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Kometani-Kun commentates.
He pays attention to what his classmates say, deciphers the intonations and double meanings that hide under layers of unique character traits and lays it out in plain terms.
Commenting on people's behaviour is what he does. And if he could look at himself right now, he'd probably comment something along these lines:
[*Kometani-kun is considering murdering everyone within a ten mile radius.]
It's dramatic, he's aware, but right now it's the only thing on his mind as he trudged into school with a splitting headache.
Should he be at home instead of school? Absolutely, on the few occasions he'd been plagued by migraines in the past he had been left bed bound for a day at least.
So he should be back home in bed, which he wanted to be, except he had a history presentation that day that was worth a frustratingly high percentage of his final grade, and the teacher had made it clear that due to how behind they were on the coursework that they wouldn't have time to push back any of the presentations, no excuses.
Which is how he ended up in this situation. This bad, horrible, no good situation. But thankfully, history was directly after lunch, which meant he only had to last a few hours of torment before going back home to the comfort of his bed.
A few hours. He could handle that.
His stomach flipped from the movement as he knelt down to his shoe locker. Afterwards he turned around and jumped when he saw Tadano standing there.
"Good morning Kometani-kun," He greeted in his typical chipper tone.
[*Morning.] Kometani responded lamely. As he turned to leave, Tadano frowned.
"Is everything ok?" He asked, this time his voice softer, which was a small mercy on Kometani's skull.
Of course Tadano noticed something was wrong, he always noticed. [*Yeah, I just didn't get much sleep last night.] Kometani replied in what he hoped was a normal tone. He really wasn't in the mood for pity, or worse, to be pressured to go home when every word felt like a knife being shoved into his brain.
Tadano stared at him for a moment, and Kometani worried that he'd press the issue further, but instead he just gave him a small nod before walking off "I'll see you in class Kometani-kun." He said, again at an almost-comfortable volume.
Kometani sighed in relief before also walking to class. His first interaction of the day actually went okay, it made him think that maybe he could make it through the next few hours.
Nevermind, Kometani was once again considering mass homocide.
The teacher's lecture droned on, and somehow each word felt like a force squeezing his head, which worsened not only his headache but the accompanying dizziness and nausea that accompanied it. While Kometani had never actually thrown up from a migraine before, he was starting to wonder if today would be the day that changed, considering how he usually wasn't walking about with them. Which… god, he hoped not.
He hazily glanced down at his copybook, which was blank. He had intended to at least try to pay attention, but all of his energy ended up being spent trying to stay upright.
He looked at the clock. There was half an hour until lunch, which made him want to whine. He wished he could just leave. But the stupid history presentation was yet to come, which felt so far away.
He put his head down on his desk, with his arms crossed both to cushion himself and to block the light from his eyes. He was sitting near the back, relatively concealed from sensei's line of sight, which made it easy to stay like that. It's not like he was learning anything from this class anyway. He closed his eyes and prayed that sleep - or death, he wasn't picky - would claim him.
While he wasn't so lucky as to be able to doze off, the position had been far better than how he was before, and he ended up staying like that until the bell rang, and his classmates started filing out of the room.
He didn't move, he couldn't bring himself to, he knew the moment he moved the pain would go from a 6 to a 10, and that his finally-settled stomach would start twisting again. Plus, the noise had died down now that he was alone. Or at least he thought he was.
Just as he had settled into the closest thing he had to peace all day, he felt a gentle tap on his shoulder.
[*What.] He snapped. Why couldn't he be left alone?
The person in question let out a frightened squeak in response, followed by the sound of a pencil on paper. *Komi-san, Kometani realised.
The writing stopped suddenly, and Kometani waited, expecting another prod for him to look at what she had written, as he had yet to move from his current position.
But instead, words were spoken after a significant pause. "Uhm… w-what's… what's wrong?" It was quiet, gentle, and caught Kometani off-guard, as he had never heard Komi speak out loud before.
[*Nothing, don't worry about it.] He muttered harshly, hoping she'd take the hint and leave him alone.
Unfortunately he could never be that lucky. He heard a shaky breath "…It's not nothing." She said, this time her voice was more assertive "…You haven't.. you've been off all day and… I'm…. Worried."
Kometani slowly turned his head to look at Komi, squinting as the lights struck him with more pain. She was staring at him intensely, wringing her hands together nervously.
Part of him wanted to keep denying it, as he had been so determined to make it through the day, but knowing Komi she wasn't going to let this go. Also he was so tired and miserable that he honestly he couldn't bring himself to.
[*Have you ever had a migraine?] He asked, and Komi's eyes widened. She picked her notebook up off one of the nearby desks and quickly wrote something down. She turned it to face him.
"No, but my brother has. Do you have one right now?"
[*Kinda,] he responded, and when he saw Komi tilt her head to the side he amended himself [*…Yes.]
Komi started writing again. "Ouch. Maybe you should go home?"
Kometani sighed and turned his head face down on his desk again. [*I was going to after History, cause of that stupid presentation.] he mumbled.
Komi was silent for a moment. "…U-uhm, maybe-”
She was cut off by the sound of the door sliding open with force, causing Kometani to flinch as it hit the wall with a BANG. He pulled his arms tighter around his head in a futile attempt to block out some of the noise.
"Oh, I didn't realise people were in here," came the voice of Naruse. Kometani groaned. While yes, he spent most of his time with the guy, and it wouldn't be incorrect to say they were close, Naruse was the last person he wanted to see in his current state.
His voice was obnoxious with its cadence grating against his eardrums in a way that made his head throb more than it already was. Kometani realised that he had taken Komi's soft way of speaking for granted.
"I'm just here because I left my pencil case at my desk, but please, feel free to enjoy the view~" Naruse explained, and Kometani heard his footsteps stride across the classroom in their general direction.
As he braced himself for more of Naruse's self-centred yammering, the footsteps stopped as he heard a sharp "Sh!"
"Hm?" Naruse hummed, and Kometani heard the sound of hurried writing followed by silence, presumably as Naruse read whatever Komi had scribbled down.
"…I see." Naruse eventually said, no longer shouting as he normally did.
Kometani then felt another tap on his shoulder, firmer than when Komi had done so. "Hey."
He looked up as Naruse placed a water bottle on the desk in front of him. [*Huh?]
"It's important to stay hydrated ✨" Naruse explained, blowing his hair out of his face as he normally did, his hands on his hips.
Kometani blinked, taking a second to register what was happening. [*Oh. Thanks.] He then tentatively sat up and took the bottle, opening the cap and taking a few sips.
Komi wrote in her notebook again. "You should go to the school nurse." Kometani read.
Naruse nodded "I'm surprised he hasn't already." He looked at Kometani, who avoided meeting his gaze. God, Naruse was judging his life choices, he's truly hit rock bottom.
[*Fine.] Kometani mumbled, and Naruse clapped his hands together in triumph. Kometani flinched at the noise and glared at him as his head throbbed. "Sorry!" Came Naruse's sheepish response.
Kometani stood up, and was hit with a sudden vertigo that forced him to grab the back of his chair and close his eyes for a moment as he fought the urge to throw up.
"You okay?" He heard Naruse ask with an unnatural amount of concern, and Kometani slowly nodded. [*Mhm. Just perfect.] he said through gritted teeth, and eventually he freed the chair from the vice-grip he had it in and opened his eyes again to the sight of the two staring at him. [*…Let's go.]
The walk to the nurse's office was less than ideal, as many people were hanging out in the corridors chatting, each word feeling like gunshots in his brain. He stared at the floor as he walked, watching one foot fall in front of the other, focusing on making it to the nurse's office in one piece.
But eventually they made it, and soon enough the noise was muted by the door as Komi closed it behind them.
Despite his affinity for giving context, Kometani felt embarrassed as he explained to the nurse why he was there, especially after mentioning that he had made the active decision to go to school in his condition, which earned him a light scolding.
"Kometani-kun here has no self preservation-instincts," Naruse joked, his hand gliding through his blue hair as he did so.
[*Not true,] Kometani defended as he sat down on the small bed [*I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for the presentation.]
Naruse raised an eyebrow "Just email sensei asking to do it another day." He said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Kometani, feeling slightly annoyed at his friend's carefree attitude, began [*….No, she specifically said-]
"Yeah I know what she said, that was just to make sure slackers didn't ask for unnecessary extensions. Just send her an email or something, it'd be weird of her to fail you for something you couldn't control."
Kometani was stunned for a moment. He hadn't expected such a rational train of thought from Naruse of all people. He looked at Komi, and he could tell that she was also surprised. Thinking of Naruse's point more clearly now, despite his observedness, Kometani somehow hadn't put together that, yeah, the project could probably be pushed back.
[*That's… I guess you're right…] He mumbled sheepishly.
"Of course I'm right~✨" Naruse smiled "If anything I'm surprised you hadn't realised it already."
Kometani groaned and lamely toppled onto his side so that he was lying down on the bed. [*Refer back to when I mentioned I had a migraine. I'm not thinking straight.] he muttered sharply, bringing his arm up to block the light from his eyes. He was exhausted, and just wanted to go home.
As the nurse briefly left to call his parents, the room fell into silence.
[*You guys can go if you want. Have lunch or something.] Kometani eventually said. He couldn't find the energy to engage in much conversation, instead feeling content to wait on his own silently.
He heard Komi write in her notebook, followed by Naruse's voice reading her words out loud: "Do you want us to go?"
[*I just want to lie here and die.] He deadpanned, peeking over his arm to look at them.
Komi let out a small sound of surprise at that, while Naruse's eyes widened a little. Right, not their sort of humour. He sighed.
[*Just do whatever. I'm not really in a talking mood, sorry.]
The others looked at each other for a moment, almost as if they were trying to have a silent conversation with each other, before Naruse eventually turned back to Kometani "Hmm, well it'd hardly be heroic of me to just leave you here to suffer now would it?" He mused "I would be glad to grace you and the nurse's office with my gorgeous presence for a little while longer in silence." He leaned back against the wall in a way that Kometani was sure was an attempt to look cool.
Komi nodded eagerly before writing something down. She turned her notebook around to face him "I don't mind keeping you company either." She had written.
Kometani didn't respond, instead choosing to shove his face into the stiff pillow in order to block the light from his vision. A part of him thought that he should be feeling embarrassed, that he was just lying here with the two of them watching. And yet he didn't. Instead, he found himself feeling a warm feeling in his chest. Something about the way they were so quick to help him, and that they wanted to stay with him when he was doing nothing was… nice.
He squeezed his eyes shut. God, when had he become such a sap? He blamed the migraine.
The silence that filled the nurse's office was comfortable, with Naruse and Komi quietly keeping to themselves while Kometani allowed himself to wallow in his discomfort until one of his parents arrived to pick him up.
Admittedly as he left he couldn't bring himself to say anything to the other two, as by that point he was driven by pure exhaustion and the allure of finally getting into his own bed, which gave him no energy to say a word as he went out the door, eyes on the floor.
It wasn't until two days later that Kometani finally returned to school. It had somehow gotten worse before it got better which, he supposed was his own fault for pushing his limits. He was still going to be bitter about it though.
He was relieved to finally be free from that torment as he walked into school. The sound of students chattering was no longer agonising and was once again just background noise, as it should be.
He walked into class, and as he passed by Komi, who was listening to Tadano and Najimi bicker about something or other, she spotted him. She quickly grabbed her notebook and pen, and after writing something down she turned it to face him.
"Good morning Kometani-kun! Are you feeling better this morning?"
Kometani nodded [*Yes, very much.] he replied, and he watched as she perked up. She wrote some more.
"That's good to hear!"
Kometani then suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder, and he turned around to see Naruse standing there, his bag slung over his shoulder as he struck a pose. "Good morning everyone~ ✨" he greeted, blowing his bangs from his eyes.
He looked down at Kometani, who's shoulder his hand was still perched on "It's good to see you back, Kometani-kun." He winked at him, looking genuinely pleased to see him.
Kometani looked at him, and back at Komi. As Naruse stepped around him to start walking to his desk, Kometani spoke [*Hey Komi-san, Naruse-kun, uh..]
He averted his eyes, suddenly feeling awkward as he took a moment before saying his next words [*I didn't get the chance to thank you both… for helping me out the other day…]
He felt his face heating up in embarrassment at the way he spoke. He was usually so calm and collected, why was he struggling so much to speak?
He found that, instinctively, his mind answered his own question:
[*Kometani-kun isn't used to feeling vulnerable.]
He shook the thought from his head, choosing to ignore that comment, even if it came from himself. It didn't matter, he was going to get through this.
[*You didn't have to, but you did anyway. So, uh thanks. It means a lot.] Once he finished talking he finally looked up at the other two.
They looked at him for a moment and smiled, with Naruse's being bright and dazzling and Komi's being small and sweet.
"Of course, it was no problem for me!" Naruse said, striking a dramatic pose.
"That's what friends are for." Komi wrote, nodding and staring at him with a determined look in her eyes.
Kometani felt the warm feeling in his chest return. At risk of yet again sounding like a sap, he wondered what he had done to get such great friends. His eyes flicked between them, and he felt himself smiling. [*Yeah, I guess you're right,] he responded.
It wasn't long before the group were dragged into Tadano and Najimi's squabbling, and the pain of the past few days was able to be forgotten as Kometani allowed himself to enjoy the moment.