Author's Note: I don't own Azumanga Daioh. This chapter is both Sakaki's day and Kagura's day, all mishmashed into one for various reasons that will be explained later.

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The concrete sidewalk grinned in as much as concrete sidewalks can grin, which turns out to be not very much. It was, however, a very proud sidewalk. Day in, day out, for as long as it could remember (which, for sidewalks, turns out to be surprisingly long) it had endured countless people kicking it, and it had resisted valiantly. To date, none of the people had drawn even more than a passing mite of attention from the sidewalk

Granted, one could make the argument that the people were merely taking advantage of action-reaction forces and moving along the sidewalk instead of trying to defeat it, but it's nice to let things dream every once in a while, even if they are made of concrete.

Today,however, there was a rhythmic kicking along the sidewalk that made it take notice. No, it couldn't have injured the concrete being, but it was definitely more focused than normal.

Kagura jogged to school on an entirely different path than she normally took. Why she did this, she wasn't sure, but she figured that if she ran it by Chiyo she could get an explanation.

Then again, that wouldn't be interesting at all. She'll probably just say something... worldly. I should ask Tomo... No, Tomo would exaggerate it too much. Sakaki and Yomi are just like Chiyo in that regard. Osaka, however, Osaka could actually make something of this. Sure, it might not make sense to anyone but her, but it'll be different, at least.

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Different. Today was a day rife with potential for change, or at least, that's what Sakaki's horoscope had told her this morning. She wasn't ridiculous enough to put all her faith into superstitions, of course, but her family had their values deeply ingrained in a great many things that were important to her ancestors, and some of it rubbed off.

Still can't believe that I suggested the boiled ends of persimmons for hiccups.

She stepped along a much less haughty, more indifferent sidewalk, and saw something quite uncommon: Chiyo, with her mind not entirely there. The prodigy was simply leaning back and staring into the sky.

Sakaki checked her watch, and then glanced over at Chiyo.

Oh, we've got some time until school starts, anyway.

So there it was. For some time, Sakaki watched Chiyo, and Chiyo watched the sky. It was all very cute from an entirely detached viewpoint. A not-quite-so-detached viewpoint, however, would notice that the first bell was looming ever closer.

Best to just get her going. Chiyo doesn't handle mishaps very well, it seems.

Sakaki walked over to the prodigy and regretfully removed her from her reverie.

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"So yeah, Osaka, why do you think I decided to take a different path today?"

"Maybe you wanted to show that cocky sidewalk whatfor?"

Kagura stared at her friend blankly. Before she could figure out exactly how to respond, a boy stepped in and filled the gap in their conversation.

"Excuse me, but do you mind if I speak with Miss Kasuga for a bit?"

Kagura stared blankly at him, trying to figure out who he meant. Osaka did the same.

"Ka...su..ga? Oh! Ah, you mean Osaka! Yeah, go ahead!" said Kagura, grinning and hoping the boy didn't notice that she'd forgotten the real name of one of her closest friends.

"Oh! You mean me, don'tcha?" said Osaka. "Sure, sure." she replied, grinning, and went off with the boy.

I don't even know his name, but... Ah, oh well. I wonder what they're talking about.

She stared after her friend, pondering her and the new boy somewhat, and didn't even notice the other boy until he spoke up."So, Kagura..."

"Ah? Yes, what do you want?" she replied.

"Eheh, it seems that our friends over there are trying to elope, or something."

Elope? What's that word mean again? Ah well, probably not that important right now.

"Yeah... weird."

"You wanna go do some entirely friendly eavesdropping?"

"Mm..." Kagura hesitated. I wanna know what's up with Osaka, but hell, I don't want to intrude on her privacy or anything. Eventually, her curiosity overcame her conscience "Okay. Osaka probably wouldn't notice anyway."

The two stood up and crept closer to Osaka and Sho, trying to look inconspicuous.

"So anyway, we should spark up a conversation here, just so that those two don't notice us sneaking up on them."

"Yeah, yeah," replied the tanned girl. "You're... ah, who are you, again?"

Well, that didn't sound rude at all.

He started to say something, but all Kagura heard was Osaka's boy saying, "So, would you like to be my girlfriend?"

"Hmm... Yeah, alrigh', why not?" answered Osaka.

Kagura gaped, shocked. She stared at Osaka for a good long while, confused.

So... casually? Kagura tried to think a few other thoughts, but the matter with Osaka occupied her mind completely. No, that's not right, if she wants to it's her choice, right? So I shouldn't be mad, or even thinking about it too hard.

"I'm Marion." said the other boy, and Kagura decided to focus on him.

"Ah. Wait, isn't that a girl's name? Or at the very least, it's not very Japanese."

Ahh! Why'd I say that? It's so rude! I... ah... I gotta apologize, or something. How do you even apologize for that kind of thing? Do you just say, 'hey, I'm sorry that your parents seem to have hated you or something'?

"...I'm actually afraid to have my friends over now"

Crap! I haven't been listening to him at all! "What does that have to do with your name?" asked Kagura, hoping he'd repeat the last bit again.

"I'm getting there. Anyway, they really did like those old cowboy movies. You know, the Wild Wild West. The American dream. Rough and tumble cowboys, right? Well, when my mom was pregnant, they decided to name me after a cowboy. The best of the best, apparently. Someone really huge, really important. John Wayne, manliest of men."

"John Wayne isn't exactly Marion, you know."

"Working on it. Anyway, the problem is that they decided to take it even farther. They found out that John Wayne was simply a stage name, and they decided that their son needed to be true to the American spirit, so they did a little bit of research. They found John's real name: Marion."

Kagura glanced around nervously. If Tomo heard that, this poor guy would never hear the end of it. Her spastic friend seemed to be utterly entranced with the boy talking to Yomi, however, and while Kagura noted that, she decided to ignore it for the most part. She then remembered she was talking to Marion. "Wow. That's really... I'm sorry about asking... I didn't mean to open up any thing like that."

"Oh, don't worry too much... Just call me Minoru, please."

"Okay... Minoru." Kagura grinned at him. Don't be mad at me, please!

"STOP WHAT YOU'RE DOING! CLASS STARTS NOW!"shouted Yukari.

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Sakaki stared out the window, contemplating life, the universe, and everything. She spent quite a bit of that time contemplating a specific portion of "everything," namely the cloud that looked a lot like a pair of kittens cavorting. Sakaki, having seen her share of perverted things, thought it looked a bit like something else, but decided instead to focus on the image of two kittens playing together. Dirty things were, well, dirty.

Sakaki hardly noticed when a boy walked up to her, but she definitely heard him. She may have been busy staring into the sky at an adorable assortment of puffy white clouds, but her ears weren't doing anything at the moment. Bored as they were, they dutifully picked up the boy's first words.

"Sakaki! My dear Sakaki, you're a mystery, wrapped in an enigma, shrouded in uncertainty, and I, with man's customary love for the unknown, would like nothing more than to unravel the mystery, to explore the unexplored! Please, would you grant me this honor?" said the boy.

Sakaki didn't move, but she went through his statement in her mind for a bit, trying to figure out what the boy meant.

"Unravel?" "Explore the unexplored?" Well, if I'm wrapped in enigma, and he wants to reveal the unknown, then that means... he wants to see me... Ahh! And if he wishes to explore the unexplored, then that means... Waugh! Double entendres everywhere! Should I slap him? No... I'll just... pretend I didn't hear him.

Sakaki's mild appreciation for "adult" stories had perhaps driven her to see something ero-ero in everything, although whether that has lead her to protect her chastity more zealously or to simply be paranoid about the most innocent of things is still debatable.

The boy was undeterred, and continued to recite.

"Sakaki! Sweet Sakaki! if a name

Dearer and purer were, it should be thine.

Mountains and seas divide us, but I claim

No tears, but tenderness to answer mine:

Go where I will, to me thou art the same--"

I don't even know how to start analyzing that one... Poetry? All of those old poets used to write dirty little jokes in their rhymes anyway, so it's bes to just play it safe.

Perhaps it would have been better if Sakaki had experience with a poet who wasn't John Donne, but right now, it couldn't be helped.

"Is that Epistle to Augusta?" asked a familiar voice.

Chiyo! Run! It's a trap!

"Yes! Yes it is!" said the boy.

"It's quite lovely." responded the prodigy.

"Yeah... it is."

"Why were you reciting Lord Byron's poetry?"

Good job Chiyo! I'd like to know as well.

"STOP WHAT YOU'RE DOING! CLASS STARTS NOW!" shouted Yukari.

Then again, it's not exactly important.

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P.E. was either wonderful or atrocious this day, depending on your point of view. In Kagura's mind, the latter idea reigned triumphant. A relaxed day like this was, well, a wasted day.

Chiyo had started up a conversation, but Kagura wasn't entirely sure as to why the little prodigy was so worried about living an average life.

If you simply enjoy the life you've lived, then who cares if it's average or not? We've only got one shot, right? Make the most of it, and live without regret!

Sakaki's thoughts differed from Chiyo's, though she didn't voice them. Average is not necessarily bad, Chiyo. Sticking out above and beyond the norm isn't always fun. Sometimes it's better to just not be noticed.

The lunch bell rang, and the students packed in from P.E., the girls keeping a wary eye out for a roving Kimura.

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P.E. had ended without any interesting events, but Kagura figured that if school wasn't going to hand her something interesting today, she would make something interesting happen. She grabbed her lunch box and headed back to Yukari's room.

Sakaki sat in Yukari's room, calmly eating her lunch, when Kagura traipsed on into the room. She flipped a desk around and gave Sakaki a wry grin, and then slammed her lunch box onto the desk.

"Today's challenge may be recycled, but that doesn't make it any less of a challenge!" she declared. "Today, we shall test our mettle against one another, and see who can finish their lunch the fastest! This test covers several areas: Firstly, raw speed! Can you move faster than the opponent? Secondly: Dexterity! Speed is nothing if you can't grab your food efficiently with the chopsticks! Third: Endurance! Eating under such extreme conditions is demanding business!"

Kagura grinned, and then glanced over to her opponent's lunch, which was by this time mostly done. "Ah! I've fallen behind already!" she shouted, and dug into her lunch in a far more literal way than anyone should ever hope to see.

Sakaki contemplated telling Kagura that she'd packed a smaller lunch than normal that day, but decided against it.

Amazingly enough, the two girls finished their food at roughly the same time. "I guess we'll just have to call it a draw." said Kagura.

"Yeah, I suppose." Sakaki put her lunchbox away and then wandered off. Kagura, seeing nothing else to do in Yukari's classroom, decided to leave as well, although not in the same direction.

Kagura noticed a boy doing... something she couldn't quite figure out, but it seemed to have entranced both Osaka and her... boyfriend.

"Kagura!" shouted a somewhat familiar voice.

"Ah! Marion! What do you want?" Wait... not... Marion... "Ack! Sorry! Minoru, Minoru! I'm sorry!"

He grinned at her, and started to say something, but he was cut off by a screeching Tomo, dashing down the hallway. Hot on her heels was a visibly enraged Yomi, shouting "Tomo Takino! You had best run! If I catch you, I'm going to break every single bone in your body! Afterwards, I'm going to get a medical degree, mend all of your bones and then BREAK THEM ALL AGAIN!"

Yomi's snapped. Tomo probably deserves it, but Yomi is really, really pissed. Better not take any chances.

"Erm, sorry, but I'd better go try to help Tomo," said Kagura, racing after her friends.

The wildcat was the slowest of the bunch by a significant amount, but she made following her quite difficult by reaching out and toppling anything that she could to chuck in the path of Yomi, including but not limited to fellow students. Kagura leaped over the obstacles, musing to herself that perhaps today wasn't totally wasted just yet.

She leaped over another boy and noticed Sakaki standing there. "Sakaki! Yomi's snapped! You've got to help me stop her before she... before she... I don't know what she'll do, but it'll probably be very bad!"

"Okay." Sakaki answered, and the two girls ran off with each other. Down the hallway, a confused Chiyo chased after the older girls, although she didn't stand much of a chance of catching them.

Tomo turned a corner, up towards the rooftop.

Tomo, you fool! This is a dead end! thought Kagura.

Tomo, you fool! This is a dead end! agreed Sakaki.

The two athletic girls raced up the stairs, hoping to catch the wildcat and her friend before too much damage was done to either. They reached up and opened the door, ready to spring into action.

What they saw, however, prevented that.

"I... I don't think I believe it." said a shocked Kagura.

"That's... that's... really... wow." agreed Sakaki.

"So what do we do? Should we try to stop them?"

"Do you want to get in the middle of that?"

"Yeah, you're right."

"Besides, it hasn't gotten too ugly just yet. It'll be fine, right?"

"I don't know, Sakaki. I don't know. I do know, however, that it fills me with various emotions that are strange and confusing."

"Agreed. There are way too many things going through my mind right now, and I don't know exactly how to word them. I don't even know if there are words for them."

"Yeah, really makes you feel kind of inferior, doesn't it? Being at a loss for words and everything. Perhaps we should ask someone who knows these sorts of things... like..."

"like..."

"CHIYO!" exclaimed the two in unison.

"Chiyo was following us!" shouted Kagura. "She can't see this! It'll break her innocent little mind!"

As if on cue, the rooftop door behind the two started to creak open. Kagura, moving like lightning, clapped her hand over Chiyo's eyes and lifted her with the other hand. Sakaki covered her ears, and the two, confident that they'd blocked off any dangerous sensory input, dragged the child downstairs.

"Er, Chiyo..." started Kagura.

"This is something you shouldn't see at your age." Sakaki said.

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Kimura's class was rather dull, without much to really take note of. Sakaki simply waited for the class to end so she could get away from the boy from this morning, who was watching her much more closely than was comfortable.

Kagura, for the most part, spent most of her class time watching a rather haggard-looking Tomo. Geeze. That rough, eh?

The bell rang, and everyone started to filter out of the classroom slowly. Sakaki made it out quickly, not avoiding the crowd so much as leading it. Kagura wasn't quite so quick, and got caught up in the crowd.

"Hoy, Genji!" shouted Tomo, as the class's order dissolved, the standard result of the end-of-day bell. "I've thought about it, and I totally accept and stuff, yeah? You and I, boyfriend, girlfriend, that sort of thing."

Kagura gaped. First Osaka, then Tomo? Ah, so I'll be the only loveless Bonkura! So then... is something wrong with me? Maybe it's not that they're strange for accepting so readily, but perhaps I'm strange for not being very... open? Is it unladylike to be unreceptive? Lost in her thoughts, she eventually made her way into the main hallway without consciously thinking about it.

Once out there, however, she was intercepted by Marion.

"Kagura, I have to ask you this! Please listen to me!"

"Ah! What is it, Mari- er, Minoru?

"I was just wondering... if you would like to be... er... that is... if you would want to be my... well, not mine... to be... a couple?"

"Ahm. Minoru..."

What should I do? What should I say, rather? Tomo and Osaka said yes... But it doesn't feel right...

"Yes?"

No way can I say yes, doubly so if my reason is simply 'Well, Osaka and Tomo have boyfriends now.' I'm not that shallow, or... well, yeah. Besides, it wouldn't be fair to Marion.

"It's a sweet gesture, really... but how much do you actually know about me?"

"Ah... I know that you're... um... athletic... And fairly kind... and... ah..."

"Exactly. You can't forge relationships in a day, you know."

"Tell that to Osaka and Sho."

Who's Sho? It's Tomo, you silly boy.

"Yeah, Osaka and Tomo are... exceptions."

"I see... Thanks anyway."

"Don't take it hard or anything, you're a nice guy, I guess. It just doesn't work that way. At least we're friends now, right? I mean, before, I just knew you as that guy who looked kind of like Miss Kurosawa."

WAITAMINUTE! Why did I say that?

"Yeah, thanks."

"Gah! Is that a touchy subject too? I'm sorry! Sorry! Sorry!"

"Ah, don't worry about it."

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Kagura caught up to her group of friends, noting that everyone was present except for Osaka and Tomo.

Oh, hell.

She feared for the worst. Any multitude of possible future fates for her group of friends started to drift through her mind. None of the fates seemed terribly wonderful, and most ended in, well, the end for their friendship. Kagura fought back tears.

Sakaki noticed this, and wasn't sure exactly why Kagura was starting to cry. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"Just... just thinking too much." said the athlete, not looking the taller girl in the eye.

"Thinking too much? Kagura? That's impossible, I say! Absolutely impossible! So totally out of the question that you'd go all the way around the universe and wind back up in the question!"

That voice... thought Kagura. That voice could only be...

Tomo's perpetual grin filled her vision, and took effect, the general effect being a sort of nervousness that comes from reading the grin as "I'm about to do something that you probably won't like, but I think it'll be funny."

Kagura glanced up at the grin that simultaneously reassured her that everything would be alright and made her want to hit it. She couldn't help but smile back at Tomo.

Still, Osaka's missing. It's not complete yet.

Eerily, Osaka seemed to read Kagura's mind and showed up at that particular moment. "Yeah, so I was talkin' to the sidewalks one day, right Kagura? And I started thinkin' about that day. You know what they told me? There was this one sidewalk, real jerk-like. The worms didn't like him much either. Anyway, he's pretty damned cocky, wears a perpetual grin, and usually brags about how nothing can hurt him. Even when a fellow piece o' pavement tries to point out to him that nobody's really even trying to hurt him, and that everyone's just usin' the laws of physics to get goin', he ignores them and is generally a cocky bastard overall."

"Kind of like Tomo." said Yomi.

"Hey! I take offense to that!" shouted the campus berserker.

"Yes, but nobody cares." said Yomi.

"Anyway, I did a little thinkin', and I've figured it out! You were receiving subconscious psychic messages from the other sidewalks and roads and even most of Tokyo's rather miffed worms, and so instead you jogged to school on Mr. McBastard Sidewalk instead of your normal path! It doesn't hurt him, or anything, but your focus and rhythm would give him a neat shock without anybody having to resort to a jackhammer!"

"Subconscious... psychic... messages?" replied a confused Kagura.

"Subconscious psychic messages."

"Messages?"

"Messages."

"Right."

"Miss Osaka, I think it might've just been a whim." said Chiyo, trying to staunch the flow of general strangeness.

"No, it was definitely psychic worms. Everything in the universe has a reason, Chiyo! We're all interwined an' stuff, so even if it seems like just a whim, there was totally a reason for it! There's gotta be, y'know? It's all cause and effect, even when you can't see all the causes! I imagine there's a gal up there, writin' the story of our lives, and if we could just ask her she'd tell us all why we're doin' what we're doin!"

Oh, I don't care if it feels like someone just bashed my brain with a slice of lemon wrapped around a large gold brick... She's back! Tomo's back, and Osaka's back, and... we're all the same! Huzzah!

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Author's Note: Welcome to later. Anyway, I'm mushing the girl's days together like this because of several reasons.

Firstly, I don't plan to do any girl before their guy has shown up. Chiyo, not having a guy, is the obvious exception. As a result, the story of each girl has already been partially explored by the guy who tried to woo them beforehand, depending on their successes and failures. As a result, there is slightly less to write about for the girls than there is for the guys, making full-fledged chapters kind of hard.

Secondly, each pairing of girls works together in an important fashion for their chapter. For example, it would be weird to have Sakaki and Kagura's conversation during lunchtime without both of them being the focus of the story, and it would wind up being just another conversation that's repeated in two chapters. I didn't really want to do that any more than was utterly necessary.

Thirdly, I wanted to do a boy/girl/boy/girl alternation for these things because it's neat and I'm petty like that. As a result, I wound up squishing a lot of things. Oh, and the reason Sakaki plays kind of, well, second string to Kagura in this chapter is that Ryu didn't really have too much success with her, so most of her time's been spent with her friends being quiet and Sakakiesque.

In addition, I had a lot of random ideas bubbling around in my head, and since I usually alternate updates for this and my other fic, I wanted to get down all that good Sakaki and Kagura stuff before it was forgotten, as I'm kind of... well, not airheaded, but my mind holds information like a balloon with a hole in it. There are also some really random ideas that I kind of want to start up as stories, except I don't want to lose focus on the two I already have. I hate it when they don't fit in with the existing storylines, you know? I mean, like, yeah, it'd be fun to have something really crazy like, I don't know, Kimura's past or something, but I don't wanna get lost in a new story when I'm still lost in my current ones, yeah?

The author's note is now getting dangerously long, so I'm going to end it here.