Our Reality (Doki Doki Literature Club!)

Shujinkou's Turbulent Weekend Part 1

Saturday morning. What should be a nice morning between a mother and son eating breakfast together somehow ended up with Hiro staring at the warm grey hood that covered her son's head.

"Shujinkou...?" There was no response. As it has been for the past 20 minutes, Shujinkou's head was firmly adhered to the kitchen table and nothing seemed to be able to change that anytime soon.

Seeing her son in such a state greatly worried Hiro. Thought it was different, she couldn't help but worry that something had triggered Shujinko to revert to how he was not too long ago. "I wonder what happened yesterday..."

What transpired the day before was all Shujinkou thought about. He could remember how confused he was as he watched Mali stroll out of the clubroom she had found for the club. There was awkward silence that did nothing fill him with guilt.

"And you act like you don't contribute anything to the club, Shujinkou," Sayori chuckled. "You just helped us get a clubroom."

Though he was grateful for her attempt to help him through the tension, Shujinkou couldn't find it in him to say a word.

"Um..." Sayori turned towards the other club members. "Isn't it great that we have a clubroom now, guys?"

"Yeah... Great..." Natsuki pouted. The petite girl shot an annoyed look at Shujinkou, filling him with more guilt. "It's so great in fact that I don't I can take any more 'great' stuff happening. I'll think I'll go before another 'great' thing happens."

Natsuki quickly left the room huff.

"Um..." Yuri started to play with her hair.

"What is it, Yuri?" Sayori asked.

"I..." the young maiden snuck a quick peek at Shujinkou. "I... I just remembered that I had a prior engagement with Yuki. She's going to be upset if I'm any later than I already am. So..."

Without saying another word, Yuri walked out of the clubroom.

"I guess we'll end today's meeting early," Monika said as she walked towards the door. Before disappearing from sight, she turned around and flashed Shujinkou a sorrowful smile. "...Thanks, Shujinkou."

The young man felt like his guilt could not get any higher after what he just witnessed. Even when he finally mustered up the strength to walk home with Sayori, he still couldn't bring himself to speak. From arriving home to this very morning, Shujinkou has said no more than ten words.

"Shujinkou...?" the young man slowly lifted his head, causing his mother's worries to skyrocket as she beheld his upset face. "Are you okay?"

Though tempted to just return to his sulking, he knew he needed to talk to someone about what was bothering him. "...Mom. You ever have those moments where you think you're doing the right thing, but you somehow end up upsetting people?"

"Um..." a single droplet of sweat crawled down Hiro's face as she pondered that question. "I guess... You'll have to elaborate."

"Remember that girl I told you about: Mali?"

"Oh," a sigh of relief brushed past his mother's lips. "What about Mali?"

"Well, she found a room that we could use as a clubroom but she was only willing to give to us if I... If I kissed her," he explained with red cheeks. Recounting what the scenario to someone else was a little more embarrassing than he thought it would be.

"Oh..." Hiro replied. The sympathy in her voice was enough to wash the embarrassment away. "What did you do?"

"I... I thought it would be a while before we had another chance to get another clubroom so I agreed to do it. But even though I thought that, I also felt like I shouldn't have agreed either. In the end, it turns out that Mali was just teasing me since she stopped it. I'm glad she did, but I still ended up upsetting the others."