Chapter Text
‘Hi, Tsukasa here!
Welcome to the Literature Club! It's always been a dream of mine to make something special out of the things I love. Now that you're a club member, you can help me make that dream come true in this cute game!
Every day is full of chit-chat and fun activities with all of my adorable and unique club members:
Sayori, the youthful bundle of sunshine who values happiness the most;
Natsuki, the deceivingly cute girl who packs an assertive punch;
Yuri, the timid and mysterious one who finds comfort in the world of books;
...And, of course, Tsukasa, the leader of the club! That's me!
I'm super excited for you to make friends with everyone and help the Literature Club become a more intimate place for all my members. But I can tell already that you're a sweetheart—will you promise to spend the most time with me? ♥’
“The hell, Nene? Never knew you were into twinks.” Nene was started by a voice behind her. ‘Snooping at her while she’s gaming?! How intolerable!’
“Shut the fuck up before before I silence you forever, I’m thinking of playing it since it’s pretty popular and i’m freaking exhausted from shooters right now.” she snapped.
‘Can’t a girl daydream of having dates with cute guys and girls?’
“So even the great Nene can get exhausted with constant gaming, heh?”
It was her sort of roommate Rui. Despite him being her neighbour, the Kamishiro’s had personally requested the Kusanagi’s to let Rui reside with them while they were out for a week or two. The request did not feel that out of the ordinary since they must still be traumatized by his attempt from half a year ago.
When Rui transferred to kamiyama high, what he experienced was not bullying or concern but…. Indifference. It was ignorance. In all his life, he had dealt with everything but never isolation.
Nene was in that school, she never came to him. Mizuki was in that school, she never came to him. Nobody did.
The last straw broke when his parents went out for a trip, with his mind never having the time to heal and with isolation as a cherry on top, he succumbed to his inner thoughts. He took his trusty sleeping pills that his parents only allowed him to consume after his worsening dark circles and ever paling skin. They really didn't trust him with even these, did they? And they were absolutely correct, they shouldn't have as he gulped down a handful of the sleeping drug with no hesitation or thoughts of how his action will affect the people around him.
During this time, a knock was heard on the front door of his house, the one before it was none other than Nene, someone he trusted.
Too bad though, she was late this time, if she could have come sooner, maybe he would not have had to make that decision yet time was ruthless….
His thoughts were broken by a sudden thud that came from the front door.
He should check but laying on the floor felt too good right now, he was feeling a little sleepy after all.
Despite that, he got his answers as Mr.Kusanagi came rushing down his room a loud gasp coming from them, nene followed behind her father, as soon as she entered his room though, her breath hitched and she let out a sharp scream.
“Yeah yeah, whatever. I just wanted to try out this dating sim game, it’s pretty popular for a game that’s completely free.”
She wasn’t really making excuses as she really had been wanting to try out though it undeniably a half-truth.
“Popular and free? You sure it ain’t just those in-game purchase apps?”
With that, Rui grabbed a chair from nearby and aligned it near Nene’s, in range enough to make up for the monitor’s display.
‘Seriously one of these days, this girl will have worse eyesight than me for staring at that bright screen for so long.’
“Nah, I’ve read the reviews. It’s a cute romance visual novel about a new found literature club revolving around four characters: TENMA Tsukasa, a third year student who is the president of the club and he falls under the popular guy troupe… Ah- and he’s also the only male character in this game, then there is Sayori, a second year student alongside the main character and is also the main character’s supposed childhood friends who is classified as the genki girl type of person, next is Yuri, she is a third year who is mostly shy and reserved with a passion for literature a lot more than the others, and the last but not the least is Natsuki, the only first year in the game who has a tsundere personality with a love for anime and manga.”
With a bored roll of her eyes, she began to explain the basic premise of the game.
‘I guess with that he will understand- wait, why is bro smirking with his signature cat pose?!’
“My my, Nene, never knew you were such an enthusiast, or rather I should say, simp for two dimensional bitches.”
Rui sheds an invisible tear, wiping the air dramatically.
‘Oh what a character retrogression it seems,... just what my cutie patootie childhood friend has turned into. Sob sob’
He was forced out of his trance with a flick over his forehead by the said friend, “Yeah yeah, my drama-queen. I like fictional characters, any problem? If yes, my door is open for all to exit from.”
She slumped over her gaming chair before straightening her back and starting to boot up her game, Doki Doki Literature Club.
“Wait wait wait- let me see too, not like it’s a proper game. There is just reading in it and I'm way faster than you so you won’t have any problem.” Rui slid his chair closer to Nene’s, his tone suddenly turning much pouty, imitating a child-like voice.
‘Huh, What is with this demand? I thought you didn’t like these fricking quote, two dimensional bitches, unquote.”
She retorted back, sure she wasn’t gonna stop him from doing so either way but what’s the harm in a little bit of teasing?
As soon as those words left her mouth, he started whining like a sad wet cat he is, with the extra sprinkle of purple and cyan over him,“Cooooome oooon Neneeee, i just meant that as a joke, don’t be so serious. You know I never really said that in a literal sense, I was just kidding. Please, my dear Nene, would you really be so cruel to your lovely friend?”
Given his over the top puppy eyes, even Nene’s nonchalance found itself wavering slightly, only slightly okay?!
She let out a sigh, giving in to his pitiful looks,”fine… fine, do whatever you want, just don’t distract me with your goofy habits.”
“Yay! You got it, I’ll keep myself totally shut. Don’t you worry about it.” His sad wet cat persona evaporated in the air as he started humming in triumph.
The game boots up, a void of cryptic silence playing in the background waiting diligently for its moment to launch the upbeat noise in the ears of the players.
The game starts with a blank screen with a warning informed in a cute pink textbox which had its opacity lowered by default so the white message popped in its background despite both being light value colours, the pink textbox background had a cute design of saturated circles repeating themselves on it while the text had a black outline for better contrast.
The text on it read as:
‘Individuals suffering from anxiety or depression may not have a safe experience playing this game. For content warnings, please visit: http://ddlc.moe/warning.html. By playing Doki Doki Literature Club, you agree that you are at least 13 years of age, and you consent to your exposure of highly disturbing content.
This game does deal with some dark and possibly disturbing issues later on. The developers of the game are taking no chances with people suffering from anxiety/depressive disorders and you need to actually agree to this caveat before moving into the game.
An ‘Okay’ hanged below the warning.
“Did you see that?!” both individuals exclaim at the same time, startling each other by the action.
They both look away before continuing in unison,”you go first.”
“Agh-! Let’s just say it at the same time!” they both declared before taking a deep breath and announcing their thoughts at the count of three.
“This warning mentioned dark content in it.”
“The official link has the word ‘moe’ in it!”
…
“Of all the things you could have focused on, that’s the shit you thought was important enough to mention to me?!
Have you finally lost it, Rui?!” Nene was left absolutely incredulous by Rui’s behaviour.
‘When will this guy ever grow up?!”
“What can I say, I have always been the curious kind since childhood, have I not?” and then he chuckled… he FRICKING chuckled!
“I didn’t mean it as a compliment, you fool!” she snapped at him.
‘Just how can someone be so annoying, it's… it’s unfathomable.’
Rui coughed in his fist, trying to divert Nene’s attention elsewhere, “agh-! So anyways, hadn’t you mentioned that it’s just a cute dating sim? Then why is there such a warning present in this game ?” He inquired, side-eyeing Nene.
“I-I know that, okay?! That’s what I had said too!” she retorted back, trying to regain her composure. ‘No more lashing out now.’
Without saying anything, Rui closed the game and opened the search engine on the computer, typing: ‘Doki doki literature club’.
The dark themed web was flooded with cutesy settings, a pink banner art of game present on the top with the four game characters illustrated with a blinding smile, well not all, but at least the poster boy for this game, Tsukasa was.
Below it was the premise of the game:
‘Doki Doki Literature Club! (sometimes abbreviated as DDLC) is a 2017 visual novel video game developed by Team Salvato for personal computers and mobile phones. The story follows a student who reluctantly joins his high school's literature club at the insistence of his friend Sayori, and is given the option to romantically pursue her, Yuri, or Natsuki. Club president Tsukasa, another love interest, is a character featured heavily in the game's plot. The game features a non-traditional plot structure with multiple endings and unlockable cutscenes with each of the main characters.’
“What now? It doesn’t say anything about the ‘mature setting’.” Nene bugged him, slumping back on her seat to let Rui use the mouse with more ease.
“Well if you look at the reviews they don’t really mention anything out of the ordinary.” he answered and the reviews were certainly what they were surfing through.
‘So cute, I think I’m in love now.’
‘Why can’t Tsukasa-kun exist in real life, I want him as my boyfriend!’
‘The fact that the only male character is more feminine than all the other girls combined. The devs are definitely trolling us.’
‘I’m so sorry Sayori-chan, had to reject you for Yuri.’
‘Tsukasa-kun, more like Tsukasa-chan. Why is he so cute?!’
‘Why did the game force us to reject Sayori every time we choose someone else’s route?’
“... guess we got our answer.” Nene suddenly stated, her eyes trained on a particular piece of text in the review section.
“Hmm, where?” Rui inquired, his eyes running all over the screen trying to find the ‘reason’ for the disturbing content warning.
Nene flicked his forehead. Again. “Idiot, it says we have to reject Sayori every time if we don’t choose her route.”
“Uhh-, and?” Rui looked at her as if her brain cells were leaking out of her head at a concerning speed.
“And what? It has to be it. What else could there be to it? I’m not gonna take anymore spoiler just because of a stupid content warning… and in the end, it’s just a game of pixelated cutouts whose whole algorithm revolves around you.” She chides before refreshing her PC and opening her game again.
This time though, the warning doesn’t appear as the black screen fades to white, brief credits are displayed as a piano melody makes itself known in the background.
Soon, the warning again appears, this time much smaller, with no intention of asking about the player as it stated:
‘This game is not suitable for children or those who are easily disturbed.
No chances whatsoever.
This is the last notice of disturbing content. There will be no further warnings. Enjoy this LP at your own risk.’
Despite Rui’s scepticism, Nene paid it no heed, mashing her buttons to skip the ‘unnecessary’ stuff.
The title screen finally pops out, a cheery music mixing with the cute vibes like honey.
Four silhouettes gracing their presence in front of the white background studded with baby pink circles recurring in an alternating pattern.
The figure on the very left side was a girl with short coral pink hair that looked quite unruly, to say the least. Given her whole colour palette consisted of reds and pinks, her vibrant blue eyes were quick to steal all the attention to themselves. She had a very energetic look, with a bright smile on her face coupled with her slightly crouched pose that gave her a look as if she was gonna start skipping in just a second.
The person adjacent to her was a tall girl with a much sophisticated presence, her body was turned away from the screen while her face, that was barely visible, was plastered in layers of blush almost as if she was too timid to even look at anyone else. Her eyes and hair were both coloured of a dark purple, her hairs were illustrated in a flipping motion as they reached to her waist barely.
The one on the right side however had a much bratty look as the short girl seemed to be pouting while her hands rested over her hips,looking like she was seconds away from walking away in pure annoyance. Her short pink hair was captured in a bobbing motion while her pink eyes were drawn to look like they were glaring at the user.
Out of all of them, the one who really took everyone and anyone's attention was the guy in the front, his spite was drawn much bigger, conveying the feeling of him standing closer to the screen. His hair was painted in a warm yellow colour that faded out to a beautiful crimson at the tip of each lock.
His eyes were glistening like topaz shining in the light of an evening sunset, shimmering with life and… love.
Unlike others, he held a book in his one hand while the other secured a pen despite the peace sign he formed with his fingers. He almost looked like… he was reaching out of the screen. To the one behind it.
What set him apart wasn’t just his gender or pose, it was even his whole outfit. Unlike the girls who had ribbons tied down their collar, he had a tie while his cardigan also looked different with it being a plain fluffy pale yellow cardigan rather than the brownish one with diamond shaped design patter the other had.
The colour scheme of his blazer was also different. It was indigo in colour, something weirdly similar to Kamiyama High’s. Whether the fact that it took a minute to render fully unlike the whole image should make it more creepy or less was not something the two comprehend.
“Ahh-, anyways we should just start playing, should we not?” Rui nudged Nene to proceed with the game to which she responded with a light hum.
Beneath the logo of Doki Doki Literature Club, there were given options:
‘NEW GAME’
‘LOAD GAME’
‘SETTING’
‘HELP’
‘QUIT’
Nene hovered her mouse over the ‘NEW GAME’ as the screen flashed to white, displaying:
‘Welcome to Doki Doki Literature Club!’
After that a textbox pops up:
‘Please enter your name
………………………………..
Ok’
And of course, Nene entered her name but it was her family name rather than her given.
“Huh?”
“‘Huh’ what?”
“Why are you entering ‘Kusanagi’ as your username rather than ‘Nene’?”
“I don’t know, I just felt like it.”
“Uh, sure.”
And with that, she hit ok waiting to be immersed in the cute world of a dating sim.
As the actual game finally starts, they're met with an illustration of what seems like a neighbourhood since the screen was at least able to capture three houses stacked adjacent to each other with the same boring color palette consisting of pale yellow for the walls and a greyish one for the roofs and other details, the houses were all extended to a short road which had its vanishing point hidden due to the green bushed rendered in the corner of the image.
Amongst the scenery, a textbox pops up:
???:
“Heeeeeeeyyy!!”
Nene clicks on the statement, marking it read as the protagonist starts narrating:
Kusanagi:
I see an annoying girl running toward me from the distance, waving her arms in the air like she's totally oblivious to any attention she might draw to herself. That girl is Sayori, my neighbor and good friend since we were children. You know, the kind of friend you'd never see yourself making today, but it just kind of works out because you've known each other for so long?
We used to walk to school together on days like this, but starting around high school she would oversleep more and more frequently, and I would get tired of waiting up. But if she's going to chase after me like this, I almost feel better off running away. However, I just sigh and idle in front of the crosswalk and let Sayori catch up to me.
Sayori:
“Haaahhh…haaahhh…”
On that the silhouette of one of the girls from the title screen appears, the one with short coral pink hair and blue eyes.
“Ahh, so this is Sayori! She looks pretty good.” Rui comments, already in love with the artstyle. Who wouldn't be?
“I know… it looks good. She also seems quite friendly.” She agrees. Despite having an anime inspired artstyle, they didn't shy away from rendering some pieces with soft light.
“I'm not entirely sure though… since why will our main character start off the game by being so annoyed over Sayori?” Rui questions, Valid point. What is it with these self insert protagonists and their way of insulting their childhood friends.
“I think they’re going for a roasting-my-friend sort of vibe but it doesn’t come across very well. Definitely not something I'll consider a great first impression.” she comments before pushing back her seat and getting.
“Hold on a minute- now where the hell are you going?” Rui questions her, his eyes trained on her movement.
“I am heading to the kitchen to grab some snacks… bublegums, especially. Want me to get you something? With that said, she heads to the framer of the door in her room. Her steps came to a gradual pause as she got no response from her friend. "So? Anything you would like?”
“... I would appreciate a bag of soda candy.” After a long time of contemplation he finally announces his wish for the not-so-surprising tooth-rotting candies he absolutely loves.
“Took you darn long enough… ahh, sure. If there’s nothing else you want then I'll go get them.” sure, she could have seen that coming but for him to take so much time to only declare his need for soda candy raised her skepticism a bit as she bit back a snide comment alongside the raising of her brows as she decided to drop the topic in the end.
And despite her skepticism being basically written on her face due to the scorn present, he just shrugged her off with a “Yeah, nothing else.”
She could not help herself from rolling her eyes at that remark.
‘Why couldn't he just be upfront with whatever was in his mind.’
“Geez, ridiculously formal kids…”
“You know I can hear you?” He just stared at her with his voice sounding absolutely incredulous yet his act didn’t really sell due to the abrupt cat smirk finding its way to his face.
“Oh, shut it!” She yelled out only after she was away from the room he was temporarily residing in.
….
“Rui!” a voice yelled out in a distance, catching his attention away from… whatever he was doing.
“Ahh, what’s wrong now? Is there a bug or something?” he yelled back while closing a file on Nene's PC and… deleting it.
“There’s no bug or anything but…!” she storms back into her room and throws a packet towards him.
Barely catching it on time, Rui discovers it is a bag of soda candy. An empty one, to be exact.
As he opens his mouth to say something, she cuts him off by,”I’m heading out to get some, okay?”
“Wow Nene you'll go this far for me? Oh how blessed I am to have a friend like you yoyoyo.’ his hands come to rest just above his heart as lets out a faux cry of gratitude
“Well, the gums also ran out so that's the reason I am going out for, but sure, whatever you would like to think of it as.”
“Sure.. do as you please.”
“Yeah, I was.”
…
“Thank you for your purchase, miss. Your total will be ¥ 240.”
“...here.”
“Have a nice day!”
As soon as nene exited the convenience store., she popped the gums in her mouth, savoring the flavour. It was a quiet walk and she couldn’t have asked for more. Chewing the piece of flavoured sweet in her mouth, all her thoughts ultimately end in the game. What was with that warning for gore? Why did it even do that? She never heard Mizuki or Mafuyu say anything about something like that… maybe she's just over thinking, they could have simply not mentioned it since it's just a stupid warning. Like, look at the game itself, it's so cute just what could even be the worst thing in it? A character crying?
“NENE-CHAAAAAAN!!!!
WAIT FOR ME!”
An absolute ear drum ripping scream yelled out specifically to her, making her find herself stopped in her tracks to turn around and look out for the source of the voice even though she was oh so familiar with it.
A pink bundle of energy launched itself on Nwene, nearly making the both topple on the ground if it wasn’t for the wall adjacent to her to support the two hugging bodies.
“Nnnnnnnnnene-chan! You are actually outside!” the girl smiled at her, being squeaky and jumpy while nene was practically sweating her nerves off trying to balance the restless figure attached to her hips, literally.
‘Damn these shorties and their ever benefitting body!’
“Uhh, h-hello to you too, Emu… and yeah, I'm actually outside.” Even though she wanted to come off as snarky she knew that wasn't quite possible given that girl's oblivious behaviour.
“Ehehe! It's so rare to see you out in the open, you should go for walks more!” Emu said as she finally decided to stop making the poor girl hoist her up.
Emu, as in smile, was Nene’s classmate. One who is the daughter of the Ootori family. The one who’s the owner of Phoenix Wonderland. Despite her being so bubbly with Nene, every Sunday she finds herself in between those white walls with a figure wearing a white cloak promising shell ‘heal’ and grow out her ‘mental illness’… oh how fast things have changed
Nearly a year ago, Emu used to perform at Wonder Stage in Phoenix Wonderland to save the stage from being reconstructed. She tried everything, from conducting shows nonstop to trying to recruit others; however, things never went her way as ultimately, the deal with Mr.Riley was finalized. Her park was not going to be the same anymore, HER Wonder Stage was not going to be the same anymore.
Under the pressure of her protectiveness for the stage, she threatened her family to burn herself alongside her grandfather’s stage.
Disturbed and panicked by her declaration, the Ootori family came to a compromise of leaving the Wonder Stage as long as Emu no longer made any stupid decision like that.
Her park is not the same anymore but at least she has her Wonder Stage with her, she's never letting it go.
“Ne-ne-cha-n! What is in that bag? Are you running some errands?” the girl asked curiously.
'she wasn't disturbing her, was she?'
It took nene a while to jumble her memories in order as mumbled incoherently before realising what the goofball was referring to.
“Ahh… ohh-! This? It's just some snacks I wanted while enjoying games.”
She brought the bag a little closer to let the girl peek a glance at its content.
As her pink bob lowered due to her action of peeking at the bag in Nene’;s hand, she found herself confused by a thing and of course she asked nene, “Ahhh, but I thought nene-chan doesn't eat ramune candies.”
She just clicked her tongue at that and answered nonchalantly, seriously how did this guy avoid having to make any appointment with the dentist with this much sugar intake. “Yeah I don't, these are for that freaking dumbass Rui.”
“Ohhh, you mean Rui-kun-senpai, he lives near your house right?” Rui kun what senpai huh? Well.. whatever, not her business on what the others call him. At least it's better than those slurs that the bullies used.
“Eh, yeah whatever. Where were you going though, emu-chan?” she tried to direct the awkward attention off her. Big mistake.
‘Oh me?! Well, I'm going to saki’s place!” At that question, her eyes practically started sparkling as she started to jump up and down. Honestly, she's just like a golden retriever, just pink instead of golden locks with a sunset fade that glows… and maybe also an overly mother-hen attitude with an oblivious personality… wait-! What is she saying? It's like she's talking about someone certain… Who?
“... saki, as in that girl that has blonde hair with pink fades?” she jogged her memory, the name saki having a familiarity within it… ahh that girl!
Now that she thinks about it though, she kinda looks like that game character Tsukasa. Just a coincidence, surely.
“Yers! Her name is Tenma Saki.” Isn't Tsukasa also referred to as TENMA well… certainly a quite shocking coincidence, is it not?
Well, it feels like theres something more… why does she think she has heard od Saki Tenma before? Oh, right!
“Yeah I know, her band is pretty good after all.”
“I know right! Cant believe that it's the same girl that joined the first year mid semester.” saying that, Emu somehow looked like a proud mother. Okay, that was a little too much, she looked more a proud friend who flaunt over their friends' success rather than their own.
Saki Tenma, or better known as Sakki-chan among her peers, is in a girl band group named Leo/Need with her childhood friends.
As the only child of the Tenma family, she was doted on from the start, the protectiveness of her parents only heightened as she was hospitalized.
Despite popular beliefs Tenma Saki never thought that her life at home was any better as after being diagnosed with her terminal illness even on the few days when she was home, they never let her attend school or roam outside. Loneliness was everywhere, whether at home or hospital, especially after she pretty much lost contact with her girl friends.
It is a miracle indeed that she was able to beat her illness and again form a band with her friends, despite it all though, with a bit more observation it's undeniable to say that this high schooler certainly yearns for something or rather… someone. Someone who stood with her when her friends weren't able to. Someone she had the luxury to cry on the shoulders of. Someone who played with her in all those lonely years of hospitalisation. Someone who looked after her not as a connection but as Saki. someone like a big brother.
“Ah! It's this late already, I gotta hurry if I don't want to upset Saki-cjan. See you later, Nene-chan!” with that the girl made a run in the direction of the Tenma residence.
“Mmm, later.” Nene muttered even though she knew the girl definitely didn't hear her while sprinting as if her life depended on it.
“I'm home…”
“Ahh, Welcome home sweetie. Where were you?”
“Eh, I was just getting some snacks for me and Rui to enjoy.”
“Hmm… you can have them later, first have dinner, it'll be ready in a minute.”
“Sure, I'll go get Rui too, can't let that guy have a skeleton build any longer.”
“Hehe, you're always so sarcastic when it comes to talking to your friends… surely brings back some memories, it's like you and Rui never stopped being friends.”
“... Mom, I told you I don't wanna hear about it.”
“Right, I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable, honey. Won't you forgive this old lady of yours?”
“Geez, you're so corny, mom.”
“Ehe, blame the internet, not me.”
That's right, Nene Kusanagi. That's her, somehow she also could not escape the edgy ahh depression in my life.
In middle school, during an important performance, she forgot her lines in the mid show. This led to the horrible breaking of the show: the kids behind the curtains tried to whisper her her lines though their ‘whispers’ were not so subtle. The others who had their lines right after her were shifting awkwardly, nearly reciting their lines as she opened and closed her mouth only to know she had not uttered a single word. The show turned out to be a disasterout to be a disaster, to say the least. And Nene feltNene felt absolutely down as hell, to say the least.
Things werent going that bad until highschool came and everything went down hill with her sitting in front of her computer screen, playing games as a way to deal with anxiety and seek validation. She really exited her room and one of those time being when she had tried to visit Rui on that day.
Not really a memory she is fond of but shit somehow worked out in the end… guess that's the point.
She jogs to her room and then she...
I gently open the door.
❤︎♡❤︎