Doki Doki Despair Club

A̷̲̕ć̵̮t̸͉͌ ̵͚͆I̸̮̒I̸̝͗,̶͖͌ ̸͈̓D̸͙͆à̴͍y̵̭͝ ̸͇͐I̴͈̿Ỉ̷̖

"Hi again, Saihara-kun! Glad to see you didn't ditch us after the first day, ahaha.." I can't tell if Akamatsu-san is joking about that, but I make sure to reassure her anyway.

"Ah, don't worry, I haven't really done something of this sort before, but I try to keep promises I make."

"Thank you for following through on your word, Saihara-kun. I hope this doesn't become too overwhelming for you, as not just anyone can take the initiative to dive headfirst into literature after a lifetime of barely reading.." Tojo-san praises. Maybe it's just me, but I could've sworn that I saw her jumping around a little and appearing in a few different colors while she was talking.

"Can it, Tojo! Bakamatsu had to be the one to drag his ass over here, he probably wouldn't have bothered to give two shits otherwise... you know we're seniors, right? Nothing ya do here will really count on your resume anymore, so you better not be here just because you wanna fuck around with her, Staircases B and F are better for you if that's your kinda thing! At least that way ya could cut to the chase!" Iruma-san, on the other hand, isn't the slightest bit impressed. For crying out loud, at least let me make a promise to you all first.

"B-but, if you really do wanna be a part of our club, you better take it seriously, because we're dedicated as FUCK to what we do!" Iruma-san finishes, slightly flustered. There it is. I never said I'd keep my promise about being a loyal member to this club, but I'll try to be the light of this club whenever I'm here, or whatever bullshit a generic protagonist would usually say in this kind of situation.

"Iruma-san, you certainly talk a lot for someone who keeps a manga collection in that closet in the back.." Akamatsu-san retorts before I can, shooting Iruma-san a shit-eating grin.

"W-what the.. OI BAKAMATSU! Who gave you and your pathetic tits the right to criticize my manga, it is literature whether you wanna admit it or not!" Iruma-san huffs and sits down in her seat.

"My apologies, Saihara-kun, we assure you it's in our best interest to put your comfort first." Tojo-san says, shooting Iruma-san a disappointed look. "Um... that aside, now that you're in the club, perhaps you'd like m-me to accompany you in exploring books you're interested in reading?"

"Hm, well, I have no reason to say no. After all, you put it best, I am a part of this club now, so it'd be weirdly offstandish for me not to look for books I'm into." I reply.

"P-please d-don't misunderstand, Saihara-kun! Uuu, I wouldn't want you to feel pressured into doing something you don't want to..! You may forget I said anything if you'd like, I suppose..." She looks overly gloomy right now, and holy shit, does she jump to conclusions fast.

"That's not it, Tojo-san, I'm the new member here, right? So I should give it my all to try and be a part of this club, and so even if I don't read too often, you'd have better expertise when it comes to picking out books than I would, right? I'd be happy to take a look at whatever you recommend to me." Phew, she looks like she's letting out a breath she never knew she was holding.

"Are you c-certain..? W-well, if you s-say so... I simply felt it'd be my duty as Vice President to help you get started." She reaches into her bag and pulls out a book. "It'd be shameful to leave you out of the loop, so I made sure to get two copies of a book I suspected you might enjoy. W-wait, I d-don't mean to say that I got it exclusively for us, it was just a B-Buy One, Get One Free deal I made use of at the bookstore yesterday...!! Um, anyways, this is a murder mystery novel with underlying horror involved, and you can predict who the mastermind behind all the different murders and disappearances is before they're revealed. I assumed a shorter read such as this one might keep your attention long enough for you to decide if you'd want to explore more stories of this genre. Umm, and we can also discuss our opinions of the story, but th-that's not to assume you absolutely want to either! Only if you think you'd be on board with that, of course!"