A/N: Been catching up on both the anime and the manga, so I'm really inspired to keep this train rolling!

Enjoy!


Chapter 3: It's Just Being Nude, But Only After School

BEEP-BEEP! BEEP-BEEP! BEEP-BEEP!

Komi gently tapped her cat-shaped alarm clock on the head, shutting the alarm off. She let out a yawn as she lifted her head off her pillow. She sat up and peered through the crack in her curtains which allowed a sliver of sunlight to peek into the room. Komi took care to not open them too wide so as to avoid exposing her naked figure to anyone outside.

Last night proved to be another hot and humid night, which kept her up. Only by sleeping nude was Komi able to get any sleep, but probably not enough for the day ahead.

"Oh, Shouko!"

Komi suddenly froze up as she heard her mother calling out to her and trying to open her bedroom door.

"Shouko! Why is this door locked? Are you up yet?!" her mother asked, as she tried to jiggle the door open.

Now wide awake, Komi frantically jumped out of her bed and scrambled to find her school uniform.

Her mother knocked on the door again. "Shouko, are you alright?" she asked, worriedly.

She knocked on her door some more until Komi finally unlocked the door. Komi stood in front of her mother now fully dressed in her school uniform, albeit rather sloppily.

[She literally just threw on her uniform.]

She breathed heavily as her heart continued pounding at the idea that her mom almost saw her naked.

"Oh, good! You're awake!" Shuuko said. "Breakfast will be ready in a bit, so straighten out your uniform and meet us downstairs!"

Komi nodded her head. She watched as her mother turned around and headed back downstairs. She let out a sigh of relief, thinking she narrowly avoided an awkward situation with her mom.

As Shuuko made her way downstairs, she smiled. "You just couldn't resist, could you, Shouko?" she said to herself.

After breakfast, Komi collected her school bag and slipped on her outdoor shoes.

As she stepped outside her home, Komi could already feel the hot sun beating down on her. She tried fanning herself with her hand and flapping her shirt, but it did little good against the sweltering humidity.

"Have a good day at school!" her mother said, cheerfully. "And make sure to stay cool, okay?"

Komi nodded her head and then began making her way to school.

Shuuko watched as her daughter walked down the street and rounded the corner, disappearing from sight. She then walked back into her home, closing the door behind her.

As she looked around her now-empty home, Shuuko had an idea.

"Hmmm…" she murmured, "You know, it has been rather hot as of late. And…there's no one here but me."

Shuuko had a mischievous smirk on her face. She then lifted her blouse over her head and unhooked her bra.


After a long, grueling walk under the sun, Komi finally reached Itan High. The front entrance was bustling with many of her eccentric classmates socializing. Much like Komi, they were all fanning themselves and trying to stay cool during this unusual heatwave.

As Komi was changing into her indoor shoes at her locker, she was approached by one of her classmates.

"Oh! G-g-good morning, Komi!"

Komi looked up and saw that it was her plus-sized, neurotic friend Agari Himiko. Her face turning a faint hint of red, she wiped herself down with a cool towel, trying hard to not pass out.

"Uh, maybe it's just me," she said, "but…there's something d-different about you today."

Komi cocked her head slightly. Different? She wasn't sure what Agari was talking about.

"Did you get a haircut, perhaps?"

Komi looked up at her bangs and ran her fingers through her hair. She didn't think there was anything unusual about her hair, at least not when she brushed it this morning.

"Ah! I'm sorry!" screamed Agari. "Maybe I'm just seeing things! Forget I said anything!"

Agari then took off in a hurry, leaving Komi very confused.


After that perplexing encounter, Komi made her way up the stairs to her classroom.

At the top of the stairs, she ran into another one of her classmates, the highly-aggressive Yamai Ren.

"Oh! Hello, Komi!" she said, cheerfully. "My, you're looking especially radiant today!"

Yamai then leaned in closer towards Komi, much to her discomfort. "Seriously, did you do something to your hair?" she asked, her face only an inch away from Komi's. "Or maybe you used a new body wash?"

Komi quickly jumped back. She could have sworn Yamai was trying to sniff her. And it was the second time someone had asked her about her hair.

Komi simply shook her head "no." Not wanting to entertain any further questions, Komi sidestepped Yamai and quickly walked to her classroom.

Although Yamai followed closely behind.


At last, she made it to her classroom. She sat down at her desk and leaned back. She closed her eyes as she felt the breeze coming from the fans hanging from the corners of the room. She let out a sigh of relief as all the classroom fans were blowing at full-speed.

Still, she'd rather be in her room, naked, and with the fans pointed at her all day.

Komi then ran her fingers through her hair again. With two of her classmates asking about it, it made her wonder if there was something different about her that she wasn't seeing.

Komi turned to the desk next to her, hoping to ask Tadano if there was something different about her.

But there was only an empty desk! Komi was surprised to find Tadano absent from the class. She started to worry.

"...ugh…too hot…"

"...somebody kill me…"

"...I wanna die…"

Komi jumped as she suddenly heard lots of mournful groaning and crying coming from her class. She looked up and nearly fell over backward as she saw everyone slumped over their desks, looking miserable. Even the usually hyperactive students had their heads down on their desks.

Just then, the classroom door slid open…and in walked an overheated and very exhausted Tadano Hitomi.

Tadano made a ghastly moaning noise as he walked to his desk and plopped right down in his seat. He said nothing to Komi, acting as if she wasn't even there. He dropped his school bag next to his chair and put his head on his desk, joining everyone else in their misery.

Komi was put off by Tadano brushing her off, but she took no offense. She could see that the heat was getting to him too. In fact, out of the students she's run into today, he looked to be the most tired of them all.

Komi reached into her bag and took out her notebook. She began writing what she wanted to say, as she usually did, but she stopped halfway.

She always used the notebook to communicate with everyone else. But this time, she wanted to do something different.

"Once you're able to overcome the fear of being nude, it's amazing how much more confident you become and how much better you get at connecting with others."

Sure, Komi has only been sleeping naked for two nights, plus a morning of being nude, but perhaps it could still make a difference.

There was only one way to find out.

Komi turned to Tadano and took a deep breath.

"G…g…g…" she stammered.

Her stammering grabbed Tadano's attention, as he tilted his head in her direction.

"G…g…good…"

"M…morning…"

"…T…Tadano!"

There was a long silence. Komi waited for Tadano to respond, but he only stared at her with droopy eyes.

"…oh yeah, good morning, Komi," Tadano replied wearily.

As Tadano went back to sleep, Komi pumped her fists and bounced in her seat.

[She's proud of herself.]

Tadano then let out a loud yawn. "I'm sorry," he said to her, "I'm just so tired. It was so humid last night, I kept waking up sweating, and I didn't get any sleep. I'm surprised you're so upbeat this morning, Komi."

Komi didn't know what he was talking about.

Upbeat? Her?

How?

Sure, maybe she was upbeat compared to everyone else, but she was sweating as much as everyone else was. She's also struggling to make it through the heat like everyone else.

Heck, Komi also had trouble sleeping last night. If she hadn't slept naked, she probably would have been up all night and be just as miserable as Tadano is right now.

She looked down at her desk, thinking about what she wanted to say to Tadano.

[She wants to help Tadano.]

She looked over to Tadano and opened her mouth. But try as she might, she couldn't get the word out.

She then opened her notebook. She brought her pencil down onto an empty page..but she found herself unable to move her hand to write anything.

[She's debating if she should tell him about the news report she saw over the weekend.]

"Good morning, everyone!"

Komi was interrupted when the classroom door slid open again, this time with a bang! She quickly turned around…and saw Osana Najimi in the doorway. Their usual bright and cheerful self was a stark contrast to the gloomy feeling of everyone else in the class.

"Oh come on, everyone!" they continued. "It's a bright and sunny day! You're not going to let a little heat get to you, are you? Just think, we can do all sorts of summertime stuff…and it's not even summertime!"

Komi worried for Najimi's safety, especially when she saw a few students clenching their fists, ready to jump up and knock them out.

Fortunately, Najimi turned their attention to Komi and Tadano. "Ah! Good morning, Komi!" they said, cheerfully. "Nice to see you so chipper today!"

[She really wasn't all that "chipper."]

Without hesitation, Najimi then walked up to Tadano and began poking him repeatedly. "Hey, yo! Tadano! Why so glum?" they teased.

"Not today, Najimi," groaned Tadano, "I didn't get any sleep last night."

"I slept great last night! Maybe you should try sleeping naked, like I did!"

Komi gasped at Najimi bluntly admitting something so taboo. It was then that Tadano started to perk up. "Don't say such vulgar things out loud!" he scolded.

"How is it vulgar? Komi slept naked too!" replied Najimi.

Komi let out a shrill shriek as she jumped out of her chair and waved her arms rapidly, trying to stop Najimi from talking.

[She really didn't want the class to get the wrong idea.]

"How would you know if K-Komi slept naked or not?!" Tadano asked, blushing a bit.

"Well, why else is Komi so alert this morning?" asked Najimi. "She and I were having trouble sleeping last night too, but then we took our pajamas off and let everything air out. Boy, it was the best sleep we ever got! Isn't that right, Komi?"

Komi shook her head furiously.

[Najimi is just teasing. They don't know if Komi slept nude or not.]


As the school day went on, the heat became more and more intense. For many of the students in Class 1, they found it difficult to concentrate and take notes, even with the fans spinning at full-speed.

Komi was having trouble concentrating too, albeit for a much different reason.

The homeroom teacher was able to get Najimi to behave themselves (via a pull on the ear) and they kept quiet for most of the day, Komi feared that the damage was done and everyone thought she and Najimi were exhibitionists.

As the teacher continued with her lesson, Komi looked around and saw that most of the students were practically dead from heat exhaustion. They were already bad this morning, and it seemed they've only gotten worse with each passing period.

She took a deep breath. She was hoping that everyone was too tired to pay any attention to what Najimi said.

She hoped that, at worst, they would think Najimi was joking around.

She then saw two students up front murmuring to each other. She thought they had been talking about her.

Komi tried to think nothing of it. She was trying hard to keep her mind from racing.

[They were actually talking about using the school's pool after classes.]

She then saw a student looking back at her, the country girl, Inaka Nokoko. As soon as she and Inaka made eye contact, she blushed and quickly focused back on the teacher up front.

Komi tried to focus as well, but it was getting harder and harder to keep herself relaxed and not overthink everything.

She then gasped. She thought back to earlier in the day when she ran into Agari and Yamai.

When they were talking about her hair and being cheerful…

…was that what they were talking about?!

Komi then began breathing heavily through her nose, trying desperately not to have a panic attack.

[She really hopes they haven't figured out that she sleeps naked.]


MEANWHILE

"I…I can't believe it. My goddess Komi…a n-nudist?! An exhibitionist?!"

Yamai Ren was in the school nurse's office, lying on one of the beds. Her face was red, her breathing labored, her eyes rolled back into her head, and she was practically foaming at the mouth!

[Yamai was outside the door when she heard Najimi talking about Komi sleeping naked.]

[She immediately collapsed outside.]

The nurse placed a cold pack on her forehead, then wrote something down on her clipboard.

"Boy, this one's got it bad," she muttered.

[Someone found her and thought she collapsed from heat exhaustion.]

The nurse sighed. "Better start prepping the other beds," she said, "I have a feeling I'm going to have a lot more students coming in today."

As she readied the beds, Yamai continued muttering, a perverted grin permanently affixed to her face. "Komi…a nudist. Her gorgeous, naked body…all for me!"


CHAPTER 3 END

A/N: I was originally going to continue the chapter with Komi going back to her house, but I decided to end things here. I'm trying to keep these chapters about the same length as a manga chapter or a segment in the anime.

Don't worry, Komi and her mom are going to spend a lot more time together in the next few chapters! But the classmates may pop up from time-to-time.