Chapter 3 - Start Of The Culture Festival

Many people with communication disorders have a disposition which does not allow them to join their friends when they see them with someone whom they don't know.

And the emotion they feel…

Is something that others might call jealousy.

—————

Right After Onemine's House

Komi walked through the door of her house and sat on the couch gloomily. Her mother, Shuuko, was in the kitchen at the time. She noticed Komi's gloomy demeanour and waltzed over to her.

"Hey Shouko-chan, what's wrong?" asked Komi's mum.

Komi paused. She pulled out her notebook and wrote, 'I have been having these feelings lately. It's like a mixture of worry, sadness and anger. I searched it up and it said it was something called jealousy.'

"That's probably the case. Who do you think you're jealous of?"

Komi scribbled in her notebook, 'A girl name Onemine.'

"And what do you think you are jealous for?" Komi's mother, Shuuko responded.

'That she is getting close to my friend and that there hanging out together,' wrote Komi.

"One last question. Is this friend perhaps Tadano-kun?"

Komi nodded.

"I think you might like him!" giggled Shuuko.

Komi blushed heavily and shook her arms around.

"Think about it. You're getting jealous that another girl is getting close to him. That normally happens with your crush. Oh Shouko-chan, your growing up so fast!"

Komi stopped to think. Her mother knew relationships better than she did. Maybe she did like Tadano after all?

—————

Onemine had a dilemma.

It had been a little over a week since Komi and Tadano visited her house. She had started hanging out with Tadano, Komi and Najimi, fueling Komi's jealousy even more.

She wanted to get away from Tadano because Komi was clearly jealous, which had been clear since their first meeting, but she was enjoying Tadano's company. She didn't want Komi to be sad but she wanted to enjoy herself as well.

—————

"Ok class, the culture festival is coming up in just over a week. Does anyone have any ideas for it?" asked the teacher.

Different people raised their hands, suggesting ideas.

Najimi also raised her hand, suggesting a maid cafe.

"Ok, now that we have everyone's ideas we're going to do a vote."

With her infinite connections, Najimi managed to persuade practising everyone to vote for her idea, the maid cafe.

"It is decided. We are doing a maid cafe!"

—————

Four Days Later

Everyone was busy working on preparing the maid cafe for the culture festival.

"Hey Komi-san, we need more materials. Can you come to the hardware store with me?" asked Onemine.

Komi shook her head.

"Oh. I'll just ask Tadano-kun then." Onemine replied bleakly.

Komi's eyes widened as she ran over to Onemine.

"Oh Komi-san, did you change your mind?" asked Onemine cheerfully.

—————

Onemine and Komi were walking through the hardware store. Neither tried to start a conversation, leading to an awkward atmosphere.

"Hey Komi-san, can I talk to you about something?" asked Onemine, breaking the silence.

Komi looked at Onemine.

"It's about Tadano-kun. Do you like him?" said Onemine straightforwardly.

Komi nearly choked. She then paused and thought. After a while nodded her head.

"I'm so sorry! I noticed that you were jealous when we first met and I could always feel you glaring at me. I just want to say that I don't like him like that, so there's nothing to be worried about!" Onemine stuttered, flustered.

Komi paused. She then smiled at Onemine.

—————

"Oh you're back!" said Tadano.

Komi and Onemine had arrived back at the classroom after buying some supplies.

Onemine and Komi placed the supplies down and started working on the cafe like everybody else.

—————

11 PM

It was late. Many students were asleep on the floor or had decided to come home and not stay after school hours. Tadano was the only person still awake and working on the culture festival.

Suddenly, the door to the classroom opened. Najimi, along with Komi, Onemine, Yamai and some other girls from the class came in.

"Hey, we made onigiri!" shouted Najimi.

Everyone woke up and went to grab some onigiri. Najimi started handing them out to the class.

Each of the girls made differently shaped onigiris, so they could see who was the best at making them.

It soon was Tadano's turn.

"Tadano-kun here's two onigiris, you were the only person still working after all." Najimi giggled, handing Tadano two rice balls.

Tadano got handed a square onigiri and a round onigiri.

"Oh, these are nice!" said Tadano, biting into one.

—————

Everyone had finished their onigiri and were re-energised to finish the last little bit of the cafe.

"So Tadano-kun, which onigiri did you like more?" Najimi said cheerfully.

"Oh! They were both very nice, but if I had to say probably the round one," Tadano replied.

Najimi walked away from Tadano and over to where Komi, Onemine and the other girls were.

"Hey, Komi-san and Onemine-san! Tadano-kun said he liked the round onigiri more!"

Komi had made the square onigiri and Onemine had made the round onigiri.

Komi was visibly upset by the news. She knew Onemine didn't like Tadano in that way, but it still stung knowing Tadano preferred Onemine to her, even in something small like a rice ball.

Onemine noticed Komi being upset.

"Hey Komi-san, it's alright. I've been making onigiri for my siblings for years now, so I have lots of experience. You just need to practise," said Onemine calmly.

Komi nodded.

—————

The Day Of The Culture Festival

All the girls in the class were dressed up in their fancy maid costumes. Komi was panicking. She normally wore long skirts and didn't like revealing much skin but her maid costume revealed a lot of her thighs.

Komi tried gesturing to Najimi to ask if she could get a bigger skirt.

"I'm sorry Komi-san, but that's the longest costume we have!" Najimi replied.

Komi's face turned red out of embarrassment.

"What if Tadano-kun saw me in this!" thought Komi.

Meanwhile, Onemine was waiting for the culture festival to open when someone came into the room.

"Kaede-chan! You haven't been at school much recently. I'm glad you were able to make it to the festival!"

"Yeah, I've been very sick lately but I have gotten better," said Kaede very slowly.

"You should have called me, I would have come over and helped! Anyway, here's a maid costume for the festival."

—————

Customers were flowing into the maid cafe. Onemine, Komi and Otori Kaede were the only ones who weren't assigned to tables yet.

A customer strolled into the cafe.

"Hey Komi-san, can you attend to this customer!" shouted Najimi.

The customer was a small old woman.

"Oh, hello there! Can I please get some takoyaki and water," said the old lady kindly.

Komi was shaking nervously. Gathering all the strength she could muster she nodded and walked over to the kitchen to start making the order.

—————

Meanwhile…

The door to the storage room of the cafe opened. Tadano came out.

"Hello Osana-kun, I just wanted to see how the cafe is coming along!" said Tadano as he walked through the door, marvelling at how many people were in the cafe.

"It's going great! We already have tons of sales! How about you have some food while you're here?" Najimi replied.

Tadano sat down at a table.

"Onemine-san! Customer!" Najimi shouted.

Onemine came over to the table and saw Tadano.

Flustered, she said, "Oh, hi Tadano-kun. What do you want to eat?"

"I'll just have some omurice please," Tadano replied kindly.

Onemine walked back to the kitchen to start cooking his order.

"Hey Onemine-san, your breaks are in 10 minutes! Otori-san you're off in 20 minutes!" Najimi shouted over to Onemine and Otori.

—————

4 minutes later

Onemine brought Tadano's food out.

"Thanks! It looks amazing!" said Tadano.

Tadano bit into the omelette, rice spilling out.

"Oh, that's really good!" Tadano exclaimed.

—————

Tadano finished his food and got up from his seat. "Thanks for the food, it was delicious!"

"Oh, thanks! What are you going to do now?" questioned Onemine.

"I was going to explore the festival. How about you?"

"I was going to do the same thing!" Onemine chuckled.

"In that case, wanna go together?" Tadano asked, oblivious that that could be seen as a date.

Onemine was incredibly flustered.

"Oh, uh, sure!" Onemine replied, walking out of the cafe with Tadano.

"He probably doesn't mean it like that." thought Onemine.

—————

Komi walked out with the old lady's takoyaki and water. She placed it down on her table and started to walk back to the kitchen when she saw Onemine and Tadano walking together out of the cafe. She felt a sinking feeling in her chest.

"She doesn't like him like that, she told me that herself," Komi reassured herself in her mind. However, there was still a small bit of doubt in Komi's mind.

Author's Notes

I've been having quite a bit of trouble writing this chapter. The description of this part of the story in my planner was very vague and I have been quite busy with the end of the school term.

Also thanks for all the support. I figured out how to check the statistics and I have around 55 readers! I didn't even expect 5, let alone 55! See ya next chapter!

Next On Bonding Over Homework: Duel Festivals