Komi fidgeted nervously as she slowly approached Naijimi at the beginning of their lunch break. She wasn't the type to usually make any sort of request, but she needed some advice, and she figured that Naijimi would likely be the best person to ask.
Unfortunately for her, it looked like Naijimi was about to get up, prompting her to speedwalk across the room. She arrived by Naijimi's desk just in time.
"Hmm?" Naijimi noticed her coming over right after standing up, "What's up, Komi? You need something?"
"Mhmm," Komi nodded before writing. "I need your help. Do you have a moment?"
"Oh jeez, sorry, I'm actually triple-booked for lunch period today..." Naijimi started to say, looking down at a wristwatch. However, Naijimi looked back up and saw Komi being insistent, using her trademark stare complete with large, pleading eyes.
"Okay," Naijimi sighed in defeat and relented to Komi's request with a nod. "I can spare 5 minutes. What can Naijimi Osana do for you?"
Some of my friends are having an issue" Komi crossed out the word 'issue' and replaced it with 'disagreement'. "An disagreement with each other, and I'm not sure what I should do. I want to help."
"Hmm, I smell juicy gossip. Heheh, what's the deal? Why're they having problems?" Naijimi asked curiously with a raised eyebrow and a mischievous sideways smile. Komi raised her hands up in front of her and quickly shook her head before writing her response.
"2 of them are in a relationship while the others are not. I think one of them is making the others uncomfortable because of this. But they are all friends with each other." Komi explained.
"Uh...I'm a little confused here." Naijimi said.
Komi flinched, unsure of how to proceed. Then she got the idea to draw out a diagram to help. She drew two circles for Monika and Alex then drew a heart around them to signify their relationship. She drew 3 more circles for Natsuki, Yuri, and Sayori.
Lastly, she drew a circle to the side of everyone else with a question mark above it to represent herself.
"Ohh, I see!" Naijimi finally said after reading Komi's explanation and looking at the visual aid, "So two people in your new friend group are dating each other, and the others here don't like it."
"Not necessarily. They say they don't like how one of them acted in the past because it. Apparently, she can be possessive. That's the word they used." Komi clarified.
"Mm. Well that's awkward. Sounds to me like whoever she's dating, the others must like them too, or just like hanging out with 'em. I've been there. It does get annoying." Naijimi related with a nod.
"So what should I do?" Komi asked.
"Huh? What should you do? What're you talking about, Komi?" Naijimi raised an eyebrow at her.
"I want to help." Komi pointed her pencil back at her previous sentence before adding, "I want everyone to get along."
"Heh, well you're not part of the problem, but I don't think there's anything you can do, Komi. It's not really your problem," Naijimi pointed out.
Komi flinched a little in surprise, her eyes growing wide.
"If you ask me, the best thing you can do is just continue being friends with everyone. Whatever problems come up will probably resolve themselves. Anyways, I gotta run, but I'll see ya later, Komi! Bye!" Naijimi waved and hurried out of the classroom.
"Ah...mm..." Komi hummed in disappointment, looking back down at her notebook. Her eyes read over her sentence again: "I want to help." That was still true, but what Naijimi had recommended didn't feel like enough for her...
Komi made her way to the Literature Club room right after school. While her conversation with Naijimi was still weighing on her mind, she was still looking forward to the meeting today. As she was making her way up the stairs, one of her friends called out to her.
"Hey, Komi!" Sayori waved and smiled, hurrying up the steps to catch up with her. "You heading straight to the clubroom too?" She asked.
"Mhmm." Komi nodded.
"Perfect! Follow me, let's go quickly!" Sayori waved for her to follow before proceeding up the stairs at a much faster rate. Komi jumped a little in surprise before following after her, panting as they raced to the classroom door.
"Yes, we're the first ones here!" Sayori said happily as she swung the door open. "I wanted to surprise everybody by getting here first and preparing everything before they arrive. Wanna help me?" She asked.
"Mhmm!" Komi nodded her head quickly.
The two of them entered the classroom and immediately set about arranging the desks. Once everything was in place, Sayori and Komi went to the back of the room to retrieve the tea set from the closet, "I don't know how to prepare tea, so I'll just leave it to you." Sayori said with a giggle.
"Mhmm," Komi nodded. However, she hesitated to grab the tea set. After pausing for a moment, she instead grabbed her notebook and began to write, "Does everyone in the Literature Club get along well?"
"Hmm? What do you mean, Komi? Of course we do!" Sayori answered. Komi hesitated before writing further.
"I know about Monika and Alex's relationship and what happened with that." She revealed. As soon as Sayori read that, she tilted her head and her eyes winced a little. Komi wasn't sure what that expression meant.
"Ohh. Yeah, that was a rough patch for sure...but I mean, every group of friends have their problems, right? What's important is that we got through them, and now we're all getting along again! You know?" She pointed out.
"I understand. I wasn't sure what to do when I found out." Komi admitted.
"It's okay! You don't have to do anything except for what you're already doing!" Sayori giggled, "Things are okay now. We're all good. I love the Literature Club and I love my friends! I don't know what I'd do without them." She said with a sweet smile.
"Huh? Oh! Hey, Sayori. Hello, Komi. You two got here fast!" Monika pointed out with a chuckle as she entered the room. Sayori gasped upon seeing her come in.
"Oh no! You weren't supposed to get here yet!" Sayori exclaimed.
"What? What do you mean?" Monika asked in confusion, letting out a little laugh.
"We were almost done getting everything ready! We wanted to surprise everyone by having the clubroom ready to go!" Sayori said.
"Oh! Well thank you both! That's so sweet of you," Monika smiled. "Anything I can do to help out?" She offered.
"Nope. Komi just has to make the tea." Sayori answered.
"Then it sounds like you got everything ready after all." Monika smiled.
"You know what we should do?" Natsuki asked, interjecting into the conversation as she came into the room. Yuri followed silently behind her.
"Oh, hey, Natsuki! Hey, Yuri! What should we do?" Monika asked.
"We should ask the teacher if we could get like a mini-fridge and put soda cans in there. Not that the tea isn't great, but the variety would be cool, you know?" Natsuki shared her thoughts.
"Soda is oversaturated with things that aren't good for your body, Natsuki. Plus, it isn't conducive to our relaxed atmosphere." Yuri pointed out.
"There's nothing wrong with relaxing with something unhealthy every once in awhile." Natsuki argued with a shrug.
"Yeah, Yuri," Alex chimed in, being the last to arrive. "You mean you don't wanna crack open a cold one with the boys? You don't wanna crack open a cold one with the boys, Yuri?" He asked humorously, pretending to open a soda can with his hands.
"Ahaha, I don't think the teacher would let us get a whole mini-fridge, but if you're willing to buy it, you're welcome to bring the soda." Monika said to Natsuki.
"Yeah, Alex! Buy us some soda!" Sayori chimed in with a laugh.
"Nuh uh, not after last time. You got a coin purse. Get your own soda, you harlot." Alex pointed at her.
Komi watched the 5 of them all interacting and smiled to herself. They were all such different kinds of people, and yet here they were all coming together for the same thing. Not only did it remind her of her own diverse friend group, it also made her happy that she got to be part of this club.
She felt more relieved now knowing that everything was gonna be alright...