Disclaimer: As per obvious, I don't own DDLC or any of its characters, they belong to Team Salvato or their respective copyright holders. Also to note that this is my first fic in the website, so don't expect anything over-the-top from this, it can range from mediocre to good I guess. Yeah, I don't think that highly of my story writing.
Chapter One: A smoke and a good book.
Ah dammit, it's that alarm again, gonna run late to the school if I don't get up, the bed feels so soft and comfortable though… Nah nah, pull your act together, you don't want to get another reprimand from Ms. Megami don't ya? It would be the second on this week. If you knew that your parents leaving for a business trip would've been this hectic… OK, time to get the hell up. I then reach my battered phone, that's screaming 'Ain't that a shame' like a madman under my pillow, and dismiss the alarm that I've set up at 6:45 A.M.
"Oh well, goodbye for now bed" I mutter to myself whilst doing some neck exercises.
Jeez, a new day begins, Monday isn't it? Well, if it wasn't Monday then that alarm wouldn't have sounded, so I guess it's really Monday. I go down to the kitchen to get some breakfast ready, which implies getting some ham, mozzarella cheese, mayonnaise, mustard and ketchup out from the fridge alongside a corn flour dough I made yesterday for this occasion. I turn on both the burner and the oven since it's required for the dish I've been yearning to try since last Friday when my mother pulled it from a cooking book before running off along with my dad for that trip of theirs (Never got to ask the name of it though), put a skillet on top of the burner to heat it up a bit whilst I give the dough the finishing touches, which means taking portions of it and shaping them into some sort of flat buns, I check them out to ensure they're thick and wide enough for me to consider them worthy of filling my stomach up. Then I place two of those flat buns in the skillet and wait for one of their sides to get slightly burnt before flipping them over and wait for the other side to get the same fate. Once that's done, I shove both buns in the oven and then run upstairs for a quick shower whilst that's done. Gotta be fast as lightning though, if I get past two minutes one of the sides of the buns might get burnt up and I'm sure as hell that I ain't eating that. Might end up eating cereal if that happens.
Upstairs I get the towel from my room and make a run for the bathroom, get soaked real quick and apply some soap along my body and shampoo in my hair, plus some special kind of soap for my face because I have a greasy skin. I rinse the soap and the shampoo off my body and I dry myself with the towel and I secure it along my chest before going to the kitchen again to flip those corn buns over, I grab a spatula and I flip them over, then I head off to my room to get dressed in that school uniform; I like suits, but I'm forced to wear a brown vest and that's so thick that I think it would be bulletproof, luckily I won't have to wear it today! 'Cause guess what, seems like a rat bit it and made a hole in it, I'll pack it on my bag just in case I need to explain myself, but I'll button my jacket so the lack of the vest isn't noticeable, let's just hope the teachers suffer a caffeine drop today so they don't notice. I get ready and slip on my pair of oxfords and head downstairs to finish the deed with my breakfast. I pull the now ready for consumption buns out of the oven and shove them in a plate, only to open them up with a knife, get my face blinded with the steam, and fill them with the desired contents, first goes the ketchup, then the mayo, followed by the mustard and then finish with the introduction of the mozzarella and the ham, the process is repeated with the second bun with the exception of opening the bun, since I've opened them both at once.
Before eating, I serve myself a glass of Coke and then sit down, during eating I check my phone and I don't get surprised at the lack of meaningful notifications, the only notifications on the action center are ones from the E-mail app, but they're mostly junk mail from Microsoft, Google, Sony, EA, Rockstar and many more companies trying to sell some products to me (I ain't buyin', so bugger off y'all). I put the phone down and resume my eating, which ends up with me eating only one of those delicious corn buns because I got filled up, I packed the other in a Ziploc bag, brushed my teeth (Yes, I brush my teeth after eating), grabbed my backpack and car's keys and headed out. Not without locking the house's door of course.
I press the unlocking button in the key fob and get in the car, throw the Ziploc bag on the passenger seat, start up the ignition and head out. Thank goodness I live in a residential area and the school is a reasonable five blocks away, otherwise I would be struggling with traffic; why the hell does Japan has to be this crowded? I've lived in four (Well, technically three considering my stay in China was only two months of my babyhood, probably things are worse there) different countries and I've never seen a place as crowded and narrow as Japan, heck, and I lived in Peru and Colombia, places where things are organized badly and they don't have this sort of crap going on, anyway! I think it's the right time to introduce myself, I'm Zhou Lee, your average exchange student with Chinese roots that has ended up in Japan somehow, but people call me the 'Chinese-American', there's a reason for that; first: I talk like a New Yorker. Second: I lived mostly in the US before getting here. And finally: I'm the only student that arrives to the school in a car, but not any car; I drive a black Crown Victoria, which can be seen from a mile away in this country, why am I the only person in the neighborhood that drives a full-size American sedan? No idea, must be a thing of taste though. I'm a bit snarky but also introverted, I don't have many friends around here, probably because I know that once I'm done with this school year I won't see em' again, I have a bit of a short fuse, but if you're friendly to me I'll be friendly as well, but expect some cheeky comments every once in a while. Physically I'm pretty average, slimly built, dark hair, brown small eyes, standing at a meter with eighty and a somewhat wide nose; some claim I also look older for my age, which is 18. I don't think of myself as 'handsome' but I'm sure that someone might find me attractive of at least interesting. My hobbies include video games, casual reading and Wikipedia browsing, yes, I do browse Wikipedia for fun, and I don't care what you think.
Whilst driving to the school I noticed two of my neighbors walking together towards the school three blocks away from it, one of them being a coral haired girl that lives across the street, I don't know them too well, so I don't bother offering them a lift, besides, they look happy walking and talking so it's better that I don't ruin their moment together. After a while, I finally get to the school and I head towards the teacher's parking lot, right behind the tennis courts, I head to the parking space of a teacher that doesn't own a car and lets me park my ride there, I think his surname was 'Watanabe' or something, but he's a really nice guy considering he lets me park my car in his spot. Once I park my car I shut it off and head out to the main entrance and then to my locker, they have this crazy policy of 'Indoor shoes' or whatever so I have to get changed from my sleek Oxfords to some pretty lame-looking loafers, once I'm done switching shoes, I head straight for class, I start with Physics, my favorite subject with my not-so-favorite teacher, Akira Megami or Megami Akira depending on the naming customs, she has a slim looking figure, but don't let that fool you, she's actually one of the most strict teachers in the school, and getting in trouble with the broad is one helluva nightmare. I arrive at the classroom and head straight for my seat and I look at the time 7:15. Some hefty 30 minutes to goof around before class starts and Ms. Megami arrives, ya did it well, Zhouie, no reprimands for you. I put my headphones on and put on some rock to let time pass by, but I eventually end up getting asleep, for context, I fell asleep at 1:37 A.M…
I eventually get awaken by some pink haired midget girl, who seems to have quite some time yelling at me and even bothered to take my headphones off.
"-Ou, hey you! Wake up dummy! For crying out loud wake up or I'll end up punching you! Hello! Earth to the exchange student!" The little pinkette exclaimed
*Yawn* "Piss off! You're perturbing my thoughts and reflections about the universe, the matter and the very reason of existence" I said trying to sound smart with my eyes closed, in the hopes of dissuading the girl from talking to me
"Okay, don't say I didn't warn your sleepy head…" The girl said before acting
She eventually ended up pinching my nose and depriving me of air, I started to choke and I collapsed to the floor from my desk, dragging my phone with me, I ended up in my knees gasping for air, before picking up what fell with me and standing up, I saw the little pinkette giggling and barely keeping a straight face, actually, she looked kinda cute, but to think she likes to pull this sort of jokes, aye aye.
*Grunt* "Okay then pazza infelice, what the hell do you want?" I said, clearly containing my rage (Also, did I say I know a bit of Italian? I can't remember, probably not)
"Oh well, first: what, are you speaking in Taco? Secondly: Would you mind borrowing last class' notes to me? It's kind of important" The pinkette asked
"Well first: It's not 'Taco', correctly known as Spanish, and it's actually 'Pasta', correctly known as Italian. Secondly: You know that there's only a really slim chance that I'll borrow my notes to you after pinching my nose right?" I replied
"Yeah yeah whatever, just borrow the notes to me please! You're not my foreign languages teacher to tell me language names" The little girl responded, extending her right hand to me
"Well, actually, I can't say no to a cute fac-"
"I'M NOT CUTE!"
"Yeah yeah, deny it all you want, here, take some pictures really quick before Megami-sensei arrives, I don't even know what time it is" I stated whilst handing my physics notebook over to the girl
"Ohmygodthanks!" She said pulling the notebook away from me quite brashly
"Wait, what did you say?" I asked confusedly
"I said thanks dummy"
"Qualunque" I muttered in Italian
Once this little pinkette was done taking pictures of my notebook she handed it over back to me, thing that I appreciated, hilariously it was right before Ms. Megami got in the classroom, I looked at the phone and glanced at the time. 7:45 A.M, I keep getting amazed at the punctuality of the Japanese people. Afterward class kept going as usual and during the assistance check I got wind up of this bratty pinkette's name: Natsuki Yamamoto. Could come in handy in the future, especially if I need to call in favors. Class was interesting, as per usual, we reviewed some things about trigonometry, I really would like to move onto another subject, but I don't mind if Ms. Megami is explaining, she really gets the point to my head, we got dismissed from physics at 10:30, and I had to bounce into the literature class, not one of my favorite subjects but a bearable one, unfortunately I can't recall what happened or was taught in that class, but I do remember getting dismissed at 12:00 P.M, which meant of course: Lunch time.
I was already hungry, and just when I was about to snatch that roasted corn bun I remembered, I had left the Ziploc bag with it in my Crown Vic's passenger seat, and now I had to change my shoes, get to the car, pick the bag, return to the school, change my shoes again and then finally eat, I didn't do most of that though, I did change my shoes, but instead I stayed in my car, unbuttoned my jacket to look like a teacher, spilled some papers over the dashboard and had a smoke over a corn bun in my car. Oh didn't mention it, I smoke, but I try to avoid doing it deliberately, it's kinda secret, not even my parents know this, and I won't let em' know anyway despite the fact they smoke as well.
Five minutes had passed, I was now on my second stick, reading '100 Years of Loneliness', listening to some remixed soul with the engine running to avoid killing the battery and then…
"HIYA!"
A bubbly, feminine, and squeaky voice coming from a coral haired, petite girl with a red bow in her head made me jump from my seat, with cigarette in hand I was now coughing cigarette smoke all over the place, I could've sworn she inhaled it as well.
*Cough* "Wha- *cough* Oh m- *Cough* Fuc-" *Heavy coughing* the way I tried to talk obviously indicated I was attempting to speak in English
"OH MY LET ME HELP!" The girl said in Japanese whilst opening my car's door to let me get out which I obviously did
I got out of the car and leaned against it, the coral haired girl was patting my chest attempting to help me breathe, I ended up dropping the cigarette, after completely regaining the ability to breathe and speak, we attempted to start a dialogue in Japanese, and she initially believed I was a teacher.
"Uhhh… Watanabe-sensei, I am indeed very sorry for scaring you" The girl said glancing at the parking spot plaque
*Gasp* "No worries there student, now go back to the school, you have a lunch to catch" *Gasp* I said trying to stay in character
"Say, if you are actually a teacher, you should know my name right? Go ahead, call me by my name!" The coral haired girl realized and challenged me
"Well…" I muttered in English knowing my cover had been blown
"HAHA! CATCHED YOU!" She exclaimed
"Okay okay you got me, now pipe down will ya?" I whispered in English and forced her to take cover behind the opened door of my car
"Who are you exactl-… Wait, this car, I recognize it… You're my neighbor from across the street that drives the American metal box!" She observed in a heavily accented English
"Ouch, that hurt, anyway, you won't tell anyone what you've seen here right?" I asked in English
"No worries there Zhou-kun! I will keep my mouth shut" She replied in Japanese
"Wait, how do you know my na-" I tried to say in Japanese before being interrupted
"Does not matter, but you are going to join a club of my choice now!" The coral haired girl replied
"Wait, what? Are you blackmailing me now? And don't change the subject!" I whispered
"No, and we are done here, see you later! Also, my name is Sayori!" She said before taking off
"SHIT!" I exclaimed in English whilst punching the driver's seat of my Vic
I quickly picked my stuff up, shut the car down, shoved the pack of cigarettes on the glove box and cleaned the mess of papers I had put on the dashboard and ditched them all in a nearby trash bin along the used Ziploc bag that once carried my corn buns, I got to my locker and changed again to some 'Indoor shoes' and headed for my next class, but there was a little something tormenting me, it was that girl, Sayori right? My neighbor was now blackmailing me? Joining a club? I never wanted to join a club, I like spending time alone after school, in my room, playing NFS, enjoying myself, now my plans for the evening were all upside down, I had no idea of what the hell to do. Of course, I was having this existential dilemma on my way to class, I ended up sitting on my desk waiting for the teacher to show up, of course, I was snapped of my reflective state by one awful realization remarked by Mr. Meiya, the chemistry teacher…
"LEE! YOU ARE NOT WEARING THE UNIFORM!" Meiya exclaimed
"Wha- What? Of course I am wearing the uniform Meiya-sense-" I said whilst feeling myself, noticing the lack of something
Of course, the lacking thing was of course, the mandatory vest, plus the fact that my jacket was wide open, allowing to spot only my white shirt, remembering me of my failed (Well, not really) teacher disguise. After a quick visit to the principal's office to explain why I wasn't using the vest, I was allowed to return to class, after that my memory goes plain fuzzy, until the end of the school day.
4:30 P.M, end of this nightmarish school day, I quickly picked my stuff up and headed towards my car, with no sight of that blackmailing neighbor of mine, I quickly got in and started the engine, set the transmission in reverse, but just before I could back the hell away…
*Knock knock*
Somebody knocks in my window, I didn't needed to be a rocket engineer to know that the one knocking was Sayori, I casually rolled the window down, before daring to interact with this damned bubbly girl.
"Okay Sayori, what do you want?" I asked, clearly annoyed
"Hey, you didn't forgot about today's club meeting didn't you?" She replied in her usual cheery demeanor
"Club meeting? Are you kidding? I thought you just wanted my signature for the club you wanted me to join!" I exclaimed
*Shakes her head* "Nuh-uh, asides giving your signature, you are going to actually participate in the club! Come on! Turn off your car and follow me! It will be fun!" Sayori stated
"What if I refuse?" I said whilst placing the transmission on neutral and revving the engine
"Ummm…. Then the principal will know about your smoking habits!" She replied like if that didn't mean anything
*Sigh* "La… Okay, fair" I said whilst reluctantly shutting down the car
I finally ended up rolling the window up and getting out, I locked the car and followed Sayori, who as a security measure grabbed my left wrist, we went around, back on the school, climbed up some stairs and then we were on the third year section of the school, this place was awfully quiet, I guess they aren't as wild as us in the second year are.
After a while, we stopped in front of the classroom L-345, I took a little peek at the informative board, which allowed me to spot a sentence that sent a chill down my spine, it was 'Poetry Tuesdays', and then my mind snapped out of me, oh no, it couldn't be, I was about to join a, shit…
Then Sayori opened the sliding door and decided to proudly announce our arrival.
"Hello everyone! More members keep on coming!" She exclaimed
"Ah shit" I muttered in English
In the split second before our presence got noticed in the club, I got to analyze my surroundings and the people in them, it was a fairly sized class room likely to be longer than wider, probably 7 meters wide and 13 meters long? Likely, moving onto the people, I noticed one new face and three returning ones, first at the middle of the room, this guy was the fella accompanying Sayori this morning; damn you too for bringing this little devil, also to note is that this guy has gone head over heels with the gorgeous woman on the teacher's desk that's rubbing her temples, that's Monika umm… Sekemoto? Yeah, I think that was her name, the prospect of a school idol, beloved anywhere she goes, and only talks to a few select people since ahhh… A year ago according to the word on the streets. And last but not least Natsuki, the girl that tried to choke me (Well not really) and the proto-Tsundere. The new face though, she's quite enigmatic, but at the same time classy, but she seems quite shy… I gotta get her out of that shell. Want to know who opened their first mouth when Sayo and I got in? It was the Tsundere of course.
"Jeez Sayori, another boy? Are you trying to get us all boyfriends?" Natsuki remarked
Of course, me being me, I decided to reply to her with a… Meaningful comment. Fortunately interrupting Sayori from likely fucking it up.
"Oh, don't you worry! I don't date people from the elementary school two blocks away" I responded
Of course this awakened different reactions from the club members, Sayori, purple mystery and IloveMonika could barely keep a straight face (The purple haired girl did the best job though, you could barely notice that she was laughing), Monika raised an eyebrow, and Natsuki… Well, she tried to punch me… And she ended up punching the door.
"UUUUH! That surely hurt!" I spurted as Natsuki was clutching her hand
"Oh you cheeky bastard!" Pink rage screamed
"Okay, go and sit down Nats, you don't want to get injured further don't you?" I suggested
"Bugger off! And don't call me 'Nats'!" Natsuki exclaimed
I exchanged a glance with Monika, who still had an eyebrow raised and I aimed a… Not so subtle suggestion at her as well.
"Yeah yeah, go sit down cutie… Hey Moni! The ISS just called, they said that your eyebrow has not brought any new discoveries about human incredibility! You can bring it down!"
Welp, there goes my chance at getting along with the club president, fun fact, she also raised her other eyebrow! Natsuki found my remark funny, how bad that the other members didn't think the same thing… That was until Monika dropped her eyebrows and chuckled a bit, the air got a little lighter with that. Oh boy, Sayori was right, this club is gonna be so much fun!
"Okay everyone! I am so glad to see this amount of members! Congratulations Sayori! Anyway, remember that tomorrow everyone must bring a poem to share it with the rest of the group! I'm counting on you all!" Monika announced
Wait, I gotta bring a damn poem tomorrow?! I suck at poetry and rhyming! Ah shit!
To be continued… Of course.
La nota: Reviews are appreciated. Also, it is implied that all dialogue is said in Japanese, exceptions are Zhou's thoughts and when stated otherwise.
