To recap the day before, Komi had some confusing and slightly scary interactions with Tadano. But she slowly came to realize that he just doesn't know how to socialize. Komi became friends with Tadano and promised him that she'd help him with his goal to gain a social life.
It's now a new day. Tadano has arrived to school earlier than he usually did in middle school. Maybe it was because he was actually looking foward for it after the events of yesterday. Nevertheless, he felt more hopeful this time 'round.
He walked to his shoe locker and grabbed his school shoes. As he kneeld down to put them on, a bright light came from the entrance, feeling like the light is walking closer to him. It was so bright, it might as well be blinding him.
He covered his eyes to avoid it from getting in his eyes.. The light quickly faded to normal to reveal...
"Ah! Good morning Tadano-kun."
...Komi Shouko
(Note: The bright light was for comedic effect. There was no bright light. It was just in Tadano's head)
He quickly finished putting on his shoes and stood up. The two stood silent for a couple seconds. That was until Tadano decided to speak.
"G-go..."
Komi widened her eyes a bit, suprised that Tadano would try to speak. She's anticipating for Tadano's response.
"G-goo...good...go....goo."
But as expected, he struggled to say the words. Komi understood that and quickly reassured him that he didn't have to push himself to say it. After her reassurance, Tadano then remembered that he could just use his notebook. He felt dumb.
He grabbed his notebook and a pencil, quickly wrote on it, and nervously showed the paper to Komi.
"Good morning"
Komi looked at his writing and chuckled a bit to herself. Tadano got confused of what that meant.
"Heh sorry. I just found it funny that you used the same method to communicate that I used. Our conversation yesterday really gave you some ideas, huh?"
Tadano nodded awkwardly.
He then noticed something that Komi was holding. It was a plastic bag full of books. Wanting to know, Tadano asked.
"Why the bag of books?"
"Oh! Speaking of the times when I couldn't communicate, I had some books to instruct me on how to communicate. So I was thinking if I could led these to you, if you want to."
"Oh thank you. It's a nice gesture"
He put his pencil and notebook back in his school bag and grabbed the plastic bag from Komi.
After Komi finished putting her shoes on too, they went to the staircase to have a quiet conversation between the two of them.
"So I was thinking of helping you practice speaking. Probably doing some vocal exercises and stuff. If that's alright with you," said Komi. In which Tadano nodded to.
"Ok. Just remember that you shouldn't push yourself to speak when you're not comfortable to," she said. Once again, Tadano nodded as a response.
"Well let's try to practice saying a few sentences. If I'm correct, you wanna make more friends. So let's begin with asking 'Can to be my friend?'. Don't pay attention to how much you're stuttering. Just focus on saying the words in general. It would definitely be a helpful factor for you to communicate."
Tadano felt slightly determined to say it, like a puppy wanting to impress their owner by doing a trick. He took a deep breath
and...
.
..
...
As if he was petrified in stone, he was too nervous to say anything. Probably because of the pressure he feels.
"T-Tadano!?"
Tadano suddenly broke from his petrification and bowed down to apologize to Komi. "I-it's fine! It must be a challenge for you. So I don't blame you," the girl responded.
"Oh! How about this? I've learned a bit ago that laughter helps with communication. I wrote a couple jokes for you to use with others!" she says as she lends Tadano a paper with a list of jokes on it.
Tadano grabs the paper to read what it says. It's a bunch of dad jokes. Such as...
"How do snails fight? They slug it out"
"I'm afraid of the calendar. Its days are numbered"
"Singing in the shower until you get soap in your mouth. Then it's a soap opera"
Tadano looked up to Komi after skimming through some of them. "So what do you think?" Komi asked.
Tadano looked displeased. He didn't find the dad jokes funny.
"A-ah. I can tell you don't think it's a good idea. You can give it back if you want-," Komi said as she was gonna grab the paper back from Tadano, but he shook his head and resisted from giving it to her.
He put the list in his bag and grabbed his notebook and pen to write.
"I'll keep it just in case. Maybe I'll take a liking to it later"
Komi seemed unsure that he'd actually use her advice, but doesn't want to bug him about it.
"Well if you want to, then alright. Sorry if my help isn't that... helpful," Komi said with a nervous chuckle. "I'm not too experienced with helping others with these problems. I just hope I could at least help a bit down the line for you."
Tadano was gonna write a response, but was interrupted by the school bell ringing. "Ah! Well class is starting soon. We could talk more about it later, if you want," said the beautiful girl.
Even though Tadano wanted to tell her something, Tadano nodded and followed her to class.
As they made their way to class to class, both of them noticed the stares they were getting. Specifically, to Komi. But to Tadano, it kinda felt like he was being stared at and judged. It made him self-conscious about himself.
*time skip*
2nd period has ended and it's time for their reccess. Tadano looked at Komi, who was right next to him. She was putting away her things and getting ready for next period.
Tadano was thinking of how bad he felt that Komi was going out of her way just to help him.
She's really trying her best and struggling a bit. And it made Tadano feel bad. He doesn't want to rely on her too much. Or else he'd just be a bother to her. Maybe he was one already.
He then looked foward to the front of the classroom. There were three girls chatting with each other. They seem chill and pleasant to talk to. Even if one of them has weird metal-attire on them.
He'd feel bad if he had Komi be the only one helping him with his problem. So he wants to try to interact with others, himself. He hopes that this morning had taught him something.
He got off from his seat and walked towards the group. He's shaking and sweating a little, but he either had to push himself to interact or stay his whole life feeling lonely.
Even though he was near the group of girls, they still haven't noticed him. It gave him a chance to mentally prepare himself.
He recalled the words that Komi wanted him to practice this morning.
Can I be your friend?
He would've used his notebook, but he wanted to try to speak to someone for once.
The boy took a deep breath. Thinking that he's mentally ready enough, he taps the brown-haired girl's shoulder.
They all stopped their conversation and turned to him. There was an awkward pause before the girl, Yamai Ren cheerfully spoke.
"Hm? What's up, Tadano-kun?"
Her cheerful personality made Tadano somewhat eased. Replaying the words in his mind, he opened his mouth.
"..Ca.......Me......."
He only got a few syllables out. But for her to understand what he said, he pointed to her and then himself.
Suddenly, Yamai stepped closer to him. She grabbed his shoulders, still showing her happy personality. Tadano was shaking a bit, not knowing what she's doing.
She got closer to the side of his face, and whispered to him...
"Huh? What about her, huh? You think you're better than me because you're closer to our noble women? It's still Komi-sama to a loser like you. Even though you sit next to her, don't act like you're more loyal than any of us, scum. I'm working my ass off to get to a place where she could notice me, and you're here doing jack-shit. Be lucky that I'll not go far enough to kill you right in front of our goddess' classroom, you scum scum scum scum scum scum scum scum scum scum!"
(Note: Yamai thought Tadano said "Komi" [Ca-me] and was flexing how much closer he is to Komi than she is. Also, Tadano accidentally said "me" instead of "be")
Yamai stepped back and let go of her tight grip from him. As soon as she let go, she regained her cheerful smile again.
"So, what's up?" said the two-faced girl.
Tadano, shaken and stunned up from what happened, backed away slowly to his seat. The three girls quickly went back to their conversation, as if his attempt to talk didn't happen.
He sat back down to his seat. He might as well be crying after that interaction. He slammed his head on his desk, which startled Komi who was too busy putting away her things to notice what happened in front of the classroom.
"A-are you alright!?" she asked worried. Tadano quickly lifted his face from the desk, grabbed his notebook, and wrote.
"Ya I'm fine. Sorry for scaring you"
"Well it didn't seem like you were okay. So are you sure?"
"Yes"
"Well if you say so. Just let me know if you need help with anything."
Tadano nodded and turned his head towards the window. He was lying that he was okay. Who would be after an interaction like that?
But he didn't want to become a burden to her more than he is. Besides, he didn't think that there was much that she could've done to cheer him up.
Reaching his goal would be even harder than he thought.
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Hi. Author here again. I was gonna try to fit in the part where Tadano tries to interact with Najimi, but that would've taken longer. So I hope this is enough.
Sorry for the lack of updates. Please read other fanfics while you wait for the next chapter. Goodbye!
And have a picture of my cousin hugging my grandma's dog :>