Komi Komi Literature Club!
Chapter 37: The Exchange
"Komi! I brought you cookies! I made them myself!" Yamai exclaimed excitedly as she ran up to Komi's desk during lunch. She proudly offered a batch of cookies wrapped carefully up.
Komi's eyes widened in surprise. Her cat ears perked up as she appreciatively took the cookies in the wrapping. She carefully set them down and opened up the wrapping slowly. As she peeled it off, she found that the cookies had been decorated with icing to resemble Yamai's face with a cat-like expression.
"You like a good kitty, don't you?" Yamai asked with a sly expression and a mischievous giggle.
"Why did she say it like that?!" Tadano wondered to himself with a concerned expression.
"W-What? No, Komi much prefers dogs! Right, Komi?! Don't you?!" Agari interrupted the conversation to argue her belief on the matter.
"What? No she doesn't! Komi is all about cats! Cats!" Yamai argued with her.
"Dogs!"
"Cats!"
As the two bickered, Komi looked back and forth between them. She wasn't sure how to respond to the cookies, but as she stared down at them, she found herself remembering what Alex had said to her during the last club meeting.
This was not doing anything to help her feelings on the matter.
"Hm? Komi, are you okay?" Tadano asked, noticing this shift in Komi's expression.
"Huh?" Agari and Yamai stopped fighting to turn their attention back to her after hearing Tadano's question.
Komi took in a breath and sighed to herself. She pulled out her notebook and readied her hand to write in it. Then she hesitated...but she began to write anyways. She decided to keep her response short but polite since Yamai had gone through the trouble of making these for her.
"Thank you for the cookies. I'm sorry, but I don't have the appetite for sweets today. Is it alright for me to share them?" She asked, hoping that this wouldn't offend Yamai.
"O-Oh...y-yeah, of course, Komi! You're always so generous!" Yamai laughed. "Shoot! My plan for her to eat me failed again!" She thought to herself.
Pulling the wrapping off of the cookies a little further, Komi noticed that there were four cookies stacked on top of each other. She took one and handed it to Tadano. She took another and offered it to Agari. The third cookie, she handed it back to Yamai.
All three of them accepted a cookie and gave their thanks in return.
"Please enjoy them for me." Komi requested formally, hoping that this would further keep her from seeming too rude. She looked down a little. The others could see now that she was a little saddened by this.
"Right! Of course!" Agari nodded emphatically and ate her cookie, "Mmm! It's...actually it is pretty good!" Agari acknowledged.
"Why do you sound so surprised by that?! I would only put together the best for Komi!" Yamai said with a humph, folding her arms and smiling proudly.
"Thank you for sharing, Komi." Tadano said to her with a smile. He didn't feel too comfortable with eating a cookie that looked like Yamai, but since it would make her feel better about this awkward situation, he ate it without hesitation.
"Mhmm." Komi nodded. She looked down at the last cookie still in the wrapper. She folded the wrapping back over the cookie carefully and placed it into her bag.
She decided to save it for later...
After class, Komi made her way to the club meeting. She was nervous, but she really wanted to have another conversation with Alex about what he had said to her. She wanted clarification about what it sounded like he had told her.
"Hey, Komi! I like your scarf!" Sayori complimented her as she came into the classroom.
"She's been wearing that scarf for weeks now." Natsuki pointed out.
"I know! I just keep forgetting to say that I like it! At least I think I forgot...I forget if I forgot." Sayori giggled.
"Hello everyone. How are you?" Komi asked, setting her things down on a desk.
"I'm great! I got to make a snow fort yesterday! I made it big enough to crawl inside! It was cool!" Sayori described.
"Doing good! I still have to finish some homework, so I might just be using free time today." Natsuki answered.
"Would you like some tea, Komi? I just finished." Yuri offered from the back of the room.
"Mhmm!" Komi nodded, making her way over to her. "I...I-I'll help...s-serve...the...the-the-the-the..." Komi stuttered, unable to get the last word of her sentence down.
"Sure, Komi. Here," Yuri smiled politely and gave her a teacup to hand out. "Do you like my new electric tea kettle?" She asked, gesturing down to it.
"Hmm?" Komi looked down at the tea kettle. It was painted white with gold trim on it; a dim blue light illuminated around the bottom of the kettle like a ring. Her eyes widened and she nodded in approval.
"I think it's really nice. I would've rather had a different design, but I do like the classical feel of this look. It heats the water, so I don't have to go to the teacher's lounge to prepare it anymore. I feel the tea sometimes can taste a little watered down, but overall it isn't bad." Yuri shared her thoughts.
"Tea usually tastes watered down to me anyways, so I can't even tell the difference!" Natsuki said with a laugh.
"I mean...I guess that's a good thing?" Monika giggled.
"Hey, is Alex not here today? I didn't see him in class." Sayori asked, noticing that he hadn't arrived yet.
"Sounds like you answered your own question then, didn't you, Sayori?" Yuri pointed out with a light chuckle.
"Yeahhh, he got sick – says he'll try to be back soon as he can." Monika informed them.
"I figured since he was sneezing everywhere." Natsuki pointed out.
"Yeah haha well the show must go on, right? Ahem, okay everyone. Let's go ahead and get started with our discussion for today." Monika decided to get the club meeting underway now.
Komi took her seat and set her things down on the floor next to her. Her bag opened just slightly. Looking down at it, Komi noticed the cookie that Yamai had made for her still sitting inside in the wrapping paper. She reached down and took it out of the bag.
She ate it with the tea that Yuri made during the literature club discussion.
After the club meeting, the girls all began to file their way out of the classroom. Komi lingered behind to help Monika put the desks back in their place. She wanted to ask her about Alex, but she wasn't sure how to start the conversation.
"Thanks for helping me out, Komi!" Monika said appreciatively, "Got any plans for the rest of the day?" She asked curiously.
"Mm," Komi paused to think about it before grabbing her notebook and writing her answer. "I plan on going home and relaxing for the rest of the evening. What plans do you have?"
"Ohh I don't know. I'm always working on something so I'm not used to having downtime," Monika admitted with a laugh. "But lately I've been really in the mood for a nice, hot bath, you know?"
"That sounds nice. Do you mind if I ask you a question?" Komi requested.
"Sure! What's on your mind?"
"Did Alex say what he was sick with?" She asked.
"Not sure. Sounds like it might be the flu. He said that he's got a fever, still sneezing, and I guess he's achy? You know he describes things weirdly sometimes." Monika giggled again.
Komi nodded and looked down at her notebook again. She wanted to mention the fact that she wanted to ask Alex something, but she hesitated before ultimately deciding against it. So finally, she wrote something simple.
"I hope that he feels better. Enjoy your night and your bath, Monika." Komi said before bowing respectfully and making her way out the door.
"Thanks, Komi! You too! Well...uh...you're not...actually, never mind. You know what I meant." Monika waved it off with an awkward laugh.
So Komi realized that she would have to wait a while to finally talk to Alex about what he had said. But what she didn't realize is how long it would end up being. Alex didn't come to school tomorrow. Or the next day. Or the day after that.
And all the while, his words were still hanging on her mind...
Now it was evening at the Komi house. She had already finished her homework, and was sitting there laying in bed. Her phone buzzed. She looked at it. Sayori and Natsuki were talking in the group chat again. No one else was responding right now.
She had forgotten that she could text on her phone. She still wasn't used to doing that yet. Maybe she had waited long enough. Maybe it was time to text Alex? Would that be too much?
After about 15 minutes of mulling it over, she decided to just send him a text anyways.
Komi: Good evening, Alex. How are you feeling? Are you feeling any better?
Alex: Hey, Komi! I'm better than I was. Body's still weakish, but I'm coming along! How's your week been?
Komi: My week has been well. I've been wanting to ask you about something, but you haven't been feeling well, so I wasn't sure when would have been a good time to bring it up.
Alex: My line's always open if you wanna talk, Komi. What's up?
Komi: When we were discussing our poems last week, you mentioned something about my friends. I wanted to know what you meant by that...
Alex: Uh yeah that. I didn't mean anything mean about your friends. I was just in a mood and talking
Komi: I think I understand. I was worried about what you meant. I've never had friends like this before. I would like to have good friendships.
Alex: Oh yeah, of course. Nothing wrong with that. A lot of people at school are weird lol but they're not bad people per se
Komi: Do you think everyone at the literature club likes me? Do they consider me part of the group?
Alex: Oh yeah they definitely do. The girls all love hanging out with you
Komi: I don't think that any of my friends have bad intentions.
Alex: I never said that either. Who you wanna hang with is your business, Komi.
Komi: I trust my friends.
Alex: Great. Good for you
Komi paused when she read this short response. She swallowed nervously. Was Alex getting annoyed with her? Was he somehow offended by her making statement? She couldn't tell. And she wasn't sure how to continue from there.
Komi: I'm sorry to bother you with this. I just wanted to understand.
Alex: You're never bothering me, Komi. Look, you want me to be honest?
Komi: I do.
Alex: All I meant by what I said is that I wouldn't be surprised if some of your friends were only around to try and win a popularity contest. I know your intentions are to make good friends with everyone, but that doesn't mean everyone has the same intentions as you
Komi's heart sank when she read this perspective. Alex wasn't being mean spirited in what he was saying to her, but there was sting in his words all the same. She didn't like the idea of not being sure of who she could trust.
Komi: I don't know what to say to that.
Alex: That's fine. I'm just sharing a thought. That's all. Have a good night, Komi
Komi: And you as well, Alex.
Komi set her phone down on the table by her bed. After setting it down, her phone began to buzz with more messages. She sighed to herself and shook her head, ignoring it for now. She swung her legs off the bed and carefully sat on her knees on the floor.
Reaching under the bed, she pulled out her books on how to develop communication skills. For so long, she had been wanting to make friends and get to know as many people as she could. That desire to make 100 friends was so strong in her heart.
Did Alex think that she was naive in some way? Was she being naive? Was it too much to ask that she would want her friends to have clear and honest intentions with her? Was she overlooking something? Was she being reasonable? Or was she being a doormat?
A true friend and a fake friend – could she tell the difference?