(Disclaimer: I do not own Doki Doki Literature Club or any of its characters. The OCs featured here, however, are mine.
More details about this fic in the end Author's Note, so stay tuned!)
It wasn't as if Monika lacked any fond memories of family meals—in fact, she had plenty.
Old memories of their well-furnished dining room and kitchen lighted up with various different light fixtures, making the various appliances around the room sparkle and gleam as if they were brand new once again. The tantalizing smell of stews bubbling on the stove, roasting meat (even if she didn't have as much of a taste for it as her father, she could appreciate the delectable aroma it emitted) and freshly chopped vegetables and fruits.
She remembered running excitedly into the kitchen each time, pestering her mother or her father- whoever was cooking for the day- about what was for breakfast, for lunch, for dinner. She remembered her mother's patient remarks and her father's smile as he found himself infected by her enthusiasm.
Meals, then, had also been lively and hearty—her father's gleeful stories of what happened at work, her mother patiently listening and offering what little words she could in response, and herself sharing stories of what happened at school.
Those warm, old memories were a stark contrast to how their family meals were nowadays.
"Monika? Are you okay?"
Her recollection was cut short by the gentle voice of her father. She shook the memories of stews and lively conversations out of her mind to bring herself back to reality, no matter how dreary it would be.
She usually liked the sound of rain, but the constant pattering of raindrops against their window only served to make their family meal duller than it already was. A certain grimness had set over them throughout the entire meal- her mother ate with quick, efficient movements as if it was just another chore to accomplish, and her father seemed to have a dozen things on his mind, barely having touched the food on his plate.
Monika felt a pang of guilt in her chest. Here she was, spacing out while her father was worrying over far more important things, she was sure. She pasted on a reassuring smile to ease his burdens somewhat.
"I'm fine."
"That's good." Despite his gentle smile, she could definitely see the weariness in her father's expression. The smile dropped as quickly as it came as another troubling thought hit him. "I know the news must be very sudden, after all."
Monika winced. It was sudden- too sudden, even. The news of her school closing down.
She'd only spent a few school years there, and, fortunately, the news came during a break before the next school year. But now this brought up an unexpected wrench in their family's airtight budgeting—they had to look for another school.
Part of her still missed it. She'd met friends, started a club, and achieved a great number of things. Her grades certainly wouldn't go to waste, but…she couldn't deny that a part of her also remained frustrated at the fact that she, for lack of a better term, was going to have to start over from scratch.
Her mother got up from the table, wordlessly carrying her plate to the kitchen. She was so distant from their family nowadays—immersing herself in work all day and going to bed early. Even then, Monika found herself suppressing a shiver. She could tell her mother was disappointed again.
She was always disappointed, nowadays.
Her father frowned a bit and sighed, running a hand through his short brown hair. "The least you could do was be a bit more considerate of your daughter's problems, Collette," He murmured under his breath. He flashed his daughter an apologetic smile.
"I'm really sorry, Monika. I wish I could do more."
Monika shifted a little in her seat. This was one of the many reasons she didn't like coming to family meals all that much anymore. It was always the same scene- her attempts at lightening the mood with stories of what happened at school, her father trying his best to appear less weary and show some enthusiasm, and her mother's cold, short interruptions to ask about her grades.
Luckily, she had a conversation topic that could possibly turn this one around, even if her mother wasn't around to hear it.
"Me and my friends went looking around the city, last weekend," She admitted- perhaps a little suddenly. But if her father was shocked at her admission, he certainly didn't look the part.
"Oh?"
"Yeah...we wanted to stay together, so...we asked Sayori's mother if she knew any good places after having no luck searching for ourselves."
"So, did you find anything...?" Her father looked up, a faint hope bringing back light to his eyes.
For once, she met his gaze again and smiled.
"We might have."
And that was how she found herself standing at the gates to an all new environment.
Rokurou Academy's gates stood right in front of her. It really didn't look too different from her old one—a wide mass of gray, with a clock smack dab in the center and various windows. The campus was massive, trees lining almost every pathway. There was already quite the number of students coming in- everyone was always pressured to make a good first impression at the start of the school year after all.
Finding herself strangely daunted, the brunette glanced down at her phone one more time—fixing her hair in the reflection before flicking it on in order to check her messages. The continuous stream of text messages in their group chat was still ongoing, lifting the heavy feeling from her shoulders somewhat. She found herself giggling at Sayori's rushed replies and Natsuki's short but to the point messages, smiling at Yuri's sparse but perfectly worded ones.
That was right—she still had her friends, after all. She had nothing to fear.
Tucking her phone back into her pocket and smoothing out her already pristine skirt, she held her head high and faced forward.
Time to take her first steps into a new reality.
Author's Note: Welcome to Opposing Perspectives, a DDLC fanfic I've put off for too long. If it wasn't clear from the above contents, this is set in a canon-divergence, normal AU- while the girls' underlying issues still exist, it is no longer caused by a glitch in the game or Monika's tampering. Similarly, Monika's self-awareness is not present in this fic so if you were looking for a Promised Day kind of fanfic, this unfortunately isn't one.
The main focus is on OC X Monika, though there will be hints of other OCs and the rest of the club members.
With that being said, please feel free to leave a review if you enjoy the story so far, and I hope you look forward to the continued writing of Opposing Perspectives!