*********************

Azuringu Dai-O!


Azumanga Daioh! is owned by Azuma Kiyohiko, Media Works
Ringu is owned by Koji Suzuki.
Ringu/The Ring, Asmik Ace, Dreamworks SKG.


*********************


---
Sunday, September 14
Day 3



"Aa, I can't believe this..."

Yomi looked up from her notes, just as a slight breeze ran through the 
sidewalk cafe called "Morgan's Pony House." A red-leafed tree rustled
around them, casting jigsaw shadows on the ground and tables. Breaking
free from its branch, one of the crimson leaves floated down from its
tree, coming down to rest on the bridge of Tomo's nose.

"What?" Yomi asked, sipping at her coffee.

Tomo blew the leaf upwards and caught it between index and 
forefinger. "We got four days left and we still don't know anything 
about this stupid video."

"Actually, I think I've figured out what we need to do now," Yomi 
corrected. "Listen, this is what we know so far."

Tomo shrugged, playing with the leaf by blowing it into the air again 
and again. Yomi frowned at her.

"First of all, whoever made this video is leaving a trail for us to follow. 
No one could make a video like that without expecting some kind of 
interpretation of the images. And from what we know, from the people 
that show up in the images, I figure he or she wants us in particular to 
decipher it."

Tomo yawned a bit, nodding away.

"Second, we know for a fact that the tape does something to you after 
seven days. We don't know what yet, but it involves something 'cute,' 
and it has already killed four people." She frowned. "We have to find 
out why Sakaki survived.

"Third, it's the images themselves. Starting with the cat creature in the 
playground..." She adjusted her eyeglasses. "Who do we know that kept 
fixating on that plush doll?"

"I dunno, Osaka?" Tomo blew on the leaf again.

"No, not Osaka. Sakaki." Yomi flipped through her notes. "That and 
Maya are too big to be coincidences; I think those images were meant 
specifically for her." She looked down at her notes. "Just like you and 
that cat suit from the festival, or Chiyo and the girl with the hiccups are 
for Osaka."

"Okay..."

"So maybe," Yomi continued, "the video itself is targeted at each one 
of us in particular. The trick is to figure out what our parts mean."

Tomo yawned again, but this time she breathed in too strongly and the 
leaf went flying straight down her throat. She gagged and coughed 
while Yomi just slapped her forehead and offered a cup of coffee.

"Gak. Eww." Tomo spat out in disgust. To wash away the taste, she 
quickly snatched Yomi's melon bread and coffee, gulping them down 
almost at the same time.

"Hey! That's mine!" Yomi protested.

"Huh?" Tomo stared at the half of the bread that remained. "Oooh, 
that's right! This is one of the first images, so it must be for you!" She 
stretched her arm back and close to the ground, dangling the bread from 
her fingers. "Yooooomiiiii... I waaaant you to eeeeeaaat me..." she said 
in a ghostly voice. "Ooonly that will saaaave you from the eeeeevil 
taaaaaape..."

"Hah-hah. I'm laughing," Yomi glared at her, then noticed something 
moving on the ground. "Hey, that's... HEY!"

But before Tomo could react, a familiar black cat had bitten into the 
melon bread and taken off running at lightning speed. Tomo fell off her 
chair and scowled.

"Damn it!" she clenched her fist and shook it vigorously. "You're not 
getting away with that!" And then she sped away in hot pursuit.

"Tomo! Tomo!" Yomi stood up at the table, frustrated at Tomo's flighty 
mind. "Oh, dammit!" she slammed a few yen notes on the table and 
joined the chase.

An ordinary housecat would normally be no match for a young college 
student, not when it came to a flat-out dash through the town's back 
streets and alleys. Kamineko, however, was the farthest thing from an 
ordinary housecat. He zipped through the streets like a cat-eared bullet, 
almost letting himself get caught but coming up with bursts of speed at 
the last second. And Tomo just kept right on his tail, unaware that the 
feline was playing with her.

With the grace that stood for all cats worldwide, Kamineko smoothly 
leapt onto a garbage can, a fence, and finally a telephone pole, 
ricocheting off it and onto a fence on the other side of the street. Unable 
to stop, Tomo merely opted for jumping onto the can and crushing the 
lid, wiping her face on the side of the fence, and getting her sleeve 
stuck on the pole's climbing pins --which caused her to spin on her axis 
and fall flat on her back. When she caught up, Yomi instantly thought 
that Tomo had tried to wrestle a Mazda.

"Little help...?" a faint voice called from the ground. Yomi rolled her 
eyes and pulled Tomo out of the spilled garbage, freeing her sleeve 
from the pole in the process. "Lousy cat, thinking he can beat me!" 
Tomo winced. A dark and swift object caught her eye. "Aha!" she 
pointed at the evil-looking cat that grinned at her further down the 
street. "There you are!"

Kamineko shook as if laughing, then took the bread into his mouth and 
ran away once more. Tomo did the predictable thing and followed.

"Not again, Tomo, wait!" Yomi yelled after her, just as they entered a 
small park. "It's just a stupid piece of bread!"

"Not anymore! That cat owes me my honor!" Tomo retorted, peeling 
half a squashed banana off her shoulder. "He's going under that shade! 
I'm gonna get him, I'm gonna get him... TOOU!"

Just as Tomo pounced on the cat, he made an instant left turn and 
avoided the attack. Tomo noticed this at the last second and realized too 
late that she had been led into a trap.

"Wai-wait no, NO!" she cried as she dove headfirst into a playground's 
massive pit of multicolored balls. The makeshift roof that covered it 
shook ever so slightly.

"Tomo!" Yomi cried after her. "You all right?"

"Waaah! Waaah!" the other girl yelped in panic. "Get me out! Get me 
out!"

Yomi grabbed hold of one of the flailing hands, "Hold still! You're 
going to pull me in there!" Then, unbidden, came the image of Yukari 
swan-diving into the ball pit in the video. For just a moment, Yomi 
froze in her place, letting go of Tomo and dropping her back inside.

"Uwaaaaaaaaah!" 

"Ah! Tomo!" Yomi finally fished her out of the pit, laying Tomo down 
on the ground beside it. The shorter girl breathed heavily for a second, 
eyes closed, the same image of the video also echoing in her mind.

Then Tomo opened her eyes, and screamed again, pointing at the sky. 
"YAAAAAAAAH!"

Yomi winced and looked upwards. A lazy cloud drifted by... shaped 
exactly like Sakaki's famous orange cat. The recoil in Yomi's mind 
knocked her onto the ground.

"C-calm down!" Yomi leaned over Tomo and shielded her view of the 
sky. Then they both froze as they heard a sound not unlike, "Ip!"

Both of them turned slowly to the side. They stared at the long-haired 
little girl that was walking by, hiccups shaking her body.

"AAAAAAH!" Tomo pointed and screamed.

A group of children also walked by, singing and happily munching on 
their cotton candy.

"IYAAAAAAAAAAARGH!"

"S-shut up, dammit!" Yomi stood up, pulling Tomo along. "Quiet 
down!" When Tomo wouldn't stop screaming, Yomi reared back, 
opened her hand, and slapped her so hard she spun three times before 
falling down.

"OW!" Tomo nursed her poor cheek. "What'd you do that for?"

"You were screaming like crazy!" Yomi yelled back.

"Well, what do you say to that!" Tomo pointed at the ball pit. Almost 
on cue, a little girl in white and with long hair covering her face pulled 
herself out of the pit. Yomi and Tomo stared in shock. Then the girl 
brushed her hair back and happily went off to her mother. The two girls 
went slack in relief.

"Stupid, stupid video!" Tomo bellowed to the skies. "You don't scare 
me! I don't believe in you!" She clenched her fists and threw a couple 
of punches at the air. "C'mon! Try your worst!"

"Tomo..." Yomi tried to pacify her.

Tomo continued ranting, "Think you're too tough 'cause you took down 
Sakaki-chan! Well, you're not gonna get me! Nyeaaaah!"

Just a few yards away, a group of children that had been drawing on the 
ground simultaneously finished their work. They grinned, and let out a 
cheerfully sweet, "It's done!"

Tomo fell over.

"The video is now stuck in our minds." Yomi narrowed her eyes, 
grimacing at the shock etched on Tomo's face. "If it follows us around 
like this, we might not last the seven days."



*********************

Azuringu Dai-O!

End of Day 3
Four days left

*********************







Jorge A. Pratt
jorgepratt@prodigy.net.mx
terbril@rocketmail.com