Lunch

Yuri looked back between Natsuki and me with a little surprise.

"A-Ah, you two already know each other?"

Natsuki coughed.

"U-Um, -obviously. We've known each other for so long."

I tilted my head to the side.

"Ehehe, it feels like we've been with each other our entire life!"

Monika chuckled.

"That sounds great! Everything works out then!"

Yuri jumped when she heard that.

"E-Eh? Monika? W-Why are you here?"

Monika giggled.

"Because Sayori invited me, silly! Now, where should we head off to?"

I felt it was a little weird that Monika was so forward. She must've actually been pretty close to Yuri, but didn't Yuri say she had no other friends?

Ah, whatever. It doesn't really matter anyway.

Natsuki cleared her throat and raised a finger in the air proudly.

"We should go to the stairs!"

Monika wore a concerned look.

"But what if someone wishes to go up or down that set of stairs? Then we would be blocking them."

Natsuki became flustered.

"W-Well..."

I twirled a strand of my hair.

"T-There shouldn't be many people that need to use it right now! A-And even if there is, it's not like we can't get out of the way."

Yuri hurriedly nodded.

"Ah, yes!"

Monika chuckled.

"I have another solution. One of the classrooms had been unused until I requested to start up a club, so we can go there!"

Natsuki pressed her lips together and said nothing. As for Yuri, her eyes seemed to light up.

"Ah, really? W-Would it be ok to use?"

Monika nodded happily.

"Of course! It's not like there are any other club members to use it anyway..."

Yuri didn't pick up the subtle hint and smiled happily.

"W-Wow! Then let's go there!"

She excitedly began walking away before any of us could say anything more, but then paused in place awkwardly. With a bright red face, she slowly turned around.

"U-Um, where is it?"

Monika smiled bitterly.

"Don't worry, I'll lead you to it."

With that, Monika led the way up to the clubroom. I was a little too scared to walk side by side with her and ended up at an awkward distance behind her.

B-But it's fine this way because she said she was going to lead us, right?

Natsuki seemed to share my thoughts as she stuck really close to me. As for Yuri, she stayed with us, but also kept her distance. Though, from the way she kept shooting us nervous glances, it seemed she did want to get closer but just didn't have the courage to do so.

As we walked, the more I felt that this was a little strange. It felt like the social awkwardness of the three of us was probably quite glaring to Monika. But... it didn't seem like she minded it much.

Once she made it to the clubroom, she slowly opened the door like she was pulling aside the curtain. After thinking about it, I realized that the clubroom was really tidy and clean. I couldn't help but feel a little bad for dirtying it.

"Um, what if we make a bit of a mess?"

Monika chuckled.

"Don't worry about that. If there really is one, then we can just clean it together. We won't bother anyone else either as it's really only going to be us that are using it."

After hearing that, I relaxed a bit and skipped up to the desks to move them together into four, like how they were arranged in elementary school.

"Ok, we can eat like this!"

Natsuki gave a small nod.

"Ok then."

The moment I sat down, Natsuki chose to sit down in the seat next to me. She tried to do it casually, but the slight blush on her face gave her away. As for Yuri, she seemed a little panicked.

Monika casually sat down, ignoring her flustered state. This left Yuri to be awkwardly standing up, too scared to sit down next to Monika. Natsuki pouted when she saw what Yuri was doing.

"Hey! If you're just going to stand up the entire time, then how are you going to finish your lunch?"

Yuri jumped.

"A-Ah, yeah!"

She hurriedly sat down and brought out her bento box to start eating. Natsuki brought out a sandwich wrapped in plastic wrap. The assortment of lunches made Yuri stand out quite a bit because everyone else had a meal that had substantially less care put into it.

She didn't seem to notice it at first, but everyone couldn't help but glance at her bento box in curiosity. As for me, I couldn't help but feel so jealous looking at all the things she had inside. The shrimp almost looked golden, and even the vegetables seemed to glimmer to me.

Yuri slowly looked up to me, then flinched in surprise.

"A-Ah, did I do something?"

Monika let out a laugh.

"We are just very interested in the bento box you have there."

Yuri looked down with shame.

"A-Ah, I guess it is true I didn't make it that well."

I couldn't help but gasp.

"Ehhh? But it looks so... so... tasty."

Natsuki crossed her arms.

"Hmph. It... doesn't look too bad."

Monika chuckled.

"It's quite admirable how much work you put into what you eat."

Yuri blushed furiously.

"Wh-What? N-No, it's no big deal, really."

I giggled.

"Really? I don't think I would ever be able to put that much effort into my meals!"

Natsuki pouted and shot me a look, which made me feel a little embarrassed because basically all of my proper meals were made by her. As for Yuri, she couldn't stop herself from smiling, but she seemed quite embarrassed by it since she pulled up her hair to block her smile.

"D-Do you really mean it?"

I gave an enthusiastic nod.

"Yeah! Where do you get them from?"

Yuri coughed lightly.

"Um, I-I made them myself, but most of the food was from the grocery store."

I clapped happily.

"Wow! That's so cool! Natsuki cooks too, you know?"

Yuri turned to look at Natsuki with a surprised expression.

"Y-You cook as well?"

Natsuki averted her gaze.

"W-Well, mostly baking. I'm not an expert in cooking in general."

I tilted my head to the side and put a finger on my chin.

"Eh? Is that not the same thing?"

Natsuki puffed her cheeks up.

"They're very different!"

Yuri stammered.

"E-Er, baking can be considered cooking, but cooking is a more general term."

I blinked a few times.

"Ah! I see."

Yuri curled her hair around her finger.

"Um, if you want, I could also make all of you a portion too..."

I couldn't help but feel extremely excited when I heard that and directly got up out of my seat.

"Really? Is that ok?!"

Natsuki gave me a glare.

"...It's rude to ask people for things like that, Sayori."

I froze up before awkwardly sitting down.

"A-Ah, sorry."

Yuri waved both hands in front of her.

"No, no, I was the one that offered. It really isn't difficult to make some extra for a few other people honestly."

I clasped my hands together and felt a little bit of drool leaking down the corner of my mouth.

"S-So..."

Natsuki let out a sigh and wiped away the drool on the side of my mouth with the cuff of her shirt.

"I guess if you want it so bad and she's fine with it, then whatever."

I lunged over to Natsuki and gave her a big hug.

"Ah, thank you!"

I then flashed a smile at Yuri.

"Thank you so much too!"

Yuri looked down at her lap, unable to meet my gaze.

"I-It's no problem!"

Monika let out a chuckle.

"Ah, by the way. Do any of you want to join a club I've been trying to make?"

The room suddenly fell silent.