Our Reality (Doki Doki Literature Club!)

Afterword #2

Afterword #2

It's Crash5020 again and welcome to another afterword segment. To be honest, I didn't want to do another one so soon, but I figured why not do another one in order to celebrate 1 whole year of writing this story. I honestly can't believe that it's been a year since I started writing this story and I have to admit that it has been an enjoyable experience. Anyway, where to start with this Afterword? I guess I'll start with some more behind the scenes.

Behind the scenes

Chapters 20-30: Kitsune Spa Resort Arc. Quite a few things happened in this arc. I think I'll start with the creation of Lady Hisa. She was actually conceptualized after I finished Chapter 16. My thought back then was, "Hey, what if Shujinkou had a connection to this resort? This way I can set up a story for the upcoming arc." It's actually another reason why he insisted that he or Natsuki not look up any images of the resort online, as he was already familiar with the location.

After I finished Chapter 17, I got to work on her character. I wanted her to be a "cool grandma" that Shujinkou was very close to. She would be a laidback individual who was also very professional when she needed to be and would have the same scratching of the right cheek tic that Shujinkou has. After developing a personality, I decided that she would have a very youthful appearance. So youthful in fact that people would have a hard time believing she was a grandmother. I also want to point out that her silver hair is natural and not a result of old age.

For Chapter 22, I decided to have Monika address her school idol status and her feelings towards it to Shujinkou. A nice bonding moment, but I also realized when looking over it that I have once again avoided any kind of situation that would have resulted in her feeding him food. Regarding the next chapter; it was originally going to be from Shujinkou's viewpoint, but I decided to change to Yuri and use the chapter to add in a bit of backstory.

Now after finishing 23 chapters... I had hit my first writers block regarding the story. As Chapter 31 shows, I had a few ideas of where to go next, but I didn't know which one to go with. After a long time of wondering what I could do, I remembered that I had a story to tell regarding Shujinkou's dad and decided to use it right away. All I had to do was work on his character.

Shujinkou has a complex relationship with Jomei. He wants his father's love but at the same time, he slightly resents him for his past actions. He's also under the belief that his father doesn't really like him and that he himself was the reason he left. Suffice to say, Jomei has left a few emotional scars on Shujinkou. It's because of this that he does not have a good standing with Sayori and Hisa. Since Hisa is a professional, she makes it clear that she won't let any negative feelings pop up unless he hurts her grandson again while Sayori does not refer to him in an affectionate way like she does with Shujinkou's grandparents. In fact, the only reason she insisted that Shujinkou spend time with his father was so he could find some form of closure, even after realizing the possibility of him getting hurt again was possible.

After purposely being ignored by his father in an attempt to talk to him, Shujinkou retreats into a cardboard box in an attempt to hide from everyone leading to the events of Chapter 25. In that chapter, I decided that it was a good opportunity to show that while Fuyu has an icy side, she does care for her fellow students and doesn't mind getting in awkward situations in an attempt to help them.

Events suddenly take a turn as it was finally time to explore the relationship Shujinkou had with his father directly. In chapters 28-30, I wanted to showcase a father and son with a very strained and distant relationship, while also showing that just because Shujinkou wants to have a better relationship with his father, he isn't desperate for it.

I originally planned for the day they had to be longer, but I felt anything more would have been unnecessary filler. I decided to have Shujinkou confront his father about his leaving when he was younger and end the arc showing how much his father has emotionally scarred him. I also consider his sudden appearance to be an example of how something fun can be ruined by an unforeseeable variable.