Our Reality (Doki Doki Literature Club!)

A Familiar Look

Yuri curled her hand into a fist and slowly reached for the door in front of her. As her hand gravitated to the divider between rooms and hallways, she couldn't help but stop herself, resulting in her arm snapping back to her side.

"Maybe this isn't a good idea..." Yuri mumbled under her breath.

Yuri started to turn away to leave, until a familiar voice caused her to freeze in place.

"Yuri?" she heard the voice say.

The surprised maiden turned around and felt embarrassed that Shujinkou caught her in the middle of leaving.

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

"What are you doing here, Yuri?" Shujinkou asked.

"Ah..." Yuri closed her eyes and took a deep breath. The answer was in her head, all she needed was to find a way to get it out. After spending two minutes in complete silence, Yuri opened her eyes and clutched the book she was holding even harder. "I was wondering if you could look at something for me."

Shujinkou's curious gaze caused her to turn away.

"Look at what?" Shujinkou asked.

"This..." Slowly and reluctantly, Yuri started to hand her book over to Shujinkou, but the moment he reached for it, Yuri instinctively pulled it back towards her chest.

Embarrassed by her response, Yuri turned away once more and clutched the book even tighter than before.

"Sorry..." Yuri apologized. "It's just that... I never did this before."

From the corner of her eye, she noticed Shujinkou quietly scratch his right cheek. After another moment of silence, he extended his left arm to her. Yuri simply stared at his outstretched arm and once again tried to force herself to hand the book to him. After many constant pauses, the book finally reached his hand, which he happily accepted.

She watched him open the book and felt slightly worried when his eyes lit up with surprise.

"I was wondering if I could get your opinion on what lies inside," Yuri requested.

"Are you sure you want my opinion?" Shujinkou asked. "I mean I'm not exactly a good writer myself. I haven't even gotten past writing the first word... I haven't even got to the first word."

"Even so, I would still appreciate your input anyway," Yuri replied. "Plus, maybe reading the writing of another high school writer could help you with your writing anxiety."

"Writing anxiety?" the perplexed Shujinkou repeated.

"It's one of the things that can affect new writers," Yuri answered.

"Oh," Shujinkou opened the door to his room and walked inside.

Without saying a word, Yuri followed him inside and the two casually sat along the side of the bed. Once settled, Shujinkou got to work reading as per Yuri's request.

"Ah..." Yuri accidently said aloud.

Shujinkou looked up and gazed into her curious eyes.

"What is it, Yuri?" he asked.

"N-Nothing..." she stammered. "It's just that I never seen you look so focused before."

"Oh," Shujinkou turned his attention back to the book and continued reading from where he left off.

As he continued to read her work, Yuri closed her eyes and remembered the last time she seen that expression when it came to her writing.

1 year ago after school, the young writer was in the middle of finishing off her assignment. As she neared the end, she couldn't help but worry what he would think about or whether or not she was able to complete the task that was given to her.