"Oookay, everyone!"

We all looked up.

"So, I think we need to talk."

Sayori sat at the desk to my left with Natsuki and Yuri to my right, filling up the front row. It was a beautiful spring day, not a cloud in the thick blue sky. It was warm but with a good constant breeze coming in through the windows facing the foyer. Class had just let out for the day, and the plaza was still abuzz with students waiting around for their friends or waiting on their ride home. Through the slightly open door I could see students and teachers passing by in the hallway, their voices muffled. The room was pleasant with the smell of black cherry burning sticks, a favorite of Yuri's when she was out of her usual jasmine oil. Our club president leaned back against the teachers desk she used as her own and sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose and rubbing it slightly. She cleared her throat, about to go into another one of her famous impromptu speeches.

"Well," she started, spreading her hands out. "We tried our best, gang. While we did manage to raise close to a hundred thousand yen from the bake sale, I can't help but feel a little down about not getting any new members."

She continued, "It's unfortunate, really."

"A real tragedy." Natsuki muttered, folding her arms.

"Right, but I don't think we shouldn't fret too much." Monika slowly walked over to shut the door and back to her desk. "I talked with some of the other presidents and they were in the same boat as us; good money raised, but no new members. Actually, I overheard Terai saying this was one of the most successful festivals in Yamaku history, so that's something to be proud of."

She looked at me.

"I guess that means we're stuck with you, Kazuma."

Everyone chuckled. I rolled my eyes and waved my hand, smirking. "Sorry, guys."

"But hey!" Monika clapped her hands together. "That shouldn't get anyone's spirits down. We're not in danger of being shut down or anything, and there's still a few months left 'till the summer break and all the more time to write the closing chapter of the Literature Club's year, so to speak. And I really would like to see us go out with a bang, something special, something we can all be proud of." She paused. "And definitely something to get us in the yearbook."

Indifferent to the topic, Yuri took off her glasses and started adjusting the nose pads.

"With all that said, if anybody has any suggestions, now is the time to voice them. I'll open the floor to discussion."

There was a pause. Sayori slowly raised her hand.

Monika nodded and pointed with her thumb. "Vice President?"

"Who'd you write the song for?"

Monika stopped. "Wh-what?"

Sayori innocently tilted her head, but I knew it was a bit. "The song you sang: Your Reality. You never told us who it was for."

A trace of red brushed Monika's cheeks. She scratched her ear. "I uhhh…what makes you think it was for someone?"

Sayori rolled her fingers against her desk, where a wrapped chocolate chip muffin sat. "Oooh, yknowww." She fluttered her eyes and stretched her hand out. In her best voice she sang, "But in your reality, if I don't know how to love yooou~"

Natsuki and I broke into laughter, with Yuri smiling while cleaning one of the lenses. Monika's face flushed beet red now, not pleased at the joke at her expense. Sayori grinned, and tapped against the desk like a pianist on an imaginary keyboard.

"...I'll leave you be!"

Monika narrowed her eyes, annoyed. Taking the defensive, she dryly said, "What, you didn't like it or something?"

Sayori put her hands up defensively. "No no no, I liked it. It was juuust…" She tapped her index finger and thumbs together. "Come on, tell us. It's just us girls here."

I looked over at Sayori.

Natsuki chimed in, propping her arm up on her desk and putting her chin against her palm. "I bet it was that Henry Kühn boy from the debate club. Six foot one, chiseled jaw, a fellow European." She put a finger to her chin thoughtfully and tapped her lips. "Yeah, I could see that."

Monika took a breath and entwined her fingers together, counting them off. "First off, ew. Second, I didn't even like him when we were debate partners, let alone the idea of becoming romantic ones. Third, there is definitely a portion of my family that would be against him being German and not Polish, so that's already a nonstarter."

Monika straightened up and took a step forward. "And fourth…"

She paused mid-thought, looked down at her feet and shook her head. "Wait, what the hell? No…no, y'all are not getting any tea outta me!"

Natsuki and Sayori frowned. "Awww…"

"Focus on the club!" She gestures to the left. "Yuri, Kazuma, did you two have anything?"

We glance at each other from across the room. My mind is totally blank, and instinctively my thumbs twiddle together. "...N-not off the top of my head, no. Sorry."

Yuri gently combed a strand of her hair behind her ear and put her glasses back on. "What events are left for the year?"

Monika looked up at the ceiling. "Well, outside of some small-time fundraisers, not much. The main thing would be the Summer Festival before the break starts, but nobody's gonna be thinking about signing up for anything there. This might have to be some kind of standalone thing from Yamaku."

"Hmmm…" Sayori said, undoing the muffin wrap. "That certainly is a pickle."

"Looks like a muffin to me." I quirp.

Sayori sticks out a playful tongue at me before she takes a hearty bite, little crumbs dotting her lips. Yuri glances left, then right before gingerly raising her hand. Monika gestures to her.

"Well, what if we did a book drive?"

"A book drive…" Monika said thoughtfully.

She turned in her seat, to face Nats and Sayori. "Yeah; we could try and collect books, in addition to purchasing them ourselves with the funds we earned, and then donate them to one of the local schools, or perhaps a youth shelter or clinic."

Monika nodded, rubbing her cheek. "Huh."

"A good photo op, for sure." Sayori added. "There's that humanitarian angle to it."

Monika walked over to the chalkboard behind her and took a piece of chalk in her hands. She scribbled down IDEAS in big lettering, then wrote a number list. For the first line she wrote BOOK DRIVE.

She looked back at us, now in teacher mode. "What else?"

We were silent. I half-heartedly raised my hand up.

"Kazuma?"

"Uhhh, well if it's something for the community, maybe we could work with one of the local shops and make a donation? Or, uh, like volunteer work? Serving food or helping the elderly…" My voice hesitated. "Or something."

"I'm friends with the owner of the bookstore we met at, Kazuma." Yuri mused, glancing over at me. "I'm sure she'd be interested in working out some kind of partnership considering our history."

Monika wrote CHARITY on the second line. Sayori, having finished her muffin, neatly folded the wrapper up and set it on the corner of her desk. She raised her hand up, smiling. Monika inhaled through her nose and clicked her tongue, hesitant.

"...Vice President?"

"What about that Yasutora hunk from computer science? I heard he broke up with–"

I started laughing. "Sayoriiii…" I moaned.

"Wha, I'm just ASKING!"

For a second Monika said nothing, simply stared at her second-in-command. She turned her back to us, scribbled on the third line and stepped away to reveal the board.

DEMOTE SAYORI

"Ooooooh…" Natsuki and I said in unison.

Sayori looked stunned. She put her hands together and bowed her head. "In light of new testimony, I conclude my investigation."

"Come on guys, one more idea." Monika said with a lace of annoyance, wiping away what she wrote. She tapped her chalk piece against the board.

I rubbed my chin. "Something for the yearbook…" I said to myself.

"What if we teamed up with someone?" Natsuki added.

"Another club?"

"Sure…I mean, it depends on the who, but maybe we could field out and join forces. Since our numbers are…" she trailed off. "...so small."

"Who'd you have in mind?" Monika said, rolling the chalk piece against her fingers.

Natsuki shrugged. "The vet club? Culinary arts?"

Sayori added, "The film club had that really cool anime movie of theirs, maybe they need script writers or editors."

"I could check in with the library staff and see if they need assistance." Yuri said, glancing down at her fingernails.

Monika turned and scribbled COLLAB on the third line. Satisfied, she put the chalk down and brushed her hands of the dust. "Okay! Sooo that's a book drive, a charity event aaand some kinda club collab, thing. Definitely some good ideas to start, but I'd like to get a final concept down by the end of the week. Okay?"

We nodded in agreement.

"Cool." Monika glanced down at her smartwatch. "Well, we still have the hour to kill." She leaned behind the desk and pulled up her leather bookbag, setting it beside her. "If nobody has anything else, let's get back to the reading."

In keeping with school policy that clubs have to actually have some kind of daily assignment to be considered a legitimate organization, we had slowly but surely been popcorn-reading a book of choice and discussing the chapter afterward. There was a pretty lengthy debate about what to read, but all of us had eventually settled on the 1990 sci-fi thriller Jurassic Park. It was slow to start (admittedly a few times I had to ask Yuri what so and so words meant), but we were finally getting onto the island and into the dinosaur-filled action stuff. I preferred the movie, but this was much easier than poem-writing anyway.

I leaned over my desk to get my copy out of my bag, Sayori doing the same. I whispered to her, "You know, you're getting pretty bold teasing Monika like that."

Out loud she replied, "You're getting pretty bold with those hickies, 'zuma."

Monika, Natsuki and Yuri glanced up. I felt a heat rise up my cheeks, with all eyes on me. I was stunned she said it like that. "I uhh…" I searched for a reply before looking at Natsuki for help. She cocks an eyebrow and points to herself. "Don't look at me. Those are hives, remember?"

The room falls silent. A curious smile traces Sayori's face.

"...they're what?" Yuri asks.

"Oh, y'all didn't know?"

(Author's Note: Stop reading, put on Poem Panic in another tab and have it play for the rest of this section to get that authentic mod experience lol).

I bury my face in my hands. "Pleeease don't tell this story." I plead to no avail. Natsuki slaps her desk and breaks out laughing, leaning back in her chair. Sayori looks back at her, grinning. "Oh? He said they were hiiiives?"

Natsuki turns in her seat to face Sayori, looking past me. "Oh my God okay okay, so, this guy–" Nats points at me. "He's–"

"Noooo…" I groan, squirming in my seat.

"He flirts me up and down one night and gets me to leave those little mosquito bites on him–"

My face keeps burning. "Naaats…" Yuri and Monika turn in their spots, smiles growing on their faces, enthralled in this cautionary tale about confiding embarrassing personal stories to your significant other.

She continues, "Ohhh Naaats, mmmmph…" She bites her lip and clutches her chest, twisting slightly. "No, don't bite me theeere…"

Sayori claps her hands together. "Ahahaha! That's definitely him, all right."

I feel like jumping out the window. Hopefully the fall will snap my neck, assuming there's some bushes to soften the landing.

"Then his DAD sees it."

I put two fingers against both my temples and started rubbing them hard. "Oh my Gooood…" I moan, tugging on my eyelids.

Sayori leans in, enthralled. Natsuki continues and puts her hands on her hips. "-And he's all. He's all." She goes cross-eyed. "Uhhh, well those are just hives Daaad…"

Sayori bursts out laughing, looking at me with tears in her eyes, clutching her stomach. "Oh Kazuma, sweet Kazuma…"

"Look, in my defense–"

"Hhhhhhives?" Sayori chortles out, a mixture of giddy and bewilderment.

Yuri holds a hand to her lips, hiding a chuckle. "It is kind of a silly claim to make."

Monika digs into her bag, grinning. "H-hang on." She pulls out a small, cream-colored jar and pops the lid off. She takes a few steps forward to me and leans in on her toes. "Here." Gingerly, she scooped some of the cream onto her index finger and started to gently dab a smidge of it under my chin area where the hives–sorry, the hickies were.

"It'll hhhh..." she wheezes. "It'll help with the redness, Kazuma." I could only stare at Monika in a kind of stunned amused shock, feeling the cool cream under my chin. This only made Sayori start laughing harder, clutching to her desk to keep from falling off.

Natsuki Tamura, always the instigator, gave me a pouty face. "Awww, the poor baaa-by." she cooed.

Defeated, I could only glance around the room, scoff and fold my arms. I looked down at my desk, trying to hide my smile.

"You guys are assholes."

…

Author's Note: Hey guys! I took a break from writing to refine the outline ahead, again changing the story a bit. This chapter was supposed to be Yuri-focused and have a Natsuki/Yuri arc (of sorts) but it got too long and distracted from the main storyline. This is definitely a fluffy chapter, but I wanted to get a few more good moments mixed in with some lore that needs to be known before the nightmare really begins. It's also been a while since the whole club was together in one scene. Stay tuned and thank you all for reading!