a walk.

While she was out, she happened upon a bookstore, where a publishing representative was there, asking if anyone had any works they'd like to submit. Osaka ran over to him, and ended up bringing him to her apartment to see her work.

The rep liked it, and asked Osaka if she wanted to work for them, designing and writing children's books. Naturally, Osaka agreed, and the two headed out to the company site.

-----

It was like time flew by for Osaka; it was like one day, she was in her apartment, waiting for that one call, and the next… it was six years later. In that time, Osaka had become quite well-known for her children's books, and she had grown very confident in her artistic ability, which itself had improved dramatically since she'd started.

One day, though, Osaka got to thinking- about Chiyo-chan, no less. For more than six years, she'd heard practically nothing from her old classmate, and she found herself wanting more than ever to see her. She tried to think of any excuse to go see her; she'd found that… she loved Chiyo-chan, like she'd never loved anyone before. She'd never even had a boyfriend yet, having worked so hard on her art/writing career. So, Osaka looked, for any reason to head over to the States.

She got one in the mail about three months later. An old family friend that she hadn't heard from in ages, wrote and told her about a publishing opportunity that her company had. She explained that she'd heard about Osaka's career choice, and thought that Osaka might be interested in coming over to apply for the position.

Osaka immediately wrote back, and said she would. She got all of her stuff together, and an agonizing month and a half later, she stepped off her flight, and into the land called the United States.

And to top it all off, she found her Chiyo-chan, who had turned out to be just as excited to see Osaka, as Osaka was to see her.

• • • • •

Osaka snapped out of it. She thought about the deadline she had coming up, and decided to get to work early that day. She went into her art closet (which, for a regular closet, was quite large) and sat down at her bench. Reaching for her brush, she picked up, instead, an envelope. She looked down at it, but couldn't even recognize the return address.

Slowly, she opened it. The letter inside turned out to be as sloppily-written as the return address was, but somehow she could read it fine.

"Dear Osaka," she read aloud; the rest was just a mumble, but a grin was on her face before she was finished reading.

"Wow," she said aloud, wheeling around on her bench. "A reunion! Has it really been that long?" She looked out the window, a tear sliding down her cheek. "If only you could see me now…"

(End Note: Guys and gals, I am so sorry for taking over three months to post chapter three to this! I ended up having quite a bit of fun writing this one, seeing as Osaka is definitely my favorite Azumanga Daioh character. Anyways, hope you all enjoyed it. Chapter four will be about Kagura, so stay tuned!)