Author's Note: Hello there Doki fans! This is a fanfiction for Doki Doki Literature Club! Just as a fair warning, I would HIGHLY prefer you COMPLETE the game itself before reading this story. Now with that out of the way I must make a few things clear. This will NOT be considered a crossover work with Kingdom Hearts, because 1. there are only a few references/concepts regarding Kingdom Hearts and 2. even though an additional original character in this story that is considered a "Nobody" there will not be enough reference material in this story to make the work a "crossover". I thought about this for several weeks and have decided against it, since this story is about my own personal experiences in my life, as well as with the game Doki Doki Literature Club. P.S. This is one of my few video game fanfictions and it's the first one that I am opening up to the community. I don't expect this to be perfect but I do hope you enjoy~

Chapter 1: Simulating Something New

The year is 20XX, I'm constantly messing around with our updating digital technology, code and simulations. My name is Joshua. Well, I personally go by Josh but that doesn't really matter too much. I am a SUPER video gaming nerd even though I'm only 24 years old, I love messing around with technology but I am perfectly content and I'm living in a society where we can now afford whole body simulations without too much hassle. I've been an only child all my life, I worked several jobs and now I make commission off of my digital artwork, storytelling scripts, animations, occasional video work and virtual simulation tests. And on top of that since my father is a chairman for a huge growing company I have a few stocks under my name, so financially, I'm doing pretty good for myself for a young adult who lives alone.

Anyway where was I? Oh yes, I was asked by an unnamed commission to test a full simulation based off of a game that was released late 2017. A visual novel based on romantic dating simulation... that turns into a psychological horror; Doki Doki Literature Club! I remember this this game when I was 18 and honestly I was an instant fan. Although, the game did trigger my depression and gave me conflicting thoughts on living my life. The concept of the game was impressive, having an A.I. become more in such a basic game and having some sense of sentience by controlling what happens in the game script. I feel like this whoever made this simulation probably wants to see if their work would be effective at toying with our heartstrings... if I recall there has been an extremely diverse fanbase for this game. Doki Doki Literature Club!... this game though... it made me feel things I really didn't want to go through again. Well, I guess that's not entirely true, I've basically had depression even before high school but now is not the time to stay hung up on past pains.

When this was sent to me, I started working on the simulation from my laptop. I was more or less checking to see how big the simulation would be, how much information my system will have to process in long term. I only sigh when looking over the boring bits, files, coding and other things listed in the game and simulation files.

Josh: "Well, nothing surprising so far... I am kind of curious to know what it will be like..."

Honestly, I shouldn't care too much about details, but considering the amount I would be getting paid for just testing this, I am perfectly fine with taking all the time I need. "Okay, the code doesn't seem too bad so I'll try out the simulation tomorrow. I'll be sure to use my studio computer to run this." I looked at the clock at the corner of my screen. It was 2:33 A.M. And I always had a bad habit with staying up late with doing busy work or gaming. "For fuck's sake.. I need to stop working so late.. I'll never be able to wake up early if I keep this up.." I yawn, and partially not really caring about my own statement. I never manage to wake up early on my own accord. I usually have to have 3 or 4 alarms to go off before I could even get up out of bed. I mean I could do a little better of going to bed earlier but it's whatever. I finally get changed into my normal clothes for bed and I decide to try and sleep.

As I start to doze off I start to get lost in my thoughts. Every time I fall asleep and dream, I always have conversations with... myself... well I guess I shouldn't say that. For the longest time, I believed I have another half of me. A part of me that doesn't normally exist in the real world. Since I grew up in a house full of negativity, bickering parents, a hot-tempered father, and with the mixture of my own emotions and depression; all of this created a side of me that is nothing but my negativity. All of my darkness, pain and depression created my "Nobody". He only exists in my mind, and my dreams. I sometimes just tried to play it off as me being a Gemini thing, but I knew that that wasn't the case. He was way too philosophical, depressing and he always sounded so bored. Maybe even sarcastic at times? Honestly, it's hard to tell. Ever since I knew his existence his name to me was "Joxhaus". He used to give me moments of self-doubt or self-hate but after the last several years we tolerate each other and we talk a lot about life, my life from a day to day basis and he sometimes shares his thoughts while trying to keep our outlook on life as positive as possible. I know he doesn't have any real emotions because he is manifestation on my negativity but he's still me in the end. Sometimes, I question if I'm crazy because of this but whatever, I just have to embrace my weirdness... even if I do talk to "myself".

Joxhaus: "Welcome back... new commission?"

Josh: "Yeah... kinda looking forward to it."

Joxhaus: "I've noticed... I'm not sure how I feel about that though."

Josh: "...You don't have any feelings though..?"

My Nobody sighs and shakes his head at me and folding his arms in the dark void of my dreams. "That's not what I meant... Just don't get your hopes up with this simulation. We have been broken and alone for far too long. And remember when we played Doki Doki Literature Club the first time? We couldn't get those heavy feelings out of this mind for months, we sank further into depression, became obsessive and even pushed people away even more so than we normally would. On top of that I almost went crazy from those negative thoughts... And worst of all having the realization of knowing that she would never be-"

Josh: "I know! ...let's not dwell on that anymore. We've grown past it, even if it took a lot of extra time and maybe a little bit of medication and self-control to get through it... I think I can handle this just fine. We should at least try to enjoy it and if anything, you can keep my mind on track."

I had to cut off my negative train of thoughts or I would probably just feel miserable when I wake up in the morning. My nobody sighs, slowly rubbing his temples with his fingers. He looks back into my eyes with a cold and empty stare.

Joxhaus: "Very well then. I will do what I can to keep our mind focused for the task at hand tomorrow. And... well... sorry for trying to ruin the evening with degrading thoughts. Let's just try to get some sleep, I'll be damned if we have bags under our eyes from sleep deprivation before trying out this simulation."

Josh: "It's fine... and yes, it's time to pass the fuck out." Personally, I don't know if he's actually sorry, but I know he's "me" so saying "sorry" is typical of me. We normally have small talks in my dreams, since I've lived such a lonely life it's almost impressive how I've stayed sane for this long.

The dream world around me starts to fade into darkness as we both walk our separate ways and time continues to pass on forward. For a time, I felt myself sleeping for a good amount of time before my alarm clock on my phone blares from my nightstand. It's always humorous to have "Kyle's Mom's a bitch" song from the South Park Movie as my best alarm. Granted as soon as I wake up at ANY time of the morning I'm groaning trying to get up (I was never a morning person). I force myself to get up, shower and prepare for the day like I normally would; getting a good change of clothes on, eat a bit for breakfast and start logging onto my computers. I use a fairly decent laptop to document my testing notes as well as prepping projects I've worked on in the past and I also have to start up my main computer that will be running the simulation. I can't help but yawn from my morning struggles but I prepare to warm up the simulation.

Josh: "Well I suppose we should get started with this. Everything seems to be in order."

I put on all the necessary virtual reality equipment, and laid down to relax. As soon as I got comfortable, my consciousness became transported into the simulation and from there I started a new and unusual chapter of my life. I was briefly welcomed by the silence of the dark void of virtual reality and only the low humming of the simulated world loading the reality, rang in my ears. This was fairly normal for most simulations, slow to start but usually very satisfying in long term.

The first thing I saw before the simulation started was a... a waiver?

Josh: "hmmm... 'By agreeing to XXXXXXXX's terms, you will be a willing participant in this simulation's realistic visuals, personal interactions, conflicts and...' blah, blah, blah, anything actually worth noting? hmmm...'If you suffer from any anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts you may not have a safe experience with this simulation and by agreeing to the XXXXXXXX's terms you are acknowledging these warnings.' huh, Deja vu back when Doki Doki Literature Club! did the same thing... guess we still have the same old dark and controversial topics." I say to myself and continue to gloss over the remainder of the waiver.

I pressed agree and inserted my electronic signature; and as the prompt left, the world lit up in mere seconds. I was sitting in a Japanese style home, second floor, appeared to be my room I suppose? The style looks familiar to Doki Doki Literature Club's protagonist's original room... There are a few subtle differences but nothing super unusual worth noting yet. Like most simulations to date, this one feels just as real with a distinct attention to detail. The carpet feels genuine as well as the cloth on the bed. The sun shining through the window feels warm, bright, everything feels real. A lot of different game coding programs and engines like Python and UnReal mixed with the latest virtual simulation technology now days. The big trend today is more in-depth virtual reality. Kind of reminds me of the higher end of Unity, or at least in their most recent years.

Josh: "I suppose there's one thing I should check... I'm kind of curious."

I make my way out of the bedroom into the bathroom and look at myself in the mirror, I'm kind of shocked. I saw myself... looking younger. It's funny how accurate this simulation is trying to be. I look like I reverted to my 18 year old self. My REAL self being 24, my hair is a bit thicker and I grew out a short but noticeable beard. Now, back to my teenage self, I look like I have a baby-face... But I still managed to get away with having a soul-patch, even though I was in a strict Catholic High School. Seeing myself like this I still remember hearing my family members calling me "handsome". Mostly my mom and aunts telling me that and I never believed I was "handsome" believe it or not.

I take a closer look at my eyes. Yep, same old eyes; One blue and one mutated eye with blue and brown, pigmentation. I like it when these carefully made simulations pick up on detail. I smirk at myself and laugh.

Josh "Heh... sheesh, I was such a skinny weirdo in high school... well, I should go see everything else in this world if it's possible."

I leave the bathroom and head downstairs. If I remember correctly from DDLC, the protagonist was a typical Japanese anime high schooler. No parents living in the house and lived next to his best friend Sayori. I take a quick little look around the home and see a few pictures of "me" with Sayori and some with my supposed "parents". That is rather odd that this simulation can create very... accurate assumptions of what I looked like as a kid with younger Sayori in these pictures. I guess the developers were trying to make an appropriate atmosphere by using pictures of me? That's a bit... creepy but I can understand the reasoning behind it. I always envy these anime stereotypical teenagers. Being able to live alone pretty much without having to deal with family. Must be nice. I reach out and look into the fridge and surprisingly there's food! In today's simulations they literally have real life everything. Even food, environments, animals, people, weapons, you name it. Simulation developers all around the world have been able to utilize all the human senses, even in virtual reality now.

As I close the fridge I look at my left arm, I notice a scar that I still have on forearm. I broke my arm my first year of college because I practiced martial arts... funny story, I broke it on my black belt test, but jokes and stories aside it's unusual of all the details the simulation made about my body I still have this scar? Oh well, whatever, you can't expect perfection for everything. My trance in reminiscing on my life events is suddenly broken by a knock at the front door... If I remember Doki Doki Literature Club! correctly no one should be knocking on my door... right? I move towards the door and think for a moment.

Joxhaus: "Are you serious right now? Remember this simulation is based on more realistic variation on DDLC. I'm going to assume Sayori is probably waiting on you."

Josh: "Oh shit! I... I forgot that was the case, but hell I didn't know... I wasn't sure how close to real this was going to get. I guess I spent too much time taking in the scenery...

Joxhaus: "This place runs in real-time just like everything else anymore, so try not to get too carried away with details."

Josh: "Right... well let's get this started then!"

Joxhaus: "You are getting way too excited for this..." I hear a sigh in the back of my mind and the conversation ends abruptly.

I opened the door to see a short haired girl standing in front of me, wearing a red bow in her hair. She had beautiful blue eyes and the happiest smile you could ever see in a young woman. She was twirling around in her school uniform, still unbuttoned and unkempt as always. Yep, that's Sayori, the first person you meet in Doki Doki Literature Club! and my supposed best friend. She's a lot cuter than I imagined, even in person.

However, under than cute little ball of sunshine exterior, she's actually hurting from severe depression. Kind of hard to tell currently, but I do wonder if the developers kept her personality like that... God, I hope not. I would hate to see someone like her in pain from something like depression. Or in pain in general... she's just too innocent and sweet as a person. She breaks my train of thought by starting the conversation in her normal fashion and I'm actually intrigued by her soft, yet energetic voice.

Sayori: "Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeyyyyy!"

Josh: "Good Morning, Sayori."

Sayori: "Aren't you awake yet? Like, seriously! You're usually never this late getting out to school."

I give her a warm-hearted smile and try to joke off the situation. "Yeah, yeah, you beat me for once, maybe I won't let you win the next time. But if you're any louder we might have neighbors calling the police on us for local noise complaints."

Sayori gives me her usual pouting face while poking her two index fingers together. Typical Sayori. "Hey now Josh, that's mean! I was only teasing you... but are you ready to get to school though? If we don't get moving soon, we'll be late."

Josh: "And I was only teasing you too Sayori. Let's get to school before we end up late."

Sayori: "YAY! Let's get a move on!"

Personally, I only played off the situation normally, but I was a bit shocked Sayori called me by my real name. But I also noticed there was no option to insert a name... perhaps it's based off of my computer's name? (Which is literally my real/account's name.) So, this is probably going to get weird really quick.

With that aside, today marks the day I sold my soul to a simulation based on Doki Doki Literature Club!

Next Chapter: This is New