Chapter Text
Natsuki was currently running to school.
It hurt terribly, her stomach tight and her body weak. But it was currently pouring down, and there was no way Natsuki was going to take the umbrella; her father would want it, and she wasn’t about to take something he would want.
She stopped under the awning of a nearby store, attempting to catch her breath. She squinted at the school, which was visible from the store. Her school was surrounded by mostly houses, with the occasional store or restaurant attempting to take advantage of the large student population.
It was already turning out to be a bad day, and Natsuki had no motivation to go to school. Well, almost none. She knew that today Sayori wanted to introduce her to a club she’d help create, and she couldn’t let her down like that. She owed her.
Natsuki sighed and decided to just get it over with. She resumed running to the school, making it well before the bell rang. Sleeping in was never an option for her, and thus she was a very punctual person. Due to this, and the rain forcing her to run, the young woman was very early. Walking over to her locker, she switched into her school shoes and pondered what to do now that she was early. Sayori was her lone friend, and that girl was never on time, let alone early.
Eventually she just decided to do a lap around the courtyard around the school. Inspiration was sure to strike her this way.
And outside was where the vending machines were—she needed to check under all the vending machines.
She knew it wasn’t the best way to get money, but she had no other ideas. She couldn’t get a job, her father forbade her. Oh, and the school did as well.
And, one time, she’d found an entire ten thousand yen note, and ever since then, she’d been praying it’d happen again.
There was no money again today. As usual, she took care to make sure no one was watching her as she embarrassingly looked under the machines, praying even for a one-yen coin. (Realistically, she knew that not only would this not come close to buying her anything, but also the fact that nobody at school carried such a useless coin). There was no food left in the troughs either.
Another starvation filled day. But she was more than used to it at this point—it wasn’t a big deal anymore. She’d lived with this dreadful feeling almost her entire life, and it was hard to long for the feeling of being full when she couldn’t remember what that felt like in the first place.
Natauki sighed, resigned to her fate. Suppose she start walking to first period. That’s typically where she’d typically meet Sayori.
Sayori was actually there on time. Wonderful. Additionally, while Natuki was looking in on the classroom through the glass windows Japanese classrooms had on the walls facing the halls, she saw Sayori looking at the door for someone, even though there were windows. This was pretty typical on the occasion Sayori got here first.
Natskui sighed. She appreciated Sayori, yes. But she was so tiring. And it was clear to Natsuki that Sayori was waiting on her.
Well, can't not go to class.
She bit the bullet and walked in, and saw Sayori's face brighten like a puppy before, funnily enough, gaining puppy eyes. She wanted something.
Natsuki sighed. This was shaping up to be a very long day.
“Natsuuuuki!” Sayori wined at her friend. “I need you to help your dear old friend!”
Sayori gave no sign of noticing nor caring about the looks she got from the rest of her classmates, even though they were few. At this point, most of the school was used to Sayori being… herself.
Still, Natsuki cringed and grew tense at the secondhand embarrassment she felt and the attention she received by association respectively.
Natsuki sighed. Again. "Let's go into the hallway Sayori." Natsuki told her friend, wanting to run from this feeling, as she began headed towards the door before getting an answer.
"Okay!" Sayori happily agreed, before prancing out of the room. Honestly, she was annoying Natsuki at this point. But Sayori had been there for her before and never got upset even when Natsuki had gotten mad at her. It made her feel bad. So, she held back from snapping at Sayori like she would with most people.
Natsuki crossed her arms at Sayori when they both made it outside the classroom. She knew better than to try and scold Sayori on drawing the attention of all of their classmates-Natsuki had tried before and it had always gone nowhere. At this point, having known Sayori for this long, she really should be used to it.
Sayori spoke as soon as they were in the hallway. "I need you to join this club for me! We lost some of our members, and now we're two people short to be called a club. If we don't get more people it'll be shut down! You'll join won't you? Pretty Please? Please?"
Sayori keep saying please, over and over, forcing Natsuki to interrupt her. She grabbed both of Sayori’s shoulders and looked her dead in the eyes.
“Sayori. Stop.” Natsuki told her, a glare fixed on her face. “What time does the club take place?”
Sayori’s eyes lit up, believing she’d won. “You’ll join? Great! It’s right after school, every day, so don’t be late!”
“And when does it end?” Natsuki quickly demanded, before Sayori could run off. Or get distracted.
“Just an hour after school! You’ll be home quickly!”
Natsuki still wasn’t completely sold, but just then, the bell rang, signaling the start of class. Sayori broke free from her grip and ran into class, but not before quickly shouting, “I’ll see you there!” Without waiting for an answer. Natsuki sighed and followed her in.
The end of class came and went, and Natsuki didn’t have a chance to talk to Sayori until lunch. It was frustrating, honestly, that her friend was kinda forcing her into this, but hey, it was Sayori, so the airhead probably hardly realized she’d never said ‘yes’.
Lunch was Natsuki's favorite part of the day, for obvious reasons. No listening to the teacher drone on for hours and hours, no having to talk to her classmates, and a free meal! Typically, she'd eat her lunch in the most secluded corner she could find. Today, she had to find Sayori.
Sayori was sitting with her other friends at lunch today. Natsuki wasn't on the best terms with them, and frankly, she was sure they had to desire to eat lunch with her. Luckily, neither did she want to eat with them. Natsuki would make this simple for both parties.
She marched right up to Sayori, grabbed her by the arms, and dragged her away, ignoring the protests from Sayori's other friends. Sayori just went with it and showed no signs of resistance, instead pacifying her friends (Don't worry guys! She doesn't bite anymore!).
"Okay." Natsuki began, after dragging Sayori to a more isolated table away from their peers. "You need to tell me about this club. And you need to stop running away and answer me damn it! What even is the name of it? What do we do? Is it going to be a lot of work?"
If this club was going to force her to talk to a bunch of extraverted people like Sayori, or run around with physical activities, then ew, no thanks. There was no reason for her to go besides Sayori which wasn't good enough. She wasn't going to go just because her friend asked, obviously. Duh.
"It's called the literature club!"