Hunger
Chapter 3
With a tired gaze Naota stared at the clock on the wall. He silently counted down the seconds to his freedom, well almost freedom. He still had club today but as time went on it was more akin to hanging out with friends rather then additional work. Who would've thought a professional hermit like him was looking forward to seeing his fellow club members?
With no friends or other issues to stall him Naota was once again the first to arrive to the Literature club. Remembering Natsuki's harsh orders from last time he immediately set his bag aside and started re arranging tables. He just moved the first desk when the door opened again.
"I dunno, the drama's lost for me if the whole thing can be solved if one of them would just shut up and listen," Natsuki explained to Yuri who was only a few steps behind her.
"Perhaps the writers are expecting the drama to be so enthralling that it suspends your disbelief," Yuri mused aloud.
"Pfft no dramatic romance could be THAT good," Natsuki countered as the two approached Naota who had just finished moving desks.
"Looks like you guys are just in time," Naota greeted the two before taking a well deserved seat.
Natsuki only nodded in curt approval and set her bag down before retreating to the closet in the back of the class room.
"Hello Naota, I hope your day has been treating you well," the violet haired girl greeted.
"I can't complain I suppose, and you?" Naota was just happy someone in this club was willing to talk to him.
"It's been another uneventful day. They say no news is good news you know," Yuri said before digging in her bag a retrieving a book.
"No news means struggling to stay awake according to this guy," Naota chuckled in response. He took a moment to look over his club member's book. It was a dark, hardcover tome with a singular eye symbol in the center. The symbol was made to look like it was painted in some sort of deep red liquid. "What you got there?" Naota asked, hoping to get a little more conversation with the young woman before she became engrossed with the text.
"O-oh this?" Yuri picked up the book, meekly showing off the cover. "This is one of my favorite horror stories. It's called The Portrait of Markov."
"Horror huh?" Naota scratched his chin while mulling over this new information. "You know I didn't take you for the type when I first saw you."
"Oh yes," Yuri seemed shrink a bit behind the book now that the conversation was about her. "I enjoy works that make you see the world around you differently and surreal horror novels are wonderful at doing that."
"Do you like horror in general? I can't say I watch too many horror movies or read any books but I've read most of the horror manga written by Georgey Ito."
"No... cheap imagery and jump scares just don't do it for me like a good novel can." Yuri seemed almost superior in her reasoning. "A well written scene can stick with you for days, always lurking in the back of your mind. Those are the kind of experiences I live for."
"Well when you put it like that maybe I should try a horror novel out." Naota admitted, fully coerced by his club member's passion.
Yuri nearly jumped in her seat with excitement."I-I have an older copy of this novel I can bring in for you. I-if you'd be interested that is."
"Really? You'd do that for me?" Naota asked, amazed that shy girl seemed so eager to gift him the text.
"Well... it would be wonderful to have someone to discuss the story with." Yuri glanced away, a light blush peppering her cheeks.
"That's awesome! Thank you Yuri!" Naota beamed.
"Think nothing of it." Yuri said quietly. The praise and attention finally became too much for the bashful girl and she finally opened up her book and retreated into the text.
Looking at the clock Naota noted that the others still weren't probably going to be here for another five minutes. Might as well see what Natsuki's up to. Seeing how he well he connected with Yuri maybe he could continue to ride this good momentum with her.
As he approached the room's small closet the picked up on the smaller girl grunting and cussing under her breath. Something about "Doesn't that damn woman know how to count!?"
"Hello? You okay in there?" Naota asked peeking his head in the small storage space.
"Yeah I'm fine! I'm just reorganizing something in here. It's not like I'm taming lions in here or something." The pinkette snapped sarcastically.
"Well excuse me, I forgot that people always cuss like a sailor when everything's alright," Naota replied. He still tried to offer a friendly smile as he spoke.
"Well if Monika would quit messing with my shit maybe I'd be calmly reading by now!" Natsuki went back to rearranging books on a higher shelf, all on her tip toes.
Naota finally took a moment to look over the closet. At least half of the space was taken up by manga. He glanced over it all in amazement, "Is this all your collection?"
Rearranging a final few books Natsuki spun on her heel, flashing the boy a cocky grin. "Sure is! Word on the street is that you're also into manga huh?"
"I haven't been really into a series in a while but I still read from time to time." Naota browsed the collection as he explained. The books were all in pristine condition. The spines we decorated in various shades of pinks, yellows and purples with the occasional cute girl or starry eyed heroine adorned them. Much to Naota's disappointment they seemed to only be romance, slice of life and magical girl affairs. He chuckled under his breath reading some of the titles. Major Boyfriend? Magical Bowie-Chan? Otaku High? On a higher shelf, in a special display box all their own sat what must have been the crown jewel of the small library Parfait Girls.
"Well if you prove yourself to be a good guy and not some booty hunting creep maybe I'll let you read some of them," Natsuki stated.
"Thanks, but no thank you. None of these books are really up my ally." Naota declined. "And I told you, you don't have to worry about me hitting on you or your friends," He added sternly.
"What!?" Natsuki was instantly offended. "You think you're too good for my manga or something?"
"I haven't even herd of most of them to be honest," Naota shrugged. "I think the only one I'm even a little familiar with is Parfait Girls. Reading about a bunch a girls fighting monsters while screaming 'Pudding Power!' doesn't seem like a good time to me," Naota couldn't help but to laugh at his own exaggeration.
"Oh my god! I've never herd someone spew such naive bullshit in my life." Natsuki exploded. "Parfait Girlsis a legendary series with fans all over the world! There's a reason there's a remake of the show running to this day."
"Is because the show was a disaster the first time they made it?" Naota smirked and was talking out of his ass at this point but was finding the young woman's short fuse funnier by the second.
Natsuki grit her teeth and growled before roughly gripping her club mate by the uniform jacket. "Listen here shit for brains-!" She began to threatened before she was interrupted by someone peeking her head into the closet and clearing their voice.
"Would you two mind joining us so we can get our meeting started?" Monika asked with her usual guiding authority.
Naota blinked in bewilderment, had he really been arguing for five plus minutes already? "Sorry Monika!" Naota quickly retreated to the meeting table, siting next Sayori.
"Natsuki?" The president continued.
"Yeah, yeah I'm coming..." Natsuki huffed, carefully returning the volume in her hand to its rightful place.
After some club upkeep from Monika it came time to exchange poems again. Naota followed suit of his other members, retrieving a notebook and giving his poem one last look over. He didn't wait until the last minute this time but that didn't make writing it any easier. He ended up writing a piece expressing his hidden trepidation for the upcoming school year. He disguised it in flowery language describing himself walking an unknown path far from home, encountering forks and strangers along it. He wasn't exactly proud of it but if nothing else it was longer than his last attempt.
As he expected it didn't make a splash with his club mates. Monika was quick with a tip again, Sayori praised him for putting in more effort and Yuri pointed out some of the symbolism she enjoyed.
Natsuki would barely look at him or his poem. Only offering a quiet "Sure it's fine I guess, whatever..."
Naota immediately felt a weight on his heart knowing that his teasing had ruined the girl's mood. Part of his brain tried to shrug off the feeling, after all it was just a few jokes, it wasn't his fault if some people didn't have a sense of humor. Nevertheless he accomplished the opposite of what he set out to do. He had to at least try to make things right before the day was done.
After poems and a brief discussion on books or stories the group was interested in reading the club was dismissed. Sayori mentioned something about needing to go to her locker and meeting him out front so they could walk home together. Luckily for Naota Natsuki seemed to gather her stuff slower then the other girls and since he had to put the desks back to their original places it gave the two a chance to be alone.
"Hey Natsuki?" Naota called out as she finally turned to leave.
Things seemed to move in slow motion as the young woman turned to face him. As soon as her focus was squarely on him her legs spontaneously gave out from underneath her. She fell forward, barely catching a desk with her arms to stop her one way trip to the ground. She quickly stood and straightened herself out, a crimson blush now painting her cheeks.
"You alright!?" Naota asked, his anxious features replaced by worry.
"Yeah, I just tripped on a stupid piece of trash or something..." Natsuki explained.
Naota glanced to the floor, noting that it was pretty spotless.
"So what do you want?" Natsuki folded her arms, quickly growing impatient.
Naota nodded, shaking his floor thoughts from his mind. "I just wanted to say I'm sorry about earlier. I was just trying to break the ice I guess..."
Natsuki raised her eyebrow in a skeptical glare. "I shouldn't really have to walk you though this but at our last meeting I mentioned that the club and my friends were important to me right?"
"Yeah I think I remember you saying something along those lines," Naota agreed.
"So what part of that statement made you think it was alright to be a judgmental ass-hat in our first real conversation with each other?"
"Like I said I didn't really think of it as anything except a couple of jokes..."
" Well maybe you should do a little more thinking next time," Natsuki disapprovingly shook her head before another thought cause her to finally grin. "If that's an example of your social skills then I guess I don't have to worry about you hooking up with anyone."
Seeing the pinkette smile was bit of a relief, even if it came with a jab to his ego. "I promise you, I'm here for the words and not the girls," Naota swore, holding his right hand up.
"I'll believe it when I see it," Natsuki dismissed. "I need to get home before my dad starts worry about me so you got anything else to say?"
"I guess not, I just hope we can talk manga next meeting."
"We'll see..." Natsuki trailed off, carefully turning around and heading to leave the room without tripping this time.
As soon as she was safely alone in the hall again Natsuki sighed, rubbing her forehead in both embarrassment and annoyance. Of all times for her legs to give up on her it had to be in front of the newbie who needed to learn his place. She wondered how she had been blessed with such bad luck. Almost as if answering her question he stomach chose that moment to let out a loud, harrowing groan. Trying her best to ignore the pain she decided she better begin the walk home while she was still seeing straight.
The walk to her house seemed longer and more arduous then it really was. Her stomach ached and howled, her legs wobbled and buckled from time to time. Even the early September afternoon seemed way cooler then it should be, technically wasn't it still summer? Whatever she thought bitterly to herself, silently vowing to focus on getting home instead of complaining to herself.
Once inside she could hear the sound of the T.V. blaring in the living room and her father's deep chuckle at whatever he was watching. Just from his laugh she could tell he must have had a buzz going at the very least.
"Nat is that you? Where you been girl?" Her dad yelled from his seat, only barely lowering the T.V.'s volume.
"I had Literature Club today dad!" Natsuki called back, removing her shoes and dropping them and her bag by the door.
"Well why don't you come in and tell me about it?" Natsuki rolled her eyes at her old man's request. "There's dinner in the fridge for ya too."
Now there was a mood booster! Natsuki nearly fell over herself again as she rushed to the giant treasure chest that lived in her kitchen. A small smile crawled across her face as she mumbled something akin to "you wonderful drunk you" under her breath.
Whipping open the fridge she found her meal for the evening upon a paper plate. It was a simple sandwich, bologna on white bread with a little brown mustard. It may not of been much but it was a golden symbol in her eyes. Not only was she about to fill her empty stomach but this meant there was a whole loaf of bread and more meat hidden around here somewhere!
She retrieved her meal and got a glass full of cold tap water before joining her dad in the living room. He shot her a tired grin as she took a seat on the couch and took a large bite of the sandwich. The bread was a little stiff and crusty, the meal must have been assembled earlier this afternoon.
"So how's school going for you girly? You keeping your grades up?" The stout man asked between sips of cheap beer.
As much as Natsuki rued her own life sometimes she was relieved that she didn't have to hide everything from her dad. "Things are going pretty good in most of my classes. Gym could be going better."
"Pfft you don't need gym in the real world... just make sure you pass at least so it doesn't stop you from graduating."He father requested.
Natsuki nodded and hummed in affirmation, she knew where this was going.
"We just got to get you to eighteen and graduated!" Her dad reminded her. "Then you can go out and get a job and start living for yourself in the real world! Won't that be nice? You can get your own little place somewhere, maybe afford a pet or something..." He trailed off.
It was a conversation that sprung up more often the older she got. Like all teenagers her age the future was a scary yet exciting prospect. However, it always seemed to carry more hidden baggage whenever her father talked about it. Did he bring it up because she was just THAT much of a burden on him financially? For as long as she could remember its was just the two of them through thick and thin. What was he going to do when she went off to build her own life? Was he going to finally do whatever it was that he wanted with his life? What was the alternative for a widower at his age?
Natsuki took another bite of food, allowing her slowly filling belly to help chase the depressing thoughts away. Her own father wouldn't do anything crazy when she moves out right? Since the beginning her told her there were going to be tough times and easier times ahead. No matter what came they were survivors! They knew a thing or two about redemption and recovery! No matter what kind of life they lived she could be prideful in that.
Silence fell between the two once again. Natsuki finally finished her food and drink and stood up and pat her petite belly. "Thanks for the grub dad! I better get started on my homework for the night" She leaned over her still reclining father, giving him a quick, tight squeeze. "Just yell if you need anything."
"Alright girly, I'll turn this down for ya." Her father promised, gently patting one of the slim arms wrapped around him before turning the volume down on the T.V. even further.
Like the rest of the house Natsuki's room was a very simple room. A bed up against the cream colored wall, it was small but it still fit her pretty well. It even had room for a few cute plush animals on it. On the opposite wall was a desk with a lamp for doing her homework on. On the last wall was a old wooden dresser for her clothes.
Her fight against the monster known as homework only lasted forty-five minutes before her head was resting on her desk and she was nearly at slumber's door. In her tired daze she opened up one of the desk's drawers. Despite the others being a messy grab-bag of paper and writing utensils this drawer only held one of her few holy grails, a simple baking book. It was clearly older and well loved, with handwritten notes marking margins of the pages. Natsuki's gaze softened as she lightly ran her fingers across the book's cover.
"I forgot to tell you, everyone loved your cupcakes the other day. I followed all your additional notes just like you wrote them," Natsuki whispered to the book with a small smile, her eyes starting to fill with tears. "I love you, thanks again for everything." She concluded before carefully closing the drawer again.
Without another word Natsuki got ready for bed. Her last thought for the night being that having emotions was really exhausting.