However, unbeknownst to everyone, she has crippling anxiety and a communication disorder which prevents her from wholeheartedly socializing with her classmates. When left alone in the classroom, a chain of events forces Komi to interact with Tadano through writing on the blackboard, as if in a one-way conversation.

Soon, however, he figures out Komi's secret: underneath her beautiful appearance, Komi suffers from a communication disorder which prevents her from making friends or even speaking normally to other people. Empathizing with her plight, Tadano resolves to spend his high school life helping Komi make one hundred friends.

Komi's first conversation with Tadano is over a blackboard, and she uses a notebook to convey her feelings through writing. Despite this, she is still capable of verbal conversation over a cell phone. Her dream is to overcome her communication problems and make 100 friends.