Nice Guys Finish Last (An Azumanga Daioh Story)

House Keys

Chapter 8 – House key

At school, early in the morning

Sho walks alone, carrying some heavy looking "English" textbook

"Hey, Sho. Wait up."

Sho turns around and sees a determined looking Hyosuke running up to him

Sho nods

"Hey, I need a small favor from you."

Sho looks nervous, "What's up?"

Hyosuke smiles "I need to borrow the key to your parents guest house"

Sho shoots Hyosuke a curious look "What for?"

"I have a date with Ayumu and I want to be alone."

Sho's heart starts to beat faster, anxiety building up in his chest. The girl he fell in love with, was about to be used for sex and then cruelly dumped, but Sho had to do something to protect her.

"Yeah, well, I don't..." Sho trailed off

Hyosuke puts a hand on Sho's shoulder

"Come on man, this is really important. I mean, tonight could be the big night, you know?" Hyosuke practically begged

Sho sighs, knowing that there is no way to stop him

"Ok, I'll give you the key tonight at magnatron."

Hyosuke playfully punches Sho in the arm "Great! Thanks man, you're really saving my butt tonight!"

Hyosuke jogs off, practically walking on air

Sho had to think of something quick, he refused to let his beloved Ayumu be hurt by his "Friends" actions

That night, at a Magnatron Burger

Sho and Daniel are sitting together and playing cards in the cafeteria

Daniel starts to shuffle the deck, a nervous look in his eye

Sho watches, looking hopeful

Hyosuke enters the room, causing Sho to glance out the corner of his eye at him

"Here he comes" Sho says softly

Daniel nods

"Hey, what's shakin'?" Hyosuke says, in his cool demeanor

Daniel flashes Hyosuke a fake smile "How are you?"

Hyosuke nods

Sho gives Hyosuke a blank stare

"Hey, what's happening?"

Hyosuke snorted "You KNOW what's happening. Give it to me"

"Give you what?" Sho asked, confused

"Well, I believe we talked about a key to someone's guest house."

Sho sighs, disappointed "Oh...That"

Hyosuke cocked an eyebrow

"I looked all over, I couldn't find it."

Hyosuke's mouth drooped open, dumbfounded

"Didn't we look for it Daniel?"

Daniel nods

Hyosuke scowls

"Well, that's great." Hyosuke said sarcastically

"Thanks for telling me on time, now what am I supposed to do"

Sho and Daniel shrug

Hyosuke puts a hand on his chin

"Wait, Daniel. How about your grandmother's old house?"

"No way. That's been off limits since Konnor smoked dope and ate my sister's ant farm." Daniel said, laughing at the memory

"Guess you'll just have to call it off." Sho says, a slight hint of harshness in his voice

Out of options, Hyosuke blew Ayumu off, leaving her waiting at her house for him to pick her up but he never showed

The next morning, Miss Kurosawa's swim class, she gave them a free day, no lessons, just enjoy the pool for the period

Sho, Daniel and Hyosuke are in the pool, resting their chins against the ledge

Hyosuke has been giving his friends the silent treatment all day

Daniel looks up, and sees Ayumu and Tomo

"Hey guys, look who's here."

Ayumu and Tomo walk up to the guys, in tight, blue, one-piece swimsuits, showing off the curves of their bodies

Ayumu frowned at Hyosuke while Tomo was staring at Sho

"Hi, Sho" Tomo said, trying to sound sexy

Sho rolls his eyes and dodges her gaze

"Hi." Sho said,quietly, wanting to avoid the hyper girl

"What happened to you? I waited at my door til almost 11 o'clock for you! The Sandman would've gotten me if I stayed up any later!" Ayumu said sternly at Hyosuke, clearly hurt at being stood up

"What happened to me? What happened to you? I...I...I called you at least 10 times!" Hyosuke said defensively

"My phone never rang." Ayumu said, starting to feel happy that Hyosuke tried to contact her

"Really? Well you better get it checked then. I was worried about you baby." Hyosuke said with fake sympathy and concern

Ayumu shrugged "Well, we're gonna get some sun, you care to join us?"

"Sure. I'll be right there." Hyosuke said slyly, flashing his smile

Ayumu and Tomo sit on the bottom row of the bleachers

Hyosuke is able to jump out of the pool, with ease

Hyosuke then turns to Sho

"Come on, man. This may be your chance to impress Tomo. You know she's got the hots for you."

Sho nods and jumps out, like Hyosuke

Daniel attempts to re-create Sho and Hyosuke's move, but when he dives up, he immediately falls back down, unable to keep his large body up

Hyosuke and Sho sit on the row behind Tomo and Ayumu

Ayumu hands Hyosuke a bottle of lotion, and looks at Hyosuke with an eager smile

"Hyosuke, do you mind rubbing some sun tan lotion on my back?"

Hyosuke smiles and takes the bottle, squeezing some out in his hand and setting it down

Hyosuke rubs his hands together and massages Ayumu's back

Tomo looks at them, jealous wishing Sho would be doing that to her, While Sho was wishing he could do the same to Ayumu

Tomo swipes the lotion and shoves it in Sho's face

"Lotion. Back. Now."

Sho nods and reluctantly takes it and massages Tomo

"Thank you." Tomo said sweetly

After a couple minutes, Sho almost breaks down in tears when he looks over

Hyosuke and Ayumu are kissing, his hand on her lower back, slowly going down

iced