Time passes and the classes finally end, I spent most of the time thinking in the thin man that I talked before, he somewhat had an eerie aura like if he knew about my entire life just at the moment we met. But aside from that, I’m really looking forward to see this club Sayori talked about, I really want to expand my social circle, and literature is interesting, so joining this club is a really good shot.

I’m waiting for Sayori outside my classroom when I suddenly see a familiar face, it’s the same thin man that talked to me before.

“Hi”

“Hi…”

I really don’t want to talk with him, is he even allowed to be here? I mean this is an educational establishment, and he looks like a bump, I doubt he studies here or if he’s a teacher. I just want him to go away, so I might start with the conversation.

“Can I help you with something?”

“May I ask you, do you know someone named Sayori?”

“Yes, she’s a friend of mine, do you know her?”

“Yes, I do know her… Is she safe?”

What? What kind of question is that?

“What do you mean by that?”

“Never mind, I was spacing out, so you are about to join the literature club?”

How did he? How does he know so much about my life? I really don’t understand.

“Yes, in fact, I’m waiting for Sayori…”

“Oh! So things changed in fact, wonder if she’s still evil…”

“What do you mean by evil? What are you talking about?!”

“Oh, don’t mind me, just remember this okay? Keep your friends close, and if your enemies want to be closer, then you are doing something wrong”

“What?”

“Hey!”

I turn my back just to see Sayori running towards me, what a way to save me from this freak, I need to thank her later.

“Who were you talking to?”

“Oh, I’m just talking with… Wait for what?”

He vanished… Where the hell he? I’m sure he was here just a moment ago.

“Hey! Planet earth calling to you!”

“Oh, sorry, guess I was getting insane from waiting for you”

“I’ve got to tell you something… I’m really glad you are coming to the club willingly, if not, I don’t know what I would have done”

“What do you mean? I’m sure there was no big deal with my decision”

“But it is a big deal, let’s say that… I already told all the club members that you were joining the day before”

Way to put pressure on me Sayori…

“You know that I want to see how this club is before joining right?”

“Yes, I know! And that’s why this is so important, you need to join, someone even baked cupcakes for you!”

“That’s actually kind of nice, but still, I want to see how the club is”

“Fine… fine…”

I know that if I don’t join I’ll disappoint everyone now, great, thanks Sayori for making me feel like the biggest douche on earth.

“So are we going or no?”

“Yes, just follow me!”

“Lead the way boss”

As I follow her, I’m still thinking in what the man said before, keep your friends close, and if your enemies are getting closer, then I’m doing something wrong, I mean I’m already close to a friend, but what kind of enemy did he mean?

I can’t believe it.

A club full of girls, and I’m the only boy, why didn’t I asked before? Still, even if I asked I don’t think Sayori would have revealed this “little” detail.

“No, I don’t read that much”

Everyone here seems friendly, Yuri’s nice, she’s elegant and beautiful, Natsuki’s a little hot-headed, but the fact that she baked all of the cupcakes just herself makes me appreciate her efforts, I respect her.

But Monika though, we used to be classmates the last year, she’s the most popular girl of this school and she’s completely out of my league, not that I mind, I already have my eyes in someone… But for her to be so kind to me just because I decided to join makes me wonder if she really likes my presence, or if he’s just doing this for Sayori, after all, she can’t let her right hand be sad.

“Y-you know, I could lend you a book, I-I think this is the best way for you to start your habit”

But I really enjoy being here with Sayori and the others, we started to talk about books, then Yuri started to talk about her favorite genre in literature. Then Monika suggested to write poems for tomorrow, I already know that mine will suck, but at least they will be the only people that see my poem, afterward, Yuri approached me asking if I read something besides manga.

“You think so? Let me see”

The book’s called “Bittersweet revenge”, sounds like the first song of a trashy 2007 band, but the cover of the book is really interesting and beautiful. It’s the portrait of what seems to be the protagonist of the book with his entire right side in a decent state, but all of his left side is filled with bullet holes, burns, and scars, it looks like his left arm has been cut and now he’s using a prosthetic arm.

“Woah, the cover looks really, intriguing. But don’t you think that the portrait spoils most of the story?”

“If you think that the protagonist ends like that then you are wrong, most people guess this seeing the cover for the first time, but the character on the cover is a representation of the protagonist mental health throughout the story”

“So he slowly feels worse and worse while the story goes on?”

“Correct, and the story is really interesting too, so what do you say?”

As much as I would like to read the book, I don’t think I’m the right man to handle something that pretty, guess that I’ll have to disappoint Yuri with this one… Unless…

“Yuri as much as I would like to read this book, I can’t accept it, if I get it scratched or anything I don’t think I could forgive myself, instead, I’ll go to the nearest library tomorrow and buy a book to start reading. What do you think?”

“I think that’s great. It’s a good choice to start your reading habit with something you like, you might not like this book right here, but for you to go buy one tomorrow is a sign of progress”

What? She said that as if I’m an uncultured swine. Guess that I’m just that… Not that it matters, I’ll prove her wrong.

“Okay then, Yuri”

As I finished my conversation with Yuri, Monika stands up in front of us and finishes this meeting.

“Hey! What about we go walking to our houses together?”

“That’s a great idea Sayori”

I’m still thinking in the cover of the book, the person that seems to be the representation of the protagonist psyche somewhat reminded me of the person with the big coat I saw this morning. What does it take for a man to be left in such a deplorable state? I don’t know how I would react in that kind of situation, but I do know that I would not like to end up like him.

“So what do you think?”

“I liked it, a lot, it gives me something to do after classes besides homework”

“I’m really looking forward to reading your poem”

“Me too…”

So we both part ways, today was a special day, I started to make new friends, and revive a long-forgotten friendship. I don’t know if I’m the right to say this, but I really appreciate Sayori efforts to make me more sociable, and less of a neet. But I don’t know what I exactly feel for her…

Can I do it?

I mean it’s just a poem, no big deal, right?

Think in something inspiring, then just let the ink flow, slow and steady…

Love? Anger? Agonize?

No, I know what to do now.

Patience.

I was patient that time where everything didn’t go accorded to plan

patient enough to scratch and scratch

until I was able to find unjam all of my thoughts

I knew what to do now, and it was just talking

Bringing back everlasting memories

sinking those untasteful ones

making myself a normal human being

and leaving behind my former husk

Now I can say that I’m patient enough

to wait until the end of our lives

while I enjoy every second of it

discovering just what lies beneath me.

There I don’t think is that bad, it’s just what I feel now, I feel like I’ve somewhat changed, and this is the proof, I’m writing poetry for crying out loud.

I guess that I can call this a day, I made the poem now I can finally go and talk with my pillow, tomorrow will be a hard day.

Time passes and for some reason, I feel really tired, how much time I’ve been sleeping? As I get up to check my clock there’s something that I didn’t notice before. There’s a burned paper at my desk, did I burned this? I need to make sure of it.

Now, this is creepy, the paper just had one sentence “Get out of my head” someone clearly took a great part of their day just to give me the creeps. 3AM, I still got some 5 hours left to wake up, so back to my bed.

I’ve drifted away to the dream world once again just to face the same evil thoughts as the night before, I want to wake up but I can’t, I want to see her again, and make things right this time.

“Hey…”

There she is, it’s my chance to figure out what the hell she was talking about, and to finally put at ease my dreams.

“Hello again, so about your…”

“You can start forgetting about me right now, I don’t want to hurt them anyone, not you, not them. I deserve all of this and there’s nothing we can do about it”

“But there’s something we can do”

WHAT?!

I’m sure I’ve heard it, the voice of the man with the scarf, I’ve heard it I can swear. Just when I thought that I was getting something out of her. It’s 6AM there’s not much time left for me to sleep, and even if I want to I can’t, the dream really gave me shivers.

And once again I get up and prepare myself to go to school.