"So, Natsuki, what manga would you get the club if you won the contest?" Kaiya asked.
"Only the greatest slice of life manga of all time, Parfait Girls ," She said.
"Wait, you like Parfait Girls ?"
"Eh? Uh, y-yeah, what's it to you?" Natsuki asked.
"I love that series!"
"You do?!"
"Yeah! It's one of my favorites!" Kaiya replied. Both girls were getting excited over this revelation.
"Then, who's your favorite character?" Natsuki asked.
"Oh, it's gotta be Minori. Even though she's super unlucky, you just gotta love her."
"Oh my god, you get it!" Natsuki exclaimed. "Finally, someone else has good tastes!"
"What are they going on about?" Yuri asked, pointing to the commotion caused by Natsuki and Kaiya.
Monika turned to look. "Honestly, I have no idea. They're probably talking about a manga or something."
"Oh, that's definitely manga stuff they're talking about. Natsuki only gets excited like that when she's talking about things she really likes," Sayori said.
"Kaiya! I have the whole set here. You wanna read it with me?"
"You have the whole set!? Hell yeah!" The two walked to the closet
"Well that was interesting," Monika quipped.
"Indeed," Yuri said. "Sayori? Were you okay?"
"Y-yeah… I just had a little breakdown, but Natsuki helped me out," Sayori replied.
"Well, you know if you need anything, we're both here for you," Yuri said in an attempt to reassure her. "You're our friend, and we want to make sure you're okay."
"Yeah, we'll always be here for you if you need us," Monika said.
"Thanks guys. I mean it."
Two hours pass, and Monika tries to get the attention of the club.
"Okay everyone, it's time to go home for the night," she said, clapping her hands together.
"Eh? But we're just getting to the best part!" Natsuki complained.
"Yeah, can't we stay a little longer?" Kaiya asked.
"Sorry, you two, but no can do. You know the rules," Monika said, matter-of-factly.
"Ugh, fine… we'll have to pick up here tomorrow," Natsuki said, sliding a bookmark into the volume of manga they were reading. She closed the book and put it back in the closet. She returned to her seat and Monika began speaking.
"Don't forget your homework tonight. Come back tomorrow with a good idea for the club to do at the school festival. That's it! I'll see you all tomorrow!" Dismissed, everyone packed up their things and left the room. Natsuki and Sayori walked out of the room together.
"Kaiya is so cool! I didn't think that a new person would be fun, but who would have thought that they also like Parfait Girls too!"
"Ehehe~ it sounds like you made a new friend," Sayori said, a big smile on her face. The two made it out of the building when Sayori suddenly stopped in her tracks. "Oh! I almost forgot that I walk home with her!"
"Should we just wait for her here? She'll be coming this way at some point," Natsuki suggested. "Besides, you know today is Wednesday, right? That's the day that I get to hang out with you after school. Any amount of time away from home is a blessing, but it's even better when I get to spend it with you."
"Aww, that was so cute!" Kaiya said, suddenly appearing behind Natsuki.
"Kyah!" Natsuki screamed. "D-don't sneak up on me! AND I'M NOT CUTE! Hmph!"
"Hahaha, yeah you are!" Sayori said. Natsuki pouted even more after hearing that.
"How long were you there anyways?" Natsuki asked Kaiya.
"Me? Since you said something about Wednesday," Kaiya answered, which made Natsuki's already red face turn to an even brighter shade of red. "But hey, if you two are a couple, it's fine to say things like that to each other.
"A couple of what?" Sayori said, confusion on her face. Kaiya and Natsuki turn to Sayori with looks of disbelief on their faces.
"Anyways, you hang out with Sayori on Wednesdays?" Natsuki nodded. "Cool! You can walk with Sayori and me on our way there."
"Oh, right, you two are neighbors."
"Yeah, I know right? What were the chances of that happening?" Kaiya said with a laugh.
"You should hang out with Natsuki and me sometime outside of school," Sayori said.
"Oh, I wouldn't want to get in between your time together. You two should spend it together.
"Ah, don't worry about it. We usually just hang out and stuff and have dinner together. So it wouldn't be that bad to have someone else join us for a little bit," Natsuki said.
"Hmm, let me think about it," Kaiya said. While she did feel a little conflicted about interrupting their time together as a couple, what Natsuki said did make sense to Kaiya. In the end, she agreed to stop by. "Yeah, text me when you two are getting dinner ready and I'll stop on by. I'll even bring something over."
"Okay!" Sayori said cheerfully. The trio arrived at their destination, and they stopped in front of Sayori's house.
"See ya in a little bit then!" Kaiya said.
Kaiya went into her house and changed into some casual attire. Realizing she had time, she hopped on her laptop and played games for a while until she heard her phone notification. She looked and saw that she got a new text message from Sayori telling her that dinner was almost ready. Seeing the message, Kaiya went into the kitchen and prepared a side dish. Since Sayori's text said they were having chicken strips and that Natsuki was baking cookies, Kaiya felt a side would be a good choice, but she had to think of one that would go well with the chicken strips. "Hmm… oh, I know! Tots! Bitches love tots," Kaiya said to herself. Kaiya began cooking the tater tots and as soon as they were ready, she put them in a container and made her way over to Sayori's place. When she made it to the front door, she knocked and immediately got a response.
"Come in!" Kaiya heard Sayori say through the door. She opened it and walked in. She saw both Natsuki and Sayori standing in the kitchen, with Natsuki trying to keep Sayori away from the cookies she had just made.
"Hey Kaiya! Oh, what did you bring?" Natsuki asked.
"Tots. Figured it'd go well with the chicken strips," Kaiya said.
"Oh hell yeah!" Natsuki said. "I love tots!" The three enjoyed a nice dinner and watched some anime afterwards until Natsuki had to leave.
"Want me to walk you back?" Sayori asked Natsuki who was getting ready to leave.
"Nah, I'll be fine. I'll see you tomorrow at the club!" Natsuki answered.
"See ya, Natsuki! I had fun hanging out with you today!" Kaiya said.
"I had fun too! See ya!"
After Natsuki leaves, Sayori sits down near Kaiya. "Hey, so I was talking with Natsuki while we were getting dinner ready, and she and I both agreed that it would be ok to tell you this."
"Oh? Tell me what?"
"So, you remember this morning when you asked if I was ok?"
"Yeah, I remember, what about it?"
"Well, the truth is that I wasn't really okay," Sayori said.
"What happened?"
"Oh, nothing really happened, but, the thing is, I've had depression for a while. It's why I wasn't at the club room right away. I was kinda in the bathroom crying until Natsuki came and helped me."
"I see… well, I'm glad you are comfortable telling me this stuff, Sayori. To be honest, I had a feeling that something was off this morning, and now that I know, it really makes sense. Are you getting help for it?"
Sayori gave Kaiya a melancholic look. "Yeah, I see a therapist every other week and I'm on medication for it, but I still have days like this sometimes. It actually used to be a lot worse, but since Natsuki and I started dating, things have gotten a lot better for me. She really encouraged me to see a therapist and get the help I needed. Granted, it's not completely better, as you saw, but it really is better than it used to be."
"I'm glad to hear that. Hey, you two are really cute together, you know? And it sounds like you two help each other out a lot."
"Ehehe ~ yeah, you could say that. Natsuki has saved me in so many ways. I'm so happy that she and I are together."
"Well, if you're being honest about yourself, then I feel I should do the same to you. The thing is, I also have depression. It's also one of the reasons that I moved here. It's been a while since I've had a really bad day though, and it probably wasn't as bad as a lot of people's, but I thought I'd share that with you too."
"You have it too? What did you do when you had bad days like I had?"
"Well, my meds helped a lot, but I had a lot of things around me to remind me that what my head was telling me wasn't the truth, that I wasn't alone… You see, mine really kicks in when I feel really alone, so being around you and Natsuki and the others in the club, it really helps." Kaiya looked at Sayori. "Honestly, if I hadn't joined the club and gotten to know you all, it probably would be getting to me by now, especially since I live alone.
"I get that. Being with the club really helps me, too. I feel a lot better when I get to spend time with everyone."
"I think the best thing for me was distracting my brain so that I don't keep thinking those thoughts, you know?"
"Yeah. The only problem is that doing that can be really hard sometimes. Especially on the bad days."
"Yeah. Anyways, just know that I'm here for you. Like, literally right there, and you can come to me if you need anything."
"Thanks, Kaiya. Same to you." The two share a hug, and then let go of each other. They agree that the dishes need to get done, and Kaiya offers to do them as thanks for the invite for dinner. After the dishes were done, Kaiya decided it was time to head back home.
"Anyways, I better head home. I got some math homework and I gotta think of an idea for the club. See you tomorrow, Sayori!"
"Yep! Maybe tomorrow I'll be the one to wake you up! Ehehe~"
Kaiya walked to her house and waved to Sayori as she closed the door. She went inside her own home and went up to her room. She sat down at her desk and began doing her homework assignments.