Just Thoughts [DDLC - Natsuki x Yuri]

Chapter III

Natsuki's favorite girl was Yuri. Why? She had barely talked to her the entire time she had been here! It had been a few days since she first joined, and the most they had talked was when Yuri asked to borrow a pencil. Yuri was shy! She was her favorite precisely because of this quality. The less time she spent with her, the more she liked her. Monika and Sayori, on the other hand, were overly enthusiastic about the club. Sayori had promised to bring another member to the club (something Natsuki dreaded), and Monika had said something about a festival. Natsuki wasn't paying attention, however. She was reading Manga. One day, however, Nasuki arrived to find that her Manga was on the wrong shelf. It was on the very top shelf, as a matter of fact. How could this happen? Somebody had moved it to the one place she could never reach! She grabbed a chair, but it was no use. Monika came over to the back closet where Natsuki was and snickered

"HEY!! Don't laugh at me!" Natsuki barked. "Did YOU do this??!"

"Yes, of course I did! You haven't been paying attention to club events, so I moved the manga to the top shelf." Monika explained. Natsuki was infuriated.

"YOU'D BETTER GET MY MANGA DOWN OR I SWEAR I WILL STRIKE YOU DOWN WITH FURY OF TEN THOUSAND WHITE HOT SUNS!!!!" Natsuki screamed.

"No. I'm sure Sayori would help you, but she's not tall enough either." Monika said, calm as ever.

Natsuki growled as Monika walked away. She didn't know what to do... Yuri! Of course! She's even taller than Monika, she can help! After some thought, she realized that this would cost her the only relationship she had where she didn't have to talk to someone. After weighing the variables, she decided it would be better to get her manga down at the cost of having to deal with one more person. She went over to Yuri, who was reading against the wall on the floor.

"Hey." Natsuki said, trying to be as serious as possible. Yuri was taken aback, visibly nervous.

"Y-Yes...?"

"I need you to help me get my Manga collection down from the top shelf."

"Um..sure..." Yuri timidly mumbled. She got up slowly and shuffled her way over to the back closet behind Natsuki. Though she had to get on her tippy-toes, she was able to reach the manga collection without a chair.

"H-Here..."

Yuri handed the Manga collection to Natsuki. As soon as she grabbed it, she pulled her hand away as if to avoid contact.

"Hm... why's she so nervous?" Natsuki thought to herself. She was about to walk away when Yuri asked her a question.

"Wh..wh...um...What's th-that Manga c-called...?" she asked.

"Well, uh... there's actually three series in this collection. I've read two thus far, and I'm in the middle of the third one. The first one is called Parfait Girls, the second Hitashi's Journeys, and the third, the one I'm reading, is called Life in the Outer Ring."

Yuri obviously had no idea what any of them were, so Natsuki decided to explain them.

"Parfait Girls is about a bunch of High School girls who like to bake, but it gets WAY more interesting later on. Hitashi's journey is about a guy named Hitashi who gets involved in the Yakuza and has to escape. Life in the Outer Ring is about..."

At this point, Natsuki noticed that Yuri wasn't listening to what she was saying. Instead, she was just gazing at her face with this entranced look on her face. Natsuki was slightly uncomfortable.

"Uh...hello?"

Yuri snapped back to reality. "Ah!" She turned her head away and played with her hair. "I, uh...I'm..."

She stopped talking and just went back to her seat and started reading.

"That was odd..." Natsuki thought. "Though it was nice of her to ask about the Manga. Ugh, I know I just joined this club to avoid talking to people, but I should lend her some of these as a sign of friendship."

Natsuki went to her desk and started to read her manga. Monika sighed in annoyance when she saw her.