Our Reality (Doki Doki Literature Club!)

Mending the Soul

"Aw... I lost."

Mali looked down at the Go board sitting between her and Hisa. Despite her best efforts, she fell just short of her senpai's grandmother.

"Really?" Hisa chuckled. "Honestly though, I would have liked to see Shujinkou's clever Kōhai play for real instead of humoring me."

"Oh, I wasn't humoring you."

"So, you were just testing me?"

"Was I?"

Hisa nonchalantly scratched her right cheek, surprising Mali. Having attributed to a nervous quirk tick Shujinkou had, it was almost jarring to see a relative to do it so casually.

"Huh, Shujinkou wasn't exaggerating; talking to you is like navigating a labyrinth," Hisa confirmed.

"Senpai said that about me?"

"It was my personal interpretation."

"Huh..." Mali smiled her usual innocent smile. "Fuyu may be right about her initial observation after all."

She then pointed her innocuous gaze towards Rei.

"Don't you think, Rei?"

As expected, Rei didn't say a word. She stared at Mali with a blank expression until a voice was heard from above.

"Hey, Mom..."

All eyes were on Hiro as walked downstairs. She opened her mouth, but the rest of her sentence was immediately stifled by the sound of the doorbell.

Hiro soon approached the front door and opened it. It was a surprise, to say the least, who she found on the other side.

"Akira? What are you doing here?" she asked.

Indeed, standing in front of her with a bushel of roses was the man she was dating.

"I wanted to see how you were holding up and if there's been any change in Shujinkou," he answered. "This isn't a bad time, is it?"

"No, no. Come in."

As soon as Akira stepped into the house, he was immediately confronted by Hisa. Seeing her mother eye Akira with suspicion was something that made Hiro feel both embarrassed and guilty.

After finishing her initial check, Hisa stepped closer to Akira and slowly took the roses away from him.

"So, you're the infamous Akira..." she said.

"Infamous?" he repeated, stifling a gulp.

"Protective mother phrasing."

"Ah."

"Let's see if you can change that a little."

Hisa wrapped her arm around him and led him to the kitchen.

Sorry, Akira...

Hiro considered following them but was stopped by sound of someone knocking on the door frame. Looking out the open entrance, she immediately met eyes with Kiyoko.

"Hey, Hiro," Kiyoko greeted with a wave. "Mind if me and a few friends come in?"

"Sure."

Following Kiyoko inside was Fuyu. "Evening, Ms. Hiro,".

"Evening, Fuyu."

"Ditto for me," Claudette added, following behind third. "Also the same for the person behind me."

Hiro wondered who else could be visiting until the answer walked up to her.

"Hey, Ms. Hiro..." Monika said with a timid smile.