The Third Eye

Chapter 8: Café

Thursday

Natsuki's pov

At lunchtime Natsuki usually sat with her friends, but today she didn't feel like being picked on. She was wandering around the school yard, and found Yuri reading her book at a picnic table. The food next to her untouched. Natsuki walked over to the table and sat down on the opposite side of Yuri. She didn't have lunch to bring, so she brought her manga to pass the time.

"Hey Yuri, you don't mind if I sit here do you?" Natsuki asked hoping to start a conversation. Yuri looked up briefly and went back to reading. "Hey Natsuki, no I don't mind. If you're hungry you can have my lunch" Yuri said picking her lunch up and plopping it in front of Natsuki without looking up. "Yuri! I don't want your lunch!" Natsuki yelled, but received no response. Yuri was either not listening, or she didn't hear her. Natsuki was going to eat the food anyway because she was hungry.

She opened the lid to find white rice with sweet and sour chicken along with some grapes and a bar of chocolate. "Yuri, why do you keep giving me your food?" Natsuki asked before biting into the chicken. "Because I'm not hungry and you don't bring your own" Yuri said looking up with a worried face.

 Natsuki felt like Yuri was the only one who cared about her well-being sometimes. "W-well, I was just rushing this morning!" Natsuki said defensively. "It's fine, I wasn't hungry Natsuki. That's why I gave you the food, so you wouldn't be hungry" Yuri said before looking back to her book. Natsuki ate the rice and the grapes, but when she bit into the chocolate bar she had a bitter aftertaste.

 "Why is the chocolate bitter?" Natsuki asked looking up at Yuri. "Because it's less of an over bearing fl- I mean, I just like bitter chocolate more" Yuri said with her eyes glued to her book. After finishing the chocolate, the bell rang and they both stood up. Natsuki handed Yuri the box. "see you at the club" Yuri said as Natsuki walked away. "Yeah, see you then" Natsuki said.

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At the club Natsuki was reading her books in the closet when she heard the door creak open. She looked up to see icy blue eyes looking at hers. "Hey, I was just curious of what's in here. It's much more spacious in here than I thought" Elyssa said looking around. "Anyway, we only have a few more minutes of club time, Monika wanted me to let you know" she said before leaving. Natsuki gets up and walked towards the front of the classroom.

Natsuki had a plan to go to a café because she earned enough money, and was going to ask Yuri to join her. Yuri was at the front talking to Sayori about whatever they talk about. "Hey Yuri want to go to a café with me to pay you back for earlier?" Natsuki asked without interrupting anyone. Yuri turned to answer her, but before she could Sayori chimed in. "ooh, sounds like fun! We should all go!" She sounded excited about it, and Natsuki didn't want to rain on her parade. 

"Don't listen to Sayori, she only wants to go for the free food" MC said bonking Sayori on the head, causing her to whine. "I think it's a great idea, we should all go" Monika said, earning murmurs of agreement and the nodding of heads from everyone except Yuri and Natsuki. "I'm fine with that" Yuri said, trying to hide her exhaustion.

They all walked out the door following Natsuki, with Yuri trailing in the back. After a few miles, Natsuki looked behind her to see MC talking to Yuri. She seemed uninterested in what he had to say, but Natsuki thought that it was her imagination. "So where did you hear about this place Natsuki?" Monika asked while walking faster to be beside her. "They posted on the internet about their opining a few weeks ago" Natsuki said turning the corner.

She walked a few more minutes before stopping in front of the building. "Okay we're here, I'll pay for my own stuff, but who's buying everyone else's things?" Natsuki asked turning around. "I'll pay" Monika said with a smile and asked MC what he was getting. "Everyone just tell me what you want and I'll order it" Natsuki said writing what everyone wanted down.

Natsuki got the food and sat down at the table of girls. MC had to sit at a different table so all the girls could sit together. Natsuki had a cupcake and sweetened coffee, Monika bought a apple cinnamon muffin with regular coffee, Sayori got a cookie and milk, MC had fruitcake and dark coffee, Elyssa got a chocolate muffin with orange juice and Yuri just ordered tea.

They started eating and chatting about random things like the school rules and their favorite shows. "Hey Yuri, why didn't you get anything to eat?" Sayori asked after eating all of her cookie. "I'm not hungry" Yuri simply started, taking a sip of her tea. "Are you sure? You didn't eat anything at lunch either" Natsuki asked looking at Elyssa's and Sayori's worried faces. "Yes I'm sure I don't want anything to eat" Yuri replied, trying to hide her face from the group. Natsuki could see her face, and it wasn't one of embarrassment for all the attention on her, but annoyance.

The group was going to drop it, but Yuri's stomach growled and Sayori shot up. "Monika, give me some money please! I would like to buy something!" Sayori shouted, causing everyone to jump. "Yep, here you go" Monika handed her a five, knowing what she was going to buy. Yuri watched Sayori leave with a confused look on her face. 

She came back with a muffin in her hand, and gave it to Yuri. She took it and put it on the table, continuing to drink her tea. "Yuri... come on. I know your hungry, just eat it please" Elyssa said pouting. Natsuki and Sayori joined in to convince her. Yuri looked at all of them, and reluctantly picked the muffin up. She took a small bite and everyone sighed in relief.

Throughout the rest of their time there, Yuri would break off tiny pieces of the muffin to eat. Eventually it was time to leave, and Yuri had only eaten half of the muffin. Natsuki noticed this, but said nothing. Everyone said goodbye and went home.

Natsuki unlocked the door and froze, horrified. Her dad was in the kitchen waiting for her, and he was sober. "Where the hell have you been!" He yelled walking towards her.

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Monika had a plan for the eye thing finally, she was going to talk to Yuri about it tomorrow. After everyone leaves the club is when they would talk about it. Hopefully she would get some answers, and maybe learn how to delete the problem.