Sayori woke up a little earlier than she normally would have. She stretched and got dressed for the day. After waking up a bit more, she checked her phone and saw a message from Kaiya.
[Kaiya] Hey, if you're up, I got breakfast made. Come over!
[Sayori] I'll be right there!
She ran out the door and into Kaiya's.
"Goooooood morning, Kaiya!"
"Wow, that was fast! Mornin' Sayori!"
"Now I believe someone mentioned breakfast?" Sayori asked, looking eagerly around the room.
"Yeah, it's in here," Kaiya said. The two had breakfast together before they left for school. When they arrived, they went their separate ways to their respective classes. Kaiya walked into her classroom and saw Monika already there. She waved Kaiya over.
"Hey Kaiya, how was the trip to the tea store with Yuri?"
"Oh, it was actually pretty good. It was my first time really getting to know her. I'm glad I went," Kaiya said.
"I'm glad! She told me that she had a lot of fun talking with you as well," Monika said. "Got a question for you. You wanna help me after school? I gotta go get some supplies for the festival, and having company is better than not having it."
"Sure! I don't mind helping out at all," Kaiya happily said.
"Great! Then since you walk Sayori home, would you like it if we met up outside the school here around 4:15 or so?
"Sounds good to me," Kaiya said.
"Excellent!"
The bell rang for lunch, and Kaiya made her way down to the lunchroom. She saw Yuri sitting there, and then it dawned on her. "I forgot the book!" she gasped. She had forgotten it in her bedroom after reading it the night before. "Yuri! I'm so sorry! I forgot the book at my place," Kaiya said, apologizing to her friend.
Yuri tried to reassure Kaiya. "It's okay! I can just come pick it up during the weekend. It's not a big deal at all."
"Are you sure?" Kaiya asked. "I feel bad because it's your book."
"Trust me, it's okay. Like I said, if it's okay with you, I can just stop by your place and pick it up."
"I mean, I'm cool with that," Kaiya said.
"Then I'll do just that," Yuri said. After that, the two ate their lunch and after the bell indicated lunch time was over, they went back to class.
A few hours later and it was time for club activities. Monika and Kaiya made their way up to the club room where Natsuki and Sayori greeted them. Natsuki dragged Kaiya to the closet where they continued reading Parfait Girls together. Moments later, Yuri walked in the room, waved at Monika, and sat at her usual desk. She pulled out a new book and began reading. Monika and Sayori were discussing the supplies they'd need for the festival and talked about the budget they had for it, agreeing it would be best to get things over a period of time instead of rushing for it at the last minute.
After a while, Monika called the club together to discuss the school festival and their book cafe they were planning. "Okay everyone! We need to discuss the things we'll need," Monika said. "Now, obviously, we're going to need books for people to read. I'll be bringing some of mine in, and I hope I can count on you all to bring some as well."
"I've got a few I can bring in," Yuri said.
"Same here," Kaiya said.
"I have some, too," Sayori added.
"I can look around, but I don't really have many books," Natsuki said, shrugging.
"Well, any amount can help. We want to offer a variety so that any guests we get will have something they enjoy," Monika said. Everyone nodded in agreement. "Well, the next thing is the coffee, tea, and desserts. I asked the advisor and we are allowed to use our funds to purchase this for the festival, so we don't have to use our personal money getting this. Yuri, do you think you can get a decent selection of tea?"
"Of course. Kaiya and I actually were discussing that yesterday at the tea shop," Yuri said. "I have a good idea of what I want to get already."
"Awesome! Sayori and Natsuki, since you're in charge of the desserts, will you go get the ingredients you need?"
"Sure thing!" Sayori said.
"Leave that to us!" Natsuki added, a huge smile on her face.
"Kaiya, since you were a barista, would you want to get the coffee with me?"
"Sure!" Kaiya replied.
"And you mentioned that you have a pretty good coffee maker, right?" Monika asked.
"I do, I can bring it in the day of the festival," Kaiya said.
"Excellent! We'll also make sure to get the cups and utensils, as well as anything else we might need in that regard. Now then, according to this list I made, the next thing is decor. Yuri, since you're designing it, I'll leave it to you to determine what you'll need. Just let me know and we can get it."
"Sounds good, Monnie. I'll let you know when I have a theme in mind," Yuri said.
"Okay, next… our outfits," Monika said, sneaking a glance at Natsuki, who lost her smile upon hearing those words.
"I still think we should go with maid and butler outfits," Sayori said.
"Well, I'm gonna dress like a barista," Kaiya said. I've still got my uniform from last summer. If I remove the stitching on the logo, it should be fine, right?"
"I don't see why it wouldn't be," Monika said.
"Well, if we're doing the maid/butler outfits for the servers, I guess I can do something similar as Kaiya, since I'll be preparing and serving tea," Yuri said.
"Sounds good to me," Monika replied. "That's all I had on my list so far, if any of you can think of anything else, let me know and I'll be sure that we get it. If we don't have anything else right now, that's all I've got for you all. Have a good weekend everyone! Oh, Kaiya, don't forget that we're meeting here at 4:15 to get some things."
"Yep! I'll be here!"
Everyone packed their things up and left the room. Kaiya and Sayori made their way home, where Kaiya changed out of her school uniform and then made her way back to the school. As she got closer she saw Monika standing there, waiting for her. When she noticed Kaiya approaching, Monika waved and walked towards her.
"Hey, Kaiya. You ready to get going?" Monika asked.
"Yep! So what're we going to be getting today?"
"Well, I figured we could get the plates and stuff like that today. We'll get the food stuff closer to the festival so it's fresher."
"Sounds good to me. Let's get going then," Kaiya said. They walked to a grocery store, talking about Kaiya's first week at the school and what she thought so far. Kaiya told Monika that this was the first school that she felt like she belonged at, and that the club and it's members were fun and welcoming. "Really, if you hadn't talked to me my first day here, I probably wouldn't have participated in anything, and I probably would have started isolating myself. I'm glad you're the first friend I made here, Monika."
Monika started blushing because of Kaiya's words. "Oh, I'm sure you would've made a few friends even without me, but I'm happy I was able to make you feel welcomed here," she said. "Truthfully, even though I have Yuri and the others, I kind of feel alone sometimes."
"But aren't you, like, super popular? I would have thought you'd have a lot of friends. You certainly seem like the type of person that would. I mean, you're so friendly and kind, smart, hard-working…"
"Well, I guess what I feel is that the people around me, with the exception of the club members, aren't really that much of friends. It's hard to put into words, but they're kind of… fake… if you can understand what I mean. Like, they may call us friends, but it doesn't really feel real, and that can feel very isolating."
"I guess I can understand that. Like… they're only there because you're thought of as popular?" Kaiya asked.
"Yes! Exactly!" Monika said. "It wasn't until I met Yuri that I really felt a connection with someone."
"Aww, that's kinda… sad and cute at the same time,"
"Haha, I suppose that's true," Monika said. "Have I ever told you about how we met?"
"No, but now I gotta know," Kaiya said, her interest piqued.
"Well, it's an interesting story… the first time that I saw her was actually in the school's library."
"That makes sense."
"It does. So I happened to be there because I had to do some research for the next debate topic. I used to be in the Debate Club at the time, by the way. Yuri was there reading, as she does, and so I was looking for research when I saw her reading. I immediately hid behind a bookshelf because I thought, 'oh no, she's so pretty' and she happened to be near where the librarian said the materials I was looking for were. So I had to gather my courage and had to try to act normal around this really pretty girl who was completely engrossed in this book that she was reading. She's… so pretty… and she looked so happy and content reading this book." Monika had a big smile on her face as she recollected the story. "So, I got the things I needed, and quickly made my way towards the librarian… after sneaking a few more looks at her of course. When I was checking the material out, I asked if the librarian knew who that girl was, and she told me her name was Yuri."
"Ooh, you have a name!"
"Yeah! I was so excited just to learn her name," Monika said. "The librarian also told me that Yuri came to the library almost every day to read. Normally at that time my mind would have been filled with the upcoming debate, but that night all I could think about was Yuri and trying to talk to her, but I've never felt this way about another girl before and I was nervous and scared about how she'd react if I even attempted to flirt with her. I mean, what if she didn't like girls, you know? Oh, that would have been devastating."
"I bet. I couldn't even imagine what that would have been like," Kaiya said.
"Yeah. So, I spent the next few days after school in the library just so I could see Yuri. I wanted to say something to her, but for someone in the debate club, I was speechless and my mind would go blank whenever I saw her face. Then, one day, I decided that that day would be the day I finally said something to her. I worked up all the courage I could muster and walked over to her as she was reading. All I could think of was 'act normal' the entire time, but I was so nervous I almost tripped, haha." Monika sighed after laughing at the memory. "Well, I approached her and she didn't even notice me standing in front of her. So I cleared my throat which got her attention, and she immediately started blushing and stuttering. She was so shy, and I thought that was the cutest thing. I introduced myself to her and we started talking about the book she was reading, something about a pair of sisters that get caught up in a cult like situation."
"That sounds familiar for some reason," Kaiya said quietly to herself.
"Well, everyday for the next few days we would just talk to each other and got more comfortable around each other. She was so passionate about literature and as she was talking I would get lost in her eyes. All I could think was that 'I hope she's as gay as I am' and 'I want to tell her how I feel' but I was also worried about possibly messing things up if I did that. So I steeled my resolve one day and I said, 'Yuri… can I tell you something?' and she said yes. My heart was racing and my head was spinning. I had to force myself to spit it out. I said, 'Yuri, I… I like you a lot.' I could feel my face burning and I slowly opened my eyes and saw her face was bright red. I thought that I blew it. She eventually said that she was flattered, which I originally thought she was rejecting me when she said that, but then she quietly said, 'I, uh… same,' and I cannot express how happy I was at that moment. I was so happy that I could have screamed. The girl I liked returned those feelings!"
"That's so cute, oh my god," Kaiya said.
"Anyways, after that we became a couple, and eventually we found Natsuki and Sayori, who apparently became a thing around the same time. Some stuff happened, and we formed the Literature Club. A little while later you moved here, and that brings us to today."
"Wow! What a nice little love story you had. I'm glad everything worked out for you there, haha," Kaiya said.
"Me too. I'm so happy to have Yuri in my life… to have all of you, really," Monika said. "I couldn't ask for anything better."
The two bought the supplies they needed to get for the day and went back towards the school. Monika told Kaiya that she'd take the supplies back to her place until it was time for the festival, so Kaiya handed over the bag she was carrying and gave it to Monika. The two said farewell and split up, heading to their respective homes. Kaiya looked forward to the weekend that was ahead. She then remembered that Yuri was supposed to be stopping by and made a mental note to be sure the place was clean, especially since she forgot to clean after making breakfast. "What a wild first week," she said aloud to herself as the front door of her home closed behind her.