Komi Komi Literature Club!

Chapter 29: The Guys' Sleepover

"Hey, big brother! What are you doing?" Hitomi, Tadano's younger sister, asked curiously, noticing that her brother seemed to be more focused than usual on cleaning their room.

"Hm? Oh! I'm going to be having a friend over while you're having your sleepover." Tadano answered simply.

"Eh? You're having...a friend over?" Hitomi asked, a hint of surprise present in her tone.

"Why do you say it like that, huh?" Tadano asked.

"Oh no it's nothing, I just wasn't aware that you had any friends." Hitomi said with a giggle, covering her mouth with her hand.

"Uh huh," Tadano scoffed at this and continued to arrange the room. "He's actually from America."

"What?! An American friend?!" Hitomi exclaimed in surprise. She was more interested now, but she still had her own arrangements, and now she was realizing that she wasn't going to meet her brother's new American friend.

"Mhmm!" Tadano answered with a smile, "He'll be staying in here, so do you mind if I use your bunk tonight?" He asked politely.

"Eh...why did you invite someone cool over the one day that I'm supposed to be gone, you jerk?!" Hitomi yelled at him, almost ready to smack him on the head...

Alex looked down at his phone again to confirm that he had the right address. Even now, he still wasn't used to going around the city. He started making his way up the stairs of Tadano's apartment building, all the while staring down at his text messages.

"Man, why couldn't he live on the first floor?" Alex muttered to himself. He finally reached the top of the steps and made his way to the door. He took in a breath and knocked on the door, taking a moment to fix the straps of his backpack.

"Hello, Alex! I'm glad you could make it! Please, come on in! Hm? What do you...have there?" Tadano asked curiously, leaning over to look at a plastic bowl that Alex had in his hand.

"Oh, remember how we were talking about, uh, cooking and stuff a while ago? Well I made this myself! I'm kind of an infamously picky eater, haha, so I figured this would be a good compromise. I made some for both of us." Alex explained.

"Oh wow! Thank you! What did you make?" Tadano asked.

"Pork chops and white rice. Here," Alex handed him the plastic bowl as he walked into Tadano's house now. He closed the door behind him and removed his shoes at the door. "I also brought over my playstation so we can play some games." He added.

"What? Really? You brought your whole console over? That's so cool! Thank you!" Tadano said appreciatively. He was excited now to hang out.

"Haha no problem, I used to do this all the time back home. Can I get some water?" Alex requested.

"Oh yes, of course! I'll serve us some cups so we can eat." Tadano said, making his way to the kitchen. Alex nodded and sighed to himself, taking a moment to stretch his back.

"Ahh ok, alright, so if you've read the Komi manga like I have, you know that occasionally, occasionally, we'll take breaks from Komi to chill with other characters and catch up on them...so yeah, that's what I'm doing right now. Leave me alone." Alex said.

"Hm? What did you say?" Tadano asked from the kitchen.

"Nothing! I was just stretching! My back's been kinda hurting lately and I'm not sure why. I'm getting old," Alex joked with a chuckle, walking into the kitchen. "I like your place, by the way! It's nice. Way more orderly than mine." He complimented.

So Alex and Tadano sat down to have dinner. Alex's food was, perhaps unsurprisingly, quite different than what Tadano was used to having. It was good though! He enjoyed it. Once they were done eating, they set up Alex's playstation on their television and played video games for awhile.