Komi Komi Literature Club!
Chapter 47: The Ride Home
"Aww you went to one of those little doggy cafes?! I'm so jealous! I wish I could've gone with you." Sayori whined.
"We could always plan for another visit. I think that you would really enjoy it, Sayori." Yuri said.
"Pleeease? I wanna see the cute puppies." Sayori pouted.
"I took a ton of pictures if you wanna see!" Natsuki offered, holding her phone up.
"Nooo! That'll just make me sad that I wasn't there and then I'll want to be there more and I don't know if my heart can take it!" Sayori explained quickly, faking a little sniffle afterwards.
"You're such a whiner, Sayori," Alex teased with a chuckle. "Just look at the puppy pictures, dude. 'Wah I don't wanna see the pictures because I'll get sad and mimimimi'." He went on to imitate her higher voice.
The response to this was a swift smack to the arm from Natsuki, "You're such a jerk!" She said with a laugh.
"Ow! You're laughing at it though!" He pointed out.
"Yeah, because I thought it was funny."
"So then why'd you hit me?!" Alex questioned.
"Because you're a jerk!" Natsuki laughed again.
"Pfft heheheh wow, fine. I see how it is." Alex chuckled and turned in his seat, pretending to open the window of the train so he could jump out.
"You dork," Monika shook her head and smiled. "What did you do yesterday with the free day?" She asked him curiously.
"Eh, me and my group just went to the strip clu-uhhhh I mean shopping, we went to a big mall and just spent the whole day there!" Alex answered with a smile.
"Wowww. Did you buy anything cool?" Monika asked with an exaggerated level of dryness in her tone.
"Yeah, I got some nice souvenirs." Alex laughed after answering.
"You are such an perv." Natsuki rolled her eyes at him.
"I meannn...depends on the day." He chuckled in response.
"Anyways, we also went to the Kyoto Imperial Palace. That was Yuri's idea." Natsuki changed the subject.
"Oh wow, that's amazing! Did you see the emperor? Or the princess?" Sayori asked with a giggle.
"Nah, they must've been out. Maybe next time." Natsuki answered sarcastically.
"Heheh, well Monika and I walked the trail of 10,000 gates at the Fushimi Inari Shrine! It was long but it was so pretty! It was really cool!" Sayori said.
"Oh? I know the place you're talking about. How long did it take you to walk the trail?" Yuri asked curiously.
"Uh...it was probably 3 hours or so?" Monika guessed.
"Oh goodness..." Yuri looked down at herself and hummed. "I'd like to go there one day but it sounds like I will have to prepare myself for it."
"We should all go one day though! You would all love it." Sayori suggested.
"Yeah, it sounds super cool." Alex agreed.
"That also reminds me. I got you all souvenirs." Monika recalled. She quickly stood up and reached for her suitcase, pulling it down and setting it on her lap.
"Huh? Souvenirs?" Natsuki sat up curiously.
"Yeah! I wanted to get something for everyone. Sorry, I shoved them in between everything else so they wouldn't get damaged...uh...ok! Yuri, this one is yours." Monika said, holding the shrine-themed bookmark out to her.
"Oh! That's really nice of you. Thank you, Monika. I will be using this presently." Yuri said appreciatively with a smile as she took it. She gently ran her fingers across the bookmark and stared down at the image displayed on the bookmark.
"What else did you get?!" Natsuki asked, leaning over more excitedly.
"We got matching shirts, Natsuki! Just wait 'til you see it!" Sayori said with a grin. She started to reach into the suitcase, but Monika quickly turned it away from her to stop her from rummaging through it.
"Hey! Sayori! This is my stuff!" She pointed out.
"Oh! Yeah! Right! Eheheh, sorry!" Sayori giggled, blushing in embarrassment and backing away.
"I got it in here somewhere...it's a white shir-oh! Here!" Monika carefully slipped the folded up shirt out of her suitcase and handed it to Natsuki. She took it carefully and opened it up to see the design on the front.
"Oh this is cute! I love the design of the fox! Thank you, Monika!" Natsuki said with a thankful nod.
"I got one just like it, Natsuki! We can match!" Sayori said happily.
"Yeah, no thanks, I don't wanna do that. But great!" Natsuki gave her a thumbs up.
"Aww, meanie." Sayori pouted at this.
"Don't worry, Alex, I got you something too. I see you looking." Monika said to tease him.
"Heh, I mean I was looking curiously. I wasn't expecting anything or anything." Alex chuckled, trying to excuse himself from how hard he was probably staring.
"Right right. Well, I got you this keychain!" Monika pulled it out of her suitcase and held it up for him to look at.
"Ooh that's really nice, I like that! Thanks!" Alex said thankfully, reaching out and placing his hand underneath it. Monika dangled it over his palm before placing it down, allowing Alex to take it from her.
"You're welcome. That covers everyone's gifts except for Komi's...where is Komi anyways?" Monika asked curiously.
"She's sitting up there with her class." Natsuki pointed.
"Oh okay! Well then, I'll just bring this to her real quick. See?" Monika showed everyone the little fox doll in its kimono.
"Oh that's cute!" Natsuki exclaimed in approval.
"I picked it out for her!" Sayori giggled proudly.
"Looks weird. She'll probably like it." Alex commented with a chuckle.
"I agree! I'll go ahead and take it to her now," Monika said, handing the doll to Sayori. "Hold this for a second." She requested. She returned her suitcase to its proper place and then took the doll back, holding it carefully as she made her way up the train car.
As she progressed her way up the train car, passing by other members of Komi's class, she found herself having a difficult time finding where Komi was sitting. It wasn't until she stepped past Tadano that she noticed where Komi was.
She stopped and turned around to see that Komi had fallen asleep on Tadano's shoulder. He was sitting absolutely still so that she would be comfortable. She couldn't help but smile at this. She then leaned forward to talk to Tadano.
"Hey, Tadano. I see you and Komi are getting pretty comfy." She pointed out with a little giggle.
"U-Uh, I promise it's not what it looks like! She was already asleep when I came over and then she just..." Tadano tried to excuse himself while also remaining as still as he could, which was proving to be difficult for him.
"Ahaha, I'm not asking you to explain yourself, silly. I just think it's cute," Monika giggled. "Well could you do me a favor?"
"Uh, yeah, of course, Monika."
"Whenever Komi wakes up, give her this for me. It's a souvenir I got for her from the Fushimi Inari Shrine." She explained as she handed it to Tadano.
"Oh, I see! Ah, a traditional doll! She'll love this." Tadano said with a smile.
"I hope so. Thanks, Tadano. I'll let you get back to your shoulder pillow duties." She joked, patting Tadano on the arm as she returned to her seat.
"Shoulder pillow...? Uh oh, it looks like she's starting to wake up! I-I gotta play it cool!" He quickly reached for a pamphlet tucked in the pocket of the seat in front of him, opening it up somewhere in the middle to make it look like he was reading from it.
As Komi slowly woke up from her sleep, she realized that her head was laying on someone's shoulder. She sat up slowly and looked to see Tadano smiling pleasantly back at her, "Ah, you're awake?" He said, doing his utmost not to show any embarrassment.
Komi placed her hand on Tadano's shoulder for a moment. He looked at her in confusion as she was taking a moment to confirm that she had indeed fallen asleep on him; she could feel her warmth still lingering on him.
The thought of this made her incredibly embarrassed. She didn't want Tadano to see her face turning red, so she quickly grabbed her notebook and wrote in it before covering her face.
"How long?!" Was all she could ask in that short period of time.
"Ah, only about 2 or 3 minutes really." Tadano said.
"I'm sorry." Komi quickly apologized, keeping her face covered so that she could check her mouth. She was worried now that she had drooled on Tadano while being asleep.
"Eh, ahh, no you're fine!" He said to reassure her.
There was an awkward pause between them for a few moments as they both looked away from each other. Then they got to chatting about what they did in Kyoto. Komi shared photos with him and Naijimi, who had busted into the conversation too by this point.
Once the train finally arrived at its station and everyone had gotten off, Tadano remembered Monika's gift. Thankfully, they were walking in the same direction, so once they were a little ways' away from everyone else, he brought it up.
"Uh, h-hey, Komi...Monika wanted me to give you this. She got it as a souvenir and she wanted you to have it." He explained as he held the doll out to her.
"Hm?" She looked at the doll as Tadano held it out to her and her eyes immediately lit up. She took it carefully and inspected it, smiling a little as she did so. Then she placed it with the rest of her belongings so it would be safe.
"I will have to send her a thank you message." Komi wrote.
"Yeah..." Tadano said. He paused for a moment; he was still stuck on seeing Komi's smile. He didn't get to see it too often, and it always caught him off guard. Then he snapped back to reality, "Eh, how about you send a thank you text later tonight?" He suggested as they continued walking home.
"Mhmm." Komi hummed and nodded in agreement...
