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Rain relentlessly batters against the windows of the literature clubroom. Sayori finds it a bit unnerving.
It had suddenly begun raining right as the meeting for the day ended and none of them were prepared for it. So, Monika suggested that her parents could come over with their car and pick them up to drop them all off at their houses in a little bit. Having little to no other choices, the others had all agreed.
Still, Sayori couldn’t help but feel anxious. It had been almost half an hour. Where were Monika’s parents?
She was currently sitting under the window near the closet, her back leaned against the wall. And Natsuki was…
The shorter girl was resting her head on Sayori’s lap. Sayori had noticed Natsuki sitting alone and decided to chat with her just after Monika told them about her parents picking the club up. Eventually. The two talked for a bit, but then Natsuki fell asleep. While trying to keep her from slumping onto the floor, Sayori ended up in this odd predicament. Laying on her lap. Yep. Totally normal. Not like her heart was about to burst out of her chest or anything. Still, a part of her wondered why Natsuki had been so sleepy.
She quickly diverted her attention from the (suddenly particularly beautiful looking) girl resting against her lap, her eyes scanning the classroom in hopes of a distraction.
Yuri was seated in one of the back desks, slightly hunched over on book-Portrait of Markov, Sayori assumes, knowing that Yuri constantly rereads that book for whatever reason. Her hair obstructs her face, but Sayori can still vividly imagine the expression of focus that plasters onto the purple-haired girls face whenever she’s reading.
Yuri is…strange. But not in a bad way. Sayori finds herself oddly drawn to her, even with her shy demeanor. The coral-haired girl makes a mental note to ask the taller girl about that Markov book later-if Yuri’s so into it, then it must be a pretty good book.
Sayori sets her sights on Monika next. She’s seated at the front middle desk, eyes glued onto the laptop sitting in front of her with laser focus. Sayori vaguely remembers Monika mentioning yesterday that she has a math test on friday-so, tomorrow. She shudders at the thought, mentally wishing Monika good luck.
Monika is a good person. Kind, social, studious, athletic, good at almost everything. And yet, somehow, she never comes off as intimidating! To Sayori, at least. She realizes now that she could really use some studying, and she feels motivated after seeing Monika working so hard, but she has more important matters at hand right now-Sayori’s gaze flicks down to Natsuki as she thinks this but she quickly looks away. The coral-haired girl makes a mental note to ask Monika about possibly setting up a study session together later.
Her eyes wander once more, and she finally spots her childhood friend slash current best friend: Shujinko (or as she liked to call him, Shu). The sole male of the group leaned against the wall next to the clubroom’s door, holding his phone at a healthy distance to his face (Sayori had only recently learned that holding screens too close to your face was unhealthy for your eyesight. Weird.) and presumably doomscrolling on whatever social media he’d decided to humor for the day.
Shu is awesome! Having known him since childhood, Sayori knows him inside and out-and she’s sure he knows her just as much, if not even more than that as well. Sleepovers, playdates, so many good memories spent together…She blinks a few times, snapping out of her thoughts. Shu realizes that he was being stared at and lazily turns his head to look at Sayori. He cheekily grins as his eyes scan over Natsuki and Sayori’s…predicament, and he gives her a thumbs up. Sayori feels her cheeks heat up, frowning and looking away. The coral-haired girl makes a mental note to get payback for this later.
Sayori sighs, deciding to finally address the metaphorical elephant in the room.
She looks down, her eyes taking in every detail of Natsuki’s sleeping face-she does not pull her eyes away this time. She feels her heart beginning to pick up pace again as she slowly pulls a stray lock of hair behind Natsuki’s hair. The pink-haired girl doesn't react. She lets out a sigh of relief before the shorter girls lips catch her attention.
They look so…
Good? Soft? Cute? Adorable? …Kissable?
Sayori fans air to her face with one of her hands as she fights off the sudden, carnal urge barging into her brain-the urge telling her to kiss her then and there. She takes in a deep sigh, waiting for a few seconds and then letting it out, repeating this to attempt to stabilize her heartbeat.
Natsuki is the cutest girl she’s ever met, and her second crush ever! Not counting the fictional ones. She had used to crush on Shujinko for the longest time, but ever since Sayori laid her eyes on Natsuki, she’s been madly in love.
Well, maybe not madly in love. But the feelings…they’re like a constant flame quietly flickering in the back of her mind, and every day, she feels them grow stronger. The coral-haired girl realizes how cool and poem-worthy that sentence sounds, making a mental note to use it in tomorrows poem.
Natsuki shifts in her sleep, pulling one of her hands to her chest and mumbling something Sayori can’t make out. What she make can make out, though, is how the sleeve of her uniform has rolled down a bit, revealing a fresh-looking bruise on her wrist. Sayori notes that if she looks at it the right way, it looks like it was made by a thumb.
Sayori knows that Natsuki probably doesn’t have the best home life. But she also knows that she gets defensive and lashes out at people when offered outright help.
She lets out a quiet sigh, fixing Natsuki’s sleeve to conceal the bruise. She leans back against the wall as her eyelids begin to get heavier. She could use a nap right now. The others would surely wake them up when it was time to go. She rests one of her hands on top of Natsuki’s. It feels nice.
She doesn’t exactly know the full extent of what Natsuki is going through, but she’s adamant about staying by Natsuki’s side whenever she is needed. As friends, or maybe even more. Hopefully the latter.
Rain softly taps against the windows of the literature clubroom. Sayori finds it quite relaxing now.
Sayori’s eyes slowly close as sleep finally claims her.