Chapter 21: Familiarity

A few days later…

The bell rings, signaling the end of the day. Mrs. Omo dismisses us and heads out on her way. As for me, I begin packing up my stuff. Natsuki comes up behind me.

"Ugh, you're so slow! Hurry up!" She exasperates.

Natsuki and I have made it a habit of walking to the literature club together. At first, it just seemed like a good idea because we're in the same class, but now it's….different. I don't exactly know how, but it's not just walking together for the sake of walking together.

"Yeah, yeah…" I mutter as I finish packing up my stuff. I follow Natsuki to the staircase. While we walk up to the 3rd floor, she speaks up.

"Hey, did you bring your laptop today?" She asks.

"Yeah, why?"

"Well…" Natsuki's face turns red. "..Y-You said you like manga, right?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Uhh...G-Geez, nevermind!" Natsuki turns away, embarrassed.

We arrive at the clubroom doors and Natsuki quickly heads inside. By now, everyone has arrived. They greet us as we walk in. Natsuki hurries over to the closet. I sit down in my normal seat and begin to pull out my laptop. I quickly glance at Natsuki and see she's holding a manga novel. The title reads 'Parfait Girls'.

…...Oh…..OH

I realize that Natsuki was asking if I had my laptop because she wanted to read with me. With this in mind, I quickly put away my laptop and hurry over to her. She's standing inside the closet, her back turned to me.

"Hey Natsuki."

Natsuki turns around, startled.

"Huh? Oh, hi Nathan…"

"So, I noticed you were reading, I think it was 'Parfait Girls'."

"Oh, do you know it?"

"Yeah, I read the first issue once. I always wanted to continue but couldn't find the 2nd one anywhere."

"Really?" Natsuki's eyes light up. "I-I have the whole collection! We can read it if you want, or whatever, I don't care."

"Sure, I'll read it with you."

Natsuki barely manages to contain her excitement as she roots through her manga collection. She motions for me to sit down next to the closet. I comply and she sits down next to me. She hands me the novel and I begin reading.

The experience isn't much different than the one I had previously. Natsuki points out little jokes and subtle references in the book, explaining some things along the way. However, this time her words aren't as artificial. There's a sort of freedom in her speech that I haven't noticed before. It's an unexplainable feeling, hearing genuine speech for the first time in a long while.

Lost in my thoughts, I don't notice Natsuki scooching closer and closer to me. Our shoulders are nearly touching at this point. I turn my head and give her a sly smile.

"Uu-!"

She notices how close we are and scoots back a good couple inches. I shrug and return to my reading. Natsuki attempts to sneakily recover her lost ground. We're near the end of the novel when Monika calls out to the clubroom.

"Okay everyone! It's time to share poems!"

Natsuki hands me the novel as we stand up.

"You want me to finish this?" I ask.

"Y-Yeah, duh….dummy."

I smile at Natsuki's tsundere shenanigans. I don't care what she says, she is cute.

Sharing poems goes like usual. I do my usual cycle. Natsuki, Monika, Hansuke, Yuri and finally Sayori. I try to stay away from Sayori so I don't ruin my mood. Usually, it fails and I end up melancholy for the rest of club meeting. That's partially why I use my laptop, to avoid talking to the girls.

It's not healthy, but I don't see a better alternative.

I finish sharing my poem and head back to my seat, waiting for the go ahead from Monika to head home. Instead, she calls us to the front of the room.

"So, I've noticed that our club meetings have been getting a bit stale. I wanted to spice things up, so every Friday we're gonna do something fun! Sound good?"

"Yeah!"

"Cool."

"Interesting…"

"Great! Now, what should we do tomorrow?"

Everyone ponders for a moment. I look up and notice pull-down projector screen on top of the chalkboard.

"We could use that and watch a movie or something." I point to the screen. Everyone turns and looks at it.

"Well, do we have a projector?" Monika asks.

"Yeah, there's one in the closet." Natsuki replies.

"Then I think that's wonderful idea! Any objections?"

No one says a word.

"Great! What should we watch?"

"Ooo! I have this really funny movie that me and Hansuke used to watch when we were kids!" Sayori exclaims.

I see Hansuke blush with embarrassment.

"That sounds like fun, Sayori. We'll watch that." Monika turns to the rest of us. "Well, I'll see you guys tomorrow! Have a great day!"

With that, we all pack up and head our separate ways. The rest of the day goes as usual, arriving at home, doing schoolwork, making dinner and finally, heading to bed.

….

The next morning arrives too quickly. I drag myself out of bed and head straight for my kitchen. This time, I actually do have a coffee machine. I brew some french vanilla and sit down on my couch, waiting for my strength to return to me. It eventually does and I continue my morning routine as usual. I take a shower, eat some breakfast, pack up my things and head out on my merry way.

I make it to school and find my classroom. I open the doors and see that it's only Natsuki inside.

"Morning Nathan!~" She says with a smile.

"Morning. Why are you here so early?"

"I…" Natsuki struggles to find her words. "I just woke up early, ok? Jeez!"

"Alright" I say as I sit down. I notice that Natsuki actually looks fairly tired.

"Hey, Natsuki…" I call out.

"Yeah?"

"Do you drink coffee?"

"No, why do you ask?"

"Well, you look kinda tired and I wanted to get you some."

Natsuki looks taken aback. She fumbles to find a response. I stand up and walk over to her.

"C'mon, I'll buy you a cup."

"Y-You don't have to, dummy…"

"Oh please, It would be my pleasure."

Natsuki fidgets in her seat before finally standing up. We walk to the cafeteria and head for the coffee vending machines. I buy her some french vanilla coffee.

"Now what you do is dilute it with creme and sweet'n low." I say while pointing over to the condiments station. She puts 1 creme and 2 sweet'n low in her drink before taking a sip.

"It's good…" She says. She takes a big swig. "Ahh, HOT!"

She spits out her coffee. Unfortunately, I was standing right in front of her. Coffee gets all over my uniform. It hurts, but only little bit. I sit in shock as Natsuki looks at me, terrified.

"OH MY GOD! I DIDN'T MEAN TO! I'M SO SORRY I'M SO-"

Natsuki is interrupted by my laughter. She looks at me, utterly confused.

"Ahaha, Natsuki, you're fine." I chuckle. " It's my fault for not warning you."

"Y-Yeah! You've should have told me, idiot!"

I continue laughing as I grab some napkins and wipe myself down. The coffee leaves a light stain on my jacket, but I don't mind. Natsuki and I walk back to class silently. She holds her cup of coffee, taking small sips from it at a time.

"Are you sure it's okay?" She asks timidly.

"Trust me, it's fine. Nothing to worry about." I assure her.

"...You're a good friend, Nathan."

"Thanks Natsuki. You are too."

"No I'm not…" She lowers her head.

"Hey, don't say that! You're a good friend. After all, you let me read manga with you. That was sweet of you."

Natsuki begins blushing.

"D-Don't say things like that, dummy…"

I chuckle to myself as we arrive at the classroom. Upon entering, Monika immediately walks over to me.

"Nathan! What happened to your jacket?"

"Ahaha, yeah, I kinda spilled some coffee this morning…"

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Natsuki breathe a sigh a relief.

"You should be more careful. I don't want to burn yourself, you know!"

"Ehh, no promises." I joke as I sit down.

Monika furrows her eyebrows in frustration as Mrs. Omo enters the room. She steps up to the podium and begins class.

….

"Have a good weekend everybody!" Mrs. Omo exclaims as the bell rings. Monika, Natsuki and I all walk together to the clubroom.

"You guys excited?" Monika asks.

"Yeah!" Natsuki exclaims excitedly.

"Well…" I say as we reach the clubroom doors. "It'll be interesting to see what you people consider comedy."