Sakka Kara MESSEEJI (A Word From The Author)
I'm kind of getting confused about the pairings as you proceed. - HimeISM
In case anybody else is getting confused about the pairings (I'm not immune--it happened to me while reading "Nyamo the Player") the major pairings are:
Kagura/Osaka (main pairing)
Tomo/Yomi (later)
Sakaki/Chiyo-chan (shimai/sisters, as mentioned in my profile)
Hope that helps:)
The Azumanga Daioh girls were standing at Manzamo Beach--or
rather, at the cliff that overlooks said beach.
Chiyo-chan leaned on the guard rail, both scared and
fascinated by the ocean far below--50 metres below, in
fact, according to Yomi's ever-useful guidebook.
Gazing at Nago Bay far below, Chiyo-chan didn't notice Tomo
sneaking up behind her.
"Tomo?" Chiyo-chan looked down. "Why are you grabbing my--"
Tomo grabbed Chiyo-chan's short legs and picked her up.
"Look, Chiyo-chan! Look over the side! You're so tall!
You're SOOOO tall!"
"Tomo! Put Chiyo-chan down!"
"Yes, Yukari-chan..."
"If she falls into the ocean...well..."
"Yeah...that WOULD be bad."
"Especially for me, 'cause I'M your teacher, and I'D get
blamed for it!"
Tomo sweatdropped.
After that "Nagowan Jiken" (Nago Bay Incident), the girls
descended from Manzamo Cliff, with Chiyo-chan sticking by
Sakaki's side the entire way down.
They arrived at the beaches of Nago Bay without further
incident, save Tomo's discovery of an Okinawa tree lizard.
Tomo excitedly showed the others her latest cool find.
Yukari: "WHOA! COOL!"
Yomi: "Tomo put that down! You don't know where that's
been!"
Kagura: "Tomo put that down! It might be poisonous!"
Osaka: "Aahhh! That thing's evil! It's worse than Chiyo-
chan's pigtails!"
Chiyo-chan: "Osaka, are you still on that? I'm getting
worried...Sakaki, help me..."
Sakaki: "That lizard's not cute. Get behind me, Chiyo-
chan."
Tomo: "Spoilsports." And she released the lizard, which
took off running, with one backward glance at Tomo as it
left.
Ahem. Back to the beaches. Yukari stood before the group
and announced that the day's activity would be sensui
(diving).
After they all changed into their wetsuits, Sakaki said, "I
wonder what kind of fish we'll see?"
"Well, what would you LIKE to see?" asked Chiyo-chan.
For that, Tomo, Yukari, and Kagura already had a range of
fish they wanted to see--on their plates!
"Ebi!" (Shrimp!)
"Tai!" (Red snapper!)
"Hirame!" (Flatfish!)
"Saba!" (Mackerel!)
"Sanma!" (Pike!)
But Osaka's answer surprised them all.
"Ikura!" (Salmon roe!)
"Why do you want salmon?" asked Kagura. "We just HAD salmon
last week. Remember? You came over and I made dinner for
us? You DO remember, right?"
"Of course I remember," Osaka answered contentedly. "Ahh,
that salmon was tasty..."
"Osaka went to Kagura's house?" thought Chiyo-chan. "Guess
they were studying together or something..."
"...and that's why I want salmon," Osaka finished her
latest tangent.
"Huh?" thought Chiyo-chan, who once again had missed the
middle part of Osaka's ramblings.
"I see," said Kagura. "Anyway, this is Okinawa! Try
something more exotic!"
"Look over there," said Osaka, and pointed to...a salmon
swimming in the water.
"That's just a salmon, not salmon roe."
"I'm hungry too!" announced Osaka, pulling the wetsuit's
hood over her head. "Excuse me while I grab some lunch,"
she said before strapping on the breathing apparatus and
stepping into the water.
In response, Kagura pushed Osaka into the water, yelling,
"Tag! You're it!"
Osaka splashed gracefully into the bay, swimming round and
round to show her approval before making a long, loping
turn into deeper water to chase that salmon.
Kagura, the more athletic one, quickly put on her own hood
and breathing apparatus before diving into the water after
Osaka.
The two of them quickly swam out to deeper water where the
salmon (now more than one) were swimming.
"Osaka and Kagura sure have been spending a lot of time
together lately," thought Chiyo-chan. "They must be having
a lot of fun in Okinawa."
And with that, Chiyo-chan (the only one in the group who'd
ever been diving before) strapped on her headgear and
submerged herself in the water. The rest followed suit.
Chiyo-chan noticed that the cobalt waters seemed to loosen
up Osaka's joints--she showed more flexibility in the water
as she and Kagura played a lively game of underwater tag.
Tomo swam around with a hot dog, attracting the attention
of several clownfish, which began to circle around her hand
and nibble at the hot dog.
"Whoa! You brutes!" Tomo quickly swam away. "Gotta save
some for Chiyo-chan..."
Tomo swam over to Chiyo-chan and quickly mashed the hot dog
in her hands...
Back on shore, Chiyo-chan glared at Tomo, mouth tightly
closed.
"Whoa, Chiyo-chan, what's wrong?" asked Yomi.
Chiyo-chan opened her mouth and spit a mixture of seawater
and hot dog onto Tomo's wetsuit.
"A-ha-ha-ha..." Tomo laughed nervously.
"I'm not EVEN gonna ask," said Yomi, walking back to the
wetsuit rental shop.