Act IV: Take Care

The class bell rung, signaling the class' recess time. A wave of young, excited children rushed out of the classroom, eager to play outside. As the last of the children left the room, only I and the teacher remained. Standing up, I walked towards the bookshelves to pick a book to read.

Of the two rows of books, I settled on The Little Mermaid, a story about a mermaid who found love, but his heart belonged to another. In her grief, she killed herself and let the love of her life go.

I have read this book several times, now, and I will probably continue reading it until new books were placed there. I sat down on my chair and began to read it once more.

"Aren't you going out for recess?" I hear someone ask. I looked and saw a young girl with a red hairband that kept her strawberry blonde hair out of her face. Her eyes were a bright blue, the brightest I've ever seen in my life. Her clothes were a pink shirt with flowery designs and blue shorts that go down below her knee.

"No." I spoke quietly, almost like a whisper. I turned back to the book I was reading about.

"Why?"

"No one plays with me." I continued to read.

"Why?"

"No one likes me."

"Why?"

"They think I'm weird."

"Oh." She said and left. I return to reading my book and was beginning to feel a bit drowsy. I closed the book.

"Watcha reading?"

I jumped a little at my seat. Turning to my right, I saw the same girl again with a huge smile on her face. Taking a deep breath, I showed her the cover of the book.

"Ooh, The Little Mermaid? I love the movie!" She said, sitting down on the chair beside me. "Can I borrow it?" She asked. I pushed the book to her and she opened up the book and began to read. A few minutes later, she was crying her eyes out.

"Why did the Little Mermaid not get the Prince Charming? This isn't how the movie ended! This is so sad!" She continued bawling. I looked at the teacher who was ignoring the two of us in the room in favor of her phone.

"That's how the Little Mermaid always ended." I said.

"No, it's not!" She exclaimed. "The Little Mermaid ended with The Prince Charming killing the wicked sea-witch with his boat and the Little Mermaid lived happily ever after with the Prince Charming!" I raised an eyebrow.

"I've never heard of that ending before." I said.

"How could you not see The Little Mermaid before? Everyone knows that story!" The girl exclaimed.

"I don't." The girl looks at me with wide eyes.

"You have to see it, then!" She said. "You'd really love it!"

Closing the book Yuri gave me, I had finished the first chapter of the book. So far, the book seems to set up the world around the character, whose name was Mina. I can see why Yuri seemed to like the book and I will continue to read it tonight after dinner.

Though reading the book was certainly entertaining, it also left me a little drowsy. I closed my eyes and ended up listening to Sayori conversing with Monika.

"We're probably gonna be really lame compared to the other clubs, though..." Sayori said. Monika was deep in thought.

"Well, we can't give up." I hear Monika say. "The school festival is coming up, and it's our chance to show what literature is all about."

"The problem is that the idea of a Literature Club sounds too deep and intellectual. But it's not like that at all! We just need a way to show that to everyone else. Something that speaks to their creative mind..."

The two became silent until I hear Sayori speak up.

"That won't solve the problem, though" I hear her say.

"Huh?"

"Even if we come up with the most fun thing ever, nobody will be interested if it's a literature event." Sayori said. " So it's more important to figure out how we'll get people to come here before we could do something to their creative minds."

I hummed in thought. Sayori seems to be taking this seriously. It's rare to see her like this.

"That's a good point, Sayori." Said Monika. "In that case, do you think food will do the trick?"

"What kind?!" Sayori exclaimed. I chuckled to myself.

"Ah... Well, I guess we could—"

"Cupcakes!" Sayori exclaimed. Monika chuckled.

"Good thinking. Natsuki would love to do that." She said.

"You're right!" Said Sayori. "Natsuki makes the best cupcakes! That would work out perfectly!"

"That wasn't why you suggested it?"

Sayori chuckled nervously. "Cupcakes speak to my creative tummy." She said.

I smiled to myself. In the end, Sayori was still just the same. And there lies the reason I admire her so much. Unlike me, who is afraid of putting myself forward, Sayori charges in with nary a care. This attitude resulted in every person she meets charmed by her warm personality. I could only wish to see what she could see...

I opened my eyes to see another pair of bright blue eyes staring back at me. I smiled and sat up straight on my chair.

"Hey." I signed.

"Hello." She smiled before crossing her arms and pout. "Did you have a nice nap?"

I chuckled. "Wasn't napping. Resting my eyes."

"It's the same!" She exclaimed. "You've been staying up again, haven't you?" I shrugged. "Now that you're in a club, You should have less extra time at night to do anything!"

"You're the boss, Sayori." I signed. "You always take care of me."

Sayori bashfully smiled. "That's what I do best."

"And that's a problem."

"Huh?" She asked.

"You're too busy taking care of me, but what about you? You focus too much on me to take care of yourself." I signed. "Tell me, when was the last time you woke up on time?"

"... It's a secret." Sayori said after a few seconds. I stared at her with a raised eyebrow. "C'mon... At least give me the benefit of the doubt." I just shook my head.

" Sayori, it's written all over you."

"Eh?" Sayori glances around herself. "How is it written all over me?"

"You were clearly in a rush this morning." I pointed at her messy hair. She absentmindedly starts brushing her hair with her fingers. Realizing I would have to fix her up, I began writing on my notebook, listing off everything that was very noticeable on Sayori's person. After finishing what I wrote, I showed the notebook to Sayori and pulled out a small, collapsible hairbrush from my bag and began brushing her hair, carefully pulling out the knots in her hair and fixed up her bow so that it looks presentable.

"But nobody would ever notice any of that!" She exclaimed. I continued to fix her up, buttoning her blazer.

She suddenly chuckled, catching my attention. I gave her a raised eyebrow.

"Nothing, I was just thinking how weird it is to have a friend who have this kinds of things." She said. I gave her a raised eyebrow and stopped buttoning her blazer for a second.

"Sayori, we grew up together. I've been taking care of you since we were six." I signed.

"I know... But it's okay though. I'm happy we're like this. Aren't you?" I shrugged, giving her a small smile before going back to button her blazer.

"H-hey, be careful." Sayori said as I struggled to button her blazer on her chest area. "The button might come off." I nodded before trying again to close the button. After a few more tries, I finally called it quits.

"Does this thing fit you properly?" I asked her. Sayori smiled sheepishly.

"It did when I bought it." I sighed. Then I noticed Sayori smiling brightly. "What are you smiling about?"

"It just means my boobs got bigger again!" She exclaimed. Alarmed, I looked around to see if anyone was looking at us. In the corner, I could see Natsuki looking a little angry while reading her manga. I quickly looked at Sayori, I quickly shushed her, all the while she was chuckling at me. I sighed and looked at her up and down.

"There, you look much more presentable now." I signed. Sayori meanwhile looked uncomfortable.

"But it's so stuffy." She said. "It's not worth it at all!" She hastily unbuttons her blazer and sighs in comfort. "Much better..." Sayori puts her arms out and twirls around in place.

"Maybe now that I look unpresentable, I won't get any more love letters in my locker every so often." She said. I raised an eyebrow.

"Sayori, everyone here loves you." I signed. "Hell, even the guys at my class kept asking my permission to try and date you. No matter what you look like, guys will want to date you."

"But if I had a boyfriend, he wouldn't let you do things you'd do for me." Sayori said. "And you take care of me better than anyone else. So that's why I'll keep looking on how I usually look." She smiled brightly, as if she had won a prize.

I rolled my eyes. "Just please focus on waking up a little earlier."

"Only if you focus on going to bed earlier."

I shifted and put my hand forward. She took my hand and we both shook on it, sealing the deal. Sayori chuckled.

"I guess we're better on taking care of each other than taking care of ourselves." She remarked. I smiled at her. "So maybe you should come wake me up in the morning!" I immediately frowned at her, to which she pouts.

"Aw come on! I was joking that time!" She moaned.

"Okay, everyone!" We both heard Monika say. "Why don't we all share the poems we wrote now?"

My thoughts immediately went back to what I wrote. Looking back at it, a small heat rushed to my face. I was very nervous. I had never written a poem before, and I feel embarrassed to show it to everyone.

"Yay!" Sayori exclaimed beside me. "I can't wait to read yours, Mallory!"

My cheek got hotter as I realized Sayori was going to read it. Sayori began to trot off to retrieve her poem.

Shit, this is going to be embarrassing...

Hey guys... Long time, no see? Sorry for the long wait... I had to adjust to college life... I didn't got to go to the course that I wanted, so that sucks... But I did InfoTech as a major before switching this year to Computer Engineering...

So yeah, I'm very sorry for the long wait, and I'll try to update as soon as I can.

I hope to see you again

-Mallory