Our Reality (Doki Doki Literature Club!)

Expanding the Club: Kiyoko

The next day, Shujinkou paced back and forth in front of his classroom door. He had figured that it would be best to ask Kiyoko about joining the club first and, while waiting, decided to use his morning time to develop a pitch. He needed to try and figure out how he could convince her when she had already told him why she had quit her previous club. It would be hard for sure, but he still needed to try his be-

"Shujinkou?"

"Huh?" forced out of his thoughts by a singular word, the young man glanced up to find the subject of his first objective standing in front of him.

"Kiyo?" he bleated. All Shujinkou had thought of at this point was that he had to think of something to say. Right now he felt like he was auditioning for a role he had yet to prepare for.

"'Kiyo?'" the golden-haired girl in front of him shot him a curious look.

"I mean... Kiyoko," his cheeks grew red with embarrassment over his mistake. "Sorry, I was out of it for a moment."

"No need to apologize. You can call me Kiyo if you want," Kiyoko shrugged.

"Oh, okay," Shujinkou awkwardly scratched his right cheek. Despite his lack of preparation, an opportunity to make the proposition was right in front of him. "Um... Kiyoko, there's something that I wanted t-"

Before he could finish his sentence, the sound of homeroom bell loudly rang throughout the building.

"Really should have seen that coming..." a slight chuckle escaped past his lips. The timing of the interruption was too perfect to be considered a coincidence even if it was the only logical explanation.

"What did you want to say or ask?" Kiyoko suddenly asked.

"Ah... I'll tell you at lunch."

"Okay," she casually shrugged.

Though he believed it was the best decision he could have made at that moment, Shujinkou would soon find out that it had the adverse effect of making the day seemingly move on slower than usual. Sometimes the break for lunch seemed far away already, but with the addition of the anticipation and anxiety his quest gave him, the time he had to wait was beginning to become unbearable. It just seemed like it would never come at this point.

"Shujinkou," hearing his name once again broke him from his trance. He turned around to find Kiyoko tapping on her desk. The rhythmic sounds of her tapping sounded vaguely familiar. "It's lunch."

"Wow..." Shujinkou could not believe it. He had become so wrapped up in how long it was taking to get to lunch that, from his perspective, had given him the rare experience of time going both fast and slow.

"So, what were you going to say earlier?" she curiously asked.

"Right. That," Shujinkou solemnly scratched his right cheek. "Um...Well, the club just got a clubroom."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Mali found one for us."

"Good for you guys. I know it's got to be better to have your own space instead of one you have to share with others."

"Yeah. Natsuki did express his happiness over that. But that's not all..." Shujinkou stopped as he was hit with a sudden realization. "Or maybe that is all and it's just coincidental timing... Anyway, there were apparently talks about-"

"Senpai!" a familiar cheery voice effortlessly derailed his train of thought just as it got going.

Shujinkou and Kiyoko followed the direction the voice came from to the classroom door just as Mali walked through it.