Datsunzoku
(There's no NSFW content in this story!)
This is a psychological drama set in reality that LIGHTLY discusses things like addiction, depression, self-harm, and suicidal ideation, but ultimately tells a positive message about overcoming one's problems and helping the others around you.
It also includes a lot of scenes that are atmospheric, introspective, emotional, dramatic, and/or intense.
It can additionally be classified as a slice of life, light romance, and mild action story.
It starts with a similar beginning to Doki Doki Literature Club, but very quickly deviates and develops into its own story, with each chapter progressively getting more and more distinctive.
(Note: You don't need to have seen DDLC to understand this story, but it does give you a little extra context)
For those of you who have seen DDLC, this is effectively an alternate ending where everybody winds up happy and all of their problems are solved. The story sets out to tackle each of their issues in a realistic way.
Please check out the Google Docs version for better formatting! Link's in my bio.
This story can take up to 2 hours and 30 minutes to read to completion. May be long, but it's more than 100% worth it if you ask me.
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PLOT SUMMARY:
A high school student named Daiki gets introduced to a new group of friends by his childhood friend Sayori. Although distant at first, they soon find a way to get to know each other.
However, each of these friends carries their fair share of burdens, which Daiki slowly discovers through his interactions with them. He tries his best to help them, but not without difficulty, as he too struggles with issues of his own.
These scenarios grow increasingly demanding until Daiki suddenly has to face a conundrum seemingly impossible to solve.
It's a matter of life and death with no easy way out. People who cannot live without eachother are going to have to make the toughest decision of them all: To dance with death, or to live life in boredom and misery.