Chapter 12: An Idea



The remaining half of the school day passed like any other. To you, it was just one quick time skip to the moment the literature club would start, which was set 30 minutes afterschool as said by Monika yesterday. There was an aside about the science teacher being strange and weird, but an avatar or an image for such a character never appeared. It was safe to assume that this teacher was just as important as any silhouette of students in the background.



Your time at the club begins with you and Sayori arriving together. You are met with the now-club sponsor of the literature club: Miss Watanabe.



“Oh, the prince and princess of the crime kingdom have now arrived. Welcome.” Your teacher said with a smirk.



“Yes, we have, ma’am!” Sayori said cheerfully, continuing the skip begun by the teacher.



“Indeed.” You chuckled at the remark, finally playing up with the joke.



“Get comfortable,” Miss Watanabe states, “your president is taking her time. Might be a while before we actually start.” She said, flapping a fan she held in boredom. It felt like she oversaw the club now. “Also, turn in those forms for your membership.”



You and Sayori did so.



“She’s coming… late?” You asked.



“What does it seem like to you?” She asked with a tad of sarcasm.



“I guess it takes time to get used to starting times.” Sayori said.



“I find it funny that it’s coming from you.” The teacher responds.



“Huh? What do you mean by that?” Sayori asked.



“Nothing.” The teacher answers.



You look around the classroom to see Natsuki to be the only one who arrived before you and Sayori. She was sitting near the closet, leaning on the wall rereading a not-to-old addition to Parfait Girls. It built a lonely picture to see the little girl to be all by herself, but she was probably fantasying an entire collection of thoughts about Yuka and Yuri, so it’s something she wouldn’t mind. Since she was already here, she turned in her form already.



You approach her to greet her. “Hey, Natsuki.”



She looked up. “Oh, hi.” She closed the manga she was reading and stood up. “I see you finally arrived, took you some time! It felt weird being the first, especially with that teacher being the only other person in the room.” She notices that Sayori was there too, sitting on a desk, tapping her fingers on it. “Sayori’s here too… but it still feels empty.” Natsuki admits.



“What do you mean by that?” You asked.



“Yuri and Yuka are not here, that’s why! Aren’t they going to come?” She asked.



You remembered the tense moments at lunch time, sighing. “Likely not.”



“Huh!? Why’s that!?” Natsuki seemed to complain about this.



“Let’s just say that there’s a situation happening right now.” You said, keeping the truth ambiguous.



“Situation, what type?” she was interested.



“Not the type you’re thinking of.” You said.



Natsuki does a cute sneeze while the exchange happens. “Hah! My senses say otherwise.”



“…Senses?” You asked.



“Every time Yuka and Yuri have a moment somewhere else in the world, my senses tingle and I sneeze!” She informs.



“Did you get that from Parfait Girls?” You asked further to such a stupid assumption made by Natsuki.



“Yes!” She said proudly.



“Right.” You rolled your eyes.



Then, a familiar, hefty voice enters the classroom. “Yo’, this the literature club?”



It was Harumi.



“Harumi, you’re here!” Sayori said with excitement.



You were surprised at the arrival of Harumi. You didn’t think she would come since she was part of Yuri’s friend circle.



“Out of all the students in this school…” Miss Watanabe was giggling a little. She didn’t seem to expect this. “If that’s what you’re looking for, you came to the right place.”



“Oh, cool! I came to the right place!” Harumi stepped in. “Sup, everyone!”



“Yo’.” You rose your arm to have Harumi notice you.



“GAAAH! WHO’S THAT!?” Natsuki said, taking notice of the giant girl who just stepped in. She seemed to be overwhelmed by the height of the athlete, even more so than when Sayori first met her.



“Oh?” Harumi walked up to Natsuki. “Name’s Harumi! What’s yours, tiny?” She didn’t appear to be aware that the word “tiny” offends Natsuki.



“S-SHUT UP, YOU’RE A GIANT! A DUMB GIANT!” Natsuki whined!



“Hey, HEY! Tryin’ to be nice here!” Harumi said.



Sayori got between the conversation to soften the comedic tension. “C’mon… let’s not insult each other. Heights of all kinds are welcomed here!”



“What you said doesn’t make anything better!” Natsuki whined more.



“Alright, alright. That’s enough.” You said, stepping in. You turned to Harumi. “Calling our friend here ‘tiny’ isn’t very nice, please take note of that.”



“Right, right! Sorry!” Harumi said, scratching the back of her head.



You turned to Natsuki. “As for you, Harumi might be tall, but she means no harm.”



Natsuki was muttering as she looked up at Harumi.



“Now, let’s introduce each other properly this time.” You said, acting as mediator.



“Yeah!” Sayori said in agreement.



Harumi offered a handshake to Natsuki. “Sup, name’s Harumi! I’m number seventeen on the basketball team and a great friend of Yuri!” She said, smiling.



Natsuki squinted. “My name’s Natsuki.” She said. She didn’t say anything further than that and she took hold of Harumi’s hand. Her hand would be crushed by the pressured applied from Harumi’s palm. “OW!”



“Ah, whoops!” Harumi let’s go, again insisting she meant no harm.



Natsuki flung her hand a little to loosen out the pain and went back to her corner of the room to read more of her manga, grumbling.



Throughout the entire exchange, Miss Watanabe can be seen giggling at the situation.



Harumi sighed with disappointment. “Aw, man… I’m already makin’ a bad first impression here.”



“Oh, no! It’s okay!” Sayori said. “You’re fine. We know you didn’t mean to do that.”



“I guess.” Harumi said.



“Why did you decide to come though? I thought you said this club was for “nerds.”” You point out.



“And don’t you have basketball practice?” Sayori added.



“I do but… my closest friends are here! I’d hate to miss out, y’know? Besides, practice isn’t until later today. I can fit in the time!” Harumi answered.



“So, you’re joining?” You asked.



“Hell yeah I am!” She does a thumb up.



“Yay!” Sayori cheered. Then she asked another question. “…are they coming?” She was referring to Yuka and Yuri.



Harumi sighed. “No… and they’re shunning me for the time being. That’s another reason why I came here.”



“Oh…” Sayori frowned at that what Harumi said.



“But I think they need this time to talk things through.” Harumi sets aside the mention of the tension of earlier and approached Miss Watanabe. “Yo’, teach! I’m joinin’.”



“Cool.” The teacher slides a paper that formalizes the membership to the literature club. “Fill it up.”



Harumi did so, turning it in afterwards.



“Welcome to the club, Harumi.” Miss Watanabe said.



“Thanks! So, when do we start?” Harumi asks.



“When the president arrives.” Miss Watanabe answered.



“She’s taking her time.” Sayori informs. “She’s always a bit late, so please mind!”



“Eh, it’s whatever. Not like it’s the end of the world. Who’s the president anyways?” Harumi asks further.



“Monika, you know her?” You said.



“That name’s familiar… but nah.” Harumi answered.



“Well, I can tell you that Monika is the nicest president you’ll ever meet!” Sayori said.



Miss Watanabe chuckled at that statement.



“I’m sure she is!” Harumi smiled.



Time passes and Monika would still be absent. She was going to be more late than usual. In the meantime, everyone in the club just did their own thing while the wait happened: Natsuki kept reading her manga, Miss Watanabe kept fanning herself, you and Sayori sat in your desks quietly, Harumi rested on a desk comfortably with her hands positioned on the back of her head. It was a prolonged waiting game.



Then, Harumi spoke up to you and Sayori. “So, I thought up this idea after lunch.”



“Huh, what is it?” Sayori asked.



You listened on what Harumi has to say.



“I’ve been thinkin’ that we should do somethin’ tomorrow for Yuri to make up for what happened earlier, like a little surprise party! And this club looks like the perfect place to have it in”



“That sounds like a great idea!” Sayori smiled. “But does Yuka think? She seems to have the most concern over your friend.



“I haven’t asked her… yet. I’m plannin’ to ask her later this day, I hope she doesn’t mind. I want her to bring her tea set for this.” Harumi said. She was a little unconfident about her idea.



“Would that be okay for the club itself though?” You asked. Monika wasn’t here at the moment, so there was no way to make sure.



But then Miss Watanabe spoke up. “Well, if Monika is going to keep being late for half an hour, I don’t see why not. Just don’t make it too big.” The club sponsor had eavesdropped the conversation and simply took charge.



“Well, if Miss says it’s okay, then it’s okay for the club.” You said.



“Alright! I promise it won’t, teach!” Harumi said.



Miss Watanabe nods, “Very well.”



“Let’s hope this plan goes through then.” Sayori said.



“Yup.” You said in agreement.



“Remember to keep it a secret from Yuri though! Don’t ruin it!” Harumi states.



“Right!” Sayori said.



“Right.” You said.



Things appeared to be looking up from the situation that happened at lunch earlier. You hoped things won’t go down from this point forward.