Komi Komi Literature Club!

Chapter 38: The Attention

Lunchtime at Itan High again. Komi sat at her desk quietly, staring down at her food and eating. Because of her usual silent nature, no one could tell that she had something on her mind...no one except for Tadano, of course. He could tell right away that her mind was elsewhere right now.

"Uh...hey, Komi. You okay?" He asked, waving his hand over to get her attention.

"Hm?" Tadano's hand motion awoke her from her thoughts. She looked over to see that Tadano was staring at her with a seemingly concerned expression. She looked around then back down at her food. She started to shake nervously at the thought of explaining to him what was on her mind.

Might he get upset with her?

"Something on your mind? You can tell me if you want. Only if you feel comfortable, of course." Tadano offered to reassure her. Komi nodded. She sighed to herself and began to write in her notebook.

"A friend said something to me last week that has been bothering me." She began.

"Really? What was it?" He asked. Komi found herself hesitating again, but she wrote it out for him to read.

"I was having a conversation with Alex at the Literature Club meeting. He said some things that seemed to imply that my friends are not interested in me, but rather what they can gain from me. Or at least, they want to 'win my favor' for some reason." She explained.

"Oh...I see...hmm..." Tadano hummed to himself.

"Do you think that's true?" Komi asked. Tadano looked in Komi's eyes. He could see that she was hoping for an honest answer from him. So Tadano took some time to think carefully about what his response would be.

Since the first year had started, Komi had made a number of friends – some chill, some energetic, some...interesting, to say the very least. While there was no way to keep track of the thoughts and intentions behind each person, at least they all treated Komi well.

"Well...that's part of being friends with someone, isn't it? Wanting to make them happy? I think I understand where Alex is coming from, and I can't really...say anything about that for you. But you know, Komi, I think that you've done a good job deciding who you want your friends to be." Tadano replied, smiling afterwards.

Komi looked down and nodded to herself. Tadano was right. She had exercised some good judgment so far in picking out a good group of people to let into her circle, and she had even stood up for herself and her choices such as with Yamai.

"Thank you, Tadano. You're right. I'm very happy with my friends." Komi wrote in reply, holding her notebook up in front of her face to hide her blush.

"Heheh, good! I'm glad." Tadano replied kindly.

The door to the classroom slid open. Tadano glanced past Komi to see that it was Alex standing at the door. He gestured for Komi to look and see him too. This time, he was wearing his hoodie but no longer wearing his mask. He smiled and nodded from the doorway.

There was an awkward pause as Komi's classmates looked back and forth between Komi and Alex. They were making eye contact. This was the same guy who had come to see her earlier, wasn't it? What was his deal? What should they do?

What would Komi's response be?

"Hey, Komi! Got a sec?" Alex called to her from across the room, gesturing for her to come over to him.

"Mm...mhmm." Komi nodded and stood up, grabbing her notebook and holding it in front of her as she made her way across the classroom to him.

Komi expected Alex to step out of the classroom so that they could talk privately. However, with a smile, Alex stepped up next to Komi and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, resting his hand on her other arm, much to the surprise of herself and everyone in the classroom.

Komi's face went flush and her eyes widened a bit as she looked up at Alex. With half-shut eyes, he leaned in just a little closer to her, speaking so that only she could make out what he was saying.

"I had kind of a feeling that I might have upset you with some of the stuff I said when we were talking before. Am I right?" He asked curiously.

"Mm...mhmm..." Komi nodded a little and looked down shyly.

"Yeah, my bad. I'm sorry about that. I wasn't trying to make you feel bad or anything like that." Alex casually apologized. Komi held her notebook and began to write her response. Alex turned his head and watched her write.

"I didn't think you were. I was just unsure how to feel about what it." Komi explained.

"Yeah, I gotcha...your friends really admire you, you know. They all like you a lot; regardless of how they express it, they make that pretty clear." Alex commented with a chuckle.

"Mhmm." Komi nodded and hummed in agreement.

"Yeah...I dunno, I guess..." Alex hesitated and looked away from her, "I guess sometimes I get a little envious of you." He admitted.

"Hm?!" Komi flinched in surprise at this. "Why do you feel that way?" She quickly wrote; she hadn't been expecting to hear something like this from Alex.

"Eh...since everyone likes you so much, you get a lot of attention. And I mean, I'm not surprised - I'm not knocking you for it either. Sometimes I just wish people cared about me like that." He explained his feelings.

"I'm sorry. I think you might be misunderstanding something. People don't think about me like that." Komi denied what Alex was saying. She was a bit embarrassed at the idea that people were fawning over her the way that Alex was insinuating.

"Heh...well, either way, we're seeing each other too often to be getting into disagreements, so I just came here to work things out. Is there anything else you wanna say to me?" Alex asked.

"Mm mm." Komi shook her head.

"Great. So we good then?" He asked.

"Mhmm." Komi nodded, looking up at him for a moment before looking away with a blush. Alex was still quite close to her.

"Dope," Alex smiled and let go of her. He took his arm away and stepped back before offering a fist bump to her. "Then I'll see you at the club meeting."

"Mhmm," Komi nodded and returned his fist bump. Alex started to turn to leave, but she noticed that Komi was lingering by the doorway. He turned around again to see that she was writing in her notebook.

"I do care about you, Alex. You're my friend too."

"Ah," Alex's expression shifted and softened after reading those words. He couldn't help but laugh a little; an awkward, weaker chuckle. "Ahaha, thank you, Komi. That means a lot...I care about you too. I'll see you around, alright?"

"Mhmm." Komi nodded. Alex silently nodded in return then left, heading back to his own classroom now.

After he left, Komi looked down at what she had written. She sighed to herself and closed her notebook with a hand folded over the top of it. She turned and walked back to her desk, sitting back down. The entire class was leaning in to try and gauge what she was thinking.

"Everything better now?" Tadano asked with a smile.

"Mhmm." Komi hummed with a more cheerful disposition. She was able to eat now that she felt the issue with Alex had been resolved...