𝘿𝘿𝙇𝘾 𝙊𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙩𝙨 & 𝙎𝙘𝙚𝙣𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙤𝙨

↤↤ ᴄᴏɴғᴇssɪᴏɴs - sᴀʏᴏʀɪ ↦↦

"Your bow is crooked again," you sighed as the two of you walked down the street. The Literature Club had just finished, and Sayori had immediately asked if she could walk with you again. You couldn't say no. "Here, can we stop? I'll fix it real quick."

Sayori laughed and shook her head in mock disapproval, but still paused and let you adjust her bow. "Geez, Y/N, you don't need to worry about me so much. I can take care of myself, you know!! "

"No, it's not that, I don't doubt you," you exclaimed, embarrassment washing over you like the Great Wave off Kanegawa. "You just look cute when it's on properly."

"O—oh," she squeaked, immediately falling silent as you finished re-tying the bow. She might have been blushing, though the light of the sun made it quite hard to tell.

"Alright, there you go."

Sayori didn't say anything for a solid several seconds after you started walking again. You cringed internally, worrying that you'd done something to direct or uncomfortable. Clearly that was the last thing you wanted.

No, no, that probably wasn't it (you hoped)!! Maybe Sayori was just distracted by something like she usually was. Maybe you were a little too careless with getting close to her when you were fixing the bow, and it flustered her. Maybe it was nothing and you were just being an overanalytic idiot. 

"...Y/N, can— can I tell you something?"

You froze in your tracks, offput both by Sayori's statement and her tone. It was noticeably less bubbly than her normal voice, a little more anxious and slightly unsteady. You hastily turned back to face her. "Yeah? What's up?"

The expression on Sayori's face made it clear that she was trying to encourage herself to say whatever she wanted to say. "Um, before I do anything, can you just promise nothing will change between us? Don't take this to heart if you don't... agree with me, okay?"

A little worried that she was going to say she secretly was in love with your mother or something, you pursed your lips and nodded. "I promise. No matter what."

"Okay." Sayori took a deep breath, her hands clutching at the sides of her skirt. "I... I wasn't going to tell you this at first. But I just— I didn't— I didn't want to lie to you anymore. I needed to get this over with."

"Take your time," you insisted. You could tell it was serious from the way she was stammering more than usual.

"Please just promise that nothing will change."

"Nothing at all," you repeated.

"Right, right." She bit her lip and glanced around the sidewalk before finally focusing back onto you. "Y/N, I— I don't want you to lie to me to spare my feelings. Your comfort is more important than whatever I feel about you. But I— I just—" After exhaling like she'd been holding in her thoughts, Sayori finally blurted out, "IthinkIreallyreallylikeyou."

Your brain took about three seconds to process what she just said, and another five to realize that she truly meant it. No way. There's no way. This has to be some cruel joke, right? But... she wouldn't do that. So does she actually...? 

Your heart skipped quite a few beats (43 of them) as you stood there, frozen, a look of shock plastered on your face. "Wait.... r—really?"

"Yep." The sad smile that crossed Sayori's face immediately caused you to worry that you looked offended or something. "I really don't want to burden you with this, I— I wasn't even going to tell you. Please don't say that you're okay with it if you thi—"

"Sayori!! It's fine!! This is great!!" you practically shouted, your head spinning too much to really steady your voice. "I like you too!! I thought it was obvious!!"

Now it was Sayori's turn to freeze in place. Her jaw dropped as she stared at you. "...What?"

"Yeah!! I—" you paused for a split second, your flusteredness slowing you down from saying what you wanted to. "I've liked you for a while. I just— I never thought you'd actually like me too!! Honestly, I thought you were into MC!!"

After another moment of standing stock still, Sayori broke into a laugh. "No!! I'm not, I'm definitely not..."

It took a second to realize that she was actually crying, which immediately sent you into an bit of a panic. "Woah, Sayori, what's wrong? Are you okay? What's happening? Did I do something wrong? Do you fee—"

She cut you off by grabbing your shoulders and pulling you into a tight hug. You stumbled, caught off guard, but quickly hugged her back, worried that she was crying over something that you'd done.

"You aren't lying, right?" Sayori managed to get out between her stifled sobs, her grip tightening around your back. "You— you really mean it?"

"Oh my God, of course I mean it," you said softly, letting her sniffle against your shoulder. "From the bottom of my heart. Seriously, why wouldn't I like you? If it matters, I was trying to work up the courage to ask you out first."

She didn't say anything at first, just pulled you a little closer and squeezed her eyes shut. 

 "...I'm really sorry, Y/N."

"For what?" you asked. "Existing?"

"No, no, I can just tell you're worried about me, ehehe!!" Sayori laughed, actually laughed this time, and pulled back to wipe her eyes. "I'm sorry. I just— I really didn't expect you to say that you liked me back. I wasn't prepared."

"Hey, hey, you're fine," you insisted, giving her space to straighten up a little. Deciding to (try and) break the ice, you quipped, "Uh, in more ways than one."

"Oh my God, Y/N!!" she cried, lightly smacking your shoulder. "Shut up!! I'm being serious!!"

"Sorry, sorry!!" you said, smiling brightly. "Really, I'm sorry. I know I was joking there, but— I really don't think I can express how much this really means to me."

"It's okay." Sayori mirrored your grin, a genuine smile that broke through the tear streaks on her face. "I— wow, I need to sit down or something, ehehe..."

"C'mon, let's just get home," you offered, gently placing a hand on her shoulder. "If you need some time to, like, process that this actually happened, that's totally fine. In all honesty, I might too."

She broke into a fit of giggles before wiping her eyes again and straightening up. "As long as you let me come over to talk to you about this after a little while."

"Always!! You're welcome to come over any time, and you know that."

This time, when the two of you started the path back to your houses, Sayori didn't hesitate to grab your hand.