Komi Komi Literature Club!

Chapter 2: The Invitation

"Hmm...Komi seems like she's got something on her mind..." Tadano observed, glancing over at Komi sitting at the desk to his immediate right. Her eyes were down on her notebook.

"Good morning, Komi!" He greeted her as he sat down at his desk next to hers. She jumped in surprise at his voice suddenly breaking the flow of her thoughts, "Oh! Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you!" He quickly apologized.

"It's alright." Komi wrote down on her notebook. Tadano relaxed in his seat.

"How are you doing, Komi? You seem like you got something on your mind." He observed.

Komi looked down at her desk again. After a few moments of hesitation, she reached inside and pulled out a small piece of paper that had been neatly folded up. She opened it up and passed it to Tadano. He took it with one hand and looked at it.

"Huh? A Literature Club...?"

"I was thinking about trying to join." Komi revealed, writing this statement down in her notebook.

"Oh, haha, I see! That would be good for you, I think! You do like to read." Tadano pointed out as he handed the flier back to her.

"Mhm," Komi nodded. She took in a breath and wrote in her notebook once again, "Do you think they would like me?" She asked.

"Huh...? Why wouldn't they like you?" Tadano asked, looking at her. Komi's eyes fell and she blushed in embarrassment. This caused him to blush in embarrassment too, believing that perhaps Komi had misinterpreted the meaning of his question.

"U-Um I didn't mean anything weird by that! I was just saying!" He quickly waved it off.

"Morning!" Naijimi, Tadano and Komi's mutual friend, came trotting over to join in on the conversation. "What's up, Komi? Hm? Did Tadano say something embarrassing again?" Naijimi asked with a laugh.

Komi looked up at Naijimi. Then she looked back down at her desk and directed Naijimi's attention to the flier by pointing to it. Naijimi leaned forward and looked over it.

"Huh? What's this? Hmm...oh! The Literature Club! I heard about that! That's the club Monika started, right?" Naijimi asked.

Komi nodded her head, excited that Naijimi knew about it too.

"Huh? Monika? Who's that?" Tadano asked cluelessly.

"I dunno." Naijimi answered with a shrug.

"But you just said..." Tadano started to point out the fact that Naijimi had referred to her by name.

"I mean I know the name and the face and all, but that's it. I don't know the first thing about her or anyone else in the club for that matter." Naijimi revealed.

"Really? That's unusual for you." Tadano pointed out. Naijimi was the type of person who knew everyone personally in some way. Naijimi not knowing something usually meant that they were new.

"Oh, I know who Monika is..." Another one of Komi's friends: Yamai, revealed herself.

"Whoa! Where'd you come from?!" Naijimi jumped in surprise. However, Yamai carried on, taking a seat on the edge of Komi's desk.

"Monika's that stuck-up wannabe popular girl who used to be in the Debate Club. She used to think she was all that because she was pretty, got good grades, was good in sports, blah blah blah. But of course, she's nothing in comparison to you, Komi.

"Anyways, once she realized how truly obsolete she was, she dropped the whole act and decided to start her own insignificant little Literature Club instead! She's got her own little circle of loser friends that don't talk to anyone and no one talks to them." Yamai cheerfully summarized.

"Wow, harsh..." Tadano and Naijimi both said at the same time.

"Well anyways, joining a club would be one way for you to make some new friends, Komi. If you think that's something you'd like to do." Tadano circled the conversation back to the actual matter at hand.

Komi took a moment to consider this. She was still hesitant to accept the offer to join the club due to her own feelings, but perhaps she was overthinking things? After all, she did have an invitation, and she was interested, so why not give it a shot?

"Okay. I will try it." She wrote her decision down in her notebook.

"Alright! The club meetings are after school, so if you want, we can go today." Tadano offered.

"Urgh, if Monika thinks she'll take advantage of Komi's popularity to get more people into her stupid little club then she's got another thing coming." Yamai muttered to herself.

"A Literature Club kinda sounds boring, but hey, I'll go with you, Komi! It might be fun!" Naijimi offered.

To everyone's surprise, Komi shook her head. She explained herself further with a single sentence written in her notebook: "I would like to go on my own."

"Oh. Of course, Komi." Tadano agreed, feeling inwardly proud at Komi for her resolve. Even so, he could tell that the idea of this terrified her.

Nevertheless, he would leave it up her to carry this out in the way she says she wants to...