Ah, so I got a bit carried away with this chapter. So it's a bit long, I think. I just thought this chapter was really fun to write for some reason.

Disclaimer: Nope, don't own Azumanga Daioh or it's characters. You can ask me all you like, but the answer will always remain no.

There were only two major differences she found between elementary school and junior high school. One was that she now wore a uniform everyday, which she hated. She felt exposed in a skirt. On the first day of her junior high career, she put up a great fight to get out going to school because of the skirt. Not only was it really short, but it was an ugly brown color. The other difference was that her popularity had increased significantly.

As soon as she joined the swimming team of her school, she was instantly recognized as the star of the team. It also helped that she excelled at other sports too. As she walked to her home room class after changing her shoes, a girl, possibly a seventh grader, girl appeared in front of her and timidly handed her a shaking envelop. "Um...it's from my friend..."

"Oh," was the simple reply. She grabbed the envelop that read "Kagura-san" in neat hand writing. "Thank you." She put it in her bag, where she had also put the three letters she found in her shoe locker that morning, and continued on her way to class. At first she found it embarrassing to find the letter because all they ever said was either "I love you" or "You're so cool", but she had gotten used to it over the last two years since she entered the school. She went to class.

She sat at her desk and put her head down. Even though she was very popular she didn't really talk to anyone, though she wasn't antisocial. She suddenly remembered the whole reason she had gone to school early. Getting up, she walked up to a group of three girls who had taken a very big interest in her. "Good morning."

"Ah," the smallest one of the group jumped off the desk she was sitting on. "Kagura-san good morning to you. How was your summer break?"

Another girl, Rin, spoke up. "It's been a whole month since I've seen you. I wanted to go and watch you train, but I went to Hokkaido with my family. You have a nice tan this year."

Kagura looked at her darkened arms. "You think? Thanks. As you can tell, all I really did was train."

The third girl was taller than her friends and was possibly the only American transfer student in the school. They had to admit, she spoke Japanese very well. "You're so committed to your swimming, it's very admirable of you."

Kagura nodded. "Thank you Emi-chan."

The tall girl turned her friends. "You hear that? Emi-chan," she said in a bragging manner.

"All it means is that she views you as a child," the smallest girl responded.

"Don't be jealous Kaiya."

The small girl then turned to Kagura. "So why are you here so early in the morning? I was expecting you to get so side tracked with your morning run that you'd forget you had school today. Kind of like last year."

"Oh, I have a favor to ask."

"Well, if it's for you, we'll happily do anything." The other two girls nodded in agreement.

"Well, you see, I was so busy with training this past month that I forgot to do most of my homework. I wondering if I could copy yours?"

"What subjects," Kaiya asked.

"Let's see...history, math, and English."

Rin let out a small laugh. "Kagura, you always pick the most convenient subjects to copy from us. You can borrow my math homework, Emi's English homework and Kaiya's history. Those are our best subjects after all."

"Awesome. You guys are the greatest." Kagura felt a little bad for taking advantage of their fixation on her to copy their homework, but she needed to pass her classes somehow. She figured she could do her homework herself, but she needed to focus on her athletics. Plus, school work was boring.

zzZzz

I'm home," she called as she entered the house. She walked into the kitchen, where her mother always was when she arrived home from school.

Her mother drew her attention away from the pot of rice she was attending to and looked at her daughter. "Yu-chan, how was school today?"

She smiled at the nickname given to her by her mother. At home, she was "Yu-chan" but at school she was "Kagura-san." She hardly ever heard her first name at school. "It was alright."

"What did you do?"

Kagura walked over to her mom and leaned on the stove, watching as the rice boiled. "Same thing I always do. Sleep and dream of being somewhere else."

Her mom gently tapped her arm. "You're going to burn yourself if you lean any closer."

"What are you making?"

"Meshi."

"That's it?"

"It's for the kamameshi I'm going to cook. Now what's this about going to sleep in class? You'll never make the grades to make into that high school."

Kagura laughed a little. "I'm just kidding mom. And plus, if my grades aren't good enough, they'll take me for my athletics at least. I've heard they're in desperate need of swimmers."

"Yu-chan," she pointed the spoon in her hand her daughter. "You're a good swimmer yes, but that's not all they look at. They look at grades, and if they're not good enough they don't let you in. It's as simple as that." There was a sudden scream followed by loud crying. "Go be a good sister and take care of your brother while I cook."

"Alright." Kagura began walking out of the kitchen, but stopped. "By the way mom. I'm not a good swimmer, I'm a great swimmer."

Her mom flung some rice at her. "Get out of here."

zzZzz

Kagura opened the door to the room where the crying was coming from. There she found her little brother, Uehara, who had been born two years before, standing in his crib. "Hara-kun, you little poop machine, all you do is cry." Uehara quieted as he heard his sister's voice. "You know, you're two and you're still sleeping in a crib and wearing diapers. When I was your age, I had my own bed and was potty trained." Uehara shook the bars on his crib. "But then again, I wasn't trying to escape and pooping every five seconds."

"Out," he said.

Kagura crouched so that they were at eye level. "You want to get out?" He nodded. "Well too bad." His face scrunched up, as if he was about to cry again. "I'm only kidding Hara-kun. You're too serious." She picked him up and placed him on the floor. "Hey, want to watch me play video games?"

"Video games!"

"I take it that's a 'yes'. I might let you play, if promise not to drool over the controller like last time. Is it a deal?" She stuck out her hand toward him, he grabbed it, and she shook. She tried to pull her hand away, but he held on to it. She kneeled down. "You got to get out of the habit of holding my hand."

All he did was wrap his arms around her neck and say "Up!"

"No, no. I'm not carrying you. I was hoping to race you to my room."

Then began his whiney chant. "Up! Up! Up! Up!"

"Alright, alright." She stood and began walking to her room.

zzZzz

"Mom, how much longer til the food is ready?"

"About an hour. Why?...Where's Uehara?"

Kagura sat down next to her mother on the couch. "He's asleep. I just wanted to know how long I have to run today."

"Oh, that reminds me. While you're out, will you buy some orange juice. There's none left. And you know Uehara doesn't eat anything unless he has his orange juice."

"Sure thing. I might as well go now. Bye mom." She got up and left the house.

"Bye," her mom yelled as she walked out the door. "And be careful."

zzZzz

She ran. Her breathing even, her legs easily carrying her along, and her body at a semi-even temperature. She reached the end of the block, stopped and looked back at the span of ten house behind her. She wondered how it was ever hard for her to reach the end. But that was four years ago, when she wasn't as athletic as she was now. And plus, the block was uphill. She continued on until she reached the grocery store.

She waited outside for a few minutes to allow her body time to cool down because she heard it was bad to go into a cold place right after you exercised. And it was always cold in the store. As she walked inside, she was hit with a gust of cool air. I knew it. Wasting no time, she made her way to the juice section.

"It's so high up." The juice her mother had requested was at the top self. "I'll never reach that myself unless I climb the shelves..." Then she looked around to see if anyone was nearby and started climbing. She was at the fourth shelf when she heard someone walking up behind her. She looked over shoulder and was met by a tall, busty girl. She was at eye level with her only because she was suspended in the air by the shelves. Whoa! She's taller than Emi-chan! And Emi-chan's American. Is she a high school student? The girl gave her an awkward look. "Oh sorry. You're just really tall...Uh...could you..." All the girl did was nod and reach over Kagura's head to grab the orange juice. Kagura jumped down and retrieved the orange juice. "Thanks."

The girl walked away. And two other girls appeared as she left. "Was that Sakaki-san," one asked.

"Who cares? Now you owe me juice. I want-"

The taller one, with glasses and brown hair said, "I shouldn't even owe you anything."

The shorter one with black hair responded, "I beat you at Tetris."

"Because you cheated and switched the controls when I wasn't looking."

"Excuses, excuses." The shorter girl saw Kagura standing watching them. She gasped, pointed her finger and yelled, "YOU!" Kagura jumped and frantically looked around to see if she was the one being pointed at.

The glasses wearing girl knocked her friend's finger down and hit her on the head. "Don't go scaring strangers Tomo! And what do you mean 'you'?"

Tomo looked up at her friend. "I don't know. She looks familiar." She looked back at Kagura. "Hey, you go to our school?"

Kagura was flustered. She was sure she had never seen these girls before, but they did look familiar. "...I don't know."

"She probably doesn't. She probably goes to the school down the street, right," the taller girl said. Kagura nodded. "Told you. Sorry to bother you." She looked back at the juices. "Now hurry up and pick one. I don't see why we couldn't buy juice from a vending machine. This is more expensive."

"Exactly, Yomi. I want you to spend as much money possible on me," Tomo said with an evil laugh. Kagura took this as a sign to leave.

zzZzz

Kagura sat on a bench outside the store drinking a glass water she got from the vending machine. She had some time before she had to be home had decided to just enjoy the quiet. That is, until it was disturbed by some loud shouting. It was the short haired girl...Tomo, was it?...and her friend...Yomi, I think. They were talking to the tall girl from before. Sasaki?...Saki?...I don't remember her name. To be more accurate, the small girl was the one talking, and she wasn't really talking so much as she was yelling. "Hey, you and me are going to race!"

A thought hit Kagura's head. Oh...now I know where they're from. The pool. I started swimming because I had fun racing her. I should thank her...but she looks busy. She checked her watch. And I got to go home. Kagura stood up and began her journey home.

At first Tomo and Yomi didn't make a cameo appearance in this chapter, since they're in the last one. But they worked their way into it. Damn them! Haha. Either way, it did work out for the better good.