Author's Notes: New chapter! Waoooh! I don't own Azumanga Daioh, naturally. I don't own Lord Byron, John Donne, the Backstreet Boys, Daft Punk, the Macarena, Star Wars, an Osaka Plushie, a sold gold tooth, or any number of things that would be really, really cool to own. It's a damn shame, isn't it?

Oh, damn. Now I'm depressed. You know what you should do, to get me out of this mood? Review! Reviews cheer up the author and cause me to write more! Science proves it, and then science went on to prove that Red is Green and got killed at the next street crossing. Damn. Review anyway.

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Tokyo's roads have seen a lot of people come and go over their many, many years of existence. As they became accustomed to their duties, some of the roads realized that they were able to feel how important the trip was for the people traveling on them. Some of the more spiteful roads, fed up with their work, would try to make the passage harder for the people traveling along them, clogging themselves up with traffic or otherwise making the trip more difficult for the people from which they sensed tremendous urgency.

It is entirely possible that this phenomenon occurs amongst all roads in the world and not merely Tokyo's, but this is now straying dangerously far from the original intent of that bit back there about the roads.

This road was a somewhat spiteful road, and it groggily attended to its duties this morning. The groggy feeling evaporated instantaneously, however, when it felt the tremendous pulse of urgency and determination from one group of people on this otherwise unremarkable Tokyo morning. Faced with such strength of heart and conviction, the road could not move itself to interfere with these people.

"So, Ken, who'd you get?" asked one of the sources of this indescribable determination.

"Mizuhara." replied the sandy-haired boy, grinning. "Koyomi Mizuhara."

"Er... which one's that?" asked Ryu.

"The tall one. Brown hair. Glasses."

"Ah! Mizuhara, eh?"

"They call her Yomi. All of them. Even Yukari. I don't know why Genji put her last name down, but he did."

Genji was quick to defend himself. "Equality! Kagura, Sakaki, Kasuga, Mizuhara, Takino, Mihama... well, not Mihama, but the point is that it's equal if I put down all their last names! If I put down 'Yomi' then I'd also have to put down 'Osaka' and any other nicknames they have! What if you pulled out your slip of paper and it read 'Wildcat,' eh? What would you do? You'd be like, confused and stuff!"

"Ahem. Right. So I got Yomi. She's not exactly Sakaki, yeah, but still..."

Genji grinned in a way that made even his fellows uncomfortable. "Yomi is erotic. You know, she's kind of got that sexy librarian look to her. Or a sultry secretary. Or..."

"Erm... that's enough. What if someone heard you? What if someone she knew heard you? Sure, that's a hell of a coincidence, but you'd ruin my chances for the rest of the day."

"Oh, fine, fine."

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Ken and his friends walked into the school without any further incident. As far as he could tell, nobody had been eavesdropping on Genji's little tirade about Yomi. Or Sakaki. Or... well, Genji was kind of like that at times.

Not that I'm entirely free from that kind of stuff either. I mean, I did say some of that stuff about Kagura, but... Well, what boy wouldn't? It's perfectly normal for me, I guess. Genji just crosses that line sometimes.

Ken glanced around the room, looking for Yomi. Sho, Ryu, and Marion walked on towards their respective girls, and Ken saw his bespectacled lady sitting with one of her friends.

Genji slapped him on the shoulder, grinning. "Those two there are ours, man! Let's go! Eye of the tiger! Heart of the cards! Use the force! Believe it!"

Genji led the way, and Ken followed him. Despite his shortcomings, Genji simply had this convincing air to him at times.

Alright, so I'm going over to talk to Yomi. Talk about what, exactly? I don't have any... really... interesting traits. I'm not particularly stupid, but I'm not a prodigy. I don't have a tragic past or an interesting back story. I can't just be... I don't know, I just can't go all-in like Genji does. I'm normal. Perfectly normal. Painfully normal. Average! Hell, even Marion's got a more interesting back story than I do...

A nudge from Genji dragged Marion out of his reverie.

"What do you want, Genji?"

"Talk to them!"

"You talk to them!"

"Quit being so stubborn and just talk."

"... fine." Ken shrugged.

Oh well. Might as well start now.

Ken stepped forward and smiled wanly to Yomi and Tomo. "Hello, Koyomi. I'm Ken."

"Oh, hello Ken, how are you?"

"Ah, fine, just fine. Interesting weather we're having, isn't it?"

My god, could I be any more boring?

Genji then stepped forward, grinning and staring at Tomo. "Hey Tomo, I'm Genji."

"Yeah, yeah." replied the spiky-haired girl. She said nothing more, but continued to stare at Ken.

"I suppose it is a bit warm for spring. I wonder why?" said Yomi, ignoring Tomo successfully.

"Oh... I wouldn't know. I'm no weatherman." replied Ken, who wasn't entirely successful at ignoring Tomo. Tomo, on the other hand, was in an entirely different league, ignoring Genji in a way that would make such implacable things as rocks and fussy children jealous.

Yomi stared at Ken. "I'm entirely shocked by that statement, don't you know?"

"What?"

"No, I mean, it's just totally different from what I normally run into."

"How do you mean?"

What's she getting at?

"I mean, the people who I normally talk to. Tomo here, for example, would claim that the weather is unusually warm as a direct result of how "hot" she is."

"I could see that." said Genji, grinning. Tomo didn't reply at all, and just continued to stare at Ken.

Something about that stare... it's not malicious, not angry... I don't... understand it. She's just... watching me.

"Whereas another one of my friends would ask if it was a result of, say, a firefly turning on in the northwestern United States. You know, because of that whole 'A butterfly flaps its wings in the Sahara and creates a hurricane in Florida' saying."

A normal person trapped in a circle of strange friends! She's... I'm... we're the same!

"Oh. Heh, you've got interesting friends, Koyomi."

"Yeah, I suppose I do. Just call me Yomi, by the way. Koyomi sounds too... well, I'm unused to it."

"Yomi. Hey, yeah, that's a bit better. You and I, Yomi, we should talk more often, don't you think? It'd be nice to have conversations that aren't defined by how ridiculous our friends feel that day." said Ken, casting a shifty glance at Genji.

Yomi grinned at Ken, but before she could say anything else, a loud slam ripped through the room, cutting all conversation down where it stood. "STOP WHAT YOU'RE DOING! CLASS STARTS NOW!" shouted Yukari, and that was the end of that.

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Ken sighed and watched Yukari's class pass on by. Yukari was by no means a bad teacher. Her idiosyncracies served to make the class entertaining, but they didn't really take away from the students' attempts to learn English. Tomo Takino's outbursts, however, probably did. Ken watched Yomi as Tomo stood up and interfered in her own unique fashion. Yomi watched Tomo, and then Genji as he stood up to interfere on Tomo's behalf. Ken could've sworn that the chalk projectiles pulverized themselves upon impact.

P.E. was relaxed that day, as the heat had prompted Miss Kurosawa to give the students a sort of day off. She was rather soft-hearted at times. Ken shuddered to think what it would be like if Yukari and Kurosawa switched jobs for a day. He didn't think about that for long, of course, as he had much more important things to think about.

Ken turned to his friends, and asked them, "Alright guys, I've managed to talk to Yomi, yeah? That's a start, isn't it?"

"A real conversation, eh? That's more than I've gotten so far." replied Ryu.

"So then, where do I go from here? What are you guys trying? I mean, sure, I've talked to her, but there's gotta be some trick to jumping from friendship to relationship, right? So then... what do I do?"

"You've come to the right place!" replied Genji, none too quietly. "You see, you've got to stand out somehow, yeah? Gotta leap right out past all those other people and prove to them that you're somehow superior, man! Be... dazzling!"

"As for being dazzling," continued Ryu, "I've got a bit of advice for you there. You see, language is the main medium of communication, right? Everyone does it, but if you somehow do it with just that much more style than the average joe, it'll be really standoutish, yeah? Kind of like, hey, everyone can run, kind of, but can everyone run as fast as Sakaki-san? It's way more impressive when you do something that everyone does in a way that everyone... doesn't."

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Ken wandered down the school's main hallway, looking for Kimura's classroom. He and his friends usually hung out in there during lunch, as Kimura's class was the final one for the day. Furthermore, it was quieter than most other classrooms, as the other students tended to avoid it for some reason.

Yomi, however, usually did eat her lunch in that classroom. Ken wasn't sure why she didn't leave like most of the other girls, but he supposed that no matter what it was that the other students were afraid of in Kimura's classroom, Yomi was enough of a realist to realize that there wasn't really anything to be afraid of in the class.

Ken reached Kimura's class and glanced in, noting that Yomi was sitting there with her lunch, alone. Ken couldn't have asked for a more perfect opportunity. He thumbed through his recent memory, thinking about what Ryu had said and what he'd suggested that Ken say to Yomi.

Sweet girl! though only once we met,
That meeting I shall ne'er forget;
And though we ne'er may meet again,
Remembrance will thy form retain
I would not say "I love," but still,
My senses struggle with my will:
In vain to drive thee from my breast
My thoughts are more and more represt;
In vain I check the rising sight
Another to the last replies:
Perhaps, this is not love, but yet,
Our meeting I can ne'er forget.

He walked into the room, looking at Yomi. "Yomi! Hello there!"

"Oh, hi Ken. What is it?"

"Erm... ah..." muttered Ken, struggling with the words. "Swe-" he started, but he was cut off by a haunting, mournful bell, ringing out sadly.

"What was that?" asked Yomi. "It's... not anywhere near the time when church bells should be ringing, let alone four or so times."

Ken paused for a second, trying to collect his words. "Sweet gi-" he started, but was once more cut off, this time by a loud slam. Tomo Takino was standing in the doorway, grinning madly.

Yomi stared at her blankly. Ken stared at her, but couldn't maintain the same indifferent attitude that Yomi had honed through years upon years of experience. Tomo ignored the blank stares with the same skill she'd displayed earlier that morning.

Then Tomo started to sing.

"Last night, I had a dream about you,
In this dream, I'm dancing right beside you,
And it looked like everyone was having fun,
This kind of feeling, I've waited so long."

Ken stared, dumbfounded. Yomi started to look somewhat nervous.

"Don't stop, come a little closer,
As we jam, the rhythm gets stronger,
There's nothing wrong with just a little little fun,
We were dancing all night long."

Wait... Tomo was staring at me the whole time earlier... she can't be... no way... Genji... the hat!

Tomo simply grinned and walked towards Ken and Yomi.

"The time is right, to put my arms around you," she sang, and reached out, embracing...

Yomi.

"You're feeling right, you wrap your arms around me too," Tomo sang, pulling Yomi's arms around her as well. Yomi had long since lost all semblance of the cool demeanor she'd used to react to Tomo earlier, and now seemed nearly as confused as Ken did.

Well, not nearly that confused, but it was close.

"But suddenly, I feel the shining sun,
Before I knew it, this dream was all gone..." sang Tomo, disengaging herself from Yomi.

"Oooh, but... but I know what to do!" she said, grinning. Tomo then leapt onto her friend and kissed her deeply.

The church bell rang its mournful tone again, but nobody in the room paid it any heed. Ken wasn't sure whether to be dissappointed or elated at the recent turn in events, and instead he elected to stare blankly.

Tomo then leapt off of Yomi and ran down the hallway, as though she already knew what was going to happen next. "Yomi's snapped again!" she shouted.

"Y... you... you! Ahhhhgh! I am going to tear you apart, Tomo Takino! I will rip you apart methodically, starting with your fingernails, and eventually I will work my way up to your major organs, and I will do it in a very slow, very painful manner! I will..." she continued on like this for some time, but Ken didn't hear any more of it. He simply stood in Kimura's class and stared at the spot once occupied by a pair of kissing high school girls.

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Ken had collapsed into his seat in Kimura's class, but didn't take his eyes off of the spot once occupied by Yomi and Tomo... combined... somehow.

Today is... a good day.

He didn't pay any attention to the class, but Kimura didn't really notice. At some point, however, Ken had decided that he should at least try once more with Yomi, as hopeless as it seemed.

After class, he saw Yomi and her friends walking home, but as he started to catch up with them, the Takino girl glanced over her shoulder and flashed him a grin. Ken sighed and went to the dumpster where he and his friends usually met up after school. He waited a short while, but Marion eventually arrived.

"Hey. How'd it go?" he asked.

"Eh. You?"

"Nnh."

"Oh."

"You hear anything about Genji or Ryu?"

"No, I haven't. I still can't believe that it came together like that for Sho."

"Speak of the devil... is that Sho?" Marion said, pointing towards their friend.

"Yeah, I think so... but that's not the way home. He's going in an entirely different direction."

"You don't think that he's headed somewhere with that Osaka girl, do you?"

"Bastard."

"Agreed."

"Nnngh... Hey... is that you guys?" asked the dumpster.

"Waugh!" shouted Ken and Marion, horrified. They pried open the dumpster lid, and saw Ryu lying in there.

Maybe it's best that I didn't follow through with his advice.

"Dude... you're bleeding." said Marion.

"Yes, yes I am. Mind helping me out of here?"

The two friends dragged Ryu out of the dumpster, and Marion said what came naturally to him. "How... how did you get in there?"

"To be frank... I'd really rather not say." replied Ryu.

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Author's Notes: Ryu is such a dork for Lord Byron. The poem Ken thinks about saying to Yomi is Lord Byron's To a Beautiful Quaker. This may or may not be because that's the only poetry book I had handy on me while writing these, but hey, what works works, right?

As for Tomo, Tomo sings Digital Love by Daft Punk, although she changes it a mite near the end. Oooah! Lord Byron's shown up in three chapters so far, will Daft Punk show up in a future chapter? Who knows?

Anti Mary-Sues/Suzumiya ISM: Ooo-er! Well, Genji's the pervy one here, not Ryu. Ryu's the literary dork. Genji's the impromptu leader of a group of high school boys who worship Kimura. Add that into the fact that my research told me that high school boys are powered by hormones and you get a guy who's gotta be a little bit pervy. In addition, I believe that the point of Azumanga Daioh is simply everyday life, and that the series is driven by character interaction over everything else, so hey, here's hoping I can do this character interaction thing correctly.

Kenji, I'd like to get some specfics on what you mean by "vaguely sexist undertones" as it sounds really icky and I'd like to avoid that in future chapters.

And now the fun part of the Author's notes is completed, and I've got to tell you some rather meh news. I'm going off to a place powered by sin for a few days, so I'm not going to be able to update until, oh, I don't know, maybe the weekend sometime. Sorry about that, but that's how it goes some days. In the meantime, I'd like you guys to plop down so many reviews that I can go without food for several days, simply powered by the joy of "having a big zarkin' review number." Oh, and I'm currently debating with myself on whether or not to do a chapter for each girl, or to do two girls per chapter, or something like that. Feel free to make suggestions when you review, as hey, I'm writing these things for you guys, after all.