"Okay, everyone! Today is poem day!" Monika stated as everyone sat down at their desks, "I know I am quite excited for it today since we have the full group present. So should we jump right into it?" She suggested.
"Sounds good to me. Heck, I'll even go first today. I'm feeling pretty good about my poem this week." Natsuki said with a smile.
"Then feel free to start us off, Natsuki." Monika cheerfully invited her to go.
"With pleasure! This one is called 'Snap!'"
Another set of Literature Club meetings had come and gone, and now Komi had reached what was always the grand finale of the week: poem day. Everyone was excited to share their poems...except for her, because she had forgotten to write a new poem this week!
Komi was shaking and fidgeting nervously while the other girls read their poems: first Natsuki, then Sayori, next Monika, and finally Yuri. Now the girls were all looking at her and looking at Alex, waiting to see who would volunteer to go next.
"Hoo, boy. Do you smell that?" Natsuki asked the others, waving a hand in front of her nose.
"I don't smell anything out of the ordinary, Natsuki. What do you mean?" Yuri asked her.
"It smells like cold feet in here." She responded with a smirk, revealing that she was teasing Alex and Komi for being silent. Alex, although he was one of the ones on the receiving end of this, shook his head and started snickering at the comment.
"Oh goodness," Monika giggled at this before switching gears. "You seem pretty anxious, Komi. Everything okay?" She noticed.
"I'm sorry. I forgot that I was supposed to write a new poem." Komi wrote, holding her notebook up in front of her face to hide that she was practically on the verge of tears.
"Oops!" Sayori giggled at this, "That's okay, Komi! You're still not used to it." She pointed out to reassure her.
"If it makes you feel any better, Komi, I didn't write a poem either." Alex said, smiling and chuckling while leaning forward at his desk.
"Slacking as usual." Natsuki teased him.
"What do you mean?! What, so it's alright when Komi does it, but when it's me? Oh now it's a problem." Alex asked, getting defensive but still speaking in an amused manner.
"Komi's not used to our club schedule yet. You've been around too long for that excuse." Natsuki said, shaking her head at him while cracking a smile.
"This is coming from the girl that needs a booster seat to sit in her desk." Alex teased right back.
"Grr! Hmph!" Natsuki folded her arms in front of her, looking away and pouting.
"Alright, you two. Back in your cages," Monika said jokingly. "Komi, do you still have your poem that you did write?" She asked.
"Mhmm." Komi nodded.
"Alex, why don't you and Komi exchange your older poems with each other? Komi can share hers, and you can share...well, whatever it is you'd like to share." Monika suggested.
"Oh, exchanging poems? Like how we used to do it. Sure, sounds good." Alex said, getting out of his chair.
"As for the rest of us, first of all, great job on all your poems! It'll be free time for the rest of the meeting, so if you wanna read or write, feel free." Monika decided.
"Thank you, Monika." Yuri said, feeling relieved that she had taken charge and cleared the tense air before it could build.
"Alright, Komi. Let's go." Alex said, making his way to the corner of the room. He went near the teacher's desk so they could speak privately.
Komi stood up from her desk and picked up from her notebook, tapping it against the desk to line up her papers before standing up straight. She bowed her head respectfully to the other girls to excuse herself. Then she followed Alex to the corner of the room.
"Alright," Alex sat down on top of one of the student desks as she approached. "So have you ever shared poems like this before?" He asked.
"Mm mm." Komi shook her head.
"Cool. Alright. Well back when I first joined the club, this is how we would share poems: you hand me your poem, I read it and we discuss it, and then we do the same with my poem." He explained.
"Mm," Komi nodded before writing: "My poem isn't very long but I hope you enjoy it."
"I'm sure you will," Alex said with a faint smile. "Let me take a look."
Komi nodded and turned the notebook back towards her, nervously flipping to the page that had the poem written on it. She took in a breath before handing the notebook to him so that he could take it and read the poem.
He carefully took hold of the notebook with one hand and flicked it with his wrist, holding it upright as he read her short poem:
My thoughts multiply when
words escape me
If you could hear in my head,
you'd see
I never run out of things to say
Komi found herself feeling uncomfortable, standing there watching Alex read her poem. His expression made it seem like he didn't like it. After a few moments, he glanced up at her. Their eyes met for a moment before she quickly looked away.
"How did they do this every week?" Komi thought to herself.
"I like the poem. It's nice," He said, handing the notebook back to her. "I see you wanted to vent some personal feelings about your...I see where it's coming from." Alex redirected what he was saying.
"I'm sorry there's not much to say about it." Komi apologized.
"No, you're fine! I think this poem is more of a statement than anything else. It's kind of...a sentence that many people have said before, just in different ways, if that makes any sense." Alex tried to describe it.
"Hmm?" Komi tilted her head, not understanding.
"Ugh...it describes a feeling basically. I'm sure many people have felt this way." Alex said. Komi hummed thoughtfully as she looked down at the poem again.
"None of my friends seem to have this feeling. Not the way I do." Komi admitted.
"Really? You must have some weird friends," Alex commented with a chuckle. "But either way you put the words down nicely, it's succinct and relatable. I can definitely tell that it came from you, and that's a good thing. You've already got your own style in the works."
"Mm," Komi hummed and nodded, thinking about this for a moment. "Thank you. I'll read your poem now."
"Alright. This one's kind of an older one, but it's the best one I've written as of recently." He said with a chuckle before handing her a single sheet of paper. Komi took it and held it with both hands.
The Circle
This is my circle
Do not step inside
If you're not in my circle
You're no friend of mine
The ones in my circle
Those are my real friends
If they ever step outside
That's where the friendship ends
How I do love my circle
How I do love its shape
I follow where it leads me
And it keeps me safe
This is my circle
Do not step inside
If you're not in my circle
You're no friend of mine
Komi's eyes widened. What a surprisingly hostile poem. Why would someone be so rude and reject another person like that? Based on her limited knowledge of poems, she figured that Alex probably had some sort of intention or deeper meaning behind it, but she wasn't sure what it was.
Komi gently handed the poem back to Alex before pulling out her notebook and beginning to write, "I'm sorry. I don't know if I like it. I'm not sure what it's about." However, she felt like that was too harsh, so she quickly erased it and wrote something else.
"It's not that I don't like it, but I'm not sure what the intention of it is." She tried that, but it still felt too negative. So she erased that too. By now, Alex had been waiting for a couple minutes for her to give her feedback.
"Uh, Komi? You alright there?" He asked, raising an eyebrow at her. This startled her, causing her to quickly write again and turn the notebook so he could read it.
"I'm sorry. I'm not sure what your poem is about."
"Ohh. Okay. So you know how some people can just be really set in their ways?" Alex asked. Komi thought about this for a moment; the question brought to mind some of her friends with their more eccentric personalities.
"I think so." Komi wrote her answer.
"Yeah, so that's what the poem is about: I've seen a lot of people who have their little cliques or whatever, and they tend to be pretty rude to people outside of their 'groups', whatever that may be – especially back in America. So I was just writing from the perspective of that attitude and mindset." He explained.
"I've never really heard of that before. Tell me more." Komi requested.
"Uh...well as a dumb example, let's say I'm talking to Sayori, and she loves pie. Now I personally don't really care for pie. But then she: 'Ew, you don't like pie? We will never be friends.'" He said with a chuckle,
"That's a dumb example, I know, but people really get like that with stuff! I mean I get having strong feelings about the things you believe in, but that's no excuse to be rude to people, you know?" He explained.
"I agree with you. I just want to be friends with everyone." Komi concurred.
"Heh, things would be a lot better if everyone tried to get along. Anyways, that's all I got. Thanks for listening to my rant." Alex said with a chuckle.
"Thank you for sharing. I enjoyed it. I understand more now." She wrote.
"Cool. Glad to hear it. We'll have to do this again, I guess." Alex suggested.
"Mhmm." Komi nodded.
"Looks like Komi and Alex are having a good discussion over there." Monika observed, commenting aside to Natsuki.
"It technically counts as a conversation," Natsuki said with a chuckle. "That's good though. Glad they're getting along even though they're both awkward." She commented.
"Haha, yeah." Monika giggled and agreed...