Author's Notes: Sorry about the delay between updates, I've been mildly distracted. Anyway, I don't own Azumanga Daioh, although it'd be really cool if I did.
Today, we've got Genji, the impromptu leader of the group! How will he fare? Well, Tomo did say yes during Kagura and Sakaki's chapter, so... let's see how he got her to do that!
Read, enjoy, and review, folks. Try to do it in that order. It'd be pretty weird if you did it in any other order.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The flame roared into existence, dancing in the sheer glee of simply being. Fire reveled in its sudden freedom, reaching up towards the sky in order to best show off its glory, to best reveal to the world how amazing it was. It raced up, prideful, and smacked right into a metal plate.
No matter, the fire itself may have been blunted, but the heat that formed its heart was still racing up through the iron and proclaiming its glory. The burning heart would never not be stopped. No one could ever deny its glory!
Genji flipped the switch and watched as the flame on his stove winked out of existence. He ate breakfast quickly and dashed off to join his friends. Today, today he too had an undeniable destiny to fulfill.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"So, who'd you get?"
Genji glanced around at his friends, then pulled out his piece of paper.
"Takino."
"Ha! She's in Chiyo's group, if you know what I mean." said Sho.
"Yeah, you would be interested in girls in Chiyo's group, wouldn't you, Sho?" teased Marion.
"Hey, this conversation's not about me, it's about..."
"Tomo Takino. The..." said Marion, suddenly remembering Genji.
"Notorious campus berserker dumbass." continued Ryu.
"Hey, she can't be that bad." said Genji. "I mean, her nickname is wildcat, right? Maybe she's a wildcat everywhere, if you get my drift."
Ken decided to stop this train of thought before it got too far. "I doubt that her friends would give her a nickname based on her performance in bed. I mean, sure, it'd be fun to think of them as lesbians, but what are the odds? Besides, I think you might be getting a little bit ahead of yourself, Genji."
"Yeah, I suppose I am."
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The five boys trickled into Yukari's classroom, which was busying itself with not starting in sheer defiance of the approaching bell. Genji wasted no time in spotting his mark.
Tomo was sitting with Yomi, chatting about something or the other.
Yomi, eh? Ken got Yomi, so... I'll get Ken.
Ken was looking at the pair as well, probably thinking about how to approach them. 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!"
"What do you want, Genji?"
"Talk to them!"
"You talk to them!"
"Quit being so stubborn and just talk."
"... fine." Ken shrugged.
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?"
Wonderful! If Ken can simply be so wonderfully boring, then I can look like a master linguist by comparison! It'll look like I'm a paragon of eloquence, and Tomo'll immediately be impressed with me!
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.
Is that it? That's... that's all I get? No reaction? Hm... maybe I should try asking her about herself.
"So anyway, Tomo, what kind of music do you like?"
No response.
"Nice hair, by the way."
No response.
"Y'think Ken and Yomi are hitting it off?"
No response.
In his frustration, Genji lost focus and actually heard a little bit of Ken and Yomi's conversation. "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." said Yomi, exasperated.
Hey, there's an opportunity if I ever saw one!
"I could see that." said Genji, grinning.
No response.
Genji sighed, wondering what exactly it was that Tomo found so fascinating about Yomi and Ken's rather dull conversation, but eventually abandoned that train of thought.
Ah, damnit.I should've asked Ryu for a poem or something. Perhaps he could've come up with someth-
"STOP WHAT YOU'RE DOING! CLASS STARTS NOW!" shouted Yukari, quashing all conversation in the room. Genji felt no loss.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yukari's class went by fairly regularly. Genji spent a lot of time musing about exactly how to get Tomo's attention.
Oh, hell. She's not exactly the most attentive girl, yeah? So I can't really just rush at her and expect her to pay any attention to me. I've got to do something outstanding to get her attention. I've gotta be amazing, but... what exactly can I do? I c-
"Objection!' shouted Tomo. "Yukari, I've got to say that I find that previous statement utterly and completely objectionable! Absolutely despicable, you know?"
"Oh, how so?" asked the teacher.
"It's so despicable that it tears at the roots of my very being, Yukari! I mean, it almost causes me physical pain."
"I can only hope."
"I mean, Yukari, you can't be seriously serious about that! It's a crime against mankind, it is!"
"And this whole time you've simply voiced your dislike of it, Tomo. What, exactly, do you find objectionable?"
"I... uh... erm..."
"Nothing, eh?" said Yukari. The teacher turned towards the chalkboard and reached for a piece of chalk that was too small to write with, a grin sneaking its way almost imperceptibly onto her face.
This is my chance! thought Genji.
"Hold it!" shouted Genji. "Tomo's point is quite the solid one, and she should not be punished simply because she cannot find the words for them!"
"It is?" asked Tomo.
"If it is," said Yukari, still not turning around, "then would you please tell me why the phrase 'Excuse me, sir, but I would like to pick up our baggage tomorrow," is objectionable?"
Shit!
The projectiles sailed through the air imperceptibly fast. The chalk missiles pulverized themselves against the foreheads of their intended targets, and without missing a beat Yukari returned to her lesson.
As Genji fell back to his seat, his head rang from the force of the impact.
That's it!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
P.E. was mellow that day, but Genji couldn't talk to Tomo. As a matter of fact, the only boy who'd actually managed to talk to his girl during P.E. was Sho. Instead, Genji and his friends discussed strategies for the latter half of the day.
"Yeah, so I haven't really had much luck so far." he said.
"Not much luck? Genji, this morning, Tomo didn't even give you a second glance," said Ken. "You aren't simply doing bad, you're failing magnificently."
"Hey, hey, I've got a plan, you know. It struck me in the middle of Yukari's class."
"Several things struck you during Yukari's class."
"Shut up. Anyway, you see, Ken, the only way to get with a girl is to get her to notice you."
"Oh, you're already on shaky ground, then."
"Shut up. I'm gonna do something dazzling! You've gotta be breathtaking, yeah? You've gotta be stellar! You've gotta be... you get the point, yeah?"
"Yeah, yeah, I got the point. You've gotta be something or the other, that's what they all say. It's a shame I'm so damned normal, eh?"
"Yeah, yeah, well, you gotta deal with what you're dealt! You've got to find the girl's weak spot and hit it to ensure success. You know, kind of like a crab, eh? Then, when you get the weak spot, you can reach the sweet, succulent me-"
"Your analogy was flawed to begin with, but now I'm definitely going to have to stop it."
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Genji grinned. So far, today hadn't been going well. In fact, that's a hell of an understatement. So far, today had been going horribly. Tomo turned out to be far more difficult than he'd anticipated, and so he'd done... well, badly. Really badly. But now, now, things were about to change.
He grabbed the boom-box from his locker, checked the disc, and grinned. He checked the disc and stifled a laugh, then went off.
He may have been thwarted so far, but it would take more than that to stop him. He tapped Tomo on the shoulder and grinned at her.
"Hey, Tomo, I've got something to show you." he said, simply. He then walked down the hallway, deciding that less is more in certain cases and that the air of mystery would add a good bit of allure towards this next bit.
He glanced over his shoulder a few times, to make sure Tomo was following him. She was.
He stopped at a spot chosen entirely arbitrarily and placed the boom-box on the floor. He glanced over to Tomo, grinned, and tapped his foot on the boom-box once, then slid the volume up to the maximum level.
A church bell rang out a dreary note, and Genji closed his eyes.
Then the song started. Aerodynamic played in all of its energetic glory, and Genji danced. He danced and danced, not bothering to open his eyes and watch for people, or for walls, or for... anything. Today he was going to form his destiny, today he would declare his existence in defiance of the world! Today, he would dance, today he would define this hallway, and anyone nearby would have to get out of the way, because Genji wasn't going to abide anyone's will but his own. Today he would shine brilliantly in his independence, and Tomo Takino would have no choice but to notice!
The first part of the song finished, and the church bell rang out again. Genji paused, listening to the crowd.
"Is it over?" asked an unfamiliar voice.
"No, 'fraid not." replied Sho.
Bastard.
Aerodynamic started up again, and Genji danced. He refused to be afraid. Walls did not exist anymore, there was no need to worry about running into them. He simply knew that there could be no obstacles to his pursuit today, and so he danced. He moved as though he knew that he could never find obstruction. Genji lost himself in the music.
Eventually, the music stopped. Genji fell to his knees and listened.
One pair of hands was clapping somewhere in the darkness. Genji turned to it, opened his eyes, and looked towards the source of applause, smiling.
"Brayh-voe! Brayh-voe!" said Osaka, grinning.
"Erm, Osaka, I think it's pronounced Bravo." said Sho.
"Oh."
"O...saka? But... where's... Tomo?" asked Genji, slightly out of breath and very much disappointed.
"Oh, she went off somewhere, I'm not entirely sure where." said Osaka. "Probably playing with Yomi or somethin'. Those two always have so much fun together."
Genji sagged, defeated, and wandered outside. He found the school dumpster and tossed his boom-box into it.
Why didn't that work? It... it should have worked! Maybe... maybe I'm going about it the wrong way. I'll just... I'll just ask her directly!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kimura's class was somehow... boring to Genji today. Well, boring was probably the wrong word. Today, he simply couldn't focus on Kimura's class. Perhaps it was the head trauma from Yukari's chalk missiles, but today Kimura's class passed by without Genji giving it a second thought.
As the bell approached, however, the class dissolved and the students started to chatter amongst themselves. Kimura usually ended his lessons early, presumably to afford himself a few minutes to ogle the girls as they tried their hardest to not remember where they were.
Genji leapt on this opportunity, and went up to Tomo.
"Tomo, would you like to be my girlfriend?" he asked, simply.
Tomo ignored him.
Ah, damn. Defeated.
Genji sighed, but a few seconds later, Tomo replied. "Hoy! Genji! I've thought about it, and I totally accept and stuff, yeah? You and I, boyfriend, girlfriend, that sort of thing."
Genji grinned. "Really?"
"Really!"
The bell rang, and everyone started to drift off, heading for home.
He caught Ryu on his way out of the classroom and stopped him momentarily.
"She said yes!" cried Genji.
"Hmm? What?"
"Ryu, Tomo said yes to me! Haha!"
"Congratulations."
Genji reveled in his victory for a bit. He considered running out to the dumpster, finding his boom-box, and dancing again, but decided against it. He watched Chihiro and Ryu run past him, and he grinned. Things were good, after all.
He glanced down the hallway and saw Ken. Genji was just about ready to run towards him and declare his good cheer in the most obnoxious way he could think of, but Tomo ran past Ken and went up to Genji.
"Hoy, Genji!"
"Yes, Tomo?"
"We're done! I'm bored of you, so... seeya." With that, she ran back to join her friends. As she reached them, she cast a glance over her shoulder, looking past Ken and at Genji, grinning.
Genji slumped to the floor and didn't even notice the girl who walked up to him. She tapped him on the shoulder and grinned at him as he glanced up, looking at the pretty face framed by braids.
"You... you told me this was a good idea!" he shouted at her. "You said that good times were to be had if I could just convince my friends to try to go out with those girls! Happiness to be derived from it, and... and everything. You said that this was something that god wanted to happen! So why... why'd it all go wrong?"
"What do you mean, why did it all go wrong?' asked the girl with the braids. "You're acting like I'm god, or something. I can be wrong too, you know? Besides, who's to say what's wrong or right? It's all... perception, yeah?"
Genji stood up and glanced out the window, noticing Sho walking in a direction that wasn't the way home for him.
At least one of us had some success. Go show her what for, Sho.
With that though, he slumped back to the floor and sat there, looking around for the girl with the braids. She'd vanished as suddenly as she'd appeared. Genji decided to simply vegetate on the floor for a while.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Author's Notes: Yeah! Only a few more chapters to go until this one's over, but hey, it's been fun so far. This chapter's actually the hardest to write for me, as it has to fit into all the previous chapters but still be original, somewhat. The problem, of course, was that Genji was somewhat accounted for in previous chapters already, whereas everyone else still had somewhat clean slates to work with. You'd think that by this logic, Sho's chapter would be the hardest by far, but he spends an awful lot of time with Osaka instead of with his friends, so his chapter should be cake by comparison.
Next up! Tomo/Yomi's chapter. After that Sho's chapter, and then maybe an Osaka chapter if I can think of enough things to distinguish it from the Sho chapter.
In somewhat related news, I acquired the Yotsubato image album. Is it... weird to want to hug music? Because that's what I get from listening to it. Somehow, I wanna reach out and hug the sound, you know? How is this related? Well, it's cheerfully adorable, and so it should help me get into the right mood for writing! Kyah!
Be sure to click that little thing in the bottom left corner that says "Write a Review" and then do that. I like hearin' your thoughts, you know, because after all this time writing things, it's nice to read what people think about them. Comments of any kind can always be used to make improvements in future chapters. Even if you think you're just making a frivolous comment, trust my creativity to turn it into a help on the next chapter!
For example, "Hey, Lire, I rather liked so-and-so bit of this chapter, even though it really can't come back in future chapters." Well, then I could try to remember what I was thinking when I wrote so-and-so bit, and bring you something that's inspired in a similar fashion but totally new! You'll like it, so plop a few reviews my way.