Komi Komi Literature Club!
Chapter 8: The Short Poem
This was it.
Today was the day: Komi's first poem day in the Literature Club. It wasn't much, but she finally had something written down to share with the others. She must not have been the only one that was nervous, because she wasn't the first to arrive at the classroom.
"Hey, Komi! It's poetry day! Are you ready?" Sayori greeted her enthusiastically as she walked in.
"Mm...mhmm." Komi hesitated before answering her slowly with a hum and a nod.
"Great," Monika, who was also in the club room, smiled kindly at her. "We're looking forward to it. Would you mind helping us get set up? We're moving the desks right now. Uhh, say, do you know how to make tea?" She asked.
Komi gasped a little, "Mhmm!" She quickly nodded her head.
"Great! Yuri texted me saying she's gonna be just a little late for the meeting today, so if you could get that set up too, that would be a huge help!" Monika requested.
Komi again nodded her head quickly, excited that she was being asked help. She stepped in to help slide the desks into place first. Once that was done, she made her way to the back of the room to start preparing the tea. By then, Natsuki had arrived.
"Yo yo yo, how's everyone doing today?" She greeted her fellow club members with a pleasant smile.
"Hey, Natsuki! We're almost ready to get started already. Almost ready to get started already," Monika repeated her sentence at a slower pace and chuckled to herself, realizing how weird the sentence sounded. "We're just waiting on Yuri and the tea." She informed Natsuki.
"Oh, alright. Hey, Yuri! How much longer for the tea?" Natsuki called to the back of the classroom.
Komi flinched and froze in place. Was Natsuki talking to her? Was she mistaking her for Yuri? If that was the case, she needed to correct her. How could she correct Natsuki's mistake in a way that wouldn't make her feel awkward?
Komi slowly stopped what she was doing. She wordlessly set the tea kettle down, turned her shoulders a little, and looked back at Natsuki.
"K-! Komi, my bad! You and Yuri have the same hair, heheh, so you look similar from-from behind." Natsuki apologized. She was trying to play it off, but the neutral expression that Komi was staring at her with was actually pretty off-putting.
Was Komi offended by that?
"Haha, I never noticed that before! They actually do look a little similar!" Sayori pointed out with a laugh.
Komi's eyes widened a little. She blushed and looked away, unsure of how to respond.
"Who looks similar?" Yuri asked curiously as she entered the classroom.
"You and Komi!" Sayori answered her. Yuri chuckled and shook her head.
"I disagree with that notion. We may share some characteristics, but Komi is skinnier and much prettier than I am." Yuri pointed out.
"Mm mm." Komi disagreed quietly. She wanted to speak up and say that she actually thought that Yuri was prettier than her, but she had left her notebook on her desk; she was totally disarmed.
"Aww but you're super pretty too!" Sayori said.
"Thank you, Sayori, but I would rather not get into this. Oh, Komi, you got the tea prepared already? Thank you." Yuri noticed. Komi nodded to her in response.
"Okay, everyone! Since we're all here, let's go ahead and get ready to start the club meeting. I'll help you serve the tea, Komi." Monika offered. The others took their seats while Monika and Komi set the table for the others.
"Man, I'm actually a little nervous." Natsuki admitted with a little chuckle.
"Why's that?" Yuri asked.
"Well...just curious to see what the flow of sharing poems will be like now that we have Komi as a new member. I'm used to it just being the four of us. No offense, Komi." She explained her feelings, looking at Komi as she sat down next to Yuri.
"It's alright. I'm very nervous too." Komi wrote.
"Well I am super excited! I'd love to hear your feedback on my poem." Sayori said, pulling out the piece of paper that she had written her poem on and slapping it down on her desk.
"I guess that's our cue to start getting our poems out," Monika said with a laugh. "We all have poems to share today. Who would like to go first?" She asked the group.
Everyone paused, waiting to see who would volunteer. Honestly, everyone was especially curious to see what Komi had written; Monika had already hinted that she did have something. However, no one was speaking up, so Monika tried to take the lead.
"Haha, well since everyone's being quiet, I'll pick someone! Gosh, I sound like a teacher now. Komi, were you able to finish your poem? Would you like to share?" She asked. Komi sat up straight and quickly grabbed her notebook.
"I did write a poem but it isn't much. If it is alright with you all, I would like to hear everyone else's poems first." Komi wrote out her request.
"I see. That's fine!" Monika said.
"Well in that case, I'll get us started!" Sayori said, holding her poem up with both hands.
"Heheh, you go right on ahead, Sayori." Natsuki said with a chuckle.
"Oookay! I call this one 'Walking The Line'! A-A-Ahem!" Sayori made a pretense of clearing her throat before beginning to read her poem aloud. Everyone at the table got quiet as they listened to Sayori's reading.
Komi was surprised. She wasn't fully used to Sayori's manner of speaking yet, but the way she read her poetry was quite different than her normal speech: she was more focused, and her words had more purpose and rhythm to them.
After Sayori read her poem, Yuri went next. Then Natsuki. Then Monika. One by one, they all read their poems. Each reading had a different flavor to it: Yuri was poised, elegant, and experienced. Natsuki was sharp, bouncy, and simple. Monika was playful, abstract, and her delivery had a kind of swing to it.
Komi was fascinated – never before had she heard spoken word like this before. This was communication, but a different kind...it wasn't conversation, it was like a presentation. These girls were putting their feelings and inner thoughts on display.
It was beautiful...but at the same time it was terrifying – terrifying because Komi knew that she was supposed to go next. These girls were on a much higher level than she was. Komi had struggled just to write the poem. There's no way she was gonna be able to read her poem out loud.
"Oh, Komi, you made a bad decision going last. The pressure's on now." Natsuki said with a little chuckle, lightly teasing her after noticing how nervous she was.
"Aw, Komi, you don't have to be scared! We won't bite!" Sayori said with a smile, "We're all really looking forward to hearing what you wrote!" She added.
Komi's gentle hands shook with nervous tension as she slowly opened her notebook. She slowly turned to the page that she had written her poem on. Her thumbs ran down the paper self-consciously. Finally, she lowered her head to hide her blush and held the notebook out to Natsuki.
"Huh?" Natsuki's eyes widened a little as she absentmindedly took the notebook from her with one hand. She looked down at the paper. Her eyes read over the poem.
"Oh, uh...looks like Komi wants you to read her poem for her, Natsuki." Monika realized.
"M-Mhmm." Komi quietly hummed in agreement, nodding her head a little.
"Me? Huh, well, if you insist. That's no problem. Ahem. This poem doesn't have a title, so I'll just go ahead and read it then." She said.
Komi forgot to give the poem a title. How embarrassing.
My thoughts multiply when
words escape me
If you could hear in my head,
you'd see
I never run out of things to say
Komi closed her eyes, bracing herself for how the other girls would react to her short little poem. However, there was silence. Finally, she lifted her heads and opened her eyes. After Natsuki's reading, they were all taking a moment to ponder it.
"I love it, Komi!" Sayori spoke up first, "It's definitely so you. I think you did a great job getting your feelings out." She said approvingly.
"Yes, I agree. The writing is simple, but the sentiment behind the poem is very relatable. It puts into words something that I know I've felt personally." Yuri said.
"I'm glad that you took my suggestion, Komi. I just noticed too, if I may," Monika picked up Komi's notebook. "You even got a little rhyme scheme going. 'When' has the same sound as 'head'; 'me' and 'see'. Then you end with 'say' to add more umph to the last line. A-B-A-B-C rhyme scheme.
"There's also some words here that stand out: 'my thoughts multiply when words'...same w sound. Same thing with 'hear in my head'. It's nice, Komi, great job! Betcha didn't even realize you did all that, didja?" Monika asked with a giggle.
"Mm mm." Komi shyly shook her head.
"Look at you being all poetry expert, Monika." Sayori pointed out with a giggle.
"Ahaha, just breaking it down so Komi can see what she did well." Monika laughed and rubbed the back of her head.
"Well, guess I had you painted all wrong, Komi. I mean, I knew sometimes it's hard for you to get your words out, but you think real deeply about this kinda stuff. I feel like I learned something new about you." Natsuki said, looking at her with a sideways smile.
Komi put her hands on her cheeks and looked down again; she was fighting back the urge to cry. They were all saying such nice things about her poem – did they really like it that much? All the time she had spent agonizing and debating over what she should do hadn't been for nothing.
"Are you alright, Komi?" Yuri asked, placing a hand on her shoulder.
"...ah...I...t-thank you...s-so much." Komi thanked them quietly, the last two words coming out as barely a whisper. All of them smiled at this.
"Aww, you're so cute, Komi! I wanna give you a hug!" Sayori said, shooting out of her seat and running around the desks to hug Komi from the side.
Monika smiled to herself. Before, she had been worrying about whether or not Komi would be able to contribute positively to the atmosphere of the club. While yes, her vibe was quite different, it was clear now that she was going to fit right in here.
And from the expression on her face, it looked like Komi herself felt the same way...
