Our Reality (Doki Doki Literature Club!)

A Good Friend

Shujinkou looked down at his plate of food then looked back at the surrounding tables. Each one was almost filled to capacity, only allowing one or maybe two more to squeeze in.

The seats were occupied by other students, happily chatting with each other as they ate.

Shujinkou looked down at his plate again and silently left the dining area. There was no real reason for him to stay there after all. Walking along the exterior of the hotel, Shujinkou found a concrete bench in front of a small garden and plopped himself down on the cold stone.

"I wonder where Granny Hisa went?" he thought.

His mind still stuck on his grandmother's last words, the curious youth began to theorize the possible things she could be doing.

Minutes pass by and Shujinkou was still thinking up possible actions his grandmother was performing. It didn't really help sate his curiosity when it was possible that she could be doing almost anything.

"Hey, Shujinkou."

Shujinkou looked up and noticed Monika standing in front of him with her own plate of food. It was at this point when he started to wonder whether hypothesizing in his head has the power to summon Monika or she was somehow appearing during those moments on purpose.

"What are you doing out here?" Monika asked.

"Just eating," Shujinkou answered. "What about you?"

"Same," Monika smiled. Do you mind if I join you?"

Surprise momentarily impaired his ability to speak, forcing him to silently nod his head. Why would the school idol eat alone outside when she could be hanging out with all of her other friends?

"This is a nice place your grandmother has," Monika suddenly said.

"Yeah," Shujinkou nodded his head in agreement. "It took her awhile to make this place, but it's very apparent that all that work paid off. I'm really happy for her."

"You two must be really close," Monika replied.

"Yep," Shujinkou grinned. "She's the best grandmother anyone can ask for."

"Hmm..." Monika remained silent for a moment before she suddenly started to giggle.

"What's so funny?" she asked.

"Nothing. It's just that you seemed more relaxed than usual right now," Monika pointed out. "I guess there's someone other than Sayori that can do that."

"I wouldn't exactly say I'm relaxed around Sayori," Shujinkou chuckled. "More like on my guard."

"Hm. You know, speaking of your grandmother..." Monika started before going silent.

"What about her?" Shujinkou asked.

"Um, exactly how much older than she looks is she?" she asked.

"She's in the same age group as most other grandma's," Shujinkou answered.

Shujinkou couldn't help but chuckle as Monika's eyes widened with surprise. It was the same reaction everyone had when they asked him about his grandmother's youthful appearance and the effect it had on him has yet to stop.

"Wow..." Monika mumbled. "She is a lucky lady. She must have to constantly beat men back with a stick."

"Kinda like you, huh?" Shujinkou replied.

"Eh? What are you talking about?" the embarrassed club president asked.

Shujinkou didn't expect Monika to react in such away to a well-known fact.

"You may not remember but I was there when a flood of love letters fell out of your locker last year," Shujinkou reminded.

"That was really embarrassing," Monika replied with rosy cheeks.

"But no one was laughing at you..." Shujinkou said before finishing the sentence in his head, "though I'm pretty sure a few girls were jealous."

He could still remember shivering in fear from the auras the jealous girls emitted back then.

"What do you do with all those notes you get anyway?" Shujinkou asked.

"Well, it would be rude to just throw them away, so I actually read them all," Monika answered. "Still, it can be really weird to receive "love" confessions from people you don't really know or from complete strangers."

"I think most girls in that situation would be happy that they get that much," said Shujinkou.

"Well, not me," Monika replied. "I don't really care about the numbers game. If I were to go out with someone, I would want that person to be someone I actually know and like being around with the knowledge that feel the same.

I know everyone considers me the school idol, but that appointed status really can make it hard to tell who likes me for me or for my accomplishments."

Shujinkou silently watched Monika sigh and was immediately reminded of the time when Monika mentioned that she had a hard time connecting with others. Was it because she never connected with those she could consider a real friend? Could it also be the reason she didn't actively seek out club members before Sayori appeared before her? Could that be the reason that the club even exist in the first place?

But before he could get any of those questions out of his mouth, Monika just smiled at him; a smile he could that was really hollow.

"I said a bit too much. Sorry," Monika apologized.

"Don't apologize. I don't mind listening to others when they want to get something off their chest," Shujinkou assured her.

Monika was slightly taken aback by his response but soon her surprised expression was replaced with a warm smile.

"Thanks, Shujinkou," Monika said, her voice layered with sincerity.

What happened next would be one of the few things that Shujinkou would have never expected to happen to him. Monika placed her plate to her side and inched her way closer to him. Suddenly, Shujinkou found himself between Monika and her arms.

"You're a really good friend," she said, squeezing him tighter.

"Uhm..." Shujinkou didn't know what to say. The only person who's ever hugged him outside of family was Sayori. His cheeks turned bright red as he accidently caught a whiff of her hair's natural scent. He could feel his mind starting to go blank and started to actively keep that from happening. "N-No problem..."

Monika soon released her hold on Shujinkou and the two continued to converse as they ate their dinners. After finishing, the two students said their goodbyes and went their separate ways. On his way back to his room, Shujinkou couldn't help but wonder why Monika would consider him a good friend, when he hasn't really done much to earn such praise.

The vibration from his phone swiftly ripped him away from those thoughts and he pulled it out to see that it was a message from Natsuki.

"She is as old as anyone else's grandmother," he said as he typed his response.

Moments later, another message from Natsuki appeared on his phone.

"Really," he chuckled, typing that singular word as his response.

He eventually turned a corner towards the hallway that housed his room and what waited for him, caused his eyes to widen with surprise.

"Yuri?" he said.

"Ah, h-hello," Yuri shyly greeted, tightly clutching the book between her arms.