I had seen it… The vacant eyes, the hanging, hanging… what was hanging? I remember running. I remember my worry. I was out of breath. Why was I running?

Wait… wait! I, I was running for my friend. I have a friend! Best friend! A best friend! A boy—or was it a girl… A girl, a girl, yes. God, my head. No, focus. Her name. Her name. Her name! Her name! Her name! Her name! Her name! S-s-s-s-s-s-shizuka? No, it's S-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-aaagggghhhh!

"Hey, hello."

What?

"Hello, hello, wake up."

My eyes focused and I found a light hand was shaking me. A girl with pink hair. She had an annoyed look on her face. "What happened?" Natsuki asked.

"Oh, I must have fallen asleep."

"With your eyes opened?"

"Must have drifted off." I rubbed my eyes and looked around. I was still inside the literature club. Yuri sat at a corner, her nose deep in a book, though I could swear I saw her head move as if she had been staring. Monika still hadn't come yet.

"Monika's not back, is she?"

"Yeah, she isn't," Natsuki said, crossing her hands above her head. "She must be playing the piano."

"Weird that her class lasts so long."

"Well, whatever. It is not like we will do anything other than showing our poems," Natsuki said rolling her eyes. "After all, she must be having lots of fun with her friends."

I caught a hint of jealousy in Natsuki's voice. It was easy to see. She was pouting.

"Monika cares for us too, Natsuki."

"I-I never said she didn't!" Natsuki said, blushing.

Natsuki's loud voice made Yuri's eyes bore into Natsuki's back. I felt a certain chill up my spine. When her eyes fell on me, I gave an apologetic smile. In an instant, Yuri's eyes lost the edge and she smiled. She went back to her book without a word.

Meanwhile, Natsuki didn't seem to notice and was trying her hardest to show what she was meaning was not what she meant.

"I didn't mean to say she does not care," Natsuki started, pouting. "She's the club president. She should be on time."

I nodded. Natsuki was right. Monika had been late for two days in a row. It was pretty weird behavior for Monika. She always was punctual since the time I knew her. I wondered if this was for the school festival which was coming in a few days.

"You really like the club, don't you, Natsuki?"

"What—of course, I do, you dummy!" Natsuki said. "Don't you?"

I laughed. "Me too. Me too."

I knew Natsuki liked the club. After all, she had made cupcakes for everybody. I remembered what had happened yesterday.

"Just… Everyday… is… so… hard. I just… want to come to club and…"

I asked her that time, but she wouldn't say, so I didn't push it. But, I wanted to cause it broke my heart to see her cry. There was no denying that Natsuki could be annoying and quite rude at times, but she was my friend.

"I didn't mean to take it out on you…"

Yes, she was not a bad person at all. Maybe I should try to ask her again.

"Hey, Nat—"

"Hey—oh," Natsuki stopped. "Were you going to say something? You can go first."

"Well, I, uh—nah, I am fine. You go."

Natsuki propped her arms on the desk, facing me directly. "Do you have any other friends?"

I thought back to my young days. I used to talk to a lot of my classmates; joke around anime memes on social media and play games, but I never did have somebody close to me. It just didn't happen. I didn't even talk with any girls.

"Really?" Natsuki made a thoughtful face and narrowed her eyes at me. "No girls?"

I quirked an eyebrow and then, an idea popped up in my head. "Oh, now that I think about it,"—Natsuki's eyes widened—"there was this girl I used to play with."

"O-oh, I see," Natsuki said, trying to look uninterested.

"It was fun. We played a lot like really, really played… if you get what I mean."

Natsuki went pale and as realization dawned on her and her face started to redden. "W-what did you two play?"

"Well, when the school would be over, we would go down, but then we would sneak back up to the classroom and lock the door, and then…"

With every word, Natsuki was looking more and more like a ripe apple. Her lips trembled and her eyes looked ready to come out of their sockets. I stifled a laugh at the sight.

"And then…?" Natsuki asked in a whisper.

"Then," I whispered myself. "I would put my mouth very close to her ear and say"—I put my mouth next to Natsuki's ear; Natsuki didn't budge—"Hey, Natsuki, you just got pranked."

I backed away and howled with laughter. Natsuki's shocked face was priceless. Her face reddened even more, but it was now in anger. She started to club me with her hands. I tried to defend myself, but it was difficult to do so while laughing.

"Y-you, you, you pervert! I hate you! You stupid, stupid, dummy!"

"I am sorry, Natsuki!" I said through chuckles.

The door to the room slid and loudly hit its end, surprising all three of us. We looked and found an anxious looking Monika leaning inside like she had seen a ghost.

"I," Monika started but stopped. She looked around at our confused faces. She straightened up and gave a nervous smile. "Hehehe, sorry for being late again! We had a practice session at the end."

"Jeez, Monika, you startled us," Natsuki said, crossing her arms. "You didn't have to slide the door so fast, you know."

Monika's figure shrunk in embarrassment. "Sorry, I was right outside when I heard Kazuma talking about a girl friend of his. You see, I, I thought that… that girl—that I may know her! I mean I was with him in the previous year, so I couldn't hide my excitement."

Monika was acting very strange. I was surprised she became so interested in my relationships. But now that I thought about it, Monika was a girl and girls did gossip about these things. "It was nothing, Monika," I said. "I was messing with Natsuki."

Monika gave a look of surprise, but instead, she looked relieved. "So there was no girl?"

I started to feel uncomfortable. I felt like my mind was being probed. "Yes, there is no 'girlfriend' of mine," I joked.

Monika didn't laugh. She kept looking at me. I was beginning to sweat. I couldn't move. I could move, but I… couldn't move. There was a box around me, closing in. I was going to drown.

"Yo, Monika," Natsuki's voice cut through my ears and I was out of my trance. I looked away from Monika's blinking eyes and a deep breath of air.

"Oh," Monika's voice came again. "Sorry, I was just thinking."

"What's with people staring off into the distance today?" Natsuki's voice came and I welcomed it. "Huh, Kazuma? Hey, Kazuma, are you okay?"

I looked up at the concerned face of Natsuki. Before I could utter a word, the strange drowning feeling was gone completely like it was not there to begin. felt fine. I would say even better.

"I am fine," I said and found my voice reflected it. "I thought I was… getting dizzy, but I wasn't."

"Are you hungry?" Natsuki asked. "If you are not eating well, you could get dizzy. Maybe you should eat something."

"Calm down, Natsuki. I am not hungry." Natsuki looked very worried for me. I smiled to show I was fine. "

"Kazuma," Yuri's meek voice called. I looked to see Yuri had left her seat at the corner desk and was standing a few feet away, "I-I saw you look like you were having difficulty in breathing."

Both Natsuki's and Yuri's concern made me feel embarrassed and guilty, yet I also felt happy. I was here for not even a week and they were my friends. It was nice to have friends. I don't remember being lonely in the past. Now that I think about it, even when I had no friends, I never felt lonely. Strange.

"Alright." Monika clapped focusing our attention. "If Kazuma is okay, we should start our sharing our poems. Again, I am sorry for coming late."

I nodded and everybody seemed to relax. Monika smiled. "Who's first?"

After Monika's arrival, the club was in full swing. Though, it would be a little understatement. After all, there were only five… no four of us. All we were doing were showing poems.

While Natsuki and Yuri were searching their bags, Monika had taken out her poem. I took out mine too and gave it a last look to check for if any misspellings I would have left.

As we exchanged our poems, I could not help but feel something was missing. It was like a long forgotten nostalgia if it would make sense. Monika gave me a beautiful smile like she always did and I smiled back yet there was something missing.