Azumanga Daioh: College Days

Chapter 1 - Fried Eel Burgers

At this particular point in time, Osaka found herself in a strange world amongst the clouds. She had no idea how she ended up there, but was more concerned about the clouds themselves.

"I thought clouds were... what was it?"
"Trans-loo-cent. Like see through!"
"So how come I'm standing on them?"

Osaka was so deeply enamored with the clouds that she almost didn't notice Chiyo-chan approaching her.

"Chiyo, what are you doing here?"
"Now that I think about it, how did I even get here?"

Chiyo remained silent.

"Can't ya hear me Chiyo?"

Chiyo remained completely still, and her eyes were locked in place and glassy looking.

"What's wrong with ya Chiyo?"
Osaka waved her hand in front of Chiyo's emotionless face.

A faint whispering could be heard emanating from Chiyo's two pigtails, which Osaka began to notice.

"What the..."

Osaka leaned closer, and it became obvious. Chiyo was being controlled by her pigtails!
They were somehow able to speak to her brain and control her...

"Don't worry, I'll save you Chiyo-chan!"
Osaka reached out to grab the two pigtails and yanked as hard as she could. They popped clean off, and Chiyo fell to the ground, motionless.

Osaka reeled back in horror of what she'd just accidentally done.

"I've... I've killed Chiyo-chan!"
Tears began to flow from her eyes.

"Waaaahhh... I'm sorry Chiyo!"

"Osaka."

The girl stopped crying, surprised.
"What the heck? Where did that come from..."

Osaka bent down to look at Chiyo's body more closely.

Chiyo's mouth began to move, almost spontaneously.

"Osakaaaa..."

"Waah!"
Frightened, Osaka jumped back from Chiyo's body. Chiyo's mouth began to open again, this time wider.

"OSAKA!"

"I don't know what's happening! What's wrong with ya Chiyo-chan!?"
Osaka began to cover her ears and close her eyes, attempting to roll into a ball.

"OSAKA!!!"

Osaka suddenly awoke to the sight of a woman in front of her.

"Young lady, I thought I told you to stop falling asleep while you're at the counter! If a customer had come in while you were sleeping, I swear I'd have your head..."

"I'm sorry mom... I just doze off sometimes."

"You better be thankful that I still let you work here. You can't keep falling asleep on the job."

Her mother then walked through the back of the restaurant up to the second floor.

Osaka's family lived together in a large apartment, with the first floor converted into a fast food restaurant.  Their main specialty was the "famous" unagi burger, a.k.a. grilled freshwater eel meat on a bun. Osaka didn't really like the unagi burger, on account of its heavy spicing job done by her father, who was the head cook.

The restaurant didn't often have many customers, but did have a select few regulars who came once or twice a week. Osaka had grown accustomed to seeing their faces, and quite liked theorizing about the type of people they could be. A lonely drifter, who spends his days traveling all across Japan... a sleazy insurance salesman, or maybe an office worker!

'They could be anything...' Osaka thought.

Osaka laid back in her chair and sighed. 

"This break has been as boring as ever... I'd almost rather be back at school."

The phone began to ring, which startled Osaka.

She picked up the phone.

"Hi, welcome to Tokyo's famous Unagi Burger, what can I get you today?" Osaka said, half asleep.

"Osaka, osaka! It's me Tomo! You're on break too, right?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I'm super bored already, even though it's only been one day... so I came up with a genius idea to totally cure our boredom!"

"Well what is it ?"

"Since Chiyo-chan is going to university in America, why don't we all go visit her? It'll be like a reunion, and maybe we could all bring a new friend from our schools, you know?"

"That sounds real fun, but also kind of expensive Tomo. Where the heck are we getting that kind of travel money?"

"Last year when all my relatives gave me money for my 18th birthday, I stashed it away to save for something important. We can just use that!"

"You sure? I would feel bad not paying..."

"Of course, don't worry Osaka. It's my treat! We've had a real long semester, don't you think we deserve a break?"

"I guess you're right. When were you thinking about us leaving?"

"How 'bout tomorrow? I still gotta call everybody else, you're the first one I called. "

"Sure, that works. Time to get packing I guess."

"Yeah, I'll leave you to that while I go call the others. See ya tomorrow!"

With that, Tomo hung up the phone. 

Osaka placed the phone back in its place and got out of her chair. 

"Dad, I'm going on a trip to go see Chiyo-chan tomorrow!" Osaka yelled across the kitchen.

"Chiyo-chan? Isn't she all the way in America?"

"Yeah, Tomo-chan got the money to get us a flight there."

"Wow. Well it's fine with me, just make sure you be careful! A lot of crime in that damn city..."

"I will dad... just please don't tell mom we're going to America, okay? Tell her we're on a beach trip or something."

"Alright, if I do that, then in exchange you have to take Eguchi-kun with you. He's your best friend of course, and besides, no criminal would want to mess with him!"

"Oh, alright then. I'll phone him up and get started with packing."

Osaka quickly ran back to the phone and dialed Eguchi's number. He quickly answered.

"Hello? Oh, Osaka, its just you. What's up?"

"Hi Eguchi, I wanted to invite you to come with me and some of my highschool friends on a trip to NYC. We're going to visit Chiyo-chan, my highschool best friend."

"Oh, really? Wow, that sounds great! But expensive too... how're you paying for all this?"

"Apparently Tomo saved up a ton of money for something like this. And before you ask, she's more than happy to pay for all of our expenses."

"Really? Well sure I'd like to come! Oh man, this is gonna be fun..."

"Great, just get packed and I'll call you tomorrow when we're almost to your house, okay?"

"Sure. Thanks Osaka!"

"It's no problem Eguchi. See you."

*CLICK*