Hunger
Chapter 7
The sun sure is setting earlier and earlier isn't it?
Naota's mind drifted a bit as he stood next to the window in the Literature Club. His eyes silently watched as his fellow students set up various stalls and booths on the school ground's below, hurrying to and through like a colony of busy ants. Everything was feeling so odd and alien to him tonight and he couldn't put his finger on why. Maybe is was just from being at school this late? Was he already nervous from the public speaking he was going to do today? Or was it just from being at school out of uniform and in his best dress clothes?
Or maybe I'm still not over almost kissing Natsuki yesterday...
He couldn't help but to relive the moment for a bit. His heart beating so hard it could drown out all the noise around him. The sweet smell of baked goods in the air clouding his mind. Natsuki's warm breath enveloping him as she leaned closer and closer to him.
I need to calm down
Naota took a deep breath of the jasmine scented air. Yuri had been the first to arrive for the festival and she instantly got to work on transforming their club room to reflect her atmospheric vision. A banner depicting an early night's sky hung over the front of the classroom where a podium now stood.. She also plugged in an oil diffuser as soon as she arrived in order to perfume the room with her favorite jasmine. And to top it off a curtain was made for the door out of origami paper and thread with fancy calligraphy letters written on each slip of paper. Naota was awestruck by the changes when he first arrived, and quickly did his part by arranging chairs in an auditorium style facing the podium.
"Wow Yuri you did a great job with the atmosphere!" Naota complimented when they both had a moment to breathe.
"Really... it's not much." Yuri said quietly, a soft smile on her face. "I only wish these classrooms were equipped with dimmer switches so we could get the lighting just right."
"Yeah, I suppose classrooms don't really have a reason to install ambient lighting." Naota chuckled. It was nice to see the normally shy young woman take a little pride in her handiwork. He looked back to the containers of cookies he brought and then to the clock on the wall.
The others should be getting here any moment...
As if the young man had some mystical power to summon people by thought the curtain on the front door opened and the rest of the Literature Club walked in. The three girls took in the changes of their surroundings in quiet amazement.
"Hello everyone!" Yuri greeted as she approached the three.
"Yuri everything looks amazing!" Sayori compliment while doing a quick spin to take in the whole room.
"Yes and your outfit is beautiful as well." Monika added.
All the girls were dressed rather nicely Naota noticed. Sayori, Monika and Natsuki all went with dress shirts, skirts and leggings while Yuri went with a dark turtle neck and matching dress pants. Naota wondered if he was dressed enough in his plain khakis and black dress shirt.
"You all look awesome." Naota announced as he joined the group.
The girls all smiled and silently agreed with his comment, aside from Natsuki. The pink haired girl playfully rolled her eyes while warning "Flattery will get you nowhere."
Monika quickly checked the time, "It's almost time, you girls ready to hold down the fort for a while?"
Both Sayori and Yuri gave confident nods.
"Wait! Before you and Naota leave I want your opinion on the cookies we made." Natsuki suggested. She quickly went to the back of the room where one of the containers of cookies were set. She rejoined her friends and they quickly gather around the container with anticipation. Pausing just for a moment for flair Natsuki opened the treasure chest of baked goods to a hushed chorus of "Ooos" and "Ahhs".
"Well, what are you all waiting for? Try one!." Natsuki said, sporting a fangy grin from the praise she received.
Each member took a cookie and silently had a bite.
"Oh my gosh..." Sayori said in amazement, her lips already dusted with crumbs.
"Mmhmm." Monika hummed in agreement. "If we had some proper Home Ec. rooms at this school you could start your own baking club Natsuki."
"Yes, these are very good." Yuri added. Natsuki looked to her purple haired friend in disbelief. "I'm sorry, did I say something wrong?" She asked when she noticed the baker glaring at her.
"No, but all I get is a 'very good' from the girl who spends her spare time reading dictionaries?" Natsuki asked in jest.
"Oh! What I meant to say was 'these are delectable Natsuki!'" Yuri corrected as the two shared a smile.
"Just think of the members we could attract if we had these everyday!" Sayori exclaimed as she devoured the last of her treat.
"Impossible, there's a lot of love and skill that goes into this. You can't just mass produce it." Natsuki crossed her arms in a matter-of-fact manner.
"Oh so you were cooking up some love in Naota's kitchen then?" Sayori teased.
"Wha?" Natsuki was caught off guard by the question and she blushed hard from the memories from the previous day. "Nothing happened between me and that moron! What are you even suggesting?" Before the conversation could continue Natsuki was already heading back to put her container of cookies away.
"Well..." Monika spoke up as she hoped to reign in the conversation again. "I'm counting on you vice president! Try and recruit us some new members!" Monika said while straightening out Sayori collar and wiping cookie crumbs off her shirt.
"We'll do our best madam president!" Sayori nodded with a newly lit fire in her eyes.
"Good, Naota and I will be back in time for the first reading." Monika gathered a bunch of the pamphlets she made and was soon waiting at the door. "Coming Naota?"
"Coming!" As Naota approached the door he gave one last look to the pouting Natsuki. The girl's expression softened slightly when their eyes met.
"Don't go nuts out there, we gotta check out a bunch of those food stands together remember?" Natsuki called out before Naota could fully leave.
"I didn't forget, don't you fill up on cookies if things are too slow around here."
"No promises!" Sayori interrupted as she greedily eyed the container of cookies.
Naota only grinned and shook his head at his childhood friend's antics then took off to catch up to Monika.
Stepping into the cool evening air of the school's courtyard Naota took in the scenery with a bit of awe. His asocial tendencies never allowed him to visit the school fair before. Something about seeing the courtyard filled with booths offering food and and games, decorated with colorful decorations and string lights was kind of magical. A small part of his mind was still uncomfortable and uneasy, must have had something to do with being at school so late after hours, but he could easily look past it. Suddenly the voice of Monika , who was still a few yards ahead of him, shook him from his thoughts.
"Hi!" Monika greeted as she approached a few students, "The Literature Club is holding a reading in classroom 4-D tonight. There will be poems and refreshments so please consider joining us won't you?" She smiled with all the charm of a professional saleswoman as she gave them each a pamphlet.
Naota took the chance to catch up with his president. "Hey Monika, you're not going to check out any of the booths?"
Monika shook her head. "No, not now anyway. I'm gonna give the girls some support on foot here. There will be time for fun after our readings."
"Wow..." Naota was awed by her professionalism. "Well I'm planning on hitting some booths up with Natsuki later so why don't I help you reel in some potential club mates?"
"You sure? You said this was your first fair right? I wouldn't want to you to miss out on anything."
"I couldn't let you do all the work in good conscious." Naota argued, holding his hand out towards her stack of pamphlets.
"Sure then." Monika took her pile of pamphlets and gave half to Naota. "Thank you for the help."
The two set off to the depths of the courtyard, handing out greetings and pamphlets to whoever would give them a moment of their time. It was nearly fifteen minutes later when the booths had attracted many of the wanderers and the two Literature Club members found themselves with less to do.
"So..." Monika began as she led Naota to the far side of the courtyard, unwilling to deal with the low roar of the crowd anymore. "Natsuki huh?"
"What about Natsuki?" Naota could feel a small amount of nervousness take hold in his stomach.
"Nothing, I've just noticed how close you two have gotten recently. Which, don't get me wrong, is great! I love to see my members getting along with each other." A small, coy smile formed on Monika's face.
"That's good..." Naota could feel there was something more to Monika's words.
"Just no making out on club time, you hear me?" Monika asked with a playful wink.
"We're not THAT close... I think..." thoughts and questions about the pink haired girl bubbled in the young man's mind like a boiling pot.
"Oh, well you could of fooled me. I don't think I've ever seen Natsuki take such a liking to someone."
That thought almost made Naota laugh out out, it wasn't too long ago when Natsuki was super defensive around him and they were arguing about manga. Naota was taken out of his thoughts when a commotion had broken out at the nearby gallery shooting booth. A freshman had been thrown to the ground and now three older boys surrounded him.
"You call that shooting?" One taunted, kicking sand and dust onto the younger boy.
"Yeah, I thought you were gonna win a prize for me?" Another sneered with a cackle.
"These new kids are useless!" The third and final delinquent laughed.
Naota shook his head at the scene. He could remember his own ruthless freshman year, older guys could be pretty ruthless. "Poor guy..." Naota muttered. Before he could register what was happening Monika had handed him her small pile of pamphlets and she stormed off toward the altercation.
"HEY!" Monika shouted, grabbing the attention of nearly everyone in the area. "Let that freshman alone!"
The three hooligans looked to one another before jeering like a pack of hyenas and approaching the the young woman disrupting their fun.
This isn't good... three on one. Naota nervously watched on.
"To what do we owe a visit from Ms. Perfect? Looking for a date for the festival?" The lead boy asked while taking another unwanted step toward Monika. Monika merely crossed her arms across her chest and steeled her stance like an iron woman.
"I want you to cut your crap and leave the people around here alone." Monika voice was stern, unwavering.
"Yeah? Or what?" The three kept slowly approaching in a wall of intimidation.
"Or I'm gonna get you out of here one way or another." Monika warned.
The three boy's face morphed into a look of mock astonishment.
"You think she's gonna debate us out of here?" One wondered aloud.
"Or maybe she's gonna write a poem that'll convince us to leave?" The second joked.
"Or she'll just wise up and run back to her club before we make her." The leader suggested.
"Please!" Monika pressed on, never losing face. "Everyone knows you three are nothing but talk. All bark and no bite."
"You wanna get bit then?" The leader announced, swiftly raising a hand to backhand Monika.
It almost happened too quickly for onlookers to follow. Monika had caught the blow in two steady hands, shifted her weight and threw her assaulter over the shoulder. With their leader on the ground the other two finally gave Monika space again.
"Debate and Literature were right but you guys forgot about the amateur Judo classes." Monika confidently dusted her hand off together in a job-well-done manner. "Now get out of here."
The three trouble makers regrouped and took off running like their butts were on fire. Monika was already tending to the fallen freshman before Naota or anyone could shower praise on her.
"Hey there! I'm sorry you had to endure that. I promise those guys are the exception and not the rule when it comes to students around here. I'm Monika by the way." Monika explained while helping the young man to his feet.
"Thanks, I'm Kentaro." The freshman introduced himself as he slowly became starstruck by the girl currently helping him dust off.
"Well Kentaro," Monika gracefully turned around to snatch a pamphlet from Naota. "I know it won't fully make up for it but you can get a free cookie if you show up to the Literature Club's poetry reading at room 4-D."
"Will you be there?" The boy asked dreamily.
"I just might." Monika grinned. "And take it from me, they're the best cookies you've had in a lifetime."
Kentaro stumbled off a grinning mess and Naota took the chance to approach his president.
"So that's how you became the most popular girl in school." Naota mused aloud.
"Yep, been beating up bullies since preschool" Monika joked while shooting Naota a finger gun. The two shared a laugh at the chestnut haired girl's antics.
Theyresumed their journey through the fair again but looking back at everything that just happened a question began to form in Naota's mind.
"How do you do stuff like that Monika?"
"What do you mean?"
"I could never just insert myself into a situation like that. I always find myself freezing up or looking the other way..." Naota admitted, a bit of shame washing over him.
Monika took a moment to reflect on his question before curtly replying "I don't like 'What ifs.'"
"What ifs?" Naota parroted.
"You know, I don't like thinking about what could happen if I just sit back and do nothing. Like with Kentaro back there, if nobody stepped in to help him it could effect his entire outlook on school. Then what if that effects his college choices and then his entire career path?"
Naota could only look on in amazement at Monika's explanation. He hadn't even thought about his dinner for tonight much less the future of a random stranger.
"You can change people's lives Naota, you just have to have the courage to get involved. Even if you might get hurt."
Naota had never looked at it like that. What had he'd missed out on by being so timid?
Maybe Natsuki and I...
"Maybe your right Monika..."
Monika nodded, convinced that her words would set Naota on a better path. "Does that mean I'm gonna get some stellar poetry from you from now on?"
Naota blinked in confusion, his mind being miles away from poems or poetry. "Sure thing... I guess."
As the two looked for more potential members and audience members Naota was filled with a new excitement and nervousness for the second half of the festival.
A/N: I'm splitting the festival into 2 somewhat shorter chapters. I hope you all don't mind!
