Kazuki's POV


Why the fuck did she give me a loaded gun? Where did she even get it? Our town is relatively safe, so, there's no real need to have such weapons and if you decide to get one, you'll have to go through a lot just to have the right to carry it. I've never heard of her marksmanship, so, I doubt it's something she uses for fun. She doesn't seem to be the type of person who would illegally own a gun either.

...She doesn't trust them, does she? She told me not to let them see it and it's obviously not a toy gun. I'm not going to need it, but I can't really throw it away either. Who knows what will happen to it. For all I know, some asshole will pick it up and put others in danger. I can't let that happen. I guess my bedroom should be a good hiding place for it.

How can she keep smiling when talking about things like these anyway? Sometimes, she feels even less human than Yuri and Natsuki in their current state. If she suddenly removes her face to reveal dozens of tentacles beneath, I wouldn't even be surprised...but I still hope that's not going to happen.

...I guess letting the matter drop is the best course of actions for now.

We're almost done with the preparations and I'm happy about it. I wish I was more useful though. Natsuki didn't let me help her...for good reasons and Yuri was too sleepy to even tell me what to do without losing track of everything and so she decided to do everything herself when I was sleeping. Of course, Monika didn't need any help either. In the end, I didn't really do much. That just doesn't feel right to me.

Festival preparations aside, there's something that's obviously been bothering them for a while now, but I can't figure out what it is. Asking them about it gave no results as they either said that everything is fine or simply dodged the question. That's even more frustrating. It's certainly something important, but they refuse to let me help them here too. They don't know me well, sure, but is that really a good reason to leave me in the dark?

"Thinking about something?" - Natsuki asks. I haven't even noticed her leave the kitchen. She seems to be carrying the same bag Monika had.

"Yeah..." - I reply with a nod.

"Look, if you're still mad at me for giving you that cupcake, I c-"

"What? No, that's not what I was thinking about and even then, that wasn't why I was upset. The problem was you eating it afterwards." - I interrupt her. I still can't get the taste of blood out of my mouth.

"I don't see anything wrong with it. They told me it's the right thing to do and I did it." - she says, clearly agitated.

"Who are y- You know what? I'm not going to ask. I'm just going to assume it's something I wouldn't understand anyway." - I say in response. I shouldn't forget that they aren't humans anymore. That doesn't mean I'm not going to treat them well of course.

"...Anyway, that isn't why I'm here...I'm bored, you know? My spiders can handle baking on their own now and, as interesting as it is to watch them do it, I don't really like sitting on my ass and watching others do something." - Natsuki says after a long pause. I think I know where this is going.

"But what are you going to read? You said you didn't like most of my manga and your collection was...you know..." - I ask.

"Oh, well, that's where Monika comes in! She bought me some the stuff I lost. Yeah, it's surprising considering that she's not exactly fond of manga even if she tries not to say anything about it, but hey, I'm not complaining." - she replies. Huh. That's nice.

"So, you want me to help you read again?" - I ask.

"...yes." - she replies once she makes sure no one is looking. It's kind of pointless all things considered, but I'm not going to say anything.

"Alright, alright." - I say as I take the bag from her hands and we go to the living room.

As always, Yuri is sitting in the middle of it, struggling to read her book. I don't think I've seen her read this one before. I'd like to ask what she's reading, but I don't want to interrupt her. She's got enough problems as it is. Judging by the cover, it's another one of her horror books.

I decide to sit on the couch, but it quickly turns out to be a bad idea as Natsuki can't comfortably sit on it. While she doesn't have a long tail like Yuri, what she has is still enough to make it troublesome and so we end up sitting on the floor next to Yuri. Once she curls her extra limbs around her body, I start taking volumes of manga out of the bag. That's more than what I expected.

"So, what do you want to start with?" - I ask, making sure to keep my voice as quiet as possible. Even if Yuri would say that it's not a big deal, it still doesn't feel right.

"Let's see...Ah, this one..." - she almost shouts, but manages to keep it down at the last second.

"I haven't seen this one yet..." - I whisper. The cover is as colorful as it gets, but that doesn't really say much. 'Don't judge the book by its cover' and all.

And it certainly turned out to be one hell of a trip. Not the "all these magical girls are actually horrifying abominations one mental breakdown away from turning into monsters" kind of trip, but a trip nonetheless. I guess "emotional rollercoaster" is a good way to describe it. That aside, it's still weird watching Natsuki's eyes "move" when I know that they simply change color to mimic movement. I wonder what that looks like on her end. There's also the problem with her hands, something she keeps mentioning quite often.

"By the way, when you say that your hands aren't fit for this, what do you mean by that?" - I finally ask.

"Oh, it's simple. See these? Well, even if I don't touch anything with the tips of my fingers, it's still very easy to shred paper with these. I'm sure I would give you a few cuts even if I simply slapped you." - she replies.

"That does sound troublesome." - I say...Was Yuri this close to us before?

"Oh yes, it's a royal pain in the ass. You should have seen me when I tried to write something in an exercise book. Now that was a disaster!" - she says. I can already imagine what it looked like.

"I see. Now, what do you want to read next?" - I ask.

"Eh, let's go for this one. I was going to read it a few days ago, but you know how that went." - she replies.

This one turned out to be rather bizarre, but much more simple than what we had read before. And it looks like I was right. Yuri got closer to us at some point. We chose not to say anything, but I could clearly see Natsuki grin when she saw her try to read the manga. Did she get curious? Or did she decide to read with us because it's easier to do in her state than reading one of her doorstoppers?

Eventually, Monika joined us too. I didn't see her enter the room, so, she knows how to remain unnoticed, but she's not even subtle about reading with us. How can I tell? Well, her head is resting on mine and it's pretty heavy. Heavy with knowledge of "antediluvian manuscripts", I presume. I bet she has that smile on her face too.

Either way, the whole thing got really awkward in no time at all, but nobody said anything about it. Only the sound of Yuri tail thumping the floor keeps the house from being completely silent. I don't know for how long they've known each other, but I certainly don't know them well enough to be that close to them. It's getting really hot here with all these girls around me.

"Hey, this guy looks almost exactly like Kazuki!" - Monika suddenly points out...Wait, what?!

"She is right..." - Yuri says before realizing that she exposed herself.

"No he doesn't! I mean...he's just a generic main character!" - I retort indignantly.

"Oh, if only you knew..." - Monika says cryptically.

"Come on, guys! Kazuki totally looks cuter!" - Natsuki blurts out. The room falls silent. Everyone's eyes are fixed on her.

"Na-"

"If you say anything, I swear I'm going to eat you." - Natsuki interrupts Monika with a threat, but the latter still keeps smiling.

"...Can we just go back to reading?" - I suggest.

"But how can we read it...if manga isn't literature?" - Monika asks and all hell breaks loose.

"FUCKING MONIKA!" - Natsuki screeches as she tries to grab the culprit, but Monika dodges in time and runs away. Natsuki doesn't even bother standing up and simply uses her spider legs to chase after the club president. I'm surprised she doesn't damage the floor by running like this. If I didn't know better, I'd say Monika is about to meet a grim end, but I know them both well enough not to worry about it...or at least I hope so. I don't know them that well.

"How often does this happen?" - I ask, but Yuri doesn't respond. It's like she stopped thinking or something.

...I'm not sure if joining the literature club was a good idea or a horrible one...