Komi was feeling especially nervous as she made her way to the Literature Club meeting after school. Now that she knew that there would be another new face in the classroom, she had to mentally prepare herself to associate with another new personality.
But it was more complicated than that too, since she already knew a little about this guy's history with the other club members, not to mention that awkward incident with Monika. Yeah, she still hadn't forgotten that, and she had already figured out that THAT would be the guy she'd be meeting today.
As she reached the classroom door, her anxiety approached its peak. She took in a few deep breaths to try and slow her breathing, clutching her chest. She lifted her head up and slowly forced herself to relax her posture – she knew that she had already put this off for too long.
She was determined to do better for the sake of her friends by breaking through this awkward barrier. With determination, she entered into the classroom and was ready for her friends to greet her...
But they weren't here yet. Only one person was in the room: Monika's boyfriend. His back was to her as he lined up the desks for when the others did arrive. He hummed a little to himself as he slid the last one into place. He then stood up and began to remove his tie and jacket.
That's when he began to turn and noticed Komi standing in the doorway. His mouth hung slightly open as he realized that he was being watched. When his eyes met her, Komi froze; she recognized his face...
He was the guy that was sitting with Onemine and Sayori at lunch!
Komi's jaw clenched tightly when this realization hit her. She had already made a bad impression with him! He's the guy that didn't like her because she ran away! This was bad! She had to figure out a way to make amends now, but what could she do?
"Hey there. You're Komi, right?" He asked her, setting his jacket and tie down on the back of his chair. Komi straightened her back and nervously nodded her head.
"M-Mhmm."
"Cool. I'm Alex. Nice to meet you," He smiled a little and nodded his head upwards as an informal greeting. "Come on in. Looks like we're both early." He noted with a little chuckle.
Komi made her way inside quietly, setting her things down on one of the desks. She met Alex's eyes again for a moment but then blushed in embarrassment and looked down. All she could picture in her head was the visual of her and Monika when they were alone in this room.
"Monika was telling me about you earlier," He brought up. "I think it's nice that the club has a newer member than me now, heheh. It's cool. And I already know how you are about talking, so don't worry about that. I have no problems with that. I get it."
Komi's head perked up, and her eyes widened. Perhaps without realizing it, Monika had saved her from her own situation. Since he already knew about her, she didn't need to worry about making up for what happened before...but she still felt like she should.
"I'm sorry for running away earlier." She wrote in her notebook.
"'I'm sorry for...' Oh you're fine! I thought you just had somewhere you needed to be, haha. But it's nice to actually get to meet you now. Everyone seems to really like you." He commented.
Komi blushed again and fidgeted, unsure of how to respond. It took her a long time to write anything else, "The other members seem to really like you too."
"Oh yeah? They're great, aren't they?" Alex said with a little laugh, "I haven't been here in awhile, but it's been nice being back. Almost feels like old times all over again...almost." He commented oddly, drifting off into thought for a moment.
"I'm still very new. I'm learning to get better with literature the way you all are. Please be patient with me." She requested meekly.
"Oh! Yeah, that's fine! Everyone's at a different place with it, you know? I mean, I consider myself much more of a writer than a reader. Heh, I can barely read my own stuff, let alone someone else's," He joked. "So we all got our thing that we're working on.
"That's kinda what the club is for anyways: working on your own thing, expanding your interests and, uh...yeah, just trying out new stuff." He clumsily summarized. It was hard to stay focused when Komi was staring at him with that unreadable, blank expression.
Monika had already warned him about that, but it was still difficult to push through.
"I hope that we can become friends in the club." She expressed sincerely.
"Yeah! Totally! I'm sure we will, since we'll be seeing each other all time." He commented with a chuckle.
Komi let out a little breath, feeling some relief. Alex, Monika's boyfriend, was turning out to be a lot nicer than what she thought; he didn't hate her after all, thankfully. She was glad that she would be able to make another friend instead of the awkward acquaintanceship she was expecting.
"I should prepare the tea. Please excuse me." Komi wrote before bowing once than making her way towards the back of the room where Yuri kept her tea set. However, to her surprise, Alex followed her.
"I'll help you out. Let me heat up the water for ya then you handle the rest." He offered. Komi agreed with a little nod, so off Alex went with the tea set.
Komi watched him exit the room, keeping her hands folded down in front of her. Since Alex had been so kind as to help her out, now she wasn't sure what to do. After a moment, she decided to start placing the teacups down on each desk.
That's when the others began to arrive.
"Hey, Komi! Whoa, where is everyone?" Natsuki asked as she came in. Komi looked around her room before shaking her head and shrugging with her hands up.
"Huh, alright. Weird," Natsuki shrugged and plopped her backpack on one of the chairs. "Well thanks for getting everything set up for us. Hey, I was thinking, why don't we start on a manga today?" She suggested.
"Hmm?" Komi's head perked.
"Yeah! I mean, I know you're doing that book with Yuri now, but you know, it'd be a nice brain break. I have a box set of this series called 'Parfait Girls' in the closet back there. It's my favorite!" She brought up.
"If you love it, I'm sure I will too." Komi wrote. Natsuki stiffened in surprise and blushed.
"I...well..." She choked on any response she wanted to give. The other three girls all poured in one after the other.
"Hey! Sorry, I'm late! I was talking to the teacher after class!" Sayori apologized as she hurried in.
"I had an assignment that I needed to finish. Sorry." Yuri said as she entered.
"And I was in the music room again. But thank you so much for getting everything ready for us, Komi! You're the MVP today." Monika thanked her, giggling afterwards.
"Mhmm," Komi nodded before writing in her notebook. "I actually didn't help much."
"I appreciate you arranging the teacups, Komi, but it doesn't seem like there is any tea to serve yet. Perhaps next time we can wait until we prepare it first?" Yuri lightly suggested.
"Well, it's the thought that counts!" Sayori pointed out, "Hey, there's 6 cups here! Did you do that on purpose?" She asked.
"Hmm, I wonder who that could be for." Monika said with a giggle, glancing towards the door. At that moment, as if on cue, Alex came back in with the heated up water.
"Yo! How's it going? I got your tea water, Yuri. Hot and ready." Alex said with a chuckle.
"Alex! You came back!" Sayori clapped her hands excitedly, happy to see him.
"I almost didn't. A teacher stopped me to warn me about not having my tie and jacket on. I mean, it's after school though, so it doesn't really matter." Alex chuckled as he brought the water to the back of the room.
"Not that everyone wears it during school hours anyway." Monika pointed out.
"I'm surprised to see you, Alex." Natsuki said, folding her arms and smiling a little sideways.
"I did say that I would be coming more often, didn't I?" Alex pointed out.
"Yeah, you did. I just figured that meant like every once in awhile. I didn't even expect you to actually follow through." Natsuki shrugged and chuckled.
Komi's eyes widened a little. She was surprised by the meanness that Natsuki was showing towards him. It was surprisingly cold coming from her. However, Alex just chuckled and smiled.
"Well I'm glad you're happy to see me, Nat."
"N-No! I'm not!" Natsuki folded her arms and stubbornly turned her face away from him. This just made Alex laugh more.
"Haha, well on that note, Yuri and Alex can get the tea together and we can get this late Literature Club meeting underway. Sound good?" Monika suggested.
"Yup!" Sayori nodded.
"We'll get started now then." Yuri said, making her way to the back of the room with Alex and the heated water.
"Yes, let's get started." Monika agreed. Yuri was talking about the tea, of course, but Monika was actually referring to something else entirely...