Well, here's the 8th chapter. I hope it is as good as the others. Please review if you have the time. It's very much appreciated. All things Azumanga Daioh belong to their amazing and respective owners. Anyway, Happy Reading :)
Chapter 8: Weather Does Strange Things
It had been nearly two months since everyone's college experience started, and boy was it an experience. ZaXo quickly opened the front door to his home and walked outside. Turning the lock, he switched off the light, and closed the door behind himself. However, ZaXo grew to regret it not a second after. Too late did he notice that it was raining heavily, a thick fog blanketing the ground. He searched for the house key in his pockets as quickly as possible. ZaXo's heart stopped when he realized that his key was still on the kitchen counter from when he ate breakfast. His parents were gone that day until the afternoon, so he had no way of getting in. ZaXo whimpered and closed his eyes, now knowing he'd have to walk to school without any protection from the weather,. "This is not a good way to start the day…" ZaXo muttered to himself, and slowly stepped out from under the minute protection of the porch.
Immediately the rain started soaking him, the pattering and splashing sounds growing fairly loud. ZaXo ran to the gate, attempting to open it quickly. But because it was so big and was automated, the whole process of opening it and closing it behind himself took around two minutes. By the time he was done, ZaXo was drenched. The few people who were out and about looked at him like he was crazy to go out without an umbrella, but all of them continued on without anything more than a few seconds stare. ZaXo decided it was best for him to run to the meeting place at the park. At least there he should have some protection if he stayed under the trees. He sprinted about a quarter of the way there, but decided his attempts to get there faster were useless. He was already about as wet as he could get.
"Hey you guys? How was your Monday night?" Tomo asked the rest of the girls as she walked up, Yomi in stride. Tomo had a devious smirk on her face as she asked, staring straight at Chiyo-Chan.
"It was great!" Osaka chimed in, a look of pure happiness on her face. This look had yet to leave her since Haru and her had started dating. Nobody could understand what made him so appealing, but they didn't want to say anything. Both Osaka and Haru were strange, so as far as anyone else was concerned, they were perfect for each other.
"What about you Chiyo?" Tomo inquired, still staring at her small friend. Chiyo glanced up in surprise, and immediately knew what Tomo was getting at.
"I-it was okay Tomo. Why do you ask?"
"Oh, I was just wondering if you watched the game last night. I bet you did, didn't you Chiyo?" Tomo retorted slyly. The young girl with pigtails' hypothesis on what was going on was proven correct in that instant.
"Uhh, y-yeah, but it wasn't that special," Chiyo said, trying to brush the conversation off.
"Did you see who won it?" Tomo asked softly, though her smile kept growing. Chiyo opened her mouth, but couldn't think of how to get around the answer, so Tomo answered for her. "It was Hanshin, Chiyo… Hanshin. It wasn't the Giants. I thought you said that the Giants were unbeatable this year little Chiyo-Chan? Wasn't that your claim?"
"Well, yes. But I didn't mean-"
"Oh, you didn't mean it that way? You meant they were almost unbeatable?" Tomo stated as she began to laugh in triumph. "Your team lost Chiyo, just admit it. The Giants were absolutely no match. Hanshin is going all the way!" Tomo cheered, pumping her fist in the air. As she did so, her hand knocked hard against her umbrella and it closed, leaving her open to the world's wrath. "No, my umbrella! My hair! Ahh, get back open!" she cried as she fiddled with the handle, trying to open the contraption back up.
"Once you get used to the slight chill Tomo, it's actually not so bad," ZaXo groaned as he walked up. He looked positively miserable. "Is it always like this in July?" he asked the others.
"Yeah, it is. That's just the way the weather works here. Isn't it that way in America?" Yomi asked as she walked over and covered him with her umbrella.
"No. It was extremely hot and dry during summer where I lived," he explained, now glad to be protected. He loved the rain, and liked walking in it… as long as he had dry clothes to change into afterward.
Tomo finally got her umbrella open again, but it was already too late for her as well. She looked to be almost as wet as ZaXo had gotten. Her expression was now very sour, while Chiyo had a nice victorious grin on her face. The group, labeled the incident Karma, chortling all the way to school. ZaXo sarcastically wondered what he had done to deserve the same fate as Tomo.
"So ZaXo, are we going to have practice today?" Yomi whispered while the others conversed.
"Sure, that's fine. And don't worry so much this time. I told you that you really are getting quite a bit better," ZaXo quietly answered back. He wasn't lying to her at all either. She could now hit the notes fairly easily, but only in a little over one octave. They were now starting to work on extending her workable range. But today ZaXo had a surprise he had been working on, just for her.
When the group arrived at the front of the school, Kaorin came running up to them in excitement. "Hey guys, guess what?" she said loudly. None of them could even open their mouths before she answered her own question. "My first set of clothing is going on sale at the shop today! We should all check it out after school."
Most of the group nodded in excitement. Kaorin looked to see Sakaki's reaction, and was delighted to find her smiling. They all began asking questions about the clothes as they walked up to Class Three, but Kaorin wouldn't give any answers. She wanted it to be a surprise. "Okay, I guess we'll have to forget about practice today," ZaXo silently told Yomi as they walked through the halls. She reluctantly nodded, a look of dissatisfaction gracing her face.
Chiyo was the first to walk into the classroom; ZaXo and Tomo bringing up the rear. Yukari took one look at their sopping clothes, and started to laugh hysterically. "Forget… that rain is… made of water… or what?" she asked in between cackles. She attempted to make a serious expression, but failed multiple times. "Chihuahua! You brought those two in my room, you clean up their mess after class," she told the small girl.
"That's fine with me," Tomo laughed, and she walked to her normal seat, dripping all the way. She must have seen this as Karmic justice. ZaXo however, didn't understand the logic behind Yukari's conclusion. He knew that Yukari tended to pick on Chiyo, but thought this to be a little harsh. Though she was younger than all of them by quite a bit, Chiyo really was much smarter than all of them, and Yukari didn't seem to like that much. ZaXo decided to speak up about it.
"Umm, Miss Yukari. I don't think that's quite right. It's my fault, so I'll clean the mess up," he told her.
"Pfff, whatever. It's your time, not mine," she shrugged still holding back laughs. She then turned and started class. "Now, today we will be taking a test on what you have learned so far."
The students groaned as she handed out the sheets of paper. When ZaXo got one, he looked it over for a minute. He hadn't really paid attention in Yukari's class, as she was teaching his native language. And by the looks of the test, he didn't need to either. ZaXo began the quiz, and had it completely done in about ten minutes. Standing up, he walked over, and put it on Yukari's desk. She then told him to clean up his mess, since that was all she had planned for the day.
As he walked out of the class to get rags from the janitor's closet, ZaXo noticed Osaka and Haru cuddling in the corner; they were doing the test together. Yukari didn't seem to care much though. She probably figured that it would take both of them just to get a passing grade. It was strange to see those two together. Though they had been inseparable since the day after they went to the movie, ZaXo couldn't get used to it. He brushed this train of thought out of his head, and continued to the nearest janitor's closet.
By the time ZaXo had gotten back, Seijin was done with his test as well. "Hey, I'll help you out," the tall boy smiled, and grabbed a rag. He started on Tomo's trail, working his way up until he got to where she was sitting. Tomo silently began bothering him about the test answers, but Seijin refused to give in, though he seemed to like the attention.
ZaXo cleaned up his mess, and then sat until class ended. He put the remaining rags under him so that he didn't have to dry his seat afterward. When the bell rang, he was one of the first to leave the room. He really didn't want Yukari to chastise him further in case he left any more water. The halls were packed, but people gave him a wide area so as not to get wet. It felt awkward to be stared at this much, but he wasn't surprised in the least that it was going on. He did still look like he'd just taken a swim after all. The rest of his classes went by in a normal fashion however, Yukari being the only one that day to comment on his damp clothing. By the time his last class got over, he was finally dry.
"C'mon you guys, this is gonna be great!" Kaorin shot at them in excitement, half-skipping down the halls. Everyone opened their umbrellas as they stepped outside, and they all proceeded toward the school's shop. When they arrived, Kaorin wasn't even fazed by the fact that Kimura was there. The shop was much fuller with both products and people this time. Seijin -who had come with-, was the first to point out that something odd was happening near the checkout counter.
"Umm, excuse me if I'm wrong, but is that group of girls that's giggling in a peppy manner huddled around Mr. Kimura?" Seijin wondered aloud.
Everyone else looked in the direction of the mob, eyes widening in unison. Indeed all of the girls were talking to and about Kimura in between ferociously high pitched giggles. He simply stood in the middle of them all, mouth agape, his back slightly hunched as always. "Yup, you've got it right kid. That's the Kimuran Club. Disgusting isn't it?" a slightly deeper than usual female voice sounded from the shelf directly left of Seijin and the others. Everyone looked to see who had spoken.
The woman was there age, yet was extremely tall. She was at least 6 foot. She had dark brown, shorter hair. It was spiked in various places, much like Haru's, though hers actually looked well kept. There were bright red and blond streaks throughout, which caught your eye almost immediately. Her clothing was just as distinct. There were many different colors across the whole spectrum, from black and white, to bright blue and pink; even deep reds and warm yellows. She had on a knee length skirt that feathered at the end as if it had been ripped up to that point. Her shirt sleeves were made of a fishnet material, as were her stockings. Her makeup was strong and dark, but seemed to suit her well.
"Oh, this is Emi Hitsuki. She's from my fashion class," Kaorin announced as she walked over to greet her now apparent friend.
"Uhh, that's great and all, but can we get back to the matter at hand… namely, why Kimura has a fanclub?" Tomo interrupted.
"For once I agree with you," Yomi stammered, staring at the girls in the club, clearly in shock.
"Well, I don't exactly know how it started, but I think it's really strange. He only lets girls in the club. I don't get why any of them want to be in it. They say he's really charming and polite. I sure as hell don't see it," Emi said bluntly. "He keeps asking Kaorin here to become his co-president, or as he calls it, his Queen."
"Okay, can we please stop talking about it?" Kaorin pleaded, her mood slowly sliding away from how upbeat it was moment ago. They agreed, and she walked them past the Kimuran Club to the back of the store. She was practically diving behind each shelf to hide from Kimura, though he probably wouldn't have noticed her anyway. As they walked by, ZaXo swore he heard one of the girls call Kimura 'Mr. KimKims'.
"Well, here's my shelf of what I've done so far," Kaorin said quickly, looking over to make sure Kimura hadn't seen her.
"Oooh, this is really nice," Sakaki told her distressed friend, holding up a very elaborate shirt from the shelving. Kaorin's disposition pulled another one-eighty at the comment. Immediately she went into deep detail about how it was done, once again in a great mood.
The rest of the group looked the clothing over. Of course it was all girls clothing, but ZaXo and Seijin couldn't help but admire it all. Kaorin had obviously not made every single piece up there. She just made the prototypes for a few of them, but that was plenty to be proud of. The designs were all very nice, and would look great on any girl. Haru and Osaka were once again in their own little world. He was looking at buying whatever she wanted, to which his girlfriend was delighted. She picked item after item, not only from Kaorin's shelf, but most of the rear of the store. "I hope he can pay for all of that," ZaXo muttered to Seijin, who chuckled and agreed.
Sure enough, after ten minutes, when everyone was ready to go, Haru went up to the clerk's desk with armfuls of clothing, and came outside a couple minutes later with it all in bags. ZaXo looked at the time and noticed that he and Yomi still had time to practice if she wanted to. She delightedly agreed, so they told the others that they had things to do back at the main building. Everyone looked at them weird, but simply bade goodbye. Emi decided to spend the day at Kaorin's house and walked with them all, Seijin going his own way.
ZaXo and his 'student' walked to the music room to began practice. They were still at the piano, but now they were attempting to use the whole thing. They practiced there for a while before ZaXo decided it was time for his surprise... her first little recording. During music class, he had been setting up a two minute track for her to sing to.
"Yomi. Come here. I have something I want you to try," ZaXo explained, leading her to the recording room. He put his flash drive into the computer, and opened his music file in the program. Yomi looked a bit nervous, but seemed much more excited than anything else. He set everything on the mixing board up, and walked her into the booth. He told her to set the microphone where she felt comfortable, and explained how to sing into it properly. Then he gave her a pair of headphones, and left back to the computer.
Yomi looked awkwardly at him through the glass, as if she felt she didn't belong there yet. ZaXo just smiled a reassuring smile, and spoke to her through a mic that led to her headphones. "Don't worry too much. I'm going to play the music for you with my vocals in front a few times. That piece of paper on the seat in there has the lyrics on it. I made everything as easy as possible for you, so you can get used to recording. When you feel comfortable, tell me, and I'll set it to record you. Don't worry if you mess up. We can redo those parts, and splice them in. Are you ready?" he finished.
Yomi nodded, and ZaXo clicked the start button. He could hear the music over the speakers, and Yomi heard it through her headphones. She looked surprised for a second, taken aback that he could play the instruments in the recording. Most of what was going on in the music was simple; things that anyone could learn in a week. But naturally he and other musicians were used to people thinking much more highly of it, because they overestimated the basics. After two play-throughs, Yomi decided she was ready to start. Almost immediately her nerves got the better of her, and she messed up. "It's okay, just try it again. Remember, nobody else will here this unless you want them to; I promise. So just sing your heart out," ZaXo told her, to which she nodded, taking a deep breath.
ZaXo started the music and Yomi began once again. This time she flew past the first few lyrics, but faltered about twenty seconds in. He took it back and started it at about fifteen seconds, and she continued. They got about halfway through the song before ZaXo decided it was probably time to go. Yomi insisted on listening to what she had done before they left.
"That was really me?" Yomi asked as they walked out into the rain, under her umbrella.
"Yeah, it was really you. I told you that you aren't bad at all anymore. I'm now starting to see that you can get a lot better than I initially thought."
"Wow, that was really me…" she announced to herself, trying to let it sink in. "I sound so different on a recording don't I?"
"Well, you may sound different to yourself. But you sounded the same to me, because I'm used to hearing you from the 'outside'. Just wait 'till we're done with it. Then we can add echoes and all kinds of effects to it if you want."
"Really?" Yomi squealed. "That's so cool!"
"Yup. But we should keep an original version as well, so that you can still hear your pure voice and how you've improved later on," ZaXo stated. Yomi gave him a wide smile and silence ensued for a minute or so. The sound of the rain wasn't near the volume it had been at that morning, or even when they went to the school shop. Finally Yomi decided to break the quiet as they entered one end of the park, and she opened her mouth to speak.
"ZaXo, can I ask you something?"
"Yeah, sure," he answered, unsure about her tone.
"You're a guy, you should know the answer to this. Do you think that this; the singing I mean… do you think that it could get me a boyfriend? Like, would they ignore the fact that I'm not the slimmest girl in the bunch if I got better?"
"Uhh, where to begin with that…" ZaXo started with a sigh. "First off Yomi, you are far from overweight. You look great, so that shouldn't be a factor. I promise that I'm not just being nice and lying to you," he added, as Yomi looked a little skeptical. "Second, I don't think you should use singing to attract guys. That will only attract the wrong people. You should really just try to meet people naturally. I mean, you have a great personality, and you're smart and everything. Singing is just a bonus. If you really tried, you could probably get any guy you want."
Yomi thought this over for a few seconds before responding. "I guess that makes sense. Did you ever have a girlfriend when you were in America? You sure seem to know a bit about relationships."
"Nope. I never really met any girl there I found to be... right for me. I'm really very picky, which I guess could be a downfall. But I don't think I could have really attracted many girls had I tried to anyway," ZaXo stated simply. Then his tone got more serious. "…Why?"
"Oh, no reason. I was just curious. I don't see anything wrong with you," Yomi said, before quickly adding a bit more. "But then again, I don't see anything right about you either," she smiled slyly. They both laughed and continued walking along, now leaving the park. ZaXo really hoped his parents were home by now, as he didn't really feel like sitting outside on the porch until they arrived.
That's about it. Please review. Oh, and just to set this straight, Kimura is NOT doing anything dirty with his club, lol. That isn't my intention with it, so don't think I'm trying to ruin his character. Hope you liked :)
