Komi Komi Literature Club!

Chapter 36: The Winter Poems

"Well I think that your poem is nice and I'm sure the others will think so too. I'll see you tomorrow, Komi." Tadano said before waving to her.

"Mhmm...y...y...y-you...too." She stuttered through her short reply before turning around and retreating, quickly leaving the classroom to go to the literature club meeting.

Tadano was surprised by this, but as soon as she was gone, he smiled to himself, clutching a hand over his heart before grabbing his things and leaving...

Making her way into the clubroom, Komi was the last to arrive this time, which was also unusual for her. However, the other girls didn't seem to notice. They just greeted her like they always did when she came in.

"Hey, Komi! Good to see you! How was your day today?" Monika asked as she entered the room.

"Mm," Komi hummed a little, setting her things out and pulling her notebook out. "It was good. How was all of yours?" She asked.

"So far so good." Monika replied with a smile.

"I'm very much enjoying this chilly weather." Yuri answered.

"I'm in the mood for some hot chocolate with the little marshmallows." Natsuki said.

"Oh oh me too! We should go get some!" Sayori exclaimed excitedly.

"Is there anyone around here that sells that?" Natsuki asked curiously.

"I think so actually. Maybe we could all get some sometime!" Monika suggested.

"All in favor say aye! Aye!" Sayori said, raising her hand up.

"Aye!" Natsuki and Monika said in reply, giggling afterwards.

Komi lightly smiled at this little interaction. She turned to take a seat in her chair, and that's when she noticed Alex sitting towards the back of the room by himself. He wasn't saying anything; he was just writing something on a piece of paper.

Komi paused for a moment. She looked down at her notebook and flipped through a few pages. She added a quick edit to what was written on the page before approaching Alex and standing by his desk. This quickly got his attention.

He cleared his throat, flipped his page face down, then looked up at her. His expression was neutral, but there was something in his eyes that she couldn't quite identify...he seemed sad.

"Good afternoon, Alex." Komi held up her greeting.

"Hey, Komi. What's up?" He asked.

"How was your day today?" She asked.

"Fine. You?"

"Good."

"Great." Alex nodded slowly, not saying anything else after.

There were a few moments of awkward silence. Komi didn't know what to say, and Alex wasn't being his usual talkative self. However, the moment was saved by Monika calling the meeting to attention.

"Okay, everyone! It's time for the meeting to start! Do you all have your winter poems?" She asked the group. Everyone nodded and began to pull out their poems.

"I think I really got something good with this one!" Sayori said confidently.

"I am quite pleased with how mine turned out. I put a lot of effort into it, so I hope that you all enjoy it." Yuri said, holding her notebook to her chest and mentally preparing herself for her presentation.

"I'm sure it's great, Yuri. I already know you all did a wonderful job. Since we all have brand new poems to share this week, I was thinking it would be fun to bring back our old way of poem sharing this time – exchanging and sharing individually so there's room for discussion." Monika suggested.